Fantasy Football Today - 10 Biggest Rankings Movers! Jaylen Warren, Rome Odunze, Cooper Kupp and More (03/17 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: March 17, 2025

With free agency mostly behind us, it's time to get a look at updated rankings and our biggest rankings movers (3:00) with Justin Fields, Evan Engram and Anthony Richardson on the list. We also have a lot of news (12:30) to get to as we get into the Kareem Hunt and Cooper Kupp signings and more ... Players moving up in the rankings include Jaylen Warren (25:30), Najee Harris (31:40), Jaxon Smith-Njigba (35:15) and more wide receivers (40:00) ... Players moving down in the rankings include Breece Hall (48:55), Cooper Kupp (57:45), C.J. Stroud and Deebo Samuel. We've got some very interesting stats about Hall and what his 2025 season might look like ... Email us at [e-mail] Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Shop our store: shop.cbssports.com/fantasy  SUBSCRIBE to FFT Express on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-express/id1528634304 Follow FFT Express on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6qyGWfETSBFaciPrtvoWCC?si=6529cbee20634da8 SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 FOLLOW FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 SUBSCRIBE to FFT DFS on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dfs/id1579415837 FOLLOW FFT DFS on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5zU7pBvGK3KPhfb69Q1hNr?si=1c5030a3b1a64be2 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." Visit the betting arena on CBSSports.com for all the latest sportsbook reviews and sportsbook promos. 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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Ontario. This is fantasy football today from CBS Sports. What a play! Can you believe this? No, I can't. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races and he stays at his feet. This is gonna go the distance. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie and Heath. Oh, what's up everybody? Welcome to the show.

It is Monday, March 17th. None of us are wearing green from what I can see. That's not green, is it? That shirt? This shirt is not green. My shorts are. Okay. Happy St. Patrick's Day, everybody. Who are the biggest rankings movers post free agency? We've got a list of 10 big rankings movers, not necessarily the biggest ones because I don't want to just repeat last week's shows, but we will sort of touch on that a little bit.

But some guys we're gonna talk about today. Brice Hall moving down in the rankings. Jalen Warren moving up in the rankings. Jackson Smith and Jigma moving up in the rankings. Debo Samuel moving down in the rankings. Those are just some of the players we will talk about. And wouldn't you know, the brackets are not even out for 24 hours and Jamie, the big Gators fan, is already complaining about Florida's draw. So sad, Jamie. I mean, it was not sad. It's just, you know, not not ideal that we win the SEC and it's the toughest conference maybe in the history of basketball to win.

And not the number one overall seed. Who was the number one overall seed? Auburn? I think Duke was. Duke was? It's overall seed? Auburn? I think Duke was. Duke was? It's Auburn. Auburn? Maybe it's Auburn, I don't know.

I know we were fourth. Oh, that does feel like a little bit of a snub, but you know what? Worst of luck to the Florida Gators. We'll tell you more about our bracket challenge in a little bit. You have an opportunity not just to be in the podcast league but to get a year long subscription to Paramount Plus.

That's pretty cool. Go to cbsports.com slash FFT and join our bracket challenge. Okay, so later in the show, we'll talk about some players that maybe were not the biggest movers, but they were among them. I just wanted to get some fresh names in there,

guys, we hadn't, you know, I don't wanna beat a dead horse, but for now, let's beat a dead horse if you want to. Who was your biggest rankings mover? Heath, I'll start with you. It's got to be Justin Fields. He went from maybe not a store starting quarterback in the NFL to maybe a starting quarterback on your fantasy football team. We get to see Justin Fields, I think, pretty likely,

unless there's an injury as a starter for the season. And we've seen three seasons in a row. Justin Fields as a starter over 20 fantasy points per game. I expect we'll see him right around 20 fantasy points per game this year with the upside to do what he did in his last four last year, which was closer to 25 fantasy points per game. Okay. Can we go through it here?

You guys have Justin Fields ranked where in your quarterback rankings? 14 15 13 well, I think I know where he's gonna be in the consensus rankings if I can do that math. All right, Justin Fields or Anthony Richardson Fields Yes, I'll go Fields. Okay. Jamie, who's your biggest rankings mover? Justin Fields. Fair. I think who else moved like

significantly. Jalen Warren's a good one. Evan Ingram. I think when I first did my rankings when he was released, obviously didn't have high expectations for him to land in a spot that I would say he was going to be a top 10 fantasy tight end and he's back in the top 10. Anybody else? Anybody have him top 10? Evan Ingram? Yes. No.

What do you have him 11th? Um, well, not top 12. Okay. He's been terrible and the Broncos haven't thrown to their tight ends and he's 31 years old. I just don't, I don't want to do that. But I understand why. Like he's been able to like in full PPR produce like a top 10 or 12 tight end with some of the worst efficiency that any tight end has ever had in his life.

When are you saying, when is the efficiency just with Jacksonville or his whole career? Mostly his whole career, but especially last year. And you know the rule about a pass catchers over 30 for me that I don't really expect bounce backs years. He averaged 5.7 yards per target. Three times in his career, he's been close to or over 100 targets. And he's lived in the six to 700 yard range. Yeah. Few players in the NFL have been worse at turning targets into fantasy points

because he also doesn't score any touchdowns. It's a lot of targets though. He has gotten a lot of targets the last few years playing in Doug Peterson's offense, which always gives tight ends a lot of targets. Well, he's been on pace for 115 or more targets in six of eight seasons. That's if you A's or static remove games he left with injuries. But in his full games, he's been on pace for 100. And that's a lot of targets, 115 or more in six of eight seasons.

He also had a year of an Ingram where he averaged five point six yards per target in twenty twenty one. And then he was up to seven point eight yards per target the next season. But you're right, which is also still not good. It's fine. Okay. Really low yak last year. That definitely stands out.

I guess ranking a tight end 10th isn't a huge endorsement anyway. No. Yeah. Okay. Dave, biggest rankings mover for you. Well, those are the two biggest ones. I'll say JSN, slightly out of nausea, but those were both guys that moved up for me. Now, if we're talking about guys that move down, like could there be big rankings movers who move down? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Anthony Richardson. Okay. You think, you think Daniel Jones is a big threat? Okay, you think Daniel Jones is a big threat? The more I think, whether it happens in week one or in week five, I think Daniel Jones has gone to Indianapolis to get on the field at some point. And so until there's literal evidence from videos and coaches and everything else that says that Anthony Richardson's a different guy. Practice observers, the whole nine. It's a waste of a draft pick. I don't care if it's your last pick.

It's a waste. That's so harsh. It's not a waste to draft somebody. We draft backup running backs who won't see the field unless somebody gets hurt. Just view Anthony Richardson like that. If it works out, you've got a top eight quarterback. I've been waiting for it to work out for like three years now. For two years. He's been in the league two years?

Two years. Yeah, he's played like 10 games or something. 14 or... Yeah, I don't know. What's the definition of insanity again? But I don't, I, that's really, I don't know, man. Hey, I'm just telling you what I'm doing. Like, a week ago I was not a big fan of Justin Fields either. Happily would take Justin Fields over Anthony Richardson.

Well, the only thing I would strongly disagree with you on is that it's a waste of a pick because, like Heath said, I mean, you're taking a shot on upside there. Because he could be the starter for half the season, but he could still be a top 10 quarterback for half that season in fantasy. Okay, and when you drop him at any for half the season, but he could still be a top 10 quarterback for half that season in fantasy. Okay. And when you drop him at any point in the year when he doesn't deliver for you, that's

when you'll say, gosh, I wish I could have taken, you know, insert dart throw running back. I wish I could have taken Marshawn Lloyd there. I wish I could have taken- He did a draft like two weeks ago. You drafted three quarterbacks. Was Anthony Richardson one of them? No, but there were probably. Okay. And I made a high point about how I feel. If you're going to draft three of them, I think one of them should be Richardson probably. He's not going to draft three of them again.

That was weird. I'm never going to draft three in a draft that matters. Any draft we do between now and that first of all, any mock draft before the NFL draft, like it's great content and it's fun to think about and start to like, talk about strategy. So I guess they matter in that regard. But I guarantee you in any of the drafts we do that are for our leagues back in our in August coming up, no chance I'm taking three quarterbacks. All right. Well, except for the super flex draft. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Thank you. All right. So those are some of the biggest movers in the rankings.

Justin Fields up, Evan Ingram up, Anthony Richardson down. But well, yeah, I mean, you heard different viewpoints on those. Okay. Anyway, our bracket challenge. So like to get as many people as possible in this. CBSsports.com slash FFT. That's a pretty cool URL. It goes right to our page and you can fill out your bracket. And if you win this, you're in the podcast league, but you also get a year long subscription to Paramount Plus. If you finish in second or third place,

you get a month long subscription to Paramount Plus. So really exciting rewards this year. Again, Podcast League, if you win it, plus a year-long subscription to Paramount Plus, and if you get second or third place, you get a month-long subscription to Paramount Plus, and we hope you join our bracket challenge. I wanna talk about Cooper Cup going to the Seahawks,

three-year, $45 million deal. The way it's structured. Does anybody know how it's structured that Cooper Cup contract in terms of what he's guaranteed? Or is it really more like a one-year deal? I'll see if I can find something. One year and then he's done. That is? I would imagine.

Right. I mean, he's not seeing three years in Seattle. And yes, I did lie about updating my background. I tried to do that this weekend, did not get around to it, but I'm working on it. Anyway, we'll take a break real quick, come back. Did you leave my better tape? It's just, yeah, I put new tape on, so it should last. It should not fall down today.

When you say that you tried to do that this weekend, like what was the extent of your trying? Five minutes before the podcast, he taped it back up. I actually said to his wife, I got to update my background and she said, good. And that was it. I downloaded an image and I put it on a thumb drive to take to Staples. I never made it to the car to get to Staples. So it's on the thumb drive and we'll make some progress from there. We'll be right back on fantasy football today. Bet MGM is an official sports betting partner

of the national hockey league and has your back all season long. From puck drop to the final shot, you're always taken care of with a sports book born in Vegas. That's a feeling you can only get with Bet MGM. And no matter your team, your favorite skater or your style, there's something every NHL fan is going to love with Bet MGM. And no matter your team, your favorite skater or your style,

there's something every NHL fan is going to love about Bet MGM. Download the app today and discover why Bet MGM is your hockey home for the season. Raise your game to the next level this year with Bet MGM, a sportsbook worth a celly and an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League. BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly.

If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Okay, welcome back, folks. Let's go through the news and notes here. The Falcons kept Kirk Cousins and he earned a $10 million roster bonus. So it looks like Kirk Cousins is going to be on the Falcons. Does that make you nervous about Michael Penick's at all, say in a Superflex league? More so than if he was cut clearly, but I think it's still not a hundred percent guarantee

he's on the team. You know, they just decided to give him, give him the roster bonus with the hope I think still of trading him as opposed to eating the contract. Okay next news item, Seattle signed Cooper Cup three year $45 million deal. Okay, Dave, you talked about JSN being a riser briefly touched on that he is going to be in our upcoming segment about the biggest movers and two games without DK Metcalf last year he was a monster. So what do you think about this Cooper Cup edition?

How does it affect Jackson Smith and Jibba and where's Cooper Cup Cup for you? Robert Leonard Cooper Cup is outside of my top 36, but I can't say that he was a big mover because he was never in my top 36 before the move to Seattle. I still think that JSN is going to be the best wide receiver and the top target earner for the Seahawks. It's just a matter of can he expand on being more than the slot guy? Because Cooper Cup is best in the slot. And if that means that JSN is playing outside a lot more, then we've got to do our research. And Adam, you might've already done it on how Jackson Smith and Jigba's done lining up outside. Can he win against one-on-one coverage on the outside? Yeah, I think he can in some respects is route running can

get them open. And I think he can be physical. It's the speed that I worry about. And I kind of worry a little bit about how his game is just like a younger version of what Cooper cups game is now. You know, I'm saying like they can both run routes, they can both get open running routes, they both have great hands. They both have good size, Cup a little bit more so than JSN. It's just the speed factor. And I think JSN, obviously, almost everybody, everyone receiving the league will have more speed than Cooper Cup at this point. But I would imagine that Cup signing there does force JSN outside a lot more often.

So I don't really have much to say. In 2023, Metcalfe missed one game and JSN, I think he had his highest rate lining up outside, out wide. And he had a great game. He had his best game of the year, I think. One of his best games, if not his best. If you look at his numbers out wide versus the slot in 2023, they were much better out wide in terms of yards per out run.

This past year, his yards per out run were absolutely terrible out wide, and they were really good in the slot. So I don't know what to make of it. Probably not much, because it's not like he's gonna be an 80% out wide. Yeah. Do you, so you compared him to Cooper Cup. Do not like he's going to be an 80% out wide. That's important here. Yeah. Do you, do you, so you compared him to Cooper cup.

Do you think he's like, I thought maybe like Pooka Nakua too, like he's not a burner, but he's a great route runner. And hopefully that would be anywhere. Totally reasonable comparison. I might be a little closer. Kind of grunting. I might be a little closer on cup and JSN this year. Not, I mean, JSN definitely first, but I, I'm not sure there's going to be a huge target disparity when cups healthy.

Well, that would be sad. I mean, cup was still over nine targets a game last year, wasn't he or eight point two, something like that. Well, really, he broke down. Yeah, down the stretch. I mean, his last five games were miserable. They obviously believe in him out there, you know, giving him this. Well, again, I want to look at the contract details.

So he had 21 targets in week one. Holy cow. But his last six games, three, games three three three one and seven that's five games three three three one seven targets including the playoffs for Cooper Cup all right so where is JSN in your rankings guys? 11 currently is at 15 18 17 11 15 17 all right I guess we can talk about him a little bit more later when we get into our biggest rankings movers because he was high for hire for Jamie. And then where's Cooper Cup? Dave said outside the top 36.

Anybody have Cup inside the top 36? Nope. Yeah, between 30 and 36. The Vikings acquired Jordan Mason from San Francisco for a sixth round pick in 2026 and a pick swap in 2025. How high is Mason in the handcuff rankings? In the top 36. Just inside number 36. That's like your running back ratings. Even your handcuff rankings. He's at 35 in the projections for me. So yeah.

Okay. So he's getting drafted. So yeah. Oh my gosh. Of course he's going to get drafted. Um, I'm trying to temper my expectations and my excitement for Jordan Mason because I thought he he'd look good at the start of last year, but he's not a well-rounded three down running back.

And Aaron Jones is still going to be awesome. We saw last year that cam acres, this is an upgrade on cam acres is really what it is, and we saw last year that acres was playing like a third of the time. For Minnesota, something like that. And unless Aaron Jones takes a step back, Mason's just going to play a third of the time and he's going to be one of those dart throw lottery ticket guys. I'm sure that the fellows would agree with me that Garendo would be the better drafty at this point than Mason.

Uh, no, I would take Mason over Garendo for two reasons. One, San Francisco's history of drafting running backs. They're going to take somebody again. They have a lot of picks. Um, two, he's also an injury-prone running back playing behind an injury-prone running back so they're not far apart but I think Mason's situation at least for me right now is just slightly better for two reasons. One, you got him playing behind a 30-year-old Aaron Jones who was great last year playing through injuries but Kevin O'Connell

already said they played him too much and the fact that he's come out and said that is I think an indication of why they went and got somebody else. So, it's a little surprising that they didn't maybe try and draft someone. I know they're really thin on draft picks, so making this move is probably a smart one. The contract is somewhat interesting that they gave him a two-year deal for what he has been. So, I like both a lot because of who they're playing behind. But I would think by the time we get out of the NFL draft, the 49ers have somebody else like what they did last year and in drafting Garendo after they had already Elijah Mitchell and Mason on the roster. Um, but to me, I think

Mason's in a great spot. Like this was a fantastic trade for him. Oh, there's no question. It was great for him. was a fantastic trade for him. Oh, there's no question it was great for him. I still like Garendo. I like his lottery ticket potential better for obvious reasons. Number one, it's San Francisco. I think that offense will still be good. We saw Garendo work as a pass catcher. If he's got that opportunity, I'll take him over whatever rookie they draft, assuming they don't go crazy with the draft capital. They got one of the top five running backs and obviously, Garendo's spot is in trouble. If it's a day three running back, Garendo's already proven it. He just got away from McCaffrey and see how he is coming into the year.

They both might end up mattering this year and that's great. But I liked what I saw from Garendo last year too. And I think he can do more if he gets that opportunity in San Fran, Cisco. Okay. And then speaking of, uh, Oh yeah. I'm not disrespecting the city by not saying the whole name. Why is that a thing? It's a thing. Really? It's been a thing for years. Oh, yeah. Years. They don't like being called San Fran? They don't even do it, dude. It's disrespectful. Really? We don't see where you live is Sleepy Ho. I don't live in Sleepy Ho anymore. So speaking of former 49ers running backs, Elijah Mitchell, we know he's on the Chiefs,

but Kareem Hunt is back with the Chiefs as well. So now Heath, what's your take on the Chiefs backfield as they give Kareem Hunt a one-year small deal, one-year deal worth up to $2.5 million? They also signed Jujuts Schuster. Almost a mystery box. Would still prefer Isaiah Pacheco. Kind of surprised again that the Chiefs chose to go this route instead of drafting a running back, but they need to draft like seven offensive linemen.

So that may be why. Pacheco's the favorite to be the starting running back. I think it will be a committee. And I think the chiefs don't know right now. You don't know, like at what point does Isaiah Pacheco look like the guy before he broke his leg when he does. I think he's the guy. If he doesn't hunt very good in short yardage, he runs to the hole he's

supposed to run to and runs until he gets tackled. Like you've talked about this, but he does, he's the type of running back coaches like more than fantasy football managers. Right. And Mitchell provides some upside if he's able to be the same guy that he was and stay healthy, which is another big question mark. Are you guys taking a big win for Pacheco? A big win? Yeah. Oh, wow.

I don't know. I didn't necessarily see it that way. If they drafted somebody, then he could have been replaced. Like now you're talking about two also around guys once 27, once 30. You know there's certainly potential for him to still get replaced if he's not right. But like if they were going to go and spend, I mean look this is a team that's at one point in the Andy Reid era has drafted the guy in the first round. You know so it would have been I think a huge detriment to him if they were going to spend some significant capital on a very loaded running back class.

They brought back guys that they know. And look, even last year, while Kareem Hunt was out playing Pacheco down the stretch, Pacheco is still getting those first opportunities once he came back. So if he's right, and again, this injury we've talked about a lot, sometimes it takes a little bit longer than most you know I think we we kind of illustrated when he came back last year don't expect this guy to be a League winning savior for you because of his return in week 13 and he wasn't but I still think if he's the best guy He's the best guy, you know

And so he's gonna have the opportunity still be a number two fantasy running back Maybe not a top five top ten guy like we were expecting him to be last year and looked like in the first couple of games of the season. But you know, a 27 year old Elijah Mitchell, who has a terrible injury track record, who couldn't play at all last year after hamstring surgery, and then Kareem Hunt again at his age, you know, asking him to come back. Like this is a great situation for Pacheco if he's healthy. The only other thing I would say is like they gave Kareem Hunt almost nothing. Maybe I'm over reading this and they do still draft a running back.

Listen, not only do they not give Kareem Hunt almost nothing, they gave Elijah Mitchell almost nothing and Pacheco's at the end of his rookie deal and he was a six round pick. Right now, they've got a committee making nothing. They can move away. And Carson Seale too. Making away. And Carson seal too. And Carson seal who was an undrafted player. They could literally cut all four of these running backs and not feel it whatsoever on the salary cap.

Let's see what happens. But there's an obvious scenario. Sorry, James. There's an obvious scenario where there's an ugly committee and fancy managers are rolling the dice starting any of these running backs from week to week. Chiefs suck. Yeah.

Like I just, like I look at them, lost to me. They just like, they're not good. Uh, so who would you rather have Pacheco or Aaron Jones right now? Jones, Jones, slightly. Okay. Uh, Baltimore, oh, Cincinnati have a big deal this morning. Two wide receiver extensions. Jamar Chase, four years, $161 million with $112 million guaranteed.

T Higgins, four years, $115 million guaranteed. Nope, not guaranteed. $115 million overall, not guaranteed. But T Higgins and Jamar Chase signed extensions. The Ravens signed Cooper Rush to a two-year deal. The Jets signed former Kansas City defensive lineman, Derek Notti, falling apart for the Chiefs. The 49ers brought back Kyle Yuscheck on a two-year deal.

The Commanders re-signed defensive end, Cleland Farrell to a one-year deal. They also signed former Steelers offensive lineman, Nate Herbig, who missed all of 2024. The Bills, interesting news here, two of their free agent signings, Michael Hecht from the Rams and Larry Ogunjobi. So two defensive linemen,

they're both suspended six games for violating the PED policy. They knew about one of them. They did not know about Ogunjobi, I believe. Buffalo signed, in addition to that, they signed guard Kendrick Green and cornerback Dane Jackson. The Jets signed Tyler Johnson at wide receiver.

The Chargers signed McKay Bechtin, former Eagles guard. He kind of re-resurrected his career as a guard with the Eagles. He gets a two year, $20 million deal. It's a guy who started as a tackle and has had success now as an interior offensive lineman. So he's on the Chargers, McKay Bechtin. Dolphins signed tight end Farrell Brown,

Cowboys signed wide receiver Paris Campbell, and the Eagles signed tight end Kyler Granson to a one year deal. Okay, let's talk now about some of the biggest movers that we haven't necessarily talked about as much. Not gonna lie, it hasn't been the most exciting year of free agency, we knew that going in. So there's definitely gonna be some overlap

from what we talked about last week. But here we go. Jalen Warren, this is a list from Jamie that I think Dave and Heath just mostly agreed with. But Jamie, I'll just let you start. Jalen Warren was a big riser for you. Where did you move him up to? I think he's like 23 in that range, 22, 23.

Where is he compared to Pacheco and Aaron Jones? Head of Pacheco behind Jones. Okay. How about you guys? Would you take Aaron Jones or Jalen Warren? I have Jones with a couple of spots higher. Yeah. And I'm writing about Dynasty running back rankings today.

And one of the things is like, be really careful with any optimism about any running back for the next couple of weeks, months. Um, because we have done this before. And usually it's with guys that sign on teams, the guy that made me think of it was nausea, not necessarily Jaylen Warren, but they go, they get a deal. They go to a spot we really like, Oh man, look at all this opportunity for them. And then a running back gets drafted and it doesn't matter anymore. Uh, so I, I'm especially with Warren, I'm a little bit less excited just

because I'm not sure I actually believe they'd give him the workload that he needs, but I'd take Jones and I'd put Warren, I think he's around RB 30. The interesting thing with them is they lost their second round pick with the DK Metcalf trade. So what do they do in terms of a, they don't have quarterback right now. I don't think they want to start the season with Mason Rudolph, but who knows? So I think they pick what 21st? Sounds about right. the back over a quarterback who I think a lot of people consider to be the third quarterback in the class, that would be sort of telling where they're going with their offense.

But yeah, I mean, they could still clearly draft somebody or still sign somebody. There's been some Nick Chubb rumors to the Steelers too, to add another presence there because Kenneth Gainwell right now is the only running back of significance, as far as I know, that they signed and they gave him next to nothing also. So they have some potential options, with Warren being the starter and gaining as the backup, but it feels like there still could be somebody added in Pittsburgh.

Let's just say there isn't someone added in Pittsburgh. Why is this not the opportunity for Jaylen Warren to be a top 12 running back, to break out and be amazing? Does anybody see it that way, if they be a top 12 running back, you know, to break out and be amazing. Does anybody see it that way if they don't draft a running back or if they draft a day three running back or something like that? I don't know top 12 but top 15, you know, he can he can get there. I mean, look, his 2023 season was was I don't say impressive, but it was solid, you know, and he certainly proven he could be a significant pass catcher,

you know, which is nice that he has that ability, even in Arthur Smith's offense. So you know, when you're looking at what his, you know, chances are in this, in this role, if there's nobody else of significance brought in to your point, Adam, then then yeah, he'll move up for me for sure. Like I, if we get to, um, you know, June and he's the lead guy, I'd rather have him than Aaron Jones, yes. Yeah, I mean, I guess would you rather have him

than a guy like Alvin Kamara or something like that who's. They'd be close. Yeah, but the thing is, so yeah, I guess with Warren, you know what the plus is, right? I mean, the Steelers are gonna run the ball a lot. Arthur Smith has been top four in run rate and five of six seasons as a coordinator or a head coach. He's also been, his teams have actually been top three

in running back target rate in three of the last four seasons. They've also had some years where they've been very low in running back target rate. But two things that would concern me with Warren, I wanna get your thoughts on this. Would he even be the third down back if he were the lead running back?

Would he lose that role? Kenneth Gainwell, in all three of Jalen Warren seasons, Kenneth Gainwell has graded by PFF as a better pass blocker than Warren. And you see they were talking trash to each other about it. No. Playfully, you know about who's the better pass blocker. OK. Well, yeah, for what it's worth, he's had a higher, you know, higher grades. And if you brought him here, you might as well use him. And then who would be the goal line back?

In his career, Jaylen Warren has terrible numbers from the one to the- Eight carries inside the three, two touchdowns. Yeah, but only one of those was from the one yard line. Most of them were from the two or the three, but still he did terrible. I watched them, there were two jet sweeps in there. They weren't like, it wasn't all his fault, but Gainwell has been better near the goal line. Gainwell may be a better pass blocker. So that would be the two things.

Does he lose goal line work? Does he lose the pass catching work? Well, you know who would be their goal line guy? No. Cordero Patterson. That, no way. Seven carries inside the three over the last three years. He has four touchdowns.

Did he have any last year? How many last year? They had Najee Harrison Pittsburgh last year and they were not near the goal line very often. I think Adam, like the, the point, we don't know the answer to any of those specific questions, but the point is he's not going to be the goal line back and the third down back and handle 15 rush attempts per game. Right.

Right. Um, he's not. Unless he proves it Heath, unless he proves that he can do it. He won't start the year that way. and handle 15 rush attempts per game. Right. Right. Um, he's not, unless he proves that he can do it, he won't start the year that way. Yeah. There's not a long, I mean, there's been a few guys, there's not a long list of guys who are single digit carries per game. And then in year four, become a workhorse. He could be two of a Hubbard. Is it really, I mean, they're really not that many guys who

finally got the opportunity and became you know, 1515 touches per game, I think is certainly within the realm of possibility. But I would hope for more than that. I would hope for 17 touches per game at least. All right. Well, one guy who's definitely had that work is Najee Harris. And this is another guy who's moved up in the rankings for Jamie as he goes from Pittsburgh to the Chargers. You can kick it off, Jamie. I mean, just opportunity, you know, look, he's he's on a team that is still going to

be run heavy, you know, whether you think it's going to be what they were at the start of the season or what they were at the end of the season in terms of how the offense sort of changed as, you know, I think JK Dobbins got hurt and you know, Justin Herbert, I think got healthy with a foot injury. There was a few free agents that ended up just in somewhat dream situations and I think this is one of them. It goes to a team that was lacking a featured back, still doesn't have a complete backfill. To Heath's point, they could certainly still add somebody, but unless it's somebody of

significance, Najee Harris is another guy, a little bit different scenario from Kareem Hunt, but a player that coaches love because he doesn't miss time, he doesn't fumble. And he sometimes doesn't always hit the hole as hard as he possibly can. We hear the tiptoe phrase a little bit with him from time to time. But, you know, still four straight seasons of a thousand yards, three or four seasons with 36 plus catches. Again, the lack of fumbling, the consistency of just being available. I think for a coach like, you know, Harbaugh that this is a player he sort of covets.

So as long as he continues to do what he does, you know, he'll be a number two fantasy running back, maybe with a little bit more upside in this this team on this team than he had in Pittsburgh, so we'll see what the NFL Draft tells us but You know a guy that I would consider a top 20 fantasy option with the chance to maybe finish a little bit higher than that If he you know has the improvement on a new team He won't go back to his rookie season, you know, where he's over 17 points per game But you know, I could see 15 points for him I like the fact that they signed Bechtin too, because the

interior offensive line was not good for the Chargers tackles are good, but not so much in the interior. I think I mentioned this last week, but Greg Roman, I think 11 years as a play caller, usually has a good offense, like a top 12 offense, sometimes a great offense is running backs and see how many times that they finished top 20 per game? One, two, three, four, five times his lead running backs have finished top 20 per game. Once 22nd per game, so about half the time

they've had a running back that's been top 20 per game or close to it. I think the only real standout was LaShawn McCoy. Yeah, I would say that, maybe I'm missing one. No, LaShawn McCoy. And that was out there last year. Oh, Lashaw McCoy. Dobbins got there last year. Oh, Mark Ingram had that one year in Baltimore where he had five receiving touchdowns. That's the path for Najee to have a top 12 season is go score 14 touchdowns or something.

Dobbins was RB 18 per game last year. Right. We got to take a quick break here. We got a lot more players to talk about. Biggest rankings movers. We'll get to the 49ers wide receivers. We'll be right back on fantasy football today. Well, we can get back to Jackson Smith in Jigba. He was a big rankings riser for Jamie Heath.

I think it was that Jamie had him like 11th, Heath had him like 17th or something, and Dave about 15th, somewhere around there in the rankings. Yeah, full PPR. All right, so Dave, why don't you talk about Jackson Smith and Jigba and What round you think you take him in round three pick in full PPR? I don't think that that's too far off I think probably toward the end of round three somewhere in that range hoping that he comes through with high target volume

We can talk about how much work Cooper Cup might take away from him We can talk about what his role will look like if he's lining up outside 50% of his routes, stuff like that. But there's just way too much there with him to just dismiss what could be a good year just because Cooper Cup's there and Marquez Valdez-Skantling's there and Sam Darnold's there. I think this is a good opportunity for him to be one of the top target getters in the league this year. I don't think it'll be like top five, top 10. Yes. And that's what I'm going to bank on when I draft JSN to be a quality number two wide receiver. I'm glad Dave said his name first, because I didn't want to be the guy who said his name first, but do you remember what Marcus Valdez Scantling did in the second half last year?

He had some big plays. He scored more touchdowns in eight games with the Saints than he did in 30 games with the Chiefs and Bills. And then he followed the offensive coordinator to Seattle. I'm not, I'm not sure if Cooper cup and MVS and JSN all play 17 games. Sure. Cooper cup and MVS average fewer targets combined per game than DK Metcalfe and Tyler Lockett did last year. A lot of names right there. Wait, so...

Cup and MVS versus last year's DK and Lockett. How about this? Let me tell you what happened in the last eight games of the season. Last year, this is when DK Metcalf came back from injury. So Jackson Smith and Jigba in his first seven games, he was actually on pace for 148 targets. Now that they were throwing the ball 40 times per game and JSN was, and this needs to be said, like JSN was terrible with those targets.

He was on pace for 140, what did I say? No, I think I had that wrong, I'm sorry. He's on pace for 134 targets in the first seven games. That was with DK Metcalf. And 775 yards on 134 targets, that is miserable. So then DK misses two games and JSN goes off, like 12, well, 12.9 points against Buffalo, then 37 points against the Rams, it was amazing.

Okay, so here's the last eight games of the year. DK is back, and this is important because Seattle got much more run heavy. They averaged 31.3 pass attempts per game in those eight games, and we know they want to be more run heavy this year. JSN was the number 15 wide receiver overall. 25th per game in half PPR, 22nd per game in full PPR. He was on pace for

132 targets and he actually did pretty well with them. 106 catches, about 1200 yards, six touchdowns on 132 targets. Metcalf was on pace for 100 targets. So we're looking at 132 for JSN and 100 for Metcalf. And Lockett was almost invisible. He was on pace for 45 targets in those games. So let's start with that and tell me what you think about that. 132 for the number one guy, 100 for the number two guy,

and then Lockett, 45 target pace. I don't know what Ken Walker was in that stretch or whatever. I had JSN projected for 128 for next year. People being- If that's the case, then he shouldn't be a top 15. She's going to say that's bad. I'll take the over. Yeah, I would too.

And on a per game basis last year, DK and Lockett combined for 11.55 targets per game. I mean, I'll certainly take the L here, looking silly on this one. But if the concern is 32 year old Cooper Cup and Marquez Valdez scantling impacting what JSN going into his third year can be after what he's shown us going from year one to year two, I mean, I'll be buying that all day long. All right.

Let's go to the 49ers receivers. Who moved up more for you, Jamie, Ricky Pearsall or Jawan Jennings? They both kind of, you know, simultaneously. And I think for, there's a little bit of a waiting game right now, obviously, because, you know, two things with Brandon and IU, can they still trade them?

Because, you know, there seems to be a market out there for him and they may want to get rid of his contract. And two, you know, when's he going to return? So does he does he make it back? Does he make it back early in the season? Right now, I'd rather have Jennings and Pierce all and Brandon, I.U. And that's sort of telling given what I used

at least start of his career look like. So Jennings, I know, was very up and and down last year had some big games. I like the way he closed the season with Josh Dobbs featuring him a little bit more toward that down the stretch run. But I mean the way these two guys closed the year, the final two games for Pierce Hall and you know sort of after it just sort of settled for San Francisco because not only did Pur not only the pretty missed the end of the season, but he was banged up a little bit down the stretch. Uh, I think they're going to be the two leading receivers at least the first half of the year, along with

Kittle clearly. Does anybody like Pierce all better than Jennings? Not there yet. I'm very close. I just like, I don't love the finish for for Jennings. I know I did like the 10 targets and a half at Arizona and week 18. But I was with his BFF Josh Dobbs, as you mentioned, I was just very underwhelmed by the finish. Let's see, like in his last seven games, he had more than 56 yards, 67 yards only once. Now, of course, that does, that's not fair because weeks 10 and 11, he was awesome. He had 91 and 93 yards

in those games. But I don't know, I almost feel like I wonder if he just kind of hit his ceiling, Joanne Jennings. And pure salt might be a better player. I think you can make that argument. I totally agree with that. But what do you average 14 PPR points per game on the nose? Like that's not a bad ceiling for where you're going I totally agree with that. But what do you average 14 PPR points per game? On the nose. Like that's not a bad ceiling for where you're gonna be drafting him.

It's terrific, yeah. All right, how about Roma Dunze? Heath, I'm gonna give us one of you. This was a riser for Jamie. I also wanted to ask if Roma Dunze is a riser, is DJ Moore also a riser? And we talked a lot about O Dunze this year taking the next step. I

feel like we haven't talked as much about DJ more bouncing back, I guess we would say, but what do you think about Odunze and more? I hadn't really moved them much yet. Kind of just waiting to see on who the third wide receiver is going to be in Chicago. Kenan Allen is still a free agent, right? Yep. Yes. I don't like the idea that Kenan Allen goes out and finds, you know what, nobody else wants me any more than Chicago does. I'll just go back and run things for Roma Dunze again. So I'm just kind of patiently waiting at this time. It's a better offensive line.

Caleb Williams should be a little better. I projected coming into the off season, a little bit of an inefficiency bump for Roma Dunze, but I've not given him the target bump until we see where Keenan Allen signs and what they do at wide receiver three. I'd be shocked if Keenan Allen goes back there. Everything you said is accurate, but I just think for a guy that's a West coast guy that has a chance to, remember he was traded there, you know, so he didn't have an opportunity to pick where he wanted to go.

Like now he has a chance to pick where he wants to go. I'd be shocked if he goes, you know, for a guy to play indoors in California, his collegiate career and his entire professional career, like it just wouldn't seem to make much sense unless that's just the best money that he can get. Well, I don't know if money, I was just trying to think, like, I guess maybe he was, unless the Chargers want him back, there him back, California probably doesn't work. He goes to San Francisco. Yeah, that'd be a weird thing for them to do with the way they've handled this off

season so far. Just desperately trying to get out from under money. Oh, he's not going to cost much. I mean, if Cooper Cup is getting 15 million at point, like that's a safe deal and that's not Anything I think that's gonna kill anybody's salary cap at this point all right, well, let's say keem now and is not back with the With the bears and he had 121 targets in 15 games and he also had 14 end zone targets, which is a lot You know then where would you be moving or doing say where is he now heath and where would you move him?

He's right around wide receiver 36 for me right now. He'd probably be around wide receiver 26 for me. Oh if It's a huge jump. Yeah, all right Being Ben Johnson slot guy and we know what that's been We should remember like the difference between wide receiver 26 and wide receiver 36 is not a huge jump at all It might be a point. It might be a point and a half. Okay, but It's a significant round difference though Yeah, it's a big jump you can't hide from that. That's a big jump. You're jumping over nine guys Yeah, those nine guys. No one has any idea where they're going to finish in well

You do because you're putting a dunze ahead of them. Right. Yeah. And everyone will gravitate toward a dunze among those nine because of the upside that he brings because not everybody in that group of nine and some names that could be in there could include, and I'm not speaking for ETH, this is just what I'm looking at in my rankings, but the Niners guys, Zay Flowers, Jalen Waddle, Chris Olave jerry judy like these are all the number three wide receiver candidates how many of those guys have the same type of upside that adunza has several of them do but i think adunza will be one of those trendy popular breakout picks if there isn't a qualified number three receiver in chicago but also keep in mind that colt commits there he could effectively be that third target getter in chicago offense. Their draft is going to be fascinating.

Why should I not draft DJ Moore ahead of JSN? Why should you not? Yeah, or should I? I would. I have them three spots apart. So I have no problem with that. But I think both guys are certainly trending in the right direction. So I have no problem with that. But I think both guys are certainly trending in the right direction. DJ Moore is so weird. I can't stand DJ Moore. He's like a new wide receiver every season.

It's so, even in the half of this season, he became a new wide receiver, right down the stretch. It's like super low 8 on all these catches. Look, he got both these guys. This is the reason why it's now a more attractive situation is the offensive line got better, the play caller certainly got better. Everything from an environment standpoint, assuming Caleb Williams isn't a total bust, is trending in the right direction.

So for more on Odunze, you hope that they're just going to elevate their play because of the quarterback and the situation just being that much better than it was a year ago. Plus a big piece is gone. Okay, so let's go, oh sorry, wait, well last question before we go to the followers. Who do you think had a better rookie season? Okay, better rookie season.

Like if you look at these numbers and say, oh, I like this one better. Player A had 63 catches, 628 yards, four touchdowns on 93 targets. 63 for 628 and four on 93 targets. Player B had 54 catches, nine fewer, 734 yards, about 106 more, 106 more, three touchdowns, one fewer touchdown,

on eight more targets, 101 targets. So 54, 734 and three on 101, or 63, 628 and four on 93 targets. What'd you think, who's had better rookie season? Well, the B receiver averaged 8 1⁄2 PPR points per game on 5.9 targets per game and only had three games with 15 or more PPR points. I don't know how much better the other receiver was, but I would imagine the other receiver was a little bit better.

There's no right answer here. I just said, I'm just, these two are players are Roma Dunze and Jackson Smith and Jigba. You said to me that's a lot of names earlier. That was a lot of numbers. That was a lot of numbers. It was a lot of numbers. I did not retain any of them. Jackson Smith and Jigba and Roma Dunze. They had somewhat similar rookie season.

So I just thought, because he had a pretty bad rookie season, I'd say, Roma Dunze. That's great for a Dunze then. Right. You're making the point that there's a leap to be made for a second year, which is something that we've been talking about forever. And it could absolutely hit Odunze. Can we rule out what Heath, what's the percentage that Romo Odunze finishes with more fantasy points than DJ Moore next year? It's low, but what is it?

No, 35. Wow. One in three. Well, if that's the case, I'll take the chance on a doonsay everywhere. We got to get to our rankings fallers. Let's start with Breece Hall. Breece Hall was a rankings faller for Jamie. Let's see if Dave and Heath agree with that. Where did he move to in your rankings? Just slightly. I mean, went from top 15 to just outside. Man.

The reception is just it's just it's hard to anticipate him being heavily involved in the passing game with Justin Fields. You were saying top 15 picks or top 15 running backs? Top 15 running backs. Okay. He's 14 for me right now. Yeah. If I can get Breeze Hall as one of the first 14 running backs off the board, I'll be pretty happy.

I think there's actually a pretty scary case here. Look at the catches for running backs with Justin Fields. Montgomery, see, I haven't broken it down Dalton versus Fields in 2021, but Montgomery had 42 catches in 13 games. He also had, I think, seven rushing touchdowns in those games. That was in 2021 2022 Montgomery had 34 catches and 16 games. 2023 Roshan Johnson had 34 catches in 15 games. We do not have a good history of running back catching passes from fields. We also don't have a good history

of running back scoring rushing touchdowns with Justin Fields. He is an absolute vulture. I mean, I think Najee Harris had like one carry inside the three yard line in the six games with Justin Fields. So- How many fields have? Four or six.

I know I have it somewhere. Wow. It was second, but- Fields rushing touchdowns last year at five. No. I don't know. Carries inside the, oh, carries, I'm sorry. Okay. Yeah.

Najee Harris scored only one rushing touchdown in six games with Fields. Fields had five rushing touchdowns in those six games, and he had four of six stealers' carries from the three yard line or closer when he was a starter. So he is not good for catches and not good for touchdowns. I think it's pretty interesting here for Breezal. And you got rebuilding offensive line

and we'll see what the new regime thinks, but I think Braylon Allen's gonna get some work too. You forgot the word perennially in perennially rebuilding offensive line. Yeah, point. That offensive line looks horrible right now. All right, yeah, those are some scary numbers. So who are some money backs behind Breezhal? Let's see if we can drop, let's drop them even lower.

Let's go. Who is behind them? I mean for now Aaron Jones, James Connor. Yeah. Yeah. He's not falling much. Who do you have? Who's just above Breeze Hall for you?

Right now it's,this is the group I struggle with. So Mixon is one that I'm struggling with just because another offensive line that got destroyed, dismantled. I would take Ken Walker over Breece Hall right now. So that's one I have ahead of him. I'm trying to think. I don't have it in front of me.

I'm sorry. Justin Perdue That's okay. Aaron Alexander I will say just to be slightly more optimistic about the catches. Um, he had a 19% running back target rate back in 2023. He had a 21% running back target rate last year. It's just that it was an Arthur Smith system. So seven of them went to court, Errol Patterson and Naji and Warren split. So there weren't a lot of catches for any player.

But I do think like there's still a chance that if Hall can have 75% of the team's running back targets that he could, he could still have a decent catch season. But what do you consider to be decent for him? Uh, well, let's see if Fields throws for what, 480 passes? Yeah. 20% 96 running back targets. Yeah. So Hall gets 70 targets, catches 50-55. I'm just piggybacking on your math.

That all sounded really very, very good. Yeah. I have bad news for you. David Montgomery scored seven rushing touchdowns in 2021. Only two of them were with Justin Fields on the field. So, oh wow. This is, this might be, this might be one of the biggest impacts of free agency. And I completely, I feel like undersold it last week. And I think one of you mentioned he, Breeze Hall is a loser. I was like, oh, that's a good point. I think it was Heath at first. I'm glad we're talking about this

because we're definitely going to have to, definitely going to have to look into this. I will say if you're worrying about a drop off from what he's been, like, Brice Hall's never really scored touchdowns. He doesn't have a season with more than five rushing. And talent-wise, he's still very good. And I don't think anybody's arguing that. It's just the touchdown opportunities, just the fact that what you said today just Let me here's for sure you take away the touchdowns you take away receptions like those are pretty significant things right right right? Oh, I'm saying I do think He's he's certainly look this isn't run away from Breeze Hall

This is just the guy that went into last season the number two overall pick I don't remember everybody else's ADP CBS Sports AD last season, the number two overall pick. I don't remember everybody else's ADP, CBS Sports ADP, he was number two overall pick. He was number two running back, number two overall player behind McCaffrey. He clearly was a bust, he finished 15th. So where does he get back to? Does he stay in this range? Because now the offense is, at least on paper, looks worse. Because we had high expectations for Rodgers coming back from the Achilles injury.

We thought that this was going to be a team trending in the right direction and clearly things immediately fell apart. And so Heath's giving him 50 catches. I hope that happens. I mean, he's been a 50 cash guy the two years he's been healthy in the league, but we saw what his numbers looked like last season when Devontae Adams joined the roster. Grant did again more of a quarterback that was going to throw to his running backs by comparison to the guy that he has now. And so if he's not going to be an eight plus touchdown guy, I'll let you guys decide if that's an appropriate number or not or a good line to set, but I would take the under on

that. And then if he's not, I would take the under on 50 catches then if he's not I would take the under on 50 catches as well just given Justin Fields history, so I Just think he's a he's gonna be a good number two fantasy running back with What could be somewhat limited upside and that says a lot because he's so talented You're a first fun stat Adam Reese Hall has more touchdowns from outside of the 25 than inside of the five in his career Yeah, well, that's the thing. So you said eight touchdowns He scored five eight touchdowns. He scored five rushing touchdowns last year, but he did score eight overall and he finished

as RB 17 per game in full PPR. And there was a big drop off when Devante Adams got there because he took a lot of targets away from Breeze. He also got hurt. Yeah. So I think the thing is with Hall is if he can get back, you know, we said, Dave, you said something about questioning his talent. I just don't think he's really looked like that guy he was as a back, you know, we said, Dave, you said something about questioning his talent. I just don't think he's

really looked like that guy he was as a rookie, you know, since tearing his ACL, if he gets back to that, which is possible, you know, another year removed, and he makes those big plays, look at his explosive play rate, 15% as a rookie, that's unbelievable, only 80 carries, 6.7% than 9.1%. Another thing we've seen is more carries for zero or negative yards. He's been worse there over the last two years than he was as a rookie. So I could be based on the old line. It could be, but I also think it's, I just don't think

it's been explosive, right? So if he can get that back, then Justin Fields won't really hurt him that much. Like, I don't know, I'd have to maybe think about Jonathan Taylor. I have to, you know, you got to take Taylor. No, no, I mean, I'm thinking about Taylor with Richardson. It's kind of interesting, like, Richardson really wasn't that good for Taylor. I think this is actually a pretty good comparison. I don't have this off. He's in like an absolute monster. Yeah, Richardson was out. Rich them his last two games. Okay, but look at just look at the targets. Look at the catches.

They really weren't there. All rich and there are obviously times when Richardson stole touchdowns from him. So I would have to do the numbers. I don't have them in front of me. But I really feel like Richardson was not good for Jonathan Taylor. Like he was probably better with flacco or at least had better involvement. If if if Taylor had a different quarterback, Taylor is a top three running back. I think everybody's building in Richardson's potential to hurt. At least I am. The way that Jonathan Taylor runs the ball, he's in the conversation

to lead the NFL in rushing yards every year if he were to get those chances. Taylor averaged 16.9 PPR points per game in 10 games with Richardson last year. Including a 40 point game against Tennessee. That was the one, right? That was the week six. 39.8, like week 16. Week 16, he went bonkers. 29 carries, 218 yards, three touchdowns. He did not have a target in that game. And that was- And that was one of two games on the year where both Richardson and Taylor were considered real good for fantasy. North of 15 PPR for Taylor, North of 22 for Richardson,

only twice last year, 10 games. We've gone over a lot of time a little bit here. We're going to have a long show today. All right. We've got three more. We'll go quicker on these three more rankings followers here. Cooper Cup for Jamie, CJ Stroud. This is all Jamie stuff. Cooper Cup, CJ Stroud and Debo Samuel. Go ahead real quick on those guys. Stroud lost two offensive linemen and so far the only receiver that he's gotten was Christian Kirk. So don't like the situation to help his fantasy stock so I don't know if he was necessarily a follower but he didn't really rise very much.

He did fall. I don't like his potential to bounce back right now after the disappointing sophomore season that he had. Cup to Dave's point was not somebody that I had high expectations for and landing in Seattle did not change that. And Debo Samuel is probably the more interesting one just because getting an opportunity to be on a team that likes to throw a lot of wide receiver screens, has a quarterback that's clearly on the rise, and ended up in a situation where can easily be number two on the team

in targets. But I just feel like what he showed us last year is is problematic, you know, so I don't I don't love his opportunity to bounce back to a high level. Is CJ Stroud a low upside guy now? Yeah. Wasn't he always? Well, for what it's worth, he was fifth or sixth than average draft position last year.

So he certainly wasn't viewed that way. He had some monster games as a rookie when both Nico and Tanktel were healthy. And I think that's, I think I remember thinking, all right, well, not only is he going to have those guys next year, but he's going to have Stefan Diggs too. He should be able to be one of the better fantasy quarterbacks. And just like he regressed his offensive line regressed, uh, there was a report that the offensive line room was toxic. And that's why they've moved on from so many guys and it'll be, it's going to be

a challenge for the Texans to re to put that offensive line back together with a new play caller and with fewer weapons, especially the quality that we thought he had last year. And so yeah, he doesn't strike me as somebody that fantasy managers should get excited about either. So why I did think he was a little upside guy last year and oh just is, is it's really hard to be a 31, 32 pass attempt per game guy and not run and score a lot of fantasy points. Like you might have a weird year where you happen to throw a lot of touchdowns or where you happen to be really efficient, but for on the balance, if you're in the low 30s and pass attempts and you're running the ball two or three times a game, you're a low upside quarterback.

Okay, he's got a new offensive coordinator, Nick Kaley, who comes over from the Rams. I do hope that they throw the ball more. You're right, Heath, we could use some more pass attempts. Biggest difference I think for Stroud, interceptions went up, it was super low as a rookie. Interceptions went up, but the deep balls, just that was the thing. He's completed so many as a rookie. 20 plus yard completions went down from 66 as a rookie to 42. His explosive per drop back went from 12% to 6.8% Just needs to get that back. I don't know that he'll be able to really do that without tanking It'd be hard to do without an offensive line. Yeah All right. That's it for today's show. Thank you all very much. We have FFT Express to record

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