Fantasy Football Today - 08/09: Preseason Hype! Late-Round RBs! Duke Johnson Trade! (Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: August 9, 2019

Who are we putting in the Hall of Fame after just one or two preseason series? We'll get to that, but first let's discuss the Duke Johnson trade from all angles (2:30). Does this affect Nick Chubb and/or Lamar Miller? Some say yes, others say no! Is Deshaun Watson a winner and when should Duke get drafted? Plus some more news and notes from around the NFL (12:00) ... Finishing up our RB Average Draft Position review (18:30). We start in Round 7 with guys like Latavius Murray and Rashaad Penny and we discuss backfield committees and players we take with late picks (30:00) ... Our thoughts on the first round of preseason games (36:30)! David Montgomery looked great. What do we make of the NE WRs? Who is this Preston Williams character? What did we learn about shared backfields in DEN, MIA and LAC? We also answer your questions (47:30) and do some Fantasy Regulating (56:40)! ... 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. David Montgomery to the Pro Bowl.

And how about Patriots wide receiver Jacoby Myers, first team All-Pro, and obviously Daniel Jones to the Hall of Fame. Yes to all three of these, obviously. Welcome to the show here on Friday. A very fun Friday on the Fantasy Football Today podcast. We will finish up running back ADP. We will talk about the Duke Johnson trade.

Really, they couldn't have done that before the running backs preview. That was kind of annoying. And we will get into some preseason football, do some regulating, and bring on a special guest in just a moment. Dave, I'm not overreacting, am I? No, not at all. And I'm just proud of you for restraining yourself for about four seconds before bringing up Daniel Jones.

But to be fair, to be fair, he looked fantastic. He looked good. He did. A lot of quarterbacks look good. Hey, Ben Gretch, who's joining us today at Yards Per Gretch on Twitter. Dave is at Dave Richard. I am at Adam Azer. Ben, who are you putting in the Hall of Fame based on last night's games?

I mean, Baker Mayfield could go there just on six pass attempts. I was really pumped about the Cleveland offense, how fast they played. But yeah, Daniel Jones, I think he said Pro Bowl, but definitely start getting his bust ready. No, I said Hall of Fame for Daniel Jones. Adam will take him to be all-time president of the earth, if he could right now. I did a Twitter poll last night.

I think it said, is Daniel Jones going to the Hall of Fame? A, yes. B, yes. Or C, too soon to tell. And I believe yes won, at least the combination of the two yeses. All right, so in all seriousness, some important takeaways from preseason week one already. I think what happened in the Broncos' backfield

was really interesting and discouraging. I think what happened in the Chargers' backfield was interesting. We'll talk about it all. And yeah, I was very impressed with David Montgomery. Were you guys impressed with David Montgomery? It was pretty cool. Pretty good stuff.

Is it wrong if I say that I'm not impressed, but rather it's just what I expected? Sure. No, that's fine. And actually, I have a criticism on it. Okay. But for the most part, he's exactly what I think. Okay. All right, we'll get to that. So Houston acquired Duke Johnson from Cleveland for a fourth-round pick

that could become a third-round pick. Ben, give me your breakdown of the fantasy impact of this trade. Yeah, so I mean, I think it's maybe not as much of an impact as it immediately seems. Lamar Miller's value was always going to be a little bit shaky because we didn't know who that second running back was going to be. But we expected them to add somebody. And bringing in Duke is probably more of a hit than than people who have been drafting lamar miller would hope for uh i think it really damages his potential to uh to to hit any type of receiving ceiling which he hasn't really done in houston uh and then nick chubb i

mean it definitely boosts nick chubb his potential for a massive workload but they really like dontrell hilliard in a similar role he He only had nine touches last year. They were all receptions. So, and you still have Kareem Hunt coming back later. So I don't know that it really changes Chubb's season-long projection too much. It just kind of raises his ceiling a little bit for me.

I'm not necessarily jumping him up a ton because I think that Hilliard's still going to play as a second back and potentially in the passing game. I'll tell you what, I, I agree with Ben almost exactly. And it's funny because we, we, the Duke Johnson news came out after we recorded the podcast session, but before FFT and we went on FFT live noon Eastern, and Jamie and Heath were over the moon for Nick Chubb. They put him in round one.

They said he's, I believe they both have him as a top five fantasy running back. They are crazy for him now, just because Duke Johnson left town. And I don't get it. I love Nick Chubb, and I think he's got a chance to have a great year. But I know he's going to siphon off some work to somebody else, whether it's natural Hilliard or somebody else. The Kareem Hunt factor is going to be there after eight games. It's going to be annoying.

If Nick Chubb is great, it doesn't mean that Kareem Hunt's going to do nothing. But he's going to spell him a little bit. And there will be times where the Browns will not want to have Nick Chubb on the field. They're going to want to arrest him. Maybe they're going for a playoff run. So Kareem Hunt's going to play. Then I still, I, to me, this trade almost didn't change anything for me with any running back in my rank. And it Chubb moved up a little, but I can't, I can't take Le'Veon Bell out of Nick Chubb anymore. I just, I like Nick Chubb too much, but I'm not taking him in round one, not even in non PPR. I can't bring Le'Veon Bell out of Nick Chubb anymore. I like Nick Chubb too much. But I'm not taking him in round one, not even in non-PPR. I can't bring myself to do it.

Well, yeah, let's go through a few numbers. If you look at Nick Chubb after the Carlos Hyde trade, his pace in those games, weeks 7 through 17, was 282 carries, 1,317 yards, and 10 touchdowns. That's his pace when he started, plus 32 catches for 238 yards and 10 touchdowns. That's his pace when he started. Plus 32 catches for 238 yards and 3 touchdowns. When you remove Duke Johnson, you're not removing a 70

catch guy. Duke Johnson only had 47 catches last year. We've seen him have a 70 catch season in his past when he was the number 11 running back in fantasy in 2017. He caught 74 passes, but last year just 47. I'm hopeful that Chubb can get at least 40 catches. He caught 74 passes, but last year just 47. But I'm hopeful that Chubb can get at least 40

catches. He did have a stretch where he caught like three catches in three weeks in a row for 33 to 44 yards and two receiving touchdowns. So he showed he can do it. Caught a pass on the only drive he played in yesterday. So

moving ahead of Le'Veon Bell. And Ben, how about you? Would you take Le'Veon or Chubb? No, yeah, I would take Chubb. I think you can certainly move him up a little bit because of the increased upside that I mentioned. But it's also worth noting, yes, Chubb caught a pass last night. Dontrell Hilliard played a lot in passing downs last night. He caught three balls.

He caught two on that first drive from Mayfield when they were in the shotgun no huddle so it does look like they're going to use him in a role similar to duke johnson so it really does come down to that receiving side i think we already projected chubb to be a very strong runner in ppr leagues you got to get plenty of catches and you're right i think he probably does have 40 catch upside at this point but over the last two years with the rise of the the multi-dimensional dual threat running backs the top nine backs in ppr both of the last two seasons have had at least 50 catches uh chubb could probably break that mold with 40 catches because i think he will be a very strong runner and and get plenty of touchdown opportunities as well but we are seeing more of a trend towards backs that do both and so

he does need to catch more passes for me to have him as like a like like a running back seven like he just wasn't our on our average ranking there i don't think i'm going to bump him up that high necessarily unless we we find out for sure that he's going to play a lot more on passing downs and the fact that hilliard was in with the first team offense caught two passes with the first team offense last night i think indicates that he might not be okay and it indicates that Hilliard was in with the first-team offense, caught two passes with the first-team offense last night, I think indicates that he might not be. Okay, and it indicates that Hilliard himself might be a little bit of a sleeper. So that's a good point. And we talked about Chubb a lot on yesterday's show,

and you can still apply a lot of what we talked about. Now, I'm going to finish up here. Lamar Miller, like 25-catch kind of guy. But look, there are three years in a row, if you look at the other running backs on Houston, you're talking about around 150 to 160 carries in addition to the well over 200 that Lamar Miller's been getting. They just run the ball so much. So what does this mean, Dave, for Houston? Does Duke Johnson set a career high? I think his career high is 104 carries.

When do you draft him? You know, how many catches do you expect from him? What are you thinking for the Houston backfield right now? In PPR, I would consider Duke Johnson in round 9 or 10. Non-PPR, bump it back around 10 or 11. The Texans wanted to get somebody to be in that passing downs role. It's clear they talked about it during the offseason, and now they've got somebody with Duke Johnson.

And I think that he's going to be in line to get 50 or 60 catches, and maybe he'll go ahead and get 70 or 80 rush attempts. But I don't think that that changes too much for him. I think if there's any change at all, it's that he's got a slightly better path to being an every down back because Lamar Miller with his 1600 touches and average above average play, I think we can call it that, you know, solid play is in front of him rather than Nick Chubb, who just, you know, has so much potential that Duke not going to get there. Right. So to me, it doesn't change Miller at all. I didn't move Miller up after they cut Deontay

Foreman. I'm not excited to draft Lamar Miller unless I'm doing zero RB it's round six and he's there. Great. I've got a, i've got a body that will start the season as a lead running back and probably finish the season as a lead back so that's pretty much all the nice things that i can possibly say about lamar miller and duke johnson's gonna obviously have more value in ppr um should get a bunch of catches i we we did note heath and i did the research uh heath did it correctly i've actually messed up when I did it. Deshaun Watson has not thrown more than 17% of his target to running back in Houston in his two years there. And last year, that number was 13%. And one more thing, we know that Kiki got banged up in the preseason game on Thursday night, if that injury is more serious than initially

believed, that would help Duke Johnson as a short area target for Deshaun to lean on. Yeah, but I could also make the case that what Saquon Barkley did for Eli Manning, what Christian McCaffrey did for Cam Newton, the way their completion percentages went up, I think Duke Johnson could have a really good effect on Deshaun Watson. And Ben, we'll percentages went up. I think Duke Johnson could have a really good effect on Deshaun Watson. And Ben, we'll wrap it up. I think Deshaun Watson's a big winner with this trade. I think it's good for him. Yeah, no, and I was going to say that Cam Newton and Christian McCaffrey corollary is a really good one

because Newton didn't throw to his running backs a lot prior to that. And there's a much broader trend that running quarterbacks typically don't, because a lot of running back targets are on plays that have broken down their checkdowns but those athletic quarterbacks are willing to take off and run in those situations so we if you look over a broader sample you see that running quarterbacks they just don't throw to running backs as much part of that when you look at what happened with cam newton and christian mcafree it might be that some of these quarterbacks that have extremely low rates didn't necessarily have that player on their roster yet and maybe duke johnson is that player for deshaun watson just like you said you know we said at the top

that we weren't changing too much uh in terms of guys like chubb and miller but i'm totally in agreement with dave that this really improves duke johnson's profile because he still uh he still should play on passing downs and catch plenty of balls I think his his workload expectation goes up a little bit just uh his median workload expectation goes up a little bit in part because you know I think Chubb is more of a an every down back than than Lamar Miller probably is and there's no Kareem Hunt looming in the late part of the season but then I also think his potential to earn some of the early down work for the first time in his career went way up.

So he becomes a priority late round pick for me as well. And I agree with Dave. Even in the late single-digit rounds, I think, is when you can start to consider Duke Johnson. He moves way up my board. He is the one big winner. All right. Dave, I'm going to fire through the rest of the big news

so we can start finishing up our running back average draft position. Kiki Cutie did leave with an ankle injury. It's apparently not a major one. There's no timetable for Antonio Brown's return from what might be frostbite. I asked for, I guess, some reactions on Twitter, and one person put

a gif of the puppet from Team America World Police vomiting all over the place, so I thought that was pretty appropriate. I just don't know what to say about Antonio Brown's feet. But yeah, do you think he'll be ready for week one? And when are you going to start downgrading Brown? I started downgrading already.

He's a round three pick for me now. Going to let somebody else take him in round two. We'll see what happens. The fact that the Raiders aren't saying anything and that they're still gathering information. I'm using air quotes. It just, just leaves a,

makes me worried. It makes me really. Okay. Andy Reed apparently said it's going to be running back by committee, Dave. Yeah. This is another thing that really worries me. He was on Sirius XM NFL radio and you know,

all off season long, both he and the offensive coordinator, Eric, the enemy have been saying damian williams is our starter we're going to give him the chance and then he hurts his hamstring he's out for a week and now rita's saying well i used to have running back by committee in philadelphia and we're going to do it again and we got a lot of great guys he mentioned darwin thompson twice when he was talking about his running back um and we know that Carlos Hyde has been looking okay, I guess, with the starting unit.

I've got some serious concerns now about Damian Williams getting the type of role that we all envisioned all offseason. And it's weird to me that it would take an injury for this to happen, but at the same time, it's almost like the coaches realized, oh crap, if this guy can't stay healthy, we can't trust them either. And we're just going to have to go and use this committee approach. So it sucks. But I mean, I sank Damian Williams in my rankings when I heard that. And I know Andy Rita's lied about his running backs where he's lied to my face about running back before told me that Jamal

Charles was a big part of the chiefs. And then he cut him a month later. Let's just, we'll wait and see, but you can't take Damian Williams in round two anymore. I'm hoping Ben doesn't take Damian Williams in round two anymore. I know he's been as excited about him as I've been, but truth hurts. They're talking about a committee now. It tells me that they're concerned about Williams being able to handle 13, 14 carries and five, six catches a game. Ben, would you take him in round two or what? And would you, I know you don't really like Devante Freeman.

Are you ready to move Devante Freeman ahead of Damian Williams? I wouldn't take Freeman over Williams. I am slipping Williams down, but for me, that typically just means I'm moving receivers up because there's a certain point where I kind of stopped taking running backs in most of my drafts. But I'm much, much happier to get Williams in round three. Now, I am a little bit concerned in some of our recent mocks that we've done. I've been prioritizing a few other second round running backs that I hadn't earlier in the in the offseason been prioritizing over Damian. But I will say there are some interesting ways to think about this committee first of all damian

williams is very clearly going to be the lead passing downs back if there is a committee which is a big part of this and it's a big part of any andy reed offense because of how good his screen game is uh i'm not sure where i saw but i saw a stat on twitter i wish i could give the credit where it's due but um expected points added on passes to running backs and was looking at various teams to see if there was any kind of edge there and reed's chiefs were just far ahead and shoulders above so and just in terms of efficiency that they add in the passing game to the running back they're the best in the league and that will be good for whoever plays running back there that will be good for carl side who as i've mentioned in the past has been a very inefficient receiver throughout his career but i i do think damian williams is the guy who profiles to get

those catches which is great in ppr you're still going to get high profile touches so even if this is a true committee it's almost like an alvin camara type workload. It's not something that you need to run and hide from, in my opinion. So yes, I'm a little bit concerned. I'm concerned about his hamstring. None of the reports are positive around Damian Williams right now, but part of the reason to really like him

is the breakdown of the fact that he's going to get receptions and he's going to have a lot of touchdown potential. All right, we got a couple of sponsors to tell you about today. One that I was just using this morning, NFL Game Pass. Go to NFL.com slash fantasy football today. They have a seven-day free trial.

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Use the promo code FFT. We are going to take a quick break here. When we come back, we're finishing up our average draft position review for running backs. And we'll start right around running back 32 off the board. And that's coming up right after this. Kick off an exciting football season with BetMGM, right around running back 32 off the board. And that's coming up right after this. Kick off an exciting football season with BetMGM, an official sportsbook partner of the National Football League.

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Now let's talk about him and his ADP. He's the first running back we're going to talk about. We left it off yesterday with the Tevin Coleman, Lamar Miller, Tariq Cohen, James White group. Now let's talk about some other guys. And actually, Darius Geis is in this group. He's going ahead of Tariq Cohen. I think I'm looking at non-PPR, so let me change it to half PPR here and get a little bit more accurate average draft position. But we're going to start talking about some guys who were in split backfield. So Rashad Penny, Darius Geis, Jordan Howard, and Miles Sanders.

That's what we're talking about here. We're in the 70s overall in average draft position. And Dave, I'll give you the first word. So yeah, again, we're looking at Geis, Rashad Penny, Jordan Howard, Austin Eckler. What do you think? And then Latavius Murray and Miles Sanders. So again, everybody who's in some type of committee, who are you looking at? Who are you favoring? In PPR, the one I'm looking at the most right now is Eckler

because I know he fumbled at the goal line against Arizona in the first preseason game. He looked fine otherwise. Really good first, good vision, good hands out of the backfield, clear involvement, played with the starting unit on both of their drives quite a bit. And I think he could be, I think he could have a monster year if Melvin Gordon sits out until he absolutely positively has to report,

if he even reports at that date. So he's worth the risk of a round six pick at this point. And even if Melvin Gordon says, you know what, that contract that the Chargers were offering, it's fair. I'll take it. You know that Austin Eckler is still going to get nine, 10 touches per game. A lot of them will be in the passing game. He could be a good flex for you. Certainly a great bi-week replacement at running back. So I don't think we would take him in around six if Melvin Gordon was there, but he still retained some value, which keeps the risk minimized when you take him in around six right behind him is Rashad Penny, because he's going to be in a tandem. We know he's going to

play a lot each week. I think that both Seahawks running backs are going to be involved in the passing game a decent amount each week, maybe two, three catches each. I think that Rashad Penny has great value if something happens to Carson and also has decent standalone value as a bi-week replacement running back from game to game. And then I'll ask you, Ben, about the Eagles running backs and the Redskins running backs and when you're willing to take them and who you want to take yeah I mean if it's Washington it would be Darius Geis but the short answer for those guys is that I'm I'm kind of baiting their entire backfield if I'm taking anyone it might be Chris Thompson really late in the PPR league I think he's still gonna play and catch passes and I think Geis and Peterson are gonna especially with Ge with Geis' health, they're going to both play. That's

what all indications seem to be pointing towards. So, you know, this sounds like a three-headed monster in a backfield for an offense that's not going to score a lot of points. That's not conducive to fantasy success. But for the Eagles i think miles sanders is a little bit more interesting um the eagles have been one of the heaviest committee teams over the last few years it's been heavily discussed obviously and and that's something that a lot of people are expecting to change this year with the addition of miles sanders and i think that's possible i don't necessarily know that it's likely the fact that they brought back darren sproles it means that they you know they're they're going to expect him to play on passing downs.

They have Jordan Howard to play on, on early downs and potentially some goal line work. So Sanders is really going to have to stand out to eventually earn a bigger share of the offense. But I think of all these guys on these two committee backfields, he's the one that I think can do that. And maybe midway through the season earns a 15-touch role that could be pretty valuable in a much better offense than Washington's. So he would be the one guy of either of those teams that I'm considering in this range of the drafts. Ben, who would you rather have, Austin Eckler or Miles Sanders? Ooh, that's close. I think I might take Eckler or Miles Sanders? Ooh, that's close.

I think I might take Eckler. I mean, I really like what Dave said. He has this great combination of the passing game work and is going to get some goal line work. He's caught multiple touchdowns over the last couple of seasons. It's not a great sign

that he fumbled on the goal line and then Justin Jackson converted a goal line rush later. And they're kind of competing to see who would have that role. But assuming that that melvin gordon's holdout becomes uh a real thing i think eckler has a lot more upside than than mile sanders does at least early in the season um i could see the argument for sanders

as more of a later later season upside play but uh i would i would probably go with the guy that i think is going to get a lot of touches early on even even if Gordon's back. Eckler had 17 or 18 touches in three of four games that Melvin Gordon missed, and those were the only three games he played that Melvin Gordon missed, so that's good. And a lot of those were catches as well. There really are a lot of interesting running backs. I think Latavius Murray has very favorable ADP, in my opinion. Sean Payton said that Alvin Kamara's role isn't really going to change, so that leaves a lot of opportunity for Latavius Murray has very favorable ADP, in my opinion. Sean Payton said that Alvin Kamara's role isn't really going to change. So that leaves a lot of opportunity for Latavius Murray. Mark Ingram, I think, had 12 carries inside the 10, I want to say, in 12 games. So it's just there's a lot of work in the red zone and near the goal line.

And Latavius Murray going in the seventh round and sometimes a lot later than that it really depends on the site you're looking at for average draft position uh Dave so Latavius Murray Royce Freeman who would you prefer of those two I'll take Latavius just because I'm the Broncos offense is kind of scaring me a little bit. I know Freeman had the nice run. I believe he lost yards on either lost a lot of yards on one run, or he lost a little bit of yardage on his other two areas. Yeah, I'm not, I'm not a huge believer in Freeman. So I'm not going to pick him Latavious in that Ingram role.

Again, serviceable flex if you need him. A very good number three running back. You don't have to draft him and Kamara if you don't want to. He's one of the number two running backs in the NFL that has very obvious standalone value. Not to mention, if Kamara gets gets hurt we're talking about huge upside right monster workload yeah monster monster he's probably on a lot of ben gretch teams that's my guess latavius murray yeah he's definitely somebody that i'm targeting i mean i i talk a lot about the receiving and goal line work i don't necessarily think uh that he's going to get

a massive receiving role right away but you're're right about the upside if something were to happen to Kamara. But the red zone work for the Saints is unlike any other team in the league. The last three seasons, their running backs as a group have scored 27, 24, and 24 touchdowns. No other team's running backs in that span have had a season higher than 25 touchdowns. So the Saints' average over those three years is just over 25 touchdowns. It's more than any other team's highest season this is a team that consistently will churn out 20 plus touchdowns for their running backs absolutely camara is going to get 10 14 maybe more of those

but uh they're still it's really really easy to still project about eight for latavius murray and potentially double digits on the touchdown side of the equation. And then, and then like you guys are both saying, if something happens to Camara, the upside in this offense would be really huge for him. He'd probably start to see more receiving work as well. So I think he's a very good target in the middle rounds for sure. And I'll tell you what,

I I've, I've poo pooed Latavius in the past and you just can't do it anymore. The way that he plays, he's got a nose for the end zone. Um, at least six touchdowns each of the last four years. He's had anywhere between 700 and 1,000 total yards each of the last three years. Opportunity has been something that's been an issue last year, not so much the two years prior. And he's a decent pass catcher as well, 79% career catch rate.

So he can end up filling in for Kamara very well if something happens to him. And even if nothing happens to him, he could catch a couple of passes per game to kind of support that floor that he's got. Yeah, let me sum it up. Let me sum it up and ask you this, right? Beginning basically

round seven in a 12-team league. We're in the 70s in ADP and going a few rounds here. Some of the running backs coming off the board. I'm going to read the names. And again, I just want names because we already talked about them. But just to kind of put a bow on it, tell me the guys that you feel like you're going to be owning, that you're going to want to have

a share of. Rashad Penny, Miles Sanders, Latavius Murray, Darius Geis, Austin Eckler, Daryl Henderson, who I haven't mentioned, Jordan Howard, and Royce Freeman. I said a lot of names there. Ben, who are the ones that you think you'll own the most?

We start to get into this range where I start to pick up running backs again in drafts. So I'll own a lot of those guys. But for me, it's always that combination of receiving and touchdowns. Jordan Howard's one that I wouldn't necessarily. But a lot of those names, and especially younger backs that can potentially break out, are guys that I will have some. I mean, Eckler, yes. Penny, yes. Miles Sanders, yes. Daryl Henderson, yes.

I want to get some shares of all those guys. Who's your very favorite? I'm sorry, Dave. Ben, who's your number one? I have Henderson and Penny rank the highest of that group. And then Ronald Jones and Sanders come in a little bit lower for me. And Latavius Murray right behind them. Dave, what do you got?

I got six names in a row in my running back rankings in PPR that you'd mentioned. Eckler is at the top of the list. Then Penny, then Latavious, then miles Sanders, then Daryl Henderson, Henderson, and then Jordan Howard at the, not on that group, but the last name is Geis for the reasons Ben mentioned.

It's a bad situation for him. I don't see him having a lot of 15 plus that week. Okay. Yeah. Eckler would be higher in my rankings too. I just haven't moved him up enough yet I just want to point out that yesterday I do think the two most revealing things in preseason in my mind other than how good David Montgomery looked what the Chargers backfield looked like

and what the Broncos backfield looked like and they both really looked like you know that they wanted to be pretty close to 50-50, although Eckler got more work. But both Eckler and Jackson worked on the opening series. Both got work at the goal line. Phillip Lindsey and Royce Freeman, both of them got work near the goal line. Both of them got one catch. There was a 50-yard run for Royce Freeman.

I thought Phillip Lindsey, even though the numbers weren't great, four carries for 10 yards, I thought he looked good like he always did. So it's just those are kind of scary situations. But right now, Royce Freeman does have, I think, good ADP in round eight when Phillip Lindsey is going probably in round five now after some of the reports. There's a really important note on that, and that's just the overall offensive potential.

So for the Chargers, Phillip Rivers has thrown, I think it's seven touchdowns to running backs in each of the last two years. He uses them in the red zone through the passing game. We saw it with Danny Woodhead back in the day. And again, we're just talking about the Saints. That's the type of offense that you can have a committee and still have an elite running back in it.

So I'm a little bit more concerned about the committee with certain teams and others. And that's what you really got to consider when it comes to the committees. OK, guys, let's go to the next group of running backs here. Ronald Jones, Kareem Hunt. Real quick, Dave, draft Kareem Hunt or no? He's he's going so early. Eighth round. Geez. I yeah, that's terrible.

I hate spending that type of draft capital on somebody who I'm not going to be able to use for more than half of the fantasy season and the first half of the NFL season. You know he's not going to be there. I can bring myself to draft him in round 11 or so when I draft Nick Chubb. Otherwise, I'm pretty much never drafting Kareem Hunt. Okay. So after Kareem Hunt, we're looking at Ronald Jones, Damian Harris, Adrian Peterson, Jalen Samuels, LaShawn McCoy, and Peyton Barber. Ronald Jones, both Bucs guys, Damian Harris, Adrian Peterson, Jalen Samuels, and LaShawn McCoy.

Dave, your thoughts? There's a lot of names in there that I'm not excited about at all. Not a great group. I'm not excited at all about LaShawn McCoy. I expect Devin Singletary to be that guy. Devin Singletary didn't show a lot in the first preseason game, but he was evading tacklers and doing some of the things that he did. I liked him.

Yeah. Yeah. His college film is just unbelievable. Somebody who's in this range who I've moved up, obviously in the last day, is Carlos Hyde, just because of the apparent committee coming to Kansas City, and he seems to be best suited for early downs work there. So you can't ignore that anymore.

He's not the same guy that he used to be. But another running back who, if you're going zero RB, can get you off to a decent start theoretically. Absolutely. And Jamie talked about Jalen Samuels as a sleeper. Dave has talked about how he likes Damian Harris. We're going to keep an eye on the Bucs backfield, but Ben is certainly rooting for Peyton Barber.

And by the way, we're past pick 100 at this point. No, I'm sorry. He's rooting for Ronald Jones. Sorry, he's rooting for Ronald Jones. I thought that was digital. No, that was a total slip up there. All right. I'll root for Barber.

I'll root for Ronald Jones. Ben, i'll root for ronald jones ben to uh to wrap it up and i'm sorry i just don't think we can go too much farther here we're already 50 running backs in kaylin belize jerek mckinnon or let's say matt and matt brita devin singletary justin jackson he's going probably too late at 128th overall on Fantasy Football Calculator. He's a top 100 pick. Duke Johnson's ADP is obviously going to rise. Ido Smith. I'm not sure it's not

Hill who's going to be the backup to Freeman. I don't know. I know. Ido looks terrible. Yeah, and he didn't really do much last year either. Ben, who are some late round picks that you want to speculate on? Yeah, I mean, Breida's a big one. I think McKinnon, he just had another setback.

We expect him to not really actually play now throughout the preseason, it sounds like, or at least for the next couple of weeks he's going to be out. So Breida, I think, should be jumping up draft boards. He was their leading runner back in almost every category, including the receiving side last year. Obviously, Tevin Coleman's there, but I'm expecting a Coleman burrito duo for the most part going into the season. Duke Johnson is definitely a name that I would target that you just mentioned. Jalen Samuels, again, past catching profile in a good offense.

If opportunity opens up, if an injury happens, which we're all hoping doesn't happen to anybody, but it does happen sometimes at the running back position. If that opens up and he gets more rushing work, he would have extreme upside in Pittsburgh. So that's kind of the profile of the player I'm looking at. You can pretty much guess my other targets on that list based on that. Who has a receiving profile in their background?

Who's on a good offense that can get touchdown work? Yeah, and Jamal Williams and Dexter Williams for the Packers probably need a look as well. Dexter Williams had 14 carries for 62 yards with Jamal Williams and Aaron Jones hurt. So keep an eye on them. Rykel Armstead might be the handcuff to— we'll talk about handcuffs in a little bit,

to Leonard Fournette, and Alfred Morris is going 61st overall at running back, 161st overall, and he might get some work if Ezekiel Elliott holds out. All right, when we come back, preseason review. We got a lot to talk about here,

and we won't overreact, I promise, but we will certainly react, and then we are going to read your emails. We are going to read some five-star review questions. We are going to do some regulate and stick around more to come on Fantasy Football today. I am so dreading groceries this week. Why? You can skip it.

Oh, what? Just like that? Just like that. How about dinner with my third cousin? Skip it. Prince Fluffy's favorite treats? Skippable. Midnight snacks? Skip.

My neighbor's nightly saxophone practices? Uh, nope. You're on your own there. Could've skipped it. Should've skipped it. Skip to the good part and get groceries, meals, and more delivered right to your door on Skip. I want to thank everybody for all your five-star reviews,

like this one. Out of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath, who is most likely to Google themselves and why is it Heath? I like that. Somebody telling me that I pronounced the word important wrong. I say it with a D instead of a T. So I will work on that. And one person saying the only reason he's seen the movie Die Hard at age 28 is because of our show. That shouldn't be the case, but I'm glad we got you to see the movie Die Hard. And you're 28 years old and didn't want to see Die Hard.

That makes me feel old. Ben, who was a big preseason standout for you on Thursday night? I'm going to say the whole Browns offense. I loved the fact that the first team offense played out of the shotgun, played fast. Three or four of their snaps came with 20-plus seconds on the play clock. We do see a little bit more no huddle typically in the preseason, but I'm expecting and hoping that this offense is going to be very vertical

this season with the addition of Todd Monken from Tampa Bay as their new offensive coordinator. He has a history in very vertical passing games, and so does Freddie Kitchens from last year with the Browns, and they had plenty of air yards too prior to that being with bruce arians in arizona which was a very vertical passing game uh so both their head coach and their offensive coordinator seemed to favor that type of an offense spread them out get routes going downfield and and last night what we saw from baker was he ended up getting the the defense backing off a lot and checking down to the

running backs plenty but it's it's a very modern offense it's great for fantasy production i'm very excited about the browns offense after what i saw last night well to be fair the broadcast said that they were going to come out and pretend it was the two-minute drill so i don't know if that's exactly going to be what the browns do all the time if they did it would be amazing but i think there's a lot to take away there baker looked great the receivers that he threw with looked great. And the checking down was also a huge factor. And I think we'll continue to see that. A lot stood out to me. We talked about David Montgomery. I think that just about everything they did at Iowa State was on display against Carolina's backups. I wish you were a little bit bit faster and I think you can see that when you

watch him play that he he's got this whole arsenal moves he reminded me of Brett the hitman heart the excellence of execution because he was he he had so many tricks up his sleeve so many ways that he can make plays just a master technician as as master of a technician as you can be when you're as young of a running back as he is but but he does not have that breakaway speed. And so that means that he's just going to have to have a good amount of volume in order to be very helpful for fantasy. We talked yesterday about how many touches he could have. I think that there will be games this year where he will have 20 touches.

I think most weeks it'll be around 15, but the, the, where he will have 20 touches. I think most weeks it'll be around 15. But the short yardage touchdown he had against the Panthers is evidence enough that he can handle that role. And I think the team kind of rallied around his style. I think the Bears like him a lot. You saw after the touchdown, he had a big old hug with Matt Nagy. I could see him finding 1,000 total yards and seven touchdowns this year. I'm ready to take him in late round four.

I would hope for more than that, to be quite honest. But yeah, that wouldn't be so bad. But look, obviously you've heard me on this show express some concern about David Montgomery because of that 40 time and because of the yards per carry in college. Very unimpressive. But his college coach at Iowa State

said he was the best route runner on the team, which included the receivers. And Matt Nagy said that he has some of the best vision he's seen in a long time. So maybe he's just the kind of guy who can overcome his lack of elite speed. And I just thought he looked great. It's one preseason game against backups. I'm pretty sure it had

to be against backups. At least some backups. So, you know, we'll temper it a little bit, but definitely a good start for him. My standout was Montgomery, and I mentioned the splits in the Chargers and Broncos backfields. Anything else that really stood? I mean, there were some other guys, Dolphins wide receivers and Patriots wide receivers we got to talk about.

I think, I know this is kind of crazy and deep, but Corey Davis didn't play, but Adam Humphreys got so many targets and Marcus Mariota. And I do wonder in the 14 team PPR league or something like that, if maybe Adam Humphreys should be a guy that we're looking at with a late round. There is a, there is a swelling of slot receivers who are going to be interesting.

Late round PPR pick. Jamie's talked about great Quinn with the Redskins. I've talked about Brent Taylor with the 49ers. And I think Humphreys is going to be another one of those guys. This is going to be the slot receiver for Tennessee to begin the year. And yeah, very good opportunity for him to continue

to rack up six targets in the game. I believe they were all from Mariota, right? I think so. I mean, it was like a call came really early, if not almost. Right. And it just makes sense to me that an offense that wants to be conservative like Tennessee will use a short area target frequently. And Humphreys will be the main one of those guys. Delaney Walker will also get in there.

Walker's shot up my rank list. He's a top 10 fantasy guy then. Okay, let me move on from that, Dave. Humphreys makes sense as someone who is deserving of some attention. Let's talk about Kalen Balazs and Kenyon Drake. The final numbers for Kenyon Drake don't look good, but look, they're going to have some offensive line issues.

If you watch that game, his first carry was something like nine yards. It was really nice. It was a nice run. And unfortunately, he was kind of bottled up a lot too, but he got the first work. Um, Dave, where are you right now in the dolphins backfield? I'm not excited about either one. Uh, if I had to pick one, it's still Drake. I think he's best suited to handle it when a game and they're trying to for a touchdown late to get

back into it against whoever they're playing. And he would be the one in there. I was watching this game with my wife late last night, and I used a disparaging comment for Kalen Balazs on one of his first runs, and then he later scored, and he looked great on, I can't remember if it was a catch or a run, but he had a real nice play. It was a run, 16 yards, and then he scored later in the drive,

so I took back the disparaging remark that I made about him. But I don't think either one is going to help you win your fantasy league. I think Balazs will provide nice depth. I think Drake can help you in PPR more than Balazs will, but

don't seek them out. Settle for them. Maybe round five PPR on Drake. Round five or six for Drake. He's currently going in round six and a half PPR. Round 11 for Balazs. Which ADP do you like better, Dave? Probably Drake.

Listen, Balazs in round 11, it's hard to argue with, but I don't know how often I see myself darting him, and I don't think he's going to end up being a breakout player this year unless something happens to Drake. I think you got to like Drake more because of his receiving, but I think I would take Bellagio at 80p, personally. Okay. Ben, wide receivers. Jacoby Myers for the Patriots. He caught two touchdowns, a three-yard touchdown pass, a five-yard touchdown pass. Maurice Harris caught a touchdown, and Nikhil Harry had two catches for 36 yards.

He's been dealing with a little bit of a leg injury. He limped off. So you've got those Patriots wide receivers. Preston Williams for Miami. Big day for him. They're getting excited about him. He's an undrafted free agent. Four catches for 97 yards.

Heath put in like 6% of his budget in a dynasty league on Preston Williams and got him. But yeah, the Patriots guys, the Dolphins guys, Miles Boykin had a nice touchdown catch called back. You won't see that in the stats, but Boykin for the Ravens had four catches for 39 yards on nine targets. Plus that touchdown call back. Did any young receivers stand out to you? Yeah, I mean, they all played really well. For me, it's going to be the guys that have the draft capital.

So Boykin, they actually used a pretty high value. I think it was a third round pick to get him in Baltimore. I think he definitely has the potential to earn some playing time this season. Myers, I think, is really interesting. But the Patriots have a long history of guys like this. UDFA's flashing. To me, I was actually more encouraged by Harry, their first-round pick, making a few pretty good plays. He made a nice diving catch on a little bit of a comeback route.

When they have everybody up to full speed, I don't necessarily expect Myers to be on the field a ton. He might get the start like we saw from Kembral Tompkins a few years ago. I believe Tompkins started in in week one and it was kind of just like a nod to how well he played throughout training camp but he wasn't actually a fantasy performer throughout the season but myers looks interesting certainly um and then and for miami i just again similar to new england a very deep receiving core uh i don't actually think preston williams i think he has the potential to make the team i don't think he's actually going to push kenny stills or davante parker or albert wilson uh or alan hearns if he makes a team or um uh jakeem grant who also played a decent amount

last year i just don't think he's going to push this entirely deep receiving core for snaps for significant snaps to where he'd be fantasy relevant. Miles, Miles Boykin is going to start for ball. Sure. Yeah, I can see that. He seems a lot more polished than the typical rookie.

One thing I noticed, and this is just like, this is the scout in me, I guess his get off off the snap is great. Just that quick burst off the snap. He can get like that extra half second that a lot of other receivers don't have to get himself into his route and then hopefully get open. I could spend a late pick on Myles Boykin, and I moved him ahead of Hollywood Brown in my ranking. Would you rather

have Myles Boykin or Nikhil Harry? Harry is still ahead of Boykin for now. Let's face it. I'd rather have the rookie receiver playing for the Patriots than the rookie receiver playing. And then let's finish up talking about some quarterbacks here. Lamar Jackson's number is not bad.

He didn't attempt to rush, but four for six for 59 yards and a touchdown. I do not think that he played very well. He made some bad throws. One completion that he had i think was intended for another receiver and the broadcasters thought so as well um and josh allen i thought looked terrible he made too many bad passes out of only 11 passes so i don't know

not exactly i'm not saying i'm doing anything in my rankings or that i don't consider them sleepers anymore as i still do but i don't think it was a very good foot forward here for Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen. Dave, do you agree or disagree? I didn't watch all of Lamar Jackson. I only watched the beginning. I think maybe just the first drive. And he seemed okay on the first drive. Condensed mode, baby. Condensed

mode. Well, I'm watching the games live and I'm jumping around and I just lost track of the Ravens game because I mean, basically all backup playing pretty soon after the game started anyway Jacksonville didn't even play any of their starters so I watched a good amount of Buffalo and I watched Josh Allen and I agree with you there were I think like four of his first six passes were just way off the mark he's fun to watch but he's just he's he can't be trusted. Okay. Let's get some... Oh, the rookie quarterbacks. Kyler Murray

looked good. Very, very conservative. Nothing downfield. Daniel Jones looked good. Dwayne Haskins has a good arm, but he's not throwing it to the right team, which means Case Keenum's probably going to start week one for them, right? Probably. Daniel Jones should start week one by

too soon to say get it over with too soon to say the immortal words of pete prisco play the kid play the kid yeah uh all right let me read some questions here and i always promise you i'm going to read your five star review questions so some of the ones i saw from Apple podcasts, from iTunes. Who is the most overrated player of this fantasy football season? Ben, what say you? The most overrated player. Ooh.

I guess I'll take Le'Veon Bell. I think he has plenty of upside, but I don't think people are reacting enough to the change in scenery. He used to get such a massive share of the backfield for Pittsburgh, catch a ton of balls. We also know that the Jets are going to probably play a lot slower than Pittsburgh used to play. There's not as many touches available.

He probably won't get as big of a share of the backfield. And there's actually probably a little bit of concern that he can have the same type of receiving upside that he had playing with Ben Roethlisberger, who would always extend those plays and dump down to him. He's a guy that I'm avoiding at the top of drafts. I know there's a lot of people that are on him, but he's not it for me. Yeah, I can't take him in round one. Round two, you could talk me into it, but not round one. David Njoku has been overrated and continues to be overrated. When I see him go as one of the first 10 tight ends in the drafts that I'm in, I actually feel good about it because somebody else is taking a player that I don't want, which means a player that I will want has a better chance of falling to me.

He's a top 100 pick on ADP. I wouldn't take him in the top 100. He's behind a lot of the streaming tight end that I'd rather begin the season with. All right, that's David Njoku. From Alex, how do you set up a keeper league? How many players? How long can you keep them? And it's an auction, so what is the price? Dave, what would you recommend

setting up a keeper league in an auction? Okay, so in an auction, I would have it where if you want to keep a guy from the last year to this year, you have to add five bucks to his price from what you got him at the auction the year before. So if you got a guy for a buck, James Conner for a buck last year, this year he'll cost six. The year after that, he'll cost 11. How many years can you keep him?

You can keep him as long as you want, but you got to keep paying the price for him each year. How many keepers? Three. All right, Ben, next questions for you. Keep two of these three. George Kittle in round nine, Aaron Jones in round 12, Damian Williams in round 16. I guess, man, I want to know if I could keep him for multiple years because that would lead me towards Kittle and Jones more.

But I think I'd probably be Williams and Kittle without knowing that. Williams, I think, has less potential, obviously, to be a keeper again next season, whereas I think Jones does. But yeah, for me, it would definitely be Kittle. And then depending on the length of how long you can keep a guy, Williams, if you're really playing for this year, Jones for longer term. Dave, this is a question from Apple Podcast. I drafted Kyler Murray with my last pick,

but Lamar Jackson is on waivers. Who do I take? Kyler. And this one makes me sick. It is from Tebow904. Ugh. And it says, go Gators. Ugh.

Hey, Jim, Dwight, Michael, and Pam. That's the office. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you guys use a lot of if-then scenarios when talking about draft strategy in the first two to three rounds. Can you explain the logic in not drafting directly from your top 200 list for at least the top 18 to 24 players? This is, Ben, this is the kind of email I would expect from a Gators fan. But why don't we go ahead and answer it anyway.

Why don't you just draft based on your top 100 list or 200 list for your first two or three picks it's i mean i actually i i tend to i i tend to have kind of a script of top players of of how i want to go i i think you can go a lot of different directions in the first couple rounds it's the third or the fourth round where i start to know what positions i want to target so i i actually agree with the with the emailer that I think it's fine. I'm interested in Dave's take because I'm interested in these if-then ideas. Well, I don't think you go crazy with the if-then.

I just think you use a little bit of logic when you draft. And if you're up and there's only one running back that you really love and there's five or six receivers, you know you can get a receiver with your next pick. I think in round one, it makes sense to just stick to your big board. Round two, you'll probably stick to it a lot more. In round three, just don't be a slave to the rank list. Don't be a robot. If it makes sense with whoever the top guy is,

go ahead and take him. Usually that worked out for me too. But sometimes if value will present itself later and you know that value will be there, you go in a different direction. Okay. And that really applies to quarterback drafting, by the way. Here's an email from David.

Dave, where's David from? He is from Pensacola, Florida. I knew it. I knew you were going to say that. I knew. I was like, in my head, I was like, he's going to say Pensacola. Wow. If you get Alvin Kamara.

That is one of the weirdest things that I've seen you say because you're right there, but heard you say on the podcast. And you believe it, too. That's crazy. It's an obvious thing. All right. I'm going to think of a number one through 10 right now. What is it?

Six. Holy cow. Yes. Yes. All right. If you get Kamara. I'm freaked out right now, Ben. What is happening? Dave and I are simpatico here.

If you get Alvin Kamara, what is the priority of getting Latavius Murray on a scale of 1 to 10? Two. I agree, two. I'll bump it up to five because I like Latavius Murray's ADP independently, so it makes it a little bit more palatable. Sure, but if you're taking... I agree too. I'll bump it up to five because I like Latavius Murray's ADP independently,

so it makes it a little bit more palatable. Sure, but if you're taking Camara— How happy would you be starting both of them in the same week? No, but I think you're drafting Murray as a bench player, you know, where he's going. I think you can start both because of all the touchdowns in the back. And non-PPR, yeah. I don't want to start both. You could because of all the touchdowns, but what I would-ppr yeah i don't want to start because of

all the touchdowns but what i would say is if you're taking camara in the first round you're hoping that a lot more of those touchdowns go towards camara so you're already like you're already kind of leaning towards a specific strategy and i think you want to try to maximize upside i think taking both as a floor play you're probably going to get plenty of production out of the combination of the two but murray's adp is high enough that i don't want to handcuff at that point that's too early for a handcuff for me. I want to take another upside player in the range where you'd have to take Murray.

Well, what is that range is what now? We've talked about it on the show. It's like round seven. No, Murray has upside. I think as soon as you take Kamara in the first round, you're hoping Kamara hits the upside of his range of outcomes, which would be a really high share of the red zone work.

I don't look at it as pure handcuffing. I don't think it's not. Yeah, they're both going to get red zone work. I mean, they're both going to get quite a lot of red zone work based on what we've seen from Kamara and Ingram. And yeah, you are talking about round seven for Latavius Murray and early round seven. If you have if you have Kamara, obviously, because you're talking about an early pick in round seven, picking top four. I do see it as an upside play,

and I also see it as a cover your butt play because his upside is if Camara gets hurt, he's amazing, and you're saying to yourself, well, if Camara gets hurt, my season isn't ruined because I have his backup. Yeah, I'm changing my answer. I have a new number. Adam, what's my new number? It's five.

No, it's six. We had something going now, and now you botched it. Alvin from Los Angeles wants to know how long a slow best ball draft should last. Less than a week. I hate how long those drafts take sometimes. Yeah, that sounds about right. Okay. Steve wants to know, in his Dynasty League,

another guy and I were discussing swapping Balazs and Jordan Reed. I need a tight end badly. I assumed we were talking a straight swap. Then he said he wants to provide insurance on the trade. If Balazs or Reed doesn't perform well during the season, for example, if Balazs hits big and Reid is a bust again, there would be compensation

in the form of a pick or something and vice versa. I questioned him on how we set parameters on performance, what would require compensation,

how would we evaluate it and what worked and what didn't. What do you guys think about this concept of if he does well and what do you think? That is the lamest, limpiest thing guys think about this concept of you know if he does well and you know what do you think that is

the lamest limpiest thing why would you oh tell him there's no deal go find a different side end make make the trade or don't make the trade you know i mean this is like you're afraid to to trade away a player or make it bad Well, if he's bad, then I'm allowed to get an extra draft net, and you have to fill my tires with air and buy me a new disco ball. Filling your tires with air. Get out of here. Make a trade, and it's done. I filled my tires with air two weeks ago. There needs to be a sink near the air thing.

It is the dirtiest job in the world, and the bathrooms at gas stations are not ideal. You've got filthy hands. There needs to be Purell or a little wash station next to it. That is all I have to say. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to let Dave go

because we've got to end our video show. Ben and I, and I haven't brought this up with Ben, but I'm going to tell him what we're doing. I think he's going to be cool with it. We're going to hang around for another five minutes or so, and we're going to regulate. You cool with that, Ben? I'm ready for that. That sounds great. So I can't help people with their league problems anymore.

Now you're kicking me off the podcast. Thanks a lot, Adam. It's a fun segment. Five minutes ago, we were sharing a brain, and now you're booting me. I'm sorry, Dave. I'm sorry. The worst. Have a real great weekend, everybody.

Dave, na-na-na-na-na-na. All right, that's Dave Richard. Thanks to all of you watching on video. We're going to say goodbye on video. We're going to come back, and we're going to regulate in just a second. All right, it is time. Adam Azer, Ben Gretsch, Nate Dogg, Warren J. Regulating your league issues.

Send us an email, fantasyfootball at cbsi.com. Put fantasy football or put fantasy regulators in the subject line. All right, the first one is from Craig in St. Paul, Minnesota. I play in a 12-team non-PPR keeper. Oh, damn, I went early there. Non-PPR keeper league. Each year, teams can keep up to two players. Players are kept two rounds ahead of where they were drafted

or in the eighth round for free agent pickups. A couple years ago, Julio Jones got hurt late in the season and was dropped. I picked him up trying to keep him for an eighth round pick and was told I couldn't keep him because he had been drafted in the first two rounds. So in this league, if you draft somebody in the first two rounds, they can't be kept because you have a two-round penalty. This season, one team wants to keep Amari Cooper in the eighth round because they picked Cooper up after he was dropped by the owner who drafted him in the third round because he started the season off poorly. I raised the issue that he should be kept where he was drafted, and the owner trying to keep him, who's also the commissioner, stated that the rule is only for players who were injured

and doesn't apply to players who were dropped for poor performance. So the commissioner says, no, you picked up Julio Jones because he was injured and got dropped, but you can't keep him at a free agent value. But I'm keeping Amari Cooper at a free agent round eight value because he was dropped due to performance. What do you say, Ben? Is this as garbage as I think it is?

Yeah, it's garbage. I mean, you got to go with the round that he was drafted in. It's funny. I actually play in a league with my college buddies. It's a keeper. Same rules, essentially. They only move up one round, but free agents are eighth round, and our bylaws, I guess, are a little bit more clear.

They clearly say any player who's drafted his draft round sticks with him the the injured not injured reason for a player got that got drafted should have nothing to do with whether or not the draft round stays with them especially if there's already a precedent in place that uh amari cooper had to be kept in or excuse me julio jones had to be kept in the round that he was drafted in as opposed to the eighth round this is nonsense absolute. Absolute crap and considerate. Regulated. Let's go to Brad's email. Hey, regulators. I am the commissioner of a 12-team six-keeper league, which is now entering its second season. It was made clear that six keepers

were not required, but if you did use your keepers, they counted as picks one through six. My team was atrocious last season, and I only kept one player, David Johnson. So I have five slots to fill in rounds two through six. Five other picks need to be filled on other teams in the league before round six is complete. The issue is that teams that did keep all six guys i don't get this they want rookies to be held out of the pool until round seven so that all the teams have an equal shot at drafting them instead of the four teams having the first crack at them the ones who didn't keep all six players the perception is that i am taking advantage where i'm just trying to climb my way out of the basement why i don't get it. What's with these people? Why would rookies not be eligible to be drafted here?

Yeah, it doesn't make a lot of sense. I mean, obviously, I think the reasoning is that they couldn't have possibly been keepers. They wouldn't have been on rosters last year. And I assume that once you pull out that many keepers out of the player pool, that rookies are going to fill up the top of the draft. But I mean, in deep dynasty leagues

where free agents are locked over the off season, there's usually a rookie and free agent draft. It sounds like it's going to be similar to that. If these guys want those rookies, then they don't keep the players. It's, I mean, I think this is easy.

The rookie should be involved in those rounds. Of course they should be. These are, you know, these are good questions, but you know, like why are our listeners playing with such clowns? That's what I want to know. And that that one i'd say you can consider it regulated so here we go last one is from steve in a small connecticut town not bristol i'm going to say it's the one

where the aquarium is and i can never remember the name of it but it's a very cool aquarium in connecticut dear jonathan christopher j, and John Luke, my buddy Brett and I have had a running disagreement for two years now. Why am I so off musically today? So Brett and I have a disagreement. He listens to your podcast too. I'm hoping you can make a ruling. The question is, was

it an acceptable move for me to tank my matchup in week 14 of 2017? Very briefly, the situation. It was the week before the playoffs in our Dynasty League, four-team bracket, weeks 15 and 16 are the playoffs. The top four teams had clinched. The only question was seeding.

Brett was in first place and I was in fourth. I decided to tank my week 14 matchup to guarantee that I stayed the fourth seed, ensuring that I would play Brett in the semifinals because his RB1 Ezekiel Elliott would be out suspended for week 15. I was pretty sure the number two and three teams would beat me if I played either of them in the semifinals. Without telling you the outcome yet, was this an acceptable move,

or is tanking always bad? Yeah, I am on the tanking is always bad scenario. This is a scenario, like the specifics here make it seem okay. But I've been in leagues where people have done that the last week and it's actually cost another team a playoff spot because the team that they allowed to beat them then got into the playoffs just strictly because of that. There's just too many ways it can go.

I think – I understand the owners want to be able to act in their team's own best interest, but I also think there's an element where you have an obligation to actually put out a decent team every week and try to win your week. This type of strategizing isn't necessarily – I think it messes with the competitive balance. But it's vague because what if you just use your roster that you've been using all year, but you just make some intentionally bad start decisions? Yeah, and people – It's just vague. People will definitely do that too. I mean at least in that scenario, there's the potential that those backups do well right but when you start to actually pull guys out

of your lineup and take a zero and let somebody else win that can certainly that's just a slippery slope and i think that's a problem you can start to control who makes the playoffs and all that um i think like if you beat a guy who's in you know one place out of the playoffs earlier in the year and then you give a victory the week before the playoffs to the guy that ends up getting in the playoffs ahead of him he has a right to be pretty frustrated that he lost to you head to head and then you gave away a free victory to someone else it's almost like you have an obligation to the league to try to beat both of those guys yeah i know it's just i you got to figure out a way to make like actual parameters what does tanking look like what is allowed what is not allowed so is not allowed. So it's a tough one.

And then if you want to know the result of this, it worked. I beat him in the semifinals and would definitely have lost to the other two guys, and then I won the championship the next week. Had I not tanked, the math says I would have ended the season fourth instead of first. So I don't think we gave a solid—you basically said tanking's bad. I'm sort of on the fence. Like, you've sort of earned the right as a fantasy owner to do what you want. It happens in the NFL all the time.

I mean, NFL teams tank in Week 17, and it could have serious playoff implications. You know what? The other teams should have done better in the first however many games of the regular season in fantasy or first 15 games of the regular season in real football. If they didn't want to have to have their fate left up to teams that might be in a bench mode, I won't say tank,

but bench mode to stay healthy for the playoffs. So I would say that if you want to have, you know, a strict definition of what is allowed, then that's good. But if not, I kind of lean towards like it sucks. It's kind of anti-competitive, but it's okay. And you just have to deal with it. In this scenario, I would be way more okay with it because it didn't impact anyone else.

He said the top four teams had clinched. So now he's making a decision in his own best interest that doesn't necessarily screw over anybody else. And I think that's fine, but I just think it's kind of a slippery slope. What a nice guy Ben is. He just doesn't want anybody else to be upset. Ben,

we appreciate it. Thanks so much for listening, everybody. We have been the fantasy regulators and this is fantasy football today. Enjoy the rest of preseason football over the weekend. Wide receiver preview. When we come back on monday take it easy for ben gretch and dave richard i'm adam azar we'll talk to you