Fantasy Football Today - 🚨 Deshaun Watson Suspended 11 Games (08/18 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: August 18, 2022

Donate to St. Jude as part of our Draft-A-Thon! Bid on pre-draft calls with our experts, a spot in our Podcast League, a guest spot on our show and more! https://ebay.to/3p4Dc3Z Reacting to Deshaun Watson's 11-game suspension, we mostly talk about Amari Cooper. Jamey has moved Cooper up to a #3 WR while Dave still has him as a #4 WR. Who did Jamey move Cooper ahead of? Does the 11-game suspension change anything for the Browns running backs?  Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Visit amex.ca slash business platinum. Bonus pod, what's going on? Welcome to Fantasy Football Today. We have more Deshaun Watson news. His six-game suspension is now an 11-game suspension, and we will talk about it on Fantasy Football Today. So it's not the full season. It's 11 games, and it's 11 games, but it's 12 weeks.

So when he comes back, it will be week 13, only a couple games before your fantasy playoffs. At Houston, at Cincinnati, Baltimore, New Orleans, at Washington. And then week 18 will be at Pittsburgh, which will be most likely not a factor for you in fantasy. All right. Not getting into the incident and all that stuff. We've spoken about it before. But just, Jamie, is this a big deal? Because talking to Dave before the show, he didn't really think it was a big needle mover. Do you think it is?

Well, first off, he should have been suspended the entire season. He got lucky with this. Yes. All right. I think, is it a big needle mover for the fantasy value of the guys around him on the team? Yeah yeah that's the question

yeah yeah uh i mean i i think you have to consider it for amari cooper as a needle mover because he could be a league winning receiver in the fantasy playoffs and so i moved him up about 10 spots uh because i was anticipating anticipating Watson not playing at all. He went from somebody who was around 44, 45 for me to around 34-ish. 35-ish. I thought Jake Sealy brought up a good point on our wide receiver

must-have. I don't know what he was qualifying Cooper as. I don't think he called him a breakout, but must-have guys, I guess, based on what they could be, that he's just going to be fed targets. And while Jacoby Brissett is terrible, if it's Jacoby Brissett, it's still going to lead to enough production that I think he could be a number three receiver, borderline number three receiver

for the 11 games that he's starting. And then he could be a top 10 guy for the end of the season. Yeah. You know, it's funny. You said you moved them up to around 34. You drafted him today in our three receiver PPR league with industry analysts.

And this was the first draft we've done since the news, obviously. It was as the news was happening. You took him as wide receiver 34. Did I really? Yep. He's my fourth receiver, you know, and again, I don't think he's going to be a consistent starter with Jacoby Brissett,

but, I mean, you look at this receiving core, it's bad behind him. It is. I mean, we're asking David Njoku to be better than he's ever been. And we're asking Donovan Peoples-Jones, who's not going to be good with Jacoby Brissett. We're asking David Bell and, you know, Schwartz and whoever else is going to, you know, fill that second spot to, you know, be a, to get a lot of opportunities.

You know, Kareem Hunt might be second on the team of targets or third on the team of targets. So I don't, I don't love Amari Cooper, but I think I was a little bit too irrational about where I had him ranked. But part of that was again, expecting Watson to miss the entire season. Okay, Dave, and no major changes for you. Nope. I'm, I'm pretty much out on the Browns passing game until you get to the double-digit rounds.

The one exception would be Cooper. I would draft Cooper before the double-digit rounds, but I don't have to worry about that because I think I draft with enough people that'll take a chance on him before then. But even if he's getting a good target volume from Jacoby Brissett, what does that mean? Is he going to catch eight passes a game and get 90 yards a game? I don't know if that's pretty likely.

No, but he doesn't need to meet that threshold. I think he's got a score. I don't know if he's a turn-up field and have a bunch of yards after catch type of player anymore. I think it's going to be pretty easy to defend the Browns when they're in third and long, and I think there will be times every single week where they're in third and long. That happens to everybody, but maybe them a little bit more than others. I'm still cool with Nick Chubb as a high-end number two running

back in PPR, low-end number one running back in non-PPR. I'm still cool with Kareem Hunt in round six, maybe round seven. That's really, Njoku's a sleeper. I don't mind taking him with one of my last three picks. But I'm not going to draft Cooper with the hope that he's a solution for my lineup for the first 11 weeks of the season. And then Deshaun Watson miraculously comes back and plays like he's played before without any work with the team for three months. I'm not, I just, I don't want to even bother with it. So I would draft Cooper

right around pick 100 overall. He is a number four fantasy receiver for me. Yeah. I mean, look, if you can get him as your number four fantasy receiver, then he could be fine in that role and then could be much better in your fantasy playoffs in the two weeks before that. You know when I'd love to start him? Week 17 against Jacksonville. I think that's a little unfair, Dave.

It'll be good to go. It's not Jacksonville, it's Washington. My bad. No, it's Washington. Week 13 against Houston. That's Washington. Yeah, yeah. Week 13 against Houston. That's the first game with him. I mean, we're not going to get into the schedule right now,

but just, I don't know. He was not a bad player when it was Andy Dalton a couple years ago. He was on a 1,000-yard pace. He was okay. So he's not useless. But as you said, number four fantasy receiver, and Jamie drafted him today as his number four fantasy receiver. And most of this podcast is going to be about him.

We'll get to whether or not you should draft Deshaun Watson. You obviously have to wait a while. You can't stash him in an IR spot. David Njoku and the running backs and all that. But just to give a better idea of Cooper here, he goes after Gabriel Davis, Amonra St. Brown, and Alan Lazard. And he goes before Devontae Smith, Christian Kirk, DeAndre Hopkins. You know what's interesting? Hopkins, you took him over Hopkins, Jamie.

But I think just based on... I also drafted Marquise Brown. I just didn't want that headache. Ah, okay. I think just based on what I know from you guys, I mean, it seems like the tier of Gabriel Davis, Amandra St. Brown, Alan Lazard is a little bit different. It's different than Devante Smith and Christian Kirk.

And Cooper, for you, Jamie, at least fit right in between those two groups. Yeah, and to be honest, that's the range that I'm struggling with. All the guys that you said went in front of him i would have happily taken ahead of amari cooper uh hopkins the the so where i have him ranked right now in ppr is is in front of hopkins london kirk robert wood so i think might have been drafted at that point already and um and uh i think cadareous tony um and that's kind of been where i've yo-yoed

him a little bit you know where where we didn't think watson was going to get suspended maybe at all or you know a short suspension or the six game suspension i guess at least um and then you know expecting him to be out for the year i had him you know in like i said in in the mid 40s but I do think that there is going to be enough production. And, and look, Dave's not wrong with what he's saying. I don't want to start a Mark Cooper, you know, for, for this team, he's going to be part of my flex rotation. Uh, but I also, it was somewhat strategically that I don't know what's going to happen in week seven with Marquise Brown. And there's going to be a four week window there where we'll see what happens. And Cooper can kind of fill that role if I don't have

the type of production from Brown. And then eventually the end of the season, Cooper could be hopefully a startable caliber receiver. So he's going to be heavily targeted to what, to what, you know, if you, if you prefer percentage of targets, or if you just prefer total targets, this is going to be a team that's trying to be conservative as possible. They're going to run If you prefer percentage of targets or if you just prefer total targets, this is going to be a team that's trying to be conservative as possible. They're going to run the ball. They're going to lean on Nick Chubb. They're going to lean on Kareem Hunt.

Dave said, or at least made it seem as if they're only going to be in third and long, and that's the only time they're throwing. They're going to throw in first and second down. They're going to have opportunities for Amari Cooper to be in a lot of single coverage because of how this team lines up and how teams will defend them. He is not going to be a difference making type of player, but if you're drafting him to be a difference making kind of player, you're drafting him well ahead of where I took him and I might be on the high side of things, you know? So, um, I do think again, if you're looking for guys who have the chance to be leading their team and targets and volume matters to you, he's still a good enough player that he will win a lot of his matchups and so what'd you say eight for 90 who's who's getting

that besides the elite guys you know but if he's going to get targeted like crazy then no but that's almost what you have to hope for look if he's going to get you a bunch of five for 50s you're going to be disappointed he's going to be 115 to 120 targets. And I think that's suitable enough in the borderline three, number four receiver range to have some success. And then if Deshaun Watson is capable of doing anything close to what Deshaun Watson does on the field, then this is going to be the guy that he leans on. They may add another receiver.

They also may change quarterbacks, you know, so it depends on when you're drafting as well. Okay. I hope they do. That would change my outlook for sure. They also may change quarterbacks. So it depends on when you're drafting as well. I hope they do. That would change my outlook for sure. Brissette is really the biggest problem here for me.

Okay, let's finish up. Anybody drafting Deshaun Watson? Never. Am I in a league that goes like... We did an IDP draft today. We picked over 200 players, players 12 teams tons of bench space in that type of format watson would have hit my radar he did not get drafted with 10 bench spots he did not get drafted uh does this change that that's the type of league where it has to happen if you're in a league with just five or six bench spots. You can't stash them. You can't plug them into an IR spot.

So are you really willing to commit one of your bench spots? These are valuable parts to a fantasy team. For Deshaun Watson, without the guarantee that Watson will be Watson, for basically the entirety of your fantasy regular season? No. No. We'll start talking about it in week eight. He will get picked up.

He'll get picked up in that IDP league for sure. He'll get picked up by everyone in week eight or so, but it's going to take a long time. It'll be earlier than that,

but yeah. Whatever it is, yeah. How about the running backs? Any change here? Nope. Not for me. No, I don't think so. And again,

if you were in the camp of expecting him to miss time and maybe you got a bargain on one of these two guys, that could help you if he's back in week 13 and playing like his old self, Watson, for the stretch run for these two guys. But I'll still maintain that I think Kareem Hunt's going to benefit from Jacoby Brissett because of how

he plays. And so we'll see how many catches he gets in those, you know, 11 games, but I don't think Chubb changes very much. You know, he's going to see a lot of defenders at the line of scrimmage. He's going to probably still be successful in a lot of those matchups

because he's an amazing player, amazing running back. To be honest, I, I, I feel almost as much concern for him losing his center as I do losing his quarterback for 11 games because that offensive line is such a strength when they're healthy.

Okay. It's a new center, isn't it? First, not a new guy on the team. It was a new center, and now it's another new center. Right. Back up to a new center. All right, that's it for Fantasy Football today. And there you go.

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