Fantasy Football Today - 08/04 Fantasy Football Podcast: ADP Review, HOF game, and Dynasty talk

Episode Date: August 4, 2017

Who is being over and underdrafted right now, anything of note in the preseason opener, and some Dynasty league talk. When is the right time to pick rookies? How much should you devalue studs? ... 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! Everything we do, we do it for you. Let's go! Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Welcome to the Fantasy Football Today podcast.

The boss is gone and we are going to have a crazy, crazy show. I'm Heath Cummings filling in for Adam Azer here with Dave Richard and Jamie Eisenberg. Boss, huh? We're just going to start off crazy. I'm just trying to make him feel good. Oh, he's going to come back and listen to this? Oh, I'm sure he's going to listen to this. He wants to make sure that we don't say anything mean about him. I don't know how I'd feel about it if Adam suddenly became my boss. I've got a pretty good boss already.

He's your podcast boss. Well, not surprisingly, he gave us about two hours worth of stuff to talk about, and we have about 45 minutes. We're going to jump right in. How much of it are we actually going to talk about? All of it. Oh, okay, so we are going to listen to him. The craziest ADP out there today, Jamie Eisenberg.

Who's crazy? I don't think it's the craziest, but your boss did tell us that we should look at guys that we did not talk about last week. So in keeping with the boss's sentiment, I don't think we looked at Tyrell Williams, who is going 125th overall as the 47th receiver off the board. I know we talked about him a little bit yesterday with third-year wide receivers. I do not expect him to be better than he was a year ago, but he is certainly better than the 47th wide receiver. Yeah, that just feels like people have not quite adjusted to Mike Williams

being quote-unquote out. Do you think that will change? By the end of the preseason, yes. If we find out Mike Williams is done for the season. Yes. I think it might change even before that, just because you're going to see Tyrell Williams play. by the end of the preseason? If we find out Mike Williams is done for the season. Yes. I think it might change even before that just because you're going to see Tyrell Williams play. I would guess it's going to trend in that direction.

Dave, who's got some crazy ADP? Well, I would pick another receiver. I would say John Brown, but we talk about him all the time. And we talk about Devontae Parker a lot, but he's going wide receiver 42 at 115th overall. That seems a lot low to me. I know that there's upside there. I think he should go at least 20 picks higher.

20 picks higher. Yeah. He's a top 100 player. I think he is as well as long as he's healthy. And I got a little bit nervous when he injured his quad like two days into training camp after all the talk about how he's going to be healthy this year. I think he'll be fine. Obviously, the bigger issue might be who's throwing him the football,

but I think he'll be fine there too. Rob Kelly is now going ahead of Samaj P. Ryan, but he's still the 38th running back off the board in standard leagues. I believe Rob Kelly is the starting running back, and I'm starting to think that's not going to change. Samadji P. Ryan really struggling in both the passing game and pass protection. I would not be surprised if Kelly ends up being a top 30 running back.

Would you be surprised if he finishes a top 20 running back? It's possible. Because I think that's what people are looking for. It's possible. I'm still very, very scared, like a little boss baby of that, of the timeshare. Well, Chris Thompson, it's a timeshare. And we're going to talk about this later with Ty Montgomery. Almost every running back is a timeshare.

We can't discount guys for being in a timeshare when 75% of them are in a timeshare. But I don't want to draft the guys who are in a timeshare and are still going to be limited, even if one of their teammates goes down with an injury. You understand what I'm saying? Like Rob Kelly, I don't know if he's ever going to be a three-down back and a candidate to get you 100 total yards every week. I don't think he's that guy. I just don't think he can do it.

So those are some crazy ADPs. You know what's crazy? Not having your fantasy football draft at Buffalo Wild Wings. Start your fantasy football league right by booking your draft party at B-Dubs. You'll get a free draft kit and enjoy a draft feast of boneless wings, three sides, and

three shareables at a special price. Only at Buffalo Wild Wings. Wings, beers, sports. At participating locations, while supplies last. We're jumping right into the injuries news and notes. Ryan Tannehill. It was bad, and then it was okay, and now it sounds like it's bad again. It does.

I believe Adam Gase said on Friday morning that Matt Moore is his quarterback. And Tannehill may need surgery. Kind of tells you what you need to know. Now, he's got the connection to Jay Cutler. Colin Kaepernick is still out there. Do we think it's just going to be Matt Moore's job for the entire season? Maybe they bring in a backup. It will be Matt Moore's job until he stinks for a prolonged period of time

or gets hurt. They're bringing in somebody else. I mean, there's no possible way that they're going in with, I don't even know who their third guy is right now. But it's one of those situations where, do they bring Jay Culler out of retirement? It's Brandon Dowdy and David

Fales. That's not going to be the backup quarterback for the Miami Dolphins with Matt Moore as a starter. Do they take the chance on Kaepernick and not getting into everything that's going on with him, but he did have an anti-Castro stance, I believe. Pro-Castro stance. Pro-Castro shirt.

He was wearing a shirt with Fidel Castro. So that may not sit well in the city of Miami. Steven Ross is an owner, I think, that would not be afraid to bring him in. But who knows how that would play to the fan base. And like you alluded to, there's a relationship between Cutler and Gase when he was the offensive coordinator in

Chicago, and Cutler had one of, if not his best seasons of his career. So, you know, if that's the two best options available, I would imagine they'd probably kick the tires on RG3. Just you know a guy with experiences out there if they do that they better be careful when they kick him otherwise they could hurt him before they even sign i tweeted last night i don't really care that much for the wide receivers i don't there's like there's a small downgrade but i don't see a huge downgrade yeah it sounds like you don't want them you said

i don't really care too much i don't care too much about moving these wide receivers down in my rankings. It hurts Landry. I mean, he's the one I think that's impacted the most. There was a great rapport between Stills and Moore when Moore took over at the end of last season. Landry's numbers came down a little bit. He's not going to see... Even though he found the end zone in a bunch of those games.

Maybe that helps him, but I think it downgrades him a little bit because Matt Moore will look down the field, whereas Ryan Tannehill will check down a little bit more. Also in Miami, left guard Ted Larson may have a torn biceps. Jamie, I know you tweeted last night that as long as Mike Pouncey plays, Jay Ajayi can be a star, but Mike Pouncey can't be the only offensive lineman. Well, they need to have five healthy guys. I was under the impression, maybe I was wrong with this,

that Larson still had to beat out Isaac Austin, who they drafted this year. Asiata, Isaac Austin. Why do I keep calling him Isaac Austin? Because he's a basketball player. He's a basketball player. Isaac Asiata. He can fill that spot. There's still some offensive linemen out there that they could look at.

Right. But as we saw last year, Pouncey on, Ajayi amazing. Pouncey off, Ajayi just okay. And right now Ajayi isn't even on the field because his head is not okay. They actually have good depth on the offensive line. So losing Ted Larson, Ted Larson I don't think is that amazing of an offensive lineman to begin with. So we don't really care much about that.

We probably don't really care much that Deshaun Kizer could start the first preseason game. We're hoping that he's just good enough to win the job because we know the other two guys aren't that great, right? Kessler actually wasn't bad when he played last year. Kizer should be better. But really, this is get Corey Coleman the ball, get Kenny Britt the ball, get David Njoku the ball, get out of Isaiah Crowell's way, and get Duke Johnson involved as much as possible.

Is there a little bit of the hope that the big, shiny new offensive line in Cleveland props up whichever quarterback starts there, kind of like it did in Dallas with Dak Prescott? Oh, 100%. Absolutely. And I'm not saying that you're going to draft a Browns quarterback or even consider them off the waiver wire right away, but having a good offensive line in front of a quarterback, especially one that's either inexperienced, not very good, or both, helps.

It gives them an extra second. Helps. Marks Mariota. Helps. Derek Carr. Helps. Dak Prescott. It's a part of the game. Huge part of the game. And I think if this is a 2QB league, yeah, you want to keep an eye on if that guy can be better than Alex Smith or Blake Bortles or Joe Flacco or whoever's at that 20 to 25 range. I'll ask you this.

A Browns quarterback or Matt Moore? You're in a two-quarterback league. You've got to take one of them. Who are you taking? Matt Moore. Me too. So as much as we're talking about the promise of a new day of a quarterback in Cleveland it's still Matt Moore and a bunch of other guys probably ahead of them all really interesting yesterday afternoon we get

a blurb that bingles.com suggesting Joe Mixon could have more than 20 touches in week one I think it was 20 carries a game three to twenty5 catches a game. 23-25 touches a game. Yeah, week one. It's going to start right away. Now, Dave, I know Jamie was jumping up and down with excitement. No, I expected it. He expected it. You, though, after reading the blurb.

Is that why you were screaming at the office? Did you see this report? Did you see it? But after you read the blurb, you went and read the article. And, like, the tone changed in the very next paragraph, right? Yeah, that all three of these guys are going to get used. And the vision, ultimately what it said is the vision is that these guys split 30 to 35 carries. So, in theory, you could have them average 32.5 carries per game.

And then you've got Joe Mixon averaging 20 a game. And there's 12.5 left for Jeremy Hill and Giovanni Bernard. Is that possible? Sure. Was this the opinion of a writer who's very close to the team? Certainly has been around the Bengals for a long time. Yes. Is it coming straight from the mouth of Marvin Lewis or Ernie Zampezi?

No. Regardless, I think Mixon is one of the bigger risers of the preseason just because of how in love with him they seem to be. We had a similar situation last night. ESPN Packers reporter Rob Domofsky said Jamal Williams is pushing Ty Montgomery for starters. Did I say Ernie Zampezi? It's Ken Zampezi.

Ken Zampezi. It's his son who's the governor. Yes, yes. Sorry. Jamal Williams is pushing Ty Montgomery. He's working with the first team. And then minutes later, quote tweets himself, don't crown anyone yet.

Montgomery back with the starters for the next team, period. Every backup running back gets work with the first team, I would assume. Jamal Williams getting some work with the first team makes perfect sense. He's going to get touches with the first team this year. I have no doubt. He's going to play. Is he going to start and be the lead back in Green Bay? That, no one can say yet.

Does this little report, Jamie, change your opinion on the situation? Because you came around on Montgomery a little bit. I still have Montgomery ranked higher. I did move him down a little bit after I initially moved him up. Because I think the biggest thing is, and this is what Domofsky keeps pushing, which I'm sure Mike McCarthy will start to say if it happens in a game, if Ty Montgomery can't pass block, he's not going to play.

And so I would hope that he learned from what he did last year. He's not going to play more than he did last year. He's not going to play more than he did last year. He's still going to play. Not if Aaron Rodgers gets blown up at all. I mean, if Like, I don't think his past blocking's gotten worse than it did last year. No, but if it hasn't improved, that's terrible. And it's supposed to have improved. Yes. He worked on it. He got bigger.

And that apparently is a strength of Jamal Williams. Yes, it is. And the, I could be wrong here. I would assume the most important commodity of the Packers is Aaron Rodgers and protecting him is of the utmost importance. And so, yeah, probably. So if Ty Montgomery, a converted wide receiver, not used to standing in the way of blitzing linebackers or safeties running at him full speed by comparison to a guy who has played running back for the majority of his life, I would assume, in Jamal Williams,

that's probably a little bit more natural to him. So Montgomery has to prove that he can handle that. And so the less that he does that, the less he will be on the field by what I think we're all hoping to see, which is that he would take this job over. So what Mike McCarthy has been saying is he's the real deal, he's this, he's that. He's not necessarily doing that in practice to the level you would hope. Yeah, he had kind of a weird quote because he said he just needs rep

and pass protection because he's actually really high in ability for pass protection. So he just hasn't done it enough. That guy's a stud now was how McCarthy ended it. So, listen. Who would he call a stud? Montgomery? Yes.

To me, that tells you who's in the lead. Oh, there's no question he's in the lead. Oh, he's in the lead. Right. But it's... I don't know if Ty Montgomery takes the leap that we're hoping for or the Ty Montgomery supporters are hoping for. Because this kid, Williams,

and I retweeted Domofsky's report, and then a guy who's a friend of our show, Dane Brugler, retweeted me and said, this is what I said on draft night, that he could do it all in terms of Williams. Dane said that Williams is this year's Jordan Howard. Yes. That's his prediction. Yes. Which is a big prediction.

I've taken Jamal Williams. You guys have been in enough drafts with me. I've taken him in every draft. When? When? It's gone down a little bit now. I was probably taking him in the seventh round. I think when we did our pick-by-pick, you were like,

I think I took him in the sixth or seventh round in the pick-by-pick. Now I'm getting him in the eighth, ninth round. I took him in the draft we're doing with Scott Fish. Right. The mock draft there. The drafts. If he ends up being what I think he could be, which what Dane is alluding to, I don't think he's going to be as good as Jordan Howard,

but if he's the best guy in Green Bay, every draft that I've done now, I'm going to have a great situation. If he starts to look good in the preseason, his stock's going to rise. You're not going to get him at that price. If you're drafting now, you can get Ty Montgomery round four. That's not happening.

Not in PPR? He's gone in round three in the last several drafts that I've done. Can we say three or four? Three PPR, four standard. And then seven for Jamal Williams? I think you can give him an eighth. All right, so three, four, seven, eight. I got him in round ten in that draft last night.

I'll lay out this scenario. Is it worth drafting Ty Montgomery in round three and Jamal Williams in round seven to lock up the Packers back? Of course. And know you've got at least one running back. Of course. Assume you've got one running back from week to week that you can start. I like it better if it's four and seven.

I like it better if it's like Jamie got him in the 10th last night. If it's four and 10. I love it, but I think that's got him in the 10th last night, if it's 4-10. I love it, but I think that's a strategy that people could go to bat with. And then in the least surprising news of the day, Matt Forte dealing with a hamstring injury. For several days now. Shocking.

Okay, Hall of Fame game thoughts. We had real football last night. We did. I know that you guys charted every play, and you have an evaluation. I was watching the second half for some reason. On each and every player that played in the game, Blaine Gabbert looked amazing. Looked confident. Were there any takeaways at all

from a fantasy perspective last night? I think eventually Rico Gathers will be very good. Like eventually 2018? Yeah, maybe 18, 19. Yeah, I think he's got the model to be a a big time because jason whitten has a bet with tom brady and he can't retire until brady well he might the cowboys could always push him out and let rico uh take over but rico's got a little bit of that basketball background had it at baylor He's got that great size. He's got a lot to learn, but he could end up being something very good for Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys way down the line.

Did you see anything that you cared about last night, Jamie? I thought Alfred Morris looked slimmer, had one very nice run, and if I were a running back, needy team, let's say like the Ravens, I would say here's a seventh-round pick for Alfred Morris. You're not just going to wait for the Cowboys to cut him? Well, then he's free game to anybody. Anybody can get outbid. Well, no.

He can get claimed off waivers. No, he's been in the league four years. He's a free agent. There's no waivers. Anybody's cut, they go through waivers. You thought Alfred Morris looked better? Just better. I thought he looked cut, they go through waivers. You thought Alfred Morris looked better? Just better. I thought he looked slimmer.

Slimmer? Yeah. Just to rehash the thing, I got Williams in the 11th round. Yeah. And Ty Montgomery went in the third round. I think I will agree, as the Ty Montgomery guy, Jamal Williams in the 11th is better value than Ty Montgomery in the third. Absolutely.

But I don't think you're finding Jamal Williams in the 11th very often. I don't know. I don't know. It's PBR. Especially if these reports keep coming. Yes. I made the pick almost simultaneously. It was 10.50 at night.

The report came out at 9 something. So he tweeted it at almost 9 o'clock. It's a slow draft. But, I mean, he's not going to creep up that much until we see him on the field doing something. tweeted it at almost 9 o'clock. It's a slow draft. He's not going to creep up that much until we see him on the field doing something. Well, it's time for ADP review. We gave a little preview of that with our crazy ADPs. We've got some under- and over-drafted players.

I was going to look to see where Jamal Williams' current ADP is because I don't think it's as late as the 11th. People have gotten very... 144th. Wow. That's the last pick of round 12. That's correct. Yeah.

Running back 49. I have him in two dynasty leagues. The one that we're all in together actually made a trade at the time of the rookie draft. I traded my second and third round picks to get a second and third round picks to get a second and fourth round pick, and I took Jamal Williams. In another dynasty league, I took

Jamal Williams. At this spot, it's insane to not take him. It's very easy to take him in the double-digit rounds. Yeah. I still don't like him in the seventh or eighth, but it doesn't sound like you need to take him that early. No. We did those drafts before Mike McCarthy started waxing poetic about Ty Montgomery as well.

Yes. So sometimes Adam asks us for overdrafted and underdrafted players, and we don't exactly show up with a list of names for overdrafted and underdrafted. But I'm certain because you knew that I was hosting for Adam today and you wanted to make this easy on me that you guys have just got your under and overdrafted players. I'm certain because you knew that I was hosting for Adam today, and you wanted to make this easy on me, that you guys have just got your under and overdrafted players. I gave you another one. Quincy Anunua. Quincy Anunua.

51st receiver off the board at 142. 100%. We sit here and say, Heath, I know you're not as excited about him as maybe Dave and I are, and I've been talking about this guy since he signed in San Francisco, but Pierre Garçon is going to get so many targets for the 49ers because of the rest of the receiving core there and what he brings.

It's the same thing with Quincy Inunua. Look at the rest of this receiving core. Robbie Anderson, maybe. Ardarius Stewart, maybe. Both those guys have had some. Because there's nobody else there. Think about the offseason, how they were praising Austin Safarian Jenkins and what he's going to be able to do.

It's why we like Bilal Powell. He's going to get all these dump-off passes. Inunua has the chance. We've talked about this a lot. We probably haven't rehashed it enough yet. If you can get to 120 targets, we saw this last year, and the guys that hit 120, there were 19, I believe, 19 of the 23 guys that got 120, 19 of 22 that got 120 targets

were top 25 receivers last year. The three that weren't, the three best names probably on the list, or three of the best names on the list in DeAndre Hopkins, Allen Robinson, and Brandon Marshall. If Quincy Numa gets to 120 targets, he's going to be easily a top 30 wide receiver. Why he's going as the 51st wide receiver

off the board? Because he's a jet. Because he's a jet. Because you don't remember that he had a decent stretch last year. Because his quarterbacks stink. It doesn't matter. He's going to be fed targets. You don't maybe remember that he had a decent stretch last year. Because his quarterbacks stink. It doesn't matter. He's going to be fed targets. You don't have to start him. You don't have to start him every week. We saw it last year with a bunch of players. And we saw it

with Jets receivers last year. You can get a lot of targets and still not be that great for fantasy. But again, you drafted Brandon Marshall in the second round last year. That's why he failed. You're drafting Quincy Inunua at the end of the draft. I take him in every PPR draft I can find him, and I'm thrilled

with it. Eight or later, because receivers go flying off the board in these expert drafts. Well, that's the point, is that you don't go and you... I don't think you... You might target him, but you target him in a way where you know your next pick is coming up

and you see his name on the board and you go, I know that guy's got potential. Oh, yeah, he's not someone you seek. You're not seeking him out. Like someone might seek out these Packers running backs before their draft. Someone might seek out Amari Cooper before the draft. Just to give you a few names that are going ahead of him and maybe Dynasty factors into this.

John Ross, I'll take Quincy Nunua all day over John Ross. For sure. Marvin Jones, I'll take a Nunua. Rashard Matthews, give me a Nunua. Even if Corey Davis is seriously injured? If Corey Davis is seriously injured, maybe that changes things. We should probably mention that. Adam Thielen, I'll take a Nunua.

Corey Davis limped out of practice with a hamstring. Yeah, we talked about it yesterday. He had an MRI. He had an MRI. It happened before the show yesterday. Yeah, we don't know exactly what's happening. Yeah, we talked about it yesterday. He had an MRI. It happened before the show yesterday. Yeah, we don't know exactly what's happening. But we don't know where he's at with the MRI. We still don't know.

If it's bad, then, yeah, Richard Matthews, welcome back to Fantasy Football Relevance. I've got an underdrafted player here. I'll let you go next, Dave. Thomas Rolls, 13th round for Rolls, and I don't know that it's a completely different situation than the one in green bay this is a comp more of a competition probably than there currently is in green bay i

think williams might earn the job later i think rolls and lacy are competing for who leads the carries in week one and there was a report yesterday that they've been awfully quiet about his they have lacy's weight they have not announced that he met his recent weight goal his training camp about once a week i happen to see a photo or a video of Eddie Lacy. And the last one I saw, I don't think he looked egregiously overweight. But he's supposed to be getting thinner. If he stayed the same, he'd fail. They want him at like 245 pounds.

And the last weight goal was 253 he made. Yeah, he had to be 255. So he's within striking distance of what they want him to be. They don't want him to get down to 220. Those last eight pounds are the toughest. They are. You plateau a little bit. And I... And sometimes you go the other way. That's what happened to me. Right. So I think Rawls in the

13th round, an easy pick, especially if you've gone zero running back and you're just looking for lottery tickets at the end of the draft. Rawls can be one of those guys. It could be ugly, especially if CJ Proceiss is a bigger factor too. Do you like the idea of seeking out both Seattle running backs in a draft? Eddie Lacy round six, Thomas Rawls round nine.

Nick Costas in the draft we did yesterday did exactly that. You took Lacy. I don't remember what round you took Lacy. I think I got him in six. And I was looking for Rawls. He took him before I could get him. Nick took both guys. Rawls and Procise.

And he's been very adamant that Thomas Rawls will He took them before I could get them. Nick took both guys. Rawls and Process. And he's been very adamant that Thomas Rawls will be the best running back in Seattle, just his opinion. But it's an easy thing to try and do. There are a few backfields you can do that. You can do that at Cincinnati

with, if you don't want to take Mixon, take Hill and Bernard. You can get those guys late if you want to. That sounds gross. Huh? That sounds gross. I don't know. You're one Joe Mixon, take Hill and Bernard. You can get those guys late. That sounds gross. Huh? That sounds gross. I don't know. You're one Joe Mixon. It's kind of a concern in theory, right?

As we're recording this, there's a report from ESPN Cincinnati that Jeremy Hill will still be the starting running back in week one. No one knows anything about what's happening. This is a good example. No one knows anything. Don't happening. This is a good example. No one knows anything. Don't get too excited about things people say. Right, but it could be we've had this discussion in the office, maybe not on the air, but maybe we have had it on the air.

Jeremy Hill gets the first carry, and then he's off the field. Right, that could be just as simple as that. Or he could have the first drive, and then Joe Mixon's in on the second drive, and he catches fire. Jeremy Hill is going to serve him Gatorade and bring him a towel every time the defense gets on the field. How about this for an underdrafted player? Mike Gillisley at 71st overall, running back 28.

But again, you want to go by reports. We can. But I still – The Reggie Marquette situation. Do you think he's worth running back 28 or higher? I'm drafting him higher than that. Oh, for sure. Significantly higher than that.

Like half of that. running back 28 or higher i'm drafting him higher than that oh significantly higher than that like half of that because i think that the combination of his skill set what the patriots did to get him and what the potential is for the main back in that offense all adds up to gillisley being the guy and burkhead is the backup and i like that strategy of getting gillisley i've taken him in as high as round four i'd prefer to get him in round five and then you you wait until thomas rawls is off the board then that's your signal that he went he went round three in our 14 team mock draft round four i know what pick overall because i think that kind of plays into it you know i'm just saying he went around three which was a little surprising right but that's not 35th overall.

We're talking about that still being 40s, maybe even late 40s for him. But I think that that's a combo that fantasy owners could get interested in, getting Gillislee rather early, and then Burkhead you get practically for free at the end of your draft. And Burkhead's got talent too, absolutely has talent. But when Belichick said on Sirius NFL Radio practically for free at the end of your draft. And Burkhead's got talent too. Absolutely has talent. But when Belichick said on Sirius NFL Radio that Rex Burkhead was a four-down player, to me that hinted at Burkhead being a factor on special teams.

Let's transition to overdrafted. And I don't feel like we've had a good fight yet. Let's get a fight going. 34th overall for Gilleslie. Really? But again, you're not getting him in the fourth round. So if the owner wanted him, he had to take him there. That might be a little too rich for my blood.

But at the time, just, you know, the running backs that were going behind him. Mixon went right after him. Not right after him, but in that round after him. Dalvin Cook, which you could say is too early for him, too. Maybe all three of those guys. Then Christian McCaffrey, CJ. I mean mean he's in that range for Gilleslie okay overdrafted Dave your favorite running back in the world Melvin Gordon is going 10th overall ahead of Devante Freeman more importantly overall more importantly though I think ahead of Jordy Michael Thomas T.Y. Hilton even Gronk I would rather take those

receivers with the uncertainty surrounding his offensive line situation and the fact that he was extremely touchdown dependent I think he's still going to get tons of touchdowns he had an offensive line problem last year. And even though they lost Forrest Lamp, and I love Lamp. I mean it. I'm not trying to be funny. I actually thought he was a great offensive lineman. They've got another guy in Dan Feeney who's not bad.

So I haven't made the decision to knock him behind LaShawn McCoy yet. I think I have to almost find myself in a real draft where I have to make the choice between those two. McCoy's offensive line also isn't at 100% right now. Cordy Glenn is dealing with an injury. But I like the fact that Gordon is younger. Going to get a lot of touches, just like he did last year. Finishes a top 10 fantasy running back last year despite missing three or four games. Three. Three games. Incredibly consistent, and it was because of the touchdowns but he's

going to get them no one's taking them away we we've spent a lot of time already on this podcast talking about committees well here's a team that doesn't have a committee the los angeles chargers are going to give melvin gordon the football he can catch it just as well as as run it and he's going to be a factor for fantasy owners i like like him still as a first-round pick. I agree that no running back is taking them away. I think there's a possibility the Chargers just simply do not have as many rushing touchdowns as they did last year. Because the year before, Gordon really struggled inside the 10-yard line,

and I don't know that it's just that he figured out how to run inside the 10. Well, Woodhead got hurt. What's that? Woodhead got hurt. Right. But even when he had the opportunities, I mean. I don't mean the fact that they didn't give him the ball. Sure.

I mean, even when he had the opportunity, he just ran into the back of his offensive line. I wonder how many carries he actually had. I can look it up. I mean, look. When you're picking at the back in the first round, I had this with the draft yesterday, which was a three-receiver draft.

Gordon was in my queue. I decided to go receiver-receiver because it was PPR and we start three receivers. But you're still talking about a guy that had how many catches over 13 games? A lot. Many. 41.

57 targets. I mean, he's going to be involved in the passing game. I don't think Brandon Oliver is all of a sudden going to jump back in and take him off the field for a significant part of that. You're talking about a guy that should have 300 touches. It's hard to overlook that, and the offense is going to play him, even without Lamp there. It's a team that's still going to move the ball a lot,

and when they get inside the 10, inside the 5, it's Gordon. You can't load up the line of scrimmage against him either. No. Because Rivers will kill you. As a rookie, Melvin Gordon had just five carries inside the opponent's 10. In his second year in the National Football League, same spot inside the 10, Melvin Gordon had 29 carries. That's funny.

I was going to say 30. Yeah. And 50 carries in the red zone. That's a lot. Yeah, that's going to say 30. And 50 carries in the red zone. That's a lot. Yeah, that's why you draft him. Right. If you told me he was getting that many again this year, I would be more excited about taking him in the first round.

He might get more. He might get more. Well, that's in 13 games. Right. Right. Okay, do you guys have an overdrafted player? We've got a lot of other things to talk about. If not, we can just move right on.

I mean, you can look at Marshawn Lynch. He's somebody that we all agree on, and we talk about it all the time. But he's moved down, right, a little bit? Like, it's working. He is now. Nope, 24. No? No.

C.J. Anderson is going 47th off the board. I think that's too high. I know, Jamie, you like him. Are you taking him to the end of round four? I think he's the 17th best running back, so no, I don't think. I don't want to take him to round four. But if you tell me he's the 19th running back, then I'm fine with it. Is Andrew Luck getting overdrafted at 55th overall right now?

If you have the chance to get him. It's sliding down. Toward the end of round five. LeGarrette Blount is overdrafted at 60th overall as the 23rd best running back off the board. What about Andrew Luck, Jamie? Would you take him toward the end of round five or would you punt he doesn't take a quarterback i'm not taking a quarterback i'm not taking him either you take

brady or rogers in five but not luck okay i understand buffalo wild wings understands that being a fantasy football league manager is tough job so it's important to get your good first impression which all starts with the draft if you want your league to love you, then book your draft party at B-Dubs. You get a free draft kit, enjoy a special draft feast of boneless wings, three sides, and three shareables for a special price to feed your league. So come in and get to drafting. Get to drafting up some league manager love at Buffalo Wild Wings. Wings, beer, sports, participating locations, while supplies last. A quick round of emails and tweets coming up.

From Kalen. From Roanoke. Where's Roanoke, Dave? Virginia. Virginia. Dear Bastion, Hanzo, and Oriza? I'm close. R-I-S-A?

Hondo? Hanzo. Hanzo. H-A-N-Z-O? I believe that's a sword. That's a sword. What about Bastion? No.

Sorry, Kalen. It looks like it's from the online game Overwatch. Oh, of course. Too bad we didn't have Adam here to guess that. How is Carson Wentz 20th overall? Wentz threw 10 of his 16 touchdowns last year in the six games that Lane Johnson started and went 5-1 in those contests. He has one of the best offensive lines in the NFL the Eagles number one wide out from last year is arguably their number three now with Alshon Jeffrey and Torrey Smith in on top of all

that he's been working hard on mechanics this offseason to put him behind decrepit Carson Palmer over the hill Eli Manning and the most mediocre QB in the NFL, Andy Dalton, is just silly. P.S. I am a Giants fan. That's why Adam had us read that email. I agree with everything he said. I just think that, except the end part of it. I don't agree with Carson Palmer being decrepit. Palmer's still fine.

Dalton's still fine. Is Eli Manning over the hill? Eli's still fine. We'll see. But you hear me say it all the time. There's 20 quarterbacks I'd be fine with. I have Wentz in two super flex leagues where he's the second guy, and I'm happy with that.

He was in the first four games before Johnson served the suspension, he had 20 points in three of those. And then the production at the end of the season was fine. But, yeah, as long as Alshon Jeffrey's shoulder is fine, this is a much better receiving core than he had a year ago when he was dealing with Doriel Greenbeckham, Nelson Aguilar, and Jordan Matthews. So he should have the chance to be in the conversation to be a top 12 guy. Will he get there?

Probably not, barring injury. But he's a great late route flyer. He's a great sleeper. He's an excellent option in a two-quarterback or super flex league because the sky's the limit for him. He averaged just under 240 pass yards per game as a rookie. You've got to figure that goes up. He had 16 touchdowns.

Does that double? Does he get you over 30 touchdowns? I'd say 25. All right. That's barely a top-20 quarterback. I agree. There's just too many good quarterbacks. I agree.

So, maybe he'll make up for it on the ground. Rushing. Last year he had two rushing touchdowns. Does he double that to four? No. Well, listen, I don't know how that running is going to be. He's a good young player. You took him in, I believe, in the Dynasty League.

I did. That we're in together. Right. I like him long term. I have him in a similar Dynasty League. Again, that's a super flex league. He'll be a starter for me week in, week out. I think he's a great late-round pick.

If you're in a league that everybody takes back up quarterbacks, put him on your list. And our tweet of the day, and again, Adam chose these. Here's an idea. Instead of eating a crow, you guys should all get a chance dunking at Heath Cummings into a dunk tank. Thoughts? My thoughts are Melvin Gordon's not going to be a top four running back,

so we don't need to worry about what the penalty's going to be. Dear Jim, Doug, JP, and EJ, those are Buffalo Bills quarterbacks. That is correct. Very good. I had no idea. All right, one point. JP Lossman is the JP there. JP Lose Man.

I am writing to challenge Heath regarding his Nips strategy. My concern about this strategy is you have to field a balanced fantasy team, be well-representative in multiple positions. For this reason, the best player available strategy may yield with considerable holes. In addition, you would all agree that a running back is the most important position to stock up on since it's the most commonly injured position. Once you get later in the draft, the best player available is often a wide receiver since there are just so many wide receivers however if you pick mostly wide receivers you'd

be left without critical running back depth you guys typically prefer to have a certain number of running backs on your bench for depth i would appreciate your thoughts about this the question do you prefer to have a you dave your answer is all of them right yeah i was going to say how many bench spots do you have fill them with running backs i did that in our ppr draft yesterday in reality i probably will save one bench spot for a wide receiver or a quarterback that slips really far in the draft who i can just get at a ridiculous value but for the most part yeah running backs fill my bench Dave Jamie lots of running backs I try and usually in a 15 round draft I like to have five and five of each okay that's typically a number that I look

for I'm not opposed to more if the value is right but I like to have two to three backups depending on my starters at those spots. Regarding my nips, I believe Eric is just a little bit confused. And so I'm going to expose him to my nips and say, this is not best player available. It's saying that I'm not going to form a strategy before going into the draft

because I still want to see how it goes. But yes, you still need to build depth at running back. You need to build depth at wide receiver. You just don't know if you're going to do it early or late in the draft, depending on how people draft. So Tom Brady turned 40, and New England set up a petting zoo with five goats. And you get your picture taken with a goat

in front of a sign that said goat for Tom Brady's birthday. It's interesting. It's pretty awesome, I think. Would you get your picture taken with a baby goat, Dave? A Tom Brady baby goat? Well, just a regular baby goat in a Tom Brady jersey. Or not in a jersey.

No, I don't see my... I'm trying to picture myself going to Patriots training camp, maybe with the fam. You see the goats. And there's all of a sudden a petting zoo with goats. No, I don't think I'm breaking out the camera. But you'd let your kids do it. If they want to pet the goats, sure.

Okay. You, would you? Oh, yeah. I'm all about getting pictures with goats. The cover of Brady's new book, The TB12 Method, was released yesterday to celebrate his 40th birthday. The book outlines his diet, which is pretty intense. And apparently that's why he's going to be able to play for so long. We'll see how long he can play.

Let's talk about how early we can draft Brady in seasonal leagues compared to dynasty leagues. And why you guys don't think Brady should be the number one QB like I do. Hmm. Well, I think Aaron Rodgers has just as much potential for a huge year I like that Rodgers will run a little bit more than Tom Brady will I like the fact that Aaron Rodgers is a little younger than Tom Brady and I'm even with all the talk that we have about Ty Montgomery and Jamal Williams I'm still not convinced that Aaron Rodgers will throw less than Tom Brady. I think he could end up throwing 600 passes again this year.

At some point, there's a fall off. We saw it with Favre, saw it with Marino, saw it with Manning. You see it with everybody. It's just the nature of these older quarterbacks. Now, Pete Prisco, our colleague here at CBS Sports, he tweeted the other day that older quarterbacks, they may have been yesterday with Brady's birthday, you're seeing quarterbacks having the ability to play later in their careers

because of the rule changes, because of how they get hit, because they still can stand back in the pocket, especially with a lot of them playing shotgun, and have the ability to just see the field, get the ball out quick, and they don't get touched. But that's the potential with Brady. They're very close. I don't have a problem if somebody wants to take Brady over Rodgers.

He's got the best weapons of any quarterback out there. If Gronk is healthy, if Cooks does what he's supposed to do, Edelman still is a vital factor. The running backs out of the backfield, Dwayne Allen's going to catch a couple touchdowns. I mean, it's just loaded. But I think Rodgers showed last year that he's still the best in the business or in the conversation for it.

I just think Rodgers has a little bit more upside. I will draft Brady in the fourth or fifth round in a redraft league. In a dynasty league, I'm waiting until the ninth or tenth. And I don't hate having him as my quarterback in dynasty because he falls so far. Unless you're with Dave, who reached for him. Well, maybe. Did you reach for him at all?

When did I take him? The draft was so long ago. Which draft was this in? Draft 1, Draft 2, or Draft 3? The Dynasty League. I must have taken him. But I got Carson Wentz. You did a great job of getting a younger backup.

That was my plan all along. I think I got Brady at a pretty good value in that draft, if I remember. It wasn't round nine. No, it wasn't late. That's insane. It wasn't late. He goes late in dynasty drafts. I can tell you the dynasty draft that I was in where we still have the ADP.

Let's see if I can find where I drafted him. You won't be able to. Look that up. I've tried to see what that was. I've got the results. We're going to transition to talk dynasty for the last 10 minutes of the show. And first, I want to remind you that CBS Sports is the best place to build your new Dynasty League if you want to. You have customizable keeper options.

So if you just want a keeper league with a few keepers, that's fine. If you want a Dynasty League where you keep everybody, we do that too. You have the ability to trade draft picks. Something I think is really cool cool player salary and contract features so you can have a salary cap for your league creates a little more turnover makes it a little more realistic and the best part is you can set up your league for free and check out everything we have to offer just go to cbssports.com football i got br Brady in round five. Brady in round five in a dynasty league. In a dynasty draft. It's a little early.

Yes. I wanted him. My plan all along, like I said, Brady and a young quarterback. Wentz was the guy who, if I remember, I got him in round 10 or 11, which I think is kind of cuckoo. So I want to do a couple things here with dynasty. We need to talk about. Just real quick.

Dante Moncrief left practice with a sprained AC joint in his shoulder. Another shoulder injury for that guy. Which is not good for him, given that he's had shoulder problems. Between him and Andrew Luck, they've got two good shoulders. Maybe. So what are your favorite features to have when you're building a Dynasty League? My favorite features? How do you want your... Do you like my favorite feature what what how do

you how do you want you do you like full dynasty or keeper leagues better i like keeper leagues better because i'm like not that much into commitment with my fantasy teams okay like i've got a fan i've got a keeper league where i keep three players every year and it's still ultra competitive there are still offseason trades but you keep three players you keep three keep three players, and you give up a draft pick based on where they go. I think that's an important feature is the draft pick compensation, and you can do that right within the leagues on CBS. Yes, been able to do that for a long time. Do you make it escalate each year to keep them?

Yes, two rounds higher. Two rounds higher until the corresponding round doesn't exist, until he's a first-round pick, and then you've got to throw him back. In our league, no one is allowed to be retained as a first or second-round pick. If you keep a guy and it costs a first-round pick, that's fine, but you can't keep him again for a first-round pick. One thing I think that's weird, I mean, obviously if it's a keeper or dynasty league, we're not going to have kickers because you should never have kickers

in any of your fantasy leagues. But I feel like it's weird to have a team defense in a Dynasty League. Like, all these other guys are staying the same and staying on your roster and you're committing to them for a long time. You're picking a defense and half of that's going to change

by next year. Right. Well, our Keeper League, we have a DST because we just don't want to complicate things. What's that? Nobody keeps it, though. Well, but in a true dynasty league, there's not a draft next year. You're just keeping all your players and you can add people from free agency. So you're having a rookie draft next year, sure. In a keeper league, I understand the team defense thing more. In a dynasty league, I really prefer IDP.

The big fear everybody has with dynasty leagues is the commitment. And it's not just the commitment of the individual. It's the commitment of everybody else in the league. What if you start a Dynasty League and two years later it falls apart because half the people in the league don't want to be in it anymore? Whether because their team sucks and they don't want to pay the membership fee to be a part of the league or they don't like it. Well, I mean, that's just knowing the people that you're asking to be part of the league.

I mean, that happens to anything. I have a keeper league that's – this is our seventh year, I think, or eighth year. And one guy has some stuff going on with his life, and he says, I can't do it anymore. All right. That happens, but you can find replacements. Yeah, but, you know, it's A, convincing somebody to join a league that 11 other people have been in for a long time. B, convincing them that they're taking over a team, which should by all standards be competitive, and I believe it was.

But still have to sell that to somebody to take that over. So it's just a matter of knowing the people that you're doing it with. I mean, look, we committed to doing an office dynasty league. Yes. And I think, you know, I don't want to speak for you, Dave, but I think at the time you were like, I'm going to try to win now. Yeah.

Because it may fall apart. Yeah. That was bringing my next point. Do you think that veterans get undervalued in Dynasty Leagues because people are overestimating how easy it is to predict three or four years from now? Depends on the veteran. Like, you just got done talking about Tom Brady

going in round nine. That's ridiculous. But this year is by far the most important year in a dynasty league. Yeah, I don't think you should ever go into your – I mean, each year. It's just a theory. Not saying 2017 is better than any other year. Yeah, I mean, like I drafted in this other dynasty league,

a startup dynasty league that I'm in, I drafted Fitzgerald and Garcon because the value for them – it's a PPR league. The value for them was just too good. And so while I may have missed out on younger player time, I mean, I could tell you who was on the board at the time. So just to give you a perfect example, I took Larry Fitzgerald in the eighth round of a PPR league, Dynasty League.

The next pick right after him was Cameron Meredith, who's in his third year. If Trubisky's great, or Glennon's great, Meredith could have another six, seven years of sustained production. Not as good as Larry Fitzgerald's career, but could certainly be better than Fitzgerald from this point forward. I took Pierre Garçon two picks before Zay Jones.

Again, for me, it was, I want to be competitive now. I have some younger receivers still, but I still want to try and be... I'm not just looking at, okay, I got a great team. Or I got a young team. To hell with it. The guys who probably draft and took Mike Williams and John Ross and took them early in a startup Dynasty League

are probably miserable right now, not knowing what's going to happen, especially if you're counting on them to be starters. Or they better be patient, which is also an important part of it. But I don't think anybody should go into their dynasty league with the focus of being patient and drafting players with the hope that two, three years down the line, they build a juggernaut.

Do you want to draft a team right now and say, I'm going to lose? No, there are people that do, though. There are people that are going to draft all the rookies. And let's finish up with the rookies first. These rookie-only drafts. Because that's, I think, probably the majority of what's left in Dynasty. People starting Dynasty leagues at this time of year.

It's going to take a lot to get them started. But you've got some rookie-only drafts left. How important is your team need versus just the talent of the player? Well, we had this conversation when we were doing our dynasty draft because I knew I had the second pick. It's a PPR league. If it was a standard rookie draft, I would have taken Joe Mixon second. But I like McCaffrey better in this format, so I took McCaffrey.

And I built my team knowing that I'm going to have the chance. This is before the draft even happened. I really was under the assumption I was taking Dalvin Cook because I thought Cook was going to end up in a slightly better situation than he's in. He's in a good situation. He's not in a great situation. So I built my team thinking... Huh? Cook, long term,

is in a great situation. Potentially. But I don't think he's in as good a situation as Mixter McCaffrey. For this year? No. For both. So, I went in with the approach of, I'm going to lean receiver more so than running back, knowing that I still have that trump card in the back

of my ace card in the back of my hand, back of my pocket. Under your sleeve. Under my sleeve. Over your collar. Over my collar. That I could still get a potentially elite level running back knowing that that was coming right so i built my team like you you know he we had this conversation like passing on cory davis right but for me it was you knew that you had that spot right yeah but i i took michael thomas i think he's got a lot better future than Corey Davis. I took Tyree Kill.

Maybe has a similar type of career path as Corey Davis. Corey Davis should be better. But those are two young receivers I already have on my roster. And then I figured I'll take another young guy in the rookie draft, which I did with Kenny Galladay. And as an alternative to that, I picked in the middle of the rookie draft. So I didn't have that early round pick. You didn't know who you could get. I didn't know who I was going to end up. i had a feeling that i would be in the wheelhouse of

kareem hunt and that's who i ended up getting but i i couldn't build my team around that nor did i want to build my team around that because of that big drop off between those big five rookies and i would include cory davis in there and everybody else in the rookie class i do think a lot of things have changed since we did that rookie draft. Sure. Yeah. I'm updating my rookie rankings today. So just real quick before we get out of here, if you're having your rookie draft this weekend, Leonard Fournette is going to be the first pick most likely.

We're talking PPR. I still think I would take McCaffrey number two. I might take Mixon. And then in PPR, you're going Mixon three? Yeah. Because we don't know about Corey Davis. I might take Mixon. And then in PPR, you're going Mixon three? Yeah. Because we don't know about Corey Davis. I would take Mixon two. Yep.

Dalvin Cook over Corey Davis two? Yes, for me. I think I would take Corey Davis. It's close. I think that comes down to team. Cook and Davis are definitely the next two. Yeah. And then, it's not Mike Williams anymore.

No. And it's not O.J. Howard. It's not O.J. Howard. It could be O.J. Howard. Because John Ross is still. If you really like O.J. Howard, then you do O.J. Howard. I think it's John Ross. Really?

Even the uncertainty with him? No chance. No chance. I feel more certain. I feel less certain about Mike Williams. Let me ask you this. Let me ask you this. Because this is one scenario we talked about and one scenario that's potential.

If you find out a week from now, Mike McCarthy comes out and says, Ty Montgomery, look, we tried. You can't pass block. The job is Jamal Williams. Well, then it's Jamal Williams here. And then Andy Reid comes out and says, we like Spencer Ware. He has a role. But Kareem Hunt has just blown us away, and he's the guy.

Then it's Kareem Hunt here. So Hunt would be six. If one of those two had been named starting running back right now, yes. I would take those guys. Right. I mean, but you need that to happen. And it's unrealistic. Yeah, six is a nightmare spot right now.

Right. I think a guy that's moved up a lot, and if you need a wide receiver right now, you mentioned him earlier, Zay Jones. Yep. He is really impressive in Buffalo. He's going gonna be their number two wide receiver so is cooper cup especially in ppr i i think right now if you had to take betting odds zay jones might be the favorite to lead receivers and receiving yards amongst rookies this year yeah yeah he might ahead of cory davis today right now not knowing what that is? Yeah.

I'd still take Corey Davis in a Dynasty league, but rounding out the end of the first round, we're going to take Jamal Williams in the first, OJ Howard. All three tight ends. Njoku and Evan Ingram. I don't know about Njoku. The reports there have not been good about him. Doesn't matter. He's got that raw... So you're taking Njoku over Ross or Zay Jones? I would not take him over Ross.

I would potentially take him over Zay Jones. Because if you get an elite tight end, you are so set. Where are you letting Mike Williams fall to? Probably the turn. I think I'm still taking him in the first round. Yeah. Toward the end of the first round? Because you've got such an early round two pick, theoretically.

Right. If you're doing a state. And then I don't think Sam Samaj P. Ryan was right there at that turn range. I don't think I'm taking him until mid-second now. No, I'm still interested. But again, you're talking long haul.

This year versus long term. Right. But I don't, I didn't think, like, the thing I liked about Samaj P. Ryan was not his long-term talent. I think there's a chance he gets replaced next year.

I think he's a lot like Rob Kelly. If Rob Kelly's beating him out, this may be his one year that he has a chance to be a starter. It might. But he also still, you know, we're downgrading him already, like the rest of his career. Like saying this is his only chance. Rob Kelly's still undrafted. You absolutely should not do that.

Rob Kelly's still undrafted. I did not think he was that special in the first place. Did you think he was special? Okay. I think in time he'll be able to do more than what Rob Kelly can do right now. And I'm not high on Rob Kelly in Dynasty either. I don't think he's more than a one-year starter probably.

I mean, listen, Washington could end up being terrible this year, and they've managed to get Nick Chubb in the draft, and then everybody's gone. I think that 6-12 is certainly going to be a little bit of a nightmare for somebody. I still think those tight ends. I think there's a little bit about it. It's a lot. Well, no, because you could hit on Hunt.

You could hit on Williams. You could still hit on the tight ends. There's still good players there. But there's no consensus sixth guy. Like, at least when Mike Williams was healthy, you'd say, well, he's the last. Oh, you could have made a case. He could push the running backs. We were taking him ahead of Cook.

Yeah. Most people were. Well, not me. But I'm crazy for Cook. Well, you're crazy for running backs. You love running backs. I think that's going to do it. Not a terrible Friday show without Adam Azer, but it's always better when Adam's here.

He'll be back on Monday. What I want you to do over the weekend, go start a Dynasty League on CBSSports.com, schedule a draft at Buffalo Wild Wings, and email Adam and tell him you did it because of us. Thanks for listening. We'll talk to you on Monday. Bye. Thank you. you