Fantasy Football Today - Consensus PPR Top 12 (Part One)! Who Are Our Top Six Players? (06/23 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: June 23, 2025

We set out to tackle the Top 12, but after some thorough debates we left it at the Top 6 on today's show. First, some general questions about the Top 12 (3:30) including who was the toughest to rank ...and Bijan Robinson vs. Ja'Marr Chase ... Are running backs or wide receivers safer (17:15)? What does the data tell us? Also, some quick news and notes (20:30) and then we discuss Robinson (22:00) and Chase (26:55) with arguments for and against each of them. Then we focus on Justin Jefferson (31:40) for a while and his quarterback situation. Don't forget about his target competition, too ... Comparing Jefferson to Saquon Barkley and CeeDee Lamb (38:05). We are lower on Barkley than consensus. Is Lamb set to bounce back? And we finish with a Jahmyr Gibbs discussion (46:00) including whether or not we're concerned about David Montgomery's role ... Your emails at fantasyfootball@cbsi.com Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts Watch FFT on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Shop our store: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠shop.cbssports.com/fantasy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  SUBSCRIBE to FFT Express on Apple: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-express/id1528634304⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow FFT Express on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/6qyGWfETSBFaciPrtvoWCC?si=6529cbee20634da8⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ FOLLOW FFT Dynasty on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ SUBSCRIBE to FFT DFS on Apple: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dfs/id1579415837⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ FOLLOW FFT DFS on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/5zU7pBvGK3KPhfb69Q1hNr?si=1c5030a3b1a64be2⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FFT team on Twitter:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @FFToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @AdamAizer⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @JameyEisenberg⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @daverichard⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @heathcummingssr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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 Fan 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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Starting point is 00:00:52 It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races! And he stays on his feet! This is gonna go the distance! Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Really looking forward to today's show as we talk about the top 12 in the Consensus PPR rankings. Who made the cut? Did Christian McCaffrey make the cut? Did Ashton Genti make the cut? Who's number one? Is it a running back or a wide receiver? Who should it be? We'll talk about that with the three guys who do the rankings. Dave, Jamie and Heath.
Starting point is 00:01:25 Guys, we're having a heat wave up here in New York. Where do you think it's hotter? My place or your place? You're not wearing long sleeves today, so I'm gonna guess your place. It is too hot. I would guess it's hotter. Go ahead, Dave.
Starting point is 00:01:41 Do you have like crazy humidity where you walk outside and immediately your back begins to sweat? I don't haven't been outside yet, but today is going to be 95, tomorrow 97. It's really crazy up here. I was gonna say at 10 a.m. I would get to Totter in Florida because it's just not cooling off here.
Starting point is 00:02:01 But I wouldn't be surprised if three or four, that's the thing that I realized when I moved down here is it doesn't actually get as hot in South Florida as it does in Kansas City. Right. Kansas City will have a week of 100 degrees or more almost every year. Here we got the nice sea breeze. It's just beautiful. Okay. Well, you know what's hot? PPR rankings, baby. Yes. Okay. So few quick questions about the consensus top 12 and I'll go ahead and read that top 12 right now. It's Bijan Robinson, Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson,
Starting point is 00:02:32 Saquon Barkley, C.D. Lam, Jamir Gibbs. So in the top six, you have a nice little split of three running backs and three receivers. Bijan, Chase, Jefferson, Barkley, Lamb, Gibbs, neighbors is seventh. Pooka is eighth. Devon Achan is ninth. Ashton Genti is 10th. Amanra St. Brown, 11. And Christian McCaffrey, 12. That is six running backs and six wide receivers. Again, seven through 12 are neighbors.
Starting point is 00:02:57 Nakua Achan, Genti, St. Brown, McCaffrey. Not in here, but just behind would be Nico Collins, AJ Brown, Brian Thomas Jr. Derrick Henry and the tight ends, et cetera. First question, Jamar Chase scored 40 more PPR fantasy points than any other non quarterback last season. How much, how much does that matter? He's number two in the consensus rankings, but Jamie, you actually have him first.
Starting point is 00:03:28 I mean, it matters. I think he showed, you know, last year, how good he is, how good he is when Joe burrows healthy. And, you know, as we've talked about quite a bit, I know Dave has certainly been adamant about how bad the bangles defense will be once again. So there's a lot to love about the entire situation for the Cincinnati offense and especially the Cincinnati passing game. And so I know we're all in agreement that Bijan is the number one running back. I think the fantasy community is split, if not more in the favor of Saquon Barkley.
Starting point is 00:03:56 For me, Chase has just as much upside. And as we know, I think historically, you know, Adam has sort of found some research that maybe suggests otherwise, but receiver is a little bit more safer than running backs from a health standpoint. In any event, I think Jamar Chase has a chance to repeat as number one non-quarterback
Starting point is 00:04:16 and have another dominant season. And now he's pissed off after this whole plane thing. Like, I mean, there's gonna be another huge season coming for Jam. Chase. So you're mentioning research that that wide receivers being safer than running backs didn't have any anything related to with health specifically, it was just, I looked at the top. No, it was just finished. I looked at the top 12 in ADP. And did they finish top 12?
Starting point is 00:04:45 And this is over, I don't know, six years. I don't know that I have it updated, but last year running back was so much better than receiver running backs drafted as top 12 guys have a higher hit rate than wide receivers over gosh, I'll see if I can find it six, seven years, I think at this point. So that's what it was. It wasn't necessarily injuries It was just either injuries or performance running backs had been safer picks I don't have it broken down as you know, the very first one or the top five picks in the in the draft But basically through the first two rounds or so
Starting point is 00:05:17 Hmm. Sorry. Okay So Jamar chase is number one for Jamie. He's number two for Dave and Heath and overall He is number two in the consensus ranking. Second question, Heath, who was the toughest player to rank in the top 12 for you? I'll get all of you guys on this one. I mean, it's probably Ashton Gentey because we've never seen him play football
Starting point is 00:05:38 and we're just anointing him as a top 12 pick immediately. And I think I'm the highest on him, but it's not just gentee and translating his skillset to the NFL, but it's also a brand new offensive system in Las Vegas. That we at least haven't seen this iteration of yet. And so I think between the questions about Chip Kelly and the questions about the Raiders offensive line and the questions about the Raiders offensive
Starting point is 00:06:05 line and the questions about coming into the NFL, there's plenty of reason to have a wide range of places to rank Gentie. It's just that that range is probably from five to 15, which is still really awesome because he's really awesome. Dave, toughest player to rank for you in the top 12. Gentie is outside of my top 12. And I don't know how long I can keep it that way because the guy who is in my top 12 that's tough to rank
Starting point is 00:06:31 is Christian McCaffrey, 29 years old, coming off of a really disappointing year where we were taking him as the one-on-one. If he were easy to rank and we were so confident in his ability and so confident in his workload and what he could do, he wouldn't be toward the back end of round one. It's a miracle he's in round one because of what he did to fantasy managers last year and what he's done to fantasy managers in the past. I'm a little concerned that the 49ers are going to scale back his workload at
Starting point is 00:06:59 least through the first half, if not the first two thirdsthirds of the season, because they want to have them ready to go for a playoff run or when they need them, maybe they're fighting for a wild card spot. Who knows how the season will unfold for the 49ers, but they're going to want to save him for when they really, really need him. And it just, it makes me a little bit nervous about getting him on my team as fast as possible. Adam, I know you've talked about taking him as soon as third overall. I don't, I don't, A, I don't want to take him that early, because I'm worried about the downside and the floor being potentially zero. And B, I don't think I have to, because there are other players, especially a wide receiver, that are safer and have maybe not the same upside as Christian McCaffrey, but still good enough upside where I won't feel like my
Starting point is 00:07:48 First round pick is a loss if they go out there these receivers go out there These other running backs go out there and they average in the neighborhood of 18 PPR points per game That's not McCaffrey ceiling. We know McCaffrey ceiling is higher, but we know his floor is lower Particularly because of how frail he might be at this point in his life. Jamie, toughest player to rank? It's more from placement than he's obviously going to be the top 12, but it's Barclay. Just knowing that he was amazing last year and should have the chance if he stays healthy
Starting point is 00:08:19 to be amazing. But I mean, the numbers that he's working against are just so scary. The total touches, the history of 2000 yard running backs, the fact that he's working against are just so scary. The total touches, the history of 2,000 yard running backs, the fact that he's a year older coming off all that workload. And so the environment is still great. Aside from the missed touchdowns, what, he lose 11 rushing touchdowns last year
Starting point is 00:08:35 because Jalen Hurts stole them from him. So you know that there's the potential for that if he gets a few more opportunities or falls forward another foot or two for him to maybe increase his touchdown total. But you know, over 450 total touches when you factor in the playoffs. There's been nine 2000 yard rushers. The average decline in yards has been over 500 the following season. Two of those eight, oh, he's the ninth, two of those previous eight got hurt in Terrell Davis and Derek Henry.
Starting point is 00:09:07 And so I'm just so concerned about Barkley finishing the season. And I hate to think that way because you never want to factor in, okay, if this guy gets hurt, especially if he's not coming off an injury. But it's just so much on his body for him to have to do that again and do it at that level again. And so, you know, I'm obviously taking a risk not having him as the number one running back. I think again, we're all in the same boat, but even not having him as a top three, top five overall player, I think six for me.
Starting point is 00:09:35 So, yeah, it's not fun when you see everybody draft Saquon Barkley in some cases, first overall, second overall, and you know that you're basically out on him for as good as he was last year. Yeah, Saquon Barkley, so fourth overall in our consensus rankings in full PPR, and he only had 33 catches in 16 games, and I figure if the Eagles throw a little bit more, that should make everyone have some more catches. But yeah, what was I going to say?
Starting point is 00:10:02 Oh, he is RB1 in, I'm looking at Fantasy Pros PPR rankings, PPR ADP, they're PPR ADP right now on Fantasy Pros as Chase 1, Jefferson 2, Saquon Barkley 3, Bijan Robinson 4, then Lam and Gibbs. It is the same top six, in fact, it's the same top eight, but just a different order, Same eight players, different order. Okay. Nobody said Jameer Gibbs.
Starting point is 00:10:28 I think you can make the case that he is tough to rank because he averaged 18, eight, what did he average? 18 something like 18.8 PPR fantasy points per game before the David Montgomery injury, he was RB six per game in full PPR after the Montgomery injury. He was obviously incredible, but that's two years in a row where we have that kind of data. Um, Malik neighbors being seventh overall ahead of Pukin Akua, one spot ahead. Really? What are you kidding me? That's what I'm targets and touchdowns, baby. Yeah. Yeah. I think, I mean, neighbors might have probably going to say this and then see somebody else,
Starting point is 00:11:11 but like the biggest quarterback upgrade of any wide receiver in the top 20, he still doesn't have a quarterback as good as what Pukka Nakua has. And by the way, if you take out, if you look at the games where Nakua had a snapshot of 75% or higher, Nakua was on pace for 189 targets. If you just want to remove week one, where Nakua left with an injury, he was on pace for 173 targets. Yes, neighbors was on pace for more than that,
Starting point is 00:11:39 but I can't guarantee you that neighbors is gonna be on pace for more than 173 targets. I know that, I know they're back to back, but that was to me. So the difference between the Daniel Jones, drew lock, Tim Boyle and who's the other one told me to Tommy DeVito and what they have now is not worth one fantasy point per game. Oh, I would hope so. Well, he was less than a fantasy point per game. Oh, I would hope so. Well, he was less than a fantasy point per game behind Puka last year.
Starting point is 00:12:08 Puka left one game early with an injury. He left one game early with an ejection. Did the neighbors leave a game with a concussion? Late in the fourth quarter. And Puka had a better rookie season than neighbors. Puka's a mate. Puka, I don't know, that one just jumped out.
Starting point is 00:12:26 I just wanted to have this little argument here. So the Giants fan is gonna take Puka over neighbors. Puka Nakua had the second highest yard per route run in like the last 12 years or something like that. He also had a much higher target. I mean, we wanna talk about targets. Malik neighbors was second in the NFL, target per route run rate, 31%.
Starting point is 00:12:45 Pukin Akua was 38.3%. That will not happen again, but if he runs more routes, no, it won't, it won't happen. He will not be that high. So, uh, but I'm just, I just want to point that out that even if you look at neighbors best stat, which was target per route run rate, Pukin Akua is seven points better, 7% better than him better than him in that. So all right, anyway. I think that's the fun part of the draft though, like the debate that you're going to have
Starting point is 00:13:12 with neighbors Puka. And I think it's going to be St. Brown, you know, probably more so than than Nico or AJ Brown, you know, just what fantasy manager is going to debate the consistency of what St. Brown has done versus the new addition to the Rams offense, Devontae Adams maybe lowering the value for Puka a little bit and obviously Malik Nabors. And then you have the Bijon Barkley debate, who's going to go, maybe first overall of those guys. And then you throw in probably the H. Anne McCaffrey, Derek Henry debate that people are going to have to, you know, decide on, you know, which of those, you
Starting point is 00:13:49 know, gente as well, those four running backs, you know, which which one do you like the best? It's fun. You know, it's not like it's a clear cut, like, these guys should go one or two, three or four, five or six, like, I think once you get past probably the consensus six, then it becomes a lot of question marks. But even in those first six, you might have a question or two. I think we should do a podcast about this.
Starting point is 00:14:06 No, I mean, I'm right. I don't think there's an easy, I don't think there's one non debatable pick. It's not like the years where Christian McCaffrey was coming off a year where he scored 28, 29 fantasy points per game. It was so obviously the number one pick. You can make a case.
Starting point is 00:14:20 How many players, this will be my last question, bonus fourth question. How many players would you make the case for as the number one? They say, oh, I could see the reason why you would take him number one overall in full PPR. Two. Two. Just say two, Heath, don't be difficult.
Starting point is 00:14:40 Sure. Two. I didn't hear the question. Okay. You're still a Berkeley guy though, right? Let me say the question. You're still a Barclay guy though, right? Well, let me say the question for Heath. The question was how many players could you justify as the number one overall pick? Oh, I think you could justify Bija and Chase.
Starting point is 00:14:57 You could justify Barclay if you just want to disregard the workload from last year. So three. And that's, that's probably it. Okay. Okay. We've got one quarterback. See, we had a couple of polls in here we had who was your number one overall pick in PPR for 2025. Chase has 67% of the vote. Bijan 20% Barkley 8% Jefferson 3% had 121 votes there. Now we have a new poll.
Starting point is 00:15:27 Who are you taking in PPR? Puka Nakua or Malik Neighbors? I'm going to vote for Puka and it is 50-50 right now. Oh, it is seven votes, 15 votes. Puka, slightly ahead. All right, we'll take a quick break here. Just a few news items and then we'll'll start debating even more the top 12 in full PPR. Discover the magic of BetMGM Casino, where the excitement is always on deck. Pull up a seat and check out a wide variety of table games with a live dealer. From Roulette to Blackjack, watch as a dealer hosts your table game and live chat with them throughout your experience to feel like you are actually at the casino. The excitement doesn't stop there, with over 3,000 games to choose from, including fan favorites like Cash Eruption, UFC Gold Blitz, and more. Make deposits instantly to jump in on the fun and make same-day withdrawals if you win. Download the BetMGM Ontario app today,
Starting point is 00:16:20 you don't want to miss out. Visit betmgm.com for terms and conditions. 19 plus to wager, Ontario only. Please gamble responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. Bet MGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. All right, welcome back everybody. So just one order of business here.
Starting point is 00:16:51 Going into 2024, this was the note that I had. I looked at 2020 through 2023, compared the top 12 running backs in ADP to the top 12 wide receivers in ADP. Running backs that were drafted top 12 running backs in ADP to the top 12 wide receivers in ADP. Running backs that were drafted top 12 finished top 12 56.3% of the time in those four seasons. Wide receivers finished top 12 52% of the time. So a little bit better at running back, but not much. However, I arbitrarily picked 14 PPR fantasy points per game. Top 12 ADP running backs, running backs were top 12 and ADP. How many
Starting point is 00:17:31 of them average 14 or more PPR fantasy points per game compared to wide receivers? 75% of running backs over those four years hit that number, 14 or more PPR fantasy points. 65% of wide receivers did. That actually really stood out to me. So that's why I thought that the data showed that running backs were safer than wide receivers. And this does not include last year when I would almost guarantee that the running backs
Starting point is 00:17:57 were better than the wide receivers, the ones drafted in the top 12. I think you should redo the study based on end of season because the reason that people say running backs aren't safer is because rightly or wrongly, people believe running backs miss more games due to injury and the per game would not factor that in. Yeah. Okay. But the finishing top 12 would and running backs had a slight edge over wide receivers
Starting point is 00:18:21 there. I just think that we should get out of the mindset that wide receivers are safer than running backs. I don't really see any data except the 2023 season, which was horrible for running backs to support that really. From the standpoint of drafted in as a top 12 player at the position, finishing as a top 12 player at the position. I don't have a breakdown of injuries. I do think running backs get hurt a little bit more. Um, but I mean, why does the other side of it is, was it like the old, the
Starting point is 00:18:53 argument hasn't just been that running backs are more likely to get hurt, but also more starters emerge at running back off the waiver wire than wide receivers. Yes. Yeah, that, that could,. Yes. Yeah, that could. Yeah. I mean, that could be true also. You do get some kind of league winning wide receivers drafted in rounds. I want to say seven through nine.
Starting point is 00:19:15 This is all research that I have done for previous years. I don't know if I've updated it, but every year we get wide receivers in that range that kill it. Who would it have been last year? Like two years ago, it was like Brandon, I you can Mike Evans. Sorry, say that again. McConkey was one of those guys. Oh, Brian Thomas, Jerry Judy. I think they were even later than that. Right. But that's the point is that we you can draft wide
Starting point is 00:19:39 receivers later on you can draft any position later on and hit on them. Bowers at tight end, Jaden Daniels at quarterback. We can find examples at every single position. It's easier at wide receiver partially because every team uses three wide receivers weekend and week out. So you just have to find the team that's got that wide receiver that's kind of overlooked on draft day who has the upside to be you know Brian Thomas Jr. Lad McConkey, exactly who we were talking about. Okay, let's go to the news and notes. Anthony Richardson, his name, sorry,
Starting point is 00:20:11 I stumbled through his name there. His name is Anthony Richardson, said he'll be available for training camp after hurting his shoulder. Brian Dable, not concerned about Malik Nabors' availability for training camp. Meanwhile, third year wide receiver, Jaylen Hyatt suffered a minor leg injury for the Giants.
Starting point is 00:20:28 And Taishan Reid, I'm sorry if I'm saying that name, writer for the athletic, I'm sorry if I'm saying it wrong. I did say the name. The writer for the athletic thinks the Raiders will use Raheem Mostert as the primary third down back. Does that mean anything to you guys? Not really. No.
Starting point is 00:20:49 Heath, what's coming up on FFT dynasty? Well, on Friday, we did guys that I hate. I think today, tomorrow we're gonna do guys that I love. Just another way to talk about guys that I'm lower and higher than on consensus. But I decided to lean into what everybody says when I talk about being lower on somebody. So we just call it guys I hate.
Starting point is 00:21:06 Will the thumbnail for the guys you love be just as amusing as the thumbnail for the guys you hate? We'll see, have to see, have to see what Harry can work up. He did a fantastic job on Friday. He did. You guys, Jamie, you go look at that thumbnail and then click it on the YouTube page and photoshopping Heath's eyebrows and and giving him what is that on your, your forehead? Is that like a, a tattoo?
Starting point is 00:21:29 I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Like an angry emoji tattoo. It's pretty funny. I'm just very amusing. I'm just happy it wasn't a picture of me as the thumbnail. Yeah. Oh, what's today's thumbnail? So you have to talk about, Oh, today's thumbnail is Tyreke Hill. Uh, no, it's today's thumbnail? So you have to talk about. Oh, today's thumbnail is Tyreek Hill. No, it's Bijon Robinson. Let's get right to Bijon Robinson, who's in the top 12 as number one in the
Starting point is 00:21:52 consensus rankings. So Dave, why do you think Bijon Robinson is the CBS RB1 and he's and Saquon Barkley is for the industry or the drafters at large. I think people see what Saquon did last year and average 23 PPR points per game and they gravitate toward it. Not to mention like how hyped everybody was for Saquon last year as he made this awesome run with Philadelphia. Wasn't even like a huge factor in their Super Bowl win. But the hype around Saquon is what's pushing the public toward taking Saquon at number one. I'll go Bijan.
Starting point is 00:22:29 I love how he was used from week six on. He averaged almost 23 PPR points per game. He had a ton of games with, I wanna say like 17 touches per game. I can look it up and double check it for you. But the Falcons finally figured out, it took Arthur Smith leaving, and it took Zach Robinson putting two and two together. They figured out to give this guy a lot of the work, and they need to
Starting point is 00:22:51 continue doing it. I don't think the offensive line is going to take that big of a step back this year. I know they lost their center. And I know that they're older. They've got one of the older offensive lines in the league. Dude, Bijan's just awesome. And the reason why I've got him at No. 1 ahead of Chase is because I'm comfortable with the receivers that will be left for us when we get to the 2-3 turn. It's going to be T. Higgins, it's going to be LeD McConkie, it might be Rashid Rice getting into that group. There are a lot of good wide receivers that I'm OK with saying, Alright, not one of the top 9 guys, but absolutely guys that are top 12 guys. You can have two top 12 wide receivers and arguably the best candidate to be the No. 1 running back on a per-game basis in PPR leagues, all on your fantasy team, by taking Bijan. I don't have a problem if you take Jamar Chase first. If you, if you love
Starting point is 00:23:41 wide receivers, you want the safety of that position, You think chase can repeat what he did last year. Take chase first. They're going to be good running backs when you get to the two, three turn as well. I'd, I'd rather have Bijan knowing the receivers that are left. I'm going to like better than the running backs that are left. Oh, I couldn't disagree more with that based on the running back talent that's available versus what do you see there at the two, three turn? Oh, I mean, just looking at the fantasy pros, ADP 25 is Kyron Williams.
Starting point is 00:24:07 27 is chase Brown. You want to go, you know, a little bit before that it's Jonathan Taylor, Bucky Irving, which we tend to see in that range. Like I would much rather have chase and Kyron and chase Brown. Then be John and McConkey and. Rushy rice. Okay. And so I think it's a great point.
Starting point is 00:24:23 And CBS ADP is pretty similar. Bucky Irving's 25th or 23rd highest ADP, his ADP is 26, if that makes any sense. Kyron Williams, Jonathan Taylor, Chase Brown, they're all there, but so are JSN and T Higgins for what that's worth. McConkey might make it there. So let's just say at the two-3 turn, you're going to
Starting point is 00:24:45 go with one receiver and one running back. And therefore you're not really playing that game. You don't care who's available at the 2-3 turn. So then you just say, all right, I want my best player available at 101, not giving a crap about 24 and 25. You're going Bijon or you're going Chase. Chase. I think in that case, Chase makes a little bit more sense, but I would add how many receivers are you starting? How many flexes are you starting?
Starting point is 00:25:15 Yeah. Format obviously matters. If this is a non PPR or half PPR league, there is no conversation. It's Bijon. Yeah. Okay. No conversation. It's B John. Yeah, okay. No conversation Okay, so I don't know that we need to spend too much time on them B John
Starting point is 00:25:33 Was our before tied for our before per game last year man, I started with our B three. Sorry our tide is our B three in full PPR with Derek Henry and Hopefully the Falcons stay very run heavy like they were at the end of last year. I guess final question here. Are you worried about Atlanta's offense? They I think were 13th in points per game last year. Are you worried about them having a bad year offensively?
Starting point is 00:26:00 Again, taking into account who they played the three games that Michael Penick started, they averaged over 32 points per game. They will also play the Panthers twice, the Saints twice. The Bucs defense is pretty good, so that that could be tough, but we've seen Bijan play well against Tampa. I will have a full grade for what I think of their schedule. I don't think it's going to be so bad. It's not a first place schedule. It's not going to be bad that we're going to say, Oh, we better watch out for Saquon here or Saquon B John here. B John schedule is not going to be a deterrent to drafting B shot.
Starting point is 00:26:36 I expect them to be average. Yeah. Just real quick. Your teeth is fair. Yes. Right. Just real quick on Jamar chase. Uh, just so we don't shortchange him.
Starting point is 00:26:45 Heath, what is it about Jamar chase that separates him? That makes him number one for you. Well, yeah, I think it's, it's less like that seems like an easier argument because he just got 127 passes for 1700 yards and 17 touchdowns. And we thought before he did that, he might be the best wide receiver in football. He has Joe burrow. He's on a team with a terrible defense.
Starting point is 00:27:08 The question more is, why is he not number one? And it's just how much off of those, it was a very abnormal year in terms of scoring 17 touchdowns. And how much does that regress? If he does what he did last year, then he should be the number one pick. I don't, I don't really in the projections have anybody that close to him. Oh, who is close? Who's number two?
Starting point is 00:27:36 Like Lam's a point per game behind him. So maybe that's close, but it's doesn't seem as close when you look at the wide receiver 20 through 40 and they're, they're all separated by one point per game. Um, but then there's another point after lamb before you get to anybody else in my projections. So he's two points per game better than any wide receiver, not named lamb. Okay. So, and then on top of that, we've talked about this already, Adam, that we all,
Starting point is 00:27:58 we all seem to have a tier of somewhere between seven and nine wide receivers that we put on this shelf ahead of everybody else at that position, and it's not even close. And Chase leads that group. And so if you're a fantasy drafter that wants to get in on those 7 to 9 wide receivers, then I think you really do have to lean toward Chase. I just wouldn't expect him, just like with Saquon, I wouldn't expect him to repeat what he did last year, but I think he's got, if I had to put a percentage on it, like maybe there's a 40% chance he repeats versus Saquon who I'd say has like a 15% chance to repeat what he did last year. You're saying repeat the same numbers wise or repeat as number one?
Starting point is 00:28:39 Repeat as far as points per game is where my mind's at. Well, yeah, I mean, that's obviously a tougher ask. He's the only receiver ever to go 1,717 touchdowns. And he's a Triple Crown winner with his what? Four of those guys in NFL history. Like it's hard to do that. I think the case would be is like, can he get to the numbers that you're looking at from the projection standpoint, which is a slight downgrade, but it's still amazing.
Starting point is 00:29:00 And so like that's what I'm hoping for is that he's in the range. Not exactly the same, you know level of production We got him for game, wouldn't you? I'm sorry to you'd be thrilled with 20 points per game Yeah, I mean as we talked about last week I think any anytime you're taking a player in the first round and they're giving you that level of production So it's a slight decrease from what he did last year, but he's still over that plateau. Sure, right? Adam will call my bus, but yeah. No, I, my argument against chase if I had to make one would be T Higgins. And typically when you see a wide receiver finish as the number one overall wide receiver, they don't have a running running mate that good. And so in the last nine seasons, there have been 19 pairs of
Starting point is 00:29:49 wide receivers who have finished both of them in the top 16. In full PPR, I don't think we've ever had one of those guys finish as wide receiver one overall. You know where Higgins finished last year? He finished his wide receiver 17. So I mean Tyreeca so sorry Tyreeca was almost one of those but Jamar Chase basically had the best season for a wide receiver that had a you know a running mate as good as T. Higgins. You know in the last decade basically but you, you know, Jordy Nelson was, is basically the gold standard there. I don't remember if it was a Randall Cobbier or Devontae Adams season, but Higgins finished his wide receiver two overall in full PPR, wide receiver one and non PPR with another receiver having a huge year for the Packers.
Starting point is 00:30:37 But usually the number one guy is miles ahead of everyone on his team. And remember T Higgins missed five games last year. But if you just look at the games Higgins played, Chase was unbelievable in those games. Wide receiver one per game kind of stats in those games. So whatever. Well, the best game came with Higgins out. The Baltimore game.
Starting point is 00:31:00 But even with even including that, or even with that factored in, he was on pace for. Even better numbers than his full season 128 128 catches 1771 yards, 18 touchdowns on 177 targets with T Higgins. OK, so chase is great. Let's go to number three in the consensus rankings. It's Justin Jefferson, who finished as wide receiver six per game last year. It is a little deceiving because two guys who were ahead
Starting point is 00:31:29 of him were Chris Godwin and Rishi Rice. And then he was basically tied with Pukinakua and T Higgins per game. So he was almost wide receiver two per game. Justin Jefferson. Unfortunately, you know, it, it, it goes down as wide receiver six per game, but very, very close. Jamie, your thoughts on Justin Jefferson. I was surprised looking at the consensus rankings that he was wide receiver two personally, the third overall. I mean, it's a wild card with the quarterback situation, right? Because JJ McCarthy could be as good or better than Sam Donald. I would hope he's better, you know, for what I'm expecting for Jefferson and Addison, that there's no suspension, and Hockenson, you know, he removed from his ACL.
Starting point is 00:32:12 But there's clearly a scenario unfolding where McCarthy runs a little more, doesn't have the same success throwing the ball. Jefferson maybe doesn't have as much, you know, high-end production as, let's say, CD Lam or Puka or neighbors, any of those guys that are going to be right behind him. But then you go back to what Kevin O'Connell's quarterbacks have done. There's the Josh Dobbs games, there's the Nick Mullins games, there's the obviously Sam Donald and the resurrection that he had there and clearly what he did with Kirk Cousins. So you're hoping that JJ McCarthy comes in and can keep this generational talent and you know starting to
Starting point is 00:32:49 hear I think somebody did all uh decade team I think or something recently I don't remember what it was he was on on the same roster as Calvin Johnson and Randy Moss and um Terrell Owens like you know he was the fourth receiver of that group. Like this kid is special. Oh, yeah. It was, it was the all century to the quarter century team. Quarter century team. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so like he's, he's amazing, you know, and he's thrived with different quarterbacks and he's thrived in the system to such a level that it's, it's hard to overlook. So I have no problem if, if, you know, Lam is drafted ahead of him. Lam obviously was amazing. 2023 with a healthy Dak Prescott and I hope Dak is back and however you think of George Pickens and maybe taking away from Lam.
Starting point is 00:33:29 I go back and forth with those two guys myself, so I haven't really completely finalized that Jefferson should be ahead of Lam. But it's just so hard to bet against what Justin Jefferson has done, what Kevin O'Connell's system has done and produced. What my expectations are for J.J. McCarthy, which is to come in and you know kind of thrive in the system, you know, even though he may not be the most polished prospect coming out of Michigan, you know, there's still a lot of questions to be answered about him as a password, but I'm extremely confident in the coach, the system and the player.
Starting point is 00:33:58 Well, I'll ask a broader question because we're already at 32 minutes, so I know we're not going to have time to go super in depth on every one of these players. So if one and two are Bijon and chase in some order for you guys, and consensus, it's Bijon one, then chase two. You got Jefferson, Barkley, Lam at three, four, five. Jefferson had 102 catches last year. 103 catches last year. Barkley had 33 in 16 games. Lamb had 101 in 15 games with Dak Prescott, just the Dak Prescott games, the first seven games of the year
Starting point is 00:34:34 before Prescott got hurt in the eighth game of the year. He was on pace for 109 catches. So, Dave, how do you kind of balance that looking at Jefferson, Saquon Lamb at three, four, five, and going, it might be a 70-catch difference here between the wide receivers and the running back? Dave Korsunsky In a full PPR league, you want to gravitate toward that.
Starting point is 00:34:55 The only way a running back can come back from that is by scoring 10 more touchdowns or having a ton more total yards than the wide receivers get, which is what Saquon did in his amazing year last year. But it's tough to fathom him doing that again. It's easy to see Justin Jefferson being a high volume receiver with good production. Jamar had nine games last year with 20 plus PPR points. Jefferson had eight. You're counting on Jefferson to try and keep that going again this year with JJ McCarthy. So far the reports on McCarthy are
Starting point is 00:35:32 positive. You read any beat reporter that's watched them in mini camp and it's just mini camp, but McCarthy is slinging it. He's attacking the middle of the field. There's velocity on his throws. These are the things that we want to see if he's got good command of this O'Connell offense, I'm kind of living where Jamie is on this. You trust the scheme. You trust the play caller. You hope the quarterback is at least on the level of Sam Darnold. We should see Justin Jefferson have another huge year.
Starting point is 00:36:00 And so it feels a little safe to take him as the third guy off the board. I don't need to take that risk with Saquon taking a big step back. We've seen that happen to him before, when he's had a lot of work, when he's had over 350 touches in a year. His numbers regressed the following year. We've seen that twice now from him. CD Lamb with Pickens, man, there's going to be an effect there. We've seen Jefferson play with Jordan Addison being a red zone threat. Guess what? He's still awesome. So I'm happy to take Justin Jefferson third. All right, we'll take a break and finish up with with Barkley and lamb at four and five. And we'll be right back. And obviously, we'll do the rest of the top 12. We'll be right back
Starting point is 00:36:38 on FFT. Sequon Barkley is fourth in our consensus rankings and PPR. Heath, give me 30 seconds on Saquon Barkley, up to 30 seconds. He should be, he would be the number one player without a doubt if it wasn't for concerns about him having way too many touches last year and being 28 years old. And is there risk of a breakdown? Like we have seen from a relevant percentage
Starting point is 00:37:04 of running backs who have touched the ball that much in the past, but if you take those concerns away and one of the reasons I think that you might favor a running back over a wide receiver in that range, you talked about the receptions that are certainly going to favor the wide receivers. If you talk about just total yards, there've been 36, I think in the last 10 years, NFL players that have had 1700 yards. So played 17 games and averaged a hundred yards per game, just from scrimmage and 75%
Starting point is 00:37:35 of them are running backs. Like running backs just get more yards and generally running backs score more touchdowns and Barclays in one of the best situations you could imagine for producing a lot of yards and touchdowns. That's a great point. Jamie, give me a quick 30 seconds on CD lamb. And by the way, speaking of yards, total yards, CD lamb has been on pace for I think seven, yeah, 79 or more rushing yards in four of his five NFL seasons.
Starting point is 00:38:02 It's an underrated aspect of CD lam's game. Jamie, 30 seconds on Lam. Dack hopefully back at a hundred percent and plays the entire season. You saw what that was for the back end of the 2023 season. You mentioned what he was on pace for in 2024 before Dack suffered the hamstring injury and missed half the year. The addition of George Pickens
Starting point is 00:38:20 is probably the best running mate that he's had since, I guess, what, Amari Cooper, maybe? I don't remember who the other guy was when when lamb started his it was his tenure with Dallas but clearly since he's had this breakout you know year plus this is definitely the best running mate that he's had although Brandon Cooks did have seven or eight touchdowns in 2023 so Pickens can certainly score a bunch and still not impact CD lamb in a way that it's a tremendous negative. So again, lamb can easily be the number two wide receiver off the board, he could easily be the number three overall pick off the board, depending on how you view Bijan or Barkley, whoever those
Starting point is 00:38:57 guys, but I think he's a top five overall pick and can and should be a top four overall selection. Factoring in Bijan with the other two receivers. Okay, yeah, if you wanna show Thomas, one of the things that's held Lamb back a little bit, and that's funny saying that because he finishes number one wide receiver in 2023, is that Dak Prescott's missed 14 games over the last three years.
Starting point is 00:39:21 But here are the fantasy points per game for CD lamb with a healthy Dak Prescott. So that is removing week five in 2020 when Dak left with an injury. It's removing week nine last year when Dak left with an injury. You can see the sample sizes on the bottom, but over the last three years, it's 18.3 points per game, 23.8 and 19.2. And I would look at that 18.3, he had a horrible week one. Prescott missed the next, I wanna say six games. And then after that week one, like the last 11 games of the year,
Starting point is 00:39:54 Lamb averaged 19.4 or 19.6 fantasy points per game. So I could make a pretty easy case that his floor is 19 PPR fantasy points per game, which is really good. However, all of this is before George Pickens, right? So that needs to be mentioned here. You know, it doesn't seem like any of you are all that bothered by it. Yeah, I just it's hard for me with Pickens, like I think he's really good at
Starting point is 00:40:22 what he does and could really help Dak out, but he's first off not played with anybody like CD Lamb and he's still never been a really consistent high target earner. I just don't think George Pickens is the type of the guy that goes out on the field and all of a sudden you start throwing the ball to him instead of lamb. Pickens is the guy you take advantage of the matchup downfield when it's there. And maybe he gets six targets a game and they were throwing those six targets a game to a couple other guys that weren't as good as, as George Pickens, but I don't, I don't think George Pickens is the type of guy that
Starting point is 00:40:57 you worry about infringing on an alpha number one's target share. Okay. Let's move on to, uh, just, you know you know, in looking at it like is Pickens any better or worse than Jordan Addison? Is Pickens any better or worse than T Higgins like you know, all these guys have another player. Yeah, but I think CD lamb, I think people would say I would say CD lamb is a great player. He's not as good as Justin Jefferson or Jamar Chase. That is fair. And again, Higgins is obviously better than Pickens. And I would say Addison as a talent is probably better than Pickens. But you get the
Starting point is 00:41:35 point. Like there's somebody else that these guys have to share with. And then, you know, again, the sliding scale of okay, is is Puka situation better than lamb situation? sliding scale of, okay, is, is Puka situation better than Lam situation? I keep making the, I'm sorry. I keep making the case about Jefferson though, just to your point, nobody seems to factor it in. I feel like he had his, his targets were down last year and his target per out run rate was down and it was only half the year to TJ Hawkinson play. So yeah, that doesn't seem to be fact, that's still an amazing fan. He was amazing, but, but number two. Yeah. And this is, this is where the, you know, we're telling you publicly, as we always do, how we feel about this. This is when you're making your draft, you know, what decision you
Starting point is 00:42:17 have to make in regards to, okay, do, do I buy into Dak, Lamb, Pickens as a negative, Dak's injury history as negative, Dak coming off an injury as negative versus Jefferson, what he's done, the guys he shares the field with in Addison and Hawkinson, and an unproven quarterback. There's huge questions. There's huge questions. And this may be why you pivot to Bijon at two, if Chase goes one or Barkley still there or Gibs still there, you know, or, you know, what I would do and, you know, we had this discussion, you know, like, okay, you
Starting point is 00:42:54 build out your first couple of rounds and this is where ADP comes in because you can't clearly predict it entirely. But okay, these, if I, if I do this with the receiver in round one, and as Dave said, there's there's nine, you know, I could probably say 10 if for me at least Drake London. But like, there's those guys like, these guys, I'm, I want to get one of them. But if I don't, okay, that round three receiver range starts to get a little questionable, especially if you're, you know, like 2728 28, 29, you know, Rice is now gone. Higgins is gone. You know, JSN is, you know, starts to get where the tipping point is for me, at least, you know, like, I would want to guarantee myself the opportunity
Starting point is 00:43:37 to take a Jefferson or a Lamb, you know, maybe more so just again, if you're building out with those running backs, they're gonna be there versus the receivers. I know. I should probably say, like I, maybe I already said it, but I have lamb a point ahead of Jefferson. So I, You did.
Starting point is 00:43:52 Like I do think lamb should be out of Jefferson. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Right now I just want to bring this stuff up cause these guys are great. But just, I love what, I love this show by the way, right now. I love being able I love this show, by the way, right now. I love being able to spend all this time
Starting point is 00:44:07 on one or two players, I think, to bring up all the research that we've done and all these different angles. And maybe the people listening go, oh, I never thought about that. Or, oh, just reinforce something I already thought about. So we're gonna do today, calling an audible here. We're just gonna do the top six.
Starting point is 00:44:23 And we'll end with Jameer Gibbs, talk about him about him and then we'll do so we had four shows planned for this week. And the one through 12 was going to be today 13 through 24 was going to be tomorrow Tuesday. But we're gonna do those two topics over four days. So I think we'll be able to spend more time instead of me rushing you guys along like I always do. So let's go to Jameer Gibbs. And yeah, we know if David Montgomery were won the lottery, Dave, maybe Jameer Gibbs would be the consensus 101 because he's just incredible when Montgomery's out. But when Montgomery's there, it's not you know, this might be a little bit rich of a ranking at number six might be. So what do you say about that criticism of
Starting point is 00:45:08 Jameer Gibbs? Adam in 14 games with David Montgomery last year, Jameer Gibbs averaged 18.9 PPR points per game, he is absolutely in the conversation of being a top six pick, if not a top four pick, I'm going to bank on his upside and his usage going up. I think there's more for him to accomplish there as a pass catcher. And because this offense just on paper, talent wise, what they have, it's impossible for defenses to totally focus on the run game in Detroit. They've got to have their safeties back because of not just Jamison Williams' speed,
Starting point is 00:45:47 but also what, what, what Laporta can do, what St. Brown can do. Even Tim Patrick is respected at least by opposing defensive coordinators. Not that they're going to double Tim Patrick, but you know what I'm saying. There are threats that are out there that are going to force defenses to say,
Starting point is 00:46:02 okay, we need to really take it easy and not necessarily stack the box or blitz Jared Goff time after time. They've got to be a lot more selective with those decisions. That plays into Jamir Gibbs' favor. I think his workload could potentially rise. I also think the Lions will be in more competitive games this year than they were last year. This is a player I want to have on my team. Um, just absolutely ascending, can do it all. Montgomery's getting older. He might be relegated to a touchdown, uh, or bust type of fantasy running back who doesn't get the same type of work week in and week out. It's just easier for an offensive coordinator that's not as talented as Ben Johnson to lean on Jameer Gibbs because of the talent that he's shown the world over his first two seasons, I'll take them ahead of Saquon Barkley.
Starting point is 00:46:49 And just again, to offer the, where I'm different, uh, I think I'm the low guy on Gibbs at the seventh pick and it, it dealt the only concern I have on the low guy on the lions basically is how much does the absence of Ben Johnson, the absence of rag now matter. Like a big reason that Jamir Gibbs was as incredible as he was last year as he scored 20 touchdowns on the team that scored more points than anybody else. And I think there's probably a little bit offensive regression coming for the lions. So I'm not quite as excited about taking Gibbs that high.
Starting point is 00:47:23 Yeah, I think the one thing that's interesting with your Lions take like, and it makes sense, you know, again, the change office coordinator changes center, everything that they did was such a high level last year, plus the defense was awful at the end of the season and they had to be so I don't want to say more offensive minded because I think every team should be offensive minded, but you get the point. Like they had to, you know, sort of pop of compensate for their lack of defensive players who were there, especially some of the stars. Like this is the one guy as good as St. Brown has been,
Starting point is 00:47:51 as good as the rookie season was for La Porta. Like his arrow, I think, is still pointing up. And there's still room to get better if, to Dave's point, they do sort of maybe relegate Montgomery to somewhat more of a specialist role. I don't see that dramatically happening, but it could. And there's another wild card. It's not just the loss of those two guys.
Starting point is 00:48:14 It's what does John Morton do? And what does, as the new play caller there, and is it a benefit to Gibbs? Or is it the other way? Is it a negative to Gibbs that maybe they don't want to put more work on his plate and they want to continue this balance of these two guys sharing the backfield. And, and as we saw, Adam points this out all the time in the beginning part of the season, Montgomery was the better pass catcher. Well, so pretty much even Gibbs had more targets. I've always, I've always, I'm sorry. I just, I wanted to clarify cause I've always been giving the stat and I think I might be
Starting point is 00:48:51 giving the wrong stat because I've been giving the first 14 games, but I probably should be doing the first 13 games cause Montgomery got hurt in that 14th game. But in the first 13 games before Montgomery got hurt, they had the same amount of touches. Montgomery had what, two more carries I think, and Gibbs had two more catches. It's pretty crazy, the same amount of, but it's not that many touches. It's a pace of 233 carries and 44 catches for Jameer Gibbs.
Starting point is 00:49:23 That is not what you want from a top six overall pick. Heath has him seventh, Dave and Jamie have him top five because we respect how good he is with those touches and how many touchdowns he scores, but just that number. If you wanna be nervous, that's why. 233 carries, 44 catches. That's what he was on pace for. Almost identical numbers to David Montgomery's pace.
Starting point is 00:49:47 So that's just what I wanted to bring up. Heath, I think I caught you off. It's a fair concern, you know, if you're worried about Gibbs and the, you know, not living up to, you just saw, if you're watching on YouTube, the sports line projection of the number one running back that they have, you know, ahead of Bijan and ahead of Barclay. You know, that back that they have, you know, ahead of Bijon and ahead of Barclay.
Starting point is 00:50:05 You know, that's, that's pretty lofty, you know, expectations given what those other two guys showed last year as well. But you have to have the wild card of Montgomery's missed time. It's the last two years and Gibbs is dominated in those games. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:50:23 And I think the big question for me is that 56 catches because he was on pace for 44 last year when Montgomery was healthy. Yeah, I'll say he can get over 50 catches again. And he was 10th and targets per game at running back last year. He was the most consistent running back for fantasy managers last year 13 of 17 games with at least 15 PPR points. That's your 13 of 17 games with at least 15 PPR points. Yeah, okay. Well, so that just to get a glimpse inside my crazy mind,
Starting point is 00:50:51 do I include that Buffalo game with Montgomery? He played 30% of the snaps. That's low, but it's not that low for him. Montgomery usually plays about 40, 40% of the snaps. So you could include the game, whatever. It's not, doesn't change things that much. The point is Gibbs is a different player when Montgomery's on the field. He has been for the much. The point is Gibbs is a different player when Montgomery's on the field. He has been for the first two seasons.
Starting point is 00:51:07 He's been a different player when Montgomery's on the field. We're hoping that they recognize, man, this guy is so special. Get the ball in his hands more often. But even if he, if they don't, I'm just going to go back to the very first number I spewed, which is 18.9, which is still really damn good. But he's gonna have to score a touchdown a game.
Starting point is 00:51:27 He's gonna have to average a touchdown a game. Yeah, I think this guy's capable of doing it. Capable of it, yeah. It's tough to bank on that, right? When you're splitting goal line carries evenly, you know? That's the argument against him. I'm just, I'm playing devil's advocate. I mean, I think he deserves to be that that high as Heath has him
Starting point is 00:51:46 seventh. I don't think he's going any lower than that. Can't wait to talk about Pukka Nakula. Most at eighth overall, he is the most underrated player. Is he your favorite? He's probably he might be my wide receiver to Wow. Wow. Wow. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:52:06 What's your top six? Yeah, I don't know. Do I have to do this? Yes. Are you not worried about Adams? Are you? I am worried about Adams, but I think that we kind of forget how good Cooper Cup was last year until the last three games of the season.
Starting point is 00:52:19 Cooper Cup had a combined nine targets, but there was this stretch where they both came back against Minnesota. They both came back in the same game after missing a big chunk of the first half of the season. And Cup, Cup average weeks, eight through 14 Cup average nine targets per game and scored 18 PPR fantasy points per game. Nikua averaged 10 targets per game and scored 20.5 PPR fantasy points per game. Nikua averaged 10 targets per game and scored 20.5 PPR fantasy points per game. Adams is 32 years old.
Starting point is 00:52:47 Puka is entering his prime. Like I said, the second highest yards per out run for any wide receiver over the last 12 years. And he was elite in that. He was really good in that as a rookie as well. I just think he's amazing. Yeah, the touchdowns are weird. So, you know, if he just scores 10 touchdowns, it's just gonna crush it. I'm
Starting point is 00:53:07 not all that worried about Devante Adams. My top six would be Jamar chase in full PPR Jamar chase one B john Robinson to Christian McCaffrey, Christian McCaffrey three. hookah for lamb, Jefferson six. It's really interesting though, just like, and I'm not even arguing against it, but the fact that we're more worried about Saquon Barkley because he stayed healthy for 20 games last year and had too many touches. Then we are about Christian McCaffrey who missed most of last year hurt and has missed
Starting point is 00:53:43 a lot more games over his career due to injury than Barclay. I wouldn't say I'm worried about, I wouldn't say it like that, that I'm more worried about Barclay than McCaffrey. I just think Barclay had a perfect season last year. He averaged 5.7 yards per carry, I think. Don't see that happening again. You know, he's not a huge factor in the passing game.
Starting point is 00:54:03 Just looking at their entire careers, you know, McCaffrey laps Saquon Barkley. It's just not even close. So I just, if I'm getting injury risk out of there, even with how great Barkley was last year, that was the height of Saquon Barkley. What did he average last year? 20, 23 points for him?
Starting point is 00:54:21 23 and a half, I think. Yeah, the height of Christian McCaffrey is, actually that's not fair. He's not gonna catch 119 balls again or anything like that. But he has more upside to me. 22.2 for Saquon last year. Yeah, I think McCaffrey has more upside and non injury floor, I think McCaffrey
Starting point is 00:54:38 has a higher floor than Barkley. It's just injury. And would you really say that he's lapped him? Yes, in his career, yes, I would personally. When he he's lapped him? Yes. In his career? Yes, I would personally when he's been on the field as a fantasy asset, like Barclay before last year, I think Barclay was one of the most overrated players. You just look at it like he never lived up to that rookie year. He was horrible.
Starting point is 00:55:00 How many seasons? Who? McAfee played how many seasons? Seven, eight. He played one more year than Barclay. One more year than Barclay? And has 1300 more yards, which seems pretty much like one year. He gets hurt.
Starting point is 00:55:16 Two of those seven were definitely in Barclay's favor. His rookie year and last year? Yes. Uh-huh. I don't know. Actually, no. What was Barclays rookie year? No, they were tied that year. They were essentially tied. His rookie year versus McCaffrey's rookie year. Right. McCaffrey wasn't fully unleashed his rookie year. Okay. But in Barclays best season until last year, no, his best season overall,
Starting point is 00:55:40 he averaged 24 points per game. McCaffrey averaged 23.8 that year. They were one and two overall. Okay, hey, we got something to show here. Let's get this. There we go. Get something good here. What do we got? Look at that champion. I see the word champions there, Jamie, what are we looking at? This was the sectional championship for our Boca Raton Little League 13 you all-stars and What an unbelievable day it was Saturday. We had to win two games to advance to the state tournaments. We're going to states and Boys play great. This was the second game We were down seven to three in the fourth inning of seven had a rally back and win the game nine seven
Starting point is 00:56:21 Was a very proud moment for me my son drove in the game winning RBI we still scored another run on top of it but he put us ahead 8 to 7 and the entire team really contributed in the in the second game first time that we've been trailing so this is our fifth game together first time that we've been trailing and just amazing to see them you know come back and to win the game was special to advance to the state tournaments. Now we go to states on Friday and it's an 18 tournament so we'll see if we can win there and we're hoping that our best pitcher Joey Wagner, I can say a lot about the entire team
Starting point is 00:56:57 but our stud pitcher Joey Wagner, you mentioned him a couple of times on the show, appreciate you guys talking about it and So and getting some responses, you know, via social media. So our best pitcher, Joey Wagner, he may not be with us this week and we're trying to make a last second plea. He's got another commitment with another team, but we're trying to make a last second plea for Joey to come pitch with us. Cause again, just so awesome. Watching his kid pitch 16 and two thirds innings. He has 40 strikeouts in the 16 plus innings. I mean, he's just been absolutely dominant and has a chance for little league immortality if he's with us for this state state tournament run.
Starting point is 00:57:30 So I think we have a good chance to win it. I know I was a little bit pessimistic going into the district tournament when we came out of this tournament and the kids got on me about that. So I think we have a really good chance to win it. I hope Joey's with us and hope the rest of the team shows up and does what they're capable of doing because it's been a fun ride so far. Heath knows as a coach and I know Dave and Adam have had their experiences with their kids.
Starting point is 00:57:49 When you get a good group of kids and a great group of parents, it makes everything so much better and this group has been so amazing. Really really enjoying this run. Hope it continues and I hope our whole team is there with us. So, appreciate you guys bringing it up and showing this and I'm glad you didn is there with us. So, you know, appreciate you guys, you know, bringing it up and showing this and I'm glad you didn't show the other photo up there. Of course.
Starting point is 00:58:09 Yes. That's great. Was that your punishment for being pessimistic? You gotta give a little play by play. What are we looking at for the listeners? So the first photo you showed was the entire team photo under the scoreboard and the whole team posing.
Starting point is 00:58:26 This was afterwards, you know, they got me pretty good. They're like, hey, we got to talk to you real quick. You know, the other coach, one of the coaches pulled me aside, the other coach snuck up behind and dumped the ice water, shower, Gatorade bath that you would typically see, but thankfully wasn't Gatorade. And it was cold, but it was worth it. It was a hot day as we talked about with the temperature. So I enjoyed it.
Starting point is 00:58:47 Hope to get another one this coming weekend. And appreciate you guys again that have asked about it on social media. And hopefully we keep it going for one more run. And then after that, who knows? We get a regional tournament in North Carolina and a national tournament in California if we keep this going.
Starting point is 00:59:02 Wow. Okay, I have something to share with you guys. Did some quick math. Over their careers, I've got Saquon Barkley, 18.3 PPR points per game, Christian McCaffrey, 22.1. That's a pretty big difference. That's not a lap. That's a lap, that's a quarter of a lap.
Starting point is 00:59:25 A lap would be like Dan laps you in tennis. Yeah. Man, they might cancel my tennis match tonight because of the heat and I'm gonna be pissed. Thought you were playing at some indoor facility. No, it's a road game today. We have a road match. In the heat.
Starting point is 00:59:44 No one's coming to drop a bucket of water over your head. Yeah, I'll be. Hydrate, hydrate. All right, thank you so much. Seven through 12 in the PPR consensus rankings tomorrow. We will talk to you then. See you later. The Paramount Podcasts.

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