Fantasy Football Today - 08/11 Fantasy Football Podcast: Zeke Talk, Preseason Hot Takes!

Episode Date: August 11, 2017

Recording this show before any Ezekiel Elliott announcement, we lay out some hypotheticals and discuss Zeke's draft value (2:00) ... So many preseason takeaways after only a few games. We discuss the Redskins RBs (5:30), Falcons offense (8:50), best rookie RBs (11:10), more RB battles, Sammy Watkins being featured and Kelvin Benjamin's prospects (25:41) ... Reviewing our 12-team standard scoring mock draft (32:00), the guys give some takeaways and discuss the merits of locking up the DAL, TEN and ATL backfields ... 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! We're here to help you win the ultimate bragging rights. A fantasy title. Let's go! Now here's Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Ian.

Oh, you know we're in a good mood. It's Friday. We've got football to talk about. We've got a mock draft to talk about. The whole gang is here on this Friday morning. Welcome to Fantasy Football today. Adam Azer, Dave Richard, Heath Cummings, Jamie Eisenberg. We've got a mailbag show for you today.

We'll read a lot of your emails at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. But really a lot to get to. How's preseason football treating you guys so far? Oh, it's exciting. It is. It's fun. Yeah. I think the rookie running backs make this kind of a fun preseason.

Yeah, but their offensive lines make it a crappy preseason. I enjoyed watching Samaj AP Ryan down his leg. I enjoyed Jamal Williams about to replace Ty Fumble Montgomery. Ty Montgomery did fumble the ball, and Jamal Williams looked great with the second pitch. It's starting already. We are overreacting. Yeah. I guess it's kind of fun to overreact, but.

I don't think you're overreacting to the Samajay Pirine. I didn't see a second of that. Well, he fumbled. Well, he fumbled. He dropped a pass and completely whiffed in pass protection. Yes. Is that bad? All three.

Off to a bad start for Samajay Pirine. And D'Angelo Henderson is going to get so much hype for running through a wide open hole for 54 yards in the touchdown against the fourth string Bears defense. And those are the things that we have to put in perspective. Those are the things that probably don't matter that much, but certainly the Samajay Pirine thing

does matter. I'm going to ask you guys for some hot takes. You know what matters more? What's that? Than anything I'm going to ask you guys for some hot takes. You know what matters more? What's that? Than anything that's going to happen in the preseason? If this report is true on Ezekiel Elliott. All right, what is the latest report? We are expecting a suspension today.

Six games! Six games?! That's what the report is. Close to six games. Oh my goodness. When I saw this morning, I just saw a suspension was almost definite, but I didn't see a timetable. According to the NFL Network, multiple sources say it could be at or close to six games. Oh, my goodness.

You know, here's the one thing I hope for Ezekiel Elliott. I don't have him on any teams as of now. No, terrible. It's bad. Here's the one thing I hope. I just hope the suspension comes down in the next hour while we're on the air. That's the only thing I care about at this point. I don't want to miss it and have to wait until

Monday to talk about it, so please bring a suspension on for Ezekiel Elliott or no suspension. I think it probably won't. I'm going to guess it doesn't happen until Monday and you guys have this draft coming up. Oh, no. We'll know by tomorrow. You think so? It's going to happen today. Are you sure? They've said it could get pushed back

to Monday as well. Everything that happens bad happens on a Friday because then the talk shows don't get to rehash it. Oh, yeah, no one's going to talk about Ezekiel Elliott. They're obviously going to talk about it, but you don't. Dave, this is the way a news cycle works. Friday afternoon, it's going to happen, and First Take doesn't get to talk about it. The Joy Taylor Show on FS1 doesn't get to talk about it. It's the same. I like that name.

The Joy Taylor Show. The Joy Taylor Show. Yeah, that's what I see on my cable box. It's Joy Taylor Show. Hey, Joy's a friend. I speak about my friend. She's my friend too. So it's what they do.

It's not going to happen though. I just want to make out. With who? Okay. Where's my wife? Cowboys have a bye in week six. So if he's suspended for six games, week one, two, three, four, five, and week seven, bye-bye. You won't get Ezekiel Elliott until week eight at Washington.

Wow. That is a kick to a place on your body that is not nice. All right. So the way that podcasts work, obviously, is nobody's listening to us live. So I don't want to spend too much time on what could be a completely outdated conversation. So let me just wrap it up. If he is suspended for four or more games, where do you draft Ezekiel Elliott? Four is second round. Five is third round. Six is fourth round. There's a difference between five and six? Yep. I would say third round.

I haven't even thought about it, but I don't know if I would even entertain the thought of drafting him in the first three rounds. If I don't get him back until week seven? Okay, but let me tell you. It's almost half the fantasy season. I totally understand what you're saying. Just put things in perspective. Where would you have drafted Jay Ajayi last year?

Where did I get him? Round 7? Round 8? Let's say round 7 or round 8. Let me phrase it differently. If you knew what Jay Ajayi was going to give you, if you knew what Jordan Howard was going to give you... Todd Gurley two years ago, right? Todd Gurley two years ago. That's what you have to think about.

Yeah, maybe that's a round three pick. It might even be a late round two pick. I'm just looking at it right now. Keith, you mentioned it. We have a draft. Adam and I are in a draft tomorrow. I pick 10th. Adam picks 11th.

Really? I'd take him maybe at the end of the third round if he were there. I may take him beginning of round two. All right. Well, I don take him beginning of round two. All right. Well, I don't think I could do that, but you'd get Darren McFadden and probably like... Where do you think he would go?

Like the sixth, seventh round you'd have to take him at this point? Maybe earlier. It's six games. I mean, you're getting six games behind that offensive line. Yeah. All right.

So that's our Ezekiel Elliott analysis. Hopefully we'll have something a little bit more concrete. Guess where I'm going tonight? Yep. I'm going to the Giants-Steelers game. Thank you for guessing. Can't wait to watch Le'Veon Bell and Antonio Brown and Roethlisberger and Beckham and Manning and actually none of those guys, but I am excited for preseason football.

Give me some preseason hot takes. I want one hot take from each of you. It could be, you know, a bit exaggerated. We'll have a little bit of fun with it, but Heath, give me a hot take from each of you. It could be a bit exaggerated. We'll have a little bit of fun with it. But, Heath, give me a hot take from Wednesday or Thursday's game. It's getting less and less hot, but I'll say Rob Kelly starts 16 games and outscores Marshawn Lynch. Oh, I like that. That's hot.

He's got to be a big riser right now. I mean, in all seriousness. Oh, yes. Well, his playing time is. He didn't exactly do well last night with his time. I think one thing, though, to keep in mind, Adam, you kind of alluded to this. Not only do we have to keep in perspective who they're playing against, these guys, who's on the field against them. It's who they're playing with.

Because in Rob Kelly's case, and to a lesser extent Samadji P.rank, no Jameson Crowder, no Jordan Reed, no Josh Doxson. So that changes the whole dynamic of how any defense is going to face them. And like, for example, Terrence West also had a good first night. No Danny Woodhead and no Joe Flacco. So positives and negatives there. Oh, we are legitimately drafting tomorrow with industry analysts. So would you take Paul Perkins or Rob Kelly? Perkins still.

Yeah. I mean Perkins could go out in his first preseason game and look like a monster. Are we really – I don't know if it's right to just completely bury Samadji Piran. Of course. To literally put him – we are putting him in the ground, kicking up dirt on him while we dance to Rob Kelly's theme song. Right. That's what we're doing right now after one game. Okay. Yeah, no, it's true. You know, at this time

last year, Jordan Howard was not impressive at all for the Bears. It took him until his fourth preseason game. And last night. Yeah, well, I don't think a lot of things were impressive for the Bears last night until Trubisky got on the field. Yep. Yeah, alright. Jamie, you got a hot take? night until Trubisky got on the field. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Jamie, you got a hot take? Speaking of Trubisky, let all the rookie quarterbacks start from week one.

All of them. All right. Yeah. That's not a take. That's like a fun thought. Well, that's what a take is. All he has to do is phrase it as all the rookie quarterbacks should start. He's laughing.

He's laughing at one of us. I'm laughing at both of you. Okay. I'm laughing at both of you. No, I think I would love it if Patrick Mahomes was starting week one. That would be outstanding. It would be more fun, for sure, if all those guys were starting. What are you talking about?

Alex Smith is pushing the ball downfield, according to reports. He is. He has to push it. He's going to throw it that far. He's putting it downfield. Trubisky looked is. He has to push it. He's fun to get downfield. Trubisky looked better than Glennon. Kaiser looked really good. I thought Sean

Watson looked better than Tom Savage, or at least has more excitement than Tom Savage. So in those three situations, those rookies should get the chance to start. I would like to at least see all those guys against a first team defense. I tweeted last night, Trubisky would have got pantsed by the Broncos' first-team defense, too. He would have looked embarrassing.

I like how mobile Trubisky is. They're moving him around in the pocket. He's an athletic guy. We really think that, like, Mitchell Trubisky is going to become a star in the NFL, though. Like, name matters at quarterback. Well, he changed it from Mitch. That's what bothers me. Like, he won Mitch Trubisky, which was great.

It was fine. I drafted him in the third round of a Dynasty League in the rookie-only draft just a few weeks ago, and I'm pretty happy about it. High hopes for Trubisky. Dave, hot take? The Atlanta Falcons, with their new

offensive coordinator, will be as good if not better in 2017 than with their previous coordinator. Cool. Yeah, they got off to a good start. It's a little bit more than just one game. It's actually more than one play. There was really only one play that kind of spoke to me on that, but it was when they scored their touchdown. It was a fourth and short.

They could have kicked the field goal and just gone on with their lives. I know it's a meaningless preseason game, but they went for it. They executed perfectly. And Quinn said after the game, we're going to be more aggressive this year than we were last year. Devontae Freeman said after the game, we're going to be more aggressive this year than we were last year. They know what they have to do.

They saw the light from Kyle Shanahan, that you can't win games just by running the ball too much and being cautious, Gary Kubiak style. You've got to attack. Although if they had been less aggressive in the fourth quarter and just let six or seven seconds run every time that they just snapped the ball, they would have won the Super Bowl. Well, maybe.

But clearly they didn't learn from that. Maybe they will next time they play in a meaningful game. But for now, I'm excited about Atlanta's offense. One of their beat writers was saying yesterday that about the coordinator change, they have really four quarterbacks in the room.

Sarkeesian being a former guy. I forget other quarterbacks coaches. Ryan and Schaub. Matt Sims too. all have an understanding of what this offense was under Shanahan and how to hopefully merge the two minds of Shanahan and Sarkeesian. Great.

And Devontae Freeman catches that touchdown pass, and hooray for the Atlanta offense. The first-teamers were off the field after that against the Dolphins, who, by the way, may have lost there. A guy that was competing for the starting middle linebacker spot, Raekwon McMillan, hurt his knee. We don't know what the severity is, but tough break for the Dolphins. Tough offseason so far and preseason now for the Dolphins. And here's my hot take.

Yeah, look, Dave giving a You know, giving that take About the Falcons offense after The preseason game and the quotes That's the definition of a hot take, we're having fun with it here So here's mine, Christian McCaffrey Is and will be the best Rookie running back Yeah

Could happen, certainly PPR Yeah, I was not really that impressed With Fournette or Dalvin Cook yesterday. I love Dalvin Cook, but he didn't really show the burners that I was hoping for. And Fournette, what really upset me about Fournette, man, that fourth and inches carry. He picked it up, did a great job, whatever. He got brought down by a defensive back. I didn't really see him break any tackles.

Pardon me, by the way. I'm getting a little sick. Notice my voice is a little messed up. I apologize. Everybody, look at me. I'm getting sick. Don't sit next to me tomorrow. Now sing a song about getting sick.

I'm definitely going to sit next to you if we have picks 10 and 11. Yeah, I don't know. I am by no means down on these guys. From first look as NFL players, Christian McCaffrey looks the best to me. There's my hot take. Christian McCaffrey, number one. Haven't seen Mixon yet. Haven't seen Mixon yet.

That is true. But what's all these damn reports about Jeremy Hill? You're not going to see Mixon much. Jeremy Hill is going to start every game, apparently. Yeah, man. Smart coaching there, Marvin. All right. News and notes for you.

Tyreek Hill has been the star of training camp, according to the Kansas City Star of Training Camp. And Tyree Kill, last year, he had so many big plays. He's such a difficult player to evaluate. He scored nine touchdowns, not including his return game touchdowns. They were from nine yards, ten yards, three yards, three yards, but also 34, 38, 36, 68, and 70 yards out. And those are just difficult to get.

But anyway, Tyreek Hill, great reports. Obviously they want to get him more involved. Have you moved him up in your rankings at all? Where are you guys on Tyreek Hill right now? I've always liked him. He's always been ranked pretty high for me, so I haven't moved him up. He's a borderline number two wide receiver. Yep, still number three for me.

Okay. Well, Martavis Bryant's been clear to fully participate. Does anybody like Tyreek Hill better than Martavis Bryant? Yes. No. Yes. Oh, two Tyreek Hills. I love both those guys.

Okay. I don't think the public is going to take Hill over Bryant. So that's pretty interesting. Oh, you're wrong. He's way ahead of him. Hill is ahead of Bryant? Yeah, for sure. Right, because one guy has been flashier

more recently than the other. And I think we would all expect Hill to get more touches than Bryant this year. I don't think... I feel like the industry analysts... Remember we talked with Kim Ruchlisher, the fantasy football world champion. She's high on Martavis Bryant. I feel like there will be a lot of Bryant momentum. It's not much more.

It's two spots in terms of wide receiver ADP. Okay. Hill is the 22nd wide receiver. Bryant is 24th. It is 12 overall picks. So Hill is going at the end of the fourth round. Bryant is going at the end of the fifth round. It's 22 and 24?

Yes. So I've got Hill at 23 and Bryant at 25. All right. All right. Martavis Bryant, some numbers on him as he enters his third season after missing all of last year. So third season playing, fourth year in the league, I guess. Much better at home, not surprisingly.

He scored five of his six touchdowns at home in 2015. 16-game average of his 2015 stats would have been 73 catches, more than 1,100 yards, and nine touchdowns, which would have made him 12th in standard, 19th in PPR in 2015. That's Martavis Bryant. More bad news for the Colts, guys. Center Ryan Kelly was on crutches yesterday. How big of a deal would this be?

It looks like he'll miss multiple weeks. This team is cursed. With the injury. I don't think you, like, if you feel confident that he's going to be back week three, I'm not sure. I just don't bring luck back until week three. Yeah. I don't think I want him behind a patch with a defensive line.

No, not unless you're going to be in shotgun all the time with a blocker. And do you want a backup center in shotgun all the time? Well, I'm not worried so much about the snap as I am the backup center getting destroyed by a defensive tackle and then Andrew Luck falling on his shoulder and being gone. So, Dave, you said Ryan Kelly would miss weeks. Do you mean preseason weeks or a few regular season weeks? I would imagine the weeks would begin now. I don't think they're going to – I'm going to say now.

So maybe he's a question mark for week one. I just don't know enough about it. Anybody care about this story? Derek Carr has been throwing to tight end Jared Cook often in camp, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Again, I'll say the same thing I said about Cook's. New player, have to get acclimated. You're going to hear all these things.

Same thing with Tyreek Hill. They have to get him on the same page with Alex Smith as the number one receiver. It's just the nature of what these guys are doing. But couldn't the quarterbacks learn through that exercise? Oh, throwing to this player is good. Oh, they absolutely learn. And we might be really good.

Of course. Yeah, they have to. And it would just be very weird if we're in a world where Derek Carr is throwing to Jared Cook and he goes, hmm, Jared Cook, I'm going to use this guy. What else is happening in Oakland? Well, Cooper hasn't practiced. 100%. Cooper has not practiced. That's a big part of it, too.

He's got to lean on guys that are available to him. Yep. Jared Cook or Hooper? Hooper has not practiced. That's a big part of it, too. He's got to lean on guys that are available to him. Yep. Jared Cook or Hooper? Hooper. Hooper started last night. Got the first catch of the game. Very exciting. You're streaming, right?

With either of these guys? Yeah, who are they playing that week? Yeah, fine. Fair enough. Cook is at Tennessee. Cook. Cook is at Tennessee. And. Cook is at Tennessee. And Hooper's at Chicago.

I'll go Cook. Week one. I'll take Hooper. Okay, so which is more likely? Jeremy Hill is the starter for the Bengals for the first few weeks, let's say? Or Thomas Rawls is the starter for the Seahawks for the first few weeks? Can I have a boat i uh but i'm gonna say rawls i mean jeremy hill could be the starter yeah it doesn't really mean anything well i would say if jeremy hill's the starter he's getting 10 touches i don't believe

they're making jeremy hill the starter wow the bangles are. He's getting 10 touches. I don't believe they're making Jeremy Hill the starter. Wow, the Bengals are scoring 10 touchdowns? 10 touches. Well, that's the only reason he's going to get touches if they're inside the five. He's going to get the first carry of the game. All right, everybody. It's ridiculous. Sunday night, 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 o'clock Pacific, 3 o'clock Hawaiian.

3 o'clock Hawaiian. My tongue is tied today. Seahawks are at the Chargers in Los Angeles. We will see how much Rawls and L flex. Terrence West and Danny Woodhead and Rob Kelly went ahead of him, but Rawls went ahead of Jamal Williams, LeGarrette Blount, Jonathan Stewart. Then there was a little break before Adrian Peterson was drafted a running back in the eighth round. So Rawls going ahead of Williams, Blount, and Stewart. Certainly we haven't seen Rawls get drafted in the seventh round, but yeah, I guess that was Matthew Koka reading the reports, buying into it. I'm not sure that Rawls is in a better running back than Eddie Lacy,

just in terms of talent. What do you guys think about seventh round in a 12-team league for Thomas Rawls? That seems too early, but the guys you told me that he went ahead of, I mean, I don't think he should probably go ahead of Jonathan Stewart. I don't think he should probably go ahead of LeGarrette Bl't think he should probably go ahead of Jonathan Stewart. I don't think he should probably go ahead of LeGarrette Blount. He should probably go ahead of Jamal Williams. I'll take him ahead of Stewart.

I'll take him ahead of Stewart. Blount's in the same range. I'd rather have Jamal Williams. Wrap up the news and notes here. Gillis Lee, a little banged up with a hamstring injury. Corey Davis still weak to week. Demarius Randall for Green Bay. They're starting cornerback.

He left with a concussion. They had so many cornerback injuries last year. It's a bad way to start for them. And we'll do a little bit more preseason talk, and then we'll get into the draft, and then we'll read your emails here after I tell you about Indochino. Have you guys been Facebook stalking me lately by any chance, checking out my pics?

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Yeah. I agree, Adam. It really is. Thank you, Dave. We enjoyed it. All right. Any more preseason thoughts, guys? We covered the rookie running backs.

We covered the rookie quarterbacks. We covered the Redskins running backs, the Falcons offense. Anything else the listeners need to know? Did we really talk about Dalvin Cook and how, despite his numbers, I thought he looked good, but I'm concerned about his offensive line missing at least one starter, but still looking just as putrid as it did last year. Well, he had five carries for 13 yards, but the encouraging part was the four catches for 30 yards. He didn't leave the field. He was in every down back. They didn't have anybody else.

Latavius was out. Jarek McKinnon was out. A little surprising that he played that much anyway, because if he's all they have at running back and it's starting to look like that's kind of the case, then they should get anybody else in there on the field on the first preseason game. I still think if Latavius is healthy week one and McKinnon is healthy week one, they're both going to be involved in the offense. Not heavily involved.

Not as heavily as I thought they were a month ago, but I don't think that they're both just left out in the cold. Yeah. I like the catches too, but I'm scared that the offensive line is not improved at all. I'm a little worried, more worried after last night about Jay Ajayi than I was. Why? Just because this is kind of the way this preseason is shaping up for the Dolphins, losing their quarterback, possibly losing McMillan last night.

Oh, he's torn ACL out. Okay. Oh, wow. Okay. They're not too far from just turning into a really bad team. Yeah. I think they're going to disappoint. I don't see them having any chance of going to the playoffs.

They're not too far. I don't see them having any chance of going to the playoffs. Like Pouncey gets hurt tomorrow. That's huge. And obviously could happen, but it hasn't happened yet. Their defense is questionable. I'm with you, Heath. Is it really that much different than it was a year ago?

Well, they actually get their best player back, Rashad Jones. Right. And halfway through the season, they get a significant upgrade in the back end of their defense with TJ McDonald. Yeah, I don't know, man. They were not that good of a playoff team last year. I didn't buy them. And I do think that— Oh, no, they were already coming back to 8-8 at best.

I really think the Tannehill injury is underrated. I think over 16 games, he's going to be a lot better than what they throw out there this year. And, you know, I just feel like—Dave talked about the black cloud over the Ravens. I think over 16 games, he's going to be a lot better than what they throw out there this year. I just feel like Dave talked about the black cloud over the Ravens. I feel like it's been that kind of an offseason for the Dolphins lately too. I don't know how it affects Ajayi because he's their best shot at being good. They're going to give him a lot of work. But yeah, Dolphins are scary right now.

Their other running backs aren't that great. They were on display last night. They weren't that great. Right. But that's not the point, though. The point would be is that if the whole team's bad, Jai's not that good, whether he's healthy. We've talked about it before.

We've got concerns with Jordan Howard. It's hard. Even when a running back's really good, it's hard for them to carry a bad team. And I'm not saying for sure that I think the Dolphins are going to be terrible yet. I just feel like they're not that far from being bad. There are a lot of guys that, I mean, just I look at average job position that are just in bad situations. Running backs, you mean? The teams that's wrong. It's almost every rookie.

A lot of the second round running backs. Just based on average opposition, the first seven guys off the board should be on relatively competitive teams. Johnson, Bell, Elliott, McCoy, Gordon, Freeman, and Murray. Those guys should all be on competitive teams. Then this next group, until we get to Lynch, which we all agree is too high, but Howard, bad team. Ajayi could be bad team. Fournette, probably bad team.

Gurley, probably bad team. And I would think offensive lines along with that, though. And that kind of saves Howard and Ajayi. I think their offensive lines, especially the interior, should be pretty good. Which would be the same argument for the guy at 14, which is Crowell, because bad team, but good offensive line, although they didn't exactly perform well last night. It's all throughout the top 20. Even Mixon and Cook.

Huh? Even Mixon and Cook. Bad offensive lines. Mixon and Cook, bad offensive lines, teams that are probably not playoff caliber teams will be competitive, and Carlos Hyde as well. That's why I think there are so many running backs that have the potential to be in the top ten. Everywhere from the rookies to Ingram, Anderson, Perkins, Abdullah, Coleman.

Well, Coleman probably needs an injury, but Lacey, you know, even Rob Kelly. I feel like there's a big bunch at running back that I want a piece of on draft day, you know. And I missed out on it in the draft that we did yesterday. I actually wanted to talk about that, which we'll get to. I do think we need to talk about Kelvin Benjamin, guys. Two catches, 40 yards, and a touchdown. Doesn't look overweight to me. He's always going to be a big guy, but he doesn't look out of shape to me. What do you think? Are you excited about a potential Kelvin Benjamin bounce

back? Do you think he'll get the type of targets that he had his rookie year? He had 141 targets his rookie year? No. I don't think he'll get that either, and that's what he needs because he's not breaking away for long touchdowns. He is a red zone beast. Right. He could be slightly more efficient on a per-target basis, not in terms of touchdowns. Does he have a quarterback to do that?

I don't think that Cam Newton is all of a sudden a bad quarterback. Last year, we talked about the 120 target mark. He was just shy of that 118. Can he score more than seven touchdowns? I think seven is probably where I expect him to be. So last year, I think we all would consider that to be a down season, especially how it all unfolded for him. 63, 941, and 7.

He, I think, is in, for me at least, he's in this group of guys that will not have good consistent production, but at the end of the season will finish as a top 24 wide receiver. Yeah, so 2014, Benjamin's rookie year, 146 targets, and 1,000 yards and 9 touchdowns as a rookie. Very good year, but he tore his ACL, and then they000 yards and nine touchdowns as a rookie. Very good year. But he tore his ACL, and then they admitted that they brought him back too early. And I think that hindered him last year.

He just wasn't fully healthy. He was out of shape. I'm hopeful that he can be drafted maybe as a number three, right, and perform as a number two perhaps. I mean, his average opposition is going to climb a little bit just because of what happened in the preseason game. He's a top 30 wide receiver. That's kind of in standard.

And he's 30 to 35 in PPR because the catches are never going to be a huge volume for him. But right now he's going 29th. That's why I have him ranked. He's ahead of, you know, you can certainly argue these guys. He's ahead of Fitzgerald, Brandon Marshall, Dante Moncrief, Jameson Crowder, Willie Sneed, Deshaun Jackson, Eric Decker, Pierre Garcon. There's Cameron Meredith. There's a handful of guys I'm sure we would all take over.

Calvin Benjamin there. And he's behind some guys I'm sure we would have him ahead of. Stephon Diggs, Emmanuel Sanders, Golden Tate, Julian Edelman. That's the group going right in front of him. All right, so he's in that mix. That's Kelvin Benjamin. Any other preseason thoughts, guys? I just wanted to mention Deontay Foreman looked good as he tries to be

Lamar Miller's handcuff. Alfred Blue also looked good. Yeah, they both looked okay, and we know that the Texans want to try and take touches off of Lamar Miller. And as long as one or both of these guys look the part of running back who can take some touches off of Lamar Miller, I think the coaches will do it, and they'll feel confident doing it. And it makes me just a little more nervous about Lamar Miller,

and I don't think there's any way he's getting close to the touches he had last year. I think he'll get the touches he had last year, but over 16 games. Not over 13. The Texans played without their left tackle, Dwayne Brown, who wants a new contract. And their first-team offense did not look very good at all. Surprise, surprise. Jonathan Williams looked good, if you're looking at the backup. But he also hurt his hamstring, unfortunately.

He did say it was a minor injury, and he could have come back if he had to. Carson Wentz, four for four, 56 yards and a touchdown. That was nice. Yay. Oh, Sammy Watkins. Sammy Watkins, four catches for 39 yards. Tyrod Taylor really looking at him.

Give me all the Sammy Watkins I can take. Yeah, he looked – I mean, forget how he looked. It's the fact that they were going to him a lot. And Tyrod just said, hey, let's get this going. Absolutely. I thought Alvin Kamara looked pretty good. Four carries for 35 yards. No Ingram, no Peterson.

But they used him as a feature back. He's a small guy. And Kamara, another rookie to keep an eye on. Not that you have to draft him, but there you go. That's all I got. Anything else? No. Okay.

Let's get to the draft. But yesterday, I told you all about Xfinity X1. I hope you went to the website to check it out. That's Xfinity.com slash X1. Xfinity.com slash X1. This is a way to make your life better on Sundays and make fantasy football more fun. Because you're watching TV. You're using Xfinity X1.

You have an X1 voice remote. You tell the remote to put your fantasy score're watching TV. You're using Xfinity X1. You have an X1 voice remote. You tell the remote to put your fantasy score on your TV. Right there, you see your CBS Sports Fantasy matchup live, and you're also getting weekly projections and roster trends, so you don't have to worry about missing any game action while you check your scores. Keep track of everything all on the same screen with Xfinity X1. It's very cool. I really look forward to using this. I know it's a different kind of concept. I've really seen anything like this before, but I'm very excited for it.

Xfinity X1. If you want to learn more, go to Xfinity.com slash X1. That's Xfinity.com slash X1. And speaking of Comcast, we have a pretty cool announcement. Should we make the announcement now? August 31st. come to Philadelphia.

We're going to be doing a live podcast and a Q&A and a meet and greet. Come out and meet us at Xfinity Live. It's an awesome-looking restaurant in Philadelphia, Xfinity Live. Check it out. We'll be there doing our live show, and the rest of the audience will be able to hear it on Friday. But come join us, and it should be a lot of fun. We've done these before, and they're actually really cool. So can't wait.

I've never been to Philadelphia, actually. Can't wait for that. You've never been to Philadelphia? Should I wear my backup jersey? I've never been to Philadelphia. You've never? Neither of you? Nope.

No, no, no. Have not. It's the birthplace of cheesesteaks. Yeah, it is. I assume, from what I've heard, people are going to come to the podcast just to boo us before we start. Well, me, because I'm going to wear my backup. No, no, no.

They're going to throw batteries at you. Yeah, definitely. Santa Claus is coming to the event. Well, yeah, you're dressing up as Santa Claus. They haven't told you. I would do it. That would be funny. I would.

Is that a bad idea? That would be great. In August? Yeah, you won't sweat at all. Am I not going to sweat like crazy no matter how I'm dressed? Might as well go full Santa. Okay, guys. So we talk about our draft.

12 teams. Standard scoring. Quarterback, two running back, two receiver, tight end, flex, kicker defense. So that's pretty much what we always do. 15 rounds. Not what we always do. What we often do. This was a 15-round draft.

And I took Ezekiel Elliott third overall. So, you know, good thing. Not worried at all. Only a balk. I wasn't yesterday. I figured two-game suspension. But a lot of what I was going to talk about involves a two-game suspension for Ezekiel Elliott, so I probably won't talk about that. But okay, I had the third pick. We'll go

in order. And I just wanted you guys to kind of talk about what you learned from the draft and what advice you can give. What I was going to say was that picking Ezekiel Elliott and then my second round pick was DeMarco Murray. I don't really like those two as a pair because if you get Murray, you have to invest in Derrick Henry pretty early. You don't have to, but a lot of people will. And that sort of limits your ability to fill in for Ezekiel Elliott when he is suspended because then you're investing a lot in running backs early, if that makes sense. Is that really such a bad thing to lock up those two backfields? You mean if you take McFadden late? Yeah.

So the thing about McFadden is that I would clearly trust Ezekiel Elliott in any matchup. Do you trust Aaron McFadden with their first two games being against the Giants and then at Denver? Well, I wouldn't expect 15-plus fantasy points, but I would probably expect him to be in that low-end number two range. I guess the question would be, would you rather start Darren McFadden against the Giants or Jacquez Rogers against the Dolphins? Jacquez, and I did draft Jacquez Rogers as the Murray and Zeke owner,

so that's another option you could do. All right, the other thing I did, and this kind of relates to our tight end preview. So I took Ezekiel Elliott. Then I took DeMarco Murray because Gronkowski went two picks earlier to Jamie. That's who I wanted. Then I took Sammy Watkins. My fourth round pick was Martavis Bryant. So I start my team with two running backs, two receivers. Zeke, Murray, Watkins, Martavis Bryant. I took Jimmy Graham in round five. It was kind of an interesting pick for me. If I could do it again, I probably would wait. And look, I had the third pick, so that's a pretty long wait for my next pick in round six. I probably would have waited and taken Tyler Eifert in round six instead of Jimmy Graham in round five because in between Graham and then my next pick in round six, which was John Brown,

10 running backs, pretty much all of them that I want went off the board. Ingram, Perkins, Anderson, Abdullah, Coleman, not sure I want Coleman, but Coleman, Spencer Ware, not sure I want him, Lacey, Gore, Doug Martin, Kareem Hunt. A lot of those guys, at least seven of them, went in between my fifth round pick and my sixth round pick. So that is the group of running backs that I definitely want at least one of, and I missed all of it because I took the tight end early, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's just something that you need to be aware of if you take a tight end early-ish,

which was round five for me. And then I basically waited on quarterback after that. Once that happened, I missed those running backs, and I took a tight end in the fifth round. I said, no, I have to wait on quarterback. And two of my very, very last picks were Dak Prescott and Carson Palmer. I will probably start Palmer early in the season when Dak's schedule is tough, and I'll probably transition to Dak at some point.

So I think that worked out fine for me, waiting on quarterback, waiting a really long time. And then I did the Acer strategy as well, because I took John Brown in the sixth round. I took J.J. Nelson in round 11. So those are just some of the things that I wanted to talk about. That's my number three receiver, John Brown. Paired him with J.J. Nelson five rounds later.

I think that's a smart move. And then if you feel like, oh my gosh, I missed a whole bunch of running backs. What do I do now? Easy decision to wait on quarterback at that point and just take as many running backs as you can. And for me, it was Jacquez Rogers. It was Derek Henry. It was, who else did I take? Darren McFadden to back up. Yeah, to back up Zeke. And there you go. And that's all I have to say. So who had the pick after me? That was Jamie, right? Jamie had the

fifth pick? I did want to ask you one thing about your Jimmy Graham in the fifth round. Yeah, sure. Because you took Jimmy Graham one pick before Greg Olson. Yes, yes. I like Graham better than Olson. I think more upside and similar – what? No. Similar age.

Olson's clearly safer. Not that similar of an age, right? Graham's going to turn 31 in like a month or two. And Olson? Olson is 32. He's an old 32. He's an old 32 he's an old 32 okay but okay you could have had mark ingram with that fifth round pick you took rogers in the eighth urts was still there rudolph was still there right right yeah he was still there that's why i would have rather taken a running

back instead of graham right and taken eifert or urtz or Rudolph or something like that. But I guess I just didn't expect all of those running backs to go, all those 10 running backs off the board before my next pick. The other thing is Mike Gillisley went with the second pick of round five, and I would have taken him over Graham in a heartbeat with the third pick of round five had he been there. But Adam, don't you take any satisfaction in knowing that you've got two of the league's best run games locked up? Yeah, it's kind of interesting.

If everything plays out like last year, I mean, again, at the time I was thinking two-game suspension for Zeke. Zeke and Murray, and with having McFadden and Henry, it turned out to be kind of interesting. And I have Jaquis to fill in the blanks in the meanwhile, or McFadden. There's also a potential scenario of if Henry gets more work, where you could play both Murray and Henry. Yeah, that I don't see being something that I'm interested in. No, not every week, but there could be some weeks during the season where there's a key injury to the Colts.

That's not going to be a great run defense. Oh, and guess who the Titans play at home the week the Cowboys are on by? Colts? Mm-hmm. Yeah, I don't know. You could theoretically, the week that you don't have any Cowboys, you just start both your Titans. Did you just uncover a potential strategy?

You know, locking up the Cowboys and the Titans backfield is actually, I guess, now that I think about it, not the worst strategy in the world. No, it's excellent. Now, again, it's going to be tough once – if there is a six-game suspension for Elliott because then you're talking about Elliott, let's say, in the third round. McFadden is going to creep into the fifth or sixth round if he's getting six games. Right. I don't have that much faith in McFadden. I think he might be kind of Right. I don't have that much faith in McFadden. I think he might be kind of done. I don't know.

There could be a sleeper there, by the way. Who's that? Rod Smith. Rod Smith. Okay. All right. I'm done. I don't want to monopolize the show.

So, Jamie, you had the fifth pick. Tell me about your team and some of the takeaways you had. The first two picks were easy. Julio at five, Gronk in round two. You know, two players who can easily finish top two with their respective positions. Round three was easy as well. Lamar Miller, I think, is still worth taking in the third round.

I agree with Dave's points that there could be a downturn for him because of some other guys taking work, but it's hard to overlook what he should be able to do with a top 36 overall pick. And then it was kind of just letting the draft unfold. I think I took Ingram in round four. No. No, I'm sorry. Golden Tate in round four.

He's a top 20 receiver for me. Ingram in round five. I'm happy with how all that unfolded. And then just to stop there, I made a conscious decision that, oh, my God, now I have to take Adrian Peterson. But it was letting it fall to the right spot. And like you said, it was a little bit of an early run on running backs, I thought. They kind of went off the board early. I didn't want to take Peterson in round eight, but he was the best guy on the board for me.

So that's what I did. I think five and eight is a good enough distance between the two of those guys, but I would like to get Peterson later. Clearly, that's not going to happen in most formats. James McCrowder in round six was an easy choice for me, and then Danny Woodhead in round seven. I knew that when I took Woodhead, I wasn't going to have the chance to get Terrence West. He went right the next pick after. Okay. So yeah, you mentioned the running back run. That was a little bit earlier. And I think that's what screwed me too. I just talked about my rounds five and six picks. Because when you look at average draft position on Fantasy Pros, and pretty soon we'll just start referencing on CBSSports.com as more and more drafts take

place, the average draft position of some of those running backs we like, like Perkins and Abdullah, we don't love them, but we like them at their ADP. They're going later than what we saw in this draft, and I think the difference is we don't take quarterbacks. Our CBS people, quarterbacks fall really far in our leagues. That's not going to happen necessarily in your league, so you'll be able to get better running back value. It hurt me, and I guess it hurt Jamie a little bit. His first two picks were Julio Jones and Rob Gronkowski. Your running backs,

Jamie, are Lamar Miller, Mark Ingram, Adrian Peterson, Danny Woodhead, and Jonathan Williams? Yep. And Jonathan Williams. And one thing also, I had the intention of Deontay Foreman. He went right after I took Jonathan Williams in the 10th round. I had the intention of Deontay Foreman. He went right after I took Jonathan Williams in the 10th round.

I thought I could still get him at the middle of the 11th round. The guy who took him, George Maselli, sits right behind me. So when he drafted him, I said, oh, George, what did you do? He's like, you got to reach sometimes. Yeah, I guess. All right, so are you okay with those running backs? Miller, Ingram, Peterson, Woodhedge, and Jonathan Williams? Yeah, I mean, it's a low-end number one guy in Miller.

It's a solid number two guy in Ingram with his backup. It's a solid number three guy with Woodhedge in a standard league. And then it's a shot in the dark at somebody that if McCoy goes down, Jonathan Williams could potentially be very good. So it's not my in the dark at somebody that if mccoy goes down jonathan williams could potentially be very good so it's not my favorite group that i've drafted but it's certainly a serviceable group and i'll i'll make it work when i have julio and gronk and tate and crowder to go with it love your azer strategy of of jameson crowder and josh doxon love it yeah you there was a little mini run on wide receivers in round nine that I was hoping to get one of Cameron Meredith, Eric Decker, Jeremy Macklin as a fourth receiver.

You took Decker. I forget who else took the other two guys, but that was a little frustrating also. I wanted a better fourth receiver than what I have. So then let's talk about these late round receivers. Kenny Galladay of Detroit, a rookie, Cooper Cup of the Rams. Yeah, all right. Put these guys on your radar. They're having good camps. Kenny Galladay of Detroit, a rookie, Cooper Cupp of the Rams. Yeah, all right. Put these guys on your radar. They're having good camps, Kenny Galladay and Cooper Cupp.

Galladay is more of a touchdown. I think will be more of a touchdown-dependent fantasy option for your team. Cupp will be more of a reception hog, but we've said it with several different teams so far. We really haven't talked about the Rams a lot. The Jets with Robbie Anderson, now with his situation because of Anunua, the 49ers we've talked about a lot with Pierre Garçon. There are so many positive reports coming out of Los Angeles about Cup.

And think about what their receiving core is. Tavon Austin, we kind of know what that experiment has been. Robert Woods is a guy they signed. He's never been really a dynamic player. Maybe he will be as the number one guy though you know in terms of title for the rams but uh this guy according to our colleague pete priscoe is catching everything he's running every route you know that's one thing i asked pete um is he just lining up as a slot guy or is he moving all over he said he's played

all three positions so he he said he knows how to get open and knows how to catch the ball and he put up you want to talk about numbers in college, this kid's stats are just ridiculous. So it's a situation where he could play the Pierre Garçon role in Sean McVay's offense, and that could be 120-plus targets. It could be 70-plus receptions. Touchdowns will be minimal, but he could challenge for 1,000 yards. And I think that's something you definitely want to put on your radar for sure. All right, let's go to Dave's team.

Dave had the seventh pick. I had the third. Jamie had the fifth. Dave had the seventh pick in this draft. It was a standard scoring league. And you took Melvin Gordon over A.J. Green and Mike Evans. What would your pick have been, assuming the big three of each running back and wide receiver are off the board?

At seven, you took Gordon in the standard scoring league. What would your pick have been in PPR? It would have been a receiver. I think it would have been Evans. Okay. All right, tell me about your team, Dave. Tell me what you learned. Melvin Gordon is in non-PPR formats,

my slam dunk at seven. I'm convinced that he will be another heavy workload, heavy touchdown running back in a good progressive offense with the Chargers. And then in round two, I saw Michael Thomas there. I knew wide receiver was going to dry up. Let's put it this way. I thought wide receiver was going to dry up pretty fast,

and Thomas is one of the ones that I consider to be elite, the number one guy in New Orleans. So he was a no-brainer from there. Started my draft with one running back, one wide receiver. Like I've been saying all along, I think that's what is a good fallback plan for everybody, maybe a good basic plan for everybody. Round three, Terrell Pryor was on the board. He's kind of my target in round three in just about every league, so getting him was no problem.

And then in round four was interesting. I took Alshon Jeffrey. I thought he was the best available player. Took him over some running backs. I took him over McCaffrey, Hyde. Ingram was there. Gilleslie was there. Maybe if Gilleslie wasn't hurt and he had actually been playing with the starters,

I would have felt better about taking him at that point. But because Gilleslie hasn't been practicing much, I froze. And I took Jeffrey, who also hasn't been practicing, but at least at receiver, you get the idea that he's safe. So now the pressure was on to take a running back in round five. I was nervous that none that I would like would make it back to me. C.J. Anderson was there. It's the first time I've drafted him, I think, all offseason.

And I don't mind him at 55th overall. You start your team with Melvin Gordon, then three receivers, Michael Thomas, Pryor, Alshon Jeffrey. Fifth round, you take C.J. Anderson. So you now have two running backs and three receivers. I feel like I'm evolving as a human being, Adam. Oh, okay. And I'm running away from the old school running back heavy type of mentality. And I'm now kind of leaning toward getting at least one good running back

early but not pushing it with running back through those first five picks of mine i think that the the depth in the middle rounds at running back is good this year that's been my take is that what you're seeing too yeah yeah and and i'm also starting to get especially now after yesterday getting a little bit more concerned about the hype that's out there with some of these rookies Yeah, yeah, and I'm also starting to get, especially now after yesterday, getting a little bit more concerned about the hype that's out there with some of these rookies and some of these unproven running backs and just uncertainty abound at that position in those middle rounds. So with C.J. Anderson, I know he's the starter. As long as he's healthy, he'll be good,

and I took a handcuff for him with my last pick, as you'll hear in a minute. Kareem Hunt is a rookie running back that I'm excited about. I took him in round six. So I did get three running backs with my first six picks, but I didn't get four, which I've done before. Edelman fell to me. I don't know if this is falling anymore. 79th overall. It's in a standard league now.

At this point in time, I realized that Andrew Luck hadn't been picked. And I'm always intrigued to draft Luck as late as I think I can get him. So I'm up in round eight. It's 90th overall. Luck is still on the board. I need a tight end. The tight ends left on the board were Rudolph, Ertz, and Henry. That's how I have them ranked.

I was strongly considering one of them, but I knew that when my pick came back to me in round nine, I thought there was a good chance that luck would be gone. And I checked the teams, and there were a lot of teams, because what was I picking, seven? The teams in the one through six slots, all but one had a tight end already. So I played the odds, and i assumed that one of those three tight ends that i named rudolph ertz henry would make it back to me at 103rd overall and i

took andrew luck knowing that i would have to take another quarterback soon so i did it took luck at 90th overall took the nesty plunge and sure enough comes back to me at 103 only zach ertz was gone from that list so i took kyle rudolph in round nine i thought that was a really good value for my team round 10 was big ben then i went running back heavy with uh three of my last five picks theo riddick james don't call me john connor and d'angelo henderson i took before his big touchdown running yeah so you took him to back up cj anderson yeah well i mean that's the reason why but you didn't there have been good reports His big touchdown run against Struthers. So you took him to back up C.J. Anderson. Yeah, well, I mean, that's the reason why.

There have been good reports about him, and he impressed me from the film that I saw when he was in college. And I think he'll be a good contributor for the Broncos. And look, if C.J. Anderson goes down, do you really think Jamal Charles is going to handle 25 touches a game? No, so that's D'Angelo Henderson you took. You didn't take Brandon Oliver for Melvin Gordon. Nope. It's weird that you drafted John Connor instead of – not weird, but interesting that you drafted John Connor. Well, it would be weird if I drafted John Connor unless we were playing in a league where we were worried about Skynet. James Connor.

Is John Connor a Christmas running back? James Connor instead of the handcuff to-own player, Melvin Gordon, instead of Brandon Oliver, you know? Sid Skynet in all formats. Sid Skynet, yes. And the Galleria. Okay, so Heath, let's go to you to finish up here. We'll try to read some emails.

The show went a little longer than I expected. Heath always has a late pick. He had the 11th pick in the Standard Scoring League. I'm glad somebody else recognizes this, too. Always, yeah. What did you take away from this draft? Devontae Freeman pick was easy. I had a really tough decision with my second round choice, though.

Because I took Freeman thinking either Jordy or Cooper will fall to me in the second. I'll just take them. They didn't. I've downgraded T.Y. Hilton. So my next highest ranked player was demarco murray i don't think i've started running back running back once this entire season and i was all ready to do it and excited to see how it worked and then i started thinking if i start with davante freeman and demarco murray i going to have to take Tevin Coleman and Derek Henry.

I'm going to have four running backs in my first seven picks, and they're all going to be out of two backfields. But again, is that such a bad thing? I think it is. I think it is. I did not want to do that, so I took Des Bryant instead. I like him in standard.

I think he'll still score touchdowns, even if the target volume is down a little bit because the passing volume is down a little bit. Maybe an Ezekiel Elliott suspension would help him. It's possible they throw the ball a little bit more. Yeah, maybe. So I had running back wide receiver, again, as usual, boring. End of the 3-4 turn, I was shocked in the standard league

to see Ty Montgomery go before my third round pick. I thought I might get him with my fourth round pick. Isaiah Crowell was gone. Lamar Miller was gone. So I went wide receiver, wide receiver with Keenan Allen and Michael Crabtree. All right. So we all were somewhat patient with running back in this draft.

Yeah, but it didn't pay off very well because then in the fifth round, just like you talked about. Can I just ask something? Because Dave did this in, I think it was our 12-team PPR, mock draft or half-point PPR. Do you find, though, that with the receivers that you got, if you passed on Dez, let's say it wasn't Murray, just because of the scenario you're talking about.

Right. So let's say it was Ajayi or Howard or whoever, just to avoid that. And certainly you could argue the merits of murray versus those guys but right there may not be much of a drop-off then just going with those two receivers that you got don't you think your team could have been a little bit better yes the problem i have and we just talked about it with the situations all these guys are in i don't really like the second round running backs very much with jordan howard like the next three running backs taken were Ajay, Jordan Howard, Leonard Fournette. I don't really like taking those guys at the beginning of the second round.

So that's my problem. Murray is the one out of that group that I feel pretty comfortable with, but the Freeman-Murray handcuff situation just made me uncomfortable. But yes, I do agree. After getting Keenan Allen and Michael Crabtree three-four turn, I wish that I had two running backs. I almost think, though, you can

put Tevin Coleman to the side. Because as much as he is, yes, the handcuff, he's going to go at such a high price that it's not worth trying. I don't... Henry would be more of a target for me just because of Murray's scenario.

Right. Of being a little older. He's banged up again. I would not have taken Coleman where I did, which was the end of round five, if it wasn't for the fact, and this is unusual in our drafts, I think, but Ingram, Perkins, C.J. Anderson, Gilleslie all went before my fifth round pick. I expected one of those guys to be there. When none of those guys were there, I would rather have Tevin.

Even if I didn't have Devontae Freeman, I'd rather have Tevin Coleman than Spencer Wood. Yeah, he's in that range. Absolutely. Than Eddie Lacy, for sure. Sure. Than Doug Martin. So I took Coleman at the end of the fifth, and then I just started stockpiling old, boring running backs.

Got Frank Gore and LeGarrette Blount in the sixth and seventh. Our quarterback situation in our mock draft is getting a little bit silly. Yeah, I'm tired of drafting with you guys. We need to just start forcing ourselves to take quarterbacks earlier so that our mocks seem a little bit more realistic, maybe. Let's do a mock where we all take quarterbacks. But actually, though, if there was one, you're picking the one that actually did it. Well, three of them did, yes.

We had the three guys go. But I think you're going to start to see that, though. I don't think we'll see Russell Wilson in the eighth very often. No, but probably the fifth or sixth. Yes, that'd be fine. If he'd gone two rounds earlier, I'd feel a little...

But I'd got Russell Wilson in the eighth, so yay. Zach Ertz, or Hunter Henry, actually, I took at the very end of the ninth round. He was the last tight end that I was really hoping I would get. Do you like him better than Ebron? In standard, yes. I think he'll score more touchdowns.

In PPR, I'd rather have Ebron. Understood. Your team's good. I'm sorry to cut you off. You've got Russell Wilson. You've got Devontae Freeman, Dez Bryant, Keenan Allen, Michael Crabtree, Hunter Henry at tight end, Gostkowski, and the Patriots' DST. The only thing you need is an RB2 to step up out of Tevin Coleman, LeGarabunt, Frank Gore, and Giovanni Bernard. That's it, right?

I mean, you feel pretty good if one of those guys turns out to be solid. Right. Yeah, and I would guess that it's just going to be a matchup-dependent thing where you're streaming one of them each week. Yeah, I mean, look, Frank Gore didn't play very well last year, but he was the number 12 running back in this format. Like, what do you really need to be the number 24 running back on a per-game basis? Six and a half fantasy points in a standard league? Right, right. Yeah, not much. You'd get that from Gore or Blunt, in theory. Right.

You know what? When we do the running backs preview, we really need to talk more, because I'm just throughout this podcast, I have sort of opened up my mind a little bit. I won't say changed it to the idea of locking up the Falcons' backfield, locking up the changed it to the idea of locking up the Falcons backfield, locking up the Cowboys backfield, locking up the Titans backfield. It's just that you know you're in a good situation. Teams that are going to run the ball, teams that are going to score points.

I mean, the Titans won't be what the Falcons are, but you know they're going to have a good running game. It's kind of interesting to me, and I look forward to talking about that more next week. Let's read some emails to finish the show and send people off to their weekend at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com, fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Eric in Maryland, could you spend some time talking about the basic nuts and bolts of what you do during a draft? Do you have spreadsheets, multiple screens next to you? How do you cross-check your own rankings with average draft position? Let's just have one person answer this. Dave, what's your draft day routine?

Typically, I just have my rankings open, and when players are picked, I cross them off. That's it? The process is done already with the rankings. The cross-checking with ADP and all the research, that's why you rank players. That's what a ranking is for. I don't rank them and then do the research and then why you rank players yeah that that's what a ranking is for i don't rank them and then do the research and then go into my draft but if you if you're if you're drafting on cbs like you can sort the draft room by the rankings sure of any analyst you want or by projections right but you can also just do the rankings on your own scratch off the names on

your own and then when it's time to pick the player that you want to take, you just find them in the draft room and then you click draft. I like having ADP open in another tab as well just to reference. It's not something that you should live and die by. You could do that in the draft room also. Oh, that's right. You can. I like keeping the roster grid handy, especially since I'm usually picking 10th or 11th and seeing who those two guys between my next two picks

have. So there's no reason to take a quarterback. The Russell Wilson thing was a good example. I came up into the seventh round like, how is Russell Wilson still there? I'm going to take him. No, Chris already has a quarterback. He's not going to take a quarterback. I'll wait. Right.

This is from Joe. Dear Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Donald, Scott White actually posted a very interesting story about the DuckTales theme song. I believe there's an article about it in Vanity Fair. So, yeah, those are ducks. I lost a bet, and I have to pick a kicker in the first round. PPR League. Who would you pick, and then what should I go after the next few rounds?

I mean, take one of the best ones, Tucker, Gostkowski, and then just cross your fingers that you don't lose again. Yeah, I'd go Tucker, and I would probably focus the rest of my draft more on upside than normal because you've got ground to make up. That's a tough break. Can you trade out of the first round? Let's go forward. Let's go forward.

From Arabi, who are the highest upside running back handcuffs available? Highest upside running back handcuffs available. Jamie? I would say Derrick Henry. Tevin Coleman, if you want to put him in that category. I think, though, it's the – John. Sure.

Connor, if there's another injury to him. To Le'Veon Bell. Come with me if you want to dominate your league. It's hard to call these guys handcuffs because I think they're still competing for the number one job, though. But Jamal Williams, Kareem Hunt, those two guys could be significant difference makers for your team this year. John Connor is a damn fullback, FYI. He was. Yeah, he was.

So give me that at least all right last one is from taylor in a southern california city that recently lost its nfl franchise beautiful weather at least this is a big time listener he says hey vick ryan benny agbayani and prince of muka maka maka maka maka as a wildlife biologist and avid fantasy player, please don't let Heath eat crow. First and foremost, you would be in federal violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. And these birds are members of the Corvid family along with Jays and Ravens and are some of the smartest birds on the planet being able to solve puzzles on the level of a young teenager. Oh, my God. You're saying my son is as smart as a crow?

Yeah, he's in the Corvid family. The question is, how do you feel about draft wizards and apps that are out there and people are using during their draft that basically draft for you? Do you consider this cheating? We're going to have to weigh this because we've got one person saying, don't eat crow, and I did some research to see if it would kill me, and it turns out it can be a benefit in some areas as well. I don't even know where you go to buy crow. I guess you can.

I don't know. But it can boost your drive in some areas. I'm just going to make a really spicy chicken and call it crow. And when I say I'm going to make it, I mean somebody else. I've never even seen these apps in Wizards. Oh, they're out there. Yeah, I've – yes. How about the CBS Sports Fantasy app?

You can just waltz into your draft, open up our app, get our rankings, and draft. Is that the same thing though? All right, Heath, why don't you weigh in on this here? I do use the Football Guys Draft Dominator. I think there's a benefit to it. What I would tell you is if you're going to use one of those try to use one where you can customize the projections so you don't necessarily have to use somebody else's work you can go in and put your own numbers in the benefit is that you can

go through and especially on slow drafts you're in the third round and you want to say who's going to be available for me in the fourth round? It will give you a guess based on ADP and expected draft position and the players on their roster what players are going to be taken in the next two rounds. And then you can better choose who you're going to pick. Oh, man, I don't like it. I do not like it. If you use that, that's very cool. I'm not going to diss the app.

That's very cool. Very cool technology. If we were drafting and you used that, I would sort of feel like you were cheating. Not me. No? You're cool with that? I completely disagree. All's fair in love and war.

Okay. We're talking about fantasy football here. Yeah, but do your own work. This is the ultimate in competition. Do your own work, for goodness sake. Well, maybe some people would say that, but I want to win the damn league. Matthew Stafford getting medical attention after hurting his leg in practice. Great.

Have a great weekend. On that note, we'll talk to you all on Monday. Look for me at the Giants-Steelers game. Can't wait. See you all later. Thank you to Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Thank you all for listening. And until Monday, I'm Adam Azer.

Bye. Bye. Bye.