Fantasy Football Today - 🚨 Christian McCaffrey Injured! Is He Still the #1 Overall Player? (08/06 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: August 6, 2024

Want to be in our next mock draft and have a shot at being on air? Check out our St. Jude Draft-a-Thon Store here: https://tiltify.com/@fftfundraising/fantasy-football-today-draftathon-2024 Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and wherever else you listen to podcasts Christian McCaffrey is out a couple of weeks with a calf injury and we're here with our instant reaction! Is McCaffrey still the #1 overall pick in Fantasy? Who else would it be? Elijah Mitchell is also injured so we will tell you if there is any other 49ers running back to draft. And we also tell you why Deebo Samuel could be on his way to a huge season. Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and wherever else you listen to podcasts SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday 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 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

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We're going to focus on the running backs, Christian McCaffrey with that calf injury. He could miss a couple of weeks, but you never know with calf injuries. Elijah Mitchell is also hurt right now, but Jamie, let's start with McCaffrey. Is he still the number one overall player in drafts for you? If I was drafting today, yes. As we get more information, you know, he may continue to slide, but you know, you you look at it uh cd lamb holding out tyree kill 30 justin jefferson who's his quarterback jamar chase holding in you know it's like there's a lot of question marks at the top now clearly when you're talking about an injured player uh that supersedes everything when you're talking about an injured player who's 28 that supersedes everything even more when you're talking about an injured player who's 28

coming off a season with 400 plus touches it's uh very difficult to say he should be the number one. It's hard to make an argument that he should still be the number one overall player. So we've seen some drafts where the receivers have gone first. And I think at this point, we might start to see that more often. So for today, McCaffrey is still one but you know if we get some information that that makes us a little bit more concerning then we could uh we could see him start to slide yeah elijah mitchell just so you know he was in 2021 he got 207 carries in 11 games he was a top 16 running back he's 11th per game in non-ppr 16th per game in full PPR, and that was with hardly any catches. On pace for 29 catches in a 17-game season.

But so efficient, got in the end zone a lot, and got a lot of work. But now he's banged up, and that's been his problem. He's always banged up. When he plays, he gets 17 carries or so, gets you a lot of work. But that's obviously an issue there. Is there another running back you'd be looking at on this team?

I think if you're just looking at it, a few things have happened this offseason. First, they drafted Isaac Garendo. They signed Patrick Taylor from the Packers. They just brought in Matt Breida, who once upon a time was pretty good for them also. And Jordan Mason just got a lot of praise from Kyle Shanahan. So if I had to guess, and Garendo's also hurt as well, so that's something to keep in mind. If I had to draft a running back for the 49ers right now,

it would probably still be Mitchell as the second guy, but Jordan Mason is going to crack my top 200, and is somebody you should keep an eye on. I think, honestly, this could be monstrous for Debo Samuel

if things continue in San Francisco the way it seems like it's heading. If McCaffrey's going to miss any time and Brandon Ayuk is traded, he could be top five receiver. Yeah, I mean... Top ten for sure. Would you be able to rank him ahead of...

This is obviously very hypothetical. Would you be able to rank him ahead of Marvin Harrison? Because we know we have that top nine that are set. I think I'd put Debo 10. I don't know about you. I would. 10? Yeah.

I would. If McCaffrey started, it wouldn't necessarily be so much about Ayuk being traded. He would be right behind Harrison. I think you heard me say on the live show that we did on CBS Sports Network, he would be in the top 15. And that's right where Harrison is right now. You know, so look, with Harrison being a rookie and Puka being banged up, is there really an argument against Ibo going ahead of those guys? He's not going so far behind to begin with right now.

Yeah, and just so everyone remembers, we recorded the two-part running back preview on Sunday night and Monday night. Part one air today. Part two airs tomorrow. But if you're listening to that going, what are they talking about? McCaffrey's hurt.

We didn't know. It hadn't happened yet. So I'm trying to do a poll. I'm trying to get any information I can. Christian McCaffrey has a calf injury. They're calling and they're saying maybe two weeks for McCaffrey, but calves, we do not like calf injuries.

That's not a good one. No. McCaffrey has a calf injury. Is he still the number one pick in fantasy for you? And I have three options here. Yes, no, and wasn't number one before the injury, which obviously would be a no. 20 votes in so far, 50% yes, 40% no,

and 10% wasn't number one before the injury. We'd like a little bit more than that, a little bigger sample size there. You know what? I really just wanted to get this out there just in case someone had a draft. This doesn't have to be a long show, Jamie, but bottom line for you is if you're drafting today,

you're still taking him number one overall? I mean, yes. Again, we're still processing the information. I don't even think Kyle Shanahan's addressed the media yet. If he has, I don't know what he said about McCaffrey exactly. But we don't know if it's just hey coach yeah my my caps bother me all right we're shutting down for two weeks you know he's that important a player or it's you know like we saw with joe burrow right where he was limping

visibly just had huge issues right so we don't know the extent of this yet oh gosh yeah you bring up burrow i mean that was awful because he got hurt right at the beginning of training camp, missed so much time, came back and just wasn't himself. So Shanahan said that McCaffrey might miss a couple of weeks with the calf injury. That was from Matt Barrows. So that's what we have right now. He might miss a couple of weeks.

The Twitter poll now has more than 80 votes, and it was like 53%.'re still saying yes they'd take mcafree all right well if you weren't going to take mcafree who would you take cd lamb you know and and in non-ppr it would be breeze hall in half ppr just depends on what position you want to go with i would still take the receivers but i mean again you know we're we're looking at a very dicey first round, right? Because holdouts aren't great, and Lamb has not been with the team. Chase is holding in. Jefferson, quarterback.

Hill, age. No, not age. He's fine. 30 is fine. No, I agree. But, again, we have to nitpick these guys in some way, shape, or form, right? Yeah. I think if you're talking from a safe standpoint,

Tyreek Hill is probably the safest player, right? Hall or Hill? So you say Hall, but we got pushback from an NFL running back this week about the receptions being a problem for him if he doesn't supplement it with the rushing total. But that was because he had so many catches last year. I don't think he's going to have that many, but I still think Brees Hall gets 50 catches. But I would agree, especially looking at this receiving court. Look, if you're not going to take the running backs, you probably go either Lamb or Hill at this point.

If you want to take the running backs you know i mean i was watching what dave was tweeting about today from falcons joint practice with dolphins and tyler algiers seems like he's splitting first teamwork with bijan robinson yeah you know so is he even the safest you know pick we're getting some some comments about you know brice and bijan um look you know it's it's it's tough it really is you know it's it's it's almost like you you want to go the the you want to go the player with the most upside and hopefully you know mcafree's fine hopefully lamb gets his contract situation settled hopefully chase gets his contract situation settled but tyree kill from a safety standpoint and an upside standpoint might be the best player

yeah and by the way elijah mitchell has a hamstring strain, and Ricky Pearsall, their rookie wide receiver, re-aggravated his shoulder injury, and they pulled him from practice. So not a great day, and maybe by the time 24 hours, they may not have IU. Yeah. Wild. Oh, and Trent Williams.

It's a lot going on in San Francisco. The Super Bowl curse is legit. And the curse of the number one overall pick. And Trent Williams, yeah. The curse of the number one overall pick. We'll see if he stays as the number one overall pick, but it has been a bad run. You're right. He can't be cursed as the number one overall pick if he's not picked number one.

Yeah, I can see it. Right now, he's number one, so the curse got him early this year. All right. 220 votes. We'll just finish on this. Half the people, well, 50% on the dot of 220 votes say that they would still take mcafree number one but if i did this poll an hour ago before it probably would have been 90 so uh things are

changing here and i honestly i couldn't blame you if you didn't take mcafree number one overall so enjoy running back preview not that much has changed i mean he's still a first round pick we don't really talk too much about him in part two. So enjoy that episode. Put it this way. Let's go to the flip side of this. If he does, if this injury does linger, right, and we find out it's more than two weeks, I still don't see him

sliding outside of the first round. Yeah, I know. I can't see it. I can't see it. Like, you couldn't, it would have to be pretty bad for him to go behind Jameer Gibbs or something like that. Correct. Or Taylor or Barkley. All right, that's Jamie. I'm Adam. Thanks to Zach Brooke for producing this on short notice.

And we'll talk to you tomorrow. Well, you'll hear a running back preview part two tomorrow on Fantasy Football Today.