Fantasy Football Today - 08/21 Fantasy Football Podcast: Year of the Rookie RB?

Episode Date: August 21, 2017

Did Adam just bonanza the rookie RBs by singing their praises at the beginning of today's show? We discuss the top four rookies and when they should be drafted (1:15). Will they end up deciding your leagues? ... Winners and losers from the weekend. Jamey moved Marcus Mariota ahead of a great QB (13:00). Dave digs Doug Martin (15:45). Heath shows some love for Todd Gurley (16:28) ... Much more from the weekend including some handcuff talk, Eddie Lacy's sinking value (19:48), RBs like Alvin Kamara and Tarik Cohen to take late in your drafts (36:43), the Redskins awful start (52:00), Dez Bryant's big game (53:18), etc. ... 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 Heath.

Welcome to the show. Done with the position previews. Now it's time to really dig deep. Look at the preseason stuff. Tell you some winners and losers. And get excited for the auction draft that's coming up in, well, about an hour from now. I'm not taking part, but I am so

excited for Dave, Jamie, and Heath to do this auction. And so we can talk about it on the podcast later this week. Happy auction day, guys. Why are you not doing it? Because I'm not there live in person. Well, neither is Will Brinson, but he's doing it. doing it? Because I'm not there live in person. Well, neither is Will Brinson, but he's doing it. We have another writer who's not going to be in person. We found this site.

It's cbssports.com, and you can do auctions online. So if everybody doesn't live in the same place, you can still participate in the auction altogether. I wish I had done it. Now I regret it. I regret it now. Well, it's not too late. Nope. Dave, is it too late?

I'll let you know if we have an opening. I'm not going to make it 14 teams. As of now, it looks like you missed your chance. Okay, fair enough. So big time winners and losers today. All right. I am dubbing 2017 the year of the rookie running back. Oh, boy.

I'm not going to ban answer them. This is going to be the year of the rookie. You just did. Yeah, you just did. He didn't actually use the term, though. I feel so much better about my take that the rookie running backs are all being drafted too high. No. After you said that.

No, too low, too low. Not all of them. Okay, who's feeling it? Jamie, any support? This is the year of the rookie run. These guys are going to freaking dominate this year. Or freaking disappoint everybody because their average draft position may get way too out of control. There's a very talented group.

We've been talking about it a lot, and they certainly are, in some capacity, have the chance to deliver in a big way. It's just a matter, I think, of how soon for some and how dominant you're expecting them to be. Well, interesting Twitter poll that now has over 5,000 votes and has a lot of time left, so there are going to be a lot of votes on this. Jamie posted it. Which rookie running back do you like the most right now? Fournette. And I'm just focusing on the top four here. But we'll talk more about others later in the show.

Fournette, Cook, McCaffrey, Mixon. Fournette, Cook, McCaffrey, Mixon. I'll just tell you now. McCaffrey is winning 37%. Cook, 32%. Fournette, 17%. Mixon, 14%. So McCaffrey, then Cook, then Fournette, 17%. Mixon, 14%. So McCaffrey, then Cook, then Fournette, then Mixon.

And McCaffrey and Cook got some room on the other two. What do you guys think? Who's your favorite rookie running back right now of those big four? I wonder. It's obvious that this poll is swayed by recent events. The fact that McCaffrey looked amazing against Tennessee. The fact that Fournette has a foot injury. The fact that Nixon didn't do anything in his second preseason game.

And the fact that Dalvin Cook has looked pretty good and gotten a lot of work in his first two games. But things happen fast in the National Football League. And I don't know if these poll results would be the same two weeks from now. Might not even be the same one week from now. They wouldn't have been the same two weeks ago. They weren't. They weren't the same two weeks from now. It might not even be the same one week from now. They wouldn't have been the same two weeks ago. They weren't. They weren't the same two weeks ago.

Everybody was more pumped about Nixon 2. Maybe McCaffrey. Maybe McCaffrey. It would have been closer. Put it that way. Cook would have been dead last with like 5% of the vote. No, not after his first preseason game because he had so much work. But I don't think that's an indication of him.

I think it's just an indication of what people thought, that he was the fourth guy because that's where he's being drafted. Sure. He would have probably been. That's a better case to say that before the preseason started, Cook would have definitely been number four. But no, even after the first game, Fournette scored a touchdown. Mixon looked great, had the big play.

McCaffrey had a couple of good runs. So he would have probably still been fourth. Cook had a bunch of good plays. I don't think Cook would have necessarily finished last. Again, he didn't do anything to exceed what the expectations were of those other three guys coming into the start of preseason. And I was actually saying two weeks ago, so before the first preseason game. But here's the thing about –

They've all played two games. Cook has not been sharing because – well, McKinnon was back, but McKinnon was returning a kick yesterday and still no Latavius Murray. Like the problem I have with Mixon is that Jeremy Hill hasn't done anything to lose the job yet. It's so obvious because now I've watched – even though Mixon 2.7 yards per carry, Hill 4.7 yards per carry, Mixon did have a 15-yard catch.

When he gets out in space, I mean, he's really good. He's got skills that Jeremy Hill just doesn't have. There's no argument there. I think we all feel that way. But they're being stubborn as of now and sticking with Hill and he hasn't done anything to lose the job yet, whereas Cook is right now the guy. So I'm not surprised that he's number two on this poll. I'm a little surprised that McCaffrey's number one, just because Cook does have a clearer path to touches than McCaffrey.

But McCaffrey is having one heck of a preseason. He looks terrific. He does. And I laid out the case for him as a third-round pick, which, I mean, I think that was his ADP pretty much already. But before, I wasn't sure that I liked it. Now I do. I think he's got a pretty good chance at 12 carries and at least three catches per week.

That's 15 touches. Yeah, actually, Dave, you did a pretty good breakdown on the website. You have him, if he gets 15 touches, and you gave him fairly modest but realistic yards per touch, and he came out to like 1,200 yards based on your projection, right? Right, so then it comes down to touchdowns, and that's the one thing that we've all been skeevy about ever since he went to Carolina because Cam Newton's there, Jonathan Stewart's there.

It's not like Christian McCaffrey is going to be their choice for three straight plunges at the goal line between the guard and the center. But I still think he's going to be tough to catch. He looks lightning fast. I don't know if we can describe it via words. He's awesome. These guys are fun. He is really, really fast. I don't know if we can describe it via word. He's awesome. He is really, really fast. Oh, yeah. I would like to see him race Tyreek Hill.

That would be close. You think Hill would crush him? Yeah. Yes. I would like to see him race Jeremy Hill. Much better. That'd be fun. He wouldn't crush him.

Maybe he'd crush him because Hill's pretty fast. But in a 12-team league, what is the range for these four rookie running backs? The earliest one should be drafted and the latest one should be drafted. We'll do separate for standard and PPR. Standard scoring, the earliest one of the four rookie running backs, top four, should be drafted and the latest. 25. For who? For Fournette.

Okay. Fine with that. And the latest, 38, 39? Mm-hmm. Who do you have at 38, 39? I think Mixon. All four of these guys should go in round three in a non-PPR? Anybody say no, yes? In a non-PPR. Anybody say no, yes?

In a non-PPR? I am not taking McCaffrey in a non-PPR. I'm not taking anybody but Fournette in a non-PPR yet. Everybody else for you is round four. You are waiting on rookie running backs. I'm not getting rookie running backs, apparently. Yeah, you're not. Jamie?

Well, I just told you. So right outside round three. I'm with you. And I've got it ranked. I still have Fournette at the top. Then Cook. Then McCaffrey. And then Mixon. That's not PPR. I've got Fournette, McCaffrey, Cook, Mixon. In standard or in PPR?

Standard. It's different in PPR. Very different. PPR, I've got it the same. So let's do the same exercise. Same exercise now with PPR. Earliest and latest. I'd wait a smidge longer, but still round three, to get McCaffrey,

who I have as my number one rookie running back in PPR. I just put him in the same spot where I had Fournette, which is 25. In PPR. I've got Fournette middle of the third Fournette, which is 25. In PPR. I've got Fournette middle of the third, McCaffrey end of the third in PPR. McCaffrey, Fournette, Cook all in round three, and then Mixon just outside of round three for me in PPR. Cook in round four, Mixon start of round five. Wow. Why so low?

He is not currently a starting running back i think he's going to win the job but marvin lewis has made the wrong choice for two consecutive years and still has the same guy as his starting running back yeah and we haven't seen geo yet and geo will be back what's that we haven't seen geo but he'll be back. I would expect Geo to be back. It kind of looks like maybe Mixon's taking Geo's role, and he'll just get to keep his job. I can't believe. That would be really dumb. But it's what it looks like right now. It looks like, to me, that each of the last two years,

you could argue the most valuable player in fantasy has been a rookie running back. Like Zeke, based on where you drafted him, second round, maybe. No, first round. But even still. You could say Jordan Howard. Sure, yeah. Jordan Howard and Todd Gurley the year before. I don't think – I mean maybe I'm going a little crazy,

but I have something called the ridiculous-o-meter today. Now if you're new to the show, we do meters a lot. We do, like, add-o-meter, start-o-meter, a bunch of meters. This is the first time we're ever doing the ridiculous-o-meter. So zero to ten. If you give me a ten, it is a completely ridiculous statement. It's outlandish. If you give me a zero, it's legit, not ridiculous at all.

So give me on the ridiculous-o-meter, zero to ten. Each of the four rookie running backs The big four should be drafted ahead of Lamar Miller 10 You cray dog 6 I've already got three of them ahead I'm waiting on Marvin Lewis to get his act together

And then it'll be four I'm freezing on Marvin Lewis to get his act together, and then it'll be four. I'm freezing on Lamar Miller. Freezing. I am cold to him. Like, if we went out to eat, I don't know if I could look him in the eye. Jamie, ridiculous? Wait, who would pay, me or Lamar? Lamar.

Oh, then I could definitely look him in the eye. That's nice. Yeah, that's very nice. Yeah, I would take Miller overall. You would? Yeah. All eye. That's nice. Yeah, that's very nice. Yeah, I would take Miller overall. You would? Yeah. All right. All righty.

More on the rookie running backs a little bit later, including the Green Bay situation, the Kansas City situation. Did Spencer Ware just get hurt on the first carry of the game? No, they wanted to see what Kareem Hunt looked like with the first team, and then Hunt got hurt. It was a serious injury? No, they're not. They say minor

They say, right Yeah, no Hunt looked pretty good Yeah Hunt looked alright Not bad Yeah, it was a good showing for him He got the snot knocked out of him

About four different times He's got a little, right? A little bit A little thin below the waist Which is a problem You want guys to have sand in their pants If they're going to be a three-down back and still be able to have great speed. Hunt is kind of like a smaller version of Forte.

Forte was never a game-breaker. He was never a speedster. But when given a lot of work, he could do whatever you asked him to do. One of my absolute favorite plays of the young preseason was kareem hunt's two-on-one pass block on fourth and one how awesome was that did you see that yeah it was lucky it was lucky it looked the visual was great and uh look if spencer wears just a guy kareem hunt is uh a step up from that he's not two or three steps up from that i i have not seen yet anything to say to me that kareem hunt is more than just a guy i think they're both kind

of guys which are fine like we're saying just a guy in the sense of one of the best 40 or 45 running backs in the world so it's also charcedric west put up a monster number that day too the bingles still has his feet for whatever. I'm not saying. I'm not saying don't give me that look. No, but there was the report that they may keep four of them. They will. I think they absolutely will.

Well, keeping four tailbacks is usually kind of odd. So for them to make that commitment shows that they think that CJ Spiller still has something that they could potentially use. But yeah, I don't think as great as Kareem Hunt looked, I don't think he knocked Spencer Ware off of his perch yet. No, not yet. It's only preseason week two. And again, I say a million times, with the rookie running backs, you might be playing a little bit toward the future.

You're hoping maybe midseason, maybe hopefully earlier. With a guy like Hunt. I think with the first and second round rookie running backs in the NFL draft, the big four that we keep talking about, you're hoping for sooner. But be patient. Okay, winners and losers.

Jamie, why don't you start us off with a winner from the weekend? Marcus Mariota. Oh, yeah. He looked good. Just continues to look better and better. I moved him up to my fourth quarterback. I think he could be the MVP of the NFL this year.

Whoa. Now I've got to move him up. I want to be the high guy on Marcus Mariota. I had him fifth. So you're going to move him third now? I can't move him. I'm going to put him ahead of Drew Brees. Well, here's what I was thinking.

I was looking at it. I was going to put him fifth behind Russell Wilson because I think Russell Wilson has a huge year, but I'm just looking at it. They're kind of in similar situations where there's no real dominant receiver. Doug Baldwin's the best of the group, but he's just not at that level of

the upper echelon guy. Did you see the Doug Baldwin gif? It was ridiculous. With the Super Mario music? Yeah. That move was just ridiculous. He's a great player, but I don't think he's the type of guy that, you know, he's not a Julio Jones type of elevator quarterback player. Receiving core, I think you've got to give the edge to the Titans over the Seahawks. No, we've got Jimmy Graham. Don't forget about Jimmy Graham.

I like the group in Tennessee better than the group in Seattle. You know what's funny, man? There's two guys in Seattle. There could be four guys in Tennessee. Like, Mariota looked great. Russell Wilson looked great, too. He did. Both those teams were throwing, and I just wonder if DeMarco Murray had been healthy,

had been playing, would the offensive look different, Jamie, for the Titans? Well, they gave Derrick Henry, like, 16 runs. Yeah, they did. They did. But they came out throwing. Because I think Henry got work when Mariota was out of the game too. He did, yes. His touchdown run came with Mariota off the field.

Yeah. All right, so you got Mariota and Wilson ahead of Matt Ryan and Andrew Luck. Mm-hmm. Interesting. Okay, okay. And Heath also has those two ahead of Ryan and Luck But flip-flopped Wilson 4, Mariota 5 Jamie has Mariota 4, Wilson 5

And Dave has Wilson 7 and Mariota 8 He has Ryan, Cousins, and Jameis Who also has looked good And had a nice preseason so far Mostly I'll tell you the one last thing that I liked about Mariota Is that he did what he did without his top three receivers. Yes, that's a part of it.

Well, no, Delaney was there. Well, yeah. I was thinking wide receivers. The fact that they were so efficient. The offense looked like they'd been there for years and years. You can't touch him. You can't touch him. Just even the personnel changes.

It reminded me of the Packers, the Patriots, and all these other—the Falcons. And they look creative. It wasn't just handed off. And no DeMarco Murray either. They look great. Yep. Okay. And I think they're going to run away with that division.

So the first player I'm nominating in the auction is – Yeah, yeah, Marcus Markle. I just make Jamie pay for putting – Well, he's only going to pay if no one else pays. Okay, Dave, give me a winner from the weekend. Doug Martin looked very good to me. I came away impressed, not just with him, but with the offensive line in general in Tampa Bay.

I think that they were good enough, and they made way for Martin to scoot through. I think he clearly has bursts that Jacquez Rogers doesn't have, and he's going to stick around in Tampa. The fact that we're drafting him in round six could end up being a pretty good steal. Maybe if you're in round five and you're looking for a running back, I know he's suspended for the first three games. I know that that could hurt him, but also help him, too. He'll have fresh legs when he comes back in week four.

I thought he looked great, and I'm more inclined to draft him now than I was before. All righty. And Heath, a winner from you. So far we have Mariota and Doug Martin. I'm going to go with Todd Gurley, who had a successful day on the ground against a Raiders defense that looked like they didn't really want to be there. But the big thing for Gurley was not so much what he did,

although he did do a nice job of pushing the pile a few times. It's the fact that Jared Goff looked like an actual NFL quarterback. Sammy Watkins makes such a difference, and not just him. Cooper Cupp is going to be a good NFL receiver. I still believe in Josh Reynolds. Tavon Austin is now the gimmick gadget player that he's supposed to be. He's got two tight ends that they're raving about. Goff has all the weapons that he could ask for, and defenses are going to have to respect the passing game for the Los Angeles Rams, which is going to give Gurley lanes. I would not be

that surprised if Gurley outperforms those other second-round running backs that are going in front of him, like Ajayi, like Jordan Howard, maybe except for DeMarco Murray. And how about his early season schedule? Yes. You see him do that against Oakland, and you go, well, Oakland's defense didn't really play that hard. When he gets real competition, it's going to be tough. His week one matchup is at home against Indy, whose defense is terrible already. It's just really Arizona in the early part

of the season. Washington's after that. And then... What the hell? Why am I taking so long to talk? At San Francisco on a short week. Yeah, I kind of was watching. Oh, by the way, can we just – the big winner from the weekend is condensed version on NFL.com. It is amazing.

It takes every play of the game and condenses it into like a – usually they're like 35 minutes long. So I watched the first half on condensed version of almost every game. And I was watching Todd Gurley and thinking, because last week I thought to myself, same old Gurley, right? Because he got a few carries and he got met in the backfield every time. Yep. And I thought, look, it's not going to be his fault, but the offensive line isn't good. And then this week I'm sitting there watching it and they're facing, like Jamie said, not

a good defense in Oakland. And he said they didn't really look interested. Eight carries for 38 yards and a touchdown, but I just can't see him getting all the touches that we know he's going to get, including catches, and not having a better year than he had last year.

I'm coming around on Todd Gurley. He is talented, but I also don't want to make too much of this one game because I still think the offensive line guy is going to be an issue for them even though it's improved. Actually, no, it is improved. We should give them that.

They invested in his play. Is it? Yes. It should be, especially at left tackle. Sure. I'll give you left tackle. Yeah, I mean, he's going to get so much work. So, all right, Gurley ahead of the rookies?

Sure. All of them. All of them. Jamie, you agree? Yes, yes, yes. How about Gurley versus Zeke? That's one I struggle with. That was my suggestion on when I was watching Gurley perform.

Maybe you should draft Todd Gurley, start him against the Colts, and then trade him for Zeke. Not a bad idea. A little sell-high action on Todd Gurley, start him against the Colts, and then trade him for Zeke. Not a bad idea. A little sell-high action on Todd Gurley. All right, let's go to the losers. So I gave my big winner its condensed mode. Loser is me, since I won't be able to see the solar eclipse today, being in New York.

So that's disappointing. But how about some fantasy losers? Heath? I'll go with Eddie Lacy. Got the opportunity with Thomas Rawls. That was my guy. Ankle injury. That was all of our guys. He looked awful. One of their only offensive linemen got

hurt. I don't know if anyone is going to be able to run the ball in Seattle this year. But I don't think it's going to be Eddie Lacy. Chris Carson might, but I think they're going to use a multi-person approach. Even if Carson's in there,

he needs Rawls and Lacy to get out. I think they might. I don't know what the contract says. I don't know how much is guaranteed other than what they've already paid him to do Jenny Craig. Yeah, they've already paid him to do Jenny Craig. Yeah, they've already given him the bonuses. He didn't look big, though.

I will say that about Lacey. He did not look overweight. He did look big. He did not look overweight. He didn't look like, oh, he's a big guy. I didn't think Lacey looked fat. Right, but the combination of slow feet and an offensive line that just can't dominate. Dominates even too strong.

Can't effectively and consistently do what they're asked to do is very bad for your fantasy team. So his base salary is $1.3 million. His signing bonus is $1.5 million, and he's earned $385,000 in workout bonuses. All right. Take a walk away from that easy. Would you rather draft Lacey or Rawls? Rawls. I don't think anybody's going to say Lacey anymore.

Chris Carson or Lacey? Lacey. Still Lacey, but I picked up Carson in our Dynasty League. Oh, wait. We've got to turn back notifications so Adam can get that. Heads up. But, yeah, I picked up Chris Carson in our Dynasty League. Adam, so we're doing good there.

Oh, great. Just on the thought that he could easily be the guy next year. Yep. Okay. Dave, a loser, please. I have two, so I will give one now and another if Jamie doesn't go with him. Loser number one is Andrew Luck, who is still not practicing, still not back at training camp,

still not working with his teammates. We are now inside of three weeks before the Colts' first game at Los Angeles, and you've got to lose confidence at this point. And I don't know what the Colts are thinking. Unless they are just... Maybe Andrew Luck is secretly practicing with all of his teammates

somewhere in Indianapolis that no one knows about. Short of that, he's not going to be ready to go anytime soon. But that's not a surprise. Like, have you dropped him? Yes, because this was about the time where if he wasn't back and doing his thing, you get nervous. And you see all – you see Jameis playing well, james playing well russell wilson playing well marcus mariota playing well i i think it makes perfect sense to let luck slide and now whereas before you could brag oh i got andrew luck in round seven i got andrew luck in round eight

now i think you almost expect it and i'm not saying he's a bad pick there you have to take two quarterbacks if you draft andrew luck that's obvious but it it's getting worrisome he could miss several games and he's still on the pup list i know the colts have said we're gonna get him out there soon he's not gonna start the season on the pup list well ryan kelly's out for maybe half the year they know this offense isn't going anywhere fast. Maybe they do keep him on the pump list. Okay. Let him really rest up and get back at it so that he's ready to go starting in week seven. Okay.

And Jamie, you're a loser from preseason week two. I don't want to overreact, but it wasn't like Brian Hoyer was peppering Pierre Garçon with targets in the game against the Broncos. And he has a very big eyes, big eyes for Marquise Goodwin right now. And so I just wonder if that Garçon can be the guy I was hoping he could be as just the like overly featured guy in this receiving core. And you've heard nothing but good things about Goodwin all preseason. Vance McDonald got, I think, three of the first four targets that Hoyer threw in that game. First off, the 49ers did not look good at all offensively

at the first team offense, but that was against a Broncos defense that you would think is great, but they were missing a lot of guys too. So, yeah, I dropped Garcon from high 30s to mid 30s. Okay. And Dave, you're our other loser since you are in a loser mood today. I am in a loser mood. Us losers are. I'm going to say Mike Gilleslie is a loser.

Yes. The fact that he's missed, it's over a week now. Are we getting on two weeks for Gilleslie? I believe it's two weeks. And Belichick kind of threw a little bit of Belichickian shade because someone asked about Burkhead, and the first thing he says is, well, he's here, he's practicing, he's working hard every day, which is about as shady as Belichick can get with one of his players.

But I thought Rex Burkhead looked fine. I don't know if he looked amazing. He looked amazing on his touchdown catch. It looks like he's got some rhythm with Tom Brady based on his receptions against Houston. And I think the more and more that Gilleslie misses, the longer and longer it's going to take for him to grasp the blunt role,

which is what everybody is clamoring for in fantasy. Rex Burkhead might get that role. Yeah. So Burkhead, okay, apparently he's the guy to back up Gillisley with. Of course he is. Yeah. Now you're going to have to spend a pick to do it.

I made that mistake. I took Deion Lewis last weekend instead of Burkhead. I actually don't know if Burkhead was on the board. But bottom line, I didn't take on Burkhead. I didn't think he looked good as a running back. And he had seven carries for 20 yards. He looked great catching passes out of the backfield. But I can't disagree that Gillislee is a loser because he's not there,

and he's losing valuable time to win this job. But I think that it could have gone worse. If Burkhead had ran the ball better, I'd be more nervous about Gillislee and that I own him on one team right now. But I still feel like there's an opportunity for Gillilleslie to get in there and be the running back. Because I have a feeling he's the best ball carrier on the team, Gilleslie. But until he proves it and shows it, he's not going to get that chance. That's for any football team, really, unless they've got an established superstar running back, which Gilleslie is not.

But nobody is less committed to his running backs and their roles than Belichick. I'll tell you what I saw. I saw Rex Burkhead working as the exclusive running downs back with the Patriots' first-team offense. The offensive line got blown up a couple of times. That hurt Burkhead on a couple of his carries. There was one where J.J. Watt just struck the guard in front of him, and Rex lost a couple of yards on that play.

But I think he cuts very well. I don't think he's got top speed, but I think he's got good speed. And I think his receiving skills make him a factor even on first and ten, second and seven. They don't have to take him off the field. Based on the moves they've made this offseason, the Patriots are trying to become more versatile at running back, and Burkhead provides that to them. Would you take Burkhead or Thomas Rawls?

Rawls. Rawls. It's Rawls, but I don't feel amazing about it. I think the good thing is if you believe in Mike Gilleslie, this is going to extremely help his fantasy value. Yes. Because it will get suppressed and suppressed and suppressed, and then you might be depressed and depressed and depressed.

But at some point, he's going to be a factor on this football team. Because, look, Rex Burkhead has the chance to be the guy there, but he's never been given the chance to be the guy anywhere since college. So we'll see if Belichick and the Patriots lean on him to that degree. I did also notice that Belichick, every time he mentions Burkett, he talks about how well he plays on special teams. So it sounds a little counterintuitive to me that somebody who's a special teams ace is also your lead running back.

Sure. Then you start thinking about, well, I can draft Gillis Lee in round six if his value is getting depressed. He'll certainly fall there. And then I can go and get Rex Burkett in round 10. You could do that but there could also be there will definitely be weeks where you could choose between those two and choose incorrectly or you could start them both and neither one of them do anything because it's a james white week

you know it's funny i so i did that draft with jamie last week the flex draft i guess it was like eight or nine days ago at this point and the four running backs that I drafted to actually all start. Your team could be a disaster. No, I mean, my team's just backwards right now because my top four running backs are Gillislee, Amir Abdullah, Paul Perkins, and Darren McFadden. And who do you think are the two I feel best about right now? McFadden and Abdullah.

McFadden and Abdullah. I actually feel pretty good about both of them. Well, Heath and I were talking before the show started that Paul Perkins needs a big night tonight. Yeah, there's a lot on the line for Perkins. Facing the Browns. Big Monday night football game everybody's talking about. I can't wait. You know what you can do, Adam? You can go get yourself

a Ryan Matthews jersey right now. No. Again, this is preseason overreaction to one possession of Paul Perkins running subpar. I have not lowered him. I'm not worried about him. But that could change tonight. Yeah, yeah.

You've got to show something tonight just to get the Orleans Darkwood talk quieted down. And it is football season, so let's go to some games, okay, or some concerts or some comedy or theater. Whatever you're going to, everybody, use SeatGeek to get there and save 20 bucks, 20 bucks off your tickets with our offer code FFT. That's FFT for 20 bucks off your first SeatGeek purchase. Now you don't have to search multiple sites anymore when you shop online for tickets. SeatGeek saves you time and money by doing that searching for you. SeatGeek searches the sites, compares the prices, finds amazing deals, and that's just a great way to buy tickets. I always use SeatGeek. And when you look for an event with SeatGeek, you see a bunch of dots on the screen. You want the

big green ones. Those are the best deals. You click, you purchase, you promo code, you save, piece of cake. And every purchase is fully guaranteed, by the way. So right now, our listeners get $20 off your first SeatGeek purchase. Download the SeatGeek app and enter the promo code FFT. That's promo code FFT for $20 off your first SeatGeek purchase. All right, time for the Ridiculous-O-Meter. Rex Burkhead should be drafted ahead of Mike Gillislee. Zero to ten on the Ridiculous-O-Meter.

Nine. Nine. Nine. It's ridiculous. Don't do it. The Seattle backfield is a backfield to avoid. Zero to ten on the ridiculous-o-meter. Nine. Nine. Nine. It's ridiculous. Don't do it. The Seattle backfield is a backfield to avoid. Four.

Two. Five. Okay, so don't avoid it necessarily. If one guy gets the job, whether it's Lacey or Carson or Rawls, probably I did that maybe in reverse order, are you confident that player is going to be good this year for fantasy owners? Are we on the ridiculous meter or are we just answering? No, we're off the meter. Yeah, no.

Not convinced. Okay. Would you go with Rawls or Doug Martin? Martin. Rawls or McFadden? Rawls. Rawls. I think I might have McFadden higher.

Dudes, I know he fumbled. McFadden again, nothing but first-team reps. And again, he looked good. He did not look good. He ran through 17 feet. He did exactly. He looked like what you're hoping for. The Colts looked like a high school varsity defense.

Yeah, and I also think, again, you're drafting him with the hope at six games. We don't know that at six games yet. Keep that in mind. I do have Rawls slightly ahead of McFadden in both formats. All right, ridiculous, O-meter. So I guess I'll say Rawls. Ridiculous, O-meter. Devontae Parker will outscore Jarvis Landry this year.

In standard? In standard. Two. Yeah. standard. Two. Yeah. Five. Four. All right, so we can see it happening. The Cutler to Parker connection looked pretty good, Jamie.

You were at that game last Thursday. Yeah, you know, if you're just looking at the box score, you're going to see one catch for 16 yards. But he targeted him four times. One was on a bubble screen that didn't exactly work very well. But the play to note, I think, was when Cutler scrambled, and this is the difference between Cutler and Tannehill. When Cutler was in trouble, it was a holding call.

He stepped up in the pocket, and instead of looking in front of him, he was looking downfield. He saw Parker. He gave him a chance to make a play. He came down with a 31-yard catch, and it was called back on holding. They were on the field. They had one first down in two series. Four targets in those two series.

Parker set up to have a big year. Okay. We like Devontae Parker. He's in Jamie's sleeper column. You can check that out. Jamie, do you like Parker or Snead? Still Snead. All righty. Jared Goff will sneak into the top 15 this season. Where is that on the ridiculous, Omid?

Or Jared Goff into the top 15? Six. It's quarterback, so anything could happen with that position. Three. I'll say four. Is this now somebody you want in a two-quarterback league? Jared Goff? I'd like to get a little bit of exposure.

In best ball drafts, I'm trying to add him. I drafted him in our two QB league. Yeah, I like it. I'm getting encouraged. I don't want to overreact to one game where Cooper Cup was just wide open. Because of Goff. What do you mean? Beautiful play fake.

Beyond believable play fake that he made. It was a good play fake. He looked like a very competent quarterback. Look, the play was, yes, he looked competent. Did he look great? I don't know. I'm not ready to say that. That's going to be great.

Just league average. Right. Just 15th. And I think the thing to keep in mind is he has weapons now. He didn't have weapons last year. That was awful. That's true. Let's see. is he has weapons now. He didn't have weapons last year. That receiving corps was awful. That's true.

Let's see. Jeff Fisher's home combing his mustache saying, I wish I had these. I wish I knew how to use them. Cooper Cup will be better than Sammy Watkins. Ridiculous, O-meter? 100. 75. All right, Cooper Cup will not be better than Sammy Watkins.

I was going to say 7. All right, well, still, pretty ridiculous. You don't want to overreact, but you overreact. Sammy Watkins is known for injuries. He could easily get hurt. Cooper Cup could play 16 games. He could end up being the number one receiver there. Who's going to have more catches by the end of the year? Just catches.

Sammy Watkins. I don't know. All right. Ridiculous, O-Meter. LeSean McCoy should be, at worst, the number six pick in standard scoring leagues. That means he should go ahead of A.J. Green and he should go ahead of Mike Evans. LeSean McCoy. Man, he makes me nervous now.

It's not ridiculous. Seven. I don't like it at all. I like him less than I did. I don't know that I can drop him in my running back rankings, but I'm going to drop him in the overall rankings. So what is the concern? Their offense is abysmal.

Because I'm going to play devil's advocate. Their offense is abysmal. They have no receivers, and they're going to bench Tyrod Taylor because, amazingly, he doesn't play well with no good receivers. And they trade LaShawn McCoy at the trade deadline to somebody else. They could potentially do it before the season starts. I think teams would line up to get him. The Bills would never trade a good...

Never mind. The Bills, I mean, he could have 60 catches, though. He could get a ton of work. For nothing, but he could get a ton of work. He could get hurt week two. Right. They could just overwork him to the point where all the stuff that you worry about, Dave, happens to him early. He's still my number four running back, so I'm downplaying.

Right. Me too. I mean, I haven't moved him from three just because of what you guys are alluding to. The workload could be amazing for him, and I do think there is one more great year in store for him. But the concerns that I did have are maximized. I mean, were his games terrible when Sammy Watkins was on the shelf? No, of course not. They were great.

Not all of them. But if it's Nate Peterman handing off to LaShawn McCoy. I agree. Peterman would change the dynamic. And Jordan Matthews has a chest injury. And you're talking about Zay Jones and Rod Streeter, if he's healthy. It'll be Andre Holmes. I mean, it's terrible.

Just to keep it in perspective, McCoy last year, he scored 32 more fantasy points than the number one wide receiver. He had a better year than any wide receiver in the last five years, except for Antonio Brown, who was better than him twice, 2014 to 2015. So Antonio Brown's been the only receiver in the last five years to outscore McCoy's 2016 season in standard scoring leagues. Now that's just standard. So

if you're on the clock, you got the sixth pick, the two running backs, and the top three receivers are off the board, and you're choosing between A.J. Green, Mike Evans, Melvin Gordon, LaShawn McCoy. Who's your sixth pick? Green. Green. Gordon. You guys are taking Green, Heath, and Jamie even in standard? Green. Green. Gordon. You guys are taking Green,

Heath, and Jamie even in standard? Yep. I gotta tell you, the Chargers offensive line did not look good last night. Also, the Bills are playing without their left tackle, Cordy Glenn, so hopefully that could help things. Let's play a quick game of

Does He Matter? Chicago running back Tariq Cohen, does he matter? Cohen. He's looked really good two times in a row. He doesn't matter unless Howard gets hurt, but if you're into the handcuff, he is the one. Can he handle being an every-down running back? Look, he got a lot of areas in the last game.

The thing about it, I know smaller guys are more of an injury concern, but he is so shifty. He reminds me. I don't know how many hard hits he's going to take. Guys aren't getting to line him up because he's just always moving. So you're only drafting Cohen right now if you own Howard? Well, that's not the way I really really do it, but I was like... No, late-round pick if you're in a different league. I think you've got to put...

If I'm looking at three rookie running backs that have amazing late-round appeal, I would put D'Angelo Henderson one, I would put Chris Carson two, and Tariq Cohen three. What about Alvin Kamara? Does he matter? Oh, he's in that same group.

Okay. But ahead of those guys for me. All right. And I'll throw another one out there. Marlon Mack. Same. Same conversation. He looked great, but it's still an offense that could be troublesome.

And I don't know if he can hold up for 15-plus. I think the thing that would be interesting is what happens when Gore gets hurt. You mean next year or the year after that or the year after that? No, no, 2035. Oh. Yeah. I don't know. If Luck's not there, I'm not going to really have much faith in anybody in that offense.

Oh, man. What a mess that could be. And finally, does he matter? Cason Williams. No. He's an incredible athlete. He made some incredible catches. I don't think that the Seattle offense is primed to have Doug Baldwin do his thing,

Jimmy Graham do his thing, and enough left over for Cason Williams to be an outside threat. I predict he will have three great fantasy games this season. Do you want to know when they are? Ask me in February. Okay.

Because the whole point is he's unpredictable. We just don't know. Fair enough. We have a lot to get to today. And we have a new sponsor to tell you about. And I am pumped up. We all are pumped up about this sponsor, Movement Watches, guys. We've got Movement Watches. How nice are these watches?

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Clean design. Been getting compliments since I started wearing it just a couple weeks ago. Now's the time to step up your watch game, everybody. MVMTwatches.com slash FFootball. I will tell you, I have not been able to wear a watch for like the last decade because I stuck my arm through a plate of glass and have nerve damage in my left arm. And whenever I wear a watch, it would just make my whole arm tingle. And I got this watch, and I put it on, and the fit was so good,

and the band was so good and the band was so comfortable that I just wear it all the time. Nice. We have to hear that story about the whatever it was that you smashed and we'll hear about that some other time because we got to pick it up. Jordan Reed is off the pup list. So you expect him to play week one? Yes.

Yes. All right. They got three weeks to get ready. Still no Le'Veon Bell He might be there next week Could Le'Garrett Blount get cut? He could I don't know if there's enough competition On that running back room

In that running back room To get him off the roster I don't think he's going to But what I do think is He won't be used as much as people might anticipate or might have anticipated at first. I think he's strictly what we think he is, a between-the-tackles power back. You know what he is?

Overdrafted. ADP was in the 25th running back off the board. Yeah, but now when would you take him, LeGarrette Blount? 50-th running back off the board. Oh, yeah. Oh. Yeah, but now when would you take him, LeGarrette Blount? 50-second running back off the board. I've still got him around 40. He'll be around 40. Yes, that's fair. Standard scoring league, Bilal Powell or LeGarrette Blount?

Powell. Not even close. Yeah. Bilal Powell. Powell. Why don't we each name a player that we'll take ahead of LeGarrette Blount? I'll go first. Ahead of?

Ahead. I don't like Eddie Lacy. I think Eddie Lacy's terrible. I'll still take Eddie Lacy ahead of LeGarrette Blunt? I'll go first. Ahead of? Ahead. I don't like Eddie Lacy. I think Eddie Lacy's terrible. I'll still take Eddie Lacy ahead of LeGarrette Blunt. I'll take Blunt. And that's there. I'm looking to see where he's fallen to on Fantasy Pros. Not that far.

With all the drafts over the weekend. All the way to the 26th running back off the board. Yeah, we're not going to see the dramatic shifts until next week. Name a player you'll take ahead of LeGarrette Blunt. LaDainian Tomlinson. Frank Gore? No. Frank Gore?

Yes, Frank Gore. Yes, Frank Gore, yes. Derrick Henry? Yes. All right. Adrian Peterson. No. They're the same guy.

Old and in the committee. One of them got a lot more competition. George Fantz is out for the year with a torn ACL Seahawks left tackle. How big of a deal? This is a pretty big deal. George Fant is out for the year with a torn ACL, Seahawks left tackle. How big of a deal? This is a pretty big deal. I mean, this sucks. Yeah, it's a problem. You know, we've clearly talked about the demise of their offensive line

over the last couple of years. They were very confident that the young guys that they were trying to groom last year were going to take the next step, including Fant. So, tough. But it's obviously not downgrading Wilson or Baldwin, right? No. No, because they still put – well, Baldwin certainly put up good numbers last year when mediocre offensive line play. To me, it just scares me more about the run game than anything else.

All right. Jordan Howard is a corneal abrasion from looking at the clips, but he should be fine, according to Adam Schefter. Joking about the eclipse thing. Don't want to attribute that to Adam Schefter. Anquan Bolden retired, so more love for Zay Jones? Yes. Yeah, I moved him up again, but probably not high enough to get him. Detroit wide receiver TJ Jones left with a hamstring injury.

That can't be bad news for Kenny Galladay. So Galladay or Zay Jones? Zay. Zay, but there's more talk again about Stafford and Marvin Jones and their bromance. Oh. So they really – the touchdown was nice. Yeah. Nice little fade.

I don't think it should scare you off of Golden Tate at all like it did last year. No. But it should make you just a little bit push the pause button on Galladay and all the hype. And those line coaches, they were so impressed with Kenny Galladay in his first preseason game. They gave him four snaps with the first team offense in which he received zero targets and did some really average blocking. Galladay! Right? You know really average blocking. Holiday. Right? You know, celebrate.

You can bench all night. Cincinnati rookie wide receiver John Ross didn't play, but he is practicing. And Mark Eastley expects to be ready for week one. And Rob Gronkowski played his first preseason game, so that's awesome. How many yards did he have? 12, right?

He sucks. Zero, right? Only 12 yards. Oh, he had 12? I thought he had no catches. Interesting. Either way, he's good. Okay, defensive stuff. Jalen Smith, Manti Teo.

He officially had no yards and no catches. Thank you. I knew it. He sucks. Don't draft him. Jalen Smith returned for Dallas, but he's a backup right now. Manti Teo could be his starting middle linebacker for the Saints. Sneaky IDP.

Oh, tomorrow we'll talk IDP. We're bringing Chris Harris on. We're going to talk some IDP, individual defensive player. And Cincinnati starting safety Sean Williams dislocated his elbow. So that sucks. Ugly play. Yeah. Ugly.

You drafted him, right, Adam? I did? I think so. Great. He was. You drafted him, right, Adam? I did? I think so. He was the guy I was looking at late, and I think you took him. You know, that IDP is, I don't know. Pretty awesome. It's fine. But there are so many guys who are just completely replaceable, in our format anyway.

Like Sean Williams, replaceable. LeSean McCoy purchased potentially close to $3,000 worth of cheesesteaks and fries for his teammates as Buffalo was in Philadelphia, which reminds me, we're going to be in Philadelphia. We'll give you the information on that in a moment. Adam, you would say LeSean McCoy is the leader of the Bills offense, right? I would. So you're the leader of our podcast. I have to buy you cheesesteaks.

You have to buy us all food while we're there. Yep. Okay. That's fine. I'll expense it. Wow. I have to buy us all food while we're there. Yep. Okay. That's fine. I'll expense it. Wow. I'm done with the – okay. The only other thing was that Stefan Tuitt got stuck with a $2,000 bill based on credit card roulette.

And I want to know if you guys have ever lost credit card roulette. Not only have I not lost credit card roulette, I believe I once benefited from you losing credit card roulette, Adam. That is true. I did lose credit card roulette. It was only like – I think I split it with somebody. It's like a $70 bill. I think I ended up paying like $35, $40. I don't think I've ever played credit card roulette.

I'm never playing again. I'm 0 for 1. It was a bad experience. I don't even think I know the rules. So let's say the four of us went out to lunch. Say we went to a fancy place like Five Guys or something like that. Well, that's a bad example. I don't think I know the rules. So let's say the four of us went out to lunch. Say we went to a fancy place, like Five Guys or something like that. Well, that's a bad example. There's got to be a server there.

We'll say Twin Peaks. And you give the server all the credit cards, and the server picks one of the credit cards and charges the whole thing to one credit card. How does the server choose? Well, she doesn't know your name, and it's all in a pile. So she picks it out, and whichever one she picks. Yeah, it's no fun. Oh, it's very fun if you win.

If you win, I'm sure it's great. But yeah, we'll be in Philly. I'll be buying cheesesteaks for Dave and Jamie at the Xfinity Live restaurant. Oh, and Heath. Sorry, and Heath. Oh, I thought maybe I wasn't invited again. No, you're there. August 31st at the Xfinity Live Zone in

Philadelphia. We'll be there doing a live podcast and a Q&A. There's still more to get to from the weekend, but I thought I'd read some haikus, some podcast league haikus. So here we go. Yeah, if you want to be in the Podcast League,

I'll make the announcement probably on Friday. The draft is next Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern or 9 p.m. Eastern. I don't remember what the hell we said. Here we go. Here's some haikus. I have listened since Adam was wearing diapers. Au Pair hated him. Not good? That's good.

That's a good haiku. WRRB. These will be my first two picks. Heath Snips? It's good. It's good. It's a good haiku. WRRB, these will be my first two picks. Heath Snips, way too hard. Okay. The Year in Review, Adam became married man. No speech for Jamie. Watcher. I am a teacher.

I will teach you how to lose. Sorry, not sorry. I like it. Haikus are simple. Just throw out a sponsor's name. I love Blue Apron. That's good. And here's another one.

Indochino suit. Let's draft at Nakatomi. I love me some nips. Nice. Haiku example. Hey, that is not a haiku. Thanks, Dave Heath Jamie. Jamie dreams each night. Breeze looks off thomas then right touchdown willie sneed i think that's a winner that's a good one funny these are all first of all very creative and i think we should

be honored and flattered that so many listeners have been with us for a while and they know the inside jokes and they put them into haikus. I'm grinning about this. I think this is great. Usually I can't stand this type of stuff. Like Team Name Tuesday is annoying as hell. No, Team Name Tuesday is the best. Tomorrow is Team Name Tuesday.

But this is different. This is really great. Not a strategy. Could blind you like the eclipse. I'm talking Heath Snips. Very nice. Jason gave us all Sesame Street characters. Adam is Elmo.

Damie is Bert and Ernie. Heath is Oscar the Grouch. Oh, Heath is Oscar Grouch. Okay. I think one more. What is that stain, Dave? What the? How did that get there? Can't control my laugh.

And then the last one. this is my haiku. Pick me for your football league or lose a fan. Ouch. Wow. You're out. Yeah. Bye. Enjoy losing your league.

All right. Anything else you really want to cover here? James Conner was bad. Fitz Toussaint was ahead of James Conner. Is he the handcuffed to Le'Veon Bell? Fitz Toussaint. There is no handcuff currently. Just go sign the wrestler already. Who's the wrestler?

D'Angelo. Is he wrestling? Oh, that's right. That's right. He was in a tag team wrestling match for TNA Impact Wrestling. He looked pretty good. He didn't look like your typical celebrity slash former football player turned pro wrestler. Adam, what's your review of the show last night?

You're talking Game of Thrones? Yeah. No, no. Jamie, I think it's going down a really bad path. Wow. Do you agree or disagree? I don't like the new storyline or the way it's going down a really bad path. Wow. Do you agree or disagree? It's a little... I don't like the new storyline.

It's just... Or the way it's turned. It's a completely different show than it used to be. Yes. I watched all of season one over the last, like, four days. It's just... It's a completely different show. It's weird.

It's still awesome. It's fun. I can't say any more because my wife is in the room and she hasn't seen it yet. Wow, put her on the air. No, I don't think she wants to come on the air. Come on. Green Bay running back Jamal Williams. Let's talk about him.

He worked with the first team seven carries for 12 yards. Did I get that right? Was it really that bad? Yeah, that's right. He was not impressive. No. I would really like sometime this week to either hear exactly what's wrong with Ty Montgomery or see him practice. Well, share your theory because I think it's interesting. It wasn't my theory.

Well, the one that you saw. Somebody had mentioned and brought up the fact Ty Montgomery also had the sickle cell disorder. Has. Has. Has. And it popped up last year. And there's been no details as to what's wrong with Ty Montgomery's leg. That's interesting. And with John Brown, they said that the sickle cell trait makes him a slow healer.

He's having trouble recovering from things. Yes. All right. Well, Williams did get the work but didn't do much with it. You know, in that same game, guys, like the Redskins' first-team offense through two games, now they've been missing some wide receivers. At times, they've obviously been missing Jordan Reed, but they've been awful. Their offensive line has gotten whipped, their first-team offensive line,

two weeks in a row by the Ravens, I believe, and the Packers. Yeah, there's been a lot of complaints out of Washington. Yeah, what do you think about the Packers. So what do you think about... Yeah, there's been a lot of complaints out of Washington. Yeah, what do you think about Rob Kelly right now? What do you think about Kirk Cousins? Concerned? Not yet, because like you said, the first game, Cousins didn't play much, didn't have Crowder, didn't have Doxson, didn't have Reid.

I don't know if Doxson played last week, or this week, past week. Obviously Reid did not. And, you know, so... He did. Doxon played last week, or this week, past week. Obviously, Reid did not. And, you know, so... He did. Doxon played. I don't want to rush to judgment yet. If they struggle again this week, then you got to be a little bit concerned about

at least Cousins. And certainly Kelly. And the only reason I say Cousins is because that group of quarterbacks is so bunched up that if you like Roethlisberger better than Cousins or Jameis or Mariota or any of those guys better than him where he's going, then you just have to downgrade Cousins behind those guys.

Look, I know that the Colts' defense isn't good, but Dak to Dez was mighty nice. Yeah. I think that was more Dez than Dak, but they were both very good on that play. I feel like that was nice. If you're worried about Dez, it was nice to see. Right. It's just evidence that he's healthy. And against a good corner.

Not the level of the corners he's going to face. Right. Ponte Davis. Yep. Good corner. Anything else, guys? I mean, can I – Martellus Bennett or whatever you want to talk about. I thought Carlos Hyde didn't look good.

No. The whole 49ers offense didn't look good. Right. But, like, specifically running to the outside, I just think he's not used to that. It's not something that he's known for, and that's a huge part of what Kyle Shanahan does. This was a game where – remember how Joe Williams and Matt Burrito had big games the first preseason game? They combined for one carry this week. And I wonder if that was by design because

Hightower played and then Capri Bibbs played. I'm really curious to see how the running back pecking order is. Okay. I'm curious how the running back pecking order is going to be next week in the third preseason game for the 49ers.

How many of the big four rookie running backs would you draft ahead of Carlos Hyde? All of them. Yep. Everyone. Man, this is going to be their year. I'm there. They're going to dominate. It's going to be big.

It looks as if Trevor Simeon won the Broncos job just while we're on that game. Yeah. Because he's not turning it over. Not looking lost out there. He has not made any progress at all since last year. Jets should trade for him. But we need Simeon to be better than he was last year. Because we talked about that third round, early third round,

which wide receiver are you taking. And I said Terrell Pryor or Demarius Thomas, and my reasoning for thinking about Pryor is, and Devontae Adams as well, just going to be on much better offenses that score more touchdowns. And are things going to change for Demarius Thomas? I think he was the number 18, maybe 16, but he was outside the top 15 in both standard and PPR last year. And I just don't want history to repeat itself.

I feel that way about Lamar Miller, and I don't know how I feel about – I feel differently about Demarius and PPR versus standard. But I feel about Lamar Miller and Demarius Thomas. I don't think they're bad. I just don't know that their situations are going to be any better this year. We can agree that Trevor Simeon, not a great quarterback. A good quarterback, serviceable, throw him maybe in the game manager category. Anytime you've got a quarterback like that behind an improved offensive line,

I think they'll play better, and I think the results will show in the receivers' numbers at the end of the year. All right. And I know Garrett Bowles didn't have a great game, but I think eventually he'll be fine. And I think that offensive line is going to be better than it was last year. Yeah, let's see them play. And look, Lynch was the starter, so Simeon came in with the backups.

So let's just see how they operate the third preseason game. I would be shocked if it's not Simeon starting that game. So let's see how they do. And Sanders didn't play either. Okay. All right, guys. I did think TJ Anderson looked okay. Nate from Philly

has an email. Fantasyfootball.cbsi.com Nate says, why are you so high on the Sean McCoy but so low on Marshawn Lynch? And Nate showed us that the career touches are pretty similar. Lynch has a better offensive line, a better offense.

Why are you so high on McCoy and low on Lynch? McCoy was good last year. Lynch didn't play. McCoy is two years younger than Lynch. McCoy actually, I'm pretty sure, wants to play football. Those are my reasons. Yeah, Marshawn Lynch in an interview, I think it was either going into the weekend or after the game. It was going into the weekend.

He said, he was asked, did you think about football or did you miss football last year? And he said no. Like that doesn't exactly inspire confidence. No, it doesn't. Where is Tyler from? Tyler, Texas. Tyler from Tyler, Texas. Our commissioner was recently reviewing our league history.

Reviewing this revealed that six, six years ago, there was a stat correction that changed victors of our championship game. We don't know why this was never noticed, perhaps because it was our first year, and after the championship we stopped checking the league. But the new winner from six years ago wants a championship ring, no money, but bragging rights. We're not willing to budge.

I should mention the new winner is the commissioner. Something is suspicious here. How about that? He's out of luck. Oh, I'd be buying myself a championship ring and wearing it to the draft. Sure. Absolutely. If there's a league championship ring that everybody gets,

I'm going to have one at the draft this year. Don't you know? Wouldn't you know that there was a chance at a stat correction if you're in a close championship game six years ago? So what do you think? He looked at the box score and went, oh, gee, I lost by one point. And then he just walks away and doesn't even think to stare at it. Like if I lose by one point, I'm staring at every single player going, where can I find another yard? Where can I find something that will help me out?

And what we do at CBS, just in case anybody's interested in the back end of this stuff, is we give stats a couple of days. Elias or whoever keeps the stats for the NFL. It's Elias. Thank you. A couple of days to make their stat corrections, and then by a certain date and time. Is it Wednesday at noon?

It's Wednesday of every week. I don't know the time, but it's Wednesday of every week. Everything is in ink at that point. So if the stat correction comes, say, on a Thursday or a Friday. We actually, I believe, have it on the site where you can. Yeah. There's a link. You can see what the stat corrections are.

Any stat corrections. Right. But if the stat correction comes too late, then it doesn't matter. The leagues where it impacts people the most is decimal scoring. Yep. Because you don't see a lot of changes when it's the whole number. But when you have the decimal scoring, especially when there's IDP leagues, we get tackle changes all the time. That's the biggest stat that gets changed regardless of what position.

To be clear, Tyler, you should not recognize this championship. It is not legitimate. To the commissioner, if you're listening, go get yourself a ring, wear it to the draft, and brag to everyone every chance you get about winning that championship. That won't annoy anybody. Everybody wins. Last email. Jason from the

North Pole. 10-team league, 6th overall pick. I went with Gordon and Ajayi with my first two picks. Then in the third round, Zeke was available, but I went with Doug Baldwin instead. Zeke went four picks later.

So he starts with Gordon and Ajayi. Should he have taken Ezekiel Elliott or Doug Baldwin with his third pick? In this case, Baldwin. Yeah, he should have taken A.J. Baldwin with his third pick? In this case, Baldwin. Yeah, he should have taken A.J. Green with his first pick and then had Ajay Zeke. But he didn't know that it would work out that way. Yeah, Heath.

Is it PPR? I don't know. I would have been cool with Zeke if he had taken him over Baldwin and then not PPR. It's a 10-team league. You can find good receivers later on. Good luck in your auction. I would like one of you to invest 65% of your budget in two elite

players and tell me if it works out for you. Okay. We'll do. Thank you. We'll talk... What do you need to say? Anybody listening? We'll talk auction at some point, maybe tomorrow. Tomorrow we'll also discuss IDP. We'll bring on Chris Harris. We have Max Scherzer joining us. I think we're going to air that interview on Wednesday. point maybe tomorrow tomorrow we'll also discuss idp we'll bring on chris harris we have max

scherzer joining us i think we're going to air that interview on wednesday um but thank you for listening to fantasy football today everybody we're back tomorrow bye