Fantasy Football Today - 06/27: Conner Discussion and Our First Ever Call-In Show! (Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: June 26, 2019

James Conner may represent the first tough decision in Round 1 for Fantasy owners. We discuss his value at the top of the show and why he may end up being a second round pick when it's all said and done ... We're taking your phone calls via Skype today! Some topics covered include bonus scoring (9:15), Dak Prescott vs. Carson Wentz (18:00), late-round QBs to pair up (23:45) and some Dynasty questions ... What is Duke Johnson's dynasty value (40:00)? Should we expect a trade? And can you wait on TE in a 14-team league (43:30)? ... Your emails at [e-mail]. Today's show is sponsored by NoBull. Visit NoBullProject.com\FFT To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. Here we go! Email us at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Here we go! It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Let's go! Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. All right, big show, monumental show on Fantasy Football Today.

First time ever, we're're gonna hear from you your voices on the podcast i am adam azer he is jamie eisberg two-man show today what's up jamie are you excited this is the most excited i've been since we interviewed the diehard writer steven de souza i can't wait i've never been more excited about a june 26 podcast in my life exactly exactly and it is june 26 so that means we have time to read emails, take calls. What's his birthday today? Will Brinson's birthday. Mr. Ragu

himself, Will Brinson. Are you calling him that because he went grocery shopping and bought our magazine and put a picture of it up? And Ragu. He bought Ragu? Yeah. Who buys Ragu? That is terrible. As Pete Presco drinks it, that's an insult to cooking anywhere.

Oh, my gosh. Yeah, by the way, these calls today are being brought to you by Ragu, so please check out their lovely products. Hey, listen, we don't have a lot of time to dilly-dally here, so I want to do one thing before we get to the phone calls, and really they're Skype calls. I want to talk about a player I think that to me represents the first tough decision drafts. And that player is James Conner. Because I know how I feel about the top four running backs. I know how I feel about Melvin Gordon. I know how I feel

about the top wide receivers. Conner to me is a little tougher. So why don't you tell me where you stand on James Connor? I struggle a little bit with, and right now I have Connor ranked ahead of him, but Connor and Joe Mixon. Because I think I had the tackle for the Bengals, Jonah Williams, not had the shoulder injury yesterday. I would have felt a lot more confident in Joe Mixon. But Connor, if the Steelers do get away from what the Steelers have been under Mike Tomlin, which is what everyone out of Pittsburgh seems to be saying,

and they start to use multiple backs, it's going to be tough to call Connor a first-round pick. So I really went through the game logs and figured out why I'm nervous about James Conner. I knew there was a reason, and now I know what it is. Because he was a monster against terrible opponents? So that's one thing. He really kind of beat up on four teams in particular,

Atlanta, Cincinnati, and Cleveland, and Cleveland twice. So those four teams, or those three teams over four games, all allowed 4.65 yards per carry or more to running backs. They were all among the 10 worst teams against running backs. He was the only running back to rush for 100 yards against Baltimore. He did that on 24 carries. But really, when you look at James Conner, I think what stood out,

what made him go from just very good to elite was the receiving numbers. And, Jamie, that is where I get concerned because Jalen Samuels kind of got better as the year went on, became more involved in the passing game, really mostly when Conner was out for three games. But then you look at week 17, James Conner came back. Conner had 14 carries. Samuel had two. Samuel said two. Samuel. Singular.

Jalen Samuel had seven catches in week 17. I don't know how healthy Conner was. Well, he got 17 touches, so he could have been pretty healthy there. But I'm just saying, if Conner loses... He had a ton of catches last year. He was great in the passing game. so he could have been pretty healthy there. But I'm just saying, if Connor loses, he had a ton of catches last year.

He was great in the passing game. He had 55 catches in 13 games and 497 receiving yards. If Samuel is the real passing downs guy, if he out-catches him, I don't think James Connor is going to be worthy of a first-round pick, as you sort of just said. I mean, that's the risk.

And if Benny Snell takes on some carries, you know, it's just, I think you got to take Connor in the first round right now. It's Samuels, by the way. I don't know what's wrong with me. It's plural, Samuels. And I wrote Samuels. I thought it was Samuel.

Sorry. Curtis Samuel, Jalen Samuels. Go ahead. I think you got to take Connor right now in the first round. If we start to see in the preseason that Samuels, go ahead. I think you've got to take Conor right now in the first round. If we start to see in the preseason that Samuels, you know, they're talking maybe playing them both together, and Samuels has played H-back before. He could probably be, in essence, their second tight end,

at least their second receiving tight end behind Vance McDonald. If Snell starts to get some carries, I think then we'll see maybe Conor falls around too. The question really becomes is, when you start to compare Connor versus, I think it's three other running backs and obviously the receivers like Heath has Connor, I think ranked fifth, right?

If I'm not mistaken as the fifth running back. So are you taking Connor ahead of Melvin Gordon? I don't think ADP will tell us that, but it's, it's, it's worth discussing. Same thing with David Johnson and And then Joe Mixon. Those are the three guys I think that he has to sort of prove that he's better than.

And for me, right? And probably Le'Veon Bell, too. Maybe Todd Gurley also. But I think you just start to look at what average draft position tells you. I'll throw Bell in that mix, but it's Bell, Mixon, Gordon, and Johnson. And that's where Conor has to either have to like him better than those guys, or if you're like me, you're probably going to take him over

only really Mixon and Bell. Okay, I think Heath, at least in non-PPR, has Gordon ahead, but that might be different in PPR. He might have Conor ahead of Gordon. Okay, so no, he doesn't. So I still think he has Gordon ahead. But yeah, I'll give some more numbers at a later podcast.

We have plenty of time to crunch it. But I do think it was kind of funny that Le'Veon Bell, as great as he was, never had double-digit rushing touchdowns with the Steelers. And James Conner did it in 13 games. He had 12. There is some thought that they were kind of sticking it to Le'Veon last year because they would not necessarily give him a lot of those goal line carries and goal line opportunities Ben would throw in those scenarios a little bit more

in the Le'Veon Bell tenure. And so it was kind of, I think, a little bit of a slap to the face to Le'Veon to let Connor do that, you know, for what that's worth. That's just a theory that's out there. All right, so that's, I think, one of the first tough decisions that fantasy owners will have to make to take James Conor.

I mean, look, he's a special talent in a special situation. You know, just the hope is that he gets that opportunity. News and notes, not many. Tyreek Hill's going to meet with NFL investigators today. In fact, he probably already did.

And Jonah Williams is almost certainly out for the season after shoulder surgery. This is the first round draft pick. Left tackle for the Cincinnati Bengals out of Alabama. That's going to move Cordy Glenn back to left tackle. And Pro Football Focus last year had Cincinnati's offensive line outside the top 20 in both run blocking and pass blocking. So obviously they wanted to upgrade it, and they drafted an offensive lineman with their first pick, and he's out for the season. And Jamie already told you that he's struggling now with where to rank Joe Mixon. No, no, no, no.

Not struggling with where to rank Mixon. Mixon over Conner. Mixon's still a first-round pick. This doesn't change anything. I'll call that struggling between two players. No, it's a stretch. I'm sorry. Yeah, but does it affect A.J. Green at all?

No. I mean, I think you saw what these guys were able to do behind the same offensive line, essentially. Yeah. And, you know, Dalton was pacing to be a borderline starter before Green's injury. Green was in the top ten of PPR receivers. Boyd was, you know, obviously excellent as a breakout candidate, and Mixon was a star. So the hope was that Jonah Williams would help this line,

pushing Glenn to right tackle, and helping things just get a little bit more cohesive there and a little bit more talent there. No, that doesn't happen. All right, let's hear from the people. I'm going to get them up on Skype. I got like seven or eight people lined up for today's show. I'm going to let them ask their questions and have fun with it. All right, here we go.

Let's take a quick break on fantasy football today. When we come back, our first call-in show begins. Kick off an exciting football season with BetMGM, an official sportsbook partner of the National Football League. Yard after yard, down after down, thebook born in vegas gives you the chance to take action to the end zone and celebrate every highlight real play and as an official sportsbook partner of the nfl bet mgm is the best place to fuel your football fandom on every game day with a variety of exciting features bet mgm offers you plenty of seamless ways to jump straight onto the gridiron and to embrace peak sports action. Ready for another season of gridiron glory? What are you waiting for? Get off the bench, into the huddle, and head for the end zone all season long. Visit

BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older, Ontario only. Please gamble responsibly. Gambling problem? For free assistance, call the Connex Ontario helpline at 1-866-531-2600. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Okay, the first caller, the inaugural caller. Here we go. It's John Wilkin. John, what's up? Where are you from, John?

I'm from Canada, but i live in korea living oh oh it's three o'clock in the morning for you right yeah oh my god this is dedication i know right i'm glad i called him first why aren't you sleeping man uh insomnia all right what uh what's your question today okay um, I'm in the Scott Fishbowl 9, and they have a big premium, like milestone premiums. So how does that change your drafting for QB? So like for 50 yards, you get five points bonus for 50 yards rushing from anybody, including the QBs.

Oh, interesting. I'm going to have to brush up on my Scott Fishbowl. I always don't look at it really until right before the draft. And by the way, I don't think we say this enough. What Scott does for the fantasy community and for charity, it goes without saying, his

Fantasy Cares project that he takes on is awesome. So follow Scott Fish on Twitter, please. And enjoy the, the Scott fish bowl nine. I'm apparently going to lose to John here because he's more in tune with it than I am.

I think anytime there's any bonus scoring for any league, you know, John, we tend to try and broaden our questions a little bit more than just, you know, specific to certain leagues. So I think, you know,

like when you get tight end bonuses, which the fish bowl is as well, or rushing bonuses for any position, obviously you have to sort of look at that and enhance your value on those players a little bit more. Now, when you're adding multiple layers of bonuses, like again in the fishbowl, there's the tight end first down bonus

and the rushing bonus and stuff. I end you know uh first down bonus and uh the the rushing bonus and stuff i think you call the milestone bonus um yeah you know i i think you you sort of with the quarterback situation you sort of look at the guys that are going to run more and that just favors you know someone like cam newton if he's going to be the same guy i i think kyler murray's value gets you know bumped up tremendously lamar jackson josh allen you know guys who ran the ball at a high level last year yeah well jay let Jamie, let me actually give, because it's 50, that's important, 50 yards to get that bonus. And I think, to me, there's only two quarterbacks, maybe only one, that I expect to really hit that threshold a lot. Because Cam Newton did not do, Cam Newton did that twice last year.

Now, he was around 50. He was over 40, like, four or five other times, but he only got 50 twice. How many times before the injury? Zero. How many in the first half of the season? Zero. He did it week 12. He had 70 yards, and week 17, he had 66. Now, he also had 49. No, he didn't play week 17.

Who am I looking at? Oh, I'm looking at Deshaun Watson. I'm sorry. Okay, so I'll look at Cam with even fewer yards than Deshaun Watson, but Lamar Jackson had 50 yards almost every game he started. Rushing yards. So that's the guy that... I think Kyler could be that type of guy too, though. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not sure about Josh Allen because

he did too, but he's less of a conventional runner. He's scrambled from the pocket. Josh Allen had 99, 135, 101, 1630, and 95 yards rushing. But Jackson's the one I feel most confident at. Okay, let me look at Cam.

What I said about Cam earlier I meant for Deshaun. He did it three times, Cam. Just for Josh Allen, I think if you're starting to compare Allen versus the non-Russian quarterbacks, which a lot of people will put him in the same range as the Phillip Rivers, maybe Roethlisberger. I don't think he's ahead of the Stafford, but Trubisky. I think you've got to factor that in because even like you said,

I don't agree with, he wasn't running by design. He still ran. And so maybe the 90-yard game goes to 50, and that's still good. So, okay, John, let's say that Cam Newton, Lamar Jackson, whatever, well, he'll have the most. Okay, let's take Kyler Murray. Let's say he has five games with 50 or more rushing yards. That's basically giving him five extra touchdown passes.

That is a huge deal. So what are you thinking, John? When are you going to start taking these mobile quarterbacks? I kind of like Josh Allen, so I think I'll probably go for him a few yards a few rounds earlier, like around eight. His ADP now is 125, so maybe around 100. Jamie, that makes sense to me. What do you think?

Yeah, you know, it depends because each fishbowl draft is different, you know, and that's the fun part of it is that, you know, you could see, I know he, Dave and myself, and I think Adam did it one year, right? No, I didn't. I thought you did one year. Oh, you got invited. Then you turned it. Yeah, I turned it. You're a jerk. It's it. It all the drafts are sort of all over the place. You know, bit because the first four guys will still be the first four guys. I don't think anybody's going to take Kyler Murray over Mahomes or, or Watson luck or Rogers, but you know, he, he may start to come into play a little bit sooner than you would think. Same thing with the Josh Allen, you know,

he'll be in that, you know, probably third or fourth year of quarterbacks, but sure. That that's a good spot to sort of start to think about it. And Mahomes had a 45 rushing yard game and a 52 rushing yard game. So only met that threshold once. John, thanks, man.

Get some sleep, and thank you for being our first caller. Okay, thank you, guys. Thanks, John. Well, Jamie, our next caller probably needs no introduction, especially if anybody listens to our radio show. He calls in with a new jingle, a self-made jingle every week. He is Pat in Ohio. Pat, what's up, buddy?

What's up, fellas? It's been a long, long time since I've been listening. Callings, I didn't realize how badly I was missing them. You both know I like playing with rapid fire. I can't stop this burning desire. Mama told me from up above, find fantasy and you'll find love follow fft they'll give you advice you'll love and understand be a simple kind of fan you know i'm a streamer sure in time i can't lie i'm gonna be late but it's okay talking with fft is great

you're late for something we're holding up your day work oh whatever man whatever i'm on my way home sweet word dj's is the one that pays me hanging out with jamie and adams crazy ain't nothing but a stranger things as a commissioner i'm like oh bro i love giving out points you get a point you get a point everybody gets a point last year i asked if running backs should get a little bit something extra for per carry adam said he despises it so is there any non-categories you guys like? And if so, what is it? Hey, nice seeing you guys. Have a lovely evening.

All right. So I do not like points per carry, Jamie. Do you have any categories that you like that you would add? To running backs? I mean, you could always do, you know, like we see a lot, first downs. You know, we get that for tight ends. We get that for receivers.

But, you know, carries is usually the thing that you would associate with giving running backs a little bit of an extra boost. You could always do, and this goes for any position, you know, so if it's a PPR, you could do a point and a half per catch for certain positions to weight them. Running backs would probably not be the one you want to go to.

But I don't mind the carry bonus because I know while it's going to still favor the elite level guys, you're still going to hit on some guys in the middle rounds that, based on injury or based on circumstance, still end up being a high carry type of guy. Like Sonny Michel, for example, or Nick Chubb, for example. You know how those guys ended up in their situations based on how the year started. I'll tell you what, Pat. There's one bonus that I played with last year that I don't really think I even knew was a bonus until

like week 14. I was like, what? I don't understand this scoring. We had a first down bonus the entire year. I had no idea. So that one's kind of cool. Guy picks up a first down. He gets a... I think it was like a half a point. So you could do that. Pat, get to work, man. We don't want to get you in trouble. He gets a, I think it was like a half a point. So you could do that. Pat, get to work, man.

We don't want to get you in trouble. Hey, thanks, guys. I appreciate it. All right. In a few weeks, Pat. Yes. We'll have that radio show back. We'll be hearing from Pat every single day.

Thanks, man. Awesome. Thank you. Have a lovely evening. All right. Next caller is Josh. Josh, where are you from, sir? I'm from Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey. Oh.

Is that far from me? Westchester, New York? A few hours. It's right outside Atlantic City where I'm currently working. Too far. You should go visit Adam. No, it's too far. I'll give you his address as soon as we hang up on there.

I've been waiting for you to slip in his phone number all these years. 954. No, stop. I've had the same phone number since high school. I was going to get a discount on a phone a few years ago to change my number. I changed my number and I was like, no, I can't do it. I'm committed

to this thing. I'm the same. I'm with you on that, Adam. It's part of our identity. The funny thing is nobody knows anybody's number anymore. They just have your name. Anyway, Josh, what can we do for you in the world of fantasy football? Well, one of the big issues I always have is, especially living where I live. So I live in South Jersey. I'm surrounded by Eagles fans, and I'm a Cowboys fan.

Oh, even worse. So my whole life has basically been an uphill battle as a lone Cowboys fan living in South Jersey, fighting against, uh, Eagles fans who, uh, give me a very hard time. And my current battle is Dak Prescott versus Carson Wentz. And, uh, I noticed in your guys' rankings, you all have, uh, Wentz ranked as a top 10 quarterback, nine, nine, and seven, that being jamie dave and heath and prescott ranked uh outside at 15 16 and 12 and it just i i wonder why that is because um both of them you know three-year careers starting in 2016 dac has never missed a game wentz has you know all these health issues he's only played 16 games once dac has finished as a top 12 quarterback every year of his career,

finished sixth in his rookie season. Dak has the mobility that Wentz probably won't have going forward due to his injuries. He scored six rushing touchdowns like clockwork every single season. And once he acquired Amari Cooper, his pace from Cooper forward last year had him as a top 10 quarterback significantly above Carson Wentz's pace before he was injured. So my question is, why does it seem to me that Wentz is consistently ranked above Prescott? I think, well, first off, one thing that we've just found out is there's an actual person in the Northeast that is a better producer of fantasy content than that was terrific.

It was really is a great question. Very, very thorough. I think for me, at least, it's ceiling versus floor. Prescott's floor, I think, is safer. Mostly the one thing you noted is injury. And yes, he was very good when they got him, Mark think, is safer. Mostly the one thing you noted is injury. And yes, he was very good when they got Amari Cooper last season. I just worry about two things. One, that this is still a run-first offense that is going to sort of limit the opportunities.

The Cowboys were 21st in pass attempts last year. I don't see that number rising dramatically and maybe not rising at all. It could actually fall back a little bit with Frederick coming back. And I don't think Zeke is only going to get six touchdowns rushing so that hurts that touchdown total so uh I think you saw Wentz pre-ACL was on an MVP pace uh pre-back injury last year was on a top 10 finish pace um I just think there's a higher ceiling for Wentz in his offense they gave him weapons, one significant one and Deshaun Jackson one that could be a decent one in terms of J-Jaw, the rookie receiver.

I just like the ceiling more for Wentz, but in terms of value, and if you listen to our show, you probably hear me say this a lot, I have no problem waiting for Dak Prescott. I think there are 20 plus fantasy starting quarterbacks this season. Ceilings vary for all of them, but Dak is certainly in that conversation

to be a number one quarterback, and me having him at 15 does not mean you can't take him as your starter. It's just you can't fit everybody in your top 12. Yeah, and on a per-game basis, he was 17th Dak Prescott last year. You said, Josh, that he'd finish his top 12 every year. I have him 14th and 6th point and 13th and 4th point.

No, opposite. 14th and 4th point, 13th and 6th point. No, opposite. 14th and 4th point, 13th and 6th point passing touchdown leagues. It depends on the site you look at, but he was right around 12, so you're right about that. One thing, for your argument, he threw 29.4 passes per game before Amari Cooper and 35.6 per game with Amari Cooper. I just don't think that that continues. If he does throw 35 passes a game, then yeah, he might be better than Carson Wentz. But yeah, I mean, it's interesting.

Good question. I mean, the increase, the increase also, I forget what the guy's name you had on a couple of weeks back who frustrated me to no end when he talked about Zeke's reception totals going down once they got Amari Cooper and, you know, Jamie, I think it was Jamie or maybe Adam, one of you guys pointed out rightfully so that Zeke's receptions actually went up with the addition of Amari Cooper. And I just feel like with, you know, with Cooper opens up so much. So, you know, with Zeke getting more receptions, the addition of a true number one, and then Gallup, who I think can really embrace his role that he was always really meant to be a number two guy you know i don't think he was fit for that number one role and now i think that uh he can flourish in that role opposite cooper you know opening up more for zeke

underneath and i don't know i just i think going forward i think that can finally hit like the 4 000 yard mark that's kind of eluded him thus far in his career josh let me let me let me ask you this i gotta let you go because i just I want to get the other callers on. But since you probably have watched Dak a lot more than I, we've all seen him. I mean, they're on national TV all the time, but whatever. But you've watched probably like every snap. Do you think he is a great quarterback? I don't.

I think he's fine. But I don't think he's that great of a player personally. And this is what Josh said to deal with, living by Eagles fans, Giants fans, listening to people downgrade Dak Prescott. Unbelievable. Yes. No, I don't think he's elite. I don't think he's going to be a Drew Brees or an Aaron Rodgers,

but I think he's above average, and I think he's a top 15, 14 quarterback in the league for NFL purposes, and definitely top 12 for fantasy purposes. Josh, thanks for your call, man. Great stuff. Thanks a lot, guys. Thanks, guys.

All right. Jamie, we're going south of the border for our next call. We're going to Mexico where Juan is on the Fantasy Football Today hotline. Hey, Juan, what's up, man? Hola, I guess, right? Everything good, Adam. Just waiting for the NFL season to start. Yeah, absolutely.

Greatest fans here in Mexico. Second country with most fans after the U.S. You know that. Those games in Mexico are great. They're a lot of fun. Well, we missed one last season. Yes, that was unfortunate. A good one, too.

That was what, the Chiefs game? The Chiefs-Rams game? Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah. That was fun in the altitude. So, Juan, what's your question today? Listen, last season, I have this strategy about I was late on picking quarterbacks. So I have to pick two late picks of quarterbacks, and I stream both.

I had Rivers and I had Trubisky. I always said that you have to play the schedule not the player so how do you think this strategy works or it's just a waste of rooster space and if so which two quarterbacks would you recommend me for this season to do this like be switching between games whoever has the best game on that week. Jamie, streaming late quarterbacks? I mean, you know, that's something I'm fond of. You know, I think every league is different.

If you want to carry two, you know, sometimes you don't even have to. Sometimes it could be, you know, you just go week to week and pick up a guy until you get somebody on a hot streak. But it's a great strategy. And think about the two guys you picked up. You know, if you played Trubisky against Tampa Bay that week, you're probably thrilled about it. Rivers was very good for the majority of the season.

So it's something that can definitely work and work in your favor. There are two guys that I like a lot. I know Adam is fond of one of them for sure, and that's both Kyler Murray and Jimmy Garoppolo. I think you look at the upside for both those guys. You know, if Murray's A offense that Cliff Kingsbury wants to run translates to the NFL and his game from Oklahoma translates to the NFL, you're talking about a guy that could be a top five quarterback,

you know, certainly top 10, especially if the scoring is four points for passing touchdowns where his rushing numbers will hopefully, you know, be enhanced. And if Garoppolo, you know, he didn't have the best start of the three games that he played, but he had 20 points or more in two of them. And if you look at the combination of the 49ers quarterbacks last year, those guys hit 20 or more fantasy points nine times. So, you know, there's a lot to like, obviously, about Kyle Shanahan's offense and certainly

what Garoppolo brings. And those guys should be available late. Our previous caller just brought up Dak Prescott. You know, you could pair him with one of those guys. And you can even go back to the well again with Rivers. Lamar Jackson, with his rushing totals. Josh Allen, I think, takes a step forward. Trubisky again.

There's just so many guys you can get late and pair two of them together. The reason I bring up both the two guys in the NFC West, though, I think you'll see the defenses while the Rams should be very good again, and obviously you're going to get I think still a decent performance from Seattle. I think they take a step back, but you get the opportunity

of we'll see what San Francisco's defense looks like. We'll see what Arizona's defense looks like, but those two offenses in particular should be able to be high scoring. It's a great year to do it. Last year was as well, and it's a good strategy. Juan, thank you for your question, my friend. You're very welcome.

You need a new closing song. It's no longer good, the one saved by the bell. Yeah, I know. I haven't really been using it. Look, if you want to write something and record it and send it in, I'm all ears, Juan. I'm all ears. All right. Challenge.

All right. Thanks, Juan. Yes, Jamie, we do need a new theme song, so if anybody out there would like to make one, please send it on in. Let's get Hunter on the line. Hunter is our next caller here on Fantasy Football today. What's up, Hunter? Where are you from?

Well, if Dave's there, I'm from a city north of Dallas. Dave is not there. He's not there, but he knows Texas quite well, so he probably would have been able to get it. Dave goes not far from here. He goes to Galveston quite a bit. I'm in Oklahoma City is where I'm at right now.

What's on your mind, man? What's your fantasy question? I'll make it quick. I'm in an interesting league here with my buddy. We co-manage a team together. It is a different starting roster than your typical lineup we have one quarterback one running back one receiver one tight end we have two flexes a

defense and a kicker so at any given week you can start up to three running backs and one receiver or three receivers and one running back or two and two however you just want to kind of combine those and so going into the draft this year with that in mind it is a half ppr league and uh 10 teams so with that all that information what would your strategy be going into the draft as far as um you know would you would you be keying on you know specifically running backs receivers i know it kind of depends on who's on the board who's not um but uh we've kind of gone running back heavy in the past we've won uh runner runner-up a few years in a row now. And so we're just trying to get over that hump of getting over two running,

being second place and getting into first place this year. So what would your strategy be going into this year? I mean, it sounds like your strategy is working. You just probably had some bad luck in the championship game. But I would just, I mean, first off, 10-team leagues, you're going to always kind of skew best player available. Uh, and in a format like this, it's even more so. So, um, it's probably not a bad idea if you have the opportunity to get one of the premium tight ends, uh, just to lock up that position and get a little bit of an advantage.

But I think it's just, you know, you, you have the opportunity here to, if you get the one receiver that you like, or the one running back that you like to sort of here to, if you get the one receiver that you like or the one running back that you like to sort of pivot to necessarily say, okay, I have to get a second back or a second receiver. You just kind of play the board and go with the guy that you like the best or who you think is ranked the highest, and you should be able to get away with a pretty stacked roster that way. You're not tied to anything, which is kind of cool.

Yeah, what I would do, and what I wish I had done by now, but I will before we do our position previews, I'll go through the top 50 players in non-PPR, PPR, and half PPR, and see the breakdown of running back versus wide receiver versus tight end. There probably won't be

that many tight ends there, but I know if you were doing a non-PPR league, I'd tell you definitely running back heavy. And if you were doing-PPR league, I'd tell you definitely running back heavy. And if you were doing a PPR league, I would tell you it doesn't matter if it's running back or wide receiver, just prioritize pass catchers, whether it's, you know, the McCaffreys of the world or, you know, like, Kerryon Johnson who might be pretty good in PPR this year or something like that.

But half PPR does make it a little trickier. Yeah, man, I would really just go best player available. But it does seem like running backs are going to be – I think you got it. I think you said it yourself. Like, you've been running back heavy. I agree with Jamie. I would stick with go best player available, but it does seem like running backs are going to be... I think you got it. I think you said it yourself. You've been running back heavy. I agree with Jamie. I would stick with what you do.

But I'll try to do that research soon, and maybe that'll be helpful. Thanks for your question, man. We appreciate it. Yeah, thanks, Hunter. Absolutely. Thank you. Say hi to Dave, by the way,

if you're north of Dallas or whatever. Will do. All right, we're going back to the same geographical location we're going to central texas where jeremy is on the line good afternoon jeremy how you doing man afternoon guys thanks for having me on thank you for uh coming on this is awesome our first call-in show it's been fun so far what do you got for us today yeah so a dynasty question um my buddy and I have been going back and forth. I'm kind of in a win-now mode in Dynasty. I've got OBJ and David Johnson,

and he's offered Stefan Diggs, Darius Geis, Derrick Henry, and Lamar Jackson. You guys take that personally? No way. For those two? Just for those two. For Beckham and David Johnson? Man, that's not enough.

Is the QB scoring favor Jackson that much? Not really, actually. It doesn't favor him. It's a six point per pass and a negative four point for INT. Oh, boy. You have a terrible friend. Is that an Acer trade? No, it's not.

Look, I mean, I think if we love Darius Geis, then maybe this would be a different equation. But you are giving up the two best players to get. No, you can't do this. Right. I think the issue is with David Johnson's value is, is it time to move on or is this going to be a prime peak year for him? That's a good question for this college. I think it this going to be a prime peak year for him? That's a good question for this college.

I think it's going to be a prime peak year for him. Now obviously the longevity there is not great, just given the fact of the nature of the position, but you're acquiring two guys to replace him. One who's not far off from a similar career path in Derrick Henry, and

the other who may never get off on the right foot. I hope he does in Darius Geis, but we just don't know. So you're getting too much of a downgrade at the receiver spot. You're not upgrading enough at the running back position. And as you just alluded to with Lamar Jackson, it's not like he's going to help you that much. So I would stick with the guys you have.

Yeah. And send a nasty note. No, I'm just kidding. Don't do that. Turn it down. Thank you for your call, man. That was good stuff. Appreciate it.

Thanks, guys. Appreciate it. Have a good rest of your day. All right, Jeremy. Try to get two more, maybe just one more caller on today. Kyle is here. Kyle, you look like you're at work. Yeah, I am definitely hiding in a room.

Yeah, that's awesome. What do you do? I work for an insurance company. Okay. Well, they're not a sponsor of the show, so I can't let you say what it is. I'm sorry. No, I'm just kidding. Kyle, thanks for coming on.

And what is your question? So I've been playing fantasy football for about 10 years. Um, and I joined my first dynasty league last year. It's a PPR super flex IDP total point league. So it's not head to head. Um, and I, uh, it was an auction draft. I employed the Eisenberg strategy where I didn't draft anyone for like the first 25, 30 players, and then just got a ton of value later on. So I need a better tight end, but I don't really understand quite yet how to value trades. So I'd like to go out and get a better tight end, but I just don't really, I don't want to send an insulting trade and I don't want to overpay for somebody. And so how do you value current player talent versus potential talent versus draft picks?

Well, insulting trade offers are right up a certain person's alley here. I think, you know, first off, it's if anybody is insulted by a trade, unless it's just totally out of whack, they shouldn't be. I mean, you're trying to gauge the situation. Just to give you an example, Adam made a very awful trade offer in our base monthly. Yeah, all right. So I tried to get Blake Snell. Blake Snell got destroyed last night. He's got a 501 ERA.

So what I offered up Zach Plezak, who's been very good, and who? I tried to get Blake Snell. Blake Snell got destroyed last night. He's got a 501 ERA. So what I offered up Zach Plezak, who's been very good, and who? Corey Seeger, who's coming back in like two weeks, three weeks. An injured guy and a terrible guy. No, an injured guy and an okay guy for Blake Snell. So, yeah, of course it got turned down. But, yeah, it was bad trade. It was bad trade. Right.

But I don't think the person that Adam made the trade offer to, who we don't know, we share a team, so we don't know these people. Hopefully, you know, have a better relationship with the people in your dynasty. I don't think they were insulted by it. At least, I hope not. Probably. I think the thing that you want to do is

sort of find, if it's a dynasty, I'm going to guess it's 25 or more people on the roster because if it's idp there's got to be a ton yeah um so there's going to be people that are probably carrying two or three tight ends you know and i think in in the case of who's your tight end now uh austin hoover okay so it's not bad um you know he's not a top tier guy but he's not somebody that i I think you should be upset about starting. If you're looking for some future potential, did you have your rookie draft already? We've not.

Okay, so I would say you could look to see who drafted Hawkinson, who drafted Fant. Maybe look to see who they have as their first tight end or their other tight end. The other part of it would be is there's two schools of thought. Can you try and maybe get a veteran guy that doesn't have long term value? Maybe somebody like a Delaney Walker, maybe Vance McDonald, who's not necessarily of blow-up type potential that you don't necessarily have to overpay for? So I think you always want to try and mix and match in Dynasty. The nice thing about it is you can throw in draft picks. You can throw in – obviously, it's a lot of two for ones, two for twos, you know. But I think, you know, you can sort of try and pair some draft picks,

especially since you haven't had your rookie draft yet. You can maybe try and attach a rookie pick to a player that you're giving up. Yeah, like how do you value draft picks, Jamie? Let's say somebody offers you a second round pick in a dynasty league. I kind of just sort of roll my eyes at it. Yeah, the second round pick could end up being a very good player. It's probably not going to be, I would say. I think it depends on what you need.

If there's a team that's in total rebuild, they're going to take a second-round pick for somebody that may not have such long-term appeal for them. I'm trying to think of... Jared Cook obviously doesn't have a lot of long-term appeal. You know, he's in his mid-30s and has a chance for a great season this year, but the long-term factor isn't there. So if somebody got lucky with Jared Cook last season, or, you know, I'll use the Delaney Walker example again, just because he's in his mid-30s and he's coming back from a, from a terrible injury, but he still has a lot of upside, um, or some upside, you know? So I think you can sort of look at those second round picks, third round picks, you know, maybe package to them. Or if you're trying to swing for the fences, like Dave, for example, I wish Dave was here

because he could probably speak to this. Dave is in a dynasty league that we compete against where his team is in a, in a rebuild mobile. He has George kill. And so I think if, if Dave got the right offer of first round pick next year, maybe a, a decent young tight end and return a fan or a Hawkinson, you know, and, and then maybe another player, cause he needs to rebuild his receiving core.

I just know this from his team. You know, that's something he may entertain, you know, so you can look at a team that's in kind of rebuild mode or a team that, you know, may have a chance to win it now. And you can give that team

something else, but they have a good second tight end. Like I said, a Njoku, a Herndon. They may draft a Hawkinson or a Fant. Those are the type of things I think you want to explore. Alright, cool. Does that help? Yeah, it does. Very much. Thank you. Alright, thanks for coming on, man.

We appreciate it. Go back to work. Yeah, Kyle, don't get in trouble. Sell some insurance. See you later All right. Thanks for coming on, man. We appreciate it. Go back to work. Take care, guys. Go back to work. Don't get in trouble. Sell some insurance. See you later, Kyle. Yeah. And I want to remind all of you, if you're a poker fan, it is that time of year again. The World Series of Poker is here. It's the 50th year of the most popular poker tournament in the world.

You can have a front row seat to the bracelet events with CBS All Access. CBS All Access, everybody. So you can either download the CBS app or you can go to cbs.com slash poker. Starting now until July 16th, you can live stream the final tables of 33 of the World Series of Poker Bracelet events, including 25 events that you cannot watch anywhere else.

So again, this is on the CBS app or go to cbs.com slash poker. You can get a free trial, by the way, so start watching today and do not miss any of the action. I had one more caller lined up, Jamie, but unable to connect with Jacob. So, Jacob, sorry, next time we will get you on.

Meanwhile, let me just read a couple emails and we'll finish up. We might do another show. I'm sorry, what? Jacob, he's lying to you. He's never going to call you, ever. We might do another show tomorrow. We might.

You made me block off my schedule. Should we do another show tomorrow? Yeah, of course. Okay, we'll do another show tomorrow. We'll do three this week. So let me read a couple emails now, and we'll read a lot tomorrow. Keith from Richmond, Virginia. Dear Snake, Brain, and Hawk.

Those feel like a Steven D'Souza movie. Could be Jake the Snake, Bobby the Brain. No, I don't know. Hawk is. Oh, maybe. That's one of the Road Warriors. I'm seeing Escape from New York is popping up here. Oh, yeah, yeah.

I think it's Snake Plissken. I've never seen Escape from New York, but I've seen Escape from LA. The first one's New York, right? I think so. Yeah, I think it's much better than LA. But I don't know. Alright, Keith's question. I have Duke Johnson in a PPR Dynasty League, and I'm trying to decide what to do with him.

He's my fourth running back, so I'm not counting on him as a starter, but is he too valuable? But he is too valuable to cut. If Duke stays in Cleveland, he won't be worth much, but if he gets traded to a team like the Texans, he could be very exciting. Is Duke Johnson worth holding on to? If Duke can escape from Cleveland, can he be a number one,

or should I leave him for dead on the 69th Street Bridge? That's got to be an escape from New York reference, right? I mean, he should be escaped from Cleveland because that's what Duke Johnson needs to do. Look, I think that, yes, you actually should hold on to him. The two things that still are favorable for him, one is he gets traded, which is the immediate thing. The second thing is that I doubt highly

Kareem Hunt stays in Cleveland past this year because my guess is he's going to want to try and get a feature job somewhere or certainly get paid a little bit more you know than the the minimum deal he's under I believe is under a minimum deal um he's on a one-year contract with Cleveland so if you know the Browns offense has the potential to do what I think a lot of people are hoping for, myself included, and then Duke Johnson becomes back to the second guy where he's an injury away to at least get him more work or just becomes the passing those guy, he still has value as a fourth running back.

He's never going to be a premier starter in the current environment that he's in. But if he does get traded or, in fact, there's things that happen around him next year, I think there's still a lot to like about Duke Johnson's future. I think there are a lot of people that really believe in Duke Johnson. They feel like he's one of the most underutilized players in football. He's extremely efficient per touch. I personally feel like the more work he gets, the less efficient he'd be. I think he's probably a little too small. He got banged up all the time in college, and I really thought he was going to be too injury prone in the NFL, and he hasn't missed a game in four years. But I think part of that is he's never had more than 104 carries,

never had more than 165 touches in a season. So I'm not sure. If he got hurt before Kareem Hunt is back, I don't really know their depth chart, I'm sorry. But I just don't see a scenario where Duke Johnson, it's like a Jalen Richard. I just don't think he's getting, like, more than 10 carries a game. No, but again, you know, as your fourth back on a dynasty team, you know,

I mean, clearly there are a lot of guys you could say are better in that scenario that may have more upside. But I still think that if there is the chance for a trade, which is clearly possible, you don't want to miss out on that. And then again, you don't know what could happen next year. I may have said that if he gets hurt before Kareem Hunt comes back, I meant if Chubb gets hurt.

They have Dontrell Hilliard and Trayon Gray, another Hurricane, on their roster. So let's go to our next email here. It is from Tim from the Limestone City of Canada. And I don't know where that is, but I do want to say, Jamie, I'm very, very excited for Friday afternoon, 3 o'clock, USA versus France. I'm very excited. Go USA.

Thank you. I'm glad you're rooting for the right team. You could almost say, since this sound clip came from the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast, that it's worthy of a Cy Young Award. And he is referring to, of course, the Heath side. It's so creepy. It is so creepy. I love it. Somebody asked me if they could have the file so they could make it their ringtone.

And yes, if you email me, you can have the file. You better get Heath's permission on it. Do I need it? Yeah. There's no way he's saying no to that. I'd sue you. Okay. Wondering what your take is on waiting so long to take a tight end that you may end up having to do week-by-week flyers

in a 14-team non-PPR league? I mean, it's obviously not ideal to have to go that route, but you could still hope to strike gold with someone. I mean, the obvious answer from a year ago would be Eric Ebron, who was a late-round pick in clearly a ton of leagues. One guy I think that could sort of potentially have that type of not that upside. Clearly, we scored 14 touchdowns, but, you know, could be a starter in a 14 team league is Mark Andrews for the Ravens, who, you know, clicked a little bit with Lamar Jackson toward the end of last season.

Has the chance to be the feature guy that spot this year. Um, it's, it's, you know, just playing the board out, you know, if you're going to start to see, you know, I, I think the tight end waves are going to go in, in, in a few different spots. You'll see the first three guys go in the first two rounds. Then it's that next group of guys, which is Ingram, Howard, and Henry, then it's Cook and Ebron. And then it's kind of the, that's where the roulette starts to come in. So, you know, if you're in the camp of Vance McDonald, David Njoku, Njoku is probably in the, in the Cook Ebron group, but you know, Vance McDonald, Chris Herndon, um, one of the two rookies, maybe both, Delaney Walker. You know, that's, I think, if you are really waiting,

like that's the group you want to try and get, one of those guys, or then you're kind of like, okay, I'm stuck with hoping for Trey Burton, hoping for Kyle Rudolph, hoping for Jimmy Graham, Jordan Ricci being that other group ahead of that. But it's not ideal, but it's just something you may have to do. Not everybody's going to get one of the lead tight ends, just by nature of it. I'm trying to look at the

best teams from last year in our 14 team. It is PPR. I'm not really sure it matters. The four best teams were Heath, who won, and he had Travis Kelsey. This team, Jujie Fruits, Smith, Schuster. I hope there's somebody that has a bad name that you say by accident.

It probably will happen. Jujie Fruits, Smith, Schuster. Oh, touchdown there. Had Jared Cook. Oh, I shouldn't have closed the roster grid. Sorry, this is really exciting. Dave had one of the best teams. Dave and Phil Klein.

And let's see who they're... They had Zach Ertz. And then the last team in the top four in the regular season, at least. Yeah, this one I'm not going to say out loud because I don't know if it's bad. It has to do with Butterfingers. George Kittle. So how about that? The top four teams had Kittle, Ertz, and Kelsey, and Jared Cook.

Obviously, Kelsey and Ertz were high picks, but the other ones weren't. Cook and Kittle were not. I honestly don't remember where Kittle was going, but he was hurt at the beginning of the year. So you know what? Let's satisfy my quest for knowledge here and find out where George Kittle went, everybody. And then you can, if you're not interested, you can just stop because the show's pretty much over.

But if you want to know where George Kittle went in our 14 team PPR league last year, he went with the second pick of round eight. And that would be too much math for me. That would be 100th overall. How about that? Alright, Jamie

Eisenberg. Let's see where Jared Cook went, by the way. Oh, wow. Round 12 in a 14-team league. So, good job there getting elite tight ends basically late in the draft. Jamie, thank you very much. Oh, Jacob's on the phone. He's calling.

Well, we've got to get him now. Do it. Okay, how do I do this? Jacob, are you there? Jacob. Hey, how's it going? There's Jacob. He stepped outside from work. He's here. You've got to understand, Jacob, we were just wrapping up

the show, so you just made it. You are the gotta-go-by question of the day. Okay, I'll hurry up then, and I appreciate it. I've been listening to you guys for over three years now, so I appreciate it. Thank you. So my question is, do I go with

my heart, or do I go with my brains when it comes to picking first in my draft this upcoming year. I'm a Panthers fan, so I'm leaning going Christian McCaffrey. It's a half-point PPR league that I'm in. Or do I go Saquon Barkley this year? You should probably not ask me because I have to make that decision

between my heart and my brain. Now, my heart and brain would both tell me Barkley. Jamie, Barkley or McCaffrey? I would take Barkley just because I think he's a better talent and a better fantasy option. That's not a slight to McCaffrey, who's awesome. The only thing I think, and this is

for a lot of people that face this dilemma, is a lot of people like fantasy as an escape from their regular NFL watching or how they root for their teams, because if McCaffrey gets hurt and the Panthers have a terrible season, you're going to be losing out on both ends of the spectrum. If McCaffrey, if Barkley goes off and the Panthers

are bad and McCaffrey gets hurt, then you're not as upset if that makes any sense. Um, I, I, but look, I mean, you can't go wrong with the other side of that, that if the Panthers have a Super Bowl season and McCaffrey's the MVP or awesome, then you're getting the double whammy on that. So if you think McCaffrey's the best player, take who you think is the best player, and he's certainly in that conversation.

Awesome. Appreciate your guys' help, and I'll continue to be an avid fan and avid listener and appreciate you guys' hard work. Well, you don't have to go yet. I got a follow-up question. For sure. All right, let's say you're a Panthers fan. You're sitting there on Sunday.

You're watching the game. Well, first of all, I never get to ask this question to people, but what is your Sunday ritual? Do you watch the Panthers game? Do you watch Red Zone? Like, what do you do on Sunday? Yeah, so I have Red Zone. My wife hates me for it, though, because I, like, ignore her during Sundays.

But, yeah, so I sit on my couch, watch Red Zone with my son. I've converted him to be a Panthers fan, so he wears his McCaffrey jersey every Sunday, loud and proud. So yeah, and then I go to church in the morning. So that's it. All right, great. So you don't watch the Panthers game because you maybe stream it on a second screen. I watch it live, but I also also try to be honest with you i prefer watching it through um the actual red zone and then i'll i'll tape my panthers game and watch

it on my own and so i put my earmuffs on during the day and i tell my friends don't bug me don't spoil it all right all right so my question was really this like let's say you're you're doing your fantasy you know it's sunday You're playing against Christian McCaffrey. Oh, geez. How much does that suck for you? It does kind of suck. I honestly would prefer winning my fantasy league. I've been in the same league for 10 years, so it means a lot.

So I'd actually prefer winning that week, honestly. All right. So I'd go with Barkley then. I think you'd go with Barkley. Cool. Awesome. Well, thanks, guys. All right, Jacob.

Thanks for taking the time to call us, man. We'll talk to you soon. Thank you so much. Take care, guys. See you, Jamie. See you, Adam. All righty. See, that's how we should end the show.

Forget about my terrible outros. We should just have people randomly call in at the end of every show. And that was much better. Thank you to everybody for being part of this show. I had a lot of fun. Jamie had a lot of fun. I will speak for him. And we will talk to you tomorrow.

No, no, no. Jacob's call was brought to you by Gotta Go Buy. The place where you get out of a show faster than anybody to give you credit for. See you later. Bye, everyone. Not George Le'Veon. I've got Le'Veon Bell.