Fantasy Football Today - BREAKING: Elijah Moore Traded to the Browns (03/23 Fantasy Football podcast)

Episode Date: March 22, 2023

Elijah Moore never quite lived up to expectations with the Jets, but he’s going to get a second chance with the Browns. The question is, does he still have the upside we thought he did? How much of his struggles were tied to the Jets and their dysfunction at quarterback? Dave Richard and Chris Towers break it down, with their expectations for Moore, as well as the Jets replacement options once they trade for Aaron Rodgers. You can also follow the full-length Fantasy Football Today podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-podcast/id261735167 Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs. You can listen to Fantasy Football Today in 5 on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today in 5 podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today in 5 podcast." Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Elijah Moore to the Browns. We'll break it down next on Fantasy Football Today in five. Welcome to FFT in five. I'm Chris Towers here with Dave Richard and Dave. We had a big trade go down. We still don't know who's going to be playing quarterback for the New York Jets in 2023.

Yeah, we do. We're pretty sure it's Aaron Rodgers. Yeah, it hasn't officially happened, but we did learn on Wednesday that Elijah Moore will definitely not be catching passes from Aaron Rodgers because he got traded to the Browns for a second round pick. The Browns also sent a third round pick

back to the Jets. And I mean, it's an interesting trade. Elijah Moore, a very, very talented young wide receiver who just did not take the step forward in year two that we expected him to how much of that was his fault versus the poor quarterback play versus just he didn't seem to mesh with the coaching staff so I guess that's where I'll start is how much potential do you think Elijah Moore still has oh I think he still has some good potential and this breathes life into his dynasty

value uh it certainly makes him an interesting dark throw when you get to that round 10 range in your fantasy drafts i think that what you're looking at with elijah moore to begin his tenure with cleveland is potentially the number two target getter in the offense behind amari cooper and if things break right if he can keep his head on straight chris we're talking about a guy who does have potential to be a number one type wide out for a football team but he's also shown to have i mean he's shown the upside to be a number one receiver he did that in 2021 with the jets in flashes but he's also shown the downside to be like a number four type of role player that doesn't belong on fantasy teams. I don't like that his catch rate has never been higher than 56.9%

over the course of his two seasons with the Jets. I don't like that he's only collected six end zone targets. 14 red zone targets with the Jets is pretty good. Does he get those types of opportunities with the Browns? You've got to worry about that a little bit just because of Nick Chubb being there. Their run preferred style does make it a little bit harder to expect gobs of touchdowns from Elijah Moore. So I think you're hoping for volume and you're hoping for him to make some splash plays after the catch. That is something that he did a lot of in college.

I think he still has the potential to do it. I'm looking at him in round 10, and I'm pretty sure he'll be gone by then. There's going to be enough hype, and we'll see. If things work out better, then you can't take away the fact that he's going to get targets and he's going to be with Deshaun Watson. It's just a matter of how many targets will there be from Deshaun Watson in Cleveland. One of the concerns that I would have is the Browns played three wide receiver sets just 58% of the time.

That was the 12th lowest rate in the NFL. On passing snaps, only 75% of their passes were three wide receiver or more. So three, four, or five wide receiver sets. Sure, sure, sure. If this wasn't a team, I guess it kind of depends on is he going to be an every down player? Does he play on the outside? Is this still Donovan Peoples-Jones on the outside?

And Moore is more of a slot receiver. But I will say, you mentioned his low catch rate. I think we know whose fault that is. When he was targeted by Zach Wilson at a 48.3% catch rate, 1.04 yards per route run, 5.6 yards per target. With literally anyone else throwing his way, and the Jets have not had a... Joe Flacco, Mike White, Josh Johnson, Chris Streveler.

Give it to me. 65% catch rate, 1.4 yards per route run, 8.2 yards per target. Now, Deshaun Watson wasn't good last year. Granted, he hadn't played since 2020. Sure, yeah, that's the question is, how much of a pass does he get for that? And do we still think Deshaun Watson, who pretty much every year in Houston,

supported two wide receivers who averaged 60 yards per game? It was DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller at first, then Brandon Cooks and Will Fuller for that one season. So, you know, there's the potential there if he can get back to that. Do you have those concerns though? I don't think he's as good of a receiver as those other guys are. Certainly doesn't have the deep speed of Will Fuller. I don't think he's got the nuance of Brandon Cooks. We know he's not like DeAndre Hopkins. So I don't think he can get up to there. I am encouraged by that catch rate though. I'm going to withdraw what I said about the catch rate for those first two

seasons in New York. And that does make me feel a little bit better. One last thing you mentioned about where could he play? I think a lot of people kind of peg him for that slot receiver role. Maybe that's where he ends up with the Browns, but we saw him line up wide quite a bit with the jets in fact more so out wide than in the slot in each of his two seasons there uh i i think that we're going to continue to see him be used in and out of that and if they're going to use you know you mentioned how many times they use three receiver sets or more in cleveland and it wasn't a lot when they dial it down to two wide receiver sets i still think he's going to be on the field. I think he'll be able to kind of oust Donovan Peoples-Jones from that. I would draft Elijah Moore, for example, ahead of Donovan Peoples-Jones. Yeah, I would too, even though I do kind of like

Donovan Peoples-Jones, but let's move on real quick. I don't think we have to spend too much time on it on the Jets because we're going to talk about them a lot once Aaron Rodgers does get traded there, but now they signed Mecole Hardman on Wednesday. That came before the trade of Elijah Moore. I think it probably precipitated it. And Alan Lazard signed with them officially earlier in the week. So this receiving core seems pretty much set. Garrett Wilson, Alan Lazard, Mecole Hardman, Corey Davis.

I don't think we think he's going to matter much. He might still get traded or released. But would you be willing to draft any of those guys except for Garrett Wills? Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's not going to be with a priority pick. Wilson's going to be a priority. I almost sent out this tweet today, Chris.

Garrett Wilson equals Devontae Adams. Meikle Hardman equals MVS with some possible red zone scheme up type of opportunities like we saw in Kansas City last year. And then Alan Lazard equals Alan Lazard. And you've got the trio of receivers that Aaron Rodgers threw to, not in 2022, but in 2021. That was one of his two MVP seasons. I think that that's what the Jets are going to go for. I don't know if the Jets are going to keep Corey Davis because he costs a pretty penny on the salary cap. They can save some money if they dump him. But whether it's Davis or Mims, that's going to be quality depth for them.

And if it is Davis, he's the one that could end up playing a lot as the third receiver. McCall Hardman is specialized a little bit more. It's a guy that can take the top off a defense or be used inside the 10-yard line like we saw with the Chiefs. It'll be interesting to see how the Jets go about utilizing McCall Hardman. He's going to be in that round 11-12 range for me. I'd rather have Elijah Moore, for example. Maybe they're a little bit closer to each other in non-PPR leagues. But I do think Hardman will have a role and they will find ways to scheme them up. The problem for

fantasy managers is going to be how do we know when to use them? Which weeks will be the best weeks to use McCall Hardman? Because he might end up playing 50% of the snaps each week. He might end up getting three or four touches each week, but some weeks it's going to mean 15 yards and some weeks it's going to mean 86 yards and some weeks it's going to mean 86 yards and a touchdown. We're just not going to know. That's why he's a headache that you don't worry about

until around 13 plus. All right, that's going to do it for FFT in five. Now the Jets just have to actually trade for Aaron Rodgers and we can finally finalize what we expect for the offense. And whenever that happens,

we'll obviously have you updated here. Make sure you subscribe and review fantasy football today in five. We obviously have you updated here. Make sure you subscribe and review Fantasy Football Today in 5. We'll see you next time.