Fantasy Football Today - Deebo Samuel SIGNS with 49ers, ADP Updates, Tight End Leftovers, plus Training Camp Mailbag! (0731 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: July 31, 2026

The FFT Crew kicks things off by discussing Deebo Samuel's return to the 49ers and what it means for his 2026 fantasy outlook (3:20). They also review some of the toughest ADP decisions, including whether the remaining tight ends are worth targeting (11:50), if Malik Nabers is a Round 2 pick (26:25), and whether Parker Washington offers value in Round 5 (31:10). Later, the crew debates drafting Bhayshul Tuten ahead of D'Andre Swift (34:55) and makes the case for Bryce Young as a breakout candidate (35:50). They also catch you up on the latest fantasy news and notes (42:40) before examining the "Rushing Title Hangover" and what history says about last year's rushing champion (49:00). To close out the show, they answer your Draftathon questions and help you get ready for your 2026 fantasy football drafts (57:35).

This is fantasy football today from CBS Sports. What a play! Can you believe this? It's a no idea. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races and he stays on his feet. It's just going to go the distance. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath.

It's Friday, everybody, and it's mailbag time, but not for a little while. We have to catch you up on some of the major training camp storyline, some big time injuries. The 49ers signing a while. receiver. Did Christian McCaffrey just become worse? You're like, what? I'll explain. And Jamie, never save the good stuff for the mic check. What were we just discussing? What trivia question were we just discussing or guessing at? First, we were discussing how you azur-statted your dentist appointment.

We were discussing some James Cook stats and info. We were. We'll talk about that a little bit later, but you had a trivia question. Oh, yes. Since 2000, there have been two back-to-back rushing champions. Can you name the two? We named one already, Lidane and Tomlinson. And if I was going to give a serious guess, the guess is Derek Henry. I had, so this is the player who led the NFL in rushing yards consecutive seasons since 2001 was Ladanian Tomlinson.

I guess Zeeke and I was wrong. Thomas guessed Sean Alexander. which I think was a very good guess, but Dave's saying no. No, Zika was a better guess. Sorry, Schaefer. I have no idea. Priest Holmes.

Dave is correct. It is Derek Henry. Oh, all right. All right. So we'll talk about why. This is the greatest day of my life. As the rushing yards leader last year is trying to buck a very troubling trend.

But first... Recent trend, recent trend, yes. But first, do you know which wide receiver scored 17 or more fantasy points in four of his first five games, had a 28.4% target share, and then had a heel injury and stunk the rest of the year. Dave, who was it? His first name is Tishon, but we know him as Debo. Debo Samuel.

Just a reminder. He's now, he's going to be 31. Actually, I think in January, I think this is age 30 season. I'll say that in one moment here. Yeah, he's 30. So he's 30. And he got off to a very good start. And McLaurin played in three of those five games, left one of the games injured.

But, you know, Debo was off to a good start. I watched some tape this morning. He looked okay. I mean, it wasn't that old Debo Samuel, but it wasn't bad because I remember watching tape later in the year, and he just looked so slow and so compromised. And he was playing through a heel injury. And here's another stat, guys. Christian McCaffrey in his San Francisco era has averaged, well, he has had a 12.6% target share

with Debo Samuel on the field and an 18.7% target share with Debo Samuel off the field. And it kind of makes sense because Debo is a very short area target. They'll give him screen passes. They'll do the things that McAfrey does with Debo Samuel.

What's your reaction to this? Ricky Pearsall, he might have to, I mean, he could miss the season. That's not there yet. But anything's possible for Pierce Saul. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, Jamie, what's your?

reaction to this Debo Samuel signing for San Francisco? I want to see what the health status is for Christian Kirk. I want to know what the role is going to be for Deshaun's Trebling, but I think you're looking at it right now, knowing that there's a history of Kyle Shanahan and Debo Samuel, by the way, Debo, according to NFL research. Debo is the only wide receiver in NFL history with 20 plus receiving touchdowns and 20 plus rushing touchdowns. So interesting little note there for him.

I think when you're looking at this, like, it makes me want to draft Mike Evans, makes me want to draft George Kittle if he's healthy, and then just kind of figure out the rest and maybe just let somebody else chase Debo's name because, look, he's had a hard time, I think, with his conditioning. I don't think that's unfair to say

based on what we saw from him early in his career, so hopefully he's in shape. He's older, him, McCaffrey, the receiving core, or like there's a lot of still moving parts, even though there's still familiarity there. I don't know. I'm probably not going to draft Debo's name though personally. Dave?

I'll draft him, but it's going to be in the double-digit rounds. And it's going to be with the idea that he's a good bench receiver, not a great bench receiver. You know how I feel about D.K. McCaff. I'd much rather have D.K. Metcalfe. You know, I feel about Jordan Tyson. I'm taking Jordan Tyson. There aren't a ton of name receiver.

that I will wait for after Debo Samuel. But I can't help but think he's going to get a good opportunity. We know what he's done before in San Francisco. And I just think as a guy that, yeah, maybe he'll be a bench-clogger, but we did see some good stuff from him before he got hurt last year. And if he's going to be in that range of six touches per game, remember, he might get a carrier two along the way and some design screens and stuff like that. Yeah, maybe he can get you 10 to 12 p.pr points.

And so I'm going to be all right with him as long as it's with the late round pick, with the understanding that I'm not expecting a big year from him, he's just going to be like a good bench piece, good buy week replacement wide receiver. And at this point, the bodies are falling down all over again for the 49ers. I'd say they're going to need Debo Samuel, but there's always the chance that he also incurs an injury just like he did last year.

It's all the more reason why you don't chase the name, like Jamie said. He's not worth that round eight or nine pick. You got to wait till 10, 11 somewhere in there. It's just kind of amazing that they added another 30 plus year old skill position player to this team. They're so old. They're so old. And I'll just say they just kind of put it in context, for me at least.

Is Stefan Diggs-Stinez in Washington? I'd rather have Diggs than Diva. Fair. Yep, me too. Oh, yeah. Actually, I think Stefan Diggs is one of my favorite draft values right now. He goes so late. And if he goes to Washington, which, you know, that's probably the favorite, I would like

that. It's just hopefully it happens soon. Christian Kirk, by the way, is going to be 30 this year. You may not even think of him as old. He's going to be 30 in November. All right. Last question about this. I have another question later about Brock Purdy, but who's the second who is the second 49ers

wide receiver that you're drafting right now? Probably still Debo. Technically, that's Debo Samuel. Okay. All right. I've got a lot of segments today. We're going to go kind of fast on them. We're going to have a fast-paced show. Your emails later at Fantasy Football at CBSI.com. We're also going to read some of your draft-a-thon questions.

But I'm looking at this, just here's a quick segment called, do you buy these ADPs? I got four guys that I feel like we'd all jump for joy if we got at least three of them at this ADP. And the ADP is pretty consistent right now, fantasy pros, CBS and Draft Sharks Consensus. Rishi Rice at the two. You know all the crazy people who like to draft early? But then you look at like She Rice at the 2-3 turn. And someone, there are going to be multiple players that are so good that are going at the 2-3 turn that you're just like, how are they there?

It could be Pickens, it could be Nico, it could be A.J. Brown. It could be Derek Henry. Right now, one of those players is Rishi Rice at the 2-3 turn. Zay Flowers at the 3-4 turn. Ladd-McConkie 46th, so almost at the 4-5 turn. Mike Evans at the 5-6 turn. do you buy those ADPs Jamie Rishi Rice two three turns

Zay Flowers 3-4 McConkey I'll just simplify it and say at the 4-5 and Evans at the 5-6 Yeah I think the only one that kind of stands out is Rice because of where I think we haven't ranked our thoughts about him as a player and what he's capable of doing

I think the other guys are somewhat priced appropriately You know like I would take Zay Flowers probably at the earliest the middle of round three, but the back end of the middle of round three. I think Evans is in the right range. I think McCocky's in the right range. The one thing I will say, though, when you're doing drafts now, because this happened,

I did a draft, an analyst draft, I think it was two weeks ago, and Rice was buried in the projections. And so, like, you know, when we draft on CBS, I can toggle by my

rankings myself. You know, Dave, his rankings, his rankings. The site that I was using, I was just going off their projections and then finding the players that I wanted. And I was like, wow,

Rice has really pushed way down. I don't know why, at what point they posted those. But like, I don't know if people weren't searching for him or what. I got him at the three, four turn. Wow. Wow. So like, it was like, okay,

if he falls, I'll take him. If he's still there, I'll take him. Obviously, I'm taking him. I can't wait to take him. Here he is. I'm taking him. You know, like, it was, it was, it was just incredible value, you know. So you see this sometimes by, if you swore by ADP, you see it sometimes you sort

by other projections from other people. Clearly, there's going to be some values that you find. I think just now, again, like the ADP data is great for us to use as talking points. I just think we're going to see some, not necessarily dramatic shifts, but shifts where some of these players, the injured players that are healthy, Malik Navers, for example, you know, they get pushed. up. And then conversely, you know, some of the guys that are going to deal with injuries because they're happening way too fast, they're going to get pushed down. Okay. So, because I've been taking

McConkey at the three-fourth turn and he's going 46th. Evans, if I can really get Evans 60th overall, it's going to truly affect my draft strategy. I'm going to not feel like I have to take a wide receiver at the three-four turn. I might, but I think Evans, I really like Evans quite a bit. And I suspect with the Pearsall news that Evans will move up. But we'll see. All right. Dave, let's talk about tight end leftovers.

You actually wanted to talk about Joanne Johnson, I think, yesterday, and we never really got to it. You felt like he deserved a little bit of a mention. This could honestly be 30 seconds. But do you think Joanne Johnson could play his way into being on fantasy rosters for much of the year? He could. It just comes down to how big of a step Jordan Tyson takes because of Tyson's good and Olave's

okay. And Olave just got paid a new contract. so I think the Saints think he's going to be okay, then I don't know how much that really leaves for Joanne Johnson. Someone suggested in our comments yesterday that Joanne Johnson is the tight end to snag late. And I would offer this question, would you rather carry Joanne Johnson into a week one matchup against Detroit, which is a favorable matchup given the state of the safeties and the linebackers in Detroit right now?

Or would you rather stash somebody else? And then if Juan Johnson is a good game, you could always go and pick them up off waivers after week one. I think there are too many other tight ends that I like better than Joanne Johnson. But if it's a tight end premium league or a really deep league, your rosters are super deep, say seven plus bench spots, Joanne Johnson deserves one of them. I think there's a couple, maybe three or four,

that these guys we kind of want to forget about, but they'll still be productive. Juan Johnson's one. Dalton Schultz is another. I think you can maybe throw Hunter Henry in there, you know, just looking at what he's done at times over his career. Maybe we get a T.J. Hawkinson bounced back. But for me, really, it's just Joanne Johnson and,

Johnson and. Shultz. Dalton Schultz. But you look at the circumstances for both those guys, both were really good last year, the addition of Jordan Tyson. And then for the Texans, it's what we keep hearing about Jaden Higgins and then Tank Dell being back.

You know, and so if everybody's healthy on the, those respective rosters, I just think those veteran tight ends lose a little bit. And so, like, what Dave was talking about with Joanne Johnson carrying him in the season, the first thing I thought of was, okay, if George Kittle's out, that's not a bad pivot play instead of just chasing Jake Tongis and trying to handcuff the 49ers. Like maybe you get something from Joanne Johnson. He produces well throughout the early part of the season, maybe while Jordan Tyson is working his way into understanding the NFL, or unfortunately, as we've seen from him his career,

maybe he's hurt. You have Joanne Johnson as a trade chip once Kittle comes back. So I think there's a lot of different ways to play it with some of these late round tight ends. It's the question of, like, somebody in the chat just brought up Gunnar Helm. Like, I think that's the type of guy you want to gravitate toward because he could pop as a second year guy now that Chig O'Conkel is gone. And so, like, I would rather chase the younger player that I think has more upside as opposed to maybe the veteran that I think could take a step back. But that's the kind of, you know, decision you have to make is proven production versus unproven production and which guy can, you know, maybe be better moving forward in their careers. So like when you're comparing, you know, a helm, a Sadiq to a Schultz and a Johnson, those veterans have been great.

But again, those younger players could be fantastic. I wasn't going to chuckle until I saw Dave smile there. But anyway. I'm just enjoying life. I'm having the best day ever. Okay. I guess we can wrap it up. We'll take a quick break.

And just rookies and second your guys. We did kind of shortchange the Ronde Gatz. than yesterday. I feel like we need to talk a little bit about him. Elijah Arroyo, could any of these second year guys that were not, obviously there's the big three second year guys, but could any of the other ones? Because the 2025 tight end class on draft day was really exciting. Can any of the other guys, Ferguson, Arroyo, whoever I'm missing, Guntherhelm, jump out. And then what about Sadiq? What about Eli Rerden in New England? We'll be right back with that. And we've got a question about Sam LaPorte.

We've got an FFT open update. We've got a fun segment and a game called, what's it going to take for you to, blank? Don't ask me how I come up with these things. It's just a gift. What's it going to take for you to get to the break? Right here. We'll be right back. Good.

Oh, man. Every day I'm getting killed for this auction strategy thing. I haven't quite gotten back to looking at the comments. I wonder. I have comments. So you and I are going to see each other this weekend. And you're going to be around a bunch of other fantasy analysts. and we know several of them, a few of them, listen to our show.

I wonder if anybody's going to bring it up to you a person. They are now, Jamie. It's a lock now. Thank you for that. Dave, are there any rookie tight ends? I'm looking at you, Joey, right. I'm looking at you. Oh, Joey, right for sure.

Rookie tight ends or second year tight ends other than Loveland, fan, and Warren, that you think. I'm not really chasing any of them in typical redraft leagues, obviously in Keeper and Dynasty leagues. honestly, Sadiq is probably going to be the one that I'm the most after. Let's see how training camp unfolds over the next couple of weeks and if we hear some great things about Sadiq. But the one that I think most fantasy managers gravitated toward early in the offseason was Gadsden. And that was especially after McDaniel landed in L.A. But look who else has landed in L.A.

Like Nujoku is part of the tight end group there. It's a deep group. And this is a team that's already going to be at least, based on history of Mike McDaniel's history, playing at a slow pace, maybe not necessarily throwing a ton. And Ladd-McConkie is the guy that we've kind of earmarked as being the top target getter in that offense. Quentin Johnson, Trey Harris will be in there too. So I'm not real interested in Gadsden at this point. But the nice thing is that these are all tight ends that do have some potential.

You should be able to find them all off the waiver wire if they have a good week one or week two or even later in the year. And you see that there's some potential for them. Yeah, you can grab them off the waiver wire. You don't have to spend the draft pick. Jamie, the problem with like Ferguson, for example, is there's so many tight ends in Los Angeles. You know,

and so the hope would be, and, you know, it kind of goes back to some of the offseason news. They didn't trade for A.J. Brown, knee injury, not injury, but they didn't get him. They didn't draft Mikhail Lemon, who was a potential target for them at 16

when they took Ty Simpson. And so do they essentially use one of their tight ends? And Ferguson, I think, makes the most sense to be their third receiver. And so that's the type of player you're looking for, like to take a jump in terms of opportunity. But again, Parkinson's still there. Higby's still there.

They drafted another tight end. You know, so there's just a lot of players and bodies and, you know, moving parts, which is what makes the Rams offense so fun and unique, but also frustrating when it's not Puka and Adams. Like any one of these tight ends, I think it was just, hey, we're running, a traditional offense with, you know, 11 personnel and, you know, maybe even 12 personnel, but 11 personnel. And that tight end is getting featured.

We saw it once upon a time. You guys made the joke a couple of days ago about Higby. Like, that could be just amazing for one particular guy, but there's four of them. So I think that makes it fresh. Okay. We have a question, Jamie from Travis, and this will end our tight end discussion. Do you have any hesitation taking Sam Leporta with a mid-round pick? you already drafted either Gibbs or Amman Ross St. Brown?

Not really. I think you've seen throughout the three years that these guys have been together that they've had the opportunities to produce at a high level. They might have the consistency rating for those guys. But look, this is going to be a team that has one of the best schedules. They play so many games indoors. I think from week five through 17, they play outdoors twice. One of those is at Miami.

So it's just unreal what their schedule could be. Their defense could be atrocious. That's a plus for those guys. So no, I wouldn't run away from it. But, you know, if you're debating Laporta, pits, Fanon, Kraft, like those four guys, I think, are the tier that they're all kind of grouped together. Maybe pivot just to, you know, diversify your roster a little bit. I'd be worried about Leporta and Jameson Williams. We've talked about how it seems like one of those two can be good in a given

week, but it's rare when both of them are good. It's really rare when both of them get six plus targets in the same game. If we set the number at 10 PPR points for Sam Leporta last year, he had five games with at least 10 PPR points. I remember, he only played nine games. At least one of Gibbs or Monra St. Brown had 13 PPR points in the same game. And there were two games where they were both outstanding while Sam Leporta had 10 PPR points.

So I don't think it's a deal breaker. This is one of those offenses where there will be weeks where many people will eat. And so if you want to load up on Lions, it's a best ball strategy to stack teams from the same offense. It probably won't hurt you, especially with Leporta, getting a lift in efficiency and opportunities with the change in play caller. Yeah, and you could also, you know, it's not the most ideal situation, but you could also just go all in and get Jared Gough also. so you'll have some huge weeks. You know, tournament-style format, but like in the fishbowl,

that's exactly what I did with Gibbs, Leporta, and golf. I think at this point I want to take golf over Purdy. With the schedule. I'm not far off with you, yeah. I mean, yeah, because Purdy has such a terrible schedule. Golf has one cold weather game all year.

And I just think at some point, we have to acknowledge the 49ers, receiving situation is less than ideal, super old and super injured. Well, it's also, you brought this up, I think recently, like Purdy feasted on the worst teams in the league last year. Yeah. And so he's typically been like a 20, 21 point per game score, which is great. But 24.9 last year, probably not who he is.

And he's a really good rusher. So maybe you say, you know, four point per passing touchdown, Purdy, six golf, but they're pretty far off an ADP, as I recall. All right. Just because there was a thing in the chat about O'Conco. Somebody asked, like, why are we giving O'Concoe the, the Zacherts production or treatment, whatever it was? It's not, I don't think anybody's saying that, but it's just the potential that he could do

that. And so right now you're looking at it as he could be number two on the team and targets, and Jaden Daniels had a good rapport with Zachert, so that tight-end production could be there for him. It was like 10.7 p.pr.m. per game, 10.4 PPR points per game for Earths in 2020. I think it's just, again, looking at these late round tight end options, once you get past the top 11 guys, you could say Goddard and Andrews are safer because their resumes are better. For me, like, I'm going to shoot for

upside when I'm trying to get one of those late round tight ends. Probably take two of them, but Ococo to me is my favorite one. Okay. So just a couple things here to promote FFT Open. Monday night, 7 p.m. Eastern. All the spots for the FFT Open are on sale. Listen, the ones for for me, Dave, Jamie, Heath, Jacob, Dan, they're going to sell out very quickly.

Same with last year, like Chris Harris, Jake, Sealy, Scott Fish. I'm probably forgetting some. They sold out almost immediately. That's okay. We have a full roster full of the best minds in the fantasy industry. Plenty of leagues to join. It's $250. It's not cheap, but it

all goes to St. Jude. It's a great idea if you want to share a team with someone we can certainly help you out with that. We can make a co-manager for you. And if you won your division last year, because the division winners move on to a playoff just for the, it'll be 36 division winners this year. If you won your division last year,

we will give you the first opportunity to get back into the FFT open. You just have to be in contact with us. Our colleague, Claire, sent you an email. If you haven't responded and you didn't get it or whatever, just now it was the time. I think it might. Yeah, Jamie

Jamie won his division. Fantasy football at CBSI.com. If specifically you won your division last year and you want the first dibs of getting back into the FFT open, you can email me. Meanwhile, the CBS Sports Fantasy app is phenomenal.

It's improved. Please check it out. Download it at CBS Sports Fantasy and you can scan the QR code right here at YouTube.com slash fantasy football today. All right, segment called What's it going to take for YouTube blank?

A.K.A. the used car salesman segment. How am I going to get you into this Malik Neighbors in Round 2 car? Now, what's it going to take for you to draft Malik Neighbors in Round 2? Everything here is about a buzzy player right now in Camp. What's it going to take, Dave, for you to draft Malik Neighbors in Round 2? I told you I was going to sleep on it, and I did. And now what's it going to take for me to take Malik Neighbors in Round 2?

Okay. I'm going to open my draft room. My draft is going to start. It's going to be Round 2, and I'm going to click on Malik Neighbors. name. When in round two? It's going to, right now it's late round two. Easier to do a non-PPR than half or full PPR, but I mean, it's just a matter of time before everybody buys right back into Malik neighbors.

He looks good. It's a great start for him. There's no, there's no discussion about him taking it slow. And I know that the giants are kind of slow playing his recovery, but he said himself, the second surgery that he had, the timeline for that was reported incorrectly. He's been running around. for weeks, he said. It looks like it.

He looks close to his old self. And so if he looks close now, and it's July 31st, then by the time we get to early September, he should be his old self. And I did a double check on Matt Nagy and how he did with Alan Robinson in Chicago. And I almost think that's the floor for Malik neighbors

because Robinson had two years there where he was averaging north of eight targets per game, and he was getting 15.9 or more PPR points per game. that would be a disappointment for neighbors if you're taking him in round one, which is where we would be taking him if he had never suffered the injury. And he went on to have a good year like he eventually got to doing that week three game was kind of his breakout, weeks one and two, not as much. I'm excited about him.

And I don't think we're drafting him too close to a ceiling if we're doing it in late round two. Jamie, what's it going to take for you to draft neighbors in round two? Twenty, three, five, thirty-two players get hurt. I don't want that. I don't want that. I'm not taking it around to. You're not there yet. No, and I won't be there.

Okay. What's it going to take for you? You know what? Can I pause there? It's been something that's bothering. I want to be, Thomas, when we go to that full screen view and the three of us are on the side, I want to be on the top. I think I've earned that.

Are you serious? Not really. Yes, he is. Yes, he is. His face keeps getting covered up by the comments. That's not fair. First of all, your microphone covers half your face 90% of the time you're talking.

All right. What's it going to take? Once in the history of this show, and I'll speak for Jamie here because I don't think he's done it either. Have we out loud said on the air, I need my face to be featured prominently when we're showing graphics? They're not looking at your. dumb face when the graphic is on anyway.

I think I've earned it. That's the one. I said I earned. Did I really say I earned it? I did say that, did not. I think I heard it. Terrible. You have had one of the worst weeks ever.

Terrible week. Terrible week. I should say the most insulting thing anyone's ever said to me, but I'm not going to. I think you let's go there because it'll make your week even worse. Should I say it? Okay. I don't give a damn. Dave says to me earlier today.

He says, uh, hold on. He says, what if you, this is like a text or a group, a G-chat. What if you sneakily

added me to your baked burger dynasty league, put me on under a pseudonym. I wouldn't want to control anything just to try and help you improve. So I put that in the notes and then I removed it as the most insulting thing

that anyone's ever said to me. But yeah, it's okay. I guess I don't deserve to be on top there. What would it take? You don't deserve to have help with your, Dynasty League anymore.

How many times have you won that league, by the way? Zero. How many times have you made the playoffs in that league? One. Well, you're talking about just when it became Bake Burger? That's three years. I don't know how long this dumb league's been running. I'm not in it.

This is like a 13-year dynasty league, but it's only been this iteration of it for three years. And I made the playoffs the first year and then tanked. All right. So you got a 33% hit rate of making the playoffs. You're right. You don't need any help of all. All right.

What's it going to take for you to do? downgrade Bijon Robinson and Jemir Gibbs amid their contract issues. Holding out until the final week of the preseason. Jamie, you look good on the top of the screen. I'm in the middle. I have to tell you. You look great. I think we should stick with that.

So this is an Azer sandwich? Yes. Exactly. I'm in the middle. All right. What's it going to take for you to draft Parker Washington? The worst sandwich ever. What's it going to take for you to draft Parker Washington?

round five. This guy praise every day for Parker Washington. What's going to take for you to draft Parker Washington around five? I'm five picks off right now, so it's not that. I've got him at the five, six turn. So I'm right there with you, James. I love him as one of those, wait for it, wait for it, got him low end number two wide receivers.

Are you buying the buzz on Parker Washington? I've been buying it since the middle of the off season. So yes. I know, but there's so. many things not to like, I feel like. It's crowded receiver room. He's one of these guys that's had six good games in his three-year career. And he's a sixth round pick. That's usually not the guy that we, in the NFL draft, by the way. It's usually not the kind of guy we want to buy into. Okay. Well, Ryan, look, there's, there's obviously exceptions to draft stock, as we're

well aware through NFL history. But it's like, how do you not buy into everything that is coming in? It's not just the coach. It's not just the teammates. It's the beat riders. It's everybody just how great this guy looks. And every day, like you said, it's another Liam Cohen. He's the first guy I texted. He's the first guy in the building.

He's doing this. He's doing that. Trevor Lawrence loves him. I don't know. I mean, yes, it's a very crowded receiving core. When Travis Hunter is playing on the offensive side of the ball and Brian Thomas and Jacobi Myers and Brent Strange, it's hard for him maybe to max out to what we would love to see,

which I think is why. We're not drafting it maybe higher than late round five, early round six, you know, or a little bit later based on his ADP. But, like, I don't know how you can look at it and say he's not the Jaguars receiver that you have to take first. And then when you start to look at him in relation to the blob, because he's in the blob, like, I don't know. I'm trying to just do it from a math perspective.

I think he's going to get more targets. I don't think he's better than Jameson Williams, but I think he's going to get more targets than Jameson Williams. I think his offense, the way it's catered right now with everybody healthy, it's going to benefit Parker Washington a little bit better. So, like, that's one guy that I've struggled with. I think it's when you start to stack him up to, like Cardinal Tate and Marvin Harrison and his own teammates,

like there's just so much more to love about Washington right now. So, yes, it could easily blow up in your face. I don't think you're making a huge investment by taking him in this range, though. Agreed. All right. One more. By the way, what round was Puka Nakua drafted in? Fifth round.

What round was the Monoros, St. Brown drafted? He was a fourth round pick, St. those guys had good rookie seasons. Pooka Nakua is week one. It's true. Not everybody immediately comes in the NFL and does great things. Sometimes it takes a little time. Sometimes there's a Julian Edelman and a West Walker.

That's fine. Thank you very much. And he fell in the draft because he was hurt, Parker, Washington. He got hurt in his last year in college. All right, a few more. My favorite part about what Jamie said is that the price is a little prohibitive. That's it. Round five, round six.

You might be able to get them later than that in your drafts because people, not everybody is going to be dialed into Washington, but I think he does so much for that offense that they need him to be a volume receiver in the middle of the field. And he can work three levels. He did it last year. He can do it again this year. And listen,

if you want discounted Parker Washington, just go get Josh Downs. And aren't these the type of receivers that the offenses are gravitating toward anyway? Because they're looking for the next St. Brown, JSN. I'm not saying Washington or downs are going to be that.

but guys that are willing to cross the field work on those horizontal routes and make plays after the catch. That's a way you beat the high shell defenses that will feature that in quarterbacks. I will trust them. All right. What's it going to take for you to draft

Bejel Tootin ahead of DeAndre Swift? Tutin getting a ton of buzz and Chris Rodriguez says the plan is for Rodriguez to be ready for week one, but it's not a guarantee. What's it going to take for you to take Tutin over Swift? Non-injury related? Yeah.

Nothing. Monongai is out at camp. And so if that lingers, then it's going to be even harder for Tutin to overcome. Swift will move up. We just don't know how bad the injury is from Monongai. I might just be like a weekend thing for him. It's going to be hard for me to move Tutin ahead of Swift.

But the first thing that would have to happen is Chris Rodriguez stops being talked about in a positive light, maybe gets banged up again. And the Jaguars run out of options to, of putting the backfield behind Tutin. Okay, there was an article in the Charlotte Observer from Scott Fowler raving about Bryce Young. I'm here to tell you, based on whatever institutional knowledge I've acquired from covering these Carolina Panthers for 32 straight seasons, that what Bryce Young is doing in practice right now

in training camp is about to lead to a really good and possibly great season for him. What's it going to take for you to consider Bryce Young as a breakout candidate? I just want to go to two words you just said in that quote, four words you said for him. Great year for him. Because great year for him could be great. Could be fantastic. Could be amazing. Great year for him for us could still be mediocre.

To add the context to that, his career high in completion rate is 63.6, yardage, 3,011 yards. That's in 16 games last year. and his career high in touchdowns also came last year, 23 touchdowns. So if he can beat those types of numbers, that's a career year for Bryce off. But we would never want somebody who gets 3,500 yards and 24 touchdowns and nine interceptions as a must-start fantasy QB. That doesn't exist. I thought we were going to review the Superflex draft we did yesterday.

So one thing that stood out to me, you guys weren't in the draft, but one thing that stood out to me on top of Christian McCaffrey falling to 20, overall. One thing that stood out was the second quarterbacks. There were 19 quarterbacks drafted in the first five rounds. And then 11 drafted in rounds six through 15. And so I took Joe Burrow in the first round and Malik Willis in the fifth round. And then I was like, okay, which third quarterback do I want? So I was looking at it, you know, I was like, okay, if I get Donald Jones,

just because I want a little bit of a safer floor with Malik Willis. And then it was like, you just start to see the trickle down. I was like, is Bryce Young one of those guys? And I think that's the only time you consider drafting Bryce Young. Like there's so many number two quarterbacks that have so much more upside than him. I think the thing that you're looking at with Bryce Young, first off, how healthy are the offensive tackles? Because that's a huge, huge, huge issue.

Now, I think more for him, because you see it with smaller quarterbacks, the interior is almost more important than the two tackles because if they get pressure pushed back in their face, they're done. So you want the tackles healthy clearly, but he has a hard time seeing over the line to begin with. And if the middle is okay, it's still a little bit of benefit from him,

but that's just nitpicking. But in any event, like, Tet can be great. Coker we saw could be decent, you know, and both, you know, clearly good for fantasy. I think losing Brazel, and what they were hoping for him, like the sacrificial X,

but just somebody that could stretch the field, like now that offense gets tighter and it's not great for them. So it's just another, I don't know if we even mentioned Adam yesterday, like Brasel's out for the season. I was going to mention that. And actually, I think this wasn't my original thought. I saw another, I can't remember who it was, another fantasy analyst talking about Al Brasel,

like you said, could be that sacrificial X. But if he's out, Teterole McMillan could go back to that role. and we don't want that. Yeah, they were talking about him being a slot receiver, yep. Right, we want him moving into the slot more, not being as, you know, not always there, but moving around more.

We want the A dot probably a little bit lower for Tedderoa McMillan. Brazzell could have helped with that, stretch the field and allowed McMillan to do more stuff that leads to more targets. So I don't think, I don't think Chris Brazzell getting hurt is a good thing.

I don't know if it's a bad thing for McMillan, I don't think it's a good thing for McMillan. I agree. To Jamie's point about pressure on Bryce Young, his completion rate, when not pressured, 72% when pressured, 45%. 5.3 yards per attempt, terrible quarterback rating, terrible EPA, 4.6% touch on rate.

That's actually the same as when he's not pressured. That's weird. He's not a great quarterback to begin with. And if those tackles aren't there, yeah, he's going to have a hard time seeing over the offensive line. And he's going to lose half a second to get the ball out. Problems. I don't see him having a breakout here.

The question I probably should have asked was about McMillan, but that's for another show. We're going to take a break. More news and notes, just to catch you up on some of the stuff going on around training camp, and then we will read your questions,

your draftathon questions, your emails at Fantasy Football at CBSI.com. We'll be right back. We are back. News and notes. Okay, Ricky Pearson, knee injury,

Debo Samuel, one-year deal could be worth up to $7 million. Christian Kirk has a strained calf. Jordan James, running back for the 49ers, he has a fractured rib and is going to miss time. So Jamie Kaelin Black, is that the guy you draft right now if you had McCaffrey and Wander's handcuff?

No, they just signed the handcuff. Who? Debo. Oh, Debo. Yeah, I mean, listen, at this point, it sounds like James is going to be fine for week one. This, you know, doesn't help his situation to win the job. But Isaac Arendo could be back. Like, it's just one of those things.

I give you another scenario. I had a choice in the fishbowl. So a couple weeks ago of the 249ers running back. This is my last pick. Two 49ers running backs and Mars on Lloyd. And I took Lloyd. And I don't think there's the upside of Lloyd if there's a clear cut handcuff for the 49ers. But it was what happens if Josh Jacobs has legal issues at some point?

Just clear a path. You know what I mean? Yeah, of course. If you're starting to look at the 49ers guys and like, okay, I'm waiting for the McCaffrey injury because of the history with him with 400 to toll touches. But there's no certainty. Like, I may pivot just to Ray Davis at this point. Like, why not take a chance on just a handcuff with upside if that's what you're going for?

Especially after clear cut. Especially after what you said about James Cook earlier in the show. I never said it. Oh, yeah. Oh, we never got into it. We have so much stuff left. Put a pin in that comment. Yeah.

I'm sure Pacheco was off the board, by the way, when you made that pick. Also, now Jamie has lawyer. No, no, no. By the way, may not be Pacheco. Get out of here. Could be Vaki. Yeah, oh, be at, no way. You say that.

Are you wearing your I love Pacheco underwear today, or does that in the washing machine? I have six of them, and today is the one day that I don't have it. So you have one for every game that he's played over the last year. One for every 10-yard carry he's had. Anyway, I was meant to make this joke. It's been a long time, but Jamie said he had Lloyd, so now I would say you can't triple stamp a double stamp. Chris Olave, a four-year deal, $132 million extension, $90 million guaranteed.

He was the number seven wide receiver per game last year. It was his first season as a top 20 wide receiver on a per game basis. Good news for Romo Dunzee. He said something earlier in the offseason about how his foot was basically never going to be the same. He had a new normal, but he said too much was made of that. His foot feels amazing, Roma Dunzee. according to ESPN, Jehan Dotson will probably be Atlanta's number two

wide receiver. So if you're in a really deep league, Jahan Dotson may be somebody worth getting. Bo Nix looks like he's... You can't the context of that though? No. Oh, that Zachariah Branch should be like a gadget player or it's a... No, it was more of... It was the beat writer saying

who stood out so far as the second best receiver or the third best option in the passing game behind London and Pitts, and that was the name he said right now. Okay. Bo Nix. Full go. for training camp. Baker Mayfield seems pretty angry that he didn't get a contract

extension. He seems very motivated. And he said he's in the best shape of his life. Kyler Murray not really having a great camp, it seems. Some tweets out there make it seem like J.J. McCarty's been better than Kyler Murray. So I don't think, well, we'll say.

That would be incredible. Yeah. Pittsburgh rookie quarterback, Drew Aller having a good camp. Not that he's going to win the job, but for you dynasty people out there. Ashton Genty said he was not in good enough shape last year. He stopped eating candy and Ash and Genty is in better shape now. Dontavian Wix. Did he

play basketball? Did he play basketball? The video's him playing basketball? No, pretty good, I'm assuming. I mean, he just dunks like crazy. Shocker. Don Tavian Wicks appears to be ahead of Mackay Lemon right now for Philadelphia. These are these are the things that just

should help you when you're looking at players when you're trying to get value. Don Tantavian Wix knows the offense. Don Tontavian Wix knows the offense. Dantavian Wicks came with the guy who's the play caller. Dantabingwix has been in the NFL. Mackay Lemon has dealt with an injury this offseason. Lemon will be better than Dantavian Wicks. It may take a few weeks, but Lemon will be the better player.

So let this push his value down and then you go get him. Drake London proposed to his wife with Taco Bell. They were eating Taco Bell. That's pretty cool. Not bad. Michael Pennix, I hope no lettuce. Michael Pennix Jr. Michael Panix Jr. could be out another four weeks.

marry me and have diarrhea. Jeez. You know, the thing about, yeah, forget it. Todd Monkin said Harold Fanna Jr. is going to be a focal point. Tucker Kraft expects to come off Pup soon. Aaron Glenn said Kenyon Zadeke's going to be a huge weapon for the offense. Both Chargers offensive tackles have been cleared for training camp. D'emiko Ryans, the Texans head coach.

He's been praising Woody Marks and Jaden Higgins. A couple of second-year players there. Meanwhile, second-year receiver Jalen Knoll is going to miss a couple weeks with a finger injury. I mentioned Chris Rodriguez, is practicing and he had off-season foot surgery. He plans to be ready for week one. Left tackle Tristan Wirth, so the Bucks hurt his hamstring. He missed the first four games of last year, so this early, hopefully he's okay.

Saints defensive tackle, Brian, Bresi, Bresi. Bresi. Bresi. Does he have a torn ACL? I believe he does. Okay. I believe the season's over. It's a small blow to what was already a defense that was in serious, is in serious question.

Yeah. And Cincinnati defensive line. Simon and Shamar Stewart, we thought, based on the video, he might have had a season-ending injury, but he doesn't. He avoided a major injury, but he'll miss a little bit of time. Pete Priscoe was in Tampa Bay. You can see some of the videos on, if you go to the NFL and CBS site on Twitter, you can obviously see it on CBS Sports HQ, and they run the recaps of those and just Google it if you want to. But Chris Godwin, 100%. Oh, good.

Awesome. He also, Pete had a very funny bit with Baker Mayfield. He said, hey, I hear you having contract issues and he gave him 20 bucks on the earth. And he said Baker kept it. Yeah, I was about to say, I hope Baker kept it. That is awesome. All right. Jamie, I'm running very behind and I have to get to the draftathon questions that the people paid for.

So let's go two minutes for this awesome James Cookstat. We're going to talk about him on the running back preview next week, but you won't be here for that. but let's put people in a panic before the weekend. Yeah, you said awesome. It wasn't so awesome when I found it. So the last five rushing champions, so going back to Derek Henry in 2020 through Sequin Barclay in 2024, so not including James Cook, so the five prior to 2025,

they lost at least 848 yards and six touchdowns the following season. 848 and 6. Now, that's not the average because of the average, it would be worse because McCaffrey only played four games after his 2023 leading the NFL in rushing. But if you're watching on YouTube, you see what it was. And Derek Henry and McCaffrey, both over 1,000 yards worse than they were the previous season, they both suffered significant injuries. You remember, 2021 was Derek Henry with the broken foot. And then 2024 was McCaffrey with the knee injury. but this is scary as all can be that this is what we could be looking at.

Now, as we told you with the trivia question to start to show, Derek Henry 2019 led the NFL in rushing yards. 2020 led the NFL in rushing yards. So it's not that far back that we're looking at somebody who's had some success. But the concern would be is clearly the workload. Now, in McAfree's case in 2023, he only had, I think it was like 230 carries. So a lot of what he did was as a pass catcher. So it's not necessarily the carries that scare you,

but all the other guys in the year that they had leading the NFL and rushing were over 300 carries. And James Cook first time in his career last year, over 300 carries. So I'm not panicking yet on Cook, but this was on top of all the workload issues that we were talking about with Saquan Berkeley last year. If you remember, I kept saying the history of 2,000-yard rushers. They were only eight of them. So a small sample size for both of those. Obviously you see what happened to Barclay going from 2,000 yards.

Same thing with Derek Henry, He was over 2,000 yards rushing 2021 injury and clearly a step back. So it is just something to keep in mind. It is something to be a little bit panicked about. I'm not going to say I may have placed a bet on the under on James Cook rushing yards, but something to consider if you're looking at that as well. Just the history here is not that great of what the recent history of what that's been for the leading rusher the following year. You guys have heard us talk about how worried we are about players coming off of 400-touch season.

and McCaffrey's coming off of 450 touch seasons. And obviously, if you're going to be the rushing leader, that means you had a lot of touches. Cook had 385 touches. So practically 400 touches last season. Career high by a lot. At bare minimum. And this is the same advice I would tell you with drafting Christian McCaffrey, draft Ray Davis with a late round pick if you get James Cook.

Because Davis is actually a darn good running back when he's replaced James Cook and could be that. And locking up the bill's running back, that seems like a really good. spot to have in fantasy. You're also, Joe Brady can't, you know, just again, so the story would be up on the site, making a case for all the first round players and why they could be bused. And so this is what led me down this path. But also, Joe Brady has said, similar to what we hear, it's hard to expect it to play out. He wants to give Ray Davis and Ty Johnson more touches to take pressure off of James Cook.

And then I think, I know Joe Brady hasn't done that as the coordinator, but I think Joe Brady's going to have them throw the ball more. So I think that was more of a McDermott holding Brady back from, I think, what he wants to do. And I think Brady's going to have this team be a little bit more pass happy. Okay. Man. So that's just something to think about what James Cook. But honestly, I mean, look, yes, he led the league in rushing.

He was less than 30 yards better than Derek Henry. He was less than 40 yards better than Jonathan Taylor. They all had big rushing seasons and could regress. That's why, honestly, I think it's insane to draft them ahead of Christian McCaffrey. but I know other people feel differently. I mean, they're certainly younger. That's the good thing. But they all had a lot of touches

and they all had a lot of yards. I think if you're legitimately concerned by this, and again, I'm not there yet, but I'm getting close, if you're legitimately concerned by this and you're stacking up concerns for McCaffrey and concerns for Cook, to your point, Adam,

McCaffrey's upside is better. No matter how these guys play out, if they both play the season, no injuries, I'm taking McCaffrey 10 out of 10. Yeah, I think everyone is. Okay, draftathon. questions. Andrew bought two questions. Thank you, Andrew.

We appreciate your generosity. Andrew's in a 10-team PPR league. You start one quarterback, two running backs, two receivers, and two flexes. There are a lot of good quarterbacks available in this league. Do you think it's best to wait on quarterback until after the top-tier QBs have been drafted? It's a 10-

team PPR league with one QB, two receivers, two running backs, two flexes. Should you wait, Dave? Generally, my answer would be yes, but I wouldn't pass up. And we talked about this on the quarterback preview. Highly encourage everybody to watch it or listen to it if you haven't already. But you want to steal a quarterback. And if Lamar Jackson's sitting there in round five, Drake May is sitting there in round five or round six,

why would you pass up that type of value? Why would you give that value to somebody else in your league? So you can have the idea of waiting for a quarterback, but don't be a fool. And if you've got a chance to get a stud quarterback later than the ADP says, you should take it. And also in a 10-team league, the onesie positions, not everyone feels this way, but you could say, I want to make sure I'm elite at the, at quarterback and tight end, or at least one of them,

um, because, you know, you can, because, uh, you can have a bigger advantage there. You want,

you want as many elite players as possible, and it's more doable in a 10-team league. Uh, all right, another one from Andrew is, I've listened to your show for a few years. I've gotten some great advice on players, music, movies, and shows. You're welcome, Andrew.

I've never heard how you guys got started in the industry. Could you share how you got your start? 30 seconds each, Jamie? Yeah, 30 seconds is in the fantasy industry? Yeah, sure. I was a newspaper guy for the Palm Beach Post covering a variety of teams, including the Dolphins. Michael Fabiano had just left CBS Sports,

and I was hoping to stay in South Florida. I was honestly looking for really a foot in the door to get to CBS and maybe continues just being an NFL guy, but this fantasy stuff has just been so much fun. Working with Dave and Adam has been amazing. Adding Heath was even better and Dan and all the other cast of characters. So why leave when it's just such a great ride?

Dave, how'd you get your foot in the door? I can't do. I don't think I can do it in 30 seconds. The 30 second version would be got my foot in the door with CBS. People knew that I loved fantasy football, eventually got the chance to write about fantasy football, NFL.com and then CBS brought me over a year before they brought Jamie in. I would have gone with Kerry Wood got hurt. Dave was great at what he does and everybody

noticed it. Dave met a girl who wanted him to move out of his parents' basement. And so he started rapidly applying for jobs online and fell ass backwards into a job covering pro wrestling in Florida, which in and of itself is a dream job, and then parlayed that into being a fantasy football writer. The girl is no longer in his life. He married somebody else. And I did student radio at the University of Miami and interned for what at the time was college sports television, CSTV in Manhattan. They hired me out of college. They became CBS Sports Network. So I was in like the CBS Sports Family. I was working in New York. I was working in New York. from 2007 to 2009 after I graduated in 2006.

I wanted to move back to Florida where my family was. CBSports.com was in Fort Lauderdale. So I've transferred there. And I started, Dave and Jamie were two of the first people I met. They were like, hey, why don't you go host this fantasy football podcast? And that was 19 years ago. We never said that. We never asked for you to host our podcast.

No, no, no, sorry. You didn't say that. But someone said it to me, you know, like. We used to have a radio, we used to have a radio state. in the building we were at, and we would record our podcast in there. And then one day this kid just started showing up and said, listen, I know a lot about podcasts. I think I should host a show.

I think I've earned it. I should be on the top. Absolutely. All right. There are so many terrible jokes we could go on. Matt Walters with this question here. Thank you for your donation, Matt. 12 team league with colleagues.

What should the tiebreaker be who has more in their divisions who has more wins in the division or most points for the season most points yeah most most most points is the easy tiebreaker for everything because that's something that you actually earn as a fantasy manager the points that you get based on the lineups that you set and it's really hard to have that end in a tie you guys don't remember saying that to me hey why don't you do guy hey new guy that i only know because your brother and i went to college together. Why don't you host this show and annoy us for 15, 20 years? Once a year, somebody is like, hey, didn't you go to college with Adam's brother? And I say,

yeah. And they go, so that's why Azer works at CBS. And I go, no, actually, Adam did it on his own. Yeah, exactly. All right, Tyler in New York City, who maybe I'll run into tomorrow. I believe injury proneness is one of the most overrated risks in fantasy. Is there anyone this year that's being unjustifiably downgraded due to perceived injury risk? Downgraded due to perceived injury risk, Christian McCaffrey. Right. I think Mike Evans. But if you're going to say that for McAfri and Evans, then you might as well say it for everybody

because we're literally talking about Evans who got hurt multiple times last year. And McCaffrey, who has suffered significant injuries to his lower body, after every single season, he's had 400 plus touches. And so everybody has injury risk. It's football. Frigant Patrick Mahomes got hurt last year and Tours A. But some players you could look at and say, all right, there's a chance, there's an elevated chance that they could get hurt. But I don't hate the way that Tyler is looking at it, which is if injury risk is a concern for everybody,

then why consider it for anybody and just draft based on nobody getting hurt and you don't have to fear it at all? And that's not a bad way to go, to be perfectly honest. I do think that the doctors, the sports doctors that, you know, you see on Twitter and whatever, or probably any sports doctor would say that getting injured, that you automatically have a higher chance for re-injury. I do think that-issue injuries are obviously scary, you know, for these guys because they tend to linger. High ankle sprains. Now we're learning about the PCL injury and how bad it is. You know, it used to be like the ACL tear was the end of your career.

and now the PCL injury is the one that's keeping you out for a significant amount of time or just completely limiting your play like we saw for Bowers last season. So I think just to kind of pivot off of what Dave said a little bit, I think when you have guys that have these track records, and obviously it's the veteran guys, usually the ones that are approaching 30 or in their 30s, you kind of know what you're dealing with here. And then the other part of this, I think, is what he's talking about.

The question is like, we're downgrading George Kittle. We're downgrading Malik neighbors. We're downgrading Tucker Kraft. We're downgrading the guys that are coming off of injuries and waiting to see. So like you asked about neighbors, like what's going to take to push him into round two? A month ago, we would have laughed in your face if you asked that question because we were never getting to the point of thinking of him in round two. We were running the other direction and thinking of him as a round four, round five pick, you know, at that point. So as we get more updates and reports, you know, so Kittle could come off the Pupp list, Kraft come off the Pup list.

And these guys are- He is off the Pupilist today. He just came off the Pupless craft. Okay, so there you go. So now we may see his ADP rise. You know, we said it with the quarterback show that Mahomes could be one of the biggest risers because of his name and the fact that he looks okay if that continues to be the case. So I think any of these guys that are coming off of injuries are the ones that are going to have their ADPs rise conversely to the point. We're pushing these guys down because of their injury situations right now. Yeah.

Okay. Next question. We got about six minutes left here. So this is from Richard Todd. He says, Dear Chad, Boomer, Glenn, and Ken, Jets quarterbacks. I'm embarking on my first Superflex league this year. Any advice on where to find good rankings and strategies and how would my Superflex league differ from my normal PPR league? Dave?

Superflex obviously means that there's a higher priority in premium on quarterbacks. That's the highest scoring position in fantasy. When you can start two good quarterbacks, you're usually ahead of the quarterback. curve in the rest of your league. But having two quarterbacks doesn't mean you have to draft too early. You could. I think this year, because of the depth at the position, you could go with drafting one early and one in like the early middle rounds and feel really, really good about your team. Obviously, want to prioritize quarterbacks that you think are going to be able to start 17 games and not potentially lose their job in the middle of the season or late in the season,

like a Jacoby Brissette, like a Gino Smith, certainly like a Kirk Cousins. And every quarterback basically comes into play. You'll see a quarterback from all 32 teams drafted. Yes, even the Browns. And that's all the more reason why you should be interested in getting a couple of them. You want to have three good ones. One should be great. If two are great, go for it. If you happen to be a savant that can find good quarterback value in the middle of late rounds. And this could certainly be a year where you can do it. You could wait at that position and just load up on running back some wide receivers with maybe your first four picks and then try and find this year's version of Trevor Lawrence, of Matthew Stafford, of Jackson Dart, and your team will be better off for it.

If you draft Malik Willis and Willis ends up being a stat machine because he's not losing his job, they just paid him to be the quarterback. Your fantasy team will benefit oh so much. Same thing with Tyler Shuck. Same thing of Baker. If Baker stays healthy, now that we know he's motivated for a contract, he's got to steal money from Prisco, that's huge. And it's not a terrible idea to draft three of those quarterbacks,

hoping that two of them are your starter every single week. And if they perform as top 12 quarterbacks, you're way ahead of the game. And we've got a few things just to piggyback off that. Thomas just showed the story that we wrote about the draft. That was me. That was me. Oh, Adam did.

Excuse me. I've earned it. Wow. Top of the page and you're putting up graphics. It's true. I should have also assumed. Did you just put yourself on the top of the page right now? I did.

A couple things about that draft. And first off, I think the biggest thing is know if it's four points or six points for passing touchdowns because four points does not mean you have to go early on quarterbacks, especially if it's minus two for interceptions. Six points would definitely make it more of a priority for quarterbacks. Take a look at what Heath did. If you're inclined to go quarterback quarterback, quarterback, he had the seventh pick. I adjusted that, by the way, because Heath was originally supposed to be 12, so I gave him the seventh pick. So he started quarterback quarterback quarterback with Drake May and Jaden Daniels. look at his running backs and receivers.

If you are so inclined, his receiving corps is awesome. Rashi Rice, George Pickens, Ameca, Abuka are his three guys. And he has Greece Hall and Tony Pollard at running back. He did, he did surprisingly,

had Sam Leporta. He was on the clock till the very last second and took Jadarian Price instead of Sam Leporta. Or maybe it was Pollard instead of San Leporta. He had it, I'm sorry, he was Pollard.

He took Pollard and said Stan Loporta. I was like, there's no way he's not taking Loporta here. And he didn't take Loporta. Guess it took Loporta the same round. I did. Screw you Heath. So that's one strategy of taking quarterbacks early.

Another strategy is you can see, I'm going to give you three different ones. Go to Todd Rones' team. He sort of waited on quarterbacks. He didn't take his first quarterback until round three, and he went back to back in rounds three and rounds four. So he got Bo Nicks and Jackson Dart. So started with two stud running backs and then waited on quarterback a little bit. And then go to Brandon Howard's team,

because this is really, if you want to avoid quarterback, and just sort of build around it a different way. he didn't take his first quarterback until Patrick Mahomes in round three. His second quarterback is Shadur Sanders. That's the only two quarterbacks that he drafted. So he's banking on Sanders being the starter there. But he's also going with the approach, which you can. I know Adam talks about this a lot.

You don't have to throw the quarterback into the super flex spot. It's obviously ideal because you're going to get the max amount of points if those guys do what they're capable of doing. Again, six points versus four points. This is a six point league. But look at his starters. His starting lineup features Devon H. DeRic, Derek Henry, his receivers are CD Lamb, DJ Moore,

Teddiro and McMillan and Pitts at tight end, Jameson Williams is a flex. That's pretty impressive. Again, quarterback not great aside from the Holmes, but he could have a hole at the superflex spot while everything else is great. And again, he could fill the superflex spot with something else. See, that's where I would go with the four point versus six point, is that if it's a superflex at four point, you don't have to use a quarterback in the superflex if you don't want to.

But quarterbacks are still going to be in pretty heavy demand in a four point league in superflex. Adam, I did it again. I sort of just passed on. So my first pick was Burrow. I had the 12th pick. So I went Burrow, James Cook. Might be disgusting at this point.

Burrow, James Cook. And then the next turn, I took Amarine Hampton and Sequin Barkley. One stat, you're totally souring on James Cook. No, I love what you did there. I mean, I like to zig where other Zag, I guess, in Superflex, although more people are doing it now. But I just don't prioritize quarterback as much as I used to because I think there are 18 quarterbacks that I'd be happy with as my starter in a one QB league. So as long as I get two of

those 18 in a two QB league, then I'm happy. Sorry, I'm going to skip around a little bit here. Real quick, Jamie, what are your thoughts on Emmett Johnson as Ken Walker's handcuff? Seems like he'll be the guy, but I would be surprised if he's the full-time guy. If Walker misses any time, I think we'll see Di Mercado. I think we'll see Breschard Smith. But Johnson, if you're going to handcuff Walker at this point, that's the guy to do it. Dave, Joe from Indiana has the third pick he's going to be getting Jamar Chase. It's a non-PPR league. Would you take Chase Brown if he falls to him in the second round?

Would you take T. Higgins if he falls to him in the fourth round? In other words, does having Jamar Chase prohibit you from taking other Bengals? Now, this is one of the offenses where I don't know if I'd encourage it, but I'd be totally fine with it. And we heard Burrow this week talk about how he loved both of the chases, Jamar Chase and Chase Brown. as being pivotal parts of the offense. There were many games last year. There were, I think it was like four or five games last year where all three had good games for fantasy,

but certainly many games were Brown and one of the receivers had a good game, and that was usually Jamar Chase. I have no problem with it. Yeah, he said we're going to try to get the ball, and Jamar Chase's hands as much as we can, but a close second is Chase Brown. I'm so excited for this offense. I'm excited for Chase Brown.

I know I'm the outlier thinking that he's worthy of a first round pick. No, he's first round pick. He's first round pick in the CBS Sports ADP. Hell of that. Fantastic. I'm glad people are on top of it. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Excuse me. The consensus ranking. Okay. No, I think you're right. That's even better because then we're all kind of on the same page and we're all seeing it the same way. If that Cincinnati defense takes the step forward that they want it to, and I think they might, it's going to favor Chase Brown to get more carries and more touches and put up more points. We've seen them wreck games late before. I really, I like this guy a lot. I've, I've toyed with the idea of putting him ahead of mechanics. And now I think I've got a toy with the idea of putting him ahead of James Cook after what Jamie on earthed today.

Six games last year after Burrow came back from his injury, he was over 22 PPR points per game. In the seven games that Burrow played that he was healthy. So taking out game two, he was at 20 PPR points per game. And if you give him the week two game where Burrow got hurt, it's still 19 ppr points per game. So in eight games with Joe Burrow on the field, 19 ppr points per game or better. So it's just a lot to love. And Samadjay P. Ryan played in most of those as well. Yeah, but not all of them.

And I wonder if some of those games with P. Rine out may have helped push that over 20 PR points. And there were two games without T. Higgins where he had something like eight targets in both games or 10 target. He got a lot of production in the passing game without Higgins or without P.Rine. But he also did the same thing in 2024. He did. He was even better, I believe, in terms of points per game in 2024, the second half when he became the starter. So he has shown, no question. Chase Brown has shown more PPR upside than either James Cook or Jonathan Taylor.

He just, he's not as steady, you know, he's not, probably not as talented. But in terms of upside, I don't even think there's a dispute. He has shown more PPR upside than either of those guys. And he's based on where you seed some drafts, like you can get him middle of round two. Yeah. Because people still like, can they get it? You like A-chan better. You like Gentie better.

You know, that pushes, you know, Chase Brown. down a little bit and then you get in the mix with the receivers. Man, imagine starting your team with Amman Ross St. Brown and Chase Brown? This is a great question that we'll have to address some other time. Am I the only one who remembers the front half of last season for Chase Brown? Are we just throwing that out? We should talk about that more in depth because we got running back previews coming up and we will get to it. Great.

There's so much potential with him, but you're right. That did happen. We can't just ignore it. Of course, Burr- A lot of that was without Burrow. Yeah, most of it was. last question here I don't have a name here we'll call it from

um gimmick infringement oh oh Dave who's this one from it's Claude from Quebec Canada Hey Einhorn pedactor Melissa and Finkel If we're considering

Jerry McGuire a sports movie then we have to consider Ace Ventura a sports movie It starts with a theft of a team mascot goes down the path of sports psychology meets multiple players and front office staff and ends the movie on the football field.

And I'll add, and Dan Marino is in it. Yeah. So do you idiots feel like admitting that Cherry McGuire is not a football movie yet? No. Ace Ventura is a great football movie. One of the best. It is the funniest football movie ever for sure. Thank you to Claude for this wonderful you bet.

Can you name three other football players in the movie? Yeah, the two offensive linemen that carry him out of the Isotoneers. commercial? Those weren't football players. Those were thugs. They were henchmen, yeah. Henschman, good word. Finkel.

Like real football players. Why am I blanking on this? No, there were no others. One is a very prominent media member in South Florida. Joe? No, Joe Rose. No, not Joe Rose.

Same rhymes with Joe. Oh, Ronde. Oh, Tim Boe Camper? Yep. Okay. I don't know. I'm going to go listen to Line Up by Aerosmith right now. from that movie.

We will talk to you on Monday on fantasy football today as we get ready for running backs and wide receivers next week. See you later, everybody. Have a great weekend. Podcasts. Hello, and welcome to Pluto Fo.

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