Fantasy Football Today - 08/03: Auction Talk; Sophomore RB Slumps; Fantasy Regulators (Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: August 3, 2018

Is there a "Sophomore Slump" for Year 2 RBs (2:00)? We explore the history behind this theory and wonder if we're overlooking bust potential for some of these Round 1/2 RBs. We also discuss an underrated QB (10:00) and a RB who nobody is talking about that's set up for a nice role in a good offense (11:30) ... Finding the next Alvin Kamara (15:00)! Take a look in the CLE backfield and a few other backfields as well. Then it's on to our auction talk (24:24) as Dave and Jamey tell you their favorite strategies, whether it's OK to overspend on studs, if you absolutely need a stud to win, best ways to nominate and more ... Fantasy Regulators (52:08)! We're settling your league/life disputes ... Your emails 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. All right, you want auction talk?

We've got it for you on this Friday edition of the Fantasy Football Today podcast. And if you don't play in any auction leagues, get with the times. But no, don't worry. We have plenty of good content for you, including a running back who nobody is talking about that is set for a much bigger role this year. So looking forward to telling you about that. I am Adam Azer with Dave Richard and Jamie

Eisenberg. Guys, what round are we drafting RG3 in now? After that amazing performance, I think you've got to look at him in round 7? 6? If you're an NFL executive and you need a quarterback, would you rather have right now, seeing what RG3

just did, or Teddy Bridgewater? Who would you rather have? Bridgewater. I'd like to see what Bridgewater looks like. No, you can't. Bridgewater. Still? Yeah. I'll take a healthy Bridgewater that I haven't seen over our G3. From what I saw from Twitter, I believe he's actually looked very good. Yeah. I think it was Manish said that on Twitter that he looks great.

Well, whether you're drafting Teddy Bridgewater or not, you should start your fantasy football league right by booking your draft party at B-Dubs, Buffalo Wild Wings. You'll get a free draft kit and enjoy a draft feast of boneless wings, three sides, three shareables at a special price only at Buffalo Wild Wings. Wings, beer, sports at participating locations while supplies last. That would be a fun place to do an auction. All right, so we will get into that. First, I want to read two quick emails because this is a quasi-email mailbag show,

fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. I know we're going to be tempted to spend a lot of time on these. I'm going to ask you guys to not go too deep. Just make sure we cover everything we need to cover today. First is from Billy. Billy says, hey, Gurley, Stacy, Morris, and Hill, and Richardson, Martin, Slayton, oh, boy, don't get me started. Why is everybody so high on all the year two running backs?

It was a common knowledge just a few years ago that rookie running backs that did well as a bell cow tend to regress quite a bit the following year, if not be a massive bust. Kamara, Fournette, Hunt, Mixon, McCaffrey are coming off rookie bell cow years. I guess we'll probably have to disagree on McCaffrey. And going very high in drafts. Just a word of caution. Well, can you call Mixon? I don't know if I'd put him in that category too just because he wasn't great. 178 carries for Mixon. Yeah.

Right, but he averaged three-something per carry. 3.5. It's actually interesting. I sent this note to Adam the other day. What was it, Adam? The seven games that Jeremy – I'm not going to remember off the top of my head. Okay.

So I think I have it. In the seven games that Jeremy Hill played, Mixon averaged over four yards a carry in two of them. In the seven games without Jeremy Hill because Mixon missed two games due to injury, he averaged over four yards a carry in five of them. They kind of changed their scheme up late in the year, and then they did it again this offseason. Right.

They're moving to zone blocking. That's going to be good for Mixon. So, you know, without getting too specific on one person, this is pretty interesting. And if you look at the notes I sent you, I highlighted every instance over the last five years. Wait, you sent notes? Yeah.

I thought a year or two running back took a big step back. Trent Richards in 2013, or I'll just go through all the names. Trent Richardson, Doug Martin, Bernard Pierce. And I went with guys who had over 100 carries. Bernard Pierce went from 4.9 yards per carry to 2.9. We forget about him. Andre Ellington had a great rookie year, struggled second year. Monte Ball, Zach Stacey, Bishop Sankey.

He actually was a little bit better. He was irrelevant in his second year. Monte Ball, Zach Stacey, Bishop Sankey. He actually was a little bit better. He was irrelevant in his second year at 47 carries. Andre Williams, Jeremy Hill. That one really sticks out to me. I don't know what happened to Jeremy Hill's very promising career. Todd Gurley, obviously, big step back. Amir Abdullah only played two games his second year. TJ Yeldon took a step back.

Jeremy Lankford was irrelevant. And then, honestly, Ezekiel Elliott. I mean, he went from 5.1 yards per carry to 4.1 yards per carry. Wasn't quite as good. Jordan Howard went from 5.2 to 4.1. Paul Perkins went from promising to irrelevant. It happens time and time again. Opposite examples, Le'Veon Bell, Eddie Lacy,

Melvin Gordon, David Johnson, outstanding in their second years. Melvin Gordon, only running back in history to go from no touchdowns one year to double-digit touchdowns the next. Yeah, and his yards per carry went up a little bit, but mostly he just had a better year. But I don't know. It did

scare me a little bit thinking about that. I think when you look at it though like high picks sorry the yeah two guys that could potentially struggle camara obviously because just the metrics are hard to replicate you know the hope is that the four game ingram less scenario helps him but if he doesn't average the the yards per carry or yards per catch and the touchdowns go away, he's going to be a bust. And

I just wonder about Kareem Hunt. Because while he's obviously talented and in a system that has done well for running backs, he did have that stretch where Andy Reid went away from him. And now Andy Reid does have a guy back that he trusts in Spencer Ware, to whatever degree. If it's five carries a game, ten touches a game, whatever it is, if Kareem Hunt, plus he has a new quarterback, those two stick out.

The Jaguars upgraded their offensive line. I can't see Fournette being in a worse situation. He could clearly struggle, but I can't see it. And his rushing average was 3.9? It was under four yards per carry, I believe. Who's that? That was Leonard Fournette. Fournette, yeah. Who had good numbers in 13 games.

And then again, McCaffrey and Mixon, they just seemed to be in better situations than they were as rookies. Mixon, for sure. McCaffrey, the coaches are talking like he's in a better situation. I just don't know if it's going to play out. They're talking about 25 or 30 touches per game. That's, you know, again, like I said yesterday, we have a better chance of finding a way to cure baldness. Forhims.com slash FFT.

Okay, so take the word situation out of it for McCaffrey. He's expected to be better. So the situation's probably the same. He also had a terrible rushing average. His situation's worse, though, because his offensive line is worse. And they added weapons in the passing game. At this point, C.J. Anderson's better than Jonathan Stewart. His situation is worse.

Yeah, but his situation, his opportunity is better. I think the situation is worse because they drafted a wide receiver in round one. Greg Olson's healthy. They lost their best guard. They temporarily have lost their right tackle, but he should get more touches. But I guess let me ask you this. So fantasy baseball, I host a fantasy baseball podcast too. I look at sophomores, and I just say, in baseball, there's just this weird thing.

There's just the sophomore slump. It is hard to explain, but a lot of times guys have great rookie seasons, and they just kind of stink in year two, and they come back and they're great in year three. Should we look at that for running backs? Should we just sort of factor that in, that it might defy all logic and explanation, but maybe they struggle? Look, there are going to be scenarios where these guys struggle. I mean, look, I like that Fournette got a better offensive lineman,

one of the best guys that was out there, and he lost weight. So two things that should help him be better. And he's healthy. I can see the flaws in McCaffrey. I can see the flaws in Kamara. I can see the flaws in Hunt. So, sure, there are things that you could see

that could happen for those guys, and Fournette included. But I think when you start to compare them to the guys that are being drafted around them, it's like how far would you drop them if you're worried about these things? If you fear McCaffrey not being involved in the offense plus the bad offensive line, the additional weapons, and everything else, is the third round not good enough for him is the fourth round not gonna you know you're right you're right looking at average draft position because

it's like all these year two running backs are sort of bunched right together and then after them is like davante freeman we're not going to drop him behind davante freeman or jerry but you can because like i think heath would probably argue like you, just knowing how he thinks, you know what McCoy has given you. You know what Freeman has given you. And their situation, well, not McCoy, but Freeman's situation is stable. No, but it's not because last year he had a much lower workload. Because he missed some time. No, because he had a bunch of games with fewer than 12 characters.

Let's go ceiling floor. So you know what the floor is for him because you've seen it. For somebody like Freeman. You don't know what the floor or ceiling is for some of these second year guys because there's just not a big enough sample size. Do you look at the rookie year as the ceiling?

I would say, hopefully not. Camara, yes. Camara you have to. And Hunt, you have to. And Hunt, you could probably make the case. It's pretty close to the ceiling. I think he could score a little bit more. But I could see that being close to the ceiling for Hunt, too.

Here's something I wanted to add. You gave us the names of 16 running backs in the last, whatever it is, five years that declined from rookie year to second year. Ten of them had fewer carries, which means that they either got hurt or they got benched. And if they get hurt or if they get suspended, like in the case of Ezekiel Elliott, he got suspended, there's no telling what Zeke would have done if he played a full season. He might not have averaged five yards per carry. Yeah, and he was just getting going right before the suspension kicked off. But he was great.

He was still really good for fantasy. I mean, very good. No, he was great for fantasy. Yeah, so he would have have had another solid year you can't look at that as a sophomore slump you can't when amir abdullah or doug martin only play a handful of games because of injury martin was bad though i mean he they were bad before the injury but they still got hurt and you don't give them a chance to get their act together right martin feels like camara or camara feels like martin all right let's move on to our next email here. It's from Dave from BK.

It says, Dear Morton, George, Lou, and Jan. No idea. Oh, that's not Jan. Jan? That's Jan. Who are they? Kickers. Oh, yeah.

George Blanca, Lou Groza, Jan Stennerud. Are we underrating? They're Hall of Fame Stennerud. Are we underrating? They're all the fame kickers. Are we underrating Big Ben? Who's Big Ben? Are we underrating, what, the clock? Are we underrating Ben Roethlisberger? He wants to know.

He's not as big as he used to be. Seen pictures of him from training camp? His ADP is too low. It's like him and Phillip Rivers, you can just pencil him in as 13 through 15 every year. 13? Is that really what his ADP is too low. It's like him and Phillip Rivers, you can just pencil him in as 13 through 15 every year. 13? Is that really what his ADP is? Last time I checked, it was below top 12, certainly below top 10. That's insane.

Yeah. He's got, what, Roethlisberger 4? He's really good. He's really steady. And the point that Dave makes, is Dave the emailer, is that if you are worried about him on the road, then pair him with another quarterback. He was fine on the road last year. Roethlisberger's ADP on CBS is 80th.

81st. But where is he among quarterbacks? He is 1, 2, 3, 10. Our site's a little better. Behind Garoppolo and Cousins. I think FancyPros, he was lower than that. And Luck is behind them all, and you know he's just going to take on a meteoric rise.

All right, so yeah, we probably are a little bit low on Big Ben. If that guy stays healthy, he has shown he'll be a top-seven quarterback. The last time he played 16 games, I think he was the number three quarterback in fantasy. All right, it's time for our fantasy profile presented by Buffalo Wild Wings. We're profiling, in this case, perhaps an unknown, but definitely an underrated fantasy football player who listeners should get to know as they could be key to winning your season. Jamie, what can you tell us about Austin Eckler, backup running back for the Chargers?

So on Pete Prisco's camp tour, and we're going to have Pete in here next week. Also, as we start our fantasy football today programming, he'll be on the show Monday. You can check that out. Twelve o'clock Eastern on CBS Sports HQ. Pete said that the Chargers are very fond of Eckler and he was very impressed with how he worked in the practice he was able to watch. And obviously different coaching staff. But he said that their plans for him are in the practice he was able to watch. And obviously a different coaching staff, but he said that their plans for him are kind of what they had with Woodhead when he was there. So it could hurt Melvin Gordon to an extent in the passing game. Now, I think Melvin Gordon sort of established himself as a good pass protector, good pass catcher.

Gordon has talked about wanting to be the NFL's leading rusher on rushing yards. So we'll see if all those things come to fruition. But I think if you're looking at the late-round pick, and I believe he's like a round 13, round 15 ADP for Eckler, he's really late. Just a good late-round flyer. I don't know what would happen if Gordon got hurt, if Eckler would be that guy, because they did drop Justin Jackson in the seventh round, and he did really well as sort of like a physical type of running back at Northwestern and probably should

have been drafted sooner than the seventh round. But I think Eckler is one of these guys, James White, Theo Riddick, Giovanni Bernard, you know, maybe not to that extent, but somebody that can be 40 catches and be a factor probably outperforming his adp could he step in where hunter henry is missing that's fair between henry and gates that's 114 targets up for grabs from last year yeah um it it sounds as if gates is definitely coming back so uh well that's great news you know just keep that in also. When that happens, top 15 tight end? Yeah, he's going to be a guy you could begin the season with as your tight end. I would imagine he's probably the high-end situation would be what he was two years ago

where he was just touchdown dependent, but he scored, I think, seven or eight. Yeah, that's what I was hoping for. Yeah, you're hoping he scores at the start. The low end is what you saw last year. Kansas City at home week one. That's going to be tough. At Buffalo. Not against Eric Bailey.

At Buffalo week two. Also will not be easy. At the Rams week three. He's a good streaming option. Yeah, but maybe not week one. Let me find a matchup that might be good. So I've been getting the newsletter. There's not one.

Too bad. I've been getting the newsletter in my inbox, my Gmail inbox. And it's great. CBSSports.com slash FFTDaily to sign up for our newsletter and get the great content from the website delivered right to you. And a couple things that I saw were sort of about Saints running backs. One was finding the next Alvin Kamara. And one was Jamie saying don't sleep on Mark Ingram,

who is going 62nd overall in CBS Sports Drafts, 54th overall according to Fantasy Pros of non-PPR. So let's tackle these Saints running backs, sort of. Well, first let's find the next Alvin Kamara. And there were a lot of candidates there. Yeah, go ahead, Jamie. No, I had fun looking at this. You know, I mean, we don't really talk a lot, you know, probably more so here.

But we don't really write a lot about, you know, third-string running backs. And it was fun just to look at. I ranked them in order, you know, 15 guys who have the chance to end up. You're not going to be Kamara, obviously, you know, come from the third string because that's where he started last year behind Ingram and Peterson and become top five running back. It's just rare. But could there be somebody that is in some cases buried on the depth chart now

that becomes a fantasy starter? So I looked at the guys that have the most chance to still potentially win the job. Nick Chubb was my favorite. Aaron Jones, especially once the suspension's over. I'll tell you, Jamie, I feel like the running back situation that I have not talked enough about, as the host brought it up, is the Cleveland situation. Even when we broke down our half PPR draft, I was like,

well, where do the Seahawks running backs go? Where do the Packers running backs go? Have not talked nearly enough about Nick Chubb, second round draft pick, really talented guy. Yeah, he's got a great opportunity if he can beat out Carlos Hyde. Yeah, and even if he doesn't beat out Hyde to start the season, look, Hyde was great last year, played 16 games. He's missed time each of the previous two seasons with injuries, so that door gets open and Chubb could run away with it. Clearly, Duke Johnson is going to be a factor, but they're using him. The reports I read were has Todd Haley used Le'Veon Bell,

spreading him out wide, doing different things with him as a pass catcher. So the touches for him are going to be different. I just think that Chubb's talent talent and again, this is not to take anything from Carl's Hyde because he's been very good in a lot of different systems in a short time in San Francisco but Chubb could be the better talent there. He's younger. Hyde is 28.

You just look at it as at some point there may be a change in the guard and his ADP is around 9. That's a great guy that you just draft and similar to Kamara, but in a different regard. But you just stash him and hopefully you get a chance to use him early in the season and he does get that opportunity. You have to be patient.

You have to learn the lesson that Kamara taught you last year if you drafted him. Because people drafted Kamara late. He was a trendy sleeper and people cut him after week two, week three because he wasn't doing anything. They needed help off the waiver wire. So there's a handful of running backs this year that you have to be real patient with. And I think Chubb's one of them. If I get the complete list of some candidates to be the next Alvin Camaro on CBS.com. I will say the top three just real quick.

Chubb, Aaron Jones, again, just because he could be better than the other two guys there. And then Jordan Wilkins. We've talked a lot about the Colts back even this week. But there's a report from the Indianapolis Star that he could be the starter come week one. And again, they're going to use multiple backs. But I think you've got to view it as it's really between Mack and Wilkins because Hines is going to be similar to Duke Johnson, not going to be a guy that's going to be featured running the ball,

but will be featured in the passing. I'm warming up big time to Wilkins. The one thing that the coaches talked about was that he was physical, and they want to bring that type of physicality to their run game. You have that offensive line. You have clearly a threat of a very good passing game if luck is right. And while he may not be, Dave referenced it the other day, he may not be Joseph Adai or Edron James or Frank Gore,

guys that have dominated touches for the Colts, but he certainly could be 150 carries. And in an offense that should be better and should score points, that could be very good. And just keep in mind with Nick Chubb, Nick Chubb was the third pick of round two. He was the 35th overall pick. He was ahead of Ronald Jones, ahead of Kerryon Johnson, etc., and he was two picks after the Browns also selected Austin Corbett, who's going to be starting a guard for them. Now, they do have a very important injury on their offensive line right now. Guard Kevin Zeitler is

out several weeks with a calf injury, but we've got several weeks for him to get healthy, so we won't hit the panic button yet. Jamie, I'm going to save the Mark Ingram talk until probably our Monday show, or you can read about it on the website. Let's do news and notes. I just want to get into the auction as soon as we can. Antonio Brown

has a minor knee injury. We don't care. I have a quad. Quad? Okay. We're okay with this? As of now. It sounds like he could just rest up, miss a preseason game, and be back at it. On the other hand, Julian Edelman,

suspended for four games. He's still trying to get his legs back under him, Dave. It didn't sound great the way he was talking about it. Told the media that he's not nearly in the type of shape that he should be in. I don't know if that's because he knew a suspension was coming all along, but he admitted that he's not in great shape right now, which is definitely worrisome for people who want to take a chance on him to keep being that catch-happy producer that he's been throughout his career. So having said that, Julian Edelman in a PPR league,

when would you consider drafting him? Still around five for me. I'm not worried. I wonder if it's actually a good thing that he has an extra four weeks to get in shape. Right. It's like he knew it all along. Yeah, the only problem is he won't be able to practice with the team. Yes, but he knows what his role is. He's got his trainer. He's got his trainer. It's like he knew it all along. Yeah, the only problem is he won't be able to practice with the team. Yeah. Yes, but he knows what his role is. He's got his trainer.

He's got his trainer. He's fine. I saw a video of him running around a minicamp. He looked fine. So, I'm not concerned. Rich Cimini of ESPN says Isaiah Crowell is expected to be a big factor in the Jets' offense. He also said that he's a better

pass catcher than what they thought he was. And with Elijah McGuire going down, this is another running back. What's his ADP at? 99th on CBS. Yeah, he's a steal. I'm not excited about him, and I'm not excited about the Jets offense, but I can't deny that he's

a candidate for well over 15 touches a week. He comes in with three straight seasons of at least 200 touches, 200 total touches. And so I would envision that being the case again, even if McGuire is healthy. The guy that I think McGuire will impact the most will be Blaupau. Jordy Nelson is running like he's 28 years old again, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Are you guys buying the Jordy Nelson hype? No.

I mean, he's still a late round pick yeah let's let's see what he looks like in the preseason jordy nelson is actually going one pick after isaiah cruel and one pick before robbie anderson jordy nelson or robbie anderson guys robbie anderson for now you know hopefully there's no suspension but we'll see see. Jordy Nelson or another guy who's going behind him. This is easy. Marquise Goodwin. Goodwin. These reports are very encouraging.

Not necessarily if you're in the Pierre Garçon camp, but hopefully the two of them can play at a high level. But the connection that Garoppolo and Goodwin had at the end of last season seems to be carrying over to the early part of this year. And it's just, I think Dave said yesterday, it's just puzzling that Buffalo couldn't get this right with Goodwin. And then Adam, you said with Robert Woods too, that they had these two guys and they go elsewhere and all of a sudden they look like legitimate playmakers. But if Goodwin can master the route tree and has a quarterback that can get him the ball and just not a deep threat,

he's going to be fun. I moved him up. i still like garçon better but goodwin's definitely uh gaining some traction i made the switch i put goodwin ahead of garçon and maybe you know it's interesting woods goes to la with mcveigh goodwin goes to san fran with shanahan maybe the play callers really have that much of an impact on these guys sure and finally green bay right tackle brian bulaga is off the pup list, and that's good news. So he could be ready for week one. And we are ready to talk auctions.

But, you know, auctions, got to be wise with your budget, right? Well, same thing when you're shopping for clothes, when you're shopping for a nice suit, a custom-made suit. You want to go out and get yourself a custom suit. Good luck spending less than, like, I don't know, $800. I know people who spend that much money on every custom suit that they own. I, on the other hand, got an Indochino suit, $379 for a made-to-measure suit. That's 50% off the regular price for a made-to-measure premium suit and free shipping at Indochino.com,

and you enter FFT at checkout to get that offer, that 50% offer. And it's amazing. Indochino is the world's largest made-to-measure menswear company. I love my Indochino suit. Everybody loves my Indochino suit. I get compliments on it all the time. I wore it to my rehearsal dinner. Jamie, you saw. Oh, you weren't invited. Bring it back, an old joke there. Anyway, no, I do wear it to special occasions, and I love it. I'm going to get myself another Indochino suit because it just fits me better than any other suit I have. And $379 for a custom suit might sound like a lot, but when you consider how good it looks and how much you'd ordinarily have to spend at a tailor, I promise this is a great deal. So customize every detail. Get your awesome Indochino suit.

Go to Indochino.com and enter FFT at checkout for 50% off any premium suit for just $3.79 and free shipping. They also have showrooms in North America, so you can check out Indochino.com and find the showrooms. An incredible deal for a suit that's going to fit you better than anything off the rack ever could. All right, let's do some auction talk. So talk so i unfortunately was not part of this auction and it's actually a good thing because jamie won the league already and how did you do it like how did you get that what was your team and how did it happen go ahead and explain how this happened well sure i'll be i'll be honest um you know we've over the, I've talked about certain auction strategies that I will do. Most of it, though, is just kind of like minor things, nominating a kicker in defense when it's my turn to nominate a player, nominating players I don't want, and practicing patience. I never really take a step back and sort of say, okay, this is how this could sort of unfold.

But I actually did this time because I was looking at it and I'm like, I've never done a 10-team auction. And I figured the talent pool is going to be so deep that if people start to spend money early, I could probably spend on one player in whatever tier I want, wide receiver, running back, and then sort of go heavy on the second and third tiers. And it unfolded exactly how i planned it because i watched everybody spend big on girly and in dave's case the two wide receivers it was what jones and hopkins yep okay so julio jones and deandre hopkins and i just watched all these budgets get sliced up quickly and then it was okay if i want to spend up to you know if a guy that I see that I have in my auction values $25,

maybe I go up to $20, maybe up to $15, just to see how it's going to go. I can still get out of it, out of the bid process, but find another player. What I did was I spent big on Fournette, relative, but I waited. Then it got to a point where there was Michael Thomas. I was going to go, I think, up to like 16 or 17 to see how it went. He was the 53rd nominated player in the auction.

So you've got to imagine what was gone from people's budgets at this point. Actually, you should start with the 51st nominated player, which is Darius Geis, and then the 52nd nominated player, which is Joe Mixon. Okay, so I went with the running backs first. So yeah, I thought it was – and to be honest, it wasn't Fournette, but it was one of the guys in my top ten. But I said to myself, I want to get Mixon and Geis because I knew what was going to happen with McKinnon, that somebody was going to try and bid it up,

knowing I was going to overspend for him, and I let it go. So I thought $15 for one of those two guys, ended up getting both of them for a combined $22. Geis and Mixon, $21. Excuse me, $21. $10 and $11 respectively. And then the receiver started to go, and I wanted to get one of the guys in this range.

I was going to spend up to $20. When I got Michael Thomas for $13, and then was Hilton next? Yeah, Hilton was next. I got him for – You got Hilton – no, you got Mark Ingram. No, for me. I'm sorry, the receivers.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, Hilton was your next receiver. Yep, for $10. And then you got A.J. Green for $10. And then I cried. And so I got those three receivers, so that's $13 and $21, right? No, $13 and $20, so $23. You spent $33 on three receivers. receiver so that's 13 and 21 right no 13 and 20 so 23 dollars uh you you spent 33

spent 26 bucks on four net and combined 33 bucks on michael thomas aj green and ty hilton right while dave spent 29 on each of deandre hopkins and julio jones and while those guys at least on paper are better players i'll take that trio of course uh Any day of the week. And then so, again, I saw Deshaun Watson go for $6. I knew in my head what I wanted to spend on a quarterback. I have Andrew Luck ranked number four. I was prepared to go $3. That's what I got him for. I figured I was going to go $3 to $5 on either Greg Olsen or Trey Burton when I wanted a tight end.

I got Greg Olsen for a buck. Question, question. I need to stop you. All right. First of all, $100 budget. We didn't say that. $100 budget. Standard didn't say that. Standard scoring?

Two running backs, two receivers, flex. Andrew Luck for $3. How did that go? Did you nominate him for one? Did somebody else nominate him? Yep. I nominated him for one. Somebody put in two.

I went three and it was done. Greg Olsen I put in for a dollar. Nobody bid. What? How? Everybody had their tight end? Because this is the bizarro world auction. I will say that there's one flaw with my roster, which I'm very annoyed by, because I had to go do a hit for CBS Sports HQ and I got up and I had to go, if you haven't noticed, I'm a very ugly human being, so I had to put some makeup on.

Okay. And while I was putting makeup on, I was actually keeping track of the draft room. When it came my turn to bid, I got auto bid, and I ended up with Chris Thompson for $1. Had I not gotten Chris Thompson, I would have spent $2 on either one of Jamal Williams or Marlon Mack. I think you got Williams for $2, and I think somebody else got Mack for $1. So my roster would have looked even better had I not gotten stuck getting prepared for a show. So I think what you're seeing... Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention.

There's a lot that hasn't been mentioned. We have a guest later in the show. We're doing the Fantasy Regulators. But I think what you're seeing... Get excited for that. What you're seeing is that a lot of times in auctions, studs go for a lot, and players like Jamal Williams, Marlon Mack, they go for very little.

It's not proportional. It's not first-round pick goes for this much and so on down to the eighth round, tenth round, whatever. So I think patience is extremely important in auctions. Maybe in a deeper league, if you were doing like a 16-team option, you wouldn't have that convenience. But as long as you have, you know, a league that's not super deep, patience is so important. Let people spend big early and go crazy, and you will get all the bargains like Jamie has done here. Do you guys agree with that? Of course.

Yeah, don't spend too much too early. One of my favorite auction rules is I call it the 2050 rule. Save at least 20% of your budget for the last half of your auction. Let me ask you. And that way you pick up a bunch of steals for a buck or two. With some questions. Do you need at least one stud on your team, or can you load up on rounds three and four picks, let's say, and have like six of them? Yeah, you'll probably do a little bit better going that route.

No, really? Well, I think that's the easier way to go. Like if you have to pick between one or the other, because you're going to spend too much. My team is kind of proof of this. Because I went into this knowing 10-team league, a way to have an advantage is to get two stud receivers. So I came into it getting those two stud receivers in the auction.

I just overpaid. But that's what I wanted to do, and I made up for it when I got Gronk for $14. I have trouble seeing myself winning a league without a stud. I just want to ask you a question. Do you feel more comfortable with Gronk at $14 or Olsen at $1? I'd rather have Gronk at $14. Really? Okay.

Yeah. I think he'd go for more than that in a regular, normal. Oh, agreed. But while there is a big difference in those two guys. I don't think Olsen can put up numbers like a top 10 receiver. All right. We'll put it this way just because of the pricing. Would you rather have Gronk at $14 or Olsen and Michael Thomas at $14?

Well, you got steals. That's different. Well, just the way they work out. Right. Plus, I fill two roster spots that way versus one. It helps my total bid at the end, my high bid, the most you can spend on a player at the end of an auction. I'd rather have the two guys. I need to drill this point home because I don't feel like you can win a league.

I mean, of course you can. I wouldn't like my chances of winning a league unless I had at least one really high-end player. And a 10-team league, okay, third round, there's still some high-end players there, but I'm talking about after the top 24. I need a top 24. I need a top 15 player on my team to feel good about it. But I feel like you can end your auction with three third-round players and two fourth-round players, and you'll just feel like your team is solid.

Solid, but I still would rather have two studs and then fill in the rest with bargains. Because like you're saying, look at the guys who went for $1 and $2. Jamal Williams, Marlon Mack, Greg Olson. I mean, I'd rather spend big, and that's kind of a studs and duds approach. Right, but if the stud duds then your your team is sunk the the team last year the highest was the most the hell am i trying to say last year the guy that went for the most was david johnson yeah how did that work it happens it

happens it happens so i'd rather spread the money around and get a lot of really good players than have that one amazing player. Of course, this is coming from the guy that took three amazing players. I'd rather have two amazing players. That's kind of what I try to do. If I'm in an auction, I want two great players. There's another wrinkle to this auction that needs to be said. One of the owners, on purpose, tried to spend as little as possible. So it really turned into a 10-team auction with nine teams bidding.

That's why I don't really want to talk about this particular auction. I'd rather just kind of keep it generic. Well, I will say this, though, just based on the practice of saving your money, because this strategy in a 12-team league wouldn't have worked out or would not work out as well. What this owner did, and this is our boss, Michael Kaiser, what he did, if he had just done one or two things differently and not even having to spend that much more,

his receiving core, because he waited, is amazing. It's amazing. I'll let is amazing. It's amazing. I'll let Adam decide if it's amazing. Okay. What is it? Stefan Diggs and Larry Fitzgerald, Alan Robinson, Juju Smith-Schuster, Julian Edelman, Pierre Garcon, Jordy Nelson. No, it's not amazing. Jamie's is amazing.

Jamie's is amazing. As a group. I mean, there's, what. Jamie's is amazing. Jamie's is amazing. As a group. I mean, there's, what, five number two guys there? That's exactly what I'm talking about. I don't want five number twos. I want at least one number one. I'll change the word. His receiving core is very good.

Yeah, it is. It's certainly deep. Standard scoring, though. He has a very good tight end in Jimmy Graham. Jimmy Graham. He has a potentially great tight end in Deshaun Watson. All he needed to do, and he only has three running backs. He has Marshawn Lynch,

Matt Breida, and I forget the third one. Had he spent money, take out one of those receivers, whoever it may be, for Dave it would probably be Stephon Diggs, Julian Edelman, whoever it may be. Take out Pierre Garçon. Take out Pierre Garçon. If he had spent

$25 on Dalvin Cook or the $26 I spent on Leonard Fournette. And still he'd have money to compete with you for some of your receivers. But even so, as the guys that he got. Okay, so upgrade one of those guys. Who cares about his team though? I mean, this was a terrible strategy. No, it's not a terrible strategy. It's just he didn't perfect it.

No. He didn't spend his money. His strategy was terrible. His strategy was not to spend money for absolutely no reason. His strategy was to wait. Yeah, but he waited until the draft was over, and he sees he's got $45 left in his budget. You can't go and buy dinner with that money. All he had to do was change one or two bids, and his team is the best.

So the point is he could have waited. You could still wait and not be like a schmuck and not spend money, and you can do really well. That's your point? In a 10-team league, you can be as patient as you want to be. I think you can do that in a 12-team league too. It obviously depends on how many roster spots you have. But be patient.

I find like a lot of people really wait until the end. Some people are very patient. They wait until the end to get theirs. They leave out the middle portion of the auction. The middle portion of the auction, I think you can get a lot of really good values there. It's almost like a lot of the high-end guys go really early, and then there's these steals late. But in the middle, a lot of people kind of sit that part out because maybe they spent too much, and they have to sort of let other people spend some money. And all of a sudden, you're sitting there, and you can kind

of bully people around because you've got a lot of money. That's just the way I've seen auctions unfold. I like getting values there in the middle of the draft. That's when you could probably get a guy like Stefan Diggs underpriced. If people start overpaying for studs, do you adjust and do the same? No. No, you just have to take note of it, and when a player in that same tier is up for bid, you have a good idea of what he should go for. Yeah, so that's – And maybe you try and get him for a buck or two less.

But that's the difficult part. It's like – I can relate certainly in baseball. Two years ago, I did a baseball auction, and I was expecting it to unfold one way, and that's such a fun thing about auctions. They're all so different. So the studs, like the top 20 players or so, were going for so much more money than I expected. And I'm sitting there, and I'm not getting any of them. And I said to myself, okay, well, if these guys are going for more money, then obviously there's going to be values at other parts of the auction.

I am going to spend. I am going to overpay because I have to. Because I felt I couldn't win without at least one stud. So I am willing to overpay for studs if I feel like everybody else is doing it because I don't want to get left out. There will be values later in the draft to make up for your quote unquote overpay. No? Of course there are. That's what I learned because I definitely overpaid for receivers. Even by my own guideline, I overpaid for Julio.

But I'm telling you, when we run down my team, you'll see that I more than made up for it. Well, let's run down your team. Stafford, I waited on quarterback. I knew I'd get one for a buck. It was Stafford. Running backs are Ronald Jones for six, Sonny Michel for four, Carlos Hyde for two, Jamal Williams for two, Aaron Jones for two, Corey Clement for two, Chris Carson for two. Wide receivers, you already know about Nuke and Julio going for 29 each. I got Alshon Jeffrey for $2.

Calvin Benjamin for $2. Those are my receivers. Gronk, 14. And then I spent two bucks on the Rams DST. They're my favorite one. And I got a kicker for $2. Those are my receivers. Gronk, $14. I spent $2 on the Rams DST. They're my favorite one. I got a kicker for $1. Todd Gurley went for $40, by the way. Le'Veon Bell went for $34. David Johnson went for $33.

Zeke went for $35. In a non-PPR league, I wonder why you went with the two wide receiver strategy instead of spending big for two running backs. Because I knew I'd be able to find a good i basically went zero rb when you think about it yeah you did yeah but i did it getting two top 15 overall pick wide receivers two top five fantasy receivers and the number one fantasy tight end and you have ronald jones as you've said ronald jones sony michelle chris carson jamal williams aaron jones carlos hyde as you've said. Ronald Jones, Sonny Michel, Chris Carson, Jamal Williams, Aaron Jones, Carlos Hyde, and Corey Clement.

So you've got good running back depth there. And you've got Alshon Jeffrey for $2 as well. And you've got Justin Tucker. So good job. That was my kicker. It's my second favorite team in the auction. What is your nomination strategy, guys? I begin by nominating players that I

don't want who will go for a lot. Then I will notice the teams that have a lot of budget left, and I will nominate the best players at the positions they need so that they start spending money. Then I will start nominating players I do want with an eye on how

much I need to nominate to get them. Meaning if I've got a max bid of four and no one else in the league can bid more than three, I can bid three, not four, to get the player that I want. I'm going to ask you another nomination question in a second, but I need to remind everyone that Buffalo Wild Wings is sponsoring our show, and Buffalo Wild Wings understands that being a fantasy football league manager is a tough job So it's important to get a good first impression And that all starts with the draft

So if you want your league to love you Book your draft party at B-Dubs You will get a free draft kit And enjoy a special draft feast Of boneless wings Three sides, three shareables For a special price to feed your entire league So come on in and get to drafting up some league manager love at Buffalo Wild Wings,

Wings Beer Sports at participating locations while supplies last. What about this strategy of, all right, give me a mid to late round sleeper that you like. Jordan Wilkins. All right, it's my turn to nominate a player. We're five nominations in. So far, Gurley, Bell, Hopkins, Gronkowski, whatever. They're off the board. So, Daysbroke.

Yeah. I nominate Jordan Wilkins. Do you ever do that? Because it's really tricky. There's no market set at that point for somebody like Jordan Wilkins. No, but you know that he's only going to go for a handful of bucks. And if you bid two, then someone

is going to have to bid three if they really want him. And a lot of people might say, I just don't want him for three. So I did that with Jameson Crowder, who I really like. It was one of my early bids. And I think I was going to go $5 tops. And I think when it got to

maybe $4, I was like, I can see the way this is going. I don't know what he went for. Is that when you realized that it was time for you to wait? Wait a minute, Crowder? Yeah, I think he's the wrong guy. He went for $2. Yeah, Crowder only went for $2. Oh, I'm sorry.

Maybe I only wanted him for $1. Yeah. Maybe that's what it was. I only wanted him for a dollar. Maybe that's what it was. I only wanted him for a dollar. You might have thought that way with Golden Tate. I didn't nominate Golden Tate. It was Crowder. It's exactly the scenario you're talking about, Adam.

It's not obviously five nominations in, but it was early on. For me, at least. 38th. It was my third bid, fourth bid. Third or fourth. I thought, let me see if I can get it for a dollar because we're still in the early stages of the top tier players going.

And when he went to two, I was like, I'm done. And the last thing I'll say, and I'll let you guys wrap up with any auction thoughts, but tiers are extremely important in auctions. You have to pay attention. You have to do your own tiers. You have to figure out, okay, these are the tier one running backs, tier two running backs, whatever. And when they start to all get bought, get bid on and purchased, you've got to get in on that if you want to be part of that tier. And sometimes waiting for the last guy in a tier, you end up overpaying.

So if you see like there are five running backs in tier two, and they're all going for like $12 or something out of $100. Well, once the first four went for $12. Okay, now everybody's in on the fifth guy because they all want to get a running back in tier two. Now the bidding gets up. So sometimes it makes more sense to kind of get in on the second-to-last guy to go in a tier rather than wait for the last one. You're assuming that your tiers are the same as everybody else's in the league.

Yeah, but I think there's going to be some consensus. You're right. It's never going to be exactly the same. As you go from – after tier one, there's pretty much a consensus. After that, I don't think there's much of a consensus. You know, I was trying to make a broader point, I guess. But my point is, let's say you definitely want to get one of Brown, Hopkins, Julio, Beckham, Green, Thomas, Devante Adams. And maybe you can expand it to T.Y. Hilton, but probably going to be a little cheaper than that group.

If five of them are gone, get the sixth one because you don't want to wait for the seventh one because he's going to be extremely expensive, quite possibly. Sure. Once you get a good grip on what players from a certain tier are going for, that's when you should start bidding. Yeah, and you don't want to be left out. You don't want to get the last guy in the tier. Okay, any final auction thoughts, guys? I always will nominate my kicker in defense first.

And try and get them for a buck. Right. So I got nominated. You nominated the Rams. Yep. Yeah, nobody wants to bid on a defense early. No, but I caused Dave to spend $2 where he may have gotten them for $1. Also a good point.

Either somebody will spend more than they wanted to, or you'll get that player for $1. Yep. And would the Jags go for $3? I think so. Somebody wanted the Jaguars bad enough. Somebody put them in for $1 and ended up having to spend $2 more. And that's another thing to consider. If you have $1 bids, that's what you start with.

You can bid $1 to nominate a player. The next bid you have is going to be $3. If somebody bids an extra dollar, you have to go to three. So if you say, well, this person is worth two to me but not three, maybe you should nominate for two and see if anybody else kind of backs out. Sure. Yeah. All right. Let's read some emails, and we'll do some fantasy regulators at the end of the show.

Man, I'm so pumped for the weekend. You guys got fun weekend plans? Soccer. My kids are visiting my parents in Texas. Oh, Dave's going to the casino. Let me tell you what I've got planned for this weekend. I'm going to let my wife run errands, and I am going to fall asleep on my couch.

Last weekend without football, guys. Yeah. We made it. We made it. We're here. We're five Sundays away, by the way. That's awesome. Pete.

That is freaking awesome. Ian from Rhode Island. Dear Jack Frost, Chris Kringle, John McClain, and Ebenezer Scrooge, I am torn on Deshaun Watson this year. I have a feeling he's going to fall in my home league. At what round do you see Deshaun Watson returning a good value for his pick? Five.

Five? Okay, he's going early round four in CBS leagues. Yeah, even then it's too soon. I'd say round six or later. I don't think you're getting him. I won't get him. Okay, thank you, Ian. I'd like to get him. This is from Marcelo. Where is he from? Barcelona, Spain.

Dear Vinny, Bernie, Gino, and Ken. Browns quarterback? No. Hurricanes quarterback. Hurricanes quarterback. Big game won. Come on. Well, hold on a second.

Vinny, Bernie, and Ken all played for Cleveland. That's true. But Gino didn't. I'm sure there's somebody named Geno who played for Cleveland. What are the top running backs to handcuff? This is an interesting philosophy question. You're getting a lot of bell once one of James Conner or Jalen Samuels or maybe Fitzgerald Toussaint

does anything and I guess Steven Ridley too. Is he still there? Any of those guys do anything in the preseason because of Bell's holdout? That's got to be Conner. Pete said when he saw the Rams that Malcolm Brown looked really good. So maybe slow down the John Kelly hype train.

Although you would think that Kelly is the guy but he said Malcolm Brown really looked good in practice. And then Chase Edmonds is making a lot of headway for the Cardinals, so he's someone, given David Johnson has not been able to finish the last two games he's been able to play, week one last year, week 17 the year before. I think, and I wrote about this in the third string guys, and there's Camara, Bo Scarborough could be interesting if you're the Zeke owner because they didn't really use Rod Smith as a featured guy last year.

He was good, but he just wasn't getting a lot of carries. Clearly, Tevin Coleman, but his round five average draft system is terrible. Jamie, I made a point to draft Spencer Ware in our half PPR draft with Kareem Hunt. Yeah. I mean, that's not bad. Given the values of some of these guys, if you take Marlon Mack, you could take Jordan Wilkins, at least as of now.

But is that a handcuff or is that just placing a bet on that team's run game? Because I think those are two different things. It's almost like Adam's friendship strategy. You're taking the two guys that could be good. Mack and Wilkins and Indy. How about Hyde and Chubb? Hyde and Chubb in Cleveland. How about Jamal Williams and Aaron Jones?

No, guys, this is a separate conversation. This is definitely not Hank Cuffman. No, but that's the point is that some people confuse that with Hank. Right. I mean, I've done this in several mocks. I've talked about it where instead of taking Jamal Williams, I just take Jones and Montgomery. I'm actually just writing about it now with the running back average draft position.

If you don't want to take Marlon Mack, just take both Hines and Jordan Wilkins late. But in terms of the guys at the top of the draft, I think, Adam, you bring up a good one. I think if we find out that TJ Yeldon is holding on to the number two role over Corey Grant, that's not a bad one given Fournette's injury track record. And maybe Latavius Murray just because he did play well last year. He was a good fantasy option, and Dominick Cook's coming back from the 20th ACL. Yep. All right, so Spencer Ware was the one that Jamie kind of said that I referenced.

Yeah, I think that's – because we know Ware can fill in that role and be good. Okay. Garrett from a city outside of Providence, Rhode Island. Providence Township. Dear Drew, Phil, and Dan. Who is it? Drew, Phil, and Dan There's got to be something linking these quarterbacks I don't know

Anyway PPR, keep one, 10-team league Gurley in the second Fournette in the third Or Hunt in the fourth Gurley Dave, Gurley, Fournette, Hunt In the second, third, or fourth Yeah, I think it's got to be Gurley Dave, Gurley, Fournette, Hunt In the second, third, or fourth

Yeah, I think it's got to be Gurley Hunt's pretty good in the fourth I mean, Fournette is basically a second-round pick as it is John from a city of Dave's choosing Ypsilanti, Michigan Why are we not talking about Antonio Brown and the Madden curse? It may have happened already Yeah, actually, oh wow, it did happen

How about that. Yeah, actually. Oh, wow. It did happen. How about that? Yeah. Look, you can pick apart guys any way you want to. What was Brady was last year, right? I don't remember. I believe Brady was on the cover of Madden last year. Yeah.

Wow. He threw for 500 yards in the Super Bowl. And he lost, Jamie. And he lost. He lost the Super Bowl. Yep. He dropped a big pass. He did, right? I've never passed on a player in fantasy because of the Madden curse in my life.

I never draft anybody who's on the Madden cover. Very superstitious. No, I'm just kidding. This is from Eric in a city between Chicago and Detroit. Eric. Eric, Crown Point, Indiana. Dear Beefcake the Mighty, Bonesnapper, Sleazy P, Martini, and

Sauborg Destructo. Oh yeah, everybody knows who that is. Do you? No. No idea. I'm in multiple leagues. I'm sure most people are. Do you recommend trying different strategies in each league? Like wide receiver, wide receiver in one, running back, running back in another. What do you think? Do you mix it up

in multiple leagues? Yeah. I take the best player available to me. So you don't do what he's saying. I think he's basically saying, like, I'm going to try this specific strategy. Yeah, no, I don't go in saying, okay, the last draft I did, I went running back, running back. This draft, I'm going to go wide receiver, wide receiver.

I don't do that, no. Oh, I know who those guys are. Who are they? Members of GWAR. Oh, I know who those guys are. Who are they? Members of GWAR. Oh, GWAR. I don't think I've ever heard a GWAR song. They also have Ballsack the Jaws of Death. He plays rhythm guitar and backing vocals.

Drew, Phil, and Dan. I don't know who that is. Okay, I'm still back on that one. Baseball players. Last one from Josh Dear Matt Pensacola Florida Matt, Charles, Gnarls, and Saquon That's a fun one

Barclays That's fun My wife and I recently moved to Brooklyn And we want to adopt a pet Can't decide between a cat, a dog, or some fish Which is best? How much time are we going to spend on this? It's cat, right?

No. It's dog? Yeah. Yeah, get a dog. You sound like adventurous people. Get a dog. Take him for a walk. Also, keeping David Johnson in a three-keeper, ten-team standard league, pick two more. Mike Evans in the fifth, Tyreek Hill

in the thirteenth, Juju in the fifteenth, or the Rams D in the fifteenth. So we'll eliminate the Rams. Evans in the fifth, Tyreek in the thirteenth, Juju in the fifteenth. I would keep Evans and Tyreek. I'd keep the last two or three.

Alright, so Tyreek is the one to keep for sure, and then Dave says Evans in the fifth. Jamie says Smith-Schuster in the 15th. All right, you have some league problems. Well, guess what? Dave? Dave?

Regulators! Mount up. Love it. You've got a league issue, please put an email. Send us an email, fantasyfootball at cbs.com and put fantasy football regulators in the subject line and watch me groove. I'm grooving.

Confirmed? I'm grooving. I'm raising the roof. You're doing the raise the roof thing while going from side to side, like swaying. You look like the most uncoordinated human being on the planet. It was bad. This is from Nick.

Can fantasy regulators be life regulators? I have a dilemma. The draft for my league is the same weekend in August every year. This year, my wife's grandmother turned 90, and they're having a lunch party for her the same day as my draft. Screw you, Grandma. What did my draft. Screw you, Grandma. What did you say? Screw you, Grandma. Hold on. It gets worse. We came to a plan that I would bypass the annual golf outing

that happens the day of the draft and go to lunch, then drive the two hours to my draft after Grandma's lunch. But now they've added a cake party for her birthday and a dinner for my mother and father-in-law's No. Oh, in-laws, no. No. No. No. You're going to really hate this guys my wife asked if i could call into the draft we have banned that

as it adds too much time no she also asked if i could just join a different league oh my gosh it's like she doesn't even know what fantasy football is i do one league with my close friends i got i got something to join a new marriage oh You can't do that. Wow. That is some serious regulation. What do I do? I only do one league a year with my close friends. I enjoy the fantasy part as much as the crap talking and the teasing that takes place. I say I should be allowed to go to the draft.

My wife says otherwise. Who is right? He is. He's right, but I think it's hard to get out of dinner with the in-laws for their 60th anniversary. Yeah, this is a legit issue here. Or no, it's not an anniversary. It's the father... Wait a minute. Yeah, it is. The father-in-law's 60th birthday. Oh, he said birthday. It must be anniversary.

So if it's an anniversary, I think you're stuck. If it's a birthday, though... Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. To me, there's two options. Yeah, there's one option. No. Jamie, pretend this is like one of your good friends. No.

You know the couple. Option number one, you convince your league to have the draft at the same restaurant that your father-in-law's 60th birthday. It's two hours away. Screw off. It's two hours away. Can't do that. The second one is a very, very rational plan. You simply throw up at the table as soon as you sit down at the restaurant with your lunch.

You say, oh my gosh, I am sick. I'm going to go right home. But you don't go home. You go right to your draft. And you have your draft. When your wife checks on you, just pick up the phone. Hello. Oh, hi, honey.

Yeah, I threw up again. And then you just go, yeah, I'll take Emmanuel Sanders. That's what you do. And then pray for forgiveness. Beg for forgiveness. Pray and beg for forgiveness. This is a legitimately big conundrum. I think your wife is wrong.

I think she needs to be understanding here and let you do the thing that you do once a year with your friends. Which was planned first? This? If I'm being honest now? Which was planned first? This? If I'm being honest now, what was planned first? The draft. He should have let the wife know. She knows. It's the same weekend every year.

Yeah, well. All right, ready? Next up. He goes to the draft. Yep, I agree. Andrew from Tampa. Dear Derek, Warren, John, and Rondé. Those are bucks.

I have an issue in a long-running league, family, close friend, redraft league. We're having an issue with trade review processes. Processes? We've done commish review, league votes, trade panels, and no reviews at all. Uh-huh. It seems like no matter what I do, there's always bitching and moaning about uneven or lopsided trades. And generally, within a few weeks, once the dust settles, the trades end up being fair. By then, though, the damage is done and people are upset.

What is the best way to have trades reviewed and processed? Let them all go through. Yeah. If these are all close friends, family, people you trust. You just let them make trades. I would give the commish a little leeway to veto if he suspects or she suspects collusion or something completely ridiculous that upsets the balance of the league. But otherwise, let them all go through. But it sounds like that happens a lot in this league. It sounds like people are a little picky, and it doesn't really happen a lot.

You've got to lower your standards and let people make bad trades if they make bad trades. It just can't be intentionally bad, flagrantly bad. Very good. Very well put. All right. Scott from a town in northeast Pennsylvania. Northeast Pennsylvania. Let's go with Reno, Nevada. Dear Schmidt, Winston, and Nick, that's New Girl. I'm having an issue in my home league on how to differentiate two rules. How do you know that's New Girl?

I love New Girl. It's great. That's an old girl. One rule is no player drafted in the first two rounds can be used as keepers. The other rule is any player added as a free agent throughout the year can be used as a sixth-round keeper. Last year, Aaron Rodgers went in the second round. When he was dropped, I added and stashed him to use him as a sixth-round keeper. Too bad. Half our league is divided on this.

Does one rule outweigh the other, or should there be a concession made? What we do in our league, it's the exact same thing. In my keeper league that I've been running with my friends since the late 90s, when the player is drafted or initially acquired, that status stays with him the entire year. So Rodgers was a second-round pick. You can cut him 10 times. He still counts as a second-round pick when it comes to keeper value the following year, which means he cannot be kept in your league.

Good job, Dave. Good show, guys. Wait, before we end the show, Pete Carroll said that he has no worry about Doug Baldwin's status for week one However Jamie Eisenberg pointed out Pete Carroll is Rainbows and sunshine Happiest most optimistic

He's a liar Oh he's leaving again Alright now we'll end the show for real The truth is that Jamie cheated in that auction And we just We changed the Numbers to make him look good. We can trash talk about it. He had a terrible team.

I'll give you a choice. You can either say something not nice about Jamie, or you can raise the roof again. Jamie and I could potentially split winnings in a fantasy baseball league in which I have done 95% of the work, but the only reason I'm in it is because Jamie got me in it. There's a similar situation except Jamie does a little bit more of the work in the league that we're in.

Last year he did about 90% of the work. This year he's done like I'll say 65% of the work. Friendship before money, Dave, right? Hi, Jim. We're out of here. Have a great weekend money, Dave, right? Hi, Jim. All right. We're out of here.

Have a great weekend, everybody. We'll talk to you Monday. Na, na, na, na, na, na, na.