Fantasy Football Today - 09/09 Fantasy Football Podcast: Mailbag (Recorded Fri.)!

Episode Date: September 9, 2017

Answering your questions to help you set your lineups for Week 1 and discussing the best backup TE for Rob Gronkowski owners to own. Please keep in mind we recorded this show before the latest news on Ezekiel Elliott. Enjoy! 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

Happy Saturday, everybody. Just before the show, I got two things to tell you real quick. First of all, very cool offer to watch some games for free. Your local NFL on CBS games are streaming live on CBS All Access. Start your free trial right now at cbs.com slash NFL. That's cbs.com slash NFL. And don't forget to listen to Ion Fantasy Football tonight on CBS Sports Radio, 10 p.m. to midnight.

We'll talk about the latest on Ezekiel Elliott, and we'll answer all your questions. That's 10 p.m. to midnight Eastern, Eye on Fantasy Football on CBS Sports Radio or CBSSportsRadio.com. Enjoy the mailbag. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. Here we go. Email us at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Here we go. Email us at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Here we go. If you still draft quarterbacks in round one,

we're here to help. Let's go. Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Ian. Yeah, plenty of your emails here as we help you set your lineups. Fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Adam and Jamie here. You're hearing this on saturday we're

recording on friday morning so uh there might be some injury news that we don't know about hello again jamie hello buddy all right let's do this here first time ever doing a bonus mailbag actually i've done this before but not until like week 15 or 16 so we're gonna try to make this a weekly thing mike in in Boise, Idaho. I think you're supposed to say it like that, not Boise. Hey, Dan, Mark, Mark and Lorenzo. No idea. Those have got to be dolphins, right? 80s dolphins. I don't know who Lorenzo is. Oh, Lorenzo Hampton.

Okay, fair enough, old man. Full PPR league. I have Keenan Allen, Golden Tate, Larry Fitzgerald, and Martavis Bryant. Keenan Allen, Tate, Fitzgerald, and Bryant. I need to start three. Who would you sit? Ooh. I would sit Keenan Allen. Okay.

Allen and Tate are tough ones there, but sit Keenan Allen. From Virgil. Hey, Adam and friends. No, you know what? I'm going to sit Golden Tate. You're going to sit Golden Tate. Okay. Keenan Allen over Tate. 10-team league.

I somehow ended up with Julio Jones and A.J. Green in the first two rounds. How about that? Not too happy with all my running backs. Kareem Hunt, yay. Bilal Powell, Theo Riddick, and Danny Woodhead. So I've been shopping some trades early and got a proposal from an opponent. Get Ezekiel Elliott and Doug Martin. Give up Julio Jones. Should I take that trade? Not until we know what the scenario is, which I guess by the time you're hearing it, you will know Friday night. But we're recording this Friday afternoon.

So if you can wait that out, then I would wait that out. I fear that he can't, though. I fear that the trade might be off the table, like if he gets good news on Zeke. Yeah, well, there was the report from somebody that somebody said something about something. Wait, what? Do I know this? There was a report that somebody heard that the judge is going to lean in Elliott's favor. Oh, yeah?

Is that the one you told me about a few days ago? Maybe. Yeah. All right. Well, it's just a little report. Virgil, thank you for your question. Cody wants to know who to flex this week, Martavis Bryant or Brandon Marshall? Bryant.

Tyler Eifert or Delaney Walker? Delaney. This is from Andres Sanchez. Why are you kind of low on Tyler Eifert, by the way, against the Ravens, just fearing that Ravens D? I think the Ravens D is good, and I think that Eifert, I know he's playing with a knee injury, but I'm still a little bit concerned.

I know Heath is all about Charles Clay, says Andres. Would you drop Jack Doyle for Charles Clay? I think you could do that if you don't want to carry two tight ends. If we get news that Andrew Luck is playing next week, Jack Doyle will probably be very popular off the waiver wire. You're going to regret that if you do. It's tough playing for week one versus playing for the season. You've got to win. Week one is still important.

Yeah. Again, the Dolphins-Bucks game impacted a lot of fantasy owners. The injuries, clearly, that we have are going to impact people like Luck. If you have to make that move, just do it Sunday night or, excuse me, Saturday night, and hopefully you get Doyle back on Tuesday.

Okay. Would you rather go with Fleener or Klay this week? This is from Sean. Charles Klay or Kobe Fleener? I think Klay has a higher ceiling, although Fleener is just so interesting because of the one game that Willie Sneed missed last year and the fact that they're going to need him. By the way, it looks like you have a pretty nice hotel room. There's some artwork.

It looks all right. Yeah, it's not bad. All right, good. Are you enjoying New York City? Yes. Please go to Patsy's. I'm not here that long, and so I will not be going to Patsy's. Why didn't you go yesterday?

You had your chance. I went somewhere else. That was probably better. No, it wasn't better. I just don't get it. Trust me for once. All right. Ryan in Long Island.

I got to start two and half PPR. Kevin White, Tyler Lockett. Oh, wait. No, no, no. Sorry. So I took out that question. He gave us two questions. I only have one.

Who would you rather start, deep league, Kevin White or Tyler Lockett, PPR? Kevin White. But I would not be surprised, and this is just somebody to keep an eye on, if Paul Richardson comes out and has a big game. So just put him on your radar if you can. Yeah. I mean, well, it is the Bonanza. True. Yeah. So Anton, well, it is the Bonanza. True.

Yeah, so. Anton from a city in Canada. Dave would say Ontario. No, he would say like somewhere in Wisconsin. Hey, Ned, Caitlin, Rob, and Rickon. We know them. Yes. I have a flex situation.

Bilal Powell or Zach Ertz? It would Ertz me to say Powell, so I'm going to say Zach Ertz. All right. Zach Ertz it is. A few more emails here. Justin from a small town in southern Ohio. We have more than a few. Justin from a small town in southern Ohio.

I don't know if it's small, but we'll just say Columbus. Yeah, I don't know if it's small either. Who do I start from this group? I need to pick three, so basically sit one. Alshon Jeffrey, Keenan Allen, Kelvin Benjamin, Stefan Diggs. I'm going to sit Keenan Allen. All right, so you're going to start Jeffrey, Benjamin, and Diggs. Yes, if you're listening to our Friday show and then our Saturday show, I know I said I was going to start Jeffrey, Benjamin, and Diggs. Yes, if you're listening to our Friday show

and then our Saturday show, I know I said I was going to move Diggs up, and I did that. There you go. Beautiful. Pick two from Adam in a horse racing town in upstate New York. I know this. Where's all the horse racing in upstate New York? Isn't it where the third

leg of the triple crown is? That's not that far upstate, but maybe. I know – you know what, Adam? You've stumped me, and now I don't want to answer your question, but I will anyway. Pick two. Crowell, Ingram, Rob Kelly. Bench, Ingram. So Crowell and Kelly over Ingram.

Nick from Rhode Island, PPR League. Tyler Lockett, Thomas Rawls, Cole Beasley, Wendell Smallwood. I don't know how many he needs, but Lockett, Rawls, Beasley, and Smallwood. I will take Rawls, Beasley, Smallwood, Lockett. In that order. Okay. Yes. What are your general expectations for Rawls this week?

I think he has the most touches of the Seattle running backs, and it's going to be messy, so I would try to avoid him. All right. Here's George from California. Who's the better stash, Matt Breida or Jamal Williams? And would you drop Hoopa as the Gronk owner for Brita so I could keep Williams? Yes, that's the easy move to make. The better stash, Aaron Rodgers.

I still want to say Jamal Williams, but it's so hard. Probably Matt Brita. All right. I've been advising a few people who have Gronk Who have been asking about second tight ends And I don't really see a point in rostering one If you have a Gronk But if you are going to roster one

The guy that makes the most sense to me is Dwayne Allen There's just so many guys that'll be Waver, wire, fodder No, but you're never ever starting a tight end over a gronk never unless he gets hurt and if he does right duane allen is the guy to pick up sure but the the you know i'm with you i would not carry two tight ends but the other side of it is you know that if rob gronkowski gets hurt the first guy everybody's running to get is duane allen yeah because martellus bennett was good last year and so the gronk owner is trying to get is Dwayne Allen. Yeah, of course. Because Marcellus Bennett was good last year. And so the Gronk owner is trying to get ahead of that.

So if you're – like you said, if you're going to carry two, you carry Dwayne Allen if that's the route you want to go. But I don't know if what Dwayne Allen will give you is better than what Charles Clay will give you, is better than what Fleener will give you. Yeah, I mean, yeah. I think it will be. I mean, Clay – It might be.

But think about it. Over the course of time that Gronk has been hurt, there's really been one tight end that's been good, and that's been Martellus Bennett because he's good. Yeah, but Dwayne Allen – yeah, I mean I guess that's true. But you're not talking about great players available on waivers at tight end. You're talking about just playing matchups. No, but look, we're one game into week one as we're recording this. Demetrius Harris scored a touchdown in that Thursday night game. He's not going to be very good, but there's going to be – Evan Ingram may come out and have a big game.

If you're the Gronk owner, would you rather carry Gronk and Ingram if Ingram looks good or Gronk and Dwayne Allen with the hope that Gronk gets hurt or would you rather take a chance on maybe David Najoku's good or maybe Vince McDonald is good truthfully I would take Allen over all those guys Ingram is the only one that I have to hesitate on but they're all in look your the point would be is what if Ingram blows up or Najoku blows up or McDonald blows up or George Kittle? Pick Zach Miller, Charles Blake, whatever the case may be. That's more value to you than waiting for Gronk to get hurt. But yeah, speaking of which, Kittle, we sort of – we went through the 49ers-Panthers game very quickly on the Friday show.

Kittle has a good matchup. It's a real stretch to start him, but I don't know. Nobody's starting him week one. No, but like super deep league, I just want to say, has based on last year a very good matchup. I think the Panthers gave up the third most. But if he's the guy, because they could still use Logan Paulson. Yeah.

And they could use Kyle Uchek. All right, fine. I just think, like, you could say all those guys, a lot of them might be owned by the time Gronk gets hurt if he gets hurt. So I just think if you're going to stash a tight end, maybe it's – for me, it would be Allen. Also, as sure as I was, Jamie, that the Patriots were going to win on Thursday, and I said it was a lock, that's how sure I am that David Njoku is not going to be fantasy relevant this year. Agreed. Yeah, which means pick him up right now because I'm an idiot.

So before we get to more of your emails – You mean David Njoku. David Njoku. I've also heard people say Njoku, and I don't think that's true. I don't think that's the case. Please don't say that. The one that makes me laugh is whenever Dave says it wrong in your mind. He says Njoku?

Huh? He says Njoku? I think so. But there's been a few times where he said it, at least according to you, incorrectly, and you've corrected it. I thought that was Heath. But maybe. I am like the gatekeeper to David Njoku. You don't pronounce his name wrong in front of me.

All right, we'll get back to the emails in just a second. But listen, people. You've got to get on the Draft app or PlayDraft.com. And if you want a free entry just to test it out, you can use our promo code FFtoday. FFtoday. But listen, this is my new favorite app, and it's not even that new for me. I've been playing it for more than a year now, both baseball and football. And why it's different than other daily fantasy apps is you get to do a draft every single week, a snake draft. And they only take a few minutes.

You don't have much time on the clock. There aren't that many people. You're not filling out full, complete rosters. But there actually are a lot of different ways you can customize your drafts too. Listen, download the Draft app right now. Search Draft in the App Store and join a game in just minutes. And you can play for free on your computer at PlayDraft.com or on the app, on the Draft app, if you use the promo code FFtoday.

If you search for Draft in the App Store, it'll be the first one that comes up. And again, that promo code is FFtoday. But this is really fun stuff. We all love doing snake drafts. So do more of them. Download the Draft app or go on PlayDraft.com and use the promo code FFtoday for a limited time. You get a free entry into a pay league, a free entry into a real money game with the promo code FFtoday. All right, more emails from Sean in New York.

Dear Jamie Poo, you have Decker ranked just ahead of Fournette. I have to flex one of them in PPR. Please advise, Jamie Poo. I think Decker's got a great situation. He's got a good matchup against the slot cornerback for the Raiders, and he's healthy. He scored in 14 of 18 of his last games. So Fournette just makes me a little bit nervous in his debut against the Texans.

And from Joe, I thought about trading T.Y. Hilton and Carlos Hyde. Give up Hilton and Hyde. Get Allen Robinson and Jordan Howard. Would you give up Hilton and Hyde for Robinson and Howard? No. Okay. Not yet. I want to see how long Andrew looks out first.

Jim in Philadelphia says, hey, Beavis and Butthead, who would you like to be? I would like to be Beavis. I knew you were going to say that, and it was a trick. It was a trick because Butthead is the much smarter one. He is the leader. Beavis is an idiot. He's the real Butthead. Yeah, but he's the funny one.

He is probably funnier, yeah. Now I get to say I need TP for my bunk room. There you go. PPR League, John Brown, Sterling Shepard, or Dante Moncrief? John Brown. Sterling Shepard, or Dante Moncrief? John Brown. From Kyle, I have Le'Veon Bell, Zeke, Kareem Hunt, Doug Martin, Terrence West, and Amir Abdullah. Wow.

Congratulations on your championship. Zeke, Bell, Hunt, Martin, West, and Abdullah. Who should I trade to get max value at running back, and who should I aim to get at wide receiver? Sorry, he wants to trade a running back for a receiver. I would wait until the ruling is done on Elliott to see because you don't want to be down. You don't want to trade Hunt, let's just say, to get a superstar receiver,

and then you're down Elliott until week eight, and you're down Martin until week five because that really hurts your depth. So while it sounds great now, you know, if you punt on Hunt, ha-ha, then you're losing essentially three backs for a significant stretch. But if Elliott is fine and he gets the TRO and you're able to have him all season. Then I would shop Hunt while his value is at its absolute highest. Clint from a town in western Ohio.

I don't really know the geography very well. We'll go back to Columbus. Columbus again, sure. After Kareem Hunt went supernova on Thursday night, I need some guys that have a chance at some big points this week. So which three would you start out of? Crowell, Lamar Miller, Keenan Allen, Golden Tate, and Demarius Thomas? I would start Crowell. I would start Miller, Allen, Tate, Thomas. Yes. Crowell, Miller, and Allen. All right.

PPR League. This is Jameth from La Quinta, California. PPR League highest floor this week. Sproles or Theoretic? Sproles. My name is John. I have luck as my quarterback. I had to pick up Cutler, but now that's not going to happen.

So Tyrod Taylor, Sam Bradford, Jared Goff, Joe Flacco, Taylor Bradford, Goff Flacco, who do I start? I would start Taylor. Good performance against the Jets last year when the Jets were better. And I'm surprised at this line, that it's so big in Buffalo's favor. I took the Jets in a pick-em. Yeah, it's a smart move. But the bill's to win, right?

Yeah, I took the Jets with the points. I didn't have to pick. I think that Taylor is going to play well. All right, Jose in a city in California. Let's go with Laquita, just like Jameth. Sure. 12-team PPR league. I don't like to start players against my defense.

I would like your opinion on that. So he's got the Cardinals defense. He has Stafford. He has Dalton. What would you do? I would start Dalton. that. So he's got the Cardinals defense. He has Stafford. He has Dalton. What would you do? I would start Dalton. They're close enough anyway. And if you want to avoid that, just avoid the headache.

Look, they're both playing good defenses, but Stafford probably has a tougher matchup of the two. Yeah, and I don't really care about starting players against my defense. I'm not going to. Like, they're independent of each other. You put in your lineup the players that you think are going to score the most fantasy points.

But if you want to use it as a tiebreaker, fine. Patrick in a California oceanfront town. What's up with all these Californians? California oceanfront town. Santa Monica?

San Diego. All right. Is San Diego oceanfront? I don't know. Yeah, Santa Monica, Jamie.. All right. Is San Diego oceanfront? I don't know. Yeah, Santa Monica, Jamie. Let's go with that. Dear Joyce, Dean, Brown, and Franco. James?

Yeah. Yes. Nice. Nice work. Somehow, Mariota – Actually, look at your notes. I can see it. It's a little different.

There you go. Mariota's still on waivers in a PPR league. What? Yeah, I know. Should I drop Jacquez Rogers? I have Doug Martin. Should I drop Jacquez Rogers to pick up Mariota and carry him along with Matt Ryan? Yes.

He says he has Melvin Gordon, Kareem Hunt, Kareem Abdullah. Amir Abdullah. So, yes, you could drop Jocko's ride. Look, we lost one of Roger's great games. He's going to have an opportunity for a very good game next week against Chicago. But then it gets daunting. Yeah. Kareem Abdullah Jabbar.

And here's another email. I don't have a name, sorry. Please help. My league is going crazy calling for blood and saying the following was collusion. Please bring perspective. Two quarterback league. I have luck in Rodgers. I made a trade with another league member.

My Deshaun Jackson for his Blake Bortles. It's a two quarterback league. Give up Deshaun for Bortles. Okay. There's heavy talk that Chad Henney could replace Bortles. So he suggested adding insurance to the deal. The agreement was that if Bortles was to be replaced by Henney by week three, I get to trade back for Deshaun. He wins by getting overpaid for Blake Bortles to begin with with my Deshaun Jackson.

The trade itself I felt was fair with the agreement, but my league has taken the stance that the agreement to the trade is collusion. What do you think? I don't think it's collusion. I am not okay with this. Why? I don't think that two teams should be allowed to make conditional trades where if this happens, you get the player back. Absolutely not.

But teams in sports make conditional trades all the time. I knew you were going to go there, and I still don't like it. I don't know what to say to that jerk, but I still am not okay with it. I mean, look, I can understand that it's questionable because – so that guy, let's just say, gets two great weeks out of Deshaun Jackson, which is now not going to be the case. But let's just say he goes off against Chicago. I forget who their week three opponent is.

And so then it's by week three? By week three, it says. By week three. So if it's by week three, yeah, I think I'm okay with it. I don't like it. It's shenanigans. Devin was offered Gronk straight up for Zeke. He has Hunt, McCaffrey, Mixon, Doug Martin, and Marlon Mack.

Hunt, McCaffrey, Mixon, Martin, and Mack. A lot of Ms. Would you trade Zeke for Gronk? It's hard to say because we're doing this on Saturday, and the answer will be on Friday. It's true, yeah. If it passed, then the answer is no. If the TRO passed through or was granted, then no.

Okay. All right, man. Thank you for filling in – or not filling in, for doing this. Filling in for myself. And we'll be back tomorrow night, we're hoping. Everything's a little in flux with Irma, but we should be back tomorrow night to recap're hoping. Everything's a little in flux with Irma, but we should be back tomorrow night to recap the games, and we can't wait.

So week one, let's get started here. Bonanza, Packers, Seahawks. And for your listening pleasure, here is the full Saved by the Le'Veon Bell song. Have a great weekend, everybody. See you Sunday. Yeah, please, everybody, be safe. When I wake up in the morning

cbs gives out a warning by the jayi's bank of offensive line injury to brandon cooks and before i even look my opponent grabs his back up off the waiver wire it's all right i've got levy on bell if we lose desert flex i know I'm in a mess Well, I better do my homework tonight Reading Jamie's starter sick, Dave's trade chart is legit Heath and Adam shared a team, it was a dumpster fire It's alright I've got Le'Veon

It's alright Not George Le'Veon It's alright I've got baby on bail.