Fantasy Football Today - 08/25 Fantasy Football Podcast: Busts, Auctions, Podcast League!

Episode Date: August 25, 2017

We've got a busy Friday show for you as Dave and Heath talk busts! Why does Heath think Jameis Winston could be overdrafted this year (5:00)? We also get some random thoughts from Adam about QBs (9:45), Round 2 RBs (12:40) and more before discussing Thursday's preseason games (18:30) ... Why Lamar Miller (32:20), Ameer Abdullah (34:00), Marshawn Lynch (37:40) and Leonard Fournette (39:40) could be busts ... Auction talk (45:30)! How to build a team, mistakes to avoid, nomination strategies and more. Then we announce the Podcast League contest winners (1:03:30) ... Email us 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 fantasyfootball at cbsi.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.

Well, it's a big weekend for you fantasy football players. A lot of drafts this weekend, and if you're not drafting, good for you, because you can watch all of the third week of the preseason and have more to go on. What's up? Welcome to the show. It's Adam, Dave, and Heath today. Oh, happy Friday. Dave, in particular, is having a very happy Friday. He's in a goofy, wacky, fun mood.

Yes, I am. Come on. Outstanding. This is going to be the best podcast ever. Yeah. Thank you, Heath. I appreciate that. I had a draft last night.

It was weird. I have a strange, strange team. But Alan Robinson was the 90th overall pick. 90th overall pick. Stupid. Yeah, I guess. It's as if everybody in your league was watching the preseason game between Jacksonville and Carolina and watching Chad Henney play very average football.

Is that being too nice? But my question is, in two years, haven't we seen Allen Robinson's ceiling and his floor? No, I don't think you've seen the floor. You think he could be worse than he was last year? He had 150 targets. Nobody's be worse than he was last year? He had 150 targets. Nobody's as bad as he was last year with 150 targets. Yeah, but it's not on him.

He was the number 28 wide receiver in standard, number 24 in PBR. That's what I'm saying. If that's his floor and his ceiling is the number 5, number 4 wide receiver in fantasy, him falling to 90th overall is just dumb. I'm not going to argue over 90th overall. That's a great spot to get him, but I'm saying it's as if everybody was watching Chad Henney throw and going, ugh, I can't have any piece of the Jaguars. At some point, he becomes a good value.

Right, 90th overall, it's like amazing. Into the fifth, I'm fine taking him. Okay, that would be like 60th overall. it's like amazing. End of the fifth, I'm fine taking him. Okay, that would be like 60th overall. So it's just weird, you know. We've got preseason risers and followers, certainly. But today we're going to mostly talk about busts and our auction, which I was not a part of. But I did look at the results yesterday, and they were absolutely fascinating. Just from looking at the results, I came away with like three or four lessons that our listeners need to know before they do their auctions.

That will be the second half of the show. We're going to announce who's in the podcast league. I have a lot of random thoughts that I want to throw at you guys. And right now, give me a bust like we did yesterday with sleepers and breakouts. Give me one, and we'll do some more a little bit later. Alan Robinson is one of mine so we could keep talking about him or we can just say what everybody pretty much can assume which is bad quarterback play plus bad offensive line plus team that would prefer to run the football more than pass the football

equals sad times ahead for ar 15 But when... Like, he is being drafted really late now. I don't think he's necessarily a bust anymore. Allen Robinson. When are you okay taking him? I would be okay after round five. Alright, so same with Heath. Heath is late round five, you're round six.

Around 60th overall, we start thinking about Allen Robinson. Right, but you really want somebody else to take him Like you don't want him to You don't want him Yeah I'd love him as a bench player Oh sure sure sure

I'd love him as a flex I'd love him as a flex I guess in PPR I don't know about standard Look he connected with Henney on a What 37 yard pass That was nice They're going to suck again know about Standard. Look, he connected with Henny on a, what, 37-yard pass. That was nice. That was nice. He had to lay out for it.

They're going to suck again. They're going to be behind all the time. He's going to get 140 or 150 targets. He's going to be terribly inefficient, but he's going to be a huge value if you get him after the fifth round. When are you going to feel comfortable starting this guy? Week one. Week one?

Week two, week three week one week two week three week four week five okay i'm i'm moving them down in my rankings just for that dave hates him i'm just i'm not a believer in chad henney i'm not a believer in doug marone i think the offensive line is going to be a liability week one week two week three it's making me question even taking leonard fournette at all all. I would be very nervous. There's no questioning the talent of Allen Robinson. And I don't mind that he gets as many targets as you think he's going to hit. I happen to think he's going to get less than that

because I don't think they're going to want to throw as much. But I don't think he's going to be in a situation that will be conducive for fantasy football. I think he's going to disappoint a lot. Okay. So would you take Martavis Bryant or Allen Robinson? Martavis. Heath?

In standard, and this might be a point to where I have to update my rankings too, I think in standard I'd probably take Martavis. In PPR I'm going with Robinson. Heath, give me a bust. I'm feeling a little feisty. Feisty Friday we're going to call it. I'll just pick a fight and I will say Jameis

Winston is my bust. Mean. Five quarterbacks since 2000 have thrown 33 interceptions in their first two NFL seasons. You want to hear the names? Sure. Jameis Winston, Blake Bortles, Mark Sanchez, Geno Smith, and Joey Harrington.

Now, Winston's done a lot of good things that those other guys haven't done, but he has to take care of the ball this year, and the reason why is Dirk Cutter got fed up with him last year. Through four games, he'd thrown eight picks, and he said, you know what, we're not going to throw it that much anymore. We're just going to run it. Let him throw 32 passes a game after that. That's 510 pass attempts for a season.

He can't be a top five quarterback with 510 pass attempts because he's not Marcus Mariota. He's never been as good as Marcus Mariota. Mariota can do it on 510 pass attempts because he's efficient, and he doesn't throw the ball to the other team. Winston's average draft position on CBS Sports is the fifth quarterback. Ahead of Mariota, ahead of Russell Wilson, ahead of Kirk Cousins, hard pass. Okay, that's interesting.

In a six-point-per-passing touchdown league, is there a big difference between Mariota, Winston, Cousins, and let's say Stafford, even Dalton? Is there a big difference between those guys, or are you better off just waiting? There's no difference in my mind. But I like those guys. And I do like Winston more than Mariota. If I may counter Heath's argument, I think Winston has a chance at blowing away

4,000 yards. He's got the best receiving core he's ever worked with. I like Doug Martin. Those first three games, I don't like Jacquez Rogers, and I think you're going to see Tampa Bay have to throw the ball. I think Jameis has looked good. I think his offensive line looks better than what we've seen the past two seasons, and I think that's going to make a difference.

I think Jameis Winston takes more ownership of this offense, and I think he puts together to make a difference. And I think Jameis Winston takes more ownership of this offense, and I think he puts together a breakout year. So I don't like him where he's being drafted. I don't know what the overall pick is. Fifth round. Okay, I don't like that. That's no good.

But if I can find him in late round seven, I'll think about it. But I'm a Cousins guy, and I think I might be the only one on the planet Besides his agent I don't think there's one even in the front office of the Washington Redskins I would take Cousins ahead of Jameis I like Cousins I've got him right in the same tier With Ryan, with Roethlisberger, with Stafford Yeah

Okay Alright, great So we got Alan Robinson Who's, I don't know if he's a bust anymore just because he keeps on falling. And then there's Jameis Winston. That's an interesting take. Dave does not necessarily agree. He's worried about the interceptions. Can we give a big thank you guys to our newest sponsor, ProFlowers.com? ProFlowers.com sent us beautiful bouquets, which you guys were able to give to your wives. And how did that go? Well, first of all, I kept mine because I love flowers.

Okay, fine. I gave them to my wife. Listen, I was pleasantly surprised by what I got when I opened the box. I don't know how you felt, Heath, but I opened the box from Pro Flowers. They sent this big bouquet of roses, lots of different colors. They were all fresh they sent them in this thing like this foam thing i don't know what it is i'm not a a botanical expert so i can't speak to it but i know that the flowers were fresh and they're still fresh and we

got them a week ago they're still sitting on my counter i left them in the box all day me too and they stayed perfectly fresh and then of course on the way home i stopped took them them in the box all day me too and they stayed perfectly fresh and then of course on the way home i stopped took them out of the box put them in the vase got some water in them threw the box away and walked through the front door said honey football season's really hard i understand it i just wanted to show you how much i love you did you really do that that's that's something because i went home with my box dropped dropped the box on the kitchen table, and I said, here, these are yours. Such a romantic. Well, look, actually it's funny you say that because ProFlowers bouquets are guaranteed to stay fresh for at least seven days.

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Don't wait to make someone's day. All right, great sponsor, and thank you very much, Pro Flowers. Again, FFT, the promo code. All right, here are some random thoughts real quick. Is quarterback shallower now than it was two weeks ago when we did the position preview? And I mean, we're down on Eli Manning because the line looks so bad. Carson Palmer with John Brown's injury. He's hopefully back this week.

Tyrod Taylor is out of the equation. Is quarterback shallower than it was two weeks ago is it significantly shallower not only is it a little bit shallower but i see that there's kind of a divide after the top eight quarterbacks this is in my rankings some people might not agree with the number some people might not agree with the names for example maybe you're not feeling kirk cousins like i am and you wouldn't consider him in there but Heath for example is feeling Matthew Stafford and thinks that Matthew Stafford is going to finish as a top 10 quarterback so he might be in that group before the divide and when I'm talking about the divide I'm basically drawing a line on where you might draft Andrew Luck, Ben Roethlisberger

and Derek Carr and you think of the quarterbacks that you would take ahead of those guys, they would get in before that, I'll use the word again, divide. A break within the tier. So maybe the best way to put it is you got your top two quarterbacks in the top tier, you got Drew Brees standing by himself in the next tier, and then after that you've got the tier of the guys, Matt Ryan, this is for me, Matt Ryan, Kirk Cousins, Jameis Winston, Russell Wilson, Marcus Mariota. You can rank them any way you want.

To me, those top four tiers, three tiers, three tiers are really where it's at with quarterback, and then there's everybody else after that. Yeah, I said I think during the position preview that there were 19 starting quarterbacks or 18 that I was fine with starting. We are down to 16 and a half. 16 and a half. Yeah, right. Who's the half?

Palmer? Carson Palmer because he is by far and away my favorite quarterback to draft with Andrew Luck. He starts the season with the Lions. He gets the Colts. He's got the 49ers in week four. You can just wait until Luck looks good. Don't even start him the first month. Palmer's going to be a top 12 quarterback the first four weeks of the season,

and then I don't want any part of him. You know, it's funny because my second random thought was that Carson Palmer is a good player to pair with luck, but I really like pairing Derek Carr with luck if you can do it, and I think you can do it because he goes later than I expect. At Tennessee, home against the Jets, at Washington in his first three games, and then at Denver, Baltimore the charge. I mean, I just like Carr to begin with, but at Tennessee, home against the Jets, at Washington in his first three games, I think Carr is also a good player to pair with Andrew Luck.

He is. I can't usually get Carr in the last round like I can Palmer, but if he was there, I would rather have him. Looking at our current ADP, he is now the ninth quarterback being drafted. Carr is ahead of Big Ben, Mariota, Luck. Wow. No, I don't think it should. I love Derek Carr. I don't think it should be that way.

Yeah, Luck's down to 12th now. Okay, I need to accept my next random thought. I need to just accept... Look, I'm tired of in round two and round three just hating my pick. So I need to just come around on some guys that accept them and like them. I am ready to go there now with Jay Ajayi and Todd Gurley. Ajayi

looked great last night, and both of these guys are just going to dominate touches for their team. Both of them are going to get goal line carries and goal line touchdowns, hopefully. And I understand downside with both of them. I'm tired of being such a negative Nancy. I want to be a positive Polly on Jay Ajayi and Todd Gurley. I'm ready to accept them and be very happy with them as second round picks. I'm with you. I'm not there yet with Gurley. I'm not impressed by what I saw in the second preseason game. Let's see what he I saw in the second preseason game.

Let's see what he looks like in his third preseason game against the Chargers on Saturday night. And that will be a game broadcast nationally on a network known as CBS. So please check your local CBS affiliate and watch that game with all of us on Saturday night. Wow. As for Ajayi, I had already moved him up a spot in my rankings. I put him ahead of Jordan Howard this week. Not because of anything he did. It's more because of just what I'm seeing with Tariq Cohen in Chicago

and how it looks like Tariq Cohen might be a thing, a little thing with Jordan Howard. I would take Ajayi ahead of him. Love the fact that Ajayi is healthy now. Couldn't care less that he scored two touchdowns yesterday. Really cared more about how he showed a lot of power on his other runs. First run of the game was a nice big run right up the middle of that Philadelphia defense. And I think you're going to see the Dolphins lean on him plenty. And just the mere fact that he will.

I think everybody knew that he was going to work the goal line. Now you know that he's going to work the goal line. You saw it in that preseason game. This is a tough one for me. Gurley or Zeke? Gurley. I'm going to go Gurley as of now. Okay.

Convince me that Bilal Powell is not a total steal. Matt Forte is not going away. He's going to turn into zombie running back, Matt Forte. Was it Ronnie Hillman that was the cockroach? Yeah. He was. to zombie running back Matt Forte. Was it Ronnie Hillman that was the cockroach? Yeah. He was. Matt Forte is like super cockroach because he was actually good at one point.

Great, in fact. I don't want to sell Matt Forte short. And he's practicing again. I think he's going to play this weekend. I don't want somebody on a committee on the worst team in football. Yeah. All right. That's fair, especially in standard.

PPR, Powell's been a good pass catcher in his career, and they're going to be trailing a lot, and I think he'll have that role. I don't think Matt Forte stays healthy for half the season. Right, that's the thing. Powell was so good in either format when he had the big workload. He's been exceptional in small doses. The dude is 28, 29, he's never had a full workload. Bilal Powell is 28. He'll turn 29 in October. I don't mind that he hasn't had a full workload. Bilal Powell is 28. He'll turn 29 in October.

I don't mind that he hasn't had a full workload ever because that means he's got a little bit more gas in the tank than your typical 29-year-old running back. And the Jets gave him the ball a ton in those last four games. They actually won two of those games. One was against the 49ers. One was against Buffalo. It helped that those two teams weren't so great against the run last year.

But he also proved that he can make plays as a pass catcher out of the backfield. Averaged at least four yards per carry in those games. Three of those games he averaged at least five yards per carry. Yeah, he was great. He was great. I think he's great, too. And I think he's going to get – I don't know if he's going to have many games with 29 or 22 carries like he had late last season. But I think the Jets are going to try and, you know,

what's the only way they can win this year? They're not going to ride on the arm of Josh McCown. They're going to throw to Powell. Bobby Anderson is great. They're going to throw to Powell a lot. I think so. They'll throw to Powell a lot, and they'll hand him off a lot, and they'll do their best to try and control the game clock

and let their defense try and win them some games. Powell or Abdullah? Abdullah. Abdullah. I believe – I know it's close between these two in my rankings. It's not close for me in standard. In PPR, it is close, but I take Abdullah in both. I've got – I think it's Abdullah in both, and I'm not thrilled with it, but it is what it is.

Powell or Rob Kelly? Powell. Kelly in standard, Powell in PPR. I don't know why we haven't been – Okay, Kelly in standard. it but all right it is what it is how or rob kelly powell kelly and standard pal and ppr i don't know why we haven't been in only in standard i don't know why we haven't been in on this debate um but uh nationwide debate is a hot dog or a hamburger a sandwich that's we've done this before haven't we i don't have we have they're obviously sandwiches yes oh they are no they're clearly not sandwiches it's's ridiculous. They obviously are. No, they're not. How dare you desecrate a bun by saying that it's not of the same proprietary manner of, for example, a chicken club sandwich?

Like you're differentiating between a bun and two slices of bread. It's not a sandwich. It wouldn't be on the sandwich. You're an anti-wheatite. Are subs sandwiches? Aren't they called subs sandwiches? Yes, subs are sandwiches. Let me ask you a question. It wouldn't be on the sandwich. You're an anti-Wetite. Are subs sandwiches? Aren't they called subs sandwiches? Yes, subs are sandwiches. Let me ask you a question.

Don't they come on a bun that opens up? If you owned a lunch shop and you had a menu, big freaking menu up on the wall, would you put hot dogs and hamburgers under the sandwich section? Don't even tell me you would because you've never seen that in your life. It doesn't exist. They don't belong there. They don't belong there. They don't go there.

They are sandwiches. I feel like we're very late to this party, and it's not worth it for us. You don't think a hamburger is a sandwich? No, I don't. Now, if you don't want to be – What about a sloppy joe? That's your worst take ever. No, it's not.

Not even close. You haven't known him as long as I've known him. Here's a good take. Here's a good take. Excuse me. Come join us in Philadelphia, August 31st from 6 to 9 p.m. Hosted Food and Bar, a live podcast, a meet and greet, raffle prizes, and more. August 31st, Victory Beer Hall inside Xfinity Live in Philadelphia, 6 to 9 p.m.

I will not wear my Beckham jersey, not because I don't want to troll you, just because it's too big on me. 6 to 9 p.m., the Victory Beer Hall inside Xfinity Live in Philadelphia. It's open to the public, but first come, first serve. So you don't need tickets, but hey, we might sell out. You never know. Let's get some quick preseason observations, then we'll get back into the busts, and then we will talk auction and announce the Podcast League winners later in the show. Tweets of the day. They're both from Heath. Blake Bortles looked like he showed up for a final after not going to the lectures all semester and skipping out on half the labs. This is coming from an expert.

I had a 0.714 GPA my first semester of college. Is that true? That's factually accurate. Holy cow. You have to try. I know somebody who had a 0.875 GPA, and his parents almost murdered him. Wow. It was rough.

I learned a lot that first semester. I was majoring in gambling and beer, and it turned out the university I was attending did not offer those classes. So no credit for that. All right. Any major takeaways from last night's two games, the Dolphins and Eagles and the Panthers? And who the heck did they play? The Jaguars. The Jaguars. You don't even want to remember the team that the quarterbacks are on.

Yeah, we already talked about Allen Robinson. Any takeaways from these crappy games? Well, where do you want to start? Actually, they were fun. I could probably go team by team here. Okay. Devontae Parker or Kelvin Benjamin? They both look good. Kelvin Benjamin looks

like he's in shape. Parker had a great play. Who would you rather have, Parker or Benjamin? I'm upgrading Parker, but I'm sticking with Benjamin. Probably going to be right next to each other in the rankings. I think the upside favors Devontae Parker. And the fact that just the quarterback fit is much better now than it was before.

And I think he's in line for a really big year. I think Kelvin is a little bit more of a safer play and a lot more of a touchdown-dependent receiver. So are you taking Parker over Landry now? I think I'm at that point, yeah. Well, how about this? Can we rank four receivers? Can we rank Alan Robinson, Kelvin Benjamin, Devante Parker, and Jarvis Landry? Adam, we rank 60 receivers.

I think I'm ready to go with Parker, Benjamin, Landry, Robinson. Wow. Which might be the exact opposite order that they were in when I first put out my rankings in February. We're talking standard, right? Let's do both. In standard, I am going to go... You know what? Alan Robinson's number one.

Let's not be silly. His floor is higher than these guys have generally produced. Robinson, Benjamin, Landry, Parker. Let's not be silly. His floor is higher than these guys have generally produced. Robinson, Benjamin, Landry, Parker. I don't like it. You want to put Parker up there, don't you? Yeah, but I had Parker like 10 spots below Benjamin and Landry. I'm not moving up 10 spots over a couple of preseason catches. I'm not excited about the prospects for Landry or Robinson at all.

Now, look, Landry played a ton with the starters. He was targeted on a deep ball that Cutler threw, but he also couldn't escape the coverage like Devante Parker did on his deep ball or basically outplayed his coverage on the deep ball. I think Landry could have a very frustrating year. And the fact that he doesn't have Tannehill checking down I think is going to hurt him very much. I'm nervous with him. I'm doing a Twitter poll. Carson Wentz or Carson Palmer? Carson Wentz or Carson Palmer?

I'm still taking Palmer. Yeah. Wentz looks good. Wentz looked great. His offensive line was hot and cold. Yeah, he made some mistakes too. He did. But I still, he threw the ball over 600 times last year. He's going to do it again this year.

I don't know. Jamie would laugh at me if he were here, but if Torrey Smith is there with your last pick and you're in a deeper draft, I think you fire the shot. I don't think he's nearly as bad of a player as he was those last two years in San Francisco. I think he's better than that.

And since his offense is going to throw a bunch, I think he could end up being a decent biweek receiver at some point during the season. Torrey Smith? Torrey Smith. I don't love it either, but I just think that that's the direction that this Eagles ship is sailing in. That's it. I was drafting last night, 12-team half PPR is one of my last picks, and I'm sitting there going, who do I take, Rex Burkhead or Wendell Smallwood,

who I think is going to – I'm convinced he's going to be the main primary ball carrier for the Eagles. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's where I'm at right now. I took Burkhead. I took almost the entire time on the draft clock, and I took Burkhead. What would you guys have done? Something happened last night, though, that gave me just a – because I was ready through like a quarter, a quarter and a half of that game to move Smallwood ahead of Blunt, drop Blunt, move Smallwood ahead.

And then they gave Blunt another series. And he came out, and he looked different i think he got like i it was just one run he's a plotter the left side right yeah that left side was his best running path routes he was like running i think maybe when no small wood lit just a little bit of a fire under him i still think small wood will have more rushing yards than LeGarrette Blount this year. I don't think they're getting rid of Blount, though. I expect him to have more touchdowns, and so I'll probably rank them both in a position where I won't.

I'm much more likely to draft Smallwood, but Blount I'll still have ranked ahead of Smallwood. I think you made the right choice with Burkhead, Adam, because Smallwood was playing in a passing downs role yesterday. You know that he's not going to do that most weeks because that's Darren Sproul's time, who, by the way, didn't play in a single snap of the preseason so far, and I doubt he's going to do it in the fourth week. I wonder if they're just letting him rest up and get ready for more usage than we're assuming.

That's a player, like I know I just made a whole big spiel about taking Torrey Smith with your last pick. Put Darren Sproles ahead of that. Take what I said. Take out Torrey Smith's name. Put in Darren Sproles' name and do it in almost every draft. But really you're taking – well, wait a second. You can't get Sproles in the last round.

I think in some drafts you can. I don't think people are thinking about that. I didn't think you felt that way two days ago when we did the live mock draft. I thought you were with me there where I, when are you going to feel comfortable starting Darren Sproles? He doesn't get enough touches. He doesn't score enough touchdowns. He's just a PPR guy, and I don't think he's going to have

more carries than Smallwood or Blunt. Do you? I think he'll have more than Smallwood. And I, he might end up having more total, nah, he won't have more total touches than Blunt. Blunt would have to get hurt for that to happen. I'm just, when would I feel comfortable darren sproles in a non-ppr league almost never in a stand in a ppr league he'd be a good bye week running back and i think there's some upside there maybe they give him some big run this might be his last year in football

okay and do you have any thoughts uh on christianrey? Also, Chris Trarian, I call him, Contrarian Chris, he wrote an article about the rookie running backs being overhyped. Now, McCaffrey only had seven carries for 21 yards, one catch for 12 yards, but he is lightning every time he touches the ball. He looks good. I don't care that it was only three yards per carry. He looks good. Any updated thoughts on McCaffrey, and then we'll wrap it up.

That should have gotten a Kreeth byline because I mostly agree with his piece on the rookie running backs being overrated. I was just really happy to see Cam on the field. I don't think we can place the same level of concern on him as we have on Andrew Luck. No, I agree. I think the fact that he's back and he played and he threw two passes and one was for a touchdown, I think it's a nice positive for him. I'm still

just not ready to trust him if he's not going to run the ball as much. And I don't expect him to run in a preseason game. There's no reason for it. That'd be dumb. But I don't know how many rushing yards he's going to have this year. Particularly since not only did Jonathan Stewart look all right,

but Christian McCaffrey, like you said, Adam, lightning. He's awesome. Every time he touches the ball. The bottom line is that he's going to end up being a top 36 pick in every draft. If he's not, then he's almost a bargain. McCaffrey went like 20th in my draft yesterday, maybe even earlier than that. He went ahead of Gurley. He went ahead of Zeke.

Yeah, it was half PPR. It was a mistake. It was. But I was thinking about him at 25. I ended up taking Dalvin Cook instead, which may have also been a mistake. But, you know, depends how you feel about these rookie running backs. And, of course, we'll know more on Monday after this fun weekend. And, listen, it's fantasy football season.

That means FanDuel is back. Daily fantasy football. New teams each week. You don't have to deal with injuries or bad matchups or bye weeks or backfield splits. I love FanDuel. I really became a huge FanDuel fan a few years ago. I've been playing ever since and contests start at just $1 on FanDuel. If you're not familiar, here's how FanDuel works. It's kind of like an auction. You're given a fake budget. Every offensive player and the DSTs are given prices. You have to pick the best team within your budget. You compete against other fantasy football players who think they're better than you, but they're wrong because you listen to this podcast and you're going to take their money. So it's really fun. I really love playing on FanDuel. Sign up today. Go to

FanDuel.com. Click the Join Now button and use our code CBSPOD. New users get free entry into the NFL Sunday Million with over $1 million in cash prizes when you make your first deposit on FanDuel. So that's a great contest to be a part of. Go to FanDuel.com and use the promo code CBSPOD, which is also going to help us. We'd appreciate it. Again, FanDuel.com. Not going to help us financially, but, you know, promo code CBSPod. Void where prohibited. Ty Montgomery hopes to play Saturday at Denver despite his sickle cell trait. ESPN Colts reporter Mike Wells says the odds are against Andrew Luck playing in week one.

Green Bay right tackle Brian Bulaga sprained his ankle. He doesn't think it's too serious. And Thomas Rawls, CJ Proceiss, and Tyler Lockett are expected to play tonight. Just on Montgomery, let's look at the draft last night. I took both Montgomery and Williams. I had the number one overall pick. Montgomery I took with the first pick of round five, so that's 49th overall. And Williams I took with the first pick of round nine.

So what do you think about rounds five and nine? I mean, look, you have to reach a little bit when you have the first overall pick because there are 24 picks before you pick again. Yeah, that's not a reach on Montgomery at all in a PPR league. Half PPR, but yeah. Still, I think that's a good spot to get him. I understand why you took Jamal Williams. I don't really want to spend an early took Jamal Williams. I don't really

want to spend an early ninth round pick, but I don't know what other running backs were available there or what your situation was. McFadden and Peterson. I was thinking about them. Yeah, I would have... Right? It's tough. Yeah, it's tough. I had David Johnson. It felt kind of like

I have two running backs in one with David Johnson, so I just decided to handc have two running backs in one with David Johnson. So I just decided to handcuff. All right, guys. Let's go back to the busts. All right. So Dave, you said Alan Robinson. Heath, you said Jameis Winston.

We have six more to give. I'd like to do it in about ten minutes or so so we can talk about the auction. Jeremy Macklin and Mike Wallace, you're just not buying the Baltimore wide receiver thing, Dave. What? Even though I told you that Steve Smith was pretty good for them. Steve Smith was pretty good for them. I don't know if these guys are as good as Steve Smith. Yeah, old Steve Smith they are.

Mike Wallace is going in the 12th round. I feel like for him to be a bust, he would have to take a machete and cut up the rest of the players on your fantasy football team to hurt you enough from the 12th round to be a bust. He did finish as a top 24 receiver last year when he was basically the de facto guy for them. He also didn't have any games with double-digit fantasy points in his last eight. He had like four good games. He's going to frustrate the hell out of you. Sure, if he was being drafted as the number 24 wide receiver, I could see how you would say that's not real. He's going to frustrate the hell out of you. Sure, if he was being drafted as the number 24 wide receiver,

I could see how you would say that's not real. He's going to bust. He's going in the 12th round. Macklin's going in the 9th round. I'd rather have Macklin. I know Heath likes Wallace. Jamie probably likes Macklin in the 9th better than Wallace in the 12th. I'm not sure.

But Dave's not feeling it. I'm not. I'm concerned about the quarterback. And forget about Joe Flacco's back, which is an issue in and of itself, but he's thrown for over 1,000 yards with a receiver five times in nine seasons. Alex Smith had never done it, and then Jeremy Macklin did with Alex Smith. That's fine. How many yards did Macklin have that year?

Probably around 1,050 to 1,100. I don't know. Okay. that year probably around 10 50 to 1100 i don't know okay only one time in flacco's whole career has he connected with the receiver for more than uh 10 65 tory smith had 11 28 in 2013 i don't know if these guys were as explosive flacco's never thrown more than seven scores to a wide receiver or he's only done it twice in his pro career i should say say. Not never, just twice. And it was Torrey Smith both times. I don't think, obviously Heath doesn't have very high expectations for Macklin and Wallace. Certainly you see them in round 12.

Okay, that's fine. I don't see them as great fantasy contributors this year. They're no better than number three options. Mike Wallace is the 39th wide receiver off the board. What's Macklin? 36. All right, so, yeah. So they're being drafted as number three receivers.

Yeah. Number four for Wallace. All right, let's go. I still don't like them. I don't know if I want them on my team. Yeah, Dave's got another. What happens to them if Joe Flacco misses time? Then you'll cut them like you will half of your 12th round picks.

Yeah. Okay, so that's a good point. Now, Lamar Miller is another bust. And CBS, Lamar Miller is going 31st overall. Yeah, I just, man, I feel the same way about Hopkins. It's like all the reasons Dave probably doesn't like Miller. Can't we say that about Hopkins? Is it just the fact that they're on a bad offense?

No, I'm worried that Joe Philbin was right. Remember all those years in Miami where they wouldn't give Lamar Miller the football because they didn't think he could handle that big workload? And then his last year in Miami, they finally let him have that chance they told him get your body ready you're going to get a lot of work and he got a decent amount of work but not as much as still we would have liked and then last year in 13 games he had as much work as we could have asked for and i think he let us down given the number of touches that he had and then bill o'brien what does he do this offseason he says we've got to get somebody to

help lamar miller with the carries so i think it's pretty clear where we're where people have them ranked and where they're thinking about him as one of those safer number two fantasy running backs i don't know how safe he is he makes me nervous i think deontay foreman is definitely going to take some work off his plate i think the passing offense will be better. Maybe that opens things up for Lamar Miller. Maybe that makes him a bigger factor in the passing game. He wasn't a big factor last year. I don't know if that's going to change.

I'm particularly worried about him being worth where he's getting drafted. And I know you're taking Crowell ahead of him. For sure. How many of the rookie running backs are you taking ahead of Lamar Miller? Zero. All but one. All but who? Mixon.

Okay. All right. Next bust for Dave is Amir Abdullah. Oh, man. Why, Dave? Why? Because I just don't think he's going to get the type of opportunities that everybody expects him to get. Even the coaches are saying 200 carries.

I don't buy it. I don't think he gets 200 carries. He's looked okay, but he's not very powerful. I'm worried about him getting banged up. I'm worried about him getting sent to the doghouse if he fumbles again. And I'm especially troubled by the fact that the Lions will always, always, always use multiple running backs. It's just a staple of what Jim Caldwell believes in. Offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter is going to subscribe to that theory as well. And I think that there's just a limited upside for Abdullah, who I don't believe has ever had a 20-carry game.

And I think he's only had four games with 15 or more touches. I don't know that it's fair, though. They just didn't really give him the work that they should have given him as a rookie, and then he played one and a half games last year. He was good. He's been good. He's the 26th running back off the board, Amir Abdullah, back-to-back-to-back with Gillislee, who's probably going to fall.

This is on Fantasy Pros. Gillislee, Bilal Powell, Amirdullah um they're all going like 66th overall on cbs sports abdullah is going 71st overall uh yeah i don't know man um as a flex you know 70th overall is that is that a good time for it's an excellent time there's nobody going behind Amir Abdullah that is going to get a big workload. Like Bilal Powell, Danny Woodhead, Mike Gillislee, Paul Perkins, LeGarrette Blount, Doug Martin are the next six running backs taken after Amir Abdullah. Yeah. I think Abdullah – I mean you don't see the talent, Dave, because I think Abdullah, who's by the way on the rise, up 18 picks in CBS. I think he has breakout potential.

I think he has bust potential too, unfortunately. A lot of guys in that range are hit or miss. But I'm excited about his talent. And he's going to be on a good offense. I do hate the schedule, though. The early schedule stinks for the Lions. That's another strike against him. It's a tough schedule to begin the season.

And I'm more concerned about the opportunity than I am the talent. Okay. And then you're – that's it, right? So we got Macklin and Wallace, Lamar Miller, Allen Robinson, Amir Abdullah. Those are four of Dave's busts. If you want more, go to the website, cbssports.com slash fantasy. Let's do Heath's bust in just a second. I do want to tell you about Indochino.

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I've ever bought clothing wise. I love it. I feel good in it. I look good in it and it's mine. It's customized. I love that. It's got my little monogram on it. Any premium suit, $379 at Indochino.com when you enter FFT at checkout, 50% off with free shipping. FFT at checkout for any premium suit for $379 with free shipping. FFT on Indochino.com. Heath, you already told us why Jameis Winston could be a bust. I still – man, nobody seems to listen to us with Marshawn Lynch. He's still going very high.

He's a bust for you. He's a third-round pick right now. Yeah, we don't have to spend very much time on Marshawn Lynch because anybody that's listened to this podcast for one or two episodes has already heard us talk about how Marshawn Lynch shouldn't be drafted this high. Going 35th overall, the same basically as Dalvin Cook, just behind Lamar Miller, ahead of Isaiah Crowell, Mark Ingram. I would rather have 29 running backs than Marshawn Lynch, even in non-PPR. I'm not drafting him in the first five rounds. I don't expect—I'll just say this. If you give me Amir Abdullah and Marshawn Lynch and ask who gets more carries or touches this year, I'll take Abdullah.

Okay. Yeah. All right, fair enough. And I kind of agree with Dave that I don't think he's going to get a workhorse level of touches. There's just no way Lynch is either. Don't you see the touchdowns kind of being the glimmer of upside i i i will take him in round five right and i have in our silly little drafts when everybody in the room doesn't like marshawn lynch and he falls to me in round five i take him but don't you at least see the potential for him

to get eight nine touchdowns yep i think that's there's definitely a potential for him to have a 750, 800-yard season with eight touchdowns and no catches. I also see the potential for a— I don't think that's good enough to justify where he's going. I think—no, he's going. Not where he's going. And that's upside. But I don't think that means that you take him in round six either. And listen, take him in round two or wherever his ADP is right now.

Three. End of round three. Kooky crazy. Marshawn Lynch. I think there's a chance for a good start. I think you have to be worried about longevity season long with Marshawn. Because they just have a nice schedule early. Better for the pass and getting the running game.

All right. You also have Leonard Fournette as a bust. Okay. That is interesting. Let's talk about that. you also have Leonard Fournette as a bust. Okay, that is interesting. Let's talk about that. Let's see where Fournette is going. He went in the third round of my draft yesterday. He's going 26th, early third round.

Yeah, I just don't feel like there are any guarantees with Fournette. He's got an injury history with the ankle and foot. He currently has a foot injury. He's on a team where they're trying to decide between Blake Bortles and Chad Henney at quarterback. We've been hearing for three years now that their defense has improved and their offensive line has improved, and this is the year they're competitive, and they have not looked like either of those things is really true so far in the preseason. There's a lot of upside with Leonard Fournette.

I took him in one of our drafts recently with the eighth pick in the third round because he had never fallen that far. It was the first time I drafted him all summer, and I still didn't really like it. I could see a situation where he's a top ten running back. I could see a situation where he's Chris Ivory. Oh, man, no. How where he's Chris Ivory. Oh, man, no. How could he be Chris Ivory? He's a great – he's a good player.

He is a good player. I don't know if he's great, but he's good. He's better than Chris Ivory. And the question I think that you can let people decide how they feel about Fournette because the rookie running backs are going to be very polarizing. But what about the touches? Is he going to dominate touches? Can he handle dominating touches?

I think so. Can his foot handle it? So he has a college history of foot injuries too or just right now? I believe he's had a foot and an ankle. His foot last year cost him five games. Now the foot injury from what i understand is not serious from from what was intimated it sounds like somebody stepped on his foot we don't know who he hasn't probably wasn't like a it was ivory a week it was ivory saying i want my job man yeah and they were

like ah um there was a running back last year with a substandard offensive line who got a lot of work and a bad quarterback playing on a team that stunk. And he still finished as a top 15 running back. His name was Isaiah Crowell. But he also had 40 catches and I want to say around 300 receiving yards. I think the Browns offensive line was that bad. Once Petonio went down, it was pretty nasty. And yeah, Joe Thomas was the best offensive lineman was that bad once betonio went down it was it was pretty nasty and yeah joe thomas was the best offensive lineman of that unit and better than anybody that jacksonville has now

but still the rest of that line wasn't that great and crawls numbers weren't actually that great once betonio went down so there is there is definitely more downside than four net but i will pose this question what other running backs rookie or, in a non-PPR league do you feel comfortable taking ahead of him, given what we've seen and given what we expect from Fournette in terms of workload and role and potential? It's hard to put – I love Dalvin Cook. It's hard to put Dalvin Cook ahead of Leonard Fournette at this point. It's hard to put Christian McCaffrey ahead of Leonard Fournette unless you are just perfectly convinced that Fournette is overrated and on a team that's just headed toward the dumpster. In PPR, I can put McCaffrey ahead of Fournette.

I can too. I've got him 14th in PPR. And I'm getting ready with Cook too in PPR because I just don't think Fournette's going to catch him. As far as guys that are being drafted in front of him that I would rather have, Isaiah Crowell. Behind him. After him. Right. I would rather have Crowell. He's going 10 picks after him.

Where's Fournette's ADP? 26th. Okay. Lamar Miller is going. I understand your argument for Lamar Miller being a bust. I'd rather have Miller than Fournette. Here's the thing. I'd rather have Am than Fournette. Here's the thing. I'd rather have Amari Cooper and Doug Baldwin than Fournette, and they're going at the same time.

So if you have that pick, you probably took David Johnson or Le'Veon Bell on a 12-team league. Your second and third-round pick could easily be wide receivers, Cooper and Baldwin. And if I'm at that point at the start of the third round, if Zeke's still there, I'd rather have him than Fournette. Yeah. If Gronk is still there, which I don't think is going to be the case. And a lot of people would take a quarterback there, too. If Rodgers is there, there'll be a – I think taking Rodgers over Fournette makes sense.

I think there's less upside because of the position, but it is safer. And then you could theoretically do the same with Brady. Yeah. If you're doing it with Aaron Rodgers, you're going to do it with Tom. I think there's a difference, personally, but I know a lot of people don't. And Heath, in fact, likes Brady better. So, okay, Heath, I'm sorry to cut you off. Your other bus that we were going to talk about is Brandon Marshall.

But read all about it on CBSSports.com. I promise everybody auction talk. Let's do it. And then at the end of the show, we'll tell you who made the podcast league. Get excited. Also, get excited. We're doing a rejects league. There were just too many entries.

I read about 1,000 haikus, and they were really funny. And I do want to thank everybody for participating. It means so much to me. I didn't get to respond to a lot of them. Obviously not picking a lot of them. It was so much fun to read these. They were great that you put the effort in. Many of you were like me and didn't really get the 5-7-5

thing, but still, I appreciate the effort. Heath and I are going to do a Rejects League. Heath and I are going to share a terrible team with 11 others, so I will be picking 19 haikus. And it's actually going to be a better league than the original podcast league because it will not have a kicker

and it will have decimal scoring as all leagues should. And is it going to be half PPR? Sure. Yeah. If I get no kickers and decimal scoring, you can throw just about any other rule except for 10-team league like you tried to in there. That's what we did last year.

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of 10-team leagues. I just wanted to have one. Because everybody's loaded? There's too many good players. Yeah, well, we sucked last year, so there weren't that many good players. All right, so let's do the auction here. And so it's tough to give auction advice because every auction is so different. But here's what happened in our $100 budget, 12-team standard scoring auction league.

Two receivers, two running backs, and a flex. Tight end, kicker defense. So it wasn't a three-receiver league. It wasn't PPR. And it was 12 teams. $100 budget. I'll give you the two most expensive players at every position. Aaron Rodgers, $12.

Tom Brady, $10. Running back, David Johnson, $38. Le'Veon Bell, $32. And Johnson was the most expensive player in the league Antonio Brown and Odell Beckham Were $34 and $33 Rob Gronkowski was $20 Travis Kelsey was $8

So when you look at Johnson at $38 And Gronk at $20 And Antonio and Beckham for $34 and $33 Rogers for $12 and Brady for $10 Is pretty sweet Ezekiel Elliott in case you're curious He went for $21, same as Jordan Howard. And the David Johnson owner actually also took Ezekiel Elliott,

and I don't really like the team that much. But also one thing noteworthy, and then I'll turn it over to you. You don't usually see a drastic tier difference like this, but the top eight wide receivers. So off the top of my head, that was Brown, Beckham, Julio, Evans, Green, Jordy, Dez, and Michael Thomas. They all went for between $24 and $34. Then the next three wide receivers, number nine, 10, and 11, all tied for number nine technically, Cooper, Hilton, and Baldwin, they went for $15, $9 less, 9% less out of $100 budget than the last of the top eight.

That is a massive drop in tier and not something that I would expect. If Thomas went for 24, I would expect Baldwin and Hilton and Cooper to be closer to like 18 or 19, but they were 15. Anyway, did you guys have a strategy? Did it work? Tell me about the auction. I did have a strategy, and it failed miserably. I was not able to execute it, and I'm very disappointed. What was the strategy? My plan was that I was going to go get two elite wide receivers. I would find cheaper running backs that I felt good about,

and then I'd just build with balance after that. I got one in Mike Evans. And I guess maybe you could say I got another one in Rob Gronkowski. So I've got a first and second round pick there. But I think I would have liked my team better if I hadn't taken Gronk and I would have gotten Julio Jones. And then I didn't exactly go with cheap running backs because I took Todd Gurley for 16. All right, so your team, Heath, let me just get your team here.

Do you have it? Yeah, I've got Russell Wilson as my quarterback. I spent $4 on him. Very, very pleased with that. My starting running backs are Todd Gurley and Ty Montgomery for a combined $22. Mike Evans was 26. My number two wide receiver is Sammy $22. Mike Evans was $26. My number two wide receiver is Sammy Watkins.

He cost me $7. That, I felt like, was a great deal. Gronk for $20. And then I've got a bevy of three, four $2 players. Darren McFadden, Jonathan Stewart, CJ Procise, Delaney Walker, Adam Thielen, Julian Edelman, Mike Wallace. I think your team's good. I mean, you've got a top five quarterback for you, Russell Wilson. You have Gronkowski.

You have Mike Evans. You have Todd Gurley. Yeah, I don't dislike my team. I just did not execute the strategy that I planned. And there's a game that we like to play when we're done with our auctions, and that game is, when would I have got these guys in a snake trap? Sure, yeah. And you would have had Mike Evans in round one.

I think you would have had Gurley and Gronk in round two. That's awesome. Do you have a third-round player? No. I guess you would have to say that Gurley would be my third-round pick. Okay. No, but this is good. You don't need a third-round player, and that's the thing.

Right, right, right. You don't necessarily need a third-rounder if you've got two seconds. So who would be your fourth-round player? Well, I would take Sammy Watkins or Ty Montgomery at the end of the fourth round. One of the two of them could fall to the fifth round, and I'd feel even better about it. That's probably the weakness, if there is one. Maybe there's just a little bit too big of a drop-off between your top three players, Gurley, Gronk, and Evans, and then Watkins. But it kind of makes sense if I have two second rounders to make up for my third rounder that

I have two fifth rounders to make up for my fourth rounder. I guess, but I'd rather, yeah, I mean, I guess. I'd rather have like a fourth rounder. I'd rather have two seconds and two fifths than a second, third, fourth, and fifth. Where would you draft Russell Wilson in a typical snake draft? It would depend, but sixth or seventh. Okay. So that could have been your sixth round pick.

Right. Edelman in round seven? Yeah, that's fine. I think that's pretty darn good. Even in standard? So I think it's not worth doing for the rest of the way. And then McFadden is going to go in round seven or eight in every draft. So I don't think we need to do it for every single round,

but I think you put together a pretty good team. You did. You did a good job. Dave, what about you? Strategy? My strategy going in was not to spend $30 on one running back, but try to get two from a team. I wanted to get the starter and the handcuff from teams that I thought would

run the ball well all season long. I love it. I love your team, and you nailed your strategy. I did nail the strategy. I'm actually very happy with it, too. I got LaShawn McCoy for 23. Which was a great value. That was one of the best values based on the other running backs that were around.

I agree, and his nomination was fairly early, and I was surprised that I got him for 23. I think part of the reason why I got him was because other people weren't ready to quite spend that much. That leads to a good point. Before we go over Dave's whole team, there was not a period in this auction like there have been in the last two years where we had 10 or 12, 15 players where everybody was just going for max or over max value. There was never an overspending period in this auction. You want to know why I think that was? I think we had smarter drafters.

Okay, but let me relate a story, a baseball auction that I did last year. So I think what you need to do when you go to an auction is find out how many elite players you think there are. If there's 15, if there's 20, whatever. How many that you really, really need to have at least one or two many elite players you think there are. If there's 15, if there's 20, whatever, how many that you really, really need to have at least one or two, I'd say at least two and make sure you get them. And if that means overspending, if everybody's overspending on, on the, uh, on the elite players, you have to as well. You cannot be left out of that because there will be values. There will be bargains later in the draft. If everybody's spending big on the first and second round picks, that means the fifth and sixth round picks are going to be absolute steals for everybody.

You cannot be left out of the elite players. If you walk out of an auction and you don't have a first round pick or at least like three second round picks if you don't have a first round pick. If you don't have some great players, you're screwed. So that's the point of the auction. I do kind of like a studs and duds approach if you want to win them i won't go that far but have some studs and if that means you have to overspend to keep up with everybody else then do it uh don't be rigid with your with your perceived auction values okay go ahead but i'm not i don't want to overpay by five dollars for somebody even if i love him even if I loved LaShawn McCoy, I wasn't prepared to spend

$29 or $30 on him. But you can't be left out of... There might be some auctions, it probably won't happen, but there might be some auctions where the top 20 players, top 24 players, whatever, go for so much more than everybody else. And if that's what's happening, I think you have to do it.

I actually have a different kind of approach to auctions that I'd love to get in. I have two auction rules. You tell me when you want me to drop them out. Yeah, do it. The first one is, and it takes work, you've got to tier your players in advance of the auction, which is kind of what you were saying, Adam. You were saying find the studs that you like.

I think what you need to do is group every player by position based on expectations. So the stud running backs that you think are of a shot at 1800 total yards and 12 to 14 touchdowns, they go at the top. And then the next group is running backs with potential for 1500 yards and 10 touchdowns. They go next 1300 yards and nine touchdowns. They go next.

You just as many tears as you want to create as thin or as thick of a tear as you want, do it before your draft and then take it with you to your auction and as players come off the board you'll mark them off of your tier list with how much they spend and when one of those tiers gets light on players you'll know how much they should go for and you'll be prepared to go in and bid on that last remaining guy based on what the other ones went for, and it'll be at expectations that you're comfortable. But if you wait for the last guy in the tier, you might have to overpay. Sometimes it's better to wait for the second-to-last guy in the tier, because a lot of people might

feel the same way about the tier. Like if the top seven wide receivers come off the board, and then Dez Bryant, people think he's in that top eight. Des Bryant's the last one, and people are going, oh, crap, I really need one of these top eight receivers. Spend, spend, spend, spend, spend. You might have been better off getting Michael Thomas, who was the seventh one in that group of eight. But you could also make the same argument that you might want to be the first one into a tier. I don't know that you want to be the last one.

Because no one knows exactly what those values are going to be. And I think that's kind of. Jay Ajayi went for 17 in this auction. I thought that was a good value. And Lashawn McCoy went for 23. If I wasn't in their bidding having an idea on what they were going for even before the auction begins, then I don't know if I would have necessarily

been so bullish on getting Lashawn on my team. The other rule I'll share is is I call it the 2050 rule. You want to have 20% of your budget left for the last 50% of the nominations. In a typical 12-man auction, there's going to be right around 180 nominations. So you want to save 20% for those last 90 nominations. That's where you'll find your bargains. I love having money left in the middle of the draft. I think that's at the end, too.

In this particular auction, if you had a bunch of money left in the middle of the draft, it happened to Jamie. He just ended up overpaying for a couple of guys because he had too much money left and he didn't have any good players. Well, yeah, you have to get some good players, but that's the thing. You have to have great players. Jamie didn't like his team. It didn't turn out good for him. Oh, we're going to read it off. Well, Dave, go ahead with your team.

I'll go quick then. You did great. DeMarco Murray and LaShawn McCoy are my starting running backs. I spent 25 total on LaShawn McCoy and Jonathan Williams and 27 total on DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry. I waited all offseason to get both Titans running backs on my auction team. I think it's much easier to do in this format compared to a snake draft where you've got to spend that second round pick on DeMarco and a sixth round pick on Derrick Henry. It's almost not worth it to take either one because of how pricey they are.

I also got Isaiah Crowell for 13. You know that I'm a big believer in him. Some people might think that that's an overpay, but given what I think we're going to see from running backs this year and the amount of teams that are going to either struggle to run the ball or use a two- or three-headed tandem to run the football, I don't mind Crowell at 13. I think he's going to be fine.

You like Crowell. Good for you be fine you like crowell good for you and i like crowell my receivers the the one i spent the most on was brandon cooks 11 bucks i also got tyree kill for six jarvis landry for three and that's it those were the only three receivers i got it's a two receiver one flex league non-ppr i thought Landry was a good price at three, and I think Cooks at 11 was pretty good as well. Kelsey, Travis Kelsey, eight bucks. That's kind of the cherry on top. No more $12 Travis Kelsey. No, but we have a new $12 player. I love your team. I think it's one of the best in the league. If I had to nitpick, because that's obviously what I do.

That's what we all do. It would be that your starters at running back are incredible. Your starters at wide receiver are kind of questionable, in my opinion. Sure. Cooks and Hill. Cooks and Tyree Hill. And you have six running backs on your bench. Yeah. I don't get Jonathan Williams for two.

Him I get. Darren Sproles, Duke Johnson, Joe Williams are $1 running backs for you. You know, I think, look, here were some of the $2 wide receivers. Galladay, Cobb, Marshall, Thielen, Zay Jones, then J.J. Nelson, Marvin Jones, Jordan Matthews, John Brown, Corey Davis, Dante Moncrief, Rashard Matthews, Robbie Anderson, $1. I feel like you should have used those final dollars on receivers rather than running backs.

Sure, and you can make the point for it. It's just kind of something that I do. It's a personal strategy of mine to just hoard running backs. And I'll tell you this. The strategy that I took of getting two Titans running backs and two Bills running backs, that in theory should alleviate any pressure of getting so much running back depth because I've got – okay, LaShawn McCoy goes down.

I've got his backup. He's ready to go. DeMarco Murray goes down. Yeah, and I've got Crowell. So I kind of – maybe it's a little too much overkill. Too many running backs, it's almost like eating too much chocolate chip cheesecake. What is your – no, you're going to have to drop them though. I don't know if I agree.

I don't know if I will. I mean Joe Williams will be first on the chopping block. What is your nomination? Joe Williams might drop them, though. I don't know if I agree. I don't know if I will. I mean, Joe Williams will be first on the chopping block. What is your nomination strategy? Expensive players I don't like get nominated first. Right. Mixed in with DSTs and kickers that I want for a buck. And any cheap player that I really want, I will nominate for two. That will force anybody else who might want

that player to spend three. If they're just a cheap player, they'll never spend the three. When I nominated Jonathan Williams, this is what I was saying. When I took LaShawn McCoy, my nomination was up two nominations later. I nominated Jonathan Williams for two knowing no one in their right mind would spend

three on him. Don't get anxious during your auction. Don't overreact. If you're already set at a position and you see a great value on the board, I think you might want to avoid it. And I'll give you two teams with two lessons, and then we'll talk about the podcast league. So Jeff Tobin, who's our boss, he's a great guy. I love him. Terrific person. Big fan.

So he took Tom Brady and Andrew Luck. He took – he has great wide receivers. He has T.Y. Hilton. Well, hopefully. T.Y. Hilton, DeAndre Hopkins, Demarius Thomas. All three have a lot of upside and downside. And he also has Martavis Bryant as his fourth receiver in a standard scoring league. And he has Jeremy Macklin for $3.

And $3 is valuable. Martavis Bryant at $7, that's not a bad value at all. But that's five wide receivers. His running backs are Rawls, Woodhead, Terrence West, and LeGarrette Blount. So, like, I don't know how the nominations went. I don't know when he got these guys. But if you already have Hopkins and Thomas and Hilton, Martavis Bryant at $7 is a good value. But you know you're going to need those $7 for

a running back. So I just think that even if there's a – because then he ends up paying $10 for Thomas Rawls and $7 for Danny Woodhead. I think even if you have a good value at a position that you're already loaded at, I think you probably need to let it go and use that money to better round out your team. I think Dave needs to trade Isaiah Cruel for Demarius Thomas. I don't know. Standard scoring.

Based on last year, Thomas wasn't very good. He was okay in this format. That's fine. It's a fair trade. And then Gertrula's team. I wanted to talk about that because this was somebody who went big on two players. $32 on Le'Veon Bell, $26 on Devontae Freeman, and then he has Amari Cooper,

but here's the rest of his starting lineup. Andy Dalton, Eric Decker is his number two wide receiver with Kenny Galladay and J.J. Nelson and Marvin Jones and Rashard Matthews on the bench, and Dalvin Cook at $12 is his flex. Dalvin Cook could be great, and if you have Le'Veon Bell, Devontae Freeman, Dalvin Cook, and Amari Cooper,

you might be fine. But my point is for Jeff Gertula, who took $32 for Le'Veon Bell, $26 for Devontae Freeman, probably shouldn't have taken Dalvin Cook. I'd rather throw those $12 into a wide receiver instead of having Eric Decker as my number two wide receiver.

Sure. He could have bid $15 on one of those $15 receivers. He's got two first-round picks, a second-round pick, and a fourth-round pick on this team. Yeah. We'll see how it turns out. I mean there's a lot of talent there, but for $12 at wide receiver, he could have had Terrell Pryor. Could have had Keenan Allen. Could have had Hopkins.

Could have had Cooks, Garcon. All those guys went for $12 or less. So I guess that's my overall point, and I hope that helps you with your auction. They're so much fun. And maybe we'll talk a little bit more about them next week. All right. We're not going to mention Jamie's team? Jamie's team, he hated it.

Jamie's team is – That's why Dave wants to talk about it. Derek Carr for $1. Amir Abdullah for $12. That's the new – remember $12 Travis Kelty? No more. It's no more. It's $12 Abdullah. And what happened to Jamie, to be fair, because he's not here to defend himself, is that he waited a long time

like Heath said, to start spending his budget, and then he realized, oh crap, I'm missing on some good players. Literally, while every other team had like four or five players, I think he had a DST and that was it. I actually don't think his team is bad. I just think he needs two running backs to emerge, and he's going to be fine. He has Carr, C.J. Anderson, Amir Abdullah, Doug Martin, Frank Gore,

Samajay Pirine, and Theo Riddick. Dez Bryant, Michael Crabtree, Crowder, Devontae Adams. Those are four good receivers. Yeah, four good receivers, and he got Crabtree for seven, Crowder for seven, and Adams for six. Yeah. Martellus Bennett at tight end, Broncos, and he got Crabtree for seven, Crowder for seven, and Adams for six. Yeah, Martellus Bennett at tight end, Broncos, and Justin Tucker. So he's good at kicker and defense. He just needs Doug Martin, C.J. Anderson, Amir Abdullah, Frank Gore, two of them to be good.

If he had spent the money that he had left over, which he just sunk into Samaje P. Ryan, he spent $10 on P. Ryan, but really he could have gotten him for $1. And also took the Frank Gore $6. He would have had $16 to spend on another running back. That's what Todd Gurley went for. Congratulations to you eight Podcast League contest winners. We already have three from previous contests plus – oh, wow. I guess I should have only taken seven. But that's all right.

I'll – all right. You know what? I might have should have only taken seven. But that's all right. I'll... All right, you know what? I might have to put one of these guys in the Reject League. That's okay, right? Oh, no. Wait, I did eight, four... Eight plus three would be 11, and there's four of us. Oh, man. Why did I think there were three of us?

Maybe you shouldn't play because you made a mistake. Ouch. I would say that's not accurate You definitely need to play Should I put one in the Reject League? Yeah, this is an interesting time Alright, I have to put one in the Reject League, I'm sorry I like that this is happening on the show

It's awesome that it's happening live Hashtag Commiss Show I'll put Brock in the Rejects League Brock, I'm sorry, but I'll read your haiku anyway. The Rejects League is a better one. It is. It's great. So you're welcome.

This is from Nathan. Draft the perfect bod. First pick is Adam's arm hair. Next, I'd take Heath's nips. Okay, you're ready, Nathan. From Josh. Infinite pizza cannot curb Dave's appetite for Melvin Gordon. Yes, it can.

From Vito, fantasy football, reason to ignore my kids. Wow, my wife is mad. That's outstanding. From Dan. That's my life. Has two haikus. Dan says, Dave, Heath, and Jamie, your podcast is so very good, even with Adam. To wake so early

to draft for the Podcast League, Ireland presence. I always like to have a foreigner. Awesome, yes. Dan from Ireland, you are in. From Matt, Dear Adam Azer, your bonanzas killed my year. Looking for vengeance. I'm sorry about that, but you got your vengeance chance.

From Brock, who's going to be in the Rejects League Forget not the day Dave Richard rapping oh no Christmas in Hollis Oh that was great That was great it was funny This is from Laura Tried crackling oat bran at your recommendation It was disgusting

Very very good Yeah I like it. At least you tried it. It's always fantastic to have a female presence. Oh, yeah. Now, this is another female who wrote us in, but this is not the funniest tycoon, but listen to this. From Eden. Hello, as someone who has never been into football, I probably never

would have heard of your podcast, but my husband is the biggest football fan I know. He thinks about it all year long, watches every game, listens to every one of your podcasts. He has an hour drive to and from work each day, and each evening when he comes home, he tells me about your shows. He's been so excited about the chance to join your fantasy league. He gives me so much, like the opportunity to be a stay-at-home mom with our son. I want to give him this. Please pick one of my haikus so my husband can play in the league with all of you.

I know it would mean so much to him and so much to me to see how happy it would make him. So here are the haikus from Eden. Please pick my husband to join the Fantasy League. He'd be so happy. Husband in football, like macaroni and cheese. Put him in the league. I thought that was nice. You know what? He needs

to go to Pro Flowers. Yes. Promo code Pro Flowers. Yes. Promo code FFT. Yes. 20% off. And get some flowers for her. Guys, this is a great show. I know it was a little long. Thank you for hanging around.

Everybody enjoy the weekend. Enjoy the football. Good luck on your drafts, and we'll dominate on Monday. A little bit later on Monday, by the way. I think we'll be getting the podcast out about 1.30 p.m. Eastern. So enjoy it, everybody. See you. It's all right. I've got Le'Veon.30 p.m. Eastern. So enjoy it, everybody. See you.