Fantasy Football Today - 🚨 Derrius Guice Released, Are We Drafting Any Washington RBs?

Episode Date: August 8, 2020

We react to Derrius Guice's release and tell you why Adrian Peterson is NOT the RB to get, even though he seems likely to lead the backfield in carries. So do we like Antonio Gibson? Bryce Love? Peyton Barber? Hey! We are giving away a 75 inch and 55 inch TV! The contest is completely free to enter. To win, go to CBSSports.com/giveaway 'Fantasy Football Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Follow the new FFT Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/FFToday Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @YardsPerGretch, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCviK78rIWXhZdFzJ1Woi7Fg/videos Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter 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

Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath, and Ben. Friday night bonus pod here on Fantasy Football Today. Adam, Dave, Jamie, Ben talking about Darius Geis and the Washington football team at backfield. They're releasing Darius Geis following his arrest on domestic violence charges. He was a second round pick in 2018, missed his entire rookie season, played just five games in 2019. And we've got a wide-open backfield and a lot of guys that could step up, hopefully. Now, this team has not finished higher than 17th in rushing in any of the last five years.

They've been 20th or worse in four of the last five years. So, Jamie, Dave, Ben, whoever wants to talk first, are you going to draft a Washington running back? And if so, who? Dave, I'll let you go first. I would be interested in a Washington running back in PPR would still be Antonio Gibson. Gibson wasn't the first one that I was going to take. He would have been the second, but now he will be the first.

But I'm probably not going to take him much higher than where I was taking him before whereas i was taking him in round 10 now i might move him into round nine this guy barely had 200 carries going back to high school he's a converted wide receiver i think they're i don't think this changes how washington uses gibson to begin the year i just think it clears a path a little bit more for him to be used more as a rusher. But it does the exact same thing for Adrian Peterson, Peyton Barber, and the guy that I'm really kind of intrigued by,

Bryce Love, might have a chance to really get some serious playing time in. No doubt about it. I still expect Washington to split the workload up, but getting guys out of the way, it does open the runway for all those running backs. Jamie. Totally agree. I mean,

you know, we, we were, I think to varying degrees excited about Antonio Gibson and the industry has been very excited about Antonio Gibson after Ron Rivera said Christian McCaffrey comparisons. And, you know,

knowing that he coached McCaffrey and Scott Turner, the offense coordinators with McCaffrey. So Gibson, you know, I think Dave said it best that he's not a proven commodity as a rusher. And so it was going to take something like one of the two guys in front of him being out of the way for him to get an expanded role in that regard. But I don't think they're all of a sudden going to say, here, you're a 15 carry guy, you're a 20 carry guy now. That may happen by the end of the season. But when you have Peterson, when you have Love,

when you have Peyton Barber, who, as we know, was not very good in Tampa Bay last year, but they did give him 170 touches. They also have JD McKissick, who now has a better chance of sticking around as well. So it's still a crowded backfield, even with with with guys out of the way. But in PPR, I think, you know, you move Gibson up a little bit. Now you're definitely taking a flyer on Peterson, if you need just sort of a guy to have some touches, or Bryce Love, if you're looking for the upside play, I would lean more toward Love because I think probably Peterson goes in the round 10 range and Love probably goes with one of your later picks unless of course you come out the the Washington football team comes out with some sort of comment from Rivera saying

more glowing things about Love. So he'd be the one that I'm the most intrigued by if I'm taking a late round flyer. Let me just let me just clear this up just so we have it on record 202 carries for Antonio Gibson since he was in junior high so from the moment he started high school through community college and then with Memphis 202 carries Bryce Love at Stanford 569 carries 49 receptions I think Bryce love is the more experienced running back of the two obviously adrian peterson's the most experienced running back that washington's got and that's why i think they'll probably lean on him and he absolutely steps up as a zero rb slash week one type of running back that fantasy managers can start. All right, Ben, where are you?

Because Peterson's had 200-plus carries two straight years. He was actually a top 20 running back two years ago. He had 251 carries in 16 games. Last year he played 15 games. He had 211 carries, was outside the top 24. He was like 28th in non-PPR, 33rd in PPR. Peterson has had a little bit of a resurgence. I mean, he's been solid, 4.2, 4.3 yards per carry

last few years with the Redskins, but they have Peyton Barber. We haven't really talked about him much, I don't think. Where have you been on this backfield? Yeah, these guys hit on all the fun stuff and nailed it. And so the reality is, and I think they probably both agree, that we're going to see a lot of Adrian Peterson and, and maybe a lot of Peyton Barber. They have these veteran plotters that are, are probably going to make this less fun for fantasy.

Gibson is, is certainly a really exciting prospect. He's, I talk a lot about Jonathan Taylor. He's a comp, very comparable athlete to Jonathan Taylor. And like Jamie said, Rivera compared him to McCaffrey. So how are you not excited about that? The issue, of course, is that he played a receiver mostly in college. And like Dave said, I mean, he only had 44 carries and only 77 overall touches throughout his couple years at Memphis. Bryce Love, by contrast contrast just to go back to what this guy did in college his junior year he ran for over 2 000 yards and 19 touchdowns i mean he was like a jonathan taylor type prospect wasn't he a production candidate yep yeah he was

number two in the voting he was i think he was the runner-up that year and then his senior year he he dealt with ankle injuries and then tore his acl on the final play of their final regular season game um and then that you know his numbers were down the whole year he played through he missed a couple of games but he played he played for 10 games wasn't as efficient or anything but definitely after his junior year this guy was thought of very very highly in like devy circles for for people who play in the devy leagues um and now we're at a point where like they took a fourth round pick on him pretty much knowing he wouldn't play in his first year and so the third maybe it was third but yeah they it was a reasonable enough pick for a guy you knew wasn't going to play the whole first year and so you'd think that they were they would give a shot. And this guy has a ton of athleticism.

I think the most, to Dave's point, the most running back experience between him and Gibson. But those are the two, they're both, I mean, Love is supposedly a great athlete. We don't know where he'll be at physically. And we never got to get tested numbers. Gibson tested as an amazing athlete.

They're both great athletes. Love has the great production profile, at least in his junior year. But that's, that's where we hope to see the touches go for fantasy. Cause that's where the upside would be. Love. I reached out.

It's round four guys. Yeah. Round four. I reached out to Ben Standick who covers the Washington football team for the athletic. I asked him to give me his take. And he's the guy that's played in a lot of fantasy leagues, some with us. So here's what Ben told me.

He said, AP's locked into the starting role. Safe, reliable, and this team needs that. Gibson's the gadget guy, but the fantasy upside play for sure. Love is the wild card, and don't be surprised if McKissick is getting a bigger role on third downs as well. Not a word about Barber. Yeah, I think Barber's, you know, now, I think we're reviewing AP as the

backup to Geis. Barber is probably the backup to Peterson, depending on what they see from Love and Gibson, that's going to sway that. And so this is where I think preseason hurts a team like this, especially under the circumstances, because Gibson, they could see on the

field what he would look like, Love certainly as well, and now they have to just deal with what they're going to be able to get out of practice. So they're not going to keep all these guys. That's for sure. You know, McKissick is the one that could play on special teams. So that helps his role potentially making the team, but you know, we'll see what they do with their practice squad. You can be a little bit more creative with your practice squad this year too. So.

Yeah. And, and for how much we've talked about love, he, he might, he might be the guy that gets ends up being the odd man out. Like Ben said, he's the wild card. I mean, he is, I, I've been tracking him for dynasty purposes this off season, trying to get reports on his health, trying to look things up. There's not been a lot written about him, which has been, you know, part of this, we haven't gotten a lot written about a lot of guys, but it's especially guys like love who, you know, there,

there wouldn't be a top of mind for a lot of people covering Washington. You're going to hear a lot in the next few days. Yeah, I think I hope so. I hope we start getting some information about him. Well, listen, you guys have talked a lot about Love and Gibson as players that you're excited about athletically in terms of their potential, but are you going to rank Adrian Peterson the highest?

No. What's that? No? No. Not in PPR, but it's close. He's the highest. And what's that? No, no, but he's not in PPR, but it's the starter. I mean, I just don't care. Like,

like he's going to get so many empty touches. I, you know, but isn't he going to get the goal line touches to this, this two years ago when he had a thousand yards, he had, I think five or six good games in those, in that thousand yard campaign.

And I may be off on, you know, one, one way or the other. Last year, Carlos Hyatt had a thousand yards. It was a very empty thousand yard season. You know, Peterson is going to lead the team in rushing yards if he's healthy. He should score the most touchdowns if he's healthy. Dave's right. If you take a zero RB approach and you need somebody for the first couple weeks of season,

this is a very good player to have on your team in that regard. But if you're shooting for upside because of when you're – No, I get that. I know he doesn't have super – I know he doesn't have great upside. I get that. He's not going to catch any passes. But let's compare him to, say, Jordan Howard. Would you rather have Jordan Howard or Adrian Peterson?

Howard. Howard. Howard's 25. Yeah, I know, but Howard's got Breida in the backfield. Is Peterson going to get more – He's a decade younger. Look, Peterson – Peterson – look, I forgot about this. I'm not going to lie.

I'm looking at his game log right now. Last four games of the fantasy season, 15, 13, 14, 10 fantasy points in non-PPR. Scored a touchdown in every game. I'm just wondering, if the answer's Howard, that's fine. I get it. I'd take Howard too. But why? Why is he such a clear choice over Adrian Peterson?

Because he's not sharing with three other running backs. Is Peterson going to share? We don't know that Peterson's going to be sharing with other running backs. I mean, he's going to share with Barber or Love. There's no doubt about it that one of those two guys is going to get carries. And then the other scenario is, as Ben pointed out, McKissick is a guy that has proven to be a good pass catcher. Neither Howard nor Peterson are catching passes.

Very true. But I still think either Ben or Dave said it. It's sharing with one guy versus sharing with three guys. Howard was good enough last year to keep as talented as Miles Sanders was off the field. So if Howard is right, and presumably he is, the Dolphins will run the ball better than they did a year ago. Peterson may be the better choice by the end of the season, but going in, you're taking out. And Adam, I'm curious, because you seem to be the high man here on Peterson, where would you take him? What do you think from like, because I think the concern for all of us

is there's no weekly upside. You just noted in four games where he scored touchdowns, he got into like the teens, the low teens, four times in a row, but he's not going to score a touchdown every week. You're otherwise probably getting 70 rushing yards. Okay, so- And you get seven points.

So I'm not, I don't want to be the high guy on Peterson. I was kind of playing devil's advocate because I didn't want to be the high guy on Peterson. I was kind of playing devil's advocate because I didn't want to do this show and not feature the guy who's most likely going to be the starting running back for the Redskins and who's gotten more than 200 carries two straight seasons. I feel like that's just important. Hold on. Let me finish. To answer your question, where would I draft Adrian Peterson,

I probably wouldn't because I don't really want to draft Jordan Howard or Adrian Peterson. I don't think these guys are in very good situations. I don't think they're going to be on good offenses. They're not going to be on good teams, so if the game script is bad, they're going to be out of the game plan. And there are players in the backfield that I think are better than them. I think Matt Breed is better than Jordan Howard,

and I think, I don't know. I don't think Peyton Barber is better than Adrian Peterson. But I do think there's a chance that Gibson or Love is better than Peterson. But, you know, look, Gibson might not be a running back. They might not use him that way. And Bryce Love might not be. And they have a lot of injuries at wide receiver. That's a very fair point.

I think this is the approach you take. Because Howard's in a range of still potential flex option or zero rb when you get past 36 maybe 40 at running back depending on whoever's rankings you're looking at don't draft for guys that can maybe help you a week or two draft for guys that can win you your league we don't have this conversation enough or maybe to this point enough i'm taking chase edmmonds and Alexander Madison and Tony Pollard over agent Peterson. That's exactly why I asked Adam. If a guy is going to sit on your bench and never be in your lineup for fantasy,

unless you're completely stuck, because that's really the only time you should be playing a guy like Peterson, unless you're just loaded at receiver loaded, you know, great quarterback, great tight end. And you didn't draft the right way by getting somebody that could help you in some regard, whether it's, you know, great quarterback, great tight end. And you didn't draft the right way by getting somebody that could help you in some regard, whether it's, you know, middle of the season or end of the season. And you just need somebody to plug and play. That's to me, what Peterson is like, I would rather have Gibson sitting on my bench than Peterson.

I'd rather have love sitting on my bench right now until we see some clarity than Peterson. But again, I'll take the take the backup in a potentially great situation compared to the starter in a miserable situation. And that applies to Howard too. We all agree. I mean, we all agree. Yeah, yeah, we all agree. I was just, to add to Jimmy's point,

I can't think of a point where I would take, where there's not guys that I want more than Adrian Peterson. Even like into like the 14th or 15th round, there are some really intriguing upside guys. Darrington Evans, like, I want more than Adrian Peterson even like into like the 14th or 15th round there are some really intriguing upside guys Darrington Evans like yep I want that guy as my sixth running back more than I want Adrian Peterson as my sixth running back right like so I don't know where his ADP could land I was trying to think in my head I don't know where he's going to end up

in drafts but I don't know where it could land where I would really consider him okay that's what I was asking but yeah I know you're're not super high to be after round 10. It has to be after round 10. I think there's a chance that in specifically in non PPR leagues, that he's better. That he scores, he scores enough touchdowns where like, you know,

he's better than, than his skill level suggests, but okay. I've got Peterson out of Gibson gibson and non-ppr his numbers will be better than where he's ranked his numbers will be better than where he's drafted he plays the whole season but it's you know like ben talks about the dead zone it's just empty numbers yeah for what you're going to look at and that's the problem with it is just not necessarily it's it's not attractive and i think your point adam about what his adp is going to be this this is a name guy. People know this name. He's a Hall of Fame caliber running back.

And so people are going to say, wow, the starting running back is sitting there in round eight, round nine, round 10. I have to have that because I need a fifth running back or a fourth running back, depending on what it is. Last question, and then I'll let you guys go eat dinner. We've lost now Damian Williams and D and darius geis these were two enticing mid-round picks and we haven't even had any injuries yet does this put even more urgency on drafting running backs in the first two or three rounds i think with the lack of preseason games no because these guys weren't, especially for me, because I didn't look at Damian Williams as a round six or seven pick

like some of the other guys did. I think this does thin out the talent pool maybe a little bit when you get to the middle rounds. But we just lost Darius Geis, and now you can make the case to draft Adrian Peterson and Bryce Love so we lost one guy but we're gaining two that are going to be able to get picked later on and when we lost Damian Williams DeAndre Washington came into focus DeAndre Washington steps in it's kind of just emphasizes the replaceability of these these options but they can't change what we're

targeting DeAndre Washington is not being drafted the way Damian Williams was. Yeah, Clyde Edwards-Hilaire jumped up. If you tell me right now DeAndre Washington is for sure the backup to Clyde Edwards-Hilaire, I will take him over Adrian Peterson 10 times. That's fair. But you're not going to take him over.

I will take him over without knowing that. Just for the possibility. Yeah, I'll probably have to rank the same way too. Yeah. All right, good stuff, guys. Thanks for hopping on on a Friday night. Really appreciate it. Hope this was helpful for the possibility. Yeah, I'll probably have to rank the same way too. Yeah. All right, good stuff, guys. Thanks for hopping on on a Friday night. Really appreciate it. Hope this was helpful for our listeners.

Have a great weekend. Tell your friends to subscribe to our show. I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to the listeners. I'll shut up. All right, everybody. Now, Dave, you're going to have a great weekend. We'll talk to you all on Monday.

See you.