Fantasy Football Today - 2026 Fantasy Rankings: Top 12 Players in PPR Leagues (06/23 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: June 23, 2026

Adam, Dave and Jamey break down the Top 12 overall players in PPR leagues and debate the biggest decisions facing fantasy managers this season. First, they react to the latest Geno Smith off-the-field news (3:06) before tackling the battle for the #1 overall pick between Jahmyr Gibbs & Bijan Robinson (6:00). The guys also discuss the top five overall players and reveal which elite stars make them nervous at their current draft cost (19:04). Then it's a wide receiver showdown as they decide who should come off the board first between Ja'Marr Chase, Puka Nacua or Jaxon Smith-Njigba (25:45). Later, they weigh Christian McCaffrey’s league-winning upside against his injury and workload concerns (41:05). We wrap up the show with debates on Drake London and Chase Brown (56:06), plus where CeeDee Lamb belongs in the top 12 (1:06:01).Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcastsWatch FFT on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FOLLOW FFT Dynasty on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

This is fantasy football today from CBS Sports. What a play! Can you believe this? It's a no idea. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Up to the races and he stays on his feet. It's just going to go the distance. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath.

E12 best players in the world ever! Today are consensus top 12 in PBR. They are Jemir Gibbs. John Robinson, Jamar Chase, Puka Nakua, Jackson Smith and Jigba, Amon Ross St. Brown, then three running backs, Jonathan Taylor, Christian McCaffrey, James Cook, Drake, London, C.D. Lamb, and Chase Brown. That's our consensus top 12. Doesn't mean that Dave and Jamie have the same top 12.

Heath is not. Where's Giannis Santa Tocumpo? Yonis. How you feel about Janus to the heat, Jamie? I think it's exciting. I mean, look, it's a fun trade. Dave, how you feeling about Julius Randall to the Nets? I, I, great, almost as big of a deal as Janus to the heat.

It's so weird that the NBA draft is, you know, a week after the NBA finals. It's just so strict. Tonight, it's bizarre. Okay, anyway, more important things to talk about. You know, for those of you are just maybe just starting to pick up the podcast, Hopefully these next few episodes will be helpful. We'll be talking about, I think, the top 24, but the top 12 today. We should have a few news items here.

Police were investigating an assault allegation against Gino Smith. It seems like it might be close to close. No arrests were made. It's not, apparently not an active case, but still being reviewed before a report is released, according to Rich Semini of ESPN. Brandon Ayyuk said, go commanders on social media. And George Kittle was talking about Brandon Iuk, and he said he basically said he's super talented. He loved like just watching him, you know, his raw talent.

But I think he said, you know, good luck dealing with that. Something in that effect. So I think we know Iyuk, very talented player. Hopefully he's still a very talented player, but some baggage, I guess we could say. And Lamar Jackson, this is not the first time we've heard a report like this. He is loving Declan Doyle's offense, the new offensive coordinator for the Ravens. He thinks there's going to be a lot of explosive plays, very creative, a lot of good buzz coming out of Ravens camp regarding their offensive coordinator,

Declan Doyle. And that's pretty much all I've got. How are you guys doing? Jamie, how's it going? How we missed you yesterday? I missed you too. I had to think for a second. He wasn't on yesterday, was he?

And I was right. That would have been weird if you had been on the show yesterday, and I had said that. But welcome back. Thank you. Heath will be back tomorrow. CBS Sports HQ, great time to be watching CBS Sports HQ. World Cup has been awesome. They'll give you all the updates there, NBA draft, everything else you need to know.

Crappy Yankees team that's lost three in a row and all the other baseball storylines you want to follow. And today in the chat, we want you guys to help us out. Who are you worried about in the top 12? Gibbs, Bejohn, Chase, Puka, J.S.N. Amon Rae St. Brown. Taylor, McCaffrey, James Cook, London, Lamb, Chase Brown. Who worries you in the top 12?

Let us know chat. Let us know YouTube commenters as well. All right. First question for you. How many players could you justify with the number one overall pick? Jamie? Let's see.

One, two, three, four, five. Really? Someone takes JSN number one? You're just like, that's cool. I mean, he was awesome last year and I think his situation got a little bit better this year. So, yeah, I could see him going first overall. And look, a lot of people think he's the,

the number one wide receiver this year. So if you're inclined to do that, you want to pass on the running backs, you're going to take the JSN. So he's probably the one I have to make the most of an argument for based on just where he's at right now. But I do think that, again, he was the NFL offensive player of the year last year.

He had an amazing season. It was one of the biggest breakout stars for fantasy. And I think that we're going to see Seattle throw the ball a little bit more this season. Dave, how many players could you justify with the number one pick? I don't know if I could justify JSN at 101. one, but Gibbs, Bijan, Puka, Chase, not necessarily in that order, but those four guys, I think I could.

So let's call it four. Well, this may just be a really stupid soundbite in six months. But I have a hard time justifying Bejohn Robinson over Jemir Gibbs. I can't really come up with a statistical case. You know what I mean? So I don't know that I could, it wouldn't be crazy to take Bijan Robinson number one. And he was better than Gibbs last year in PPR. Can't make a case for him?

No, I don't think so. I don't know what the case is. I don't know why I would take Bejan over Gibbs. What advantage does he have? Well, are- Has he been a better past catcher just from a raw number standpoint? Yes. And I do think it would, you know, like last year, for example, I was looking at it's like,

they had basically the same amount of catches, right? he had 79, Gibbs at 77, and they were within 0.3 fantasy points per game, Bijon slightly ahead. Bijan Robinson averaged 10.4 yards per catch. Jamir Gibbs averaged eight yards per catch. So that was honestly the reason why Bijan was better. He just had so many more receiving yards. And he was the number two running back per game last year with only 11 touchdowns, whereas McCaffrey had 17, Gibbs had 18, Taylor had 20. But that gap in yards per catch is not going to repeat itself. For their careers, Robinson is 8.8. Gibbs is 8 yards per catch.

So that advantage that he had over him last year in yards per catch, I think, will kind of disappear or get much closer. However, like I said last year, Gibbs was a much lower catch guy before the Leporta injury. So it is possible that Bejohn does have a lot more catches than Gibbs. That's the only argument, I think, Jamie, that I could make for Robinson. I mean, I could see a touchdown spike for both guys. You know, whoever comes out with more probably depends on how you view the offenses. I would think Gibbs has more touchdowns than Bejan this season without David Montgomery there.

But you're losing Tyler Alger in Atlanta. I think that's big, you know, so I see Mason in the chat says, you know, Brian Robinson. Again, please, when you make your draft picks, I'm not confused the two B. Robinson's. But when Brian Robinson potentially takes over the Alginson. Algeo role, that could certainly be a scenario that unfolds. But again, if you look at what Brian Robinson did in San Francisco last year, when he was supposed to be the guy to spell Christian McCaffrey, like elite players keep everybody off the field.

So I hope that's the case for Bijan. So I don't agree with what you're saying. I think Bijan Robinson can easily be better than Jemir Gibbs. Our commenters had a problem with Jemir Gibbs' offensive line. If you look on yesterday's YouTube show, that was one of the topics. I don't want to get into the other topics that were there, but one of them was that Gibbs' offensive line has gotten worse.

They're starting a rookie at right tackle. They got a backup center from Carolina who's going to start for them. They're a rookie from last year, Rutledge. I still think he's got potential. He's a starter who didn't do well last year. And then they've got Pinae Sewell, who I think we can all agree is one of the best offensive tackles in football. I don't know if we can just go and look at the Falcons offensive line

and say, that's a much better offensive line. I mean, they've got Jamar Taylor penciled in to start at right tackle to begin the year, and he was a problem in Kansas City, can't help but think he's going to be a problem in Atlanta. But if we're going to split hairs, this is one of the conversation points you could have with Jemir Gibbs as well. That offensive line that used to be such a huge strength for Detroit might not be as good.

I kind of want to give them the benefit of the doubt, but I get where people come from by saying, I'm worried about Gibbs because the line won't be as good as it was. Yeah, and maybe I said it wrong. It's not that I can't see Bejan Robinson being better than Jemir Gibbs. I absolutely could. He's Bejohn Robinson. And I think the path to that is he has 30 more carries and 15 more catches and just by touches he's better.

It's that I don't think I can justify drafting him ahead of Jemir Gibbs. I think if you just look at like draft day resume and potential, It's like I said yesterday, Jamir Gibbs has been this good over the last three years, with David Montgomery having the second most goal line carries in the NFL in that span. I don't think I can draft, justify drafting Bijon over Gibbs, but I can certainly see him being better than Gibbs, yeah, if that makes sense. Okay, and then next question, does your number one player change in a three-wide receiver league versus a two-wide receiver league, Dave?

Nope, not at all. Your number one player is Gibbs, right? Gibbs. Yeah. Even with that terrible offensive line. Jamie, does your number one player change in a three receiver versus two receiver league? No.

Okay, how about, because we're just talking PPR today, how about half PPR versus full PPR? No. Absolutely not. Running back's gain value of catches don't count as much. I might go entirely running back. I don't know about entirely.

I shouldn't have said that, but maybe like, I could just check my rankings, maybe seven, eight picks in the first round will be running backs in a non-PPR league? I think the only thing that should change, it doesn't change it for me, but should change your thought process on who should go first or second overall, probably mostly PPR, but it would be is if you are so sold on the players that are available at the two three turn and you're close between either of the two running backs and either of the two top receivers in Chase

or Puka. So if you feel like Chase and Puka are close or better than Gibbs and Robinson, you're probably going to like the running backs that are available at the two, three turn, more so than the receivers available at the two-three turn. So in your question, Adam, for three receiver leagues, if you want to start with Chase and then maybe hope that you're getting someone of the group out of Derek Henry, Ken Walker, Jeremiah Love, Kairn Williams, you know, those running backs that are typically going to be available at the two-three turn, then that might be just the strategy you want to use.

because if you're not comfortable with, let's say, I don't know, Jamir Gibbs and A.J. Brown, T. Higgins, you know, those type of receivers that are going to be available there. Nico Collins potentially, like, you know, that's just something to consider if you're just looking at building out your team. Who's your top ranked wide receiver? Chase.

So what would be the case for Jamar Chase? Not factoring in who you can get in rounds two and three, but just make the case for Jamar Chase. Oh, can I keep the rhyme going? Make the case for Jamar Chase number one overall, Dave. You should have said make the case for Jamar Chase to be at first base. It's something. Way to pull that one out of your ace.

11.6 targets per game last year led the NFL. You know he's going to get right around double-digit targets per game. Cincinnati's offense is awesome. He's awesome. He scores a bunch of touchdowns. that's the that's the case for chase i mean we're two years i guess i don't know the one year a full season removed from him being the triple crown winner you know which hasn't happened very often in NFL history and he still got that potential on that upside you know so

we are talking about the guy who could be the best receiver in fantasy could be the best receiver in football depending how you view it and i mean look there's a lot of is receiver safer than running back. I know you'll dispute that, Adam, based on the things that you looked out over the last five or ten years. I forget the data point. So it's probably not the best argument, but, and Chase isn't probably the best one to make it because we know who he's tied to. He's tied to Joe Burrow. He's got a hard time staying healthy. Yeah. But I still think if you look at it, like, we know running back can still be volatile. We've never seen Jamir Gibbs in a full-time role over 17 games. So, you know, if there is some concern about that, I don't, again,

have that, but there could be some concern over that. Bejohn's in another new offense, and maybe there are some people, like, I think it was Mason, in our chat, that said Brian Robinson could be a problem. Chase is just awesome. I mean, Puka's awesome. So it's easy to say, okay, again, and building it out, I think there's better running backs at the two-three turn than there are receivers. So if you want to just look at it that way, Jamar Chase has just as much upside as Gibbs

and Robinson. He's got clearly a better resume at the day. this point in his career than Gibbs and Robinson. And if he gets back to that 2024 level of production, you know, you're going to be thrilled by taking him first overall. Chase, yeah, I mean, that that 2024 year was a healthy Joe Burrow

year and Jamar Chase averaged more than 23 fantasy points per game. He was amazing. But it is the only year of his career where he's been that good. Even when Burrow, when Burrow Higgins Chase are all on the field together, that's the only time he's been, you know, that good. That good.

That good. He's been good. Top five, top three. That good for our season. I figure stretches of 20 per game or more. Right. There were six games last year when all three of those guys were healthy and Chase was averaging 20 p.mpr points per game.

Yeah, but that's, but that's not 23, obviously. You're right, but it's still. No. That puts you in the conversation with the elite tier running back. You have to, when you sit down and think about who's first overall, the number has to be 20 points per game or better. You have to have that number in your head. Much better.

No, I mean, I don't know about much, but I would say 22. Are we talking why? Again, I'm thinking floor, you know, so the floor's got to be, it's not like, oh, yeah, I'm getting 18 points per game and I'm going to be happy with that. Like, you know, if you're trying to make the case when you're listing your pros and cons, like the number's got to be 20 or above. For as a floor, yeah. And the number one player is going to average probably at least 22 points per game. Right. But I'm trying to think, okay, if this goes wrong, where does it go wrong and where does it leave me?

And it better leave me at 20 points per game or better. Okay. I like that. If it goes wrong, it leaves you at 20 points per game or better? I'm saying, like, if I'm making the case of Gibbs versus Bijan, Bijan versus Chase, Chase versus Gibbs, Puka versus all of them, like what needs to happen for them to be, for me to justify taking them at first overall. Right. That's what has to go right, not what has to go wrong.

No, no. what could go wrong to drop them from 23, 24 points per game, which is what I'm hoping for by taking them first overall to knocking them down three or four points per game without anything being a complete disaster. Obviously, it was a complete disaster, then you just screwed up or something really bad happened. But what I'm saying is like what are what are the negatives that are going to drag this guy down enough that I made the wrong call because Gibbs wasn't as good as Chase or Puka was better than all three of those guys, you know, like we saw last year. So I think just trying to rationalize it, again, going back to JSN, like I think JSA can have a better year this year than he did last year by a little bit, by a fraction of amount. And so if I'm putting JASN in that conversation, if he does everything that he did a year ago,

plus more targets, maybe a couple more touchdowns, whatever the case may be, and Chase doesn't live up to the expectation, then I failed. Why did I fail? Well, Chase, or why did my thinking fail? And I'm rationalizing that way. So, like, if I get Chase at 20 points per game and JSN was better, I'm okay with that because Chase still had an amazing season. Gotcha. All right.

Let's take a break here. And we'll a couple more questions for you. And then we'll kind of break down these players, any angles that we haven't discussed on them. And we'll be right back on fantasy football today. Got a question from Johnny in the chat. How could JSN get more targets? He got all of them last year. It's true.

He had about a 35% target share, which is outrageous. I think it was that. Whatever it was, it was super high, but they didn't throw much. And Jamie already said he thinks the Seahawks are going to throw more this year. So I think Target Chair comes down a little bit, probably, still amongst the league leaders, but this past attempts would go up. My next question, Dave, is the top five, which is Gibbs, Bejohn, Chase, Puka, JSN? Is it set in stone?

And I don't mean that in the order, but the five players, do you feel like they're set in stone? I think those are the five. I don't think you can make the case for, well, you could try and make the case for Jonathan Taylor to get in there. He had a monster year last year. But who do you pull out from that group of five in order to do that? Maybe you think JSN regresses, even if the target share stays the same. I don't think you, I don't think that's an easy argument to make.

I think the top five is what it is, three receivers, two running backs. I mean, it's funny that you would go with Jonathan Taylor and we have. I haven't mentioned the guy who actually was the best player in fantasy last year. Christian McCaffrey. And then Jamie, which top 12, top 12 player makes you nervous? The guy's name you just said, Christian McCaffrey. Yep. Yeah. Chat, commenters on YouTube after the show.

Who makes you nervous? Anyone other than McCaffrey? We're talking at the back end. We have Taylor, McCaffrey, Cook, London, Lamb, Chase Brown. Chase Brown does make me a little bit nervous as well, but I think anyone who's going to slot in at 12th is going to be a little nerve-wracking. I think the first nine are probably going to be locked in.

10 through 12 is probably still up for debate. First nine, Gibbs, Bejohn, Chase, Puka, J.S.N., St. Brown, Taylor, McCaffrey, James Cook. Yeah, again, not in that order. I would probably say Drake London cracks the top 12, whether he's 10 remains to be seen, but cracks the top 12. And then it's going to be lamb, it's going to be brown, it's going to be probably McBride,

if you're going to put one of the tight ends in there. Jefferson will definitely be in the conversation. I think if there's enough positive reports coming out of Kansas City, you can see Rashi Rice in the top 12. I don't know if there's anybody else, though. Did you mention A-chan? A-chan will definitely be in the conversation, yes. Yeah.

All right, hear me out, guys. I saw that we posted our top 12. We posted the first three rounds of our last mock draft on Instagram. And most of the comments were Nico Collins in round one, which was a little too soon. And Drake London was the other one. Where did he go? Drake London went nine, I believe. And Nico went 10 or 11.

I know I got James Cook at 12. I don't remember who went in front of him. Okay. No one said, boy, that AJ Brown pick was astute. I did not see an AJ Brown comment. Okay. Hear me out on this, though. Two years ago, there were some questions.

Man, we have two jets going in the first round, Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson. And they were basically, well, I think Breeze Hall, I think they might have had a good year just because he had a lot of catches. But they were busts. 2024?

Three. Yeah. No, four. You're right. They had a good year in 23. and that encouraged us to at least... Well, that was the year Wilson got Aaron Rogers, so there was a lot of excitement.

And Breeshall did finish as number two overall, but number six in full PPR per game. He had 76 catches. He wasn't really that great. But anyway, there were some concerns, two jets in the first round, and they were warranted. 2025, we had two Raiders going early.

I don't think Bowers was quite in the first round, but he's probably like top 15. This year we have two Falcons. and we do have two Bengals as well in our top 12, but we have two Falcons. Now, that's not ADP. Right now, oh, wait, sorry, I'm looking at 2025, just to see where Bowers went.

Bowers was about 20th overall, but there were some concerns about two Raiders that high. Let's see, Drake London right now, yeah, he's actually 17th in ADP. So our top 12, though, our consensus top 12, not ADP, does have two Falcons in there. How worried are you about their offense?

That is going to come up a lot between now and then, Dave. I'm not that worried about it. I'd be worried about their defense. I think their defense could be really bad this year, and I don't think they're going to win a ton of games, but I think that Bijan has proven himself. I think we all know what to expect from him. And I think we know what to expect from Drake London as well.

Should continue to be the top target getter on that team. I actually like the move toua as far as London's targets go, because Tua is just now programmed to get the ball out quick. he's not looking for downfield shots that's right into where London's targets are usually on the field. These are going to be short area throws. He's going to be a pretty good

PPR player and he's worth taking. I said yesterday, between 10th and 15th overall. Okay. All right. So is there any other team with the Bengals and the Falcons are the two teams that have two, oh, and the Lions. Yeah, duh.

Two in the top six are Lions, Gibbs and St. Brown. Okay. any further ado. Let's break it down. Gibbs and Bijon are the top two. Break it down. Yeah. Sorry. Not to break it down. I was going. Nothing. What were you going for? DX, man. I don't know what that is. I got two words for you. Let's go. All right, I'm going to put something in the notes. You don't know what DX is? Dgeneration X? Oh, no, no. Sure. Now I know. Okay. I'm going to put a music thing. on my word document here

is I want to talk to you about a music thing later that absolutely blew my mind blew my mind yesterday, Dave Richard. Oh my God. Anyway, is there anything else you want to say, Jamie, about Gibbs and Bejohn Robinson at the top?

How do you not know DX? I don't think so. I mean, we've probably covered it enough. You know, Gibbs, what did? The end of 2024 when Montgomery was out over 30 PPR points per game, like that's what you're hoping for.

I mean, obviously, if you take him in this range. And I do think Bijon will benefit as a rusher, you know, with just Kevin Sdefansky as the coach. So, you know, we've seen him coach some pretty good running backs, Nick Chubb, for example. And Bijon has, you know, got an opportunity to be just so dynamic across the board.

So it's going to be fun to see how these two guys go. And I think we're actually still probably in the minority that Bijon's going to go first ahead of Gibbs. You think so? Yep. Interesting. ADP right now has them tied. Well, I mean, we just did a draft last week with Sam or, you know, one of our new producers who took Bijan first overall.

What, Sam, what are you doing? That's cool. All right, then let's talk about the next three. The wide receivers, Chase, Puka, and JSN. Dave, what would you like to say about Chase Puka and JSN? I'll start with this, actually. Puka was about four points better than JSA, than Chase last year. So why would he not be, not just the number one wide receiver, but the number one overall player?

Puka had nine receiving touchdowns. His first two years in the NFL. He had 10 last year. That's the difference. between a guy that would average around 20 PPR points per game and then exceed it. So when Jamie was talking earlier about what could go wrong for a guy to fall to 20 PPR points, instead of being around 22, 23, 24, that was the first player that came into my mind. Because if Nekua doesn't get a ton of touchdowns, if Stafford doesn't have the MVP type year,

then we're talking about Puka, oh, boo, who, he's still going to get 10, 11 targets per game, still get 150 some odd yards per game. but he's not going to get the type of touchdown volume that we saw him get last year. That's the type of thing that could make him, oh, just a good top five pick and not the guy that, like, wins leagues, crushes, dominates 24 points per game, that type of thing. But all three of these wide receivers are touchdown getters, double digit target getters, focal points of offenses. And in the case of the Rams and the Bengals, offenses that we feel really good about in terms of just overall, you know, know, 30,000-foot view of where they're at.

And the Seahawks are a little bit different. Sam Donald's a quarterback. I think he does deserve the benefit of the doubt, but it's still just a little bit of a concern that Seattle does take a step back offensively overall. And that's why maybe you don't consider JSN. You consider him on the same tier as Puka and Chase, but not necessarily ahead of Puka and Chase.

One thing that Puka had going for him last year, 10 carries 105 yards and a touchdown run. rushing. Yeah, that's nice. I think he usually does get you a decent amount. C.D. Lamb was kind of the same way. I can't remember. He had a –

Pook had a rushing touchdown in 2024, just not quite as many yards. I think he had like – I think the difference is one long run that he had in 2025 compared to 24. Well, in 2024, he only played 11 games. He wasn't even healthy for all 11 games. But he's going to get you maybe – maybe about 100 rushing yards, you know, if he plays a full season based on precedent. Jamie, your thoughts on these three receivers?

On Puka and Chase or Pooka and Jason? Well, all three. Oh, again, I think we made the argument for Chase. You know, just if he gets a healthy Joe Burrow can easily be in the mix to be a triple crown winner again. You know, 17 total touchdowns, 1700 yards two years ago. He's got that upside and we've seen it again in pockets. I think the case for Puka is I do like the fact that they did not give him a contract extension yet. So he's still playing for that motivation.

I am curious to see if, you know, they were in the AJ Brown mix. They seemingly were in the McCoy Lemon mix on draft night. Do they still go out and add another receiver? I don't think that takes Puka out of the conversation of being a top five overall pick, but it probably could hurt him a little bit if there's somebody else added to the mix. It seems as if, you know, I guess I've probably been, you know, based on some of the YouTube comments, saying too much about Puka's off-field stuff this off-season. Seemingly, everything's fine, which is great.

So that's positive. So we don't really bring that up anymore. But let me look, Puka's awesome. His track record since coming into the league, he continues to get better. Last year was a career-high season for him. And again, I think if the motivation is still there from a contract perspective, that helps him to get to another level when we were somewhat concerned about maybe Devante Adams taking too much away.

And if DeVante Adams' touchdowns come back a little bit and maybe Puka stay at the same level, while Matthew Stafford has another big season. and there's a lot to love about that scenario as well. The one concern could be is that the Rams defense could be really, really dominant, you know, with the additions that they made of, you know, Miles Garrett and Aaron Donald? Well, Aaron Donald still, I was, Trem McDuffie was a name I was searching for.

But, you know, having, you know, better secondary and obviously a much better pass rush, does that take a few more pass attempts off the plate of Matthew Stafford and hurts the production a little bit of Bucca? In the case of JSN, I think just looking at it, like I said, we don't know what this run game is going to look like. And there is a change in coordinator, you know, which could be a problem. But my guess is you're still going to feed JASN. The fact that they didn't really do anything to their receiving core, you know,

you've heard a lot of positive reports about Rashid, which is nice. And I do think getting Tori Horton back at 100% will help. But you have a 33-year-old Cooper Cup who did play very well in the playoffs. You know, we shouldn't take that away that he did step up and have his best stretch-up games for Seattle toward the end of the year. but I think we look at this offense and you see he's clearly the best player he was the best player last year even as well as Ken Walker played in the postseason

in the Super Bowl and was deserving of a Super Bowl MVP. JSN is going to be how this Seattle offense works. It's where the offense is going to flow through. Judarian Price has to do a lot. George Alani has to do a lot. Mani Wilson has to do a lot. They really lost so much of what their offensive engine was with Walker leaving and Charbonnet getting injured.

can they rely on their run game to the same level? My guess is no. And so I think we see, you know, maybe 11 to 12 targets per game for JASN, not out of the realm of possibility. Wow. So he could just be an absolute superstar. And again, I'm not taking him first overall. I don't have a problem if somebody does, though,

if they believe that he's going to take even a step in another direction in the positive next year. Okay. Quick point of clarification. I know we're talking about the Seahawks run game. It's definitely going to be different. They don't have Kenneth Walker there anymore, but they were 25th in yards per carry. This is just overall at 4.1 yards per carry.

And that was while they were third in the league at running the ball, 29.8 total rushes per game. That's the number that I think gets impacted the most. Right. And so let's just follow up on your point then. If that number goes down and their efficiency gets worse, then obviously it makes sense that they throw a little bit more

and JSN would be one of many who would benefit. One thing about Puka, so I'm Chase over Pooka. If you told me they were going to get the same amount of... Same. And so you guys are too.

If you told me they were going to get the same amount of targets, all three of them, I would take Puka Nakua. He is, you know, arguably the best, most efficient receiver in the NFL. He's unbelievable.

Doesn't score as many touchdowns, typically. And it's worth pointing out that, that he played three games without Devante Adams. In those three games, he had two end zone targets. In the first 14 games of the year, he had four end zone targets. In those three games without Adams, he had six red zone targets.

In the first 14 games, he had 10 red zone targets. So Adams really did affect, you know, Puka's targets near and in the end zone. Same story with green zone targets. So that's why I'm chase over Puga because of that concern that you said, Jamie, of the defense being so good that the past volume goes down. They've only had one top 10 defense in the Matthew Stafford era. I don't think they've ever had a top five defense maybe once. So this could certainly be the best defense that they've ever had in the Stafford era. And they like to run the ball.

But they run a lot of plays. So, you know, it should be fine. But I think that's kind of the target volume scares me. a little bit with Puka and it does not with JMA Chase. And then with J.S.N, I talked about it yesterday. I love the guy. He's amazing. But I just kind of feel like Seattle had a dream season last year and everything went right and they lost their head coach

and their O-line mostly stayed healthy and they ran the ball really well, which made him unbelievably good on play action like I mentioned yesterday, like five and a half yards per out run on play action. Just kind of feel like it was this magical season and things won't go quite as well. Yeah. I get that. They lost their offensive coordinator, not their head coach.

But for the sake of their offense, I think that that matters a lot. And we talked about this on Monday. Jamie touched on it a minute ago that Brian Fleury taking over, adopting the Kubiak playbook, which is the same type of system that he's been brought up in under Calus-Shanahan. Might not be the best thing overall, but at bare minimum, he should know, all right, when in doubt, scheme away for JSN to get open.

Call one of 100 plays you've got that gets him open. let JSN do the rest. All right, let's go to a break here and talk about the guys that are worth debating more, six through 12 in the consensus rankings. We'll be right back. I'm on Ross St. Brown. Is he almost in a tier of his own, Dave? I suppose so.

If not, you know, just fudging him into the top tier, but at the bottom of the top tier, just so consistent, so good with the targets he gets used in the red zone, finds a way to get 18 plus ppr points per game, what is it, each of the last three years, four years, that he is definitely separated from the London's, lambs, Jettas, Nicos of the world. I don't think he can fall that far down.

And so either he's in his own tier or he's at the bottom of the elite tier. And the fact that we're so comfortable taking him as a top six or seven player, and I'm not trying to be cute, then that, just to me tells me that he's in that elite tier of wide receivers, just not at the top of the tier. I think what's amazing about Sam Brown and what he did last year is wide receiver four per

game. He played four snaps in week 13. It's easy to forget about that. If you take that game away, you're talking about a 183 target pace, 124 catches, 1,489 yards, 12 touchdowns. I mean, crazy good numbers. That game crushed me in fantasy. Thanksgiving. I needed him that game. Week 13, I believe was. Maybe the week after. I don't know.

Do you know what his average is without that game if you azer statted out? Man, how many points that he scored? I think he probably scored zero. So let's give it a prox. Give me 30 seconds. I'll tell you what. 20 point, let's just say 20. Basically average 20 points per game without that game.

Downside, I would say, is two years ago. Sam Leporta and Jameson, Williams stayed healthy and targets were way down for him. Jamie, do you see any downside for Amman Ross St. Brown? Minimal. I mean, to me, he's the easiest player to take it six overall. You know, so once you get past the first five, it's like, you know, you don't, you feel like you're missing out on a player because I do think, yes, you're right out of him. He kind of belongs in the tier of his own. But like, he, I said this last year, I'll say it again. He's, he's the safest player in the first round of all these guys.

You know, just you kind of know what you're getting. You're going to get a guy who's going to get a lot of targets. You're going to get a guy that's going to be featured in his offense. You're going to get a guy that's, you know, got a chance to score 10 plus touchdowns that got 100 plus catches and, you know, hopefully 13 to 1,400 yards. You know, so, I mean, there's just exactly what you're hoping for if you believe in.

You don't lose your league if your first round pick sucks. You know, he's not going to lose your league. now he doesn't have in my opinion the same upside at least for this year as Chase or Nakuwa or JSN and not the two running backs but I mean if I'm sitting in the middle and somebody decides to go McCaffrey

or Taylor or another running back ahead of St. Brown like thank you I'll take him 7, 8, 9 if he falls. Same. Just based on sorry, go ahead, go ahead. I was just going to say you were right at him taking out that week 13 game, 20.3 PPR points per game, 12.9 non-PPR points per game. So if he had played well in

that game, obviously, his number would be even better than that over the course of the season. He was, he was as good as Chase last year in half PPR and better and non-PPR. He absolutely belongs in this first tier. I shouldn't have even hesitated a little bit. Yeah. I think just one difference with him is his yards, I'm on Ross St. Brown's yards per catch have never been good. I would have been to call it below average. It doesn't really matter, but it's hard to see him having, you know, like an 1,800-yard season. And sometimes you get those and those guys win your league. St. Brown, I would guess best-case scenario would probably be like a 1,500-yard season, low 1,500s.

It's really, like someone said it, we're splitting hairs when you're talking about, someone said it in the chat. When you're talking about these guys, you have to split hairs. They're all great. So the next three players are running backs. Jonathan Taylor, Christian McCaffrey, James Cook. Jamie, do they have more upside? Obviously, the answer is yes for McCaffrey. But in general, Taylor, McCaffrey, and Cook,

do they have more upside than Amman Rahsaim Brown in a full PPR league? Only McAfree. I think you look at Taylor and Cook, you kind of know what you're getting. They're really good. They could both lead the league in rushing yards. They could both lead the league in rushing touchdowns. They're obviously limited in their reception totals, and I think that's what keeps them down in PPR.

So, you know, hopefully Taylor will take a little bit of a jump. because of the lack of receiving talent that they have in Indianapolis after moving on from Michael Pittman and not really replacing him with anybody of significance. So you're asking a lot of Alex Pierce, a lot of Josh Downs, a lot of Tyler Warren. So hopefully Taylor can maybe get close to that 50 catch mark. I don't know if that'll be the case with Cook, even with the coaching change because it's still the same play caller. So, you know, Joe Brady's not going necessarily, I think, make Cook a dominant pass catcher. I think it'll help a little bit.

But, I mean, look, those guys are very, again, kind of exactly what I said about St. Brown. Like, you know what you're getting. They're safe. They're awesome. I don't want to use the word safe as like something that's a negative because it's not. But like they're obviously the type of running backs that you hope for. And I would say if there were no concerns about Derek Henry and is this the year that he falls off like he belongs in this conversation too, just because you know what you're getting from him as well, very similar profiles. rushing yards leader, touchdown leader,

like he can still do that as well. In the case of McCaffrey, look, you know, if we could look into the future and say he played X amount of games, that would tell you where he should be drafted. It's really nothing about what his role in the offense is, what his skill set is, anything's capable of doing. Like, we know all those things. It's tried and true, and he's amazing.

It's the fact that he might be 30 already. I know his birthday was in June. He'll be 30. He is 30. June 7th. No, I don't know if he turned 30 already or not. But, you know, he's, he's 30 this season.

He's coming off a year with 450 total touches. We went through this in 2023 going into 2024. It was 400 some odd touches. He was two years younger and he played four games the next season. So go back to the conversation we had with Scott Turner. It was obviously very pro Christian McCaffrey. Understand the context and the source. But McCaffrey is, if healthy, we are making a mistake, putting him in eighth overall.

Yeah. Yeah, I basically did similar type of research with McCaffrey that I did with Barclay last year. Jamie was first to it with Barclay last year, but we came to the same conclusion that when you've got so much work under your belt from one season, it's really hard to replicate it. There's a story that'll come out on CBS Sports. I invite everyone who does not have a top five pick or who's just in love with the idea of drafting Christian McCaffrey to read it because you need to know what the downside is. But in a nutshell, it's simply will he or won't he play a lot of games. And it's not just 2023.

2019, he had a lot of work. And then he was hurt for 2020 and 2021. So I do get a little bit worried about him. But even if there's a drop off in terms of his PPR average, it's still first round worthy. He might not get 24 points per game. That's what he had last year. But even a 20% drop, it's still. 19 ppr points per game.

If you're getting that in the back half of round one, it's a huge win. And if you manage to stay healthy and play just as good as he did last year, you're probably going to make the playoffs and have a great shot to win your league. When you're drafting them amongst other players that have a profile of maybe 17 ppr points per game, which is James Cook and Chase Brown and maybe Drake London and maybe Cee Lamb and maybe Justin Jefferson. So you've got a lot to weigh.

with Christian McCaffrey, but if you're averse to older players who do have a track record of falling off the year after a lot of work, you're probably going to be squeamish about drafting CMC. I think the thing that you got away is how many games could he potentially miss?

Because if you get a four-game season out of him is a complete disaster. If you get a 10-game season out of him, which you don't typically see from him, because usually when he misses time, he misses a lot of time. But if you get a 10-game season out of him, And he's still north of 20 PPR points.

That's a win. If you get a 13 game season out of him, that might be a league winner. Wait a second. 10 games? Unless it's, yeah, 10 games will help set you up.

10 games are 20 plus ppr points in that, in the range where he's going, I think you take it. I don't know. Yeah, but if it's the first 10 games of the year and then he's out after that. Again, I agree.

It's putting in context. You know, it could be, Three games, missed three, four games, missed three. You know, like, it could be awful for you. It could be the latter 10 games of the season, and you're rolling into the playoffs with Superstar. It could be the first 10 games of the season

has got you off to a great start. The second part of this, which is hard to, you know, define right now is who's the backup? Right. Because we now have questions. Because Kalin Black had a very good minicamp, by all accounts. And is it just the 49? PR system, hey, this is why we took this guy.

He's going to be the de facto number two, or maybe the guy that we use a lot to spell McCaffrey, or is it going to be, you know, Jamar James, who is, not Jamar James, Jordan James. Is he going to be the one that is the guy who we use if McCaffrey misses any time? Or even worse, both of them. Or, and throwing Garando when he's healthy coming off the pectoral injury, you know. So we have a lot of things that play here. And I think the difference is like, you take Jemir Gibbs and you want to handcuff him, you know who that guy is.

You take B. John Robinson, you want to handcuff him. You know who that guy is. For McAfrey, if you know who that guy is and you know what that system produces, you can justify it a little bit easier because you know what you're going to get as a replacement if McAfrey does miss any time. You know, so what we saw in 2024, once it eventually settled on Isaac Arendo, Like he was getting you at times 15 PPR points per game. Is that Chris McCaffrey is that first round worthy?

No. And Mason too, right? I mean, even before. Jordan Mason was at the start of it and then Garando was at the end of it. Yeah. Mason, they weirdly this, they'd never threw him the ball. But he was a bell cow. I mean, he was pretty much.

At the start of it. And they'd never gone with, I don't feel like they've ever gone with two guys. That's just not Shanahan's thing. No, I don't think it's going to be two guys. I think they'll go with whoever they feel is the best. I would still lean toward James right now, but if, again, they drafted Kalin Black to be that, I think even Scott Turner touched on it, you know, that Black is somebody that they, you know, feel comfortable with using.

So I think that sort of ties into, you know, if you're drafting McCaffrey, just knowing what you're what you have to deal with here. Listen, I hope he stays healthy and we just get a little bit of a decline as opposed to any injury concerns. Yeah, and actually, that's a funny thing. It's like he only averaged, what was his yards per carry last year? 3.9 yards per carry last year. I usually think he'll probably be better.

Now, he only averaged four yards per carry on 50 carries a year before, but I don't know that he's going to score more fantasy points per game, but I have a feeling McCaffrey's going to improve his yards per carry. If he doesn't, then we might be in some trouble here. Well, you also had Trent Williams dealing with a bunch of injuries last year. He's such a huge part of what their whole scheme is, let alone what he does for the offensive line. The thing about, you know, to Dave's point about, you know, comparing him to Barclay and what the falloff could be, this is where McCaffrey gets tricky because he could still get a lot of touches as a pass catcher.

And so the difference is like usually you see the wear and tear come from how much they, how much work they get in the run game. Like McAfrey getting over 100 catches, like that's something that matters a lot here. There's been eight running backs. This is a little teaser for the story. Eight running backs in the 400 plus touch category. over the last 15 years, who had 350 or fewer carries as part of their 400-touch campaign. That's exactly what McCaffrey came off of. Of those eight, four stayed healthy, really not worse the second season.

They were good to go. That's half. The other half. One sat out the full year. That's Levion. One was Ray Rice, who was coming off of back-to-back huge workload seasons. He fell off. The other two instances were both Christian McCaffrey.

Hurt in 2020, hurt in 2024. I know, but that's, that's, his, his history is what scares me the most. Like, you could tell me about all these other running backs that have fallen off, but it's, it's like we've seen it twice now from him. I know. Got and hurt after. It's like, are we really just going to say, oh, he's McCaffrey's too good? Because that's what we said about, that's not what we said. That's what other people said about Seekwon last year.

And Seekwon declined by 35% and wasn't worth the first round pick. But he stayed healthy. And the whole offense, I don't even know what to make of the Barclays. thing. Was he bad because of that workload? The whole offense really stunk last year, and their offensive line was super beat up the Eagles. So, you know, I can. And now you're making excuses. He just, he wasn't as good of a fantasy player.

You're right, Dave. But I think I think multiple reasons. And I think the workload was certainly part of it. All right. Well, that's the thing. I don't know if it was. I remember asking a player. I mean, I feel like I remember who it was, but I don't want to say just in case I'm wrong.

It was like 10 years ago, this very subject. It was a guy who had a lot of work. And I asked him, like, does that carry over into the next year? And he just said, no. And we're really dealing with small sample sizes here. Because I could tell you, Derek Henry, Derek Henry in 2019 had 386 carries. And the next year, he had 378 carries in 16 games. And he was even better.

He had a 2,000. He was awesome. He was one of the ones. 2000 yard season. Ezekiel Elliott had 350 carries in 2018. 2019. He played 16 games, 301 carries. He was RB5.

per game. The guy who brings this all down is McCaffrey. So it's like, I don't know what to make of that. It could have just been a fluke with him. He, he, I don't know. Again, it's small sample size stuff. And yes, he's, I'm sorry, he's probably going to do worse than he did last year. And all those guys are probably set up to do worse because they're coming off amazing years. Like, the standard's so high. Correct. There's a lot that factored into it. And I don't want to say it's a small sample size, Adam, because there's a lot of history of running backs when they turn 30 and what that's been throughout the course of NFL history. It's not 100% obviously. Yeah, I was just talking about the workload thing, but you're right. No, no, but it's also the

workload. You know, for me last year, it wasn't so much just the workload. It was the historical data for Barclay, at least. It was the historical data of 2,000 yard rushers and just what they, the decline had been. And that's a very small sample size, but Barclay fell into that same scenario as well, you know, just, you know, losing 500 yards per game. or 500 yards per season, on average. There were guys that lost over 800 yards. And it was a lot of different factors. It was their health.

It was their team health. It's just a lot that goes into it. And I think you said it best. It's not always just on them. It's what the offense and the situations around them. Now, I think in the case of San Francisco, you like what's around them better. Brock Purdy missed the majority of the season last,

or a good portion of the season last year. The receiving core was absolutely decimated. You know, George Kittle missed the first four games of the season. We know what he means just as a blocker. forget about what he means as a past catcher, Trent Williams was banged up. So I think the scenario around McCaffrey is actually better if you just look at the totality of what the 49ers have at their disposal.

But then you got to factor in 30 years old, 450 touches, can he hold up? You know, it's really tough. Again, whatever number you want to associate to how many games he plays, if he plays, to me, north of 13 games, he's going to make us look silly for taking him in this spot. Okay. And if the 49ers offense is better,

and healthier and it stays that way, then it would stand a reason that McCaffrey comes down from the 7.6 targets per game he had last year. They didn't have anybody else to lean on at times. I mean, he had the high by 1.7, almost two targets per game last year in San Francisco. So if everybody else is healthy, maybe that means they don't use McCaffrey as much.

He, to me, after 2024, I mean, I have him in my longest running Dynasty League. so I watch a lot of McCaffrey for work, but obviously for my own personal, you know, scenarios as well. I think just in the case of he's the one player, the entire season last year, after what we saw in 2024,

it was like, just make it through the game. Just make it through the game. Just make it through the game. Like, it's very stressful. Yeah. You're going to get more of that this year. Yeah. Or not.

It reminds me to Dalvin Cook. Dalvin Cook would always like come out. Like, oh, you, Calvin Cook's on the sideline and then he'd come back in. But you never got that from McCaffey last year. It was just like that 2020, like I can remember getting just so excited when he came back. And then the four games and it was like, oh, man. Here's a great question.

What is the farthest you would let CMC fall before automatically pulling the trigger? So I was going to ask you because I think you took him in the draft last week, right? Me? I thought you did. I don't remember, honestly. I already stole the draft with AJ Brown in the second round. so I hope I didn't steal them. Let me check.

But that would have been eighth. I think anytime you're looking at a player and you go, that guy would be lucky to have 18 PPR points per game, you slide McCaffrey ahead of them. And we don't have a lot of those guys in fantasy this year. And that's why he's ninth for me. I'm making this bear case for him and why I'm saying that I'm nervous about him. And yet I would still take him as a top 10 player.

So unless you're just like, nope, don't want to take the chance. I'm out, he's too injury prone and he's too old. Unless you feel specifically that way, you're taking him in round one. Just to that point, Dave, like, I was very much out on Sequin Barclay last year because of everything that I saw. I don't feel the same about McCaffrey. Not quite the same or just not the same whatsoever. I don't feel the same. Like, I'm not completely out on McCaffrey like I was out on Barclay last year.

Where did you have Barclay last year? I think I had him 11 or 12th. So why? What's the difference? The difference was, again, The data that I saw and the fact that McCaffrey, to me, can still get by with his receiving totals if, in fact, his rushing numbers continue to crater. Yeah. Okay.

Well, there is still some bad data. No, it's definitely concerning. It's definitely concerned. It's right there with Sequin. Well, McCaffrey, I took eighth. I could have taken James Cook ahead of him. I'm guessing that's the one guy Dave has ahead of McCaffrey. I do.

Yep. It's amazing that Cook and Taylor had almost the same year last year if you take out week 18 for Cook, where he played two snaps. If you look at that, I mean, they were on pace for basically the same amount of carries within three carries of each other. Within 52 total yards. Taylor, 20 touchdowns. Cook was on pace for 15 touchdowns. And Taylor on pace for, or Taylor had 46 catches, Cook on pace for 35 catches. but we never thought of James Cook that way.

And now he's a guy who, again, remove week 18. He was on pace for 326 carries last year. And honestly, he had 345 total carries if you include the playoffs. Yeah, I don't see why he would change. More than any other running back last year. And yes, he splits carries at the goal line with Josh Allen. But the bills a lot, who are we talking about, like, has made the Lions? Oh, we're talking about the Rams doing it.

The bills now year after year after year, they get to the inside the five-yard line all the time. They run the ball all the time there. And even though James Cook splits pretty much evenly the last two seasons with Allen near the goal line, he's still getting 11-12 goal line carries, which I consider inside the three-yard line, which is really good. All right. So we're running out of time here. Let's talk about the last three guys on the list.

They're all wide receivers to round. Oh, no, I'm sorry. We have Chase Brown as well. So we have two wide receivers. Drake London, C.D. Lamb, and Chase Brown. I guess it's a little strange to see Chase Brown here, Jamie. You could argue he has, I love him. I think when he's, when Burroughs healthy, the numbers speak for themselves. But he hasn't really done it over a full season necessarily. And then I see it in the chat today. I see it all the time. People doubt Drake London. They're like, he's never finished that high, this and that. Last first, I said it yesterday a hundred times, but first nine games of the year before his injury. He was the number three wide receiver in fantasy, but people doubt Drake London.

Then you have C.D. Lammon there as well. So give me your take on London, Lamb and Brown. I mean, London last year was awesome. The end of 2024, when Pennix first took over, he was awesome without Mooney there

when he was injured. You know, I know there's been a lot of buzz about Zachariah Branch. Good luck. That's who you're expecting to be the guy that ruins Drake London. Kyle Pitts,

I think, is going to have a very solid season because DeFansky's the coach. But again, we know Kyle Pitts' track record like Drake London is going to get fed target. I agree with what Dave said at the start of the show, just in regards to Tuotongavilo,

I think that would be a benefit for London just overall. And we've seen two odd receivers at a very high level, one and an elite level. I don't want to compare Drake London to Tyree Kill because there are no way, shape, or form in the same realm of conversation as football players. But again, just from a number standpoint, you know, he's proven that he can have a receiver, have a dominant campaign. And so I think Drake London's in a good spot. I think it's interesting to compare him to C.D. Lamb and Justin Jefferson, who I actually put in the top 12 over Chase Brown. But in the case of Lamb and Jefferson,

their resumes are obviously better than Drake London's. But you see where the pitfalls can come from with Lamb having to share the field now with George Pickens. We saw that last year. And then obviously Justin Jefferson with what is still potentially inconsistent quarterback play and a lot of other mouths to feeding this offense. Now they added Joanne Jennings to have Jordan Addison and T.J. Hawkins is still there.

So I think London's a little bit of a better spot. I think he has an opportunity to build off what we saw some of the highs last year. I hope he stays healthy. I think that we're going to see a lot of shootouts for the Falcons, because I do think their offense will be good, which is why it's worth taking, you know, two guys on their offense in the first round.

Bejohn's obvious. I think London should be obvious as well. So, you know, once you get past those first four wide receivers, I'm counting, right? Right, right, one, two, three, four. He belongs in that, you know, end of, he's in a definite, you know, new tier.

And, you know, ahead of, for me, Lamb, Jefferson, you know, Nico, any other about, any, you know, George Pickens, any other guys you want to put in there. The only one I think that you can make, arguing for it potentially being better than London. Again, if there were no issues, no health concerns, is Rashi Rice. Because Rice, what he's done when he's been healthy, when he's been on the field, I think

gives you a little bit more reason for optimism. Plus, you trust his quarterback and probably his coach better than Drake London. So Rice would be there for me if he was, you know, no concerns. Okay. London, I guess I guess I could just play devil's advocate. Best year of London's career was 16.8 PPR fantasy points per game. That's what he averaged last year. the year before that, 16.5.

He needs to do better than that to justify the 10th overall pick. Nico Collins and A.J. Brown are two guys who have been better than that. So is there really no justification to take them over Drake London, Nico and A.J. Brown? You can certainly justify it. I mean, again, Nico's had some huge pockets of seasons. He's got health concerns. I don't know how much. Two of his last three.

Huh? Two of his last three seasons, he's averaged at least 17 PPR points per game, Nico. Yeah, I think in the case of Nico, you know, this is where this starts to get muddy, you know, so London, Lamb, Jefferson, Nico, AJ Brown, Pickens, you know, again, if you want to believe what he did last year, there's reasons to sort of dissect all of this.

And so, you know, is there a right answer in terms of who should be, you know, 10th overall for just considering the top nine locked in? I don't know. I mean, look what trade McBride did. He was four points per game better than the second tight end last season. He was 100 points better than the number two player at his position overall. Does anybody think it's going to happen again? I don't think so.

You know, he probably belongs in this range of players. You know, we don't have Devon Ait Chan here because we're concerned about the Dolphins offense and what that's going to look like and maybe his role in the passing game as well with Malik Willis. I mean, my God, he was as dominant as any running back that we've already discussed. So I think once you get past not. it's who do you like and what you consider to be either safe or safe plus upside? And I think London can be better than the 16.8 points per game that he had.

I think he could be in that 18 point per game range, if not higher. So for me, that's why he's in that 10th spot. Chase Brown's interesting. You know, the first seven games of the year, he was pretty bad. Now, Drake, Joe Burrow barely played there. But he averaged 3.6 yards per carry. He had 22 catches in seven games and was only on pace for 206 carries. Chase Brown was quite frankly one of the biggest busts in fantasy.

And then the last 10 games of the year, he averaged 4.8 yards per carry, which is definitely out of the norm for him. He hasn't been the most efficient guy in his career. The last 10 games of the year, Chase Brown averaged 21.6 fantasy points per game. Only six of those games, I believe, were with Joe Burrow. And then he even had a game before that stretch, week seven. He only scored 12 PPR fantasy points, but he ran 11 times for 108, guards against the Steelers and just really season kind of took off from there.

So, Somaget P. Ryan had an injury that took him either, he barely played or was out. That happened in week nine, but he actually started to take off in week eight. And then once P.Rine was out, we saw Chase Brown get 75% or more of the snaps in those three games. And it's almost like he reminded the coaching staff, yeah, this is what I can do, not play me. And he didn't necessarily play 75% of the snaps, even when P. Ryan came back, but boy, his numbers were great. You just said what they were.

I think you're hoping that that continues and that the Bengals coaching staff just says, all right, let's feed this kid the ball. He's very good with it. He can be the engine for our offense and make our rushing threat good because defenses have to play safeties back against Cincinnati when Higgins and Chase are on the field. They cannot play those guys one-on-one and expect them to win with Burrow under center. So I love Chase Brown. I think he does have a lot of upside.

To me, it's a close call between him and Christian McCaffrey. And the second that things come out that McCaffrey doesn't look right or he's missing time, I'll put Chase Brown over Christian McCaffrey. But until then, McAfree still has a lot of upside. But Chase Brown does too. Okay. And it's basically the last two years when Chase Brown's been the starting running back and play with Joe Burrow, you're talking about well over 20 points per game.

I mean, he's one of those players. Like, it feels like the team wants to limit him, but then they realize they can't. It's also one of those players where if I look at that board, so I show it one more time, Thomas, the top 12. Gibbs, Bejohn, Jamar, Puka, JSN, St. Brown, Jonathan Taylor, Christian McCaffrey, James Cook, Drake, London, C.D. Lamb, Chase Brown.

He's the one, I would say the, the word, I say the word worst, but the least good player, right? He's the guy who's talent, I doubt the most of this group. He's not a first round pick in the draft. I know Puka isn't either. You know, I don't think he's a superstar player.

So I think that should make people a little bit nervous here. Not to mention he had big games as a past catcher without Samajai P. Ryan and two games without T. Higgins. He had like 16 catches in those two games. So, you know, Chase Brown is not, he's not Brock Bowers in terms of, Cowan and pedigrees. He's not,

most of the guys are going right after him. So I put it this way. If he weren't on the Bengals, he wouldn't be in the first round, right? Right. His offense obviously matters here. And his past production

shouldn't matter here as well. I mean, like, again, you just reference it, like what he's done. But will they continue to limit his work in some capacity? And then as we've seen,

when Joe Burrow's not there, he's just not as good. But you can make the case, then why should it be drafting Jamar Chase or T. Higgins where they're going as well. Sure. Right.

Post or Child. for right guy, right place, right time. Okay, last thing on Chase Brown. In the Joe Burrow era, that's six seasons, full PPR, Joe Mixen finished as RB10, RB6, RB6, and RB12 per game. And Chase Brown finished as RB 14 per game, you know, kind of at a part-time role, and then RB8 per game. So you have basically nothing but top 12.

That's a great track record. It's great. It's not 12th overall great necessarily. but it at least says you are going to have, as long as he doesn't lose his job and really stink, you are going to have a top 12 running back on a per game basis, probably top eight. Except in the first seven games last year.

I think, look, it's an easy argument starting with James Cook, and then Devon A. Chan, and then Ashton Genty, you know, maybe Amarantampton, and maybe Ken Walker, like, where does Chase Brown come in? Because his ADP is nowhere near this in most other places. Yeah, and neither is London's. Chase Brown.

Chase Brown on Fantasy Pros is 15th. Drake London is 17th. Guys going ahead would be Justin Jefferson, Ashton Genti, Sequin Barclay, who we'll talk about in the next couple of shows. All right, Dave, I've got to tell you about the music thing that blew my mind. You forgot CD Lamb, dude. Oh, we didn't talk about Lamb. Let's talk about CD Lamb. Not even a little.

Give me, I'm sorry about that. C.D. Lamb, why will he be better than he was last year, Jamie? I mean, hopefully health and touchdowns. the two things that haunted him last year because, you know, sharing the field with Pickens was a little rough as we saw at times. But if you go to the start of the season, small sample size first couple of games before he got injured, he was still that guy. But look, as long as Dak Price got healthy, C.D. Lamb, I think, is going to be 17 points per game or more. I've said this many a time going back to last year. If you're chasing the end of the 2020-3 season, you're making a mistake.

but he's still got the potential to be a 20 point per game guy. So it's hard to overlook that. It's a reason why he's a round one pick. I wouldn't let the George Pickens production last year scare you off completely from CD Lamb. I don't think he's going to be 14 points per game. I don't think he's only going to score three touchdowns. I think this is a guy that still has a 10 touchdown season in his resume almost every time, in his arsenal almost every time he steps on the field.

And so as long as Prescott stays healthy, I think that C.D. Lamb is a first round caliber player. I worry a little bit about this Dallas defense being better because last year they were terrible, and it just led to so many more opportunities for all the past catchers in Dallas. In the seven games when Quinn was healthy in Dallas, the defense was better because Quinn and Williams was there. Lam still had eight targets per game. He averaged 14.2 ppr points per game. Dallas was 56% pass in those games versus 61% pass in weeks one through 10 before Quinn and Williams got there. I'm a little nervous that that could be what ends up happening this year.

I don't know about 14. That seems way too doom and gloom, but maybe like 15 and a half to 16 for Cidid Lam where he can still score a lot of touchdowns and get a lot of catches but not necessarily have that 20 point ceiling. I think something needs to go wrong with George Pickens or Cidlam just needs to get open a hell of a lot for him to get to 20 PPR points per game. He's kind of in that same range for me as Drake London and a bunch of other words. wide receivers where you say, okay, yeah, there's potential for him to be good. And we've seen

those bouts of him being great before. But he might just end up right there around 15 and a half, 16 ppr points per game. Yeah, the last 10 games of the year when he came back from injury, Lam was only the number 13 wide receiver per game. But he was on pace for 156 targets. That's fantastic. Yeah. But he was on pace for only five touchdowns despite 156 targets and despite 12 end zone targets compared to only four for George Pickens. So touchdown luck,

as Jamie mentioned right out of the gate with this conversation. It was not on CD Lam's side last year and, you know, should improve in 2020. This is where the draft starts.

It's really 10th overall. You know, so who are going to be the five or six players in contention for this? And how much will they sway or swing how the drafts and seasons unfold for these teams?

Because again, Justin Jefferson, you could easily see having a bounce back season what we saw from just his numbers with the great Carson Wentz should give you reason for hope that he's better with Kyler Murray which tight end

if either of the two can get into this range McBride coming off an 18 point per game season. Devon A. Chan if there was a comment in there after I made the case about him, people saying what about the quarterback situations for some other players? Like, it's true. I mean, look, he could easily outperform and I'm sorry, he'd easily be just

the full focal point, once again, for a Dolphins offense that needs him in the passing game that we just keep saying that they're not going to throw him the ball as much because of what he did when Tua wasn't there and because of Malik Willis's, you know, small sample size, but the track record that he doesn't necessarily throw to his backs. I think there'll be a surprise running back. I don't know if it's surprised, but, you know, there'll be another running back in this mix. Again, Gentie, if he can take that step forward with Kubiak and just a better offense and offensive line as a whole, not that Linderman, Linderbaum. and just, you know, just a healthy left tackle. Hampton was, could be awesome with Mike McDaniel calling plays. I think if Ken Walker stays healthy and, you know, does what Andy Reed running backs do that are elite,

like easily could finish as a top 12 player. Like there's just so many different, you know, guys that could be in this range. And really this is where it's like, do you want these picks or do you really want just? Yeah. I don't know who I'm going to take. I want the top five pick. Definitely. Because I had the 12th pick.

I liked it back into the first round. I had 12th pick. First time that I had it in any of the drafts that we've done, you know, I've probably done about 15 to 20 drafts so far. First time that I had 12. And Cook falling to 12 was a big plus. But going Cook and Jefferson,

I was fine with that start. Well, yeah, I mean, look, your top 12 is very different than Fantasy Pro's ADP because if you had the 12th pick, you could take Cook in London. You can take Cook in Jefferson, and you're fine with that. So, yeah.

Yeah. All right. Can I mention the music thing now? Dave, have you heard the new sublime album? No, no. Did you know that, were you a sublime fan, Jamie? I figured Dave was. I mean, just the one song, probably, there's the one I want to know.

Which one? I guarantee you know at least three sublime songs, Santaria. Santaria, yeah, everyone knows that one. Wrong way. Wrong way and what I got. You know all things. Oh, yeah. Yeah, what I got, smite.

What I got. So they have a new album called Until the Sun Explodes. And I didn't know anything about it. You're listening to it like, what is this? It's like AI recreating because unfortunately the lead singer died in 1996. His son is the singer in the band now. And his son sounds exactly like him. I mean, exactly.

It's insane. And it's really good. It's like you're listening to Sublime. And it's like you're just grooving. It's really cool. So check out until the sun exposed. But I couldn't believe it. I was a big fan.

And I, well, not that big, obviously. But I was a big fan. I'm obviously not a very knowledgeable music fan. So I was on a cruise over the weekend and went with three other couples. And one of my buddies's huge music fan, that was music trivia. And so we did like almost all the trivia competitions that there were sort of sports trivia there was music trivia there's movie trivia uh general trivia so we did a lot of the trivia competition i think we finished second in like four of the six oh we just got nice second we just

yeah missed missed on all the prizes um the one that uh is going to haunt me forever is um and i was basically like naming everything that all the characters that uh who played tommy devedo in goodfellas Tommy DeVito? Yes. That was a guy's name? Yes. Oh, I have no idea. Yeah.

Who's Tommy? So that's Joe Pesci. So I kept getting, I kept getting confused. This name is not Tommy DeVito. That's the quarterback. It's Tommy DeVito. Really?

Yeah. I don't think they ever say his last name, maybe in the beginning. Oh, wow. So, unless they read the question. question wrong. But I, uh, I was like, no, his, his character was Nikki. And I kept getting confused with casino. I was like, uh-huh. And I'm like, I kept trying to think like, I was, I was, yeah, what was, because it wasn't Ray Leota. I was like, what did Ray Leota scream in the shower

when he heard the radio report of the, the, La Conza, Le Sonsa, whatever, the robbery, the airport robbery. And I was like, like, I could name me everything about it. I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, Okay, if my mind wasn't blown enough by the sublime thing, the fact that Joe Pesci's character was Tommy DeVito, and this is the first time I'm hearing this, I didn't know, like, that's the name of the quarterback.

How did this not come out that he is the same? Or maybe it did, and I just never heard it. That is the same name. Dave, because the only name that anybody knows from Goodfellas is Henry Hill. Right. And that's who Ray Liotta played,

obviously, you know. And then Lorraine Brocko, the therapist from Sopranos was his wife. Karen. But I don't even know her name. And she would always say Henry funny. Oh, it was Karen, Dave. Come on, Karen.

Yeah, so I was like, it's got to be Robert De Niro's character. I couldn't think of what Robert De Niro's character. And it was Jimmy. Yeah. And so, like, we were debating it. And that cost us tying for first place. Did anybody on the cruise ask you if I was on the cruise with you? No.

That happened to me on a cruise that I went on and someone saw me. And they're like, hey, Dave Richard, fancy football. Is Jamie on the cruise, too? Literally. And don't feel bad about not getting that question right. Hashtag Flamingo. Yeah, yeah. Fun show today, guys.

Good stuff, good discussions, and we'll continue them on our next two episodes. Thanks for watching and listening. Talk to you tomorrow on Fantasy Football Today. On a new season of SkyMed. I need fluids and an ambulance standing by. The crew balances new responsibilities, new rescues, and new recruits. We take care of our own. Clear?

Clear. SkyMed, new season now streaming on Paramount Plus.