Fantasy Football Today - Big Injury Updates, New Starting QBs, New Commanders RBs, New Strategies and More (08/19 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: August 19, 2025

Bid on Draft-A-Thon items here! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tiltify.com/@cbs-sports/fft-draftathon-2025⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ We've got a jam-packed show today with injury updates (6:00) on Justin Jefferson, De'Von Achane and Matthew Stafford plus our thoughts on Joe Flacco (12:10) as Cleveland's starting quarterback. How great could this be for Jerry Jeudy and David Njoku? We also talk about the Commanders running backs (19:35). How excited are we about Jacory Croskey-Merritt? Is he the best option in the backfield? ... Injury expert Marty Jaramillo joins us (25:30) with his thoughts on Achane, Christian McCaffrey, Joe Mixon, Stafford, Chris Godwin, Rashee Rice, Malik Nabers and Tyreek Hill ... We react to breaking news that Daniel Jones will be the starting quarterback for the Colts (46:50). How good is this news for the rest of the Colts stars? And we finish with some thoughts from our FFT Open drafts (52:05). What have we learned about draft philosophy? Do we prefer Josh Jacobs or Chase Brown? ... Email us at [e-mail] Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts Watch FFT on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Shop our store: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠shop.cbssports.com/fantasy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ FOLLOW FFT Dynasty on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ SUBSCRIBE to FFT DFS on Apple: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dfs/id1579415837⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ FOLLOW FFT DFS on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/5zU7pBvGK3KPhfb69Q1hNr?si=1c5030a3b1a64be2⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FFT team on Twitter:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @FFToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @AdamAizer⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @JameyEisenberg⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @daverichard⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @heathcummingssr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Facebook group⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for the FFT newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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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It's time to dominate your fantasy league. This is going to go the distance. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Oh, we got a lot to talk about today. We got a big show for you on Tuesday, August 19th, fantasy football today. Presented by Bette MGM, the sports book, Born in V. Vegas. I am Adam Azer with Jamie Eisenberg. We, Jamie, how are you feeling today? You feeling injured at all? Injured? Yeah. I'll tell you what. I had this revelation last night at three in the

morning when I sent in a Joe Flacco slash Brown's column and wrote four stories on average draft position. And I said to myself, I love my job, but what am I? doing you're mentally injured i think at three a m like yeah august august is so much fun but such a grind that yes mentally injured could sometimes be something like yeah but but i actually think um the grind i just realized like i'm the season the season is much more of a grind than august no really oh for me it's the thing about the season is it's it's it's it's like formatted for us every every day is something repetitive good and bad like starts it once it's done it's done you know like i i'll be responsible a little bit more so

for like the any news items that pop up you know like um just to give you a peek behind the curtain so all this washington stuff with the running backs yeah i'm like oh you know let me let me write that i'm like ah you know let me get a flakwell out of the way first and then we get a note from RJ White saying, you know, who manages our content, he's like, hey, Dave's going to do the running back stuff. So don't worry about it. I'm like, okay, one one less thing off, off my plate. But I want to make sure our audience has as much information as possible. And so, like, I know August is full go. Yeah. I know that's not what you're looking for. But no, no, look, today is that show, right? Because first of all, we have Marty Jaramillo coming on later to talk injuries,

right? He's an injury expert. physical therapist. You can see them all over the place on CBS CBS Sports HQ and whatnot. We had him on the show last year, so he's going to talk to us about some injured players. But we got to talk about the commander's running backs. We've got to talk about, listen to this stat. So over the last three years,

Joe Flacco made four starts with the Jets in 2022. Six starts, including the playoffs with the Browns in 2023. Amari Cooper missed one of them. So I'm going to say five with Cooper. And seven starts with Josh Downs last. year. Garrett Wilson averaged 17.3 PPR fantasy points per game, which is by far, that's only in four games, by far the best of his career.

Last year, he set a career high with 14.9 PPR fantasy points per game. He was at 17.3 as a rookie, four games with Flacco, including the first three games of his career. Amari Cooper averaged 20.3 ppr fantasy points per game. That's top five overall pick good with Joe Flacco in five games in 2023. Josh Downs, 15.4 PPR fantasy points per game. And it was something like 10 or 11 with Anthony Richardson in the same amount of games last year. So for whatever reason, Flacco has averaged 41.1 pass attempts per game.

He just comes in and throws 40 to 50 times. It's insane. It's like this James Winston effect. He's been a little turnover prone in recent seasons, a little interception prone. Don't know if he's going to lose the job, but he's going to start with the job. And based on recent history, it could not be good for Jerry Judy and David Njoku. By the way, even like Tyler Conklin was having big games in 2022. Najoku was great in 2023.

Could be great for them. So this is big news. Obviously, it's expected news, but we'll talk about it. Also, Justin Jefferson back at practice, Matthew Stafford back at practice. And we've got to get into the Washington Cincinnati game and what's going on with the commanders running back. So let's start with the big news. And by the way, the FFT open drafts are going on. and we are having some revelations about draft strategy,

about players, about preferences as we do these live drafts. Okay. I do appreciate on Joe Flacco Day. You let the beard go a little bit. You do look like you know, like you guys could be related. I can see that. I could see that. When the beard, when I grow it in and it gets really gray,

it kind of looks like I have like a fu-manchu kind of deal because the gray sort of disappears. All right. So Justin Jefferson practice, and by the way, wide receiver three for them is Jalen Naylor. He's week to week with a hand injury, and we know Addison's going to miss the first three games. So, you know, Jefferson to the moon. Hockinson to the moon. Yeah. It's not a small deal to have him maybe get you off to a huge start.

Yeah. That's not a guarantee. Great. I know we had some conversation yesterday and some back and forth. Another great guillotine option. You know, you want guys that are going to get you off to good starts. I can't stress that enough. All right.

So now that Stafford is back and now that Jefferson is back, give me your thoughts on Jefferson versus Puka. and Devante Adams comes into the equation and whatnot. Jefferson was always ahead of Pook. I never moved that. I think we should be a little bit cautious about Stafford being quote-unquote back. No pun intended. Based on what Sean McVeigh said.

So I don't think we're out of the woods yet. So let's see how he responds, how the rest of the week goes. It's clearly encouraging. You know, you're glad to have him back. But Jefferson on his own, I think everybody kind of expect. Like, you know, I've been doing these ADP stories now. We're on CBSports.com if you're following on CBSports.com. So I did one last week.

I'll do one every week. And Jefferson hasn't moved. He's still wide receiver, too, if you're looking at our YouTube page on CBS. Sports.com. I know I have Lamb, too. I know Heath has Lamb, too. I think Dave still has Jefferson, too. Jefferson never budged as wide receiver, too.

So he didn't move at all. In ADP. In ADP, you're saying. In ADP. Yeah. Puka has slid a little bit. You know, he started as wide receiver four or five. Now he's wide receiver six, you know, so sliding a little bit.

I'm curious, you know, just not that we're discussing him per se, but like his neighbor is going to fall with these three injuries that he's now managing toe, shoulder, and now back. But Puka has become a round two pick for me. I will probably not move him up just because I think he should be going after now Derek Henry and Genty. I did move Devon A-chan down. I don't know if I want to get into that as well, but I did move A-chan into round two. And Adams has always kind of been steady in round three. So he's gone from an early round three pick to a late round three pick,

but that really has nothing to do with Stafford. That's more to do with moving some running backs up and sort of shuffling the quarterbacks around a little bit and Kittled moving ahead. It's tough with Pooka because I feel like he's just a steal if Stafford stays healthy and you get Pooka in round two. I mean, you know, look, he had the best rookie season ever for a wide receiver.

Last year he was wide receiver four per game. And that was with leaving week one after 32% of the snaps, leaving week eight after getting ejected after 57% with 57% of the snaps. So, you know, if you look at his, Pukinaku is 17 game pace on a normal snap share, okay, 75% or higher, was 142 catches, 1,781 yards, six touchdowns on 189 targets. he had the second highest yards per out run rate in the last 12 years behind Tyree killed in 2023.

He had the highest target per out run rate by far among wide receivers. So I know Adams is there, but like I always say, CUP had a pretty big role last year too until the last three games where he completely faded. But I just think Puka is, to me, I think there's honestly a case in full PPR, because he doesn't score a lot of touchdowns, but in full PPR, a case for him to be wide receiver too,

basically based on how good he's been. I don't, I push back a little bit on wide receiver, too, just because I don't know if he has CD Lamb's ceiling, you know, based on what we saw in 2023 or Jamar Chase's ceiling, you know, but if you are looking for a 20 point per game guy, you certainly painted the optimistic view. I do think that Adams may be in some cases better than the version of Cooper Cup that we got last year across the board. Forget about the latter part of the season. Yeah. And he might be worse. You know, I don't know, but I would probably lean toward maybe a little bit more of a different type of receiver than Cooper Cup and depending on the type of targets that he gets. The other part of this obviously is you have to bake in now a potential Stafford injury. And so for me, and just, you know, somebody who does rankings and obviously we all do drafts, once you get to that group of wide receivers and it's after the top three for me.

So it's after Chase, Lamb, and Jefferson. there's so many pros and cons for both for that group and it really does extend through for me at least through a j brown and i put drake london head of a j brown so that's why i'm not going to say anything so you can you can you can amount around st brown dave painted the picture for you yesterday about how he's more optimistic about the lions maybe than heathis for example uh i think you and i are on the necal collins train you know in terms of how good he can be when healthy you know so he's wide receiver four for me and probably the same for you or no he's three for me and he's almost two um but yeah again you know neighbors and and all the targets he's going to get you know

dan i'm just trying to reference people on our show that have been highly positive about some of these guys you know dan's been you know what russell wilson will will be from a league neighbors like brian thomas junior could be an absolute monster in leam cohn's offense like there's so much to love about this group and so it's kind of changed my ranking of that back end of round one, which is why I've pushed Henry and Gentie up, because I think you can get one of these guys in early round two where you may not get those running backs. You know what I mean? You know what?

Okay, so one thing I'm going to ask you is for an FFT open takeaway, and I have one that is related directly to this topic. So we can get into it. I think maybe we'll get into it later. So I want to cover, but Marty's coming on in 10 minutes. I want to cover some of the other big news items. But this, you know, do if I have a late pick, do I draft a wide receiver or a running back in round one, thinking about what's going to be available to me in round two, the easy answer, I definitely think you're right, is to draft the running back. You have a better chance of getting one of the elite wide receivers in early round two than you do, you know, running back, unless you want to dip into the Josh Jacobs, Jonathan Taylor, Chase Brown, and I have a lot to see on our side is round one.

Super high, yeah, a lot of, I have a lot to say about this. I'm looking forward to talking about it. But other news. So let's talk about Joe Flackle being the quarterback. He's, you know, super flex. You could get you, you know, I could see him averaging 20 points a game. I don't know. Maybe that's crazy. But he's done it recently, basically.

What do you think about this for Judy and Djoku? It's obviously the scenario that we've, we're hoping for. You know, so again, similar, looking at the long-term potential of Puka and Devante Adams with staffer's injury. It's looking at the long-term potential of what happens if, and when Flacco is benched if they're not in playoff contention. So I feel more comfortable, personally, to what extent we'll find out, but I feel more comfortable after watching Shreder Sanders and Dylan Gabriel,

like they're not going to be disasters in the two precincts games that they played, Sanders against the Panthers and Gabriel against the Eagles, that how much of a falloff could happen for Judy and Njoku and Sedra-Telman? And I don't think it will be awful. so much more optimistic about that. Judy's in that range of wide receivers you talked about. You like those wide receivers in round five. Maybe you said it off the air,

but you like those wide receivers in round five. You know, so whatever names you want to put up there. Tedero McMillan, George Pickens, Jameson, William's. Xavier Worthy. Dave, DJ Moore. Those whole guys. You know the group.

Judy's in that group for me without question. You know, he's ranked probably a little bit lower than I would like to, but just because I keep shuffling those guys around. Like I like Jalen Waddle moving up a little bit with the H-N injury. You know, so Judy's, right there at this point behind him. But in any event, if I can get him as a number two receiver, I'm fine with it. Love him as a number three receiver.

Njoko, I moved up actually with this news to Titan 4, especially with Leporta banged up. Oh my gosh. That's wild. So, I mean, look, you know, you reference what Nizoku, what Flacco is done for his receivers. Njoku in those six games that Flacco played in 2023, he was over 16 PPR points per game. That's elite, you know, and so, yes, it's a different version of Flacco. He's older. It's a different version of Najoko.

Harold Fanon's going to play a role to whatever extent we'll find out. I still think when you start to look at Nijoku and Leporta and Kelsey and Hockinson, like they're all sort of this guy's up this week, this guy's down this week. I'll take the guy that's got a quarterback that I think is going to lean on him. And basically it's been really good whenever it hasn't been to Sean Watson in the last three years. So I like Njoku's situation. And then you referenced what Flacco has done. So he's played in 18.

games over the last three seasons jets browns and colts in those 18 games 4,428 passing yards 30 touchdowns 18 interceptions like that's solid for and I think some of those games are like partial barely played games so that's he did his starts in the last 17 games it's like 4,700 yards yeah it's crazy it's it's pretty amazing you know so there's um their short term appeal here and superflex B leagues, they get the Bengals week one. It's, you know, you watch the game last night. Yeah.

Those starters were out there. It could be pretty incredible, you know, for Flacco, again, get off to a good start. So we don't know how long this will last. We don't know what will happen if they get, you know, off to a one in three, two and five start, you know, but six, seven games of Joe Flacco could be absolutely ridiculous for these guys. So I'm excited for this news. Like you said, we expected it, but good to have an official,

especially after seeing Sanders and Gabriel hold their own, you know, for what their draft capital is. And look, I mean, it's not like their draft capital was so high. It's not like they were Anthony Richardson, who was a top 10 pick where the Colts have to see what they got with him. If Flacco plays well, I think he has a better chance of hanging on to the job than he did last year. You could see why the Colts really wanted to get Richardson back on the field. I don't know how invested they are in Gabriel.

Gabriel and Sanders, you know, or obviously, Kenny Pickett. So it's not, it's a strange, it's a strange decision. And granted, you know, you say this all the time because you're Mr. optimism. Like they, they're not going to win a Super Bowl. And so does Flacco starting potentially win them more games and hurt their chances at getting that franchise quarterback in 2026? Yeah.

All right. Some more news. Jordan Love returned to practice, and Devon A-chan, unlikely to practice this week. Mike McDaniel says this is preventative in nature. So how come you moved A-chan down to the second round? I'm scared, dude. Do you get these injuries with the, you know, calf? Who's the last calf injury that we worried about going into a season?

McCaffrey? Yeah. So it's just being cautious. I put him behind so I put him behind so Henry Barkley was five Henry was six, Gentie was seven so I put him behind those three running backs

and it got to a point where do I want to take him or do I want to take those receivers the list of guys that we discussed so I think once you get to the back end of round one he's now in the conversation he's no longer a mid-first round pick for me so you're taking Brian Thomas Jr. or A. Chan? At this moment Brian Thomas Jr.

What if you took Justin Jefferson in round one or Nico Collins in round one, and then you had to choose between Brian Thomas Jr. and A. Chan in round two. In a three-receiver league, I would probably take the receiver. In a two-receiver league, I'd probably take A-chan. All right. And just so you know, there's been yet another glowing report about Christian McCaffrey. Every report so far has been glowing about Christian McCaffrey. I said this to Dave and Heath during a commercial break on CBS Sports Network yesterday.

I'm close to putting McCaffrey as my second running back ahead of Gibbs. That's where I was. Remember, I had him at 103 months ago, I want to say, or maybe one to two months ago. I don't remember exactly. I'm fine with that. I'm a little cautious on that. He is 29 years old. He does have injury history.

I mean, I feel like he should not go any later than say seven. But if I were doing 10 drafts, I wouldn't take him third overall all 10 times. Whereas I would probably, I would take Bejan Robinson. and Jemar Chase one and two every time, right? So I think you could definitely make the case for other guys ahead of McAvary. There's some risk there. You want to skew younger in fantasy football, typically. So I don't know that I would take him over Gibbs every time, if that makes sense.

But if someone took him over, someone took him as RB2, I mean, I think it makes total sense. Well, he's three for me. You know, it's not like it's a big stretch. And I know you like him up there as well. So it's, you know, we're getting a lot of, you know, question or push back, I think, on that statement in the chat. And I get it, you know, I don't, and I don't have it ranked that way. I still have Gibbs.

I took Gibbs ahead of McCaffrey in the F50 open. So as I'm now, Gibbs is my second running back and I would take him forth overall. So it's just when you compare, we are romanticizing about Jamir Gibbs when there's no David Montgomery. He is not that great. He's great. But he's not what he was at the end of the season when Montgomery's there. Yeah, I can give you the numbers in a minute. I think it's more like 19 fantasy points per game.

I'm with David Montgomery. Which is awesome. Which is great. Listen, Marty's coming on in a moment here. So let me ask you about the Washington commander's running back situation here. And last night, Chris Rodriguez started. He had a 40-yard run on his first carry. Jacori Kroski-Mert, who likes to go by Bill.

Bill Kroski-merit. I'm going to call him Jacori, I think, during draft season. So you're not looking for Bill in your draft room. But he had a 27-yard touchdown run against a lot of the starters for the Bengals. He had 11 carries for 4. 46 yards and a touchdown. And then Echler obviously did not play. So it kind of seems like Brian Robinson, Jr. is on his way out

based on the way they were talking about it on the broadcast. But how are you drafting these guys now? So I moved cross-gey merit to the same spot where I had Brian Robinson. So high, low 30s, 31 at running back. And like right around pick 90 overall. I think that it might be a little too high. I do have him head of Echler and I think you said it with Chris Rodriguez

like we're going to get probably a pretty strong committee here until one guy separates himself. It feels as if it's going to be crossy merit so that's why I would draft him first and like you said, Echler did not play. They also played the Bengals. So it's not going to look that pretty consistently and let's not forget who had the first carry of the game.

Yeah, Debo. Debo Samuel. So he's going to be a part of this as well. Yes, it does sound. I'd listen to Dan Quinn's post-game press conference and he said, talked to the team explaining them the situation what's going on with brian robinson they talked to brian earlier in the week so yes he is it sounds like from from what i saw if he's not traded they may cut him right so it it just seems as if he's done with the commander panders are done with him

so where he goes we'll find out but yes don't overlook rodriguez that he's going to have a role and could be a good late round pick and maybe don't overvalue jukori kroski merritt there's a lot to say about that i don't want to take up all the time here but it just feels as if we were kind of joking about this via text. Like everybody's apparently discovered him going back to high school. I'll give Jacob credit for it. He's the first person that I heard banging the drum as loud as it was. You know, he was drafting him in our early mock draft.

He was talking about him in the NFL draft coming out of the NFL draft. So I'm going to give credit to Jacob. Anybody else wants to credit other people in the industry? Go ahead. It's just funny, like how everybody knew this guy was going to be. It's amazing. Yeah, seventh round pick, which is usually not a great thing. But he played only one game last year, Jacori Kroski Merit, because of eligibility issues.

And that one game was with Arizona. He played against New Mexico, which is the team he played for the year before, and he had 13 carries for 106 yards and a touchdown. He basically, in college, was a complete non-factor in the passing game. So he's very similar, at least in terms of projected role, to Brian Robinson, Jr., which is, Jamie said he put, you know, he basically put Krosky Merit where he had Robinson. And so not going to be a factor in the passing game. By the way, Austin Echler averaged about five carries per game when Brian Robinson Jr. was healthy. So I kind of feel like

he might just keep that role and be the third down guy. And then if you have a split on first and second down, as Jamie mentioned, it could be messy until someone emerges. And to give Chris Rodriguez credit, he's played 22 games. He's averaged 4.9 yards per carry. He only has 8.6, he only has 86 carries in his career. He was a sixth round pick. He's had a nice career so far, and he started yesterday and a 40-yard touchdown run, so I don't think he should be completely counted out here. We couldn't say more about it later. Let's take a quick break here.

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Awesome guests coming up to talk injuries right after this on FFT. Book Club on Monday. Gym on Tuesday. Date night on Wednesday. Out on the town on Thursday. Quiet night in on Friday. It's good. to have a routine. And it's good for your eyes too, because with regular comprehensive eye exams

at Specsavers, you'll know just how healthy they are. Visit Spexavers.cavers.cai to book your next eye exam. I exams provided by independent optometrists. Td Bank knows that running a small business is a journey, from startup to growing and managing your business. That's why they have a dedicated small business advice hub on their website to provide tips and insights on business banking to entrepreneurs no matter the stage of business you're in visit td.com slash small business advice to find out more or to match with a td small business banking account manager all right jamie let's do it let's talk injuries here we're bringing marty jaramillo joining us let me click the button here there he is marty what's up man what's up marty guys say what's going on gentlemen

hey thanks for joining us great to have you here why is it why is there Why is everybody so injured, Marty? This is really annoying. So Jamie said... It's a barbaric game, but it's a barbaric. It really is. Bigger, stronger faster every year. And that's why I quit in college.

You know, I was going to... Miami was like, listen, dude, we need a linebacker. I was like, I'm sorry, I can't. I just, too many injuries. I just can't do it. But Devon... What happened when the men's team asked you to play? All right, let's go. Let's go.

I know, right? The gloves are off. Let's go. Shots fired. So Jamie said he moved Devon A. Chan into the second round. He's got this calf injury that Mike McDaniel's downplaying a little bit. But what do you think about this Devon A. Chan situation? Well, listen, his explosive speed, right, is what made him one of the most important parts of the offensive, of the offense for Miami, right?

I mean, he's an incredible athlete, but now he's dealing with this calf strain. That affects push off. It affects his explosiveness, and it definitely affects his change of direction. Simply put, calf's tears, they're slow to heal. It's that simple. If you're too aggressive with coming back, it could become a chronic problem or even worse, predispose you to an Achilles tear, and we can't have that. Here's our problem.

We only have two and a half weeks left before week one. If you come back too early, his injury risk is very high. right i do not expect him to be ready for week one i actually fully expect them to miss possibly the first three weeks of this season it's just not worth it it's just not worth it because if he does tear his calf again or potentially his achilles that affects his entire um career so they've got to be slow with this one no question about it wow that's uh that's pretty telling somebody's asking who you know i can understand people you might be kind of lost a lot of names going on we were talking about devon a chan right there so that's a big big one he's expecting

marty says take it slow with the calf injury he wouldn't be surprised if a chan misses up to three games all right jamie uh you're next we're next with mcalfrey here uh yeah marty so obviously let's go we'll go from a slight negative to a slight positive mcalfrey last year dealing with the calf injury had the knee injury as well once he came back only played four games. Seems like it's all systems go. He's 29 years old, but all the reports have been positive. So just in your tracking McCaffrey from afar, how encouraged are you by his recovery from last year's injuries? Well, without question, Jamie, he's a polarizing player. CMC's health is trending in the right direction, and so is his draft stock. But let's be honest,

his injury history, his availability, all come into question. Knee injury, calf injury, calf injury, Achilles injury. Yes, he is healthy, but he is a lot of mileage on those legs, okay? My issue is, if he's healthy, he's going to have one of the highest target volumes of any player in the NFL, right? Maybe 20 to 25 catches per game, but because of that injury history, because of that mileage, I actually expect issues with his recovery week to week. We actually might see his efficiency, yo-yo up and down, based on his recovery. That's my biggest concern here.

But he has worked so hard to get healthy. But, man, a healthy CMC, man, that brings music to every fantasy manager. It does. It's going to be a risk-tolerance thing, Jamie. Yeah, I think it's also interesting, given the health of the backups there, because how much work will they give to somebody else to take off of his plate? You got Jordan James with the finger injury, Isaac Grendel with the shoulder injury. They just lost Patrick Taylor for who knows how long. He got banged up in their preseason game.

So we'll find out. I would imagine they're going to want to give some work to somebody else. So hopefully all those guys are a little bit of a healthier standpoint. So we'll see what goes on there. And that's a great point, Jamie, because the backups are really backups, right? And their injury status is only putting the spotlight on CMC yet again. I wouldn't be surprised if we see glimpses. of 2023 this year.

Oh, man. I'm hoping for more. I'm hoping for just 2023. I don't want glimpses. I want the whole thing. I'm going to give you a two for one here, right? A couple of guys coming back from serious season-ending injuries. And one of them is, you know, in a much different physical state than the other.

So Chris Godwin fractured his ankle last season. And Jamie, is it a different, I'm sorry. Is it a different ankle that might put him on pup right now, Jamie, or is a different injury? For Godwin? No, same ankle. It's the same injury because I thought he had a different injury. All right. He had a second procedure.

He had a second surgery, yes. Okay, there we go. So you got Godwin, and you have Rishie Rice, who is coming back from a torn knee, but it wasn't an ACL, but are you, how worried are you about their performance, Chris Godwin and Rishie Rice? I wouldn't have to get into the suspension thing with Rishie Rice, but just when they're on the field, how good they are going to be? you know Adam's a great great point here is a situation where we can actually read between the lines

Chris Godwin suffered a fractured dislocation very very on the serious injury on the field but perfectly managed but it was serious enough to have a second procedure to add stabilization it is very analogous to an ACL reconstruction where they repair the ligament the ligaments around his ankle had to be repaired and reconstructed. Now, even though they had a set, he had a second surgery, they, while he's, we haven't extended his contract. They know how well he is doing. Let's not forget that.

So he's recovered well, doing great in preseason. However, they still might need a little bit more time. Do not be surprised if he starts the season on the public list and give him an extra four weeks of recovery. But that's an important. Yes. injury, but they gave him an extension. They know exactly how well he's doing behind the scenes. Now, with Rice, interestingly enough, on replay, when he got injured last season,

man, everyone was thinking ACL, including myself, but what was great news, probably the best bullet he could have dodged. It was an ACL, it was LCL, or the lateral collateral ligament, or the ligament on the outside of the knee. Now, guess what? That ligament is extremely elastic, extremely flexible actually quite rare to ever require a surgery usually heals quite well in its own so it was repaired a little wear and tear in the knee was all cleaned out and he has progressed extremely well able to attend all his team's OTAs and mini camps and man I fully expect another standout season why the LCL although a stabilizing ligament is not the main stabilizer so I will not expect any both short-term or long-term issues.

That's great. So that's your thoughts on Chris Godwin and Rishie Rice, optimism there for Rish Rice and his ability to stand out, as you said. All right, Jamie, go for it. Yeah, Marty, Joe Mixon's a big one for us, just dealing with this foot injury that, you know, he was dealing with prior to training camp, was in a walking boot and has clearly not recovered to the point where we can even practice at this point. So similar to, I would assume, based on what you said about Devon Aitam,

We're going to close to the season here. Do we expect Mixen to be ready to go for the start of the season? And could this be something that lingers for a guy that's also 29 years old? Well, Jamie, it's a great question. You know, at that position, the most unproductive position in the NFL being the running back. But the Texans are giving us tea leaves, man. They're not giving us so much news on this. They're just throwing out tea leaves that he has to foot and ankle injury.

And that's all they're giving us. This close to the beginning of the season, I do not expect them to be available. At some point, they'll have to give us a little bit more details of what's happening what he's dealing with. But any foot and ankle injury, just like are the running backs, right, push off, affected, acceleration affected, change of direction, affected, right? And it's just, I don't have any faith that he'll be ready for week one. Okay.

What do you think about Matthew Stafford? This is a big one here, especially as it relates to Puka Nakua and Devante Adams, back injury, kind of returning to practice yesterday, which is a week later than we were promised, basically. So what are you thinking about Stafford right now? Adam, that made me laugh. They kind of returning to practice. They showed up, right? Yeah, yeah, exactly.

But the Rams, man, they got ahead of this story, man. They really did because all we were getting is like murky news. But now we know what he was dealing with. He re-agravated a herniated disc in his lumbar spine or his low back. What does that mean? Well, the discs, right, or between the vertebrae in his back. And when those discs tear, they can put us again. amount of pressure on those nerves that come out of the spine. The greater the pressure on those

nerves, the farther away the symptoms can cause severe pain right at the low back, but also severe pain and weakness down the leg. He actually was able to get an epidural injection to that side. What is that? Well, that's a steroid injection, very focused steroid injection around the nerve to decrease that pressure of inflammation on the nerve, and it seems to be helping them a great deal. Here is our problem age number one two only three weeks to get ready for um for week one it's just not enough the data is very clear you don't have a full preseason injury risk is quite high especially at the quarterback level but all those other offensive threats need him right to get up their fantasy numbers as well but i'm fingers crossed him very very encourage he's back three weeks left to get

ready, but good news coming out of L.A. All right. So you're kind of trending in the optimistic direction with Stafford in terms of just being able to make it through the season. I guess on a scale of 1 to 10, how worried are you about Stafford holding up?

I'm going to give him a four, and I am quite the optimistic person based on his age and injury history. My issue is, if he does get re-injured, remember, he doesn't have the full training cap. If he does get re-injured, he's going to be Yeah, four to six weeks, right?

But interesting, these quarterbacks with high, high football IQ, man, they find ways to just avoid getting hits somehow, some way. It's like the Matrix. Jamie, you want to ask about we've got some injured wide receivers that we need to know about? Yes, and maybe we can touch on this with Marty. I know not prepared, but we just got news that Jalen McMillan's neck injury could be pretty bad. and they expect him to miss some time. Todd Bowles just said that. In regards to Malik neighbors,

obviously somebody that we're very interested in, fantasy managers and NFL fans, dealing with three separate injuries right now, has the toe injury, which could be the most problematic, has a shoulder injury that seems to be okay, but now he has a back injury that apparently he's managing. So of those three injuries, Marty,

which one's concerns you the most? And is he going to have any issue at some point during the season based on recurrence knowing that this toe problem apparently has been with him since college? You know, Jamie, I'm more concerned about how many injuries you mentioned in that introduction, right? He's such a young career, and that chronic turf toe without question is a main issue, main concern, because that's the push-off.

Any sharp pain of that large toe, right, you lose all power, you lose all explosiveness. Less concerned with the shoulder unless he falls on it abruptly and less concerns about his back tightness recently, which is also, I think, well, it won't be much of an issue. But I'm concerned with longevity, availability, and efficiency moving forward. He just is injury prone. So I'm concerned that he'll miss, you know, two weeks here, two weeks there, right? It's just, it's really unfortunate that he's had such a career with these injury blemishes. The turf toll can be a serious, serious issue and not came out.

for a full season if he does require surgery. So would you say you're more concerned about neighbors' injury status right now than Justin Jefferson, and I'll throw one more guy, Tyreek Hill, you know, where are they compared to neighbors? Oh, well, Justin Jefferson, you just never, ever counts him out, right? He has a hamstring, but minor compared to two years ago was the opposite hamstring where he missed eight weeks. The reason I don't count him out is he knows how to take care of his body and the Vikings medical staff know how to take these hamstring tears very conservatively.

I have not concerned at all with Justin Jefferson. I expect them to be cleared to play in week one, but at most maybe an extra week of rest. Zero concerns Justin Jefferson, many more concerns with Malik neighbors. Why? Because of the injury history. Now, Tyree Kiel also industry because he's an absolute beast. East and it's played through a lot of injuries. Here's our issue here. He has an oblique tear, an oblique strain, which is on the side of the rip cage.

Extremely painful, extremely painful up for an athlete that constantly change the direction with the rotation and the explosiveness. And, of course, can get re-injured easily from some kind of impact. And earlier in a year, in May of this year, had a wrist surgery from a nagging, a wrist injury from the previous season. That has progressed extremely well and catching the football quite well. Now, less concerns with him, especially if Tua stays healthy. I expect his target volume also to go up as well.

I expect some good things from Tyreek Hill this year. I really, really do. He spent a lot of time taking care of himself. So good things there. And I'm most concerned about neighbors, because all those things we mentioned, man. Marty, I know not all ACL tears are the same. It is sort of fascinating that you have Stefan Diggs,

who tore his ACL in, I think it was week eight, and he's back ready to go for the Patriots. And Brandon Ayuk, I know is ACL and MCL suffered his knee injury in week six. Just in general, with those injuries, especially to the knee and for a wide receiver, for those guys, one, coming back and able to participate through everything in training camp and practice like Diggs.

And in the case of Ayuk, most likely, according to Kyle Shanahan, could open the season on the Pupplist. Just if you, in general, just speak to how different those, you know, potential recoveries are because of how unique, not unique, but how, you know, different those knee injuries can be for certain players. You know what I think people don't realize is in the event there's an injury. Let's call this ACL injury. Well, when the surgery,

goes in, he's getting a bird's eye view of all the history and tear on the knee at that moment in time, right? So you can have, you can go in and see a perfectly healthy knee, just the ACL, or he could see, wow, there's a lot of things going on from years and years of play and where, right? So I think that's part of the issue without question also of the position of the athlete plays and what's required and demands of that position. And that's why sometimes recoveries are all over the place. We do like eight months to 10 months to get back to full participate, right? And if someone is slightly behind that, right, that's okay.

Why? Because it's really a marathon, not a sprint. And long-term health finally is part of the zeitguise of every NFL team. Now they're really taking care of their athlete, thinking about them long-term, realizing they are a brand and they are, we need them for the long-term. So I'm excited for both of those players. They've worked very hard in the offseason. And as we know, the ACL Reconstruction is no longer a career ending or injury.

It's a, you can come back. I've always reported the same way on these types of surgeries, Achilles, ACL, a rotated comfort pair. They're nothing short of opportunities, right? An opportunity to get your mind straight, an opportunity to get your body straight a year away almost, away from the brutality of football. nothing short of an opportunity. At early on, it's chaos, right? What's going to happen? But once you get all the little pieces in place and your team place, man, opportunity

to get fitter, stronger, and better than ever. Oh, man. If I get hurt, I'm going to your practice. You would fire me up to get my rehab going. I love it, dude. Because that's day one, man, Adam. That is day one. We have to clear the smoke, yes, and lay it out, right?

this is what we're going to do and we're going to do it together and guarantee you can come fit or stronger than ever. Love it. Marty, Daramillo, thank you so much for coming on

and we'll talk to you soon. I'll see you guys down the road, man. Have a great, great season. We sure will. Appreciate it, man. Daniel Jones was just named the starter for the Colts. We'll talk about that

plus some FFT open takeaways and how it's affecting our draft strategies. It's always fun to do these real drafts that really count and put your money where your mouth is and be on the clock and I have to make a tough decision, granted in three hours in the FFT Open. But whatever it may be, we'll give you some of our big takeaways to talk about.

I'm going to give you some stats to tell you why I think this is very good news for Jonathan Taylor. We'll be right back on fantasy football today. Now streaming. When people go missing, I get hired to help find them. When lives are on the line. Coulter, please find my daughter. He's the man for the job. I'm going to do everything you can.

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Coulter! Justin Hartley stars. I made a promise. I would never stop looking. In Tracker. All episodes now streaming on Paramount Plus and returning CBS Fall. Okay, Jamie, so Daniel Jones named the starter.

Well, let's react to Marty first because that H-H-N statement was pretty pretty scary, you know, to say the least, if he's going to miss a start of the season. So, you know, I think we just make a start. something clear. Marty is not treating these players. Marty is giving his opinion on these players. It's not like they're patients of his.

So when he's giving these, you know, opinions, it's from afar. He's very valid, as we found out last year. You know, he was optimistic on Joe Burrow coming back, for example, and, you know, he came back and was a monster. So, um,

it just, it's, it's scary when you hear. Could miss the first three games. Yeah. Wouldn't be surprised we missed the start of the season. he's surprised we were three games. Yeah. It's all, right. It's, because this is an injury

where he basically was saying there's a big chance for re-injury if you rush it back. So we'll be cautious. I think it makes sense to take H.N. in the second round.

But even, you know, if he missed, if he missed two games, I still think the second round could be really good value. He's going to, we think he's going to perform

like an elite player when he's healthy. What are you doing in terms of Gordon and Jalen Wright? I still think based on what they've shown us that Jalen Wright is the second guy up. There was at least one South Florida media member, Chris Perkins of the South Florida Sun Sentinel, suggesting that Ali Gordon should be the number two guy.

Now, Mike McDaniel sort of indicated, like, you know, they want their rookies to earn their spots. So we'll see if this is going to be something that goes into the season. We have games. It probably be a split. I still think Jalen Wright's profile. fits the Dolphins as a speed guy and somebody

that can work in the passing game but I think at this point you're taking late round darts on either one yeah

I'm curious to see what would happen if they played their starters again just because we did have Jalen Wright fumbling

in that second preseason game but but yeah okay you heard it from Jamie now now ready for

Daniel Jones thing yeah crazy huh no I'm actually not the least bit surprised. I just think... I thought they'd go the other way, though.

Start Richardson, and then if he struggles, you bench. Yeah, I just don't think Richardson does the simple things that a quarterback needs to do well enough. And honestly, Daniel Jones has struggled with that stuff, too.

Protections. I mean, he gets sacked a lot, and I think a lot of his because he doesn't call out the protections properly. He doesn't process. He doesn't go through his reads. He predetermines...

You could see it in the preseason game. You could see it watching it for six years with the Giants. He's going to throw a slant to Tyler Warren or Josh Des, it's going to happen. It doesn't matter how many defenders in the area. But just from a Jonathan Taylor, let's start with a Jonathan Taylor perspective here.

I had some notes. Daniel Jones, in his career, has a 16.9% running back target rate. 17% of his passes go to running backs. Anthony Richardson, 9%. In their careers, Daniel Jones has played 70 games. Richardson has played 15. Jones has six touchdowns from the 1 to 5 yard line in 70 games, rushing touchdowns. Richardson has seven from the one to five yard line in 15 games.

So having Daniel Jones under center to me means more passing, more catching, sorry, more receptions for Jonathan Taylor and less competition near the goal line. I don't know if you feel the same way, but this is what I was hoping for, for everyone on the Colts. It is a benefit without doubt to Jonathan Taylor. It is probably a benefit to the receivers. That said, the ceiling, I still think, would have been better if Richardson starts because we just don't know how his progression would have gone. Spend time this offseason with a quarterback coach. I thought he looked much better in the second preseason game.

Maybe I'm an idiot, but I thought he looked better, more competent, you know, took a lot of the short throws, which is what has been a problem for him. Maybe they didn't like the way he processed it. Maybe they just thought Daniel Dones done a better job in practice. I would have started Richardson to see where this goes. yeah but that's not look look these i think they're both going to start at some point this year right we should probably assume that so if you're in a dynasty league don't panic on richardson and drop him certainly if you're in a superflex or two quarterback league don't do that um this does not

if you're looking at the quarterback position richardson's sealing as a fantasy option is much higher than danel don't now that being said daniel jones did have a 700 yard rushing season and can clearly make some plays with his legs so he'll have some moments And he gets a great matchup in week one against the dolphins, although if they can't protect him because the Dolphins' pass rush is going to be really good. Their secondary is going to be awful. They just added Matthew Judon, by the way. So it's, uh, yeah, it's a, look, it's a, it's a benefit for Tyler Warren.

It's a benefit for Josh Towns, it's a benefit for Michael Pittman, simply because he will, as you said, he will be obvious in what he's trying to do. He's not going to make the aggressive play. He did have, you know, nice, nice downfield play to Tyler Warren in the, in the preseason game. Also overthrew him on a wide open. It's wide open play as well. He's just going to throw more. He's 100% he's going to throw more than Richardson.

This was never going to be, oh my God, these guys are awesome because Daniel Jones is starting. You know, this isn't Gardner Minchie or Joe Flacco, you know, and that says something, you know, for a guy in Daniel Jones who was a, you know, top 10 overall pick. So, yes, it's, it's better for them. This is not Joe Flacco starting, making everything great for Judy Najoku Tillman. This is just slight bumps in value for Pitman Downs. And Warren, and in the case of Downs, just keeping on the hamstring injury, you know, there, there was a million injuries we could have asked Marty about. So I'll apologize on behalf of us that just timewise, we couldn't get to Taijay Spears and Darnall Mooney and Josh Downs was hampsons. I just, we could have had three shows with Marty if we really wanted to, but we were just gracious first time.

But in any event, I think just looking at the starter being named as Daniel Jones, it's a plus for the receivers. okay so can we touch on the other news that just happened with jailing millin too because yes if godwin's on the pub list and mcmillan's out like how are you not drafting mecca abuka as a top 30 wide receiver at this point yeah mecca buka or jerry judy judy because godwin will come back at some point but's close yeah that that's where i am with abuka he's he's round six no question and you've been you've moved up mike evans too mike evans is this is a round three pick. Evans or Tyreek Hill?

I think I'm Michael Evans now. Devante Adams? Michael Evans now. Those are the old guys, a 31-year-old and 232-year-olds. You know me, I love them. All right, then JSN, third-year guy or Mike Evans? Jason. Yeah, I don't know, man.

Evans is, I haven't drafted Evans once. It's going to have to change. I never really thought McMillan was a huge factor, though, on Evans you know but but it is something i mean it's well it was i mean you think about this NFL draft ends and they just signed god when you're like what an embarrassment of riches this is for the bucks yeah with the way McMillan finished the way evans still continues to play godwin thinking coming back after what last year was in a first round talent and now they've just lost potentially two receivers start the season like it's you might have to reevaluate baker

too. Mm-hmm. And I think Kate Otten goes into sleeper territory, at least for the beginning of the year. Maybe. He only really was good, though, in the time that Evans and Godwin was, were both out. Yeah. I think he was a little involved in the preseason game last week, as I recall. All right, so the FFT Open, I had just a huge revelation for me, but I'm going to let you start.

So FFT Open is 12 teams, full PPR, only start two receivers, shallow league, no kickers, no DST, so quarterback, two running back, two. two receiver, tight end flex, six bench spots. I had the ninth pick. You had, what, the fourth pick? Fourth pick. Right. So you had an interesting draft.

And tell us what you came away with and, you know, just your thoughts. First three picks were in order, actually, Jamar Chase, C.D. Lamb and Bejan Robinson. So I took Jamir Gibbs fourth. He's my fourth overall player. I do have Lamb ahead of him. And came back in round two. And I was staring at. at T. Higgins, no, A.J. Brown. I was staring at A.J. Brown. And Bucky Irving, I think we're the top two players on my board. And I went with Bucky Irving. I said, you know, I'm going to play this out. Just see how it goes. I also want to see how far Brown would fall with this hamstring injury. And Brown's average draft position on our site is

into round three. He's at 27. So a little bit different there. That's what two quarterbacks going in round two, Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen. So I take Bucky Irving. We get to round three. Higgins is still on the board. J.S.N is still on the board. I said, you know what? I'm going to try something different. Two receiver league. If it was a three receiver league, I'd take the receiver, no question.

Two receiver league, I'm going to take Jonathan Taylor. So I take Jonathan Taylor. So I start with three running backs in a row. You know what I mean, Mr. Running Back. I've become Dave. Which wide receivers could you have taken instead of Taylor? Higgins or JSN. Okay.

I think. Do you really want me to look at it? I'll look it up. So come back to round four. I was hoping for Cortland Sutton. He goes right in front of me. I take D.K. Metcalfe. I have him running back to back.

And then round five, I take Garrett Wilson. Yeah, that's wild that Gary. I don't really want to draft Garrett Wilson, but holy cow, this is why we said there's no such thing, really, as a do not draft list. Round five for Garrett Wilson? 100%. It's insane. All right. So basically taking three running backs, you still end up with D.K. Metcalfe.

No, yeah, D.K. Metcalf and Garrett Wilson. All right, so here's what I realized. I will say that just before you go. So you say Revelations. I think based on a two-receiver league, and I've probably been a little too stubborn in this in giving advice this way because most of my leagues are three receiver leagues. In two receiver leagues, I think you can get away with two running backs

in your first three picks, especially this year. Absolutely. So, yeah, you're right, by the way. J.S.N. and T. Higgins were on the board when you took Jonathan Taylor, 28th overall. Okay, so I had the ninth pick, and I wrote all my thoughts out here so I could do this sort of succinctly. So I'm just going to sort of read this.

Originally, you know, when we were starting a draft, maybe last month or whatever, I had seven elite running backs and eight elite wide receivers. I'm going to call them the mean 15. The only way to be guaranteed to get two of the mean 15 in a 12 team league was to pick 10th, 11th, or 12th. And you're going to have two top 15 place. Yes. Yes. Or someone takes Lamar Jackson or someone takes Brock Bowers or whatever and someone falls to you.

People value other players different than you do. Absolutely. But it was pretty much a consensus, top seven running backs and top eight wide receivers. I don't really think, like no one, yeah, I'm going to say very, very rarely was anybody taking a different running back in that top seven or a different wide receiver in that top eight. So anyway, I would love to have come away with two top 15 players. ADP and all the drafts we've done were suggesting that if I had a late, pick in the first round, and we talked about this like a half hour ago, it made more sense to take a running back first and then the wide receiver in the second round, because the odds of

Derek Henry or Ashton Genti or even Achan back then. Now, A. Chan's a little bit different now. Falling you in round two weren't as high as the odds of Brian Thomas Jr. Amon Ross St. Brown, Nico Collins, to fall on you in round two. I had the ninth pick, which means I had the 16th pick, so I wasn't necessarily going to get one of the mean 15 in round two. I'm up, and A. Chan, I believe, was off the board. So it was Ashton Genti and Derek Henry were the only top seven running backs left. Whereas Nico, neighbors,

Brian Thomas Jr. and Pucco were all available. Logic would say, take Genti there, hope that one of those wide receivers falls to in round two. I took Nico. I took him because I just liked him better.

And I just thought, just takes one wacky pick for me to get another one of my mean 15. Well, turns out, unfortunately, there were two auto picks. so I ended up getting Gentie in round two. I don't expect that to happen, but I was extremely pumped about Nico and Gentie.

But here's the more important thing. I realized, Jamie, when I took Nico Collins, that my mean 15 in full PPR is now a mean 16. There is an eighth running back, including A Chan, by the way, I haven't moved him out, an eighth running back that I am comfortable with in my top 16, and that is Chase Brown.

And I realize that I'm so high on Chase Brown now and nothing that I saw last night did anything to stop that, you know, surge because he had a ton of touches and a goal line touchdown with the ones. I'm so high on Chase Brown and full PPR that I think he deserves to be a top 16 pick and I am fine.

Now, if I have the ninth pick, you know, I feel like I'll come away with two of my top 16 guys. And then after that it gets a little trickier. Do I go Bowers? Do I go A.J. Brown? Do I go Drake London? Well, let me ask you two questions.

One, why Chase Brown over Josh Jacobs after knowing now that Marshaun Lloyd, who may or may not have been a threat to him, could miss some significant time? The Lloyd thing doesn't really change anything for me. Yeah, no, I just think I'm going. Or why not put both of them in your mean 17? I don't think Jacobs, I know he's done it before. I just don't think he really has the upside. full PPR to win you your league.

You know, I think he's safe. What, you don't, you disagree? I do. Yeah, I don't, I don't know. I don't see it. I think he's very safe, and I think he's very good. But I don't see, I don't really see a big difference between him and Jonathan Taylor. So I think Chase Brown has the ability to be on what could be the highest scoring team in football.

You look at the Matt LaFloor era, we are always talking about a good offense. I think they've only had one year where they've been a great offense. I think it was one of the last Aaron Rogers years where he won the MVP. They're usually around 10th or so in scoring. The Bengals could lead the NFL in scoring. It wouldn't surprise me. And I just think you're going to get more catches. Even though Chase Brown is going to split third down work,

I think you're going to get more catches a lot more maybe from Brown than you are, Jacob. So that's my answer. I don't, listen, they're back to back for me. That is running backs, yeah, that is running backs eight and nine. I don't know why I feel safer with Jacobs I do feel safer with Jacobs but I because I think he's more built for the workload I'm a little worried about injury for Chase Brown

Jacobs is a proven commodity I also don't think Jacobs is coming off the field and I could see that with Chase Brown they already showed it Pirine playing on third downs You think Jacobs will be, I don't think he'll be the third down back I don't think Jacobs is coming off the field Well what did you do last year?

I don't even know who their third downback was last year. Let's see, his snapshares, Jacobs. No, he comes off the field a lot. He averaged 63% of the snaps. Down the stretch, he was flirting with more like 80% some games, but he's going to come off the field. I think their snapshares will be pretty similar. All right, so the other thing was,

I want to get your thoughts on this. So I had one point. I also, I'm sorry, what is your hesitancy? hesitancy with Drake London in that group. It almost sounds like I don't like Drake London. I just don't think... No, I don't want to paint that picture.

Yeah, no, I just don't think he's as good of a player as the other eight receivers being drafted ahead of him, and AJ Brown, so nine receivers, because I think those guys are all elite talents. Whereas London just hasn't really shown that. And also, again, last year, the Atlanta Falcons had the seventh most passing yards in football. And Drake London was wide receiver 14 per game.

We keep talking about them having it. Well, I don't know. We keep talking about. But people think maybe they're going to have an improved passing game. I don't know that they will. And they could be super run heavy like they were at the end of last year. So he's an easy wide receiver 10 for me after AJ Brown. If you want to take him ahead of Brown, totally get it because of the injury.

But those two guys are like two of the easiest picks for me in terms of where I, like, Brown is easy number nine for me. London is easy number 10. There's no debate. And why not Bucky? Yeah, Bucky's another, Bucky's tough. I absolutely, because he will not play much on third down. So I wonder if his receptions are capped,

unless Wachad White misses time and White's injured right now. But he had, again, one of the lowest third down rates, basically even with Derek Henry among running backs. So that could cap the receptions. But I have no problem. If people want to put Bucky there, I have absolutely no problem with it. I think he's awesome. And he should be on a great offense.

But there you go. I think maybe the takeaway is, do you have, you, the drafter, do you have that eighth running back? Is A. Chan still in that group for you? How many players are in your, you know, mean 15, mean 16, whatever it is that rhymes, you know, with mean, that you feel good about in the second round, and that should help you determine who you're going to take in the first round? As of today, now, I did put A. Chan in non-PPR behind Bucky, behind, so he's, and behind Kyran. Yeah, that he's 12th in non-PPR because his best asset is his past catching ability. He could clearly score 10 plus touchdowns wouldn't shock me, but I think his best asset is in PPR and half PPR. If we get to next week and he is not practicing through next week, then A. Chan will fall behind Bucky. Fair. And probably Taylor.

And let me say that this whole, you know, Chase Brown being being 16. Full PPR only. Half PPR, I do think it makes more sense to take Jacobs over Brown. I don't know that I'd do it because I just have this kind of football crush on Chase around and the Bengals offense, but I probably would advise you all to do it. Would you do that, Jacobs over Brown and half PPR? I take Jacobs over Brown in all formats. Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you had.

But you said they're back to back. They are back to back, but I have Jacobson. All right. The other thing was I was up in the third round. So this is a two receiver league. And we've talked about the importance, the value of taking an elite tight end. in a two-receiver league, much easier to get away with it than in a three-receiver league. I was on the clock.

I had Nico and Gentie. And then in the third round, it was Hampton. Hampton fell to me at 3-9 or Kittle. And it was a really tough call for me. What would you have done? Your pick 10, you said? Pick 9. Pick 9.

So what were the other running backs available that you could have gotten in? Did you look at the other rosters as well? I knew O'Kiddle wasn't getting back to me. nobody had taken a tight end yet i could have taken camara i could have taken henderson breese hall uh ken walker so they were pretty good running back i feel like one of them would come back to me so if you had taken kittle you may have had the opportunity to say let's say get kiddle and camara or kittle and walker yes however i also am interested in taking a quarterback in round four and taking that either burrow or hurts who are both available right now yeah i look

look, it's, I feel like it's not even really a discount, but the discount you're getting on Kittle comparatively to the other two guys, like he could be better than both. Well, yeah, so having the ninth pick, that means I had the fourth pick of round two and the ninth pick of round three, I much prefer Kittal ninth pick of round three than Bauer's fourth pick of round two. Would you agree? Yeah. Listen, I'm shocked.

ADP on our side has Bowers 25. Oh, wow. And McBride, 36, and Kittle 39. Well, to end the suspense, I took Hampton. I really liked Kittle there, but I just, again, I want to be a little younger in fantasy. I can't pass up this rookie running back on a team that's going to run the hell out of the ball. I don't blame you. And he had unbelievable athletic numbers at the combine.

It looks like a big freak. So I took Hampton. The next pick was Kittle. I think, listen, when you're playing the onesie positions and the gamble on that, you never know how it's going to work out. Like, you could have taken Kittle there, and then every other pick is those running backs that you wanted. Yeah, that's true.

And you could have taken Hampton, and then you start the running back domino effect, and all the running backs going Kittle falls right back to. I really felt like Hampton, to me, is just on a, I like him just better than Kamara, Henderson, Ken Walker, Chuba Hubbard, all those guys. I agree. I think Hampton's in a better spot, but Henderson's not far behind for me.

Yeah. And he's off the board, too. I don't understand. Like, we're getting this kind of, Kittles washed up. How can you say that? Kittles washed up. Kittal, basically the most efficient tight end in football every single year. He is not washed up.

He is unbelievable. He doesn't get nearly as many targets as Bowers and McBride, but he will crush them in yards. I don't think so, but he... I don't think so either, but, you know, it... He will crush them as. them in yards per target. He will crush them in yards per outrun. I mean, maybe Bowers can take the leap

because Bowers is amazing. But he will crush just about every tight end. George Kittle has not washed up. I didn't know if there was anything else I wanted to get to. I did a draft yesterday where I had the first overall pick. It was a draft with analysts from other sites on sports. With First Sports Illustrated was a draft with Michael Fabiano. Draft was on Sleeper.

And I started with Jamar Chase. And then I went, Chase, and Trey McBride at the turn. And then I came back in rounds four and five, and I got Devante Adams and, oh, DeVante Adams and I forget who it was. Oh, it's Devante Adams and RJ Harvey. So this is a two-receiver, two-running-backed two-flex league.

My next turn, come back, I take Ricky Pearsall and Jerry Judy. Jerry Judy, Ricky Pearson. Yeah. So my starting lineup is, and I waited on quarterback, and it's four points for passing touchdowns, Justin Fields and Drake May, back-to-back. So one of those two quarterbacks with Chase Brown, R.J. Harvey, running back. You tell me if you like this. Chase Brown. I'll say Drake May, because everybody's out on Justin Fields apparently. Drake May, Chase Brown, RJ Harvey running backs.

Jamar Chase and Devante Adams, starting wide receivers, Tray McBride at Tight End. And my two flexes and PPR are Ricky Pierce-Slaw and Jerry Judy. Do I like it? That's amazing. And my bench running backs are, I only drafted one more wide receiver, which is Romeo Dobbs. My bench wide receiver, bench running backs are, this is my favorite part of the draft. Zach Charbonnet, Jordan Mason, Tank Bigsby, and my guy, Braylon Allen. Yeah, dude.

That's just terrific work. Terrific work. All right. I actually have to go to record. FFT Express and then I have to go to the vet. Not for me, for the cat. All right, we'll be back. Oh, by the way, you all know who Chad Smith is? I'm interviewing him tomorrow. He's starting. He has started the Chad Smith Foundation. He's the drummer for the chili peppers. It's going to be awesome. You can play fantasy football against him. We'll tell you more about it on tomorrow show.

I really have to run, but go ahead. No, no, you will receive goat status if you do this. will you sing to him a chili pepper song no god no maybe he just be like hey chad how long will this interview be um all right please do that please do that i might all right we'll talk to you tomorrow i'm fantastic football that i see you Now streaming. When people go missing, I get hired to help find them. When lives are on the line. Coulter, please find my daughter.

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