Fantasy Football Today - 07/15: Le'Veon Analysis; PPR Mock Questions; Best Ball Sleepers (Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: July 15, 2019

Putting Le'Veon Bell under a microscope (2:30) as we wonder how his unique running style will work on a new team. Will Bell get 300 touches? Will he finally score more than 11 total TDs? Is he deserving of a first round pick? ... News and notes including some more Melvin Gordon thoughts (13:30) and Patrick Mahomes' ridiculous arm strength, then we get into some Best Ball sleepers (17:15) ... Reviewing last week's 12-team, 3-WR PPR mock draft (25:00). Adam poses questions to all three guys about some of their more interesting picks beginning with Dave's team, then Heath's team (36:30) and Jamey's team (46:00). Then Adam gloats about his amazing squad (51:40) which would surely win this league if only we were playing it out. Within these discussions we wonder why George Kittle and Zach Ertz may be falling in drafts (26:00), debate Kenyan Drake vs. Marlon Mack, discuss handcuffing Joe Mixon and review Aaron Jones' rough schedule (47:10) ... Email us at [e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. Here we go! Email us at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Here we go! It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Let's go! Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Monday, January 15th.

What's up and welcome to Fantasy Football Today. Did you know that Le'Veon Bell, who's about to be under a microscope, has never had more than 11 total touchdowns in a season. 11. Nine running backs had more than 11 total touchdowns in the last season alone. Welcome to the show. Hope you all had a great weekend. I'm Adam Azer, here with Dave Richard, Jamie Eisenberg, and Heath Cummings. Did you guys have a great weekend? Indeed.

Good. Fantastic, really. I went to three kids' birthday parties. Did you guys have a great weekend? Indeed. Fantastic, really. I went to three kids' birthday parties. Did you go to my kid's birthday party? Did I go to your birthday party? My kid's birthday party. We had his first birthday. I mean, I feel like Heath now. He didn't invite me.

He didn't invite any of us. I was busy doing the best Fantasy Baseball Sunday show we've done all year. Happy birthday, Andrew. Thank you, Andrew, my son. Let me ask you something. When you go to a birthday party, what do you get more excited for? The sandwiches or the pizza, if they have both?

Wow, this is a swanky birthday party if they've got both. Yeah, we had both. Wow. Most ones I go to have both. I should say both. It's usually pizza and sandwiches or pizza and the little chicken tender balls, I guess. Salad. You ever have salad? Yeah, I don't go to kids' birthday parties.

I have never had tender chicken balls, Jamie. Never had this. All right, let's put Levy on Bell. We'll do it when we're getting our pedicure. Let's put Levyon Bell under a microscope. By the way, the sandwiches stole the show, and we ordered seven pies and ended up with four and a half left over. So big mistake. Yeah, if you had invited me, you'd only have like one and a half.

From my experience with New York pizza, I can understand why. Wow. Thin crust, but big slices. All right. So Le'Veon Bell. So here's what's on the show today. We'll talk Le'Veon for a bit. Best ball deep sleepers. Heath wrote the article. It's on the website, cbssports.com

slash fantasy. And we'll give you some sleepers in best ball formats. And then we're going to review our PPR mock draft from last week. We, you know, we have different ways of reviewing mock drafts instead of just going through all the picks, try to be a little more creative with it lately. So I'm going to ask Dave, Jamie, and Heath about four questions or so on each of their teams and why they went about their draft picks in a certain way. All right, Le'Veon Bell. So over the last four seasons, obviously not including last season, here's where he's finished. Second in non-PPR in 2014. Let's just do non-PPR. So two, then he was injured and played at six games. Then five in 12 games when he was on pace to be top two probably. And then two again.

And in PPR, it was one, injured, then RB3, and then RB2. But when he was RB3, he was in 12 games. So he basically has been a top two running back for his last three seasons on a per-game basis. It's been amazing. Where do you stand on him right now? Let's start with that. Overview of Le'Veon Bell with the Jets.

I think he has gas left in the tank. I think he's in good shape. I don't think his talent is a question. It's the surrounding talent that worries me. It's his play caller that worries me. It's an offense that is not like what he had in Pittsburgh. The familiarity is going to be different. He's going to have some good games, but I'm thinking he's going to have eight touchdowns,

1,200 total yards, a lot of catches, good season, but not first-round good. 1,200 total yards is so low for him because in his last four seasons, he's played five years. Le'Veon Bell has been on pace for more than 1,800 total yards in all four seasons and more than 2,000 total yards in three or four seasons. In fact, one year he was on pace for 2,500 total yards. So that is a shockingly low number. I'm not saying it's wrong. The other thing to consider is

he's been on pace for 400 touches. He's averaged 400 touches per season in his last four seasons. Like his 16-game pace over the last four seasons, 400 touches, 399. And I would strongly suggest that, or I would think that it's not going to happen with the Jets, with Gase. I think over 300 is probably a safe bet. I think he has a decent chance

to match his receiving production from when he was in Pittsburgh. I worry about the number of carries. I think if they a decent chance to match his receiving production from when he was in Pittsburgh. I worry about the number of carries. I think if they're going to spell him, that's going to be the majority of the place that they do it. And also, I think that there is a concern, like we've talked about it with Saquon Barkley, how good can he be on a really bad offense? I think there's a chance that Saquon Barkley is not even on the worst offense in New York. True.

Jamie, what about you? Your take on Le'Veon? I mean, it's very similar. I think you just look at what Adam Gase has done. He got great production out of Jay Ajayi their first year together. When Ajayi was running for 200 yards in two games and had just a dominant stretch toward the end of the season. He also got frustrated with Ajayi and traded him away. He seemed to favor an older, slower, more established guy in Frank Gore over a more

explosive player in Kenyon Drake. That doesn't necessarily apply here because I don't think anybody on the roster is better than Le'Veon Bell, but it just goes to show you that he doesn't necessarily maximize the talent that he has of the guys in his backfield. And he's kind of said as much, you know, that he doesn't necessarily maximize the talent that he has of the guys in his backfield. And he's kind of said as much, you know, that he doesn't necessarily want to lean on one guy to the same level that Bell has been used when he was in Pittsburgh. I think, you know, it's also what's Le'Veon's motivation. You know, is it to prove that he could be successful in this change of environment? Is he going to prove that he can live up to the contract?

I would think that that's the case because he seems to be a motivated player when he's on the field, but he's also shown us that he's a little bit selfish, you know, that he's able to sit out a season and not necessarily worry about what the team aspect of, of this is. So I wonder if there's a hamstring tweak or there's an ankle, you know, sprain or something, you know, is he quick to rush back to the field because now he has his money. So, you know, those are all things you have to take into account. It's why I think if you're all in on Le'Veon Bell, he's still going to be a first-round pick. And his ADP suggests that that's the case.

But if you're a little bit hesitant, you maybe want to see if you can take him in round two. And it's really splitting hairs because I think his ADP is probably going to be somewhere between 8 and 12. And I think I have him ranked somewhere in the top 15. I don't know format him ranked. You know. Somewhere in the top 15. I don't know. You know. Format specific.

Exactly where. But it's in the top 15. So it's just a matter of. You know. Who you like better than him. At either the running back position. Which for me. It's you know.

I still take Mixon over him. I'll still take Connor. And David Johnson. But it comes down to. You know. Bell versus. Those guys. Versus Melvin Gordon now,

depending on when his signing takes place, if it does, and then those other receivers and Kelsey as well. So it's a matter of probably five or six spots that we're talking about here of where you draft Bell, but it's still something you think you have to consider when you're talking about him versus some of these other backs. Let me just correct one thing. I said 399 touches was his 16-game pace over the last four seasons.

Actually, 409. I was off by 10. So what I did was I took his fantasy points based on his 16-game pace over his last four seasons, and I reduced it by 25%. So that would be a 307-touch pace. And if you do that, he goes from being the number one, number two running back basically to about number nine, a little bit better in PPR. So yeah, maybe like number nine in non-PPR, number seven or so in PPR. So what's interesting though though, is that his touchdown rate's always been really low.

So it's kind of a difficult exercise. Like I mentioned, 11 touchdowns, 11 total touchdowns is a career high for him. He's never had more than that. And all of the elite running backs are pretty much going to do that, guaranteed. And I think one thing that's funny is that the Steelers gave Conner an opportunity

to score double-digit touchdowns last year, which probably would have been one or two more if he had played the games that he missed. So were they sticking it to him, to Le'Veon a little bit for not showing up and giving Connor some of those red zone opportunities? I think Adam Gase will give him those chances, but like he said, how good will this offense be? Will he have those chances like he would have had in Pittsburgh? How many touches per game do you think he's going to get with the Jets? 18.

Exactly what I was going to say. He averaged 27.1 touches per game with the Steelers in 2017. I think 18. Maybe 19. I've got him for 302 on the season. Okay, that's exactly. Because I said you take away 25% of his production, 25% of his touches, that's 307 per 16 games.

So, yeah, so weird with the touchdowns. Le'Veon Bell in 2016 had five carries inside the five-yard line. That same year, David Johnson had 22. 2017, he had six carries inside the five-yard line. That same year, Todd Gurley had 18. So I expect that to change. I expect him to be more involved inside the five-yard line. That same year, Todd Gurley had 18. So I expect that to change. I expect him to be more involved inside the five. Last thing.

Well, one thing, though, just in terms of Adam Gates, Dolphins weren't a very good team last year, right? I think we all agree on that. Sure. Even though they finished 7-9. His two main running backs of Gore and Drake, 276 carries, over 1,200 yards rushing, only four rushing touchdowns, but 65 catches, over 600 yards receiving, six touchdowns.

I mean, if Le'Veon's getting that, which is probably safe. Getting all of that? Well, not entirely all of that, but you would assume he's basically, at this point, would you say the combination of Gore and Drake is basically Le'Veon? I'd like to think that it could be. In terms of touches, obviously not talent. Yeah, I don't think he's getting 1,800 total yards. So 1,200 could be low. Heath, what do you have him projected for?

How many total yards? 15. Okay. So 1,200 could be low. Heath, what do you have them projected for? How many total yards? Uh, 15. Okay. So like 1,508. I would say 15 to 1,600 total yards. Can I run off some schedule notes on them? Yeah. Think about these run defenses from last year.

Bills, Browns. Think about the Browns defense now, not from last year. Browns, Patriots, Eagles, Cowboys, Patriots, Jaguars. Those are his first seven games. Other than the Bills, it's not very good. And last thing, and we'll move on. He has that very patient, unique rushing style. Sits behind the line of scrimmage for a little bit longer

than most running backs. Tries to find the hole. He's always had a very good offensive line. I really think that's my biggest concern. It's one of them. It's got to be. Right? I just don't know how that's going to translate.

Well, I wrote about him and Saquon for our next edition of our magazine. And just looking at some of the quotes from the first press conference when Le'Veon was there during minicamp, Gay said that having him there for the time that he did show up, remember he didn't come to the beginning part of offseason workouts, was big because specifically what you just said, Adam, about the offensive line, getting used to his running style. So understanding that they may open a hole on the left side, and he may think he has more room to go on the right side,

even if there's a hole not there. That's just his running style. We joke around tiptoeing through the tulips. So that's one thing I think that the continuity has to develop. The Steelers' offensive line was together for years. The other part of it is that he told Pete Persico Drink, I'm glad you just did. I was drinking.

How about that? I just felt it coming. On two separate occasions, on the record, off the record, that while he may not get the same amount of work running the ball, that they may use him more as a receiver than they did in Pittsburgh. That's hard to imagine because he was so involved in the past game. He was basically their second receiver behind Antonio Brown. But in a receiving core that's changing with a couple new faces, or at least one significant one

in Jameson Crowder, you have the tight end now gone for four games. So he could be heavily involved in that part of the passing. And that's one way to get around tough run defenses. Yeah, absolutely. Alright, that's Le'Veon Bell under the microscope. Thank you on Twitter for your suggestions. I said,

who do you want to hear about? And Bell and Mike Evans seem to get the most votes, so maybe we'll do Mike Evans later in the week. I plan on having a mailbag show tomorrow. We're running out of time where we can really do a lot of mailbag stuff, so I think we'll probably do one tomorrow, maybe Thursday. But I expect three shows this

week, and then five shows beginning next week. Awesome. The fourth and final golf major of 2019 is here and the First Cut podcast is set to break down the Open Championship all week long. Kyle Porter, Mark Emmelman, and Chip Patterson will have you covered with a preview podcast on Tuesday, post-round analysis after round two on Friday, and following the final round on Sunday. So be sure to subscribe to the First Cut podcast for coverage of Royal Portrush

all week. News and notes. One of Melvin Gordon's agents said that Melvin Gordon is prepared to sit as long as he needs to. Has anything changed in your mind since we last spoke about this on Thursday? I mean, he said at SportsCon this weekend in Dallas that he wants to get paid,

and there's a video circulating of him saying he didn't mind what Le'Veon Bell did and he would have done the same thing. The question is, will the Chargers pay him or trade him, I think. I don't really expect Melvin Gordon to play week one if the Chargers have not paid him or traded him. I think they've offered him something. They have. I mean, this is –

He just didn't like it. There's been some stalled contract talk after initial conversations this offseason. He – when he talked – where was it where he talked about being – it was at minicamp. Did a press conference at minicamp. And he talked about Gurley's contract and David Johnson's contract and he's looking for something like that and my guess is the Chargers didn't give him that and so he was gonna raise a stink this is the same franchise that drafted Melvin Gordon when Ryan Matthews ran out of gas they drafted Ryan Matthews when LaDainian Tomlinson ran out of gas they seem to know what they're, at least when it comes to running backs.

I don't know what they do for a lot of things. They would have done it in the draft. I mean, you know, they obviously anticipated having Melvin Gordon for this year and probably for the next several years. Well, for this year anyway. Well, I mean, I would imagine if they're trying to sign him, they may have been

low-balling him, but they're still trying to sign him. Yeah, they're notoriously cheap, I think. They're one of the cheaper teams in the league. They also, if Philip Rivers is a new deal, some people think cheap equals smart. Well, that's the other part of it. When it comes to running back, it works. David Johnson got his contract when the quarterback was cheap.

Todd Gurley got his contract when the quarterback was cheap. Ezekiel Elliott will see what they do before they pay Dak Prescott if, in fact, they do pay Zeke before they pay Dak Prescott. Look, it's a different situation. They have a veteran quarterback that's getting a lot of money they have defensive guys that they pay a lot of money to yeah so this is due to it's just a different you know situation for him because you know he's he's entering what should be the prime of his career not necessarily based on the position he plays but his age so you know you like to see him get what he what he thinks he deserves I think the David Johnson contract is the one that makes the most sense,

you know, pay him similar money. Um, hopefully they get it worked out, you know, and, and it's going to be interesting to see when you do your fantasy draft, if it's going to be hands off Melvin Gordon until it's just an absolutely

steal of, of a chance to take, or are you taking him early and you can get burned by it. Ezekiel Elliott could still be charged in that Las Vegas incident where he shoved, made contact with, breathed on a security guard. He made contact.

Yeah, he went over the line. But they already said he's not going to be suspended, so it doesn't really matter, right, for our purposes? He's also apparently being extorted by the guy. Yeah, right. So, okay. It doesn't really matter.

Patrick Mahomes threw a football sort of out of Arrowhead Stadium. He threw it over the scoreboard. That would be out of the stadium. No, because it wasn't out of the stadium. It still stayed in the confines of the stadium. It was out of the bowl. Yeah. Right.

It landed in the concourse. The outer concourse. Yeah. I was not that impressed. I'm sorry. It was out of the bowl. Yeah. Right, it landed in the concourse. The outer concourse. Yeah. I was not that impressed. I'm sorry. It was fine. I was not as impressed as the headlines suggested. From the point where he was standing, I'm not sure you could have thrown it into the stance, much less over the stance. Me? Yeah.

Well, I expect Patrick Holmes to have a slightly stronger arm than I have. He was standing right next to the railing. I don't know how many NFL quarterbacks can do what he did. It was cool, but I didn't think it was really – I thought it was clickbait. I think I got baited. Heath, let's talk about best ball sleepers.

So a quick explanation of best ball for our listeners who may not know. Yeah, these are based on ADP on draft and best ball tens. And this is a format where you draft 18 to 20 players, generally no defenses or kickers, and you don't have to decide who to start each week. Your top quarterback, your top two running backs, your top two or three wide receivers, your top tight end, your top one or two or three flexes,

that week in points, that's who your starters are and it's points only over the course of the season week one through 16 i went through and looked for values on draft which those leagues are generally not quite best ball tens outside of the top 150. Okay. And you'll do how many, like 40 best balls ish. Yeah. And they're fun because once you draft,

that's it, you know, you don't have to manage it during the season. You still could get some action. Okay. So quarterback, the captain of your, of your team here at quarterback is who of your sleeper team

uh well i've got two one for draft one for best ball tens for draft it's mitchell trubisky and i think one of the good arguments against trubisky from last year is that too much of his production came in two or three games maybe even one game that's not a very good argument against him in a best ball format because you kind of want those guys that are going to blow up on a week-to-week basis i expect that he's going to be more efficient in his second year in matt nagy's system and i think the bear schedule is going to mean he has more pass attempts than he did last year and who was the other quarterback it was tom brady your boy no way he finishes as the number 18 quarterback he won't.

He'll play 16 games. He'll definitely be better than that. But I would think, is Tom Brady better in best ball than he is in seasonal? The thing is, I don't care to draft him in seasonal because I don't think he's going to be a starter. In best ball, there will be five or six weeks where I use him, and I'm going to draft two to three quarterbacks in that format. Yeah, and again, if you've never played best ball, he says where I use Tom Brady. He's not really using Tom Brady. It's just Tom Brady stats are going to count. My team will use him. I just

won't make that decision. Right. You don't have to make the decision. It's just you get those big Brady games. Okay. Cool. Dave, Jamie, Trubisky and Brady in best ball. You like it? Like those calls? I like it, but I like a lot of quarterbacks in best ball. You like it? Like those calls? I like it, but I like a lot of quarterbacks in best ball. I think there's a lot of players that can come through with what he was talking about.

Brady, five big games to help pace your team. This is the format where I'm not going to go crazy reaching for a quarterback. Right, and that's why Trubisky, I think, is the number 18 quarterback or 16 quarterback. Brady's the number 19 quarterback. Right, and that's why Drew Breesky, I think, You can wait a longer time in best ball. The number 18 quarterback or 16 quarterback. Brady's the number 19 quarterback. So, yeah, this is waiting. Yeah, so, obviously this is not waiting,

but separate question. Drew Brees, especially with his history of home road splits, his history of, like, mega games in prime time, is Drew Brees a great best ball quarterback? If he was cheaper.

Where's he going? I think he's QB9. But that's kind of what he is in seasonal. So isn't he a better best ball quarterback than he is in seasonal? He may be. It's a great call by me.

But he's not my QB9. I don't think he's Dave or Jamie's QB9. He's exactly my QB9. Oh, okay. No, not for me. Yeah, no, I'm talking about ADP. I assume he's still a top 10 quarterback in ADP. He's right there, yeah. He had six games last year with 30 plus fantasy points.

That's in our system. That was tied for second best. That's huge. Alright, so give me some other guys. You don't have to give me all 10 guys. Everybody, go to the website. Again, cbssports.com slash fantasy slash football. Go to the website. Read the story.

It's very good. But who are some other guys that you'd be targeting in best ball as sleepers? Some of my other favorites, Jordan Reed, who has an ADP of like 156. You're going to draft two or three tight ends in this format, so it matters even less that Reed's probably going to miss some games with injury You can just benefit from those good games when he's active and not worry about it He is a guy I like to take if I miss out on the top six because I can wait 100 picks take jordan reed and then take two or three other tight ends to go along with him and cover the weeks that he

misses Um, josh gordon is outside of the top 200. I took him in the Scott Fish Bowl over the weekend. And I don't know if Josh Gordon is going to play this year, but we've got enough signs from him and Brady and the Patriots that it's at least still possible that I think you should take the guy that was Tom Brady's most efficient wide receiver when he was on the field last season.

And then, of course, Bruce Anderson. We can't go a podcast without saying Bruce Anderson anderson's name sure buccaneers running back do people who win best ball leagues often just have the running back who backed up the dude who got hurt i wouldn't say often but it does happen yeah so does it make sense to take a lot of those types of running those back backup running backs that have massive upside if the starter gets hurt? I don't take a lot of them, but there are certain guys. The problem is like you've got to have a rare combination of someone that you think is at least decent on a good offense that you don't think is going to have to share. And so that that combination is pretty rare.

There's not a lot of those. Do you have an example? Well, you have Madison in your story. Yes. I think Madison's a very good example because I think the rest of the running backs on that team are not very good at all, and Alvin Cook's missed 17 games the last two years.

Do you feel like you always should handcuff your top running backs in best ball? No. No? I would if you get a running backs in best ball? No. No? I would if you get a running back in an offense that consistently produces great running backs. The thing is, and it depends, because there

are best ball leagues that are 50-50 leagues where you just have to finish in the top half of the league to almost double your money. In that format, I'd be much more likely to do it. In a league where there's 10 of us in the league and only first place is getting $100, I don't really care what my floor is.

I'm just worried about ceiling. If my first-round running back gets hurt, there's a pretty good chance my team's done anyway. Okay, makes sense. All right, we'll take a break here on Fantasy Football today. When we come back, we'll talk about the PPR mock draft that we did last week. 12 teams, PPR with three wide receivers and a flex.

I will ask Dave, who had the sixth pick, Heath, who had the seventh, and Jamie, who had the ninth pick, questions about their teams. That's coming up right after this on FFT. Kick off an exciting football season with BetMGM, an official sportsbook partner of the National Football League. Yard after yard, down after down, the sportsbook born in Vegas gives you the chance to take action to the end zone and celebrate every highlight reel play. And as an official sportsbook partner of the NFL, BetMGM is the best place to fuel your football fandom on every game day. With a variety of

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Please be alert as trains can pass at any time on the tracks. Remember to follow all traffic signals. Be careful along our tracks and only make left turns where it's safe to do so. Be alert, be aware. And stay safe. So I'll just tell you the first round of this draft that we did last week. Again, it was PPR. It was Kamara. I had the second pick. Saquon Barkley, Christian McCaffrey, Ezekiel Elliott, DeAndre Hopkins,

Melvin Gordon to Dave, Julio Jones to Heath, Devontae Adams to Will Brinson, and then Jamie took Juju Smith-Schuster. I know Heath, Devontae Adams to Will Brinson, and then Jamie took Juju Smith-Schuster. I know Jamie wanted Devontae Adams. David Johnson, James Conner, and Michael Thomas. That was your top 12. All right, so Dave, I'm going to get you first here. You had the sixth pick.

You took Melvin Gordon in round one. This was before the news. Yeah, thank you for making that clear. Yeah. Round two. Bad pick, Dave. What were you thinking, Dave? How did you not see this coming? It's all going to work out. He'll play.

It'll be great. I've got nothing to cry about. Round two, you took George Kittle. You took Kittle ahead of Nick Chubb, Antonio Brown, A.J. Green, some other really good players, and just ahead of Zach Ertz. I know you have Kittle right ahead of Ertz, at least in PPR. So talk about that pick, why you took George Kittle with the seventh pick of round two. I don't want to mess around at tight end.

I like having one of those big three stud tight ends that catch a lot of passes. Kittle looks great to me, at least last year he did. I think he keeps it going in San Francisco with Garoppolo back. And I picked him over Antonio Brown. I believe I have Brown ranked higher than him in PPR. That's something I'm going to have to think about. But I think you have a clear advantage with your lineup when you've got one of those three tight ends

compared to the crapola that's left in round 10 plus. And obviously, as I ask Dave questions, Heath and Jamie, feel free to chime in with your questions or comments so yeah kittle and earth's going back to back i think usually i feel like nick chubb is going to go before them and mike evans and antonio brown so yeah what did you think dave obviously wants that tight end probably wasn't going to get one of them in round three so your thoughts on that pick i have kittle behind brown chubb and urts but i do have urts ahead of chubb and brown and i do agree that it's like we can rank players in whatever order but you get to that middle of the second round pick and you recognize i can have zachertz or George Kittle or I can have a question market tight end and it's hard to pass on the tight end I'm starting to feel them with more

and more drafts that I do that the value you're getting from guys like Ingram and OJ Howard and late round four early round five makes me feel better about passing on those two guys in terms of Ertz and Kittle and even even to a larger extent, Travis Kelsey. Because while they should be head and shoulders above the rest, when you start to factor in the value of what you're getting at those spots, and then what you could be getting with those other two guys, and maybe Hunter Henry as well, there's, in my opinion, just a lot to like about those second wave of tight ends.

But you've got to get them. Well, I mean, it's the same as trying to get Kittle or Erickson. Well, sure, right. If I've got an early first-round pick and I'm in late round two, odds are I'm probably not going to get one of the top three tight ends. And if I'm going to go receiver-receiver, I just have my heart set on it, then, of course, I'm not going to get those tight ends. Yeah, that's interesting.

Over the last month on Fantasy Football Calculator, Travis Kelsey 15th off the board. They're falling. Ertz 30th and Kittle 36th. I told you about the one draft I did where I took Kelsey early round two

and then watched both Ertz and Kittle go past me again in round three. That's a bad feeling. Yeah. It was terrible. It was sickening. And then to see where OJ Howard and Evan Ingram went, I don't remember exactly what it was, but it was like, oh, God, I shouldn't have taken it.

Were they way later? Do you remember? Yeah. It went, they fell to round four. This is an analyst draft. No, I'm talking about Howard and Ingram. Oh, um,

was it like after around five? Uh, it was probably in the round five range. I'll look it up. All right. All right. Yeah. Cause like I,

I, this, so this might be an area where we're going to acknowledge that the CBS drafts might be a little higher on the tight ends than the industry drafts or the, you know, non analyst drafts. I think also tight ends. That is it. You feel a little bit more in the three receiver league. Right.

This is a three receiver league. Good point. Okay. So that's Dave's first question I had for Dave. Second question. James White is your RB2. You took him in a round four. Are you comfortable with that?

Yes. Ideally, I would prefer somebody else to be my RB2, but he was the best available running back at the time when I made the pick. Ugh, Inger went round seven. Wow. Wow. So that draft, they were just all totally devalued. And Jamie, that draft.

How often is that going to happen? Is that going to be the norm? Again, like Adam told you, we're seeing ADP for those two other guys in Kittle and Ertz following. But Jamie, was that a three-receiver league? Yep. With a flex.

So that could be part of it. Yep. And that's my point. The more roster spots you have, I think the less valuable tight end is. That's only one more roster spot, so I don't think it's a huge deal. I was really referring more to those big dynasty leagues where you have three flexes and a bunch of guys starting.

It devalues it a little bit. I still feel like maybe a little bit too much in the draft Jamie did. Okay. Yeah, so James White. I think he's a pretty interesting player, guys. The five rushing touchdowns last year really stand out for James White. Yeah. He had two career rushing touchdowns before last season.

They go and draft a running back pretty early who might get some more goal line work. I'm not sure James White gets five rushing touchdowns, but let's just say you took his fantasy point total last year and you take away 18 fantasy points. Let's say you take away three rushing touchdowns, but let's just say you took his fantasy point total last year and you take away 18 fantasy points. Let's say you take away three rushing touchdowns from him. He doesn't move at all in PPR. He still ends up being RB 10 in PPR, which is interesting.

But it was a career year all around for James White. Interesting. I would project him for right around 1,000 total yards, six, seven touchdowns, but 60-plus catches. I do not think that player that you just said is a fourth-round pick. Not even close.

That's where you took him. That's like a sixth-round pick to me. Yep. Okay. I think I have him projected a little better than that, but it's going to be tough to replicate what he did last year. I do have him for 70 catches, about 1,000 yards and six touchdowns. I'll tell you, the hope would be that Gronk being gone helps him tremendously.

Yeah, and I'll say, so he caught seven touchdowns last year. That's a pretty good number. And in 2016, he only caught five touchdowns, but if you just look at the 12 games he played with Tom Brady, he caught five touchdowns in those 12 games, which is a seven-touchdown pace. Gronk only played eight games that year. You could argue, well, you should argue,

with Tom Brady healthy in two of the last three years, James White has been on a seven-receiving-touchdown pace. The thing is, it's not just the touchdowns. He had never had more than 86 targets in a year and had 123 last year. Yep, and carries and everything. I mean, it was just career year. Right, but we were expecting a good start for him with Edelman being gone. And now Edelman back, but no Gronk.

Okay, so that's James White. Next question for Dave. You love running backs. You're a running back guy. You like to stockpile them. Let's take a look at your roster. By the way, Dave went Melvin Gordon, George Kittle, Stefan Diggs, and then James White.

How do you feel in general about the running backs on your squad? If you have them up, please feel free. Yeah, I've got them go after melvin and james white and let's assume that melvin is in camp on time yeah for the sake of this discussion uh my other running backs are not great jordan howard peyton barber malcolm brown justice hill alexander madison yeah it's not a very i got them all round eight plus. I don't mind them as depth, which is exactly what they are. So when you look at your team, are you cool? We're also playing this league out for $1,000.

I'd be down with that. No, I don't love this team. And maybe part of the problem was that I went Kittle in round two. Or maybe part of the problem is that I've got a couple of receivers behind Diggs who are, well, they're Ridley and Will Fuller and Anthony Miller. And these are starters for me. One's in the flex and the other two, this is a three-receiver league. I don't want to say I neglected wide receiver,

but I think the argument can be made that when I took James White, I could have taken, I think Kenny Galladay was still on the board at that point, so I could have gone that direction and then found a running back a round or two later. This is also, while they're great players, one of the problems when you take quarterback tight end in the first five or six rounds. Yeah, I got luck in six. So, like, you could have had in that spot, I mean, if you wanted, clearly, Miles Sanders, Rashad Penny, Ronald Jones,

I mean, guys that have a chance. Yeah, I'm taking luck over those guys right now. No, and I understand. So I'm just saying to enhance your running back depth. No, I think the mistake was James White more so than George Kittle. Because listen, as bad as my wide receivers are, I've got Kittle at tight end. And that's like having a wide receiver

one at tight end. Yeah, but the problem with James White, I don't know that you made a bad pick there. I think you just missed out on this run of running backs. Which is who? The only guy that I think that you would have probably taken over James White, which I was surprised you didn't, was Montgomery.

You talking to me or Dave? Dave. Well, there's two. There's Montgomery and there's Derrick Henry. Now, Henry's not fun to draft in PPR. I would take James White over. So is Montgomery for sure going to be the lead guy who's going to catch 50-plus catches If you're talking about who has a chance for higher ceiling, I would think Montgomery

has a chance for higher ceiling i would think oh there's no question montgomery has no question just from just from a perspective standpoint your team looks better with montgomery in that spot than it doesn't change what i felt like white was safer as of now well we're gonna talk about montgomery looks we're gonna talk about that run of running backs that you that you missed in my opinion that tier when we ask heath about his team because heath had one pick in front of you he took kenyan drake i i also feel like he missed out on like marlin mack went right before kenyan drake and james white which i would have loved to have had marlin mack are you kidding i'd rather have kenyan drake than marlin mack all right well you you are the high guy on drake i

think a lot of people would would be much happier with marlin mack on their team than drake or white but uh let's go to my last... You didn't even have a chance to do that. Not that you would have. No, I know. I know. That's what I'm saying. My last question for Dave, I think you addressed it.

It's a three-receiver league. Your overall thoughts on the four receivers that you're starting. Three receivers and a flex. Diggs, Ridley, Fuller, and Anthony Miller. I like it better in a best ball than I do in a seasonal fantasy league. I think receiver's really deep this year, and I don't mind having those guys on my team as starters. To me, I think Ridley's still going to be good.

I think Will Fuller, when he's healthy, you know what to expect from him. He's money. Anthony Miller, I think, takes a step forward this year. The depth behind him, I don't even know if I even drafted. I don't think you did. John Brown, that's it. Oh, okay. All right.

If this isn't a mock typical of what I do, then I don't know what is. Okay, Heath, you had the seventh pick, one after Dave. You took Julio Jones in round one and Keenan Allen in round two. It was a three-receiver league, so a two-part question. If this had been only a two-receiver league with a flex, would you have gone receiver-receiver, Julio Jones and Keenan Allen? And part two is, why do you hate receiving touchdowns so much? I don't hate receiving touchdowns at all. I think I've got at least 14 of them between those two wide receivers.

Right. And probably 210 catches. I would have still gone with that in a PPR two wide receiver draft. My rankings are based on that, and Keenan Allen was the best player available when I took him. Okay, and you took Keenan Allen

ahead of Ertz and Kittle. You took Keenan Allen ahead of Chubb. The same thing we talked about with Dave's pick of Kittle. And I would never take Keenan Allen ahead of Chubb in non-PPR. Sure. All right, you had Kerryon Johnson in round three. So Julio Jones, Keenan Allen, Kerryon Johnson. And you took Kenyon Drake as your RB2.

Do you feel like you just missed out on a better tier of RB2? I don't have an RB1 is what I missed out on because I took a pair of wide receiver ones. But no, I'm very happy with Drake and Carrion as my pair of running back twos. I think there is enormous upside. They're not safe at all, but I got some depth at running back

that makes me feel okay about it. But this is as good of a start as you can ask for when you go receiver-receiver. Well, to me... If you're getting two guys you consider to be top 20 running backs after going to standout receivers, it's a very good start. And then to factor in also what he did in round six

with Tevin Coleman. I think what you want to do is you want to go receiver, receiver, and then three of your next four picks should be backs. Okay, so Jamie, how much of a difference do you think there is between Marlon Mack and Kenyon Drake? In PPR, I don't think it's much because Mack does not catch the ball. It's a very frustrating thing with Marlon Mack. Now, ceiling-wise, I think Mack has a higher ceiling.

But Drake showed us last year that in just what could be a terrible situation for a guy who plays 16 games and has the talent to be successful, he was just frustrating. I mean, he was still very good. Drake? Yeah. And he caught 53 passes last year. Was he better than Marlon Mack last year? I think he was. Probably.

In fantasy points, he was. Yeah, but who felt more valuable on their fantasy? No, I'm serious. Who felt more valuable on your fantasy team? Well, this is one of those 16 games versus not 16 games. That's true. I think you want to look at the points per game. That's, I think, the key.

How about Drake had five games with 15-plus PPR, and Mack had four, and Drake Drake played for four more games. Mac was at this is this to me is a telling stat. Matt was 13.6 points per game and Drake was 12.8. Oh Bernie. Well yeah if King and Drake had taken four

games off he'd have been in better shape too. Maybe so. And if you take away the Miami Miracle. Yeah right. So if you take away the Miami miracle. Yeah, right. But, you know, again, he didn't have the chance to take Mack. So in terms of if you love Keenan Allen the way that Heath does, then who'd you take Allen over?

The Titans. Mike Evans. I'm just talking about receiver. Because if your plan was receiver, receiver. So that's an easy nitpicking, those three guys. But Kerryon Johnson, if he does what he's expected to do, awesome. Yeah, there you go. I think the only guys that you would probably compare him to in that range would be maybe Aaron Jones and Devontae Freeman.

And it's hard to say that Kerryon's not right there with those guys. And then Drake, ahead of of Derek Henry and PPR. I'm a total agreement ahead of James White, total agreement, uh, Montgomery, same thing, you know,

Carson, same thing, you know? So I, I think in terms of how you started your team, I love those first six picks. And then Tevin Coleman around six, you know,

just kind of gives you one other guy that if he hits great, your flex, right. And, you know, I don't know if you intended on, or if you did to try and get one of the other 49ers backs i thought about it and then i don't remember who i took in the jerek mckinnon round but i did not take one of them yeah i'll give you an example i did something somewhat similar well not i didn't do something almost exactly similar in a draft i'm doing with other analysts, with Chris Towers in the draft, he just took Derek McKinnon in round 10

after I took Coleman, but I did almost identical, a little bit better receivers. I took Devontae Adams and Juju Smith-Schuster with my first two picks. Aaron Jones round three, and then I think I took OJ Howard in round four, but I took Phillip Lindsay in round five,

Tevin Coleman in round six. So similar type of guys. You're just taking running backs that hopefully have the chance to help you, if not be successful for you. But that's, I think, the way you have to do it. If you go receiver-receiver early, you have to get three of your next four picks. If it works out, be running backs that get a lot of touches. All right, so Jamie keeps saying he likes Heath's first six picks. So they were Julio Jones, Keenan Allen.

I remember he's picking out of the seven spot. Kerryon Johnson, Kenyon Drake, Deshaun Watson, and Tevin Coleman. Which brings me to my next question. Why Deshaun Watson over Hunter Henry and O.J. Howard, who went with the next two picks? Why did you go with elite quarterback over that, I won't say elite tight end, but potentially elite tight end hunter henry and oj howard he took watson instead well and i did feel like after those two went with the next two picks that may have been

my undoing in this draft so i wasn't necessarily pleased with how that worked out i do have watson ranked ahead of him for me there is a difference because Watson is an elite quarterback and I don't have in PPR, Howard and Henry, even in the same tier as Ingram. I think Ingram's ahead of those guys by a decent margin and non PPR. I would have Howard a little bit closer to Ingram, but it was more just, I thought Watson was better value. Okay, and you ended up with Jordan Reed as your tight end? Yeah. So my last question for you, Heath, it's a three-receiver league with a flex. Your flex is Tevin Coleman at the moment.

After drafting Julio Jones and Keenan Allen, you waited until round eight to select your wide receiver three, and that was DeeDee Westbrook. How do you feel about DeeDeebrook keelan cole tyrell williams kenny stills and josh gordon as options at wide receiver three and potentially flex i would assume that i feel better about that group than just about anyone else in the industry because i'm higher on dd westbrook higher on tyrell williams and i just talked to you about josh gordon so i don't feel concerned when i only have to come up with one

wide receiver out of that group at all and i did take latavius murray as my fourth running back just give me a little more depth there as well so i'm not really worried about it and i don't know that it'll be that hard to find a wide receiver three on the waiver wire at some point you know it's funny just to go back to the watson conversation so you took Jordan Reed in round 10? Yes. Yeah, round 10. And I know you're a Roethlisberger guy. Roethlisberger right there?

Oh, no. Roethlisberger went round 14. Yeah. Now, I do have a bigger difference in fantasy points between, I think think Watson and Ben but I would imagine your Ben Howard combo is much higher than your Watson read combo well it's not because I've got read projected for 16 games oh so no yeah I mean I write taking away your 16 game projection right, what Reid typically does.

What do you have him projected for four games? He's going to play more than four games. By the way, I'm with you on D.D. Westbrook. Guy led the Jaguars' bad passing game last year in every single category. And now he's got Foles, who did great with Aguilar two years ago. DiFilippo, everywhere he's gone, the slot receiver has played big. This is a huge opportunity for Westbrook if he stays in the slot. I agree. I think a couple

things. One would be what Marquise Lee's health is, because he'll be a factor if he's healthy. Also, what are they getting from Josh Oliver? Is he going to be a playmaking tight end for them? Speaking of Marquise Lee's health, we should probably have put the Emmanuel Sanders Instagram video

in the notes. It's one of a couple things, yeah. He look good? He did. Well, he did. Yes. For a guy coming off of Lee's. He look good for that. He's not making huge cuts. That was last week, right? That was... Didn't I talk about that last week? I think it was like Friday. It was over

the weekend. Yeah. The Ronald Jones weight gain also. Okay, so alright, we're done with Heath's team. By the way, three receiver league with a flex. A lot of people are going to be flexing out another wide receiver. According to the

projections, here are the best wide receivers that are available in this league after a 16-round draft. Adam Humphreys, Zay Jones, Nelson Aguilar, Demarius Thomas, Taylor Gabriel, Cole Beasley, Willie Sneed, Michael Crabtree, Antonio Calloway, Danny Amendola. Michael Crabtree? Yeah, Rashard Higgins. Doug Baldwin is also projected.

Kendrick Bourne, Josh Doxson. So, yeah, guys will pop up. But this is a format where a lot of wide receivers are probably drafted, and it won't be a plentiful, a bountiful waiver wire. Jamie, let's go to your team. Pick number nine. You went with Juju Smith-Schuster. This is kind of a weird question, I think, to start with,

but I'll ask it anyway. Juju Smith-Schuster and Joe Mixon were your first two picks. You could have taken Giovanni Bernard all the way up through round 12. He went in round 12. Gio had two really good games, especially in PPR when Mixon was out last week. Why did you choose not to handcuff

Joe Mixon? Well, you know, Mixon missing games in July is really unfortunate. What? He said he missed two games last week. Last week? Well, he did. it was a pickup basketball game I mean, Gio would certainly be somebody that I think would benefit

with those July basketball pickups I don't anticipate Gio being a significant factor if Mixon is healthy there's obvious reasons to handcuff or not handcuff your guy he's not somebody that I'm typically targeting as a handcuff option. But, you know, it's something I think that if you're a Mixon owner,

you want to consider. Next question. You took Aaron Jones in round three after Juju Smith-Schuster and Joe Mixon. I try not to get nervous about schedules before the season starts, but I do identify Aaron Jones as having what looks like a just absolutely brutal schedule. At Chicago, Minnesota, Denver, Philadelphia, at Dallas, and then Detroit. The first five teams were among the ten best in fantasy points allowed to running backs last year. The sixth team is Detroit. Once they got Damon Harrison,

they became a very good team against running backs. So does Aaron Jones' schedule scare you? I mean, to an extent, it's something you downgrade him for a little bit, but with the guys that are in that range and what his expectations should be in an offense that I think is going to be a little bit better than what it was a year ago, I'm not scared of Aaron Jones because of that schedule. Okay. The running backs you took him ahead of were Lindsey, Freeman, Josh Jacobs, Marlon Mack,

Kenyon Drake, et cetera. So that's where you took Aaron Jones. Late round three. Guys, what do you think about that schedule? It's a tough schedule. I'm, I'm looking at his game log from last year. Aaron Jones had 93 total yards and a touchdown at Minnesota in 2018. He only had eight yards on four carries against Chicago. I think he got hurt in that game. He was done for the year after that. He, if,

if, if Matt LaFleur's, if Matt LaFleur gets his way, Joan should have enough opportunities to be worth starting against just about everybody. Man, they had a really easy schedule last year in terms of run defenses. At least Aaron Jones did, because he didn't play the first two games of the year, and they were against Chicago and Minnesota. I agree with Dave, you're not going to bench Aaron Jones.

I do think there is a chance that you're four weeks into the season, you're thinking, I'm not sure Aaron Jones should have been a third-round pick. Sure. And then he might justify it after that. It's nerve-wracking because of some running back depth in that backfield. If he gets off to a bad start, does it become more of a timeshare than we had anticipated? Or does he become a buy-low candidate when the calendar turns to October? Maybe.

All right, Jamie, next question for you. It's a three-receiver league. Three of your first four picks were running backs, Joe Mixon, Aaron Jones, and Josh Jacobs. Nice job. Your wide receivers are Juju, Robbie Anderson, Allen Robinson, Marquise Goodwin, Deshaun Hamilton, and Curtis Samuel. So again, Juju, Robbie Anderson, Alan Robinson, Marquise Goodwin, Deshaun Hamilton, and Curtis Samuel.

So again, Juju, Robbie Anderson, Alan Robinson, Marquise Goodwin, Deshaun Hamilton, and Curtis Samuel. You cool with that? I mean, Juju stinks, so I'm a little worried about him. But I like Robbie Anderson's situation. I think he's going to have a very good, if not great year. So I'm probably different on Robbie Anderson than what the industry is on Allen Robinson. But I think you look at him in a three-receiver league, most people would be thrilled to have him as their third receiver.

I am, and I think I've made this clear, I'm very excited about Curtis Samuel. If you look at the value of where you get Samuel compared to DJ Moore, I would not be surprised if Samuel's the better receiver for the Panthers this season. I think Moore has a higher ceiling, but, you know, Samuel certainly stepped up at the end of last year. You know, I've been taking him in every draft. And I still feel the same thing about Deshaun Hamilton, even with the video of Emmanuel Sanders. I still think Hamilton's going to be a very productive receiver for the Broncos this year. So Goodwin, you know, it's kind of one of those late round flyers that I think a lot of people should be taking in deeper

leagues just because, again, he was so good with Garoppolo at the end of the 2017 season. And he was somebody I know at least Heath and I were very excited about at the start of last year. Obviously, Pettis stepped up. You have Debo Samuel, Jalen Hurd. We'll see what this receiving court looks like. But if Goodwin can pick up with Garoppolo where they left off, at least, again, at the end of that 17 campaign, he could be somebody that factors in as well. So I feel like I have a stud one, a very good two in Anderson, and then a rotation of guys that could be in that three spot

with Allen Robinson included the leader of that group. I'm not sure how confident I am outside of Juju, but it's a hell of guys that could be in that three spot with Allen Robinson included the leader of that group. I'm not sure how confident I am outside of Juju, but it's a hell of a relay team. It's very fast, yeah. They're very fast. Do you guys have any questions you want to ask about my super team? Why is it so bad? It's so good.

Did you draft blindfolded? Well, I didn't make my first selection. I think I told you, Adam, that your team could be unbelievable. I mean, when you talk about you have Barkley and what should be the two top Rams guys, as long as it's not frustrating, the hope would clearly be Gurley is the guy, but you did the right thing in where you took a chance on Gurley at the turn of the 2-3 turn. Yeah, let's talk about that. So I had the second pick.

But then to get Evans, Hill, and Kup, I mean, that's impressive. Especially if Tyreek Hill doesn't miss a significant time. Along with Dante Pettis as a fourth guy. And James Washington, too. I mean, that's a great receiver. He's got potential. Hollywood Brown, I don't think you'll ever feel comfortable starting him, but he's got potential. Deontay Foreman's got potential. Let's play it out't think you'll ever feel comfortable starting him, but he's got potential. Deontay Foreman's got potential.

Let's play it out. This might be the best team of all. It's a very exciting team. There are like 17 things that could go wrong and be complete disaster, but there's lots of upside. But hold on a second. He covered his butt with Gurley. Maybe.

I have to tell people who's on my team. So hang on. Okay, okay, okay. We're very excited about this. I have Jared Goff, Saquon Barkley, and Todd Gurley. Mike Evans, Tyreek Hill, and Cooper Cupp. Greg Olson at tight end. Dante Pettis at flex. On my bench, I have Deontay Foreman, Daryl Henderson,

who I think I took in the seventh round to handcuff to girly Carlos Hyde, Jalen Richard. And then my backup receivers, fifth and six receivers are Marquise Brown and James Washington. Who was your week one flex Dante? Oh, um,

if Tyreek's not suspended, Tyreek suspended, Tyreek suspended, probably Jalen. Probably James Wash, Marquise Brown. Probably Marquise Brown. I don't think Marquise Brown's going to be ready for week one. It could be Carl Sime.

Yeah, it could be Jalen Richard. Jalen Richard against Denver, let's say. Or James Washington in a shootout. You could just start Gurley and Henderson. I could do that. I could try that. I also have Greg Zerlein. That's seven extra points.

A lot of rams. What are you going to do week nine? Lose. You'd be 8-0 by that point. I do have a lot of rams. I guess the only problem is you've got to get Henderson. Sure, did I take it?

Second pick of round seven. That was fine. 74th overall? Fine. Yeah? Especially for you because you got Gurley. And I wasn't drafting again for another nearly full two rounds. Right, you weren't going to get him.

Yeah. All right, well, thanks, guys. Thanks for loving my team. It might be the best draft you've ever had in the history of your life. All right. I'm going to go have a leftover sandwich from the birthday party. Well, you just had 75 pizzas left over. Why are you eating sandwiches?

I gave three of the pizzas away to my neighbors and threw out the rest. Did not want any leftovers. Are they moving? Why? Oh, it was New York pizza. they're going to use it to pack. What are you talking about? New York pizza is the best. Do they even have pizza in Kansas City, wherever the hell you're from?

They have Elio's pizza. You have to freaking microwave it. Okay, we're out of here. We'll talk to you tomorrow. No, but their quarterback could throw the ball out of the stadium. Out of the bowl, not out of the entire stadium. Big deal. Your quarterback might not be able to throw 30 yards.

I threw the football around. I had a good time on Saturday. I was zinging it. Daniel Jones has a cannon. He can run. That's all I know. For Dave, for Jamie, for Heath, I'm Adam. Mailbag tomorrow. Na, na, na, na, na, na, na.