Fantasy Football Today - 08/11 BONUS EPISODE: Suspended Zeke in Round 4? Sammy Top 30?

Episode Date: August 11, 2017

WE ARE FREAKING OUT! Not only is Ezekiel Elliott suspended for six games (pending appeal), but Sammy Watkins is a Ram! Which player falls farther in the rankings? Can you still justify Elliott in Round 2? How much faith do we have in Darren McFadden? We're covering all angles of these news items including the values of Jordan Matthews and Tyrod Taylor in Buffalo and whether LeSean McCoy and Todd Gurley are impacted. 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! We put the R&B in our BBC. Let's go! Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Ian. Welcome to the Holy Crap edition of the Fantasy Football Today podcast.

We are back. That was the best intro you've ever done in your life. Yeah, holy crap. I can't believe what has happened today. I guess I can't be too surprised since we brought up the possibility of the six-game suspension on podcast number one today. But I don't even know if we'd be doing this bonus podcast if not for the Sammy Watkins news as well. But he is now a Ram. Gross.

Hi, guys. Hi. a ram gross oh hi guys hi it's so funny adam because we um while you and heath and scott white were recording your baseball podcast dave and i were doing some uh video shoots for some promotional stuff and all of a sudden it was ezekiel it's been in six games so we finished doing that we run back to our desks start doing some stuff i wrote a zeke story dave starting to you know update his rankings then all of a sudden, Dave goes, holy crap! The Bills just traded. Holy crap!

The Bills just traded for Jordan Matthews. Oh, weird. I saw the Matthews trade first. And then Watkins after that, it was like double noggin knocker. Sorry, I was looking up Darren McFadden's yards per carry. Big day for Jared Goff owners. It is? Of course it is Big day for Jared Goff owners. It is?

Yeah. Of course it is. It's Jared Goff. Okay, that's the least important thing to talk about right now. What's the most important thing to talk about right now? Zeke. The former number three overall pick. Yeah.

Moving down and down and down. May now be a third round pick. Yep. Well, the reaction to this on twitter has been pretty there are people who won't draft them at all and it's just because they don't want to deal with having to wait until week eight to get them which is the reality if he's got a six game suspension because there's a buy in there but there's also people that say no way he's getting past me in round two i'm going to take him i'm going to wait and i'm going to win

the championship because when z comes back he's going to be angry he's getting past me in round two. I'm going to take him. I'm going to wait, and I'm going to win the championship because when Zeke comes back, he's going to be angry. He's going to run angry, and the Cowboys behind that line, they're going to feed him the rock. So lots of fun narratives to play with, and I think everybody's going to fall into one of those two camps. Either they're really going to be nervous to take him at all, but there will be somebody in every draft that's going to say, yeah, I want that guy, and I will wait for him.

Where are you guys? When are you going to take Ezekiel Elliott, who is facing a six-game suspension? He's going to appeal, and he'll have a hearing about it within two weeks from today. I'm going to have to vote on Dave's little Twitter poll here. When are you drafting Ezekiel Elliott? I'm going to say round three. Round four or later is winning with 36% of the vote, already more than 1,200 votes. Round three has 33%. Round two, 23%.

Round one, 8%. So most people are in the round three, round four, or later vote right now on Zeke. We don't know that it's going to be six games. It could get reduced. But Jamie, you were just talking that you and I have a draft tomorrow on Saturday. I have the 10th pick. You have the 11th pick. There's no way I would take Ezekiel Elliott in the second round. But you and I may not have the chance because you are considering doing that with the second pick of round two. It's just a situation that if he's only out for four games, that's an easy spot for him to go, you know, starting in the second round. But we're not going to know that tomorrow. Right. We're not. And it might get reduced to three games.

So there's still plenty of upside here. It just puts a target on my back now that everybody knows I'm going after Darren McFadden. And so do I want to commit two picks in the first five or six rounds to the Cowboys backfield? I really do think it's worth it. Now, obviously, round two and round five is not ideal. Round three and round six, I'm okay with that.

Are we positive that McFadden's going to be the guy? He's going to be the first man up, yes. He will get the first chance, I believe that. I don't know by the time we get to week one that he gets a considerably larger share than Alfred Morris. I don't even know if Alfred Morris is going to be a factor. He might be. He might make the team now

because they can put Zeke on the suspended list. I'm worried that there could be multiple Cowboys in the backfield. McFadden's about to turn 30, and he did not play very well last year. It was 3.6 yards per carry, but very small sample, 24 carries. In week 14, he got a lot of work,

14 carries, only 49 yards. Nobody else was on the field with him. I'm sorry, I said week 14. Week 16. No, that was week 16. Week 17 is when nobody was on the field with him. I'm sorry, I said week 14. Week 16. No, that was week 16. Week 17 is when nobody was on the field with him, right? Yeah. I mean, Zeke didn't play, obviously.

Dez played a series. Tony Romo came in to have his final hurrah. No, but week 16, not week 17, he had 14 carries for 49 yards. That was the most work McFadden got in any game. It wasn't week 17? No, week 17, he only had seven carries for 28 yards at Philadelphia. Look, I don't trust McFadden got in any game. It wasn't Week 17? No, Week 17 he only had seven carries for 28 yards at Philadelphia. Look, I don't trust McFadden.

I had more faith in D'Angelo Williams last year as a bell fill-in than I do McFadden this year. But why? I don't know. I guess I don't have a great answer for that. It's only 24 carries last year, but 24 very unconvincing carries and i think that i do think

they might mix in some other guys there like we were just talking about and i i think and and we were just discussing this before the podcast started and i think jamie disagrees with me i think there is a chance they throw the ball more in these first six games because they just aren't as like part of it is the fact that they're the best offensive line, and so that's part of the reason they're so good at running. But Ezekiel Elliott is good, too. If they're running for 3.8 yards per carry instead of

4.8, they may throw the ball a few more times. I will say this, though. What was he doing in those 24 carries? Which offensive line was in front of him? I think in Week 16, he had 14 carries in front of, you know carries behind the great offensive line. I don't know for a fact. Where was Elliott?

Because I don't remember this. I don't know. Maybe they blew them out. I'm just looking at his game log. I have no idea. And Derek Fadden, what week is this? Week 16. That if he's getting that many carries at the starting offensive lines in front of him.

I just go back to the 2015 season. Granted, he's two years older at this point. He had the elbow injury last year. This is McFadden. He had 1,000 yards rushing on 239 carries where he was 4.6 yards per carry without Tony Romo, without Des Bryant. So it was Kellen Moore and a receiving core of Bryce Butler and Terrence Williams, and it was terrible.

And if he was able to do that, this speaks to the offensive line. Obviously, Ezekiel Elliott's an exceptional talent, which is why he led the NFL in rushing last year. No one is expecting Darren McFadden to do that. And again, it could be McFadden, Morris, and Smith, and maybe even Ronnie Hillman gets a stay on the roster now until Elliott comes back. But if McFadden, again, you're taking a chance. If McFadden's going to be the guy, you're buying that offensive line.

That's what you're paying for. Sure. Yeah. Now, there's a risk, though, if you take Ezekiel Elliott in round two, that somebody takes McFadden earlier than you're willing to take him. Which is why you have to commit to take McFadden. Round six for sure. Well maybe round five here's my problem with round six or round five though there are starting running backs available in round six

or round five you don't have to take a guy that is going to be a starting running back for five or six weeks you could just take a regular starting running back and start him okay i'm a zero running back drafter let's just say i know that's not me huh then you're not taking no he's no but i might want mcfadden for the first six games when am i looking for him i think i'm looking for him i don't know if i'm looking for him in round six i just i might as a zero running back drafter i recognize he's got a great opportunity and a great line i don't know i'm'm getting him at six. I might want to take him at seven. Let's just back up for a second. So I think maybe we're wrong on round five.

No, let's just back up for a second. We're 100% wrong on round five. We're wrong on round six. We're talking about a draft tomorrow. Obviously, most of the people listening to this show are not drafting tomorrow. So before we say what round Darren McFadden or even Elliott should be drafted, let's just keep in perspective that most people are going to do their drafts after the appeal is heard. So I think the range is where probably we should say.

So I think it's 6-3. Keith's 100% right. Round 5, round 6, there's still Paul Perkins based on ADP. There's still Amir Abdullah based on ADP. Ingram sometimes. Huh? Ingram sometimes. Rob Kelly will be in there.

Lacey, Kelly, the Ravens guys. I mean, there's a lot of guys that you can say are certainly in a better situation than McFadden. I think you've got to put McFadden in the group of the next group. I'll put Peterson in there because he's not going there based on ADP, but I think it's the Thomas Rawls. It's the rookie running backs of Hunt and Williams. After Gordon West. For sure, After Gordon West. For sure after Gordon West.

It's the – he's – Jacquez Rogers on steroids right now. Yeah. Yeah. So let's talk about where you're moving Zeke. That's McFadden. But let's talk about exactly where you're moving Zeke in your rankings here. So are you willing to still take him over Jordan Howard or Jay Ajayi, or does he fall even farther than that?

No. No. All right. So would you take – And he won't be. So would you take Crowell or Zeke? Crowell as of now, but if that suspension lightens up, he might go ahead of Crowell. I think he would.

I haven't done my rankings yet, but the first glance at it was right behind Crowell, which Crowell right now is 13 for me. I put Zeke at 13 in my mind. My first glance was putting him right behind Crowell, so I think that's is 13 for me. I put Zeke at 13 in my mind. My first glance was putting him right behind Crowell. I think that's the cutoff point. That's what I did. But we all have a different guy. I don't know exactly how to say this, but have you read the release from the NFL?

Yes. I'm normally of the opinion that they suspend a guy for six games thinking he's going to appeal and it's going to turn into four or five. We kind of went into this thinking there's not a lot of evidence of what Ezekiel Elliott did. That made it sound like they have evidence of what he did. They definitely do. I read the ESPN story, which Todd Archer is a mentor

for me. I used to work with him at the Palm Beach Post. I trust everything that he generally says in his reporting. He said that in the story that I saw him write, that they have everything. This isn't like they're speculating. This is concrete.

Is there a chance that charges could be refiled? But it didn't say that they have proof that he hit a girl. It said that they spoke to witnesses. They spoke to her. They spoke to him. They spoke to medical experts. So they've done their research. They have photos.

We don't know what they have, but they've done their research. But they have enough to justify suspending him. This is going to be reduced. It could be reduced one game. It could be reduced two games. It's very unlike – I mean think about Le'Veon and all the stuff that he went through and still had his suspension reduced a year ago from four to three. Yeah, okay. So we're going to do more podcasts as we get more news.

But right now people want to know what to do with Ezekiel Elliott. Right now they're thinking certainly later than round two, round three, maybe round four or later, getting most of the votes on the poll, but very close with round three for Ezekiel Elliott. So PPR league, Christian McCaffrey or Ezekiel Elliott? Elliott. Yeah. So Elliott. I'm thinking two, three turn and standard three, four in PPR.

Two, three turn is early. It's not that early, I think, when you look at the running backs who are going to be there because you're comparing them to, like, Lamar Miller and Gurley and Crowell and all these guys who have question marks. But there are wide receivers. There's maybe Gronkowski. There's maybe Aaron Rodgers that are there that you might want to take over a guy who could miss. If he misses six games, he's missing the first seven weeks of the fantasy season because of the bye.

I will say this about Elliott. Ten games, if he had played only ten games last year based on his per-game average, he would have been the number nine running back in standard and number ten in PPR based on last year, which was a very good year for running backs. He's amazing. It really, I think, comes down to how much faith you have in Darren McFadden. That's probably what it is. Is that fair to say? If you have more faith

you have in him, the earlier you take Elliott. I don't think it comes down to your faith in McFadden. It comes down to your faith in how you are as a fantasy manager to absorb missing this great running back for the first chunk of the season. If you think you're great at finding talent and you like the depth at all the other positions,

you're willing to scrounge by at one of your running back spots while Zeke is on the pine, then I think round two is exactly where you should draft him. Yeah, if I'm drafting Ezekiel Elliott at the end of the second round, I'm not going in thinking, well, I've got to get McFadden now. Because I'm not paying a sixth round price tag for him. I'm not either. I don't think I'm paying a seventh.

All right, then. So take advantage of that good depth at running back that we talk about, and you get the Abdullah, Perkins, Lacey, C.J. Anderson group as one of your starters, I guess, which you could have done anyway. All right, but it's also going to weaken you at wide receiver or any other position you could have been taking at the 2-3 turn if you take Ezekiel Elliott, who's suspended for up to six games. All right, so let's move on to the Bills.

There's one guy that's going from the 2-3 turn, not going to be there anymore either. Yeah, so we did our draft on Thursday, our 12-team standard draft. You took them both. I took Zeke in the first round and Sammy Watkins in the second round. Thank goodness it's a mock. All right, Bills make two trades. They give up Sammy Watkins and a second round. Thank goodness it's a mock. All right, Bills make two trades. They give up Sammy Watkins and a sixth-round pick to the Rams.

They get EJ Gaines, a cornerback, and a second-round pick. They also get Jordan Matthews and a third-round pick for cornerback Ronald Darby, who was their best corner. So they now have two first, two second, and two third-round picks in the next upcoming NFL draft. They essentially give up Sammy Watkins and Ronald Darby to get back Jordan Matthews and EJ Gaines and a better draft pick compensation. This has got to kill Sammy Watkins. Sammy Watkins or Michael Crabtree?

Oh, Crabtree. Yeah. Is Watkins a top 20 wide receiver? No. Top 30? I'm not willing to say no in standard yet, but I'm not sure. He's right in that range. Top 30?

For sure. Yes. Yeah. Okay. I don't know that his situation is really that much different than DeAndre Hopkins. I actually think it's different than DeAndre Hopkins. I thought you were going to say it's different from where it was at Buffalo. If Watkins is healthy for 16 games,

I don't know that their quarterback situation is going to be that much different. Well, let's just start with that. He's not locked to be healthy for 16 games. It's great that he's healthy now, but there's a lot more to it than just that. I was getting comfortable with Sammy Watkins in Buffalo. The fact that he was healthy, the fact that he came out catching bullets in the first preseason game running uh different length they were just showing them off and then they well listen this was this had to have been

buffalo's plan all along when they didn't give him the fifth year option they knew that they had to move him for something so i i think it's a great move for Buffalo. For the future. It's going to be terrible for them this year. And I think he. Until I see proof otherwise. He's got a significant quarterback downgrade. And he's got a significant division downgrade.

Because now he's moving into the NFC West. Seattle twice. Arizona twice. That's Patrick Peterson twice. That's if he's healthy for those games. And the one thing I did see that would help the Sammy case, not that I'm going to lean on this as major evidence, he does have a better yards per catch average on grass than turf.

Well, this is no good for Sammy Watkins, obviously. I'll give you some more comparisons. And let's do Sammy Watkins or Martavis Bryant. Bryant. Right. I already had Bryant at 22 anyway, so he's... Right. I think I'll probably end up with Sammy higher.

Watkins or Jarvis Landry? That's about... I have Watkins. I have Landry right outside my top 24. That's about the spot, I think. I'd probably take Watkins just because there's more touchdown potential. Watkins. Landry. What about in PPR? But how is that a quarterback

situation that's not worse? I still think Landry can get more yards and can play 16 games and not have to learn a whole new offense in four weeks. If both play 16 games,, you think he'll score more touchdowns? It's a big if. You're telling me it's going to happen?

No. Sammy should score more, but I don't think if Sammy plays 16 games, I don't think he's getting eight touchdowns, Jamie. Not in L.A. Not from Jared Goff. I would say that he has a chance to get eight touchdowns. This is more so than Landry? It's Todd Gurley.

Huh? This could be big for Todd Gurley. Sure. Now that's something worth talking about. Well, it helps everything in Los Angeles except Robert Woods. And maybe Jared Goff is good and all of his receivers were just terrible. I'd like to see it. I'd really like to see it at some point.

Offensive line was dreadful for him last year. He was under pressure maybe more than any other quarterback. I remember reading the story from Jason Lock and Four. I don't remember exactly what he said, but he was under pressure a lot, Jared Goff. So they've tried to upgrade there. They've obviously upgraded at receiver. They upgraded there. They're upgrading at receiver. But it's not just

upgrading with the players. The system is a thousand times better. We think. No, it will be. Jeff Fisher ran a 1920s offense. It should okay, right. It should be better. Oh, Rams. You want to stick with the Rams, or should we go to Tyrod Taylor real quick?

Stick with the Rams, and then we'll go to Buffalo. All right. I mean, this is actually not a bad receiving corps now, because if Cup is legit, you have what could be an elite number one guy. Remember, as great as his wide receiver class, this was still the first guy taken in this class. So if he is healthy, and by all reports right now he's healthy, he could elevate golf. He could elevate everything around him. The tight ends. We talked about this being an offense that uses a two tight end formation.

They could do that on every down. And it will be hard for defenses to key in from play to play unless it's third and 15 or whatever. Tavon Austin is the most expensive fourth wide receiver in football. Yeah. They had, I think, the seventh highest wide receiving core. Before this. Before this. Well, they don't yet, but they will if they pay Sammy, which you would assume that they would.

Yeah. He's in a contract year, which is always nice. I'm going to move on to the Jordan Matthews end of this and the Tyrod Taylor end of this. Weeks 3 through 11 without Sammy Watkins, eight games, Tyrod Taylor had three games with more than 18 fantasy points in six points for passing touchdown leagues. Now, he did have a lot of very tough matchups in there.

He faced New England twice. He faced Seattle, who actually did very well against Seattle. So the matchups were difficult, but only three games out of eight with more than 18 fantasy points. That's not good without Sammy Watkins. Is Tyrod Taylor now behind Eli Manning,

Carson Palmer, all those guys that were sort of at the back end of these startable quarterbacks? I want Heath to answer this last because I know that he was really excited about tyrod taylor this year jamie you were too i'll go first he's behind everybody i don't want him okay i will drop him i just moved him up getting excited he was at number 12 for me he's going back down but no he will not go below eli Eli and Carson Palmer. He'll drop to the point right in front of those two. I had Palmer two spots behind him, so Palmer's easy to put ahead of him.

He'll be in the Eli range. There's more upside with Eli, though, now in six points for passing touchdowns. How can you not put Eli Manning ahead of Tyrod Taylor? How can you not put Jay Cutler ahead of Tyrod Taylor? How can you not put Jay Cutler ahead of Tyrod Taylor? Tyrod Taylor is very good. They're rushing. You know what's funny about that? I feel like the only people that don't think Tyrod Taylor is good are Bills fans.

When I go on there and I say that Tyrod Taylor is good, Bills fans think I'm crazy. And the organization doesn't seem to think Tyrod Taylor is that good. They must think he's good enough because they paid him another year to show up and play quarterback. That's nothing. That's no commitment to a quarterback. They had no choice but to do that. They have not committed to Tyrod Taylor. They do not seem sold on him.

I feel like the fantasy community thinks Tyrod Taylor is better than he might be. Well, again, that's because most of the fantasy community plays in leagues that are four points for passing touchdowns. I'm dropping him to 17th. His rushing, yeah, he'll be lower than that for me. His running ability is what makes or breaks him. The frustrating thing is, he was going to be

my week one start of the week. Oh, I think you could still start him week one. Martavis Bryant against the Jets. Maybe not start of the week, but you can certainly play the matchups with him. And boy, if he goes out in week one and he struggles against the Jets, I think that'll be a pretty

big shot. Yeah, look, again, I still think he's got very good value in leagues that are four points for passing touchdowns because he led the NFL in rushing yards for quarterbacks. He tied with the lead league in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns for the position, but this takes away his

best weapon. Okay, so what about Jordan Matthews going to the Philadelphia, going to the Buffalo Bills from the Philadelphia Eagles? What are you going to do with Jordan Matthews, who is barely, not even in your top 50? What are you going to do with him now? I'd pretty much forgotten about Jordan Matthews as somebody I was even considering drafting. And you liked him, right, for a while? Last year, I think.

No, I think at the beginning of the offseason. But I do think he gets a definite boost here. It's weird because they're kind of starting three slot-wide receivers now. But, listen, there's a hundred and some odd targets now that are going to be available. We'll see if Jordan Matthews can do anything with them. Matthews or Cooper Cup, who would you take a chance on? Matthews. Matthews Jordan Matthews can do anything with him. Matthews or Cooper Cup? Who would you take a chance on? Matthews. Matthews now.

I'm going to ask some obvious questions, but then it'll get progressively less obvious. Mike Wallace or Jordan Matthews? Wallace. Mike Wallace, obviously. I'm not moving to my top 25. I go Matthews for the record. He should end up being the most targeted receiver there.

I think it's safe to look at him and say, okay, that's a very good possession type receiver. And Anquan will be there on the other side as well. Zay Jones could end up winding up everywhere and being the new deep threat. Welcome to the new worst wide receiving core in the NFL. It really is.

Oh, no. The Jets. The Jets are much worse. Browns? The Patriots are The Jets are much worse. Much worse. Browns? Which would you rather have? The Patriots or my number one DST? The Patriots are going to win the division by six games at least. This is a joke. I think the Bills realized that and they saw what the Jets were doing and they

went, well, if we're going to get in on this rebuild, we might as well push the button. I honestly thought that they had an outside shot to compete for a wild card. Oh, I did too, especially after Tannehill got hurt. I didn't think their secondary would be able to hang, and now it won't. Their secondary only had a hang with New England. The Jets are terrible.

That's two games they should have won. Well, they have other games. The Dolphins easily could have beaten them twice. Do they trade LaShawn McCoy? Do they trade LaShawn McCoy next? No. Does this have any effect on LaShawn McCoy? Huh? Do they trade LaShawn McCoy next? No. Does this have any effect on LaShawn McCoy? No.

He's going to catch 105 passes now. Actually, that's a good point. Yeah, it could help him in PPR. No, I'm not moving him at all. No. Okay, last question. Any impact on the Eagles at all? Nelson Aguilar. The hype is real.

Aguilar, which of us is blind? Anybody get that reference? No. One USC receiver gets crushed by Robert Woods. The other one gets a boost. I need to know what that reference is before we sign off. Nope. You're going to have to check Twitter.

Someone will know it. Okay. Fair enough. This has been the Holy Crap edition of the Fantasy Football Today podcast. Have yourselves a wonderful weekend, everybody. For Dave, Jamie, and Heath, I'm Adam. Bye. Bye-bye, Sammy.