Fantasy Football Today - 08/07: O-Lines & Coordinators; Quick Fantasy Questions; Regulators (Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: August 7, 2018

Offensive coordinators and offensive linemen have huge impacts on Fantasy seasons. We take a look at some new coordinators and what they might bring to the table (6:22) and we identify the best and worst offensive lines in the NFL (15:02). Which players are gaining and losing value based on the players and coaches around them? Russell Wilson? David Johnson? .... Analyzing Marvin Jones (19:05) and his current ADP, plus a fun surprise from Dave (24:44) and quick Fantasy questions (28:02) about Josh Gordon, DeAndre Hopkins, Kenyan Drake, Cam Newton and several others ... What is value based drafting (34:25)? And who needs a league dispute resolved? The Fantasy Regulators are back (40:10)! ... 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. Position previews start tomorrow.

We've got quarterbacks to talk about on Wednesday's show. Today, though, we're going to talk about offensive linemen and offensive coordinators. You don't draft them, but they can have a major impact on your team. Welcome to Fantasy Football Today. Also on today's show, we'll talk Marvin Jones and the Lions wide receivers. Got some fun questions to throw at the guys. David Johnson with his offensive linemen getting banged up. We'll talk about that. And the Podcast League. if you want to get in, we'll tell you how to do that. We'll also discuss value-based drafting. I have a lot to get to, and we have a special guest coming on the show later.

This is a busy, busy show. Welcome to you listeners and to Dave, Jamie, and Heath. How are you guys? That was a long intro. I know. It's nice that we finally got to, you know, other people talking. I just want to congratulate you for putting together an intro like that. That's solid on your very first try.

Hey, thank you. It was my third try. 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, beer, sports At participating locations While supplies last Alright, you heard from Dave Richard and Heath Cummings

Jamie Eisenberg also here Hey Jamie Hey Adam, how are you? Doing very well, thank you for asking Are we concerned about A.Q. Shipley's injury The starting center for the Cardinals Out for the year

They could have a rookie, Mason Cole starting What does this mean for David Johnson? I'll just ask this every day of the preseason. David Johnson or Dalvin Cook? You're not going to do that every time, are you? It's Johnson. It's still David Johnson. It's another strike against him, though, isn't it?

Kind of, sort of, yeah. It's questionable, I think. There are certain people that think this could be an upgrade with Mason Cole starting. Cole, yeah,

he could be pretty good. All right. So, David Johnson entrenched as a top four pick? The one thing that I'll just,

yes, Johnson's still entrenched as a top four pick. No, he's not. You don't think so? I would take Antonio Brown and DeAndre Hopkins before him.

In any format? In either format. Yeah, no way. Not me. Not saying that it's a bad thing to do, but if it's me, I'm taking that running back. Cole used to play left tackle in college, and now he's moving to center.

So, versatility, thy name is Mason Cole. David Johnson in CBS going forth. Gurley, Bell, Elliott, Johnson. Alvin Kamara, five. Barkley, six. Brown, yeah, it's weird. Brown, seven.

Actually, we're about to start a draft. We're not really going to talk about it, but if anything crazy jumps out, we'll let you know. We're going to do it while we podcast. Antonio Brown is expected to be back soon. Jamie P. Carroll, the optimist, expects Doug Baldwin to be ready for week one. What do you make of that? I think that was the plan all along, so hopefully that's the case.

If he's fine, he's going to probably end up being a steal at his average draft position because he's going to fall to maybe round four. So if he plays week one, 88 consecutive games and counting right now. So you could be in good shape. Unfortunately, if that knee becomes a problem and he has to shut it down for any period of time during the season, you could regret it. So still wait and see, but he's a top 15 receiver. Should we make a noise when Doug Baldwin gets picked in this draft?

Yeah, well, that's a good idea. We'll let everybody know when he goes. What kind of noise should we make? I don't know. You know what? I'll come up with something. I'll come up with something. How about like a – how about a – that's terrible.

That's a terrible – Yeah, what was that? That sounded like a computer farting. Just a beep. I'm going to make the call of a Seahawk Oh That sounds nice Now also we have special guests

Joining us later in the show They're going to be coming on To regulate I don't know the next time we'll be able to get to the fantasy regulator Segment since we're doing the position preview So we'll do some at the end of the show. Fantasyfootball at CBSi.com. Please put fantasy football regulators in the subject line if you want it read on the air.

Meanwhile, Zach Ertz returned to practice, and Frank Reich says that T.Y. Hilton, obviously, and Ryan Grant have separated themselves amongst the group of Indianapolis wide receivers. Ryan Grant, guys, is he draftable? No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't. Okay. We talked about like John Ross yesterday. Where's Ryan Grant comparatively?

After him. He's not exciting. John Ross, you know, he's exciting exciting and when he gets hurt you'll know that you can't start him and you might even cut him which is really great we're talking about very late wide receivers here but how about how about a mini prediction okay ryan grant and all the other wide receivers on indianapolis not named ty h, will finish third or worse in targets in Indianapolis this year. Hilton will be number one. Eric Ebron will be number two.

Really? Welcome aboard. Ew, it feels gross to say. Eric Ebron bandwagon is getting full. No, that's not me going on the bandwagon, is it? You said he was going to be second on the Colts in targets. That's on the bandwagon. Why ahead of Jack Doyle?

I just think that he'll be targeted more and they'll use him more as a mismatch. I was literally face palming with the microphone just then. Because I can't believe I'm falling for this Ebron crap again. Dang it! Doyle is being drafted ahead of Eric Ebron. So I guess the bandwagon isn't completely full just yet. But they're both Round 10 or later Alright so let's get to

The crux of the show The play callers, the offensive linemen The guys that make it possible for fantasy For fantasy breakouts to happen And Heath you wanted to talk about Let's start with Brian Schottenheimer In Seattle

He spent 9 years six with the jets three with the with the rams he had one top 10 finish in terms of scoring offense i mean like with the rams he had bradford kellen clemens austin davis sean hill but not a great track record for brian schottenheimer and now uh he's taken over the seahawks offense what do you think there i would submit that this is the worst news of all of the new offensive coordinators, and it's bad news for Russell Wilson, and it's probably bad news for the Seahawks. It seems like Brian Schottenheimer is one of those old-school coaches that's still of the belief that running the ball a lot leads to winning football games

and not the other way around. I think it's a problem with correlation and causation, but there are still a lot of old football minds that think that way. They are going to try to have a very good run game. It could be good for Penny or Carson if the offensive line isn't just terrible, and if one of those guys separates themselves as a true number one running back, that could be the positive of the situation. I can't see a way that Schottenheimer is good for Wilson or for Baldwin

or for the Seahawks winning games. So there are a lot of strikes against Russell Wilson. I mean, because Baldwin's got this knee injury. Maybe he's back for week one. Hopefully he is. We just talked about it. They don't have a great offensive line by any means it might be better than last year but i don't know i i don't fear i don't feel like a

ton of excitement to draft russell wilson yet he's the second or third quarterback off the board sometimes fourth i've moved him down i've got him number four yeah I've got him one spot lower And he was great last year But I'm Continuing to get the feeling that the wheels are going to come off In Seattle this year I'm going to stop us there because we'll spend time on it Tomorrow on the quarterbacks preview Jamie

North Turner and Carolina Is this a good thing, bad thing, medium thing I think it's a great thing I mean you know He's got a good track record with mean, he's got a good track record with quarterbacks. He's got a good track record with running backs. He's got a good track record with receivers. So I think if – I'm more concerned with the offensive line in Carolina than I am with the system that he's going to install.

So I think he'll be good for the skilled players. If they get the right blocking, though, that I think will make or break how this team operates. North Turner, last three years with the Vikings, did not have a top 15 scoring offense, but had Teddy Bridgewater

and Sam Bradford as his quarterbacks. Is there a particular position that we're looking at with any of these coordinators? We should also talk about Todd Haley in Cleveland, who is seemingly a big upgrade. He's done a great job in Pittsburgh. Did you mention Greg Olson, Jamie?

I'm sorry. Because Norv Turner has a great history with tight ends. Sure. No, I mean, all the skill players, I think, will be in line for good, if not great production. But, again, I think it's going to come down to how the blocking is there. And I guess my only question with Norv Turner, I agree with everything Jamie said.

My only question is, does it change how many times or how Cam Newton runs it all? Because Norv Turner's not really ever had a running quarterback. And I think he's a good enough coach that he evolves with his personnel. But is it even a small reduction in his record jumps no because i i think norv is smart enough to lean on the strengths of like you said what his offense has and i just think that you're going to see i think the the panthers as a whole learned last season that they gotta just let cam be cam and norv has to adapt to that and i don't think that that means he's not going to be successful at

all i think nor can handle an adaptation with a running quarterback like cam newton so how about for the cleveland browns and todd haley good thing sure haley has a lot of experience of turning offenses around um he did in arizona he did in pittsburgh he tried to do in kansas city and for a while he did good track record with running backs catching the ball out of the backfield, but even he's saying that it's going to be multiple guys there. I think ultimately he'll be good at just bringing an aggressive but smart quality to the passing game, meaning he's not just going to... I felt like last year Hugh Jackson was just dolling up shot after shot after shot. It's part of the reason why Deshaun Kizer had such a terrible year.

And I think Todd Haley will be a little bit smarter about that. Well, he leaves the Steelers. They promoted their quarterback's coach, Randy Feichner, to offensive coordinator, and that gives them some continuity. But people are – we have gotten some emails, some tweets. Hey, is there really nothing to worry about here with the Steelers? Le'Veon Bell's holding out, new offensive coordinator. Guys, is this still one of the best offenses in the NFL?

Yes, because the quarterback hasn't changed. He knows what he's doing, and I almost feel like Roethlisberger will take over some of the play calling from game to game. Offensive line is strong. Receivers are good. I mean, I'm hearing all and seeing video of their rookie receiver, James Washington. It looks like he might end up replacing Martavis Bryant seamlessly in that offense. Yeah, I know everybody's a little nervous about Le'Veon

and how he'll be without participating in training camp for the preseason. When we saw it last year, no one's complaining about that. So I don't think anybody will complain about him now. I think Pittsburgh's offense will still be really good. I don't think Todd Haley was the secret to it. Frank Reich, Matt Nagy, head coaches now. Big impacts there, guys? Sure.

Which one do you want to start with? You tell me. I mean, what's the big fantasy impact for you in terms of a single player you know we pete prisco talked about yesterday he's not buying that the bears in 2018 are the rams in 2017 he doesn't think this is going to happen overnight no i don't think they are at all but i think the biggest impact there is probably trey burton okay i mean i'd go i'd go football nerd on you when talking about the bears because they've done something very different than what most teams do

where the offensive coordinator comes from one type of system and he cold calls a former college coach who's versed in a completely different system and asks him to join him. And now they're going to weave it together and become some sort of hybrid offense that we're not privy to. And it almost seems like a little too much for a second year quarterback like Mitchell Trubisky, but it's what they're doing in theory is smart. They're putting Trubisky in a system that is a little bit of what the NFL has been for decades and a little bit of what he's used to in college with the spread formations and

the RPOs. You tack on all the talent that they've added, and it's going to make for an interesting science experiment. I don't know if it's going to mean eight wins for the Bears, but it could mean more points. It's going to mean more points than they had last year. I just don't know if it's going to be like 25 points per game good. All right, I think that will wrap up our discussion on offensive coordinators.

We'll get into offensive lines in a second. You want to get into the podcast league. We've been doing it. This is like year 10. It's been a long-running league. You want to compete against us? There actually will be at least two podcast leagues this year, but the main one is a 14-team PPR league.

Tough league. Very competitive. Always a lot of fun. The podcast leagues are so fun. They're so competitive. Everybody's got basically the same philosophies. Surprise, surprise. They all listen to the same source.

We're going to do it on August 20th. That's a Monday, August 20th at 8 p.m. Eastern. If you cannot do that, please do not submit an entry for the draft. Tomorrow on the quarterback's preview, I'll tell you what we're looking for to get in. But today I'll just tell you it's on August 20th at 8 p.m. Eastern. Some of you will get in. Some of you will get into the For the People League. And many of you, unfortunately, will not get in.

But we appreciate your submission anyway. Another thing I want to promote is Sportsline.com. It's another great fantasy resource for you. It is a pay site, but it's only $10 a month, which is very, very little. And if you want to just try it out, you get the first month for a buck with the code BREAKOUT. Use the code BREAKOUT when you sign up on Sportsline.com. It's a gambling site. It will give you picks and predictions and what to do with the spreads and the over-unders,

but also a great fantasy resource. We're going to have injury analysis on there, really stepping up our game on Sportsline.com. Use the code BREAKOUT. Best offensive lines in the NFL. Jamie, who stands out? Some of the top lines. Dallas. Philly, Detroit. Yeah, Detroit.

Love Detroit. Can we say Indianapolis yet or is it too soon? I think it's too soon. Is Costanzo healthy? I think he is. He's off the pup list. Well, they're certainly a much improved offensive line, that's for sure. Yes, they can win the most improved award.

Cincinnati's an improved offensive line. Yeah. How about Tennessee? Giants, improved offensive line. I know the Titans are missing a tackle right now, but when he's back, that's typically a very good line. Yeah. Prisco did mention Giants, improved offensive line,

but right side still looks pretty weak. So they're certainly not up there amongst the best yet. Maybe middle of the pack, which would be a big upgrade for them if the line has really held them back. Anything above last will be good. Yeah, for sure. But Tennessee's a good one, Dave. How about the Vikings? How's their line looking?

It's pretty good. Elfline, I don't think, is off the puff list. They just suffered another injury yesterday, right? I think it's a little bit of a question mark. I don't remember who it was, so that's really helpful. Yeah, well, obviously, I mean, you know, Dalvin Cook and everything. Worst offensive lines in the NFL? I might put Arizona in there, especially after they lost one of their starters.

So how is he the fourth pick in the draft? I might put Arizona in there, especially after they lost one of their starters. So how is he the fourth pick in the draft? Because he can overcome that. Not everything revolves around the offensive line. He might struggle to average four yards per carry between the tackles. What about outside the tackles? What about on catches? What about on outside? Well, PPR is a little bit different, but David Johnson,

of all the running backs that get drafted in the first round, is going to be on the worst offense with the worst offensive line. That's true. And yet I also see why you— At least in the top four, that's true. At least I see why you have him there. I mean, Dallas could be a bad offense. I don't know.

Dallas was actually a fine offense last year. But still, we know. He plays in two big parts. But Zeke is safer than Johnson, isn't he? Yes. Yeah. Okay. Any other teams that could be sunk by their offensive line?

Buffalo. Yeah, they stink. The nice thing is they've got a good quarterback and receivers to make up for. Just ask Calvin Benjamin. The Saints' offensive line is great. Sure. Okay, back to the goods. But actually, you mentioned Cam Newton sort of accidentally.

We do have to be concerned now about the Panthers' offensive line, don't we? They've lost their best guard in football and their right tackle. One to free agency, one to an ACL injury. I don't know if I'm going to call Norwell the best guard in football. Zach Martin is still around. Sorry, he was the best free agent guard. He was the best paid one this offseason. So Jacksonville's got him now.

And, yes, losing Williams at right tackle will also hurt. So like the Giants, the right side of that offensive line makes you feel a little queasy inside, but hopefully the rest of the talent can overcome it. So we could talk about this, but have there been actually any fantasy rankings downgrades from offensive lines or offensive coordinators for you guys? Russell Wilson. Yeah. I think that's fair to say. I've been more – I think I've been a little more positive

with a couple of offensive coordinators. But it's not necessarily new offensive coordinators. It's just players that are in good situations. Like Mahomes, for example. A lot of 49ers we're going to give positive marks to because Shanahan's there. Stuff like that. We've got three Rams wide receivers ranked in our top 36. That's because of Sean McVay.

Sure. Okay, I got you. Dave, let's take a look at the fantasy profile presented by Buffalo Wild Wings. We're profiling an unknown or an underrated fantasy football player who listeners should get to know as they could be key to winning your season. And we went, we didn't go so deep on this one. Yesterday it was John Ross, but today it's a guy who might be a little underrated, Marvin Jones.

Did you all know that Marvin Jones was the number five wide receiver in non-PPR last year, number 12 in PPR? He had 1,100 yards and nine touchdowns in 16 games, averaged an unbelievable 18 yards per catch. Dave, Marvin Jones is our fantasy profile presented by Buffalo Wild Wings. So this comes down to whether or not he can have a season like that again because that was the first time he ever had a season like that. I think it was his first 1,000-yard yard campaign since like ever he didn't have one in college never had one in cincinnati didn't have one in his first year with the lions it's it's it's a little bit hard to buy into marvin jones becoming um a bigger part of this

offense when he already didn't have a ton of targets to begin with and just now, quote-unquote, broke out in 2017. So is he going to be a good pick in the fourth or fifth round? When would you feel comfortable taking Marvin Jones? I think his ADP is pretty good, 68 maybe. Oh, wow. Round six. Yeah, I think it's good value. I had him as a bust when I wrote about it in February.

Part of my concern was his numbers when Kenny Galladay was healthy versus when Galladay was out. So Galladay missed five games due to a hamstring problem, and three of Jones' best games came in those five games. So his targets were down a little bit when Galladay was on the field. The one thing I think that helps is there's no real tight end of significance. While Eric Ebron may not have been a great fantasy tight end, he was an impactful player for that offense.

Marvin Jones, first five games he was pretty lousy. I don't think he had more than 60 yards in any of those games. Turned it on after that in his last 11 games, but as Jamie mentioned, three of his four highest yardage totals were without Kenny Galladay. So Jones had a great season. And Heath, you talked about Marvin Jones. You wrote about him in your regression column because there's just some things that don't seem sustainable for him. Yeah, I don't think there's a very good chance that he's going to match 1,100 yards and nine touchdowns

just because of what he's done over his career. The 18 yards per reception was awesome last year. And I don't that's going to regress to like put him down or say he got lucky but he's not going to match it he was 16.9 the year before so maybe you want to regress him to that level his career average is 15 yards per reception i think that 15 to 16 is probably more reasonable i've got him for 65 catches in 10 yards, but even with last year's great touchdown rate and his incredible year where he scored 10 in Cincinnati on 80 targets, I don't think you should expect more than seven touchdowns this year. All right, would you guys rather have Marvin Jones or Corey Davis? Jones. Jones as of now. Davis has been in a little bit banged up, but I can see Davis being better.

Marvin Jones or Michael Crabtree? I've got Jones a spot ahead of Crabtree and PPR. Jones and non-PPR, Crabtree and PPR. Yeah, Jones in both for me. Jones or Watkins? Jones. Dave, did you hear that? It sounded like a bird.

Oh, my gosh. I drafted Doug Baldwin. Hooray. Do you really feel excited about it? You took him 35th overall. Extremely. I have the 10th pick in a 12-team non-PPR league, and I took him with my third pick, the second-to-last pick of round three.

I feel extremely excited about that. The question I have with where you took him because I'm trying to make a similar decision in a different league right now. Adam Thielen was still there. He went five picks later. Why take Doug Baldwin, currently injured, over Adam Thielen? I would have taken

Stefan Diggs because I like Diggs better than Thielen. Diggs was already gone. Because I just don't love Thielen. He had more than 140 targets last year and i just don't don't think he gets close to that i'm just not a feeling guy this year i'm not feeling it who do you think that they throw the ball to instead more cook a little more digs they just spread it around. I think he loses at least 20 targets.

And I just, I don't know. I'm just not sure with Thielen. He's just not my guy, you know? Some players, some players, it's just fantasy owners, just not their guy. Not going to take him. And that's Thielen to me. I think if both play 16 games, Baldwin has the better year. Yeah.

Because Baldwin theoretically should get more targets. That's easy. If Seattle plays from behind, that'll help him in every single regard. Targets, catches, yards, touchdowns. He should lead the team in touchdowns. I would have done that, Adam. Has Doug Baldwin ever had as many targets as Dillon had last year? I want

to say yes. His career high is 125. I want to say no. His career high is 125. I want to say no. He had 116 last year. It doesn't mean that he can't get close to 130 this year, though. Yeah. Do you think Thielen's getting 140 targets? No. No, I think they should both be viewed as a pretty similar target total.

He regresses back to about where Baldwin usually is. If Baldwin didn't have this concern, Heath, you would have taken him ahead of Thielen without question, right? I had him. And, yeah, as of right now, I've got Baldwin one spot ahead in projections, but I have Thielen ahead in rankings. Oh, okay. We got a fun little surprise on today's show.

We're going to do something a little bit different. Dave, what do you think? How do you feel right now? I'm feeling good. right hold on hold on all right this one goes out to marquise goodwin three fantasy points in week 16 thanks a lot i'm only doing this for you hello i wish i was a little bit taller i wish i was a baller i wish i had a girl who looked good i would call her wish i had a rabbit in a hat with a bat the six-form parlor i wish i was like

six foot nine so i could get with leoshi because she don't know me but yo she really fine you know i see her all the time everywhere i go and even in my dreams i can scheme away make a mod because i know she live in fact her boyfriend's tall and he plays ball. So how am I going to compete with that? Because when it comes to playing basketball, I'm always last to be picked. And in some cases, never picked at all. So I just lean up on the wall. I sit up in the bleachers with the rest of the girls who came to watch their man ball. Dag, y'all, I never understood, Black, why the jocks get the fly girls, me, I get the hood rats.

I tell them scat, skittle, skabobble. Got hit with a bottle and been in the hospital for talking that mess. I confess it's a shame when you live in the city that's the size of a box and nobody knows your name. Glad I came to my senses. Like quick, quick, got sick, sick to my stomach. I would come up by the thoughts of me and her together, right? So when I asked her out, she said I wasn't her type. I wish I was a little bit taller. I wish I was a baller. I wish I had a girl who looked good, I would call her. Wish I had a rabbit in a hat with a. I wish I was a baller. I wish I had a girl who looked good. I would call her. Wish I had a rabbit in a hat with a fat and a six-form baller. I wish I was a little bit taller.

I wish I was a baller. I wish I had a girl who looked good. I would call her. Wish I had a rabbit in a hat with a fat and a six-form father. I wish I was a non-PPR because I reach for this quarterback, and everywhere I go, yo, I get laughed at. I guess I should have took a running back. I got one last year in round eight.

His name's Eddie, but he's fat. And you want to know what's really whack? See, I can't even make a trade, so what you think of that? I heard that draft night is a bomb night with the breakouts. You can choose right, but everyone has no joke. Oh, when I'm down, I can't even get Garoppolo. Well, so many people want to draft their teams on Sunday. I watched preseason games two days before.

You know I find a top ten player, maybe top five, drop dime on FFT, tell the people look alive, because it's hard to survive when you're living in a fantasy jungle and these sleepers keep passing me by. He looks fly. He looks fly. Makes me say my, my, my. I wish I was a little bit taller. I wish I was a baller.

Wish I had a girl who looked good, I would call her. Wish I had a rabbit in a hat with a girl who looked good i would call her wish i had a rabbit in a hat with a bat six one parlor i wish i was a little bit taller i wish i was a baller i wish i had a girl who looked good i would call her wish i had a rabbit in a hat with a bat and a six one parlor is that it that was that was nice dude that was so bad it i listen i've been rehearsing this for a week i've been rehearsing this for a week that was easily the worst rendition that i've done it was very good i thought it was fine it was it was so bad no it was i mean it was so we had a lot of trouble syncing up the music with the lyrics but it it was good. Let's make this will go down in history as like horrible slash great moments in FFT.

You deserve a lot of credit, Dave. That was very funny. The second verse was terrific. I don't know how much you could actually make out. It felt like marbles were coming out of my mouth. No, everything. It was good. So the bet has been paid.

We had a little fun. Got some questions for you. Are we sure Josh Gordon is still a great wide receiver? Yeah, if he plays. When he plays. All right. I think he's going to be in a position to be a great wide receiver this year. I don't know.

I'm not convinced. He hasn't shown it the last two times he's come back from suspension. He was good the last five games last year. He was good, but he wasn't great. He caught less than half his targets, didn't he? Something like that. Real bad percentage. Yeah, everybody would have.

He had 18 catches on 43 targets. That's all right. All right. That's just a question. Next question. Should we really believe, I know we've heard, that Frank Gore listed as the co-starter is going to have a role. Do we really believe it that Frank Gore've heard, that Frank Gore, listed as the co-starter, is going to have a role? Do we really believe it, that Frank Gore is going to have a significant enough role in the Dolphins' offense to knock Kenya Drake down in terms of his fantasy value?

No. No. Yes, he's going to have a role. Yes, he's going to hurt him. Enough to hurt Drake? Yes. Over a certain stretch of the season, I think yes. Over a majority of the season, I think yes. Over a majority of the season, I think no.

Is DeAndre Hopkins, pardon me, closer to Antonio Brown or to the rest of the elite wide receivers? Brown. I agree. Speaking purely from a fantasy sense. Right. Yeah, I think that's definitely true in non-PPR and PPR.

Keenan Allen may be closer to Hopkins than vice versa. Does C.J. Anderson have any value? Yes. Nice bench running back. Let's play a game called Which is Greater? Which is Greater?

Cam Newton's rushing touchdowns or is greater Cam Newton's rushing touchdowns Or Christian McCaffrey's rushing touchdowns Cam Cam will have more rushing But Christian will have more total touchdowns Than Cam rushing touchdowns Cam Newton has never had fewer than 5 Rushing touchdowns

He's had 2 seasons with 10 or more How many rushing touchdowns are you projecting for Christian McCaffrey? Three. Four. 3.5. That's not that many. That's not very many. Which is greater this year, Ronald Jones carries or Alvin Kamara carries?

Jones carries. Jones carries. Yeah, Jones carries. Which is greater this year, Tyreek Hill's catches? He had 75 last year. Or Robert Woods' catches? He had 56 last year. Hill.

Hill. Woods. Ooh. All right, last one. Put your thinking caps on. Which is greater? Evan Ingram's targets or Odell Beckham's catches? Ingram's targets. Beckham's catches.

That is the best one you've done yet. Thank you. I will say Ingram's targets, but just by like two. I caught Pat Shermer say some nice things about Emin Ingram today on SiriusXM NFL Radio. They do a training camp tour. It's worth the price of Sirius just for that. The channel's great. You can get it for free on CBS Sports HQ where we have our own training camp tour.

That's true, but you can't listen to it on demand, and it's like three hours per team. You three hours spent per team so you get all kinds of interviews it's really i'll take the free product that we work for well we can also have both i have both uh everybody can have hq that's right not everybody can have serious can i get to my point on what schirmer said about evan ingram absolutely he's going to use two tight end sets a lot ingram's one of the two tight ends. When it's not two tight ends, it'll be Ingram. He's impressed with his catches. Apparently Ingram's had one bad day in training camp with the drops. Everything else, he's been fine,

and he expects him to be a regular part of the offense. Does it kind of— But he said it with typically more excitement than Pat Schirmer speaks. Is it really a struggle for you guys when you rank Evan Ingram role slash opportunity versus talent? He's really good.

He's very talented, but I don't have a problem ranking him. I think he's going to have a down fantasy year compared to where he's being drafted. Right now, Evan Ingram is being drafted 60th overall. That's pretty high. Has he gone off the board in the draft that we are currently doing?

Yes. After 60, I would hope. Where did he go? I don't believe it was after 60. I believe it was in that range. It was... 66. There you go.

So before Jimmy Graham, who do you prefer? Graham. Graham. That's close. Okay. I'll take Ingram. There you go So before Jimmy Graham Who do you prefer? Graham Graham That's close Okay I'll take Ingram And Dave just took Trey Burton By the way in this draft

All right Speaking of drafts The new thing that people are doing Very fun stuff Best ball Not that new But getting more popular It's new for a lot of people

Best ball drafts Really, really fun. Where can you do them? On the draft app. And you can do one for free when you sign up on the draft app and you use the promo code FFT. You can get a free entry into a best ball draft when you make your first deposit. When you make that deposit, use the code FFT. So what is a best ball draft?

Well, you do a draft. It's a snake draft on the draft app and no season long management. Set it and forget it. Once you're done drafting, there are no trades. There's no waiver wire. You don't have to do anything. You don't have to set your lineup. Your best players that you've drafted automatically get selected and then you'll get the best score every week guaranteed. So if your team's really banged up, this makes things a lot easier. It's just kind of a stress-free thing. Heath, you did what, 40 best ball drafts last year?

40 plus. Yeah. So do them on the Draft app. Play for cold, hard cash. Leagues start at just $1. And when you sign up, make your first deposit. Use the code FFT to play in a real money game for free with our code FFT on your first deposit. And I am on the Draft app as BigCane2.

So feel free to follow me and challenge me on Draft. It is Team Name Tuesday. We'll get to that in a second. Let's do some news and notes. We also have fantasy regulators later. And actually, you know what, Heath? Before we do news and notes, talk to me about value-based drafting.

VBD, as they're calling it, as it's been called. Value-based drafting, explain it to the listeners. There will be things excluded from this, because I'm going to try to do it quickly, but this was created by one of my friends and former bosses, David Dodds and Joe Bryant,

back in 1996. It's essentially a way to sort players of different positions. And the basis is it starts with a projection for each and every player. Of course, we have those at Sportsline. And then you establish a baseline for the average starter at each position and the replacement cost at each position. And then sort players not by how many points they're going to score, but by how many points they're going to score more than the average at their position. Is it good? Is it effective? Do you do it?

It is good. It is effective. I do it. The thing is, you have to start with a projection that you like. You can be crazy about it and create your own projections. It's going to take you a lot of time to do that well. Or you can use projections that you trust. And yeah, I think that's what it all starts with is the projections. And some people don't even like to rank players

based on projections. So if you don't like that, it's not for you. All right. NFL insider Adam Kaplan says Sean McVay wanted Brandon Cooks last year and has a man crush on Brandon Cooks. Does this get anybody more excited about Brandon Cooks? I've heard the same thing.

I feel like we have to make a point here about how I don't think it's fair to say, well, Sammy Watkins had 70 targets last year, and that means Brandon Cooks is going to have 70 targets this year. I think Cooks is probably a better fit for this offense and will get more work than Sammy did last year when Sammy got traded in the middle of training camp to kind of patch a hole. And Cooks doesn't have to do that. The Browns remain interested in Des Bryant, according to Ian Rappaport,

but it doesn't seem like that's a match right now the jets love chris herndon according to the new york daily news although they did not put that many o's in the word love chris herndon a rookie tight end jamie is he does he have a chance to become fantasy relevant? In phrasing the question that way, yes, he does. A realistic chance? No. No. Okay, you like him in Dynasty, Chris Herndon? Sure.

Okay. Aaron Donald does not appear close to reporting. How much of a hit would the Rams DST take if they don't have Aaron Donald in week one, which they didn't last year? I would just say they're more like what they were last year because they've made so many improvements in other places that they may not be the number two defense, but they'd still be top six. Patriots released Malcolm Mitchell.

Jordan Reed is still working on his conditioning. And Peter King says Deion Kane, a Colts wide receiver, is having a good camp. But we already gave the hype to Ryan Grant. So it's time to hype up Buffalo Wild Wings. Buffalo Wild Wings understands that being a fantasy football league manager, it's a tough job. It's important to get a good first impression

that all starts with the draft. So if you want your league to love you, book your draft party at Buffalo Wild Wings, at B-Dubs. You'll get a free draft kit and 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 up some league manager love at Buffalo Wild Wings. Wings, beer, sports at participating locations while supplies last. Time for some emails and the fantasy regulators.

Mark from Northeast Florida wants to know if it's crazy to take DeAndre Hopkins over Antonio Brown. Big Ben's getting older. Sometimes Brown struggles without Ben. Hopkins was great even without Watson last year. Is it crazy to take Hopkins as the number one wide receiver ahead of Antonio Brown? I wouldn't do it because I see Brown's track record as being great,

and there's no sign of Roethlisberger coming to a complete standstill production-wise. So as long as the getting's good in Pittsburgh, you might as well roll with it. I wouldn't do it, but it's not crazy. So you know what's kind of interesting is looking at ADP, it seems like when we do drafts, Brown and Hopkins are joined at the hip. They either go back-to-back or very close to it. But in CBS ADP, Brown is the seventh pick. Hopkins is the tenth pick. There are actually two running backs in between them.

They're not necessarily the ones you'd expect, Kareem Hunt and then Leonard Fournette. But by that point, Kamara and Barkley are already gone. But yeah, like Heath, you were saying you would take both Hopkins and Brown over David Johnson, right? Yes. Right, and that's what I asked earlier. Is Hopkins closer to Brown or is Hopkins closer to Beckham, Julio, Allen, et cetera?

On CBS Sports, our drafts have Hopkins maybe equidistant, but maybe a little bit closer to the next group of wide receivers rather than Antonio Brown. Not sure we need analysis there, just thought it was interesting. This is Mazin from Detroit. I don't know if you guys have seen this stat, by the way, that Mazin brings up. I heard a stat the other day that got me pretty concerned about Joe Mixon. His yards per carry in each

quarter was trending downhill as the game went on. Do you think that means anything for Joe Mixon? No. The suggestion that maybe he's not a workhorse. I don't think it was the situation of him getting tired. He wasn't getting enough carries to get tired. Okay.

That team was just so bad. Then forget it. It doesn't mean anything. It doesn't mean anything. Consider that regulated. That was a pretty weak intro to the regulation. Here we go. The fantasy regulators are back.

You got a league dispute? Bring it on. We'll tell you who's right and who's wrong and what to do. Put fantasy football regulators in the subject line and email fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Regulators! Mount up. Sorry, Dave. Nice timing.

Bill. By the way. Yes? The yards per carry difference from second quarter to fourth quarter with Joe Mixon was 0.8 yards per carry. So almost a yard difference. I don't know if that makes a big deal. From second to fourth quarter with Joe Mixon was 0.8 yards per carry. So almost a yard difference. I don't know if that makes a big deal. From second to fourth, that means over the course of most of the game. Maybe because in the fourth quarter when they were behind, he didn't get any carries.

Geo did. He actually had just as many fourth quarter carries as first quarter carries. You guys got to get out of here because you have an interview coming up. Not a job interview, an NFL athlete interview. So Bill from a town in the suburbs of Detroit. Auburn Hills. Dear Karyon, Amir, Theo, and LeGarret, I need the regulators to mount up.

I'm in a league where there's one guy who goes into our 12-team league draft with the strategy of purposefully auto-drafting. He claims that the strategy works for him, and even though he is available and witnessing the draft happen, he lets some stupid pre-process analytics determine his team.

Should this auto-drafting be banned? Is this morally wrong and defeating the purpose of fantasy football in the first place? Please regulate. Much obliged. No way. This is absolutely allowed. You should let it happen. Make sure this guy pays his league dues on time.

Okay. Because you don't think he's going to do well? No, because I think everybody should pay their league dues on time. Of course it's because I don't think he's going to do well. He's putting zero thought into it. He's letting the auto-drafter do it for him. Maybe he just realizes he's not that bright. Well, it has been officially regulated.

Next up is Whitney from Kristen Chenoweth's hometown. I didn't know who that was until I Googled it. I actually do watch Trial and Error Season 2, and she's in it. Very funny show. Let's say she's from Milwaukee. Dear Billy, Jason, Sam, and Baker, I think those are Oklahoma quarterbacks? Yes. I need a ruling from the regulators.

I just took over as commissioner for my Works Fantasy Football League. I was warned by the previous commissioner about one particular person in our league. This person comes up every year with all of these grandiose ideas that would ultimately change the entire way our league is formatted and everybody loves our league. And when we put things up for a vote, he will berate anyone who votes opposite of him. I've been the commissioner of other leagues, but I've never dealt with someone like him.

As a new commissioner of this league, how should I handle him? Is it wrong to vote him out? I'd love to hear about your experiences and get your opinions. I definitely have a league like this. Mock him endlessly and publicly on the league website. Every time he comes up with a rule suggestion, talk about how dumb it is and do exactly to him what he does to everyone else. I don't like that. I think it's just easier if you go to him privately and say, listen to him.

I don't think that's going to work. It seems like we're past that. You're acting like a horse's patoot. People don't like it. They don't want to deal with you. Much more. Without question. That takes more work. I'm telling him, cut it out otherwise we cut you out.

It's been regulated. Alvin from Los Angeles. There is a trade dispute that dates back to last season that's caused our league to consider a change in how we trade. In our redraft league around week nine last season that's caused our league to consider a change in how we trade. In our redraft league around week nine last season, one owner was trading DeMarco Murray for David Johnson. Several other owners, myself included,

thought trading a usable fantasy asset in Murray for an injured David Johnson wasn't fair. We all had a similar line of thinking that with DJ on IR and Carson Palmer getting hurt and the fact that Cardinals weren't going to be competitive, the Cardinals wouldn't have any incentive to bring him back, which proved us the majority that vetoed the trade to be right. The annoying thing is the two owners in the deal still to this day feel the rest of the members in the league wronged them and were controlling what they can and can't do, leading to a new argument about how vetoing trade should be managed. The rule in place now is if a majority of teams not involved in the trade veto it,

then the trade shall be vetoed. What do you suggest? P.S., this is the first and so far only trade that's been vetoed in our league history. That's one too many. Get rid of vetoes. I mean, Heath's always going to default to that. Dave is going to default to it too. I'm not going to default to that. Dave is going to default to it too. I'm not going to default to that.

Jamie, you can weigh in about vetoes. No, don't do it. This is not a vetoable trade. We didn't know that David Johnson was going to be for sure out for the year, that he was never going to come back. There was a chance. And that's the problem with vetoes. One person sees something as vetoable. Another person does not.

There should not exist. If you need to veto a trade, you need to kick people out of your league. But it's not the vetoes. One person sees something as vetoable. Another person does not. There should not exist. If you need to veto a trade, you need to kick people out of your league. It's not the vetoing. It's these people that are problems. You got to be less... Come on. You can't veto that. That's not vetoable. A veto trade has to be like collusion.

I think it's been regulated. Don't veto trades. It's been regulated. And we're cutting it short today, but we've got a big show for you tomorrow. Quarterbacks preview. Sleepers, breakouts, bus strategy, some stats you need to know. It's going to be awesome. Email us at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com.

And tomorrow we'll tell you how you can get into the podcast league. For Dave, for Jamie, for Heath. Got to go. Bye. I'm Warren James. No, no, no, no, no, no.