Fantasy Football Today - 08/16: Busts! Plus Preseason Thoughts and Regulators (Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: August 16, 2019

We've got some seriously hot takes on today's show as different analysts make bust cases (2:15) for Mark Ingram, Melvin Gordon and David Johnson. Should we be freaking out about ARI's offensive ineptitude in the preseason? Then let's do some player comparisons (10:10) for Sam Darnold vs. Kyler Murray, Nick Chubb vs. David Johnson, Miles Sanders vs. Tarik Cohen and more ... News and notes (21:00) as Curtis Samuel and Todd Gurley get more good press and the second tier of WRs takes another hit. Then we read your emails (32:00) about sneaky DSTs to daft, when to draft Tony Pollard, if it's OK to draft three players from the same NFL team and more ... Summing up last night's preseason performances (37:50) and then getting into our 2019 busts (43:30), Fantasy Regulators (54:50) and your Apple Podcast questions (1:02:00) ... Your emails at [e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. Here we go! Email us at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Here we go! It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Let's go! Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Well, are Josh Jacobs and Miles Sanders on the rise?

Is Kyler Murray, you know, a legit NFL quarterback? We've got some questions to answer here. Just kidding. Don't be too harsh now on Kyler Murray. By the way, who are this year's busts? That's the topic for today's show. And who's going to do some regulating at the end of today's show? Hopefully all of us.

But certainly Ben Gretsch and I will be doing that. Ben is here. What's up, Ben Gretsch? Welcome to the Friday Show. Happy Friday. Good morning. Yeah, casual Friday. I got the nice button-down and the backwards hat.

I'm feeling pretty good. Glad to be back on. Button-down and backwards hat. I'm very casual today. I'm just simply wearing a t-shirt. You should be watching us on CBS All Access. Sign up for that. You can watch our full show or go to youtube.com slash fantasyfootball today.

Dave Richard andath cummings are here good morning guys yeah i i also have the button down jeans shoes adam didn't say are you wearing all adam said was he was wearing a shirt so did you just say you're wearing button fly jeans button down jeans button down shirt but none i didn't say shirt jeans i'm sorry you need me to be so literal this morning i thought you're wearing buttonfly jeans i i look forward to reviewing professional football games that are done exhibition style that don't count they did not count last night but i'm just being literal i am overreacting oh yeah you're ready to over admitting to over hot take canon is, and I'm ready to overreact. Okay.

So I think it's probably going to be about the Cardinals. So I'm looking forward to that. We're going to do some player comparisons now. It would be weird if it was the Jaguars. Yeah, what a useless game that was. Who is the biggest bust that you're, you know, if you had to highlight one bust, we're going to get to more of them later in the show. Ben, I'm going to start with you,

and I think you're going to go... No, you know what? You've given the Le'Veon Bell bust take before on this show. You'll give it again later. You said while we were doing our mic check that Mark Ingram is a bust for you. Well, I cannot stop getting excited about Mark Ingram, so let's start with that, Ben. Mark Ingram, a bust for you.

Yeah, I mean, I've been writing a lot lately about how the highest value touches for running backs are essentially all plays inside the 10-yard line, including rush attempts and then all receptions, and that rush attempts outside the 10-yard line are not very valuable. After Lamar Jackson took over last year, he didn't throw to the running backs a ton we see that a lot with running quarterbacks instead of the dump offs they take off and scramble um and he also took some high value touches with some some rush attempts in close ingram is going for the team that has the bet like is absolutely the best in the league at generating those two types of high value touches they give a lot of red zone work to the running backs they throw a ton of passes to their running backs.

And now he's moving to a team with a Russian quarterback who's probably not going to throw a lot of passes. Maybe I definitely is not going to generate as many scoring opportunities. And also has had their starting running back usurped the last three years. So not a situation that I'm a big fan of for him. Where you drafting him ben i'm pretty much not drafting him every draft i'm in he goes like 15 running backs before where i have him ranked i for me he is is a guy that just doesn't have the upside i think he's going to be a little bit more of a committee and i think his offensive situation is significantly worse for running back production. So for me, he's way down compared to where he goes. Okay.

I mean, it's really interesting. But what about the, you know, look what Gus Edwards did argument? Because Gus was really good. Yeah, I mean, Alex Collins was the fifth round pick last year, right? And the year before it was— No, I mean, with Lamar Jackson, Gus Edwards got big time work. No, no, yeah. I mean, running quarterback certainly helped the rushing efficiency of running backs.

That's definitely been shown. And I think Mark Ingram will have strong rushing efficiency. I just think a lot of that will be these low-value rush attempts outside the green zone or the red zone or whatever you want to say. I'm sure he'll get some rushing touchdowns. I just don't think he's going to get anywhere near the receiving upside that he used to have in New Orleans. I know he has to pass catching chops, but I just don't think he'll get enough of that,

especially with justice Hill there. And I, you know, I think he'll, he'll put up lines like Gus Edwards put up, which frankly weren't that great for fantasy. I mean, unless he scored because he wasn't catching any passes,

it'd be like 60, 70 rushing yards. Cause they do still split some of the touches. He can be a good, efficient runner and still not a great fantasy running back. I kind of agree with this take in PPR leagues. I've got him ranked at the top 24 running back in non-PPR. I don't have too big of a problem with an ADP

at the end of the fourth start of the fifth round in that format. In PPR, a lot of times we see him go in the same spot, and I think it's much more difficult to stomach that cost in that format. All right. I've been seeing Ingram going early in the fourth round, after Josh Jacobs, Marlon Mack, early fourth round, maybe before Derrick Henry, but also before the Tevin Coleman, James White, Sonny Michel group.

So I guess that's a little early for you guys. Dave, who's a bust you want to highlight? I want to highlight Melvin Coleman, James White, Sony Michelle group. So I guess that's a little early for you guys. Dave, who's a bust you want to highlight? I want to highlight Melvin Gordon because as long as he's out, he's going to be a frickin' anvil on your fantasy team. He's not going to do anything. Sounds like he's ready to sit out regular season games unless the Chargers up their offer.

I don't think the Chargers are going to up their offer. I'm not drafting Melvin Gordon. I'm worried about him just deciding, you know what? I'm going to chill out. I'm not going to play this year. I'm going to follow Le'Veon Bell's example, and he's going to be a waste of a draft pick almost no matter where you take him. That's how nervous I'm getting about him at this point.

Would you take Melvin Gordon or Mark Ingram? Ingram. He's going to play. I think I'd rather have Melvin. You Mark Ingram? Ingram. He's going to play. I think I'd rather have Melvin. You'd rather have the hope of Melvin. Yeah. I don't... I think worst-case scenario is...

And if you take Melvin Gordon in the fourth round and worst-case scenario happens, it's going to be very bad. Worst-case scenario, he sits out the first half of the year. Oh, I think there's a worse scenario. I don't because then his contract doesn't toll and he's back in the same position next year. He can't make any money. But if he thinks

that he's going to make money either way by holding out, he's just... But he can't. It's not Le'Veon Bell. He cannot sit out all year and make money. Look, I obviously, I agree. That's the rule. But who knows what he's thinking should he should show up before week one I'm nervous that he's not gonna throw in the towel on this and that he really is gonna sit up

and even when he does come back how many times have we seen a running back miss all of training camp miss all the preseason come back on the field they're not ready to play they suffer a nagging injury their season gets thrown for a loop and they're not who they usually are. They're a shell of their former self. So it just makes me nervous to take, even in the scenario that you're painting Heath, I don't know if I want to even deal with the headache then. And then if I draft marking or if I draft Melvin Gordon early, does it force myself to spend round six on Austin Eckler? Does it force me to get Justin Jackson later on? I think that's the easier plan is to go and get Jackson just in case

Melvin Gordon's out because one of those two guys is going to play a decent amount each week for the Chargers. I'm just very hesitant to go with a running back who's gotten beat up in the past, not participating with his team in camp, not being in football shape. He's clearly in good shape. The Instagram videos that he's released have shown that he's in good shape, but I'm having just a hard time buying into Melvin Ingram at just about any cost. Melvin Gordon. Yeah.

Heath, who's your boss? Melvin Gordon. I said Melvin Ingram, didn't I? You did. I've got Mark Ingram on the brain. I have Mark Ingram on the brain after what Ben just said.'s the second time i did that in a in a minute that's crazy well melvin ingram's a player too i'm only drafting him in one league that i'm in this yeah idp all right heath who's who's the bus you want to highlight this is a new one this wasn't

sent on my list yesterday and it's an overreaction to the preseason. Many will say, but I am scared to death of David Johnson with the fourth or fifth overall pick. And that's where he's going in a lot of leagues. I'm kind of scared of him now in the first round. He doesn't have anything to do with David Johnson. This off and it doesn't really have anything to do with Kingsbury or Kyler Murray. This offensive line has looked laughably bad. They have not blocked anyone. They're not opening any holes for David Johnson. They tried to throw him a screen pass, and it looked like half the line didn't know it was a screen pass,

didn't even run over there to be in front of him. They look terrible. The defense might even be worse. Their number one corner was already gone for six games. They lost their number two corner to a broken leg last night. I'm terrified. It's not a good situation to be on a below average offense that has a terrible offensive line and an even worse defense.

And you could say, yeah, but he was in a bad situation last year and he finishes the number 10 running back. That's true. In 16 games. If you play 16 games and you're the number 10 running back, you are certainly not worth a top five pick. Yeah, he was right. He was not worth a top five pick. Yeah, he was right. He was not worth a top five pick. No way. You know, it might be an overreaction. We'll see how they look at preseason

week three, but they did look terrible yesterday. And on the broadcast, Booger McFarlane brought up a good point. I think he said that Texas Tech and Washington State, those two, you know, air raid systems were blitzed the least in college football last year because those college teams don't have the cornerbacks to compensate for blitzing. That's not going to happen in the NFL. He's going to get blitzed and it's going to be a tough adjustment.

They looked awful yesterday. They're not running their full playbook, obviously. But I can understand being nervous about David Johnson and certainly being nervous about Kyler Murray. So I'm going to ask you for some David Johnson and Kyler Murray comparisons in a little bit. We're going to talk about our biggest preseason. You know what?

Why don't we do it right now? Let's do a segment called This Guy or That Guy. I'm going to give you two players, and you have to pick one. Okay? Start with Ben. Ben, this guy or that guy? Sam Darnold or Kyler Murray? Also take Murray.

I mean, I agree with a lot of what Heath just said, but I'm also very impressed with Murray's ability just watching him. He's really good evading the rush, and we know they're not playing with the full playbook like you said. So for me, it's still very much Murray. Okay, guys, what do you think? Darnold looked great. He's looking good.

I think all of us will take murray i'm the low guy on murray i haven't changed him because of any of this preseason all of my concerns have just been realized um but i'll still there's still more upside for murray i think it's one bad preseason game no giler murray was fine in the first. No, no, they ran 10 plays and picked up 30 yard. That was, if he does that,

what he did week one preseason all year long, I'm terrible. I'm not freaking out yet. I might not, I'm not going to move them down in my quarterback rankings, but I might move them down a little bit, just a little bit in my overall rankings. And I'm thinking this weekend,

if you're drafting this weekend, all the Cardinals ADPs are going to slide because of what we saw in national television. And you can take advantage. If you still believe in this Cardinals offense, I still do. Okay. Next.

Is anybody moving Darnold up? Yeah. I'm just curious if anybody's moving Darnold up. I moved them up a couple of spots before the preseason game, just based on what he did in the first preseason game on the one drive and just the easy type of throws that he can make to gain yardage with the Jets. And I think it's just a sign that the Jets are going to hurt Le'Veon Bell. They're going to throw quite a bit to everybody.

Crowder earned him when he comes back. Both the running backs, not just Le'Veon Bell. They're going to throw quite a bit to everybody. Crowder earned him when he comes back. Both the running backs, not just Le'Veon Bell, Ty Montgomery too. Robbie. Darnold is starting to come into focus as one of those decent late round blue chippers. I don't know that it's going to hurt Le'Veon Bell though. We saw how good Montgomery looked yesterday.

He did look very good. He might be a handcuff to consider. But I just think a good Sam Darnold is good for Le'Veon Bell because being on a good offense is a good thing. If they run the ball as much as a typical offense does. But he'll catch passes. But they have some offensive line injuries that they're dealing with right now, like three starters.

But I don't know. Darnold certainly, like I said yesterday, in a two-quarterback league, you don't have to draft Darnold necessarily in a one-quarterback league, but he's just been so overlooked. And in a two-quarterback league, he certainly is in play.

Next guy, this guy or that guy? We'll go to Ben first again. Nick Chubb or David Johnson? I'm still taking David Johnson. Again, I love the receiving upside for players. And look, I just talked about with Lamar Jackson being a running quarterback, being a guy who doesn't throw to the running back as much. That's probably going to be true with Kyler Murray.

But I do think they're going to design some pass attempts for David Johnson. I think we'll see more of the playbook. I do share some of Heath's concerns. He also looked really uncomfortable running out of the shotgun last night. He just looked to be kind of dancing in the backfield. I want to go back and kind of look at his splits and see if he's a substantially worse runner out of the shotgun. I seem to remember that he's actually better running out of the shotgun, but he just looked uncomfortable. Yeah, he said he really liked it.

He said he was looking for it a lot in college. Yeah, I mean, but yeah, there was a couple runs where he looked really tentative and a couple where he looked all right. So I'm not I'm not moving him out of nowhere. I do out of the first round or freaking out too much. But I do share a little bit of concern. But for me with Chubb, Donchal Hilliard is a really good receiving back. All nine of his touches last year were receptions. I think the big reason they were willing to move to Johnson is they have a guy who can play that role. We still know Kareem Hunt's coming back. Chubb is a guy I really,

really like as a runner. I think he has plenty of touchdown upside. He's not a guy I'm fully fading like Mark Ingram, but I am really concerned about the receptions for him too. And in the last two seasons, the top nine fantasy running backs in PPR leagues have caught 50 plus balls. All the top nine, both years. It's a different fantasy landscape. You've got, you have to be able to, to catch passes. I don't think Chubb has 50 reception upside. I think you could come close to it though. That that's part of his game. That's a little underrated. And I think that the Browns are going to try and take advantage of that. You saw it in their first drive, their only drive when they were doing the two minute drill

in their first preseason game, Baker Mayfield was checking it down a bunch. Those guys had a lot of catches, and I think Chubb could get close to 50 catches this year. I just think Johnson is a little bit more upside. That's why I've got him rated a spot higher. This one's format dependent for me. I will take Chubb over Johnson in non-PPR. I'll take Chubb over Johnson and half PPR. I will take Johnson over Chubb in full PPR. I think Johnson might catch 25 more pass. All right. We're gonna take a quick break here. We've got some more,

this guy or that guy, a cleverly named segment, plus some injury news and notes as Todd Gurley reportedly ran 150 miles per hour in practice the other day. And there's another good story about Curtis Samuel. I was being sarcastic about one of those two things. And we'll come back, talk to you about our telethon that you should get involved with and some busts and some regulators.

We'll be right back. Kick off an exciting football season with BetMGM, an official sportsbook partner of the National Football League. Yard after yard, down after down, the sportsbook born in Vegas gives you the chance to take action to the end zone and celebrate every highlight real play and as an official sportsbook partner of the nfl bet mgm is the best place to fuel your football fandom on every game day with a variety of exciting features bet mgm offers you plenty of seamless ways to jump straight onto the gridiron and to

embrace peak sports action. Ready for another season of gridiron glory? What are you waiting for? Get off the bench, into the huddle, and head for the end zone all season long. Visit BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older, Ontario only. Please gamble responsibly. Gambling problem? For free assistance, call the Connex Ontario helpline at 1-866-531-2600. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. All right, good day for Miles Sanders yesterday.

Wasn't amazing or anything, but he looked good. There was an article, the Philly Voice, Jimmy Kemski said, quote, I've said it before and I'll say it again. Sanders is the best running back on the team and it isn't close. Just start him week one. And he did start yesterday. So this guy or that guy, Ben, Miles Sanders or Tariq Cohen? Yeah, I'll take Sanders. I'm not I don't have like a really strong take here. I do still worry about the Eagles committee, and I don't know like a really strong take here i i do still worry about the eagles uh committee and i don't know if he will necessarily start week one but the the drum beat is getting big enough that

i think you have to prioritize sanders who has more uh you know of a a workhorse potential than cohen would have but i do still like cohen in his his role the eagles track record is what it is about using multiple running backs. But if they, they're not idiots, if they find a running back who can handle three downs and, and be a threat and keep defenses on its toes on their toes. Uh, I think Miles Sanders is going to have a shot at getting over a thousand yards in non PPR. I'll take him over to Rico. And I don't think they're idiots. I just think that they may believe that it works better if your running back's not playing 70% of the

snaps. I'm getting very close to taking Sanders in non-PPR. I don't think it's particularly close in PPR. Cohen might catch 50 more passes than Sanders this year. I just wonder if David Montgomery's going to have a bigger role in the passing game than we may think. He's definitely going to have a bigger role than

Jordan Howard did. But we'll react to that on Monday after the Bears play their second preseason game. All right, this guy or that guy, Ben? Mark Andrews or Darren Waller? Ooh, I mean, those are two pretty good and similar upside tight ends. I'll take Andrews, who we know has the potential to lead Baltimore in receiving. He did, essentially, for the entire stretch of Lamar Jackson starts at the end of last year.

I do like Waller as an upside tight end, too, though. I mean, both of these guys are, I think the, I think a lot of people are a little too high on Andrews because they're not going to throw a ton, And I think this is closer than people think. And I don't seem to get Andrews enough because I do think the receivers are still going to catch passes. And again, I don't think they're going to throw even if they throw more. They're not going to throw. They're going to be one of the lowest passing teams in the league. So Waller, you know, if he gets a sizable Jared Cook-looking opportunity share, he could be pretty decent as another sleeper.

Andrews isn't playing every down in the preseason. He's working passing downs, but Nick Boyle is the one who's playing the most at tight end for Baltimore, and Hayden Hurst saw the field before Andrews did. He certainly saw more targets than Andrews. That's why I brought this up. I mean, where the heck was Mark Andrews yesterday? I love the talent, and he was one of my breakout

guys. I had to pull him from the story because it's two games now where the Ravens are not giving him the every down treatment. And you think about the personnel that they have. They could be in a two tight end set, and he might not be on the field. So if he's only playing part time, that means his targets aren't going to be strong.

Is he a touchdown or bust tight end? It sure is starting to look that way for him. Waller, believe it or not, has more upside. Waller played every single snap with the starters in their preseason game against Arizona. Yeah, I believe in week one of the preseason, there were 16 Lamar Jackson snaps. Andrews played six of them, the same number as Hayden Hurst. Nick Boyle played 10. And then in the game last

night, Boyle had three targets from Lamar Jackson. Hayden Hurst had one or two. Mark Andrews did not see a target from Lamar Jackson. Now, I still think Andrews is the best Ravens tight end to own, but this has, over the last few years, been a pretty multiple tight end team.

And that's the way I'm leaning now. I'm still taking Andrews over Waller, but it gets closer and closer. I just bit the bullet and did it. You what? You moved Waller up ahead of him? Yeah. Just bite the bullet.

Maybe something changes in the third preseason game, but two games is a lot of everything. Told you we were getting the hot take cannon ready. Yeah, how about that? It's fair. I never – look, I never – and if I'm wrong about this, I'll own it, but I never was on Mark Andrews, and everybody was, and I just didn't care. No, I was with you, Adam.

I think Adam 15th was the highest I ever got him. Okay. He'll make some big plays, but he's not going to get enough consistent looks, I think, is kind of the sum of what we're saying. He's not going to accumulate enough stats, which is really important, obviously. All right, just give me a one-word answer here, guys. Adrian Peterson or Darius Geis? Geis.

Geis. Geis it is. News and notes. News and notes. Antonio Brown is close to practicing. Aaron Rodgers sat with back stiffness. Keenan Allen has an ankle injury but not expected to miss week one, according to Adam Schefter. But now, guys, okay.

Keenan Allen has an injury. Antonio Brown has an injury. T.Y. Hilton has an injured quarterback. Oh, am I forgetting one in that group? You're forgetting Amari Cooper. Amari Cooper has the foot, has the ligament issue. Jeez! That group of wide receivers.

Jeez, what else do I have to say? Go get two of the top seven. Seriously, like, those were the bridge receivers to get you from the elite tiers to the very good tiers, and the bridge is collapsing. So I don't feel very good

about waiting on receiver anymore. But the young guy tier is still plenty of upside. Like the Keenan Allen note, it's a reminder that Keenan Allen has injuries in his history. If he misses time, Mike Williams is going to be an absolute star. Same is true for Calvin Ridley if Julio Jones were to miss time. Same is true for Chris Godwin if Mike Evans were to miss time. There's still plenty of guys with a lot of upside and solid roles that you can get behind this tier. Yeah. But also let's, let's keep in mind Keenan Allen, Amari Cooper, uh, TY Hilton with his quarterback, his quarterback, Andrew Luck and, uh, and Antonio Brown, none have been ruled out for week one.

So it could just be nothing. We have to say that. It could just be nothing. It's true. Okay. Todd Gurley ran, I think, 21 miles per hour in practice. Another encouraging report for him. I guess it's pretty much like he's fine until he's not fine, if that happens, right? It's just a risk. Well, I think from my understanding of this whole thing, it's all about load management and right now he's not doing very much work i don't think he practices more than one day in a row and so it might just like they may be able to just manage it in a way but it makes me think there's probably not much possibility of getting like 20 carries in a football game right you have absolutely no idea what's going to happen when he starts playing. And I think the signs point to him not getting 20 touches per game.

And the track record with Todd Gurley when he doesn't get 20 touches in the game is not great. Okay. We'll give you a deep league PPR name for you. Detroit rookie running back Ty Johnson has been a better than expected pass catcher, according to the Detroit Free Press. The Charlotte Observer raved about Curtis Samuel. He makes one or two plays every day that bring a wow factor, and it's a safe bet the same continues once the regular season gets underway.

Okay, that is not a safe bet. That is not a safe bet. Maybe it will, but we've got a laundry list of guys who made spectacular plays all throughout training camp, and it did not continue through the regular season. It took Victor Cruz two preseasons before he was able to start putting it together. John Baldwin, anyone? John Baldwin.

Okay, there is guarded optimism that Andrew Luck will be ready for week one, according to Chris Mortensen. Ben, let me get your take on the Chiefs' backfield. Nate Taylor of the Athletic did not have Carlos Hyde on his latest projected 53-man roster, but that is subject to change, obviously. So, yeah, Damian Williams is someone we haven't really talked about in a little while. When are you drafting the Chiefs guys?

Well, I mean, I've seen Williams fall all the way to the fourth round. I think his ADP right now is the middle of the third. If you can get Damian Williams in the middle or late third or into the fourth, I still think he's absolutely worth grabbing. The reason to draft him wasn't because he's a risk-free player. It's because he has a monster upside. Kareem Hunt was the RB4 in PPR leagues in 2017. He was the RB12 in 2018, even though he was released before the end of the season. If you throw on Damian Williams stats from the games he started at the end of the season. If you throw on Damian Williams' stats from the games he started at the end of 2018, they would combine for essentially

Ezekiel Elliott's PPR fantasy total at RB5. So essentially you can say that she's starting running back has been a top five running back the last two seasons. And we expect this offense to be very, very good going forward. There's still plenty of reason to like Damian Williams. The Hyde stuff doesn't surprise me. We've talked all offseason about how he's not a good receiving back. He's been an inefficient receiving back. He's had a couple splash reception

totals in his career, but not a very good receiver. I really like Damian Williams. If you can get him at a discount where his risk is more properly baked in. I was a little bit too high on him. I have moved him down, but I still think he's worth drafting. And then Darwin Thompson late also should be a target in every draft as a guy that if, if Damian Williams isn't the guy and if Carlos hides on the bubble and even Darrell Williams should be on, you know, on list both of these guys, if they get a chance to be the chief starting running back, we should want the chief starting running back. And I think the uncertainty is causing all of these guys to go or at least collectively go, lower than they should. And so I think there's still a lot of targets here.

I'm going to be there on Saturday when they play against the Steelers. And you know I'm going to go right up to Andy Reid and ask him about these running backs. And he's going to give me an answer that probably isn't going to be honest. But we're all going to be able to watch these guys and watch them play. This isn't the first time I've heard about Carlos Hyde not making the team, by the way. I like the idea of drafting Damian Williams. I love the idea of drafting Darwin Thompson.

Okay, so are we all drafting Darwin Thompson ahead of Carlos Hyde right now? Yeah. I still have Hyde ranked ahead of Darwin Thompson. I've made that switch once before. I assume by Saturday, I'll be ready to make that switch again. Yeah, just ask Andy Reid who you should take. Just say, hey, what should I do? That's what I'll do.

And would you take Josh Jacobs, who was featured on the opening drive of the game and did well, or Damian Williams? I still have Jacobs. Williams for me. Definitely Williams. I'm the Jacobs. Williams for me. Definitely Williams. I'm the nuanced guy, I guess. You're asking good questions that don't quite fit across the board.

Definitely Williams in PPR and Jacobs in none. Okay. Eagles quarterback Cody Kessler left with a concussion. Nate Sudfeld broke his wrist last week, so Carson Wentz is healthy because he's not playing. Right tackle Brandon Schell for the Jets hurt his knee. Like I said, their O-lines beat up. So is Atlanta's right now. Heath already mentioned that Robert Alford is going to miss about two months with a leg injury, and he could basically be out the entire time that Patrick

Peterson is out. Six games against Detroit at Baltimore, Carolina, Seattle at Cincinnati, and Atlanta. And I don't know if you saw it, but Kelvin Harmon, he's a Redskins receiver. He was flagged for offensive pass interference. It was a terrible call, terrible call. Obviously it got challenged and somehow the ruling was upheld. So if,

if you can't overturn that with offensive pass interference, with the new rules, being able to challenge it, then this is going to be awful thankfully this is just preseason but my goodness like so obviously not offensive offensive pass interference um i have any of the calls been changed i feel like they were like i mean i don't know how to put on a tinfoil hat right now but i feel like they were like telling the refs to lean towards just letting it be

in the preseason. Hopefully that call is a call we'll see overturned in the season because you're right, it was a horrible call. It was horrible. You have to put a tinfoil hat on next week, not just a standard back. You would look pretty silly if you wore two hats. Next week, don't wear that hat and just wear the tinfoil hat. Just wear the tinfoil hat.

Of course, that's what I meant, Heath. What are you kidding me? Of course, I meant just the tinfoil hat. Hey, we got a telethon next week. It's on Thursday next week. And we are really excited about it. The second annual Fantasy Football Today telethon. It's airing next week for six continuous hours Thursday, starting at noon.

The Fantasy Football Today crew, a lot of us, a plethora of guests are going to be answering your phone calls and dropping tons of fantasy knowledge to get you ready for your drafts. It's all hands on deck. We're going to have our pick six squad there. Danny Cannell and Brian McFadden, Roddy White, Eddie Lacey, Dwayne Bowe, other NFL guys are stopping by. Industry friends like the Fantasy Footballers are joining us.

I think Nando's going to join us. And it's a great time, and it's for a great cause, St. Jude. The fun begins noon Eastern on Thursday on CBSSports.com, the Fantasy Football Today Facebook page, or anywhere that you can watch CBS Sports HQ. So please check it out. And we have our radio show, by the way, coming up tomorrow night, Saturday night,

Eye on Fantasy Football on CBS Sports Radio. That's 10 p.m. to midnight Eastern. And also, please keep it coming with the five-star reviews. They're so incredibly helpful, and I have some five-star review questions I'm going to answer later in the show. Got some emails and some busts right after this quick break on Fantasy Football today.

You want to join the podcast league? Send us something creative. Fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. I may have given the wrong email address yesterday. I think I may have said Fantasy Football today, but no, it's fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Put podcast league in the subject line. We got a very long, heartfelt email from Josh, and then he was talking about his soon-to-be father-in-law and what his father-in-law has been dealing with. I won't get into it, but it was very emotional. He wants to join a fantasy league with him, all that. But he also sent us a video of his father-in-law, Sean, watching.

He's a big Seahawks fan. He's in his living room in this video. And even if you can't see it, I think you'll enjoy listening to it. He's watching the Super Bowl, Super Bowl XLVIII, I believe. Cam Chancellor's to it. He's watching the Super Bowl. Super Bowl 48, I believe. Cam Chancellor's pick six. Let's roll the tape. Go, baby! Go! Go, go, go, go!

Touchdown, Seahawks! Ah! Look at that at the end. He looks at the camera. He does like a wrestling pose. He goes, ah! That was some terrific enthusiasm. And I love seeing that at the end. He looks at the camera. He does like a wrestling pose. He goes, ah! That was some terrific enthusiasm, and I love seeing that kind of stuff because it reminds me of me watching football.

All right, thank you for that. Send in your stuff. We'll share some fun ones with you. This is from Isaac. Which DST are you targeting at the end of your draft for the first few weeks to stream, and who, like the Bears last year, could be you know pretty

good and work out i love i love waiting for the cowboys defense yeah they're scheduled to begin the year giants at washington and miami wow wow bad offense yeah yeah it's the cowboys is the clear answer to this i've seen a lot of people say that. I took them as the second defense off the board in our 2QB draft that we're actually playing out that we did earlier this week, I think. And I know that's like too early just for an early season matchup, but it's tough to predict defensive performance year over year. And there is a huge correlation between essentially bad offenses and defensive points.

So their early season matchup is so good that I think you can take them over defenses. We have way more confidence. We'll be better throughout the year. Stream them for three years and hope that you can just stream throughout the season, essentially. We'll stream for three weeks, not three years. But, yes, we get your point.

Let's not do three years. I've also been drafting the Eagles. I don't know. They've got some great young linebackers. They could be good for a while. The Eagles I draft because they open with the Redskins, so that's another one. When are we drafting Tony Pollard?

I draft in three days. When are we drafting Tony Pollard? This is from Jim. I picked him up. I moved him up to round 10, and I would pick him up in round 10. Yeah, I'm more of a 12 or 13. Yeah, I feel like I keep missing him because I'm more on Heath's side,

but I don't think it's wrong to take him as early as 10. This is from D Hoff in Goodyear. Heath, I'll give this to you. Where would you choose your draft spot in a 14-team league? I'll take pick three or pick 10 through 12. 14 team league? I'll take pick 3 or pick 10 through 12.

What about not 13 and 14? I don't really want 13 and 14. We did a draft where I was picking at the end. I had the first pick and I hated it. Absolutely hated it. I don't want 1. I do want 1. I'll take 1 before 14. I'm in agreement with Heath. 3 is a great spot

and then that 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 range. Okay. This is from Andrew. Ben, I'll throw it to you. How many players are too many players from one team? Do you purposely take a player you think is a lesser guy

just to avoid having two to three guys from one team? Depends on the team. I mean, totally depends on the team. If it's the Chiefs, I don't think you can have enough, frankly. I think you can take as many Chiefs as you Want because I feel very very confident and that they're

Going to put up a ton of points as you Go down towards the bottom I think even having Two of a bad Offense and stuff like I drafted carry on Johnson and Kenny Galladay in the same Mock the other day and I didn't notice that I did It and I wouldn't do that Intentionally I don't want both those

Guys for the Lions because I don't want both those guys for the Lions because I don't love the Lions offense. So it totally depends on the offense for me. Okay, guys, here we go. This is going to be a little bit of a tough one. This is from someone. Dave, where's someone from? Someone is from Pocatello, Idaho.

Okay. Without knowing any of us, can you do a completely unbiased and random determination of our draft order? I will post this on our Facebook group and let the league mates find out when they draft. Please tell me who drafts first through 12th. All right, so I'm going to get the first pick,

then Dave, then Heath, then Ben, and we're just going to randomly pick their draft order. Obviously, I am going with Stan with the number one pick because it reminds me of South Park and Randy Marsh going, Stan! Whatever happened to ladies first? Dave,

not in fantasy football, equal opportunity. Dave, who's second? There's somebody on this list named Billy Bling Bling. With a name like that, you've got to go second. I was going to make him last. Yeah, he should be last. That's what I thought too. Alright, Heath, who's third?

I'll go Nicole. Nicole is third. I just want to say Billy Bling Bling definitely sent this email because he made his name the most catchy one and he thought he'd get picked early. I'll take Chelsea. We'll help the ladies out. Alright, fine. So now fifth, we're going to go with

David. David is my brother's name, so David, you have the fifth pick. Can't go wrong with a David. Let's go with JJ sixth. He's my least favorite. Yeah, I'll go with Ash. Ash goes seventh. I'll do Wes. Wes goes eighth. Wes is eighth. Aaron.

Aaron is kind of like my name, so Aaron, you have the ninth pick. Let's go with Brett for Brett the Hitman Hart at number ten. I don't know who's left. Jamie and Doug. You don't want to be a Doug. I'll go Jamie.

Doug, you're twelfth. Alright, guys. That was fun. And then this is from Squeaker. He says, I was listening on my lunch break to the August 8th podcast of Running Back's Part Deux. Van Damme movie reference, Dave. Really? What's the Van Damme movie, Part Deux? That's Hot Shots Part Deux's Charlie Sheen.

Right, right. I don't know about that, Squeaker. I had a mildly awesomeness moment when at the 44 40 mark heath cummings spoke my wife's name over my truck's bluetooth heath said quote i'll take lindsey michelle montgomery and non-ppr and further awesomeness ensued as dave said i'm kind of crazy about montgomery i was stoked that's really fun Am I the only one enjoying these emails? That's pretty hilarious. No, that's pretty hilarious. Thank you.

Thank you, Ben. More shows for Ben. Preseason roundup. I don't know if there's anything else you guys wanted to touch on. Kyler Murray was three for eight for 12 yards. Matt Ryan looked good. Derek Carr looked good, even without Antonio Brown. We good with quarterbacks?

Sam Darnold. Great throw from Haskins. Yeah. Did you watch the rest of it, though? Because it got worse. It got worse. If we got to fire up the hot take cannon, I'll say Ryan Finley might be better than Andy Dalton already.

He looked... I thought he looked good. He was climbing the pocket well. He was hitting guys that were open. Dalton threw a pick six on his only drive in the red zone, 90-something yard pick six. I would not be surprised. He's a fourth-round rookie, but I would not be surprised if we saw Ryan Finley start some games this year. I like Andy Dalton more than most people, but I had Finley ahead of Locke and ahead of Daniel Jones, so I'll buy into it.

All right, running back. We should talk about Josh Jacobs. Very good that they used him as the starter. He had four carries for 21 yards on a very good opening drive. He may have been in on two possessions, actually. It was good for Jacobs, good for Miles Sanders. Ingram started, but they really used a lot of guys. They took Ingram out, I think, after one possession.

But anyway, Dave, what's your take on Josh Jacobs after this second game? I liked what I saw. I liked that each of his first three runs were for six or more yards. There wasn't a breakaway run in there, but showed great cutback, good vision, a lot of power pulling forward to get a couple of extra yards. I was pleased with what I saw from Josh Jacobs I don't think we learned anything I think Ben could average 5 yards per carry against the Cardinals defense

I don't think Ben could it's not that it's that the hierarchy it just I think we know he's the starter they talked about how he had to earn the starting job which was always ridiculous he's the starter no offense Ben I just want to run against the

Cardinals defense now. Let's do it. I'm wondering about who has the second most carries on the Ravens. Is it Kenneth Dixon? He got a lot of work. Is it Gus Edwards? Justice Hill? Justice Hill is very fun. He's very fun to watch, but he

did most of his work late. Yeah, he was the fourth back on the field. So week three of the preseason, we need to see him a little earlier to justify where he's been drafted. Everyone, I'm not putting myself in everyone, there should be a lot of assumption that Kenneth Dixon's getting cut. They are not treating Kenneth Dixon right now like he's getting cut. They're evaluating him, that's for sure.

And then he got hurt in the game. I don't like his chances of making the team, and I certainly don't like his chances of being relevant for fantasy this year. Justice Hill is a lot of fun. Just think about that backfield with Lamar Jackson and Justice Hill, all that speed back there.

Man, that could be tough for defense. And Ido Smith played a lot with the starters, and he scored a touchdown. Devontae Freeman didn't play much. Anything else, Ben? You usually have some good nuggets of defense. Ty Montgomery played almost exclusively with the ones. I don't have him as a Jets backup right now,

but he's, for me, going to be a late-round draftable pick because he looked pretty good with them uh i didn't really know who would necessarily be their backup but he played at like they didn't rotate like ball powell or anything they just played montgomery um josh jacobs did only play the one drive but they ran the ball three times in a row uh ryan grant was was playing ahead of hunter renfro if you if you're excited about Renfro. That's all I really had for notes. Okay.

Yeah, when you watch Ty Montgomery, you're like, why is that wide receiver playing running back? And he wears, I think, number 88 or something, but he did look pretty good. All right, time to talk about some boss. Is this your first day watching Ty Montgomery play football? No, it's just funny. He's a wide receiver playing running back. Well, he came into the NFL as a wide receiver.

I know. He's been wearing 88 ever since he was in the league. But he's on a different team now. It's just different. I don't know. Okay. You know what, Dave? It's in New York.

Nothing to happen in New York. I didn't notice it because it's west. It's a different shade of green on the jersey. I just thought – I just think it's time for me to stop talking and throw it to break. For our last break of the show, you're going to hear about NFL Game Pass, which I watched this morning to catch up on all of the Dwayne Haskins lowlights and much more.

And then when we come back, busts, busts, busts galore and the fantasy regulators after this. Okay, Dave, your busts. You already talked about Melvin Gordon. Todd Gurley, what do you want to say? I guess the question is when would you feel comfortable taking Todd Gurley, who, as I mentioned yesterday, is creeping into the first round in a lot of drafts? Yeah, I'm team round three on Todd Gurley.

I don't want to deal with a headache, whether the headache happens early in the year or late in the year. We can all assume that the touches are going to go down. I think the explosiveness could also go down. I don't care that he's not playing in the preseason. That's typical for running backs like Gurley. And I'm happy that he worked in the joint practices, but I don't see him delivering to the top five

if he's got a knee that could cause problems at any point during the year. So I'm avoiding Todd Gurley on draft day. Okay. if he's got a knee that could cause problems at any point during the year. So I'm avoiding Todd Gurley on draft day. Okay. How about Heath and Ben, just tell me real quick when you'd feel comfortable taking Gurley? Mid-late second. I think there's enough guys in the second that I like more

that I'm not taking him in the second. So I agree more with Dave. Okay. Dave, Adam Thielen, 10th wide receiver off the board, 27th overall. A little bit earlier than that, though, on CBS ADP's second round pick. Adam Thielen you have as a boss. When would you feel comfortable taking him?

I wouldn't feel comfortable taking Adam Thielen until round three in PPR, which is pretty close to his ADP, but round four non-PPR. I don't think he's going to have nine games with over 100 yards. I don't think he's going to score nine touchdowns. We know that the Vikings want to run the football a little bit more, and we know that the Vikings want to diversify the passing game a little bit more,

get Kyle Rudolph and Irv Smith just a little bit more involved. They have also uncovered a slot receiver, Chad Beebe. This isn't the main reason to get away from Adam Thielen, but if Thielen's not in the slot where he really made his money last year, it's going to take away from him. He had a better catch rate in the slot each of the last two years than he did on the outside. Great numbers in the slot the last two years compared to the outside.

I just think he's being overdrafted. I don't think he's got a shot at 1,200 yards or even seven touchdowns. Okay. And then finally, Vance McDonald, who is tight end 10 in fantasy pros in terms of ADP, he's going at the end of round eight, and you have Vance McDonald, Steelers tight end as a bust.

He has 70 yards in four games in his career. He's caught five or more passes four times in his career. I understand that there are a lot of targets on the table in Pittsburgh. I don't think he's going to get enough of them to be a reliable fantasy starter week in and week out. Keith Miller only got the job done as a reliable fantasy starter like three times in his entire career. I think James Washington and Dante Moncrief are going to pick up a lot more of

the slack from Antonio Brown's departure than Vance McDonald. McDonald was the 12th best tight end in non-PPR, 10th best in PPR. Do you know how many fantasy points he averaged? I'm just saying, like, that wasn't that impressive. No, 4.9 in non-PPR and 8.3 in PPR. Oh, right. But that's what I'm saying, Dave. It's like he averaged 4.9 fantasy points in non-PPR.

What was it in PPR? 8.3. 8.PR? 8.3. 8.3. So I'm saying to be a top 12 tight end, you don't need to be that good. But I understand what you're saying. Right, but I want my tight end to be good. Yeah. Yeah, but there won't be 10 good tight ends. There just won't be.

That's why he's not ranked in my top 10. Heath Miller didn't run a 4.7 at 267. Part of the reason to like Vance McDonald is he's a big dude. He can run real fast. He's never really had the opportunity share that we want, like Dave mentioned. We saw in the playoffs two years ago, he had a 16-target game and blew up. He's had his moments. If you want to look for like a George Kittle type for this year, that a guy that just has really good efficiency yards after the catch,

I think Vance is your best bet, but he is 29. He's a lot older than you think. And Dave has a point. Like if he hasn't done it to this point in his career and tough. Yeah. 73 games, 12 touchdowns,

and he's missed 23 games. All right. So let's get Heath's busts here. Heath, if you're good, you do this in like five minutes, you can stick around for regulators. So there's your incentive. Oh, thank you. Yeah, Russell Wilson. I don't have to say too much more about Russell Wilson.

We saw the upside last year, which was like a low-end starting quarterback, a mid-range low-end starting quarterback, depending on what format you play in. It's not hard to find the downside. He probably threw 10 to 12 more touchdowns last year than you should expect with the pass volume. Let's assume the volume comes up just a little bit. I don't think he's going to throw 500 passes. He's going to be below 4,000 yards. I don't really think it's very likely that he gets over 27 or 28 touchdowns on the high end. He did not run as much last year as he had in the past. Russell Wilson is not likely to be a starting quarterback in fantasy this year, unless he plays six games and like three or

four guys get hurt. Another thing I want to point out about Russell Wilson is that, yeah, he didn't run that much last year, but he also is not a guy that runs a lot inside the five yard line. You know, you could maybe get more yards from him, but he's not a big rushing touchdown guy because he doesn't get like his rushing touchdowns.

Yeah. Yeah. He scored five in the last four years. Yeah. He's had a four touchdown season, a six touchdown season and a three touchdown season. He's also had a one, a one, in the last four years. Yeah, he's had a four-touchdown season, a six-touchdown season, and a three-touchdown season. He's also had a one, a one, a one, and a zero. So he just doesn't get that many carries inside the 10.

Like three or four carries inside the 10-yard line each of his last four seasons for Russell Wilson. You have Josh Jacobs as a bust. What up with that? This is mostly a PPR call. I'm a little lower on him than ADP and non PPR, but I could live with him as running back 19. I just,

and I haven't, it might happen. My expectation is still that one of the most efficient pass catching backs in the NFL is still going to get a bunch of targets this year. And that's Jalen Rashard. I expect Jacobs to be on the field for early downs. He'll still catch maybe 30 passes this year, but I do think it's going to be difficult on a team that,

yes, the Raiders offense looked great last night against the Arizona Sun Devils, but I don't expect the Raiders offense to be very good. Their defense is going to be awful, and their line's very beat up. It's not going to be good at the start of the year either. Was that a funny joke or should we point out that Arizona State is the Sun Devils?

I think that makes it funnier. Oh, okay. Alright. Fair enough. I don't know. Does Josh Jacobs really need more than 30 catches to be better than RB19? You know? That depends. Does he score?

How many touchdowns does he score? How many touchdowns do the Raiders score? What's his yards per carry average? There's no reason why they can't have a good offense. Why can't they have a good offense? They have good players now. They have a bad quarterback, and I think a bad offensive line. They have neither of those.

RB19 is still too high as well for you to be saying that all he has to do is beat RB19 to not be a bad pick you need a guy at RB in the top 20 running backs if you're taking a guy he has to have top 10 upside he 100% has top 10 upside he has top 5 upside and again I'm fine with it in non-PBR

he does not have top 5 Derek Carr is a bad quarterback first if we're saying that there are 15 I mean mean, how many good quarterbacks are there? There's over 20. He's a below average quarterback. Is that better? Yeah, fine. He has to be below average.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, but he's a better quarterback than Kyler Murray. He's a better quarterback than Lamar Jackson. He's a better quarterback than Josh Harris. I don't know that he's a better quarterback than Kyler Murray or Lamar Jackson. He's a better quarterback than Josh Allen. He's a better quarterback. I don't know that he's a better quarterback than Kyler Murray or Lamar Jackson. You also have Antonio Brown as a bust. Antonio Brown. I don't

like the Raiders, Adam. And I don't like Derek Carr. And I don't like their offense. And listen, it sounds like Antonio Brown's head is right back in the right place. It's not quite back in the right helmet yet, but it will be. I think his feet are probably going to be okay.

But there's still a lot of concerns that I had about Brown before any of this drama. It's the Raiders' offense. It's Derek Carr. It's how is Antonio Brown behaving when they are seven games into the season and they're two and five

and there's a game where he only gets five targets understood i to to defend derrick carr he has twice given us twice given us two top 24 wide receivers once he gave us two top 20 wide receivers that was amari cooper mari and michael crabtree back to back i don't think he's and i think he could yeah right i think he could give us two top 24 wide receivers again this year as well. Antonio Brown could be like 17 or 18. Tyrell Williams is 24th. We're good. Yeah, I mean, I think Brown's, you know... I think there's a bigger split between Brown and Tyrell

than there was between Cooper and Crabtree at the time. But fair enough. I just want to point out, he's not that bad. He can... Derek Carr. But I'm not disagreeing with your bus call here. You can run a short area West Coast offense perfectly. Would you take Antonio Brown or Brandon Cooks? I've got Cooks a spot ahead of Brown as of now. I would definitely take Cooks in non-PPR.

I might have Brown one spot higher in PPR. Ben, how about you? I'd probably take Cooks. I'm really low on Brown. I just want to note on Derek Carr last year, Jalen Rashard led the team in receptions. I think it was eight of the 16 games. When they get behind, he doesn't press the ball on the field. He just checks down a ton, or he threw to Jared Cook a lot. I don't know that I would disagree with Adam's kind of defense that he's a decent quarterback. I think he's pretty bad.

I think he has a hard time getting the ball to his wide receivers, and that's what you need to do to be a good quarterback. Well, let's see. I mean, let's see. Like I said, when he had Cooper and Crabtree, he got them the ball. Let's see what he does with Antonio Brown. I think they have a better offensive line now they have to invest the investment look they have a better running game last year

last year he had a career high in completion percentage in yards yeah but he did it with a lot of that dink and dunk yeah sure all right and then um what he can do the last one for Heath is Ebron, who is definitely moving down in ADP. He's 66th on CBS. He's lower than that on Fantasy Pros. And he's basically, like in our drafts, nobody wants him except for me. He'd be terrible without luck. I take Eric Ebron in like the 10th round now.

I'm actually okay with that, but I don't know. You don't like Antonio Brown. I think 10th round is a good place to take Eric Ebron, and he might score some touchdowns. There's a lot of things to be scared of. I'd feel better about him if Jack Doyle was unable to get healthy, and Andrew Luck did get healthy, but that's a lot of ifs. His primary role was red zone weapon, and they've added Devin F. His primary role was red zone weapon.

And they've added Devin Funchess to be another red zone weapon. Jack Doyle is back, another red zone weapon. And then whenever the heck Paris Campbell gets healthy, he'll be in the mix too. The touchdowns are going to come down. He had three games last year with 70-plus yards. He opens the season against the Chargers and the Titans. Both of those teams have safeties that can cover him.

He's not someone I want to take. Okay. Makes sense. Hey, guys, one other thing. Let's regulate. This is from Jay. Dear Alex,

Colt, Robert, and Joe. Those sound like Redskins quarterbacks. I'm in a 12-team league that drafts next week, and I have been given the 10th slot. I am good friends with... Damn, why am I so bad at this now? Cannot get it. I'm good friends with the guys drafting 11 and 12,

and he has the 10th pick. We've talked to each other about what we could potentially take. Is it okay to hatch a plan that we all figure out beforehand what the others are going to draft and ensure we all get players we want, or should we not be allowed to talk draft strategy at all? I think definitely not. Okay. It seems like it's probably not.

Okay. Although I kind of feel like when teams are discussing trades, they're definitely doing this in the NFL. Oh yeah. Like there's, there definitely, there's no, there's no law against it.

It's, you know, it's just, it's frowned upon. Yeah. The only person that's helps is the 10th slot, by the way. Like,

yeah. Like the 12, the guy, the 12 slot isn't going to, you know, like he's picking back to back. What's he going to, what does he have to offer? But like, if you were in the 12th slot isn't going to... He's picking back-to-back. What does he have to offer? But if you were

in the 10th spot, wouldn't you like to know who the 11 and 12 guys were taking? Right. Don't you want to get a beat on whether or not they want Travis Kelsey or they want a stud running back in round one? And you're not giving them anything in return by telling them who you're taking. What are we doing here? I want to get you guys in for another

regulators before you have to go. I think it's fine. I think it's fine. I think you should lie. It's weird. It's clear collusion. Lie. If you lie, it's fantasy football. Right, exactly. It's weird. Like, Ben's probably right, but for some reason, like, I'm just okay with it. Okay, here we go. I'm definitely right.

Corey. Corey says, um, last year I was in a 10-team standard league with a kicker and a defense. It was week 14, and I was looking at a playoff spot. Well, going into Monday night's game, I was ahead by eight points, and the person I was playing didn't have a kicker started because his was injured on the bench. And, uh, a little off. Well, another owner who was also in the playoff running messaged my opponent and told him that if he started a kicker, he would win.

So that guy who messaged my opponent picked up both kickers from Monday night so nobody else could grab them and demanded that my opponent trade him someone on his team for a useless kicker so he could win the week. Turns out I lost because of this and I did not make the playoffs. Should the commissioner have overruled this trade because of what the owner did? Dave and Heath, you have about 30 seconds before I have to cut you loose. See, I think that's collusion. Well, it's not collusion.

It was extortion. He picked up the kickers and then told the guy, you've got to trade me if you want to have a chance of winning. That's a good owner. He got something out of the deal. I don't really think trades should happen on Monday. I think once Sunday morning happens, you should not have any trades

during the games that should be eligible to play on a roster that week. So that's my problem, but I don't believe it's collusion. No, it's not collusion, but it should be overturned. That's exactly what Heath just said. Hey, you need to start a kicker. By the way, I just added both of them. Now trade me something.

Got him. That should be completely overturned. That is messed up. Dave and Heath, thank you very much. Ben and I are going to stick around for you listeners. That's it for our video show. Bye, Dave and Heath. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.

Nah. All right, finally. Those loud mouths are gone. Sorry about that hour. All right, Ben and I are going to finish up here we got some Apple reviews Apple question reviews to answer for you but we also have one more round of

the fantasy regulators okay this is Jacob from an eastern Washington town you should know that you live in Washington, Ben. Where is he from? Eastern Washington is a very large place. Yeah, so give me a place.

A town in Eastern Washington? Yeah, come on. Yakima. There you go. This isn't so hard. Genie is right outside Spokane comes to mind. I don't know. Either one is fine.

I need some advice for a league I'm in. It's a 10-team non-PPR league. A member has recently complained that the scoring has changed for quarterbacks to be a four-point-per-passing touchdown league instead of six. He doesn't like it. He claims that it makes quarterbacks

way more undervalued, especially since it's non-PPR. His point is that if you don't have a top-five running back in non-PPR, you cannot make up for it by having a high touchdown ceiling quarterback. He doesn't want the league to change to PPR in order to balance the running back playing field out because we already have a separate league with that PPR format.

So he'd like the quarterback scoring to revert back to six points for passing touchdowns. What's your advice on this? In a non-PPR league, should QB scoring be six points for passing touchdown? I would say no to that question. I also don't think it matters that much because it raises or lowers all the quarterbacks. I understand it obviously raises the higher quarterbacks higher and creates a bigger separation. But the answer for me also in all these situations, and I don't know why more people don't just go this route, is why is five pointpoint passing touchdown a problem?

Why does it have to be four or six? If you're having an argument over the four or six, make your league a five-point passing touchdown league. We did that in my longest-running home league like 10 years ago, and it's worked fine. You have good advice on the regulators. That is good advice. All right, yeah, make it five.

And I think he's overstating the you can't win if you don't have a top five running back thing. You can. But it's not a bad point about quarterbacks. A quarterback in a four-point-per-passing touchdown league in PPR is so devalued, in my opinion. But in non-PPR, still. Because quarterbacks are devalued in my opinion but in non-ppr still like you know because in my quarterbacks are devalued in ppr because they're the only ones that don't catch passes they make up a fewer

percentage a lower percentage of your total points but make it five just do what ben said and uh consider that to be regulated all right you've been leaving your five star reviews they've been very helpful and we very much appreciate them. So let me pull up some of those questions that you put in the five-star reviews. And if you haven't noticed, Fantasy Football Today is one of the top podcasts in Apple Podcasts right now, always in Stitcher. We're so appreciative of it. It's awesome, and we're just going to keep on growing and keep on getting better.

So I'm trying to kill time here. Oh, here we go. Dr. Matt in a populated Arizona city. I'm not going to give this one to Ben. He didn't do very well with the Washington one. So, let's just say he's from Tempe. Do you keep Andrew Luck in the 14th round or Sonny Michel in the 7th round in a non-PPR league? I want to say neither to this question, but I guess Tony Michel in the seventh round.

In PPR, I don't like Michel much for a lot of the reasons we've talked about on this show. He's not going to catch enough passes. But luck is banged up, man. I don't know about that. From Tyler's dad, outside of the running backs and the wide receivers going in round one, which running backs and wide receivers could finish number one at their position?

Outside of the running backs and wide receivers going in number one at their position outside of the running backs wide receivers going in the first round uh damian williams i definitely think could do that i think dalvin cook has that kind of upside um todd girley i guess if he played a ton more than we expected i mean and then there's always the backup running backs that have the potential to do it if they if a running back went down in week one like like what what happened with James Conner last year? I mean, he was came out of nowhere. It's got to be a good offense. It's got to be like a Darwin Thompson. If he ended up being their their lead back early in the season, much like Kareem Hunt was as a rookie two years ago,

he could challenge for that for Kansas City. But yeah, I think for running back, it's a lot easier for wide receivers. It'd be a lot smaller list. Mike Evans. Yeah, like Mike Evans. Mike Evans could do it. Absolutely. Daniel in Jacksonville.

AFC, NFC only leagues. We are starting a large work league split between the two conferences, and the winners of both meet in the finals scored manually. What should we do if a player is traded mid-season to the other conference? Should the previous owner be allowed to keep him or should that player hit waivers? Have you ever done an AL only or NL only fantasy baseball league? I haven't in baseball. And I actually was just thinking about this question the other day about AL and NL leagues.

Literally yesterday. I was like, what happens when that happens? Yeah. So typically what happens is you lose the player and he goes on waivers and you want to save your your money your fab dollars or your waiver wire priority for around the trade deadline in baseball so you can get oh who are the big ones yasir puig trevor bauer you know um so if you're gonna go by that then yeah you lose the player. It's tough.

It's a tough pill to swallow. That would be my vote. Lose the player and he goes on waivers. From Stump13, I think this is about the Nick Chubb hype. It definitely is. Are analysts not taking into account just how good of a running back Kareem Hunt has been? I think, yes, they are not taking that into account. I think that's fair. I mean, I really do think everyone seems to believe that, OK, Nick Chubb's got this huge head start and he's going to be the clear lead back and and Kareem Hunt's not going to cut into that because by that

point, Chubb will have established it. What I think is going to happen, number one, I think the Browns are good enough. They're going to make the playoffs this year. And I think you're going to get to a point at that point that if they've ridden Chubb that hard, it doesn't mean that Chubb hasn't established himself. It just means that they're going to be able to split up the work more and keep these guys fresh going into the playoffs from a team perspective, not a fantasy perspective.

And I think fantasy owners want things more than they think about what makes the most sense for a team perspective, not a fantasy perspective. And I think fantasy owners want things more than they think about what makes the most sense for a team sometimes. From a team perspective, it would make sense to not keep riding Nick Chubb once Kareem Hunt is back and to let them both have touches because Kareem Hunt has been a very, very good running back. I don't know that many examples, though, because we talk about this all the time.

Oh, they're going to keep him fresh. They're not going to ride him. That's not what teams do like teams ride their horses you know and i can even think like melvin gordon was an example of a guy who had his touches limited a little bit last year he was on pace for about 254 carries before his injury before leaving the arizona game with an injury and that's not massive workload for a guy like melvin gordon but he made up for it in the passing game and he scored a bunch of touchdowns. So I just feel like

we talk about it all the time. Hey, it would be smart if they limited his workload. Teams just don't do that, in my opinion. I don't see it happen very much. Teams do it from the start of the season

when they have all their players active. I don't think there's a great comp to where a player like this is suspended and comes back at that point. So, I mean, I think if Kareem Hunt was active to start the season, we might see a split early on in the year. Right. But that's to me because I'm very high on Nick Chubb.

I said in the Facebook group yesterday that if there were no Kareem Hunt, I would take Nick Chubb fifth overall. I can see that argument if there were no Kareem Hunt. I just feel like I'm very confident in him. I think he's going to do great. And I just don't think they're going to really take him off the field all that much when Hunt comes back. Because that is week 10 when Kareem Hunt comes back. I'm not sure how much it matters for

fantasy owners. Like, get in his first eight games, just dominating, you know, that's the other thing. He's going to be that good that it might not really matter. He's going to get you basically he's going to be very helpful to get you to the playoffs. At least that's the way I see it. Alright, finally, last one. Sean O from Philly.

12-team PPR mock draft. I took Kelsey at the end of the first round, and then Kittle was there at the end of the third round. Should I have taken him as my flex? I don't love that, but I also, with that kind of value, don't hate it for two reasons.

I mean, it's got to be a league where you can make a trade because I would only do this in a league where essentially this is – you're giving up some equity for sure. But you are damaging the rest of the team, the rest of the league's tight end situations. And if you take two of the top three tight ends, other teams are going to be tight at needy and you might get someone come call and, and get an opportunity to get a little bit of a profit on that pick. So I wouldn't, and I hesitate to, to,

to take picks that I intend to trade. I wouldn't take them just because I could trade them. I think just with Kelsey and Kittle essentially, and maybe with Ertz, they're good enough that you could flex those guys, and you have this really good trade chip. So I can see it, but I'm hesitant on it for sure.

You get this question all the time. You wouldn't believe it. How many people ask us about taking two of the top three tight ends, using one as a flex? I think that it can work. It would have worked last year, but you need both of them to be great because what you're doing is you're tying up your flex with your third-round pick, and that means you can't play matchups with the running back

who's facing the Cardinals or whatever. You can't do that. You're tied up with your flex, and I really hate doing that. So they both have to be awesome for this to work, which is why I'm opposed to it. Ben, thank you very much, my friend. Thank you. This was a fun show. Glad to be back on. Are you going to take

a nap now? Because you got like this started at 5.30 in the morning for you. Yeah. We're almost pushing 7 o'clock. I think I got to stay awake at this point. Very responsible adult. That's Ben Gretsch for Dave, for Heath. I'm Adam. We'll talk to you on Monday on Fantasy Football Today

and Saturday night with our Fantasy Football Radio Show. See you.