Fantasy Football Today - 06/06: Top 150 Week: #60-31 (Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: June 6, 2019

Our Top 4 QBs are all ranked between 55-60 overall, so we start the show debating Aaron Rodgers vs. Patrick Mahomes vs. Andrew Luck vs. Deshaun Watson. All three of our analysts have a different #1 QB. There's only one TE in the #60-31 range and it's Evan Engram, but there are obviously plenty of RBs and WRs. We discuss the upside and downside of 30 players who could make or break your teams. 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. Welcome back to the Thursday edition now of Fantasy Football Today.

Hope you've been enjoying it. Five episodes this week, and this is number four, and we've got numbers 60 through 31 in our top 150 countdown. Adam Azer here. Dave, Richard, Jamie, Eisenberg, Heath Cummings. How was the video show today? It was great. Really good.

We talked about a lot of the players that we're going to talk about today. And more. You guys went 60 to1 instead of 31. And tomorrow, a little bit of a program, which is sleepers, breakouts, and busts tomorrow on the video show. So please check that out. All right. We begin our countdown today with three quarterbacks at 60, 59, and 57.

And they are Aaron Rodgers at number 60, Deshaun Watson at 59, and Andrew Luck at 57. Mahomes is at 55. Should we do all four? Why the hell not? Woo! I love it, Dave. I love the enthusiasm.

Let's do it! All right, so consensus rankings have Aaron Rodgers. This is the top four, by the way, at quarterback, and they're all within 55 to 60 in the rankings. So Mahomes one, Luck two, Watson three, Aaron Rodgers four. Very, very close together. Does anybody see a lot of separation between anybody in this pack? Probably Mahomes, but if anyone.

Are they all four very clumped together for everybody, or is there some separation here? They're all for our top four. We all have different number ones. I've got a point per game difference between

the top two and number four. So however big the difference that is. It's not nothing. And I think my top three are Luck, Rodgers, Mahomes. I see them as a cluster that'll go one after the other after the other. If I was picking, it's not going to go that way in your drafts. Everybody's going to take Mahomes first. And then Watson would follow maybe a round behind those first three.

And I've got Mahomes and Watson basically tied, and then Luck and Rodgers basically tied. You know what, Adam? Yeah? If I'm drafting, I want the fourth quarterback off the board on draft day because it means I'm getting him later than one, two, and three, and it's going to be one of these four quarterbacks. Jamie, how do you see these four?

I think Mahomes will go first based on average draft position, and then I think you'll see Luck and Rodgers in some order go next, and then a separation, and then Watson. How do you rank them? I have Rodgers currently first, followed by Luck, followed by Mahomes,

but I may move Mahomes back to one. If Tyreek Hill were there, he'd be one for everybody, I assume, right? Yep. Or Heath? And he'd be someone we'd talk about taking with a top 24 pick. Not really in our blood, but we'd at least be talking about it, sure. I feel like Heath, before the Tyreek Hill news, you had actually said that you liked Deshaun Watson better

than Mahomes in four-point per pass and touchdown leagues. I still do. Yeah, I mean, if you did then, why wouldn't you now? Okay, so then let's talk about these guys other than rankings. Watson. So I think we've said it before, but in case you don't know, this guy is absolutely unbelievable with Will Fuller. When the two of them are together, I won't even go through the numbers,

but in 2017, he scored 40 or more fantasy points in three or four games with Will Fuller. In 2018, he was on pace for 4,500 yards passing yards, which is a lot for him. So how about the case for and against the Sean Watson? The case for is like he we've seen him be the best quarterback in fantasy football before he got hurt his rookie year. They increased his volume a little bit last year. His rushing efficiency improved over the first half of the season in terms of efficiency he's been one of the best quarterbacks in the nfl plus he runs so he has in my opinion he's the most likely quarterback to finish number one besides patrick

mahomes but you can't make an argument i don't think for him outside of the top four okay case against watson how about let's start with they have a bad offensive line outside of the top four. Okay. Case against Watson. How about let's start with they have a bad offensive line. His line sucks and he might get hurt. It could still be one of the worst offensive lines in football, and they addressed it in the draft and free agency, but they addressed it with guys that I don't know are really upgrades. Matt Khalil brought over from, where was his last time? Carolina before Minnesota, right?

He started with Minnesota, then Carolina, right. So Khalil might end up being their left tackle to start the year. They drafted Titus Howard. Do I have that right? Yep. In the first round. And then they drafted another offensive lineman in round three. This line has let Watson get sacked 81 times in 23 games

and once every 8.8 pass attempts. So pencil him in for three sacks a game minimum. And despite that, he's still been awesome. I was going to say, even with that terrible line last year, he was better than, well, it depends on the scoring format, but in four-point press, he was better than everyone. But Mahomes that we're talking about right now. Sure.

And in a standard CBS, he was still better than Rodgers. But just imagine him behind Andrew Luck's line or Aaron Rodgers' line or even Patrick Mahomes' line. And he just, he would be, I think the case for him to be number one overall would be a lot easier to make. Jamie, what's your case for Aaron Rodgers? I'm sure it's a very difficult case to make. Aaron Rod to be number one overall would be a lot easier to make. Jamie, what's your case for Aaron Rodgers? I'm sure it's a very difficult case to make. Aaron Rodgers, number one overall.

I think he's going to have sort of like a prove-it season. He's going to – I think he could be the NFL MVP again. I know that's not a big stretch, but I just think that, you know, the change will be good for him. The change of coach, the change of play calling, the change of just being around a different system that I think got stale over the last two years. And so I love the addition of Matt LaFleur, whether LaFleur is good or not remains to be seen, but just a different voice in his ear. A healthy Geronimo Allison, the fact that he's healthy. Better defense, which I think will give him some more opportunities for plays. I just love the outlook for him this season. So, even

if I move Mahomes to one, Rodgers will be two. Could I play devil's advocate on Rodgers? No. Yeah, of course. Yes, that's what we're here for. Well, I mean, he's my number two quarterback, so I love him just as much as everybody. Just go right at him. Here are his first five opponents this year. Chicago and Chicago. Well, I mean, he's my number two quarterback, so I love him just as much as everybody. You're not even supposed to just go right at him. Yeah, come on.

Here are his first five opponents this year. Chicago and Chicago, Minnesota at home, Denver at home, Philly at home, and at Dallas. It's not easy. Now, granted, we're talking about Aaron Rodgers. He's awesome. But we just got done talking about Deshaun Watson and how he's going to get knocked around it's going to happen Aaron Rodgers too to begin the year it's a fair point because he had 30 fantasy points against the Bears in week one that was great then he had 17 against Minnesota

and two weeks later he had 16 against Buffalo Buffalo was actually really good against quarterbacks now Rodgers was playing hurt since you know from week one on and we saw a few years ago Russell Wilson got hurt in week one and had his worst season. Bounced back as the number one quarterback, I believe, the following year. You know, so if you look at Rodgers, a lot of the numbers are a little alarming. The rate stats are looking worse. You know, the yards per attempt, the completion percentage.

But you cannot just ignore the fact that he was playing hurt the entire season. Let's go to Mahomes. Case for and case against. Make the case for Patrick Mahomes. If you take away 18% of his production from last year, nearly a fifth, he's

still better than every other quarterback last year. That's pretty good. Does there need to be an additional case made for him. No, what's the case against Patrick? What hopes he could lose more than that? Like you could lose Tyree kill for the entire season and have regression. And maybe he's only like the third best quarterback.

Okay. Yeah. And the other cases he had his best, he had the best quarterback season since Peyton Manning in 2013. Manning, after Manning's 5,500-yard, 55-touchdown season, the following year he was the fourth-best quarterback in fantasy. And he still had a great year, but it's just hard to do it again. All right, there are your top four quarterbacks.

You decide who you like best. And then there's just like this little guy just kind of sandwiched in between these stud quarterbacks and his name is dj moore and he is a second year wide receiver for the panthers he's number 58 overall in our top 150 and at wide receiver dj moore is wide receiver 24 all right oh jamie what are we thinking about dj moore right now who had a nice rookie year, only two touchdowns, but solid year? I mean, the hope is that he becomes the number one guy that I thought he was going to be last year. Funches still kind of kept him a little bit at arm's length in terms of just being the go-to guy while Cam was healthy. But as the season went on, he started just to become a little bit more prominent.

And there were two games last year where Funchess didn't play. Week 12 against Seattle, Week 17 at New Orleans. And he had eight catches for 91 yards on nine targets against the Seahawks and four for 81 on eight targets against the Saints, but that was without Cam. So, you know, with the top two guys, this is why I like Curtis Samuel as well. With the top two guys being more in Samuel, there's just opportunities for these guys to be the focal point. And I know that Christian McCaffrey and Greg Olson will get theirs

or whatever tight end is going to be healthy is going to get theirs. But in terms of the receivers, Moore should be the number one receiver from Cam Newton, which puts him in the breakout range for 2019. Do you think he's – how much better is he than Curtis Samuel? I hope significantly. I almost feel like they're similar. Now, DJ Moore is a little more polished than Samuel, I'd say. But they're both shifty, yards after the catch, short area targets, volume-driven receivers.

I think Moore is better at actual receiver things. Yes. I think Samuel has some talents in the short area pass game and maybe in the running game, but I like DJ Moore as an actual pure receiver. I like the fact that he led the team in targets, catches, and yards as a rookie. And red zone targets with eight. That's not a big number, but he did lead the team. Three targets inside the 10-yard line. I did, anyway, before I did some numbers crunching, I did worry about touchdowns because Cam Newton has one season in his career

with more than 24 touchdown passes. That was his MVP season. He had 35. But prior to last year, Cam wasn't right, obviously. Prior to last year, a wide receiver caught 7 to 10 touchdowns in four straight seasons. So I'd be shocked if Moore had ten touchdowns. But at 58 overall, you don't need him to get that.

And I think seven, you know, would be really solid and could be more. Seven would be great. And Cam had a really good year until the end of the year. But and he still wasn't right. Like he was playing hurt. He still was producing even with an arm injury. It was like 12 games, something like that, where he was fine. And then all of a sudden, his arm fell off.

All right. Sonny Michel is next up in our countdown. He is number 56 overall. Number 54 overall is David Montgomery, the rookie running back for the Bears. And number 53 is Mark Ingram. So let's take a look at these three running backs. In our rankings, they are running backs 28, 27, and 26. They are Sonny Michel, David Montgomery, and Mark Ingram.

Ingram being the highest of the three. Obviously, it's very close. I do feel like when we've done our mock drafts recently, he's been the last one to go. He certainly hasn't gone ahead of Michel. But are things changing? It's just in our drafts, I feel. They should.

Yeah, I mean, it's easier to get excited over Sonny Michel than it is Mark Ingram. But Michel, even though ingram's 29 years old i do think michelle's more of a risk partially because of his knee partially because things are so crowded in new england something's up with sony michelle he didn't partake in mini camp that's for personal reasons i don't think it is. I hope it is. I hope so. But the addition of Damian Harrison talked about it on this show when Ben Volan was on

however many weeks ago it was that Harris is going to have a role in this offense. You know James White's going to have a role in this offense. I don't have a problem taking Montgomery out of Michelle

and I'm to me Michelle and Ingram they're back to back in my rankings in PPR and they're two spots apart inback in my rankings in PPR, and they're two spots apart in my top 200. It's not much. So if you like Mark Ingram and that volume that he might get in that Ravens offense, you're going to take him ahead of Michelle.

Michelle caught seven passes in 13 games last year, so obviously he's going to be someone whose value is very different. Non-PPR versus PPR, these are our PPR rankings, and we are outside the top 24 at running back, 26, 27, and 28. Who catches the most passes out of Michelle, Montgomery, and Ingram? I like Montgomery to get that.

I have Montgomery projected for 29, Ingram for 22, and Michelle for 11. I'll take Ingram. He's proven he can be a pass catcher in the NFL. You're talking about a quarterback that's got limitations throwing the ball down the field. Are you comfortable with these guys being your number two running back in PPR?

More Ingram than the other two. Agreed. Who's got the most upside? Montgomery. Hopefully it's Montgomery. I would say Sonny Michelle. I think it's Ingram. I have Ingram ranked the highest, but I think Montgomery could be a monster.

Yeah, but Ingram has been a monster, and they ran the ball more than any team in football last year. A hundred percent. That's why I think he's the safest of the three. But if Montgomery can keep Tariq Cohen off the field in some capacity in the pass-catching role, that's the biggest fear, is that Tariq Cohen just does what he did a year ago. And then that's going to limit what Montgomery can do. Where's Tariq Cohen? Did we talk about him yet, or is he coming up?

He's coming up. Okay. Yeah, so Jordan Howard had 20 catches last year. Tariq Cohen had 71. But remember, this time last year, Jordan Howard was the next coming of Roger Craig. Exactly. Or the next Mark Ingram.

All right, so that brings us to 53 in the countdown, which is Mark Ingram. Now 52. To me, this guy, I think, is... I don't know quite the adjective. Confusing, hit or miss. I feel like a lot of potential outcomes are there for wide receiver 23, overall number 52, Tyler Boyd of the Bengals.

Just kind of snuck up on us with a really good year last year. Where are you guys at on Tyler Boyd, who was number 17 at wide receiver last year? It's a good spot for him. It's a real good spot for him. I think he's a good PPR number two receiver, but toward the low end of almost where he is right in our rankings.

Yeah, 23rd. 21, 22, 23, 24, somewhere in that range. And I like him just a little bit more than that. I've got him just inside of my top 20 at wide receiver and PPR, and I don't know that his numbers really fall off that much because A.J. Green's back.

No, if anything, they might bounce back because he did better with A.J. Green on the field than without A.J. Green on the field. Yeah, significantly better. His 16-game pace with Green was ridiculous. 98 catches, 1,240 yards, and 10 touchdowns. That is a little bit jaded because his biggest game of the year was Week 8 when Green left at halftime, and Tyler Boyd had 100 yards and a touchdown

in the second half of that game. All right. I thought you were going to say the one game where A.J. Green came back and got hurt after one target. I didn't include that one, but I did include the game you just referenced. His 16-game pace without A.J. Green in six games was still really good, 72 catches, about 1,100 yards, and five targets. All right, but thank you. That's good clarity.

Appreciate that. This is an offense that I expect to be a lot like the Rams. Zach Taylor, we've seen just a little taste of what Zach Taylor's offenses look like. And one of the elements that he's leaned on both at Miami when he called plays for the Dolphins for, I think it was five games, and at the University of Cincinnati was slot receivers. That's exactly what Tyler Boyd does. So I think that volume will be there for him again. And I think that the other thing that's like the Rams that might actually hurt A.J. Green a little bit

is the Rams don't throw the ball to anybody 150 times. They spread the ball around. I expect Green and Boyd to be closer in targets than people are probably anticipating. I mean, that's if Taylor's exactly like Sean McVay. Right. Which he better be. Exactly.

But Green, in the past, has needed 150 targets to be really elite and where i would go in a different direction is that the bengals don't have the type of receiving core that the rams have had for the last couple of seasons no but they may have what was at the end of the season with two guys that should be stars boyd and john ross no boyd and aj green no boyd and aj green with like that the equivalent of Cooper Cup getting hurt and just leaving Cooks and Woods. You can have John Ross. I don't want John Ross.

Apparently you do. I do? Why? I just brought up his name. I didn't say I wanted him. I was about to ridicule you for bringing up John Ross. I said they had two guys, and you brought up John Ross. I was ready to pounce. No, I do not want John Ross.

Nobody's ridiculing anyone. Okay, so that's Tyler Boyd, 52 overall. Let's get a tight end in here at 51 overall. On our previous show, we talked about a lot of tight ends. We talked about O.J. Howard, Jared Cook, Hunter Henry, and now we get to Evan Ingram, who is

tight end four, and he's 51. That puts him 15 spots ahead of O.J. Howard, who's tight end five at 66 overall. Is Evan Ingram a round and a half almost better than OJ Howard?

I'll say yes, but it's contingent on his training camp availability because he's another guy who missed minicamp. There's a bigger difference between the big three and Ingram than Ingram and anyone else, but there's a bigger difference between the big three and ingram than ingram and anyone else but there's a bigger difference between ingram and howards and there is between like howard and henry fair it's pretty well said who loves evan ingram this year me well by all means make your case i mean you just look at his numbers when there's been no beckham

that kind of speak for themselves it's just you know the opportunity for him to be the best player in this receiving core is wide open so i hope he takes advantage of it you know i thought he was going to be a bust last year with everybody there uh with the addition of barkley and he kind of was when beckham was on the field he just didn't play as well but um you know his three three of the four games he had last year without Beckham on the field he scored at least 15 PPR points uh you go back the year before 12 games without Beckham he had six with at least 15 you know I just think he's going to be the guy that Eli Manning leans on it's a it's a coach that used to be a former tight ends coach in Pat Shermer we saw what he did when he was the office

coordinator in Minnesota for Kyle Rudolph that one season. I think he's going to realize, I mean, I talked to him about this at DonorsMeet. He realizes that Evan Ingram's a difference maker. So, I think you'll see that come to fruition without Beckham on the field. Where are you drafting him? Round four. Four or five turn. I think it'd be interesting

to see if Ingram hadn't missed five games last year, if he's getting drafted much much closer to the big three because he was actually better last year in term much better in terms of catch rate much better in terms of yards per target better in terms of yards per game yards per reception it was really just the fact that he only played 11 games also there's Golden Tate I mean it's not just we're losing Beckham. We're adding Golden Tate,

who's probably going to do exactly what Beckham, who's going to do something, you know. But your point is taken, Jamie. I mean, 16-game pace last year without Beckham was 88 catches, 1,280 yards, four touchdowns. 16-game pace in 2017 without Beckham was 835 yards and 8 touchdowns. So he has been awesome. And it'll be kind of interesting to see, can he do that with Tate there?

There's obviously a big opportunity. He finished sixth in average PPR points per game last year with 10.8. That's his whole season cumulatively. And that's behind guys like Eric Ebron, who we think is going to take a step back. Jarrett Cook, who probably will take a step back. Let's call it seventh. O.J. Howard also finished ahead of him points per game.

He got hurt. I think if you just look at his 16 game pace for his career is 60 plus catches, 800 yards, and six touchdowns. Yeah. I think I expect more than that. Do you? I've got him at 69, 826, and 6.

If you're taking him as a top 50 pick, you need to expect a little more than that. I think so. But not a lot. All right, listen, I've got to tell you about the World Series of Poker again because I think this is actually really amazing. Events that you cannot see anywhere else you can see on the CBS Sports app or the CBS app excuse me or cbs.com slash poker

that would be 25 bracelet events that you cannot watch anywhere else including the 100k high roller the 100k six max it's going to be a showdown of some of the biggest names in the game so if you want a free trial download the CBS app or go to cbs.com slash poker and start watching the World Series of Poker. We are now in the top 50. Number 50 is Calvin Ridley. Number 49 is Sammy Watkins. Back to back here. And then Cooper Cup is 48. So we go with three wide receivers at 50, 49, and 48. They are wide receivers 22, 21, and wide receiver 20. Ridley, Watkins, and Kup. I'm just going to say it. Watkins, I love head and shoulders above Ridley and Kup this year.

Not even close for me. Cool. I do my projections only on a 16-game basis basis and then i'll just move guys a little bit my rankings if i want to factor in injuries which i don't do with most players because i think i'm bad at predicting injuries but i do it with sammy watkins because they're pretty much a given but his 16 game projection has him as the number eight wide receiver oh yeah it would be so much fun to see him stay home even if tyree kills there just to see what he could do tied with odell beckham oh you're too low on him because i guarantee you he's top five if he plays 16 games i guarantee it

well that's easy easy guarantee to make because you know he's not going to play 16 games so you know how about this do you want to guarantee that he's top five on a per game basis if tyree kill does not play at all right i guarantee he's top 10 on a per game basis no you said top five well i said top five he plays 16 games because obviously some of the elite receivers are going to miss some time i'll say i'll say he's top eight on a per game basis sammy walk with me yeah that's where I have him ranked. Yeah, exactly. Projected, not ranked. Not going to rank him that high, but yes, I agree with you. On a per-game basis, if Tyreek Hill doesn't play,

Sammy Watkins is in a different discussion than the rest of these receivers. You're talking about there's no chance, barring injury, that Ridley's better than Julio Jones, and there's no chance that Cooper Cup is that much better than the other two Rams guys. But if Tyreek Hill is out and you get 13 games from Sammy Watkins as the number one guy for Patrick Mahomes. Yeah, right.

It should be amazing. Yeah, it should be. What do you think of Watkins? You hear the name Sammy Watkins. How would you describe him? Pass that, pass that. Forget about the injury. I would say he's very, very good.

Yeah, really good. Do you think of him as only a deep ball threat? No. He showed us stuff last year that people didn't think he could do. And the year before. Ten of his last 11 touchdowns are in the red zone. You can go back and find games where he has big catches, deep catches

too. So he's much more of a complete receiver than I think people give credit for. So move him up. Move him up a little more. Join us. You have to account for injury with him. Join us. I have accounted for injury. I moved him down. You've got him protected for 16 games you said. Right. I moved him down in the

rankings. If I had him ranked for 16 games. You'd be in your top 12. He would be in my top 15. Okay. Yeah. Let's talk about Calvin Ridley versus Cooper Cup. Who do you guys like there? Cup. Assuming he's healthy. I'm going to go with Ridley.

I believe I have Ridley ranked higher as of now. I'm just nervous the touchdowns come down and he doesn't do much else to enhance his numbers. I do have the touchdowns coming down to seven. But I think he gets more targets. But you said today on the show

you thought they're going to be better running the ball. Yeah, I think so. So who's losing then? If he's getting more targets? Sanu and Hooper would be the candidates. Because they would definitely be a candidate. Yeah, I've got Hooper for a couple less. I believe, and I need to look,

I believe they threw like 60 targets, too many targets to bad receivers last year, too. I think Julio Jones had like 170, didn't he? He led the NFL. So does anybody have the Falcons targets from last year? And I'll just tell you where I just. Do I really have to look this up? Well, not if you don't.

We can just talk about something else if you don't want to talk about it. Well, why do you like Ridley better than Cup? Let's talk about that. I think that he will get more targets this year than Cooper Kup. So nobody outside of Julio Jones had more than 100 targets. Sanu was at 94. Ridley was at 92. Hooper was at 88.

Those were their top four guys. I've got Hooper at 80, Sanu at 86, and Julio at 166. So those are all a small drop from last year. And Ridley goes from 92 to where? 109. Then you think that Matt Ryan's going to throw basically the same amount as he did last year. I've got him at 570. What did he have last year?

604. 604. I don't want to get too bogged down in the math with Ridley because this guy has big playability. He's great. I don't want to come across as I don't like Calvin Ridley. I just think he's a 65, 807 guy. Yeah. How do you weigh that against he was a first-round pick with a great pedigree?

Are we missing a – I said this about someone else yesterday. I don't remember who it was. But, like, are we missing a star? Oh, Mike Williams. You know? I said this about someone else yesterday. I don't remember who it was, but are we missing a star? Oh, Mike Williams. How do you weigh what your brain is telling you against, hey, there's this chance that Calvin Ridley's just awesome. There's another guy on the field with him that's better. Right.

But I think Cup might have two guys on the field with him that are better. Maybe. They might be, but I think the Rams have I think the, the Rams have like such a distinct skillset with their guys. Cooks is their deep threat. Woods is kind of their do it all guy. And cup is the guy that lives in the middle of the field and scores and scores. And so like Ridley to me is, is the chance to be a do it all guy.

But I want to see that from a little bit more first. I want to see him go from like, okay, so he gets 17 more targets. That very well happened. But if he doesn't convert those to touchdowns at the same level that he did a year ago, is he taking those 17 and turning it into a 1,000-yard receiving year? I've got him at 970. And how many scores? Seven.

So he loses three touchdowns, but he goes over 150 more yards. Right. By the way, Cooper Cup had seven targets inside the 10-yard line last year. He was on pace for 16 touchdowns. He was on pace for 16 touchdowns in the eight full games that he played. Right. Yeah. All right. That might be part of it.

I've got Cooper Cup with six touchdowns. He scored five as a rookie. He scored six in half a season last year. If he scores eight or nine, then that'll look silly. How much of Cup's ranking has to do with the ACL? I'm not too worried about it. I don't think he should be anymore. All right, let's move on, guys.

From Cooper Cup to two running backs. They were both very good in PPR last year. One of them has certainly the ability and the opportunity to get a lot more carries. Kenyon Drake is number 47 overall in our rankings. Tariq Cohen is number 46. Drake is RB25. Tariq Cohen is RB24.

Do you look at them as similar players or very different? Last year they were similar. I think this year probably pretty different, right? I think Drake could be a monster. I really do. I just hope that Brian Flores realizes it.

But, I mean, look, Kalen Balazs is just so unproven. The young kids that they have there, I mean, it just sets up for Drake to have just a monster season. I have a hard time not putting him higher than I do. I'm looking at our rankings right now. Heath, you have him at 16. Kudos to you because I think he could be in that range. It's just like I

can't bring myself to put him ahead of guys like Marlon Mack and Kerryon Johnson. As much as I'm nervous about Damian Williams, I even have Damian Williams ahead of him, but I would not be surprised if he's better than all those guys. He's going to be one of the best values on draft day if he does what he's capable of doing. Yeah, and confession, he is another guy like Sammy Watkins that I've ranked below where I have him projected.

Because? Because I have him projected as the number 12 running back in PPR. I don't want to rank him that way. The funny thing is you're the high guy on 16. He finished better than that last year. And what everybody will tell you was a bad season. And it was. It was a bad season just in terms of his usage and the comfort and

confidence that you had in putting him in your lineup. But he still was productive in that bad season. It's like a poor man's David Johnson. Like things can only get better for him. And if they do, it could just be ridiculous. We just got done talking about touchdown regression with Calvin Ridley. Drake had nine touchdowns total last year.

Is he going to get that many again? Well, his touches should go up. That's the whole key. It's like, I mean, look at what he was in 2017. I think he should touch the ball 280 to 300 times. Oh, my gosh. He should. Now, I don't know if he will.

I think he's going to see a lot of action because the Dolphins are going to trail a ton, and he's going to catch passes out of the backfield like a madman. If you told me Kenyon Drake was going to lead all running backs in receptions this year, I'd say, all right, all running backs might make me feel a little steep, but top six? He has almost identical touches to what Tariq Cohen had. 173. Tariq Cohen had. 173. Tariq Cohen was at 170. He averaged four and a half yards per carry.

He had 73 targets in the 53 catches that he got. I mean, what do you have him projected for? How many carries? So he goes from 120 to where? 224. Okay, so 100 more carries. I would knock that down to, let's say, 70 more. So let's say he's just shy of 200 carries.

I think 53 catches is easy for him in this offense. I've got him at 58. Right. So I think that's low. I think he can get 65. So if he goes from 173 to 250 to 270 just in terms of his total touches, at just over 1,000 total yards last year, and again, what was just a terrible scenario for him.

Frank Gore got so many wasted carries. Say something mean about Adam Gase. Moron. I just think that Drake has a chance here to – I'm going to move him up right now. All right. Hold on. So I want this alive move up.

Who are you moving him ahead of? Damien Williams easy wow that can't be that easy man I'm planning him right at 28 which is right where I've had him so Dave make the case for Tariq Cohen please real quick and that's in PPR I'm going to keep him where he is yeah I've got him

way in the back of the pack in PPR because I just don't trust anything Dolphins at this point make the case for Tariq Cohen yeah if you could in 30 seconds I'm a bad person I've got him way in the back of the pack in PPR because I just don't trust anything Dolphins at this point. Make the case for Tariq Cohen? Yeah, if you could in 30 seconds. I'm a bad person to ask for that. Who's making the case for Tariq Cohen? He ought to catch another 70 passes.

He's going to have around 100 yards. He'll be wildly efficient. He'll score six to eight touchdowns. He's a valuable running back in PPR that you probably don't want to start, and you're not feeling great about flexing in non-PPR. There were nine running backs who caught more than 60 passes last year. Six of them, let me just get the, gosh, what the hell was it?

Six of them finished, this is my James White stat. Six of them finished in the top 12, I think. And then the other three were Jalen Rashard, Theo Riddick, and someone else who I'll tell you about later. I apologize. Alright, moving on. We got Chris Godwin, 45. Chris Godwin is

45 overall, and yeah, we'll just talk about Chris Godwin. So I had mentioned several times that I felt like he was sort of going a little bit too high. And this is kind of where he was going. So do you guys think 45 is right for Chris Godwin? If you want Chris Godwin,

you've got to be in this area to get them. I don't think you'll ever see him in round five, unless you're drafting with noobs. Is that deserved? Yes. You heard Bruce Arians come out and say that he's got a chance to be a 100-catch guy. He will not leave the field.

Last year, he did. He's going to play in the slot more, or at least that's the thinking, unless there was a report about some other receivers at Bucks camp looking good in shorts. I think Godwin's got the job on lock. He didn't have a lot of 20-point PPR games last year, but he had a lot with 16 and 17.

And to me, that's a telltale sign for young players. When they're that close, when they have so many games that are just close enough to reaching a certain point, that they get in a position to be put over the top. He's actually part of the reason why I'm a little nervous about O.J. Howard having a big breakout year because I think Godwin is the one who has the breakout year in Tampa Bay. There's so many targets available

though just giving Howard a bump on what he did a year ago plus the loss of Deshaun Jackson, the loss of Adam Humphreys. It's not like Godwin's going to do all that by himself. I think Evans should still get a good... Very close to what he did a year ago. The fourth most targets available from last year 234. Yeah yeah they also had the number one passing offense last year and i i don't think

that'll happen again i mean that should be high but you think probably won't be number one uh but i think the good thing about when you compare wide receivers and tight ends is like they both could be really good because godwin could catch a ton of passes, and O.J. Howard could catch touchdowns, and then they're kind of like problem solved. All right, so that's Godwin, and let's go to our next running back. It's James White. So he's just ahead of Tariq Cohen but basically tied,

and then we have Chris Carson right after James White. These guys are 44th and 43rd in our consensus rankings and that brings us to rb james white rb 23 and chris carson rb 22 uh jamie who do you prefer between white and carson on ppr james white i just think what he does in the passing game um should still be right on par with what he did it's just the touchdowns you know can he sustain sustain scoring as much as he did a year ago? But with what this receiving core is lacking, especially with Gronk gone, this is going to be one of two safety valves for Brady

along with Julian Edelman. So I don't like him this high in non-PPR for obvious reasons, but I think in PPR, 80 catches would not be a stretch for him. He's also in a contract year too. He had 87 last year. Here was the stat. Nine running backs caught 60 or more passes last year. Six of them finished in the top 11 in PPR.

Then there was Naeem Hines who was 27th. Jalen Rashard 29th. Theo Riddick was 43rd. What scares me about pass catching running backs in general is I do feel like they sort of rely on receiving touchdowns. Those are really hard to predict. in general is like, I do feel like they sort of rely on receiving touchdowns, and those are really hard to predict.

And that gives you some bust potential. And what do you make of the fact that in his last seven regular season games, James White only had 42 targets. In his first nine, he had 81 targets. They just didn't throw to him as much until he had 15 catches against the Chargers in the playoffs. Well, four of those first nine without Edelman, right? That's true, but the next five, he still was getting a ton of targets. Yeah, I mean, look, they went through some changes.

You had Josh Gordon leaving the team, so that was a change. You had the return to health of Sonny Michel. That was a change, so they had some months of a stronger running game. Michel was battling that knee injury early in the season. I think that's just the way the Patriots are. They'll start to, I think, scale back some guys when it comes to getting them ready for the playoffs. Okay, so actually, our next

running back is Chris Carson, but instead of grouping Carson with James White, it makes more sense to group him with the next two guys on the list. Carson's 43. Brandon Cooks is 42. We'll come back to him. Josh Jacobs is 41, rookie running back for the Raiders.

And Tennessee running back Derek Henry is number 40. So how would you guys rank? The consensus is Henry, Jacobs, Carson. How would you guys rank those three? Just like that. Henry, Jacobs, Carson. How would you guys rank those three? Just like that. Henry, Carson, Jacobs. Jacobs, Henry, Carson. All right, there you go.

So let's start, well, I guess we'll count down. Let's start with Chris Carson. Give me quick thoughts on Chris Carson. 14th in non-PPR, 15th in PPR last year. Only 20 catches, though. Yeah, I think, I mean, if Rashad Penny doesn't take the job from him and he stays healthy for 16 games, he's got

a very good shot to be a top 12 running back, regardless of format. But there is a little bit of fear over Penny taking too many touches for that to happen. Does it bother you that he only had six games with more than 15 PPR points or 15 or more PPR points last year?

Not particularly. Yeah. When I'm drafting that number two RB, I'm looking for somebody that can give me a little bit more than that. I would just wonder how many he had with 13 or 14. I think I got one. I got two. Two.

So what's a good number? Honestly, I think the number is 18. For what? For a quality day at the office in PPR for a running back. I don't know. That sounds high. That's high. That's extremely high.

It was the average for the top 12 last year. But he's not going to the top 12. No one's considering him as a top 12. We're not drafting him to be that. Plus, Carson will probably be better in non-PPR because he only caught 20 passes last year in 14 games. And he had one game with six catches. Right. So I'm not looking for him to get me 16 per game.

No, he's outside my top 24 for PPR. Where is he in the consensus? I'm sorry. Let me just look that up. I think it was, what, like 21 or something? I think 23, I think, maybe. And I've actually moved him down a little bit. He probably was more like 24, 25.

I think there still is big upside here because it's going to be one of the most run-heavy offenses in the NFL. But does he go from where he was at the end of the season, which was 22-22, 27-19 carries, with again factoring in that game in San Francisco in Week 15 when he had six catches, to where it was closer to the beginning of the season where at least at the beginning it was 7-6. Then he had the 32-carry game against Dallas, which was kind of like, okay, he's the guy.

Missed the game the following week. You know, it just – I feel like he's closer to where he was in that Week 6 Oakland game, 14 for 59, no catches. Let's just say he has one catch or two catches in that game. So 15, 16 touches. If Rashad Penny's doing what he's supposed to do, healthy now, wasn't healthy last preseason, expectations are going to be a little bit higher for him.

He knows the offense now. He didn't know the offense last year. I just feel like Penny's going to be so much of a nuisance for him. You're hoping for this Green Bay game, which was 17 carries, 83 yards, and a touchdown. The Carolina game, 16 carries, 55 yards, and a touchdown, two catches on top of that. That feels closer to what he's going to be.

Still potential to start, but just not necessarily guaranteed giving you what he gave you a year ago. So I'm very concerned about him. The only saving grace for him is, like you said, Heath, this offense is so run-dominant that gives him the opportunity to get a lot of touches. Okay, let's move on to Josh Jacobs now. RB 21 in the rankings and number 41 overall. Thoughts on Josh Jacobs?

Awesome landing spot. Best landing spot that, well, I guess Tampa Bay would have been. I don't even know. Tampa Bay would have been as good. We'll call it that. But the offensive line in Oakland has gotten better, and he's going to get a lot of work in this offense. John Gruden wanted him.

John Gruden told him before the draft, I'm going to take you if you're there at 24, and he did. Track record of running backs in Gruden's system is pretty good. Ten of 12 years, a running back has totaled over 1,000 yards. Nine of 12 years, a running back has totaled over 1,000 yards. 9 of 12 years, a running back has had 40-plus catches. 7 of 12 years, a running back has scored 7 times. Even though we were disappointed with Marshawn Lynch and Doug Martin for the most part of last season, they combined for 9 games with 15-plus

touches. He's going to be better than that. I think he's got great upside and a pretty safe floor too based on gruden's history and i don't mind that he only had 299 touches in college at alabama that inexperience i i like it yeah that's that's where dave and i are different i just and i think there are like you can be on both sides of this. I would rather have a back that I've seen handle 15 to 20 touches a game for a full season. Not that I think it means he can't do it. He very possibly can.

We just haven't ever seen it. The things that worry me are how much do the Raiders run with their defense and with Antonio Brown and all the investments they made in the passing game. And when they do pass, is it Josh Jacobs or is Jalen Richard who got 81 targets last year? And I think is very good and has been very good statistically in that role,

still the third down back. We have had at least two rookie running backs finish in the top 12 four straight seasons. So if you get Josh Jacobs at 41 overall, you could be very, very happy with that. 10 more players to go in the countdown today and then 30 more tomorrow. Brings us to Derrick Henry. Derrick Henry, yeah, what a fun year he had. Was, you know, a huge bust until the final four games of the year when he averaged 6.7 yards per carry, had 585 yards and seven touchdowns in those four games.

I wish I had... I can try to look it up, actually. His start percentage in the Jacksonville game on Thursday night when he had four touchdowns and 200 yards or whatever it was. 17 carries, 238 yards and four touchdowns. Derek Henry, how do you feel about him?

Go. I mean, he's obviously better in non-PPR than he is in PPR, but his chance in this offense is special. You know, I mean, he's got every opportunity to be the feature back. I know Deion Lewis will get some catches or some touches, obviously, you know,

be the guy they use in the passing game, but, you know, if they learned something from last year, it was that Derek Henry can actually be the catalyst of their offense. They things which you know you look at the beginning of the season to his first three games he had at least 18 carries so it's not like they were going away from him or not trying to get him going he was their guy but that's when mariotta was hurt delaney walker was hurt there was a lot of what the hell do we do you remember that houston game in week two we got 18 carries but they were just basically saying we're going to try and win this however we we can and they did uh but the end of

the season 17 33 21 16 you know uh three catches over that span so you just know what he is he's not going to be a high volume catch guy he's going to be a high volume rush guy when he scores you'll be thrilled when he doesn't you just have to hope that he gets you what he did in week 17 16 for 93 when that's not a bad day at the office. It's just not a touchdown. I don't think you should count on him for receptions at all. He did say this offseason that he wants to be – he's working on his receiving game and he wants to be used there. And if the Titans are really going to commit to their offense being, okay, Derek, go, then they've got to find ways to make him go, and one of those ways has to be through the air.

So I wouldn't be surprised if he had an uptick in catches, Could be in the low 20s by the time it's all said and done. But we're always looking for running backs that are going to have 15 plus touches and work the goal line. Well, hello, Derek Henry, you're going to do exactly that. So I'll just give you an example for me with in PPR. I struggle with him versus three coin. Yeah, I'm taking Henry all the way. I'm not as confident. Yeah, I've got Cohen about five or six spots ahead of Henry. It's just what their skill set is is dramatically different in each format.

Henry, by the way, was only started in 14% of leagues that fateful night. All right, next up in the countdown, we've got a wide receiver. So Derek Henry was RB20, and Kenny Galladay, I believe, is wide receiver 17. derrick henry was rb20 and kenny galladay i believe is wide receiver 17 and he's next up in the rankings and uh he is number 39 overall only thing like the only flaw i guess i could find in galladay is that he really did a lot of

his work after golden tate and marvin jones like a lot of his big damage you know they were out traded or hurt so i think it's pretty like it's immense upside it's immense talent and there is fear over fact he's on a team that has just screamed all off season we want to run the ball and draft the tight end to take targets i'm usually pretty pumped when I draft him, though. But 39, I feel like he's... Oh, he's a fun player to draft because you can just imagine him jumping over guys and grabbing the ball with one hand and dancing into the end zone.

He's fun to have. Yeah, that range, I kind of like it. I'd take him over the Rams guys. Would you? Yep. I'd take him over Cup. Maybe Cooks, not Woods. not woods okay yeah he is fun he was 21 last year in 15 games number 21 wide receiver only five touchdowns and you know a bad year for stafford because he was hurt most of the year so hopefully gets better any final thoughts hopefully god is healthy

sure i hope so. All right, cool. We got some running backs coming up now. Devontae Freeman, Marlon Mack, Philip Lindsay, and Kerryon Johnson. And you get to this point in the draft, 38, 37, 36, and 35 overall in our PPR rankings. Again, counting down, it's Freeman, Mack, Lindsey, and Kerryon Johnson. Do you feel like all of them have some risk, or do you feel like any of them are really safe? None are safe.

Nobody's safe. But Mack is the one with tremendous upside. You don't think all of them have tremendous upside? They all have so much upside, it's amazing. Who's got have tremendous upside? They all have so much upside. It's amazing. Who's got the most upside? They're all going to be in timeshares. I think Mack might be in the least timeshare.

I don't think Hines is going anywhere. He's not going to take the work that Mack got last year away, but Hines is a part of the offense, I think. Two, three catches a game? I would expect more like four to maybe five. Yeah. Okay, so out of Devontae Freeman, Marlon Mack, Phillip Lindsey, and Kerryon Johnson, who has the most catches of this group?

Mack. I'll take Kerryon. I'll take Freeman. You know, carry on sneakily had 23 catches in 10 games last year that's you know that's not great but it's not like oh PPR liability

but it's also look at what he did before he got hurt like those first few games well those final few games I guess really started to get more involved it's it's it's like there's probably a better sample size you can use in over 10 games. If Kerryon Johnson stays healthy, he's just going to be amazing. Yeah, I totally agree.

He's going to be great. I probably feel that way about all these guys. I guess Philip Lindsay gives me a little pause because he was an undrafted free agent. But every single thing, your eyes, the metrics, the advanced metrics seem to tell you he was awesome last year. Carrion's final four games before the injury, six catches, three catches, six catches, two catches, and that was on 21 targets over those four games. Nice. So I'll tell you guys, to be honest with you,

Devontae Freeman, Marlon Mack, Phillip Lindsay, and Carrion Johnson, I don't know that I would have the same pick every time if I were drafting and they were all available. I might mix it up because I'm not sure I confidently feel that one of these guys is better than the rest. The fun thing about it is, depending on how your draft goes, if you go receiver-receiver, you can have two of these guys as your starting running backs, and you should be ecstatic about it.

That's a great point. Do you have a preference to top two guys?. Do you have a preference, the top two guys? I like Kerryon and Mack, the top two, but I could see it going to be. Lindsey just makes me nervous because coming back from the injury, I think the fact that he's going to be ready for training camp is good, but it's a tough injury to come back from, and I do think that they're going to give Royce Freeman more work. It's almost like the Seahawks on a different scale

because I think Lindsey will still remain the lead guy by a significant margin, but I don't think that Royce Freeman's lack of work last year will be the same. I think Freeman will get a bigger piece of the pie. The only reason why Kerryon Johnson is third for me is because I can't stand the Lions coaches

and their demand to have two or three running backs split the workload. How dare they want their running backs to be healthy and last the full season? Yeah, he got hurt last year. So Marlon Mack's very injury prone. Devontae Freeman's obviously injury prone. Phillip Lindsey's currently hurt.

So there's that risk. Marlon Mack averaged over 16 carries per game. That's a 260-carry pace that he was on. If you get 260 carries in the Colts offense with Andrew Luck, the quarterback, and that offensive line, you're going to just shine. The only thing I'll say about that, and I like Marlon

Mack, but I think I might be a little lower on him than most. Part of the reason the Colts running back thing was so attractive was because of how Luck dumped the ball off and the success they've had in the passing game. Right. That didn't go to Mac last year.

No, but I think that's something that might this year, but he's better at it. But when Heinz is on the field, I think it tips to the defense, what they're up to. Cause why would they take Mac off? Cause they want to throw.

I think the, my point is, is, and I, I know what you're saying. He's like, is a good point. And Mac's not going to be a dominant pass catcher think my point is, and I know what you're saying, is a good point. Mack's not going to be a dominant pass catcher. Yeah, but I do think. He's going to struggle to get to 30.

I do think he gets a lot of touchdown opportunities. He's clearly, unless they bring in Wilkins or something, he's getting the goal line work. The Dallas offensive line, I think, whether pro football focus or whoever grades it out to be, is still going to be the gold star of what everybody considers to be the best offensive line in football. The Colts could be number two. And so if you're just looking at what the offense could be, play caller, quarterback, offensive line, he's the dominant running back in this group of their guys. It's not Hines.

It's not Wilkins. It's just that Mack, if he could play 13 plus games again like he did a year ago, you know, I'll go back to Chris Ballard at the Combine when they were talking about you're going to consider drafting another running back

or bringing somebody else in. And he said, you know, Mack over the playoffs gave us 1,100 total yards. And I don't think we've seen the best of what he could do yet. And how about this? Marlon Mack missed four games last year,

and he had 12 carries inside the five-yard line, which was really good. Second on the team was Naeem Hines with three carries inside the five-yard line. So, you know, goal line dominance, at least in terms of the share of carries, would be really good for a Colts running back. Like, if he could just get to 40 to 45 catches and stay healthy,

it's a lot of ifs, but he could be, you know, top 10. Yeah, sure. I feel like true or false, any of those four guys, Freeman, Mac, Lindsay, carry on top 10 potential, right? Yeah. Freeman. I mean, look, if he plays 16 games, we've seen it before, you know, and you want to talk about offensive offensive line upgrades. on top 10 potential, right? Yeah, Freeman, I mean, look, if he plays 16 games, we've seen it before. And you want to talk about offensive line upgrades. Nobody upgraded their offensive line more than the top 10.

So if he plays 16 games, you're going to be thrilled with his value as well. Two more running backs, two more wide receivers left in our countdown. Next up, we've got the wide receivers will do, I robert woods is 34 overall and adam feeling is 32 overall well i'll be honest with you i i i felt like there's a lot of separation between those two guys the consensus rankings would obviously indicate otherwise um so discuss woods versus dealing i actually have woods ahead ofielen right now in both formats.

And my biggest concern with Thielen and with Diggs is how run-heavy this offense goes. They had so much success last year in the first three quarters of the season. And then down the stretch, when we were kind of keeping track of it, because Thielen dominated the targets early in the year, and that really changed in the second half. And Diggs got a much larger share of the targets. I'm not, I got Thielen at 115 targets.

It doesn't feel good, but that's where I'm at. It happened in the three games, too, when Stefanski took over as the play caller. Thielen was battling injury then, but it was Diggs and Rudolph getting a much bigger share of the targets than it was for Thielen. And there weren't very many targets. Not enough to chop up three ways. No, and if they want to be as run heavy as they can. Look, Mike Zimmer

is on the hot seat. If they don't make the playoffs or make a significant playoff run, he may get fired. So he's going to go out swinging the way he wants to go out, and that's going to be run the ball, play defense. And so as much as they invested in Kirk Cousins last year and they have these two amazing receivers with a great now tight end group, with you factoring Irv Smith and Kyle Rudolph,

the chance for them to be an explosive pass offense is still there, but I don't think that's what Zimmer wants to do. And bringing in Gary Kubiak sort of speaks to that. So Thielen's numbers will still be good. It's just I think the problem is with him is you're drafting him to be what he was in those first nine games when he was being mentioned in the same category as Jerry Rice.

And so it's just hard to expect that to be the case once again. So I don't have a problem getting Adam Thielen, but I will never get Adam Thielen because of where he gets drafted. Yeah, sorry. I just want to give the numbers because they're eye-popping. Yeah, please. In his first eight games, his 16-game pace was 148 catches, 1,850 yards, and 12 touchdowns on 192 targets.

It was outrageous. It wasn't 16 touchdowns? Didn't he have a touchdown every game? First eight games, no. He had six touchdowns. He had 100 yards in every game. 100 yards in, I'm sorry. You're right.

Yeah, yeah. It was amazing. What an animal. And I figured it was the change in the offensive style and whatnot, and the targets going down at the end of the year that would make you drop Thielen close to Robert Woods. He was also

playing through an injury. He had a back and calf issues at that point. Dave, what were you going to say? I apologize. You're talking about mouths to feed in Minnesota and the offensive style, and I think you could make the same case with Robert Woods, and it's why I've got some pause with Woods. I think he's going to be, obviously, an integral part of the Rams' offense,

but he did a lot of damage with Cooper Cupp on the shelf. He did some with Cupp on the field, too, but I'm worried about target share for both him and Brandon Cooks once Cupp comes back. He was pretty awesome when Cupp was healthy, though. Actually, his numbers were better with Cupp cup he was the most targeted ram last year when he was healthy he missed the last four games of the season but he he was getting the most targets in that like it's two years in a row now i think he what were his targets with cup versus without cup i mean

i'm just looking at his game log nine nine eleven then a little dip five and seven then the seven was the game where Kup got hurt, but he had 5 for 92 in that game. Then 10-7-7. His targets actually didn't dramatically rise. I will say this, though. I believe Jared Goff's pass attempts went down late in the season. Yeah, it's like almost after the Chiefs game.

Yeah, big time. They started running the ball a lot. They were blowing out opponents a couple times. Goff himself wasn't really playing that well. It was like they lost Cooper Cup and they also didn't throw as much. I guess the targets would probably remain sort of the same in that

maybe a bigger share. I'm not sure. I always think of Woods, and I'm looking at it right now because it would happen three games in a row. When I do my rankings on a week-to-week basis, I think five for 70. That's almost consistently what he does. And he had that three-game stretch. Week 7, week 8, week 9.

5 for 78, 5 for 70, 5 for 71. So 12 in PPR, 7 in none. And his 16-game pace for the Rams is 81, 11, 43, and 6. I've got him projected for 77, 10, 59, and 6. And that's the number 16 wide receiver. He's somebody, Adam, on a lesser scale of what you were talking about with guys like Mike Williams and Ridley, of pedigree and opportunity,

because he had a terrible opportunity in Buffalo, and he got a great opportunity with the Rams, and he was considered a very good receiver coming out of USC, and he finally got the chance to prove it. All right, let's finish up. What round on him? Oh, late round three, early round four in PPR. We'll finish up with two running backs.

Aaron Jones is 33rd overall in the PPR rankings, top 150. And Leonard Fournette is 31. By the way, Thielen was wide receiver 15 and Woods wide receiver 16. We're now talking about Fournette and Jones who are running back 14 and running back 15. So we're basically in the same range at running back and receiver. And we are done with 31 through 60 today.

So we finish off with Aaron Jones and Leonard Fournette. And I know Jamie really liked Fournette this year to bounce back, right? In a big way, yeah. I think, you know, last year was a disaster, clearly. He was hurt. He was bad. Offensive line was bad.

Bortles was bad. Everything was just bad for the Jaguars. But you go back two years ago, he had over 1,000 yards rushing. Was on pace for, what, like 40 catches? 39 catches, something like that. The offensive line is one of the biggest keys for me. Center, left tackle, tackle left guard all hurt last year they're all expected to be back healthy the addition of joan taylor i think is going to be

huge on that offensive line um for net and you know presumably according to all reports better shape uh coaching staff front office all behind him once again and so i think you look at it that two years ago they led the nfl in attempts. I think it was like 416. If they get over 400 rush attempts again, that's going to be a big workload for Fournette, and I think he can handle it. Our colleague, Will Brinson, in our magazine said he would not be surprised if Fournette plays 16 games

if he's the number one running back. That's a little bit of a stretch for me. But if he plays 16 games at what he's capable of, I think he could be a top five guy. So I don't have any problem taking him at the back end of round two in any format. Yeah, well, it's funny because we did that show, I think, last week, five things that wouldn't surprise me. And I said, wouldn't surprise me if Leonard Fournette leads the NFL and carries.

You know, I don't know that he'd lead the NFL in touches because he's not going to cast the ball like Zeke would maybe in Barkley. But, yeah, he's going to get the opportunities for sure. And final thoughts on Fournette, guys? And we'll go to Jones. There's a low, low floor with his injury history and his attitude history. But he could be a top five running back this year. I would add to the floor the change in play caller

and the addition of Nick Foles as quarterback. Not that Nick Foles is, you know, their philosophy is not changed. Andrew Luck. I think Foles being there gives them another option that they'll feel more comfortable with this year than last year. Where if Fournette's not getting it done, we can take it to the air.

That's what they'll think. I like Fournette. I think he's a good number two running back. And I like him in round three. I'm just not as high on him as you guys are. Are you high on Aaron Jones? I am. I do like Aaron Jones and the outlook for him in Green Bay.

Led the NFL with five and a half yards per carry. The coaching staff is already saying that they want to be able to run the ball more efficiently. He's in better shape, and I think he could end up getting a little bit more work in the passing game and on the ground, be that lead back for the Packers. And that's typically been a good place to be as long as you can stay healthy. Now, same same health issue that we could talk about with almost all these guys we can talk about with Jones. He's had three MCL

injuries in two years. So having him stay upright upright is important but i'll take the chance on his upside in round three before four net i don't think you can overlook that early season schedule you were talking about with aaron i agree that's that is definitely something that's on my mind because keep in mind what happened last year uh this we knew aaron jones was suspended two games so he looked at jamal williams and the opportunity he would get and we saw bears and vikings weeks one and two he's to lose that job based on those matchups. And he didn't immediately lose it, but Aaron Jones eventually took over. Aaron Jones has averaged 5.5 yards per carry two straight years. Whether it's a product of being with Aaron Rodgers, I don't know.

But he has been great touching the ball. Seven-game stretch midseason. He averaged 14 carries per game. And based on those seven games, he was on pace for 1,600 total yards and 18 total touchdowns. Would have been absolutely amazing in fantasy. Okay, let's hear the case against Aaron Jones, and then we will end the show. He has the same floor as Fournette without the same upside. I would agree.

I think whether it's Jamal Williams or Jamal Williams and Dexter Williams, those guys are going to take some work off of his plate on top of the injuries, on top of the fact that this is still a pass first offense. It's not a run first offense. So that doesn't necessarily hurt him, but it doesn't give him the same

upside as some of these other guys that are going to be in some run first offenses that also catch the ball. Don't agree that he doesn't have the same upside as four net because four net like i'm sorry to be the ypc guy but aaron jones has been worlds better than leonard four net in yards per carry he's more explosive i mean you know there's there's a lot to like about when he gets into open field and his offense will allow him to do that a little bit more but there's also you know there's a reason why four net should he gets into open field, and his offense will allow him to do that a little bit more. But there's also a reason why Fournette should have more touchdown opportunities because he's going to get those carries inside the five,

which is going to lower his yards per carry from time to time. Right, and that could be taken away by Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay because he's going to want to throw for a touchdown. And it's a lot easier to average 5.5 yards per carry on 80 to 130 carries. Right. He needs more carry. It goes without saying, he's got to get more. Can he hold up to it, though? That's the question. That is a question. That is something that they've got to 130 carries. Right. He needs more carry. Like, it goes without saying. He's got to get more. Can he hold up to it, though? That's the question.

That is a question. That is something that they've got to talk about. How many carries did he have in 2017? 81. So that's 214. I'm in over a season. I'm sorry. Yeah?

He had 80 and then he had 130. Just making the case for my boy here. All right. Oh, he's great. He's good. But he's had 10 or fewer carries in half of his games. He's just got tons. I just think he's never going to be a workhorse in the sense

of what you think of. He benefits from playing in this offense. And final thought from me on Aaron Jones is that we did a super flex draft that we'll talk about next week. I took Aaron Jones, and then I took Jamal Williams, and I think that's a really good idea to lock up that. If it's Jam to to lock up that if it's if

it's jamal williams yeah if it's jamal williams all right not jamal williams though you probably don't need to take the second guy because it could be then cannibalizing each other sure all right good show can i can i say something no why you got to keep cursing all the time why potty bow uh we got one more coming for you this week. What is it? 1 through 30. 1 through what? Dave, please sing us off. What?