Fantasy Football Today - 09/04: GB-CHI; Ezekiel Elliott in Week 1; Fantasy Regulators! (Fantasy Football Podcast)
Episode Date: September 4, 2019Finally, we get to preview a game! And finally, Ezekiel Elliott has signed! Can you start him in Week 1 (1:50)? We also discuss Heath's terrible job as commissioner (7:25) and players on waivers who c...ould win you a league (11:03) . Does Josh Allen fit that description? And we take a look at the Most Added list (21:25). Keep adding the SEA DST! ... More news and notes (25:50), a stat about RBs who rely heavily on receptions (27:30) and a preview of GB-CHI (34:10). Should you start Lamar Jackson over Aaron Rodgers? What about Mitchell Trubisky? Which RBs are set up for success in this game? Are any WRs other than Davante Adams in play? ... Answering your questions from iTunes (50:00), making NFL picks (53:40) and doing some Fantasy Regulating (57:40)! ... Your emails at fantasyfootball@cbsi.com 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
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This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports.
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Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath.
Oh, what an exciting show.
You know Wednesday shows are always the best.
Welcome to the Wednesday edition of Fantasy Football Today.
On September 4th, Adam Azer here.
Heath Cummington, Connecticut.
Hey, Heath.
Hi, Adam.
Ben Gretch out in Washington State.
Hey, Ben.
How's it going?
Oh, I'm glad you asked.
Thank you for asking.
It could not be much better right now.
Because every time I make even the tiniest commissioner mistake,
I know I'm going to hear about it the next day on this show from Heath.
Heath made like 15 big mistakes as commissioner last night.
And I just I can't wait to go through the comedy of errors.
Thank you, Heath, for giving us such great content on the show.
I don't know what you're talking about.
I think you do.
I think you do.
All right, more of that in a moment.
The big news.
Oh, can we just stop with the Zeke stuff already?
Could this be the end?
Six years, $90 million, $50 million guaranteed.
Heath, why were you going to take Christian McCaffrey over Ezekiel Elliott
in the team that we shared last night in a non-PPR league?
I have 47
fantasy football teams this year
and
several of them have Zeke
and zero of them have Christian
McCaffrey. And when I have somebody
ranked as a consensus top four pick,
I don't really like the idea of having
zero percent exposure to them
over all of my teams because what if they're the best player in fantasy this year? That would suck. I don't have any of idea of having 0% exposure to them over all of my teams
because what if they're the best player in fantasy this year?
That would suck.
I don't have any of them.
I guess so.
I guess so.
Ben, you haven't talked about Ezekiel Elliott.
What are we thinking for week one?
Are we going to be able to play him week one?
Yeah, I mean, I think you probably got to play him.
It's a great matchup.
They're going to be in positive game script.
I do think he could get limited a little bit if they get out ahead
and they could just go with Tony Pollard.
But yeah, I would feel comfortable
plugging him in.
So while we have a tweet,
Heath, about his potential game one workload,
not Ben, but Ezekiel Elliott's game one workload.
Yeah, I think Ben's workload,
Ben's a full go this week.
I expect him to play 100.
He's just like Chris Godwin.
He will never come off the field.
No, Jane Slater from the NFL Network, and she's had a lot of information on this story,
said that ahead of Ezekiel Elliott's first practice since June, I'm told the plan right
now is about 20 to 25 reps on Sunday.
Tony Pollard behind him and Jameese Oluwole as your best blitz pickup guy on third down.
Things can always change, but this is the plan heading into today.
Now, the interesting word there, assuming we're taking this report as if it's something Jason Garrett said, reps.
Right, 20 to 25 reps?
I don't know what the word reps mean, and I kind of asked on Twitter,
but oddly enough, she's not responded to me.
I don't know if she means touches, which would be awesome.
I think snaps.
Snaps seems more likely.
Yeah, I think so.
Which is probably less than half of the Cowboys' offensive snaps.
Now, it could very easily be a thing where we're just going to put Zeke in
when we want to give him the ball and we're not going to make
him block or be a decoy.
That's not really a very
good plan over the course of a season
offensively because then everybody knows what you're
doing, but against the Giants, it would probably work fine.
Yeah, I mean,
is there a scenario where you're... First of all,
we get reports throughout the year
of guys being on snap counts
and limited and whatnot, and oftentimes it just doesn't play out that way.
The coaches can't seem to resist themselves.
Those snap counts, specifically that term,
seems to be kind of ludicrous a lot of times.
But you could buy it here that they limit him a little bit.
Is there any scenario, though, where you're sitting Ezekiel Elliott?
You took him maybe in
late in the first round or something like or the second round you know you have two run okay okay
i don't know is there any scenario where you're sitting ezekiel elliott that's the question
i i don't think so i think if you it would have to be in ppr i so the 20 to 25 reps assuming that
we're talking about snaps that's something that happens fairly frequently with running backs that are typically not playing on passing downs.
And they can still get like 18 carries on 25 snaps.
Sonny Michel was a guy who did this a ton last year.
He was getting rush attempts on a really, really high percentage of his actual snaps played we see that for guys
that have those types of uh really heavy rush to reception touch mixes where they're they're
basically just running backs only they're in on like power packages and it's interesting in that
same tweet they talked about uh Ola Wale the fullback playing on passing downs and Tony
Pollard playing the way I would look at this is probably we're not going to expect a lot of receiving out of Zeke this week,
but I still think he can pretty easily get to 15-plus rushes
and maybe a catch or two.
I wouldn't expect a 4-5 catch game from him
if he does only play 20 or 25 snaps.
So if there's somewhere where you're sitting him,
it's probably in a PPR league,
but I just would have a hard time doing that.
It's such a good matchup.
I expect that he'll be able to uh rack up some rushing yards and be in a good position to get uh a touchdown as well
because i think they'll score plenty of points on the giants yeah i've got him at uh 16 touches
i don't know if you've done your projections or 80 yards and about a 80 not 80 90 chance for a
touchdown this week um like i could invent a couple of scenarios.
Let's say you took Zeke in the first round,
you took Delvin Cook in the second,
and he gets the Falcons who just beg you to throw passes to running backs,
and you took Chris Carson in the fifth
with a great matchup against Cincinnati.
I could see a situation where if you don't have a flex
and you're thinking, man, I think I'd rather start Carson over Zeke.
All right, yeah.
I'm not saying you should, but that makes sense to me.
You start Zeke.
It won't even get complicated.
By the way, the Giants held a running back
in three of their last four games,
no running back in more than 35 rushing guards against them.
So how about that?
And they added a defensive tackle in the first round.
But no, they're going to get killed defensively.
So, okay.
So LA, the Chargers, they have held preliminary trade discussions regarding Melvin Gordon,
according to ESPN's Josina Anderson, with one team.
But Ian Rappaport says it doesn't seem like a trade is going to happen.
And I think we have beaten a dead horse when it comes to Melvin Gordon.
I mean, did you hear what they were asking for, though?
A first-rounder.
We could beat the dead horse a little bit more.
A first-rounder and a fifth-rounder for a guy that's on his fifth-year team option
and would have to be re-signed and plays the running back position.
Not going to happen.
Hazer trade.
Hazer trade.
For sure.
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They really have terrific deals. And use the promo code fft okay commissioner heath how did it go last night with
our for the people podcast league where were you uh my team got an a plus hold on before we get to
that before we get drafted with a co-owner who didn't really participate and didn't respond to half of my texts.
So I think I did a pretty good job.
Okay, let's start.
So 10-team league.
The team drafted last night.
Heath started sending out the invites yesterday.
Heath changed many of the rules.
Not true.
I sent the invites out two days ago.
Okay.
No, no, no.
I meant the day before the draft. Yeah, the day before the draft yeah the day before the
draft yeah okay go ahead i'll just i'll i'll give my explanation one team never replied to me on
twitter and gave me an email address so i never invited them i realized that about 6 p.m i've got
a co-commissioner i figured two hours before the draft a guy guy with 50,000 followers could just send out a tweet real quick and get a new league member. And then there was another team. I apologize to you, Graham,
that I sent the email three times to the wrong email address. And he never knew that he was in
the league. And so then Adam said, you know, he's going to see this eventually.
We should just draft his team for him so he could still be in the league.
I said, you know, that's a good idea.
I think we should do that, but then I didn't pay attention,
and he auto-picked Patrick Mahomes in the first round, and I didn't fix it.
Why?
I don't know.
Jeez.
Well, it's a super flex league.
Okay.
So I think he started off with Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelsey.
I like that start in a super flex league.
Yeah, that's not terrible.
No, that's not bad.
Then I did draft his team for the rest of the draft without telling anyone else in the league that I was drafting two teams.
But I think it went pretty well.
But other than that.
Okay.
Heath was late.
He had two owners missing
i had to go get another owner and i was about to go on the air and do cbs sports hq which we're
doing again tonight 8 p.m to 9 p.m eastern we're having a lot of fun i really hope you guys can
check it out uh he got stuck on a train that was late he was just very very irresponsible and uh
i needed to come to the rescue and get a final member for the league which i did and it was pat
from ohio who's one of our best listeners so it was cool that we were able to the rescue and get a final member for the league, which I did. And it was Pat from Ohio who's one of our best listeners.
So it was cool that we were able to get him.
And Pat only auto-picked like three times and I had to reset it.
And I auto-picked four times for the guy that I was supposed to be drafting for and I kept forgetting.
I think he drafted Jared Cook five times in that draft.
But we've got him all set up now and hopefully he'll log into his team.
Cool.
And you know what?
It was like a blast for the record.
I mean, I'm sure all the listeners enjoyed this at least.
Well, but the other thing is he changed the rules.
Like he made it non-PPR.
It used to be half PPR, and he added half point for first down,
for rushing and receiving first down.
What else?
Other wacky five-point passing touchdowns instead of four?
Three flex.
Three flex. Three flex.
One of them is a super flex.
Yeah.
What the hell?
Why would you do all that?
You didn't even tell me.
You did not even tell me.
I did not know until we were drafting.
Right.
But then I was going to say Heath went and basically drafted 80% of our team.
And?
And totally redeemed yourself.
You crushed it. You had had an A plus from CBS Sports
and we have you actually did a
great job you did draft Tony
Pollard late which actually made me feel very good because we drafted
Zeke third overall well it's
easy to draft an A plus team when you're drafting for
another team in the league and just
totally neglecting that team
yeah I guess so it was all
part of our master plan.
All right.
So, league winners.
Are there any guys on waivers right now
that you think could be league winners?
Ben, I'm going to throw it over to you.
Who do you want to start with?
Well, I mean, I feel like you should start with your guy.
Okay.
I mean, he's your guy now.
No, I mean, he's our guy.
He's our guy.
He's Ben's guy. Ben, you're supposed to just say the guy and just pretend like he never told you he was
gonna talk about him yeah i was setting you up man i just feel like i'll go elsewhere i'll come
over him i have him in more leagues than i think anyone else uh but i think jaylen richard is a guy
that is still too low owned and and goes really late in drafts.
How is Jalen Rashard going to win you a league?
If something happens to Josh Jacobs,
I expect him to be basically the every-down back.
I don't think he's ever had more than 10 carries in a game,
maybe once or something.
I just don't think they will let him do that.
I remember having this argument last year.
That's not how it works.
That's not how any of this works.
You want the receiving backs.
But they won't do it.
They won't make him a rushing back.
I don't think they will.
First of all, I'm looking up his – I mean, you might be right about him
never having more than 10 carries, but that seems –
he's only had it once.
You're right.
But I absolutely think he could be a guy who gets 15 touches a game if if
josh jacobs is out and the majority of those or at least a high percentage of those relative to
other backs are in the passing game so especially in ppr leagues it becomes like uh like how geo
bernard's workload fills out when joe mixon misses time and he was really good early last season when
he was off the field and late in the year
before i believe anytime he's been like the lead back bernard for the bangles over the last several
years he's been very good for fantasy again specifically ppr leagues because you're talking
about like a 15 touch workload but there's a lot of receptions involved in that i think richard has
that type of upside uh ty montgomery similar thing chase edmonds similar thing Jamal Williams and Ido
Smith are two guys that are uh they both took like some value hits earlier this offseason because of
a number three back Brian Hill never really actually threatened Ido Smith for the number
two role for Atlanta I actually kind of like Ido Smith scored three touchdowns in the preseason
had a 45 yard receiving game i think
he's going to be involved as the number two there and he's still behind an injury pro lean back and
then jamal williams same deal dexter williams was supposedly going to take over that number two job
and didn't really have a great preseason jamal williams seems locked in and is on waivers in a
ton of leagues if something happened to aaron jones who's about duke johnson size if you're
worried about duke johnson being a lead, you should probably be worried about Aaron Jones.
Jamal Williams could wind up in a lead back role again.
Yep.
I have Jamal Williams on some teams for that very reason.
And to be fair, for your Jalen Richard call,
they don't have Doug Martin.
They don't have Marshawn Lynch anymore.
They have Jalen Richard and DeAndre Washington.
So if something happens to Jacobs,
maybe they will extend him a little bit more in the running game.
That was like my first point.
Doug Martin's not on the roster anymore.
That's why he has that.
He couldn't hear you because he was yelling over you that it was such a terrible pick.
Oh, yeah.
That must have been it.
Well, the guy that I was going to bring up is the guy that Ben has on so many teams, and it's Ronald Jones.
Now, Peyton Barber's 88% owned.
Ronald Jones is 48% owned.
Daria Gumbawale is 6% owned.
And I just, you know, I said it on HQ last night, and it just, we love Jameis Winston as a breakout.
We love O.J. Howard.
We love Chris Godwin.
We love Mike Evans.
There is no way that we're going to be right about all of those guys.
And I'm not saying we will be, but if we are,
there's no way they're not going to have a fantasy-relevant running back
and a guy that you should be starting.
You know, look at the top 10 offenses last year.
Kansas City, the Rams, the Saints, the Patriots, the Colts,
the Chargers, the Steelers, Seahawks, Bears, and Falcons.
Because Marlon Mack was hurt, because Sonny Michelle got hurt,
those guys didn't necessarily finish super high.
James White was a top 10 running back, I think, in both formats,
or top 12 in both formats.
Tariq Cohen was top 12 in both formats. Tariq Cohen was like top 15 in both formats.
But bottom line is, those teams had really good running backs for fantasy.
So I just don't see how the Bucs won't have that.
Did you watch the Bucs last year?
But they weren't a top 10 offense.
Passing offense?
I think they were maybe a passing offense.
I'm talking scoring offense.
They were not a top 10 scoring offense.
Okay.
I think that the point was they had Mike Evans have a great year.
The tight ends combined for a great year.
O.J. Howard got hurt, but he was really good when he played.
Adam Humphries was like wide receiver 24 in PPR on top of that.
But Jameis wasn't that good.
Jameis plus Fitzpatrick in the games they played was like the number two quarterback in the NFL.
But no, no. Jameis, no. The in the games they played was like the number two quarterback in the NFL. But no, no.
Jameis, no. The answer to your question is Tampa Bay last year. First of all,
if an offense can do that, and I
totally agree with Heath on this. Okay.
I mean, I guess, but I
just think if we're projecting them to be better,
then, you know, like
God wouldn't be better, Howard would be better,
and Jameis would be better.
It's just a great situation for the running back.
So I don't think I have to convince Ben.
Yeah.
You guys have named like 17 backup running backs,
and I'm not sure that you've named the best not-owned backup running back.
And we're going to talk about him in just a minute or two in the notes.
But hashtag Team Geo.
Yeah.
We saw it last year. games he got starts 180 yards
three touchdowns final four games of 2017 411 yards two touchdowns we know if joe mixon gets
hurt that giovanni bernard's going to be a must start running back and every year we treat him
like he's just not good he's very very good, he's arguably the best handcuff in fantasy.
And he's probably owned in like 8% of leagues or something.
Okay, we're going to take a break.
Yeah, everybody was worried about two sixth round picks
when the whole Mark Walton thing, they took him, I believe, in the fourth last year.
But it didn't work out.
They had already waived him.
They were going to take a running back for depth.
And the fact that they waited until the sixth round, I always read.
I mean, I know they took two guys in the sixth round, but i always read that as kind of some confidence in geo even though he was on a contract here that they'd still use him
i totally agree especially now that they've re-signed him uh one point about tampa bay
they just brought in tj logan and he was kind of a pass catcher with the cardinals i believe
back since arians was with the Cardinals they have had
recently waived him Arizona and and Tampa Bay picked him up and Arians I saw a quote from him
that said you guys are going to need to get to know his name real quick there's a so it seems
like between Agum Bawale and now TJ Logan they're trying to find a pass catching back and and Andre
Ellington who they brought in throughout training camp, but have since released that, I think kind of limits Ronald Jones upside a bit. Adam, more generally,
though, I do obviously agree with your take that if this office is really good, there's probably
going to be running back production. I think what happened in Tampa Bay last year was a little bit
of an anomaly. And I still think Ronald Jones has massive upside. I mean, I totally agree with you.
All right. I got to wrap up this segment here and move on. Can Josh Allen, though, can he be a league winner? He's 58% owned. And in his last six games of 2018,
Josh Allen averaged 24.5 points per game and four point per passing touchdown leagues,
26 points per game and six point per passing touchdown leagues. Do you think he could be a
league winner? I think he's the poster boy for why not to use fantasy points per game without
understanding where the fantasy points come from
because that was really ridiculous rushing pace i think it was uh those games he was over like a
1250 rushing yard pace and like 13 rushing td pace which is what elevated those fantasy points per
game uh one quarterback in nfl history has rushed for over 1,000 yards.
That's Michael Vick.
Allen's rushing has to come way down this year,
so he has to be a lot better as a passer
to get anywhere near the upside we saw
at the end of 2018.
I don't see it for him this year.
How about Marquise Brown, 29% on?
I mentioned some other guys yesterday
like Marquise Goodwin, DK Metcalf.
We had a little waiver wire conversation yesterday,
so I'm bringing up some different names. Marquise Brownwin, DK Metcalf. We had a little waiver wire conversation yesterday, so I'm bringing up some different names.
Marquise Brown, 29% own, Heath.
Do you think he could be a stud, a league winner?
Yeah, I said this on HQ yesterday.
One of Marquise Brown or Myles Boykin,
I fully expect to be leading Jamie's waiver wire wide receiver section
on Tuesday morning next week.
They get the great matchup against the Dolphins. I still
kind of, like I, coming into
the draft, I viewed Brown and Boykin
pretty similarly. They're different
types of guys. I kind of
as the very little we saw of them
together in the preseason looked like
Boykin was going to be the air yards guy
and probably the red zone guy and Brown
was going to be used more close to the line
of scrimmage, almost like a, well, in the slot, obviously,
but almost like a running back in the passing game.
So I kind of lean a little bit towards Boykin.
But both of these guys have huge upside.
I think Boykin's only 16% owned.
I actually drafted both of them in quite a few leagues.
I've got them on a lot of rosters, and I'm looking forward to the ride.
All right.
And when you say lead his waiver wire column at wide receiver,
you mean after DK Metcalf.
Understandable mistake there.
We've just, you know, you don't have to.
It's just understood at this point.
DK Metcalf is going to be leading that column.
Okay.
So let's take a break here.
When we come back, we have the best five-star iTunes review so far.
We've got some more news and notes.
We're going to preview the Packers and the Bears.
And we're going to do some Regulate, and we'll be right back.
Metrolinks and Crosslinks are reminding everyone to be careful
as Eglinton Crosstown LRT train testing is in progress.
Please be alert, as trains can pass at any time on the tracks.
Remember to follow all traffic signals.
Be careful along our tracks,
and only make left turns where it's safe to do so.
Be alert, be aware, and stay safe.
Let's take a look at the most added list briefly.
We've talked about so many of these guys.
Devin Singletary is number one.
Matt Bryant is number two.
The Seahawks DST, they are 46% owned and it should still go up.
I mean, great week one matchup against the Bengals without A.J. Green
and with problems at left tackle
and they could be really good now with Clowney.
Carlos Hyde and
Justice Hill are 54%
and 58% owned
respectively. They are the
fourth and fifth players on the most added
list. Heath, what's your take on
Carlos Hyde and Justice Hill? They both should be on the most added list. Heath, what's your take on Carlos Hyde and Justice Hill?
They both should be on the most added list.
I'm really struggling with Carlos Hyde
because I think you can look at the waiver wire running backs right now
in two different buckets.
Guys that you feel could really help you as a flex
if you're in a pinch this week.
And someone like Chris Thompson or Jalen Rashard and PPR I think think are kind of that guy i'm not too excited about the long term but i might be able to
use him this week if i really had to and there's guys like justice hill or even giovanni bernard
who might be one injury away from just being absolutely awesome carlos hyde does not fit into
either one of those buckets i cannot use him this week i I don't know how much the Texans are going to use him.
And I'm not really excited about his upside.
But I do think somebody else in my league should add him
because he should be owned in more leagues than he is.
Okay.
And then I just want to talk about one other player, Dontrell Hilliard,
because Ben's on the show.
And Dontrell Hilliard's only 10% owned, Ben.
Yeah.
I mean, another guy.
And what he just said about Hy about hide it goes back to the the
high value touches stuff we've talked about throughout the offseason you want backups that
can actually catch passes because in their workload for me it's not necessarily about the
percentage that they have a chance to like take over the backfield because it's hard to predict
injuries it's how high their upside is if they do hit so guys like justice hill and don'trell
hilliard their upside is going to be massive. So guys like Justice Hill and Dontrell Hilliard,
their upside is going to be massive.
If something were to happen to Duke Johnson,
Carlos Hyde would get a ton more work,
but I just don't think he'll get a lot of pass attempts.
Even still, they just wouldn't throw to their running backs like they have.
So he's a guy I don't prioritize.
I was going to name Hill as a potential waiver wire league winner,
but figured he'd be owned in more leagues.
So that's surprising to me.
I think he should be owned in a lot more than 54% or whatever you said.
Justice Hill is super fast.
I think he was the fastest running back in the draft out of Oklahoma State.
I am not sure, though, that if Mark Ingram gets hurt,
that it's not Gus Edwards that picks up the slack.
Oh, he would definitely be more involved.
Yeah, I still think he would be a committee.
I just think that Hill
would be the one that you'd want for fantasy
and be usable at that
point. Gus would be the Carlos side.
Justice Hill would be the Duke Johnson. Sure.
A lot more upside, sure. Alright, do you
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Five stars would be very, very helpful.
And if you leave us a question, it's got to be a start or sit question at this point because we're going to read it on the Saturday Mailbag Show.
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But that's one way to get your question read. I can't guarantee that I'll read all
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It's a five-star review
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The comment wasn't really a
question. The comment was,
I thought Adam was a tiny lady at first um but i'm just curious like
what happened to change that opinion like i i what i got you know i got a new microphone actually a
few weeks ago and it does it does pick up the bass in my voice a little bit better so i think i sound
like a bigger lady now. So that's,
that's a positive.
Um,
and also we're on video,
you know?
So I think mystery solved.
Oh,
cause the days you don't shave.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Like I'm two days without shaving now.
Okay.
The Rams signed Jared golf to a four year contract extension.
The Cowboys signed Lyle Collins offensive tackle tackle to a five-year contract extension.
Golf got four years. I don't know if I
said four or five. Cincinnati signed
Giovanni Bernard to a two-year deal.
Okay, this one's important, or possibly
important. Matt Breida, Dante
Pettis, Marquise Goodwin. They were listed as
starters on the 49ers depth chart.
Ben, what do you make of that?
I'm not making too much
of it. It's just these preliminary
depth charts aren't like actually released by the team they're just kind of released by like
pr people on the staff brito was their incumbent he was their starter last season i could see why
he would be ahead of tevin coleman here if you look back at the preseason coleman played ahead
of him in each game and was the lead back in each game i i mean it's gonna be a split we know both
coleman and brito are gonna play but i'm not reading too much into him being the starter and
then as far as the receivers i mean pettis and goodwin was kind of like as expected there yeah
yeah i did want to do the spongebob letter thing debo samuel is taking dante pettis's job because
debo is currently on the third team it was all motivation for i mean maybe debo samuel at some
point does take pettis's job, but there are two starting
wide receivers for sure in
San Francisco, and the rookies are not
in consideration.
What the heck are you talking about, Spongebob?
Where you mix up all the letters?
Hey, Spongebob.
Was that good?
Oh, the little tweet thing with the
capitals and uncapitals?
Yeah.
It was good. I was yeah. Wow, all right.
How was that?
It was good.
I was like, mix up the letters.
You're doing a word scramble?
Like, what's going on?
It's hard to explain without...
I still have no idea what he's talking about.
Trey Burton's going to be a game-time decision.
Redskins left tackle Trent Williams could report in week two,
according to Ian Rappaport.
All right.
Stat of the day number one comes from Derek
from a city north of Boston.
Heath, city north of Boston?
Portland.
Sure.
So question before I get into the stat.
Is it irresponsible for me to give this stat
without actually checking it?
No, it's right.
Okay.
It's from a good source. source see i didn't know this source
but is do you know how to pronounce his last name uh rebar rebar rebar okay rich rebar
i can't h-r-i-b-a-r from sharp football analysis.com he has about 50 000 twitter
followers so i assume he's pretty legit.
He's got a check mark.
He's 100% legit.
Adam doesn't know the sources.
It's probably the best part of this segment section and just not admit that.
No,
no,
it's okay.
At Lord Reeves.
It is hard to pay the tax on receiving backs coming off career seasons.
The last running back to finish top 24 in points per game in consecutive seasons
while having more than 70% of their fantasy football points
come via receiving was Darren Sproles, 2011 to 2012.
James White, Tariq Cohen, TJ Yeldon
are in that bucket this season.
Pretty interesting.
So again, the stat is a running back
who has had 70% or more of their points come via receiving
has not finished top 24 in points per game consecutive seasons
since Sproles in 2011 to 2012.
It's just so weird because that's what I was talking about on Monday
is I can't remember the last time a running back,
a pass-catching running back had two straight good seasons.
Yeah, I mean, this is part of what I've talked about
with the running back dead zone stuff that I've talked about all offseason.
And if you go back to reading that piece I mentioned in there, typically in that range, we see the number one, the lead backs on weaker offenses, which is the part that I focused more on.
But also the receiving backs coming off spike seasons is the way that I think I phrased that.
And this this is something that does has been kind of known for a few years.
There's been guys that have been drafted in this range.
You know, Theo Riddick comes to mind as a guy that was going that high in certain seasons.
Bilal Powell, Gio Bernard, I know at one point was going in that range.
And none of these guys typically have a really hard time repeating.
So personally,
I haven't taken a lot of James White or Tariq Cohen at all this year.
I think that White and Cohen are interesting.
And I do think that it would be interesting over the next three or four
years to see if this continues.
Cause we have seen teams start to send more of their targets that
direction.
And Cohen,
like he did not do it in back-to-back years last year but I think he was number 29
in his rookie year with not very many touches so if you've got a season where he finished 29th
in a season where he finished 11th it's like I've got him projected 21st I don't think he's
going to repeat what he did last year but it's hard for me to get him outside of the top 24 white did it in 2016 and 2018 but not in consecutive years so i i agree
100 with the point that we should not expect either of those backs to do what they did last
year i think that they might still break that mold and finish top 24 i have a they are at a
discount typically we see these pass catchers backs be a discount from their actual performance because people don't expect them to be able to you know
like another one that comes to mind is danny woodhead he finishes the rb3 in ppr one year
and then he was going in like the sixth or seventh eighth round something like that
and then he broke his leg right yeah whatever he did right yeah yeah that was a shame because as
i mentioned shane varine i thought had a really good chance to do it he got her um james white like i i just i can't see a scenario where he
is not top 24 in points per game i don't know if this is non-ppr ppr but i'm assuming it's ppr
like i just can't see a scenario where james white is not top 24 points per game like he just
i've been down on cohen but not necessarily on White. I think White is a great flex
in PPR leagues.
I agree with you.
I think White and Cohen
are... I mean, it's weird to be
like, okay, this is a multi-year trend, but
this year's the exception. But I do think both
have good cases. They have pretty
solid roles. The issue with
Cohen, obviously, would be if David Montgomery takes too
much passing. The issue with White, for me, the dark horse move or situation would be if Rex Burkhead
is active a lot and they're involving him in the passing game. He's been so banged up the last
couple of years, but if you go back a couple of years, they really liked him. They brought him in,
they used him in the passing game fairly frequently. And if they, if they start to use him
more and that cuts into James White's really high targets and reception numbers last year.
But I still like both of them.
All right.
Who's ready to preview some football for the first time since December?
Yeah.
All right.
Let's take a break.
And when we come back, Aaron Rodgers or Lamar Jackson in week one?
Who would you start?
We'll be right back.
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It is time to preview some football.
Thursday night, Green Bay at Chicago.
By the way, just want to throw this stat out there.
In 2018, Albert Wilson averaged 14 fantasy points per game in PPR.
That was exactly 24th among wide receivers.
So as I look for who could be a number two wide receiver,
I'll be looking for around 14 PPR fantasy points,
probably 8 to 10 non-PPR fantasy points.
I got to keep looking at that.
But 14 fantasy points in PPR, that's like 6 for 80.
That's a pretty good game, or 8 for 60.
So that's just something to keep in mind.
All right, before we get to Green Bay, well, this is part of Green Bay, Chicago.
This is our head and shoulders segment of the week, offense versus defense.
And you're looking at great offense versus great defense.
So this is where I'm asking Aaron Rodgers at Chicago on Thursday,
or do you take the inferior offensive player with the better matchup,
Lamar Jackson at Miami on Sunday?
Rodgers or Jackson in week one?
Heath, who do you got?
Listen, I'm going to get in a lot of trouble on Friday morning
if Aaron Rodgers has a great game on Thursday night against the Bears.
When I go to do my projections, I try really hard not to factor matchup into it too much,
except for on the peripherals. I think in a given week, there are usually two to three
matchups at each position that I actually care about at Chicago for opening night
is one of the matchups that I care about. And I don't have enough certainty about this Packers offense.
Aaron Rodgers, it's been a while since we've seen him
put up elite statistical numbers.
I am starting Lamar Jackson,
and they're not particularly close in my rankings this week.
Aaron Rodgers, for me, is not a top 12 quarterback this week.
Wow. And I get it it i totally get it yeah the bears it's hard it's hard i think if you think about it from a floor ceiling
standpoint rogers new offense on the road against the consensus best defense in the league coming
into the year the floor is not great and then with lamar jackson we know that the floor is always
great because of how well he runs so then the question is well do i still have to start aaron rogers because he has a massive ceiling
again road game against a really good defense probably isn't a great ceiling game for him
either he very well could outscore lamar jackson but i'm with heath like i think lamar jackson has
the better floor and has the better ceiling this week just because the matchup is so much better. Okay.
So I'll make the case for Aaron Rogers. Then he faced the bears twice last year and he scored 28 fantasy points
against their 30 fantasy points against them in week one.
And the bears have had a really good past defense,
four seasons in a row.
They've had a top seven past defense,
four seasons in a row.
He has had three or four games in that stretch against
the Bears with 28 or more
fantasy points.
So yeah, four times. So hold on one second.
Only one of them was at Chicago,
but that was a week
one matchup. So I think the last
two times he faced the Bears in week one, he's had huge
games. I don't know if that means anything.
The Bears also lost their
defensive coordinator. They have a big foundation
there to just kind of continue what they were doing.
But that's just the case for
him. I'm obviously a little nervous about Aaron Rodgers,
but that's kind of
my best case. Plus, he's Aaron Rodgers.
Well, and I think just like, and I don't
usually use
prior history versus team
very much, but I do think if we're going
to reference what he did
in week one against the bears last year we should reference what he did at the bears
last year yes well but i was i was making the case for him so he wasn't gonna do that because he
he completed 59 of his passes averaged 6.5 yards per attempt through for 274 yards zero touchdowns and one interception yeah um now he
i i think he'll be better than that but that kind of shows you the floor is like not a top 20
quarterback rogers last two games in chicago he scored 11 and 12 fantasy points in six point for
passing touchdown leagues that's obviously. That was 2016 and 2018.
He did not play at Chicago in 2017.
All right, so...
And Lamar Jackson's going to...
Yeah, Lamar Jackson.
How would Lamar Jackson not hit 11 or 12 points?
I mean, I think especially at quarterback,
you don't need to win your week at quarterback.
Just take the free points.
Lamar Jackson's floor is higher than that.
Yeah, I would say...
Who's got a higher ceiling, Rodgers or Jackson? I think Jackson does too higher than that. Yeah, I would say who's got a higher ceiling, Rogers or Jackson?
I think Jackson does too.
All right.
Yeah.
All right, so that's the answer from our podcast,
Lamar Jackson over Aaron Rogers,
and that has been your Head & Shoulders segment of the week.
Head & Shoulders, great offense for your hair
and defense for a flake-free scalp.
Go to headandshoulders.com slash NFL for more.
So, Heath, where are you ranked?
Are there any other streaming quarterbacks
you might start over Aaron Rodgers?
Well, it's difficult this time.
There's not anyone available on the waiver wire
in more than 30% of leagues.
No.
There is one quarterback who is available in about 25% of leagues
who I would start over Aaron Rodgers,
and it's the quarterback that he's going against on Thursday night,
Mitchell Trubisky.
What about Garoppolo?
I've got Garoppolo at 18, so no, I would not.
All right, you would start Trubisky over him.
How about Jameis?
I mean, I'm sure he's owned in most leagues,
but would you start him? Jameis is a top five quarterback for me this week. I would start Trubisky over him. How about Jameis? I mean, I'm sure he's owned in most leagues, but would you start him?
Jameis is a top five quarterback for me this week.
I would start him over Aaron Rodgers.
All right, and we'll move on to the running game here for the Packers.
Anybody excited to start Aaron Jones?
Are you getting away from Aaron Jones?
The Bears allowed the fewest fantasy points to running backs,
3.52 yards per carry to running backs last year.
The way I see the Bears' defense is their front seven is just unbelievable their secondary i don't think is
is quite that good it's very good but but i don't it's not as good as their front seven that's the
way i see it um but yeah like any interest in aaron jones this week can we start him
i'm starting him in seasonal if i have him. I mean, I mean, unless I have like a really
solid second option, like I think I would start Matt Brito over him if he was my my RB three or
either of the San Francisco running backs, because I do want pieces of that game. I think that San
Francisco Tampa Bay game is going to be very explosive. I don't like Aaron Jones. I don't
want to start him, but he is a back that you took high
enough that in all likelihood, you're probably just plugging him in and hoping for the best,
hoping for a touchdown, a couple of long runs. He definitely has that explosion.
That's kind of just the way it goes with running backs like him that don't catch a ton of passes.
You got to play him even through tough matchups and hope for the best.
In PPR, I've got him as a top 25 running back. He's not in my top 20.
There are a handful of running backs that were definitely drafted after him
that I would definitely start over him this week.
So I'll just go through those.
I would start Austin Eckler.
I think that one's pretty easy over Aaron Jones.
I would start Chris Carson over Aaron Jones.
I'd start in D and PPR.
I'd start Duke Johnson.
Ben mentioned Tevin Coleman. I'm with him on that.
I'd rather start Mark Ingram. I think this is probably where it gets controversial.
There's two names that I have just above him in PPR. One of them is Phillip Lindsay against the
Raiders. The other one is Tariq Cohen in the same game in PPR. I would start Cohen over Jones on
Thursday night. Yeah yeah that was gonna be
my next question like how do you rank all the running backs in this game is it Montgomery one
I'm in it it's different in the two formats I'll go first and let Ben formulate his thoughts but
in PPR I've got it Cohen Jones Montgomery and non-PPR I've got Jones Montgomery Cohen non-PPR Jones Montgomery
Cohen okay so PPR Cohen Jones Montgomery that's interesting I agree with that non-PPR I think in
PPR it'd be hard for me to put Montgomery third I think Montgomery could be the number one as Adam
just alluded to I think they're definitely all close but oh they're all within nine tenths of
a fantasy point for me.
Right, there you go.
We're splitting hairs.
All right, here's the thing.
The Packers' defense was pretty lousy last year.
They added a safety Adrian Amos.
They added pass rushers Preston Smith and Z'Darrius Smith.
They drafted Rashawn Gary, who can get after the quarterback,
and Darnell Savage, a safety they drafted.
So people think that this is not, not like a great defense,
but one that's going to be much, much improved.
I think it's in that range of defenses that don't matter for me.
And that's like 20 to 25 of them on a given week.
But the Packers defense, I'm just not considering.
The one thing I would say about Montgomery that makes it a little bit more difficult for me,
and this will sound ridiculous,
but week one, especially the way they were used early in the preseason,
would we be that surprised if Mike Davis got the first carry
or the first series?
I wouldn't really.
A little bit, but I wouldn't be surprised
if he had a bigger role than everybody thought.
Right, and so I'm just a little leery about Montgomery week one,
but there's plenty of upside there, a ton of upside.
All right.
Would you start Montgomery over any of the wide receivers in this game?
Other than Devontae Adams.
Sorry.
Are you saying would we start any of the wide receivers over Montgomery?
Yeah, yeah.
Okay, in a flex spot, are you going Montgomery
or a wide receiver not named Devontae Adams?
Personally, I would take Montgomery.
Yeah, probably.
Maybe in PPR, I would consider Allen Robinson.
I'd have to look at it a little bit closer.
Yeah, I've got Montgomery over all the receivers in non-PPR except for Adams.
And in PPR, I have Adams about a half point better than Montgomery.
And then Montgomery's over all the rest of the receivers.
Yeah, I have no interest this week in Geronimo Allison and Marquez Valdez-Scantling.
I mean, look, there are no buys, so you probably don't have to start them.
And there was really only one team that had multiple wide receivers
that had good games against the Bears.
And it was the Packers in Week 1.
And it was Randall Cobb at 142 yards and a touchdown. Devontae Adams
and Jeronimo Allison, they all had big games.
After that, it was pretty hard to find
teams that had multiple good
wide receivers. You know, you had a few examples,
but it wasn't like anybody had huge games.
So it just doesn't
really happen against this Bears DST,
this Bears defense.
We've got to take one last break here. I apologize.
When we come back, I want to talk a little bit more about Trubisky,
finish up on Allen Robinson, see if the tight ends are in play at all,
maybe do a little bit more either-ors with Dave Montgomery
and any hesitation with the Bears DST.
And then we got the regulators and your questions right after this.
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Wrapping up Packers and Bears here.
So I guess just give me a little more context on Montgomery and Cohen.
And Heath, what you expect and who you're ranking them near.
Cohen is a top 20 back for me, number 20 in PPR. And in non-PPR, he's really a low-end flex
that I don't want to start. Aaron Jones is right in that low-end number two range in both formats.
Right around 22, 23, there's a good chance you have somebody on your bench. I mean,
I named five guys that I'd rather start than him, but I don't feel bad about starting him. Montgomery
for me is really more of a flex this
week, just until we see it. But I don't think
anybody should feel bad about having him in their
starting lineup. I mean, you know
how much I love Kenyon Drake. I'd rather start
Montgomery than Kenyon Drake. I'd start Montgomery
over, like, Justin Jackson.
What about Devin Singletary?
I'm not starting
Devin Singletary this week, especially week one.
I'm not sure he gets double-digit.
Oh, I got a good one.
Montgomery or Damian Williams?
I will go Montgomery in non-PPR and Williams in PPR.
Half PPR.
Montgomery.
Williams for me.
Williams across all formats.
Oh, okay.
Confidence. I'm still going. I got all formats. Oh, okay. Confidence.
I'm still going.
I got to go down with that ship.
I mean, it's not going down with the ship kind of like take lock.
I still think he's going to be their best back.
If you go by last season, Green Bay was so bad against quarterbacks.
Six of the last seven quarterbacks to face the Packers scored 22 or more fantasy points
in six-point-per-passing touchdown leagues.
The only exception was Josh Rosen.
Heath, where do you have Mitchell Trubisky ranked?
I know it's ahead of Aaron Rodgers, but where do you have him ranked?
He's my number 10 quarterback in six-point-per-passing touchdown leagues.
I've got him projected for 24.2 fantasy points, tied with Tom Brady for number nine, actually.
I mean, I'm starting him over Aaron Rodgers.
I'd start him over Phillip Rivers, Jimmy Garoppolo, Kyler, Russell Wilson.
Yeah, I really want to, I kind of want to wait and see on Trubisky.
He did so much of his damage in a four-game stretch last year.
His last seven games, he averaged 18 rushing yards per game.
So, I get it.
I know he's basically your favorite sleeper and quarterback.
I don't really want to have to start him this week.
But we'll see.
That's fine.
Most people didn't draft him as a starter, so they don't have to.
Yeah.
This is a really interesting game.
I kind of feel that way from both teams, what Adam just said.
There's nobody I'm super excited about starting,
and I kind of want to wait and see a little bit.
And it's largely i think
because we have the whole new offense in green bay whole new coaching staff you know rogers looked
disinterested at times last year and and a lot of that that came out all off season about him and
mike mccarthy could he just like be right back to his old self and be super excited about playing
the head you know playing the game and just being absolutely elite right away from week one
against a great defense.
I think that's possible.
I think there's a huge range for this Green Bay offense.
And then Matt Nagy, we know, did a lot of different things last year.
Came from the Andrew Reid coaching tree.
Pretty modern offense last year.
Does he have any new stuff installed for year two and how that looks?
And then it's just a big rivalry game.
I mean, this could be a really fun game to watch but i tend to agree with like not wanting to start
trubisky not like and just being uncertain with a lot of the players in this game because
like there's a lot of uncertainty across the board right i do have to tell you and chris
texted me this when he first saw my projections he said you know it's great to uh put yourself
out there like this the very first game of the season when everyone's going to be watching and have Mitchell Trubisky over Aaron Rodgers.
It doesn't feel good.
I'm not doing it for the hot take aspect.
That's just where the numbers went.
Yeah, no, I look, I get that.
And finally, Alan Robinson is just solid flex, kind of like what we drafted him to be.
Yeah, you're starting him as a
number three receiver if you start three receivers yeah all right and um finally then i said finally
before but finally uh either the tight ends in play this week who's playing let's say burton
and graham play graham should play yeah graham was a full full practice participant and i think
you can definitely consider him i i know the matchup's not great, but I think if they lock down the receivers a little bit more,
you can hope that he gets a few more targets.
But yeah, I wouldn't want to play him.
Yeah, I'm probably not playing a tight end from this game.
Okay. Would you start Will Disley or Jimmy Graham?
Jimmy Graham.
Okay. Would you start Mark. That's a great point.
I wasn't trying to say that Graham's
a favorite of mine. My point was more that I wouldn't
touch Burton. If I was going to touch one,
I would touch Graham, but not
over guys like Disley, not over reasonable
options. Start the Bears DST.
We gots to run.
Five-star reviews and
your questions here from
Chucky Buckle. Can you rank these for a flex position and half PPR?
Tevin Coleman, Curtis Samuel, Latavius Murray, DeeDee Westbrook.
It's Tevin or DeeDee.
It's close for me.
I'd probably go Tevin against Tampa Bay.
I agree with the top two.
DeeDee is a top 15 receiver for me this week,
so he's my number one.
And that could change.
There's this weird thing where there's some people
that seem to think Marquise Lee might actually play this week.
What is it? He's like 50% on. It's crazy.
Well, but if he does play this week,
then I would have to temper my Didi just a little bit.
But I would go, he said rank them right
so i would go dd tevin and the other two were latavius and who curtis samuel latavius and then
curtis samuel i'm gonna have to see it from samuel i predicted yesterday drew breeze is gonna throw
five touchdown passes um in week one i think i mean i like all these guys but i think latavius
could be good but yeah yeah yeah all right i agree. Coleman and Westbrook ahead of the pack in whatever order.
Zach Ertz.
His name was not Zach Ertz on iTunes, but I couldn't read his name because, you know,
it's Zach.
You know the dirty Zach Ertz team name.
Our league is discussing how the waiver wire is determined.
How would you go about it?
Reverse order of the standings?
Worst team to best?
Or reverse order of standings?
Then once you use your waiver wire pickup, you go to the end
of the waiver order. Yes.
That one.
Okay. Yeah. Alright.
I don't know if I like that, because I don't want
the best team in fantasy to have the number one
waiver claim. I don't know the
Earth's team name. What is it?
My ball.
Then his name.
No, no, no.
Josh Red 4.
Am I getting too cute if I start Chris Carson against the Bengals
over David Johnson against Detroit?
Yes.
No.
I have David Johnson ranked higher in PPR.
I have Chris Carson projected to score one half of one fantasy point more in non-PPR.
So I don't think it's too crazy.
Or too cute.
From Jeremy.
I have Philip Lindsay, Damian Williams, Austin Eckler, Tony Pollard, Matt Breida, and LaShawn McCoy.
I have to start two of them.
Lindsay, Damian Williams, Eckler, Pollard, Breida, and McCoy.
PPR, start two.
Eckler's the easy one, right?
Yes.
And Damian Williams for Ben.
Yeah.
I mean, I like Breida a lot too.
And then Damian Williams is someone I would be considering too.
So it's not easy.
Yeah, I think Eckler and Williams probably for me.
I'd go Eckler and Lindsey, but Williams is third.
Okay.
And finally, from Truett and Pete,
Sammy Watkins or DeeDee Westbrook week one?
DeeDee.
He did.
Yeah, I would take Dee.D. as well.
I don't think – Sammy's a little bit underrated as a good piece of the KC offense,
but you don't necessarily want to start him against Jacksonville,
and you do want to start D.D. against Kansas City's defense.
So this is a week to prefer D.D. for sure.
Time for some NFL picks.
I am actually ready to make them this time,
as I was not yesterday.
But Heath, I will let you go first.
What are we doing?
Picking divisions and Super Bowl winners.
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
I didn't know we were doing this at all.
Oh, yeah.
Are you prepared?
Oh, yeah, totally.
I've got all my picks ready.
All right, New England, New England, New England for everybody.
Today is the day.
Oh, yeah, Today's the day.
I'll take the Patriots to win the AFC East.
Uh-huh.
The North?
What's that?
Ben, you're taking the Patriots. I'm taking the Patriots. Let's go to the North.
What if I wanted to take the Dolphins?
I'm going to surprise these people and take the Ravens.
Okay. Ben?
Browns.
And I am taking the Raven people and take the Ravens. Okay. Ben? Browns. And I am taking the Ravens.
Also the Ravens.
Can I change mine?
South.
Who are you going to take that I'm also going to take?
Jacksonville.
I will take the Colts.
What?
You guys are crazy.
Houston is going to win the South.
Houston, ladies and gentlemen.
The West. I'll be the first
member of the media to not choose the Chargers
to win the Super Bowl. I'll take the Chiefs.
Ben?
Yeah, Chiefs. Chiefs for me.
Two wildcard teams.
Chargers
and
I don't know.
You got Pittsburgh.
Chargers and Browns.
That's what I was going to say.
Chargers and Browns.
All right.
No, but you guys are not taking Houston
to go to the playoffs.
Doesn't seem like it.
Wow.
You didn't.
Yeah, I did.
I took them to win the division.
I think they're probably
a better pick than the Colts to win the South.
I just think the Colts are pretty much, I don't know,
I think they're better than what the reaction has suggested.
Ben, you heard about Andrew Luck or no?
No.
He's ready, right?
NFC, NFC, Heath, NFC East.
Eagles.
Cowboys.
I hate this one.
Let's go Eagles.
Okay. Heath.
NFC North.
Bears.
I will take
the Vikings.
I like the Bears. Bears are really good.
South. Saints, okay. Yeah, I like the Bears. Bears are really good. South.
Saints.
Saints.
Good division.
I hate this division.
It's so hard.
I guess the Saints.
I guess the Saints.
The West.
Rams.
Rams.
Seattle Seahawks.
I like Seattle this year.
I've decided
Alright two wild cards
Vikings and
Panthers
Okay
And Ben
I'll say Eagles and Falcons which means I have
The Bears and Packers both missing the playoffs
Eagles and Falcons
You said
Yes
I also have
the packers missing the playoffs really wow i'll take dallas and atlanta and i already picked
yesterday kansas city over atlanta in the super bowl uh ben who's who's winning the super bowl
i had uh kansas city over Philly.
Pretty trendy pick.
Interesting that I had Dallas winning the NFC East.
I've obviously not given this a ton of thought either.
It's okay.
You can win the Super Bowl as a wild card.
Heath, how about you?
Kansas City over the Saints.
Homer pick.
Wow.
Oh, my gosh.
Unbelievable.
No credibility, ladies and gentlemen.
No credibility.
Thank you, guys.
Who did you pick to win the Super Bowl?
The Falcons?
No, Chiefs over the Falcons. You had already picked the Falcons to win the Super Bowl earlier this offseason.
Well, now I'm changing it.
You can't change it.
You didn't change your Falcons over the Chiefs.
You didn't change your fantasy football rankings at all during this offseason?
No.
So you're trying to regulate me, I see.
I don't want you jinxing the Chiefs.
It's too late, man.
I can't take it back.
All right, let's regulate.
Okay, this is from Tim in New Jersey.
Tim says,
I have gotten some pushback from my league mates about a couple of moves I've made
that technically were not against any rules, but some claim violate the spirit of the rules.
Great, great, great.
Love these.
Most recently have a rule stating that you must draft a legal lineup.
I did.
And then as my kicker was cut, I dropped him.
But I added another player to speculate on. Before the start of the season, I will have to drop another player and as my kicker was cut, I dropped him, but I added another player to speculate on.
Before the start of the season, I will have to drop another player
and add a kicker, which I'll do on Thursday.
Do you think this is okay, or should I be forced to drop someone immediately?
Other people have done this in season for a few days in the past.
Great job.
This is a stupid rule.
You should not have to draft a player for each position.
You don't get to tell the league that their rule is stupid.
Oh, I absolutely do.
I'm a regulator.
I will also say that the rule is not you must draft a kicker
and then keep a kicker on your roster at all times for the rest of the season,
obviously because it says people have done this in season before.
So you drafted a kicker.
You dropped the kicker.
You will pick up a kicker.
Violated the spirit of the rule.
Good work, Tim.
All right.
What do you think, Ben?
I just ditto Heath.
Okay.
Second part of this question is,
last year in the championship game,
my opponent didn't have anyone to start at wide receiver two,
and he had only one backup who was injured,
and his number two went down.
So he had no fab left, and I had about $15.
I added as many $1 receivers as I could, about six.
The next day, I dropped two wide receivers I had just picked up,
and I added two more for $1 each.
I prevented him from adding anyone.
What do you think?
Is that okay?
I play in leagues where if you do that,
the same person adds and
drops somebody within a certain amount of time they just go straight back into free agency and
can be re-added um i i think it's fine to add players to block your opponents if they're out of
fab like they they burn through their fab intentionally and you're in a position where
you save some so i think that's fine but i don't think you should be able to just like pick up and drop a bunch of players
and then leave them on waivers so that they have no one to pick up that seems a little bit
yeah that's where the first move of picking up six one dollar wide receivers was very good fantasy
fantasy footballing the second move where you dropped the guys you just picked yesterday
and picked up more, that's where
you became a bad owner
and probably should have been kicked out of the league.
Alright, next up.
Let's keep it going here.
Let's regulate.
This is from Jared.
Hey, Leo, Raph, Mikey, and Don.
Those are Ninja Turtles.
We held our draft about a week ago, and we knew the draft order beforehand.
When the draft started, the guy with the number one pick immediately selected Ezekiel Elliott.
We were all flabbergasted, yet many of us were relieved in the top five because we didn't want to have to make the tough choice on drafting Ezekiel Elliott.
The guy who selected Zeke then started saying
he never meant to select Zeke.
He was setting up his queue on our drafting website,
and right as he clicked the queue button for Zeke,
the draft started,
and the button changed to draft instead of queue.
He claimed he would have taken Saquon
and demanded that the commissioner start the draft order.
Over.
The commissioner ignored his request because,
one, he shouldn't have waited last second to make a cue list,
and two, why was he cuing Zeke if he was the first pick?
We have a veteran league, and there's no way Zeke would have lasted until pick 20.
The guy who drafted Zeke cried the rest of the draft,
threatened to auto-draft the rest of the time,
and now is refusing to pay the league fee for the winning pot.
He is the last guy not to pay.
Do you think the commissioner should have restarted the draft,
and what should the penalty be for him not paying the fee before the
league begins? I mean,
I think, A, there's no
reason that he should have been queuing up
Zeke, because I totally agree with that
because if you're the first pick, why would you even do that?
Like, don't make that mistake. I also think,
B, that they should have just
let him change the pick. It's the first pick of the draft.
Yeah, they should have let him change it. If he was crying
right from the moment, as in his words crying and making a huge fuss of
it and it's the first pick of the draft yeah just start the draft over like why do you want to be
like oh you're screwed i don't know i don't get that i would send him a uh notice of demand to pay
on via certified mail on league letterhead and uh in that letter, let him know that there will be a 10% increase
in his entry fee starting week one
and recurring each Sunday of the NFL season that he is not paid.
And that if he's not paid by the time the championship happens,
he's out of the league.
Let's be honest.
He probably paid today right after Zeke signed,
and he's probably on the message board talking about how he meant to take zeke the whole yeah right
exactly yeah no i think i'm in a league where if i don't pay by tomorrow uh my lineup freeze i can't
make any roster moves or anything like that so i think that's a penalty you have to kind of
establish that beforehand but yeah you gotta you gotta you gotta pay man like gotta pay pay up
also i i would just say that if you're sending regulators emails in, you should not send us questions about how to collect entry fees.
Because I'm in like 20 leagues and the 17 that I'm in with CBS people, I've paid $0 and collected $0.
And no one will collect any money until the playoffs start happening.
I'm in a fantasy league that Adam commissions that's a baseball league.
And the championship game just happened this last week.
I have still not paid.
You're going to pay, though.
I will.
Yeah, we always pay.
Yeah, when you play with people every year.
They pay.
All right, Jordan from a town with a way better football team
than Miami Dowers for Philadelphia.
Orlando.
Oh, UCF?
Have you been practicing?
What, the us?
In front of a mirror every night.
Dear Warren, Nate, Michael,
and Bob. Those are
regulators? Is that
Michael McDonald who wrote the original track?
I don't know who Bob is. I joined a league
late last year. Apparently, they determined the draft
order by last year's end of season ranking.
So if you won, you get the last pick. If you got last place,
you get the first pick. So on and so
forth. New members are kicked to the end of
the draft. This is the only thing that carries over
from the past season. No keepers, no
money, nothing else, just the draft
results or just the league results determining
the draft. It's ridiculous.
It promotes tanking and I hate it.
As I have said to them, you don't get dealt better odds
in blackjack just because you played your previous hands poorly.
We've already drafted, but I'd like to propose the change for next year's draft before we start the season.
Help me convince these idiot morons that we need to start fresh every year with a random draft order.
I mean, it doesn't have to be random.
One thing that one of my leagues does, it's my longest running league.
You actually play out the
six teams that don't make the fancy playoffs you play that out uh the winner of that could get the
you know whatever but the way that we actually do it is a draft lottery the next year so the
winner of that gets the most lotto balls but you don't just give lotto balls to the last place
because the whole idea was anti-tanking but i think if you have the the toilet bowl played out that's one way to get away from tanking um the second way would be to do
something like a lotto i ran a mortar is fine too but i like these kind of more fun ideas personally
i would just say reading this email it made me think um you're not wrong walter you're just
you are in your first year what the hell and you're telling
these guys they're idiots and you hate the way they run their league i might not invite you back
into the league but you're i mean you're right but what what adam like i'm regulating you you
just like now i have to bleep now i have to get the bleep out that was a direct movie quote
well i don't care i i don't i don't bleep out. No, that was a direct movie quote. Well, I don't care.
I don't just put any movie quote I want.
All right.
What movie quote was it from, Adam?
You're not wrong.
You're just an a-hole?
Yes.
I don't know.
What is that?
I knew you wouldn't know, and I just wanted to embarrass you.
Thank you.
Big Lebowski.
Oh, okay, okay.
Crappy movie.
All right, we're out of here, everybody.
Thanks for listening.
Now everybody hates me.
Talk to you tomorrow.