Fantasy Football Today - 09/01 Fantasy Football Podcast: Live from Philly! (Recorded Thu.)

Episode Date: September 1, 2017

We had an amazing time on our first episode in front of a live audience. We get you ready for your drafts by discussing Bilal Powell's value (5:54), who the guys often end up drafting (8:00), when to draft DSTs (13:00), our final thoughts on SD's tough schedule (14:54) and much more ... Our best round of Fantasy Feud ever (18:30) as we pit Dave, Jamey and Heath against three audience members ... Heath gives you interesting ADP values on Yahoo and ESPN leagues (24:00), then we take questions from the audience! ... 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

Hey everyone, Adam here on Friday morning, back from our trip to Philadelphia, which was amazing. We recorded today's show on Thursday night, and we just recently saw the news that the NFLPA filed a lawsuit on behalf of Ezekiel Elliott, so we could be looking at another Tom Brady situation. It is early Friday morning right now, but I can tell you this. As of right now, Jamie says he'd take Zeke at number three overall. Dave says he's got him around 12th right now now but is prepared to put him at number two overall. And Heath is thinking more like 15th overall. So obviously this is a big development.

We didn't get a chance to react to it on the show you're about to hear. Having said that, we are planning on recording a quick bonus Zeke podcast later today. So we'll have some more time to think about it, hopefully more info to go on, and we can update you before the weekend as you get ready for your drafts. Now before I get you to our live Philly podcast, let me remind you that Fantasy Football is back, and that means FanDuel is back. Fantasy Football for everyday fans. Sign up today, go to FanDuel.com, click the Join Now button, and use our offer code CBSPOD.

New users get free entry into the NFL Sunday Million with over $1 million in cash prizes. That's when you make your first deposit on FanDuel, and you use the code CBSPOD. All right, enjoy our live show. Thanks, everyone. Again, we'll be back later today with a bonus Zeke episode. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports.

Here we go. Email us at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Here we go! We're here to help you win the ultimate bragging rights, a fantasy title. Let's go! Now, here's Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Our first live podcast in front of a live studio audience. Yeah!

All right! live podcast in front of a live studio audience. Yeah! All right! How awesome is this? That's pretty good. It's pretty cool. We could get used to this. Yeah, this is great. Welcome to Fantasy Football today, everybody.

We're live from Victory Beer Hall at Xfinity Live. Heath, apparently Victory Beer is the best beer. It's the best beer I've had ever. Adam, get some applause as well. We're going to talk about Ezekiel Elliott. I'm going to ask these guys a whole bunch of questions, some draft prep. We're going to take listener questions.

You're booing him now, but when you draft him, you know that you're going to be in the back going like this. Pumping your face. Wait, we can get a better boo than that. Go Giants! Whoa! All right. The Giants fans.

All right, we did have a Giant. All right, some Giants fans in the house. So we won't talk about them that much, I promise. But Heath did a great column. It's on the website right now. He does this every year. He compares CBS, ESPN, and Yahoo ADPs. And if you like our rankings, you can go into ESPN leagues and Yahoo leagues and you kind of dominate. So he will get you some overvalued and undervalued players based

on the average draft positions on those sites. We will be doing during the year, I want to remind everybody, we're going to be doing a Sunday night show to recap everything. And then we're going to also do a Saturday mailbag show. So, you know, get excited for that. Guys, let's get started with Ezekiel Elliott here. If you're drafting, right now it's Thursday night. It's going to air on Friday. It's about 6.30 p.m. Eastern. So hopefully nothing's announced before tomorrow.

But if you're drafting this weekend, Jamie, you've been kind of bullish on drafting Zeke fairly early, like early round two. What are you thinking now? Still the same, early to mid round two. I think that you have an opportunity to potentially steal your league if that's the case. You know, because we don't know if it's going to be reduced. We don't know how many games it's potentially going to be reduced. But if it's reduced, you're talking about a guy that you may have for 12 games, 13 games, maybe 16 games. And we saw what he was last year. He was, you know, top three running

back. And so you pair that with whatever you get in the first round, that's just amazing value for what could be, you know, the number one overall non-quarterback in any league. Guys, if you're drafting in the second round and it's Jordan Howard or Ezekiel Elliott, where are you going? I'm still going Howard for right now because I don't have that certainty that he's going to get that suspension reduced. Don't be afraid, Dave. It seems that way. Dave's always afraid of everything.

I'm not afraid. I'm not being scared. I know that Jordan Howard's going to play 16 games. I know he's got a good offensive line in front of him. Am I going to admit that Zeke's better? Of course he is. But if Zeke's going to miss four games, I still would rather have Jordan Howard to get me through that first part of the year.

It's funny that you use the four game number because Jordan Howard didn't get his start until week four last year. He didn't get his start until week four. He played week three. He played, yes, he played, but he didn't get a start until week four. And Ajayi didn't get his first start until week five. And those were two top 10 running backs last year so that four game absence is would be amazing if you're getting Ezekiel Elliott for 12 games so if he if it gets reduced to that he's a first rumpic are you sure it's going to be four no no I'm not sure it's not going to be 16 I mean at this point it could be anything anything from 2 to 16 at this point that's the thing I hate about this situation is I was hoping it sounded like the NFL really wanted to come to some type of agreement during the process. It sounds like

the process went pretty well for Ezekiel Elliott, but they didn't budge and it's over now. And so does he feel confident enough that if they lower it to four, he says, no, that's not good enough. And I'm going to go try to go the Brady route. And they say, no, we're going to go the commissioner exempt route. It's a scary situation. I've moved him up a little bit just because of the reports of how positive this whole process was for him, but I'm not taking him before that 2-3 turn. Yeah, well, he's not going to be better than Wendell Smallwood, regardless of when he starts playing. Who you picked up today in a league? I'm very excited about Wendell Smallwood. I think he's going to be the best Eagles running back non-PPR.

Okay. Yeah. And that was going to be one of my questions later, but thank you for taking something from later in the show. You brought it up. I did. Another big news item. Matt Forte, according to ESPN, might be on the roster bubble, guys.

What do you make of this, Heath? What a shock, first of all, that he's on the roster bubble. He's on my roster bubble because I drafted him everywhere in the 12th round. That's okay because he's a 12th round pick. Matt Forte was falling to a point in drafts that we could accept this type of risk. And maybe, who knows, maybe he gets cut and he gets picked up by somebody in a slightly better situation. It would be hard to be in a

worse situation. He could end up in a city with a Liberty Bill maybe? He would be the best running back. I was actually thinking he could end up in a city where there were cheese wedges on their heads because he was almost headed to Green Bay. Do not get into Ty Montgomery's way. It's not necessarily about Ty.

It's about those other running backs that they drafted, and Williams hasn't impressed. He hasn't taken that leap, neither has Aaron Jones or anybody else. So let's bring in a 60-year-old and see what he can do. No, but they will because they can trust him in pass protection and put him in on the field in case something happens with Ty Montgomery. Everybody retires and goes to Green Bay. But here's the thing.

Forte is really not the story here, in my opinion. It's Bilal Powell. And one way or another, this guy's going to take over the job. And when he did last year, those four games at the end of the year, he was awesome in standard and in PPR. Yeah, this reminds me a little bit of like,, was it last year or two years ago we got really excited about Justin Forsett because of a half a season and said, you know, yeah, he's been

a backup running back for the last six years, but he had six really good games. He's going to be awesome this year. But Powell never performed poorly. He just didn't get an opportunity to perform and still, where Powell's going, well, he's going earlier than guys like Terrence West, guys like Paul Perkins, who people, fantasy owners, don't love. But you know he's going to catch a lot of passes. He's always been good at that. All right,

Jamie, you seem to be on Team Adam here a little bit. I'm just the closest to you, that's why. Thank you. Help me out. I think Powell, in the spot that he's going, he'll go up a little bit more. Not dramatically, though, because it's still the Jets. They're still going to stink. Sorry. It's going to be a rough year for them. He will be their best player, Matt Forte, non-Matt Forte. But to Heath's point, don't overvalue him if Forte is gone, because I think everybody's kind of been drafting him with the thought that Forte may get hurt or Forte may struggle, and Powell just gets a little bit better if Forte's out of the way. They do like Elijah McGuire, though, the rookie that they drafted, and that's somebody that you

now put on your radar with a late round pick. All right, I'm going to throw some random questions at you guys here, and then you're going to give me random answers. Here we go. Which players are you drafting most often? I'll start with you, Dave. Which players am I drafting more often? Most often, Terrell Pryor would be on that list. I'm getting him in a lot, at least Crowell. I mean, you guys know I've been taking him in round three every chance that I can get. Anyone associated with the Browns at any point in their career? That's right. It. Anyone associated with the Browns at any point in their career? That's right. It's always about the Cleveland Browns because those guys are obviously great.

No, it's not that. Kenny Galladay is the sleeper that I love the most this year. I thought a lot about it. I compared him to some other running backs. Carson Wentz made my list of late-round flyers to take. And it's not because I'm in Philly. I think he's got a shot at 4,000 yards. You haven't drafted Carson Wentz all year. You're just playing to the crowd.

No, I am not playing to the crowd. 4,000 yards for Carson Wentz. Give me a break. That's obvious, right? That's doable. It's the 30 touchdowns that I'm a little worried about. But I think Kenny Galladay has a chance. I think the Lions have been hiding him

since that first preseason game. And I think he's got a chance to explode. They've been hiding him? Kenny first preseason game, and I think he's got a chance to explode. They've been hiding him? Kenny, you go stay in the corner. We're not going to let you come out and play. No, they've barely thrown at him. Because he's on the second team, and he's just not that good. No, he was on the first team in the third preseason, and he is very good.

Yes, if TJ Jones is healthy, he's not going to see the field very much. Who? It's unfortunate. TJ Jones. TJ Jones sucks. What does that say about Valdez? You can have TJ Jones. We're going to switch.

I'll take Marvin Jones. I'll take Marvin Jones. I'll take Marvin Jones. He's a lot better than Kenny Owens. He sucks too. I'll get him between Dave and Jamie. Who are you drafting a lot, Heath? This just feels like a normal podcast. They're arguing and ignoring you, so you just keep talking and they'll keep ignoring you.

Pretty much. Who do you find yourself taking a lot, Heath? Well, I mean, obviously, Deshaun Jackson. I think everybody loves Deshaun Jackson here. Mike Wallace. Heath and I did a draft last night. Yes, and you Jackson here. Mike Wallace. Heath and I did a draft last night. Yes, and you made me miss Mike Wallace.

You drafted a defense in like the 12th round. Maybe the 11th. 14 rounds. Drafted defense in the 12th round. Is that too early? Yes. What? Nuh-uh. Mixed opinions here. But he said he knows. So, no kickers. That's why it's only 14 rounds. But Wallace and Jackson knows. So, no kickers.

That's why it's only 14 rounds. But Wallace and Jackson are both kind of the same situation. They're going to be right in that top 30 wide receiver range, maybe a little bit higher, and nobody wants to draft them. They fall to 35 to 40 in the draft wide receiver. It's just free money. You're not scared of Joe Flacco?

I'm not scared of Joe Flacco, no. You're probably more scared of Jameis Winston because you're not a Jameis guy. I'm more scared of Ryan Mallett if Joe Flacco's hurt. That would be bad. Everybody is scared of that. Jamie, who do you draft a lot? I never draft Willie Sneed. I never draft Amir Abdullah. No, I take those two guys a lot.

I take C.J. Anderson a lot. I take Ezekiel Elliott a lot. A lot of Kareem Hunt. pre-Spencer Ware injury, now a lot of post-Spencer Ware injury. Have you made him your number one rookie running back yet? No, I still think Fournette has a higher ceiling, so he would be one in a standard league, McCaffrey and PPR, but Hunt is two in both formats

because I do think playing for Andy Reid, who, as you guys I'm sure are well aware, great track record with running backs, and that's the next pet project of his. No applause for Andy Reid, who as you guys I'm sure are well aware, great track record with running backs and that's the next pet project of it. No applause for Andy Reid. None. So we talked, I don't know, a month ago or so about the strategy of drafting two backfields, four running backs from two teams, DeMarco Murray, Derek Henry, Ezekiel Elliott, and Darren McFadden. And you'd probably have to take Murray and Zeke at like 12 and 13 or 11 and 14 or something like that. And then you'd have to take Henry and McFadden, I don't know what, round seven and eight, something like that.

I think you're seeing McFadden fall now with the thought of Elliott's suspension getting reduced. Like I got him in the 10th round after taking Elliott in the second round in a draft last night. I think they're going to see him start to maybe become actually a value pick if you're drafting before the news happens because if it is still six games, you can get the Cowboys running back for the first six weeks of the season. But it's an interesting strategy to take just Titans and Cowboys

running backs, and then maybe one more at some point. I kind of like it. I don't think I'd have the guts to do it, but it's interesting to me. Dave actually did something similar, not with the Cowboys, but he did it in our auction league with the Bills and the Cowboys, and you still got Isaiah

Crowell, too, and he could get away with it a little bit more in an auction league. I think that's the format that you really try to go for. But you could still potentially draft... You couldn't do it with Murray and McCoy. I guess maybe. If you took McCoy in the first round and Murray slipped, you got him in the second round. And then Crowell in the third round, your receivers obviously would struggle. But your receivers in that league are pretty bad anyway, though.

No, no, they're good. I got Brandon Cooks in that league. I got him for like $11. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. The team's awesome. The auction is the easiest way to do it when everybody else is spending $35 plus for David Johnson and Le'Veon Bell. And I think Ezekiel's price is going

to go up too you can spend 27 and you've got both of the titans running backs right or 25 and you've got both of the bills running backs it's it's a smart way to spend your money and fill your roster all right um dsts why look why is it so bad to draft a DST in the third to last round? We're really talking about this? Yeah, I actually think that... DSTs? Okay, you can steal a few points every week by having the best DST. If it's the Broncos, that's true. But the Broncos were already gone, Adam.

You didn't even take the best DST. We took the Seahawks. You took the Seahawks, which... The Seahawks are always bad on defense. No, they'll be good. That's fine. They're going to be great. The problem is...

They get the Rams and the Niners. In a 12-team league, and especially in a 10-team league, you can usually match top five production by streaming. I agree in 10 teams. In your situation, who was available? Mike Wallace was available? No. Mike Wallace was gone.

He missed Mike Wallace earlier in the draft. We took the Sean Jackson. I took A.J. Green over Beckham just for you. He told me about the draft and how he let you talk your way into picking his guys. We took the Sean Jackson. I took A.J. Green over Beckham. He told me about the draft and how he let you talk your way into picking his guys. We took the Broncos. It was interesting. This is why you shouldn't have a teammate in your draft. You just got to own it yourself. There was nobody

that we missed by taking the Broncos, and I was actually thinking in our 14-team PPR Podcast League draft, my starting tight end is Kobe Flaner. That's terrible. But what's the difference between the number 12 tight end and the number 16? It's probably like two points a week, right? There's not a big difference. So if you're weak at tight

end, why not reach a little bit earlier, get a great DST, and make up those two points a week? They're still valuable points from a DST. I don't think it's as guaranteed as you're making. Like, the Patriots were a really good defense last year. They were a very good defense. They don't get turnovers. I know they didn't last year. You think they're not going to They don't get turnovers. I know the Broncos. They didn't last year.

You think they're not going to get turnovers? No, they are. Take them early. They're great. Right, but what I'm saying is you can't necessarily say this team's going to be a good defense. They're also going to be a great, unless it's like the best.

Yeah. I'm not really willing to bet on which one's going to be in the top five there. I'll just stream. So it seems to me that you have to figure out which DSTs are the best going into your draft, and the bigger that number is, the less likely you should draft one. It's just so much easier.

Before your second-to-last pick. If I don't talk, will we move to the next subject? Yeah, yeah. Okay. All right. Next segment here. I want your final thoughts on the Chargers' schedule and how it affects Keenan Allen in particular and Phillip Rivers.

At Denver, and Rivers, by the way, four games against the Broncos and the Chiefs last year and six points for passing touchdown leagues. Did not score more than 18 points in any of those games. Without Keenan Allen. Who cares? So, Broncos week one. Why would you let facts get in the way? It makes a difference, but this is the best.

All right. Let's talk about the Broncos DST more. At the Broncos, Miami, Kansas City, Philadelphia, at the Giants, at Oakland, Denver, New England, and a bye. It's their first nine weeks. They've got a bye, Denver twice, the Patriots, the Chiefs, and the Giants. Sounds like Rivers is going to throw a lot. It's daunting. But again, let's start with week one.

No Shane Ray, potentially, for the Broncos, right? Now no TJ Ward, who's going to get cut. So pass rush, no Derek Wolf, no pass rush. No, I think he's going to play. He said he's 75% now, so we'll see what he is in a week. 75%, he's going to play. So you may have a weaker pass rush, a weaker secondary. They're still great, great corners,

but it's just a little bit of a notch down potentially from where they've been. I can't imagine there's a team that has a worse first nine games than the Chargers. First nine weeks. The Jets against anybody. Yeah, the Jets are bad, but seriously. It's tough, but again, you have to buy into it. It's the same thing with the argument about is Dez Bryant going to struggle because he faces all these great cornerbacks.

You have to buy into player being good and overcoming situations. So if you're comparing maybe Keenan Allen to, I don't know, the guys he's going around, DeAndre Hopkins, Demarius Thomas, Brandon Cooks, you know, if you're saying that those guys are better than Keenan Allen, I'm fine with that. But if you're saying Keenan Allen now should fall to that next tier of guys, to the Crabtrees and Devontae Adams and Alshon Jeffrey and those groups, if you don't think that he's better than them, then let him fall and just avoid it. But he's going to have some good moments in there because he faces slot corners a lot of times because of where he lines up. That's the big thing right there is so few corners move around the field and follow the

number one wide receiver, especially inside. Denver's the only team that really scares me in that regard for a receiver. And it doesn't help that Denver's new offensive coordinator knows a lot about the Chargers because he used to coach the Chargers. It's Mike McCoy. But the one thing that we talked about with Phillip Rivers all offseason long was the weapons around him. He had great weapons. Two awesome tight ends.

Two good wide receivers. When they added Mike Williams, that was a third. Melvin Gordon catches passes out of the backfield. They're going to find ways to move the ball against those defenses. Okay. So we're going to play Fantasy Feud. I hope you all like that segment. We're going to play these three against these three right here. We'll do that in just

a second. Real quick, best chance to be great this year. Terrence West, Thomas Rawls, Paul Perkins. Best chance to be great. Paul Perkins. Terrence West. W Rawls, Paul Perkins. Best chance to be great. Paul Perkins. Terrence West. Wendell Smallwood. Terrence West.

Terrence West. All right. Heath loves Paul Perkins. He's a bigger Giants fan than I am. I don't even love Paul Perkins that much. It's just the value of where he's at. I think he's more talented than Terrence West is, and I don't think either one of them has a good offensive line.

Fair enough. So everybody in here listening, everybody listening on your phone or wherever you're listening to podcasts, I want to tell you all about a great game day experience and something you really need to do on Sundays. I'm talking about Xfinity X1. The URL, go to Xfinity.com slash X1. So you can now get your live CBS Sports fantasy football stats all in the same place as your games. So don't miss any of the action.

Use Xfinity X1. You're going to get an X1 voice remote. You're going to speak into the remote, and you can see your stats, your matchups right there, right on your TV. Get weekly projections. Get roster trends right there on your TV. It's actually a really cool product. Go to Xfinity.com slash X1 for more info. That's Xfinity.com slash X1. Ready info. That's Xfinity.com slash X1.

Ready for the feud? Let's do this. Alright, so our contestants today are Dave, Jamie, and Ethan on one team, Team CBS. And team audience is Andrew Brust. Andrew, what's up? Adam Gerard. Boo. And Kyle Sampson.

Survey says loser! I believe these three guys flew in from Dallas to be here and Kyle Sampson. Survey says loser. I believe these three guys flew in from Dallas to be here today. Meanwhile, we're all from Philadelphia and we love it here. Born and bred.

So, two categories today and I think we should do this family of youth style. Jamie, you want to represent? Okay. And Andrew, first up. Okay. So I think you're just going to have to either hit the table or raise your hand when you have the answer. Here we go. The top five answers are on the board. 2016 most receiving yards by a running back? Jamie. Are you kidding me? No, you lose. Are you kidding me?

Le'Veon Bell. Le'Veon Bell is the number two answer. Pass or play? Play. Play. All right, they're going to play. The audience members are going to play. Jamie, you can try a little harder than that.

I did it on purpose. You won't hurt anyone's feelings. All right, we're going to go to Adam first. Adam first. So try a little harder than that. I did it on purpose. You won't hurt anyone's feelings. All right. We're going to go to Adam first. Adam first. So top five answers on the board. We already have Bill. Most receiving yards by a running back last year.

David Johnson. David Johnson is the number one answer. All right. Let's go to Kyle. Kyle. You've got five seconds. Melvin Gordon. Melvin Gordon is incorrect. That is one strike.

Let's go back to Andrew now. Andrew, most receiving yards by a running back. LeSean McCoy. LeSean McCoy. I believe he was number six. Incorrect. All right, that's two strikes. Audience, or CBS.

Ready, we're ready. We're ready. Okay, good. Most receiving yards by a running back. Can't get this wrong. Adam, what do you got? Theo Riddick. Theo Riddick is incorrect.

All right, so we have David Johnson and Le'Veon Bell off the board right now. They're talking it over. Who's the spokesman? I'll be the spokesperson. All right, what do you got? I'm the oldest. We're going to go with DeMarco Murray, Richard. Good answer.

Good answer. Incorrect. Really? They win. Good answer. Incorrect. Really? They win. I'm starting to think that I was wrong when I wrote down the answers. I don't know if anybody can confirm this, but I have David Johnson, Le'Veon Bell, James White,

Duke Johnson, and Devante Freeman. Where did Murray finish? I think Murray and Gordon. He had like 200 catches. Yeah. All right. You guys lose.

Congratulations. One point for that. All right. Let's get Adam and Dave up here. Triple the points. So the first round didn't really count. Top five answers are on the board. Just hit the table when you're ready.

Most targets for a wide receiver last year uh adam antonio brown antonio brown is the number five answer dave you can beat that mike evans number one answer pass or play i'm gonna put the pressure on them they're gonna play okay all right so we already have one in five off the board three more answers we are looking for the most targets for a wide receiver last year. We're going to go to Kyle with your first guess. Julio Jones. Julio Jones is incorrect. Did not get that many targets last year.

It was kind of weird. That's one strike. Andrew. Odell Beckham. Odell Beckham is correct. Number two. We've got Evans, Beckham, and Brown off the board. We need number three and number four.

Adam, what do you got? He's got five seconds. He's conferring with his team. It's not really how family feud works, but we'll let it slide, right? We'll let it slide. What do you got? T.Y. Hilton. T.Y. Hilton is correct.

He's number four. All right, one more on the board, one strike. Kyle, give me another guess. A.J. Green. A.J. Green is incorrect. He got hurt last year. That's two strikes, right? Two strikes? Alright. How many strikes is that? Three? That's two. That's two. Alright, two.

Two strikes. So, so far we have Evans, Beckham, Hilton, and Brown. Who's number three? The audience is trying to help you. This is illegal. Is this what we teach people in Philadelphia? Blake Bortles threw a lot, so Allen Robinson. Allen Robinson is incorrect. The CBS group has a chance to steal.

I want you guys to try to win this. Represent here. Who's it going to... They don't know. They have no idea who had the third most targets in the NFL last year. Five, four, three. Julian Edelman. Julian Edelman is correct.

Yeah! Team CBS for the win. We were going to say Alan Robinson until you said Alan Robinson. Well done, guys. Thank you for saying Alan Robinson. So we're tied. It's one each. I don't have any more.

So we tripled the points. You guys won. We won. That's not fair. I don't have any more. So we tripled the points. That's not fair. I don't have another category. I'm sorry. What a terrible host. Get out of here. Get out of here. Alright, Heath, I want to get some audience questions here so I can give you actually your story, if you'd like, about

the ADP on Yahoo and on ESPN. If that would help. If you'd like to give it to me, I'll take it. Tell like, about the ADP on Yahoo and on ESPN, if that would help. Tell us some of the best values on other websites for the fools who are not drafting on CBS. This is beautiful, by the way. I like the way it really tells me which league I'm looking at.

Yahoo first. First off, just only play on CBS and then you don't have this problem. If you don't get to run your league, I'm just going to give you some players and some ADPs and you give me your reaction. Stefan Diggs.

You do not like Stefan Diggs at all. I'm coming around a little bit, but not as high on him as you guys are. What if he's going 37th, number 100 overall? 100th overall? 100th overall. 37th wide number 100 overall. 100th overall? 100th overall. Even I would take Stephon Diggs. 37th wide receiver on Yahoo's. Stephon Diggs is a phenomenal value.

Okay. Mike Wallace, number 128 overall. Too high. Is that too high, Jamie? It's the right range for him. Zach Ertz is the 10th tight end off the board on Yahoo. Zach Ertz is one. That's another player that I'm trying to get in all my leagues. I really like Zach Ertz is the 10th tight end off the board on Yahoo. Zach Ertz is one. That's another player that I'm trying to get in all my leagues.

I really like Zach Ertz. Yes. His ADP has got to be like, what, 65? 88 on Yahoo, the 10th tight end after Delaney Walker, after Martellus Bennett. What the hell? Yeah. Are you serious? I'm serious.

You didn't read my column? No. I thought you already had these memorized. No. I thought you already had these memorized. No. I thought you read all my columns. No. Okay, some overdrafted players on Yahoo. We can fight over this one.

Jameis Winston. Jameis Winston, I think, is worth like a round seven-ish pick. So I'll say 73. He's going in the sixth round as the number eight quarterback. I don't think he's a starting quarterback this year. Do they differentiate leagues or no? He's the number eight quarterback. I don't think he's a starting quarterback this year. Do they differentiate leagues or no? He's the number eight quarterback.

What's wrong with that? I don't think there's a problem with that. He should be number 13. Leonard Fournette is going 20th overall on Yahoo! Drafts. I wonder if they could differentiate that. I want to know what his ADP is based on the last 10 days. The last two weeks or so.

He's going where, Leonard Fournette? I think he's now a third or even a fourth round pick. 20th overall is basically where he's been all summer, though. He just hasn't changed. Don't draft Leonard Fournette in the second round. No, no, no, no. No, third round. Third round's a good place for him. He's the 10th running back off the board. And then Adrian Peterson,

78th overall. Yeah, people love Peterson. The number 24 running back. Wow. Is anybody here believing in Adrian Peterson, 78th overall. Yeah, people love Peterson. The number 24 running back. Wow. Is anybody here believing in Adrian Peterson? No. He is. Don't. Double-digit touchdowns.

Double-digit touchdowns. Double-digit touchdowns. How many seasons? That's true. Colby Fleeter got a rushing touchdown. Colby Fleeter did get one. I got to remember that for my rationale. Colby Fleeter scores, so Peterson scores.

Okay. I like that. Same position now. All right, anything? What do you got? ESPN? This is just really beautiful. Paul Perkins.

On Yahoo? On ESPN. On ESPN. The 31st running back off the board, number 89 overall. That seems right. Dave. I'm not a big fan of his. How do you feel about Robbie Anderson. I'm not a big fan of his. How do you feel about Robbie Anderson?

I'm not a big fan of his either. He's the number 72 wide receiver being drafted on ESPN. I'm a fan of his at his 72nd receiver. Pick 170. Yes, I will take Robbie Anderson at 170. Jamie, you're getting excited about John Brown. He's the number 53 wide receiver on ESPN

at 132. I wonder what the yo-yo has been, though. He's the number 53 wide receiver on ESPN at 132. I wonder what the yo-yo has been, though. He's probably 35 and 53, and then he'll go back to 35 again. And that's where you like him, is around 35. Yeah, I mean, I think he'll be better than that if he's healthy. And then one more guy I know I'm more excited about than you guys are, but Eric Ebron is now

number 14 tight end on ESPN. You don't even have to take him as a starter. If he's healthy, he'll be a starter for you. And I'll tell you what, with him, it's out of sight, out of mind. People are just, they haven't seen him at all in preseason. He's been hurt. He's been hiding with Kenny Galladay. No, Kenny Galladay's been playing.

They've been hiding. You can make fun all you want about Kenny Galladay. They're in the back room in the Lions. Late round pick. All right, what's up, everyone? I'm going to take a quick pause from the live podcast to tell you how to get a free entry into the NFL Sunday Million on FanDuel.com. Just go to FanDuel.com, click the Join Now button, and use our code CBSPOD.

That promo code, again, is CBSPOD. And I'm really excited to play on FanDuel this season. Daily fantasy, a new team each week, as many teams as you want. And you're going to make some money on FanDuel because you listen to this podcast. You're going to be well prepared. You're going to know the matchups to take advantage of. You're going to have a leg up on the competition. So look, contests start at just $1.

But you can play for high stakes if you want. Or you can play in some really small contests with just some friends. I like the 50-50s where half the contest wins money. It's easy to play. It's stress-free. Don't worry about injuries ruining your season. Just get on FanDuel, get a lineup, watch some football, and win some money. So new users get free entry into the NFL Sunday Million

when you make your first deposit on FanDuel. Go to FanDuel.com and sign up with the promo code CBSPOD. That's FanDuel.com, promo code CBSPOD, void where prohibited. All right, what we're going to do now is we're going to have Jeremy Bache, one of our CBS employees, walking around with a microphone here, and he's going to get your questions. This is going to be on the podcast, so please give us your name and give us your question, and we'll chat it out.

Go for it, buddy. What's up, guys? My name's Matt. I'm from Vernon, New Jersey. I know we talked a little bit about Ezekiel Elliott, and I had a question as far as keeping him from the Le'Veon Bell and the Johnson owner. Let's say you have the third or the fourth pick, right? So you're obviously going to get Julio or Antonio.

If he's still available in the second round and you're right there, do you keep him from the first and second round pick? Do you go with the zero RB strategy? When do you target Darren McFadden and if not Darren McFadden, who else can you possibly target later

in the draft? I know Adam, you had mentioned Jacquees Rogers in the first couple weeks Great schedule early, yeah So yeah, what do you do there? Thanks. Thank you. I love it in that spot for a few reasons. One, because yes, you're keeping it from the Le'Veon Bell, David Johnson owner. That's really not the way you want to draft, but it is something maybe you want to keep in the back of your mind. But again, now you're pairing Elliott with Antonio Brown or Julio Jones, and that's just a monster duo when he's on the field. The other part of it is there is a huge amount of running backs.

Say what you will if you like them or don't like them. When you come back around early in round three, it's anyone from Isaiah Crowell, Lamar Miller, Leonard Fournette, Kareem Hunt, Dalvin Cook. You can get any one of those guys, and that's essentially your number one guy until Elliott comes back. McFadden is going to go somewhere between round seven and round 10. You'll have to just look at it. What I tell people is when you see it in the projection list, my rankings, Dave's rankings, Heath's rankings, whatever site you use, those other crappy sites, whenever you see a group of

five and you think McFadden may go in that group of five, pull the trigger just to make sure you have it. It's not a priority, but at least makes you feel a little bit better. And then there's other guys like Rodgers or certainly somebody like a Terrence West or a Paul Perkins or a Wendell Smallwood or somebody you can find later that will certainly help you maybe manage those first few weeks. It's very, very manageable.

Do not be afraid of Elliott in the second round. If anybody has a question, wants to ask us, please raise your hand and we'll get Jeremy to come around and get to you. Go ahead, sir. Hey guys, Justin here. I'm from right here in Philly. I'm in a league where we're not required to start a tight end. Tight ends actually just count as wide receivers. And I always struggle evaluating the value of tight ends. So in this situation, could you just explain kind of where you would draft the top tight ends? Yeah, for about all but six of them, there no longer is any value for tight ends because they're not going to score like top wide receivers are. Gronk obviously is the clear exception, but I'm not taking him in the second round if I don't

have to start a tight end because that whole value of being better than all the other tight ends is just gone. Travis Kelsey, Greg Olson, Jordan Reed, those guys still have value. I would say everybody's falling at least a round or two for me by the normal average draft position. I agree a hundred percent. I think the two round rule is perfect for everybody except Gronk. And you just got to want Gronk. That's how it really is for people in fantasy. Either want them or you don't. A lot of people don't want them because of the injuries and all that stuff. But a lot of people do because of the differentiator that he carries in his position. And in your case, because there's no tight ends, he could perform like a top ten wide receiver.

He's done it before. He has, yeah. It'd be close. What do you think, the Tyler Eiferts that cut off for where you just not even consider tight ends anymore? I would consider them later. I would say Ertz. That Ertz-Rudolph-Eifert trio is kind of where I think it is. But Hunter Henry is somebody that, with the touchdowns,

will keep him in that wide receiver three range. I think you want to just look at it and see what you project those numbers for and then look at the receivers and where you think those guys stack up to. So I wouldn't run away from the tight ends, but they don't obviously have to be something that you target. Shouldn't Dave be guessing where these people are from? Let's just get a name and then Dave will fill in the blank for us here. All right. I'm Drew from Hawaii. Close enough. I'm sort of in a wonky league where they have roster limitations and stuff like that. So I

just wanted to get your guys' ideas. I use Jamie Rankins for this draft. Oh, Dave and I aren't going to listen to that. No, I will. I love Hawaii. Aloha. I waited on quarterbacks, so I have Big Ben and Carson Palmer. My running backs, Bilal Powell, Lamar Miller, Mike Gilleslie, and Theo Riddick. My receivers, Mike Evans, Michael Thomas,

Stephon Diggs, Dante Moncrief, and Devante Parker. It's a full PPR league. Tight ends are Jack Doyle and Travis Kelsey. I just want to know, where do you guys think my team is probably the weakest? Where can I improve upon it? I mean, it's running back where you're the weakest, but it's clear, at least I think you went zero RB, which in a 12 team PPR or 10 team? It's a total. Okay. Perfect strategy for

a league that's 12 teams and three wide receivers and full point PPR. So I like the team a lot. You can get by with those running backs. All you really need is for one of them to break out and your team's going to be solid. Those wide receivers and Kelsey at tight end, you waited on quarterback. I like it. I think that's a good team. That's the greatest team I've ever heard. It's a great team. Great team. Next question. Hi, Matt from Philly, PA. Long-time listener, huge fan. I drafted Jamal Charles in one of my very last picks. Is he a potential lottery ticket or is he just a name on my bench? What type of lottery ticket are you looking for, Matt? Are you looking for like millions or are you okay with like a $40 scratch? I guess like halfway through the season, you know,

who's this? CJ Anderson gets hurt and Jamal steps in and just kind of, you know, becomes Jamal. I'll just say my concern and then you guys can take it from there. I don't know if Jamal steps in and just kind of, you know, becomes Jamal. I'll just say my concern and then you guys can take it from there. I don't know if Jamal Charles is going to be allowed to be an every down running back again. He looks good, but I don't know if the Broncos, with the depth they have at running back after CJ Anderson, the coaches like Devontae Booker and we like D'Angelo Anderson. We're not coaches there, obviously. But I think Jamal Charles could end up being 12 touches per week, and that's it. I agree with Dave that I don't think he's like the million-dollar lottery ticket, but I think he's maybe a little higher than $40,

too, because you're still talking about a guy that, when he was at his best, is the most efficient running back in NFL history. And so if he's a 12 to 14-touch-a-game type guy, when C.J. Anderson goes down, he's still going to share the a game type guy, when CJ Anderson goes down, he's still going to share the load. He could be a top 25 running back with that workload. Okay. Thank you for the question. And thank you so much for listening. All right. Next question. Hey guys. My name is Nick. I'm from right here in South Philly. Nice. And not Hawaii. Not Hawaii? I wanted to talk about the Rams, because I find myself drafting both Gurley and Watkins a couple of times now, based on value.

And we always talk about opportunity versus pedigree, and these guys, they couldn't be worse than they were last year, and they both have pedigree and what looks like a ton of opportunity. Like, you talked about stealing your league earlier with Ezekiel. Could you steal your league with these guys, too? For sure. If Gurley can get back to the guy we saw as a rookie, you know, it's been, what, 24 games now? One 100-yard game. You know, actually, it's interesting, because I took Gurley over Zeke in a real draft. It might have been FFT, and I regretted it. So you can't steal Gurley in the second round, I don't think.

The thing about Gurley is offense is just better. Better coach. Goff will be better just by the nature of progression and reps. Better offensive line and certainly better talent around him because adding Watkins, drafting Cooper Cupp, who I recommend taking with every late-round pick you could possibly get because he catches everything and he gets open all the time. So this is going to be a better offense. Now they're in a tough division, as we're well aware. The offensive line didn't improve dramatically to where it's the Bears even or the Cowboys or the Titans or even the Eagles who have one of the best offensive lines.

So it's still going to be a little bit of a struggle, but there's so much talent from those two guys. And Watkins, you talk about what the other sites and where some of those players have fallen. Sammy Watkins on our site has fallen to the 34th wide receiver. 7th or 8th round. Right, that's just stealing if that's the case. So we're taking him in the 5th round. I don't know where you got him.

Gurley's still a 2nd round pick. So there's going to be so much opportunity for them. Watkins, if he stays healthy, should have a much, much better season. Maybe not the level we saw at the end of the 2015 season. And Gurley should be dramatically better. So there's a lot to like about those guys. And again, Cup. And Dave talked about it with Carson Wentz, which I totally agree. All on board with Carson Wentz. Don't be surprised if Jared Goff has a better year too. He just looks better. And I think just the nature of Sean McVay, I know what he did with Washington. You guys don't want to hear about that, but he has an opportunity to turn that team around and there is talent there. So yes, those two guys have a big, big chance in front of them. Does it make sense if

you're going all in on the Rams like that? And specifically with Watkins, you don't really have to do this with Gurley, but to do the Acer strategy with Watkins and Cup. I know they're different players, but if Watkins goes down, what happens to Cup? I just don't know that it's a good enough offense. Tons of targets. It's not a bad idea. I mean, I'd take both of them, right? Sure.

You'd take both of them at their values. So it's not a bad idea. Gurley obviously has downside. We've seen it. I want to take him ahead of the rookie, Kareem Hunt, but I feel like Hunt is safer to me. I would take him ahead. No, because we saw Todd Gurley's floor last year. And it was awful.

His floor was a low-end number two running back. His floor was only that. We don't want that. Kareem Hunt doesn't have that floor. No, no, no. Kareem Hunt has the highest floor of any of the rookies. See, it's a little deceiving when you say that's his floor because he was pretty useless on a week-to-week basis. He got that, became a number two running back because he had so many carries.

But you didn't really want to start him. You would have rather have picked up Jacquez Rogers and started him. You would have rather have gone to the waiver wire and found someone that was better or flexed the wide receiver over Todd Gurley. So I don't really look at Todd Gurley and say, all last year he was a guy you could start as your number two running back because he finished as a number two running back. He was pretty useless, in my opinion.

No, he was useless. I mean, we were talking at one point. Six touchdowns. He found a way to get 60 yards. He had 12. We expected so many better things. But there's a big difference between what we expected and useless.

If he was a fifth round pick as opposed to a first round pick, you would not have been playing him every week. You were playing him on the hope that this is the week he breaks out. And this is the week he breaks out. And six or seven weeks you were right. Were you though? You were getting better than number two. No one won a dark game. You can't defend

Todd Gurley. You can defend Todd Gurley. I'm doing it right now. No, you took him for the first round pick. Let's go to our next question guys. Let's go to our next question for the audience. You could have literally drafted Jordan Howard in the first round, and everyone in your league would have thought you were crazy, and you would have done so much better. Sorry.

That's all right. Hey, Ron, Randall, Carson, and Donovan. This is back from Philly. I do have a question about auction. That's one of my last drafts left. Do you guys have any bold strategies for that? And, like, where would you throw out Zeke early for, like, 15, 20? Do you want him any bold strategies for that? And like, where would you, would you throw out Zeke early for like 15, 20? Do you want them? What's your budget? I do want them. Don't throw

them out. What's the, what's the budget? A hundred? It's actually 150. 150. All right. First of all, I'd like to know, based on all this fantasy football players, how many of you do auctions? Wow. Wow. That's like half the room. Congratulations. So that's really cool. I'm glad to see it's growing. It's much more fun than a draft, right, guys? Yeah. It's not much. It's more fun. It is way more fun than a draft.

It's longer, though. So you don't want to do too many. Oh, no. I've got to spend time doing a fantasy draft. He's a really busy guy. He's got a lot of things going on. By the way, Zoe's in the back if you guys are looking. Got to watch Glow.

All right, so what are some auction strategies, guys? Well, early on, let's talk about nominations first, because in most auctions, everybody takes a turn nominating a player. I like to do one of two things when I'm up. I either want to nominate a player that I know that I don't want, but he wants, or he wants, or somebody else in the league wants, or I'll nominate a good kicker or a good DST for a buck. And then I just assume no one else is going to bid too because it's so early on, and I get the Broncos DST for a dollar. So that would be the first strategy. The other about Zeke, I think as long as the news doesn't change,

you're going to get him at a discount compared to other running backs in that big tier. He didn't really go at a discount in our auction. He didn't because he went for 21 in our auction. That was two weeks ago. He went for 21. Sean McCoy went for 23. That's the range of a top three, top four running back. Ours is 100 also, so if you're going to be in a 150, you're probably going to be $30 for Zeke. Zeke went for 21. David Johnson

went for what? 36, 38. He's at a bargain compared to them, but he was in the range of Gordon, the range of McCoy, the range of Freeman, and that's right now, not knowing what's going to happen. When's your auction? Oh, so you're going to know. It's not opening night. We have to repeat it for the

listening audience at home. Auctions, I like the middle of the auction always seems to be really good value. There's going to be a few people in your league that go too heavy early, and there's going to be some that wait a little bit too long. And I also think if you don't walk away with a first round pick,

or maybe like a top 15 player, probably failed, you've got to get a start. I mean, you've got no reason not to. I don't know if I agree with that. It certainly helps, but I think one thing is just wait on quarterback. It's just like a draft. The Rodgers-Brady-Brees group will go for more money than they need to. And you can get Winston, Mariota, maybe Russell Wilson.

I got Derek Hart for a buck. I'm fine with that. We had one year, I think it was the year that Andrew Luck was the number one quarterback in 2014. He went for $3. So it's just the nature of the position that people will all kind of sit back at that spot and nominate the big three or four guys. And you could get the five through 12 for a dollar or in that range. And it just makes too much sense. And if you're going to go with that strategy, then your first three or four nominations should be Rogers, Brady.

Make everybody spend the money on those guys if you're not going to bid on them anyway. Because if they're not as smart as you, they're going to bid $20 on Aaron Rodgers, and you want that. The other rule that I would give, I call it the 20-50 rule. You want to save the last 20% of your budget for the last half of the auction. And that's just because that's where all the bargains are in the last half of the auction. Okay. We will get to a few more questions. I want to do three head-to-head Azor versus Heaths.

Okay? Rankings, questions. Three head-to-head Azor versus Heaths Three head-to-head Azor versus Heath. How much should you prepare for this? Not at all. AJ Green and Odell Beckham. We disagreed. Nobody likes Odell Beckham here, right?

So I won round one. Let's go to round two. Was it a popularity contest? Who are you taking first? Show of hands for Odell Beckham. And for AJ Green. Come on, guys. Come on.

Beckham wins? Beckham wins? More people play in auctions than would take AJ Green over Odell. All right, let's do Macklin Wallace. Who cares? Thank you. Who cares? We get it.

Jeremy Macklin or Mike Wallace. He's an eagle. Come on. All right, I think Mike Wallace might win or Mike Wallace he's an eagle come on I think Mike Wallace might win Mike Wallace we've lost half the voting population neither what was the other oh Carr and Stafford I think right

no you don't even remember we never even considered Jeremy Macklin well okay fine Carr and Stafford it was Luck and Cam Andrew Luck or Cam Newton Andrew Luck please that guy? Andrew Luck, please. That guy. The guy in the Luck jersey is going to take Andrew Luck.

Maybe the one that's currently playing. Cam. I think Cam might win that one. All right, we're even. So I won three out of three. And everybody wants to draft a DST in round 12. Jeremy, who's our next question? Hi, I'm Danny from a city that no longer has an NFL team.

Portland, Oregon. The Jets. New York. Close enough. My question is, I'm in a dynasty league where I am fortunate enough to own Antonio, Odell, and Mike Evans. Congratulations. Thank you. I won last year.

Oh, really? Clearly. But I have to get rid of one after this year. So knowing that and knowing that the league knows that, which one do I try to trade, and what do I get back for them? You have to trade Antonio Brown. No, you don't. He's the oldest, right?

You don't have to hat wipe because he's the oldest. Well, if he's going to lose him and he gets something great in return, then you're going to trade him now. What if Roethlisberger does retire? What if one of these guys has a career year, and he sells super high on them in the Dynasty League and it's not Antonio Brown? Well, instead of playing what if, what's your answer? Because I think it is Brown. What's your answer?

I think if all three of them have the same type of year as they've had before, then yes, the answer is Brown. But I almost want to say that it's inconclusive now. We haven't seen their seasons. That's not an answer. We've got to give an answer. Trade Brown. It's got to be Brown. It's inconclusive now. We haven't seen their seasons. That's not an answer. We've got to give them an answer. Trade Brown. It's got to be Brown. I would say see how much more you can get for Julio than for Brown.

I'm not trading Beckham though because he's so much younger than the other two. Evans, I'm not trading him either. If you're doing a startup dynasty right now, Beckham and Evans are the first two overall picks. So you have to shop Brown and see if somebody who's also in win mode now that has something that maybe they could pair to give you or whatever, vice versa. Unless you just want to ride it out and then just get rid of him and win another championship.

That's the, you know, that's really a good route to go. Yeah, I don't really want to help somebody that's win now if I've got those three. You know, both those guys are really interesting, though, Beckham and Evans, because they have a lot in common. As we did fantasy feud earlier, they led the NFL in targets and they added a wide receiver, a significant wide receiver in Marshall and Deshaun Jackson. And they drafted a tight end in the first round. And four of the six games that Mike Evans got single digit targets, he scored single digit fantasy points in standard scoring leagues. So it's kind of interesting. I feel like of all the elite receivers, those two maybe concern me the most this year. I understand in Dynasty, Brown, I get that.

But do you guys have any of those concerns? Somebody's going to be a bust. They're not all going to be great. Of course. But when you start nitpicking these guys, you're going to find flaws. You're buying into what their upside has been. And yes, Beckham has never shared the field

with somebody like Brandon Marshall or Shepard or Ingram. He hasn't had this complete receiving core. Evans, the same situation. But there's a reason why they lead their team in targets, because their quarterbacks lean on them to such a heavy degree. So while Evans and Beckham may take a 10 percent, you know, downtick or, you know, God forbid, a 20 percent or more, but they're still going to be the future guy in that offense. Sure. So that's the thing you're buying into. Jeremy, who we got? Oh, we got an Andrew Luck fan here. Scott, you can take a guess where I'm from. Dave, where's he from? Where's the guy in the Luck shirt?

Palo Alto, California. You nailed it. So yeah, I appreciate everything. We're in our 24th year together. We've been with you guys since 2000. Awesome. That's amazing. Adam wasn't born yet when you guys started. That's great. There you go. Congratulations on the born yet when you guys started. That's great. Congratulations on the wedding, though. Thank you.

But yeah, speaking of luck. So, I mean, I live in Indy and Pagano's doing a great job of keeping things quiet. What are you guys thoughts? I mean, seriously, I mean, if they thought he was going to be out for any significant amount of time, I would have thought they would have brought somebody in. Exactly. They're idiots. I think right now there's a couple of guys in Indy that I trust, the reporters there, and they seem to be thinking week three, so he doesn't play week one. He gets two of his ugliest matchups out of the way, and I believe it's Arizona and Minnesota, their first two games. I'm sorry, L.A. and Arizona, their first two games.

Then they get Cleveland in week three. And then at Seattle week four. But I think you look at it as from a fantasy perspective. You could still draft him. He's falling to a good spot. And if it's only two or three games, Carson Palmer's got the easiest schedule to open the season. It's such an easy pairing to make. I did it in one league yesterday. You're getting a potential top five quarterback in Palmer, as we saw two years ago,

and he closed the season on just a tear. If John Brown's healthy, Fitzgerald's still there, David Johnson leads the running backs and receptions. It's a very good offense. And then you get Luck, and you have really hopefully maybe a trade chip in one of those guys. I asked them who they draft a lot. My answer would have been Andrew Luck. It doesn't make any sense why we wouldn't draft him after 100 overall. First of all, if he's terrible at that point, you can cut anybody that you draft after 100 overall, and you're fine with it.

You've got top five, top three quarterback upside. He's my favorite player, Andrew Luck, to draft right now. And, yeah, if it's not Carr, if it's not Palmer, I try to get Carr. He goes obviously earlier than Palmer. He's got another great start to the season. I think the one concern would be, and I don't know when year 24 draft is, but is that he's on the pup list. That's Saturday.

Saturday night we find out. Right. Saturday 4 o'clock. If he avoids that, then you know he's playing early in the season. That's a good sign. Then the Colts aren't idiots anymore. And Moncrief is going so late. He's a complete afterthought.

And Jack Doyle, too. You know, those are guys that could end up being starters for your fantasy team. All right, two more questions. We're going to have a Q&A after the show, so two more questions. You know what might happen, by the way, is that people draft Moncrief and Doyle, and they sour on them before luck comes back, and they cut them. You might be able to find them off the waiver wire after week two. Hey, guys.

Name's Eric. Denver fan living in New York, so do what you want with that. Question about just specifically Christian McCaffrey and his hype earlier in the preseason. Do you think it's going to translate? And I guess parlay that into him against the other rookie running backs. Like who is going to, if you're drafting, who do you think is going to pan out and why? I think it depends on what type of league you're in. If it's a PPR league, is the consensus now that he's the number one running back in PPR?

Yes, yeah. He has skills, and I don't want to pigeonhole him. I don't think he's a scat back. That's only going to be good in that, that way. He has the ability to run between the tackles as well. It's just that Jonathan Stewart's there and they're going to have him do that. But I don't really have a lot of question about his skills translating to

the NFL. I don't have a lot of question about his opportunity because they run the ball a ton. If they replace a few of those runs with throws, it'll be throws to him. So I'm okay with that. I like him more than anybody in PPR. Still behind Fournette and Standard, but they're getting closer and closer.

I've got Cook ahead of him in Standard, but he's number one in PPR. And the one thing that I've noticed, and the Panthers have shown it this preseason, they're using him the exact same way that Stanford used him. They're basically just implementing those strengths that he had at Stanford right into their offense. And I think if he gets 15 touches per week, he's going to pay some pretty good dividends. There's two other things that I would consider, too. Great schedule for the Panthers, so that's going to favor them. Hopefully having game script in their favor, you know, where they use him as a pass catcher and a rusher early on,

and maybe mix him in in the later part of the game to help kill the clock. The other part of it is Jonathan Stewart's had a hard time staying healthy throughout the course of his career. Now he's managed that the last couple of seasons, but if he goes down, then that 15 number maybe gets closer to 20. And so if in fact he is used as a feature back, he could be a top 10 running back regardless of rookie or format. All right, let's do an impromptu faith-o-meter for all of the big five rookie running backs now. Let's start with McCaffrey. Zero to 10. Zero, I have no faith in him. 10, complete faith.

Draft him in the second round. Heath, Christian McCaffrey. Eight. Based on that scale, he's an eight. Same. Eight. Kareem Hunt. Eight. Eight. Six. Leonard Fournette. Chiefs guy. I'll say six on Fournette. Chiefs guy. I'll say six on Fournette.

I'm getting nervous. Seven. Eight. Cook. Nine. Ooh. Eight. Six.

And Nixon. Six. Six. Three. Yeah, you're just worried about the touches. Their offensive line's awful, and they've got Jeremy Hill and Gio Bernard there. And Marvin Lewis doesn't care if he's more talented. Marvin Lewis hasn't cared for two years.

This is a team that's been hiding a guy. Yeah, that's true. He's playing hide-and-seek with Kenny Galladay. Yes, they're playing hide-and-seek with Kenny Galladay. They're going to turn him loose. At some point, he's going to have the job to himself. He's not going to have a line. Huh?

He still won't have a line, though. Well, neither does Dalvin Cook. That's true. Mixon has a better line than Cook. But what you're counting on for both of those guys, and both of them are going to do it, they're both going to create after. And this is going to be the greatest running back class in the last 30 years. This is a great class.

It will be the best running back class in, I don't know when, but it will be at least five years. Yeah, I don't know when, but it will be at least five years. Yeah, I would say it's not. Well, in five years, maybe. But in five years, that only gets you maybe three running backs in the top 30. No, no, you're saying of the last five years, I mean. Of the last five. But, you know, running backs have been sort of out of style.

All right, last question. We're going to end our podcast with an awesome question. What do we got? Hi, guys. My name is Brian from? Brian, you are from Glendale, Arizona. Cherry Hill, New Jersey, close enough. So I have a league where all yards are counted the same.

So passing yards, rushing, receiving yards, they're all one-tenth of a point each. Bearing that in mind, where would you start considering taking quarterbacks? Because they score about an average 30 or 40 a week. Some can get up to 60 or 70. I had Rich Gannon and Daniel Thomas can score me 100 one year

way, way back. Where would you start looking? How many quarterbacks can you start? One or two? So every quarterback, all their values rise, basically. Yeah, but the top rises more. And then the guys like Russell Wilson fall, the ones who don't throw that much. But they run.

Russell can run a little bit. The total yards won't be... Second round for me. Second round for Aaron Rodgers. I don't change a thing. I would play the Andrew Luck-Carson Palmer game. I would see where you can get luck, pair him with Palmer, because Palmer's going to be very good early in the season.

And if luck comes back, you don't have to reach for either of those guys. And it still gives you potential. Like Adam said, luck could be a top three quarterback, and Palmer could be top ten. I think Cousins would be great in that league. I think Stafford could be great in that league. Those teams throw a lot. Drew Brees, obviously. Carson Wentz. Carson Wentz. He was top five in attempts last year. Could easily be there again.

Yeah, he was. All right. Hey, thank you all for participating today. We appreciate it. This was great. We are going to have a show on Labor Day. Are we good? Yeah. Okay.

Pete was looking at me like I did something wrong. I'm sorry. That's how I look at you. Yeah, that's how I look at you. You took a defense in the 12th round. That's what he's looking at you. I'm sorry about that. Jamie Davey, thank you guys.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, guys. All right. We are here at he's looking at. I'm sorry about that. Jamie Davey, thank you guys. Thank you. We are here at Victory Beer Hall at Xfinity Live in Philadelphia. My first time in Philadelphia, so thank you for making it memorable for all of us. Go Giants! And we'll talk to you on Monday! They're throwing footballs at you.