Fantasy Football Today - Early Breakouts! Chark? Higbee? Miles Sanders? (02/24 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: February 24, 2020

We've got breakouts at every position, but first Dave and Heath tell you their favorite early breakouts for 2020 (2:30). Could D.J. Moore be a Top 5 WR in all formats? And can Devin Singletary get enough work in the passing game to truly break out? Also, what's the difference between a sleeper and a breakout (10:30)? Plus, the listeners push back on popular breakout candidates (13:15) and we tell you about Omnifantasy (18:00) which is extremely cool ... News and notes (21:05). Tom Brady to TEN? An offensive lineman eating 4.5 pounds of steak? Jarvis Landry questionable for Week 1? ... QB breakouts (27:30) are Kyler Murray and Josh Allen. Who do we like better? RB breakouts (34:10) including Miles Sanders and Phillip Lindsay. WR breakouts (45:25) including D.J. Chark and Anthony Miller. TE breakouts (53:00) including Noah Fant and Tyler Higbee ... Your emails at [e-mail]. A lot of Dynasty talk here. 'Fantasy Football Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @YardsPerGretch, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCviK78rIWXhZdFzJ1Woi7Fg/videos For more fantasy football coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/football/ 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

Kick off an exciting football season with BetMGM, an official sportsbook partner of the National Football League. Yard after yard, down after down, the sportsbook born in Vegas gives you the chance to take action to the end zone and celebrate every highlight reel play. And as an official sportsbook partner of the NFL, BetMGM is the best place to fuel your football fandom on every game day. With a variety of exciting features, BetMGM offers you plenty of seamless ways to jump straight onto the gridiron and to embrace peak sports action. Ready for another season of gridiron glory? What are you waiting for?

Get off the bench, into the huddle, and head for the end zone all season long. Visit BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older. Ontario only. Please gamble responsibly. Gambling problem? For free assistance, call the Connex Ontario helpline at 1-866-531-2600.

BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. Here we go! Email us at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Here we go! It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Let's go!

Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. DJ Chark went from 174 yards as a rookie to 1,008 yards in his second season. Will he get to 1,800 yards in 2020? Obviously, the answer is yes. Josh Allen can't throw accurately, but he sure can run, and he is also on our early breakouts list.

These are just two of the players we'll be talking about today as we look at early breakouts for the 2020 season. Welcome to the show. We're also going to read your emails, by the way, at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com and take a quick peek at the NFL Combine. I'm Adam Azer, joined by Dave Richard. And Dave, who is that young man sitting to your left? Look at this guy.

No beard, no mustache, no nothing. It's Heath Cummings. He looks like he's about 37 years old. It's nice to have you, young Heath. I'm pretty close to 37 years old um yeah i don't know why i don't have a beer today but i don't have a beer today so we'll see you make a mistake if i have one tomorrow did you make a mistake trimming or something like that and you just had to dump the whole no it was just like last night i was in bed and i woke up in the middle of the night i was like ah this is kind of

annoying me and so i just got up in the morning and shaved it off. Well, it's nice that you finally match your mugshot on the website and on CBS sports HQ. Like for all last season, Heath's face would be like on the rankings page. For example, it's him looking like this and he's got, you know, the whole grizzly Adams beard going all year long.

And now he's back to being young Heath Cummings. I have to change up every once in a while in case someone's looking for me. That was the first time you shaved since when? Well, are we counting the Minshew bit? No. Don't count the Minshew bit. It's been minimum two years. No, that's not true at all. It's totally true. Because I definitely shaved the Minshew off and then started everything from... I don't remember that. Right after the Minshew bit, I didn't have facial hair for like a day and a half. Right i didn't see that so it doesn't count

no one else saw it adam when's the last time you remember seeing heath clean shaven in years i guess the mention but yeah but i don't know i would say before minshu was in the nfl let's be clear i'm not currently clean shaven like i used an electric razor and shaved most of my beard off, but there's still stuff. Adam's face, clearly much, much smoother than mine. Look at that thing. Wow. That's right.

Harry's razors. All right, so anyway, who is your favorite early breakout? We'll have some early breakouts at every position. That would be quarterback, running back, wide receiver, and tight end, in case you're confused. But who is your favorite early breakout? If you could just give me one, Heath. I'll go with the guy that I actually sent you last, I think.

I'll say DJ Moore. And he just had a breakout. Kind of a similar situation, I guess, to DJ Chark, except he was a lot better as a rookie. I do think there is definitely more room for growth for Moore. First off, he could just score somewhat of a normal number of touchdowns second he could have a quarterback that's not absolutely terrible so if he gets either of those two things and he might get both of those two things he will be a top five wide receiver in 2020 that's in ppr

or non-ppr um take your pick ppr you really think he could be a top five receiver and non-ppr yeah i mean like that's bold for him because this is a guy who's, who's made his name, catching a ton of passes, getting a ton of yards, not scoring a ton of touchdowns. Well, that's 100% correct. Where I think that we would differ is he's done that in two seasons. Like the third year breakout became a thing because receivers generally continue to get better to their first three or four years in the league so i think we should anticipate that he will continue to improve he's also done that with an injured cam newton um a bad bad bad a really bad

will worse will will greer so i i don't think the fact that he scored six touchdowns on 217 career targets means he's always going to be a low touchdown guy he just had 87 catches for 1175 yards in his age 22 season yeah i don't doubt new receivers that have done that i can't put it past him i think he's got a shot at 100 catches i think he can get close to 1300 yards on those catches he's averaged at least 13 and a half yards per catch through each of his first two seasons in the league. It's the touchdowns. So if he does improve that touchdown number, he'll be pretty good.

So a couple things about Moore I'd like to ask you about. I've already asked you this in previous podcasts, but do you worry at all about the schedule? Because in that division, you've got Atlanta, New Orleans, and Tampa Bay. We know how good Marshawn Lattimore is. He had a huge game against the Saints, but Lattimore didn't play. We saw what

the Bucs started doing, the number one wide receivers. They were basically the Patriots the last five or six weeks of the season. And the Falcons' defense got a lot better, so do you worry about that? And two, who do you want to be the quarterback for Carolina? Do you want it to be Cam Newton, or do you want it to be somebody else? I want it to be joe burrow that would be swell that would be nice yeah

reunite him with his i take passing coordinator i take rivers as well um but regardless like no matter who it is i they aren't they might be as bad as kyle allen that's possible unlikely um but they're going it's almost certainly going to be an upgrade over what he had last year as far as the other thing you asked like do, do I worry about matchups? I think I've been pretty clear in the past that I worry about matchups on the peripherals, like the elite matchups I want to stay away from, the really, really bad defenses I want to target. Yes, Lattimore probably falls into that category. I'm not certain.

It's possible that one of the other two defenses do. Right now, I would anticipate they're just non-factors. Let me give you one more reason to like DJ Moore, and I'm glad I brought up Burrow. I mean, we're kind of joking about Joe Burrow going to Carolina, but Joe Brady was his passing game coordinator at LSU, and the offense that he's going to install in Carolina, assuming it's going to be the same offense that it was at LSU,

is perfect for DJ Moore. It is perfect. They asked their receivers to run short area routes, make plays after the catch. It's DJ Moore's wheelhouse. So absolutely the opportunity is there for him to be a breakout this year. To call him top five in non-PPR, that's where I get a little skittish, but I still, I kind of did a macho man there. But I think he's got top 12 in non-PPR.

I think he can get there. I don't want to break that way, but I think he could. I do. I think I'm ranked eighth or ninth. The guy I would give as a comp for how he could be a top five receiver. I mean, you said 100 catches, 1,300 yards. Let's go with that. Six touchdowns.

Who had that last year? Keenan Allen had that in 2017, and he was the number three wide receiver. Right, but I mean, I would want to compare that fantasy point total to what we've seen the last three years. We can include 2017, and that was good enough to be number three. And then last year was really bad for receivers. Last year, he was number 11, but he only had 1,199 yards. The year before, he was number 13 with—

This is non-PPR. Keenan Allen scored six touchdowns in all of those. You're talking about Keenan Allen or you're talking about DJ Morgan? Now I'm confused. Okay. What Keenan Allen has done. Okay. With a low touchdown.

So you're saying Keenan Allen is going to break out. Interesting. No, that's not what you're saying. Dave, who's your favorite breakout in 2020? I'm going to start with Devin Singletary in Buffalo. I really like his skill set. I believe that Buffalo is going to give him a lot more work. He averaged right around 12 touches per game.

He had 180 on the season. He played in 12 games. It's going to be a little bit higher than that. Had 5.4 yards per touch. He's a good pass catcher out of the backfield. He's another guy. Didn't get a lot of touchdown opportunities. Didn't score a lot of touchdowns certainly has the chance to do that

didn't total even a thousand yards from scrimmage again he only played 12 games I think he's got some huge upside I like Buffalo's offensive line I like the direction of the offense I think the defense is going to be good too I think the potential is there for him to take that next big step up in his in his level of. He was very impressive running the football and made some big plays. The only thing you said that I don't know if I agree with is, is he good catching the ball out of the backfield? Because he was one of the worst running backs in the NFL last year on a per target basis at 4.7 yards per target.

And I didn't think coming into the NFL that he was particularly strong in that area. So if, if he proves to be, I think that will be huge. The other thing that will obviously matter a lot is how many touchdowns does he get and how many touchdown opportunities. Does Josh Allen continue to play the Cam Newton role in the red zone?

It's not quite to that extent. But that's a factor. Is anyone else brought in to share the load? And what is their role? Do they bring in somebody who they think is a better pass catcherer do they bring in somebody who they think is better in short yardage if they don't bring in someone significant then i'll have him rank closer where you do right now i have him ranked low in number two running back what do you think of the catch rate it's right at it's almost at 71 which is not great for running back i guess that's below average right

it's probably below average but i think there but I think there's room to improve. And 6.7 yards per catch is bad. I don't have a problem with that. I've got a bigger problem with the yards per target at 4.7. That's definitely below average. Yeah, that's bad. Right. But all he does is he just needs to catch one 30- or 40-yard pass,

and that number will come up a little bit, especially if he's only going to catch, I don't know. I think that number goes up, too. He only had 29 catches last year. I think he can get you closer to 45. Well, yeah, I mean, I think he definitely could if they decide. The question is, do they look at what he did and what he did in college and say, okay, he's better served using him this way,

and we need to get someone who's actually better catching the ball. I think they just want to get the ball in his hands because he can create yards. And I don't know if there's a metric from 2019 that can prove that he can do that. Maybe you've got something up your sleeve that can show it, but I know that he passed the eyeball test for me last year. So Devin Singletary went 36th overall in our PPR draft that we did in January.

He went right after Austin Eckler and Marlon Mack. And just ahead of Todd Gurley, who went four picks later, was the next running back off the board. So, an Eckler, Mack, Singletary, Gurley. What do you think about that order? It was PPR? Yeah. Yeah.

I think he and Mack are probably pretty close in PPR. At this point right now, I'd definitely rather have Eckler and Gurley. I've got Eckler, Singletary, Gurley, Mack in my rankings. Eckler closest to the top 12 of all of them. Okay, we'll get back to breakouts in a little bit. I actually asked people on Twitter, though. We'll do this. We'll do some news and notes.

Oh, you know what? We should probably read this first, and then we'll do the tweet. Okay. From Joe. Here's our email of the day. I enjoyed your sleeper show the other day, but it sparked a healthy debate between myself and a few buddies can you clarify what the difference between a sleeper and a breakout is nope is it as simple i can i can no i can't it does not exist well what if i give you my definitions what if i give you my definitions

and then you can pick it apart if you want to no i don't want to i don't what my thing is i think you having your sleeper definition and me having my sleeper definition and joe having his sleeper definition that's there's no definition of a sleeper it's a term we made up okay it's it's somebody who's going to outperform value at draft value that's both of them are but to me breakouts have potential to be elite players and you're predicting that that they have the potential you expect more from your breakouts than you do from your sleepers i would generally agree with that i would say for me a breakout is someone who is going to have the best year of their career thank you and also like adam said something close to elite performance.

Sleeper can be like Chris Towers just did his baseball sleepers and had like John Carlos Stanton in his baseball sleepers, which whatever. That's fine if you want to define it that way. But a lot of people will say it can't be someone drafted in the first 10 rounds or it has to be someone that no one else is talking about. So Stanton in that case is probably more of like a bounce back candidate, wouldn't you say? Because he had a bad year last year. I think it's fine if you want to qualify sleeper as someone who's going to outperform ADP. Everyone's sleeping on them. That's okay. That's okay too. Just say how you're going to define it. Sure. I just think that people have a hard time connotating a sleeper with someone that they take with one of their first five picks in the fantasy draft. I don't think that it just quite works that way. A lot of people look at sleepers as guys that they take with a late round pick.

I agree with breakout. I, I pick breakouts based on, I think this player will outperform what he's done in a single season in the upcoming season. That's it. Cool. All right.

We got a 2020 busts coming up tomorrow, by the way. And, uh, the pick six podcast is all about the NFL draft right now and the 2020 season. And you can follow their coverage of the Underwear Olympics, a.k.a. the NFL Combine, this week from Indianapolis.

The Pick 6 podcast remains daily all the way through the offseason. Monday's episode features a Combine super preview, getting you ready for what to watch this weekend and who to watch this weekend. Download and subscribe to the Pick 6 podcast anywhere you listen to podcasts, anywhere you listen to fantasy football today. So the tweet I wanted to get to was,

for today's fantasy football podcast, give me one player that you think the industry will predict to be a breakout this season, but you actually think will be a bust. In other words, who is going to get too much hype? So let's go through the list here. CJ Spiller was the first answer I got.

Only but goody. We had CJ Spiller fights. I wish we could go back and just find the CJ Spiller fights that we had. Not me. I'm ready to bury those. AJ Brown and Debo Samuel.. Brown and Debo Samuel. A.J. Brown, Debo Samuel. They're going to be very, very

hyped. I like it. I like those players. I love what they can do. It's just a matter of how hyped do they get. I can't take them in round two. That's a little ridiculous. I can't take Debo in the first six rounds. I could take Debo in round six. He is so good i mean that's the

hard part with both these guys they're on low passing offenses but they're so talented uh you know so how do you how do you work that out heath you're saying you won't take debo samuel in the first six rounds but i think i think he has the talent to be a real star i think it's positive i don't think we've seen enough from samuel to say that he has the talent to be a real star I think it's positive I don't think we've seen enough from Samuel to say that he has the talent to be a real star I think he has it's possible that yeah I wouldn't rule it out but it was just the volume was so low and it was all predicated on George Kittle missing a couple of games or a couple of big plays and so I just like I don't know enough yet to say I feel confident that he has that talent I do feel pretty confident that he's not going to get the type of targets

that it's required of a top 20 wide receiver. What number is that for you? 120. That's mine too. Yeah. I think he can fall short of that number, but I think they're going to use them a little bit in the run game, which they did last year.

Oh, yeah. And he found the end zone a couple of times. And that's just when you see a team use a player like that, that's their way of saying we love this guy's athleticism. We love what he's capable of doing. We want to find ways to put the ball in his hands. And fantasy managers should at least take note of that, if not gravitate toward it. Do you know how many carries he had last year? More than, I mean. 14. Yeah, I was going to say 20, but that was a little too high. Less than one carry per game, but he scored three rushing touchdowns. So you can look at that and say, oh, it's fluky. There's no way it happens again. I wouldn't expect him to get more than 14 or 15 carries next year.

That's a really high number for him. And he might have zero touchdowns. He's probably not going to average 11 yards per carry next year. Right. But I think he gets more. 14 carries is probably on a normal basis, something like 80 or 90 yards and maybe one touchdown. I'm not

misspeaking here. I will sign up for Debo Samuel in round six in a PPR league. We got a couple of votes for both Josh Allen and Kyler Murray. We'll talk about them a little bit later. Those are the quarterbacks we're going to bring up today. Anthony Miller. Basically all the guys you're giving. David Singletary. Let's see. Miles Sanders. All the guys. we're going to bring up today anthony miller basically all the guys are giving uh devin singletary let's see mile sanders all the guy we're gonna be frank gore i don't think we're calling him a uh breakout next week uh this season rather uh davante parker

is interesting because the splits were so different with and without preston williams but when i look at davante parker i can't get over how well he did against the Patriots, against every tough matchup. He just crushed them. Devante Parker, I think he was like a round five pick in the January draft we did. What do you guys think about him real quick? I think he got the mega attention from Ryan Fitzpatrick, and it made a huge difference into just how much volume he got from game to game and I don't know if that's going to be able to continue I'm not I'm not going to price in Preston Williams as a big factor on Devontae Parker in 2020 because I don't know what Preston Williams is going to bring to the field I don't even know if he's going to be their

number two receiver next year they could add somebody else in free agency or the draft that could certainly put Preston Williams in a position where he can take his time to come back from the ACL that he tore and also take some of the excitement away from Devontae Parker. I think he's got potential. I'm happy to draft him as well. The quarterback situation is also obviously going to be one worth watching. There's already talk that Tua is going to be the pick for Miami at number

five. I just have a hard time. Like when you're talking about with DJ more as a breakout, it's easy to say, well, yeah, he just scores more than three or four touchdowns. It's hard for me to envision Devante Parker with,

even if it's not Preston Williams, more competition for targets next year from some area being better than 72-1209. He's almost certainly going to be worse than he was last year. How much worse could Devontae Parker be? He could be what he's been the rest of his career. Sure. There's definitely risk in taking him,

but I don't know. Kind of like the way that he played last year. I think the Dolphins proved that they liked it too because they gave him a new contract. So I would imagine that he'll have a very good chance to be the number one receiver. Thank you. Thank you, Adam, for letting me have that opportunity

to talk about Devontae Parker and sing his praises. God, I would have slapped the hell out of myself a year ago if I knew I was going to do that. You're very welcome. I'm happy to slap you next time I see you. How is your Omni Fantasy team looking? I'm going to wait for Ben Grets very welcome. I'm happy to slap you next time I see you. How is your OmniFantasy team looking? I'm going to wait for Ben Gretsch to come on the show to really talk about this, but something cool we're doing.

OmniFantasy, I had the number one pick. Dave's not in. I have the Yankees. I'm not in the OmniFantasy, but I do want to see the results. Well, the first overall pick was a homer pick, and the fifth overall pick was a homer pick, and someone took a tennis player which probably means they're going to win i just assume if you're taking someone from a different

league that we're all paying attention to you're probably have a better idea what's going on but adam took the yankees with the first overall pick tom fernelli took the lakers dan schneier took a tennis player joe j Was it like Federer? No. Novak Djokovic. You never heard of him? I've heard of him. I've heard of him.

Joe took the Clippers, which I don't think was a good pick, but maybe it was. No, bad pick. Bad pick. Ben Gretsch took Clemson. Terrible pick. That is a truly – the Chiefs is a terrible, terrible pick. I'm glad you acknowledged it was a homer pick They are definitely going to earn quarter final I think it's extremely likely

They earn semi final points And so I don't know if it's a terrible pick Ben Gretsch took Clemson And Will Brinson Took the Milwaukee Bucks Which is who I should have taken Yeah that's a pretty good one Because they are close to guaranteed

like a finals appearance. You basically get points if your team reaches the quarterfinals, and then you get more points for semifinals, more points for reaching the finals, and more points for winning the championship of their respective league. I believe you can only take one team per league, and then

you have to take at least one team for every league. And there are lots and lots of to take at least one team for every league. And there are, there are lots and lots of leagues here that Adam and I know nothing about. Oh, totally. It is like, you have to pick a golfer, NASCAR,

tennis, WNBA. There's 80 points for the champion, 50 points for the runner up, 30 points for the semifinalists, 20 points for quarter finalists. Obviously in the individual sports like tennis, the scoring is different.

For college football, you have to make the playoff, the college football playoff. I think teams like the final, I think like five through eight in the AP poll or something, get points, whatever it is. It's really cool. I do think you pick like a flex team at the end from any of the leagues, if I recall. But basically, you're just picking a team from every league and letting the

season play out, uh, including this current NBA season, this current NHL season, hockey is apparently still a sport. No, just kidding. Actually like hockey.

Um, and then yeah, the upcoming baseball season, the upcoming football season. And yeah, you just draft and you enjoy sports. So kind of a cool thing. Ben Gretsch loves it. And I'll let him talk more about season. And yeah, you just draft and you enjoy sports. So kind of a cool thing. Ben Gretsch loves it.

And I'll let him talk more about it. Let's do the injuries news and notes here. Do you guys really think that Tennessee could be a front runner for Tom Brady? I'd be surprised. I'd be surprised if he ends up anywhere other than New England. I just like, are we 100 sure that tom brady's better than ryan tannehill at playing quarterback brady right now versus ryan tannehill right now i i still think brady is probably a little bit better in the pocket than tannehill but

he's not he's not giving you any running that daniel did last year that's true they're gonna pay more money to tom brady than what they could pay to Tannehill for a year? That just seems... I don't know. Maybe it's a business decision to sign Brady and sell a bunch of jerseys and tickets. Okay, fill in the blank. If A.J. Brown would be the number blank wide receiver

if Ryan Tannehill were the quarterback and the number blank wide receiver if Tom Brady were the quarterback, I don't think I would change his ranking. I, I think I agree. I've got them. I've got them top 20 in PPR.

If anything, I think AJ Brown is reliant on big plays because he also won't have a ton of targets. And I think he's less likely to make big plays with Tom Brady at quarterback. I've got him top 20 in both formats. I like him. I think he's a number two receiver. I don't think Brady is a humongous upgrade over Tannehill.

But I think there's probably less downside with Brady than there is with Tannehill. Does that make sense? I do think if you're going to get Tom Brady, you need a pass-catching running back to go alongside Derrick Henry, if you're bringing back Derrick Henry. And I don't know. They've got Deion Lewis that they're paying wheelbarrowfuls of cash to. The Bears cut Prince of Mookamara and wide receiver Taylor Gabriel. We'll talk about Anthony Miller as a potential breakout.

That's exactly. The Ravens, their left guard Bradley Bozeman, ate a four and a half pound steak, a shrimp cocktail, a baked potato, a salad, and a dinner roll in 50 minutes. That's my hero. Yeah. Amazing. I smoked 10 pounds of pulled pork on Friday. There is like this much left in my refrigerator. Wow.

My family is basically Bradley Bozeman. That's impressive. That's great. The Redskins are making progress toward keeping left tackle Trent Williams, according to the Washington Post. That's big for them. The Buccaneers have considered... Yeah, sure.

The Buccaneers have considered a two-year extension for Jameis Winston, according to ESPN. We're going to get a lot of different Jameis reports. Alshon Jeffrey would welcome a trade, according to The Athletic, and Nelson Aguilar has been linked to the Colts, according to The Athletic. So things are going to look a lot different in Philadelphia,

that's for sure. I don't know. Who's trading for Alshon Jeffrey in that contract? Yeah, maybe it's not for sure. Old, hurt, wide receiver making a ton of money. I can't imagine there's even one phone call going into Howie Roseman's office saying, yeah, let me get that guy. Like even the Jets are like, nah, pass.

John Glennon of the Athletic does not expect the Titans to exercise Corey Davis's fifth year option. Meanwhile, the lions released defensive tackle, Damon Harrison, the dolphins wide receivers coach, Carl Darrell will become the university of Colorado head coach. Do you guys care about that for Devante Parker that he's losing his position

coach? No, no, no. Okay. Bigger news. jarvis landry expected him six to eight months after hip surgery so this is you know this i know you guys talked about it last week but it's a big deal with jarvis landry right here right yeah i'm still thinking about it for what it means for rankings because i think it makes it easy to find other players with more

upside we're not we're there's no certainty about him being ready for training camp or for the start of the season and i mean we're coming off of a year where these browns wide receivers were hurt so bad and their play showed it and landry had a great year but he played through this hip injury hopefully he'll be okay but is there a chance he misses week one i think you have to say yeah at this point. Well, yeah, I mean, six to eight weeks. It could be until October. February 4th. So, yeah, that would be a problem.

I'll probably downgrade him a little bit, and then we'll see when we get to the start of August. He'll end up being a really attractive value pick. Right? Like, if you can get Jarvis Landry in round seven, I think you'd be really really excited maybe in PPR yeah well non-PPR I think you could get excited about him in non-PPR in round seven too that's a receiver who might stink for the first month of the year and then

the next three months after that you've got a potential starter on your squad that's the kind of value you want to look for all right Ben Roethlisberger threw footballs and he thinks he's two to three months from being fully cleared would you rather have ben roethlisberger or baker mayfield in 2020 ben um that's a good question i would probably get that if it was a two quarterback league i'd take ben but in a one quarterback league i'd probably take baker just because of hope that what's the difference um i need to start one of those two guys I'm not drafting either of them as a starter and a one quarterback. He's my bench quarterback. And it's just hoping that Baker Mayfield can finally break out.

Not finally. That's not fair to him. Can break out. Re-break out? And. Yeah. Bounce back. Break out.

Like, have a good full season. He hasn't done that yet. He hasn't done that yet. That's fair. Sleeper. Juju Smith-Schuster, by the way, only played one full game with a healthy Ben Roethlisberger, and he had 78 yards on six catches on eight targets

against the New England Patriots. There were only four wide receivers who had more yards against the Patriots than Juju Smith-Schuster did. Three of them were slot-wide receivers. Can you name them without looking at the notes? No, because I've already looked at them. I assume the other one was Devontae Parker.

It was Devontae Parker plus Golden Tate, Randall Cobb, and Cole Beasley. So Juju Smith-Schuster could be a sleeper, a round three sleeper. How about that? Detroit re-signed Danny Amendola. And keep in mind, if the new playoff structure does come into play where only one team gets a bye, no team who has played on wildcard weekend has gone on to win the Super Bowl since 2013.

There you go. All right. Breakout quarterbacks. Only two on the list here. Heath provided Kyler Murray, I believe. And Dave provided Joshosh allen or did i switch that you did the old swapperoo there adam who's more likely to break who do you like better kyler murray or josh allen i like murray better a lot better i like alan better a little better

discuss discuss these two what do you guys like better about your your respective picks i think arizona is just more of a passing team than buffalo would like to be i think that helps that being said i think kyler murray has good rushing potential i think he can improve on those numbers from last year he started last year very strong uh trailed off toward the end of the year and i i think he's got some great potential in the second year in this offense. I'm expecting, and I've got it ranked this way, improvements on the offensive line and another receiver, whether it's one that they got last year or one that they bring in this year,

will step up along with hopefully Christian Kirk stepping up as well. Kenyon Drake being the lead back there. He'll catch passes out of the backfield and the defense, not, not strongly improving. They'll make a, they'll be a little bit better, but they won't be amazing in 2020.

And that'll help offenses score points on Arizona. It'll force Kyler Murray to keep on chucking. And, and that's what I'm looking for from him. Yeah. And I wouldn't really argue Allen versus Murray. I have them separated by one point in my projections. I would just say that I feel more confident that Allen in what he's going to provide.

And I have not really projected Allen to make great improvements as a passer. I've got him below seven yards per attempt. I've still got him throwing more interceptions than he did last year. A couple more touchdowns, but I do feel more confident in the stability of his rushing production than I do Kyler Murray's. And I have given Murray some enhancements in terms of as a passer. If they were to go get a true number one,

that would be a little bit surprising to me, but would change my perception of him. Like if they draft CD lamb, they reunite him. I think that like like that would be shocking considering i agree but what if they do last year right right but what if buffalo does it like it's sure right right um and they're they're certainly in a position to do something like that if they're really in love with one of the top receivers in the draft mostly i don't really right now see a

breakout quarterback like i don't have alan and murray ranked that much differently from where they finished last year low in number one quarterbacks this is going to make adam smile a little bit even though we're going off script could you make the case for daniel jones to be a breakout quarterback in 2020 yeah i think so too i mean just i know that joe judge is coming into new york and he wants to run the football and he wants to lean on Saquon and I get that. But if Jason Garrett has his way, he's going to throw the ball a bunch. He's a 60% pass play caller when he had the chance in Dallas. He's worked with a bunch of young quarterbacks.

I don't hate that he's working with Daniel Jones in his second season. And Jones will run a little bit. Listen, he's got Golden Tate, Sterling Shepard, Evan Ingram, Saquon Barkley, Darius Slayton. If he's not good this year, then he's probably just not good. Right. Because no young quarterback has a situation as good as what Daniel Jones has. Well, but he doesn't have—I don't know that he has a true number one.

He's got like a bunch of number twos. Right? He's got a top six tight end, maybe the second best pass catching running back in football and three number two wide receivers. That's as good as it gets for a young quarterback. No, but would you rather have one stud wide receiver and nothing else? Let's take,

no, let's take Darius Slayton and golden Tate off the team and replace them with Odell Beckham. Right. And wouldn't you rather have Beckham and replace them with Odell Beckham, right? And wouldn't you rather have Beckham, Shepard, Barkley, and Ingram rather than Slayton, Tate, Barkley, Ingram? It would be great if he had the best weapons in the NFL. Yes. If we could just give them even better weapons than Patrick Mahomes. But I think it's good for a quarterback when they've got so many weapons around

because they've got different ways to get those stats. They can diversify a little. They've done everything they can to set him up for success. If he fails, it's because he's – Well, they could do a better job with the O-line, but mostly – They'll try. But, yeah, no, but I mean they have talked a lot about running the ball, ground and pound and all that stuff, which is discouraging.

I don't think they're going to have the defense to pull that off. But I do think it's a legit question, is what's a better setup to have offensively, a bunch of good receivers or one elite receiver, which the Giants certainly don't have, and then maybe not as much balance. But it's certainly a good situation. I just think it's kind of an interesting little take there.

But whatever. There's no right answer except for mine. Dave, there is a right answer when I ask you about your favorite beer. Tell us about Coors Light, our newest sponsor. Let me tell you about Coors Light, Adam. But it actually, to tell you about Coors Light, Adam. But it actually, to tell you about Coors Light, I have to tell you about my weekend. Okay. So sit tight for one second. You got me, Adam? I am here. I'm not going anywhere. I had so much to do this weekend. My kids were going all,

you know, when you've got young kids, they can't drive because, you know, stupid laws. So I've got to go and take them everywhere that they need to go. I had work to do around the house. I had to hang lights in my backyard. I watched film of Jerry Judy this weekend, who I do like a lot. I think he's going to be really good. I had to get my wife's car washed. There was some foul smell. Speaking of kids in the car, I had to go and get that wash. I was just all over the place. By Sunday night, my kids were out of the house again, and I had the chance to like take my wife out on a little date. So we went to a sports bar and it hit me then it was the perfect time to just pause, take a deep breath and relax. And that's, that's when I went with Coors Light. I had a Coors Light to drink and it was the one I chose

when I needed a moment of chill. Heath, listen, Coors Light is just, it's always cold, especially when you get it at the bar, they make it nice and cold, but of course it's cold right out of your fridge. And there's no aftertaste. It's just so smooth and perfect going down. And it's not one of these fancy foo-foo beers that has all these crazy ingredients in it. It's just a nice beer to chill out with. So Adam, when you want to reset, you should reach for the beer that's made to chill. That's Coors Light.

That's what I did this weekend. It was perfect. It was refreshing. And it got the job done. Coors Light. Celebrate responsibly. Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado. Thank you very much, Dave.

Running back breakouts. I don't know who sent me what. I can look it up, but I think this is more fun. I'm going to guess who sent me which breakout. Darius Geist, that was Heath. Darius Geist was Heath, right? That is correct. Okay, I got it. Heath

sent me Darius Geist, Justin Jackson and Phillip Lindsay. Dave has Devin Singletary and Miles Sanders. Does anybody disagree with anyone on the list? For Heath, it's Geist. Justin Jackson, disagree. And Philip Lindsay. For Dave, it's Devin Singletary and Miles Sanders. So we had a bit of a talk about the Redskins run game last week where I accidentally spewed that

I would take Adrian Peterson in round seven. That is not how I feel about it at all. But I would take him in round 10. And the reason why I would do that right now is because we just don't know with Darius Geist how healthy he's going to be. But there is an obvious situation that we can lay out where Trent Williams is back in Washington. Ron Rivera has his way with the way that the offense will operate, and they'll be a little bit more run-centric. Adrian Peterson, as much as I've got him as a sleeper, let's admit it,

he's 35 years old, and he's not necessarily in the best position to go and be the workhorse back for a team. Heath, I'm going to stop talking because this is your breakout, but there is potential here for Darius Geis to come through. It's just a matter of how healthy he is. Yeah, and he actually, I think, tweeted out yesterday or over the weekend. They're calling me injury-prone now because the only two injuries I've had in my life happen in back-to-back years. And he doesn't think that he's injury prone.

And we saw a couple of little flashes last year, including a game against Carolina where he ran for 129 yards. He still has the talent. I still believe he has the same explosiveness. He just has to stay healthy for a year, and that's all it would take for him to be able to. I hate all these knee injuries that he's had. The ACL, the meniscus, the MCL is what ended his year last year. There's all it would take for him to be able to i just i hate all these knee injuries that he's had the acl the meniscus the mcl is what ended his year last year there's risk involved and that'll get priced into where you draft him so we should probably answer the question where

do you draft darius geist how i don't think you're going to reach super high for him well i mean it's not adrian peterson but no i i think I think you could reasonably look for him in the round five range wow okay well I'm gonna tell you something's gonna make you very happy then because in the January draft that we did PPR draft round eight Darius Geis followed by Justin Jackson followed by Jamal Williams. And to me, Geis is head and shoulders above those guys. I don't know if they'll still go in round eight, but that's a heck of a bet. So now you guys can know that when I said that Adrian Peterson should go in round seven, I was looking. You were saying you would take Adrian Peterson over Darius Geis.

No, I was looking at where I had Geis in my PPR rankings. And so Geis is a round seven pick. Peterson more of a round 10 pick. Neither one of them somebody that I would take with a top 60 pick like Heath. But that's right now. Lock can change once training camp gets going. What if he's suiting up and participating in OTAs? Right.

Wouldn't that make you feel a lot better about Darius Geis compared to Kareem Hunt? Geis versus Kareem Hunt, which I think Kareem Hunt's kind of got a ceiling if Nick Chubb is going to stay healthy. Yeah, I would take Hunt and PPR and Geis and none. Even if Geis is healthy and moving around and playing football? I mean, he was the top 20 back last year. Yeah, I like him too. But I think if Geis is going to be ready to go,

I would take that upside over Kareem. Okay, and Chris Thompson is a free agent. He might end up in Jacksonville. He gone. Could end up in Jacksonville. Keep an eye on that because Jay Gruden. I'm just dot connecting. Dave, do you buy the Justin Jackson breakout?

I do for now. I don't feel like it's going to stay that way. This is one of those guys that, is he a breakout, is he a sleeper? Because the ADP is going to suggest that that's more of a sleeper than a breakout, but I think he has a chance to put together a career year, provided that the Chargers make him their 1B running back. And Eckler has been great, and I think Eckler's absolutely going to be popular, and I think the Chargers are going to keep Austin Eckler

and make him their main guy. We got a long way to go with Justin Jackson. For now, yeah, breakout. The second the Chargers add another running back, it's going to be weird. We're not going to feel as good about Jackson. The Chargers are going to add another running back. That's almost certain. But how do they do it? they do it how do they is it a vet minimum guy is it a guy they're paying a

million bucks is a guy they draft on day three of the NFL draft that we're not that excited about that will determine whether Justin Jackson stays a breakout I just look at this team and they've got plenty of things to address and they have two running backs that can work in tandem and make the run game work. Go get a third back just in case one of them gets hurt. But as of right now, I think you're probably looking at 200 touches for Justin Jackson. Yeah. But why?

This is what I don't understand because he has one game in his career with more than eight carries. And in weeks one through three when he was healthy and melvin gordon wasn't playing weird that was strange for a game he he got like six carries a game so i just don't know that they see him that way he averaged eight touches per game and he was rushing his tail off he was averaging huge numbers on the ground he was doing great he just wasn't getting the full workload and i wonder if some of that had to do with eckler just being so good that they didn't want to take eckler off the field i wonder if they

had a feel they knew they were i mean they thought they knew they're going to get gordon back at some point they knew that austin eckler was not going to be the lead back for the entire season so it was easier to give eckler more carries in that situation like i wouldn't project eckler for the same touches he had the first five games the first four games without melvin gordon i don't think he gets quite that share well i just he's a seventh round draft pick in 2018 and i don't think that we've actually seen the chargers put a lot of faith in him they haven't had that many opportunities to do it but again only one game i think eckler and gordon were both out that one game against the Chiefs. I think it was a Thursday night game in the fantasy playoffs.

Two years ago, yep. He stunk and he scored a touchdown late and he saved my bacon. I remember being exhilarated when he got in the end zone. That's the only time they've really turned him loose. I think there's still question marks there

as to how they feel about him. We will find out uh during free agency in the nfl draft uh philip lindsey heath strange what a strange season he had right because he got the opportunities toward the end didn't really do that much that much with them and sometimes the catches were there and sometimes they weren't why are you forecasting a breakout for philip lindsey uh his new offensive coordinator they've already talked about how they want to throw the ball more to Philip Lindsay, and Pat Shermer has a history of using more of a one-back system than the sharing they've had going on with Freeman. I think it will be more of a starter and backup situation. I think Lindsay will see more involvement

in the passing game, and he's just been really good as a football player so far in his young career. I mean, he hasn't seen quite the workload that we'd want to see, but he got more last year. He's got a career 4.9 yards per carry average, YPC for life. I think he's a really good player that's going to get more involved in the passing game now. Dave, Miles Sanders, we already talked about Devin Singletary, but Miles Sanders, yeah, he's incredible.

He gave me a fist bump at Super Bowl. Yeah, he's a fan of his fantasy fans. Absolutely. And I think he's going to have more of them after this year. I'm projecting him to be the lead back for the Eagles. That makes sense. He finished last year very strong, and I think that he's going to give Philadelphia a reason

to not necessarily hammer that position in their free agency moves, in their trades, and in their draft picks. And Miles Sanders profiles as a guy who can be as close to a lead back can be in Philadelphia. I still believe that Boston Scott will have a role. Hopefully Jordan Howard does not have a role because he's not on the team. But assuming that that's the case, I think Miles Sanders behind that line in an offense that I expect, I think they've got to address their passing game way more than the running game.

They use nice draft capital in the Sanders. I think he's good. I think he's going to be top 30 type pick potential, maybe even into the top 24. What's how many touches does Miles Sanders get this year? Um, I'm going to be aggressive with it. Heath.

I'm going to say 260. That's almost exactly what I have him projected for. Hey, you're being aggressive with it too, right? I think I've got him at 264. Got him around 1,400 total yards. Eight touchdowns. I'm hearing angels singing. Well, no, but that's not even as good as what he was doing

in his last eight games including the postseason after jordan howard's injury mile sanders was on pace for 1526 yards 62 catches and eight touchdowns would have been you know that would have made him the number seven ppr running back in fantasy if you give him those fantasy points uh now you said top 24 i mean he's i think he's going to be a first round pick for some people he's definitely going to be a top 20 pick so you're not getting him late in the second round let me see where i've got i won't get him as a top 20 pick either i i'd i'd take him in the third round i've got him 22 so i think he's one of those running backs that you'll look at in the swing

late round one early round two if you want to start your draft going running back, running back, he could be your second running back. That sounds awesome. Not in Adam Azer leagues. He's taking him over Alvin Kamara. I'll amend it. I'll say he's a top 24 pick. I have it ranked that way. I'd take him with a top 10 pick. I would. And I'll let everybody laugh at me.

I'm looking forward to you doing that. I do want to kind of put your feet to the fire on that and do a draft with you and give you the 10th overall pick and see if you really stick to that or if you try and sneak him on your roster. We're going to do a startup Dynasty mock in the next couple of weeks.

I would assume Adam would take him even earlier in Dynasty. He's a top 10 draft and he's a 23-year-old back. Give him the 10th overall pick. I want to see him do this. I think you should take him to the top 5. No, he won't last. You don't think he'll be there, huh? You've got to take him over Ezekiel Elliott, right? Yeah.

Over Dalvin Cook? Are you believing what you're saying? No. I mean, the thing is, Zeke is so safe. We've seen guys have good rookie seasons and not been able to back it up. But I would probably take Ezekiel Elliott over him, but that's tough. But I would take him over Derrick Henry.

I would take him over Nick Chubb. I would take him – I think he's definitely a top ten pick in a dynasty. I think I would take him. I think he's definitely a top 10 pick in a dynasty. I think I would take him over Fournette. I think I would take him over Julio. I think that's pretty easy. Julio is just older. Same thing with Kelsey.

You take him over Mahomes. You have the security of MVP type quarterback. He could be a first-round pick in Dynasty. We're going to find out. Okay, guys, let's go to our wide receiver breakouts. Calvin Ridley.

Heath gave us Calvin Ridley, Christian Kirk, and DJ Moore. Dave gave us DJ Chark and Anthony Miller. So Calvin Ridley, one thing I did notice, Heath, was he was unbelievable in the three games he played without Austin Hooper. He had 32 targets in those games. In the 10 games with Austin Hooper, 6.1 targets per game compared to 10 targets per game. Basically, 10 targets per game without Hooper, 6 targets per game with Hooper. Hooper is a free agent. So, how much would that matter?

The Calvin Ridley breakout call. He was top 18 wide receiver on a per-game basis. How much would Austin Hooper's presence matter in that? I'm... If Hooper doesn't come back, they're going to add a tight end that they're going to throw the football to. So, it was really, for me,

what he did after Mohamed Sanu was traded. And even what he did, like, you don't even have to go back. You can use a bigger sample than that. From week five through week 13, his pace was 84 catches, 1172 yards, and nine touchdowns. He was, if it's Julio, Hooper, and Calvin Ridley, there's plenty of targets for all three of them to be very good. And Ridley's just, again, kind of a situation like Phillip Lindsey where he's just been really good whenever they've used him. I just expect he's going to get a little bit more usage. I think the three games he missed kind of hid the fact that he had a second-year breakout

because he basically put up the same numbers except three fewer touchdowns in three fewer games last year he was top five in consistency as well it's the type of thing that you're looking for from a guy you know you finish strong people forget about what he could do and then you look at the stats and you don't look at the games played and you say ah same year over year but it's not what it was so i think that there is breakout potential i think ridley could have this best year of his career. And, you know,

I've been thinking, I've been thinking about Ridley a lot lately just because I've been watching so much Alabama film and Jerry Judy, and they're kind of similar. Judy might be a little bit more polished now than when Calvin Ridley came out, but they were, they're both like excellent types of players. And I,

I wonder how Judy could be similar to ridley if he ends up in the same type of a situation ridley was someone who immediately after i did the first run of projections i had to pull him back a little bit because it was too excited but even after pulling him back he's my number 11 receiver and non-ppr wow all right so the other four wide receiver breakouts uh heath Christian Kirk and DJ Moore, Dave gave DJ Chark and Anthony Miller. Any disagreements, guys, about those four? No, I don't.

Is Chark going to be better than he was last year? I think he could be. I don't know about touchdown-wise, but yardage-wise, I think he can be. If I knew for sure that Gardner Minshew was the starting quarterback, I'd feel a lot better about it. I'm thinking Jay Gruden will like what he sees in Chark. I would love to see Minshew continue to have that role. I think that would be very, very good for Chark.

I think that would help him out. Kirk, I want to see him be consistent. He had a mega game last year. It was against Tampaa bay right yes yep okay touchdowns yeah so three of us for the nfl at stopping number one receivers and the second half of the year not at that not at that point not at that point christian kirk took him to school i want to see him i want to see him have that breakout year he's certainly a breakout candidate i don't know if i'm going to be quite as high on him as Heath and others will be. Well, I'll just ask about Anthony Miller.

Do you really think that Mitchell Trubisky can give you two good wide receivers? And I know you're going to say that he did at the end of the year, but it was really just like two. It was a lot of catches. It was a lot of catches. But yards, really just like two games that Anthony Miller had. And then his last two games of the season, I don't know what happened, but he had a combined two catches for seven yards on three targets. So I just wonder if there can be any consistency

with a number two wide receiver in Mitchell Trubisky's offense. I also think a lot of Miller's success had to do with the run game for the Bears really falling apart. And I think they're going to try and get it going again with David Montgomery. They've got to improve the offensive line to do that. But I think Anthony Miller can, I think he can flirt with 850 yards and maybe even 65 catches and maybe six touchdowns. He won't have the seven that he had his rookie year. And I think that gives him a chance to have the best stats of his career.

It doesn't mean he's going to be a smash hit for your fantasy team, but a really good bench wide receiver. Adam's going to tell you that this is a sleeper and not a breakout because those aren't good enough numbers to be a breakout. Sure. But I just looked at his numbers and I said there's a chance for him to do better than he's ever done before. I agree with that.

I guess that is poking holes in my whole sleeper versus breakout theory. I forgot about one wide receiver, Darius Slayton. Dave provided Darius Slayton. I thought that was pretty interesting. Somebody's going to have to rise up in a crowded receiving core, and Slayton, he only played one game with Daniel Jones at quarterback and Evan Ingram, Golden Tate, and Sterling Shepard on the field. We have very small samples.

We do have four games of Slayton, Tate, and Shepard, and Slayton had the worst numbers, but Evan Ingram only played one of those games. So can anybody on the Giants really stand out? And Slayton actually, I believe he led the team in receiving 740 yards and eight touchdowns. Great rookie season for him. But can anybody really be a reliable fantasy option when you have that many guys? So to me, this is just about Jason Garrett and what his track record has been and what he's meant to wide receivers. Excuse me. And wide receivers have caught right around 48% of the completions on his teams

when he's been calling plays. Jason went and had a huge role in Dallas. The running backs caught a bunch of passes there. But I think Garrett can probably adjust that a little bit. It really comes down to how he feels about Evan Ingram taking that next step. And I like Ingram to have a nice bounce back here. But I think the fact that Slayton is the best downfield threat, and if you guys disagree with me, you can say Shepard or Golden State's better.

I think Slayton kind of proved that he was the better downfield threat for the Giants last year, and I think he'll have the chance to try and collect there. And again, I'm a little worried about him matching the touchdowns. He had eight touchdowns last year. It's pretty crazy. But I think the catches in the yards go up, and I think he's worth rolling the dice on to stash on your bench

to begin the year. No question. I agree 100%. he's the best downfield threat he has the most upside in this receiving core and my problem gets to when you look at what happened last year it's not just like when one guy missed one guy missing didn't really help darius slayton no matter who it was but you look at shepherd tate ingram they they all missed time at some point when two or more of them missed he had a 30 percent target share on the team that's DeAndre Hopkins Julio Jones target share when two or more of them

played he had a 9.8 percent target share he wasn't used at all so that that's my concern is it looks like if all those guys come back he's fourth fourth at best, probably fifth behind Barkley, too, in terms of targets. And he might be looking at 60 targets for the season. Final note on Darius Slayton. He had eight touchdown catches, as Dave mentioned, but six of them were from 22 or more yards out. Five of them from 22 to 39 yards, plus a 55-yard touchdown catch. You might remember that Monday night game in Philadelphia. The other two touchdowns were from five yards outs, but I don't love that. That six of his eight touchdowns were

more than 20 yards out. It's just an example of what he can do. It's tough. It is. It is. But it's tough to, you know, you look at Julio Jones, right? It's like, you got to get some red zone touchdowns to be reliable there. Okay. Finally, tight ends, Tyler Higbee and Noah Fant, Dave with Higbee and Keith with Fant. Higbee in his last five games, he was the number one tight end in fantasy, despite only catching two touchdowns. He was the first tight end in the Superbowl era with four straight games of

seven catches and 100 yards or, you know, or more. So unbelievable set a record. I didn record. I don't know if I noticed this or not, but holy cow, did he have a favorable schedule down the stretch. He faced the Cardinals twice. They were the worst against tight ends. He faced the Seahawks once. They were second worst. He faced the Cowboys. They were seventh worst. And he faced the Niners who were sixth best, but we called it out every time they faced a good tight end.

Basically, the Niners struggled. So that was kind of interesting. But he blew away. In PPR, he had 23 more points than Travis Kelsey in those five games, Kelsey being number two in that stretch. So Higby as a breakout, Fant as a breakout. Drew Locke actually threw to four different tight ends, you know, a little bit in his five starts, none more than Fant.

But, okay, guys, the floor is yours on Tyler Higbee and Noah Fant. I believe the Rams are going to find ways to keep Higbee involved. I know one of the concerns that people will have about Tyler Higbee and using him in fantasy is, well, he had this great finish of the year Gerald Ever wasn't at 100 percent are there enough targets to go around in LA my guess is the answer is going to be yes because he's just such a a different type of target for the Rams and it'll also come down to just how good that offensive line is protecting Goff because if they're protecting him better and Goff has an extra second or two to throw, that could take targets away from Higby

because Goff can look further down the field. But if not, Higby's going to be a great short area target for him. And Fant is going to be a very exciting player to watch. Pat Shermer coming in has a great track record with tight ends. This is an offense that will throw a lot. He's got huge potential. He's a lot like Evan Angram in terms of the type of tight end that can make plays after the catch.

We saw it a couple times last year. Both these guys are going to be very interesting, provocative picks that fantasy managers can make if they miss out on the top six tight ends on draft day. The nice thing for me is I set the bar much lower. It's much easier for Noah Fant to have the best year of his career than it is for Tyler Higby. My concerns for Higby, it's two numbers,

and you look at Sean McVay's history with the Rams. 2017, 518 pass attempts. 2018, 568 pass attempts. Last year, 631 pass attempts. That correlates directly to the tight end targets, 85 and 88. Total tight end targets. The and 88 total tight end targets. The first two seasons he was there 156 last year. I like Everett's going to be on the team.

Brandon cooks, Robert Woods, Cooper cup. They're all going to be on the team. Todd Gurley is still going to be on the team. I just don't know. Like, I think he can be as good as he was last year in the total.

I don't think he can break out from last year. He could, but somebody has to get hurt. Who would you guys rather have, Fant or Higby? Higby. I believe I have Higby ranked higher. This is kind of crazy to think about. In the final five games of the season, Tyler Higby was the number one tight end. Robert Woods was the number six wide receiver.

Cooper Cup was number seven in non-PPR and number 10 in PPR. And Jared Goff was the number six quarterback in fantasy. You know, I don't know. You just don't think of it that way. And Goff really crushed the Cardinals in the two games against the Cardinals. The other three games,

he was between 19 and 23 fantasy points. But that's some crazy production in those last five games. All right, those are your early breakouts. The NFL Combine is this week. All eyes on Tua. Is that the storyline? I am making my next Omni Fantasy pick, and it's another Homer pick. You're going with the Royals?

No, Adam should know who I'm going with The Celtics No, it's too early for the Celtics I am going to take the Kansas Jayhawks Who will likely be the number one team in the country Yeah That's how you score, you'll get some early points there So you get no points if they make the Sweet 16?

Gotta make the Elite 8 Okay Do you lose points when they make the Sweet 16. You got to make the Elite Eight. Okay. All right. Do you lose points when they go on probation? No. Nope. Oh, thank goodness. And no one's taking the Astros yet, speaking of that.

Ah, I can't take that. I already took the Yankees. So, all right. Is there anything you want to talk about with the combine? I'm not a huge combine guy. Neither am I, but you're going to hear a lot about the receivers. This is an extremely deep class. There will be some separation coming out of the combine.

There's going to be a lot of receivers that push out veterans that we've known from fantasy for years and years out of the league. This is such a really talented class. You'll hear a lot about hand size, and Joe Burrow has 9-inch hands and two, his hands are 10 inches on. He only has one hand that's 10 inches. And sorry, I hit your computer. And the other hand is nine and seven,

eight inches. They're still both big hands. Why would we measure the one that he doesn't throw with? I don't know. I measure the one he throws. Right. Sure. And that's the bigger one.

And we'll, we need to find out about his hip and his medical and hopefully all that stuff comes out. But it's an interesting quarterback class. It's a great receiver class i'd like to see a couple of running backs and tight ends separate themselves as well out of the combine usually that happens when a player just tests well athletically and that sends everybody back to the film to say all right well why didn't this show up we'll see what

happens there's going to be a lot of interesting storylines that come out. Plus, every coach pretty much talks to the media while they're there. There will be some storylines involving veteran players as well. Let's read some emails. FantasyFootball at CBSi.com. This is from James. I took over an orphan in a Superflex Dynasty League. That is a team that

has been abandoned. The team was in bad shape. I have Kelsey and Ertz on the team. What value should I look for when trading one of these stud tight ends? What players, wide receiver, running back, would you accept for Kelsey or Ertz? So Kelsey is more valuable to me than Ertz. It's difficult, though, because you've got a very small group of owners, I would guess, that are willing to acquire either of these tight ends.

They're both getting to the age where the elite production is probably going to start dropping off as soon as this year, but within the next year or two. I might target someone like Derek Henry, Odell Beckham for Kelsey I don't know if you're going to get that for Ertz I think it's lower maybe you could get someone like a I'm just looking at my trade chart

maybe you could get someone like a Michael Gallup DJ Chark and it feels like those names when you hear those names it feels like like a Michael Gallup, DJ Chark. And it feels like those names, when you hear those names, it feels like, well, they only had one good year. They're young. They're not as established as Ertz.

Why would I do that? Well, the whole idea is you're trading away a veteran player who might only have two or three good years left for a player that could have five or six good years ahead of them. So I know that there's always going to be sticker shock when it comes to dynasty trades, but that's kind of the way it's going to work. The team that's going to take on Kelsey or Ertz, they need a tight end. They think they can contend. So they're going to give up one young player like that to go and contend.

Maybe they give up a draft pick too. The higher that pick is, the better it is for you. I don't know if I'd give up even a first-round pick for either of those guys. Not in this class. If I was trying to win, I definitely would. Definitely would. If you're loaded at receiver, probably – you don't have to be loaded at receiver. You have to be loaded at running back, though.

Because I think – don't you think the first few picks in a dynasty draft are going to be running backs this year? I would guess first two or three. Yeah. So if you're picking, like I'm thinking, would you trade 101 for Travis Kelsey? Now, obviously, if that's your case, you probably didn't do well last year. I don't think you're doing that. But what if it's 112?

The last pick is round one. Easy. Probably, you're going to take the sure thing. Nikhil Harry was the consensus 102 last year yeah I didn't like that next emails from John where's John from Pittsburgh Pittsburgh dear Derek Todd Carlos and Lamar those are running backs mm-hmm

specifically those are running backs on his dynasty team I'm hurting it running back I got offered yet I got offered a trade in my 2QB 12-team dynasty league. I got offered Dalvin Cook and Alexander Madison for Chris Godwin, Todd Gurley, and my 1-12, 12th pick of round one. So you give up Godwin, Gurley, and the 12th pick of the rookie draft, and you get Dalvin Cook and Alexander Madison. I would not do that. I'd want something more

with Cook and Madison. I think Cook and Godwin are pretty close to the same value. Mm-hmm. Next email is from... But, yeah, I agree. I don't have a name on this. Dave, I need a name and a city.

Let's go with Stephen from Port St. Lucie, Florida. Springfield. From Springfield. Dear Seymour, Homer, Apu, Barney, and Clancy. Oh, that's why. Springfield. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm coming off a second-place finish in my Dynasty League

thanks to a trade for Lamar Jackson but that trade cost me a first round pick and Le'Veon Bell so I have a little bit less depth I'm looking to flush out my roster and cut some potential dead weight I am a big fan of Keenan Allen but I'm nervous about his production without Phillip Rivers I've spoken to some other owners

they've expressed interest in Keenan Allen unfortunately most of their players seem to be much more in value than keenan allen is it worth packaging allen off with another player to gain someone in the tier one range or better just to trade keenan allen for picks at this point like i don't think keenan allen is as valuable as travis or Zach Hertz. My dynasty ranking. So I would be very happy to package him with another good player to go get one great player. That's always my preference.

27 years old. Going to have a change of quarterback this year. Could be a rookie. Will be 28 before the season starts. Okay, that's even worse. Sounds like a great time to get off the Keenan Allen bandwagon. Last email from Jamie Proffitt from a town in East Tennessee. Town in East Tennessee, Dave.

I believe Memphis is in East Tennessee. I can argue with you. Memphis could not be more West in Tennessee. Really? It's like on the state line. I'm looking with you. Memphis could not be more west in Tennessee. Really? It's like on the state line. I'm looking right now. I thought it was east and Nashville was west. They're both west.

Gatlinburg is east. Knoxville is east. Knoxville. Knoxville. There you go. Knoxville. I concur. You're right.

Memphis is pretty damn west. All right. Almost in Arkansas. Well, you know, once... All right, never mind. Here's the email. I've been thinking about the Jerry Maguire debate. I was wondering, what is your thoughts on Ace Ventura, Pet Detective? Is it a sports movie?

If you say no, then you have to say Jerry Maguire is not a sports movie either. Pretty much the same principle. It's about a character that's helping with sports. I agree. 100% a sports movie. The entire plot revolves around sports. The movie would not exist without sports. The dolphin's mascot goes missing.

You think Ace Ventura is about sports. It's a sports movie. 100% it's about sports. I think it could certainly classify as a sports movie. I feel like any movie that has a sports scene must be a sports movie. In your crazy mind. Any movie that has a sports theme must be a sports movie?

Scene. Scene. Not a scene. It's part of the plot. Right. It's literally part of the plot. There's no sports in Ace Ventura. It's ridiculous.

Who wins the Super Bowl? Who wins? Who wins? What do you mean, who wins the Super Bowl? Who wins? Who wins? What do you mean, who wins the Super Bowl? I don't know. Who wins the last game? Who wins the World Series in Major League, Adam? I know who wins the ALCS.

That's all you see. They win the pennant. All right. We're out of here, everybody. For Heath, for Dave, I'm Adam. Thanks so much for listening. Busts tomorrow on Fantasy Football Today.