Fantasy Football Today - BONUS EPISODE: Dez Gets Released

Episode Date: April 13, 2018

Can Dez Bryant be a Fantasy stud again? History tells us he can. But what will happen to the Cowboys without Dez? Dak Prescott has done very well without the elite version of Bryant, but this can't be good for his outlook. We also discuss Ezekiel Elliott, Allen Hurns and the best potential destinations for Bryant. 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

This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. Here we go! Email us at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Here we go! It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Let's go! Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. After eight seasons in Dallas, three 1,000-yard seasons,

three double-digit touchdown seasons. Dez Bryant no longer a Dallas Cowboy. As the Cowboys released Bryant, saved $8 million against the salary cap. And this is a bonus edition of the Fantasy Football Today podcast. Where will Dez end up? Is he done being a starting fantasy wide receiver? What happens to Dak? What happens to Zeke? What happens to Dave, Jamie,, and Heath Thank you guys for joining me on this special edition I couldn't be more happy Than to be right here with you in this moment What could happen to us?

Sure Are we about to get cut? It's Friday the 13th, you never know Anything could happen So as we make sure this isn't an hour long What do you think? Let's start with this question Do you think Dez's start with this question.

Do you think Dez Bryant is done being – actually, I'll raise the stakes. A fantasy-relevant wide receiver. No, I wouldn't say that at all. But I had him outside my top 24 before this. I'm probably going to drop him a little more. Jamie. Hi. Your outlook for Dez.

It's completely dependent on where he ends up because if he goes to a team that has a good quarterback in place and a system that can help him, I mean, I don't know where the best landing spot would be. Is it someplace where he's going to dominate targets, let's say maybe like Baltimore, where he could do that? Seattle would be a good spot for him as a number two guy opposite Doug Baldwin. Or does he go to, let's say, Buffalo,

where they have no good wide receivers to speak of. Sorry, R.J. White. And he's stuck with the rookie quarterback, you know, just where he's chasing money. So it's completely contingent about where he lands. But it's so funny. I go back to a conversation I had with him at the Pro Bowl two years ago, two Pro Bowls ago,

and he was coming off that monster playoff game. It's actually the last 100-yard game he's had. He's gone actually 23 regular season games in a row without a 100-yard performance. If you remember that game, it was against Green Bay. He just was a monster in that game. Nine catches, 123 yards, I think two touchdowns.

I said said are you back and he said what do you think well you look pretty good to me you know and it's just been a complete tailspin since then he's he just can't get separation looks like he can't run anymore it's too bad you don't own an nfl team because when you said you look pretty good to me he you know should call you up and say sign me man yeah i need a job need some cash uh i don't think he needs cash i think he just needs a job well if he doesn't need the cash then he might not like the offers that he gets but i can't help but think that somebody will overpay him and then he'll go to a team and play on the outside

and disappoint that team's fans and disappoint the fantasy owners that reach for him yeah i think like the problem for des and for the cowboys is the timing of this whole thing. Because if Dez had been released before Jordy Nelson, then John Gruden probably would have just signed him instead of Jordy. Or he could still sign him now and he'd have the greatest 2014 fantasy team ever created. And for the Cowboys, you only signed

Alan Hearns. I understand Dez wasn't good and you want to get rid of him, but they don't have anybody that's better than him. Alright, so Dez Bryant is 29 years old. He's going into his ninth season. He had 133 targets last year, which was the 12th most amongst wide receivers, and he ended up being the number 26 wide receiver in standard. 69 catches, 838 yards, and six touchdowns.

Only one game all season for Des Bryant with more than 73 yards. But I did ask you guys to come up with some names of wide receivers that looked like they were done, right? Looked like they were on the downside of their career, were really struggling, and then came out with huge seasons. And who do we got that could inspire people that want to have some faith in Des Bryant? Brandon Marshall twice. Yeah.

Brandon Marshall did it twice. Randy Moss. Oh, Randy Moss is the one. He's like the ultimate. He went from, oh, God, he's a Raider, and now the Patriots are trading for him. What are they thinking? And then he set an NFL record for most touchdowns in the year.

Well, that's the thing. Going back to your question, Adam, if Dez ends up in a good spot, you look at Twitter, every NFL beat writer is saying, I don't know if Dez is the right fit here, or I don't think they're looking at Dez or whatever. But if he goes to New England, which has a hole now without Brandon Cooks there, and not that they're the

same player by any stretch, but then you see a great situation. If, let's just say he ended up in New Orleans, or I don't know. Seattle. It's a great one, I don't know. Seattle. I think Seattle would be a good form. Yeah, Seattle. That's a great one, you know, just with Russell Wilson.

So he could still have very, very high fantasy relevancy, but it's just hard to peg it right now based on what we saw from him. That Randy Moss season, 2007, 23 touchdowns, 1,500 yards. He was 30. That was his age 30 season. That's what Des Bryant will be entering. Well,500 yards. He was 30. That was his age 30 season. That's what Dez Bryant will be entering. Well, he'll be 30 in November. I don't know exactly how they calculate it, but he'll either be in his age 29 or 30 season.

What is the impact? Does Jerry Rice count? I don't know. When he went to the Raiders? Yeah, he had a great year then. How about Brandon Lloyd? One that he came up with, Brandon Lloyd. All right, so there are good examples.

But Brandon Lloyd wasn't good, though. That's the thing. Still, he went and had this amazing year out of nowhere when everybody wrote him off. Yeah, I guess he was. T.O.'s last year was pretty good in Cincinnati. Well, his last year was Buffalo. Nope. Cincinnati was after that.

Yeah. Nine touchdowns. Yeah. Almost 1,000 yards. Okay. All right. All right, so there's some hope there. Let's not give up too soon.

That's a great one. He could actually be that type of, you know. Right, sure. All right. All right. So there's some hope there. Let's not give up too soon. That's a great one. He could actually be that type of, you know. Right. Sure. Those numbers. I feel like he needs to go where there's going to be another receiver opposite him. He can't go to. Oh, yeah.

I agree. Like. Buffalo. A Buffalo. Perfect. If he goes to Buffalo, he's going to suck. If he goes to New England, just as an example, not saying he's a good fit there. Theoretically, he'll get a lot of targets, get a lot of decent numbers there.

And there was something like a report that he said, I'll see these guys twice a year next year. So I guess maybe we should look at the Redskins first. They make the most sense because they don't really have a number one guy, a true number one guy. I mean, Crowder and Doxon and, you know. Richardson, Paul Richardson. Well, how does he fit in then? They're going to play all four of those guys at once? Wellxon and, you know. Richardson. Paul Richardson. Well, how does he fit in then?

They're going to play all four of those guys at once? Well, let's get to the Cowboys here. By the way, I want you to know I just spent so long trying to spell Terrell Owens' first name, and I didn't know how to do it. I had to Google it. Do you know how to spell Terrell Owens' first name? 2-R-12. Yeah.

And no E at the end. That was my mistake. Right. I put E at the end. That was my mistake. I put E at the end. Can you spell his middle name? No. What is it? Eugene Eldorado. All one word.

Really? Yeah. That's it. All right. So what happens with the Cowboys here? We have a tweet that says – well, two interesting tweets actually. First tweet says, does Zeke's stock rise even higher after this move? That's from RedEyeJedi.

And the other tweet is from Mark. Dez wasn't the problem. Dak Prescott is. So let's address the Zeke part first. Does his stock rise even more without Dez Bryant? Hello, 11-man fronts. Yeah, it worries me a little bit. They really need to hit a home run in the draft.

They've got to find somebody that can stretch defenses because I don't think Terrence Williams is scaring anybody. I don't think Alan Hearns is scaring anybody. I don't think Jason Witten is a legitimate threat. It's the worst receiving core in football. It is. To answer the question, I'd say no. Okay, and let me tell you what Zeke did in three games without Des Bryant two years ago.

He had 23 carries, 138 yards, and a touchdown. 15 carries, 134 yards, and two touchdowns. 28 carries for 157 yards. So it didn't affect him two years ago. No, but that offensive line two years ago was better than it was last year and is better than it will be now. Yeah, definitely. He was great all year.

How about Dak? I personally don't think this matters to Dak unless it's just touchdowns or coverage that Des was drawing. But Dak Prescott has been number six two years ago, number 12 last year in fantasy. And that was with Des Bryant having two somewhat inconsequential seasons. He hasn't had a 1,000-yard receiver yet. I mean, they need someone. But this is not a guy who's relied on Des Bryant for his fantasy production.

So does it hurt Dak Prescott? Of course. Why of course? You can't have the worst receiving core in football and still be confident in him having a great season. They kind of had a pretty terrible receiving core last year. He's got the worst receiving core and one of the best running backs in football. So even at the goal line, he's not going to steal as much.

He could still be a top 12 quarterback. But, I mean, I dropped him to 19th. I just don't have a lot of faith in him as one of those guys. And, you know, I think we've talked about this before. There's 15 to 20 quarterbacks you could say could be number one guys this year. I think that's easy. It might be low if you're looking at it. So he could still finish as a top 12 guy. He did not feel

like a top 12 quarterback last year when Zeke's suspension hit and the offensive line fell apart. You saw that three game stretch what he was. It was bad. Well, he played 16 games. That was a big part of it. A lot of the guys I think were right behind him. I think with Prescott

at this point, when you start to compare him to not even the upper echelon guys and I think with Prescott at this point, when you start to compare him to not even the upper echelon guys, and I think draw the line wherever you think that may be it. I know, Heath, you don't really love Carson Wentz this year, but I think you would take Wentz over him. Most people would. For me, when you start to compare him to Mariota or Goff or Matt Ryan and that group, I think all those guys are better just based on what they're able to do. Dak's still good.

He'll run. He'll get you a couple rushing touchdowns. And they'll take Ridley at 19 or DJ Moore or Cortland Sutton or whoever the second or third receiver is or they don't get Ridley, but they just need so much help right now yeah and it's like so much of deck's ranking has come from those rushing touchdowns without a huge rushing volume for most quarter man he had 57 rush attempts the last two years and six touchdowns both of them you can't count on that he doesn't throw the ball enough i'm not i won't be drafting deck this year yeah i mean even like when you compare him to just based on maybe thinking of someone with the rushing court, like Tyrod Taylor.

They both run. Tyrod's had a little bit more success running the last few years. Who's got the better receiving court right now? Tyrod. Not even close. I'd rather have Tyrod. I think I might too. I'm just saying that Dak Prescott is a guy who has done really well.

And let me also remind you that his first eight games of the season, he was on pace. If you take those by production for eight games, give him 16, he would have been the number two quarterback in fantasy. What happened after that? Zeke got suspended and Tyron Smith got hurt. Offensive line was an absolute disaster, and he finished the season very poorly.

I'm not saying he's the number two quarterback. I'm saying he was having a great year before the Zeke suspension and the Tyron Smith injury. And this is not a guy who's relied on a good receiving core. He's had a bad pass catching tight end. He's had bad number two receivers for sure. He's made Cole Beasley look good. He's very efficient and he does run. He does score the Russian touchdowns. Maybe you can't count on them, but Des Bryant has not been a productive wide receiver for Dak Prescott in either of the last two years. So, I mean, I get what you're saying. He doesn't really have the upside that those guys have.

But I still think there's a case that he's going to be, like you said, I mean, you're not even disagreeing with this because you said he could finish like top 12, whatever. But I think he's going to be pretty safe. And kind of what he's been in the past, I just feel like other quarterbacks are going to pass him. We've wasted like two minutes just talking about this because this is the year of loaded quarterbacks in fantasy. There are so many great quarterbacks.

Everyone's going to look at Dak. They're going to look at that receiving core. They're going to look at what he did late last year when things weren't perfect. They're not going to want him. He's not going to get drafted. He's not going to get drafted. I'm saying he could be usable, you know? But so could Josh McCown. A lot of quarterbacks could be usable.

Let's talk about the rest of the Cowboys wide receivers and what you're going to do in your rankings now. Alan Hearns is going up. He's the only one I think that will... I'm not moving Terrence Williams into a place where I would draft him or Switzer or Beasley or anyone like that. But Hearns probably goes

into low-end number three, high-end number four range? Not for me, unless they just completely pass on the position in the draft. So Hearns is a 150-plus guy for me overall. I just don't think he's very good. I know he had the strong season three years ago, I think, at this point with the Jaguars, but I don't want to trust any of these guys. I'm drafting one Dallas Cowboy in 2018, as of now.

Dave, you're way too high on Jason Witten. I don't get it. All right. So if there were one landing spot that you would like for Dez Bryant, where would it be? Seattle. Seattle. I think Seattle is the right answer.

Dallas? Dallas wouldn't be bad. Seattle would be fun. What about the Jets? Team plays from behind a lot. You want to talk about great locker rooms They've got like 17 wide receivers right now Literally

Yeah Maybe he'd get enough He needs volume He needs volume And I think he could get that in New York Baltimore would be interesting Not that it would be great for his fantasy value But they need somebody to

New England would be my second choice That's your choice for any wide receiver You'd want need somebody to. New England would be my second choice. That's your choice for any wide receiver. You'd want anybody to go to New England. I'll give you one more. Green Bay. That's the opposite guy to Devonta Adams. He can play the Jordy role.

Cut one. I think it makes sense. Old wide receiver who only scores touchdowns. Sign another old, slow wide receiver who only catches touchdowns. Yeah. I think that's where he's going to go. Makes too much sense. Green Bay? Des the Green Bay.

Absolutely. Where his catches will actually be counted as catches now because of the new rule. That is true. The offseason that Des Bryant and Cowboys fans have had, very interesting. I think you should go to the Giants personally because you put Odell Beckham, Brandon Marshall, and Des Bryant in the same locker room. Jeez. Or just put all three of them on the Rams and have every big personality.

Last question. This came up on the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast. The outside part of an Oreo cookie, the actual cookie part, is A, great, B, terrible, or C, in between? In between? It's a little bit better than in between. It's good. Its main benefit, though, is holding the cream. The cookie is the better part.

The cookie is the better part of the Oreo. That's incorrect. Well, they're both great. I dunk the hell out of my Oreos and milk. Those things are soggy, sloppy. Well, they're both great. I dunk the hell out of my Oreos in milk. Those things are soggy, sloppy. Yeah, they're so good. Your Oreos find an arrow right to the milk. Yeah.

They go right in, and I pull them out. That's the way to have Oreos. Yeah, they're great. They're great in milk. Thank you, guys. Have a great weekend. Have an Oreo in milk weekend. Bye. It's all right. I an Oreo in milk weekend. Bye.

It's all right. I've got Le'Veon. It's all right. Not George Le'Veon. It's all right. I've got Le'Veon Bell.