Fantasy Football Today - 2023 Mock Draft Review: Early Free Agency Makes Impact! (03/23 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: March 23, 2023

VOTE FOR US HERE (Fantasy Sports & Betting Category): https://www.sportspodcastgroup.com/sports_category/fantasy-and-sports-betting/ Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Big surprises as free agency impacts our most recent mock draft! First, the crew breaks down the Elijah Moore trade (3:40), Mecole Hardman signing with the Jets (9:00), and Austin Hooper replacing Darren Waller in Las Vegas (12:45). Then, the guys recap round 1 (17:00) and discuss Cooper Kupp and Tony Pollard's (21:20) draft position. Did they go too early? And what about Javonte Williams? (29:00) Can he bounce back from the injury that ended his 2022 season? Next, we return to the receiver group to discuss DeAndre Hopkins (35:03), DJ Moore (41:40), and Calvin Ridley (42:55). Finally, they discuss Kyle Pitts (47:55) and break down Jamey, Dave, and Jake's teams. (54:40)  Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection 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." 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. Welcome to Fantasy Football Today podcast. I'm Jamie Eisenberg. That's Dave Richard. Joining us today, we've got a special guest. It's our intern, Jake Grogan, is with us here. We're going to break down our latest mock draft, the first draft we did following NFL free agency

and all the frenzy of moves and giving you a little taste of what some of the drafts could look like before all the rookies are inserted into your fantasy leagues. But it was a fun mock draft that we did on Tuesday and very interesting breakdown of some of the players that have changed teams and some of the guys impacted by some of the free agent moves and the players and their new values when it comes to their fantasy leagues for the upcoming season.

So I'm going to break that down. But first, I've got some news to cover. And obviously, our buddy Adam Azer is still a little under the weather, so he's not going to be with us today. But we're going to have a fun show for you. So, Jake, welcome to your first podcast, your first Fantasy Football Today podcast. You were our intern in the fall, maybe going to be our intern again, or maybe an employee at some point. That'd be fun.

What was your first fantasy draft with us like? How much did you enjoy the process? It was fun. It went pretty much exactly how I thought it was going to go, to be honest. There was a lot of sharp picks, and I felt that I could have used more wide receiver depth at the end, and that's normally how my drafts go. Jake is a Jets fan, so apropos to join us today with the news of a wide receiver

being signed to the Jets, a wide receiver on the move for the Jets, and still no quarterback yet for the Jets. Dave, how excited are you about this upcoming weekend with your Miami Hurricanes in both the men's and women's tournaments advancing to the Sweet 16? Super excited, Jamie. I've been telling you for years how when I was at Miami, the college basketball program there was a laughingstock. I used to go to the Miami Arena when there were like 300 people there, including the players. And students got in for free.

They had a special student section. It was as far away from the court as you can get. We would literally walk down to the second row behind the broadcast table and watch the games there for nothing. I remember having conversations with a young Mike Tirico at the time and even saw Richard Hamilton in his college playing days back in the late 90s. So to see the program explode and to get ready for a big game against Houston, it's going to be really tough. But I think this is either the best or second best Canes basketball team I've ever seen.

You're getting a lot more answer than you bargained for when you asked that question, my man. I am very, very excited. Yeah, and some people might be thinking that Adam's not here because he's on his way to watch the Canes. He is not. I can assure you, it's not. He's legitimately under the weather, and Jake and I obviously hate you because Jake's a Florida State guy. I'm a Florida guy, so we're a little jealous of the... how'd you guys do in the tournament uh not very well so uh we'll move on to another subject so okay um again couple news items i want to get to before we break down the uh the draft so we'll start with the uh the jets uh moves at wide receivers so the big move obviously was the trade trading with the browns sending elijah moore and

a third round pick to cleveland for a second round pick. So Jake, we'll get your spin on in a second, but Dave, when you see Elijah Moore now going to Cleveland, we'll start with that aspect of things. Number two receiver, most likely, or at least in the conversation with Donovan Peoples-Jones, but behind Amari Cooper, it's an interesting wide receiver core now when you have DPJ, when you have Elijah Moore, David Bell, maybe he's the fourth receiver at this point or Anthony Schwartz. David Njoku in the mix. It's a lot of options for Deshaun Watson. So Elijah Moore's fantasy value in Cleveland is now what?

It's going to be as a bench receiver at best. There are going to be people excited about what they remember seeing from Elijah Moore with the Jets in 2021, and they'll take a flyer on him. I think if it's round 10 and you want to do it, you can in full PPR because he's got a shot to be second on the team in targets. He could overcome David Njoku and Donovan Peoples-Jones in that role, and it certainly breathes life into his dynasty value, Jamie. We know now that he's got a path to potentially being a relevant part of the Browns' offense long-term, but he could also fizzle out.

What happens if he has another eruption? He feels unwanted. He wants to get traded, something like that. What if he gets hurt? He got hurt in his rookie year. It cost him a fast start to his playing career. What if he's just not great? What if we were wrong on our evaluation? The floor is pretty low with him too. So don't invest much in elijah moore as a fantasy wide receiver bench guy double digit rounds but someone who does have some potential to do something down the line funny part of this uh mock draft was uh again jake's a jets fan jacobs gibbs uh one of our you know analysts here on cbs is a big elijah moore fan and first it was uh who's who's the real JG

in the draft. So that was, that was a fun conversation, but, but there was a little bit of a, who's going to get Elijah Moore in the draft. And so Jake, again, as a Jets fan, as a guy who knows fantasy, uh, seeing Elijah Moore leave the Jets, going to Cleveland from the Jets side of things, you know, what, what, uh, what are the Browns getting in this type of player? Yeah, uh, absolutely. He was, uh, I mean, I was a big fan of his coming out of Ole Miss. He's a talented route runner. He doesn't, like Dave said in the last couple of shows, he doesn't have the biggest catch radius.

So, I mean, he's not, he gets played outside, but he's better in the slot in my opinion. And I think it's a good fit with the Browns. But like Dave said, you should probably temper your expectations a little bit. I would say he's a value later in the draft, but I don't know if he's going to play a ton like he did with the Jets, like he didn't with the Jets, I should say. And I don't know, I would just temper by expectations.

I loved him coming out of college. I thought he was going to be one of the better receivers in the league. I thought he was a premier route runner, but things happen. And obviously his value has taken a hit since then. So I guess I'll be a little bit more optimistic from the standpoint of this is the best quarterback he's ever going to play with, uh, to, to date so far in his short tenure in the league. And so hopefully that helps, uh, you said he's, he's, he's better student slot. I think that's why they traded for him, you know, because they have their two outside guys in Amari Cooper and DPJ. And so I hope this is an opportunity for him to step into that role

and be a prominent option for the Browns. I mean, it's a pretty hefty price tag to, you know, spend a second round pick knowing what, as you alluded to, Jake, you know, with the rookie receivers coming in, that there may be somebody that could be a little bit better, you know, depending on how the draft unfolds. So to be aggressive and target him, it is going to be his third year in the NFL. So hopefully he's learned a little bit better, you know, depending on how the draft unfolds. So to be aggressive and target him, it is going to be his third year in the NFL. So hopefully he's learned a little bit and, you know,

maybe learn from his mistakes from last year about not being on the same page with the front office and coaching staff and all those things. I'm curious overall for this Browns offense, and I'll throw this back to you, Dave, just in terms of, you know, the philosophy that they're going to use because Kevin Stefanski, I still think wants to run the ball. Ownership might be a little bit different based on their spending and now the trade, but I still think that's his MO. And if they are going to throw the ball more, getting this type of player, what does this do for Deshaun Watson? And is there any downgrade

for Amari Cooper and in turn Donovan people's jump? There is an upgrade. It's not, it's an upgrade for Deshaun Watson, but not enough to change his status and fantasy. Like I'm not going to move him into my top five because he's got Elijah Moore. That'd be a little nuts, but it's an, it's another,

it's another quality target. It's an upgrade in terms of, you know, comparing him to David Bell, Anthony Schwartz, who ran through the names. He's better than those guys. He should be better than those guys. Let me say that. And if he is, then that means more completions for Deshaun

Watson, hopefully some more yards after the catch for Deshaun Watson, some easy numbers for him to pile on. I think it's a downgrade for Donovan Peoples-Jones because it takes DPJ off the table as the for sure number two wide receiver. Chris Towers and I actually talked about this on FFT and Five. The Browns didn't run a lot of three receiver sets last year. Does that change now because they've got Elijah Moore, or do they stick with that this year? And if so, we know Amari Cooper is going to be one of those wide receivers.

Who's going to be the other one? It might still be DPJ. Could be Elijah Moore. You just have to wait and see but either way i don't think it's going to be enough to to move the needle considerably i'm i'm gonna say that it's fine for amari cooper i still view amari cooper as a quality number two fantasy wide receiver i still expect him to get the majority of targets and it is a hefty price that they paid for elijah moore but i don't think he's going to go in there and completely transform this offense and make it an amazing pass-heavy unit.

I think they're still going to do what Stefanski wants to do. And Njoku, downgrade as well? A little bit of a downgrade for Njoku, too. That's one that you could see reflected in the rankings. He might still be top 12, but I don't know how good you'll feel about it. He's a late round pick anyway hopefully a little more touchdowns and again better rapport with uh Deshaun Watson over the course of a full off season and a full season there in Cleveland all right so the Jets they they make the move to trade Elijah

Moore but on the same day they add to their wide receiver room they bring in Mikko Hardman who is an interesting player as we saw last year had some good moments with the Chiefs we know he's been a little bit of a frustrating fantasy option because when he was drafted in the second round out of Georgia, we thought, OK, maybe this is the compliment to Tyreek Hill. Maybe this is the guy when Tyreek Hill misses. We've we've had some conversations before about, OK, his fantasy numbers are going to pop and happen last year over a full season. So, Jake, as a Jets fan, your excitement with Mikko Hardman, again, it's sort of an incomplete situation right now because we're waiting on aaron rogers but assuming rogers is the quarterback there does micole hardman sort of move the needle for you as a jets fan and then as a fantasy manager um i would say not as much for fantasy moving the needle but as a jets fan he definitely moves the

needle he feels like the perfect braxton barrios replacement in my eyes he's a bit more explosive the better athlete he's obviously a bit more explosive, a better athlete. He's obviously a bit faster, and he can run those jet sweeps, those end rounds that they've been forcing to Braxton Berrios these last couple years, and I think that's a better role for him, and he'll also be a solid kicker-turner, part-returner for us. So I don't know about going to grab him in fantasy unless it's a deep league, but I would say definitely good for the jets more so

than your fantasy team gary wilson clearly the number one receiver for the jets and then the number two spot assuming that maybe randall cobb is brought in again you know the jokes jordy nelson donald driver whoever else aaron rogers wants to come with him but uh so dave it's it's alan lazard it's uh cory davis for now you know mikoikle Hardman, the second best Jets receiver is? It's still Lazard. I think the fun comparison would be who plays what role in the Jets offense this year compared to the Packers offense in 2021. And I think you look at Garrett Wilson and that guy's Devonta Adams.

That's going to be his role. And Meikle Hardman could be a lot like MVS with a little bit of an added kick of being utilized in the red zone, schemed up a little bit like he was in Kansas City. Why wouldn't the Jets try and do the same thing? And then Alan Lazard is Alan Lazard. It's, you know, one for one there. It's the exact same guy. And so I think that having Lazard there with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback should make him

number two when they're in two receiver sets. Can't imagine it being anybody other than Garrett Wilson and Alan Lazard. So Lazard would be the one that I would take first ahead of McCall Hardman. I would take Elijah Moore ahead of McCall Hardman, to be honest with you, just for the chance that he's going to get more volume than Hardman on a week-to-week basis. All right, let's tie this all in between these two teams. So the first receiver you're taking clearly is Garrett Wilson. Namari Cooper would be two. Who's the third receiver between the Browns and the Jets? Is it Elijah Moore or is it Alan Lazard? It's Lazard for me. Okay, I would take

Elijah Moore. What about you, Joe? I'd probably take Lazard as of right now. I guess, well, Donovan Peoples-'s jones can't forget about him either so so lazard for both you guys i would take a chance on more first uh after more would it be miko hardman donovan people's jones elijah moore how are you guys approaching easily elijah for me after so elijah third fourth there's we start to get a little tricky here dpj i think dpJ for me. I don't know if I'm taking any of these guys, but if I had to take one of them,

I think I'd probably look at, um, not Elijah. I'm just going to say his name twice. Can I draft Elijah more twice? No. Uh, Nicole Hardman would be next. Okay.

And then, uh, we'll see how things go again. Once Aaron Rogers signs, we'll get a full breakdown of the jets. There's also a report that maybe Odell Beckham would be joining the Jets as well. So that'll change the tenor of the conversation also with this receiving core behind Garrett Wilson.

A couple of tight end moves or at least news with tight ends. The transaction that happened, the Darren Waller replacement has been signed. Austin Hooper going to Las Vegas. Dave, does Austin Hooper do anything for you from a fantasy perspective? Not yet. They also have OJ Howard. So my guess is that they're going to have a competition for who can be the receiving tight end in that offense. And this is another offense. It's got a decent amount of targets for Jimmy Garoppolo to throw to. And I'm noticing that it's a lot, it's Devontae Adams, who's the king, and then a lot of short area guys and that's kind

of what garoppolo made his money on with san francisco was a lot of those short throws so maybe they're just trying to build their offense around garoppolo and what he does best which is keeping it short and hoping that guys like jacoby and hunter renfro make plays after the catch which one of these tight ends is best and making plays after the catch. I mean, Austin Hooper has done it before. I don't know if he's still capable of doing it. I am probably not interested in a Raiders tight end in fantasy unless they've got a dreamy matchup in week one and I'm going to start the year streaming.

Yeah, or tight end premium league. You'll see who wins the job between Moreau and O.J. Howard. But again, it's a very deep tight end. Hooper and Howard. Excuse me, Austin Hooper. We'll talk job between Moreau and OJ Howard but again it's a very deep tight end Howard excuse me uh Austin Hooper we'll talk about Foster Moreau yeah um but uh in terms of uh tight end premium leagues you know this this might be a situation that you look at with a late round pick but it's a very deep tight end class coming into the NFL draft and you know maybe the Raiders aren't done trying to find their tight end of the future speaking of Foster Moreau uh you know scary situation but sounds like he's uh he fighting it. So he announced on Twitter that he's been diagnosed

with lymphoma. He found out about the situation when he was taking a physical with the Saints. And so thankfully they caught it. Sounds like they caught it early. And we're obviously wishing him the best and, you know, our thoughts and prayers with him to beat this and knock it out of the park and, you know, get healthy and get back on the field sometime soon. So you can check out what he said on Twitter. You know, obviously a lot of, a lot of people rooting for him to make a speedy recovery. So we wish him all the best here from fantasy football today.

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Paramount Shop, where products are paramount. All right, take a quick break. When we come back, going to get into our mock draft and show you maybe a surprise pick in the first round. Stay right here to fantasy football today. Did you know 66% of utility damage is caused by not requesting a locate? Don't let your project become part of this statistic. A quick locate request can save you from unexpected downtime,

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Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report. All right, and we're back. So we had a 12-team PPR mock draft, three wide receivers. It was the three of us. Adam was in the draft, Chris Towers, Zach Brooke, R.J. White was the three of us. Adam was in the draft, Chris Towers, Zach Brooke, RJ White, Jack Capitoto, one of our producers at CBS Sports HQ, Jacob Gibbs, Dan

Schneier, Thomas Schaefer, the best producer in the business, and George Maselli, one of our fantasy editors as well. So Dave had the first pick. I'll give you the first six picks of the first round, and we'll break it down. Thomas is going to show you the graphic here that he always does, which is fantastic. If you're watching us on YouTube, please click the like button. We appreciate that. So Dave had the first pick. He took Justin Jefferson.

Jake had the second pick to Christian McCaffrey, Adam, no surprise to Travis Kelsey. Third. I had the fourth pick. I took Cooper cup. Austin Eckler went at number five and Jamar chase went at number six. So Dave,

obviously no surprise taking Justin Jefferson, but Jake, did you have any consideration about somebody else other than Christian McCaffrey? Did you consider Travis Kelsey? Did you consider another receiver? Why McCaffrey at number two? I considered Travis for a while. That was the decision I had to make.

I've been famous last words. I've been comfortable with the fifth to seventh to eighth round tight ends this year. So I've been comfortable with the fifth to seventh to eighth round tight ends this year. So I've been comfortable drafting RBs and sometimes wide receivers early in the first round. But, yeah, that was my decision. I went with McCaffrey over Kelsey. I thought I was impressed. I think McCaffrey will be the one on one this year.

So I'm taking him every time. Yep. I don't think you'll get a fight from from your Dave on that one, though. So smart pick there. Kelsey, again, is going to be somewhat polarizing as a top five overall pick adam in a previous draft took him number one so when i saw that he had third pick i figured it was a done deal uh for me taking cooper cup at four right now he's my number two receiver ahead of jamar chase uh i'm still struggling with eckler at this point because we just don't know where exactly he's playing uh he's been a little vocal about wanting to get paid,

and so still exploring some trade options if the Chargers are, in fact, going to move him. So that's something to still keep in mind. That's why maybe he falls to five. Dave, are you dropping Eckler yet at all, or are you just waiting to see what happens? I'm waiting to see what happens, but I can't imagine he's going to go somewhere

where his role will change significantly. Even if he went to Tennessee, I don't think the Titans would be like, well, now we're going to run you between the A-gaps. But you're not taking him as a top five pick if he goes to Tennessee? I don't think so, but I would trust that any coaching staff that acquires Austin Eckler

would utilize him properly. There are very few teams that I would trust to put him at the same level he's been at which is with the chargers you know i'm saying when he was with the chargers or when he's been with the chargers awesome they've used him perfectly i'm hoping that that's what happens no matter where he goes i'm holding that hope that the chargers give him a few extra bucks okay and then that he stays there i gotta ask you something though jamie because because we can make the bus case for Eckler.

We can make the bus case for Jamar Chase. Almost everybody that was taken after Cooper Cup, we can make the bus case for. But maybe the easiest bus case to make among these top players in the first round is for Cooper Cup. Offense is kind of falling apart. Defense isn't as good.

Matthew Stafford's old. What made you confident in taking Cooper Cup? And are you expecting another year of him being 20 plus PPR points per game? As long as Stafford is back? Yes. If Stafford, you know, decides to retire, which does not seem to be the case, then I'm perfectly fine with it. I think we've seen now for the last year plus of him in this role,

really for the last two and a half years. I know he didn't put up the same numbers two years ago, but he was trending in that direction. Sean McVay back. The targets are there. The guy just finds a way to get open. Defense really doesn't concern me in terms of what the status is, whether they're good or they're bad.

I think the offense is going to be the same. And I did like the fact that despite everything falling apart last year, they sort of found, I think, what their offensive line is going to be the same. And I did like the fact that despite everything falling apart last year, they sort of found, I think, what their offensive line is going to be. And I thought that was a big part of it. They also found a run game too. So I think McVay coming back, Stafford coming back, Cooper Cup healthy. To me, he's still the number two receiver right now. Again, I think I said this when we first started doing our rankings.

At the time, Jamar Chase was second for me because we had the uncertainty of Stafford. So something dramatically changes with the Rams, then maybe I put Chase ahead of him. But I still feel pretty confident that what Cup showed last year, what he should show again this year, hopefully a re-motivated Sean McVay, a re-motivated Matthew Stafford. That trio, I think, is still pretty locked in for me.

So I have a lot more breakfast together, and hopefully things go according to plan between Sean McVay, Matthew Stafford, and Cooper Cupp. All right, let's move on to the back half of the first round, which is where things start to get much more interesting. So at number seven overall, Jonathan Taylor. Number eight, Terry Kill. And number nine, the other JG, Jacob Gidds, takes tony pollard we'll get to that in a second uh number 10 saquon barkley number 11 to thomas schaefer it was kenneth walker and then number 12 josh jacobs so a run on running backs there one receiver in the back half of the first round which was tyree kill so tony pollard now number nine overall uh dave is that the spot we're going to see him in the back half of the first round? Now that he is the guy in Dallas.

And as of today, he has signed his franchise tag and still work out a long-term deal with Dallas, but we know no more Ezekiel Elliott and he's the guy in Dallas. You've got to measure his upside against what you think you're going to get. Not necessarily upside of these other players I'm about to name, but maybe what the median expectation is for Derrick Henry, Devontae Adams, CeeDee Lamb, Stephon Diggs. And I would throw Tyreek Hill in there too. What's the baseline for those wide receivers? What would you expect?

Somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,200 to 1,400 yards and probably in the neighborhood of 10 touchdowns. And I think that with Pollard. 100 plus catches too. Right. That's true that with Pollard... He has 100-plus catches, too. Right. That's true. And Pollard won't get you those catches, but he might be able to do more in terms of yardage and touchdowns. And so if you're thirsty for a running back,

certainly one who's got sky-high upside, the Cowboys seem to be telegraphing that they want Tony Pollard to at minimum be the 1A, if not a full-on workhorse, behind a good offensive line and an offense that, if Mike McCarthy gets his way, they'll run more and they'll slow down the clock a little bit. It makes sense. And so I'm not going to fault Jacob at all for taking Tony Pollard with a first-round pick. And I think that there will probably be at least one or two people

in every single draft. And just saying it out loud makes it make more sense. They'll realize that there are a lot of very good wide receivers. I just named four of them. One of those types of wideouts will maybe make it back in round two if you're picking late in round one. Why not go and reach a little bit for the running back who's got huge upside in Tony Pollard? So I'm not a little bit for the running back? Who's got huge

upside in Tony Pollard. So I'm not hating on it at all. I think it's actually not a bad move. Yeah. I mean, the first one that jumps out to me would be, would be Barkley. I think you could certainly make a case for Pollard if he's, if he's going to be the guy and Jake, he had in the two games that Zeke missed last year, uh, Pollard had 54 PPR points in those two games. He had a 30-plus point game and a 20-plus point game. And so he was an absolute monster. And so, you know, the ankle injury that he suffered, expected to be fine come week one,

or hopefully by training camp. For me right now, he's behind this group of backs. He's ahead of Josh Jacobs, but he's behind Saquon. He's behind Kenneth Walker. He's also behind Brees Hall for me. But if we get past the NFL draft, he'll be a first round pick. I just feel like Dallas, knowing their history, where it was, we're going to run DeMarco Murray into the ground, and then we have Zeke. And then we ran Zeke into the ground, and now we have Pollard. And if Pollard does not get a long-term extension, I think you could see them being in the Bijan Robinson camp. I think you

see them being in, you know, another rookie running backs camp, you know, just to have a second guy. I don't think Ronald Jones, who they signed is the, is the answer. So are you comfortable, Jake, also taking Tony Pollard in the first round? I'm not. I mean, it depends on how you are as a drafter. Personally, I'm very risk averse in my first two rounds. And I tend to take my shots towards, I would say the middle of the back end. And obviously, you could say, well, it's not really a shot he produced last year. He showed it when Zeke was out scoring what she said, 27 points per game. I'm just timid and risk averse. So someone coming off an injury like that I will typically shy away and I

would be the one to take a guy like a Kenneth Walker or maybe even a Josh Jacobs over him but I mean it's it's probably the most exciting pick in the draft and you could end up with one of the best running backs in the league yeah and and again we'll see what what Dallas decides to do if if they're comfortable enough with Ronald Jones and Malik Davis you know behind him and nobody of significance another running back of significance is added then it's a it's an do if they're comfortable enough with Ronald Jones and Malik Davis, you know, behind him and nobody of significance, another running back of significance is added, then it's a, it's an unbelievable situation. So, you know, Jacob makes the swing for the fence and takes Tony Pollard again. The surprise one, I think would be taking him ahead of Barkley and some of the receivers

that Dave alluded to. But obviously, you know, he he's put himself now in position with the situation in Dallas to be in, to be in the first round conversation. So Jacob, as he tweeted, he was very comfortable and happy taking Tony Pollard in round one. So I'll give you round one again. It was Justin Jefferson, Christian McCaffrey, Travis Kelsey, Cooper Cupp, Austin Eckler at five, Jamar Chase at six, Jonathan Taylor at seven, Tyree Kill, Tony Pollard, Saquon Barkley, Kenneth Walker, Josh Jacobs. Let's go now to round two. And the first pick of round two is CD lamb. Here's what these receivers come into play. CD lamb, Stefan digs to Thomas,

Garrett Wilson to Dan Schneier with the third pick in the second round, AJ Brown, then Brees Hall goes with the fifth pick in the second round and then Devante Adams. So Dave, you alluded to Devante Adams as, as it sounds like still a first-round pick for you. We've talked about this a lot with the addition of Jimmy Garoppolo. So do you still have Adams ahead of Lamb, Diggs, and Wilson? Lamb, Diggs, Wilson, and Brown?

Or is he behind those guys like he went in this draft? He's in the middle of those guys. He's behind Diggs and Lamb. He's ahead of Brown and Garrett Wilson. Okay. And I'm expecting him to be a little less flashy with Jimmy Garoppolo, but still very, very productive and still getting a ton of volume from game to game. So he should be able to get right back north of 16 PPR points per game,

which, I mean, that's pretty, that's okay. That's like good for a first round pick. You want that number to look closer to 19 than 16, but it's still fine. I've got him at 12th overall, as we sit here right now. He's a second round pick for me. I think, I don't know exactly where I settled. I'll be 13th at this point, but he's, he's in the top. He's right in that wheelhouse of late round one, early round two, every single draft.

To your point, you know, if you feel more comfortable taking the running back at the end of the first round, knowing that these receivers will be staring in the face, it's not a bad move if that's the route you want to go, but no surprise to see these receivers, you know, back into round one, round two lamb digs wilson aj brown breeze hall at five and and jake as the jets guy i'll turn to you here so you obviously got i'm sure like most of us did in fantasy excited to see the way breeze hall ran suffered the acl tear in i think it was week six um the fact that he's expecting to be ready for hopefully to start a training camp but but by week one young enough player that you hope to

bounce back is not going to be impactful uh does Brees Hall belong in the early part of the second round uh he definitely belongs uh like I said about Pollard I'm more risk averse early in drafts but I mean I do not blame anyone for grabbing Brees Hall early in the second I think even middle of the second I think it's's – I mean, he's a phenomenal running back, and until someone tells you anything otherwise, I would expect him to be ready for week one. And he looks healthy. I've seen videos of him walking around and jogging and running.

He looks fine. I mean, we'll see if he gets the same explosiveness back. But until someone gives me a reason not to, I completely understand taking him early mid-second round. I think that's fine. Yep, and doesn't seem to have a lot of competition for touches in the backfield you know it'll be michael carter's on him at night uh he's clearly better than those two guys and the hope would be the quarterback upgrade continues to just make breese hall an absolute superstar so again the start of the second round cd lamb stefan diggs garrett wilson aj brown breese hall you got

to be excited that's two jets in the first six picks of the second round. So offense is trending in the right direction once again. Devontae Adams with the sixth pick in the second round. Then the back half of the second round, Amon Ross St. Brown is pretty much going to be a staple for the spot that he'll go somewhere in the middle of the second round. And then in my opinion, the biggest reach of the draft so far, our buddy Zach Brooke taking Devontae Williams with the eighth pick in the second round. I followed that up with Jalen Waddle Adam took Derrick Henry Jake you took Joe Mixon and then Dave you ended the round with Javante Smith so again the back half of the second round is a Montrose St. Brown Javante Williams Jalen Waddle Derrick Henry Joe Mixon and Javante Smith I'm curious about the Mixon pick we'll get to that in a second but Dave Javante Williams we know is

kind of in this you know limbo phase that we don't know exactly how healthy he's going to be um i think even healthy this is somewhat of an interesting spot if he was 100 but the fact that he's still dealing with the knee injury what's the earliest you would consider taking giovante who who drafted him zach brook did can you invite zach to every draft we do from now on that would be awesome uh i'm i'm kind of out on giovante williams until i see more about him moving in the right direction i'm thinking around five i agree with you this is a reach for giovante williams who he's he's shown massive flashes but now that we know it's sean payton there, and yes, running backs do well there, you got to be available and you got to be ready to play.

Sean Payton's already spent time talking up Latavius Murray. And I imagine that the Broncos are going to be a team that gets involved with one of the running backs in the draft. And they may not be ready to count on Javante his availability for the start of the year. And so I'm kind of creeping away from Javante, uh, available, his availability for the start of the year. And so I'm, I'm kind of creeping away from Javante Williams. I'm creeping away from him the way that I probably should be creeping away from Brees Hall too, since he's also coming back from the ACL, but the reports seem a little bit

better and goodness gracious, man. When we saw Brees Hall play, if Bie's all didn't if he had continued his trajectory as a rookie never suffered a torn acl the dude would be a top five if not higher pick in a fantasy draft agreed that's where brie's all would be 100 so that's why he's going in round two you're getting him at a discount but you've got to hope that his acl heals up it sounds like Javante's isn't there yet. And moreover, it sounds like Javante will almost certainly do a lot of sharing when he is healthy in Denver. Yeah. I'd be surprised if they did spend a draft pick because they don't have a first or second round pick after all the moves that they've made the last couple of seasons to get a coach and quarterback. They only have

two thirds, a two thirds, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth, and a seventh. Even the Rams are laughing at them. Yeah, well, at least the Broncos have a pretty good defense. Yeah, so I take Jalen Waddell. Azar takes Derrick Henry. And then Jake, you took Joe Mixon. So you say you're risk-averse. This doesn't feel like a very risk-averse pick

because Mixon's status seems a little shaky right now, knowing that the Bengals still might move on from him. Um, their backfield seems a little unsettled. They did like, they did let Samaj P run go. So, uh, Mixon's coming off a top five finish as a fantasy running back, but it was very, very top heavy with the big game against Carolina. Uh, he struggled at times last year. So you still feel confident though, that Joe Mixon is going to be the guy for the Bengals and still a top-tier fantasy running back? Yeah, I'm taking the approach that he's going to be back, and I think he's going to be a staple in their offense again.

I think I would easily, honestly, take him over to Javante, not to harp on that, but I was thrilled that he fell to me past those guys. I'm not too worried. I'm not going to say it's a huge deal that they let P. Ryan go. I think Evans will be involved this year. I think they're still not going to give him all the touches, but I'm not worried. I assume he's going to stay. I think he's going to play well. I think obviously the offense is going to be good. I trust him. I know I'm risk averse and he's risky, but I seem to trust him. If he gets moved, then it'll be a different story. But as long as he's there, I think the offense is

great and he'll be involved and he'll do well. All right. So you're counting on him staying in Cincinnati, which, you know, if that's the case, then it's a, it's a pretty good deal, especially after they get Orlando, uh, Thompson. No, what am I losing? What am I? Orlando Brown, Orlando Brown. I was thinking Orlando Thompson. Um. Jonah Williams probably out the door. You were thinking of Tony Orlando, that amazing singer. Yes. Orlando Brown. One of your favorites, I know.

To be their new left tackle. All right, we're going to take a quick break here. When we get back, I'm going to get more into the rest of the mock draft. We'll go a little bit quicker so we get you a little bit more of the rounds and the players on the move. But so far, we're through the first two rounds of our 12-team PPR mock draft. All right, let's get into round three here so interesting turn here for both of you guys because you both started with two of the same players dave taking two wide receivers justin jefferson davante smith

jake taking two running backs christian mccaffrey and joe mixon dave goes with the third wide receiver a little surprise there for those who've been following dave for a long time no running backs in the first three rounds and Jake you take a third running back there with Nick Chubb so uh Dave in terms of your your first three picks Jefferson Smith and Hopkins I don't think anybody can argue about the first two Hopkins though first pick round three with the uncertainty of where he may go so if I were to tell you before the draft that he is in New England or in Baltimore uh is he going in the first pick of the third round? And comparatively, obviously, if he's, let's say, in Kansas City,

where is he going to be drafted then? If he was in Baltimore, I might go with a running back there instead of DeAndre Hopkins. But I think if he goes to New England, I still think he'll get good volume. And if he goes to Kansas City, then you've got to love him there too, even though he'll share with a ton of people. Who knows where he can go? There's other teams that you didn't mention.

Maybe the Giants get in on him. Maybe Chicago, although I doubt it now that they got DJ Moore, call them a dark horse to get him. I do think that DeAndre Hopkins will still command a lot of targets, no matter what team he ends up being traded to. So I'm comfortable taking him right in this spot, still view him as a top 25 player in PPR. Yeah. A little too soon for me, but you know, again,

we'll see where he ends up out of taking T Higgins, for example, who was the next receiver off the board to Adam right after you took Jake took Nick Chubb. So Jake, you know, in a, in a three receiver PPR league, not taking a receiver with your first three picks. How did you feel about that strategy and, you know, just going that route? Yeah. At first I was nervous. I was a little happy with how it ended up as I liked my starting receivers, but my depth is not as exciting. So I liked it at first,

didn't like it as much towards the end of the draft when I realized my depth was not strong, but I'm, I'm fine with doing it again. I liked all the running backs I selected. I think Chubb, McCaffrey, Mixon, that's a crazy trio. And with,

as of now, no Kareem Hunt. So, I mean, Chubb with a bit more of a workload, like I said, like with Mixon, Ford will still be involved.

I know you grabbed Ford later in the draft, spoiler alert, but yeah, I just think no Kareem Hunt in that offense with that offensive line with Nick Chubb. I mean, I have all the confidence in the world, a lot of touchdowns, a lot of yards. He should eat again. Yeah, I don't think anybody can argue with the potential,

especially getting him in round three, which is a guy that was, you know, for the most part, the majority of his career, a first-round pick in fantasy, fell to the second round last year. But, yeah, the situation is great. It's just a matter of your running backs and your flex are pretty good. It's just can you get the production from your three receivers? We'll show everybody what you did if you're not watching on YouTube and seeing the board there for Jake, who's the second overall pick in the draft.

So round three goes DeAndre Hopkins, Nick Chubb, T. Higgins. I take Romandre Stevenson with the fourth pick there. DJ Moore, another guy on the move goes with the fifth pick in the third round. Mark Andrews, Travis Etienne, Aaron Jones, Chris Olave, DK Metcalf, Patrick Mahomes, first quarterback off the board to Thomas, and then Chris Godwin at the end of the round. So we'll jump around a little bit here. We'll move a little faster. So again, Dave takes Hopkins, Jake takes Nick Chubb. I was thrilled to get Ramondre Stevenson. I think he's got as high as top five upside as the new guy in New England. I have him ranked as a second round pick. So he was somebody, the way that I was approaching the draft was,

okay, I saw that Stevenson was still there. I saw that Chubb was still there. I saw that Travis Etienne, the next three running backs that I had on the board after it was derrick henry uh who went after i took jaylen wattle so i was hoping to get one of those guys and stevenson is my favorite of the group so was thrilled to get him i thought that rj white getting travis etn in the uh the back half of the third round was it was a pretty good buy there uh dave dj more now again we've talked about where should he be drafted so this is the first draft we've done since he's gone to chicago Is the third round too soon? And he went again behind DeAndre Hopkins, behind T. Higgins,

ahead of Chris Olave, DK Metcalf, and Chris Godwin. Do you like that spot for DJ? I don't. I think it's too soon. I think that the other, certainly the other running backs like ETN, as an example, should go ahead of him. A couple other wide receivers should go ahead of him mark anders should have probably been the pick there ahead of dj moore i i think he can be good i think i think the expectation should be that he's a low end number two fantasy wide receiver who can get

you over a thousand yards but not much more than that probably the same touchdown range as he had last year he scored seven last year maybe that goes up or down by one. And the catch is probably in that 80 catch range, maybe a little lighter than that. It's still a Bears offense that isn't going to throw a ton. And it's still Justin Fields who has to prove that he can somehow command better accuracy when he's not in the red zone.

So it's all factors to me of why I would take other players ahead of DJ Moore. I think I would have waited a full round to even consider him. I would agree 100%. I think it was a little bit too soon. Thomas, if you want to jump in here real quick, since you're the first fantasy manager to take a quarterback. So you started with Kenneth Walker in round one,

Stephon Diggs in round two. I don't think anybody could argue with those two players. Maybe some people would say take Diggs first, Walker second, but two great picks to start your draft. three you end up with patrick mahomes as the first quarterback so what was your thought process there and just you know being the first manager to get the quarterback you know i was thinking there was a lot of questions at receiver and running back in this spot i was i just thought you know the mahomes is a for sure start every week. You don't have to worry about the position.

Why don't I just take him? I'm probably not going to get him coming back in the – what would that be, the fourth round or fifth round. I wouldn't be able to probably get one of the top quarterbacks. So let's solidify the number one quarterback and roll with it. And you did start the quarterback run because after mahomes uh chris godwin again to end round four then it was josh allen to start round four excuse me end round three with godwin then it was josh allen start round four and then

jalen hertz with the fourth pick around four day before we get into round four just chris godwin now with baker mayfield a quarterback is the end of round three still the right spot for him in ppr in full ppr um no i i'm not ready to say that it is i i think dj moore and chris godwin probably have a similar expectation to get a lot of catches and flirt with a thousand yards and you know settle in at around six touchdowns so i would not have taken them there it's gonna be very interesting to see how godwin and Mike Evans go. And so again, Godwin end of round three. I agree.

Still a little bit too soon for me. All right. Round four, we got Josh Allen, Calvin Ridley, Thomas Hangout, because I want to ask you about that one. Christian Watson with the third pick around for Jalen Hurts, Najee Harris, Amari Cooper with the sixth pick in round four, Dalvin Cook, Joe Burrow. I took Keenan Allen. Jerry Judy comes off the board. With the sixth pick in round four, Dalvin Cook, Joe Burrow. I took Keenan Allen.

Jerry Judy comes off the board. Debo Samuel to Jake. And then David Montgomery to Dave to wrap up the round. So, again, the quarterback's starting to come off with the first pick in round four with Josh Allen. And then Calvin Ridley, Thomas. For me, that was a little bit too soon. I know we had some conversation in the draft room about that. What was your decision to take Ridley ahead of some of the other receivers there, like Christian Watson, like Amari Cooper, Keenan Allen, that group? Again, I think there's just so many questions at this point, this early in the offseason,

that we don't really know how these guys are going to shape up throughout the offseason. Like, is Rodgers there? Is he not there? Is Jordan Love the quarterback? If Jordan Love is the quarterback, I don't really want Christian Watson right now. Like, I will take the loss if he turns out to be a top, you know, 10, top five receiver next year. I don't want to be the guy that drafts him too early. But again, you know, I'm taking Calvin Ridley, who hasn't played in two years. But I'm thinking more about the quarterback. And I really like Trevor Lawrence coming on at the end of last season when they went on the run, the playoff run.

So, you know, I believe more in Trevor Lawrence than Jordan Love, you know, coming in against the Eagles in a prevent defense and throwing a couple like wide open passes. And then like you see the other receivers like Amari Cooper, the Chargers guys. Like, again, there's just so many questions, and I'm worth taking the risk with Calvin Ridley with Trevor Lawrence. I'm very surprised you're a Vikings fan talking down about Jordan Love and Christian Watson. It's a big surprise coming from you. So, again, the fourth round, Josh Allen, Calvin Ridley, Christian Watson,

Jalen Hurts, Najee Harris, Amari Cooper, Dalvin Cook, Joe Burrow, Keenan Allen, Jerry Judy, Debo Samuel, and David Montgomery. Dave, any big surprises here with this round? Najee falling into the fourth round, Dalvin Cook still in the fourth round. You know, how do you feel about some of those, especially those running backs, you know, fall into those spots? To me, that's the surprise is that the running backs fell as far as they did and maybe that's a byproduct of playing in a three receiver one flex league which is what this mock was supposed to be does this happen if we go with two wide receivers in the flex instead of three wide receivers in the flex my my intuition says no my intuition says that these guys would get picked a little bit sooner i was thrilled to get david David Montgomery with the last pick in round four, literally dancing at my desk.

I will save you the visual of David Montgomery falling to that point. And then you can say it, Damian Pierce right after that. Thrilled with both of those guys. You know how I feel about Pierce. And I think Montgomery's got a shot to do, to put up, to be more efficient than Jamal Williams. And then that's easy to say. But I think that he's got a shot to get you top 12 numbers at running back

this year in Detroit, even though he won't necessarily be, you know, as efficient as somebody like Tony Pollard or Christian McCaffrey, he's just going to get volume. I think he's going to be that guy. I think the Lions really like him a lot. And so I'm happy to get him. He should have been picked a half round sooner. I still think Najee is getting disrespected a little bit too much. He should have been picked a quarter to a half round sooner. I'm surprised that the running backs fell this far. I'm telling

you it's because everybody went wide receiver shopping first. Yeah. Najee surprised me a little bit. Dalvin, not so much. I think people are a little concerned about just the situation there with him and what's going to happen in Minnesota. But Najee, I think fell a little bit too far. I think this is the right spot for Montgomery. And we talked about Damian Pierce. You were saying he was going to be a third round pick. I think this sort of changed your mind a little bit about where the value comes out of him. Well, I think the first thing i should say is that since we had that talk about damian pierce i thought about it a little bit more and i moved him down into i was saying late round three now i think he's solidly in round four but i don't mind taking him at right

around 40th overall i say he's he's gonna he's he's the best talent there. He's certainly younger than Devin Singletary. And I think that the coaching staff might lean on him. They might be willing to lean on him more than they would be Devin Singletary. The thing that you've got to be nervous about is that they end up splitting. And I think you laid that out, Jamie, is that if they end up splitting, who's the better value? And it would be Devin Singletary by a mile. But I just think Pierce is better. And so I'm willing to take that chance on him in round four.

And with the first pick in round five, I was dancing in my seat. You want to see what I look like when I was dancing in my seat? You want to see? This is my, this is my Damien Pierce dance right here. There you go. As I said,

I would, I would take the bargain on where Devin Singletary goes later in the draft, where I said, I think when we, when we did the show three or four rounds later, I got him four rounds later, but that was, you know, when we were talking, when you said he was around three pick, I got him around nine in the draft. So I was thrilled to get him at that value, uh, for what he might become. Is it weird that you wanted to see me dance? Huh? Is it weird that you wanted

to see me dance? No, I think it was fun. As long as you weren't standing up, that's good. So, Jake, you started with three running backs. Deebo Samuel, your number one receiver. How do you feel about Deebo knowing that his numbers sort of tailed off a little bit once they got Christian McCaffrey? And you also have McCaffrey, so you're very invested in this 49ers offense. Oh, I am so invested in this 49ers. If you're watching on YouTube, you know I'm extremely invested in this 49ers offense. I'm a little nervous about Trey at least

at the beginning of the season but if there's an offense where that makes it easy to distribute the ball to your best players I mean it's Shandy's offense I think in the I box myself into a corner a little bit taking three RBs in the first three but I'm still very happy getting Debo and like you said Ayuk uh I think Trey will distribute the ball well, and I think they'll have good seasons. Obviously the Yak will be there. The targets will be there. We'll see how it goes.

I think I'm confident in the Niners offense. We are. We are not playing this draft out, but I think it would have been, it would be fun to play this draft out for your perspective. When Sam Darnold is the quarterback for the 49ers and you're having to rely on Sam Darnold to support Christian McCaffrey, Debo Samuel, and Brandon Ayuk forever long. That might be, uh, we go into round five.

Dave already alluded to this. He took Damian Pierce with the first pick in round five. Uh, Jake, you got Mike Williams. I thought it was great value for him. I'm very excited about him still, uh, with the addition of Kellen Moore as the offense coordinator, sticking with the Chargers. Adam Azer takes Justin Herbert with the third pick in round five.

I take Drake London with the fourth pick in round five. Was very happy about that. Terry McCorn comes off the board next. Justin Fields, Miles Sanders. So we see where his landing spot is fifth round as he's now the starting running back for the Carolina Panthers. Mike Evans still in round five. Kyle Pitts goes in round five. J.K. Dobbins,

T.J. Hopkinson to Thomas, and then Darren Waller to wrap up the tight end run in this round. So, Dave Miles Sanders with the seventh pick in the fifth round. Is this where we're going to see him go? And should he go maybe closer to where you took both David Montgomery and Damian Pierce? Did you consider Miles Sanders maybe ahead of those guys? I did not consider Miles Sanders ahead of those guys. Maybe I should. Maybe I should think about that a little bit more because he does have a case to be made as a bell cow back. And we've talked about Carolina's situation. It's really not that bad when you think about the offensive line and the defense. Is he going to be alone there? Will he be the lead back? I think if we

get to August and he is, then going ahead of Damian Pierce could be something I could see myself doing. Totally think this is the right spot for Miles Sanders to go as of now, but hit me up after the draft, man. There could be a chance he pops up a little bit. TJ Hawkinson goes after Kyle Pitts and Pitts goes ahead of Hawkinson and Waller. So Dave too soon on, on Pitts there for the third year tight end who is, you know,

kind of struggled a little bit to reach the heights that we've, you know, sort of placed on him. If I'm nitpicking, it's a little too soon, but there's, yeah, we talked about how there'll be at least one person in every draft.

That's going to go after Tony Pollard because they want to chase that upside. That same person will also go after Kyle Pitts. They will completely ignore. It was the same person. And it was the same person. How about that? You know, Jacob Gibbs loves to use the data and the metrics

that we talk about from time to time on the show as the foundation for his picks. He doesn't really like to look back. It's kind of commendable. But he's ignoring downside a little bit when he does this. But he likes the guys that he likes. He's got the like to look back. It's kind of commendable, but he's ignoring downside a little bit when he does this, but he likes the guys that he likes. He's got the conviction to do it. That's why you're watching fantasy football videos in the middle of the offseason is because

you're building conviction towards certain players. And you might see somebody like Kyle Pitts and say, oh, the dude's overrated. He doesn't have a quarterback. Got hurt last year. Barely has scored touchdowns in the NFL. Well, Jacob Gibbs is spitting in your face right now. Sorry for that image. And he's saying, guess what? Kyle Pitts still has potential to be tight end one, even with Travis Kelsey at his best. And he's taking him what I'm sure he thinks is a value, which is round five. It's later than when we were taking him at this point last year.

You've got to be excited if you're, if you're still a Kyle Pitts fan. And if they, if they somehow had an upgrade at quarterback in Atlanta, I might be on board with that. But as long as it's Desmond Ritter and Taylor Heineke, I can't get that excited about bits. So I'll say it's a little too soon for me, but I get it. I understand why people who are excited by upside will chase it around earlier than I would. Yeah. The only, the only one I would say is, is Hawkinson. You

know, I just think with the removal of Adam Thielen and what we saw from Hawkinson, uh, after being brought on from Detroit, to me, he's the third guy, uh, you can debate four through six, four through seven, um, and pits. But I would have taken Hawkinson over Pitts, but after Hawkinson comes off the board, I think you made the case for Pitts. All right, we'll do round six, and then we'll show you our teams, and you can read all about the mock draft on CBSSports.com. Again, if you're watching on YouTube, you see the board here.

If you want to take a further look at the entire draft board without checking out the story on the site. But round six is Cam Akers kick off the round, Isaiah Pacheco, Trayiling burks michael pitman george pickens lamar jackson tyler lockett tyler algier rashad white christian kirk brandon iuk to jake and then trevor lawrence to dave so we have a couple quarterbacks going in this round with lamar jackson and uh trevor lawrence uh i guess the only question would be is, you know, is this a little too soon for Traylon Burks? I'll ask both of you this, you know, just looking at it.

I know, Jake, you said in the draft, and you're curious to see when some of the second-year receivers are going to come off the board. Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave, the first two. I took the third one with Drake London. But Traylon Burks, round six, we know he has a lot of potential, most likely Ryan Tannehill again as his quarterback. Did you like this pick in round six, as well as George Pickens,

another second year receiver? Yeah, I liked it. Traylon Burks, another receiver I was very high on coming out of the draft. I think he's a talented, talented receiver. The opportunities there, obviously Tannehill, he's not the best quarterback. He can distribute the ball though. They're going to run the ball a lot, but he should be one of their top targets. So, I mean, I expect a better year than last year, for sure. I think this is about where he should be going. Maybe a little later,

maybe a little later now that I look at it. Dave Burks versus Pittman, Pickens. You know, this guy's in this spot too soon for you? Too soon for me. I love Dan Schneier. I love how he thinks about fantasy football. But I think that this was a little too reachy for me. I think Pittman is safer. I think Pickens has more upside.

I think Tyler Lockett, even though he's old and kind of undesirable, I think that he's still a better pick than Traylon Burks because there's still a very real chance that Tennessee just keeps doing what they've been doing for years, and that's leaning on Derrick Henry and Traylon Burks not getting the Uber target share that we'd like for him to have. Theoretically, he should break out. He's a second-year receiver. He's very talented. I'm with Jake on this, that Traylon Burks was one of my favorites coming out of the draft last year.

And I like that he's kind of a good fit for that Tennessee mentality of just being tough and strong, but he's got to have opportunity. That's the number one thing in fantasy football is having that opportunity. And what are the chances that he ends up north of 120 targets in that offense? I'm not sure I like those chances. I think they're kind of slim. So I would have gone in a different direction there. I think he's around seven pick, not around six pick.

Yeah. I think just looking at the receivers is like to me, Christian Kirk's in a much better spot than, than Traylon Burke and Georgeorge pickens so i'm sorry i would easily be taking lockett over he's the one that stuck out to me yeah no kirk and kirk and lockett were my favorite picks and and i would have taken pitman who went right after him over trailing burks for sure the uncertain quarterback situation all right again that's the first six rounds of this uh ppr mock draft you can see how the full results on cbssports.com i want to give you uh what our teams

look like so again dave had the first pick he started with three receivers justin jefferson davante smith deandre hopkins but here's his team quarterback is trevor lawrence running backs are david montgomery and damian pierce jefferson hopkins and smith at the receiver spot greg dolchitz at tight end and and you got Alvin Kamara, I think it was your first pick in round seven, right? So round seven is where Alvin Kamara fell in this draft. There's obviously a lot of concern over the potential suspension. If he's not suspended or just gets a minimal suspension,

he's not going in round seven. But Dave clearly taking advantage of that situation right now to get Kamara right now would be his flex. His bench is A.J. Dillon, Clyde Edwards-Hilaire, Samir White, Gabe Davis, Terrace Marshall, and Juwan Johnson. So, Dave, looking at the full picture of this, getting those two running backs after those three receivers, you sounded pretty pleased. So how do you feel about this mock draft for you?

I absolutely love it. And this is a lot different than what I normally do. You guys know that I love to lean on running backs early on. And the reason why I went this way this time was, number one, we're being asked to start three wide receivers in a flex. Number two, Justin Jefferson, just at the top of the draft, makes sense. He's very safe. And number three, I wanted to kind of experiment a little bit with getting getting away from what i've been saying since january the depth of the wide receiver position it's going to be strong and it should pay off for patient fantasy drafters this year but what happens if you don't do that what

happens if you uh zag instead of zig and you take wide receivers back to back to back to start a draft this draft turned out great because I was able to get running backs that I'm happy to have as starters in Montgomery and Pierce. I'm absolutely buying the dip past the chips. Give me all the drinks. I'm buying the dip on Alvin Kamara. I think he's absolutely worth taking the chance on in round six, maybe even round five at this point, because you don't have to have the same expectation that you did a year ago for him to pay off at that type of price tag. So I felt like I got a steal in round seven. All that being said, I would imagine that by the time we get to August,

this will look like a pipe dream, that you won't be able to pull off anything like this. I think Montgomery will go higher. There's a chance Camara goes significantly higher. There's a chance Damian Pierce goes higher, and I won't be able to put together this same type of team. One last point I'd like to make, if I may, Jamie. Last pick in round six for me was Trevor Lawrence. Consider this a sign of the times that quarterback is going to be a priority position because there is a breaking point between, well, there's going to be a breaking point between the first four quarterbacks and the rest of the group. And then there's going to be another tier of five through eight, maybe nine, if you can stomach Deshaun Watson, and then there's the rest after that.

And so waiting for a quarterback, which I believe you did, Jamie, it's still a worthy thing to do, but I don't think it's necessarily going to be what you'll see more than what you saw in the past. I think you're going to continue to see quarterbacks gain some popularity, even in sharp drafts like ours. Yeah. I would say there's probably 10. Cause I still put Dak in that group of, if you're going to put Deshaun Watson, that group, I'd put Dak in that group with the addition of Brandon Cook. So maybe a few more passing touchdowns go his direction without Ezekiel Elliott. They're stealing those one yard plunges.

No, no, no. Those are going to go to Pollard. Now. I don't know if they'll go to Pollard. I think we'll see, you know,

that, that should still be fine. With the running backs, Christian McCaffrey, Joe Mixon, Nick Chubb. His, his quarterback is Aaron Rogers.

His receiving core is the 49ers. Depot, Samuel, Brandon, Iuke, Mike Williams is the 49ers, Devo Samuel, Brandon Ayuk. Mike Williams is the trio. Got Dallas Goddard at tight end, so that was a very good pick to get after the first six rounds. His bench is Jarek McKinnon, Corey Davis, Sky Moore, Dalton Schultz, Khalil Shakir, and Juju Smith-Schuster. You could have a two tight end set there, which is interesting, knowing that you invested heavily in your flex spot early to take another player that is kind of handcuffed to your bench in that regard because you can't play both those guys. So talk about just how your team turned out and the idea of taking Dalton Schultz along with the fact that you have this running back spot, your flex spot locked up to your running back.

Yeah, I will say that most of the time I will not be taking two tight ends in the, in the seven, I believe seventh and ninth rounds each. But like I said, in the beginning, famous last words, I do like the tight ends that fall out of this range. And I was looking at my roster. My whole starting lineup was filled. I feel as if tight end is still, although it's better, it's still one of the more valuable positions. Everyone needs a tight end. And so I don't know, I was just looking at the board. It was the receivers. I didn't love as much the running backs. I didn't love as much. I felt Dalton Schultz was the best player on the board. And if we were playing this draft out, I would probably end up trading one of

these players eventually at some point, maybe after the bye week when I use one of them. But yeah, I just went with best player available. And then as far as the beginning of the draft, I know I said I was risk averse. And then I took McCaffrey and Mixon. Those aren't exactly the most risk averse running backs to start your team with, but I like the floor of Chubb. I like the floor of all the receivers. I got Mike Williams, Debo Samuel, Ayuk, obviously. And then like you guys said, I went quarterback late, like Jamie did, and took Aaron Rodgers, who obviously it's a little bit of a homer pick, but I think the thumb was bothering him. I think he'll be fine.

I think that's a good late-round pick. And if you can stack up the rest of your positions before you go to your QB late in the draft, I think that's good for your roster build. I will say, though, if you go this route, knowing that you're going to be a little bit thin at receiver, especially the top end of receiver, the Dalton Schultz pick, you could have taken a chance on just looking at the receivers in this round. So you said you got him in round nine.

There was still Wandale Robinson who went right after him. You can debate that. But K.J. Osborne, I think, has a big ceiling in front of him without Adam Thielen there. Nico Collins could be the number one receiver for the Texans. Rashad Bateman could bounce back as number one receiver. Like for me, it's our job to mentor you. So I would say that us mentoring you throw more capital at the receiver spot, you know, Dalton Schultz again, just because of the fact that you can't play him. Like if you didn't lock yourself into, okay, I'm going with Chubb

or mixing as your flex, like you've already made that decision early in the draft. Like Dalton Schultz is never going to see a field for you, you know, barring an injury to, or see your lineup, you know, barring an injury to you know, any Dallas Goddard, those running backs. So I think, you know, in that case, you just throw as much capital at the wide receiver spot. Absolutely. And I was going to, I had, sorry, I had KJ Osborne queued up and I honestly now that I'm

looking back on it I probably that would that would have been the pick I would have taken but I will say that if we played this out I'm a guy who will end up trading Dalton Schultz for somebody that I would have needed most likely wide receiver and I will say that like I said in the beginning I was not thrilled with how my bench wide receivers played out the depth of my wide receiver position. No, I think, you know, look, you took Sky Moore. You know, there's plenty of upside there. He could be the best receiver for the Chiefs.

I was having this conversation with somebody yesterday, and they were like, oh, Sky Moore is a normal receiver. I was like, could be Tony, could be, you know, whoever else they bring in. I took the shots that I wanted late in the draft, but I mean, I have Juju on the bench as well. Who's like a good bench receiver to start your bench. But after that, I'm, I love Sky Moore. I'm not as confident in him. I love Khalil Shakir. I think the opportunity could be there. He's a talented player. I just looking back on it, you're right. I definitely would have taken KJ Osborne as well and beefed up the depth at that position more so than Dalton Schultz, who will not be in my lineup.

Like I said, it's our job to show you the way. You're absolutely right, though. That's what we're supposed to do. All right. For me, and then we'll wrap this up. Again, I had the what pick was it? The fourth pick. So I started with Cooper Cup.

Heavy receiver to start my draft. But my quarterback is Deshaun Watson, uh remandre stevenson rashad white at running back cooper cup keenan allen jaylen waddle at receiver uh chico conco at tight end drake london at the flex and bench is kyler murray samajay pirine jermome ford uh devin singletary jameson williams and taekwon thornton so very thrilled with my receiving core uh i loved keenan allen around four i think just you know he's going to once again get a little overlooked and has another chance for 100 catch season uh staying in los angeles samajai p run is going to be one of my favorite sleepers this year just knowing that the situation with javante williams uh let sean payton talk up latavius murray i think we've seen

samajai p run when he's gotten a chance he's been very productive for fantasy uh the fact that i can just leave jameson williams on bench, I don't have to play him. We'll see how that goes. But him or Drake London, love those two second year receivers. So we'll see how that goes there. But very happy with how this turned out. And again, if Deshaun Watson struggles, Kyler Murray, hopefully by the middle of the year, will be Kyler Murray.

And I have a good quarterback situation there. So again, you can see the full draft on CBSSports.com. I'm sure when Adam comes back, I want to revisit it to talk about some of his picks. But this was our first look at our mock draft following free agency and was a lot of fun, fun exercise. And hopefully you guys will enjoy it as well. All right, we'll be back next week, barring anything changing with our buddy Aaron Rodgers. If the trade does happen to the Jets and the Packers, I'm sure we'll do an emergency podcast. But we'll be back next week.

And hopefully Dave and Adam will still be happy following the NCAA tournament and seeing how things go there in this week 16. Jake, great job. Thanks for being with us here on Fantasy Football Today. Enjoy the Yankees game and we'll catch up

with you next week. Thanks for listening. Thanks for watching. This has been Fantasy Football Today. Bye.