Fantasy Football Today - 🚨 Aaron Rodgers Back With the Packers! (03/08 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: March 8, 2022

Well, nothing wrong with a little continuity. Aaron Rodgers returns to the Packers on a 4-year, $200 million deal. Jamey tells you where he is ranked, what we expect the Packers to do at WR and if a change of scenery would have actually been better for Rodgers's Fantasy value. Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday 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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BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Aaron Rodgers has won two consecutive NFL MVPs. He's been one of the fantasy MVPs for two straight years as well, finishing as a top five quarterback in two straight seasons. And now he is back with the Green Bay Packers on a massive deal and may keep him there for the rest of his career. So I'm Adam Ager with Jamie Isenberg on this bonus podcast of Fantasy Football Today. Jamie, are you happy about this?

I am for multiple reasons. One, that the saga is over, the soap opera is over. We know he's going to stay in Green Bay, and I do think he's going to stay there for the rest of his career. A 37, four-year deal, probably going to keep him there, barring a trade. But I think it's the best place for him. I think Denver would have been fun. Pittsburgh, Tennessee, you know, the teams that he had talked about,

you know, would have been fun to see, you know, how he would have done with a different coach, different receiving core, different conference in a couple of cases there. But I do think as long as Devontae Adams stays, you know, we're recording this before the franchise tag deadline. We're assuming that Adams is going to remain a Packer now that, you know what you Adams stays, you know, we're recording this before the franchise tag deadline. We're assuming that Adams is going to remain a Packer now that, uh, you know what you're getting,

you know, and we'll see what happens with the rest of free agency in the draft. Marcos Valdez scaling is an unrestricted free agent. Alan Lazard's restricted free agent, uh, assuming one of those guys leaves most likely MBS and what they do to bring somebody else in. Uh,

but Rogers has certainly proven that he can get by with one elite level talent. And then just parts around Devontae Adams. The running backs catching the ball at backfield. But he's my number five quarterback. That might be too low. I can certainly understand the sentiment there. But I have him after Allen, Mahomes, Herbert, and Lamar Jackson. Then Aaron Rodgers was where I ranked him before this news.

I thought he was going to stay in Green Bay. And so I would draft him accordingly in that spot as the fifth quarterback off the board. So who's the top four again? In order, it is Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert, and Lamar Jackson. Allen Mahomes, Herbert, Jackson, Aaron Rodgers. Okay, so he's ahead of who's sixth?

Stack or? Kyler is currently sixth, but I would not be surprised if there is a Kyler holdout. So that could slide some things down there. Then it gets into the Dak burrow. Jalen hurts Matthew Stafford range. Well, we like as fantasy analysts,

we like new things. We like changes. We like teams, players, moving teams. It gives us some stuff to talk about. A lot of things to guess. There's nothing wrong with a little continuity though.

I did want Rodgers to go to a team that would let him really air it out. Last three seasons under the floor, they've been 16th, 24th, and 15th in pass attempts per game, or pass attempts overall. So 15th, 16th, not so bad, whatever. They were

24th two years ago, and that was his MVP season, so that's fine. But I was kind of hoping he would get us... He was number one that season too, right? Yeah. Number one in six-point, number two in four-point, I think, behind Josh Allen. And I think, I guess I was just hoping

for maybe a Tom Brady-type situation where he would go to a team that would just let him do whatever he wanted every single play, but oh well, we'll take it. Now, the two seasons before these last two MVP seasons, he was right around QB nine overall. And you're talking about twenty five touchdown passes in 2018, 26 touchdown passes in 2019. And he was QB nine or QB eight and six point per passing touchdown. He's not a guy, Jamie, that's going to throw for 5,000 yards.

I was not a guy who's going to throw the ball that much. It seems so. I think maybe he would be like, well, there could be touchdown regression. How do you feel about that? Is Aaron Rogers, since he's actually running less and less every year,

is he actually a touchdown dependent quarterback? Yeah. I mean, you know, he's like, he's going to get 4. I mean, you know, he's, look, he's going to get 4,000 yards, you know, which is clearly not the best case scenario, but it's not the worst case scenario. He's a candidate for 4,500 yards,

you know, every season. He's certainly a guy that's got 40 touchdown potential. But I think you kind of said it. A couple of down seasons prior to, you know, LaFleur getting there and still QB nine, you know, so while the weekend week out big games are going to escape him, the consistency will be there. And I think that's kind of why we were a little bit concerned about, you know, Rogers the last couple of seasons, the touchdown regression, the fact that they added a running back, you know, after adding Jordan jordan love you know what was going to happen there uh but he's used that as clearly motivation and he's put up some some pretty impressive seasons so uh there's there's always

going to be the concern of okay they get more run dependent in the red zone which they've been pretty run dependent already um do they you know does he lose a couple of touchdowns here or there does he add a couple of interceptions which really never gets talked about how few interceptions he throws and how successful that allows him to be for a fantasy quarterback. Obviously, it's helped him with his MVP totals and his production as an NFL quarterback. But, you know, I do think the thing that might help him a little bit, the defense has been so fantastic the last couple of years. And I know this is a tricky subject to get into. Does a bad defense help a quarterback?

Garbage time, all those things. But they're going to probably lose a couple of guys because of how they have to manipulate some contracts. The Darius Smith could be gone. Preston Smith could be gone. Kevin King's a free agent. They might not bring him back. Some Packers fans might say that's a good thing.

But in any event, I think you look at Rogers and you know what you're getting in this offense. And I think that's a pretty good thing. So as long as Adams is there and we'll see what they do, you know, last year they brought in a Mario Rogers. You know, they Adams is there and we'll see what they do, you know, last year they brought in a Mario Rogers, uh, you know, they tried with Devin Funches, for example, you know, and they haven't really hit on free agents. We know that they don't usually address those positions, but maybe now it's time. Maybe now it's time to

restock the, the, the receiving cupboard a little bit. Adams isn't getting any younger. And so that could be something that they address in, in the rest of free agency in the draft. Yeah. And they haven't drafted a receiver running back or tight end in the first round since Javon Walker close to 20 years ago. Just don't invest in those positions in the first round. And I believe Aaron Jones has been second on the team and targets each of the last three years under the floor. So,

yep. Yeah. So it's, I think you might've been tied with Robert Tunyon two years ago, but you got to, hopefully they can put some more weapons around him. He could be even better. The defense has been 13th in scoring defense

each of the last two seasons. So yeah, it could go down, but I guess they've been good. They haven't been incredible, but 13th in scoring defense each of the last two seasons, and those are Rodgers' two MVP seasons. Let's see. What other angles here? How about Devontae Adams?

So obviously the Packers want to keep them both. What are we thinking right now about Devontae Adams as we approach franchise deadline? Top two receiver in redraft, depending if you want to put him ahead or behind of Cooper Cup. Right now I have him behind Cooper Cup. But I have no problem if somebody wants to say Adams is the best receiver in fantasy i i think personally he's the best receiver in the nfl but what cup did last season with matthew stafford i just buy into that as being slightly better so

it's one-on-one a in my opinion but uh dynasty wise there's there's obviously a little bit of a of a drop off because of his age you know i believe he's turning 30 this season or 31. um and so you have jeff justin jefferson and jamar chase are clearly better in uh in for dynasty purposes and long-term purposes but devante adams is still an absolute star um i i don't see any reason for him to have a significant drop off you know he's battled some injuries the last couple of seasons you know mostly minor but uh for the most part you know what you're getting and that's the amazing thing is that these two guys have been so good so consistent so awesome for fantasy managers that it should continue for the next couple of seasons assuming that they could work out a long-term deal with adams which i'm sure is something there

and rogers says a big priority why he signed this deal rogers by the way 38 years old. So I'll ask you dynasty wise, is he a top 10 quarterback? Would you rather have guys like fields and Lance or Aaron Rogers? I think, you know, it depends on what your team looks like, but just in a vacuum ranking those guys, I probably would put them behind fields and Lance because you know, those guys hopefully have 20 year careers in front of them or,

you know, 15 year careers in front of them. Like Aaron Rogers is going on year 18. Um, you know 15-year careers in front of them like aaron rogers is going on year 18 um you know rogers i would assume probably gives you at least three years of the four-year deal that he signed you know uh the fact that he's already starting to talk about retirement we know that's kind of a finicky thing for quarterbacks certainly for green bay quarterbacks is brett farve you know taught us once upon a time but um this is clearly somebody that has a lot of outside interests uh you never know if jeopardy comes calling again or something else. Uh, but in any event, I w I would say you probably look at it as, you know, a two year

window for sure. Hopefully a three to four year window as well. Uh, I would doubt that he plays past this contract, just knowing that the, the things that we've heard, uh, the last, you know, year plus from him. Um, but I think, you know, it's still top 10. Yes. I would say, you know, depending on how you view Jalen Hurts, depending on how you view, you know, obviously he's going to be behind Herbert's going to be behind Tua.

He's going to, I mean, not to behind Burrow. He's going to be behind, you know, Allen and Mahomes and Herbert and Lamar in dynasty. But I still think, you know, if you, if you think Aaron Rogers can play at this level, like he's shown you the last two seasons for another two years, he's still a top 10 dynasty quarterback for me. I do think he can play at that level. Some news coming in here that Russell Wilson will now be the target for the Denver Broncos.

That's from nine news in Denver. So they obviously want to upgrade a quarterback there. I think we've more or less covered this. I just want to kind of throw out a reminder. Aaron Rodgers in week one scored 1.32 fantasy points. He threw two interceptions and no touchdowns in week one at New Orleans, arguably the worst game of his career. The rest of the season, he threw 37 touchdowns and two interceptions. Two interceptions week one, two interceptions the rest of the season, 37 touchdowns in the last 16 games for him, and he played about a half of week 18 and still put up a good game there.

What part of that sentence or that entire presentation you just gave was wrong? Oh, he missed the game because of COVID. No. Well, he did. So that was wrong also. What was it? Game was not in New Orleans. Oh, it was in Tampa.

Wrong. It was in Dallas. Houston was in Jacksonville. It was in Jacksonville. Yes. All right. Thanks for watching and listening, everybody. Aaron Rodgers, back to the packers

hope they don't beat the 49ers in the playoffs we'll talk to you on thursday on fantasy football today or maybe later today when there's more breaking news see you later