Fantasy Football Today - 🚨 DeAndre Hopkins Suspended! Big Marquise Brown Boost? (05/02 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: May 2, 2022

DeAndre Hopkins is suspended six games for violating the Performance Enhancing Drug Policy. We tell you when to draft Hopkins, Kyler Murray, Marquise Brown, Rondale Moore and Zach Ertz. These players have huge opportunities ahead of them, but who will take advantage? Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs, @BenSchragg 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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BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Looking for maybe a little bit of a bounce back from DeAndre Hopkins. Not that he was so bad last year, but the yards were obviously down. We're going to have to wait these six weeks. He's been suspended for six games for violating the performance enhancing drugs policy. Welcome to Fantasy Football Today, a bonus podcast to break it all down for you. Adam, Dave, and Jamie here. So obviously disappointing, perhaps explains the Marquise

Brown trade. Dave, what's the biggest takeaway here from this tough news? A sentence I never thought I'd say today. I don't want to draft DeAndre Hopkins. Now, I was excited about him as a number two fantasy receiver. And now knowing that you're not going to have him for the first six weeks of the season, he could clog your bench for the first six weeks of the season. And we don't know just how effective he'll be when he comes back. Is he that same guy that he was two seasons ago? I don't think so. Is he going to be the same guy? I remember he's coming off a torn MCL. I think that's why he took the PEDs. That's a guess, but I don't know if he can even

be 15 PPR points per game when he does come back. I'm probably going to let somebody else draft Hopkins in my fantasy league. And then if I am excited about the direction of the Cardinals offense, I'll try and make a trade for him a week or two before he comes off the suspended list. Average just 57.2 yards per game. I was able to do that math because he played 10 games, so that was very nice of him to give me that nice round number there. But 57.2 yards per game, he did catch eight touchdowns in 10 games. Jamie, are you concerned that he'll kind of fall off the map,

that this could be really the end of DeAndre Hopkins as a fantasy-relevant player? I mean, I've said that already. So yes, I think that drastic though. I mean, I don't know. Well,

I mean, I've, I mean, the last couple of weeks I've been saying that, you know, I think we had to be concerned about that. He hit the wall last year, you know,

with what his production was and the fact that he was a good red zone threat, but not really much anything else. And, you know, he's at that age and coming off the surgery and, you know, it was two injuries for him last year that he had to deal with and so you know it's i was i was concerned about this move to arizona a couple years ago because of the target share and he overcame that

the first year and then last year i think he struggled a little bit because you know they added pieces and kyler murray got better as a quarterback and so now you have to wonder uh by adding more pieces even though they lose christian kirk but you know uh a bigger more whatever whatever it was going to be for Rondell Moore, even the constraints of, you know, adding a Marquise Brown and bringing back AJ Green. But they were going to do more to give him opportunities. And you bring in a guy like Marquise Brown. And so, you know, Hopkins with a six game suspension on top of the fact that he's, you know, maybe just at that point of either over the cliff or at the cliff. It's clearly shown signs of happening to a lot of great wide receivers. He's not, you know, I think, immune to that.

So it's unfortunate. You know, with these guys, you know, it just happens quickly. It happened quickly to Andre Johnson. It happened quickly to Julio Jones. It happened quickly to, you know, maybe DeAndre Hopkins now. I'm sure there's other guys, you know, maybe AJ Green also. You know, where injuries and just, you know just the fall off just hits and it hits quickly. And so it tells you what the Cardinals did with their draft and the trade.

And we might see more two tight end sets. We might see more opportunities just for other guys. And going back to the show we did earlier today, you got to knock Kyler Murray a little bit for this because he's down one of the key guys. Yeah, that's obviously a big thing. Let's wrap it up on Nuke and then we'll talk Murray and we'll talk about the rest of the receiving core.

If I wanted to draft DeAndre Hopkins, when would you recommend I do that? What round? Probably going to go in round eight or nine. You factor in six-game suspension. If he's right, it's not a suspension. It's not if he's right. It's not a death knell. You know, so if he's able to still play at a high level, then you're getting a bargain by far for what you're getting.

But I mean, clearly you hear what we're saying. It's hard to expect that at this point. So it's all a matter, I think, of how your roster construction is and, you know, what your what your hopes are for him. But, you know's it's different but you know think about some of the things we went through michael thomas last couple years of waiting for him to come back and not being the same guy or not even playing you know so just factor that that type of equation and now if you have an ir spot and you can stash in there because he's suspended that helps you should you shouldn't be able to right if you're suspended that means you're not hurt now maybe he comes

to camp hurt and they put him on there and he serves both you know together then concurrently that's the word i was looking for then maybe that works but i'll throw on this added wrinkle on why it's not a good idea to take hopkins sooner than round eight what if by the time he comes back kyler's hurt or this offense doesn't look good or something else has gone wrong. I know you can't, but like that's one of the reasons why I was a little bit nervous about Thomas. That's why I'm just bringing it up last year. We knew that breeze wasn't there and we didn't know exactly what was going

to happen with the new Orleans offense without Michael Thomas. We can't say for sure that it's going to be Kyler playing at a high level by the time Hopkins comes back, but really it's more about Hopkins. He's going to be 30 by the time the season starts. Don't know how his body is going to be coming off of the suspension. It really doesn't matter. But having the PEDs in his system, it's risky.

It's too risky to take him in round five, round six, even round seven. I think I can find a wide receiver I'd rather use. Okay. So for Kyler Murray then, I know he was a, man, I already forgot, top five guy. I moved him ahead of Lamar Jackson before or after the draft, and now he's going back behind him. Where are you going to put him? Kind of doing it as we speak.

And he could end up going in that same round eight range. I still would. I'm assuming there's going to be a suspension for Deshaun Watson. I'll take him ahead of Deshaun watson i'll take him ahead of deshaun watson okay jamie you have him seventh is that right yep okay so is that going to stay that way dave had him fourth now that's going to be lower how about you with kyler yeah so when i adjusted it following our show i think i moved him up to five and now he's back to seven back to seven okay just stay at seven and now he's back to seven. Back to seven. Okay. Stay at seven. And, yeah, he wasn't bad, necessarily, without Hopkins last year,

but he was worse. He was 20 points per game. Yeah, that's not great. A couple more times. I mean, he threw for about 200. He also didn't have Marquise Brown. Yeah, it's true. It's true.

He had Christian Kirk. He threw for about 250 yards per game, ran a lot. That doesn't include that playoff game, though. He was awful in that playoff game. So if that had been a regular season game and we were counting that, maybe we'd feel even worse about it. The playoff game was just a disaster

for the Cardinals against the Rams. Okay, so Kirk, I mentioned Kirk. He's not on the team, but his stat still matters. If you look at the Green Bay game, that was a game where Hopkins was in and out, barely played in that game. So I'm going to count that as a game without DeAndre Hopkins.

Without DeAndre Hopkins, yeah, I do that. He was on pace for 123 targets without Hopkins. With Hopkins, he was on pace for 85 targets. It's obvious. A lot more opportunity here. Who benefits more, Marquise Brown

or Zach Ertz? Brown. Brown, but they both do. I guess relative to that, who benefits more in terms of moving up or down in the rankings? Who does it impact more for fantasy, Marquise Brown or Ertz? I put Brown. I originally, after the trade and going through it,

put Brown as a middle number three receiver, and now he's a borderline number two. I'm cool with that. I'm cool with that. He's right in that number two mix. He might even be low end number two for me now. Ertz has gone from the type of tight end that you'd be okay using as a starter to begin the year to a guy you can almost lock into your lineup for the first six weeks of the season. 13.3 PPR points per game in games without DeAndre Hopkins last year. So I think that that's on the table for him. Certainly could be a top five or six, let's call it six, tight end to begin the season.

And then when Hopkins comes back, probably no guarantee he'll be around 11 PPR points per game, but could be around nine or 10 most weeks. Could help you out. Wouldn't be so bad, but he's a boost to begin the season. He was a big red zone target for Kyler Murray. Well, for all of the quarterbacks last year in Arizona, from week 7 through 18, he had the 10th most red zone targets

and the 4th most goal-to-go targets in the NFL. That was Zachary. Didn't catch a lot of touchdowns. Touchdown rate was low, but he got the fourth most goal to go targets in the NFL with the Cardinals. And much of that time was spent without DeAndre Hopkins on the field. Would you rather have Zach Ertz or Dallas Goddard with Goddard getting A.J. Brown and Ertz losing DeAndre Hopkins for six games,

but also adding Marquise Brown? And Trey McBride. Don't forget about that. And Trey McBride. Don't forget about that. And Trey McBride, the rookie, sure. Who would you rather have, Ertz or Goddard? Still Goddard. Yeah. It's a lot closer now than it was when this day began.

Okay. So who's back-to-back with Ertz then? I mean, there's that whole group of Ertz, Hawkinson now, because they've got a lot of company in Detroit. Goddard, still Gronk for me. The next guy in the rankings is Fryermuth. Yeah, I would take him. He's over Fryermuth.

Fryermuth, okay. Yeah, he's right behind Goddard for me. Okay. And what about Rondale Moore? How do we feel about him? Any interest? A little bit of a rollercoaster weekend for him. Going from prior to the draft

to somebody that had a ton of sleeper appeal to following the trade to, oh, no, where's he going to get targets? And now you see a path there. The fact that their number two running back is either, I think it's Keontae Ingram, right? Or you know Benjamin? It's probably going to be that combination.

And no real pass catching back, at least of the team. And now that Hopkins is gone, you know, you see where Rondell Moore can do. If Cliff Kingsbury was honest, what he told me at the owner's meeting about using him in a Debo Samuel type role, he's that guy. And so, you know, he's got a much easier path if Cliff Kingsbury was honest, what he told me at the owners meetings about using him in a Debo Samuel type role, um, he's,

he's that guy. And so, you know, he's got a much easier path the first six weeks to getting on the field and doing what they said that they should have done more last year, which is putting the ball in his hands. So we'll see, you know, I think it's,

uh, he's still draft worthy. He's, you know, he was going, um, I think in the, you know,

anywhere as high as like round eight, I've seen some of the drafts to, to round 10. Um, I'd say around 10 is probably the highest because, again, you have to factor in Hopkins coming back after six games, but he's still in that range now. All right. It's interesting. You can give all these boosts to Ertz and Brown and Moore

and maybe even James Conner. James Conner, without Chase Edmonds last year, was on pace for 85 catches. He was the second-best running back in fantasy in the six games he played without Edmonds. Only Jonathan was on pace for 85 catches. He was the second best running back in fantasy in the six games he played without Edmonds. Only Jonathan Taylor, I believe, was better. Maybe he catches more passes, kind of like Aaron Jones did without Devontae Adams a couple years ago. But then you have to weigh,

okay, how much do I really want to alter my draft strategy when it's six games? It's not the full season. At what point does Kyler Murray become a steal? All these things that we're talking about, they're only temporary unless Hopkins comes back and is just not

nearly as much of a factor as we thought he was going to be. Dave, how do you weigh the pros and cons of going early on these guys and hopefully getting off to a hot start, but then dealing with Hopkins when he comes back? I think I would be most excited to draft Kyler if I got a couple of good bargains in the first five or six rounds of my draft. I really love my team, and I know I've got guys who I think I can get some serious production from so that I could

withstand a slow start from Kyler Murray without DeAndre Hopkins. And listen, he's losing Hopkins. He's getting Marquise Brown. He's getting Ertz, who will be in their program for the full offseason. Whatever he gets out of McBride, whatever he gets out of Rondell Moore, and there's no Kirk. So all this balancing act makes me think that he can probably be a little bit better than 20 points per game.

Could be right around 22. So he probably won't win you many weeks to begin the season but if you build this great team and then in week seven let's say hopkins is back we don't know what the schedules we don't know when their buy is so let's just say for the sake of the argument their buys at the end of the year week seven when when hop is back, you should theoretically have a monster squad then, and Kyler could start putting up way more than 22 fantasy points per game. That would probably be when I'd get excited about taking Kyler. I'll just say I'd be pretty excited about taking Marquise Brown. If he gets that type of target share that Christian Kirk was getting when he was on pace for 123 targets without Hopkins,

I think he could do a lot with that. Also, if you look at those Kirk games, that Christian Kirk was getting when he was on pace for 123 targets without Hopkins. I think he could do a lot with that. And also, if you look at those Kirk games, he was more heavily targeted when Murray was his quarterback and not Colt McCoy. So if you get true number one receiver targets from Brown, then you could get off to a great start, and then he could still be pretty good. If he goes out there and he's awesome,

then maybe he takes more targets away from Brown right now. I don't have a problem saying he's their best receiver with Hopkins on the field. I mean, I just don't know what Deandre Hopkins is going to be there. So, you know, I mean the,

the, the trade speaks volumes that he wanted out. He wanted to go there apparently, and they were willing to, you know, go get him. Um, we don't know the state of Hopkins when he's going to come back,

where he's at at this point, you're going to get a six game headstart of him. You know, he's, he's going to be in as much of the off season program as he needs to be. You know, go get him. We don't know the state of Hopkins when he's going to come back, where he's at at this point, you're going to get a six game headstart of him. You know, he's, he's going to be in as much of the off season program as he needs to be, you know, mini camp starting now. So, you know, he's got a chance to pick up the offense. He's got a rapport with Kyler Murray or a friendship with Kyler Murray. You know, I, I think there's, there's a lot to like about his situation. So this, this is, this is just a strange offense right now because as much as marquise brown has been a number one receiver we don't think of him as an alpha and hopkins at this point you can't feel the same way about him that you have been no matter suspension or not

you know just based on how things are going so a lot's going to be on kyler's plate now part of kyler with the 20 points per game he still remember playing through the ankle injury so you know who knows how healthy he was at that point last year so factored that into the equation but uh there there's there's a lot going on in Arizona right now. This is a franchise that is very much teetering. You know, if they don't have a successful season, you can see everything getting blown up because it's just, you know, Cliff Kingsbury can't win in the playoffs or, you know,

barely gets to the playoffs and can't win in the playoffs. Kyler with the contract situation. There's a lot that's going to potentially happen with this Arizona franchise if things go wrong. And this is a bad first step, what happened following the contract situation. There's a lot that's going to potentially happen with this Arizona franchise if things go wrong. And this is a bad first step, what happened following the NFL draft. And you mentioned we don't necessarily see Marquise Brown as an alpha receiver, but you know who does is Kyler because that's what he was when they were together at Oklahoma.

And Kirk, it was seven targets per game. You take 120 targets, you divide it by 17. It's right around seven targets per game. Go ahead and targets, you divide it by 17, it's right around seven targets per game. Go ahead and pencil that in as the floor for Marquise Brown for the first six weeks of the season. I've gotten more excited about it as we've had this discussion. I like when we do a podcast and I start to feel a certain way. I definitely want to draft Marquise Brown

because I could see him taking the opportunity and running with it because I know he really struggled down the stretch last year and I don't understand why but uh well quarterback play had a lot to do with it the offense that he was in had a lot to do yeah but he was still getting so many targets to the point where he was doing so poorly with those targets it really didn't matter who the quarterback was he should have done better but he's got a great opportunity here and uh you know seems like a good fit and let's just hope jam, that this team doesn't do poorly and their season goes off a cliff. Right? A cliff. Thank you.

Okay. If I had said that right after Jamie spoke, it would have been a little more timely, but I just felt like I needed to do it. I felt like I needed to hit that button right there. Okay. You wonder, though, again, I've said you know, I've said this many times. If Kyler now looks at this and says he doesn't have Hopkins,

his numbers may struggle. I'm not stepping on the field until I get paid. Man, that would really Kingsbury their season. Okay. So we're out. Kingsbury this podcast. Thanks for hopping on, everybody. We had a nice little audience here for this bonus pod.

And we will see where all these guys get drafted in our live mock draft tomorrow, Tuesday, May 3rd at 1 p.m. Eastern. YouTube.com slash fantasy football today. Scott Fish is joining us. You should join us, too. YouTube.com slash fantasy football today. We will see you there. And before we do that, we have our updated running back rankings maybe we can talk about james connor on our wednesday morning show wait you should no today's monday on our tuesday morning show

okay king's buried it see ya