Fantasy Football Today - 04/05 Fantasy Football Podcast: Cooks Trade; Mock Draft With Rookies

Episode Date: April 5, 2018

Before we discuss our latest mock draft we go through the winners and losers of the Brandin Cooks trade (2:42). Chris Hogan's stock is clearly up, and is Cooks the best LAR WR? ... Getting into our 12-team standard scoring mock draft (15:00) with Alvin Kamara being drafted a little too early. We'll thoroughly review the first four rounds ... Also check out when the rookies and noteworthy free agents were drafted (45:03) ... 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 fantasyfootball at cbsi.com. Here we go! It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Let's go! Now, here's Adam, Dave, and Jamie. Welcome to the show on Thursday, April 5th.

What's up, everybody? This is Fantasy Football Today. Hey, Dave and Jamie, guess what? What? I'm not drafting anymore. I did my last draft ever. What? Okay. So you're trying to pull an April Fool's joke after April Fool's?

I drafted such a good team. I had the best draft of all time. I'm just retiring on a high note. I'll still, like, host the show or whatever, but I'm just going to sit out all the drafts. That's how good it was. A team that is relying on Carlos Hyde and Calvin Ridley as starters is the greatest team you've ever drafted.

Yeah, it is. It's incredible. First of all, we're not relying on Calvin Ridley as a starter. You drafted him in round seven. That doesn't mean I can't start the other. I'd rather start Randall Cobb. I'm going to start Randall Cobb. You guys are too low on Randall Cobb. Carlos Hyde. Jamie, I got Carlos Hyde as my flex.

You hate Carlos Hyde all of a sudden. And he was like the top guy in your rankings at that point. No, he wasn't. He was the top running back. He was the top three at least. Not mine. Yeah, top three in yours. Nope.

At the time I took him. Nope. Yep. Wrong. Welcome, everybody. We're going to talk about this draft after we break down the big trade of Brandon Cooks to the Rams. I will probably. I will do another draft. Okay. I've changed my mind. But. We're going to talk about this draft after we break down the big trade of Brandon Cooks to the Rams. I will do another draft. Okay, I've changed my mind.

Not invited. No, I don't understand the Carlos Hyde hate. I don't get it. Maybe we should talk about that. All right, fine. In 20 seconds or less, tell me why Carlos Hyde is such a bad flex in a standard scoring league. He's going from a situation. I disagree. As a flex, he's okay. standard scoring league. He's going from a situation. I disagree.

As a flex, he's okay. That's fair. Right. He's a flex. That's all. Okay, great. But he's not going to catch nearly as many passes as he has. It's standard scoring.

That's great. It still doesn't matter. It's still opportunities that you're taking away from him. His value certainly takes a hit going to Cleveland in the role that he's in, but I don't think he's a bad flex. That was just giving you a hard time. It kind of tells you what they're going to do at number four, though, doesn't it? Why would they sign Hyde, keep Duke, and you know they're going to use Duke.

Why would they do those moves if they're going to get Saquon Barkley? Right, yeah. And I took him, by the way, 57th overall in a standard scoring league, so it was one of the best picks of the draft. Anyway, the Rams got Brandon Cooks and a fourth-round pick from the Patriots for a first and sixth-round pick. So big-time deal here. Who's the biggest fantasy winner in all of this?

Sing the song, Dave. Sing the song? What's the song? The Hogan song. I don't know if he's the biggest winner. Oh my god, is he the biggest winner? I don't think it's close. I think it reestablishes Julian Edelman

perfectly. The biggest concern we had about him was that he would not have the same type of target share. Who had that concern? We did. I know you did for sure. I did too. And that Cooks and Danny Amendola could take some work away from Julian Edelman. Amendola left.

Well, Amendola left. And then Brandon Cooks left. And now things are kind of going to go back to the status quo in New England. We think, unless they add another receiver. Well, who do you guys like better, Edelman or Hogan? Edelman. I like Edelman better, but Hogan is the biggest winner, and I don't think it's very close at all.

I mean, he now goes to their featured outside guy, and he's going to get the majority of those Brandon Cooks targets. And his production before his shoulder injury last year would have put him on pace to be, I believe, a top 20 wide receiver. He had, I think it was five of his seven games were double digits and fancy points. Wasn't he on pace for like, or maybe it was two years ago he was on pace for 1,000.

I have his numbers here. I was trying to look it up. His numbers would have been massive, but he got hurt, and the problem is that he's had these opportunities before. And I don't mind anybody going to take him in a fantasy draft. I considered taking him at one point in our draft yesterday. But I'm very concerned about him finally breaking through. Those are two separate conversations. The best opportunity now because of this trade is for Chris Hogan.

Can he fulfill it? That's a different story. But opportunity right now is totally in his court. You could fulfill it? That's a different story. But opportunity right now is totally in his court. You could say it's Malcolm Mitchell. You could say it's Philip Dorsett, Kenny Britt. All these guys are going to certainly have a chance. But Chris Hogan now goes from what would probably be the fourth best option at best in this passing game

to easily the third best option. And again, their best outside threat right now is Chris Hogan. In his first eight games before missing four games with an injury, Hogan had between 60 and 78 yards in six of eight games. Basically all of his stats came in those eight games. 438 yards and five touchdowns. So he was on pace for ten touchdowns.

Not a huge yardage total, about 900. But now Cooks is gone, and Cooks was the leading target getter on the Patriots with 114, a little bit more than Gronk. Danny Amendola, 86 targets, was third on the Patriots. That's all gone. Back comes Edelman, who is also very interesting. Last time we saw Julian Edelman, he was the number 25 wide receiver in standard, number 15 in PPR in 2016 with 98

catches, 1,100 yards and only three touchdowns, which is very low even for Julian Edelman. So you like Edelman better, but Hogan's the big winner according to Jamie. Dave thinks Edelman's the big winner. Let me ask you this. Is Brandon Cooks still the best fantasy receiver

on the Patriots or the ramps now no who is not no who's the best edelman edelman followed by woods followed by hogan followed by cup followed by cooks wow you've got cooks behind them i don't have that easily easily why easily behind them because he's going to? Easily? Why? Easily behind them. Because he's going to a team that's not going to feature him as much. With a defense that's certainly much better. Not going to be in situations where they're going to throw as much. And you can see what Jared Goff did last year. Hopefully he

makes a bigger leap in his third year, second year with McVay. And I think he will. But I don't think he's going to all of a sudden. Cooks all of a sudden is going to supersede dramatically what Sammy Watkins did last year in the same role. Well, I mean the Rams threw the ball, I think, the 22nd most pass attempts in the NFL. They did not throw the ball much last year. You'd think they'll throw it a little bit more this year in golf's third season in the league.

I don't know. I mean, they have arguably the best running back in football. They have one of the best defenses in football. I don't know if they have to. Cooks? Okay, he usually gets— I'm sorry, just to back up real quick. Here was Hogan's pace.

66 catches, 876, and 10 touchdowns before he got hurt. Right. It's good. It's probably top 20 with the 10 touchdowns. What about—Cooks is not—he's just like 120 targets. He's not like a huge high-volume guy in his career. I don't think he's ever had more than like 133 or something. I don't think he gets that.

Okay. How many – Watkins had 70 targets. Yeah, in 15 games. So what is the – and that was with Woods missing three of those. Very true. But isn't Cooks just better than Woods and Kup? Sure, but that doesn't necessarily translate to him getting huge numbers.

It's easy to say Brandon Cooks is better than them when he's played three seasons with Drew Brees and one season with Tom Brady. I mean, you put a lot of guys in his situation on offenses where he doesn't see a lot of double coverage. A lot of guys are going to put up big numbers in those spots. Where he gets those kinds of opportunities. And I think it was pretty obvious last year that Sammy Watkins didn't quite get those opportunities. Now Sean McVay threw a little shade at Sammy, or somebody did,

saying that he wasn't quite up to speed with everything. I can't remember the exact quote. I might be taking it off context, but that was the gist of it, is that it took him a little bit longer to come along in that offense. Of course. I mean, that's the big difference that I see is that he got – Sammy Watkins got traded to the Rams during training camp. Brandon Cooks got traded in April.

That's a big advantage if you just want to compare the two. And to that point, Cooks and Goff, I believe, have the same agent, and they've been throwing together in the offseason prior to the trade. So he's better than Sammy Watkins in the same situation. He've been throwing together in the offseason prior to the trade so there's there's he's better than sammy watkins in the same situation he's been a better player he's going to have a better uh starting point than than watkins did and i think mcveigh probably learned some things with how he used or did not use watkins that he will probably try to do with brandon cooks otherwise why would they give up more of an investment when they already could have signed sammy watkins to probably lesser than what they're going to have to pay Brandon Cooks in the extension they're going to have to give him now?

So you have to figure that there's a certain understanding of how they're going to make this thing work. But it's still the difference between what his value to them is on the field compared to what his fantasy value is for us. I don't think Sammy – I don't think Brandon Cooks is going to be that dramatically different in this offense than what Sammy Watkins was, barring a significant injury to either Robert Woods or Cooper Cupp. Okay, so let's recap again. Of the two teams and all their wide receivers, where do you have Brandon Cooks? Jamie, you have him last, right? Yes. Dave?

Not me. I'll take him ahead of Woods and Cupp. But it's really close between Edelman and Cooks. What about Hogan? Where is he in this? Hogan is behind Cup and Woods. So it's going to be Edelman, Cooks, Cup, Woods, Hogan, and then Malcolm Mitchell is way down there.

You're looking around through a jello, looking for the fruit in the jello and specifically a grape. He's in there. You're looking around through a jello, looking for the fruit in the jello, and specifically a grape. He's in there. You'll find him. You've got to eat your way there. That's Chris Hogan. What else in this trade? Goff, Brady, the other Rams receivers.

Any major impact here, guys? They hate Josh Reynolds. It solidifies Goff as one of those quarterbacks that you're going to take with a late pick. He's still not in the top 12 for me. I think it gives him a better chance to get close to 3,828 touchdowns. That's what he had last year. But that'll be good. It's not going to be great.

The best quarterbacks in fantasy are going to blow those numbers away. Okay. And Brady, does this matter for you at all? Nope. He's a machine. But they don't really have – It's a very comforting scenario if you're trading away what was your best wide receiver last year and you're getting back what was your best wide receiver for the three previous seasons,

and you still have great complimentary parts about it. I think the fun part of this story will be is if Rob Gronkowski decides to stick it to the Patriots and says, you know what, I'm going to retire. And so then you lose Amendola, you lose Cooks, you lose Gronk, and then Brady's like, what the bleep? Yeah. But that's not going to happen.

That would be something. If he retired and got hurt, my God, Edelman would have 130 catches. All right, other news. Well, Jason Lockenforst says the Patriots acquired that first-round pick from the Rams in order to trade up for a quarterback, so they now have two picks late in the first round. Really? That's what they're going to do?

They have to fix that defense and fix that offensive line. I think they try and get younger. You know, maybe they put in a phone call to get Odell just to see, but I doubt it. But I think they keep all the picks. I think Schefter tweeted that last year they traded six of their seven picks. Wow. Baltimore signed RG3.

New England signed. Now that's news. Yeah. Tight end Troy Nicholas. That's just insurance. Or no. I don't know. It's nothing.

It's nothing. Yeah, it's nothing. Troy Nicholas. And the Giants offensive coordinator Mike Shula said Odell Beckham is a vital part of the offense. And that's it. All right. Ready for the mock draft review?

So essentially, Mike Shula gets job. Mike Shula takes job with the hope to work with one of the best players in NFL. Mike Shula praises said player. Mike Shula gets punched in the gut when they trade Odell Beckham. Yeah, they might. They really might trade Odell Beckham. Yeah, they might. They really might trade Odell Beckham. These quotes mean absolutely nothing at this point. Let's take a look at our 12-team standard scoring draft.

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Our listeners, not my listeners. Get a trial month. There was once, I'm going to go in the way back time machine here, where Dave was being interviewed for something in-house for like a video thing we were doing. And he called himself the senior fantasy writer. And we gave him crap about that for years. That's great. My listeners.

Yeah, I've never done that before. I've done these reads for so many sponsors. I've never done my listeners. My listeners. My listeners! Our listeners! No, they're all yours now. They're all mine. And I'll take your Twitter followers, too. I wouldn't mind that. And here's Adam's phone number for that voicemail you want to leave.

Oh, no. That number is 954-689-3199. And our email address is fantasyfootballatcbsi.com 954-689-3199. I thought it was Adam Azer. Shut up now. All right.

The mock draft. So it was 12 teams. Standard. Dave, what was the scoring? It was standard, my good sir. 12 teams, standard scoring, 15 rounds. Quarterback, two running backs Two receivers, flex Tight end kicker defense

And That's basically it, Dave had the second pick Heath had the fourth Jamie had the sixth pick And I had the ninth pick And Will Brinson, if you're listening One of our The senior writer for CB

No, one of our NFL writers senior writer for CB – no, one of our NFL writers. He was late as usual. Will Brinson has never, ever been on time for a mock draft, so we will shame him. That's not true. He got much better. Really? This was – I think there's a difference that I think I'm starting to notice between off-season Will Brinson and in-season Will Brinson.

And by that I mean our season, typically our draft season. He was on time for most of those drafts last year. All right. Well, he regressed two days ago when we did this draft, or yesterday when we did this draft. But also, Will is hosting the Pick 6 podcast. How cool is this? They are going to publish it at like 6 in the morning, five days a week.

They record it the night before. They publish it first thing in the morning. So it's for your morning commute. First thing that you can listen to, it is 30 minutes of football talk, six topics, five minutes each. Very, very cool. Pick six podcasts. Just relaunched.

New and improved. Check it out. Now, let's get to it. So Todd Gurley, Dave took Ezekiel Elliott. Real quick, why he took Elliott over Le'Veon. When I started the offseason, I'm actually looking at it right now while you're talking to me. When the offseason, I'm actually looking at it right now while you're talking to me.

When the offseason started, the nitpick between the two was that I thought that Dallas had a better offensive line and a better schedule. And now that free agency has kicked in and players have moved around, I'm not sure if I still feel that way. And I might start leaning more toward Pittsburgh having the better schedule. It's something I'm looking into for now, non-PPR. Zeke is my number two. But I might flip it once I get a better idea and a better grip of these defenses that they're going up against.

And, of course, in PPR, Bell over Zeke. Oh, yeah, there's no question in PPR. All right, number three was Le'Veon Bell. Dave took Zeke, then Bell, then here we go. Heath took DeAndre Hopkins. All right, so I'm sorry. I might have confused people. Gurley, Zeke, Bell, Hopkins for Antonio Brown, five.

And, Jamie, I guess you were probably pretty happy to take David Johnson, six. Thrilled. I mean, he could easily be the number one running back and number one player, as we saw two years ago. I actually, you know, I don't really map out mock drafts very much, but I was kind of looking at it six. I don't think I've drafted six yet this offseason or in the middle of this offseason. I was like, okay, I'm going to take Brown or Hopkins, figuring that the first four picks will be the top four running backs,

and then take the best receiver there. I had planned to take Saquon Barkley in the second round, which I did, but when I saw David Johnson, I'm like, thanks, appreciate it. It's kind of a no-brainer, right? The head of the receivers. And the funny thing is, obviously we're diving into this as we always do and very heavily getting an idea of what players are going to look at prior to the draft and then once the draft is over.

But you never know what the casual fantasy player is, how they're thinking about it. So when I tweeted that my first two picks were David Johnson and Saquon Barkley, I was kind of expecting sort of mixed results of the, oh, I like that or I don't like that. And I was shocked of, oh, you won the draft already. I think people are excited about Barkley, but you never know how people are going to feel about somebody coming off an injury,

especially with what's happening in Arizona with the lack of talent and certainly the quarterback situation. But I think people are just as excited as ever about David Johnson, at least the response I've seen so far. And you want to talk about schedules changing. When last season ended, you thought of the nfc west as a loaded dangerous division with tons of tough defenses the seahawks defense has changed i don't know if the 49ers defense is going to improve very much now the rams obviously that's going to be a problem but then you look at who

else the cardinals play they're playing the afc west that division fairly easy defensively. No, not for running backs. And then NFC North. You've got the Vikings in there, and the other three teams aren't so bad. So maybe David Johnson could make a case for being numero dos. Well, you know what? First of all, you're right, Dave. The AFC West is not that bad,

but the Chargers probably aren't too bad. Sure, but that's the only one. No, the Broncos had a very good run defense last year. They did. Once they got Pecco. And when they didn't have him in that Dolphins game, they were terrible. But I digress. You know, I wish Heath were on.

I wanted to get Heath on today. He couldn't make it. But he's got David Johnson, I think, as his number 11 overall player. And when I do my auction values, he'll be about $22. I get it. And I know it's because he's concerned about the Cardinals' offense. So, you know, it's an interesting concern. All right, so anyway.

I feel like if you're taking a wide receiver that high, you're expecting him to get 1,500 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns. What are you talking about, wide receiver? If he's going to take DeAndre Hopkins. Oh, Hopkins. Or overall, ahead of one of these running backs. It's easier for a running back to play his 14 to 16 weeks. It's easier for him to get 1,500 total than it is for a wide receiver.

Well, I don't know, Adam, you want to jump ahead or not, but here's what his start is. His first two picks were DeAndre Hopkins and LaShawn McCoy, and it could have been David Johnson and Devontae Adams. I'm sure most people would probably sign up for the latter. Yeah. I mean, personally,

I'd go hunt over David Johnson, but that's fine. Okay, even so, same thing. If you're going to go with one of the top five running backs, as opposed to with one of the top five running backs as opposed to taking one of the two elite receivers. Yeah. Well, I agree with you totally.

So top six were Gurley, Zeke, Bell, Hopkins, Brown, David Johnson. Kareem Hunt, seven. Alvin Kamara, eight. What did you think about that? And it's not PPR, so what did you thinkvin Kamara, eight. What did you think about that? And it's not PPR, so what did you think about Kamara going eight ahead of Melvin Gordon, Fournette, Beckham, Julio, et cetera? I don't mind him ahead of Beckham and Julio. It's the other guys that I kind of have a problem with because if you're drafting them over them, then you're expecting him to have exactly the same type of season they just had

and i'm a little worried about it which is why i don't have him in my top eight but he's still a first round pick for me it's just picking between guys that i just feel more comfortable with hitting the marks that i lay out for them i love alvin camara i don't expect him to average 6.1 yards per carry i don't expect him to score as many touchdowns. I hope he's going to get more work. That's the boost that you're expecting to see. But 201 total touches is a little bit I don't want to say alarming, but

it's just hard to bank on that in this format that he's going to be drafted ahead of Gordon and Fournette. And he did not have more than 12 carries in any game. So it's certainly possible that he will. They all came, though, after Peterson was traded. That's the nice thing is that they did give him more work. Yeah, but it was usually 8 to 12.

But for the guy who takes Kamara in the first round, hopefully he gets – he certainly earned it. Hopefully he gets more work. Okay. After Kamara, I took Fournette. Jamie thought I should have taken Melvin Gordon. Fournette, then the last three picks of round one were Beckham, Julio Jones, and A.J. Green, three wide receivers. And then Melvin Gordon was picked in round two with the first pick.

But I love Fournette with the addition of the best guard on the market going to Jacksonville. And, you know, I think Fournette's going to score a bunch of touches. I think he'd be the number one player in this format, personally. It's possible he gets close to number one. The thing that I like best is that he's got a defense that's going to dictate the flow of a bunch of their games. Sure. All right, so no issues. The Camara pick may be a little early.

Any other issues with round one? I think when you get to the back end, and we'll certainly talk about this a lot all off I think when you get to the back end, and we'll certainly talk about this a lot all offseason, when you get to the back end of the first round and you're staring at Beckham, Jones, and Green and knowing that some combination probably of Gordon, Fournette, Kamara, Cook, those are going to be the last four running backs off most people's draft boards, could still be there for you in the second round.

It's easy if you just want to take the receiver that you like best first. And those were Gordon, Fournette, Kamara, Cook, you said? Dalvin Cook? Yeah, I think you're going to see that 8 through 12. Right. That's the group. Right. And then the next running back might be Mark Ingram or LaShawn McCoy

or Devontae Freeman. Barkley. Or Saquon Barkley, right. So that's where the tier ends of running backs. And I think a lot of people drafting at the end of round one are going to be looking for one running back one wide receiver i would have taken two running backs but dalvin cook came off the board well i i mean i i think you got the fourth best wide receiver personally yeah all right so let's let's go a little deeper here so after beckham julio and green are the last picks of round one. Melvin Gordon and Dalvin Cook are the first two picks of round two.

Rob Gronkowski, third overall in round three to Will Brinson, who made that pick on time. Your thoughts, guys, on Gronk, 15th overall. It's always the same thing with Gronk. If you want him, that's going to be the range you're going to have to get him. He's certainly not making it back to you in the third round. So if that's your plan, then he's going to come off the board probably somewhere in the 15 to 20 range, especially now with the trade.

There should be more touchdowns available to him. I think the floor is kind of what he gave you last year in 14 games. He's been the number one tight end in every season. He's played at least 14 games. So it's hard to argue with the production you get from him at that spot. The question becomes the gamble. Could you get Kelsey or Ertz in round three or maybe round four if you want to so go that route?

He could have. As we saw this draft play out, he could have had Ertz in round four. But if Will wanted to get Rob Gronkowski, this is the spot to get him. All right. So Michael Thomas was the next pick to me, and that's who Jamie was talking about. I took Thomas with the fourth pick of round two to pair with Leonard Fournette. Great start. Yeah, I was happy.

And then, you know, I was thinking about Barkley. I know Ingram went ahead of Barkley, but Barkley went three picks later. You know, one pick after Ingram, three picks after Michael Thomas, and Jamie took him. If I knew where he went, it would be an easier decision, you know, if I knew which team was going to draft him. But I don't know. I guess who would you rather have in a standard scoring league, Michael Thomas or Saquon Barkley?

And would it depend on who you picked in round one? Thomas for me right now. I mean, again, I think he's better than Julio Jones and A.J. Green at this stage of his career. I'll take Barkley. I think just, again, the running back has a better chance to get 1,510 than the wide receiver does. And I'm not sure that this Ingram-Camara duo,

even if Camara's numbers do take a step back this year, I don't know if that's such a good thing for Michael Thomas. We saw it last year where he didn't catch as many touchdowns as we would have liked. Yeah, but he had over 100 catches. I mean, it's not like he wasn't involved in the offense. I'm not saying that. They haven't added anything opposite him at all. I mean, they're talking about Cameron Meredith as the guy that could be the second

or third receiver depending on how you want to view Ted Ginn. That's great, but I still feel like you're telling me that Michael Thomas' targets are going to go up a lot. I don't think they have to. Just the touchdowns will go up. I'm not calling him a bad guy. I think you're going to see Saquon Barkley get 40-plus catches on top of 250 carries and get a lot of work, and he's going to finish with more fantasy points than Michael Thomas.

He could be great. But, you know, I mean, if Thomas goes up to seven, eight touchdowns, it's going to be hard for Barkley to necessarily be that much better than him. Personally, considering the targets that Michael Thomas got last year, 149, which is probably a Saints record,

and just Saints wide receivers never got that under Drew Brees. It was always around 130 at most. 149 targets. He could catch 12 touchdowns, I wouldn't be surprised. But the five touchdowns feel very strange to me. Yeah, no. I mean, especially with 100 catches.

Right, right. And assuming the trend continues, he could be better as he enters his third year. Sure. Dave, I mean, anything I said there, Jamie said, sound outlandish to you? No, nothing sounds outlandish. It's just if I have a chance to get a big-time running back, I'm going to take him over to the receiver every time. Sure.

That was a tough call for me. All right, so recapping the beginning of round two, it was Gordon, Cook, Gronkowski, Michael Thomas, Mike Evans, Mark Ingram, and then Jamie took Saquon Barkley. All right, so you started your team and then Jamie took Saquon Barkley. All right. So you started your team with David Johnson and Saquon Barkley, as you had mentioned. Yeah. Again, not necessarily what I was expecting in the first round, but what I was planning in the second round.

And at this point, I'm expecting him to be a New York Giant, a Tampa Bay Buck, or we'll see what happens otherwise. How about an Indianapolis Colt? If he makes it that far. Well, if he makes it to Tampa Bay, he's making it to Indianapolis. They pick ahead of Tampa Bay. That's right. They're picking six. Please, please. The Colts would be ideal, too. First round, I wouldn't even...

If he's a first-round pick after the Colts take him, if people take him in the first round of their fantasy drafts, I would... Fine. Fine. Right? You wouldn't protest that, would you round of their fantasy drafts, I would, fine, fine. Right? I mean, you wouldn't protest that, would you? Yeah, in that situation, I totally understand taking him ahead of Michael Thomas. Yeah. Do you take him ahead of A.J. Green?

Do you take him ahead of Melvin Gordon? Do you take him ahead of Dalvin Cook? Not Melvin Gordon, no. Ahead of Cook, yes. That's where, and I think I'm with you on that one, too. It's going to be, there is a chance that Saquon Barkley is a first-round pick. Sure, and fantasy drafts, yeah. Probably a good chance in the NFL draft.

Probably, yeah. All right, so after the Barkley pick, we have five picks left in round two. Keenan Allen, LaShawn McCoy, Devontae Adams, Devontae Freeman, and Christian McCaffrey. Ooh? That's the home improvement noise. But it's also like, huh? Christian McCaffrey. Ooh. That's the home improvement noise. But it's also like, huh? Christian McCaffrey. I mean, look, I can see it.

No more Jonathan Stewart. It's a lot of carries gone. But 24th overall is interesting. It's all soon. But again, it's like the same thing with Gronk. If you really want to get him and you think this is the breakout, you're coming. This is the spot. I mean, this feels like a bad turn, the 2-3 turn here for the guy who had the first pick.

It is. I mean, you took Amari Cooper. You're kind of hoping for two guys to have breakout seasons, which I don't know if a lot of people want to count on. Right. So, yeah, the picks were Christian McCaffrey and Amari Cooper. A little rough, but do you feel like we're pretty much out of slam dunks at this point? Getting close to that anyway?

Yeah, we're running out. We're running out. I think you are at running back. You could have easily pulled the trigger on the second tight end and the first quarterback, if you want to talk slam dunks. Those guys are available, Kelsey Ertz and Rodgers. I think the way that the Seattle team is shaping up, Doug Baldwin is an easy receiver to target here.

We talked about the positives and the negatives of Tyreek Hill. And then T.Y. Hilton, if Andrew Luck is right, Hilton could be a top five fantasy receiver. So I wanted to tell you guys kind of how I approach this draft. This is the fun part of mock drafts. I really, with my first four or five picks, I was determined to try to just get as many great players as I can. And I know that sounds like, oh, okay, duh.

But it was sacrificing position scarcity to get great players. That was my goal. And, you know, upside was huge. Like Demarius Thomas went 36th overall, and there was pretty much no way I was going to take a guy like that. You know, I'd go for a different position. Like, I don't know that I do this ordinarily, but in this case I would have taken Aaron Rodgers over to Marius Thomas. I was just going to see how it turned out. I just wanted to take as many studs as I could.

And the basis of this, Dave, was how we have talked a lot about, you look at wide receiver 15 through 30 at the end of season rankings, they're not separated by that much. So I kind of felt like just do what you can to stand out at as many positions as possible, sort of forget about position scarcity, and see what happens. And that's why I like the draft. I thought it

turned out pretty well. I thought I got a little lucky with some of the guys who fell to me. I think the general point is forget about position scarcity. I just don't care. I'll figure that out throughout the season. Let's get great players. So then you took Carlos Hyde in round five. Yeah, the end of round five as my flex.

There were a lot of really good quarterbacks that you could have taken then. I took Deshaun Watson in the next round. So you're telling me you view Carlos Hyde as a safer fantasy player than Deshaun Watson. First of all, it was seven picks later. I saw the quarterbacks that were still available. You know how we draft quarterbacks. There are a ton of great ones. See, what I would have done if I were you just looking at it, that's why I would have taken a rookie.

Oh, like Geis? No, Geis was gone, but I would have taken Jones or Michel. But we don't know if Ronald Jones or Sonny Michel is going to be – But to your theory, though, of taking great players, again, we don't know if Ronald Jones or Sonny Michel is going to be in. But to your theory, though, of taking great players, again, we don't know. I mean Barkley could end up in Cleveland, and then we have Carlos Hyde, Barkley, and Duke Johnson. That's the mess that we could be dealing with. So we're taking gambles here, and I think if your strategy, which I like because it's not usually you. We've had this conversation a lot of times about play to win as opposed to playing to make the playoffs. If your strategy is take the player with the most upside,

that is the anti-Carlos Hyde. No, see, I don't really agree. I feel like you're a little low on Carlos Hyde. He was a top 12 running back last year. I know the catches are going to go way down. As the featured guy. Why wouldn't he be the featured guy? I don't think they're going to draft Barkley. I don't think they're going to draft Barkley.

I don't think they're going to draft Barkley either, but I do think that Duke Johnson really hurts what Carlos Hyde does. Well, I mean, two years ago— And you're also counting on Carlos Hyde to be in a situation where a lot of playing with a lead. No. Okay, two years ago, he played for the crappy 49ers and was the 14th best running back in standard, and he caught 27 passes.

So this is my flex, mind you. He's the third running back on my team. And also, at this point in the draft, I mean... With a running quarterback that averages four touchdowns a season. With a running quarterback who always makes his... Oh. He always makes his running backs better. I like the fact that he has a running quarterback. It's been great for LeSean McCoy.

I mean, I think it's a good thing for Carlos Hyde. It very well might. I mean, all your points are valid. I just don't think that he is a player with upside going to Cleveland. I think his value takes a hit. Fine. I wasn't even referring to him. It doesn't have to be every pick.

But, okay, Fournette, Michael Thomas, round three, Derrick Henry, and then round four is probably the best example of this, okay? Because I could have taken Jay Ajayi. I could have taken Alex Collins. I could have taken a rookie. I don't know. I took Zach Ertz. Which was a great value on top of getting a good, safe player regardless of position.

Right, and he's probably not going to be there in average position in round four. Sure. I had to get lucky. But if I hadn't taken him, I would have taken Aaron Rodgers, who went with the very next pick. So I give that as my point. Instead of taking a, gosh, these running backs, there's a lot I like about Ajayi and a lot I like about

Alex Collins, but it just seems like year after year the running backs we take in these rounds, half of them probably disappoint. So I'm taking Ertz there and forgetting it. Okay, great. I'm going to be a little thin at number two wide receiver. I have Deshaun Watson.

And as you already mentioned, Calvin Ridley is my second wide receiver. I have Deshaun Watson. I have Zach Ertz. I like my team. You guys can tell me what you thought about your teams. I'll stop talking about my team. So Cooper, Tyreek Hill to Dave, Jordan Howard, Travis Kelsey to Heath. I don't know if you saw, there's some rumors that Jordan Howard may be getting traded from

the Bears. I didn't see that. Yeah, he apparently deleted all of his Bears pictures on social media. And one thing I saw is maybe to the Colts, which could kill the Saquon Barkley situation. Oh, yeah. So Cooper, Hill, Howard, Kelsey, McKinnon, interesting, and then Doug Baldwin. Those six picks in round three.

And Dave, you took Hill. Jamie, you took Baldwin. Would you have taken McKinnon if he had been there? Oh, you had two running backs. I would not have. I needed a receiver at that point. And Baldwin, to me, is a top-ten guy. Same with me. I needed a receiver at that point. And Baldwin, to me, is a top-ten guy. Same with me.

I needed a receiver badly. I almost flubbed it with my team because the only receiver that I really liked when I was up in round two was Tyreek Hill. But I felt like I couldn't pass on Devontae Freeman. And that's why I took Freeman first. And honestly, I got lucky that Tyreek Hill made it back to me in round three. It's where these guys are going to go. Tyreek Hill will probably be a late second, early third round pick in everybody's draft. But I probably should have taken Tyreek Hill first.

Because then even if I didn't get Freeman, I could have gotten Jordan Howard or Christian McCaffrey with my pick in round three. One of those guys would have made it through. You're comfortable taking Christian McCaffrey with the second pick of round three in a 12-team league? I would have done it if I would have had to. I would have taken Howard ahead of him. Okay. Even with the trade rumors. Although it could end up great if he ends up in Indianapolis.

He's in the Saquon Barkley role. Andrew Luck under center. I'll sign up for that. Jamie, hypothetically, who do you like better? Just top 300 or whatever. Jarek McKinnon, Doug Baldwin. Baldwin. Why not Hilton?

T.Y. Hilton went one pick after he took Baldwin. Why not Hilton? I just want to see Andrew Luck play something. OTAs, training camp. If he looks close to being right, then Hilton is my number 10 wide receiver. Okay. The last six picks of round three were?

But had it gone a different way, had it gone, let's say, take McKinnon out, say it had gone Baldwin, or I'm sorry, just say Hilton was, Baldwin was gone, I would have taken Hilton there. Okay. So after Hilton was Mixon, Derrick Henry, Adam Thielen, Stefan Diggs, Demarius Thomas.

Very interesting picks. Mixon, Henry, Thielen, Diggs, Thomas. Your reactions? It feels like people are reaching for receivers. Right. Is it because you look at Thielen and Diggs and Thomas and you'd say... And Jeffrey. And Alshon. And you'd say, all right, if these guys finished with almost 1,000 yards and seven touchdowns,

that would be a really good year for them. I'd be disappointed if most of those guys did that. But that's kind of what it is now. Sure. For the left... And I'm using leftovers in the most generous kind of way I can. The leftovers of the near elite wide receivers when you get to late round three. We do not have a lot of great receivers in fantasy compared to what we had as recently as 2016.

Yeah, see this. Well, again, the rookie class is going to kind of determine it, especially at the running back spot because you could see Geis in this range. You could see Michel in this range. You could see Ronald Jones. There's a bunch of guys that can make it. Yeah, I think those guys are the ones that if they end in the right spot. But this is where I think you're going to probably start to see ADP-wise. Certainly Zach Ertz is going to go in this spot.

And then this is the quarterback range too because the people that want Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady and Russell Wilson, this is the spot they're going to go in this spot. And then this is the quarterback range too. Because the people that want Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady and Russell Wilson, this is the spot they're going to start to take. That's kind of my point, right? You start to feel kind of yucky about the running backs or receivers. Taking a lead player at another position. Yeah, I mean we had this conversation when we went through the last two mock drafts that we did, the standard and the PPR, that I told you'm certainly the the poster child for weight on quarterback and I'm I'm not gonna do that if the other positions just don't

make sense right you zagged a quarterback when you see running backs and wide receivers that you just don't want to have yeah and that's that's the name of the game of court but you're not going to reach for quarterback or other players that running back and receiver that you like I had no intention of taking a quarterback in round five, but there's Russell Wilson just sitting there. Okay. So moving on. Where are we here?

Alshon Jeffrey is the first pick of round four. Kenyon Drake, Brandon Cooks, third pick of round four. This was after the trade. I'm guessing too early for you guys? Way too early for me. Way too early for me, especially given the receivers. There's like 20 guys I'd rather have ahead of him at this point. 15 guys for sure.

The two Rams guys are still on the board. He's not a top 40 pick. You know what? I'm going to try to do... I don't know if he's even a top 50 pick. He's not a top 60 pick. Where's Will? I'm going to text Will and see if he can come on in the middle of this podcast while we talk about this. To talk what he thinks about Brandon Coates. He took him 39th overall.

And then I took Zach Ertz, and yes, I got lucky. And that's what I was saying. I feel like I got lucky with Derek Henry. I feel like I got lucky with Zach Ertz in rounds three and four. So it just worked out for me. Aaron Rodgers, Jay Ajayi. So this is the interesting kind ofgers, Jay Ajayi. So this is the interesting kind of run here of Ajayi.

Well, the three running backs off the board to begin this round, not that they were the first three picks of the round, but the first three running backs are Kenyon Drake, Jay Ajayi, and Alex Collins. Not bad. All of whom, yeah, these are not bad players to have on your team, and it's good enough value in round four. Yeah i mean i'm just playing hindsight right now at the time i thought okay i i got david johnson i got saquon barkley i'm gonna get a third running back in my top 24 because receiver so deep and i i probably could have taken a receiver here and been a little bit more sound at that spot

but you know now i have a lot of talent at that position which as we know it's hard to find talent that position if he does play to his level that he showed last year i think i think drake and ajay are around three players not round four i think those are good value and alex collins is kind of a round four player just because he looks like he's the guy right now in Baltimore. But the Ravens could always make a change. They're certainly a team that could draft a running back and mess things up for Collins. For now, it's fine. We'll see a month from now if it's still fine.

But I think Drake and Ajay have their roles. I think we can feel good about their roles. And those are the types of running backs that you should feel great about getting in late round three, much less round four. If you decide I'm kind of toying with the receiver receiver strategy for the first two rounds, knowing how thin that position is. I think what that might mean, what type of running backs you go after when you do that. The Dolphins are probably still going to add somebody because I can't imagine what they paid Frank Gore. And knowing that Drake is going to need some help, they're going to definitely draft Ernie Mack.

How dare you disparage Frank Gore like that? The man is a young 35. You know he can get it done. Hopefully he only gets like six carries a game and getting under it gets the rest. So let me tell you this, though. If you do take two wide receivers with your first pick, two picks, I feel like you've eliminated the possibility of taking a tight end

or a quarterback in rounds three or four. I wouldn't say eliminated, but it certainly makes it tough to not go running back, running back with your third and fourth picks. Yes. Agreed. Okay. But that's kind of the move you do if you look at receivers and you look after the first 10 or 11 receivers and you go,

oh, my God, these guys suck. And you just want to cash in on getting stud receivers when you know the rest of your fantasy league won't have them. Of course, the downside of that is you won't have a fantasy stud rusher yeah you'll have some good ones but you're not going to have one of those big time ones i would say the downside of that is you have julio jones mike evans odell beckham and and whatever the uh you know jordy nelson any other guy you want to ty hilton lump into that group jordy nelson what happened to those guys last year after they were drafted early and either got hurt,

quarterback got hurt, or they flopped. So I don't know if I want to necessarily go all in on that if I don't have to because I don't think you have to. So are we kind of organically getting to the point where running back receiver in one way or another is the safest way to start a fantasy draft? I think it depends who you pick. I mean, I think you have a good example of it. I have a good example of it. It's not necessarily getting one of the top six or seven wide receivers,

where I think there's somewhat of a drop-off after those guys. But if you like Doug Baldwin, Tyree Kill, and T.Y. Hilton as a number one wide receiver, then you're okay if you pick early in the first round, or in my case, in the middle of the first round, and can get away with running back, running back receiver. Well, so I'll just finish reading off round or, you know, my case, in the middle of the first round and can get away with running back, running back receiver. Well, so I'll just finish reading off round four and then we'll kind of talk about where the free agents went and our teams, your teams anyway, since they're not going to be as good

as mine, but that's okay. Round four is Jeffrey, Drake. It is. Well, it is. These are your listeners. You want to make sure that they're satisfied. Jeffrey, Drake, Cooks, Ertz, Aaron Rodgers, JGI, Alex Collins, Tom Brady, LSU running back Darius Geis, Julian Edelman, Josh Gordon, and Des Bryant. Okay, so you can see the rest on the website.

But more importantly, how about we take a look at where the big notable free agents like Jerick McKinnon went and the rookies went. And Jamie gave me these notes and here they are. Saquon Barkley round two to Jamie. We talked about that. Round four. Darius Geis to Heath.

Seemed like that was after Alex Collins, after Kenyon Drake. Again, not knowing where he's going to go He's most likely going to be the second running back drafted Right And the next running back off the board Was Dave taking Jamal Williams Five picks later

Followed by Rex Burkhead to Heath Yeah so you can see Rex Burkhead, Deion Lewis The opportunity to take Darius Geis Who's going to be a first round running back most likely in the NFL draft, pretty good in round four. Round six, we had two rookie running backs off the board, Ronald Jones and Sonny Michel. And then in round seven, the first wide receiver comes off the board.

I took Calvin Ridley. Dave took Nick Chubb in a running back out of Georgia, also like Sonny Michel. They shared a backfield in round nine. And Heath took Cortland Sutton in round nine. And then like three rounds later, I asked, did Cortland Sutton get taken? It wasn't three rounds later. What was it, more? Yeah, I think so.

People made fun of me. Rashad Penny, a running back from San Diego State, went in round nine. I think I took a few rookies in this round. How many did you take? Oh, wow. You took four rookie running backs? Oh, I took four rookies. I took three running backs and Anthony Miller.

I took three. I took two running backs and a receiver. I just took Ridley. Let's see. So, Rashad Penny. Yeah, round nine was Nick Chubb, Cortland Sutton, and Rashad Penny, two running backs and a receiver. Round 10, we had running back Kerryon Johnson and DJ Moore,

a wide receiver from Maryland. Round 11, Christian Kirk, a wide receiver, and Anthony Miller, a wide receiver. And round 12, running back Royce Freeman. So just late round picks. And once we get destinations, that will change. How about the free agents or the players who were traded? Kirk Cousins went in round 10.

Quarterbacks went late, as usual. Jarek McKinnon went in round 3. We talked about him. Deion Lewis and Carlos Hyde both went in round 5. There is no excuse to take Deion Lewis over Carlos Hyde in a standard scoring league. True or false? True.

True. Okay. So you admit Carlos Hyde was a great pick? Nope. Shortly thereafter, Allen Robinson was drafted. Or no, no. You took Carlos Hyde at 57 overall? Yeah.

I've got him ranked 57 overall. Nice. Robinson actually went 51st overall. Might be. What else we got, Jamie? We got Jarvis Landry went in round six. Standard scoring, so much less valuable. Michael Crabtree went in round six.

Yeah, you know what, Jamie? Why don't you talk about Landry? I don't think you've spoken about him. I mean, I'm sure it's going to be a lot of the same from him. I don't think he's going to score nine touchdowns again, but he certainly has a chance to be in that five to seven range, which would still put him in the number two wide receiver category if he stays 90 catches and 400 yards.

No, I'm kidding. He'll probably be around 90 catches and 800 yards receiving and five to seven touchdowns. Also, are you jealous that we talked to Nathan Zagura without you? Nope. Why? Because I can talk to Nathan if I want to. I don't need you.

Well, have you spoken to him? When was the last time you spoke to Nathan Zagura? Like where I could hear his voice and he could hear mine? I don't know, a few years. Well, see? See what we're talking about? I don't know. A few years? Well, see? See what we're talking about? I don't. I have no idea what I'm talking about.

Michael Crabtree went in round six. Jordy Nelson went in round eight. Jimmy Graham went in round six. Skipped around. I think people are going to be surprised that Michael Crabtree went in round six. That's too high or too low? I think our listeners will think that that's too high and i don't think it's i don't think our listeners now will because i think they're well educated

i'm sorry i don't think adam's listeners well educated i've got him 67th in my top 200 i think he's gonna kind of be like jarvis landry in a way he's gonna get a lot of targets he's pretty much the best receiver baltimore's got and uh we've seen him before have a knack for scoring touchdowns he did in oakland a couple He's going to get a lot of targets. He's pretty much the best receiver Baltimore's got. And we've seen him before have a knack for scoring touchdowns. He did in Oakland a couple years ago. Of course, he had somebody opposite him that helped him get single coverage in the end zone. I think he can kind of grind his way to decent fantasy production. They could end up having one of the best retread wide receiving cores in the NFL

if they end up signing Eric Decker, who's visiting them today, of Michael Crabtree, Eric Decker, and John Brown. Yeah, I love it. Oh, yeah. So this was the run of wide receivers at the end. And then RG3 will start for them. It will be fantastic. The end of round six, picks 69, 70, and 71.

Crabtree, Jarvis Landry, Robbie Anderson, who had charges dropped. Doesn't mean he won't get suspended, but good development, I guess, in that front. Crabtree, Landry, Robbie Anderson, who had charges dropped. Doesn't mean he won't get suspended, but good development, I guess, in that front. Crabtree, Landry, Anderson, and then Jimmy Graham went. Yeah, I couldn't help myself. I pulled the trigger on Robbie. I just felt that the upside is nice enough in late round six that he's worth it. Okay. Graham, let's see.

Graham went three picks before Hunter Henry. Your thoughts? I think it's about right. It's personal choice, I guess. Okay. I don't think Graham will be as bad as he was the past two seasons in Seattle. I don't think he'll be nearly as good as he was when he was in New Orleans. I think he'll be okay.

And I think Hunter Henry will be about as good. Both of them are going to be very dependent on scoring. So let's take a look at the teams. I think go one more round because then we get to the Rams-Patriots guys. Okay. Round eight. Jordy Nelson. No, round seven.

Round seven. Golden Tate. Golden Tate, Drew Brees, Hunter Henry, Devin Funchess, Chris Hogan, Robert Woods, Corey Davis, Deontay Foreman, Calvin Ridley, Marlon Mack, Will Fuller, Sammy Watkins. A fun round. A lot of names. Golden Tate, Drew Brees, Hunter Henry, Devin Funchess, Chris Hogan, Robert Woods,

Corey Davis, Deontay Foreman, Calvin Ridley, Marlon Mack, Will Fuller, Sammy Watkins. I was so mad that Hogan went right in front of me, and I should have seen who was drafting before me because the sixth round is when I took Sonny Michel, and I really didn't need him. It was more of a luxury pick, and I needed a receiver. And I thought, okay, here's five guys. I thought Crabtree, Landry, Tate, and Hogan.

How many is that, four? Yeah. Four guys. I thought one of them would make it back to me. And I thought Woods was the fifth one. And when I realized, I was like, oh, George Maselli, who's one of our fantasy editors, he's a Patriots guy. And I'm like, oh, as soon as I made the pick, I'm like, he's going to take Hogan.

And sure enough, he did. To me, that's a steal, round seven. I don't know if it'll be this way after the NFL draft, but I feel like the people who were picking after you aren't necessarily as savvy on rookies as you are. So I think you could have easily picked one of those receivers. And there wasn't a running back. Was there even one running back picked after you took Sonny? Marshawn was the only one that went after that,

which I thought was actually good value, getting Marshawn at 68th overall by George. I think you could have gotten Sonny Michel back to you in round seven. Totally. I realized my mistake after I made it, and it's just one of those things where I also don't think Chris Hogan is going to be there in round seven once we get to training camp. And I, you know, this was my second receiver, Calvin Ridley, in round seven, 81st overall. This round really screwed me because all of these guys I wanted to be my number two receiver. Funches, Hogan, Robert Woods, not Corey Davis.

But Funches, Hogan, and Robert Woods, I had all three of them in my queue, and they all went, so that's why. Why not Corey Davis? What's wrong with Corey Davis? I don't know. He's a number three receiver. He's not a number two guy. Yeah. I think he could become a number two guy. He could, for sure, but I don't think anybody's going to draft him as a number two guy.

But then I took Cooper Cup in the next round, which probably got applause from you guys. That was actually a very good pick by you, and again, tremendous value to get him in round eight. I think, you know, again, this draft, I don't know, is very indicative of how the public is going to view this Brandon Cooks trade. The public will still look at Brandon Cooks as a 1,100-yard, eight touchdowns. No, I think once they get hammered over the head of Cooks is not going to be as good. He's certainly not going in round four. He's maybe going to go in round five.

You're probably going to see him in the round six to seven range. And I think people are going to still take Cooper Cupp and Robert Woods ahead of him. You think people will take – I don't. I don't think so. I don't think so. I don't think so at all. I think so. I don't think so at all. I think they'll take Cooks. I do.

I mean, if you look at most of the analysis following this draft, following this trade. Oh, sure. It's Cooks is the clear-cut loser and is the third-best Rams receiver. I will see because that's really going to be a test of analyst versus general public because I – just look at the draft we did, and Will took him so early. I would put Will on the analyst side. Fair. You can put him on the analyst side. He still believes in him, but

I think there's going to be at least three people in every draft that thinks of Brandon Cooks as the guy who thinks of Brandon Cooks based on what he's done, not based on his new situation. Those just might be people who don't do enough research. They don't listen to our podcast. They don't read magazines.

They're not scouring Twitter and other websites. I guarantee you there will. And everybody listening knows who these people are because we draft with the same people every year. You know who these guys are that just show up to your league draft with a magazine, and that's all the research they've done. They buy a magazine the day before, and they go sit on the bowl, and they flip through the

magazine, and then they come to the draft with that same magazine that you should have just left in the bathroom, by the way, and then they draft straight out of the magazine based on what it says. Did you hear from Will? Speaking of the bowl. Well, okay, I'll give you two choices. We can get Will on for the final five minutes, or we can. Well, okay, I'll give you two choices. We can get Will on for the final five minutes, or we can talk about your teams.

Oh, get Will. Yeah, no one cares about our stupid teams. Let's talk to Will. My listeners are going to hear from Will. One second, please. Here he is, Pick 6 podcast host, friend, fantasy player. Didn't really work on the intro, Will. Hello, Will Brinson.

Will, true or false, Adam called our listeners his listeners in an ad read. A hundred percent. Clearly, clearly true. Yeah, no doubt. My listeners, I'm sorry, guys, I was referring to the fantasy baseball podcast. This is your show. All right, well, you took Brandon Cook's 39th overall. Dave and Jamie, I think they called you a bumbling idiot.

I think that was the quote. Not true. But they didn't think that was appropriate. That was way too early. What do you think? I didn't really like the pick. No, I mean, I think that Cooks is going to be interesting in Los Angeles now. And, like, I get that Cooks in the last two years has been traded by Sean Payton and Bill Belichick slash Josh McDaniels,

leading me to believe that he is not quite as real football friendly as he is fantasy football friendly. And I know that Sammy Watkins wasn't great in Los Angeles last year, but I think they can do a lot of stuff with Cooks in that role that will set him up to be successful from a fantasy perspective. And I think it's also worth noting he wasn't my – certainly wasn't my number one wide receiver. I think he was my number three wide receiver and a flex option there. I wanted to go with a running back in that spot.

I can't remember who you took, Adam, but you took him directly in front of me. Derrick Henry. Yeah, I was hoping Derrick Henry would fall back. And I think the couple of running backs that I was hoping to get went right before I picked. And as a result, I don't want to say I panicked, but I decided instead of taking the best available running back, someone I didn't want, I would go with who I felt was a better option as a flex in Brandon Cooks and someone who gives me a little insurance in terms of wide receiver depth. Well, how would you rank Brandon Cooks, Cooper Cup, and Robert Woods,

fantasy-wise? I think that's fairly obvious based on what he did. Well, I know. I mean, I know who he's going to have number one. I want to know who he's going to have two and three. Okay. Well, this is a standard league, too, not a PPR, so I think that drops Cooper Cup pretty far down.

Robert Woods had a great year. I think he'll continue to have a great year. But I think that you're also going to see a standard league, too, not a PPR. So I think that drops Cooper Cup pretty far down. Robert Woods had a great year. I think he'll continue to have a great year. But I think that you're also going to see a situation where his last two stops, both with the Saints and the Patriots, there's been a pretty concerted effort to feed him the ball aggressively, even if it didn't necessarily work out perfectly. On the Pick 6 podcast, Ben Volan of the Boston Globe stopped by with me. He pointed out that Cooks was 7 of 26 on third downs last year when catching

passes from Tom Brady. I think that's probably part of the reason why he got shipped out. He just wasn't a very efficient receiver, even if the volume was there. But we saw from the Saints and we saw from the Patriots that they wanted to feed Cooks. And depending on what happens with this extension with Brandon Cooks, we assume that the Rams are going to try and work something out before the season.

They might not be able to. I think that they're going to want to feed him, whether they extend him or not. If you extend him, you certainly want to get some return on your investment. So I would expect that Cooks is the primary target share guy in that offense. And in a PPR league, I might have Kup a little bit closer to Woods, but I would go Cook, Woods, and then

Kup. So are you surprised to know that Jamie has Brandon Cooks last third? Yes. Well, based on the fact that I don't Yes I wouldn't be surprised

Well I mean Dave, Jamie You guys want to jump in here And tell Will Why you think Brandon Cooks is going to have A major drop in production

No He's made himself look bad enough already I don't want to embarrass him Alright Well I guess They could hear what we said earlier I mean You know Will kind of knows Alright Will So then we're going to end the show With Will Just talking about All right, well, I guess— They could hear what we said earlier.

I mean, you know, Will kind of knows. All right, Will, so then we're going to end the show with Will just talking about what you think of that trade overall. And do you think Brandon Cooks gets 120 or more targets on the ramps? Yeah, I think it would be between 100 to 130. They're going to feed the guy. I don't understand why you, they gave him a first round pick for this guy. It's not like... Yeah, but Will, they gave him a second round pick for

Sammy Watkins and fed him 70 times. Well, he was also, he dealt with a concussion that I think, and I think that they traded for him right before training camp too, Jamie. So it wasn't a situation where he necessarily had a full offseason to integrate himself into Sean McGrady's playbook. Yeah, yeah. I don't know if there's 50 targets there.

Yeah, maybe not. I mean, look, if he gets to 100, and I think Cooks, too, and now this goes against what I think Watkins will do a little bit in Kansas City. I think Andy Reid will be better about it. But I think Cooks is going to be better at some of the routes and some of the concepts that McVay uses. I think he can be equivalent to whatever better at some of the routes and some of the concepts that McVay uses. I think he can be equivalent to whatever Watkins could do in the screen game,

certainly better than what Watkins did last year. I didn't think the Rams used him very well in that regard. And then I think that Cooks is the type of guy who you can run those mesh crossing routes a lot with, and he's going to take the ball and explode for big yards after the catch. He's that sort of wide receiver. He's not going to go down and make the contested catches. I just think he fits well with what McVay does, which is get guys open,

give Jared Goff easy, definable reads, get the ball in your playmaker's hands, and then let them take off down the field. Yeah, he's certainly an upgrade over Sammy Watkins. That goes without saying. He's been a better player. He should continue to be a better player. He should get more targets. And Watkins, in those 70 targets, will score eight touchdowns. I think that's going to kind of define what Brandon Cook's fantasy value is. But he takes a big hit, in my opinion, going from the Patriots and the offense he played in and the role he played in last year. No Julian Edelman, so they needed him a little bit more. Maybe that's where the 7 for 26 came from

and possibly what you're talking about, the coaching staff not being happy with him. But I just can't see him being better than Robert Woods or Cooper Cupp at this point. All right, guys. We're going to wrap it up. Will, thanks for joining us. Always fun, guys.

And if your listeners like good football, tell them to subscribe to the Pick 6 podcast. It's daily. I already did. Every morning for your commute. I already did, Will. I already did. I told my listeners to listen to your podcast and become your listeners.

I was talking to Dave and Jamie's listeners. Oh, okay. Yeah, they should subscribe too. Thanks, Wisco. We like you, Wisco. That's Will Brinson. Wisco. That's Will Brinson, Dave Richard, and Jamie Eisenberg. I'm Adam Azer. We'll talk to you next week, everybody.

Thanks for listening. Have a great weekend. Bye. It's all right. I've got Le'Veon. It's all right. Not George Le'Veon. It's all right.

I've got baby on bell