Fantasy Football Today - 07/26: Quirky RB Strategy; Regulators; Busts (Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: July 26, 2019

A fun Friday show for you as we start with some players that Heath and Ben are avoiding in early rounds (2:00) and popular bust candidates that they aren't afraid of (5:45). Also whose ADP will rise b...efore drafts (10:25) and who's the top RB out of Derrius Guice, Darrell Henderson and Miles Sanders (13:55)? ... News and notes (21:00) as Sterling Shepard and Julian Edelman have broken fingers, more players are holding out, Kalen Ballage is getting first team reps and more. Then Ben Gretch details his RB strategy that is largely about upside (27:30). Why does he avoid a big group of RBs? ... Which players have elite upside (40:00)? Adam asks the guys about Russell Wilson, A.J. Green, Brandin Cooks and more. Then the Fantasy Regulators finish the show by dispensing commish advice and maintaining the integrity of your leagues (47:10) ... Your emails at fantasyfootball@cbsi.com 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

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 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. Friday afternoon. It's the best time of the week.
Starting point is 00:00:22 Everybody's getting excited for the weekend. We all got fun weekend plans, I hope. I'm in a great mood. So let's talk about busts. Why not? I'm Adam Azer. Here's Heath Cummings. Always a sleeper, a breakout, never a bust. What's up, Heath? I am rarely a sleeper or a breakout. But yeah, really excited for the weekend, Adam. It's going to be so much fun. Oh, yeah. Are you going to a brewery this weekend? I'm going to a brewery about five minutes after we finish this podcast.
Starting point is 00:00:51 I'm going down to our up to, back to, Bangin' Banjo Brewery. Have some beers. I mean, I wouldn't go, but that sounds like a fun place. That's a very cool name. And we have Bangin' Ben Gretch here. Ben, what's going on? Welcome to the show. Everybody calls me that.
Starting point is 00:01:10 That's like my name. You know, it's just... It works. It's a great nickname. How are you, man? Happy Friday. I'm good. Yeah, happy Friday to you guys, too.
Starting point is 00:01:20 Finally going to finish my move this weekend. So no breweries for me quite yet. But I'm at the finish line, so I'm pretty pumped. Good stuff, man. And you are wearing a Callahan Auto t-shirt, which is terrific. Sandusky, Ohio. Beautiful. All right, so I got five fun questions for you.
Starting point is 00:01:37 They are somewhat about busts, and then I'm going to ask you guys about who has elite upside, because Ben's going to talk about his running back strategy that he alluded to on a previous show, where he doesn't want guys in the middle rounds who don't have elite upside. So we're going to talk about that in a bit. And the fantasy regulators are back. We have a strong, strong round of fantasy regulators today.
Starting point is 00:01:58 Heath, I'll start with you. Who is one player you are absolutely not drafting in the early rounds? And you don't want me to say Melvin Gordon and make you mad, right? Correct. So I'm going to say, you know, this one shouldn't be as obvious because we've known for a long time what the deal is and the ADP I think is too high. I'm going to go with Todd Gurley.
Starting point is 00:02:18 I believe on Fantasy Pros his ADP is 14th overall. And NFFC, ADP is like 16th overall. I don't feel comfortable taking Todd Gurley that early. When would you take Todd Gurley? Cause he was the answer to the next question for me. The next question is who is one popular bus candidate you aren't worried about? And I actually wrote,
Starting point is 00:02:40 you know, these are Chris Towers questions. He's got this newsletter. You should subscribe to the newsletter. Um, I, I said Gurleyly but that's more like you're not that's not like worried about girly i mean i am worried but not to the point where he's been falling in our drafts which is maybe after the top 24 but yes at 14 what did you say 16 16? Around there. That's a little early. I think he usually goes in the first four picks of the third round in our drafts.
Starting point is 00:03:10 And I think that's fine. I'm not cool with 14 through 17. I can agree with that because I have been taking him early in the third round. And with the sort of positive reports coming out lately, I don't think that's going to happen anymore. Ben, who is a guy you are absolutely not drafting in the early rounds? I'm not getting Le'Veon Bell anywhere.
Starting point is 00:03:33 I just have too many concerns about his situation. I mean, I think he's a really good player, but it's just such a different situation than Pittsburgh. He always had this dominant work work share uh of the Pittsburgh backfield he also had a higher paced offense he also had a lot more scoring opportunities than I expect from the Jets who I mean the Jets could take a step forward as an offense this year but he's kind of in a tough spot I mean there's just all of those factors are probably going to make his opportunity a lot lower this year and he's still being drafted a little higher than I would like,
Starting point is 00:04:07 because I think a lot of people are looking at it like, well, this guy has been an elite RB one several times in his career, but so much of running back production is based on the situation. And there's just almost no possible way he can get near the amount of touches he got in Pittsburgh, whether it's big. I mean, first of all, just because of the team volume. But then when you get into like, well, what if the backups, the secondary backs play more than the backups in Pittsburgh did?
Starting point is 00:04:32 And then, you know, could he ever potentially score as much as he did in some seasons in Pittsburgh? And I don't think that's really possible either. I do think that's possible. That's the only thing I think is possible because he never was a big touchdown guy. For a guy who rolled out of bed at 2,000 total yards, Le'Veon Bell, what's his season high in total touchdowns? I think it's 12, receiving and rushing.
Starting point is 00:04:55 He's never had a double-digit rushing touchdown season, which James Conner did have last year, oddly enough. So that was the only thing that I would disagree with you on in what you said about Le'Veon, who is going seventh overall in CBS ADP, which is, yeah, too early. Yeah, that's fair. I mean, his season high is 11,
Starting point is 00:05:15 but he also only played 16 games once. So he scored 42 touchdowns in 62 games there. I'd expect him to be closer to 8 to 10. 42 and 62 games is more like 11 or 12 probably in a season. So I, yeah, it's a little tougher for me to see that, but I do agree with you. That would be the side that that would be most plausible. But yeah, I just don't, I don't see the hundred target season. I don't see the huge rush workload.
Starting point is 00:05:42 I just don't, the situation is just not what it was in Pittsburgh. In pretty much every way, you can slice it. All right, who is one popular bus candidate that you are not worried about? Ben, I'll go to you first. Yeah, Damian Williams for me. I mean, he's a popular bus candidate. He's also a popular boom candidate for a lot of people. He kind of falls on one side of the fence either way.
Starting point is 00:06:03 Yeah, I'm not worried about it. He's going to get the first crack of the fence either way um i yeah i'm not worried about it uh he's gonna get the first crack of the job and there's you know that inertia when a running back gets put in there and gets the first opportunity they have that working in their favor i don't think the kansas city offense is gonna struggle uh he's always been a good receiving back like uh efficiency wise and he's caught i believe 20 passes at least every year of his career even when he was a part-time player with Miami so a little bit on the volume side as well like he wasn't playing a ton but he's at least catching 20 balls a year definitely has that ability to play in the pass game and the run game and that's what Andy Reid likes it's something that we talked about in this pot a lot that Carlos Hyde probably his biggest competition isn't as good
Starting point is 00:06:43 of a receiver as a lot of people think so for me I mean I think he's going to get the first crack he's going to be good enough and productive enough even if he's not necessarily great but because of the offense he's going to produce somewhere he's either going to produce in the passing game or he's going to produce on the ground or he's going to score enough touchdowns but they're not going to have any reason to bench him so I just for me getting the first crack in a great offense like that is a really positive thing, and I'm not very concerned about him losing his job. The health is the only concern, but, you know, all running backs are risky in that sense.
Starting point is 00:07:17 Give me a one-to-five-word answer. Are you cool with Damian Williams in the second round in a non-PPR draft? Yes. All right. That was only one. You have four more words to non-PPR draft? Yes. All right. That was only one. You have four more words to use for the rest of the show. Good stuff. Heath, who's the popular bus candidate you are not worried about?
Starting point is 00:07:35 I struggle a little bit with this one, but I think I've seen enough people talk about Tyler Lockett and regression to say that he would be my guy. I totally agree with the idea that he would be my guy. I do like, I totally agree with the idea that he's probably not going to average 13.8 yards per target again this year because nobody does that. And I wouldn't expect him to score once every seven targets. Nobody,
Starting point is 00:07:56 nobody does that either. But you look at Russell Wilson's history and Seattle, his number one receiver gets 22 to 25% of the targets in his offense. Even if there's not a huge increase in targets this year, that should be a minimum of 100 targets for Lockett, who should be the unquestionable number one wide receiver. That's almost a 50% increase over last year. And even if you look at his efficiency before last year,
Starting point is 00:08:22 it was still well over nine yards per target. He's still elite in that manner. So I expect Tyler Lockett to have his first 1,000-yard season and still probably score seven or eight touchdowns. All right, a few more questions for you. Let's see. How closely do you follow average draft position, ADP, when you draft? Heath?
Starting point is 00:08:42 Less than you would think, I guess, is my answer. I don't know what's close or not. I don't ignore it entirely. And I've got a pretty good, like, for me at least, the standard ADP is less important than what happens in our analyst drafts. Yeah, I think the three of us. I think people have to understand. Well, but I think it relates to other people. Because when you start doing your home league drafts yeah i think the three of us to understand well but i think it relates to other people
Starting point is 00:09:06 because when you start doing your home league drafts the odds of that league following the adp that we've set over the last three months of drafting are really pretty low so i don't like it's it's somewhat helpful as a guide to make sure, like if you think D.D. Westbrook's a fifth-round pick and he never goes until the ninth to not take him in the fifth round, but I'm not like, oh, it's the seventh round, and D.D. Westbrook's the guy I want, but he's not supposed to go until the ninth, so I'm not going to take him until next round.
Starting point is 00:09:40 I mean, I think that the three of us and the other guys you hear on this show, we have a pretty good idea of what ADP is by the time we're doing our real drafts. So I don't really focus on it that much. But I do think that you out there should have a general idea. Just take a look at average draft position and kind of understand players' values. But also just be wary. It only takes one other owner in your league to like someone a lot more than you think.
Starting point is 00:10:02 And then all of a sudden, maybe one of the sleepers you had is gone. So yeah, ADP is useful. I've never really had a time where after a draft, maybe later in the season, but after a draft, I felt like, man, I'm just so disappointed that I drafted that guy two rounds before his ADP. Yeah, that's a good point.
Starting point is 00:10:19 But I've had a lot of times where I was like, man, how did I miss this guy? Right, no, it's a good point. All right, Ben, let me get you the next question here. Who's the one player whose ADP will rise the most before week one? I'm taking Josh Gordon. I think we're waiting on impending news there. He's like a last round or really late round pick,
Starting point is 00:10:42 depending on what type of leagues you're drafting in right now in our analyst mocks that the heat was talking about sometimes he comes off the board a little bit before the last round but um i think all indications are that we're going to get some type of reinstatement maybe he has a small suspension but even if he has a suspension i still kind of think his adp would rise at that point. I mean, people are taking Kareem Hunt really high, and he's going to be out eight games. It's just like the uncertainty of him not being reinstated. We saw a Tyree kill, too. Once that news dropped, his ADP completely readjusted.
Starting point is 00:11:17 I think as soon as we get any kind of information on Gordon, his ADP is going to fly up. Gordon, very good in three games without Rob Gronkowski last year, his three best games. Heath, the player whose ADP will rise the most. Oh, I'm so glad this is a Heath and Ben podcast for me, my answer to this. The name that I sent Chris Towers was Peyton Barber, whose ADP right now is in the 10th round.
Starting point is 00:11:43 And I'm like, maybe I would understand Ben's argument that it shouldn't rise, but we can't like we get another two or three weeks of these Bruce Arians talking about Peyton Barber being his starting running back and everyone talking about Peyton Barber being the starting running back. And at some point drafters are going to say, why is there a starting running back available in the 10th round? But are they going to say that in the 8th round? What do you mean?
Starting point is 00:12:08 Are they going to be willing to take Peyton Barber in the 8th round? Yes, I would anticipate he is a top 90 pick. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets to the 7th. Do you think Ronald Jones will fall then? I don't know because it only takes one Ronald Jones truther in a draft for him to go in the top eight rounds. He won't fall in any of our drafts because I think one in 12 fantasy football players are Ronald Jones truthers. So it'd be difficult for Jones to fall too much. All right.
Starting point is 00:12:43 I know Ben's a Ronald Jones guy. We've talked about that a lot. We have one in three on this podcast. We're a little above the rate. Are you still taking Jones ahead of Peyton Barber, Ben? Yes. All right. Is there anything that could, other than a season-ending injury for Ronald Jones,
Starting point is 00:12:59 that could change that? No. That's what I thought. Yeah. No, yeah. I mean, it's about upside and and just understanding uncertainty at the position and i don't think i know how good ronald jones is i think i have more information that payton barber's not very good so the reason i'm drafting jones is for what i perceive to be
Starting point is 00:13:19 some upside there in that layer of uncertainty about what he is as a player because he's so he was so young last year and didn't get a lot of touches that would never you know i would never have that uncertainty uh for payton barber i mean even if he was very clearly the starter i just don't think he's that good i we know a little bit more about him all right last question guys this one i thought was really interesting because i i wrote something and then I reread it and I said, you know what? I think I'm going to change my answer. Who would you rather have? Darius Geis, 72nd overall, Miles Sanders, 76th overall, or Daryl Henderson, 80th overall?
Starting point is 00:13:53 So all within eight picks of each other, who would you rather have? Darius Geis, Miles Sanders, or Daryl Henderson? Ben, who do you got? It's Henderson for me. I mean, he's a little more expensive than I like. And he's probably going to have a role. We've been hearing that since he was drafted. But if Gurley's healthy all 16 games, he's probably not going to return value at this ADP. But his upside is just super, super high. to what I was just saying about Ronald Jones is the types of backs that I target in these rounds of the draft are guys that I think have potential RB1. And for him, especially, Ronald Jones maybe is like his upsides, maybe lower end RB1 or high end RB2. I don't know if he's going to potentially be a top five back. I don't know if I see that upside. But for Henderson,
Starting point is 00:14:40 I think literally he could be a top five back if Todd Gurley's not there. I mean, this offense has been very, very good for running backs the last few years. We saw it with C.J. Anderson last year stepping into it. The offensive line's going to take a little bit of a step back this year, but Henderson was a really good prospect. So for me, that's a little bit of a tradeoff where I think Henderson is just a good player, so I'm not as concerned about the line stepping back. And the big thing is just the receptions for the running backs in this offense and the touchdowns. The last two years, Todd Gurley has led the NFL in total touchdowns by three both seasons. So if he misses and Daryl Henderson is the lead back, I mean, that's the workload that he's going to get.
Starting point is 00:15:18 Just like we saw with C.J. Anderson, that's a very productive place to be. All right, Heath. Geis, Miles Sanders or Henderson? I first off, I do not believe in the dozens and dozens of drafts I've done so far that I have drafted any of these running backs in any drafts. I don't like the ADP for any of them. I would agree with Ben that Henderson has the most upside, and I don't think there is a floor that
Starting point is 00:15:49 exists for any of these three backs, so I would take Henderson. My projections, I think, might have guys projected for more points in non-PPR. He's the most likely guy to give you flex worthy production for the full season, I think.
Starting point is 00:16:05 The only thing that I will push back on, as far as what Ben said with Henderson, likely guy to give you flex worthy production for the rest of the, for the full season. I think, um, the only thing that I will push back on as far as what Ben said with Henderson, and I wrote about it in my bus column. I, I don't know how fair it is to talk about the efficiency that Gurley had the last two years in this offense. First off, because Gurley was just out of this world.
Starting point is 00:16:26 And second, because their offensive line was amazing and is not going to be as good this year. So I do think Henderson definitely has number one running back upside. I might think it's more like top 12. But I think he needs a lot of things to go right as well. And I originally wrote Miles Sanders, and then I changed it to Darius Geist. So I didn't consider Daryl Henderson there, although I would agree that he has the most upside if Todd Gurley gets injured.
Starting point is 00:16:48 But as Heath's brought up many times, Malcolm Brown is still there. We don't know for a fact they're just going to turn it over to Daryl Henderson. But, you know, Geis, look, I think you've got to be a little encouraged. He's pretty healthy. And we loved him before the ACL tear. He obviously has to compete with Adrian Peterson. Chris Thompson's going to catch the passes, but they don't really have much to play for.
Starting point is 00:17:10 They're going to figure that out pretty early. They're going to be looking toward the future. The future's not Adrian Peterson, not the 35-year-old running back. The future is Darius Geis, and I think there's a good chance he gets a lot of work in the second half, and maybe he don't have to wait that long,
Starting point is 00:17:23 maybe by the fourth week of the season. So I had Miles Sanders. I changed it to Darius Geis. I think that's a good change. I would take Geis over Sanders. Only thing I would say against that is I don't know. I think his upside in this season at least is maybe like 15, 16 touches a game.
Starting point is 00:17:46 And I think he's probably the early downs back on a terrible team yeah but 15 16 touches a game for a guy that i'm getting 72nd overall i'll take that especially with his pedigree and how much everybody likes him coming out of college also don't think miles sanders even has that upside i mean i i know people want to say that they've never had that good of a player in this backfield, but just the fact that they just brought back Darren Sproles as well, who played a ton on passing downs. He has like the in the Doug Peterson era, there's only been a few games where a single back has played more than I think it's 65 percent of snaps. It's like a handful of times in three seasons. And I'm pretty sure they were all Darren Sproles, or four of the five times were Darren Sproles, because they're in these games where they trail.
Starting point is 00:18:26 I mean, he has that role, and he's now back on the roster. And Jordan Howard pretty clearly going to have a role, I think, on early down short yardage stuff. So they look really, to me, they look built for and heading again toward a committee. Yeah, and I talked to Jason LaConfora on CBS Sports HQ earlier today, and he was at camp, and he was talking about how they weren't really looking like a team that wanted to run the ball very much.
Starting point is 00:18:56 And Darren, he was shocked by just right away how many first-team snaps Darren Sproles was getting. Yeah, he's going to play more than I think people realize. That doesn't surprise me, though, that the veteran is getting the first team snaps. It's a long way to go, but yeah, I don't know that I'm counting on Miles Sanders to get 15, 16 touches a game either.
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Starting point is 00:20:15 We got holdouts everywhere and we got Kalen Balazs running with the starters. We'll talk about that. And then we'll talk about upside. When we come back, kick off an exciting football season with BetMGM, an official sportsbook partner of the National Football League. Yard after yard, down after down,
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Starting point is 00:21:48 or visit SecurianCanada.ca. Securian Canada, insurance designed for life. Well, Sterling Shepard and Julian Edelman have broken thumbs. Edelman, it looks like, is expected to be ready for week one. Shepard, on the other hand, Heath, what's your reaction to this? He's week to week. He might be ready for week one. He might not. Do you get more excited about Evan Ingram, Golden Tate? What do you think?
Starting point is 00:22:12 I don't know about Ben, but I did not adjust my projections after the Sterling Shepard thumb injury. It's not a situation where he's on a new team or has a new quarterback or has something he has to learn. They seem very confident he's going to be back for has a new quarterback or has something he has to learn. They seem very confident he's going to be back for week one.
Starting point is 00:22:29 He does not need surgery. I'm not changing anything. I still had Golden Tate projected higher than Sheppard, so maybe that's part of the reason why, but I'm not adjusting my rankings. Okay. Ben, Jarek McKinnon on the pup list. He had a flare-up with his knee.
Starting point is 00:22:50 You are someone who already had advocated for taking Matt Breida, that he was basically an afterthought and he should have been. So your take now on the 49ers running backs. Yeah. I mean, I think this is going to put McKinnon behind. And I already kind of felt like Breida was a better back. So I think Breida is going to have a good opportunity in the preseason to win theinnon behind. And I already kind of felt like Breda was a better back. So I think Breda's going to have a good opportunity in the preseason to win the number two job. And I think they're probably
Starting point is 00:23:10 both going to... I expect them to use two backs. And that Breda will be playing a decent number of snaps in week one. So that's positive. He's a very good player in my opinion. He's a lot younger than Jarek McKinnon. I definitely think he's a solid late round target. Who would you rather take? Ronald Jones or Matt Breida?
Starting point is 00:23:27 Jones. Okay. Heath, how about you? That's a good one. Yeah. Who do you think is better, Ronald Jones or Matt Breida? Well, you've got to feel better about what Breida's done so far. And I might be anchoring to current ADP because I get Breida a lot later,
Starting point is 00:23:44 and I draft them both in pretty much all of our analyst ADP because I get Breda a lot later. And I draft them both in pretty much all of our analyst mocks. But I get Breda a lot later. I guess it would depend on how high Breda goes, but I could see a case for it too. It's a good question. Michael Thomas has not reported, and Ezekiel Elliott
Starting point is 00:23:59 did not travel with the team, which we talked about yesterday. Michael Thomas, by the way, is scheduled to make $1.15 million this season. Heath, at what point do we get worried about Thomas and Zeke? August 6th. For both of them? Yep. They're both fourth-year players. Yeah, to accrue that year
Starting point is 00:24:15 for free agency. Julio Jones wants to reach 3,000 yards this season. He won't. If he did, he'd probably score one touchdown. I would like to project every player perfectly this season. He won't. If he did, he'd probably score one touchdown. I would like to project every player perfectly this season. The current single season
Starting point is 00:24:34 record is Calvin Johnson, the undisputed second best wide receiver in football history. 1,964 yards in 2012. Well, if Jones' goal is 3,000, then he's easily going to beat that. He's going to be what? 1,964? Yeah, he's
Starting point is 00:24:50 easily going to beat that. Aim for the moon, you'll land in the stars. I'd be disappointed if he did it. Right. If you're going to aim for 3,000 and you don't get 2,000, then you had a terrible year. Yeah. Jack Doyle practice, Chris Carson practice, Ryan Fitzpatrick opened as the starting quarterback for Miami,
Starting point is 00:25:06 Kalen Balazs still running with the ones. Heath, you think Kalen Balazs might actually be the starter for the Dolphins? I do. I don't really care. You should care because you're the one who's always drafting Drake. You love him, Drake. You should care. Right. I don't think there is
Starting point is 00:25:25 really any chance that Balazs is taking more than 20 to 25% of the targets. I think those will be the most valuable touches in this offense, and I think it will be a committee. I don't know. What
Starting point is 00:25:41 do you have the carry split? Do you have Balazs for do you have bellage for more carries than drake now yet no no and i was gonna ask you how far you moved him up um i i didn't make a a huge change but i have uh 167 for drake and 105 for bellage right at this moment i i might need to narrow that a little bit but i I still have Drake leading the backfield. I'm not, like, it's two practices in July, you know. I've got him close to the same number of catches, or carries, which I had him closer than you do now
Starting point is 00:26:14 before this. But even with that, Drake's 25, 30 spots higher in the rankings because, one, he'll be better on his carries, and two, he's going to catch 40 more passes. Yeah, I have him for more than double the receptions as well. All right, next news item. Freddie Kitchens, Cleveland's head coach, said that Duke Johnson is going to have a significant role in the offense.
Starting point is 00:26:41 Duke Johnson was, I want to say he was number 12. He was right around top 12 at running back in PPR in 2017. He had a very good year with three receiving touchdowns, four rushing touchdowns, 74 catches, 82 carries. Do you think that Duke Johnson, Ben, can have a big impact for fantasy teams? No, not really. Whether he has a significant role kind of depends on your definition of significant. You just read off stats from 2017.
Starting point is 00:27:19 One, he had a huge touchdown spike that season. The rest of his career combined, his other three seasons, he hasn't matched the seven touchdowns that he had that year. Two, Nick Chubb wasn't on the roster yet last year his receptions came down uh by 27 his targets came down 31 so uh it was a lot different situation for him last year now I do think he'll play I think he'll be very involved uh because Kareem Hunt's out for eight weeks and he's very clearly the second running back as long as he's still on the roster and hasn't been traded, I think he's going to play on passing downs. I think he's going to be involved. I just don't necessarily think he's going to be huge for fantasy,
Starting point is 00:27:52 but the idea that he's going to be a significant part of the offense, I mean, if you define significant as someone who's playing a decent amount of snaps, like, yeah, then he's going to be out there. Right. All right. And finally, Pittsburgh extended Mike Tomlin's contract through at least 2021, and Chargers left tackle Russell Okung had a pulmonary embolism, and there's no timetable for a return. So Ben talked about his running back strategy last week,
Starting point is 00:28:16 and I wanted to focus on it a little bit more. How would you sum up that running back strategy? The short version would just be basically not taking running backs and starting in around round three, around four until at least like round seven. And like we did a pick by pick recently, me and Heath and Dave and Jamie, and we each drafted from three spots and I didn't do this on purpose,
Starting point is 00:28:41 but I noticed after when I was writing the reviews of the three teams I drafted, I didn't take a running back in the third, fourth or fifth on any of these teams. And I only took one on one of the teams. I took Tevin Coleman in the sixth and the other two teams. The gap from the third one all the way to for one, it was the eighth for one. It was the ninth. And the reason for that, and I wrote a little article called The Running Back Dead Zone in the CBS magazine. It's going to be up on the site in a couple of weeks as well. Did a little bit of research over the last 10 years.
Starting point is 00:29:14 Made different little cutoffs for seasonal points, points per game for guys who played more than half the season but maybe didn't play all 16. And then guys who are really good late in the season but maybe didn't play all 16 and then guys who are really good late in the season and built out a cohort of like 56 i think it was running backs who you could describe as elite performances to try to figure out where these elite performances come from and the vast majority come from first and second round picks then there's uh which i think was 33 of the 56 then there was like five that were around three picks from rounds four through round nine there were only seven guys with adps that fell in that range that had elite running back seasons or at least as i was defining them and then rounds 10 to 16 there were nine guys like basically the
Starting point is 00:29:56 same amount of draft picks there's actually more elite seasons coming from the late part of drafts and then there were like two that were undrafted as well. And these guys, 10 to 16, that were elite, they had to have played... How many elite games did they have? How did you define elite? Was it just three games at the end of the year, or what? Total season points, I set the lowest cutoff.
Starting point is 00:30:22 I set a little bit of a higher cutoff for the guys who did miss some time, but played at least half the season, and their point-per-game cutoff. I'd say a little bit of a higher cutoff for the guys who did miss some time, but played at least half the season. And their point per game cutoff, I believe, was 20 points per game in PPR leagues. And then for the late season breakout types, I think I had it even higher. I think I had it at 23 points per game. So it pulled in guys like Damian Williams from last year and Derrick Henry from last year and some guys in prior seasons. Because I think those guys are notable to study as well. Where do these guys come from? These late season breakouts.
Starting point is 00:30:48 And Derrick Henry was one of the guys who came from this dead zone, actually, because he was like a fourth round pick last year. So who made it from last year? I don't have the list in front of me. I know Williams and Henry were the two that pulled in from the final cutoff that I used. And then, you know, Saquon, Christian McCaffrey, Alvin Kamara would have all made it. I'm trying to pull it up right now,
Starting point is 00:31:10 but I don't know what I mean. No, that's cool. I'm trying for our fantasy owners to gauge who we're talking about. That's cool. All right. So it's a super elite cohort. I mean, it's definitely like it's not.
Starting point is 00:31:20 That was kind of the point. Oh, not to pull in guys. James Conner. James Conner made it, I assume. James Conner made it on the – yeah, the points per game threshold cutoff. I'm almost certain. Okay, cool. All right.
Starting point is 00:31:32 So, yeah. So I get it. It's – you only want guys with huge upsides basically. Right. So the point – yeah, the point that I – like to sum up what I take away from this, that round four to round nine range you're drafting guys that in my opinion you take to make yourself feel better on draft day about the depth in your running back position like Lamar Miller is a great example that's a dude that I will never take I
Starting point is 00:31:56 don't care how far he falls we know what 16 games of Lamar Miller and the Houston Texans offense looks like we also know that um did Deontay Foreman's two years removed from an Achilles and could potentially overtake him the big thing is like every year there are these guys that we have to project as a lead back because we have to project someone to be the lead back Alex Collins was the poster boy last year right he was a guy who looked like the lead back for the Ravens and really the Ravens are the are the poster boys going back several years because the year before Terrence West was the highest drafted Ravens running back the year before that it was Justin Forsett and every year these guys have usurped the guy before Terrence West ended up being the lead back instead
Starting point is 00:32:33 of Forsett then it was Collins usurping West last year it was Gus Edwards taking over for Collins for one reason or another we see this this turnover every year in a lot of different backfields but what we can't really project in the preseason is where a guy like gus edwards is going to get 137 carries is what i think he had last year there's there's no way to project that so you wind up a little bit too high on some of these backs that are in the weaker offenses or in the less stable situations uh like the broader the broader theme would be that drafters are pretty good at identifying the top 10 or 15 or maybe even 20 running back situations in the league every year. But then
Starting point is 00:33:11 the back half of the 32 teams were propping up guys that have pretty dubious claims to being the number one back. And they get drafted in that range. They don't actually have huge upside. The best case scenario is basically that they hit ADP, which is not going to win you your league. You're also not going to lose your league, not drafting that guy. And then the late round guys, types of players you want to target, guys that have good receiving workloads, guys that are in great offenses. James Conner last season, Alvin Kamara in 2017. Those are two guys that made the list as late round dudes who are in great offenses and had the potential to catch a lot of passes. Obviously, Connor's situation was pretty unique with Le'Veon Bell. He would have
Starting point is 00:33:48 went a lot higher if we knew that Bell was going to be out. But elite offenses, if you assume that maybe Bell would have had an injury, elite offenses, if a guy can step into a full workload in a great offense, they can have that kind of impact. Damian Williams is another example of a guy last year who stepped right in and was very very very good because of how good the offense was and had a huge impact on his ability to produce for fantasy so that's that's kind of the main theory like in the back in the round four to round nine range we're looking at the lead backs and bad bad offenses don't have huge upside even if they do stay the starter but a lot of them end up losing their jobs anyway um so basically just don't draft running backs in that range i think there are guys you even if they do stay the starter, but a lot of them end up losing their jobs anyway.
Starting point is 00:34:28 So basically just don't draft running backs in that range. I think there are guys you can, you can target if you have the right amount of upside. Ronald Jones is a guy we've talked about. Daryl Henderson is a guy that I do take in that range sometimes, but typically I'm just waiting and then loading up really heavy. And then my, my rosters look really bad. Like it's funny in all our mocks, we get the CBS reviews and they send them out and i always get really bad grades in my drafts because they think my running backs are terrible even if i go running back running back round one around two since i don't draft another one until maybe around 10 i get a really bad grade on running back but i'm not so worried about that uncertainty going into week one i'm worried about how my team's gonna uh develop throughout the season and some of those guys are probably going to get an opportunity.
Starting point is 00:35:06 And if I take enough of those running backs in the double-digit rounds, I'm hoping to hit on at least one or two. And then the obvious other benefit, I can save those single-digit rounds to target receivers who could be league winners, to target elite tight ends, maybe to go and take a pretty high quarterback in the sixth or seventh round. All right, but this is my last question. I'm going to turn over to Heath. Are you pigeonholing yourself into going running back, running back
Starting point is 00:35:30 in basically every draft with this strategy? Nope. Then how do you ever have good running backs? How do you get these league-winning wide receivers if you're probably not taking wide receivers in rounds one and two, unless, of course, you are? Yeah, no, you would be. So, like I was mentioning, the pick-by-pick that we did,
Starting point is 00:35:53 on one of the three teams, I was at the 12th spot, and I went Odell, Beckham, Travis, Kelsey. And then by the time it comes back to me in that 3-4 range, that's where I'm way higher on the receivers than i am on the running backs i believe i took uh digs or brandon cooks or somebody and and i took two two receivers there uh i can't remember who the other one was but i think digs or cooks went right before me i wanted to get both of them i didn't get both of them but regardless i wind up with three pretty solid receivers and it comes back around five six that's where i where I took Tevin Coleman to be my running back one.
Starting point is 00:36:26 That's a little higher than I probably wouldn't normally take one. But I did that because I hadn't taken a running back yet. But by that point, I had three stud receiver or excuse me, four stud receivers. I was filled out all the way down to my flex with really good receivers, plus Travis Kelsey at tight end. So, yeah, my running backs aren't going to be great, but if I can hit on the 2018 James Conner, the 2017 Alvin Kamara, then all of a sudden my roster looks pretty phenomenal because it's really good at every other spot.
Starting point is 00:36:54 The tough part about knowing whether or not I'm going to hit on those guys, or at least, you know, obviously we don't know if we're going to find those guys, but at least I'm taking a lot of shots at that, right? I get six running backs in that range that could be this year's camara or connor and i'm hoping to hit on one or two okay so certainly a high upside strategy heath your thoughts i i get it mostly and i think i've been the most open to just the zero running back approach and not taking one at
Starting point is 00:37:23 all until round seven or round eight in past years and i still am in the back two or three picks in the first round i the one thing i wonder like this has to vary a little bit it seems like dependent on adp and dependent on the running backs in each year that are in that range because like as they rule yes that range of running back i don't you don't generally see a lot of upside but i think there are a handful of guys now that like i'm taking in the sixth or seventh round sometimes guys that fall into the start of the fourth round that i kind of do feel like have that upside. And it's guys like later in the range, it's someone like Rashad Penny.
Starting point is 00:38:12 Right. Who I think is like, I think he fits into the whole mold of what Ben's looking for pretty well. It's just you're having to pay a little bit more for him. But if something happens to Chris Carson, he's on a team that wants to run the ball 700 times this year yeah it's funny though so i would say for or even like josh jacobs for guys in that range who did hit um and i did study that a little bit more it was young guys like that those are great names to target so big reason i brought daryl henderson and ronald jones too it's young guys um that are kind of being pushed down just because we haven't seen it yet, and they fall in that range. Absolutely agree with Penny and Jacobs as guys who could be that.
Starting point is 00:38:52 But the main point is just you're paying a lot more for probably a little bit of a safer floor in those late single-digit rounds than in the double-digit rounds, but not necessarily a higher rate overall of upside. a little bit of a safer floor in those late single digit rounds than in the double digit rounds but not necessarily a higher rate overall of um of upside now that doesn't mean you can't take running backs there it just means that when you do you should target ones that you believe have this elite upside like he's talking about there's a couple good names that he just named um but don't just load up on running backs in that range when you're not really increasing your team's potential to nab league winners
Starting point is 00:39:28 because you're giving up the potential of grabbing league winners at other positions. All right. So for me, I would personally cherry pick from your strategy, and I like your late round strategy more of taking guys with massive upside in good offenses. I don't think that I'm going to agree with you on guys like that whole group of running backs, Aaron Jones, Kerryon Johnson, Devontae Freeman, Marlon Mack. I'm going to like that group more than you are. Josh Jacobs in there as well.
Starting point is 00:39:56 And I'm not ignoring that group. But I do know that you mentioned Alex Collins. I would go back a year before that too and say Isaiah Crowell, Kenyon Drake. There are so many. There are so many. Rob Kelly, Matt Jones a couple years ago for Washington as well. There's so many. Amir Abdullah.
Starting point is 00:40:15 There's so many guys in this range that aren't even in the league anymore. You're right. You're right. There are. So I'll be aware of that. But I'm still going to be a little higher on that group than you are. But no, I mean, it is interesting. And you have some data to back it up.
Starting point is 00:40:29 And you know what? The best point you made is like you really shouldn't do stuff on draft day just to make yourself feel better about your team. You should never care about the draft grade you get from whatever website you're using. You have to have kind of a long-term look at it and some good takeaways there from Ben. So I will ask you then, who has elite upside? I will look at a group of players and then we will do some regulating.
Starting point is 00:40:54 Let's try to do this in about five minutes, guys, so we can have plenty of time to get to some league disputes. Does he have elite upside? Carson Wentz. Heath. Yes. I'm going to say yes only if he is mobile. Only if he has a decent amount of rushing yards.
Starting point is 00:41:12 Doesn't have to be as much as his rookie year. But he's got to be able to use his legs. Because if he doesn't, like, their offense took a major step back last year. And I'm a little worried. But the air yard should be there. It'll be a vertical passing game. That does help the passing stats. Kind of a Jameis Winston profile from last year.
Starting point is 00:41:27 And the reason that people like him as well. Getting Deshaun Jackson, you think, is very good for Wentz. Yes. All right. Does Russell Wilson have elite upside? No. Yes. Their defense is bad, and they're forced to throw more.
Starting point is 00:41:44 And he runs more. i absolutely think he has a lead up to two seasons ago he was a quarterback one i mean that's he was the worst qb1 in the last nine years i think but but he still was the qb1 like he would have been qb4 with that last year based on his 2017 fantasy point total uh but that was always something that bugged me about Wilson. But that was when he was going as a top five quarterback. He isn't anymore. Their defense wasn't that good last year, by the way, just for the record.
Starting point is 00:42:14 I want to clarify. I think Russell Wilson is one of the most talented quarterbacks in the entire NFL. I'm not trying to say I don't think he has the talent to have a lead upside. And I have moved him up a little bit because of a couple of dings to their defense. I don't really believe that he has 550 pass attempt upside. And there are going to be a handful, if not more quarterbacks who throw the ball 600 times. And if their defense struggles, I feel more like they'll just slow it down to try to keep them off the field.
Starting point is 00:42:53 They've had, I would call them a slightly above average defense in terms of total yards and points allowed each of the last two seasons. And in those two seasons, Seattle has... But has lost Frank Clark and they lost Earl Thomas. They did. They didn't have Earl Thomas for all last year either. But yes, losing losing Frank Clark is big. But they're just like they're well coached, you know. So all right. Fine.
Starting point is 00:43:19 Fair enough. But my point is with the same basically basically same type of defense two straight years, they were 20th in rushing one year and second in rushing the other in terms of attempts. So, you know, I don't know that the defense matters. I think it just might be what the coaching staff wants to do. Okay. Yeah, I mean, my take would just be game flow. They had a lot of close games last year that they stayed in.
Starting point is 00:43:43 And I just... The possibility for him to hit 550 pass attempts really only exists... I know the coaches... I totally agree the coaches want to run the ball. It really only exists
Starting point is 00:43:54 if they're a lot worse and they trail a lot more. And then they have to let Wilson throw. Jameis Winston, does he have a lead upside? Yes. Yep. AJ Green, does he have a lead upside? Yes. Yep. A.J. Green,
Starting point is 00:44:06 does he have a lead upside? Yes. I don't really think so. I think he does. Yeah, I mean, again, another player I think is very talented. I expect them to spread the ball around a little more than they did
Starting point is 00:44:22 back when A.J. Green was a true number one receiver. A.J. Green was a true number one receiver. A.J. Green has had three seasons in which he has been a top six wide receiver in non-PPR and probably very, very close to PPR, if not even better, on a per game basis. And in those three seasons, his three best per game seasons, he was on pace for 164, 178, and 160 targets. So when he's been on a less than 160 target pace, he has not been a top six wide receiver on a per-game basis. Does that mean anything to you?
Starting point is 00:44:59 Because I don't really think he's getting 160 targets this year. That's what I was saying. Right. Yeah, I was just putting the numbers too. Yeah, I think that's fair. That this year that's what i was saying right yeah i was just putting the numbers yeah i think that's fair that's good that kind of changed my mind a little bit i was gonna say i mean most of his issues over the last several seasons and you alluded to it with the per game stats are that he's missed time like he's still been pretty darn good but you know the target concerns could be real we don't really know what to expect from zach taylor's offense though i mean if that if they if they have a good offense somehow, their O-line's an issue,
Starting point is 00:45:26 but if they have a good offense somehow, just by getting rid of Marvin Lewis and getting a new system in there, he's still very talented. So it's possible. Yeah, and they have talent on the offense. Their line's going to be an issue, but Andy Dalton was on pace for 34 passing touchdowns and his second-highest passer rating when A.J. Green was healthy in eight games. Green played nine, but he barely played in one of them.
Starting point is 00:45:48 It was after missing a few games. Julian Edelman, does he have a lead upside? Edelman. Only a PBR. I don't even know if I'd call it elite. I think it's low-end wide receiver one upside. He still is so safe. He's got probably
Starting point is 00:46:03 the most predictable stat line. Brandon Cooks, does he have a lead upside? I'm going to say yes. That means you think he has more upside than A.J. Green. Yeah. Interesting. Here's what I'm going to say, and this could be wrong, but I kind of overlooked just how good Brandon Cooks was last year,
Starting point is 00:46:30 and it's easy to overlook how good he's been just every year because it's kind of the same thing. But he basically missed a game last year, set a career high with 1,200 receiving yards, and had some bad touchdown luck really for the first time since his rookie year. And towards the playoffs, 200-yard games averaged like 97 yards in his three games in the playoffs as well.
Starting point is 00:46:53 Yeah, without Cooper Cup, for what it's worth. I think he may have a higher ceiling than A.J. Green this year. Yeah, I'm upset that his ADP, Brandon Cook's ADP, well, not his ADP, in the drafts that we've done, it's rising like a round,
Starting point is 00:47:08 where now I see Heath taking Cooks at the end of the third, beginning of the fourth round, around the 36th, 37th overall pick, whereas before it was more like 48, 49 overall. But I think people are just kind of realizing, like, Brandon Cook's one way or the other is going to get his numbers, and Heath thinks there's a lot of upside there. He's never had a huge target season, but he's at 129. I was going to say the same as Edelman.
Starting point is 00:47:30 I think he has low-end wide receiver one upside, which is still a really good upside in my opinion. There is no segment with more upside than the fantasy regulators, and we're going to take a quick, quick break. When we come back, we're regulating. Metrolinks and Crosslinks are reminding everyone to be careful as Eglinton Crosstown LRT train testing is in progress. Please be alert, as trains can pass at any time on the tracks.
Starting point is 00:47:55 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. All right, we got your questions. Here we go. Fantasy regulators and put fantasy regulators football in the subject line. That would be very helpful. CBSI, fantasyfootballatcbsi.com.
Starting point is 00:48:19 This is from Mark. This year we're thinking of implementing a 24 hour trade counter window. I'm going to tell you right now, Mark, Heath is going to hate, hate this idea. We're thinking of implementing a 24 hour trade counter window. So when a trade is agreed upon between two teams,
Starting point is 00:48:38 the trade will then become public information via group text for 24 hours. At which point, members of the league can then propose their own counteroffers for the players accepted in the trade. Is this at least a decent idea? It would promote smack talk, but at the same time act as a form of veto
Starting point is 00:48:54 for severely lopsided trades. And two, would we have to limit the counteroffers for only those players that were already agreed to in the trade and not add other players, basically? So what do you think that 24-hour counter offer window i love this really we want to play in leagues that have this from now on this is awesome i mean it's no it's so unfair it is so unfair for the teams making the trades sure but i like a the the form of veto thing because that's like such a huge sticking
Starting point is 00:49:24 point for a lot of leagues is when you when someone maybe doesn't know what they're doing as much and they end up getting kind of preyed on a little bit. If something like that happens in your league, you have a built-in way for someone else to step in and say, hey, look, I will give you more for that player you're going to trade away. That's not fair. That's not fair to me. I made a great trade. Why should I suffer because somebody else is making a better offer? That's not fair. That's not fair to me. I made a great trade. Why should I suffer because somebody else is making a better offer? That's not fair. This is a terrible idea.
Starting point is 00:49:47 This is basically like fab for trades. I love it. Option at all. You thought I was going to hate this. This is not like the veto system. This is the fix for the veto system. No, it isn't. You know what?
Starting point is 00:50:01 Okay, this would be like if you win a guy for $8 on fab, and then the next day I say, actually, I'll take him for $12. No, it isn't. You know what? This is – okay, this would be like if you win a guy for $8 on Fab and then the next day I say, actually, I'll take him for $12. No, it's ridiculous. No one is going to have a chance to say that trade was not fair because they had a chance to beat the offer. The difference with Fab, with your point right there, Adam, was everyone knows when waivers are running. Not everyone always knows because it's hard to get in touch with everyone in your league.
Starting point is 00:50:26 Make a trade offer. No, this is not fair. You would be so bad if you made a trade and then it got overturned because someone else made a different trade. Adam, you're going to know the rules when you go in there. You're not going to create this after you make the bad trade. Terrible take. Terrible take. If you listen to Heath and Ben, which you shouldn't.
Starting point is 00:50:45 The second part, though, you should only be able to go after the exact particulars of the trade. I think that would simplify it. And then fine. I'm not really willing to compromise, but for the sake of this argument, I will be. If you're going to do this awful idea, you should at the very least give the person who made the original trade a chance to beat any counteroffer. Sure. It's open for 24 hours. You have the final word, the final bit.
Starting point is 00:51:10 All right, let's go. Next one. Next one's from Randy. You are the number one seed with one game to go before the playoffs. Losing on purpose drops you down to number two, which works out because there's a higher chance of beating the winner of this bracket. There's no collusion. Thoughts? I've run into this before, and I don't think you can lose on purpose because what happened was that the team that they were losing on purpose to it pushed that team into the playoffs and they would have beat them and it cost someone else
Starting point is 00:51:38 a playoff spot. So I think you have to play out like you're trying to win at all times because it's like it impacts everyone else in the league. i think you should randy i think there are ways to do this without getting called out for it and i think it's a really really terrible awful idea like i don't believe in jinxes or anything like that except for in this instance i'm relatively certain if you do something to pick your opponent in the playoffs you're going to lose to the person you just played. That's the best part. You'll end up getting scored more on you than the one you thought you were going to be able to beat. All right, next up.
Starting point is 00:52:10 We've got some fun ones here. All right, this one, I don't know if I have a name here. I'm sorry about that. But there's a spirited debate in our 16-team non-PPR Keeper Auction League where trading auction dollars is allowed. There is one league member named Jeff, who is eager to make changes to some of the basic scoring rules, and he, uh, there we go.
Starting point is 00:52:34 Jeff, here are some of the changes that Jeff wants to make. He wants half PPR instead of non-PPR. He wants to add a flex spot. He wants to get rid of the kicker. Jeff is... Great job, Jeff. Hold on, hold on. Everyone should try to be a Jeff.
Starting point is 00:52:52 Hold on. Jeff is usually making a fuss about these issues or something else every year around this time. And it's nearing the point where he cannot get support for any of his ideas simply because they are his ideas. It's almost as if when you read a message from him in the group chat, you just want to throw up your hands and say,
Starting point is 00:53:12 Ah. Yeah, I know, right? Other people in the league are happy with the way the league is right now. The 16 teams, the keepers, and the trading of auction dollars all make the league challenging and different than most leagues. We would like you to regulate the possible changes that Jeff is advocating for, but also let us know if it's easier to take a page out of Heath's book and just kick him out of the league.
Starting point is 00:53:32 Jeff's ideas are good ideas. Yeah, I like them too. They are pretty good. But if you guys don't like Jeff's ideas, you can just have a league that's not as friendly the way I would like it. And Jeff can go find his own league. I mean, it doesn't sound like Jeff may not
Starting point is 00:53:49 have a bunch of extra friends to join a league with, but I like his ideas. But if everybody else doesn't, it doesn't really matter. Alright, that was regulated. Let's get to our next one here. It's from Mike in Orlando. I'm the commissioner... Oh, this is great. I'm the commissioner of a 12-team league. We're going into our next one here. It's from Mike in Orlando. I'm the commissioner. Oh, this is great.
Starting point is 00:54:05 I'm a commissioner of a 12-team league. We're going into our 10th year. There has been some controversy as to what our next year's punishment for the loser will be. It's down to three options, and I wanted to see which one you guys think would be the most harsh, yet the most fun for everyone. All right. Punishments for coming in last. One, place a card magnet on your card that says,
Starting point is 00:54:27 I suck at fantasy football. Honk to shame me. This would then be followed up by the league choosing a photo of you and placing it on the Reddit thread, roast me. Then, of course, we will post all the comments to our Facebook group. Two, we make a reservation at Applebee's for you and one other. Your guest is a blow-up doll, and you must order two meals and enjoy a lovely dinner with your new friend,
Starting point is 00:54:49 and obviously this would be documented heavily. Or three, at the end of next year's draft, the league champion can choose anyone on your roster and swap them with anyone he wants from his roster. This would then lead to the most lopsided trade in fantasy football history. You would also have to perform a karaoke song of the league's choice prior to the draft. Not three for sure. Two.
Starting point is 00:55:11 Yeah, the Applebee's one? Oh, yeah. It's an intimate setting. That's got to be even more embarrassing because you can't leave. You're just sitting there. I mean, the honk to shame me thing, that's just a quick embarrassment. The Applebee's thing is just a long, slow... It's great.
Starting point is 00:55:28 I'd go with one or two, just definitely not three. Yeah, three's bad. He says his league is full of true degenerates but also close friends who love to destroy each other's souls. I feel like Applebee's with a blow-up doll is how you do that. Yeah, it's a good one. Alright, Heath, we have an email here.
Starting point is 00:55:44 Somebody's trying to make a case for the worst commissioner ever. Do you think this person will be able to top me? I'm assuming this person's in one of your leagues. Not that I'm aware of. David from DC would need some regulating. I want to make the case for the worst ever commissioner. Examples.
Starting point is 00:56:05 Let's see how many of these I've done. The last two years, we restarted live drafts because he neglected to make them snake format. On four or five occasions, we scrambled to add a 12th member within an hour of the draft because he doesn't do head counts until the last minute. He refuses to collect money assigning a treasurer role to whoever is willing. If you ask him for a ruling on anything, he says, quote, check the website. That's great. He does odd things without input, such as home field advantage points for season matchups,
Starting point is 00:56:40 one point arbitrary, and higher playoff seeds get three points. He once formed two divisions and without hesitation placed the weakest members on his side. His traits are pushed through prior to the league consent, but he disputes anyone else's traits. That's bad.
Starting point is 00:56:59 Also weak. Despite the lack of awareness and effort and the fact that we rarely retain the same 12 members year to year, he proclaimed last season that 2019 would be our first year as a keeper league. No one knows the rules. What happens with waiver pickups from last season? Who gets the rights to traded players?
Starting point is 00:57:15 How many keepers do we even get? Making it worse, last year he chose Geis with his last pick to stash. Only later did we realize just how shady that move was without future rules outlined. We're now a month away from the start of the season, and he hasn't activated the league. He hasn't reached out over the text, Jade. I'm tired of being the de facto commissioner tasked to prod him into action.
Starting point is 00:57:38 The league is on track to fold. The obvious solution is for him to relinquish commissioner duties, but here's the thing. He's obsessed with the power. There have been talks of a coup for a few years or just abandoning the league en masse, but if either happened, he is sensitive and stubborn enough for it to affect real friendships. This is supposed to be our 10th year in the league
Starting point is 00:57:55 of old high school friends. It's one of the only ways we all keep in touch. Generally, all of us would like to continue. So what do we do about our overly sensitive, absentee, megalomaniac commissioner? How many years have you been out of high school? This is Ted. Ted.
Starting point is 00:58:12 No, you, Adam. Oh, 14, I think. Okay, okay. No, no, more than that, more than that. I've been out of college for 14 years. Wow. I've been out of high school for 20 years um thank you david for a fantastic email i don't know how old i am i've been out of high school
Starting point is 00:58:32 for 17 years um adam's about to have a midlife crisis live on the air yeah you're you're middle aged yeah i just turned 50 well no but you are definitely middle-aged. I'm 30-something. It doesn't matter. Mid-30s. I'm 35. Double that, you get 70. That's probably...
Starting point is 00:58:54 I feel like I can do better than that. This commissioner sucks. This is hilarious. Oh, he's awful. But it sounds like you're good enough friends to not want to upset the friendship. And I know at least one overly sensitive megalomaniac commissioner, and I've seen him get upset over fantasy things and have it affect personal relationships. Not me, right?
Starting point is 00:59:27 You have to worry about that a little bit. You're not talking about me, are you? That's ridiculous. Can you imagine losing because of home field advantage points? Like you lose by a half point? Home field advantage. I will say, in defense of... I don't think he ever gave us his commissioner's name. Let's just call him Adam.
Starting point is 00:59:43 In defense of Adam, I actually agree with the home field advantage in the playoffs. No, that's a tiebreaker. You don't get extra points for it. It's a controversial take, but I do. I don't hate it. You should get a little bit of a bonus. It's weird that we put so much on the weeks 14 to 16 and not on weeks 1 to 13, which mattered a lot too.
Starting point is 01:00:11 Right. And I know Adam doesn't often collect money for leagues that he's the commissioner of. That's true. That's a good point. I have a treasurer. I think this guy crosses the line with the forming divisions and stacking it with the weakest players and pushing through his own trades
Starting point is 01:00:30 without anyone getting to voice it and disputing others. Those are just clear competitive imbalances. Yeah, and the taking Darius Geis in the last round the year before he turned into a keeper league. How do you not set it as a snake draft? The multiple times you've had this problem. That's the easiest thing. The default setting has to be snake draft.
Starting point is 01:00:51 Like, are you kidding me? Like I would probably, if everyone else agrees, I would nominate someone else in the league to tell this guy that either he, he turns over commissionership or the league is over and he's not invited to the new one. You should get a petition going and everyone in the league signs it and then hand it to him.
Starting point is 01:01:11 Give him a nice thank you card or something, and then when he opens it, it's like, you're not our commissioner anymore. We hate you, actually. I like it. Or just start a new league, you be the commissioner, and send him an invite to join the league if he wants to. All right, all good options. Thank you
Starting point is 01:01:27 very much. We are done for the day. We are done for the week. 8.30 in the morning Eastern. That's when we're recording our next show on Monday. That means it's going to be out nice and early. A lot of you for your morning commute. So I hope you're excited about that. I am extremely excited about that. Ben,
Starting point is 01:01:43 thank you for coming on. Heath, thank you. I want you guys to have great weekends. Get refreshed. Get charged up for another big week of fantasy football. Let's go drink some beer. Yeah, all right. There you go. We'll talk to you on Monday.
Starting point is 01:01:55 See you.

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