Fantasy Football Today - 2020 Early Sleepers (02/20 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: February 20, 2020

It's never too early to talk 2020 sleepers, as we make our pick for the #1 sleeper for next season (4:40) before going position-by-position ... We start with quarterback sleeper picks (9:50). Can Matthew Stafford and Ben Roethlisberger provide value coming off injury? Is Kyler Murray considered a sleeper? We move on to running backs (27:05), where young talent headlines our picks. But why does Dave think Adrian Peterson can be a late-round value? ... News and notes (41:55) with Jordan Reed cleared, Jarvis Landry's hip surgery and the 17-game season proposal for 2020. Then we're breaking down sleeper WRs with sky-high upside (48:15). We finish with tight end sleepers (58:00), including Mike Gesicki, Ian Thomas and Jonnu Smith ... Email us at [e-mail] 'Fantasy Football Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @YardsPerGretch, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCviK78rIWXhZdFzJ1Woi7Fg/videos For more fantasy football coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/football/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ 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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Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. We're talking sleepers here today on Fantasy Football Today. I'm Jamie Eisenberg. That's Dave Richard. Joining us as he does from the lovely state of Washington, it's our buddy Ben Gretsch. Ben, Dave, thanks for taking some time here to talk some sleepers for 2020. You guys excited?

We're already looking at sleepers, breakouts, and busts. You know, somebody told me it's too early, too early to look at sleepers. And to that, I say, pistache.osh, we're going to get into it. I know you enjoy doing this now. I have a question for you. You've done this. How many years have you done the sleepers this early before, like, rehashing the list again and again and again and, like, molding it into your work of art by the time you push it out the door in August? How many years have you started doing sleepers in February?

Work of art is not the way I probably would describe it. I've been doing it. I actually wrote in the sleepers 1.0. The stories will be out on CBSSports.com probably by the time you guys listen to this that this is the first time that I used an incoming rookie in February as

a sleeper and it's Joe Burrow because we know where he's going to be most likely unless there's something crazy that happens. And I wrote in there that i've been probably doing it 15 years you know so right um or close to it 10 plus years uh for sure so uh the first version of this is always the most annoying version of this because we do it usually right around post super bowl and by the middle of march half the guys have changed. But to your point about doing it early, we have a job to do, and we have to give some content to people.

Sure. So that's part of the reason why. No, I get it. But it is a fun and frustrating experience all rolled into one. Can I ask a follow-up question? Sure. How many players that are on the sleeper list in February are still there in August? Like the very last one you do.

So the process, and Ben, you can jump in here after this, but the process that I usually go through is this will be like kind of the rough outline of what the sleepers will look like in August. Then I'll do sometimes four versions, but then there's the magazine version of this, which changes after the draft. Then there's the second version that goes on the site, which is usually right after the magazine comes out. Then there's the second version of the magazine, which also has a little different variation of it. And then there's the final version in August. So there's probably one or two guys.

I mean, the quarterbacks don't usually change very much. So I'll usually pick apart whether it's one guy from the breakouts or one guy from the sleepers. And I cheat a little bit because I usually, when I the sleepers, I do like other sleepers to note. And so, like, I'll use one of the guys I just don't write anything about. And then I'll write about one of those guys, too. So there's a lot of moving. They're in the minor leagues of sleepers. They're in the.

No, they get the call up when you need somebody. They just get a little bit more of the spotlight. So, Ben, I don't know if you go about this process as well of looking at sleepers, breakouts, and busts early. I know you're going to certainly be reading and helping publish the content that we're doing. But do you usually go about making some ideas of some sleepers, breakouts, and busts? And I say that. You guys have both contributed to the guys we're going to talk about today on the show. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, this year I did a big Stealing Signals breakdown, like end of season breakdown, which

I think I'm going to refer back to and will help me kind of identify things. But one of the big issues, and you kind of hit on it when you were talking about this, is as this offseason goes along, as ADP changes, it crystallizes right now. We don't even know. I'm sure one of my quarterbacks you guys are going to point out probably isn't really a sleeper. I was looking around at different ADPs and trying to figure out which quarterbacks to choose. It's challenging at this point because we don't really have reliable ADPs. So you pick a guy that's a sleeper now, he might not be a

sleeper in August. He might be a fifth round pick. So it's tough. Yeah, you have one of those guys. I'm going to make funny a little bit by calling Kyler Murray a sleeper, but we'll talk about that when we get to it. In any event, I go off of our rankings in some cases now because I think we do a good job of getting our rankings out early and seeing where we have our guys' consensus

to see if this is where I think... We drive our ADP in a lot of cases by telling people that they should go in this round or this area and you know people tend to follow suit and them uh but yeah it's a good point Ben is is average draft position is going to dictate that so uh give me your number one early sleeper just one guy that that when you were going through this and and again I I did uh 12 that I wrote about and then you know probably an additional 15 on top of that, just names.

So I have a lot of guys, but is there one that you're going through? You guys get two at each position. I can't say for sure that I can't wait to draft him because there's a chance that I might not draft Carson Wentz. But I like Carson Wentz. Another one that's a borderline. What, a sleeper? Well, where is he going to get drafted, James? Do you think he's going to be a guy that gets taken in the top?

The reason I say questionable, when I saw the name in the notes that Ben Schrager gave us of the guys that you list, I was like, really, Carson Wentz sleeper? And I went back and looked at our drafts, and he was the 13th quarterback off the board. So that kind of, I wasn't going to give you as much of a hard time as I'm going to give Ben for putting Kyler Murray to sleep. Wentz, I think, is a borderline starter.

We have him consensus 11. You're the only one that doesn't have him ranked as a starter. He's outside of my top 12, and I'm a hard time with it. Yeah, I'm at 13. I think he's going to end up getting drafted as a starter, depending on what the Eagles do for their receiving core. But that's certainly one that I think you'll be able to wait on, and he has the chance to be a top 10 type of guy.

But I'm not sure if I'm going to purposely wait on quarterback this year. This is something we'll talk about. I think I might be. Okay. Ben, who's your number one sleeper? You can't say Kyler Murray. What if it is Kyler Murray? Right now, I'll say John Ross.

I really liked John Ross as a prospect coming out. He definitely had his struggles. No bias whatsoever. He definitely had some struggles of his own. But I will say, being a uw alum and watching him a lot in college i did learn some things about him like particularly when their offense um in i believe his red shirt sophomore year was um not really capable of pushing the ball down the field they were in a transition year with quarterbacks and they had multiple defensive back injuries and actually

they marcus peters was a uw player They kicked him off the team that year. They switched John Ross over to cornerback for a half season. So you go back, you look at his receiving numbers in college. They're not necessarily great from a young age, but they're a little bit better when you put into context those types of things. He's a guy who was very good at taking plays to the house from pretty much every aspect. He had, I believe, four kick return touchdowns in college, two rushing touchdowns, and over 20 receiving touchdowns in his final season. So I thought he was a very good prospect coming in. He struggled early on in his career.

And then last year, out from under the Marvin Lewis doghouse, there was always some stuff there with Marvin Lewis. He really kind of started to break out early in the year and then he gets hurt right away but if we get Joe Burrow in Cincinnati somebody who can really push the ball down the field I don't think that was one of Andy Dalton's strengths John Ross I think will be a great late round pick in 2020 yeah just stay healthy and obviously if AJ Green is not there that's a big opening for him in terms of getting targets also Tyler Eifert's a free agent so we'll see what they do to maybe replace him as well but yeah a lot to like about john ross if he could

stay on the field i think we we talk about will fuller he feels a lot like will fuller you know a lot of big plays a lot of times uh he's sitting on the sidelines though due to injury for me it's a guy that we're not going to talk about today but it's gus edwards um i i love mark ingram you know i i talked to mark ingram quite a bit in the offseason. He's a South Florida kid, a South Florida resident. He's not a kid anymore, but he's 30. And, you know, with the way that the Ravens run the ball and what Edwards showed us in Week 17, should we see Mark Ingram maybe suffer an injury like we saw in Week 16

this past season with the calf, I think Edwards steps into that role. He'll share it with us, but I think Edwards has an opportunity to be one of these guys, like we talk about, maybe a little bit better than what we thought Alexander Madison would have been should he have gotten that role. But somebody like that, just somebody that maybe one or two games, maybe more than that, you never know. But he's somebody that I'm going to draft a lot of,

more so in non-PPR than PPR, just because he does not catch the ball. At least that's the way he profiles right now. And he's a must-draft if you get Ingram. Don't you want to have that investment locked up it yes and no he'll be one of those guys that you probably end up dropping um if you're carrying both ravens running back should ingram stay healthy and i think he's going to be that way if you draft him by himself but again these are the type of players that when we talk about things now somebody that i'll look at as maybe a a priority for me with one of those late round picks all right let right, let's get into the sleepers.

But first, many of you are watching this right now. But if you're just listening to us in your headphones or AirPods, you should watch us on YouTube. I butchered that read. Let's try that again. Many of you are watching us right now, but if we're just living in your headphones or AirPods, you should watch us on YouTube.

Just search Fantasy Football today on the YouTube app or go to youtube.com slash fantasyfootball today. We also have a bonus XFL week three episode coming out later today. We'll be joined by Emory hunt, RJ white, uh, who does a lot of stuff for sports line, does a lot of work for us here on CBS sports.

Uh, you may have heard him on some of our podcasts previously. He does a lot of mock drafts with us. He'll be breaking down from a gambling perspective, some of the XFL games this week. And Ben and I will be back as well with Emory to break down the DFS slate for Week 3. Dave, quick thought on the XFL.

You enjoying it? I'm enjoying it a lot. I think RJ's picked one game wrong so far. So he's 7 of 8 against the spread in the XFL. And I've already – there's a game – Tampa Bay's playing Houston. Houston looks outstanding. Tampa Bay looks like they don't know what they're doing.

It's a huge shock. I think Houston. Houston looks outstanding. Tampa Bay looks like they don't know what they're doing. It's a huge shock. I think Houston destroys them this weekend. So that will be my one-unit three-star play of the week in the XFL. XFL. We'll spend some more time talking about the XFL in our second podcast, but now we're going to spend some more time on some sleepers. So let's start with the sleeper quarterbacks here. So, Dave, we'll go with you first.

The two guys you listed, one you already talked about, Carson Wentz. The other one is Ben Roethlisberger. So, for our consensus ranking so far, Wentz is number 11. Heath Cummings and myself, we both have him ranked in the top 12. Dave has him just outside at number 13. Roethlisberger, consensus-wise, is number 17, and we know what he's dealing with coming back from the elbow injury. I think I made the joke the other day.

He's hiding his elbow in his beard. Did you see that thing it's just insane yeah um so let's talk about whence a little bit more um what are your thoughts on just the receiving core right now because terrible you got alshon jeffrey coming off of the injury yeah right uh deshaun jackson who knows what's going to happen there uh nelson aglor is a free agent they have obviously the two great tight ends boston scott looks like a legit pass catcher out of the backfield same with miles Miles Sanders. Offensive line should be great once again. But does Wentz move up for you a little bit if they add a significant pass catcher?

I think he'd have to. And the problem is that there are so many quarterbacks that you can wait on if you so choose. Wentz is one of them. Stafford's one of them. Matt Ryan is going to be one of them. Aaron Rodgers might be one of them. And they're all going to see their receiving cores change to some degree. I think it'll be minimal for Ryan

we don't know what's going to happen with Hooper it'll be a little bit more for Stafford because there's a chance they move on from Marvin Jones maybe they add somebody there Rogers is definitely going to get somebody else and I think that Carson Wentz might get two or three somebody else's I think they could draft a guy I think they could add one in free agency

Alshon Jeffrey's going to stay there because he would just it's too prohibitive to cut him. I don't know what they'll get out of him, and I think that the tight ends are still going to play a big role. And that offensive line I still expect to be one of the best in football. So I'm very excited about the potential for Carson Wentz. He was top 10 both in terms of ranking in fantasy in 2019 and consistency. So he was able to be a pretty consistent passer when he was on the field.

He gives you a little bit as a runner. I think he's got a chance to come through as a top 12 guy. I don't have him ranked that way because there are so many other quarterbacks I like ahead of him. The Jameis Winston fallout in Tampa. If he leaves Tampa, that's one guy. Real easy. Get rid of him.

Move everybody else up. Now Wentz is a top 12 quarterback. Lots to like about what Wentz should be able to do. Ben, where do you come out on Wentz maybe versus somebody like Aaron Rodgers? Is there a favorite there of those two guys? No, not really. Not at this stage. And we know that quarterback, there's a big group of quarterbacks outside the top names. I don't really see either of those guys as having elite potential. I guess if I was going to pick one, it be wentz you know i think that offense has more potential to be vertical and heavy on air yards and wentz could rack up a 5 000 yard passing season um you know maybe once

out of 20 times if we were simulating the 2020 season but i i don't think that's necessarily the most likely outcome but i do think he has a potential for that i don't necessarily think rogers even has that potential at this point in his career. Wow. The fact that Rodgers is in that realm, I agree with you. I mean, you know, especially when you look at the defenses, you know, the Eagles defense puts Wentz and the Eagles offense in a lot more throwing situations. You know, I mean, it's kind of a myth about, you know,

how defenses impact passing games a little bit. But in terms of the Packers defense you know if they can show up their run defense that's going to be one of the top units on that side of the ball especially with those pass rushers but yeah i think you're right i think wentz is and that's why i haven't ranked too i have wentz over rogers as well i know you have rogers over wentz um but i think that's going to be a debate a lot of people have especially until we see what these receiving cores look like both teams like you said dave i think the packer is very clearly going to add a wide receiver to help davante adams and the eagles Packers very clearly are going to add a wide receiver to help Devontae Adams,

and the Eagles need to do a lot of work in their wide receiver core as well. For Roethlisberger, I mean, look, he was awesome in 2018. He had Antonio Brown then. Juju Smith-Schuster was playing at a very, very high level, and then we saw last year Roethlisberger

get hurt, leave the game in Week 2, and was out for the season with the elbow injury. He's on track to return this year. He's going to end up being one of the better value picks. You know, we had a question on the Monday show, or Tuesday show, excuse me, about who are some quarterbacks that could take the leap similar to what Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes have done the last two years. Now, this is a different kind of guy because he's older,

but I think he falls in that category of somebody that you can just absolutely take as a second quarterback because nobody's going to want to draft him as a number one guy. But if things click to the level that they did two years ago or typically what we see from Roethlisberger, he can be a top 10 quarterback once again. There are a couple of quarterbacks that could do that. Cam could do that. Joe Burrow could do that. And look, we don't know for sure how healthy ben rothlisberger is but we do know that when he has been healthy his numbers have been outstanding but let's be honest a lot of those numbers came with antonio brown so when you've gotten a guy with elite talent on the field like

that of course the numbers are going to pop so i tried looking for something some sort of a stat that could tell us how rothlisberger's been doing that is independent of who his receivers are. This is the best that I got. Sports Info Solutions says over the last five seasons, this is actually each of the last five seasons, Roethlisberger's been on target with 76% of his throws. I think that number is good. I think the best quarterbacks can probably get into the 80% range

where 8 out of 10 of their throws are on the money where the receiver can make a play. It doesn't account for drops. It doesn't account for the receivers catchable passes. He's gotten you to 76%. That's pretty good. If his arm is okay, we know the offensive line should be good. And this, this will dovetail nicely with my sleeper receiver that we'll talk about later on. Deontay Johnson takes a step forward in his second season and Juju's back. I think there's room for Roethlisberger to be a pretty good bargain on draft day and that's why he's a sleeper Ben you

agree with that Roethlisberger going to be one of the better value picks I do I you know I think it was big as Dave mentioned that Deontay Johnson had a good rookie season James Washington had a much better second year than his rookie season and now we we're looking at a pretty good three wide receiver set for for the Steelers even though they obviously no longer have Antonio Brown. And we haven't really seen Roethlisberger play without Antonio Brown. But he does have Juju and Deontay Johnson to kind of play the Antonio Brown role. And then James Washington to play the downfield role. I mean, he's got pretty good weapons now.

And if they go back pretty pass heavy like they were in 2018 and pretty much have been for the latter part of Roethlisberger's career, I think, yeah, he definitely has that upside. And James Conner and Jalen Samuels also add to that weaponry as well. Both guys can catch the ball and do it at a very good level in terms of guys out of the backfield. So, yeah, I think Roethlisberger is going to end up being one of those guys that you do take as a second quarterback. And maybe by the middle of the season, you say he's better than the guy that you drafted, depending on who your number one quarterback is. It could be a good guy to pair with Kyler Murray, who Ben has as one of his sleepers along with Matthew Stafford. So the reason I think Murray is a little questionable as a sleeper, Ben,

is that we have him ranked consensus number six. Dave has him as a top five guy. And so I think if you look at it from just the categories, and this is always something that's tricky, like I have in the columns that are coming out, Murray as a breakout candidate because I do think he's going to take the next step forward in his career um is you know what's the the best way to categorize these guys and i think this is where when we get a little bit later in the process average draft position comes in so this i think is

what you're alluding to where a guy being drafted in the fifth round i think is kind of where you'll see maybe murray live it may be a little bit earlier than that, depending if quarterbacks go off the board earlier than they typically do in our drafts. But I view Murray more as a guy that's going to go from where he was to that next step. I think you do the same. It's just a matter of where we're categorizing these guys, which is why I think Murray as a sleeper, in my opinion, a little bit questionable. But tell us why you like Kyler Murray for 2020. Yeah, I mean, we know he's got the rushing upside the the passing potential was there I think in his rookie season it wasn't really all the way there he's someone

that I I agree is probably going to be looked at as more of a breakout than a sleeper I kind of debated whether or not to put him in and I just didn't really have any other quarterbacks that I loved but I do think you know if Jameis Winston signs back in Tampa, that in some drafts he'll be up above Murray. And I did see some ADP that even though all of us at CBS are high on Murray that had him back at QB8, you know, if he is going around the round nine, round ten range in drafts after, you know, I think people might pick apart the Arizona offense a little bit. If that happens at some point throughout the summer, I think Murray's definitely a guy you want to grab. And I think he was worth highlighting here because of that i just think the dual threat ability uh people are going to fall in love with that a little bit because of what lamar jackson just did last year but that they should that that upside is is pretty tremendous yeah he had uh second uh rushing yards from the quarterback position just ahead of josh allen

behind significantly behind lamar jackson but i don't think it would be a surprise if he goes. He was just under 4,000 passing. He was like 3,700 passing yards. If he goes from that to the 4,000 range, which I think is something he can attain, and he maybe can stay at that rushing level or get better, like if he could become a 700, 800-yard rusher, then we're talking about where Dave hasn't ranked at five. I have him ranked at six.

The upside is – or you haven him ranked at four, right? I have him ranked at five. That's right. I'm one spot behind you. I think it's certainly something that he can do, and we'll see what this offense looks like. You know, the running back situation's in flux. They did shore up their offensive line a little bit by resigning

or giving a contract extension to TJ Humphreys. The receiving core is interesting because Larry Fitzgerald's back. Christian Kirk should take that next step in his career, at least. That's the hope. Which of the young guys is going to step up? Is it going to be Andy Isabella? Is it going to be Keyshawn Johnson? Is it going to be Hakeem Butler? One of those three guys I think would certainly help things

for Kyler Murray, but to what Ben said, I think you probably agree, Dave. It's the rushing prowess that kind of sets him apart as a fantasy. It's everything. He gave you at least 20 fantasy points. seven of his first 11 games. He finishes the number 10 fantasy quarterback last year in six point for touchdown leagues. I think that he's got upside to have that breakthrough year, which is why I wouldn't label him as a sleeper, label him as a breakout. And I think there's going to be a lot of hype about him.

And I'm hyped up about him, which is why I've got him top five. I really think that he's got a chance to be very special in the second year in Arizona but I'm counting on Arizona improving that offensive line they got to get it going and I'm counting on them feeling like their hands are tied at running back because they've got David Johnson maybe they trade him maybe they don't they can't cut him that would be stupid because their salary cap would take a pretty big hit but Kenyan drake's there he's good but he's also good catching passes out of the backfield i think this offense will revolve around kyler murray it's going to be a team that plays a lot from behind throws plenty of passes i think he's going to be outstanding he might kyler murray might be outside chance maybe

10 to 1 odds they're leading rusher that would be it's probably not That would be bad for people that are drafting Drake. Of course it would. But Kyler, I think, can add to the rushing numbers that he had last year. I'm very excited. And look, it could be a situation where, you know, and let's factor Chase Edmonds in too because he'll be there, three guys that cannibalize each other a little bit. Adam's talked about this a lot, that, you know,

each guy had their moments last season, David Johnson early, Chase Edmonds in the middle, and Kenyon Drake at the end. If the same thing happens, and yes murray could be the leading rusher there if he does get to that level that i said 700 800 yards rushing that would not be a huge huge surprise i think what would be interesting to see is if murray can be a top three fantasy quarterback and maybe push one of those guys out of mahomes lamar jackson or deshaun watson most likely will be due to injury but i do think that murray and and look he he sort of is one of these guys we talk about that format matters. You know, four points for passing touchdown pushes up his value a little bit because of his rushing ability.

All right, so the next guy we're looking at here is a guy that Ben and I both like as sleeper quarterbacks, Matthew Stafford. Dave, I know you like him as well. I do. He was just on pace for a fantastic season. He was the third quarterback in fantasy points per game at 24.8. So he was doing a great job before that back injury, knocked him out for the final eight games of the season. So, Ben, I'll let you talk about Stafford here.

Dave said maybe they move on from Marvin Jones. I doubt that just because I think what he means to that team, what he went through personally last year, I think they'd like to probably keep him because he still makes sense as the second receiver there. But you get TJ Hawkinson in his second year, Kenny Galladay in his fourth year coming off of a great third season campaign where he had a breakout performance, led the NFL in touchdowns.

Stafford, think he could do it again? Or are we going to see maybe another injury-riddled campaign for a guy that's 32? Well, yeah, and that's a challenge. But at quarterback, it's a replaceable position so i'm more willing to take on injury risk at that position um the the big stat for me with staffer we've talked about a little bit on the show so far this offseason is just that he threw the ball down the field a lot more in this new offense last year in prior years his top targets golden tate and theo riddick they were both they both left the team over the last year or so whether it be a trade or release and now he's looking at downfield options as his

lead guys kenny galladay and marvin jones he averaged 10.6 yards of throw depth per throw last year which is among the league leaders it was the first time he'd been over eight yards so two and a half yards lower since 2013 since galvin johnson was on the team he was at 7.1 yards in 2018 and jumped 3.5 yards to 10.6 yards of average throw depth last year so what we're talking about is like jamis winston level of downfield uh you know attacking the downfield area now maybe they won't throw as much as tampa bay but we should be really confident now in this new offense that he has quite a bit of passing yardage upside, and that's something that will lead me to take him in later rounds. Yeah, totally agree.

He was on pace for the second-best numbers of his career, just shy of 5,000 passing yards, 38 touchdowns, 10 interceptions. If he just doubles numbers for what he did in the eight games with just shy of 2,500 passing yards, 19 touchdowns, and five interceptions. So, yeah, I think this is somebody that, if he's healthy, assuming he's still in Detroit, we know that rumors out there would be crazy if they traded him. I said about David Johnson that the dead cap money would be crippling for the Lions, but you never know if they get an overwhelming offer and they just decide that they want

to go in a different direction because of having the number three overall pick and maybe deciding that Tua Tungavailoa is somebody that can be their quarterback of the future. I think they can still do that with Stafford and maybe move on from Stafford down the road. But he certainly has a ton of upside. The other sleeper for me at quarterback is Joe Burrow. Again, like I alluded to, first time that I've put a rookie in this just because we usually like to see where they come out with their teams.

And there still may be an issue with Joe Burrow. He could decide that he does not want to play with the Beng Bengals I'm guessing at this point that's probably going to be the case that he ends up in Cincinnati but you know uh Ben alluded to this with John Ross if they keep AJ Green which is something that's a possibility I think the offensive line is going to be good if not great with getting Jonah Williams back just by himself you know I think that solidifies things as the left tackle but I do think that's another area of concern that they will address. You have Tyler Boyd. You have Joe Mixon, even if it's C.J. Uzama as their leading tight end

with Tyler Eifert potentially gone. Oh, now you sold me. I mean, look, he's another piece to the puzzle. For guys coming off the year that Burrow had with 60 touchdowns, like we said before, he runs a little bit, 368 rushing yards last year, five rushing touchdowns. So there's a lot to like about him as one of these guys you take as a second quarterback. I don't think anybody's taking him as a number one guy,

but he could be around the same fantasy point production like Kyler Murray in that 20-point range. Kyler was at 19.3. I think Burrow could be right around there based on what we saw last year. He could be better. He's really good. This is the cleanest quarterback prospect I think we've seen. I don't know.

He's definitely... Probably. I don't think he's quite as perfect as Andrew Luck. Luck was perfect. No, but just in terms of hype of a guy that is a camp... It's warranted. He's got excellent accuracy he he just he moves in the pocket so well his running ability you just talked about that he's got that going the only question is how far can you push the ball well the Bengals have had Andy Dalton

as their quarterback for the last however many seasons it's been and Dalton can't necessarily push the ball downfield very much either I think he'd be fantastic Cincinnati. And I think that defense is starting to age a little bit. And so they're going to give up points. It's going to force Joe Burrow to throw. And I think that we're going to see Cincinnati, if they're smart, they take Burrow. First of all, that's like they'd be dumb to not do that. Unless they get an overwhelming offer. I mean, you know, the Dolphins throw their first-round picks at them.

I don't know if that's enough. I really, I think Burrow is the best in the class. I don't think that two is really challenging. I don't disagree with you. But I just think that there's plenty of room here where if they implement things in the offense that LSU did last year, some spread concepts that allows him to be comfortable with what they're doing, I think that the sky's the limit for him. And especially when you put fast receivers in front of him like John Ross,

get him the ball in the short space let him make a play after the catch LSU did a ton of that last year it's part of the reason why Burrow had the season that he had he's an excellent quarterback and I agree with you I think he's going to debut as at least a top 15 quarterback in all of our rankings if not even close to 13 maybe even 12 depending on what Cincinnati's offense does look like by the time the draft is over and uh you know we'll see if this is a downgrade for him from his weapons in LSU because I think it probably is is AJ Green going to be there or not just just in terms of what those guys meant to the college level to what these guys are to the pro level they're very good even with AJ Green there but those guys at LSU were clearly elite so uh he should do fine it should

it should be an offense Green Boyd's got Green, Boyd, Ross. Yeah, no. And Uzama. That's true. Uzama will put him over. And Mixon, that's right. I think that's better than what he has. All right, let's go now from the quarterbacks to the running backs.

Dave, we'll start with your guys, Adrian Peterson and Justin Jackson. Peterson now going to be back with Washington. I'm sure a lot of people are choked up hearing you say that Adrian Peterson's a sleeper. But we had a guy over the last two seasons that's had some very good moments in this washington offense they have a new offense coordinator now and scott turner new head coach obviously with ron rivera and so peterson we expect him to be part of a committee but it's a committee that's injured darius guys can't stay healthy bryce love didn't play last year chris thompson's had a hard time staying on the field so peterson do you think he's going to be the lead running back for washington i think he's got a

shot to be and where you're going to draft him. I mean, it's like the last slice of pizza in the box. All right, you're hanging with your buddies. No one really wants to have the last slice, but someone's going to take it. He's going to be the last running back that's got starting potential that gets drafted in every single league. And I think it's going to be toward the back half of the draft. And so what's the risk involved for a guy that's given you at least 15 carries

in 15 of the 31 games that he's played in Washington he seems to be durable enough he's held up pretty well while he's been there I think he missed one game in two seasons so yeah you know typical 35 year old running back is a fantasy football sleeper let's roll with it we don't know Geis's health I hope he's healthy because when he plays he looks good and i think they're going to move on from chris thompson and if trent williams comes back that improves that offensive line we'll see what that group looks like up front i i think that there's room there for him to be a decent value pick and a guy you target even later on as a zero rb starter in 2020 drafts well i mean the only thing i would say is that hopefully Geis is the starter there. So I don't know if Adrian is going to get picked before Peterson.

Yeah, but I don't know in terms of zero RB. I don't know if that's the type of running back you want. If I'm spending my first four picks on non-running backs and I get to round five and six and Geis is one of the running backs I take there, I take some other running back in round five. You take him as a handcuff. I could take Peterson as a handcuff with Geis, and I've got something with this Washington offense

that I expect to be probably a little closer to what they were with Bill Callahan than they were with Jay Gruden. I mean, Scott Turner's offense is something that Adrian Peterson's been involved with because Scott's daddy Norv. It's the same type of system. Adrian's going to know what he's doing in this offense,

and if he's the only healthy back there, he makes sense as a decent sleeper pick. I'm not going to say he's going to run for 1,200 yards and 10 touchdowns. Even 1,000. Right. I don't even think he's worth taking before round seven. I think round seven, maybe at the absolute earliest. That's you're taking him round seven?

Maybe. Ben, are you even considering Adrian Peterson? I was thinking more like round 12 or 13 at the earliest. You're not going to get him in round 12 or 13, which might be that you don't want to have him. I don't want Adrian Peterson in round seven seven there's no chance i'm taking adrian pence on what the running backs group i don't i'd rather take a chance on a young guy by far and away than i would take a chance on adrian i get it ben what about you where are you taking a look at adrian peterson if at all i i mean can i just decline to speak about 35 year old running

back i just of course we just go the whole off season without talking about adrian peterson or frank gore i just want to do that well that's my other sleeper running back. Of course. Can we just go the whole offseason without talking about Adrian Peterson or Frank Gore? I just want to do that. Well, that's my other sleeper running back. Gore will be 36 by the time the season starts. But, yeah, no, for me, there's no chance round seven. No, I don't think for me either. You've already changed your mind?

No, I'm looking to see where I have him in my top 200. That's a quick one. Usually it takes you a few more seconds to change your mind. That was a quick one. No, I've got him in the round 10 range in PPR. So I jumped the gun a little bit there on round 10. Okay, round 7. Now all of a sudden round 10.

By the time the show's over, Dave's not drafting Adrian Pierce. All right, one guy you guys share is Justin Jackson. We know the setup there for the Chargers. They're looking at two free agent running backs in Melvin Gordon and Austin Eckler. Hopefully Eckler is back. Who knows what's going to happen with Melvin Gordon. Now, we didn't get great production from Jackson when he had the chance to fill in for Gordon last year as the second guy behind Austin Eckler. But, Ben, I'll give you the first word.

What's the chances that Justin Jackson, A, could be the starting running back for the Chargers and, B, that he can be successful? Yeah, I don't think the chances that he can be the starting running back are particularly high but i do think that the based on the chargers unwillingness to cave to melvin gordon's holdout that they kind of tip their hand that they're not going to be willing to pay uh a running back so why would they then turn around and bring somebody else in i think they're going to let melvin gordon go uh and and go forward with with eckler and jackson and jackson was good more particularly at the end of 2018 when he got a chance when both Gordon and Eckler were injured. And if this is a two-back backfield, I think they were using Eckler pretty heavily

early in the season thinking that Gordon would be back. Knowing that this would just be them two, I don't think they're going to lean on Eckler to be in every single down back, and I think Jackson would play a decent amount and essentially be the sole handcuff if something were to happen to Eckler. So right now I really look at Jackson as being in a position where he has plenty of room to grow and should have some standalone value and is probably one of the better later-round running backs. All right, Dave, the Adrian Peterson scale.

Are you taking Justin Jackson or Adrian Peterson first? Should I consult my rankings or should I just spew off the top uh whatever's going to change in the next six seconds i think jackson is probably going to be a little bit more appealing and i do have uh it goes back and forth between them but i do think that the chargers have so many needs they got a lot of cap space but think about what their needs are they're going to need a quarterback their offensive line isn't any great shakes there's questions about their linebackers. There's questions about their secondary. I think that there's room for other areas to be addressed in L.A.

before the Chargers go after running backs in the draft. So maybe they get one as an undrafted free agent. Maybe they sign a cheap guy after the first and second waves of free agency. But I think Justin Jackson has a role on this team. And he started off pretty well last year. He had limited touches, no more than 10 in any of the first three games. But he was getting a good rushing average going. And I think he was heading in a direction where he could be a nice contributor for the Chargers.

And if anything happens to Eckler, this is the guy who'd get the bulk of the work, assuming they don't add another good running back and that's if Eckler's back there which again we're he's a restricted free agent it would be surprising if he's not well you never know how things work out uh Ben just one thought on Jackson if Tyrod Taylor's the quarterback just on the subject of something that you bring up a lot and if his role in the passing game let's just assume Eckler misses time due to injury or Eckler leaves leaves is jackson going to work well as a pass catcher with a mobile quarterback like tyron

yeah i think it would impact his receptions for sure and uh though there's two sides to that we don't know that ty would replace 16 games so you know you you'd hope that later in the season you could have the potential to to work into more passing uh a more passing role and you're kind of drafting him in the in the off chance that he gets a larger role later in the season anyway but the second side of it is with running quarterbacks yes you're going to catch less passes but you also tend to have a higher rushing efficiency because of their threat running the ball so that's something you know we saw with the ravens running backs it's something we've seen

with ty tyra taylor's running backs in the past when he's been a starter so i think it can still be somewhat beneficial to jackson it will hurt his receiving role. You're absolutely right. The other sleeper running back that you have, Ben, is Royce Freeman, who we saw last year have some good moments, but didn't seem to be sustainable as Philip Lindsay sort of took over that backfield toward the end of the season. This is a guy that the Broncos seem to talk about every offseason as a player that they like, but they just don't seem to give him the workload that we like. And they continue to go back to Philip Lindsay, who's been very good over his two years in Denver. But you think he could be a sleeper coming into 2020? Yeah, I mean, caught 43 balls this year. So we got a lot more receiving production than we did

in his rookie season. We saw a lot of that at Oregon. He was an absolutely dominant, productive every down back at Oregon, and he's a lot bigger than lindsey and the big reason that i like him as a potential sleeper this year is the offensive coordinator change they bring him pat schirmer pat schirmer made trent richardson in his rookie season uh a top 10 ppr running back um even despite like a 3.5 yards per carry and horrible receiving efficiency because he just pumped so many touches into him he did it with dalvin cook as a young back in minnesota until cook got hurt he did it with saquon schirmer's history is pretty uh pretty evidently likes an every down back now that might end up being lindsey but this is kind of a bet on freeman is number one lindsey's definitely going to be more expensive in drafts and number number two, I don't know that Lindsey can handle that workload at his size.

I think Freeman's the better back for that three-down workload, and especially after we saw the receiving role in 2019. So he's the back at cost that I would really like to be the Pat Shermer lead back by the end of the season. It's one of those things that, you know, similar to Peterson, the type of guy that you gamble on that if there is an injury in front of him, then you get great production or good production. I don't know if we're going to see great production for freeman i'm with you ben he's somebody that i've liked for the last two years as well i thought

he would be good in his rookie campaign lindsey was the clear better option there and then last year this was another guy that i thought okay i'm going to take him at cost let somebody else take lindsey but lindsey just didn't go away and i thought after the wrist injury that lindsey suffered in his rookie season in 2018 is he going to be injury prone because of his size maybe that's just not the case maybe he is more physical than we give him credit for but i do think this is the type of running back that if you do wait on similar to what dave was talking about if you go zero rb he's not a bad guy to stash because you know he's going to get some work and so will it be successful work or will it be you know sort of disappointing work that you're just left a little bit unsatisfied but at least

you know he's going to get some touches and if if Pat Shermer does get his way and the offense starts to do a little bit more, be a little bit more improved with Drew Locke in his first full year as a starter, this is an offense I think we're going to see some weapons added. Another receiver, offensive line certainly will be retooled a little bit. I think John Elway is going to really put a lot of draft capital into this offense this offseason, whether it's through the draft or free agency. Two guys for me, Darwin Thompson and Boston Scott. We spent some time talking about Darwin Thompson, whether it was the Super Bowl or some of these

backup running backs from the 2019 class that could maybe take a step forward. The reason that I like him is LeSean McCoy is most likely gone. I don't think he's going to be back with the Chiefs. And then is it going to be Darwin Thompson or Darrell Williams as the backup guy to Damian Williams, who has not stayed healthy during his time in the NFL, missed five games last year? Can Thompson be the one that steps forward? That's kind of the thing I'm looking at as somebody. Like if you're talking about Peterson versus Thompson, I'll take Thompson 10 out of 10

just because of the offense that he plays in and what his role could potentially be. And I think I'm a little bit, you you know i try to take my conversations with players and this is the time of year where i spend a lot of time talking to players whether it's the pro bowl super bowl uh coming up at the combine next week and i'll be doing some stuff with the pick six pod cast as well from indianapolis at the combine uh but what thompson told me at the super bowl um you know i i can see the look in his eyes that he's a a hungry kid and he said you know in two years from now if i'm not making a ton of money, I'll be out of the league. And I think he's going to put in the work to be that second guy.

It was kind of telling that when Damian Williams had his helmet knocked off in the Super Bowl, they gave Thompson an opportunity to maybe punch one in. He failed. But I think if he's going to get that opportunity as the backup to Damian Williams in this offense again, if he's going to be sharing with Darrell Williams, maybe there's some upside there for him. The other guy for me also is Boston Scott. And as we saw last year, he really took off. I'm hoping that the Eagles don't spend a lot of capital in their backfield and it's Sanders and Scott is the two guys and Scott being the next Darren Sproles. As we saw in his final six games last year, he had 23 catches on 25 targets over that span,

scored at least 12 ppr points in three of his final four games and i think we know for me it's always been darren sproles better for the team than fantasy but i think this is a guy that could be like a tarik cohen uh like some of these pass catching running backs that we talked about not to the level of an austin eckler by any stretch but um somebody that you can get good value in in ppr uh ben when you look at scott when you look at thompson are these guys that you'll be looking at with later round picks on draft day yeah yeah especially like Scott as you know the Sproles role like you mentioned Thompson for me yeah it would be interesting to see if the Chiefs had anybody and and you also noted Daryl Williams is in there it's it's going to be a backfield that

will be shake shaken up or shook up I don't, I can't figure out that word, throughout the offseason, whether it's free agency or whether it's the draft. And if they don't add anyone significant through those few months, it will be almost like Darwin Thompson dodged a bullet. And at that point, yeah, absolutely, he would be somebody I would be targeting. And I think that maybe is an argument for targeting him now, which is probably an even cheaper spot if you are drafting now. But I kind of think that Casey will bring someone in. Wouldn't surprise me if they did.

I think they like Darwin Thompson. They probably want to see how he progresses this offseason and whether or not he can – what kept him off the field, right? Was it his pass protection? Was it that he didn't run well? That would seem weird because he ran great at utah state and caught the ball well out of the backfield i thought in the preseason his past protection was pretty good i thought that there was a chance for him last year to make an impact

the fact that he's the second man up in the super bowl oh so well i mean i mean that's that that should tell you something and granted daryl williams was hurt we don't know if he would actually be the second man up. I think there's a chance with him. So I don't mind the late round call on Darwin. And I think he's kind of an exciting player. I think his upside is a little bit higher than Boston Scott's. I think Scott is strictly a third down running back.

I think he's just that passing down guy who can never really break through that ceiling. So at best, he's Chris Thompson. And Chris Thompson, sure, in PPR, he had some really good times. And Boston Scott can get there. I think as a bench running back goes, Boston Scott's fine. I just don't know if he can ever develop into being somebody that's going to give me 15-plus PPR points per week. Yeah, I don't think he'll be consistent.

I think he's going to be one of those guys that has a lot of splash games and a lot of disappointing games. But I do think that certainly better Ppr than non-ppr because who knows how many touchdown opportunities that he'll get but i think both these guys can be high volume backup guys depending on circumstances define high volume for scott it would be more receiving right so total touches i think you know you're looking at a guy that that could be 10 touches per game you know if if it's just the two of them of sanders and scott and they don't bring in a jordan howard type to sort of make things bad for both of those guys for thompson it would be mostly a damien williams injury leading

to that volume as we see with the chiefs running backs again better pass catching than necessarily what he does running the ball the one thing about thompson dave that i think sort of jumped out to me when you talked about his his past blocking was said at this level, everybody's a great athlete. And he said the thing that he has to work on is his mental reps. And I think that sort of lends itself to the secondary things, not necessarily how he's running, how he's catching. It's pass blocking. It's knowing where to go and what to do. And that's hopefully what he does heading into his second year.

So news and notes before we move on to the wide receiver sleepers. We talked about this. The Redskins bringing back Adrian Peterson. Dave's taking him in round four. Three, round three now. In most leagues. One of Peterson's former teammates, and I'll say former because it sounds as if Jordan Reed is going to be released by the Redskins.

According to The Athletic, he has cleared the concussion protocol and we'll see if another team is going to take a chance on him. At this point, personally, I'd like to see Jordan re-retire. I think with all the concussions he's dealt with, I'm certainly not giving him career advice. Why would he listen to me? But from the health and safety for his long-term future, playing in the NFL does not seem like something that is good for him. Ben, if Reid ends up on a team that could potentially feature him, like the Redskins have in the past, would you have any interest in drafting him?

I guess I'd have interest relative to cost. I'm sure he would go probably really, really late. And so there could be some upside when he's on the field. And I've always been a big fan of his and his skill set. But the concussions are just a really scary thing as you noted and if he does stay in washington unless they have a change of heart do they rework his contract uh you mentioned scott turner dave um that's an offense that would lean on their tight ends ron rivera's got a history as a head coach of using his tight ends as well they had a good one with greg olson like jordan reed at one point was challenging Rob Gronkowski.

I think it was the 2015 season where they were back and forth as the number one PPR tight end. So we'll see if Jordan Reed does decide to continue his career in the Redskins. Certainly going to be the market for a tight end after Vernon Davis retired as well. Mel Kuyper Jr. of ESPN had a media press conference or a conference call with the media yesterday. He said something interesting that there will be 25 to 30 wide receivers going off the board in the NFL draft in the first three rounds

with as many as five in the first round and eight in the second round. It's going to be interesting. It's a loaded receiver class. For dynasty purposes, how many of these guys do you think you're going to be end up taking in the first round of a dynasty rookie only draft it could be as few as maybe four or five that's it and it could be as many as like seven i think running back you got two locks see lamb and jerry judy are going to be for a lot and rugs is going to be a lot yep uh ben how about you how many first round

rookie i think dave's got it right i mean we we know the top probably three picks are all going to be running backs and typically there's going to be a lot of running backs uh in the first rounds of rookie drafts but what the bigger question might be you know how many would you see through two rounds because there's a good chance that second round of rookie drafts are just dominated by wide receivers if there's this many that go in the first three rounds. The CBA proposal is being discussed, and there's some fun conversations being had about the playoff field expanding to seven teams and the regular season being extended to 17 games. I haven't seen anything about additional bye weeks being added,

but I think there will be a second bye week added during the regular season as well if this does come to fruition. So it becomes a 19-week season? I mean, look, I think the NFL would like to push their season to Presidents Day weekend because then you make the Super Bowl that Sunday and you get Presidents Day off on Monday, which a lot of people I think would be happy about, not having to work the day after the Super Bowl. Maybe it's 18 weeks instead of 19. I said

19. It would be 18 weeks, yes. Well, no. It would be 19. If there's two bye weeks. Right now, if there's one bye week, it would be 18 games. How do you guys think this will change fantasy football? You get more regular season games. I think people will just push back when their playoffs start by one week.

Maybe two weeks. Playoffs starting in weeks 15, 16, and 17. Right. Because, all right, so if it's an 18. 17 regular season games, two bye weeks, 19 weeks in the season. No one's going to want to play in week 19. This all sounds so foreign it's an 18 17 regular season games two bye weeks 19 weeks in the season no one's going to want to play in week 19 this all sounds so foreign but it shouldn't be week 18 will be your fantasy championship week 17 will be your semi-finals week 16 will be the first round so you're going to get 15 weeks of fantasy football so it's two weeks that we'd be

pushing back the playoffs i think so yes one thing that that I think will happen is we'll see a lot more guys held out with questionable tags that aren't 100%. I feel like we've been seeing more of that lately anyway as health concerns have been more well-known, learned about. I'm really struggling with words today. But what I think will happen is we will see guys just basically take weeks off. We have more teams now potentially in the playoffs, fewer teams getting that wild card bye week where they know that they can rest guys.

And if players are banged up and teams are locked into the wild card weekend, I just think there will be more business decisions with players to to not push them too much and almost like a workload management thing like we've seen in the nba i think that might start to drift into the nfl a little bit could be a little bit more frustrating the preseason also would be shortened to three games as opposed to four so that's something else to keep an eye on but it's something we'll spend a lot of time talking about how you set up maybe your leagues uh could impact some drafts as we look ahead to the fantasy playoffs a lot of people like to do that uh dave does a great job breaking down the

schedule so uh could be a little bit more work for you in terms of how you have to add in those additional bi-weeks if that does happen but if there is 17 games something that you should look at when you're setting up your league last news and note item that we're talking about here jarvis landry underwent successful hip surgery. That's according to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. He is expected to be ready for training camp. Impact your decision on Jarvis Landry at all, Ben? Where you're looking at him,

is he a starting fantasy wide receiver for you, just on the cuffs, number three guy? How are you looking at Jarvis Landry now that you're looking at him at less than 100%? Yeah, I mean, I think it impacts things a little bit but he is just perennially undervalued based on his his fancy football finishes I mean you just go back and look every season he's been a top 20 PPR receiver since I think his rookie season where even as a rookie he was like wide receiver 31 the guys never missed a game in the regular season so even though he's going to be coming back from this injury he is extremely durable and he always goes in the 30s of of

you know ppr draft so if you want a good stable receiver yeah this guy's going to usually beat his adp and he has every season of his career and we'll see if baker mayfield's better with the new coaching staff alex and pelt the new offensive coordinator there in cleveland he did come out and say at a press conference this week, we have to get Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry the ball. That just makes sense. Get your best playmakers. What's he going to say?

We're going to get David Nujoku the ball? He might. Or he could say let's continue to run the ball and lean on. There will be some of that. There will be a lot of that. There will be, yeah. All right, so speaking of receivers, let's go now to our sleeper-wide receivers as we continue our conversation

looking at early sleepers for 2020. Dave's two guys, Deontay Johnson and Paris Campbell. You're going back to the Paris Campbell well. Makes sense given what his upside could be in Deontay Johnson. The question I think, Dave, would be in terms of Johnson, and we talked about this a little bit earlier this week, is it him or is it James Washington? Like who is the better second guy

who could be the juju to antonio brown as now juju is clearly the number one guy i'm banking on deontay johnson being a little more polished than washington even though he's got a year less of experience yes i think he'll be just a little bit better than james washington and we're going to see washington make plays in the preseason again that's what he does more than anything else and at least this year he gave us something in the regular season. But Johnson led the Steelers for whatever it's worth. He led them in targets last year. It wasn't by much, but he did.

And that's what you do missing time due to injury. Yeah, definitely missed time due to injury. And I just think that Deontay Johnson has a skill set that could be really good for Pittsburgh because he can do it all. He reminded me a little bit of Antonio Brown because he's good in the short area. He can cut it deep. He had 14 deep targets in 2019. That's the second most in Pittsburgh. He had 5.8 targets per game. That's the same as Juju had per game last year. So I think that there is opportunity for him. And this is a player I would look at starting in round nine, but probably closer to round 10. I think the telling thing will be who Ben Roethlisberger

likes better because I'm with you. I think Deay johnson is the better of the two ben what about you do you like johnson better or washington better looking at the second receiver for the dealers i think i like johnson better and and there are there i think there's been reports of people in the building that have compared deontay johnson to antonio brown i mean that's the role he's gonna play and james washington's gonna be the downfield guy kind of in the mold of Martavis Bryant and Darius Hayward-Bey and some of the other deep route guys that we've seen in the Pittsburgh offense in the past several years. And Juju is going to be the slot guy, and probably a high-volume slot guy.

But these are going to be the two outside receivers playing a little bit different roles. So Johnson, I think, will be the more consistent weekly target guy. James Washington will have that boom-bust big play upside. But I do like Johnson quite a bit. You guys spent some time talking about Paris Campbell on a podcast earlier this week. But, Dave, kind of tell us your thoughts about what he could be in 2020. He had a tough time with injuries last year.

And just the passing game was not that great for the Colts with Jacoby Brissett. They could have a new quarterback in 2020. Right. So new quarterback, that would be an upgrade. And the receiving core, they're probably going to bring in somebody else too. T.Y. Hilton's got his spot. I think Campbell can be the slot receiver for Indianapolis, and he can pick up a lot of short area targets.

He's got good speed as well. The biggest concern I would have for Paris Campbell now compared to last year is injuries. He had a bunch of them in training camp and then into the regular season. Can he stay healthy? That's something that you've got to consider. But I'm anticipating that he gets some headlines in training camp and he ends up being somebody that is a trendy-ish late-round pick,

one of the last three picks that you could take on draft day. Decent volume potential in Indianapolis' offense, maybe 50 catches. Ben, your two guys are Mecole Hardman and John Ross. You sort of gave us your take on Ross, if you could just hit it again quickly, but also Mecole Hardman, somebody we spoke about earlier. When we're looking at these wide receivers taking the next step, is it just a matter of Sammy Watkins leaving, DeMarcus Robinson leaving, and Hardman ascending to that role, or can he still be successful

if they bring somebody else in or maybe keep Sammy Watkins? Yeah, I think Hardman regardless will play more this year. I mean, we saw him play a pretty decent snapshot right away out of the gate in September because Tyree Kill got hurt right away, and he was good. He was productive as a rookie playing his first snaps in the NFL level. He was very good for a couple of weeks in September. Then he was relegated to almost like a 20% and some weeks even sub 15% snap role. But he would still make big plays.

And he finished with over 13 yards per target, which is an insane rate. It's not something he can do on more volume. But he's very clearly fit in this offense. They tried to get him the ball. They got him the ball on rush attempts, on jet sweeps. I know he scored on a jet sweep. I think maybe it was a tip pass back in the preseason. Maybe had one of those during the season as well.

But somebody that they really wanted to use a lot in this offense, a lot like how they used to use Tyreek Hill in multiple ways. And Hill seems to be transitioning more towards a more traditional receiver role. They're obviously still going to use him in different ways. But regardless, I think they love both these guys, Speed, Hill, and Hardman, and they complement each other. And as soon as Hardman plays more with how productive he was per opportunity this year, I think that just makes everything better for him.

How do you defend the Chiefs when they're both on the field? You could just stop with how you defend the Chiefs. Sure, of course. But with Mahomes, and you know the strength of his arm, and both those guys can do anything. They can run any route. It's fantastic. It's just a matter of volume for Hardman.

I'm really curious what they're going to do if Watkins stays. If he leaves and Robinson is gone, as expected, do they add somebody of significance? You know, this is like in the nba you know guys that want to play with lebron you know you want to play with oh yeah you know because of what he could do to your career and help you ascend like he's done with tyree kill and travis kelsey and maybe hardman has that ability or somebody want to come in and maybe take that spot that watkins would be leaving but yeah uh and in terms of john ross is just a matter of staying healthy, Ben, as we talked about earlier? Yeah, I think what we

saw in early 2019 suggests that he does have that skill that I was talking about with his prospect profile. And I'm really excited about him having a longer leash in a different offense than Marvin Lewis at the NFL level, as long as he can stay healthy, right? That's all it is. And is that a John Ross helmet behind you on the shelf that you dub? No, that's an older school, like 1990s Washington. Okay, just checking to see where your allegiances are. For me, the two sleeper wide receivers that we're going to highlight here, Hunter Renfro and Preston Williams. Adam Mazur hates Preston Williams. He left them out of his notes when we were looking at the wide receivers from the 2019

rookie class, not the draft class because he wasn't drafted. I think for Williams it's just a matter of can he stay healthy and will he sort of build off what he was starting to do before he suffered that ACL tear in Week 9. 12 or more PPR points, two of his final three games, and then from that point on Devontae Parker really ascended as

the go-to guy for the Dolphins. So if Williams is healthy with that ACL, be interested to see how Ryan Fitzpatrick leans on one of those two guys because he tends to pepper one guy specifically, like we saw with Parker, like we saw with Brandon Marshall once upon a time, Stevie Johnson once upon a time in Buffalo. He likes one guy. Will he like Williams?

Will he like Parker? That's the gamble. Cost is big here. Williams will go significantly later than Parker. So if you want to he like parker that's the gamble cost is big here williams will go significantly later than parker so if you want to gamble on that that's something you can look at and then for hunter renfro i think he could be the raiders best wide receiver not necessarily the best pass catcher that's your guy dave darren waller but tyrell williams does not suit derrick carr i don't think he would suit tom brady if that's the replacement option i think brady would fall in love with hunter renfro. So for a guy that has the ability to catch the ball the way that he does,

Ben sort of alluded to this on the show. We were talking about the rookie wide receivers from 2019. He had some big splash plays toward the end of the season, but he was really starting to put a nice body of work together after a slow start, then missing some time due to injury. He closed the season playing very well, and I think he just fits what Derek Carr likes to do, getting the ball out quick, short area target, a guy that can be very good in terms of catching the ball.

Dave, you didn't talk about these wide receivers. Do you like Renfro? Do you like Williams going into 2020? Love Renfro. Not a huge fan of Preston Williams. And Williams, it's the ACL. Will he even be ready for the start of the season, and will he be able to break through from his rehabilitation from the ACL. I'm nervous about it. He was a receiver that made a bunch of mistakes when he did play.

He's someone that I'm probably not going to take. But Renfro is, and Renfro's right in that range where I would take Deontay Johnson, that round nine, round ten. That's in PPR. Not in PPR, it's a different story. But I think he's absolutely going to have a role as a slot receiver. He is there. He is a good slot receiver who can get nice short area targets

to help move the chains and help out what the Raiders are doing on offense. And if Brady's there instead of Derek Carr, then you're going to start thinking of him as the next Julian Edelman or Wes Welker. We're not going to be able to get him in round 9 or round 10 if that actually ends up being the case. People will fall in love with him. I'm always a little bit nervous about players, and especially wide receivers.

They get so much of their fantasy production in two games. In the last two games for Hunter Renfro, he had 35% of his fantasy totals in PPR. But it's his last two games. It might have been when he started to break out and things really started to play. Prior to that, he also had two right before he got hurt too and so he was and he had i just looked it up i'm done 49 catches last year and he didn't play 16 games he averaged four catches per game i think that number could go up to five so i think that there's a lot to like about hunter run from ppr just one of the perfect types of receivers that you'll draft to put on your bench

use in case of injury by weeks what have you in the upcoming 19 week fantasy i just wanted one thing about williams said he made some mistakes ben brought this up on on the show earlier this week about most of the mistakes came with josh rosen once they made the quarterback switch he played a lot better am i right in what you were talking about ben earlier this week yeah he didn't really play with fitzpatrick a ton he got hurt like right around when they made the quarterbacks change. But yeah, Dave's right. He dropped some touchdowns. He kind of hurt Rosen's impact of what people thought of Rosen

because I think Rosen could have had much better numbers if his receivers had done a better job catching the ball as well. But he was as productive as Devontae Parker while he was healthy, and then Parker blew up after he was hurt. So that's how I look at it. Yeah, and again, it comes down to cost. Parker's going to go much sooner than Williams. If you want a piece of the Dolphins' passing game,

we'll see who the quarterback is, but I think Williams could, if healthy, be successful with a late-round pick. The sleeper tight ends that we're looking at here, for Dave, it's Ian Thomas and Jay Sternberger. Dave, just to let you know, I have Thomas as a breakout this year. Okay. So in the columns that will be out, I think Thomas can take that next step. We'll talk about that in a second.

But Thomas and Sternberger for you. For Ben, it's Mike Gusecki and John DeSmith. And for me, it's TJ Hawkinson and Dallas Goddard. But let's start with Thomas here. Greg Olson, now a member of the Seahawks. I know you guys spent some time breaking that down on the show on Wednesday. But for him stepping into this role, we don't know what the quarterback's going to be, but what are your expectations for Ian Tom? I think that he plays a lot

more. That's a good start, and I think he'll see a decent amount of targets. It's really a question of just how many targets are going to be there for him, which is why if he does break out, I don't think it'll be to a level where it'll be what Waller did last year. No, no. I think he's going to come in.

I think, well, if that's going to happen, then someone's going to have to really play. I don't want to completely cap his ceiling, but in the last two years, Greg Olson's missed six games. In four of those games, he scored 14 or more PPR points. So he's been very good without Cam Newton and without Greg Olson on the field. So those two things could be.

And with him getting more playing time, you're right. He's got a chance to do that, and he can be good. He could end up finishing as a top 12 fantasy tight end. I don't know if he's going to be a top five fantasy tight end. Could it be his best year ever and he breaks out like that? Yes. Could he be somebody that in 2021, we're talking about surefire, you know, one to pick in the top ten rounds?

Absolutely he can get there. But I do feel like the offense that's coming into Carolina is going to be more receiver heavy and running back heavy and not necessarily tight in that. Don't forget, though, Tyron Moss was a big part of Joe Brady's offense. He was a big part of it. Especially in the national championship game. But he was also like the third guy and maybe even the fourth guy

when you consider Edwards-Alaire in that offense. And so Ian Thomas could fit into that sort of a role. I just think you can get him literally with your last three picks. He's another one of those guys that we can talk about. We'll see how he does later on. It could change if he does have a good preseason. The same thing could go with Jay Sternberger. We think that the Packers are going to add another wide receiver.

That would make perfect sense. Well, they're in the Austin Hooper conversation. That's some of the things you're going to look at. That would crush it. And then Jay Sternberger would be a nothing burger at that point. But they don't get austin hooper and they don't have jimmy graham then sternberger could have an opportunity and he had a little bit of playing time toward the end of last season and i liked his game from texas a&m we talked about him earlier this week on the podcast as well so there he would probably be somebody if there's just not a lot of news on

him you're not even going to draft him. He'll be somebody that you maybe consider off the waiver wire. But if there is some news about him, then maybe he's your last pick. Thomas will go ahead of Sternberger. Ben, talk about your two guys in comparison to maybe Ian Thomas. We'll see with Sternberger if he's the guy in Green Bay. But Gusecki was very good toward the end of last season, and John Smith had some very good moments as well.

Can they build off their 2019 campaigns for Gusecki, new offensive coordinator with Chan Gailey, who does not have a big history of tight ends? And John Smith is kind of tied to Delaney Walker, who is going to most likely be gone from the Titans, but that's not a guarantee. If Smith is the guy there and Gusecki can sort of be the pass catcher that we saw last year how good can both those guys be in 2020 yeah i mean i think dave hit it uh right on the head with with ian thomas that that he could definitely have a good

year but you know the presence of christian mccaffrey and dj moore is probably going to target cap his target ceiling these are guys that i think could have top five years gaseki if if um you know he doesn't get impacted too much by Changeli's system, and the reason I would think that might not happen is he's kind of a big wide receiver. He gets split out a lot. He was used down the field a ton, and this is a big reason why I like his potential next season. His area yards were extremely high among tight ends. They were among the league leaders, especially in the second half of the season at the position. So I think he has a lot of potential with Ryan Fitzpatrick back,

assuming that Fitzpatrick's back and pushing the ball down the field. John U. Smith was a really good prospect coming out. He's always been in a second, you know, kind of a second fiddle role, except for when Delaney Walker's been hurt. And he didn't necessarily take advantage of that the first time that Delaney Walker was hurt, but we saw him take more advantage of it in 2019 especially in this new offense it's run by a former tight end coach that was using John Smith on toss sweeps and all sorts of tight end screens and very creatively and John who showed a really really good run after the catch

ability I think this guy has a ton of future upside. It's kind of a late bloomer, which we do see at the tight end position. So especially if Delaney Walker's not back. But even if he is back, John, who to me is kind of similar to like a Dallas Goddard, just probably in a less pass-happy offense. But somebody that I really like as a player, and we're just hoping gets enough opportunities. Yeah, get Delaney Walker out of there at this point. I want to see John Smith in a featured role. Me too.

It'd be very, very good. Same thing with Gusecki. The thing that Gusecki makes me a little nervous is it feels almost like what Bruce Arians inherited with O.J. Howard. Like he's going to ruin what could be a good player. Not the same level. Gusecki's not the same type of prospect that O.J. Howard was, but he's not far off.

I mean, you know, he was a great pass catcher in college and we thought he had a chance to do what he did last year with the Dolphins. I just hope that Gailey changes some things a little bit, like Ben said, uses him in a little bit of a different role. For me, TJ Hawkinson and Dallas Goddard, you know, I think they kind of speak for themselves and what they could be. Hawkinson, I know you guys spent some time talking about him. Only had three good games last season, but hopefully we get a little bit more consistent production like Dave alluded to. Maybe Marvin Jones does move on from Detroit, but I think this is a weapon that they can use and use well. And then Goddard was the number 10 tight end in PPR last year. I don't think people realize

that, that he could still be this good. Heath has him ranked as a top 10 option coming into 2019. I'm going to move him up when I adjust my rankings. I haven't done that for about two weeks now, but Goddard will be somebody that will be closer to the top 12. I'm going to move him up when I adjust my rankings. I haven't done that for about two weeks now, but Goddard will be somebody that will be closer to the top 12. I think both those guys have the chance to be starting caliber tight end, similar to Smith and Gusecki and Ian Thomas as well. We'll see if Sternberger is the guy there

from Green Bay. So before we wrap it up, Dave, where's Adrian Peterson being drafted? Have you changed? It's round 10. I got silly for a second and I said round 7, but no, it's round 10. Okay, so there we have it. The wrap-up of the Adrian Peterson conversation. He is going in round 10 now for Dave.

Thank you. He's not being drafted by Ben Gretsch. This has been fun talking about some sleepers for 2020. We're going to spend some more time on breakouts and busts coming up in the next few weeks. We're also going to talk a lot about the NFL Combine. It's coming up next week, and so we'll have a lot of coverage from there. I will be there. Dave,

Ben, Heath, and Adam, I'm sure, will be breaking down a lot of the conversations coming out of the Combine as we continue to get you ready for the NFL Draft, free agency as well. And don't forget, we have our XFL podcast coming out later today. Emery Hunt, RJ White will be joining Ben Gresham and myself as we break

down the Week 3 action of the XFL. For Ben, for Dave, I'm Jamie. Gotta go. Bye.