Fantasy Football Today - Breakouts! Burrow, Lamb, Jonnu and More (06/16 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: June 16, 2021

The 2021 breakouts list will feature a lot of second-year players. We address the confidence we have in that group and then reveal our favorite breakouts. Jamey discusses Cam Akers (4:40) and Dave tells you why he's high on Chase Claypool (12:36). And we try to figure out if CeeDee Lamb should be the first Cowboys WR drafted (15:00) ... News and notes (21:00) and then a lot more breakouts. At QB (24:35), Joe Burrow makes the cut, but can Ryan Tannehill actually be even better than he was last season? We also go on a "Russell Wilson for MVP" tangent (31:40). At TE (34:50), we'll tell you why you can spend a late pick on Jonnu Smith. Plus outlooks for Tyler Higbee and Dallas Goedert ... Breakout RBs (41:30) are mostly Year 2 guys, but Najee Harris could be better than all of them! And finally, our WR breakouts (49:30) include Marquise Brown and Terry McLaurin ... Your emails 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/fantasyfootballtoday 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

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. Our week of sleepers, breakouts, and busts continues on Fantasy Football Today.

Welcome, everybody. I'm Adam Azer with Dave Richard and Jamie Eisenberg. Yesterday was sleepers. Today, breakouts. And should we just call this the second-year player show? Jamie, I read your column today and we've got as the industry and fantasy managers, we've got a lot of stock invested in specifically running backs and wide receivers from the

2020 draft class. Quarterbacks too. I mean, I like Burrow and Hurts. There's a lot to like about that group. If you play Dynasty, people were talking about that draft class, the 2020 draft class for a long time. And, you know, you got a chance to see it firsthand that the the running backs had some really special moments. Obviously, there was one very impressive wide receiver, but the guys behind Justin Jefferson have the chance to be stars.

It's a fun group. It really is. And I think it's going to be even better because now you're seeing all these backs have a full offseason and some clearer paths to playing time. I just got off a Zoom press conference with J.K. Dobbins, and he talked about that specifically, just about the ability to have an offseason, the ability to be around his team, the ability to, you know, learn. He said the mental aspect of the game was so hard for him last year and it's going to be so much easier for him this year. And I imagine a lot of those rookies probably feel the same way, you know.

So, you know, you're seeing, you know, the, the development. I love the, the Burrow quote today about T Higgins, you know, losing weight, but get, you know, getting better shape, uh, you know, that he looks like he's going to have a special season. So it's, it's really a fun, fun group and a lot of upside, a lot of bus potential because of the, the, uh, the heapings of praise that, you know, uh, we're, we're going to give these guys, but there's still a lot to love about that 2020 draft class. Dave, when you look at the running back, and look, we're not going to, we spent a lot of time on this show talking about year two, year two, year two.

This won't be the entire show. We've got other players to talk about. Dave's going to talk about Ryan Tannehill as a breakout, Johnnie Smith, who has a hamstring injury. Marquise Brown, he's actually, we've already had that conversation, I don't know, a couple of weeks ago. It was good stuff on Marquise Brown. We'll have, we've already had that conversation. I don't know. A couple of weeks ago was good stuff on Marquise Brown.

We'll have it again. But, uh, Miles Sanders and Josh Jacobs. Look, Miles Sanders, I think unequivocally a disappointment last year. Josh Jacobs finished as a top 10 running back. Did it really feel that way? I don't know. He didn't, he, his yards per carry was bad. He had three touchdowns in week one.

He wasn't nearly as good after that. You can decide yourself if he lived up to the hype. I don't think he did personally. But I'm really so excited about them. Does this feel different, this class of running backs? There were only two last year. There were like six or seven that were pumped about this year. So that's the good news is that there are more running backs.

And I think we knew that it was coming last year when 2020 was unfolding and we saw these running backs start to play well. And we all kind of knew, all right, these are going to be the breakout candidates in 2021. These are the guys that can ascend and maybe not just have their best year yet, maybe the best years they'll ever have. So I'm optimistic about the running back class. I'm optimistic about a lot of the receivers, too. I think there's a lot to be excited about from last year's draft class. I don't think we're going to feel the same way

at this time next year. I just don't think that there are enough running backs. There's probably enough receivers to maybe make up for it. But I would say that the classes of 2019, 2020, and 2021 will go down as being very impactful for fantasy for a very long period of time.

There's just so much great talent in them. Yeah. And you know what? It wasn't always the case. Before the Lamb and Judy and Jefferson class, look at some of the wide receivers who were drafted in round one. Corey Davis and Corey Coleman and Mike Williams and John Ross. Josh Doxon, yeah.

Josh Doxon, yeah. It has not always been like that. I mean, you might have heard what Dave said and people, well, of course, but no, it's just not like that. We've had a nice infusion of talent. Alright, so with that said, Jamie, why don't you kick it off? Give me your favorite. If you want to talk about one guy

who you want to highlight, favorite breakout right now, who would it be? You know, I just spoke to Cam Akers last week and the reason I keep bringing it up, speaking to these guys, I'm doing a story on the second year running backs and you know hopefully there's there's not a lot of bus potential with this group but i spoke to cam acres i spoke to james robinson spoke to jk dobbins um but acres i spoke to personally and um you know just looking at what his his potential is and what his season outlook could be um you know i asked him about what he was able to accomplish

the end of the season but doing it without daryl henderson there and you know he he said you know, I asked him about what he was able to accomplish at the end of the season, but doing it without Daryl Henderson there, you know, he said, you know, which is a plus and a minus, you know, that it was great for him to get the experience, but at the same time, he hopes that he and Henderson are going to be one of the best tandems in the NFL. Now, you hear that a lot from guys, you know, when they have backfield mates that they're friendly with, and this is a, you know, a friendly competition as opposed to I'm trying to outdo this guy who may take my job. But I think these guys have a healthy respect for each other, and they're going to work well together. But I think Akers is ready to establish himself

as one of the best backs in football. I think the addition of Matthew Stafford can help him in a tremendous way that he's not going to see a lot of stacked boxes like he saw at the end of last season. So there's a lot to love about Cam Ak acres as a potential top 10 running back this year yeah and i know like dave had cam acres i think on his breakout list too i don't i get your list confused yes you did you have some overlap acres antonio gibson and by the way just for the record correct me if i'm wrong but you both have jonathan taylor as your number one second year running back, right?

Sure. Yeah, he's already, in my opinion, broken out over what he's done over a little lengthier period of time compared to the rest of the group. But I would still say that what he did last year was great. He's going to improve on that this year. So, yes, technically he's a breakout candidate, but it's one that's not exciting. We can talk about Jonathan Taylor whenever you want. No, no, I just didn't want people to think that all the second-year running backs that we're going to talk about are ahead of Jonathan Taylor. It's just Taylor is number one in that regard.

Can I give you my favorite Cam Akers stat? Yeah. It's a pace stat. You take his last six games, including the playoffs, he had 561 rush yards, three touchdowns, and another 150 or so receiving yards, 11 catches in those six games. I hope that number goes up, his receiving production.

Jamie, I'm curious if you talk to him about that. His 17-game pace based off of just those last six games, and remember it includes the playoff games, just over 2,000 total yards and eight touchdowns. Gotta love it for him. And almost 1,900 yards per 16 games, total yards. Jamie, did you talk to him about pass catching?

Yeah, he said that's something because when I spoke to him, it was right after the story came out that Sean McVay said they want to use him more as a receiver and split him out wide. He said, I said to him, without giving away the game plan, what's the idea for you as a wide receiver? what's the idea for you as a wide receiver? What's the plan for you as a wide receiver? He's like, you'll have to see. I think it's going to be not necessarily when I say this,

think of the 2017 season, the Todd Gurley receiving numbers, where he had a chance. He had over 70 targets that season. I don't think it's going to be quite that lofty, you know, with 50-plus catches on the table. But I think 40-plus catches is well within reach, and he's going to have an opportunity to really, you know, touch the ball a lot. You know, just think about what this receiving core is right now.

They've added to it, you know, even with the loss of Josh Reynolds. You know, Deshaun Jackson brings a different element to what their third receiver has been. You know, Tyler Higby, I think, is going to be a little bit more involved because of what Stafford does with the tight end. So they'll do a little bit different things with him. And so, you know, will Henderson have the chance

to, you know, be in that group of top receiving options for Matthew Stafford and the Rams? Probably not. But, you know, he should do a little bit more in the passing game than he did last year. And let's not forget, Malcolm Brown's gone as well. Let me tell you what I don't like about Cam Akers. He is expensive. Okay. He is 10th overall in ADP right now. He's the 12th pick. He has the 10th highest overall ADP. He's going ahead of

Nick Chubb. This is, I'm looking at NFC average draft position since May 1st. Akers is going ahead of Nick Chubb, Austin Eckler, Devontae Adams, Aaron Jones, Stefan Diggs, Najee Harris, etc., Joe Mixon. So you got to pay up, obviously. We're looking if you have a late pick, Cam Akers could be one of your first two picks. Is, let's say, 12th overall

a swing pick? Is that too early for Akers in your mind, or is that okay? No. I think, again, we're going to see, especially with the Aaron Rodgers situation being even more tenuous today than it was yesterday. Every day is probably going to be something different. But, you know,

with Devontae Adams sliding out of the first round, I did a radio show last week where the host said that he wouldn't even take Devontae Adams until the third round, and this was in a one quarterback league, because I had brought up, we had just done our super flex draft last tuesday night and i said oh i got davante adams in the third round i was thrilled about that and he was like oh that's that's where i would take him into one quarterback league so you know adams falling out of the first round potentially uh aaron jones

may be falling out of the first round as well acres i think with the run on running backs that we're going to see is almost guaranteed to be a late first round pick it's a guarantee in non-ppr that's already a given in full ppr we'll see the packer stuff is interesting aaron rogers continues to find ways to pique our interest so is mark murphy yeah it's just so and this goes back to the conversation we had i think on mond's show of taking a wide receiver three versus running back eight. And how can you do it? Just justify it for me. Cam Akers over DeAndre Hopkins

and Stefan Diggs. I'm trying to catch a running back that has 2,000 total yard potential. Yeah. And if the pace is eight touchdowns, that's not going to be terribly far off from what deandre hopkins is going to score wide receivers and ppr should out the top tier wide receivers and ppr should outscore the the second tier and obviously third tier running

backs but it's the same thing about you know if you're going to take the top point score why would you not take a quarterback first you know i? If you're drafting based on total points, then you're going to take the guy who's going to score the most. Well, no. Okay, it's not just the total points, though. It's also the safety of Hopkins, who is... Same thing. Quarterback would be safer. Okay, we all know quarterback's just different. I think running backs and wide receivers are in a pool.

They're in one pool, and then there's the kiddie pool over there for the quarterbacks. The same thing why the quarterback pool is deep. The wide receiver pool is deep, too. You'd much rather have, I think, running back 8 and 9 as opposed to wide receiver 3 and 30. Plus, you can still find a receiver that you'd be thrilled to start by round five or round six, and you're not going to be able to get that with running back. And it's been that way.

I mean, we've titled it the running back dead zone. Who wants to take a running back from the running back dead zone that you want to put in your lineup in week one? Nobody. No, I get it. Okay. Dave, favorite breakout? The wide receiver dead zone is like round 10, by the way.

You say that, but that's almost... It's like round 7. It's not round 10. But even if it is round 7... I feel like this year it's going to be... I'm still finding receivers that I like in round 8 and maybe even round 9. Yeah, but you still find running backs that you like in round 4 and 5, and those guys are not always great. I just did a draft with you. I saw some of the guys you took.

How many running backs did I take in rounds 4 and 5? Well, I mean, you took David Montgomery in round 3, and I thought that was too soon. Just one that popped out in my head of guys that you took. And that's a guy that I would... It was mid-round three.

And that's a guy that I would consider to be... It wasn't mid-round three. It wasn't on my team 10. So it was toward the end. I could be wrong. You might be wrong. I apologize if that's...

And listen, we're just... Yeah, I mean, what's the difference between late round three and early round four? Would it have really made that big of a difference if I had waited five picks or whatever to get David Montgomery? You'd praise me for that, but poo-poo on it for being late round three. It doesn't matter. It's the guy who I wanted, and I wanted to lock up the position.

Adam, you asked me my favorite breakout candidate. I'll go with Chase Claypool in Pittsburgh. I'm really intrigued by what this offense is going to look like. I think it's going to have some basic conceptual elements of what happened last year, the short area passing. But I think they're going to just window dress the hell out of it. And I think the coaching staff has no choice but to try and maximize what they do with Claypool because he's such a different type of player. He's so big and so strong. They schemed up for him already in the red zone last year. There was a stretch.

It was in the middle of the year. It kicked off when he had that monster four-touchdown game. But like Roethlisberger started to put together some good numbers in the middle of the year, and Claypool's numbers were right there with him. And I wonder if it can all be built on. Roethlisberger trailed off at the end of the year. Claypool trailed off toward the end of the year. Claypool trailed off toward the end of the year. I know that Juju's back.

I know that those targets are going to get spread around. I just think that Claypool is a different type of receiver than Deontay Johnson and Juju. And I think the Steelers find ways to keep him fed. And I think he's got a chance to be significantly better than he was last year. Okay, he is going after right after I, you can Higgins.

So I would take him before those guys for sure. And just before Juju Smith Schuster, I would take him out of Juju. Okay. How about Kenny Galladay or Claypool? I don't want Galladay. Galladay makes me nervous. So I'll take Claypool.

Jamie, what do you think about that range? Galladay? It's actually Galladay. Then lock it makes me nervous, so I'll take Claypool. Jamie, what do you think about that range? Galladay, it's actually Galladay, then Lockett, Iuke, Higgins, Claypool, Juju. Claypool's behind all of them for me. I like Claypool's talent. I hope what Dave's saying is right, but I think if you, and I said this before, if you believe in Claypool, you've got to believe in Roethlisberger.

So I don't think that Claypool reaches his ceiling unless Roethlisberger's back to being close to what he was pre elbow injury, because if this offense and they're saying all the right things about how Ben's looking like he's going to be more aggressive down the field and, um, that the elbows is back to normal. And again, I hope that's the case because it would be fun to see how this offense actually looks with all three of these guys clicking on, on high, on a high cylinder and playing at a high level. But Dave, you alluded to it, all the targets to be spread around. I don't think he's going to see the targets here that he needs to break out.

I think he'll be good. I think he'll have some great moments. I think he's going to have a lot of inconsistent moments as well. The return of Juju, I think, crushed the ceiling. So Claypool's a guy that I will probably not draft a lot of just because I do think that he should go past all these guys. And if he's going ahead of them in some cases, then I'm not going to draft him.

You know, you do have CD lamb. Jamie has one of your breakouts. And I just, I started thinking like, first of all, his ADP since May 1st is wide receiver, 13 CD.

Creeping, creeping up way too high. And that's right. And that's a, by the way, Claypool is wide receiver 28. What would constitute a breakout for CeeDee Lamb in your mind? He would finish as, what, top 15?

Oh, easy. Yeah. And I'm, at this point, with Cooper's ankle injury, tempted to move Lamb ahead of Cooper, which wouldn't be a surprise based on the ADP because I think he's going ahead of him almost at this point already. He is. It depends what you look at, but according to NFC ADP

since May 1st, he's going ahead of Cooper. Yeah, and it's him taking that leap. You saw what he was able to accomplish in the first five games last year. Four and a half, whatever you want to call it, with Dak. When Dak was healthy, it was impressive to see what he was doing. he's averaging 16.2 PPR points per game in those five games, you know? So if he does that over the course of the season,

he's going to be in the mix to be a top 10 guy. And so he's got that type of upside, you know, clearly he was drafted to, you know, play an important role for the Cowboys. Um, you know, we'll see if, uh, they continue as you've pointed out time and time again, Adam, you know, throw the ball 45 to 50 times a game. That's going to have to help. Not going to happen. Agree. You know,

but it's going to have to be realistic, but it's going to, it's going to have to be the case, you know, close to that, you know, certainly, you know,

in the forties or, you know, close to 40 for all these guys to maximize their potential throwing in Blake Darwin as well. So, you know, that's going to hurt cd lamb but you know he's he's getting to the point of uh going to the other side of this where you know the the hype is

out of control and the breakout potential isn't there because he's being drafted at his peak which is not necessarily something you want to do so where is that peak where you're just going to pass on him is it round three is it round middle around i would never touch him in round three round four is really but you know it's, again, typically the way that I draft is if I get three players that I love and he's still there in round four, then I will take him. I find myself, because I take Amari Cooper a lot in round three, that I pass on CeeDee Lamb in round four. And in some cases, I think I'm going to start to do the opposite, where I may pass on Cooper in round three and take Lamb in round four. Yeah, it's interesting. I tried to look at

all the instances of your two wide receivers who finished in the top 12 and PPR since the Beckham draft. So basically, so Beckham, Beckham, Watkins, Evans, Brandon Cooks, Alan Robinson, that incredible wide receiver class was 2014. So looking at all the finishes since 2015 when they were in their second year. That year, four of them finished top 12. And that was Beckham, Robinson, Cooks, and Landry. And Watkins was close.

He was 15th, and he was top 12 per game. That's four of the eight instances. Basically, over the last six seasons, we've had eight wide receivers finish top 12 in PPR in their second season. Eight sophomore wide receivers top 12. So then I said, well, I hope CeeDee Lamb can do it because I'm excited about CeeDee Lamb.

I want CeeDee Lamb. Can he do it with Amari Cooper healthy? Can he do it with Amari Cooper doing what he usually does? And that's close to 1,200 yards, I guess, with Dak Prescott. It's kind of hard to say because first four games of the year, he was amazing. You could look at Juju and Antonio Brown.

Antonio Brown had a huge season and so did Juju that year. Actually, six of the eight instances of the sophomore wide receiver finishing top 12, he had a teammate that had, um, about a thousand yards actually, or more.

Uh, yeah, a thousand, uh, no 980 or more yards in six of eight instances. But only one time was there a number two receiver who had more than 1038 yards. And that was Antonio Brown. So basically if Amari Cooper, was there a number two receiver who had more than 1,038 yards? And that was Antonio Brown.

So basically, if Amari Cooper is just normal Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb finishes in the top 12, it would be, I guess in that regard, the most impressive top 12 season other than Juju slash Antonio Brown. Does that make sense? Yeah. I mean, look, it's going to be hard for him to reach his peak other than Juju slash Antonio Brown. Does that make sense? Yeah. I mean, look, it's going to be hard for him to reach his peak if Cooper is doing Cooper things. But, you know, again, if you're in the CD land camp,

which obviously a lot of people are based on where he's getting drafted, you're like, oh, this Mark Cooper ankle injury is kind of good. Oh, yeah. He's had it before, right? Yeah. You know, hey, maybe the Pup List is something the Cowboys should consider if he's going to miss training camp for the start of. No. Hey, maybe the pop list is something the cowboy should consider if he's going to miss training camp. Sure.

Hey, short term. I are. Uh, all right. So those are some of our, our favorite breakouts and there are a lot more to come. Let me tell you about Saturday.

All right. What are you doing? Saturday? Saturday is a big day. You guys know why you'll tell us it's my birthday. Oh, Ooh. birthday. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

All right. Are you 40 yet? No, 37 birthday and father's day on the same weekend. Look at you. I know. What a jip. Um,

all right. So anyway, other than that, if you're not celebrating my birthday, check out CBS. We got an afternoon of sports beginning at one Eastern on Saturday, the bill picket, invit Rodeo Showdown. Then that's followed by WNBA Summer Hoops at 4 Eastern. Head to the field for the NWSL.

Then in primetime at 8 Eastern, the Green Flag is out for Superstar Saturday Night. And race number two of the Camping World SRX Series on the dirt track at Knoxville Fairgrounds in Iowa. This is a jam-packed Saturday of sports, and that is Saturday on CBS. They probably will wish me a happy birthday on one of those programs,

so just watch all of them, and we'll figure out which one it is. News and notes. Got some holdouts right now as mandatory minicamps open up. Miami cornerback Zavian Howard, New England cornerback Stefan Gilmore. Those are, I guess,

the two high-profile ones. We had Chandler Jones we talked about a couple days ago. Contract guys? Yes. Contract, hold on. Jamal Adams is dealing with a personal issue, safety for the Seahawks, but also wants a new contract, but he's

also not a camp. And there's that Rodgers guy yeah whoever that amari rogers yeah big eyes on him johnny smith hurt his hamstring dave he's the guy you have as a breakout so right he might have broke already um hopefully he'll be fine for training camp um see what happens but well i'll talk about him as if the hamstring's fine all right if you John New, you like this news. If you are overvaluing John New, then this is going to hurt your feelings. Minnesota signed defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson and Daniil Hunter, their star defensive end.

He reported to camp after missing the voluntary workouts. We've said it a number of times, but this should definitely be an improved defense in 2021. Trey Lance, according to NBC Sports, is going to be given every opportunity to move up the depth chart. Cool. Jacksonville offensive coordinator.

It is interesting, though, just with the Trey Lance thing. George Kittle, who was so steadfast in defending Jimmy Garoppolo, obviously reading the room, he says glowing things about Trey Lance when he was asked about him this week. And so, you know,

you wonder where his head's at right now. Is he still going to defend his buddy or is he looking at the guy who may be thrown in passes for the next four or five years? All right. So you have George Kittle on a dynasty roster. Who do you want the quarterback to be this year? Aaron Rogers. That would be great.

Not an option. That'll work. Not an option. Have you seen Garoppolo or Lance? I'll take Lance, just because I think that he'll make it harder for defenses to play against the Niners. I mean, the thing about George Kittle,

his best numbers came when it wasn't Jimmy Garoppolo. Right. So that 2018 season, right? When Garoppolo tore his ACL after three games. Hmm. Interesting. So I don't think it matters. I think Kittle's good enough

and this offense is good enough to feature him no matter who's throwing the ball. And it's not like we can say, well, this is going to cost Kittle a ton of touchdowns if it's Trey Lance because... He doesn't score his touchdowns. Kittle doesn't score any touchdowns to begin with. He's a volume guy.

Yesterday, we talked about LaVisca Chennault report today out of Sports Illustrated that Darryl Bevel the offensive coordinator wants to develop Chennault purely as a wide receiver he's tearing up camp Trevor Lawrence is too Lawrence has had some really great days apparently

I spoke to James Robinson about Trevor Lawrence and he said you see the difference. You know, just in not so many words, but, you know, that's not a direct quote. Yeah, because Gardner Minch is still on the team. That's kind of mean. Right. He's like, you know, you just see the presence of what Trevor Lawrence could be. Cam Newton way ahead of where he was last offseason,

according to Bill Belichick. And that's not a surprise. Last offseason, he was a late signing by the Patriots. They have a lot more talent than they had this time last year, so not a surprise. I think we should talk about him in a sleeper

standpoint. He's so far ahead, they drafted his replacement. Who's not having a great camp. And Cam is working with the ones. Jared Stidham's hair, by the way, is having a great camp. Ooh, I didn't see it. Schrager,

throw it up on, on YouTube. Jared Stidham's hair. Let's get, all right. Uh, back to the breakouts guys. Uh,

Jamie, Joe Burrow. So I just picked one of, I didn't go with everybody in your column, one quarterback, one tight end, two running backs, two wide receivers,

Joe Burrow. The other one was Jalen hurts, but we'll go with Joe Burrow here. And you know, Dave's breakout is Tannehill. So why don't we compare the two? Who would you rather have Burrow or Tannehill and then make your breakout case for Burrow? I would rather have Tannehill because I think Tannehill's already broken out personally, but Burrow to me is, you know, on his way based on what he showed you when he was healthy last year, because, you know, you look for last year, because, you know, you look for some things and obviously,

you know, you, you mentioned this about Dak and I don't think the Bengals ideally would like to throw the ball as much as they did last year, but they were in the top 10 in past attempts. That's Jared Stidham's hair. Having a great, great camp.

Wow. That, wow. That's a little good on the jets. Okay. It's almost like if he shaved the sides, it would have like a lot of hair. It'll look good on the Jets. Okay, sorry. It's almost like if he shaved the sides, it would have like a Patrick Mahomes type of feel to it. It just looks like...

Which if I was going to try to emulate any quarterback's look, I'd try it and probably look like Patrick Mahomes. I guess so, but it just kind of looks like a lot of people had COVID hair for a while when they weren't going to the barbershop or they weren't going to get their haircut. His stidum looks like it's been 18 months, basically, since his haircut. Looks like there, his stidum looks like it's been 18 months, basically, since his haircut.

Looks like there's an otter on his head. You ought to know. All right, Jamie, sorry, keep going on Burrow. I would. No, again, the past attempts, you know, and the passing yards, he was number seven in passing yards per game in the 10 games that he was healthy. In four of the nine games that he finished,

he was over 21 points per game. Obviously, the upgrade of Jamar Chase over A.J. Green is going to be huge. And the ability that T. Higgins, I think, still has to show you, plus Tyler Boyd being one of the best receiving cores that we see in the NFL if everything comes to fruition with this group. So Burrow is going to be drafted in some cases outside the top 12. You know, I think he'll be in the top 15 quarterbacks, but he's at the bottom of the top 12 group. And, you know, as long as that knee is healthy, he has a chance to be special. So, you know, we got a glimpse of it last year. He had some unlucky games, you know, where two of his 300 yard passing games didn't score 20 fantasy points because he had some touchdown, some bad luck with some touchdowns

and I think that luck turns this season based on the guys he has around him. Also Burrow on pace for about 230 rushing yards so he gives you something there. He's not going to have 500 but he gives you something there although coming back from the injury maybe he won't be quite as much but he is

mobile and athletic. Dave, I don't even know what would hold back Joe Burrow. I feel like as long as he's a good player, there's no reason why he shouldn't have a good year. It's just like their defense isn't going to be special. They're loaded at wide receiver. What could hold him back? The Steelers, the Steelers, the Ravens, the Ravens,

the Browns, the Browns, the Vikings, the Bears, the Packers. Let's see who else is on this list. The Chargers, the 49ers, the Broncos, the Chiefs. That's a decent point there. It's a pretty tough schedule. It is really, really tough. And the only good thing that's in Burrow's favor in that regard is that some of those games will end up being high-scoring games. That'll help Burrow get up some fantasy production because he's got that amazing receiving core. But a lot of those defenses also have really good pass rushes. And the Bengals made the conscious choice this offseason to not improve their offensive line.

And they tried. They did a couple of things. They drafted a guard. They added Riley Reif. They did things, but they didn't go over the top. They didn't do what things. They drafted a guard. They added Riley Reif. They did things, but they didn't go over the top. They didn't do what the Chargers did, for example. And I wonder if that comes back to haunt them a little bit more. So I like Burrow a lot, but as soon as Julio Jones went to Tennessee, it was a no-brainer that I would take Ryan Tannehill over Joe Burrow.

And I'm taking Jalen Hurts over Joe Burrow, too. I know Jamie would agree with that. Burrow's a good late-round quarterback to draft. And I don't know if you love the idea of starting in week one against Minnesota, or if you just want to stash them on your bench, but obviously the upside's there. The talent is great, but the schedule is tough and it's going to be especially tough for that offensive line. All right. So then Jamie said Tannehill, in his mind, already broke out. What do you think about that? So when I think of a breakout player, I think of someone who could post career best numbers.

And Tannehill, I mean, it's going to be hard for him to do better than he did last year. He had 40 total touchdowns last year. It's insane. But I think he can get a career high in yardage. And maybe that makes up for not quite getting the 40 touchdowns. But you look at the numbers from last year,

he was a better deep ball thrower and a more on target thrower than Matt Ryan. And that's just the easy comparison to make. Cause Julio Jones going from Atlanta to Tennessee and I get it. The Titans are still going to throw the ball. Not as much as the Falcons, but I think they're going to try and amp it up a little bit. They just got Julio Jones and their defense isn't very good. So I think that there's certainly going to be opportunities where Tannehill is going to

have to make moves. I love his efficiency and I love his consistency. He's given you at least, what is it? 20 fantasy points in 21 of 26 games with Tennessee. That's tough to beat. So if he's got the chance and remember he's playing 17 games, that'll help my case. I think he's got a chance to get close to maybe 4 400 passing yards that would be a career high for him if he continues to rush like he has been rushing maybe there's five rushing touchdowns there this year and he had 30 over 30 passing touchdowns last year and now he's getting julio jones julio should play for a big chunk of the year he's done that most of his seasons in the n. I'm excited about Tannehill in a big way,

and I think he does have a chance to break out and have the career best year in 2021. I think everything Dave says is right. The only thing that, you know, he kind of falls in this gray area of putting him in a category because if you go back to 2019, the time he started, he was the number two quarterback in fantasy. He's not going to be better than that.

Nobody's drafting to be that. And then last year, he was number eight quarterback. I don't even know if he's being drafted higher than number eight. I know we had some discussion on the show last Tuesday night with the Superflex League when he was the seventh quarterback

off the board, if I'm not mistaken. Right. But we were surprised by that. That was shocking. So he has to do better than that, in my opinion, to be a breakout candidate. And I just don't think he's going to do that per se. So while his numbers may, as Dave alluded to, you know, be the best of his career. I don't know if he's going to finish better than where he is kind of being drafted at his peak. So let's say that we can assume fantasy drafters will take my homes,

Alan Murray, Prescott and Lamar Jackson ahead of five. Yeah. And then you got Russell Wilson. Then you've got like Wilson, Herbert Rogers. It's Wilson and Herbert. Then there's a break because Rogers is kind of in this gray area right now.

Nobody knows what to do with him. So where's Tannehill? Is Tannehill behind Wilson and Herbert? Tannehill for me is behind Wilson and Herbert, but that's the next three for me. Okay. Dave? No, he's a little further down.

I think I have Rodgers ahead of him still. I could see myself putting him at eight. I could see myself putting him ahead of Russell Wilson if it just continues to look like the Seahawks are going to not let Russ cook again. Does it look like that, though? It gives every indication that they're going to let him cook.

I hope so. If they do, then we've got Russ too low. He's going to win the MVP this year. I'm feeling that. Never getting an MVP vote to winning the MVP. He was on his way to doing it last year, and then they pulled back on him.

This whole franchise. They pulled back on him last year. This was his MVP season. This was the discussion last week with Laquan Jones taking of the Real Deal Fantasy, taking Tannehill over Russell Wilson. And his point was that Tannehill will finish stronger than Russell Wilson will finish. His concern was Russell Wilson will peter out

toward the end of the season like he typically does. And Tannehill's got a nice schedule to start the season. This whole year has been about Russell Wilson for the Seahawks. It is his franchise now. He's pissed off about it. He made it more public this time than ever. He dropped the whole nice guy thing and did what he had to do. If they have any illusions of keeping him past 2021,

they need to make this his MVP run. His Heisman Trophy campaign push like colleges do. It is Russell Wilson's franchise right now. It should be. It should have been for years. He's going to win the MVP. Yeah. I had to say that.

I just had to get it off my chest. Is he going to be better than Daniel Jones? No, he won't be better than Daniel Jones, but I just feel like since... Look at you. Yeah, no. Jones will win some AP Offensive Player of the Year award or something. Come back.

Come back, players. I feel like we were in this exact spot last year, and it just seemed way more realistic that Russ was going to get just allowed to do whatever he wanted to do. And then he did for seven games. He did. And then what happened? It just,

they took it away from him. Well, they weren't winning to the level that they wanted to, but they were, they basically had the same record about their wins, man. I got a fantasy championship. They sucked last year when they stopped throwing the ball.

They were such pretenders. Well, they played a cake schedule where their defense looked a lot better than it was. Yeah, right. They needed to actually go be aggressive, but they also said that teams made a lot of adjustments to their deep balls, and they couldn't... DK Mecca was saying all the right things about the

offense coordinator. It sounds like things are going to be a little bit more diverse in the Seattle offense, and the fact that they had three draft picks and the first one that they used in the second round was on Eskridge, you know, is kind of telling that they went out and added an offensive weapon and a pass catcher

and a guy that can play on special teams too. But, you know, a guy that can, you know, help this offense and help Russ. Yeah, I'm with you. Like that's the one I struggle with is Wilson and Herbert. Right now I have Herbert six and Wilson seven. And I could see myself changing.

As a matter of fact, I think I will. I didn't really want to steal the show from you guys, but I did. I've been thinking about this Russell Wilson thing for a while. He's a breakout candidate for you. Well, that the reason why I thought of it was because you said Tannehill doesn't

fall into a category. I think Wilson is actually a sleeper. I just feel like he's going to be able to put it together and have his, I think he's going to be the quarterback. I gravitate toward. I think he's going to be my guy. So he's an upper echelon sleeper. I just feel like he's going to be able to put it together and have his, I think he's going to be the quarterback. I gravitate toward, I think he's going to be my guy. So he's an upper echelon sleeper.

I can see it. Yeah. Okay. Running. Let's do some, no, let's do the tight ends like we did yesterday. So Dave,

you want to kick it off with John Smith? Just love the opportunity that I think he'll have in new England to be like a more receiver than tight end. They've already been crowing about him in practice about just how big and athletic he is. And he's a good receiver and a really good route runner. And they had to have brought him in with designs of making him a big part of their passing game. And I'm positive that they want to get their passing game,

you know, off the OR table at this point and to have something there so that they can be at least 50-50 pass run. I've been a fan of the talent for a couple of years, and I think he's just going to get a good opportunity. Maybe he gets close to 100 targets over the balance of the season. Hopefully that hamstring's okay. But I don't really view him.

I kind of view him as like a cheap version of what Kyle Pitts is in Atlanta. I think he's going to be way more receiver than tight end. I think the Patriots are going to look for matchups with him. I think the Patriots are going to let Cam Newton throw a little bit more than he did last year, and I think he'll be better. They're talking like he's already playing better

and he's more comfortable with what they're asking him to do. And if it ends up going to Mac Jones, who doesn't look like he's ready to go right now, but if it does by midseason, I think that helps as well. So it's just a combination of him having an opportunity and him being a great athletic talent coming through for New England. Okay, he's actually going just a little six picks

behind Hunter Henry in the average draft position I'm looking at. It's Irv Smith, Henry, Ingram, Jonu Smith. I think he can put up career best numbers. I think he'll be better. I'll draft him ahead of Hunter Henry. I think Henry's there partially because of his blocking ability.

Can I tell you guys... It's a cheap price tag, too, for Jonu. The player, the tight end that I feel like we never talk about. And he's going ahead of all of those guys. And it's Tyler Higby. I know Jamie, I'm starting to come around in a lot. Yeah.

Your guy is Dallas Goddard. Uh, we'll talk about him, but can we make a Tyler Higby breakout case or sleeper case, whatever it might be? Yeah. I think based on, you know,

ADP probably sleeper as opposed to breakout i just don't know like where the ceiling will end up being because again all those pass catchers for the rams and as we've seen you know sean mcveigh can fall in love with this tight end and completely go away from his tight end but as jacob gibbs told you when they let their tight ends run routes they throw to their tight ends at least based on what this offense has been with jared goff so um higby there's like this group of tight ends and I would put both Patriots guys in this group, um,

of, you know, do you want to buy back into Logan Thomas and, and Robert Tunyon? Do you want to buy into the Patriots guys? One of them being better than the other. And ADP is obviously telling you one thing. And I'm with Dave.

I'd rather take my chances with John than Hunter Henry, but I'm going to avoid both of them, to be honest with you. Um, the two sophomore guys of Troutman and commit, I love Adam Troutman. He's going to be one of my favorite, you know, going to avoid both of them, to be honest with you. The two sophomore guys of Troutman and Kemet, I love Adam Troutman. He's going to be one of my favorite, you know, draft picks this year. As a matter of fact, we did our pick by pick, you know, draft for the magazine, which will, you know, hit newsstands in July, our second edition.

I took Troutman and Kemet on one of the teams. But then you get, you know, Gusecki and Higby and Jarwin and these guys and Evan Ingram, you know, they can all really compete to be a top 12, you know, Gusecki and Higby and Jarwin and these guys and Evan Ingram, you know, they can all really compete to be a top 12, you know, top 10 caliber tight end because of, you know, what their talent level is and their potential roles in the offense. And Higby losing Everett, you know, will hopefully help, you know, and so, you know, I think there's an opportunity there for him to be successful. And we also don't know where Zach Ertz is going to end up as well. The theory of elite or weight

is very profound just based on how you should do it. Greater late. Greater late. Let's talk about Dallas Goddard. You're insulting Travis Kelsey by only calling him great. That's true. There's Kelsey and then there's greater late. Let's talk about Dallas Goddard. You're insulting Travis Kelsey by only calling him great. That's true. There's Kelsey, and then there's greater late. Yes. Let's talk about Dallas

Goddard here. Wasn't so good with Jalen Hurts, but I think anyway. Yeah. He only played two games though, so it's hard to judge. Yeah. He played three games, but Hurts, I guess one of them was the Washington game, right?

Okay, forget that. Tell me about Dallas Goddard and what you think his ceiling is. How good do you think he could be? Well, I mean, you've already seen a top-ten season from him. So he did that two years ago when Hurts was healthy. And so doing that in tandem with Hurts I think is important because now if he gets those opportunities and maybe some of the routes that Ertz was running,

some of the targets here that Ertz had, that's going to help. They played four games together healthy last year. And in two of those, Goddard scored at least 18 PPR points. In the two games that he played, two full games that he played with Jalen Hurts, he had 14 targets in those two games.

And we know what this receiving core is. And, you know, I've said this a billion times that I'm going to gravitate toward tight ends in that middle tier and this is the tier that's typically failed us but that's the middle tier of hockinson andrews pitts and goddard for me you want to throw earthsmith in there or no offense you can but um goddard and hockinson fit the profile of the guys who can lead their team in targets and goddard can be the best pass catcher for the eagles i don't know if he will be i don't

know if davante smith comes in as a rookie and all of a sudden commands those targets if jalen rager as a sophomore has such an improvement or you know it's just uh a 10 to 15 target difference across the the course of the season because they're also balanced. But I mean, you look at what the Eagles pass catchers are, and it's hard not to say Goddard can be the best of that group. So I'm going to take him whenever I get the opportunity to. I think he's got top five upside. I think he can take that next step forward as a player, given his opportunity.

He's got to stay healthy. Hurts has to improve as a player, given his opportunity, he's got to stay healthy. Hurts has to improve as a quarterback, but the blueprint is there for him to be that next solid, borderline great fantasy tight end. I know he's going to be a top seven tight end for most people, Jamie, but is he seventh? No, he's behind Pitts

because I think Pitts does have a higher ceiling if he hits. And it's hard to say that about a rookie tight end, but he's seventh for me. Where are you taking him higher ceiling if he hits. And it's hard to say that about a rookie tight end, but he's 7-3. Where are you taking him? What round are you looking for Goddard? Six. Okay.

Yeah, all right. But Andrews, Hawkinson, Pitts, Goddard, right? That's how I have it, yes. Right. Okay. Hawkinson, Andrews, Pitts, Goddard. Sorry. That's right.

Hawkinson, Andrews, Pitts, Goddard. Hawkinson is Jamie's other breakout tight end. I think you all probably know that by now, but go check out the column. It's good stuff. There's sleepers, breakouts, and busts all over the website right now, cbssports.com slash fantasy slash football.

Let's go to the running backs here. Jamie, I'll throw it to you first. You've got DeAndre Swift as one of your breakouts. You have Najee Harris as one of your breakouts. Who would you take first, Najee Harris or DeAndre Swift? Najee. I would take Najee over Cam Akers too, you know, just to go back to the start of the show.

Yeah, I just think, you know, again, blueprint. Mike Tomlin's blueprint for, you know, 15 years now has been, or at least 10 years, you know, if not going back further than that. But he has a guy, he leans on that guy. And I think Najee Harris is going to be that guy. I think he's going to catch pass out of the backfield. He's going to work at the goal line. He's going to be their guy on first and second down.

So I love Cam Akers. I love DeAndre Swift. I just think Najee Harris has a higher ceiling going into his rookie season. I know the offensive line is a concern, but I'll buy into what the Steelers should be able to do, what he should be able to do, what he showed me at Alabama. So I'm all in on Najee Harris. I would take him, like I said, ahead of

a couple of the second-year guys. Actually, I would take him ahead of everybody not named Jonathan Taylor. Man, guy runs for five touchdowns against the Gators in the SEC Championship game. That's right. I'm scarred for life. Oh, gosh. Actually, that night I said, if they only hold him to three, I won't draft

him no matter where he ends up next year anywhere. But when he scored five, that was it. By that logic, Adam and I are going to take Trevante Williams and Michael Carter with our first two picks in every single draft. Every highlight they show of that guy. It's against Miami. It's against Miami. Yeah, it was ridiculous.

Hey, you know when I came around on Najee was when I looked at the schedule. And I know that the Ravens and and the bronze are on the schedule but i really think it's a good outlook for naji harris so you take the pedigree and what he did in college and everybody knows that he's been a you know this prime running back prospect since he was in high school and you tack on what you know about the steelers i i think the one thing that I get hung up on with Najee and why I'm just, I'm not ready to put him ahead of Cam Akers is the offensive line. It used to be that the Steelers offensive line was dominant and great, and I could trust it. And now I'm wondering if they're going to be the reason why Najee isn't as efficient with all that work. And he is going to

get a lot of work. So he's moved up for me, too. I think he's worthy of a late first-round pick. But I can't pull the trigger on him ahead of Cam Akers. It's the one guy that I've got to disagree with you on. Okay, but you do agree that Najee Harris ahead of DeAndre Swift? Yes. Okay. By the way, the second...

And it wasn't long ago where I didn't feel that way. And it wasn't the news in Detroit that swayed me. It was what the year is going to look like for Najee, provided that he doesn't get a lot of bumps and bruises. And Baltimore is actually Week 18, so he will not see them

twice in the fantasy calendar, which is nice. Unless you're playing to Week 18 like an idiot. Yeah. All right. And running back for Dave, Cam Akers is one of his breakouts and Antonio Gibson is the other. And I think it's really impressive what Gibson did last year

considering he barely played running back before 2020. I agree. He ran a 4.3940. He worked out as a receiver at the Senior Bowl. Right. And then to come in and play running back, I think he averaged 4.7 yards per carry.

He did. Scored a lot of touchdowns. If I had one bone to pick with him, Dave, one thing to nitpick here, he really crushed Dallas twice and Cincinnati once. Other than that, he wasn't great.

You know, look, it's not like you can't do that, really. It's not fair because you can't just remove every easy matchup. You're either standing the bleep out of this one. He's been on a roll. No, I just like, look at what he did. Okay, it's like the Tyler Lockett argument. Right, Dave? You said, look at those three weeks

where Lockett put up all those huge points. Yeah. Take away Dallas, two games against Dallas, one against Cincinnati. His three longest runs of the year came against Dallas. So, I don't know. You know, I don't know. Does that bother you at all?

No. I'm looking for a new angle because we've talked about Gibson so much. I'm just looking for a new angle. So, go ahead. No, listen. I think there could be something to it but it's not going to sway me into taking him with a second round pick i'm ready to believe in him the same way that the washington coaching staff is is believing in him and there were a lot of elements to his game that i think he can improve on he only averaged like 12 carries a game. I would expect him to get more. He had like

a catch rate over 80%, and he only had like, he had less than 50 targets on the year. That's got to go up too. And he had a ton of touchdowns. You know that that's a role that he's going to have. This offensive line's got a little better. And I talked about Najee's schedule and how that helped sell me on Harris. Gibson's schedule is not too far far off he's got a top 10 projected strength of schedule a little bit worse than Najee Harris's but still one of the best it also starts pretty favorably so I'm I'm believing that his workload will rise his efficiency will stay the same I'd like him to be more elusive he ranked poorly in yards after contact per attempt which is crazy because he he forced and broke through a bunch of

tackles. It was strange. But I think he can start to take a bigger role in the offense. And maybe it was just one of those things in training camp where the coaching staff knew that they had something with Antonio Gibson, but they didn't want to put too much on his plate until he was really, really ready. And frankly, I think toward the end of the year, and certainly in those easy matchups, he was ready, and he proved it in those matchups. And now he's got the potential to do it in every matchup. And it just so happens that the schedule is pretty good for him. The thing that got frustrating with Gibson was the toe injury

and that he was just starting to get going. That's true. And he had that stupid Tuesday game against the Steelers, and he hurt the toe and he struggled until the end of the season when he came back they gave him a heavy workload down the stretch i forget if it was the playoff game or the game before game week 17 right you know so i guess at that point he finally felt healthy but i love love love that they're talking up using him more in the passing game get jd mckissick off the field um let him play you know in hurry up

situations at best but use Gibson more on third downs the thing that you know you said this the thing that he was was a pass catcher he was a wide receiver he obviously can do it he caught 36 or 44 targets and so you know you gotta assume that there's gonna be more to that as he gets more comfortable uh I don't like the fact and he's one of my my favorite breakouts too I don't like the You know, you got to assume that there's going to be more to that as he gets more comfortable. I don't like the fact and he's one of my favorite breakouts, too. I don't like the fact that they say the toe is still a little bit of a problem. But, you know, you saw video footage of him at camp last week and he was moving around fine. So hopefully it was just, you know, hey, my toe is still bothering me, but it's not going to keep him off the field for any problems during the season. But, you know, he just was scratching the surface last season. And then I think the toe injury set him back.

And so hopefully he gets a full off season, better quarterback play. And not that Alex Smith was bad, but Ryan Fitzpatrick, I think gives them a little bit more juice and opens up the passing game. The Curtis Samuel factor is a little bit concerning because of what he could do as a rusher and as a hybrid player, and maybe take some of those passes as well, receptions as well. But I do think that Gibson is going to be the catalyst of this backfield. No stupid Peyton Barber stuff. No stupid Lamar Miller stuff. Imagine somebody actually dropped out Dustin Jefferson for Peyton Barber, by the way.

But Antonio Gibson can come in and be that superstar that he's capable of. I love Antonio Gibson. I in twice this week and be that superstar that he's capable of. I love Antonio Gibson. I can't draft him enough. Okay. Sorry about the whole Dallas thing. I really, I just feel like we've talked,

it's been a long off season. We've talked a lot about these guys. So I was trying to give a different look. There's a lot of crossover. I mean, look, you know, the thing I think that we'll get more into as,

you know, training camp starts is the, the, the more the sleeper guy, I know you guys did the show the mean, look, you know, the thing I think that we'll get more into as training camp starts is the more the sleeper guy. I know you guys did the show the other day, but more sleeper options, more guys that can emerge and these late round picks that we'll be targeting. Let's stay on Washington, Jamie, and your wide receivers are Terry McLaurin

and CeeDee Lamb among their breakout wide receivers. We talked about Lamb. So, McLaurin... You want to talk about a guy that we talked a lot about? Alright, so, you might be one of the highest in the industry, I feel like, on McLaurin. Not by much, but...

And I'm just guessing about that. I'm sure we can find some consensus, some rankings. But I feel like you're really high on McLaurin. Yeah, I love what I've seen the first two years. I love the addition of Ryan Fitzpatrick. I'll give this stat again. Fitzpatrick has, since 2010,

had eight seasons with at least nine starts and is number one receiver over that span. Steve Johnson three times, Kendall Wright, Andre Johnson, Brandon Marshall twice, and Devontae Parker. All those guys had at least 128 targets on the year. And seven times that number one receiver had 72 catches, six times 1,000 yards, and three times that number one receiver at 72 targets 72 catches six times a thousand yards and three times 10 or more touchdowns now some of those numbers obviously

aren't eye-popping but that's the floor and again we're talking about guys like kendall right and devante parker and you know not not to disrespect anybody else but you know stevie johnson and and uh and and what brandon marshall was when he got him and and what and what Brandon Marshall was when he got him and what Andre Johnson was when he got him. Um, so, you know, McLaurin's entering his third season. This is when the jumping off point hopefully happens. Um, you know, he's had some bad luck, as we've said, you know, only four touchdowns last season. So I just think he's going to be 150 target guy. Uh, you know, if we have to move that bar a little bit now with the 17 games, 160 target guy, uh, he's going to have the chance, I think, to be in, in, in the 90 plus catch range. He's going to have the chance, I think, to be in the 90-plus catch range.

He's going to have a chance for 1,500 yards. He's going to have a chance for 10 touchdowns. I just love what Fitzpatrick does for his number one guy, and I think McCormick's going to be the next of that group. Yeah, this makes me a little nervous about Gibson because we're talking about Gibson being used more as a pass catcher. When I think about Ryan Fitzpatrick, I think of him just going bombs away and not dinking and dunking.

So it might hurt Gibson, but it absolutely helps the argument for McLaurin, who's just such a terrific talent that I think Fitzpatrick has already fallen in love with him if he hasn't. Like, he should have already. Real quick question for you guys. Real quick question.

If you drafted Gibson in round two and McLaurin in round three, you're going to win the three. I did that today. You're going to win the championship. I did that today, exactly. That's a lot. That's a lot of faith in Washington's offense. And I'll tell you, I had some pause.

So this was, again, our pick-by-pick. So it's a four-man draft of myself, Dave, Heath, and Chris Towers. And we each take three teams of the 12 and so with the fifth pick i took saquon barkley in the first round gibson in the second round and i was staring at into uh terry mccorrin or alan robinson this is ppr uh no i'm sorry it was mccorrin or dk mccath um were my two choices and so i'm like you know I'm going to take the guy that I feel I have the most confidence in and the guy that I like the best.

And I think both, as we saw at times last year, can be very successful. You know, so there's a lot to put on Ryan Fitzpatrick's shoulders to say you can support two upper echelon, top tier fantasy players. But you know what? I think he showed you that at times throughout the course of his career. I don't know what the running backs did. I can go back and look if you really want to know that research of when these receivers were at their best.

Oh, um, but, you know, we saw miles Gaskin play well last year when, you know, yeah, but that's when Parker wasn't that good.

It's like Parker was great. Yeah, but I don't, I can't tell you off the top of my head when Tua was playing and Gaskin was doing what he was doing. I looked at it. Fitzpatrick actually kind of crushed his reputation of not throwing to running backs last year.

He threw to Myles Gaskin a lot. A lot more than Tua did. How good. Yeah, I know. There's a lot there. It is kind of interesting. And Jamie, by the way, according to Shraggy B, you are the second highest in the industry on McLaurin in non-PPR,

where you have him seventh. You have him ninth in PPR, but you are second highest on him in non-PPR. There you go, Jamie. Pump that up. 14 games McLaurin and Gibson played in together. Keep in mind the offense then is not as good as the offense now. They both had double digit ppr points eight of 14 games if you're looking for a little bit more call it yes i have 13 13 or more ppr points

each that happened one two three four five times and once once gibson's toe injury happened you know it was kind of a mess overall in washington but certainly for gibson so it wasn't going to happen where they would both get 13 PPR in the same game easily. But they were vibing together. Dave, I'm sorry to do this to you, but give me a minute on

Marquise Brown because I want to read some emails. So what happened last year through the first 10 games, they tried throwing to him. What happened? After Marquise Brown, go for it. they tried throwing to him. I'm sorry. What happened? I knew it was 42, so I went and done. Sorry. All right, after Marquise Brown. Go for it.

They were throwing to him further downfield. He wasn't as efficient. They started to shorten his routes, and they used him more in the red zone on crossing routes and off of play action, and his efficiency spiked. His last eight games were outstanding. He had six touchdowns in those last eight games, and I imagine that they learned the best way to use Hollywood Brown based on that. They'll still take deep shots with him. He's going to be the fastest player on the field, but I think they're going to continue to use him as more of a short and mid-range type of target. And I think that'll make him, I think it'll make

Lamar more comfortable to throw to him. And I love the first half schedule for Baltimore. Second half of the schedule is rough. This is a receiver that I'm drafting to be, I draft him as a wide receiver too in one of the pick-by-pick teams that we did today, and I hated that, but as a wide receiver, because I loaded up at other positions, but if you get him as a wide receiver three, you use him through October,

and then Halloween comes, and someone says trick-or-treat, you say trick, you throw Marquise Brown in a trade, and you get him off your squad when the schedule gets really, really rough. Okay. Or if you really like him, you could dress up as Marquise Brown in a trade and you get them off your squad when the schedule gets really, really rough. Okay. Or if you really like him, he could dress up as Marquise Brown on Halloween.

Jamie, what do we got? And even like if he does great in the first half of the year and just kind of so-so to the end, toward the end of the season, I still think he'll have better numbers this year than he's had at any point in his career. Breaking news.

According to Matt Nagy on the Chris Collinsworth podcast, Justin Fields will be the number two quarterback in week one. Andy Dalton is the week one starter, and nothing is going to change that. They've already made it that way? Nagy, Andy Dalton is our starter. Justin is our number two, and we are going to stick with this plan. You just got to trust the plan. I trust it for the Giants because they've got the Bears pick.

So looking forward to that. They won't be as bad as the Texans, but they could be. I mean, how can you stand by that if Andy Dalton is just okay in training camp and Justin Fields is on fire? It could be motivating the kid. You know, you never know. Play the kid. He can't commit to that at this point.

I think that's kind of not smart. Jerry Judy also left practice with a tummy issue. Oh, no. I've been there. Yeah. You can follow and stream Fantasy Football today on Spotify. If you're listening on Spotify right now, go to the FFT show page,

hit that rectangle follow button so that when new episodes are dropped, they'll be at the top of your feed. And if you're listening elsewhere or watching on YouTube, give Spotify a try and drop us a follow. We will be right back. A little bit of a long show today. We'll talk, we'll read your emails after this

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from Ohio wants to know, would you take Austin Eckler or Najee Harris at the turn? What's the format? That's the, yeah. What you tell me? PPR, it's Eckler. Non-PPR, it's Harris. Agreed. And?

Half PPR, it's Harrisris there you go yeah all right this is from nick hey david patrice brad charlie and tuka tuka might have given it away are those boston bruins oh maybe that's probably right yeah look at you at you. You know hockey? I know Boston stuff. Why? I just do. Okay, weird. It is. In a couple days,

I'll be starting an Ultra Flex Dynasty Slow Draft. That's a term I haven't heard before. You can start 10 players, at most two quarterbacks. The other eight can be any position, and it's also tight end premium. Wondering what you could start. What's that?

You could start eight tight ends? I guess so. You could start six tight ends and two quarterbacks. Yeah, you could. By the way, when you guys hear tight end premium, that suggests exactly what scoring? One and a half points. That's pretty much standard. That's tight end premium.

I mean, I'm sure there's different scoring for that. Could be two points per catch or a point every seven yards receiving. Right. It could be a point and everybody else is half. Okay.

But typically you guys think... One is scoring for tight ends is the way you think. Yeah. One point for everyone and 1.5 for tight ends. Okay. We'll operate under that assumption.

I guess the question from Nick is, how do you prioritize this league? You're going to start two quarterbacks, but then the other eight positions can be any position. What would you guys do? Oh, wait, I'm sorry. Is it Dynasty? Yeah, and it's a start of Dynasty.

Dynasty 2. This is kind of fun. I like this idea. Does he say what pick he has or he doesn't know yet? No. No. So I would guess

you're going to see Pitts as a first-round pick even in the start of Dynasty League because of the tight end premium. You probably make a case that Kelsey's still a first-round pick. Quarterback's going to go high. Mahomes is going to be maybe one overall.

Yeah. I think quarterback is going to be very, very popular. And I think the great tight ends are going to be very, very popular. And then that'll populate the first couple of rounds. Quarterbacks, top tight ends, top running backs. You're not going to see a receiver taken in the first two rounds. I bet you might see one or two receivers taken in the second round, but not a lot.

It's a 10-team league, right? Yeah, I still think you'll see. 12-team league? He doesn't say. He said you start 10 players. He didn't say how many are in the league. Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if you saw Tyreek or Justin Jefferson or A.J. Brown. You know, the dynasty receivers go there.

Yeah, but all these tight ends and quarterbacks are going to get pushed up, though. Yes, they will. I don't think you're going to see maybe one or two. Right, that's what I'm saying. I don't think you're going to see like five. It'll be a couple, and it'll be toward the end of round two. So I would just plan accordingly and i probably would definitely prioritize i definitely would prioritize quarterback young quarterbacks

and young tight ends okay this is from matt in wisconsin i recently accepted a trade in my dynasty league who do you think won the trade i give up davante adams and james connor i get jalen hurts kenny galladay and joe mixon adams and connor for hertz galladay and mixon i'm very deep at receiver but i needed the quarterback and running back help i think matt won it's a one qb league i think so so giving up adams and connor so it's's basically Adams for right those other three Hurts and whatever you get out of Hurts and Galladay it's a clear win this is a clear win I think so too yep good job and then if Aaron Rodgers gets traded then it's like well even if Aaron Rodgers doesn't get traded Adams is almost certainly gone from Green Bay after this year yeah but he could

still end up in a good situation where he can give you... There's still a chance that Devonta Adams can give you three or four more very good years. Sure. Or he could replace Allen Robinson in Chicago and catch passes from Andy Dalton. This is from Jared in Arizona. Dear Frosted, Bran, and Korn,

what are Bran flakes? These are flakes. I've never... I mean, I'm looking at it right now they exist anything that has brand in the name of the cereal is terrible right no that's not true raisin bran raisin bran is amazing i would not use the term amazing i'll give you a raisin bran yeah uh but for crackling oak bran you're damn right it's amazing what about frosted flakes versus corn flakes where do you guys frosted flakes come on okay just checking corn flakes just how old are you what corn flakes are like for my parents parents you eat crackling oprah

it's amazing it's. It's for dinosaurs. All right. I have the second pick in the draft. It is a 12-team super... Tyler Glasnow news. Oh, was he? Oh, no. It's the elbow.

Partial UCL tear. Oh, yeah. I saw that happen. You were just playing the White Sox when it happened. Oh, really? I'm surprised he wasn't playing the Red Sox since you love Boston so much. You know why I learn about Boston stuff?

And it's really just like basic Boston stuff. It's because I follow this radio station that I'm on in Boston. So they're constantly tweeting about the Bruins. And my son is a Celtics fan. Okay. So that's how I know about, you know, Boston and the Bruins and eating at 99 and all that stuff. Okay. Duck tours. Okay. Anyway, the question is 12 teams at 99 and all that stuff. Okay.

Duck tours. Okay. Anyway, the question is 12 teams, super flex PPR league, second pick in the draft. Top players available are going to be Zeke, Dak and Tyreek Hill.

And he has Stafford, Jonathan Taylor and AJ Brown. So who would you take? It's a super flex league. He already has Stafford, Taylor, Jonathan Taylor, and AJ Brown. Zeke, Dak, or Tyreek Hill? Dak.

Dave? Yes, Dak? Yeah. I think I would take Zeke ahead of Dak in a typical super flex league. Okay. From Oda. Non-PPR startup keeper league with three keepers grade my plan with the number two overall pick i want to grab dalvin cook this is a startup keeper league with three keepers number two i want to grab dalvin cook with number 16 i want to draft justin jefferson

with number 24 i want to draft patrickomes. I don't have a fourth-round pick. How do you not have a fourth-round pick if you're in a startup keeper league? He's traded it. Maybe he traded it. Yeah. It's one of those keepers. He's fault-teamed? I'm trying to figure this out.

He has the second pick, the 16th pick, and the 24th pick. So it can't be. That's probably where the trade came in. Yeah. Because he's got two second-round the trade came in. Yeah, yeah. Makes sense. Right, but why would he have 24 and not 23?

Trades. That's a lot of trades this guy's making. All right, so Dalvin Cook, Justin Jefferson, and Mahomes. My question, I guess, would be to you guys. This doesn't seem bad in any way, but would you take Mahomes if you didn't have a fourth-round pick? That's the only issue I'd have with this. That's what I was thinking.

It depends. What's his pick in round five? It could be the first pick in round five. His fifth-round pick is 13th overall. It's just this weird draft where I don't know. No, I think it sounds like he made a trade. And so if you make the trade, maybe you made a deal so that you could move up to two

so that you could get Dalvin Cook. And I think you've got to give up the dream of having Mahomes. You could still find another good quarterback in round five that you could potentially have. I think if you go in saying, I want Dalvin Cook best available receiver, because

if Justin Jefferson's gone, don't have your dreams crushed. And then see what the best player available is at 24. In your opinion, take them home. Alright guys, thank you. Good show. We got busts coming up later this week. Make sure you're checking out Fantasy Football today in 5. For Dave Richard

and Jamie Eisenberg and Ben Schrager, I am Adam Mazur. Have a good one everybody. Talk to you soon.