Fantasy Football Today - Bounce Back WRs and TEs plus Dynasty Mock Draft! (04/13 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: April 13, 2021

We're breaking down bounce back wide receivers and tight ends, but first, how impactful is Giovani Bernard signing with Tampa Bay? ... News and notes (2:19) breaking down Tampa Bay running backs draft value and Patriots receiving corps with Julian Edelman retiring ... Bounce back wide receivers (11:28), is Michael Thomas a top 5 WR? Is Courtland Sutton or Cooper Kupp the better value? ... Bounce back tight ends (26:24) headlined by Evan Engram, Zach Ertz and more ... Breaking down our first rookie-only PPR Dynasty mock draft (31:00). How many WRs in the top 5? Is Trevor Lawrence a without-a-doubt first rounder? ... Your emails (50:58) at [e-mail]. 'Fantasy Football Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. 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/ 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. Julian Edelman will not be among the bounce-back candidates we're talking about on today's Fantasy Football Today podcast. I'm Jamie Eisenberg. That's Dave Richard. That's Heath Cummings.

No Adam Azer. Last I heard, he's off in Wyoming checking on, well, you know. All right, well, we've got a fun show for you today. We're going to get through some of these bounce-back candidates, wide receivers, and tight ends. I know you guys talked about quarterbacks and running backs on the Monday show, but obviously some big news happened Monday afternoon, two in particular.

We thought both probably were going to involve Tom Brady, but it does not seem to be the case. So the Buccaneers, they signed Giovanni Bernard and Julian Edelman retires. Dave, which is the bigger story to you? Goo! That's the bigger story. The fact that Gio is pretty much already locked in

as the passing down's back for Tampa Bay makes him interesting as a later pick in PPR, but it also just makes a sick mess for their running downs. Is it going to be Fournette? Is it going to be Jones? Is it going to be a game from week to week? Was Keyshawn Vaughn a waste of a pick by the Bucs? I don't know if we can legitimately answer any of those questions except maybe that last one. All right, so we'll get into that a little bit more. Heath, what about you? Bigger

story, Edelman retiring or Gio to Tampa Bay? Listen, you know, I've always been team Gio. And if I can spend six years saying he's better than Joe Mixon, I'll have no trouble saying he's better than Leonard Fournette and Ronald Jones. So this is going to be a very fun season. I agree with Dave. I think that James White role suits him very well. All right, we'll break down the... 120 targets to running backs in Tampa Bay last year. We'll break down the Bucs backfield coming up in a little bit. Also talk about Julian Edelman.

But first, don't forget the Champions League is down to eight teams. And after this week, that number will be cut in half following the second leg of the quarterfinal stage. If you haven't already, make the Keiko Lotso podcast your audio outlet for complete UCL coverage before and after the biggest matches, including PSG versus Bayern Munich and Liverpool versus Real Madrid. Follow Keiko Lotso for premier picks and immediate recaps of all the action. Download anywhere you find this podcast. All right, so let's talk a little bit more about Gio to the Bucs, because as the guys just alluded to, it's going to be a crowded backfield. So

you got Leonard Fournette coming back. You got Ronald Jones still there. Dave, to your point about Keyshawn Vaughn, both or all three of these guys are on one year deal. So maybe he is still the long-term answer. We're going to talk about some dynasty picks. We did a rookie only mock draft yesterday on Monday afternoon. So we'll get into that a little bit. Obviously Keyshawn Vaughn, not a part of that, but he was a part of the rookie only mock draft yesterday on Monday afternoon. So we'll get into that a little bit. Obviously, Keyshawn Vaughn, not a part of that, but he was a part of the rookie only mock drafts and drafts that we did last year. So maybe Vaughn is still the long-term answer for the Bucs, but I don't think you're going to get much out of him for 2021. So Keith, like you said, your team Geo, do you think all three of these guys can work for fantasy or is this really a

backfield you completely want to avoid? It's going to depend on cost. But I don't think you want to draft any Buccaneers running backs in the first six rounds. Now, if one of Leonard Fournette or Ronald Jones takes the reins and actually becomes like the, the thunder, I guess, Gio would be the lightning. Then I, you could see one of those guys be a borderline top 20 type running back. But if it's Fournette and Jones fighting every single week to see who's be the guy that gets 15 touches. And then you've got geo with five targets a week. I don't, you're not going to want to start any of them. It'd be a best ball only situation because they probably will have some monster

weeks. You'll never know when it's going to be though. And obviously as we saw last year, Fournette inconsistent, inactive, healthy scratch. We know about that whole story about Bruce Arian saying, if you want to be a partnette, inconsistent, inactive, healthy scratch. We know about that whole story about Bruce Arian saying, if you want to be a part of a special team, you'll stick around. Otherwise, there's the door. He stuck around and playoff and Lombardi Lenny was born. Ronald Jones battled injuries down the stretch was certainly a problem, had the finger injury, some lower leg problems. And we know that affected him in the playoffs, a COVID situation as well. So, Dave, do you agree with Heath? Is this just the thing based on cost or are you going to be targeting one of these guys knowing

that Fournette is also going to play on passing downs? This isn't one of those situations like in new England where there wasn't a guy that's going to play and cast patches like a Sony, Michelle, you know, Ben Jarvis, green Ellis, you know, those type of guys that LeGarrette blunt, you know, that don't catch passes. That was the primary running downs back for net show last year that he could be trusted by Tom Brady. And I'm sure it's still going to be the case to a certain extent. I think for net can play passing downs, but you don't bring in a guy like Giovanni Bernard and not let him have that

shot most of the time. So maybe a little bit with for net, maybe in the red zone, that's going to be where for net can play when it's third and eight from the 15, something like that. You'll see for net there instead of Giovanni Bernard. We'll see,

but I, for net still my favorite of the group, but it's not like I'm targeting him. He said he wouldn't take any of these guys in the first six rounds. I might make the case that Fournette would be a late sixth round pick just because when you look at the running backs that are left in round six, there's not going to be a lot to like. And the Bucs brought back Leonard Fournette.

They brought him in figuring, okay, he was good for us in the playoffs. He got the message. Jamie talked about the message that Arians meant to send to him. He got it. He played great. Now he's got a chance to keep playing great. And I'm getting flashbacks

to last year's draft-a-thon when the news came out that Fournette signed with Tampa Bay and Scott Angle's rationale for why he wanted no part of Ronald Jones was look at what the Bucs have done. They added Fournette. They drafted Keyshawn Vaughn. They brought in LaShawn McCoy. Now look at what they've done some more. They brought back Fournette and they've brought in Giovanni Bernard. I think I get an idea of how they really feel about Ronald

Jones and I'm ready to say, okay, okay, it's Fournette who's going to be the best back in PPR. Geo is going to be next. And then Ro PPR, Gio's going to be next. And then Rojo's a guy you're going to draft in the double-digit rounds. That's where I'm viewing these guys. Makes the most sense. And, you know, Gio, at least 30 catches in all eight seasons he played with the Bengals. But Bruce Arian's not necessarily a guy that's going to shuffle in running backs just to have a pass-catching guy in the field.

I think he likes to have a guy that can do it all. And so far, Leonard Fournette would profile as that guy. So we'll see how much Giovanni Bernard does play over Fournette does play over Ronald Jones. It is a nice luxury for Tom Brady to have one of these type of running backs again, right? The course of his career in New England. We'll see if Bernard has that same type of impact in Tampa Bay.

Doesn't this feel like it's a Brady move? Like this is Brady saying, this is what I want. They're all Brady moves. Yeah. I mean, but again, you're seeing quality like it's a Brady move? Like this is Brady saying, this is what I want. They're all Brady moves. Yeah. I mean, but again, you're seeing a quality player that's out there. I wish, you know, I actually hate this for Gio because I wish he would have gone to a situation where he would have been potentially more involved. Now, obviously a guy that's pushing 30 and, you know, has been more of a backup and has

done well in backup situations, but obviously been more of a backup to Joe Mixon. I was kind of hoping for him to end up in a better situation where he could play a little bit more, maybe get a few more carries, be that type of guy that we saw at times last season when Mixon was out, but this does not maximize his fantasy value. Really, you're looking at it, and I saw Chris Towers tweet about this, that for the Bucs, it's obviously easy to draft Brady as a starting fantasy quarterback because you saw what he did last year. You saw what he should be able to do once again this season, but aside from the receivers, which I think you have to lower your expectations for those two guys, Gronk's going to be in a crowded tight end situation.

If O.J. Howard's healthy and Cameron Brait continues to be a part of it, the backfield now stinks because it's going to be a crowded mess, and you're not going to know if you could trust Gio aside from maybe a PPR flex and some deeper formats or trust Fournette if he's going to score some touchdowns or Ronald Jones in that type of situation. It feels a little messy. One know, one of those teams that looks good on paper, but for fantasy doesn't look great. You know, it just seems like it's a little bit too crowded. So we'll see how things shake out for Tampa Bay in 2022, as they defend their Super

Bowl title for new England, they're missing their number one receiver for basically the last, you know, 11 years, Julian Edelman has decided to retire. He was waived with a failed physical and the big debate obviously is Julian Edelman, a hall retire. He was waived with a failed physical. And the big debate, obviously, is Julian Edelman a Hall of Famer. So we could talk about that. But for fantasy purposes, what does this mean for the Patriots receiving core? So they signed Nelson Aguilar. They signed Kendrick Bourne. They still have Jacoby Myers. For now, they still have Nikhil Harry. They added the two tight ends in Hunter Henry and John DeSmith. So, Keith, when you look at this pass-catching group for New England, now minus Edelman, who's your favorite guy?

You know, I think we could use the undertaker gif on Jacoby Myers because before they made all these moves in free agency, I was pretty excited about him as a deep sleeper. He really took off last year once Edelman went down, was on pace for a 1,000-yard season and 116 targets on a team that threw the ball 420 times so i do think that myers is probably the guy i'm closer to gravitate towards i just don't know with the two tight ends like both of them are more exciting especially because they

play tight end but are they going to throw 35 of their passes to tight ends because if they don't then one of those tight ends is going to be irrelevant or they're both going to be very very mediocre so i would i'm going to go towards Jacoby Myers. He has that connection with Cam Newton. I think you'll get the most targets. I like it. Yeah. But this is like Edelman as well, because former quarterback, you know, converted wide receiver, hopefully he can do some of the same things. And we saw Myers step up last year at times, despite the poor performances from Cam Newton, which kind of coincided when Edelman got hurt, Cam had the COVID situation. You know, they really didn't bounce back from a

passing game standpoint. You know, who knows how much Edelman's absence meant to Cam and the Patriots passing game struggle. So we'll see, but Myers hopefully will score his first NFL touchdown from a receiving standpoint. So Dave, same question. You know, when you look at this past catching group, they bring an Aguilar had the great season with the Raiders. Raiders. They're hoping for Kendrick Bourne to take a step forward. But do you agree with Heath? Is it Myers from the receiving standpoint, or do you just put your stock in the tight ends and hope that those two guys step up and be the lead?

That's kind of, yeah, I'm leaning on the tight ends. I'm thinking that this offense is changing. It's got a different quarterback. We already saw it change last year. Now we're seeing it continue to morph this offseason with what they've done at tight end by bringing in Johnnie and Hunter Henry. I think Johnnie is going to end up being a pretty big part of this offense because of his versatility, because of his speed. He's going to be tough for defenses to match up with.

Aguilar will have some good weeks. My guess is that he'll have four really big weeks and then everything else you're going to shake your head and say, why did I start this guy? And that doesn't leave a whole lot foracoby myers i don't see this being the inside out type of offense that brady ran i don't think they're going to force that on cam real curious to see who their next quarterback is going to be after cam uh whether they draft one in a couple of weeks or they you know make a trade or who knows what they'll do but i i think the offense is going to change i don't think having the slot receiver in in New England is going to necessarily be a great thing for fantasy football moving forward. So I like the talent. I like Jacoby Myers as a player, but I don't see him immediately

getting into a role where he's getting seven, eight targets a week. Yeah. Myers is really the only guy that I'll draft and I'll take him late. If he's still there, I'm not going to reach for him by any stretch. The tight ends from your hands off. I'm not taking either one of those guys. If I miss, I miss. I just don't think that John DeSmith and Hunter Henry in this offense cannibalizing each other are going to be very good. So I'm going to stay away from those guys. And I don't trust Nelson Aguilar by any stretch.

And Kendrick Bourne still has a lot to prove. So Myers is the only one that I'll look for, but I'll look for late. I don't want to really trust any of the Patriots pass catchers after what I saw last year and still the expectations of Cam not necessarily being the best passer at this point in his career. He still has a lot to prove, at least for me. I'm hopeful. I think he'll do some things with his legs, but not something that I'm going to be targeting from a passing down perspective for the Patriots offense. All right, let's get into what we were supposed to talk about today, which is the bounce back candidates, wide receiver and tight end. Adam gave us a list here of some guys that have some bounce back

potential, but I don't know if you guys got into this yesterday, but I'll ask you this. Dave, I'll start with you. Heath, you can follow. What's your definition of a bounce back candidate? Bounce back candidate is a guy who had a down year the year before, who you expect to rebound, not necessarily be better by like 10%, you know, a guy that has 750 yards and he gets 850 yards next year, you're not going to say, oh, it's a bounce back year. That's not enough. You need to have a bigger year. Adam Thielen last year had a bounce back year. In 2019, total disappointment. 2020, scored a lot of touchdowns. Really came back to being fantasy relevant. Will Fuller. Will Fuller, basically, you could say he had a breakout year because he had that number one receiver role in Houston and he did a great job with it. To me, that's a bounce back,

a guy that's coming off of a down year who has got a chance to really step up and help fantasy managers the following year. And we've thought about this because Adam has no definition of a bounce back candidate. It's someone who's going to be better than they were last year, I think. I think the key distinction is someone who was good or very good before last year, who wasn't as good last year, who we think we will be good or very good again. How much does injury play a part in that? Because I think that's something a lot of people look at and say, okay, this guy was great. For example, 2019 suffered through some injuries in 2020 has a chance to be great again in 2021. Somebody like, let's say George Kittle, for example, who was suffered through some injuries in 2020, has a chance to be great again in 2021.

Somebody like, let's say, George Kittle, for example, who was awesome. Points per game wasn't bad last year, but clearly the total points weren't there because he missed so much time with the leg injuries. And then we're still drafting him again as a top three tight end for 2021. So how much do injuries play a part in bounce-back situations? I think we got called cowards on Twitter yesterday for including Saquon Barkley as a bounce-back candidate,

but it's just personal preference. Like I, I think it's better probably to look for guys that weren't totally bad just because of injuries. Um, but at the same time, uh, like Christian McCaffrey, I don't know that he would qualify because the games that he did play, he was absolutely phenomenal, but Michael Thomas played half of a season and didn't score a touchdown. So he would probably qualify as a bounce back candidate for me. And Thomas is a great example because it's not just him. He had games where his quarterback wasn't there. So, you know, for what we're talking about here with these guys, wide receivers, tight ends, sometimes it's not just the player themselves. It's the circumstances surrounding the player for running backs. You can make the case for offensive line, for example, Ezekiel Elliott, losing his offensive line entirely. You know, I think that plays a part in it as well. So it's not exactly a cut and dry black and white situation. There's some gray area to it when you talk about bounce back candidates. So just take that into account when we're looking at some of these guys. So here are the players that Adam gave us. And if you have other guys you want to throw in here, you can. I'll throw

in Kenny Galladay from an injury standpoint as well. It wasn't one of the guys that Adam gave us, but Michael Thomas, Cortland Sutton, Cooper Cup, Odell Beckham, Jarvis Landry, DJ Chark, and Devante Parker. These all have, these are all guys that could potentially bounce back after some down situations in 2020, given what they showed us in 2019. And then the tight ends he gave us were Evan Ingram and Zach Ertz. Again, you could throw in George Kittle because he wasn't great last year from a total season standpoint, missed a lot of the campaign due to injury, but clearly is somebody that we're going right back to. So let's start with some of these receivers. You brought up Michael Thomas. So Dave, when you look at Michael Thomas and what the situation is for him, new quarterback, that's going to change

some things clearly without Drew Brees there. So we don't know if it's going to be Taysom Hill. We don't know if it's going to be Jameis Winston. His running mate now is different because Emmanuel Sanders is gone. So tight end is different. No Jared Cook. So there are a lot of things that are changing for the Saints right now based on the ADP on NFC. As of April 1st, he is the number nine wide receiver off the board. Is that a good spot for him bouncing back in 2021?

Yeah, I think it's fine. I think I'd probably prefer to have him a little bit lower than that. And I don't even know if I'd necessarily have him ranked that way. But you start thinking about what this passing game is going to look like for New Orleans. And the fear I've got is that it's going to be Jameis Winston 80% of the time and Taysom Hill 20% of the time. And half the time that it's Taysom Hill, it's not going to even be a pass. It's going to be a run. So fewer pass attempts potentially coming in new orleans um they got to do something to try and get a talent opposite michael thomas otherwise it's

going to be a lot of double coverage on him and for a guy who's a great route runner but not necessarily a speedster that could be a problem it's going to certainly deter uh an inexperienced quarterback like tasem hill throwing to him outside of of a slant, which is what he did like 80% of the time last year. And Jameis isn't nearly as accurate as Drew Brees. So I'm a little nervous about Michael Thomas, certainly in non-PPR. I think you can actually make the case that he's not even a top 12 fantasy receiver. It's full PPR where you're still expecting him to lead the way in targets by a large margin that you can count on those catches carrying him to a top 12 finish. I think he'll be pretty good.

I just don't think he'll be the guy that we saw two years ago. All right. So Heath, clearly the targets were just amazing in 2019. And Breeze was amazing. When Breeze wasn't there, Bridgewater was actually better for Michael Thomas in that stretch of five games. You know, he just peppered him with targets, but I think you look at the games where Brees missed this year with the rib injury, Taysom Mill leaned on Michael Thomas. And, you know, I know Dave said they got to find a second receiver opposite him. He's really never had a second receiver opposite him that has stepped up. It's been Alvin Kamara. It's been the

tight ends. It's been the group really as a whole that have helped. And obviously Brees' accuracy has been a big part of that. But you look at this again, the number nine receiver off the board for a guy that's shown you so much in the early part of his career was still okay at times last year, despite the quarterback change and the injuries he dealt with. Can you buy back into Thomas bouncing back in 2021? Yeah, I think it's more of a question of how far is he going to bounce back? I don't think anybody should expect him to bounce back to 2019 levels when he

was the best wide receiver in PPR. I don't expect he's going to get 185 targets. I absolutely think he'll get back to 2016, 2017 levels where he was a 1200 yard wide receiver catching 90 to 100 passes, scoring six, seven touchdowns. It's what can he do beyond that? And my level of confidence is probably like, yes, Taysom Hill leaned on Michael Thomas. I would still feel a lot better about a Michael Thomas breakout if you told me Jameis Winston was starting 16 games as opposed to Hill.

Yeah, it's a little bit more of a wild ride, but a fun ride with Jameis. And as we saw with Jameis in 2019 with the Bucs, when he threw for 5,000 yards, he was leaning on Chris Godwin and Mike Evans quite a bit. So hopefully the same thing happens with Michael Thomas if Jameis does win the job and maybe the LASIK situation helps with his accuracy and he can pick up from where Drew Brees left off,

not the same type of quarterback, but maybe can throw the ball with a little bit better accuracy to his top wide receiver. All right. So Corlin Sutton's coming off the ACL tear last year was not the breakout season that I think a lot of people were hoping for here right now. He is the number 34 receiver off the board, and we didn't really get a chance to see how he would do with Jerry Judy on the field

with another year of Noah Fant, within the year of KJ Hamler, with another year with Drew Locke. So there are a lot of unknowns here for the Broncos, and clearly the quarterback situation seems to be a little bit unsettled. If you look at a lot of different mock drafts, they are well within the range of drafting a quarterback

depending on who falls to them. It doesn't necessarily guarantee that whoever they draft will be the starter in 2021, but it could be an upgrade over what Drew Locke showed us last year. So Heath, when you look at Cortland Sutton going in the number three wide receiver range, 34th wide receiver off the board, can you buy him being better than that? Is that the right spot for him? Do you trust Cortland Sutton coming back from the knee injury and playing like a guy we

thought could be a starting wide receiver in fantasy last year? I think it's the perfect spot for him because there's an enormous amount of upside still there for Cortland Sutton, and you're not giving up too much because there's a lot of risk. You talked about it. There's plenty of question about who's going to get the targets with their loaded receiving core and Noah Fant at tight end. There's plenty of questions about the quality of the quarterback play, and there's some question about Cortland Sutton coming off of an injury himself. So I do think that there's some risk that needs to be baked in,

and that's what that wide receiver 34 ADP tells you. But there's still top 15 upside. Sutton wouldn't be one of my favorite bounce-back candidates, but he's a good one. Dave, I've drafted him, I think, in the last two mock drafts we've done, maybe two or three mock drafts that we've done. I tend to gravitate towards Sutton in this range. This roster for Denver could be awesome.

I mean, the defense, they've rebuilt it. You know, the secondary looks fantastic. The offensive line looks really good. I do think Melvin Gordon is fine at the running back spot. You know, Mike Boone could be just as good as Phillip Lindsay. We don't know. I'm going to say no, but there's still a chance for him to be in that type of role as the second running back there. We know the receiving core. We just listed the names. Looks pretty special if those guys live up to those expectations.

But the quarterback play is something I think that a lot of people are concerned about, even if it is a rookie. And I think a lot of people are mocking Trey Lance to the Broncos, depending on how things go. So does the quarterback change things for Cortland Sutton, or is it just more of an injury situation? Let me remind everybody, in 2019, when Sutton was getting passes from Drew Locke, he had a 54% catch rate. That's ugly. Here's the good news.

He averaged eight targets per game with Drew Locke. Now, that was in 2019. There was no Jerry Judy. Noah Fant was a rookie then. And I don't know how much Locke has really progressed since then, but I think that Sutton could still be that number one target, at least to begin the year, at least until Jerry Judy gets his act together in Denver.

And then that, if he can connect with Locke, really comes down to the quarterback. Like you said, James, I think if Locke does improve and maybe tries to tame himself a little bit, doesn't take as many chances with the football. Yeah, maybe he could end up being pretty good for Cortland Sutton. But this is one of, I guess it's fair to say, four spots where a rookie quarterback could come in and start right away.

And when I did the profile for Trey Lance, I don't think Trey Lance is NFL ready. I think he's a really intriguing talent. He's very athletic, but he's a little raw, certainly inexperienced. But if he goes into training camp in Denver, say he goes to Denver with the number nine pick and he plays well and adapts well, man, it's not going to be very long. Drew Locke will be three interceptions away before Trey Lance goes in there. And I would love to see this offense with somebody like Trey Lance under center, because we've seen it with Drew Locke under center. It makes me a little bit nervous to count highly on any Broncos pass catcher.

So I like Sutton really love getting them as a number three receiver, really hope that he comes back fine from the ACL. And, uh, that that's the way it should be. You're going to look at him in the early middle rounds as a number three wide out. Yeah. I guess I should also mention, uh, Tim Patrick played really well for them last year, too. He'll be the fourth receiver. So they do have a lot of mouth to feed in this offense. And we'll see if the quarterback play

and a healthy Cortland Sutton can help get him back on track. So all the reports indicate that he's going to be back and ready for training camps. That's a great sign for him coming back from last year's ACL tear. We're going to get to a couple other guys here.

I don't want to spend too much time on all these bounce back guys because I think the dynasty talk and the rookie only draft is going to be fun. So Dave, I'll come to you on Cooper cup last year, up and down season once again, but things are changing for him. New quarterback, Matthew Stafford coming in Jared golf on his way out. They lose a guy in Josh Reynolds. They lose a tight end and Gerald Everett. So we'll see how this receiving core all shakes out and how things play out for Cooper Cup. But the 26th receiver off the board right now, according to NFC, as of April 1st, is

he a number two receiver still, or is he more of a number three guy? You're going to draft him as a number three receiver. At least you'll feel better drafting him as a number three receiver, but he's got potential to be, uh, I was, I was actually thinking about saying a number one, but I'm not going to go there. I'm going to say he's got the potential to be a number two receiver, certainly in PPR because they're putting in a new brain in this offense. Matthew Stafford's there instead of Jared Goff. I don't know if that necessarily

hurts Cooper Cup or not. On one hand, you think about Matthew Stafford, you know he's got a strong arm, you know that the Rams are going to certainly use it, but at the same time, this Rams offense is a West Coast system. Cooper Cup is a great receiver. He's a great short and mid range target. I am positive that he and Stafford will be able to get on the same page. Last year was not good for cup. He was 30th in PPR points per game. That was way below what we thought he was going to be, but he was 11th in targets per game among wide receivers. I would imagine that number stays right about where it's at. So if he's going to be top 12 in the league in targets per game, gives him a huge opportunity to do better and produce better and be more efficient than he was last year with Jared Goff because of Stafford at quarterback.

So yeah, I would prefer to get Goff as a number three receiver. I'm going to take him ahead of Courtland Sutton, but I think he's got some upside to be a solid number two wide out by the end of the year. Yeah, just to clarify, this is probably my favorite bounce back candidate and a guy that I wouldn't hesitate at all to say he could be a top 12 wide receiver. He was in 2019. And if he would add a normal touchdown rate last year, he would have been again last year. He scored on 7.5% of his targets the first three years in the league last year that fell to 2.4 percent he's going to positively regress in terms of touchdowns and i think he'll be a top 15 guy for sure and how much does the addition of deshaun jackson though take away from him

if deshaun can stay healthy which is clearly the biggest if from deshaun jackson throughout the course of his career yeah i i don't know like he's not going to draw a large number of targets even if he stays healthy i wouldn't anticipate so i, if anything, it might help a little bit because it's going to take some of the pressure off the top of the defense. All right, so we'll see how Cup does, but in a very good spot, and I think great value going outside the top 24 wide receivers. Anytime you get a player of his caliber in the role that he plays for Sean McVay in that offense, hopefully Stafford leans on him as much as Goff did.

So great opportunity to get Cooper Cup in this range. Heath, I'll go to you on the two Browns guys, and then we'll go to the tight ends. But Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry. Beckham is the 32nd receiver off the board based on NFC ADP. Landry's the 45th wide receiver. Both guys clearly in different situations. Beckham, we know the expectations are always going to be high for him

based on what he did as a giant coming off the knee injury for him. Landry was much better in 2020 than he was in 2021. Is there any hope for either of these guys to exceed these expectations if they're healthy, if things are working in this Browns offense, knowing how much they're going to run the ball? That's higher than I have either of them projected. I just think the fear we went into with last year was that Kevin Stefanski was going to take that run-heavy game plan and bring it to Cleveland,

and it worked great for Browns fans. It worked great for the team. It's awful for the pass catchers. And I don't have a lot of faith that either Landry or Beckham will be a top 40 wide receiver on a per game basis. I don't, I'm not counting on either bouncing back. I think that's kind of the sentiment that a lot of us share. It's like, you're hoping for Beckham to bounce back, not expecting Beckham to bounce back. And if he does bounce back, you're going to get a steal because he's going to go in this range as a number three receiver that you're taking based on hope. Again, he's going two spots ahead of Cortland Sutton right now. I don't know if you could justify taking him ahead of Sutton based on what the two guys profile to do in their respective offenses. If things are going right, both guys coming off of serious knee injuries and for Landry,

he's going to benefit if Beckham's not there, but to what extent will he benefit? And we'll see what the Browns are bringing back. Rashard Higgins, keeping the tight ends. You know, again, it's a very crowded offense with the two running backs of Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt and Baker Mayfield played very well in 2020. This isn't about him as a quarterback, but more of the offense from a fantasy perspective, not a lot to like about the passing game because of how few that they will throw the ball, how little they will throw the ball, which will impact these two guys.

All right, let's look at the tight ends that Adam suggested, Evan Ingram and Zach Ertz. I don't know how much time we need to spend on these guys. Again, if you want to suggest any other tight end that you think can bounce back, I'll throw, again, George Kittle out there from an injury perspective. So hopefully he's healthy and can play 16 games and maybe the quarterback situation, whether it's Jimmy Garoppolo or Mac Jones or Justin Fields or Trey Lance or whoever they're going to end up taking at three, please don't be Mac Jones, that it ends up working out well for the 49ers.

Dave, in terms of these two guys, Zach Ertz, Evan Ingram, do you have faith in either of them to return as top 10, top 12 fantasy tight ends in 2021? Nope. Neither one. Not Ertz. Neither one. Certainly not, given their current circumstances. And Ingram is a lot easier to figure out at this point than Ertz

because we don't know what team Ertz is going to be on. But adding Kenny Galladay is a clear sign that, okay, Giants want to have a clear number one alpha receiver. They got it with Galladay. We know that Sterling Shepard is still going to have a good role in this passing game. I think the coaches have had it with Evan Ingram. They're going to roll him out there and they're going to let him play, but he makes too many mistakes for them. Can't ascend, can't evolve

into a better pass catcher for them. I think he kind of stinks. And I think fantasy managers have learned that the hard way over the last year and a half with Evan Ingram. So certainly in a PPR format where his targets are going to go down and they were already down last year, man, I don't want anything to do with them. So Ingram is one clear staying away from him. Ertz is someone who's going to need to fall into a perfect situation at this point. If he's the second tight end in Philadelphia, he's going to get playing time. He's going to get used. I read that they're,

they can't designate him as a June 1st cut because they've already used their designations. So they actually have to wait until after June 1st if they are going to cut him. So that's why he hasn't been released yet. Fine. So where's he going? Well, they're still trying to trade him, obviously. And this could be a draft day trade.

So that's going to determine where he ends up. So I don't think anybody seeing him on the Eagles roster right now should assume that he's going to play in Philadelphia. Right, but what roster can he go on? We're going to say, wow, this is going to be great. There's one very obvious one that makes Zach Ertz instantly a bounce-back candidate. You put him in Indianapolis where he might all of a sudden be the most talented pass catcher again, like he has been almost every year in Philadelphia. He's got his quarterback. He's got his former coach. He gets to play indoors. That's the one place. If he goes anywhere besides Indianapolis, I'm not probably drafting Zekers.

But if he goes to the Colts, I'm going to have him as a top 12 tight end. I consider him as a streaming tight end if the matchups are good to begin the year. Yeah, I'm with Heath. I think the Colts would make him a potential top 10 guy once again because you look at this receiving core, there's still some holes. You look at the quarterback, there's obviously a relationship. The coach, there's a relationship. I throw New Orleans out there too. a relationship the coach is a relationship uh i throw new orleans out there too i mean i know we like adam troutman and the potential there but that's another spot indoors

a pass happy pass happy offense uh coach that has used the tight end in the past so i can see that type of situation as well but um yeah it's going to take the right roster you know you don't want to see him go and be the second tight end in Kansas City because he's chasing a ring. And, you know, playing in that offense would be great for Mahomes, but it wouldn't be great for a guy like Zachary. So we'll see. Not a lot of great bounce back candidates when you're taking injuries out of the equation. Again, looking at Kittle, maybe Mark Andrews as well can bounce back to his 2019 level or excuse me, 2019 level of performance as opposed to what he showed you at times in 2020. So we'll see what happens with the tight ends, but the receiver is a little bit more interesting and we'll spend a lot more

time throughout the course of the off season, talking about these bounce back candidates are going to take a break right now. When we come back and again, to a rookie only mock draft that we did on Monday, get to some of your emails as well. So stay right here at FFT. 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. Did you know that across Ontario, utility damage happens 19 times a day?

That's over 4,222 incidents a year. Don't let your next dig be one that causes costly delays or safety risks. Before you break ground, make it a point to request a locate. It's not just the law. It's a step to keep your team and community safe. Visit OntarioOneCall.ca and avoid unnecessary damages to get the job done right. Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report. We did a rookie-only mock draft on Monday, April 12th, looking at the rookies heading into the NFL draft.

Obviously, this will change dramatically once they end up on their teams. But Heath likes to torture us and make us go three rounds in our PPR rookie-only mock draft and four rounds in our Superflex mock draft. You can see the full write-up of those drafts when it's published on the site on CBS sports.com, but we'll go through the PPR mock draft. We'll look at the quarterbacks in the super flex mock draft, because basically the order of the skill players didn't change much. We did flip around the draft order for the participants in the draft, but the skill players kind of went in the same spots that they did in the PPR draft. So here's the first round. We'll go, we'll go six at a time and we'll look at how these guys could potentially go depending on the teams that they end up.

But the draft order was Heath Cummings was first. I was second day. Richard was third, Dan. I'm not going to try and pronounce his last name was fourth. He's one of our editors. Chris towers was fifth RJ white was sixth. And then we went back to the first six guys again, but here are the first six picks in the rookie only mock draft.

Jamar chase wide receiver from LSU. Najee Harris, running back from Alabama. Kyle Pitts, tight end from Florida. Jalen Waddell, wide receiver from Alabama. Travis Etienne, running back from Clemson. And Devontae Smith, wide receiver from Alabama. So Heath, this was your baby. Any surprises here in how this went from the first six picks

in the first round of the rookie-only mock draft? I was very pleased because the first six picks were the guys that I thought were the clear top six. I think there's a pretty big gap, unless you need a quarterback. There's a pretty big gap after you get past those first six, and maybe that's the first thing that fantasy managers should know. If you've got the seventh or the eighth pick, see if you can just pay just a little bit to get up to number six. Because I do think there's a pretty big drop off there. I think the first surprise in the draft was Dave taking Kyle Pitts at number three.

And I love it because I've got him at five and I wrote about how I want to have him higher. This could be a unicorn that dominates the tight end position for a decade. So I absolutely love taking pits there. I don't think we'll probably see him at three in actual ADP once we have that, but that top six, those names should be the names you expect to come off in any one quarterback league. All right. So we'll get to Dave selection a second, but you had the first choice.

Most rookie only drafts, unless it's a startup, you're adding players to current rosters. So we should make that clear to people that don't play in dynasty. So this would be a little different. Somebody could be looking at, I need a running back. I'm taking Najee Harris. I need a tight end. Could have seen Kyle Pitts maybe go first. So you had the first pick. Was it easy to take Jamar Chase, who clearly a lot of people are pegging as the best player in this draft, certainly the best skill player for fantasy, for dynasty, based on what his long-term appeal could be? Was it a no-brainer for you to take Jamar Chase? Yeah, like not knowing, not having any needs, it was for me. And a big part of that, I mean, you talked about the longevity, but it's not just that.

A lot of the running backs in this class are the same age or older than the running backs from last year's class. And so you look at their age, I always measure their age by what are they going to be week one, Jamar Chase, 21 years old. There's not a 21 year old running back that's going to be drafted in the first five or six picks. And so it's not just the fact that Chase might have a peak that's twice as long as what a running back gives you, but it's also that he's done this. I think Ben Gretsch talked about it plenty last year. Having this type of production, elite production at a younger age, generally makes it more likely you have elite production in the NFL.

So it's a combination of things. But unless I really am desperate for a running back, I'm taking Chase number one. And clearly a lot of people looking at what he was able to accomplish at LSU two years ago and comparing it to what Justin Jefferson did and then Justin Jefferson's rookie campaign as well, what he was able to accomplish stepping in from that offense to the offense he went to and the success that he had. I took Harris at number two. For me, that was an easy choice.

I think he's the best running back in this class. Again, we'll see where he ends up in the NFL, but that was a no-brainer for me. And then, Dave, was there anybody else you were considering besides Pitts? Again, this is a PPR one quarterback mock draft that we did. So was Pitts a no-brainer for you as well? I originally considered ETN. And then I thought actually about Javante Williams because he talked about there isn't a 21-year-old running back in the class worth a top five or six pick? Well, there might be one that's worth that seventh pick, and that's Javante Williams. He'll barely be 21 when he's drafted later this month.

But I went with Pitts because we're already talking about how top-heavy and thin the tight end position is, and here comes somebody who's got a chance to be, or someone who's got the athletic profile, to be one of's got the athletic profile to be one of the elite guys. I mean, he's fast. He's big. He can play three downs.

You can't compare him to anybody. Someone's going to take him with an early round pick. What's that? You mentioned his athletic profile. He's completely unique. Right. You said unicorn, and that's the word. He is Vernon Davis, who was the top 10 pick coming out uh whatever year um and and he you know didn't live up to it but from a measurable

standpoint speed height weight all those things vernon davis is the closest he he could be a very very good offensive weapon and you just think about he could go as high as fourth overall and if arthur smith gets his hands on him knowing him, knowing how Arthur Smith can lean on the players who are unique, he could be very, very great for fantasy. So I figure there's going to be somebody in every rookie-only draft that's going to be okay at running back and okay at receiver. They're not going to have that huge need at those positions, or they'll have a lot of needs because they're picking early in the rookie only draft. And they'll just go for a guy that's got a chance to transcend and be an amazing player for fantasy for the next seven plus years.

I think that's Kyle Pitts. And just to tie it into the super flex draft. So again, quarterbacks being pushed up dramatically. The first six picks in that draft, Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, Zach Wilson, Jamar Chase to Dave was the first non-quarterback taken. I took Najee Harris again at five. Heath took Travis Etienne at six, and then it went Waddle, Smith, and Pitts. So a little bit different philosophy there in where Pitts fell in a super flex draft when those first three quarterbacks were pushed up. So he did fall a little bit in that format.

All right. After Pitts, it was again Waddledle ETN and Devante Smith. As he said, those are the top six picks. You're going to see barring something changing. Uh, so he, after that, you had the seventh pick. You took Rondell Moore wide receiver. I took Devante Williams running back. Dave took the first quarterback in this draft with Trevor Lawrence, Rashad Bateman went after that. Terrence Marshall was pick number 11 and Elijah Moore was pick number 12. So Heath, as Dave said, Javante Williams could be the seventh overall pick. I was thrilled to have him there. I think Javante Williams could end up potentially being the best running back based on destination. If he ends up at the best

spot in the NFL would not shock me if he's better than Harris, better than ETN may not be a better player, but could be a better fantasy running back based on where he ends up. And so, uh, what was your thought process there taking the wide receiver over the running back? Yeah, I think like you put more Williams, Trevor Lawrence, all those guys like right in the same category. Um, it's, it's a big tier. And for me, I just love the 18-year-old production from Rondale Moore. As an 18-year-old freshman, 1,400 total yards and 14 touchdowns. He might just be the fastest wide receiver in this draft. He's small, but almost all the receivers in this class are small. I really think he has the chance. I mean, you don't say Tyreek Hill, but that's the type of upside that there is. Yeah, it seems like there's a lot of,

this guy's the next Tyreek Hill. There's one Tyreek Hill. Let's see if somebody can be the next. There's a lot of guys his size in this draft. A lot of guys that are his size in this draft that could run. Yeah, so we'll see if any of them can live up to being the next Tyreek Hill. So Dave, was it easy for you to take Trevor Lawrence

after you saw Moore and certainly Javante Williams? I'm sure you were hoping that I was going to pass on Javante Williams, but sorry that wasn't happening. Was easy to take Lawrence in that spot. Damn you, Jamie, taking Javante Williams. You took the right pick there. Yeah, I just went with best player available. I mean, I thought about Terrence Marshall a little bit.

I do like him. I think he's got a chance to be a really good player. He just was never given given gobs and gobs of opportunities at LSU because of Justin Jefferson and Jamar Chase, although last year he got his chance. He did pretty well with it. So if I'm in that spot and I'm good at quarterback, I'm going to Marshall. I'm not going to take Trevor Lawrence if I don't need a quarterback in my rookie-only draft. But for this purpose, I don't have a team team i'm trying to pick the best player available to me that's trevor lawrence who should be like 15 year solid nfl starter with years where he's amazing and very very good for fantasy i did have a a struggle because i haven't put these players

in my rankings yet and i won't until they're drafted but if like right now would you rather have lawrence or joe burrow burrow burrow but i i get where they're going to be closer than you think like i could see i think they'll be right next to each other in my ranking i'm not sure which one will be the top first that's interesting well where do you have burrow ranked right now nine or ten okay so you're going to put trevor lawrence top 12 right away day one that's interesting to me i don't think i'm ready to do that yet but i think he's going to be pretty close and he's going to get drafted in every draft. So someone's going to be there with the late round pick. They're already going to have a quarterback. Theoretically, they're going to say,

and screw it. I want to, I want to see what the kid does and start the season with Trevor Lawrence on the bench. And if he ends up doing amazing things, you're going to be really glad that you took them. All right. Just to recap the first round of our rookie-only PPR mock draft, it was Jamar Chase, Najee Harris, Kyle Pitts, Jalen Waddell, Travis Etienne, Devontae Smith, Rondell Moore, Devontae Williams, Trevor Lawrence, Rashad Bateman, Terrace Marshall, and Elijah Moore. So, Heath, anybody that was not drafted in the first round that you thought should have been a first-round selection? And again, everybody has their own choices here,

and we don't know where these guys are going to play in the NFL, but was there any surprises to you that guys that fell out of the first round? I don again, everybody has their own choices here and we don't know where these guys are going to play in the NFL, but was there any surprises to you that, uh, guys that fell out of the first round? I don't think there were surprises. I think, um, the worst, my lowest rated player was number 13 that went in the first round. So 12 of my top 13 were taking the first round. The only player that wasn't was the guy that I took with the first pick of the second round, Kadarius Tony, and I've got him at number 11. So, again, I think you look at those wide receivers in that range all the way from Rondell Moore down to Bateman, and it's just those guys will be reordered once we find out

how early they're taken and what type of landing spot they get. But there's a lot of potential, and a couple of them will be worth a first-round pick. Yeah, and Dave's saying damn you to me for taking uh williams at uh number eight damn you to heath for taking tony one spot in front of me obviously being a gator i was hoping he was gonna slip one more spot so you took tony to kick off the second round i took michael carter the other north carolina running back who i think also is getting a little undervalued could be very good in the nfl and then it went kenneth gainwell uh Khalil Herbert, Tylan Wallace.

I'm sorry if I'm going to mispronounce any of these names. Still getting used to them as well. And then Trey Sermon was the sixth pick in the second round. So, Dave, you took Gainwell. Heath, you took Tony. I took Carter. But, Heath, those first six picks, any surprises to you there as well? I don't think so.

I expect, like, Tony and Carter Carter, I think probably is the end of another tier. I really liked Trey Sermon a lot. So I liked that pick from RJ and that was my damn new moment. Cause I was getting ready to take him right after RJ, but all those guys really in that same range. I, I don't know what to do with, and I think it's a little bit unique this year. We had three running backs and taken the first round of this rookie draft. I've got three in my top 12 in my rookie rankings. After those three, I'm not particularly excited. I don't really want to draft a lot of the running backs that are left.

All right. So Dave, I took one. You took one. So defend what Heath just said there by taking Gainwell in the second round, the running back out of Memphis. You want to take running gain. Well, in the second round, the running back out of Memphis, you want to take running backs when you get to the second round and Carter, I agree with you, Jamie.

I think he's got a chance to be really good. He's got some skills that he needs to improve on, but if he can fix, for example, his pass blocking, if he can become a better pass blocker, he could be a really good NFL running back and gain. Well,

it's got stuff to fix too. Definitely not the fastest guy or the strongest guy, but just a good serviceable sustaining type of running back who could end up with a starting job at some point in his breakout years, 2019, he didn't play in 2020. So there are some things to like about Gainwell, but he's not,

I'm not going to pound the table for him and say that he's absolutely the fifth best running back. You can make the case for sermon to be that guy. There's other running backs in the class who have some good traits, but the truth is, is that I don't think that there's a perfect running back in this draft class. I think everybody from nausea Harris on down has a flaw that keeps them

from being like a future dominant back. I think Harris has a good chance to be a dominant fantasy back. I think Williams and ETN certainly could do it too. But there are a lot of running backs that are imperfect in the world and certainly in this draft. Yep. And some other guys that were drafted in the same range, Khalil Herbert, running back from Virginia Tech.

Again, he was in the first six picks of the second round. Trey Sermon, again, as we talked about, was also selected. And then Dave in the third round, we'll get to this, but you took Ramondre Stevenson, you know, another running back as well. So you took two running backs with two of your first three picks, a running back from Oklahoma. I thought that was a really good pick in the third round, given where his potential could be.

But after the first six picks in the second round, the final six picks to close out this round, and we'll only talk about the first two rounds here, because I just want to mention the super flex mock draft as well. So Trey Sermon was the sixth pick. So seventh started the quarterback run again. Justin Fields to you, Heath. I took Zach Wilson right after that.

Amari Rogers was number nine. Diami Brown was number 10. Jared Patterson, another running back, was number 11. And Chubba Hubbard, another running back as well, number 12. So we did see a lot of running backs come off the board here. Again, Heath, your decision to take Justin Fields over Zach Wilson, who's going to probably be drafted after Zach Wilson. What was the thought process there?

Well, if anything, it's a benefit to Justin Fields that he's not going to be drafted by the Jets. So there we go. One thing, I just think,, there are certainly the NFL knows, but I watched Justin Fields and Zach Wilson. I look at Justin Fields and Zach Wilson's production and who they played against. And I just think Justin Fields might be a better passer and a better athlete than Zach Wilson. If nothing else, I think he's going to give you more on the ground and young quarterbacks. A lot of times don't give you very much with their arm in terms of fantasy production,

of course, excluding Justin Herbert. So if it's a tiebreaker, I'm taking the guy that I think will give you more on the ground, which I think is probably fields. And I think he may be a better passer too. Yep. And you can make a case. Maybe Trey Lance could be ahead of those guys as well. Just given what his potential could be still has a lot to prove.

As Dave said earlier, uh, very raw, Very raw, but based on what his athleticism could be and the upside, he could be maybe the second best quarterback if Trevor Lawrence lives up to those expectations. So again, to recap the second round, it was Kadarius Toney, Michael Carter, Kenneth Gainwell, Khalil Herbert, Tyler Wallace, Trey Sermon, Justin Field, Zach Wilson, Amari Rogers, Dayami Brown, Jared Patterson, and Chubba Hubbard. Again, we each had two picks in the third round. So Dave's, Heath's team at number one overall was Jamar Chase, Kadarius Toney, and then you got Trey Lance with the first pick in the third round. Dave's team with Kyle Pitts finished up as Kyle Pitts, Kenneth Gainwell,

and Ramondre Stevenson. So two running backs after taking the top tight end. For me, it was the Najah Harris team was Najah Harris, Michael Carter. So two running backs and then Amon Ross St. Brown wide receiver out of USC. So I think he's got a chance to be good in the right situation. He's second team picking at number seven overall was Rondell Moore, Justin Fields and Kylan Hill. So it's taking a running back there.

I think Hill's another guy that if you can get him in the third round, you'll be happy about that. Dave took the Trevor Lawrence team was Trevor Lawrence and Mario Rogers and she Smith. So a couple of interesting prospects there after taking Lawrence with the first pick in the first round on that roster. And then my Javante Williams team, which was the spot ahead of Dave, was Williams, Zach Wilson, and then Pat Fremuth, the tight end out of Penn State. I think he could be an interesting prospect as well. The second time I said his name wrong, didn't I? Freermuth? Yeah. Could be the second best tight end along with Brevin Jordan, the tight end out of Miami. So it's going to be interesting to see who the

second best tight end is coming off the board. And again, the destination where that player ends up. So again, you can see the full write-up of the mock drafts. Heath, when will that be done? This week at some point? That will be done Wednesday, tomorrow or Thursday. Yeah. Okay This week at some point? That will be done Wednesday, tomorrow, or Thursday, yeah. Okay, so at some point this week, and then again, just to go over the Superflex mock draft real quick, you can see the full results there. Heath, did it surprise you at all that the first

three picks were the quarterbacks, Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, Zach Wilson, and then Trey Lance was the only other quarter, or no, Trey Lance and Mac Jones were the other quarterbacks to take, or no, Mac Jones Mac fell to round two. Mack fell to round two. Mack fell to round two. Interesting.

So it was Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, Zach Wilson, and Trey Lance were the only quarterbacks in the first round. A little surprising, or was that what you expected? I think that's probably what you expect. Like in an actual draft, as you talked about, where you have to fill holes and there's probably going to be a team in the first three picks that feels really good about their quarterbacks and is awful somewhere else and so that probably won't happen but those three guys and this is what we talked about on fft and

five yesterday the great thing about a super flex rookie only draft is how much more valuable those middle picks become because you see as we as we talked about, Kyle Pitts falling to eight. You see Etienne at six or seven. Those picks become a lot more valuable because the quarterbacks go early. And if maybe one of those quarterbacks doesn't go early, then you have a chance to land a Justin Fields or a Zach Wilson in the middle of the round, and they're a lot more valuable in a super flex league.

So this does really make the – that's why we went four rounds, which was even more torture than three in the first one. Some other quarterbacks that were selected. Kyle Pitts was actually nine. I think I misspoke when I said earlier, and Pitts was the ninth pick off the board. Trey Lance was 10. I took Devante Williams at 11 again,

and then you took Rondell Moore at 12. I took Kellen Mond with the second to last pick in the second round. Dave, as you said, you took Mac Jones with the last pick in the second round. Dave, as you said, you took Mac Jones with the fifth pick in the second round. I took Kyle Trask with the sixth pick in the third round. And so, you know, some interesting guys there. And I know, look, obviously you're going to gravitate toward.

Heath took a quarterback, too. You might have missed it, but Davis Mills was the last pick. Oh, Davis Mills, I'm sorry. Yes, he did take Davis Mills right after Kellen Mond. I struggled with that one, actually, to be honest with you. I think Mond, fantasy-wise, could be a little bit better, but Mills in the right spot could be great. But that was a tough choice for me, taking Mond over Davis Mills.

And Pete Prisco really loves Davis Mills, so interesting guy. Really? I didn't know that. Stanford. I think one thing to keep an eye on, and we sort of saw this develop last year, is there's going to be a lot of quarterbacks drafted in the first round. And obviously those are going to be the guys that have the chance to start. But think about Jalen Hurts last year, went to a situation where nobody expected him to be the franchise quarterback one year later, because Carson Wentz had just gotten that big contract extension,

but that's the way the NFL works right now. So don't be afraid to pull the trigger in the second round on a guy like Mond or Mills, if they're not starting in their rookie season or a guy like Trask or however these quarterbacks are going to shake out going into their rookie years because by 2022 they could be potential starters you'd like to have those guys stashed on your bench or in the taxi squad if you have the ability to do so so there's your uh rookie only mock drafts PPR super flex Heath will have those full write-ups on the site on cbssports.com before we get to your, just want to let you know, FFT listeners, the baseball season is here. If you want to dominate your fantasy baseball leagues,

then you should be listening to fantasy baseball today in five. Stay up to date with all of the latest news, waiver, wire advice, pictures to stream and hear which players off that are off the hot starts are actually good in just five minutes or less download and follow anywhere you listen to this podcast. All right. You have questions. We have answers. Let's get your emails here. This comes to us from Andrew. Dave, where's Andrew from? Los Angeles, California. From Los Angeles, California. Needs to pick two to keep out of. Bounce back candidate, Michael Thomas, Joe Mixon, Clyde Edwards-Hilaire, and Antonio Gibson. He has three keepers for next

year, and then it goes to zero keepers the following year. So I'm not exactly sure what that means, but has to pick two of these guys, Michael Thomas, Joe Mixon, Edward Solaire, Antonio Gibson. Dave, I'll give you this one. I think it sounds like you can only keep them for one year, so take the two guys that you would draft the highest out of this group. For me, that would be Edward Solaire and Gibson. Edward Solaire over Mixon?

Yes. Okay. Edwards, Laren get over mixing. Yes. Okay. Heath, you agree. Um, I would go mixing and Gibson. Yeah, I would go mixing and Gibson myself.

Uh, just think the upside is they're a little bit higher with those two guys. We'll see, but, don't know if it's PPR, non PPR didn't specify. So Andrew, there you go.

A little different opinion on, uh, the answer here of your three keepers. All right, Matt from Philadelphia. Hey, Sam, Teddy, there you go. A little different opinion on the answer here of your three keepers. All right. Matt from Philadelphia. Hey, Sam, Teddy, and Will. Any idea? I was thinking quarterbacks who suffered catastrophic leg injuries.

Those are Panthers quarterbacks. Sam, Teddy. Arnold, Bridgewater, Greer. Yeah. Good call. Matt from Philadelphia. Clearly a Panthers fan. All right. It feels like the hot name, clearly a Panthers fan. All right.

It feels like the hot name of the dynasty season so far has been T. Higgins. With more rumors now that the Bengals potentially drafting Jamar Chase, how do you feel about buying T. Higgins right now? Is this actually the time to sell high on him? So, Heath, would you sell high on T. Higgins, knowing that Jamar Chase could end up as a member of the Cincinnati Bengals? I don't know. It all depends on what you consider

selling high. I've got him at number 16 amongst my dynasty wide receivers. So if I was selling high on him, I'd have to feel like I was getting a borderline number one fantasy wide receiver to do it. So who's the guy that's in the top 15 that you would consider maybe trying to flip T Higgins for on a contender? I would happily trade T Higgins for Michael Thomas. I would trade T Higgins for? On a contender, I would happily trade T. Higgins for Michael Thomas. I would trade T. Higgins for Terry McLaurin. I would trade T. Higgins for possibly DJ Moore.

Would you rather have T. Higgins or C.D. Lamb right now in Dynasty? Lamb for me. What about Higgins or 1.07? Higgins. Yeah, I think I'd agree. What if it was 1.06? Probably 6.

Yeah. It's not a bad idea to try and shop T. Higgins now, just in case they do get Jamar Chase. Not that he's going to be bad if they get Chase, but a little bit of a downgrade coming, because I think Chase coming in would be better than A.J. Green. I don't think that's a big shock to say, based on what Green showed you last week. Yeah, but then Joe Burrow is going to be on his butt 20 times.

Well, we'll see. We saw it happen. Yeah, but he still wasn't one of the leaders in pass attempts per game last year in top 10 in passing yards per game. So the pass catchers could still benefit even though he's running for his life. All right, Steve, where's Steve from, Dave? Steve is from Missoula, Montana. All right. He has Kam Camara. I'm assuming he spelled it Camari, but I'm going to guess it's Camara as one of his top two keepers. Other keeper choices would be Darren Waller, AJ Brown. Is that just easy? AJ Brown? I think so. I'm keeping AJ Brown. Yeah. I would keep AJ Brown as well. There you go, Steve.

Dan, where's Dan from? Dan is from a league city, Texas. All right. Dan from league city, Texas. Can I have your opinions on what majority is needed to implement a significant change in a dynasty league? We have a small eight man league, which is extremely competitive. It has just been decided on a vote of five to three that the league should be changed to a two QB or super flex to QB or super flex league to utilize the quarterbacks available on benches and the waiver wire. I think we all agree. This is necessary for longevity.

However, the people who have voted, yes, obviously have the backup quarterbacks to fill immediate holes. Whereas the three who voted no do not. Is this a change that should be put forward now to start next year to allow for fair roster reconstruction, or do we just have to accept the decision? So Heath changing rules in a dynasty league or changing the format of a dynasty league when it benefits more owners, more managers than not, is that something that should be allowed or should you give it a year

to sort of allow this to maybe make some changes? I've actually thought about this in our YOLO league and not done it because of the headache of it. But I think I mostly agree with the majority rules. And this is one of those changes where I would not make it effective the following season. This would be a 2022 change for me. I think it should be the same type of thing. If you change the number of keepers in a keeper league or something like that, make it a one year in the future. That's exactly what we did in our keeper league. We changed a rule, but we made it a year in advance so that everybody had a year to go and get themselves ready. Now, the people that aren't ready

and the people that are complaining are going to forget about it and not do anything about it. And then they're going to complain about it next year too, probably. Yeah, but at least you've given them 365 days fair warning. You know what I mean? Like, at least you, as a commissioner, you can say, dude, we talked about this. We didn't make it official.

The only way I would make it the make the rule official the very next year, i.e. this year would be if it was the unanimous eight teams out of eight. I'll say, yeah, let's do it. That means everybody's excited. Do it in 2021. I guess the other side of this, though would be, they probably voted on this maybe late March or early April. The season doesn't start for another five months. What would be the harm in encouraging more trades and changing the approach to the rookie only draft now? Like,

why would that be a bad thing to implement this now? Because you need a full year to change these things. You can change these things in five months. Sure. But you're still doing something to benefit the five fantasy managers that are deep at quarterback. The only thing... It's also an eight-team league. There should be plenty of quarterbacks still available. If it was a 12... Our league is a 14-team league,

and it would be a nightmare to make that change in the middle because it would be legitimately hard for some team to acquire a second quarterback, especially since they don't log into the league for years at a time. But in an eight-team league, I think they should be able to make that. How many quarterbacks are on the waiver wire? Yeah, I mean, unless we're talking about 30-man benches that you're hoarding Mahomes and

Kyler Murray and Russell Wilson and Matt Rahn, you may have four or five quarterbacks on your team. But I just think that would encourage more trades for this year and make a little bit more fun and also change the approach for the, the, the rookie only draft, which will probably be changed anyway, because people have to start looking ahead to next year. But I would change it personally, uh, for this year to make it a little bit more interactive in terms of the trades. All right. Last email of the day comes to us from taco greetings from a city East of Beijing. So taco wants to know he's in a

12 team dynasty super flex this one's fun and i'll be facing this decision it seems nage harris and davante smith or jaylen waddle or jamar chase and travis etn or javante williams i'm assuming that's the williams who he's referring to so um i'm guessing it's a trade or some draft decisions, but which side would you rather have? Najee Harris, Devontae Smith, or Waddle? So pick your favorite of the two there. And then Jamar Chase and Travis Etienne or Devontae Williams. So either the top running back and the second or third wide receiver

or the top wide receiver and the second or third running back. Well, and you don't know this, I guess, but if it was Chase and ETN for sure, then that's an easy one for me because that's my number one and my number three. So that's the way I would go. If there's a significant risk that it might be Chase and Williams,

then I might go with the safety of Harris and one of the other receivers. I think Chase is a fantastic prospect. So I would take Chase and whichever running back is available. I guess the big decision would be once you figure out where these guys go. You know, if you have to make the decision now, it's easy to say, I think what he said based on what the prospect potential is of Jamar Chase and Travis Etienne, because is there that much of a drop off between nausea Harris and Travis ETN?

We don't know. We're going to find out. There is. Yeah. But I mean, we're going to, well, we'll see once they get to the next level.

But is there that much of a drop? Like, I think the drop off is a little bit more pronounced potentially between what Jamar chase could be and what Devontae Smith and Jalen Wall are. The running backs, you know, we'll kind of see, I think, where they end up. But it's a fascinating one, Taco. Thank you for sending that to us

and sending it to us on Taco Tuesday. We appreciate that. All right, guys, great job. We miss Adam. He'll be back for our next show, but hopefully we had you covered with some bounce back candidates, some rookie-only mock draft stuff,

and clearly the retirement of Julian Edelman, as well as Giovanni Bernard going to Tampa Bay for Dave Richard. He comes on.