Fantasy Football Today - Assessing the Sophomore QBs (02/17 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: February 17, 2021

The 2020 rookies showed a lot of promise as Justin Herbert broke records, Jalen Hurts ran wild and Joe Burrow gave us glimpses of greatness. We'll discuss and rank those three and Tua Tagovailoa on today's show while also giving some dynasty advice. Let's start by ranking the sophomore QBs for 2021 (3:00) as Jamey and Heath disagree on who should be #1 ... Stats to know (9:05), some recent Year 2 QB trends (13:00) and questions about each QB. What do we make of Jalen Hurts's passing game struggles (14:43), Justin Herbert's new offensive coordinator (18:00), Joe Burrow's subpar yards per attempt (21:50) and what a new WR would do for Tua's ranking (24:44). Also, are there any other Year 2 QBs who could become Fantasy relevant? ... Another disgusting sandwich suggestion (33:00), plus a lot of news and notes (35:00) and Dynasty QB talk (39:40) ... Email us at [e-mail] Subscribe to the FFT in 5 podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, or wherever you listen to FFT. Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @CTowersCBS, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCviK78rIWXhZdFzJ1Woi7Fg/videos 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/ Want winning picks each morning in under 10 minutes? Subscribe to 'The Early Edge: A Daily SportsLine Betting Podcast' on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever else you listen to 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

Kick off an exciting football season with BetMGM, an official sportsbook partner of the National Football League. Yard after yard, down after down, the sportsbook born in Vegas gives you the chance to take action to the end zone and celebrate every highlight reel play. And as an official sportsbook partner of the NFL, BetMGM is the best place to fuel your football fandom on every game day. With a variety of exciting features, BetMGM offers you plenty of seamless ways to jump straight onto the gridiron and to embrace peak sports action. Ready for another season of gridiron glory? What are you waiting for?

Get off the bench, into the huddle, and head for the end zone all season long. Visit BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older. Ontario only. Please gamble responsibly. Gambling problem? For free assistance, call the Connex Ontario helpline at 1-866-531-2600.

BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. On his way to the end zone. I'll tell you what, that was a spectacular play. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. What a play. Off to the races.

Touchdown. Oh, he's done it again. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath, and Ben. Talking about a pretty exciting group of quarterbacks. The year two quarterbacks. Who's ranked the highest? Is it Jalen Hurts, who is probably the worst passer of the big four that we're going to talk about?

Is it Justin Herbert, who set just about every rookie passing record? Joe Burrow, who was the number one pick in the draft last year? Or Tua Taga? No, it's not Tua Taga by Lowa. But we welcome you to the show on this Wednesday afternoon. Adam Azar with Jamie Eisenberg and Heath Cummings. If you listen to fantasy football today in five, you heard Jamie's take on these sophomore quarterbacks in five minutes, but now we get to spend more time on it.

Heath, pretty exciting. Uh, already. No, I like, I'm just saying he's not going to be number one in the rank. Why are you crapping on Tua?

I like Tua. I, I like him. Get, leave, leave Tua alone. You said Tua? I like Tua. I like him. Leave Tua alone. You said Tua would be the best quarterback of this class. You did. I said it's...

Before the draft, you said Tua would be the best. I don't think I said it quite like that. You said better than Burrow. I said it wouldn't be a surprise. What my case was that he was a better prospect. Is this more of a moonwalk or is this the Homer retreating into the bushes? Which one is he doing right now?

I have not yet heard whether he may still believe this. You wouldn't change your mind based on half a season worth of games. Oh, I would. I think you have to go with Herbert at this point. Oh, but Tua could still be better than Burrow. He could be better than Burrow. Yeah. Well, here's the thing. The reason I said that about Tua

was up until Burrow's senior year, Tua was a much bigger prospect, the assumed number one pick, and he was having a tremendous junior season at Alabama before the injury. So there was no reason why he couldn't be a great quarterback,

and he went fifth overall. Burrow was kind of a non-prospect, really, until he got on the radar as a... He wasn't a non-prospect. Before his transfer to LSU, I think he was basically a non-prospect. I think so. He wasn't getting drafted. That's a non-prospect.

Yeah, I think he. I don't think he... Was he getting drafted? That's a non-prospect. Yeah, I don't think he was... I think he was a day three pick, maybe undrafted before his first season at LSU. And then he was on the radar and then he blew up and had the best season ever, basically, in college history.

So I'm glad the first thing that we get out of this is that Joe Burrow sucks. According to you. Me? No, come on. That's not fair. That's not what I was saying.

I was just saying, in terms of pedigree, Tua was way ahead of Burrow until their last year in college. Can't argue with that, right? Agreed. Yeah. Okay. So anyway, who's number one going into next year? Going into 2021? Fantasy-wise?

Yeah. The guy two are replaced. Jalen Hurts? That's right. Heath? Right now, I think it's Herbert. I have questions really about the other three. I wouldn't argue if someone wanted to say that Hertz has the most upside of the four for this specific year. His rushing potential is obviously amazing. But really, as we generally see with rookie quarterbacks, the other three guys weren't very good as rookies. In fact, I only found nine quarterbacks who as rookies have thrown 400 passes

an average seven yards per pass attempt. Justin Herbert is one of them. Being good as a rookie passer generally, I mean, those nine did not all turn out to be great quarterbacks, but Cam Newton, Dak Prescott, Matt Ryan, Justin Herbert, Jameis Winston, Jim Kelly, Warren Moon, which Warren Moon shouldn't count, uh cam newton dac prescott matt ryan justin herbert jamis winston jim kelly warren moon which warren moon shouldn't count baker mayfield teddy bridgewater

okay uh well the fact that mayfield and bridgewater on that list is that it's that i mean i don't think you can say anything really mayfield's a weird case Bridgewater like we have no idea what the trajectory of his career looks like without that catastrophic injury and the fact that he even got back to be an average quarterback last year is a pretty good testament to how talented he is okay I just want to say something here

because I had to make sure I wasn't insane I just did a little googling and I'm on the ringer.com and they're writing they wrote a story in 2019 about Joe Burrow, and it says, the LSU quarterback entered this season projected to be a fifth-round pick at best. Three months later, he's being talked about as a top-ten selection. How did he get there?

Okay, so I'm not completely crazy. Fifth-round pick is best. But fifth-round pick is not a non-prospect. At best, fifth-round pick. So I said day three pick. Fifth-round pick is not a non-prospect. At best, fifth round pick. So I said day three pick. That's kind of it. Fifth round pick is not really much of a prospect. At best, fifth round pick.

What round Tom Brady go? Yeah, yeah. Okay, great. What round did Trevor Simeon go? Same stuff. What round did Daniel Jones go? Trevor Simeon went round seven. Yeah, I know.

You're not really a prospect. Still drafted, though. Prospect. All right, so Heath, Justin Herbert's number one for you? Absolutely, yes. Okay. And who's number two? What Adam just said was he wasn't listening to a word you said.

I was listening to half of what he said. I heard the Bridgewater part. Okay. So rank the top three. I just want to go back to something I said 10 minutes ago. Sorry, Heath. I wasn't paying attention. You ever say something and then you're like, God, I hope I'm not completely

wrong about this. And I wasn't. I wasn't. You're completely wrong. No, I wasn't. No, absolutely not. Absolutely not. Heath, give me your top three. It's fifth round pick in the NFL. At best, fifth round pick. At best. Heath, give me your top three i think terrell davis was a six-round pick right all right top three heath i currently have it as justin herbert then joe burrow then jalen hurts

if we get to a point in um late april where the Eagles have finally gotten rid of Carson Wentz and not drafted a quarterback. That may happen by the time this podcast is over. I can't wait. Well, the second part definitely won't happen.

Then I'll be more confident in what Hurts' floor is. But he was pretty miserably bad as a passer last year. And so I'm not 100% sold that he's going to be a starter for 16 games next year. Okay. Jamie, by the way, is really

like, he's bringing it today. We're going to have to be on our guard. All right. I'm ready. I'm ready for it. So Heath right now is going Herbert, Burrow, Hurts. Jamie, you're going Hurts, one, and then what? Then Herbert, then Burrow. Right now

I have them 9, 10, 12. Hurts, Herbert, Burrow, in that order. Burrow will probably jump to 11 once I feel comfortable that he's 100%. I just think there's a little bit higher ceiling for him. Right now I have Ryan Tannehill at 11. I don't really love that.

Burrow, I might jump him. But the thing about Hertz that I do love obviously is, is the rushing. And, you know, we saw, uh, you know, if you want to make some, what of a comparison, I hate to do this, but you know, Lamar Jackson obviously wasn't a great passer when he took over for Joe Flacco in his rookie season. He was clearly a dominant player in his second season with a full off season as the starter full off season, knowing he was the guy. If Jalen hurts has that type of, I think progression, he may have that type of upside, not to the same heights of being an NFL MVP and going for, you know, what, uh, what Lamar Jackson did in his sophomore campaign. Uh, but as we talked

about on the Monday show that, uh, I'm'm sorry or i think it was no our tuesday podcast excuse me um about jalen hertz when we were having the rankings dispute if he can be an 800 yard rusher at that position that is just something that those other guys i don't care what they do as passers it's hard to compete with so you know jalen hertz is a 3 000 yard passer and an 800 yard rusher he's going to be in the conversation to be a potential top five quarterback. Joe Burrow was an NFL draft afterthought. Afterthought. Okay. Let me give you some QB stats, rookie quarterback stats. Now they're sophomores,

but Justin Herbert set rookie records for most passing yards, most passing touchdowns, most completions, games with 300 plus passing yards, games with three plus touchdowns, and he tied for the NFL lead in 2020 with eight completions of 50 plus yards. All right.

How about this one? Jalen Hurts averaged 68 rushing yards per game in his four starts or 3.75 starts. Uh, Lamar Jackson averaged 67 rushing yards per game this season. So Jalen Hurts and Lamar Jackson, the same rushing yards per game in their starts. However, Jackson did average more as a rookie, 79 rushing yards per game. This is interesting. This kind of tells you how quarterback has evolved. I saw Herbert, Burrow, and Tua Tagovailoa, they were

all between 64% and like 66.6%, something like that, right around that for Burrow. Completion rate. Pretty good, right? Andrew Luck only had one season in his career with a completion rate that high. Peyton Manning didn't get to 64% until his fifth season.

But things have really changed recently. Quarterbacks have gotten so much better at completing passes. The rules have changed. Yeah. Whatever it is. Kyler Murray, for example, 64.4% as a rookie. Baker Mayfield, 63.8%. So the completion rates, especially for Tua and.4% as a rookie. Baker Mayfield, 63.8%. So the completion rates,

especially for Tua and Burrow, were nothing special. These guys come into the NFL with what they've done from the time they're kids, with seven-on-seven, passing camps, what they do in high school, what they do at the college level. It's just such a different era of quarterbacks that they're more ready to play. And so last year, I think, was such a big indication of that with the lack of an offseason. And so they clearly were learning on the fly, especially when you talk about Herbert and Hertz, for when they got their opportunity, too, as well, when they got their opportunities. Obviously, Joe Burrow was pegged to be the guy right away.

But for what those guys were able to accomplish stepping into the starting jobs, clearly Herbert being the best. It's remarkably impressive. Okay. And then this last one. It's almost like I want to email someone and be like, hey, are you guys sure you have this stat right? Tua Tungabailoa. That's funny you saying that. Do I have to keep reading the article to prove myself here?

Tuatunga-Bailoa was 23rd in intended air yards per pass attempt. Intended air yards per pass attempt. Tuatunga-Bailoa was 23rd. Justin Herbert was 24th. They were at 7.5 and 7.4 intended air yards per pass attempt. Tom Brady led the NFL at 9.1.

So that's how far they were throwing the ball. I mean, to me, Heath, I would have thought Herbert would have been way ahead of Tua Tonga-Veloa. That's the reputation. Have you met Anthony Lynn? Yeah, but I just said that Justin Herbert, I'm sorry, he was tied for the NFL lead with eight completions of 50-plus yards. And then there was that whole narrative of Tua can't throw the ball downfield. So it just surprised me. Yeah. The offense that Herbert's better at throwing the ball downfield than Tua. But the offense that he was in was the

Anthony Lynn offense where you're going to throw the ball to running backs 30% of the time. There's not a lot of air yards generally on throws to running backs. And then Hunter Henry's your number two target in the offense, generally running five to ten yard routes and then even their number one is keenan allen a guy that really doesn't go downfield so you look at the weapons that are around him the offensive that he was running there was just there wasn't really an opportunity when he did throw deep he was awesome at it okay good explanation uh let's talk about fantasy baseball. All right. It's time to get ready for drafts. The position previews are out. I've been listening to them. You can also watch the show live 10 PM Eastern Sunday night through Thursday night on youtube.com slash

fantasy baseball today, or on our Twitch channel, but fantasy baseball is back. Make sure you're subscribing to the fantasy baseball today podcast. Listen to it every day. It's a great, great listen. Check us out on Facebook. Join our Facebook group. Just search Fantasy Football Today on Facebook. We also have the link in the episode description. Some quarterback trends. Okay, so I made the whole hubbub about sophomore-wide receivers in the last offseason,

and really it's just your two players, I think. I mean, running back's not as much. They really bust out as rookies a lot. just year two players, I think. I mean, running backs, not as much. They really bust out as rookies a lot. But year two is a great year. I mean, guys take huge leaps, and we've seen it now with last year, Kyler Murray. The year before that, Lamar Jackson was the number one quarterback. Josh Allen took a big leap.

The year before that, Patrick Mahomes was the number one quarterback, and Deshaun Watson was top five. So in the last five years, we've had, let's see, how many top five finishes? Carson Wentz, Patrick Mahomes, Watson, Jackson, and Murray. So that's average of one per year, top six finish. And top 12 finishes, we've had those five quarterbacks, plus Jameis Winston, Mariota, Jared Goff, Dak Prescott, Josh Allen.

All of them finished as top 12 quarterbacks as sophomores. Last year wasn't great though. Daniel Jones was crap. Dwayne Haskins, Drew Locke, Gardner Minshew wasn't terrible. 16th per game. Kyler Murray was great, but last year wasn't. I really wish we had Schrager today.

Why? Because he's the only one besides you that could cut the Daniel Jones was crap, and we could just play that every Sunday night when we're recapping the games. That's if he's still starting. Yeah. Okay, so let me ask you some questions here. How great is it going to be

when the Giants sign Gardner Minchie to be their backup quarterback? I would be very thrilled with that, as long as he's the backup. Let me ask you some questions here. Jamie, since you have Jalen Hurts ranked the highest, and Heath already alluded to this,

how much do Jalen Hurts' passing numbers concern you? He completed 51.9% of his passes, averaged 6.9 yards per attempt in his four starts. There's so much that's going to change for him. He's going to have

a much better offensive line. I hope he's going to have a much better offensive line. I hope he's going to have a much better receiving core. He's got a different play caller, you know? So the thing that I'm counting on is off season progression. You know, I mean, the fact that he's already being tasked on his own to take receivers with him to throw with is a great sign. I would,

I would hope that the trade happens before they get to anything significant. It sounds like it could be imminent. I just was reading a report while you were talking, cause I was ignoring you that the Colts are not budging on their offer, but they're still talking to the Eagles. So it sounds like the Eagles are maybe getting pushed into a corner here, which is no surprise. So, you know, as soon as Jalen Hurts is anointed the starter officially and you see what the draft unfold, the draft brings for him, what free agency brings for him, I think his passing

numbers will improve. I don't know significantly, but enough to where it will offset any concern. Heath, want to follow up there? Yeah. I mean mean i think i said what i said i i don't generally hold rookie quarterbacks numbers against them too much but i i do think like with lamar jackson when he was running all over the place the ravens were winning the ravens completely changed their offensive philosophy around him, bringing in Greg Roman. And Lamar Jackson was more efficient as a passer than Jalen Hurts was. So, and I expected Lamar Jackson to make improvement. I think Jalen Hurts will make improvement.

But Jalen Hurts turned the ball over like one and a half times per game and went one and three and had pretty horrendous passing numbers. So I think his leash is a little bit shorter. Now, again, if, if the Eagles don't have any real threat as a backup quarterback and Carson Wentz is gone, then I'm not going to be as concerned about that. If you want to take a closer look at his passing numbers, Jalen hurts in his four starts, he was horrible against new Orleans and even worse against Washington. And those were the two good to very good defenses that he played. And then against Arizona and Dallas, the completion percentage wasn't good,

but he threw for 338 yards and 342 yards. So maybe it's just, you know, four games, two good, two better matchups. He torched them and two bad matchups. He was awful. But it was a trash offensive line that he was playing behind. Yeah, I know. And an incomplete receiving core. I mean, you know, this isn't going to be a great group of receivers

unless they sign somebody or draft somebody significant. And you're talking about drafting, you know, Chase or Smith or Waddle in the first round to make that happen. And then, you know, or signing somebody, you know, of the Allen Robinson, Kenny Galladay, you know we're signing somebody you know of the alan robinson kenny galladay you know those type of guys because alshon is done deshaun jackson is most likely done and when i mean done i mean done as elite level players or the players that they once were uh the best thing about it is you know you hope that jalen rager takes a huge step forward

you hope that travis fulgham takes a huge step forward if he's there and you hope that, you know, the tight end situation is, is better even with Zachary's gone. All right. Next question. How do you feel about Justin Herbert with a new offensive coordinator, Joe Lombardi? It's funny. I can remember. It seems like it was a few years ago, but we, that used to be like a universal thing that, man, you never like it when a young quarterback changes offensive coordinators

multiple times early in his career or after his rookie year. And here, as of late, it doesn't seem like it's been as big of a detriment. As far as what Lombardi has done, he's a Sean Payton guy. He did lead an offense the full year that he was an offensive coordinator in Detroit that despite being an 11-5 team was extremely pass-heavy. So I don't think he's going to come in and turn this into a run-first team.

I don't think it's necessarily... It's not somebody that I would say this is going to be a positive, but when we're going from Anthony Lynn's coaching staff, which was really, and no offense to him, I think he's got some, done some good things. They were awful last year from a coaching perspective. I don't think it's going to be worse. Yeah, so the only, the two quarterbacks last year

who got new coordinators were Jones and Haskins, and that did not work out. The year before that... But they're not as good as Justin Herbert. No. Mayfield did not get a new... He got a new head coach, but it was his coordinator in Freddie Kitchens, and then things just went down for him.

So I don't really know what to make of that. Lamar Jackson got a new coordinator, right? Greg Rowan wasn't the coordinator, his rookie year. Was he? I think so. I thought so. I thought he was. Okay.

I thought they brought him in. Maybe they brought him in when they drafted Jackson. I don't know. Maybe I can find it in this Joe Burrow article I've been reading. But yeah, Jamie, do you have any, no, Greg Roman came in in 2019 for Jackson's second year. Okay. Oh, well that certainly worked. Jamie, you have any quick thoughts on Joe Lombardi?

Does it matter to you? I mean, yeah, it obviously matters, you know, but I don't think it's going to be a detriment to him. I think you're looking at, you know, the thing that was great for Herbert, was great for Joe Burrow is the weapons around them are fantastic, you know, and so for Herbert in particular Herbert in particular, the big question mark is, do they find an on-par or upgrade to Hunter Henry?

And so that's the missing piece if, in fact, he leaves, which is probably going to happen because you have one of the best pass-catching running backs in the NFL in Austin Eckler. You have one of the best receivers in terms of getting open and creating plays in Keenan Allen. You have a big target in Mike Williams, you know, and I think we saw when those guys were hurt at the end of the season, some of the young guys stepped up and can be the third, fourth, fifth receivers on this team. So as long as he's protected, I think he's going to be in line for a very solid sophomore campaign. I think he does take a little bit of a step back

just because he was so good as a rookie. But taking a step back is still going to make him a number one fantasy quarterback. He's not going to fall off the cliff. Okay, and just last thing here, you mentioned the weapons. ESPN did a series yesterday or the other day. One player on each team that needs a change of scenery. And the Chargers,

Shelly Smith wrote, Mike Williams. His fifth-year option was picked up. He's due $15.7 million in 2021. It doesn't say how much they can save if they cut him, but it says that's too much money for a receiver who has never cracked 50 catches. So if Hunter Henry's gone, if

Mike Williams is gone... Well, if they picked up his fifth-year option, I'd So if Hunter Henry's gone, if Mike Williams is gone, well, if they picked up his fifth year option, I'd be surprised if he's gone. Okay. Uh, all right then. Well,

I would say like if they, if they made that choice to get rid of Mike Williams, my assumption would be to spend money on Hunter Henry. All right, let's go to our next question. What do you make of Joe Burrow's yards per attempt? Not good. He's go to our next question. What do you make of Joe Burrow's yards per attempt? Not good. He put up some nice numbers.

He was on pace for basically about the same amount of yards as Justin Herbert. And Justin Herbert, if you get rid of the Washington game, wish he left with an injury. But even if you don't, he's pretty close. Justin Herbert set the rookie record for passing yards. But Joe Burrow threw a ton. He threw 41 times per game. I do not think anyone in the NFL averaged 41 times per

game. I think Burrow would have led the NFL in passes if he had kept that up. But 6.7 yards per attempt, that ranked 25th among qualified quarterbacks. Jamie, does that matter to you? The other quarterbacks in that range, Roethlisberger was in that range, but the other guys there were like Dalton, Locke,

Tua, Daniel Jones. Bad group to be with. 6.7 yards per attempt. I think that speaks to the offensive line and just how bad it was. Get the ball out of your hands quick. Don't take a pounding. I'm excited about Joe Burrow. I think what you saw is a guy who can play and can play at a high level and is another guy that has a lot of great weapons around him. You know, we'll see what they do to replace A.J. Green

and for what it's worth, John Ross. But T. Higgins looks legit. Tyler Boyd, we know he could play. Joe Mixon is going to be one of the better backs again. If they can fix that offensive line, I think the sky's the limit for Joe Burrow as long as he doesn't have any setbacks with the ACL tear. So I don't really, you't really worry about that at all, but I do think

they should put a lot of stock into their offensive line and make sure he's protected. What do you make of this, Heath? According to The Ringer, as a physically limited quarterback with average production as a starter, there was little expectation that Burrow would turn into anything more than a late-round project and potential backup.

I think it's important to put the 6.7 yards per attempt in context. Over the last five years, there have been 10 rookie quarterbacks that have thrown at least 400 passes. Burrow's 6.7 is very, very mediocre, but pretty close to average. Like, 6.9 is pretty much the mean, which is where Gardner Minshew and Kyler Murray were as rookie quarterbacks. The only quarterbacks worse than Burrow, Daniel Jones, Carson Wentz, and Deshaun Kaiser. but what it says to me is that he was not like i think the hope was at his age and with what he did in his final year in college that he was this different type of rookie quarterback that was going to come in right away and be awesome in the nfl and he wasn't that like most rookie

quarterbacks he's going to have to make a leap in his second year to be an like an actual difference maker in fantasy i think he probably will. All right, let me ask you guys a Tua question. How much would Devontae Smith or Jamar Chase change your ranking of Tua Tungvaluwa? Jamie? It won't. I think Tua is a guy that if you take a number one quarterback

that you're sold on and you don't have a great last pick that you love, you take a flyer on tua and hope that he can become something in his second season uh he's going to be more of a two quarterback super flex guy than a one quarterback guy but there's certainly the potential to be better in year two than there is in year one but they're going to do something at the receiver spot whether it's make a splash in free agency or use one of their two first round picks um you know a lot of talk about them trading down because they don't need a quarterback and a lot of teams do.

And so it's, I was listening to a radio show on my way home from the store getting some groceries. I don't know who was on 560 the Joe, but it was an NFL draft person speaking about that they can probably go down to eight or nine and still get waddle if they don't want to spend the third pick on Jamar chase or, or Devante Smith. So they're, they're going to,

they're going to take a receiver or add a receiver. And that will clearly help because I just don't think Devante Parker is the right receiver for him. Devante Parker is a guy that you need to have, you know, let him go make plays with a quarterback who's going to allow him to challenge defenders. Tua needs guys that are going to be wide open.

And that's just not Devontae Parker's game. He's open, but he's not a guy that, you know, creates a lot of space. All right. Are there any other sophomore quarterbacks, Heath, that you think have dynasty value that, you know, didn't do much or anything as rookies but should be at least on our radar on our rosters?

Not really. I don't have any other rookie quarterbacks ahead of, I shouldn't say Gardner Minshew because that would just bring jokes, but I don't have any other rookie quarterbacks ahead of Dwayne Haskins. Not Jordan Love? Why not Jacob Eason, though? I mean, just given the circumstances. I guess my concern is they behaved last year

like they thought Chad Kelly was better than Jacob Eason. Eason a four-round draft pick by the Colts. Yeah, I don't know how much that had to do with offseason stuff, not knowing what he's doing. That could be. I actually still have Jordan Love the highest in terms of dynasty ranking, but I don't have any of them inside my top 30 dynasty quarterbacks.

I mean, because if they make the trade for Wentz, which you can understand why they're going to in terms of the Colts, like the history of Frank Reich, obviously what he used to be, but if he's a shell of himself and just can't recover, their number two guy could end up being a starter in the NFL. And that makes them have some fantasy value to whatever leagues you're talking about or whatever degree you're talking about. So I don't know, to me, Jacob Eason makes some sense if you're looking at just taking a late round flyer and start a dynasty league. What do you think about Jordan love?

I mean, the, the, the hope is that he's, you know, you want to talk about a team not liking him. Packers been a first round pick on him and he was third on the depth chart. He's got a long way to go. And,

you know, we'll see clearly Aaron Rogers isn't going anywhere. At least it would be a surprise at this point if he's traded, but you know what happens after this season, if they lose in the NFC Championship game once again? Or they don't win a Super Bowl? Does he want to go in terms of routers? And do the Packers feel like they're going to make that type of roster-changing move? So Jordan Love, long-term, has got to be the fourth guy.

Man, we've had some really good quarterback classes lately. You know, you had the homes in Watson in 2018, you have Mayfield, Josh Allen. Hello. Yeah. Mayfield,

Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson. And maybe there's something left for Sam Darnold in 2019, 2020. Really? I think we kind of expected it to not be so great. Kyler Murray though. Fantasy star.

Railroad and Josh Rosen, man. Yeah, yeah, I know. This past class looks tremendous. I mean, even if it's just those two guys, Herbert and Burrow, who pan out, they both could be so damn good. How good, forget about the stats, how good did Justin Herbert look this year?

Man, some of the plays he made. Looks like a superstar, no? I watch games every Sunday with Pete Prisco-Drake, and he's been covering the NFL for 30-plus years. And he was a young man watching Dan Marino. And so he has probably a little bit better appreciation for Marino than I do, and I grew up as big a Marino. And so, you know, he has probably a little bit better appreciation Marino than I do. And I grew up, you know, as, as big a Marino fan as you'll find.

And every, every week he would make a throw Herbert, make a throw. And he's like, that's Marino, you know, like just some of the plays that he made, you know, I mean, Mahomes obviously is, is, is that type of player as well. But, you know, you just watch Justin Herbert and it's amazing that he didn't look like this at Oregon because he's a different guy in the NFL. He's just an absolute stud. He was a prospect that people bought into. Any final thoughts on these guys? I'm just hopeful for Tua. You know, I'd like to see him play better. You know, I mean, I don't

know if he's going to ever be a star, but, you know, just play better. Cause you know, you don't know how much of it was injury related. You don't know how much of it was not being prepared. Uh, you know, you talk about another coordinator change. This is another guy going through a coordinator change as well. Um, guys that were on the staff last year, but, um, you know, give him, give him an opportunity. And I'd like to see him get some weapons and see what he can do. Because you said adam you know i know we're joking but his his the expectations for him were so high after what he did at alabama and then the hip injury you know you just don't know how much that just sapped everything from him and you hope to see a uh you know a guy who we've been watching you know since his college days at a very high level that he can get the job done. I think it's important going into this year to recognize like maybe outside of

Herbert, what a wide range of possibilities hurts and burrow and to, uh, still have. Um, I, I wouldn't be that totally surprised if hurts or burrow snuck into the top five this year.

Um, but like I said, I'm not convinced that Hurts is going to be a starter for 16 games. So there's still a lot that we have to learn, especially with Hurts who played four games. Burrow basically played a half a season. Tua basically played a half a season.

We have a lot left to learn. We didn't get quite a full rookie year for most of these guys. I know Tagovailoa is not going to be the answer here because he's ranked 20th to 23rd for all three of you guys. I'm not sure if I said that yet. But of the other three,

how many of them are you going to rank ahead of the Saints starting quarterback, whomever it might be? All of them. Probably not all of them if it's Taysom Hill for me. I may just say one. Are you including Drew Brees, by the way? Well, yes, I will take that back.

If they get Deshaun Watson, Watson will be ahead of all of them. Yes, correct. What if it's Drew Brees? Would you go with Drew Brees or a sophomore? All the sophomore. I would go with all the... Yeah, if Wentz is gone and Brees is back, I would go with all the sophomores except if Wentz is gone and Breeze is back, I would go with all the sophomores except for Tua, obviously.

Right. Okay, cool. So we're going to take a break here. We've got actually a lot of news to get to here. Got more Carson Wentz rumors, some Tennessee news. Yeah, just a bunch of good... Oh, Chris Carson we talked about yesterday. Not expected to be re-signed, according to Michael Sean Duggar of The Athletic.

So we will talk about all of that when we come back. Plus, we have a disgusting sandwich email once again, right after this break on Fantasy Football Today. Whether in the game or in life, the right coverage can make all the difference. Securian Canada gives you that coverage. For more than 65 years, Securian Canada has been helping Canadians build secure tomorrows. Their insurance solutions are designed to help protect you and your loved ones financially, giving you the peace of mind to focus on what truly matters. Find their products through banks,

credit unions, and associations, or visit SecurianCanada.ca. Securian Canada, insurance designed for life. cost you time and money. Click before you dig. Ensure your next project is safe. Visit OntarioOneCall.ca. It's free. It's easy. It's the law. Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report. Our email of the day at FantasyFootball at CBSi.com comes from Austin. No fantasy question,

just another gross sandwich for you guys to try or use as punishment. My roommate in college ate peanut butter and cheese sandwiches for the first 20 years of his life and thinks they're awesome, but I can assure you they're awful. I don't think

they sound that bad, peanut butter and cheese. What kind of cheese? I think, I would say, pick your own, choose your own adventure there. My own adventure would be no on the entire thing. I would go with, uh, I would go with Swiss cheese and peanut butter.

I don't think it would be that bad. Well, isn't there a, um, cheese it or not cheese it, but like a type of little cracker sandwich that the outside crackers are cheese crackers and the filling is peanut butter. Isn't that a thing? Not that I'm aware of.

You might be thinking of handy snacks with those little red sticks, but I don't think they have peanut butter. And Ritz doesn't have cheese. I don't know. I don't know they have peanut butter. And Ritz doesn't have cheese. I don't know. I don't know. Here we go. Keebler, cheese and peanut butter crackers. Lance, toast, cheese and peanut butter cracker sandwiches.

Yeah, lots of places make cheese crackers with peanut butter in the middle. I was just reading a story in The Ringer about how disgusting that is. Well, then it must be true. This is cheese and peanut butter? It says, at best, can we move on to the next email? We don't have any other emails. Keebler does it.

Everybody does these. I don't know. I'm down with a peanut butter and cheese sandwich. It's not as disgusting as the other thing that we had. Peanut butter and bologna? Yeah, that was gross. Okay, here are your news and notes. Carolina released defensive tackle Kwon Short. He has barely played over the last two seasons.

He was, at his peak, a terrific run stuffer, and the Panthers gave up the third most yards per carry to running backs last year, 4.91. Chicago has not had long-term contract talks with Allen Robinson since September, according to NFL Network.

What? He gone. You think so? Oh, yeah. I mean, you can use a franchise tag on him. That's the only way he's staying. Right. Yeah, you could.

Well, look, if they trade for Carson Wentz and they are apparently the frontrunner, then you're going to give up Allen Robinson? That's disappointing. You guys spent a lot of money on Carson Wentz, depending on what the Colts or what the Eagles are going to eat. Where would Carson Wentz, where would 2020 Carson Wentz rank

on the Alan Robinson list of quarterbacks he's played with? That's a great question. He's the best. I think the worst. The worst? The 2020 Carson Wentz? Have you seen the quarterbacks he's played with? Did you see Carson Wentz last year?

Carson Wentz was the worst quarterback in football. Was Carson Wentz last year better than Mitchell Trubisky last year? Yeah. No. No, I don't think so. He's better. Was he better than prime Blake Bortles? Yes.

No, you're saying, Jamie, you're saying Carson Wentz is better than them. We're saying he wasn't in 2020. I'm saying that Carson Wentz as a quarterback, not his statistical performance, as what he played quarterback, the position, he was better than anybody that Allen Robinson played. In 2020? Yes. Oh, so disagree.

Let me see if the ringer has something on this. Okay, let's see what else we got here. Tennessee GM John Robinson talked about Corey Davis and Johnnie Smith. He said, we'll see what we can figure out, but at the end of the day, if they choose to capitalize on free agency and the market, I wish them nothing but the best. They've done everything we've asked them to do.

I would like to see Johnnie Smith with the Jets. Can you please stop putting everyone on the Jets? I love the Jets. Can you please stop putting everyone on the Jets? I love the Jets. And I would like to see Corey Davis. I saw something about him maybe replacing Allen Robinson as the guy in Chicago, which I think would be terrible because I don't think Corey Davis is the guy.

I think Corey Davis is a good number two. ESPN Cardinals reporter John Weinfuss. And I'll tell you, Ike, pronunciation is very important to me when it comes to players. I don't have pronunciation guides for reporters, so I get them wrong a lot.

I apologize. But he does not think the Cardinals will resign Patrick Peterson, which is great. Move DK Metcalf up a round because in four games against the Cardinals in his career,

he has six catches, 75 yards, and one touchdown on 15 targets in four games. And more than half of that came in one game. Friend of the CBS Podcast Network. That's right.

Yes, the All Things Covered podcast with Patrick Peterson. Brian McFadden's cousin. Seattle unlikely to re-sign Chris Carson according to The Athletic. Heath? Yeah. Oh, that's a nice sound effect. Yeah, that, that I just, I really worry about any running back besides Aaron Jones that change that would change teams this off season.

I don't know that there is a going to be a starting job for them. Oh, the Falcons. Are you kidding me? The Falcons could be a good spot for Chris Carson. If they decide to pay a free agent instead of draft one in the third round. So is that more of a... I mean, it really sucks for running backs.

This whole setup really sucks for running backs. I disagree. I think there's going to be great opportunity in Atlanta. I think there's going to be a good opportunity for the Jets. I think there's going to be a great opportunity in Arizona. I think Pittsburgh's going to be great opportunity in Atlanta. I think there's going to be good opportunities for the Jets. I think there's going to be a great opportunity in Arizona. I think Pittsburgh's going to have a good opportunity. I think there's some jobs that are going to be available that are going to be good.

Seattle's going to be a great job opportunity. J.J. Watt seriously considering signing with Cleveland. Now, here's something that you might want to think about for Joe Burrow. If Cleveland gets J.J. Watt, Baltimore's always good defensively. Pittsburgh's usually good. I mean, I know they're going to lose a lot of players,

but they're usually a really good defense. That's six games for him. Five if you don't count Week 17. How good is J.J. Watt now? I think he's pretty good. Pretty good last year. He's not NFL Player of the Year good, but he's still a good complementary piece to a good defense.

Yeah, let me line him up across, you know, on the other side with Miles Garrett. That's pretty good. Take it. So he's like the Corey Davis of defensive linemen now. I don't know. Jamie, what do you think? I would say he's better than the Corey Davis of defensive linemen.

All right, let's get to some dynasty questions here. Quarterback questions for dynasty leagues. Justin Herbert, Dak Prescott, Russell Wilson. Who's number one? I've got Dak and Herbert very close, but I've got Dak, then Herbert, then Wilson. I'd agree with that. By the way, is it me, or is it hard to find a lot of quarterbacks

who are sort of in like the beginning of, like five years into their career? I feel like we've got a lot of really young quarterbacks who have a lot of years ahead of them, and a lot of Matt Ryan, Brady who have a lot of years ahead of them and a lot of, you know, Matt Ryan, Brady, I guess not Breeze, I don't know, Stafford, he's in the back end

of his career. So you're talking about guys that are in their early 30s versus guys that are just starting out. Yeah, or like 28, 29, something like that. Guys are going into year six,

year seven, might be halfway through. Well, when did you start to put the Mahomes-Watson group into that category? I don't know. I think they still, based on the way quarterbacks are playing now, I would think they still have 10 years left.

Oh, I don't disagree with that. But I think they're starting to move into the middle portions of their career as opposed to still being stuck in the early portion. Adam, to answer your question, yes. I'm just looking right now. I have, um, one quarterback in my top 21 who's between 27 and 29. Yeah. I guess the question is at what age do you start going? Okay. Well now I'm going to start putting the rookies ahead of them because we're not doing that with guys who are like 25 or 26 if the rookies aren't clearly better. I don't think we care at that point, right? It's the Russell Holtz and Matthew Stafford group.

Right. The early 30s. Okay. Justin Herbert or Trevor Lawrence in Dynasty? I've had this conversation with some NFL people just from an NFL standpoint. Who would you rather have right now? If you could start a team right now, if you're Jacksonville, would you take Justin Herbert or Trevor Lawrence? I think you take Herbert because you know what you're getting. And so I'd do the same for fantasy for dynasty. Yeah, I would take Herbert for dynasty for sure. Any hope for your three quarterbacks, Daniel Jones, Drew Locke, Dwayne Haskins. How much hope? You left one out.

Minshew? Yes. Okay. If we're going to say there's any hope for Dwayne Haskins, we can ask, is there any hope for Gardner Minshew? You're right. The difference is where Haskins was drafted, though. That's why he's getting a second opportunity. I would not be surprised if Minshew's out of the league next year.

Wow. Non-prospect. Gardner Minshew. Oh, yeah. I don't have much hope for any of them. Daniel Jones, I still have hope. Drew Locke, I still have hope. Dwayne Haskins, I don't have hope. Want to elaborate on Jones and Locke?

Well, I mean, again, I think Pedigree will afford them a second chance if they don't make it with their current team. Certainly for Jones. Maybe not as Jones and Locke? Well, I mean, again, I think pedigree will afford them a second chance if they don't make it with their current team, certainly for Jones. Maybe not as much for Locke. But this is going to be a big year for Locke. If they don't acquire Deshaun Watson with pro football talks, they're, I guess, very much in the mix if you're the Broncos. There's so much talent around him.

So as a fantasy quarterback, he may never be a great NFL quarterback because as a fantasy quarterback, he may still have a higher ceiling to get to. Obviously, he has to play better. But when you put anybody on a team that's got Jerry Judy, Cortland Sutton, Noah Fant, Tim Patrick, KJ Hamler, that's a great group of guys to throw to.

Hopefully, Locke takes advantage of that. Would you guys like to guess who the top three players, top three quarterbacks in 2020 were in sack percentage, which is sacked the most times per dropback? Daniel Jones. Number two.

Drew Locke won? No. Let's see. Russell Wilson? He was sixth. Locke was 29th. He did not get sacked much per dropback. Deshaun Watson? Fourth.

Number one should be, I think, pretty obvious. 10.3% of his dropbacks he got sacked. Holds the ball a while. Bad offensive line. Carson Wentz. Yeah, not as good as Mitchell Trubisky. Carson Wentz, one. Daniel Jones, two.

And Jamie's up-and-comer, Sam Darnold, one. Daniel Jones, two. And Jamie's up-and-comer Sam Darnold, three. Wentz, Jones, Darnold, Watson, Alex Smith, Russell Wilson. That's your top six in sack percentage according to pro football reference. Those guys got sacked a lot when they passed, when they dropped back. That's it for this quarterback

show. By the way, I did finish my started fantasy points for the quarterback position and it was probably a big waste of time. We'll talk about that on another episode. And I'm not sure if I'm going to go to the other positions. But there was a couple of interesting takeaways.

So we'll talk about that next week. Tomorrow we'll look at sophomore running backs and who we like and who we are maybe fading in 2021. Thanks for listening everybody. We It's hot to talk.