Fantasy Football Today - 03/27 Fantasy Football Podcast: Jake Ciely Stops By

Episode Date: March 27, 2018

Fantasy analyst Jake Ciely of the FNTSY Sports Network and RotoExperts.com joins the show, and we'll reward him by picking apart his rankings! Find out why Jake loves Joe Mixon (3:10) but thinks Jerick McKinnon could be overdrafted (4:13). Also we ask him to rank famous Jakes! ... Our thoughts on Odell Beckham (8:55), Carson Wentz (10:40) and the NYJ WR corps (11:55) ... Taking a look at Jake's PPR rankings (21:00), let's discuss why Ezekiel Elliott is his #5 RB in PPR, why he likes Adam Thielen more than Stefon Diggs, why Travis Kelce ranks ahead of Rob Gronkowski and much 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. All right, what's up, everybody?

Welcome back to the Fantasy Football Today podcast. Special guest, been waiting to get this guy on the show. He covers a lot of fantasy sports. He is one of the most dedicated fantasy sportsers. What's the... Fantasy dudes that I know. Jake Sealy. And a little sports-a-lit-est.

Yeah, there you go. Jake, you do everything. Jake Sealy is with us. Hello, Jake. Welcome. Hey, Adam, I appreciate it. Yeah, it's been a long Sealy is with us. Hello, Jake. Welcome. Hey, Adam. I appreciate it. Yeah, it's been a long time coming. I'm excited to be on. We are really happy to have Jake on today. So tell us about yourself. And I know we can catch you on the

Fantasy Sports Network. So tell us a little bit about Jake Sealy here. We're also going to get into your rankings, the Odell Beckham saga. Dave and Jamie are at the owners meetings right now talking to coaches. So on Thursday, you'll hear from them. They'll have plenty to tell you about. But we got a lot to get to. But Jake, yeah, the listeners want to know more about you. Everybody does.

More about you, Jake. Of course they do. Yeah. Found it. RotoExperts.com is where the writing stuff is. The Fantasy Sports Network on YouTube and radios where you can hear and see my beautiful self. And as you mentioned, I got the rankings. That's my success is, you know, top in baseball and football a lot of years. But I've been doing this for well over a decade now and love every minute of it.

Full-time job for the past couple of years. And, you know, hey, I try to give out the best advice. And if I don't, that's on you. Yeah. No, it's not. But he is very good. If you don't pay attention to Jake, that is on you. How can we follow you on Twitter?

At AllInKid, which goes back to my poker days. Oh, really? That's what it is. Yeah. It's not a self-given nickname. And, yes, people have asked me when do I lose the kid part of it. I don't think you really can because it's a nickname. I don't care if I'm 70 years old.

But I was playing poker. It started about almost 20 years ago. And what's the biggest move that you make when you don't know how to play Texas Hold'em? You start going all-in for everything. Whether you have a good hand or you're bluffing, and somebody at the table just said, damn, all-in, kid, and boom. Nice. Question.

Poker trivia for you. Which is better, four of a kind or a full house? Four of a kind. He's legit, folks. He's legit, folks. He's legit. Unbelievable. Actually, do you play HQ, that trivia game? I do, of course.

They had one the other day, which is the best hand, and it was full house, straight, or flush. And it was obviously full house, and she's answering it, and she was telling the odds, and she said, the odds of getting a flush versus a straight, that's why the straight is better. I was like, no, You just said the wrong thing. No, no. Oh, no.

The flush is better than the straight. So that ticked me off. You know who never would make that mistake is Scott Rogowski. He never would have made that mistake. No, never. Never. Anyway, you also run the Flex Leagues, which is great. Jamie and I take part in that.

We took part in that in New York City last year. Jake runs them. It's industry analysts. We get together and we draft, and I had a terrible team, so whatever. I want to know some fantasy talk here. Give me one of your guys. Who are you loving right now? Right now, it's somebody that I was loving last year, and I'm going to go back to the well.

But there's a reason for it. That's Joe Mixon. I still believe in that talent. I thought he was one of the most talent if not most talented running back in the draft class last year i still believe that's all there obviously a lot of things didn't break right from last year including himself i'll admittedly say that i was watching him last year and didn't look like the same player at college at times and obviously that's a little bit of concern i think the offensive line was also

concerned but you saw this team happily move on from Jeremy Hill. I think they're going to pay a little bit more attention to the offensive line this year, but I still think he's a better player than we've seen. I'm not going to put him as an RB1, but I think he could be a mid-to-high RB2, and I like the value of where he is, at least right now in drafts. I have a feeling he's going to start climbing as more people like myself are going to remind people, hey, he's a post-hype sleeper, he's last year's trash, whatever cliche you want to throw on him.

But I've been a Joe Mixon guy, and I feel like we can get back on board this year. He'll be a great RB2, potential RB1. Where are you right now, Mixon versus McKinnon? I am taking, well, so as of right now, I would take McKinnon, fantasy value, but I will take Mixon for the price because McKinnon, in my opinion, is going to be the most overdrafted running back for next year. I know they're saying he's a three down running back, but I also know who Jarek McKinnon is. I've watched a lot of Jarek McKinnon. I watched Jarek McKinnon back Georgia Southern.

I watched him run all over my old EU Monarchs in college football. I saw it firsthand when that team ran for 600 freaking yards in a game against us. That all being said, I do not believe he's a 20-plus touch running back. I think he's very similar to Lamar Miller when people were clamoring for him to get more touches when he came out of Miami after the two years and finally got away from them for the Texans. And then we saw once he started getting the 20, 25 touches per game, he kind of fell off, and he kind of had a similar level of production

but a less effective production. I think McKinnon needs to stay in that 15 to 20 touch per game, he kind of fell off, and he kind of had a similar level of production, but a less effective production. I think McKinnon needs to stay in that 15 to 20 touch per game, which will make him great, a high-end RB2. He's just not an RB1, and I see a lot of people drafting him already as an RB1. That's a really interesting take. By the way, you'd be surprised how much that Georgia Southern Old Dominion game comes up on this podcast. That's like the third.

No, of course not. Who the hell would reference that? Come on, man. What is your favorite fantasy format jake says non-ppr but super flex non-ppr i hate ppr always have i think obviously andy barons is the the clear like the clear leader for that but i am on that because my whole opinion was it was reactionary back to when running backs were going with the first 20 picks and you're like oh how do we give more value to the wide receivers well let's inflate it artificially with a point per reception which does really for nothing my biggest complaint about ppr is that you can catch a ball get blown up on a screen for a half five

yard loss and get a half positive point that's my biggest problem with it um as long with the julian edelman 13 catches for whatever yards it was where he had 20 something. It was like 80 yards where he had 20 points in that game. It's just frustrating to me. I understand why it was done. But now with the NFL and the way that it's now a passing league, we need to kick it back at least a half point PPR, get rid of it altogether. But non PPR is fine. I can live with half point PPR.

But super flex is the way we really need to play. Quarterbacks are just way too undervalued in drafts. People just wait on there smartly. But get a super flex out there so you can add more intrigue. That's pretty interesting. I like half PPR. Yeah, I could deal with it. I guess I probably would go PPR over standard, though.

Yeah, you've got to reward something for catches, right? No, you don't. Standard just sort of becomes a touchdown game. Okay, so that's the other thing is my scoring for my home league, which I've tried to incorporate to other things, is I don't give six points for a touchdown for rushing and receiving. You give four? I actually boost.

I give five, so I took down one. But it's also a point and a half for every ten yards instead of one point. Inflate the yards. Come on. I have a calculator out when I draft. This of one point. Inflate the yards. So the yard, like, because I will agree. Come on. How am I supposed to have a calculator out when I draft? This is too much. It does it for you.

Hey, I will tell you one thing. And you know this, Adam. You really want to see who's prepared for the draft, have a little bit different scoring like that, and you'll see the people who can adapt and know how to draft properly instead of just going down some list that they print off from a site. Yeah, but, I mean, that's a lot to ask the casual fan. You know, for us, sure. Okay, but that's a lot to ask the casual fan. For us, sure.

But for the casual fantasy football player to come into his draft, all right, one and a half points for every ten yards. I'm cool with the five points for a touchdown. I don't know about the yard bonuses. But boost up the yards, too, because the whole point, like you said, the touchdown, you don't want 60 yards to equal one touchdown. The biggest thing is you go back to the Jerome Bredis for three yards for three touchdowns.

We don't want that. So you boost up the yards because people still want more scoring. That's how you still get more scoring without the fake PPR. All right, we'll get into the news in a second, but here's a bonus question for you. Rank these famous Jakes. Jake the Snake Roberts, Jake Gyllenhaal, less than Jake. No, Jake from State Farm? Sure, Jake from State Farm? Sure.

Jake from State Farm is on the list now. I like those four. Jake the Snake is number one. I would have to say Less Than Jake is number two because I actually used to listen to them a lot. And kudos to them for missing a concert that I went to one time. And of all bands, Green Day stepped in. Wow. So, yeah, it was originally supposed to be Blink-182, Jimmy Eat World, and Less Than Jake.

And Less Than Jake wasn't in town or something happened, and Green Day stepped in. So it ended up being Green Day and Blink-182. Green Day was the lead-in band to Blink-182. So that ain't going to be a sad. Then I will take Jake from State Farm and Jake Gyllenhaal's last. No, actually, Jake Gyllenhaal is first. You ever seen the movie Prisoners? No.

It's a great movie. Jake Gyllenhaal is one. Jake Roberts is two. Jake from State Farm, three. Less Than Jake is actually four. first you ever seen the movie prisoners no it's a great movie jake jones hall is one jake roberts is two jake from state farm three less than jake is actually four uh sorry if you want them to miss their concert so a better band will perform then they cannot be high on the list all right let's talk about odell beckham he will not play without a new contract, according to NFL Network. Today at the coaches' meetings, the owners' meetings, Pat Shermer said, quote, he's on our team right now, end quote. We know how great Odell Beckham is.

Do you think there's a chance he's actually not going to be on the Giants by the time the season starts? I think there is. If I gave it an odds, I'd put it like 10% to 20%. Because, look, the Giants, I've actually been one of the people who's saying, if you can get value, do it. And I'm a Giants fan. Like, just move on at this point because the cost is starting to outweigh the potential return. That all being said, I know he's the best talented, like forget wide receiver, offensive player the Giants have ever seen.

There's an argument that if healthy, he could contend for Antonio Brown for the most explosive, the most talented wide receiver in the NFL. That all being said, it's starting to be a path that we're heading down here where there's something new every single week, even when it's not his fault. There's something new, like the frivolous lawsuit that he's going through right now. Like, really, how many other people are dealing with that? It's just always something. I'm not saying trade him for a third rounder. If he could get two first, I'd have to think long and hard about that, especially with the fact that he wants $20 million a year and all that type of stuff. And it's the on-field issues too. It's the Normans,

the kicking the field goals, the bat field goal net, and all that type of stuff. There's just a lot going on here. And if you can get away from the risk and rebuild this organization with, let's be realistic, I know they want to get right back into the playoffs. I think they're more rebuilding than they are retooling, even though they're trying to retool. All that being said is you don't trade him unless that's what you get because he is – I hate this because it's become so cliche with Barkley this year, but he is a generational talent. He is the true definition of a generational talent. So you don't do it, and that's why I say 10% to 20%

because I don't know that a lot of teams are going to be willing to give up that kind of haul. Carson Wentz is ahead of schedule in his rehab towards ACL and his LCL. I think you have him sixth in your quarterback rankings, Carson Wentz. Is that right? Yes. And I would actually have him probably about fourth if I knew that he was 100% to start the season. I just don't know if he's ready for week one. But this sounds good.

But we've heard this before, too, people being ahead of schedule and then whether or not they're actually getting the reps and everything like that. And after the way that Nick Foles played, I think they're going to take their time with their franchise quarterback. They're not going to rush him if he's iffy for week one. They're going to wait until he's 100%. So that's the only reason I don't have him a little bit higher. Yeah, Heath and I always, I guess, mildly argue about Carson Wentz

because I believe you talk about generational talent. I think we've got a superstar here, and he thinks he's going to take a step back next year, partially because of the injury but also because he can't throw as many touchdowns without the yards as he did. He didn't have a lot of yards last year, I think, in that concerns Heath. So he sees statistical regression. I think it's just all going up for Carson Wentz. Sounds like you're more on my side there. Yeah, speaking for Heath.

I think he'll get more yards. I think, if anything, it's the efficiency quotient that you want to talk about there. And I think that he's going to take that next step forward in the yards department as well. All right, a few more news items. The Jets signed Terrell Pryor. Do you care? Good football move. Not great for fancy purposes.

For fancy purposes, I want him to go to the Seattle Seahawks. I said this a lot last year, and I said it again during this offseason. He needs to be on a team where they'll let him freelance. That's why he was such a poor fit with the Redskins, is you need to be on target, precision-based offense, target-based offense, and he can't run routes. Just let the guy freelance. The Jets will probably let him do that,

but he's also got more competition out there and a far subpar quarterback in comparison to Russell Wilson. I think he would have been a better fit. So I think this is good for football. They've got 14 wide receivers on the depth chart as of today, but for fancy purposes, he's a late-round flyer just for the heck of it. So who are you going to take, Terrell Pryor or Robbie Anderson? If Robbie Anderson's actually playing football, I'd still take Robbie Anderson.

Anderson was 16th in standard, 18th in PPR last year. Maybe this is a downgrade for him. But, you know, McCown is – nobody's going to draft him, but if he's the guy. If he is. And that's the thing, too. To go back to the fit situation, Josh McCown is going to – not quite to the Kirk Cousins level, but he needs you to be in your spots more than you would say maybe a Teddy Bridgewater. And they're not going to at six.

They need to trade up the draft with Lamar Jackson. But Lamar Jackson extending plays would have helped, similar to Russell Wilson. And people don't understand Teddy Bridgewater is not Russell Wilson. He's more Andrew Luck, like runs when he needs to. But there's a question of if he's even going to be at quarterback. But Josh McCown, more like Kirk Cirk cousins than somebody like russell wilson obviously all right we've got uh indomitian sue with a one-year 14 million dollar deal with the rams yes they are going to be good now they they should have had a better run defense last year but the rams actually allowed the sixth most fantasy points

to running backs who allowed the seventh most fantasy points to running backs the dolphins and dominic and sue's old team but this is not good news for the NFC West. No, and actually the second highest rated defensive tackle against the run was the Dominick and Sue right behind Snacks Harrison for the Giants. So this is an obvious boost. I saw somebody tweet it out yesterday. It said, prayers up to these teams. It was just the Rams' schedule.

This Rams' defense. If the personalities don't cause a problem, good. Oh, my God, you've got a hell of a lot of problems in the locker room on paper that you need to, like, they need a team leader to step up to make sure everybody's in check this year. If everybody's on the same page and they all stay healthy, obviously, this is going to be a fearsome defense. This is a Rams team that just went from, I'd say, you know,

this is a fun playoff team to all of a sudden, good God, this might be the NFC favorites. A lot of personalities there. A lot of personalities team to all of a sudden good guy. This might be the NFC favorites. A lot of personalities there. A lot of personalities. A heck of a lot of personalities. Sue, Tlaib. Those two alone. Marcus Peters.

Yeah, there's a lot there, but it's exciting. And NFC West is going to definitely look a lot different going forward. All right, we've got more news items. I'm going to save them for when Dave and Jamie are here. Alan Hearns and Deontay Thompson going to the Cowboys. We'll see. Maybe we'll have some Des Bryant news. Definitely he could get cut. Offensive line news. Greg Olson news.

Ron Rivera talking about Cameron Artis Payne. Dirk Cutter talking about Peyton Barber. Andrew Luck has resumed throwing, and unfortunately, it doesn't look like pass interference is going to become a 15-yard penalty. But we'll save all that stuff for Dave and Jamie. We're actually going to record with them tomorrow, air that one on Thursday. I have some voicemails to play.

You've been calling us up, 954-689-3199. Leave us your voicemail. Give us your name and where you're from, 954-689-3199, and we will play your voicemails. We have e-mails to read later, fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Let's hear from the people. Here's our first voicemail. No have emails to read later. Fantasyfootball at CBSi.com. Let's hear from the people. Here's our first voicemail. No name on this one. I'll let you create a name

for this caller, Jake. What do you think? Oh, before I hear it? Yeah, yeah. You want to hear the guy first? Yeah, you can hear the guy and then give him a name. See what he sounds like. Alright, here we go. What do you think about Tyler Lockett this year as a wide receiver three sleeper or deep stash?

Seattle obviously lost Jimmy Graham and Paul Richardson. The defense looks like it may have lost some of its potency. If Russell Wilson's going to be throwing the ball around, it can't be all to just Doug Baldwin. So what do you guys think of Tyler Lockett this year? Thanks. Well, who was that? We'll call him Andy the Apologist. How about that?

Because there's always somebody for Tyler Lockett. I am so tired. I am a Tyler Lockett fan to a degree, but I'm going to say the same thing I've been saying about the Seahawks for the past three seasons. As people don't realize this is they treat the number two wide receiver like a running back by committee, but wide receiver by the committee. And the fact that they rotate guys in and out just because you're the number two

doesn't mean you're on the number two on the field the most every single game. Sometimes it was Lockett. Sometimes it was Richardson. Sometimes it was all the other guys mixed into the situation. And that's why it's always been so frustrating to me. As of today, it does seem like, Hey,

there is an opportunity here. There is a chance that Tyra Lockett could finally have that breakthrough season, but now everybody's going to get hyped up and push him into, he says late round. But the problem is, is he's going to end up like if everything stands that they don't add somebody in the draft or they don't add one more piece in free agency with the scraps that are left over he's probably going to get

pushed up into the mid rounds like eight nine ten somewhere around there and now you need him to be what everybody's always hoped them to be and i just don't see that because i think they do add somebody in the draft and there's gonna be somebody else into the mix and it's gonna be everything we deal with every single year so i understand it but this is the same thing i've always said is the number two is not necessarily a void it's just frustrating to try and grasp because there is value there it just is never really fulfilled all right that's tyler lockett and thank you andy the apologist we do have a name for this one here's ken hey guys this is ken calling from san luis obispo california question. Am I better off picking a high-round quarterback like Russell Wilson

or two lesser ones like a Luck and Rivers combo? What are your thoughts? What do you think, Jake? So, obviously, we're all saying wait on quarterback in your one-quarterback leagues. Like, just don't take your Tom Brady's of the world. Just wait. That all being said, if you're in a more experienced draft and they start slipping to the fifth, sixth, seventh round. I took Drew Brees in the eighth round in one league last year.

And that actual value didn't even pay off that greatly because it was a down year for Drew Brees. But I would take one there. The thing is, if I do take one quarterback, if they do fall far enough, like the sixth, seventh, eighth round, and I take a Brady or a Breeze or any of those type of guys, I'm not drafting a second quarterback because the entire point of that is you're never benching him. And then you just deal with a situation like, or I have a guy two years ago who had Drew Breeze and Matt Ryan is, oh my God, who would I play every single week? And you're just adding frustration. That being said, I've never used to be the guy who drafted two quarterbacks. And I'm starting to come around to that now because I will draft Philip Rivers late.

He's been on a lot of my teams the past couple of years. But go take a flyer on somebody who could potentially be a top five quarterback. You look at Wentz, who happened to have that happen out of nowhere. You look at Alex Smith last year. There's always a quarterback, two, three, four quarterbacks that jump into the top ten. And if you have two of those, then you can play a mix and match where you can potentially get a trade chip. So that's where I've started to go with the two-quarterback route recently.

So you're talking 12-team leagues when you talk about rounds? Yes. Okay. Yeah, I'm willing to take Aaron Rodgers in the fourth round. I can see that. I'd say late fourth for me, though. Late fourth. Okay.

I would even – I guess I'd have to really do a mock draft since all this free agency went down but late third round i feel like there's always a drop off in talent and that's kind of when i start thinking about quarterback but yeah usually i'm usually looking fourth round in a 12 team league see if i'm in if i'm ppr first four rounds i got to get my bell count i don't care what format i'm in but in ppr i'm probably coming out with three wide receivers in my running back before i take my quarterback. And in non-PPR, I usually want two and two before I touch my quarterback. So that's why I would say if I could see them sitting there in the end of the fourth round and know that I'm picking and getting the fifth, so it's

still kind of technically the same, that's when I would do it. Yeah, that's fine. I mean, I usually like to do what you do as well, but sometimes I'm looking at a guy I just don't like, and Aaron Rodgers is there. Now, PPR, yeah, I mean, quarterbacks, they don't catch passes typically, except Mariota that one time. But, yeah, PPR, they are certainly downgraded. You mentioned HQ earlier. I think I got up to Q6 the other day. I was pretty proud of myself.

Oh, I got to on the 25,000 or the 50,000 because it was Sunday night. I got up to Q13. Shut up. Yes. Nice work. I forget what on the 25,000 or the 50,000 because it was Sunday night. I got up to Q13. Shut up. Yes. Nice work. I forget what the question was too. It was just something so far off. Do you use your computer?

No. Oh, because I can type super fast and I've actually helped myself with a couple questions. Because you just got to type in one or two words if you know what one or two words to type in. It's true. So I actually got all the way to 13 and it was a stupid question too. I don't even remember what it was at this point. So you're a cheater. Okay. Well, that's good to know.

But the real HQ, Jake, is CBS Sports HQ. This is the good one, man. You've got to download it on your Apple TV, your Roku. You download the CBS Sports app on Apple TV, on Roku, on your phone, on other connected devices. I'm watching on my Roku all the time. If you want to just give it a little bit of a sample, go to cbssportshq.com. This is 24-7 streaming sports news, highlights, scores. It's free. It's awesome. It is old-school sports coverage. I think any sports fan is going to really love it. We've got some fantasy on there

as well. cbssportshq.com or download the CBS Sports app on one of your connected devices. All right, let's get into Jake's rankings. He gave me his PPR rankings, even though he apparently hates PPR. Only because those are the most recent, the ones that I did. That works for me. Deshaun Watson is your number four quarterback. Yes, so people are higher on Watson than they are on Wentz. You just think he's further along in his rehab,

or let's say they're both completely healthy. Would you be higher on Watson than they are on Wentz. You just think he's further along in his rehab? Or let's say they're both completely healthy. Would you be higher on Watson than Wentz? So I would still, if I know they're both 100% healthy, I'm still going to take Watson. The Russian upside is added to that fact there. And I still love Wentz. But to be honest with you, it's going to come down to cost. I'll take Wentz because he's going to go cheaper than I will take Watson.

I honestly think there's a lot of people out there right now that would take Watson as the second quarterback off the board. I've actually seen some rankings out there where people put him first. I think they're overrating a little bit of what they did during that game. And I know that stretch was amazing. 30 points per game average and all that type of stuff. But at the same time, we've seen this before and we've seen the NFL adjust to quarterbacks and learn how to contain. Look at what the NFL has done with Cam Newton.

I mean, outside of Cam Newton's 35 touchdown season, for the most part, defenses keep him in check often, not all the time. And that's why he's still a QB1 if he's healthy and running. And that's why Deshaun Watson should be too. But I think for fantasy purposes, I know they're a little bit different styles, but let's say for fantasy purposes, compared to Deshaun Watson to Cam Newton, I think that's the fair spot. Potential to be the number one, but the same thing.

Potential to be 10 to 12. All right. So your quarterback rankings are Rodgers, Wilson, Brady, Watson, Newton, Wentz. If this were a four-point-per-passing touchdown league, would Watson be ahead of Tom Brady? That's how I rank these. Oh, it is? Okay. Yeah.

Well, then that makes sense. We're having Wilson two, Watson four, Newton 5, Wentz 6. It makes sense. Okay, then. Let's get into running backs. PPR, Le'Veon Bell 1, Todd Gurley 2. Interesting. I think I actually agree, but I think it might be a little surprising for people to see Bell

anybody ahead of Todd Gurley. How come you have Bell one, Gurley two? Honestly, because I think last year was a little bit of a down year for Le'Veon Bell. And I think last year was the peak of what we're going to see for Todd Gurley. I know it was amazing and it was everything we've always wanted. It got rid of Jeff Fisher and all that type of stuff. But if you're going to tell me about the history of these two players and you're going to tell me about who is more of a focal point for their offense guaranteed i i know that there's not terrific weapons on the wide receiver front for the rams but i think cooper cup's going to take

a big step forward i think people are forgetting about josh reynolds i think he could take a step forward make noise this year they still have plenty of weapons where you look at levion bell it's always levion bell antonio brown andeon Bell every single game Todd Gurley is going to always be involved but I could see some games where he's you know only getting 20 touches per game whereas Le'Veon Bell almost averages 20-25 per game it's nitpicking I'm just going to take the history and the talent of Le'Veon Bell over the career season to this point of Todd Gurley yeah he's not a huge touchdown guy though Le'Veon Bell. I think that's kind of strange.

He's never had a 10 rushing touchdown season. He's never had more than three receiving touchdowns. Last year, what did Todd Gurley have, 19 total touchdowns. So, you know, that's kind of interesting when I saw that. I guess I didn't realize Bell has never had more than 12 touchdowns in a season, I believe. And that's fair, too. But, you know, full point PPR, you talk about Bell in his full seasons,

or full-ish seasons, 16 games, 85 receptions. Last year, 15 games, 85 receptions. That 12-game season was 75 receptions. I think that's really the thing is you're giving me that terrific floor with a very similar ceiling. Yeah. All right. And then this one I'm going to have to disagree with you on.

Ezekiel Elliott, number five running back in PPR. It's Bell, Gurley, David Johnson, Kareem Hunt, and Ezekiel Elliott. I'm still going to take Zeke, I think, third in PPR. Really? Yeah, I'm kind of low on David Johnson. I don't like bad offenses. When you're talking about elite running backs, I think that team's going to be terrible. See, I can definitely see him being terrible, but at the same time, it just i'm such a fan of david johnson and he is the offense outside

of larry fitzgerald like this is somebody else he's the only other person besides levion bell who's going to contend for 80 90 receptions and that's really why i have him there obviously i'm assuming he's going to be 100 healthy but i'm still going to take him and then the cream hunt factor i can understand it i'm not gonna sit here and argue with you for an hour on end or anybody else who wants to take zeke over him but i look at kareem hunt when he was used properly and when he was used 20 plus times in a game and the fact that in those games he averaged close to like 30 fancy points per game in ppr i think that hopefully andy reed got his head out of you-know-where and realized that.

I know Nagy's gone, so there's a potential that Reid could go right back to doing the idiotic thing he did there in the middle of the season. But I'm just looking at that use. I'm saying it's obvious what you have here, and it's obvious that if he's getting 20-plus touches per game in PPR that I'm going to lean towards Hunt. Yeah, I mean, Zeke, he's not a big pass catcher, but he was on pace for 42 catches, which isn't nothing.

So let's say Hunt has – what did you say? I said it's not that much. No, it's not, but it's probably 20 to 30. Okay, at most 30 catches less than Kareem Hunt. I don't see Hunt having 70, but he could. He had 53 last year in, I think, 15 games. Zeke was on pace for 387 carries. In his rookie season, he had 322 carries in 15 games.

So he might be a legit 340-carry guy. And just with all the touchdowns he's going to score, he'll make up for the lower number of catches. And I go the other way, too, is the fact that Kareem Hunt led the league in rushing despite only carrying the ball 272 times and being screwed around with during the middle of the season. Yeah, Bebe, the lowest yardage total to lead the league in rushing since 1990. That is true.

So what? You can have it. You can have it. Whatever. You can have it. But I'll say, like, okay, let's say they do get smart and wise enough, and I know that's a lot to put on Andy Reid here, but let's say he gets to 290 carries and then gets another 5 to 10 receptions. I think that's all conceivable and easily doable, and you give me that, and I think he edges him out.

Again, we've already spent more time than I thought we would, like arguing that much between Seek and Hunt. All right, fine. So Leonard Fournette, number 11, behind Christian McCaffrey and LeSean McCoy. Definitely is a PPR kind of deal. 100%. Yeah, I guess I would see it. Maybe it's philosophically.

I'm just going to take – I still like touchdowns. And Fournette had 36 catches in 13 games last year. So I think you show that he can do it. I see him sort of like Zeke. And they got Norwell. He's going to get a ton of carries if he stays healthy, which could be an issue. And he's going to have so many more touchdowns than Christian McCaffrey. He might have five more touchdowns than Christian McCaffrey.

He might have five more touchdowns than McCaffrey. I think that'll make up for the catches. He might. My problem is, if you look at Fournette for last year, he was actually a touchdown reliant. Actually, if you take his numbers over most seasons, he was inflated on the touchdown department. His touchdown-to-touch ratio and yardage ratio should conceivably come back. Now, if he stays healthy for all 16 games, which is a huge if, I'm also not buying that because this has been multiple foot area injuries all the way through college and now through his first year in the NFL.

I mean, if you put him in for 13 games, I don't know that you're getting much further past that 1,000 yards, 1,100 yards that he got last year. And if he only gets the same number from last year, getting those touchdowns again would still be overachieving the norm of what you see for a running back like him so all that being said Christian McCaffrey caught 80 passes last year in timeshare with Jonathan Stewart I know they've already talked about other factors of what might happen to the other running back position I think they get the reins off Christian McCaffrey next year and let him also

be a runner I don't think he's going to be 20-plus touches per game, similar to the conversation about Jack McKinnon. I think he's a little bit better built for it, but I also don't think you want him touching the ball 20-plus times. But I think Christian McCaffrey could easily get over 90 receptions next year and now start to get closer to 600 to 700 rushing yards. That'd be nice. He only had 117 carries.

Jonathan Stewart's gone 198 carries. Six touchdowns for Stewart, and five of them were from one or two yards out. So, you know, there are touchdown opportunities there near the goal line. I don't know if it will be McCaffrey. It would be nice. And then, I mean, come on, Dalvin Cook's 16th. Dalvin Cook's 16th. What planet is Dalvin Cook's 16th?

It is not Earth, Jake Sealy. It is today's Earth. It is the March 27th Earth because let's go back a year and you won't find a bigger supporter than Dalvin Cook than myself last year. Like, I was the proponent. I actually owned Dalvin Cook at Cream Hut in so many leagues last year. I was banging the table telling people they were insane for their overreaction to the combine. And I was Dalvin Cook, Dalvin Cook, Dalvin Cook, Dalvin Cook.

That being said, it's March 27th. That's a significant injury. We have inside injuries that's come on our show over on the Roto-Experts Fantasy Sports Network. And they said that type of injury sometimes has complications. He is, quote, unquote, on schedule. Some people are saying he's even ahead of schedule. If he's 100% by the time even OTAs roll around, or heck,

even I'll say preseason rolls around. He is going to rocket all the way back up to fringe top 10. He'll be in that conversation. All that being said, it's March 27th. I haven't seen him back on the field. That was a devastating injury. All right, that's Dobbin Cook. So we'll keep an eye on that.

It is health dependent. I know that if he's healthy, he'll be higher than 16th. Easily. All right, we'll take a look at some wide receivers here. Hmm, I'm going to skip around. All right, Adam Thielen, 13th. Stefan Diggs, 24th. All right, so I brought this up on previous shows with Dave

and maybe a little bit with Heath. Kirk Cousins has not been one to feature a wide receiver, and Thielen had over 140 targets, if I recall, last year. So I'm a little worried about the fit there. Plus, I just think Diggs is better. I think you're too high on Adam Thielen. No, no, no. So he doesn't, but if you look at two years ago with the roster that the Redskins had,

the most – actually, the featured receiver was Pierre Garçon and Jamison Crowder, who I think if you looked at it, obviously they're not apples to apples, 100 percent receiver to receiver. But if you look at the offenses, if you try to draw comparisons, because last year you can kind of throw out for the Redskins offense receiver wise, because Doxton never really came through again. You had Terrell Pryor mess. You had Crowder was basically the only man left standing for most of the year. Ryan Grant's, quote unquote, breakout year, which is 500 yards and four touchdowns. That all being said, if you try to compare two years ago, you would say Pierre Garçon is Adam Thielen situation, Stefan Diggs, Jamison Crowder.

And if you look at the uses for the Vikings, you said it. That's what the uses was for the Vikings as well. As you look at all their yards, all the metrics, the air yards, all that stuff you want to throw out there, Pierre Garçon and Adam Thielen are comparable in that fashion. And if I look at Kirk Cousins coming over, I think they're going to be used in similar fashions. So I think Adam Thielen deserves to be much further ahead than Stefan Diggs.

I would take Thielen every single time. And that's even before we get to the fact of the injury concerns with Stefan Diggs, because tell me whenever this guy is going to play 16 games. Yeah, but here's the thing. Diggs is just better than Thielen. I don't necessarily agree with that. I think Diggs, I said this about two years ago too. With Stefan Diggs, I think he's Randall Cobb in the fact that he's great at what he does,

but don't ask him to do more because he can't do more. I've always been that with Stefan Diggs. Maybe I'm wrong and maybe he takes another step forward this year. Maybe I'm just wrong in general. But I've just always watched him and felt that way. When you asked Randall Cobb to be the number one for the Packers, failed miserably because he's not equipped to do that. Stefan Diggs, do what you do.

What you do is great. But if you're looking for the number one for this team, I believe it's still Adam Thielen. All right, and then I'll ask you about T.Y. Hilton, then we'll read some emails here. Actually, we have to talk about one tight end ranking. But T.Y. Hilton, then we'll read some emails here. Actually, we have to talk about one tight end ranking. But T.Y. Hilton, you have number seven ahead of A.J. Green. Now, I got no beef with that, but if you have T.Y. Hilton number seven,

I do believe that Andrew Luck needs to be higher than 12th. What do you think? Does he? Look at quarterbacks. Yeah, he's probably – if T.Y. Hilton's number seven in PPR, which is never his best format, that means he's having like a typical T.Y. Hilton is number seven in PPR, which is never his best format, that means he's having a typical T.Y. Hilton year, right? Yeah, so he was number six two years ago with 1,400 yards and six touchdowns. And where did Andrew Luck finish?

Two years ago? It doesn't matter for me because my point is Andrew Luck was – I'm pulling up right now just so you know. Yeah, all right. Andrew Luck was number four, but Andrew Luck also had other weapons at that time. Is T.Y. Hilton a what else right now? Like, don't give me all these to stop with all the rest of this. There is T.Y. Hilton and nobody else.

And that's the thing is that's why I think Andrew Luck could only go out there and throw for 4,000 yards and 27 touchdowns. And Adam Thielen could still be a top 10 wide receiver. We've seen a lot of other teams out there have a quarterback that's fringe QB1 with a wide receiver that finishes in the top ten because they don't throw to anybody else. You said Adam Thielen. You meant T.Y. Hilton. That's okay. We knew what you were saying. You love Adam Thielen.

Yes, I do. You do have Travis Kelsey ranked ahead of Rob Gronkowski in PPR. Kelsey has been the number one PPR tight end two straight seasons. Gronkowski was better last year on a per-game basis, but that, of course, is part of the equation here. So, yeah, what do you think? You going to stick with that through draft day? Kelsey ahead of Gronk?

Yeah, but I'm not going to own either one of them because I don't draft tight ends that early. But that's exciting. You broke it down. You know exactly where I was going with that. It just comes down to the injury factor. It's Rob Gronkowski with the risk that you associate with that. Somebody else who barely ever plays.

How many times has he played 16 games? I'm going to check real quick. My guess would be twice. Yep, twice. His first two years in the league. First year, it doesn't even really count that much. It's rookie season with only 59 targets. But he hasn't played 16 games since 2011. Then that's really what it comes down to. You don't draft tight ends early, huh? When do you draft tight ends? I need to have at least two running backs, three wide receivers, likely my flex and a quarterback.

So we're talking eighth round, ninth round. I see a big separation between those top three tight ends. I don't necessarily set out to draft one, but I am not afraid to take Gronk, Kelsey, or Ertz. See, I win my championships by taking the next year will be the Trey Burtons, Hunter Henrys, Rudolph's, the disrespected ones like Rudolph and Delaney Walker's. I'll always settle in that range for my tight ends.

All right. Well, you have Trey Burton 10th, so I'm sure that's someone you'll be targeting this year. Jake, I'm going to finish it off with some emails from the listeners. I don't think I read this one. I apologize if I did, but – well, actually, I'm going to read this one second, so we'll come back to that. But if I did read it, at least we have a new voice to answer it. So here's the first one. So John in Sandusky, Ohio.

Is that a place? Yes. Okay. I actually know somebody from there. Yeah, okay. Is that where Tommy Boy took place? Oh, I think so. Yeah, okay. Is that where Tommy Boy took place? Oh, I think so. Yeah, okay.

Yeah. It says, Dear Carl, Eric, Gavin, and Carson. Carl, Eric, Gavin. I don't know who that is. Tommy Boy was in a parts factory in Sandusky. Yeah, Callahan Parts was in Sandusky, Ohio. There you go. All right, the question is, in the past fantasy season,

what was the best and worst roster move you made in terms of add drops or trades? Exclude any steals from the draft. So he said add drops or trades. I was going to say just the draft. I'm sorry. I didn't tune into that perfectly for there. I'd say the worst one was actually, you know what? I'll give you the trade.

It was the trade towards the end of the year where I offed it. So this was a keeper league and it actually caused quite a ruckus in my league, but it was the Odell Beckham situation because I couldn't keep him because you only keep guys for three years. So it's going to translate for a lot of people listening, but I traded it away to Odell Beckham and I

brought back, I forget the two wide receivers that I did, but that you're my answer right there the fact that i can't remember who they were they ended up not contributing towards my final playoff team the best move i made was trading theo riddick for carson wentz in the flex league in a standard oh i forgot you did that i did yeah and still had a terrible team so not terrible just below average uh the worst move i made was trading Todd Gurley for Jordy Nelson and Ty Montgomery. Oh, that was the best move.

Thank you. That just reminded me. I traded for Todd Gurley in the one flex league. That was the league. So the two flex leagues I was in, the one that I traded with Joe Pizzapia, I traded for Todd Gurley and ended up winning the championship in that one because of Todd Gurley is what we knew he did for those last three weeks. It wasn't that bad of a trade.

I actually sent him – what had to happened was it was earlier in the year. I sent him Dalvin Cook before Dalvin Cook got hurt. Oh, yeah. Right. No, when I made the trade, Aaron Rodgers was healthy. Ty Montgomery was healthy. I thought it was PPR, Nelson and Montgomery for Gurley. There were a couple other throw-ins in there.

I thought it was fine. And Gurley had that tough schedule coming up. That was what we really missed on. We thought he wasn't going to be quite as good, and he was even better, I guess. Next email. This is the one I'm not sure if I read. I don't think I did, but we'll get your take on it anyway. It is from Jacob from somewhere north of Massachusetts.

We'll let Dave figure that out when he gets back. No, no, no. Sorry. This is from Michael. There we go. Here's Michael. I love the pod, but can we put a couple of terms to rest? Standard scoring is ancient history and doesn't need to be mentioned ever again.

Half PPR gets all positions closest in value, which means more trades across positions. So there you go. We talked about before the hatred of the standard. I stopped calling it standard because to that point, there's still a higher percentage of people playing non-PPR leagues because it's still default on a lot of sites. That all being said, I'm fine

with half-point PPR. I don't necessarily agree that that creates more trades because it just comes down to your owners and your leagues. I think half-point PPR is a fine compromise. But I also, like I said, I do half-point PPR with increased scoring for yardage. I still think half-point PPR gives you – you're still giving away points for doing nothing.

That's my problem. This is so few plays where, like, nothing happens. But still, my point being, you're getting a free point. This is the only position we give away a free point. This is the same as people playing, which I hate, completion points for quarterbacks, rushing attempts for running backs. I don't

like giving you a point for doing your job. Alright, here's our last question. I believe this one is from Jacob. With Doug Martin going to the Raiders, I now own three of the backup running backs there. In a dynasty half PPR league, is it worth holding on to any combination of Doug Martin, DeAndre Washington, Jalen Richard, 12 teams, 30-man rosters? Nope.

The Oakland Raiders backfield is going to be a wasteland. I want nothing to do with it next year. The sad thing is, and I'm pretty sure Dave Richard was the one that wrote about it. Correct me if I'm wrong about the fact that if you look at Gruden's usage in the past, that he does like his past catching running backs and has featured it. But at the same time, he does use a collection of running backs. That just happens to be the running back that is featured the most. Correct? He's the one that wrote that, correct?

Dave? Yeah. Yes, I believe so. So that's what you would want to look for here, which would obviously eliminate Marshawn Lynch from being in that consideration. Doug Martin has four miserable, god-awful seasons and two great ones, which are also buoyed by only a few games. Rashard has some explosive upside. Washington has some explosiveness to him.

But at the same time, those guys aren't his. He has no attachment to them when he's coming in. The same reason from past teams when you say the guy coming in, who cares about the running back because he could cut him at any given day. So I just want to avoid this backfield. I'm sorry. But with a 30-man roster, I guess you could hold on to Doug Martin maybe. I mean, look, 30-man roster, you could make the case to hang on any of them.

Just don't have very high expectations. Jake Sealy. Well, I said Martin for the fact that he brought him in. Yeah, true. Jake, thank you, man. This was awesome. Thank you, Adam. All in kid.

All in kid on Twitter. And you can find him on the Fantasy Sports Network. Just great advice. You heard it for yourself. The guy knows what he's talking about. And not just football, by the way. If you play other fantasy sports, you can follow Jake. That's Jake Sealy.

I'm Adam Azer. We will have Dave and Jamie back later this week to hear about what they learned from the owners' meetings, talk maybe a little bit more about Beckham, and your emails at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. See you later. It's alright. I've got Le'Veon. It's alright. Not George Le'Veon.

It's alright. I've got Le'Veon. It's alright. I've got Le'Veon Bell.