Fantasy Football Today - 08/31: IDP and More Fantasy Talk with Chris Harris! (Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: August 31, 2019

Chris Harris of HarrisFootball.com joins the show to talk about our IDP (Individual Defensive Player) draft and much more. When should the first IDP go and who should it be? Does IDP strategy change depending on the amount of defensive players you're starting? Chris also weighs in on players he likes and some polarizing players like Antonio Brown and Dante Pettis. 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

What's going on, everybody? Hope your weekend's going well. You are about to hear from Chris Harris. We recorded this on Tuesday. I know it is airing on Saturday, but just keep that in mind. This was Tuesday when we recorded. So thanks for listening.

Enjoy the show, and we'll talk to you again on Monday. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. Here we go! Email us at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Here we go! It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. All right, IDP. Individual defensive player.

Let's talk about it. We've got this 12-team IDP league that we drafted last week. And one of the participants every single year is chris harris of harrisfootball.com chris are you going to win the league this year i mean if past results are any indication no but i'm trying i'm trying really hard it's one that i would like to grab i know i have not yet done so i think i've been in this is maybe my fourth year and i think i was in the finals one of those three years and otherwise it's not been too impressive. Well, that's why we keep inviting you back, you know, because we need leagues to win too,

so. Shut up. Shut up, Adam. I already hate you. Welcome to the show, man. It is great to have you on. We do this every year. We talk defensive players, so thank you for coming on.

I just told you to shut up, and you're being nice to me. Stop. No, that's what I do, man. I disarm people, and then, you know, then then I'm nice and I make them feel bad about themselves. Anyway, Chris himself has a podcast. It's five days a week. You want to tell us about your podcast? Competing podcast?

It's so great. It's such a great podcast, you guys. Seriously, you need to listen to this podcast. It's so good. Jamie is on it sometimes and Dave is on it sometimes and Heath is on it sometimes and it's really just so good. Sounds a lot like ours. Alright, so let's

start with it. This is a... Jamie's here, by the way. Hi. Hey, Jamie. Hi, Jamie. So it's a 12-team league. It's full PPR. You have to start three wide receivers and eight defensive players, right, Jamie? Yes. No, nine.PR. You have to start three wide receivers and eight defensive players,

right, Jamie? Yes. No, nine. Nine. All right, my bad. No kickers, no DSTs. It's two defensive linemen, three linebackers, three defensive backs, and a defensive flex, and a whole bunch of bench spots. It is 27

rounds. Why don't I know this? 28 rounds. We're both wrong. We got rid of the kicker because of Jake Seeley. Oh, gosh. It was the first year. This is the first year Seeley finally won. Yeah, not won the league, won the

kicker argument. That's right. Never the league. First question for you, Chris. You had the second overall pick, but in round seven, the second overall pick but in round seven the first overall pick of round seven was our first defensive player and that was colts linebacker darius leonard would you have considered him with your pick with the second pick of round seven when you actually took aaron rogers um no okay so when would you take a defensive player and would it be darius leonard um i'm fine if it's Leonard.

So the reason this format is cool is because if you're playing in an IDP league where it's just three players and they're all kind of can be whatever level you want, it just is not enough scarcity. So it just becomes almost like drafting a team defense where you take them in the last rounds because they're just so eminently replaceable. And this league does a better job of approximating some level of scarcity but the problem is not enough i mean i just almost don't think there is enough there's just a lot of tackles out there in the world and in the end what you're really paying for is tackles so it's tough for me to say like even in the first 10 rounds i would

there's any defensive player i would take i'm okay if leon Leonard's the one you pick. I wound up going pretty rookie heavy among IDP players once I finally started taking them. I think the first defensive player I might have taken was the Tampa Bay kid, the white. Devin White. The rookie? Yeah, and then I think I'm, I can't remember whether it was him or Buda Baker.

I took them back to back. But, you know, clearly I'm taking a rookie in the 11th round of a 19. You're starting a nine team IDP. In some ways, I think that the IDP is almost a distraction in a league like this. Because, sure, you hope that your main contributor gives you an advantage. But how much of an advantage will the best performing linebacker be over the replacement level linebacker? Even in a league like this, it seems like it's pretty marginal.

Last year, last year, Darius Leonard was a lot better in this format than just about everyone. He scored 36 more fantasy points than the second best defensive player, which was linebacker Corey Littleton of the Rams.

But just because it happened last year doesn't mean it'll happen this year. But yeah, I mean, I don't go too heavy on IDP, and nobody does. I mean, it's the seventh round for us to have won. Jamie, can you also talk about your philosophy and how you went about your defensive players in this league? I'm never going to take one early. I'm typically going to let the draft sort of fall to me when it comes to

the defensive guys. And I tend to put a little bit more of an emphasis on trying to get one elite pass rusher. So typically what will end up happening and happen in this draft is the top four or five middle linebackers will come off the board to tackle monsters. Darius

Leonard, Luke Kuechly, those type of players. I was one. I think I took the second or third pass rusher. I think it went, I want to say Miles Garrett might have been the first one. I took Bosa, Joey Bosa, with a pick in the ninth round. So Miles Garrett, I'm just trying to look. Miles Garrett was off the board first. And I guess I took both. Oh, no, I'm sorry.

It went J.J. Watt, Aaron Donald, Miles Garrett, Joey Bosa. What round were we talking about? That was round nine. So round eight is when the defensive guys started to come off the board. Round seven, excuse me, is when the defensive guys started to come off the board. Round eight, there was a little bit of a trickle-down effect, and round nine, there was starting the rush of

defensive guys. And so I took Bosa with the ninth pick in the ninth round. Do we all agree, though, at least in this format, that you do want at least one or two really good IDPs? Because while I do agree that it made sense to wait, I took Aaron Donald. Defensive line is so scarce. I took Aaron Donald with the eighth pick of round eight. And then I think I took Leighton Vander Esch not too long, and then I basically waited on IDP after that. I think my last six picks or seven picks were all IDPs,

but that's partially because I was auto-drafting because I was on a plane. But I might have done that anyway. But can we at least agree that even if you don't have to go crazy, that you do want some studs? Chris, what do you think? No. No?

I just don't think so i i came close to taking like calais campbell and i actually took devon weight instead of him this is the 11th round i mean i don't think calais campbell people are viewing him as a he's been a stud in the past but he's not really a pass rusher i just think you can get by with oh i mean okay granted i haven't won this league so but i've never felt like the defensive players that I had in this league were the reason why I didn't win. I find it hard to believe that we're going to look at the results of this league when we're done in December and say,

ah, it was the Aaron Donald pick that put me over the top. Well, I had him last year, and I made the semifinals. I think I had one of the highest-scoring teams. It was a nice, comforting feeling to have a guy like Aaron Donald in my lineup who just was the number one defensive lineman last year. And he had an amazing year. I hear you. I hear you except for if you're going to say, I mean, it's almost unfair.

I don't want to latch on to what you said about Leonard being 30 points better than the second because it doesn't matter how much better you are than the second best defensive player what matters is how far you above the the replacement the available waiver wire guy or the or the whatever in this round the 18th round pick right sort of whatever we agree replacement level is is it more than two points a game is it more than three points a game you know certainly there are going to be more peaks and valleys. Darius Leonard or Aaron Donald are likelier to have the big splash game that actually makes an impact in the box score compared to when you face me. And I've kind of got puke in my defensive. I have some fine players. It's fine. I took a chance on Nick

Bosa actually very late, so I actually have a defensive reserve. I don't know. Even in this format, I'm somewhat skeptical that there's enough of a marginal value among superstars, except for once or twice a season, the defensive superstars can rise up and have a defensive touchdown and have a couple of sacks and have eight tackles and that can really change things but the fact is that any middle linebacker even if he's bad uh can is going to have a bunch of tackles in any given week and uh yeah i am i'm repeating myself i think the marginal value of a superstar on defense is somewhat overrated jamie quick thought on that what do you think

well it kind of goes back to what you talk about, Adam, with, you know, tight ends comparatively to, you know, three receiver leagues. You know, it kind of gets a little saturated. So I think if you have the best of the best, it makes it a little bit more comforting, you know, and probably a good lineup to look at would be Gary Davenport, who's the IDP expert at Roto World. And he took a lot of the better defensive players, you know, comparing that to his offensive guys. Not that his offensive guys are bad, but he's just really

loaded on the defensive side. Well, let's talk about it. Let's go through his lineup. What is Gary's offensive lineup? I have it. He spent six picks on offense, guys. Unfortunately, one of them was Lamar Miller. So he's in a little bit of trouble as far as that goes, but it's not like he went defense. We don't want to paint that as Gary

going defense in round three or whatever he's doing in round seven. First one to take Darius Leonard. I believe he took correct and miles Garrett back to back. So he has what a lot of people would consider the best linebacker and the best pass rusher. And it's hard to argue with that, you know, so the rest of his offensive guys are still pretty good, even factoring in Lamar Miller's selection. He's got Baker Mayfield, Kerryon Johnson, Christian McCaffrey, Tyler Boyd, Josh Gordon, Tyrell Williams is his third receiver, Austin Hoopers is tight end, and Devontae Freeman as his flex. So he has three, however you want to call it, top 20 running backs

with Johnson, McCaffrey, and Freeman. Two top 25-ish receivers in Boyd and Gordon, and what could still qualify as a top 12 tight end with a top five quarterback with Mayfield and Hooper. So it's a very good offensive lineup. Just probably not a great bench. Also, he took Garrett in the ninth, so it wasn't back-to-back. He took first round the seventh and first round the ninth

were his first two uh defensive players and you know where he's loading up is like every other every other pick because he was picking first right so and he took mcafree and we could talk about that if you just want to not talk about idp just how this draft yeah let's let's that was very i i have one more i have one more idp question yeah and then let's just talk fantasy football but right but the but but he was basically was basically going Littleton in the 12th. He was going Jalen Smith in the 13th. He wouldn't go back-to-back defensive players, but consistently he was going defense skill guy, defense bench skill guy, defense Golden Tate, defense – and for me, it can work out fine.

I just – I have a hard time thinking that Jalen Smith in the 13th round matters marginally compared to whoever I get at linebacker in the 18th. Over the course of the season, it might be a few points. It might be a couple more splash games. My philosophy is there's almost nothing you can do in an IDP to make me want to take one in the 7th round. And this is a deep, deep bench league, so not a lot on waivers. So you want to make sure you have some depth in a league like that,

offensive players, because the defensive players I find throughout the year are pretty much interchangeable. That's right. You can pick them up. You better get a bench offensively. There's no one. But defensively, you can always find someone. All right, so two more IDP questions. First one is just like, IDP 101, who are some of the best players? If you were in a shallower league where you were only starting three IDPs,

you know, Jamie, you mentioned, we've obviously talked about Darius Leonard, Miles Garrett, Aaron Donald, got to mention Jamal Adams. Who are some of the best, Jamie, IDPs? I think, you know, depending on, it's also, first off, I think it matters your designation with defensive line comparatively to linebacker and how some of those guys, you know, can be a little interchangeable depending on your on your league. But it's it's the it's still the top tier linebackers. You know, I think Deion Jones has a big bounce back season. Now he's healthy for Atlanta.

Leighton Vander Esch for the Cowboys. Jalen Smith for the Cowboys. They have a great group. Demarcus Lawrence as well. Tremaine Edmonds for Buffalo I think has a chance to be a really good player. CJ Mosley will still be really good for the Jets. Bobby Wagner. Bobby Wagner for sure.

Hopefully that is right. Chris mentioned Devin White. I think he could be really special as a rookie. Any sleepers, guys? Any guys like rookies? I got him late as a defensive back. I think he's going to change his game a little bit, playing with the Giants.

Be a little bit closer to the line of scrimmage, which will help with some of the tackle totals. So he was one that I got relatively late, and I was pleased with. Roquan Smith, he's not a rookie, but I think again, I would put him top 10 at that position. Okay, Bears linebacker

who I absolutely loved coming out of Georgia last year, so it could be a nice second year for him. Alright, and then the final question for IDPs. Now, Chris, you already alluded to this and I've never done a shallower IDP week, but philosophically, I would think the opposite of what you said,

which I'm probably wrong, but in a shallower league, where you're not starting this many guys, I feel like each position carries more weight, and I feel like in that format, you would want to invest more in individual defensive players because those studs would really make

more of a difference because they're one of three instead of one of nine. You know what I mean? No, they just don't. It's the exact reason why you don't take quarterbacks early when there's no scarcity. But I'm more likely to take a stud quarterback in a 10-team league than I am in a 12-team league because –

I'm not. Oh, my God. No? Incorrect. Incorrect, Adam. Again, wrong. Wrong. Well, I mean, to explain myself, it's like you have an opportunity in a 10-team league to be a lead at every position. So, you know, because the running back and wide receiver depth will just be better. So that's why I'm more likely to take a top tight end or a top quarterback.

Whereas in a 12-team league, I want to, the real scarce positions, running back and wide receiver, I want to pile up more there. So I wait on quarterback. So that's kind of my philosophy, just deep versus shallow leagues in general. And I guess I would, in theory, translate it to IDP, but you apparently would not. I wouldn't draft that way with skill positions in a 10-player league either. I would wait like crazy on everything that wasn't scarce in a 10 position and for quarterback for tight end in a 10 team league compared to hotel team league. Anyway, the, it's a market principle though. It's if you knew, if you could tell me exactly what the order of finishes and who the Pat, who the Pat Mahomes throwing 50

touchdowns is beforehand. If you knew for sure, sweet. The problem is the problem. The great bonus is that if I'm drafting quarterbacks in a 10-team league, there's 15 guys who could finish in the top five easily, probably more than that. And I don't know which one is going to do it, but I got tons of chances, so I don't need to spend the early pick.

I spend the pick on scarce stuff early. I don't need to be spending things on, that's the almost definition of a market, I think. If it's scarce, the price is lower i just don't know i just don't know what's really scarce in a 10 team league you know like i'm not taking i'm not taking aaron rogers over dalvin cook i'm not saying that um right but i might take aaron rogers over tevin coleman or something like that um maybe you know that it would come it would come into play there whereas in a 12 team league i wouldn't think about doing that but

i wouldn't attend a team league. Either way, the point for me would hold consistently through regardless of position. Just the less scarce any particular position group is in a draft for me means the longer you wait and the less you stress about it because replacements are available. You can always take a high upside inside linebacker. Take Devin Bush. are available you can always take a high upside inside linebacker who you know take a devon bush right you could take devon bush for the stealers probably pretty late and fantastic if he's the rookie who winds up with a ton of tackles and looks like roquan smith eventually looked like once he got it signed and everything then you've got a steal and if not doesn't matter because

there's a hundred guys on the waiver wire who you know there's going to be a breakout guy in a league where you're only drafting three idp players there's going to be a breakout guy who doesn't get drafted there's going to be multiples they're going to be available on the waiver wire who you know there's going to be a breakout guy in a league where you're only drafting three idp players there's going to be a breakout guy who doesn't get drafted there's going to be multiples they're going to be available on the waiver wire okay chris what else what's on your mind chris give us some some fantasy football takes i just came on belligerent what's my problem you're like having me on this podcast every year and i just come out being mean um well, well, so the, I think I just want to talk in this particular case of this draft and Gary picking one and me picking two, this was a week ago ish. Right. And I hadn't, uh, so I put that, that almanac thing that I send you guys and it's this big giant guide and it's got tons of stuff in it. And I write it all summer

and I kind of, I write it really early on. And then, you know, there's a struggle to know how much to react to. Okay. Zeke Elliott is holding out. How much do you want to lower them? And I kind of resist doing that until, you know, we get further in August. Long, long story to get to my, my point. And their question is I found out I had two. And at the moment when we did that draft, I still had Zeke as my number two guy in PPR.

And I thought to myself, oh my God, am I really going to do this? We're playing this league out. This league is really fun. Uh-oh, like, am I really going to, Barkley's going to go one and am I going to have to go Zeke two? Or is this kind of the indication that maybe I should finally relent? The holdout has lasted long enough. If I'm not going to take him two in the CBS IDP league that I love, then I shouldn't have him rated two. And so I'm kind of stressed about it. I'm not going to take him to in the in the CBS IDP league that I love then I shouldn't have him rated to and so I'm kind of stressed about it I'm sitting there waiting waiting assuming Barkley's going to go one and then Gary goes Christian McCaffrey one and I'm like

disaster averted yeah to say go on Barkley at two for me he's such a clear one I don't care the league format I'm extremely excited to have gotten him and I got to put off the Zeke decision. And then the postscript to that is I did wind up lowering Zeke a little bit. He's still in my first round, but I did. I took that internal tension to heart and I was like, okay, dude, you need to be honest with yourself. He probably shouldn't go to. We're recording on Tuesday and you're listening on Wednesday, but you know, so just in case there's any breaking news on Tuesday night, be aware. But as of right now, when would you draft Ezekiel Elliott? I took him fifth in this draft. And that's probably fine.

I might actually go a little bit later just because I might put a couple receivers in front of him. But when you took him there, that doesn't bother me at all. It's much more men with super quality options above him and especially maybe the three elite receivers or ish. I don't know how many you want to say but, you know,

I love being risk embracing and Elliott is exactly the kind of guy that how many you want to say, but, um, you know, I, I love being risk embracing and Elliot is exactly the kind of guy that if you're going to be risk embracing, you should, that's where you should take a risk where he's a league winner if it works out in your favor. And of course you get hosed if it doesn't, but you know, rather than take the risk on, I don't know, I don't need to take a risk on Lamar Jackson as much as I recognize he's got tons and tons of upside, he also couldn't throw it straight last year. When it's not that scarce of a position,

I just don't know that I need to take the chance. I know Heath would. But yeah, I feel like maybe I feel okay not... I want to take a risk on someone like Zeke Elliott. Yeah. All right, Jamie, let's pick apart Chris's team since he's been such a jerk on this podcast. You know, I was looking at a team and I was like, damn, this team is really good. I thought it was Chris's and I realized it was actually Jamie's.

So, Jamie, your team is excellent. We can talk about that. The Chris's, though, is also very good. Aaron Rodgers, Saquon Barkley, and Tariq Cohen. Keenan Allen, Antonio Brown, and Cooper Cupp. David Njoku and Darius Geis. And then a bunch of IDPs. So, again, it's Aaron Rodgers, Bark Brown, and Cooper Cupp David Njoku and Darius Geis And then a bunch of IDPs So again, it's Aaron Rodgers, Barkley, and Cohen This is full PPR

Keenan Allen, Antonio Brown, Cooper Cupp David Njoku, Darius Geis I do see some question marks though Particularly with your running backs You have Barkley, which is a no-brainer And then Tariq Cohen and Darius Geis at flex On the bench, Naeem Hines. Oh, Duke Johnson.

That's a better pick now. Yeah, that helps. I knew it was coming. But, Jamie, what's your quick thought on the core of Chris's team? Oh, it's exceptional. I mean, you know, obviously, again, factoring in Duke Johnson. But I think, you know, when you get Barkley and Rodgers and the combination of the three receivers that he has, that's just impressive. And Chris was on our telethon and called us all dumb for letting Antonio Brown fall to the third round of that draft. I think he said, you guys are bad at this

or something like that. No, he called us dumb. But he's dumb. He specifically pointed out just so they're listening, the fantasy footballers, the two guys from the Athletic and Eric Young

from the WWE. He called them all dumb. Yeah, call Eric Young dumb to his face. I dare you. Right, right. I interact with EY on Twitter all the time

and let's just be honest, I would never do that because I'm not stupid. Chris, let me just tell you something. You remember how Adam was fawning all over you when he met you in person about how he thought you were so in shape and so well built and all those things? Oh, yeah, yeah. In New York City. You can only imagine when he was sitting in a room with a professional wrestler for six hours.

Yeah, right next to him. Can you imagine the compliments that were coming out of his mouth to that man what do you bench bro what do you bench bro and then he and then he picked me up and he bench pressed me 35 times i basically weigh uh the bar um so well actually how much does the bar weigh wasn't it uh not not as much as you okay okay, okay. Maybe two of the bars. Two bars. We call them two bars. Two bars, Adam. Well, how do you feel about Darius Geis? Well, okay, I'm assuming Duke Johnson will be your flex,

but the combination of Darius Geis, Tariq Cohen, and now Duke Johnson as your running back depth behind Saquon. Yeah, I have tended to go in the direction of like so that second, third, fourth rounds, I'll take a bunch of receivers. To me, it feels like the market's a little high on some of those decent but sort of scary floored running backs and maybe not as like to me, Cooper Cup. I'm basically getting very into the fourth beginning of the fifth. I'm really excited to get him there. And as I mentioned, very excited to get Antonio Brown.

I think there's a lot of market inefficiency based on his own nonsense, his own noise. And therefore, I'm often finding myself lacking in running backs or having to reach or having to sort of scramble and cobble together. And in this case, obviously got really lucky with Duke Johnson in the 11th round or whatever. Um, but the, before the Lamar Miller injury, I just did, uh, a charity auction, a different charity, a draft a couple of days ago or yesterday or something. They all blend together where I went three receivers to start, uh, starting with Julio at number five, I think, and then taking two more receivers just cause I didn't love the running backs. I want to stick to my board, which is has. So basically the bottom line is to get to your question. If I had my choice, would Tariq Cohen be in my starting lineup? Maybe not.

There's only so good he's going to be. He needs a big touchdown season again. He has it in him to produce a bunch of big plays, be a per touch monster in the way that I remember last year, last summer, people told me, no, Tyree kill can't do it again. That touchdown rate is not sustainable. If you're the fastest player at your position,

it's sustainable. And, and Tria Cohen is the fastest running back in the league, I think. And so I wouldn't be surprised. I don't think the workload goes up, but I wouldn't be surprised to see big plays. Guys don't love the situation.

Also feel like if we're judging the situation and and putting the final nail in the coffin beforehand we're making a really big mistake i said this just recording on wednesday on my podcast or tuesday on my podcast uh do we remember the season over under win totals last year from vegas do we remember cleveland was five wins do we remember chicago was five and a half wins? Like to decide that we know what these teams are beforehand and we're going to completely exclude maybe very good players because we're sure it's going to be a bad situation in Miami or in Washington. I don't know. Like we're wrong every year on somebody. And usually it's a couple of

three teams that we're wrong on that they're going to be terrible. So I don't want Darius Geis' situation to be a total disqualifier. But again, this is a long harangue to say, of course, my running backs are not as optimal as I wish they were other than Saquon. Yeah, and it's nice to have Saquon. Jamie, what stood out to you in this draft, if anything? I think really it's just the when to pull the trigger on the IDP guys, you know, that, that always going to determine a draft like this because it's so in depth, you know, I know I run this league, but I inherited it. Um, when I, when I took over 2006,

so I kept the rules in place. It's, it's a very heavy IDP league. I don't think a lot of people go this deep in most of their IDP formats. It's always the people who do decide to go early on the defensive guys and then the players that you're able to steal a little bit later from the offensive perspective. Kind of to tie in what Chris was saying, there are going to be some defensive players that sway how this league goes, but it's not necessarily going to be the make or break, I don't think, because it is so deep with all the defensive guys.

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Please gamble responsibly. Gambling problem? For free assistance, call the Connex Ontario helpline at 1-866-531-2600. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Alright, Chris, we've got about five minutes left. Why don't you give us some of your favorite

players or sleepers, breakouts, busts, whatever you want to do. The floor is yours. The floor is mine. I mean, I just want to win this league. That would be awesome. If I could just please win this league, can we arrange that? Second place.

I mean, so I'll just say, for example, about the player. I wouldn't have taken Duke Johnson in the 10th round if I'd been thinking IDP at that point. So it feels like, of course, did I know that Duke Johnson was going to wind up being

potentially Houston's starting running back? I didn't, but it feels to me like that's why you wait on less scarce positions so that you can then. You know, basically, you're just trying to take shots at it and take another one, take another one, take another running back, take another wide receiver and just see what happens. Eventually, someone's going to get hurt. I want to any fantasy team that I have, I want to laid the bench with those scarce positions because it's all going to detonate as of week one. And it detonated for Lamar Miller's knee, unfortunately before week one. Uh, so that, that one of those shots that I took happened to already work out. But for me, that's a much better strategy, managing scarcity than, than, and it helps. I mean, I'm usually going to take you know philosophically what i talk about my podcast what i asked jamie to do every time jamie comes on my show during the season it's

i i watch ask him to watch three games can we just let's talk through what you saw when you laid eyes on three entire games because my whole shtick on my show people get tired of me saying it is film don't lie that i'm gonna try to pick the good players and not worry so much about situation in the case of someone like duke johnson i've just always really liked him and thought he that I'm going to try to pick the good players and not worry so much about situation. In the case of someone like Duke Johnson, I've just always really liked him and thought he was a very good player, maybe underutilized in Cleveland. So again, that was a very fortunate sort of confluence

in round 10 there. But yeah, I took Dante Pettis in round eight. And I know the coach is saying a bunch of bad stuff about him. I know the depth chart is somewhat uncertain and he has a groin injury that came out of the third week and I'm aware of all this hullabaloo, but I've rarely seen a receiver come into the league with the route running ability to get open like Dante Pettis did last year. I've, I've done some YouTube work on him and he just, he looks like Keenan Allen out there. He's just, is open all the time I really

in the end despite all the blah blah blah from the coach I find it hard to believe they're going to leave that talent he'd have to be a bad guy to leave that kind of talent on the bench and so you know probably my picks in this draft and the propaganda that I fill everybody's head with on my podcast is all about let's try to pick out the best players because as much as situations absolutely matter, we're not awesome at deciding what they are beforehand. All right. So how about I give you some names? I'll go like rapid fire, some sort of I won't say controversial, but maybe difficult draft day decisions. And you tell me when you're comfortable taking them.

OK, here we go. We already know Zeke. Todd Gurley. I'm pro, but obviously that's one where you're either going to take the risk or not. If you take the risk, it's now going to be roughly a first-round pick. And I would probably, towards the end of the first round, be willing to make that. I think he went in the second in this draft. Is that right? I think he did. Yeah, third pick of the second round. Adam from Rot he did. Yeah, third pick of the second round.

Adam from Roto Curve in the third pick of the second round. I like that a lot. And Jamie, why don't you weigh in? Todd Gurley. I think the second round is the right spot to take a chance on him. I was anti-Gurley, but I think the more you just see what's happening with the Rams, that there's been nothing. Now, kudos to them if they're able to hide it from any reporters finding out,

but no knee soreness, no knee setback, no anything that has kept them off the practice field. They've been obviously very cautious with him and not playing him in the preseason, which we expected, but they didn't play him in the preseason last year. So I think the fact that Daryl Henderson is struggling should make you a little bit more comfortable with Todd Gurley and the fact that if you're Sean McVay and you have a key moment

and this is supposed to be Daryl Henderson's drive because that's how he scripted it, that may not be the case. So his workload is the biggest concern for me, but I'm certainly a little bit more comfortable with Gurley in the second round. All right, two more. Aaron Jones, Chris. When would you take Aaron Jones? So forgive me for not remembering where he went in this draft, but, um, I'm, I'm probably a little bit, uh, lower than the market on Aaron Jones only because as I mentioned, I just value

the Stefan digs and Adam Thielen's and Keenan Allen's and, uh, Robert Woods is in, uh, of the world, probably a little bit more Brandon cooks. i have aaron jones in a standard league 42 so fourth round and he's not going to last to the fourth round again i like i think he's good i did actually did youtube work on him as well i think he's good but i wonder if he's extraordinary it seems to me the one thing he does really well is accelerate and go north south real real directly and he surprises people with that acceleration. I don't see him make a lot of moves otherwise. In a way, it kind of reminds me of Dalvin Cook,

but maybe like a degraded version of Dalvin Cook. I don't love Jamal Williams. I never did. I told people last summer not to draft him, but I don't think he's uninvolved in Green Bay. All right. Who's your favorite mid-round wide receiver? Let's say, like in the Cooper Cup, Calvin Ridley, Josh Gordon range. Who are you targeting there? Let's say that Lockett, Galladay, and Godwin are off the board.

Yeah, and I don't like Godwin at that price, so I'm different from the market on that. If Lockett, Galladay, Godwin are off the board, Mike Williams, is he off the board at that point? No, he's there. So I'd say if we've gotten past the Edelman Cup, Woods, Galladay, I like Mike Williams, but I also don't fight it too hard if someone says Josh Gordon.

I think T.Y. Hilton's probably in that neighborhood now too. I've lowered Hilton from 13 to 23, I think. Yeah, something like that. Right at, right behind Josh Gordon. Actually, I recognize that there's a big question about Josh Gordon being there at the end of the year, but, um, and he's probably not the speed demon we remember from 2013. He certainly wasn't last year. He was, he looked like Alshon Jeffrey out there, but that can play.

I mean, if Alshon Jeffrey was on new New England I think we would like Alshon Jeffrey quite quite a lot all right Chris thank you so much for joining us man oh it's a blast love coming on I really want to win this league so if you guys could make bad trades and stuff I would really appreciate no problem send some crappy

offers over man we'll see what we can do this is a big one for me man I've kind of like felt like like Barkley landed in my lap completely unexpectedly, and I have to take advantage. At two? I mean, yeah, okay, a little bit. A little bit. I get that.

You are lucky. Yes, let's go Giants. Let's go Saquon. Well, he fell into my lap, meaning I really thought he should have gone one, and I was kind of having to do mental gymnastics to not take Zeke at two. And so I was probably not going to take him at two. The fact that he fell into my lap after 10 minutes sitting there going, oh, come on, two. Am I really not? Oh, come on. I felt like that was that was a win. And I'm just happy that I have the first pick in the draft in the next draft that we're doing.

Chris Harris, Twitter handle, sir? You know it, Ed Harris Football. That's right, Ed Harris Football. Well, you know, I always confuse it with the cornerback. That's the problem. I get that a lot. You mentioned that because Pete Prisco, our senior NFL writer, I'm sure you are familiar, Chris.

Adam's certainly familiar. He has to drink a lot of water every time I say his name. It's a drinking game that we play on our podcast. Yeah, yeah, I got you. So Pete has a very good relationship with Chris Harris. I saw Chris Harris at the Pro Bowl. Pete was not there. I went up to Chris.

I said, hey, Pete Prisco told me to come say hello to you. Oh, Pete, I love Pete. My dog, I love pete whatever so chris um pete is on the on the telethon with us and he's looking at the rundown he goes he goes you got chris harris on the show this is awesome i love talking to chris not that chris harris different chris harris you will love talking to him yep that's awesome notes stuff fantastic at what he does, but totally different. Chris Harris.

And he was like, also, it's funny that Chris Harris, the Broncos player goes by Chris Harris jr. And is quite a bit younger than me. Not young enough to actually be my son, but quite a bit younger than me. So on my show, he often gets referred to by listeners who write in with snarky email as my

son, Chris Harris. Yeah. Well, you must be very proud to watch him on. He feels like the checks haven't been arrived. Also very, very, snarky email as my son, Chris Harris. Oh, yeah. Well, you must be very proud to watch him on Sunday. It feels like the checks haven't been arrived yet. Also, very, very well built. Yes.

Yes. Also, you can see where he gets his physique from. Could certainly bench press me. Okay, that's Chris Harris, Jamie Eisenberg. I'm Adam Azer. Remember, we have a special Sportsline episode coming later tonight with Mike McClure talking DFS. So get excited for that.

And I will talk to you along with Jamie. We will talk to you on Thursday on Fantasy Football Today. See ya.