Fantasy Football Today - Early Breakouts! Miles Sanders, Joe Mixon, Irv Smith and More (03/01 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: March 1, 2021

Which players are ready for monster seasons? We've got a lot of Year 2 players on the list but also some older guys to consider. First, let's play "Diss the Breakout" with D.J. Chark (1:50), Mike Gesicki (5:00) and Marquise Brown (11:46) ... News and notes (19:33) as we wonder when the QBs will get traded. And then we've got more breakouts! Let's rank Miles Sanders, D'Andre Swift, Joe Mixon and Cam Akers (22:40) ... Which sophomore WR is the best breakout candidate (35:40)? Who's better: D.J. Moore or Diontae Johnson (40:40)? What is Dallas Goedert's upside (47:10)? ... Your emails at [e-mail] Subscribe to the FFT in 5 podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, or wherever you listen to FFT. Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @CTowersCBS, @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 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/ Want winning picks each morning in under 10 minutes? Subscribe to 'The Early Edge: A Daily SportsLine Betting Podcast' on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever else you listen to podcasts. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. On his way to the end zone. I'll tell you what, that was a spectacular play. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. What a play. Off to the races.

Touchdown. Oh, he's done it again. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath, and Ben. Last February, we gave you some early breakouts for the 2020 season. That included Josh Allen, Kyler Murray, and Calvin Ridley. All right, good for us. It also included Darius Geis, Justin Jackson,

and a couple of players named DJ, who are once again on the early breakout list. They were there in 2020. They didn't really have the seasons we were hoping for, but they're back in 2021. You probably know who they are. I'm Adam Azer. You probably know Dave Richard and Jamie Eisenberg and Chris Towers.

We'll get early breakouts from them. We have a lot of tight ends on the list today, and we have a lot of year two players, which is really no surprise. We also have Ben Schrager back, and that's big news. He's been out for two weeks. Ben, welcome back. We missed you, man. Tell's been out for two weeks. Ben, welcome back. We missed you, man. Tell us about the last two weeks of your life.

I miss you. So much has happened. The first week, I had no power, no heat, or anything, but we survived. And the last week, I went to Florida. I went to Houston. I've got the vaccine, so we're in great shape. I'm glad to be back. You've got the vaccine, as in you have vials of it, and you're hoarding it?

I have like 10 vaccines. I'm hoarding them. So leave those Apple podcast ratings and we'll see what we can do. He's hoarding them and trying to sell them like top shot highlights. Was it like a heist situation? Yeah, we're not going to talk about it. All right. All right.

Respect that. All right. So I got a segment called Dissing Your Breakouts. I picked one early breakout that you gave me. I'm going to tell you something bad about this player, and you're going to have to tell me why I should stop dissing your breakout and why everything's going to be just

fine. Just okay? No, just great. In 2021. Jamie, you're up first. Are you ready to be dissed? Sure. All right, let's do it. Dissing Your Breakout. Jamie has DJ Chark on his list. He was also, I don't know who had him last year, but he was an early breakout.

Probably me. Probably. He had in his first five games of 2019. I don't care. Okay. You didn't let me diss you yet. First five games of 2019. It doesn't matter.

He had 485 yards and five touchdowns. Great. Since week six of that year, 23 games, he has scored 14 PPR fantasy points six times. He has been on pace in those 23 games for 69 catches, 855 yards and six touchdowns on 121 targets. He basically hasn't been good since the first six games of 2019. So, I've dissed your breakout.

Tell me why you don't care. Now I'm going to make you work because I'm going to curse. Oh, no, no. Come on now. Please don't. He had a, insert bad word, bad quarterback. He's not going to have that anymore. It's easy to say that when he's not around.

I would say it's Heath's face, like I have many times before. All right. Yeah, the quarterback will be better. Are you worried that we're assuming skill level for him based on those six games, basically, or those five games, rather, and rather than looking at really hasn't been that great of a wide receiver since that early start to 2019. Um, I mean, he has still a lot to prove, obviously there there's, there's holes in his game and there's, uh, still clearly a chance that he can get an upgrade as the number one wide receiver, where he gets bumped down the depth chart and target opportunities. But, you know, looking at the current shape of the roster and what his role could be,

he has got the chance to be the number one receiver for Trevor Lawrence and an offense that should be more explosive. So I think the opportunity for DJ Chark to be a top 20, maybe top 15 wide receivers on the table. Dave, Chris, any quick thoughts? Should we move on? We can move on. I struggle a little bit with him being a top 15 or top 20 receiver, but you don't have to draft him that way, of course. If you're drafting him to be a number three and he ends up being a number three, I think he'll be pretty happy.

Yes, he's definitely getting a quarterback upgrade. Lawrence is accurate. He's willing to throw deep. They should throw a decent amount in Jacksonville. Not maybe as much as some of these crazy pass happy teams around the league, but I think there's going to be an opportunity for him to improve on. I think it's 6.6 targets per game that he had last year. He can do a little bit better than that. I'm sure Jacksonville will add another receiver either in free agency or the draft, and that'll make things a little bit harder on shark.

But if you draft him as a number three receiver, I'm on board. I think him and Chanel should fit well together. I guess the question for me is just, what's the hierarchy going to be with a new coaching staff, with a new quarterback? We're not necessarily sure that he's going to be the number one guy, but him and Chenault should operate in different parts of the field, and there should be enough room for both of them.

Jamie, he went with a final pick of round five, so 60th overall. So here were the wide... This was the draft we did in early January. Here were the wide receivers that went around him. We'll just finish with this. You tell me if this makes sense, if it's too high, too low.

Brandon Ayuk, Cortland Sutton, DJ Chark, Brandon Cooks. I mean, it makes sense, but I think he's better than those guys. All right, Dave, you ready to be dissed? Diss me, it makes sense, but I think he's better than those guys. All right, Dave, you ready to be dissed? Diss me, baby. Mike Gdissi is your... Mike Gsicki is a breakout

tight end. Diss Sicki. Come on, it's right there, Adam. Much, much better. Right there. Okay, drop the Mike Gsicki, Chris. Okay, Mike Gsicki, he basically, you look at his last two seasons, he's had some good stretches, both times without Preston Williams. Basically, as soon as Preston Williams got hurt.

2019, first eight games with Preston Williams, he had 31 targets. Last eight games without Preston Williams, 58 targets. 2020, first eight games with Preston Williams, 36 targets. Last seven games with Preston Williams, 36 targets. Last seven games with Preston Williams, 49 targets. That's 112 target pace. So I don't know that Preston Williams is going to be a thing, but we expect them to add someone. Getting pushed down the sort of priority list for Yosiki,

could that be really bad? Does he basically need to be the number two guy in order to get the target share that we need to see? Every big time tight end typically has to be that guy or better than that guy. And I don't know how much patience the coaching staff has with both Williams and Devante Parker. They've already been linked to all the top receivers in the draft, and they might take one with their very first pick. And if they do, then that'll obviously ding Yosiki. But for now,, then that'll obviously ding a sticky. But for now, I think that he's shown enough, especially late in the season to be a very

big part of this Miami Dolphins offense. And I think Tua was leaning on him. I think he was leaning on tight ends pretty much every game he played it. And those last six games, five of them, he had at least nine PPR points. All right. Nine isn't great, but I mean, it's better than three or four, which you get with a lot of other tight ends. I think he's a great late round pick. Okay.

Bonus dis. You guys, you and Jamie both had Irv Smith on the list of early breakouts that you gave me. So this is a double dis. We figure Irv Smith could be the number three guy in this offense behind Jefferson and Thielen. Kirk Cousins has been there for three seasons.

The best, the best year that a number three receiver, regardless of position, has had in the Vikings offense was Kyle Rudolph in 2018 when he had just 634 yards and four touchdowns. And that's when Kirk Cousins threw 606 passes, which is a lot for him. So double diss there.

Now I'm dissing Irv Smith as a late breakout. How much better, though, is Gasicki than Irv Smith? Jamie, because you had Irv Smith, the breaking out is becoming a starting fantasy tight end. I think Gusecki is kind of a guy that you'll settle for, um, because I do think the Dolphins receiving core is getting completely overhauled, um, aside from Parker. So I think you look at Smith, for example, uh, they're going to move on Kyle Rudolph. He doesn't want to be in this role again. He's already complaining about his status. So for Smith to now get those, you know, full-time target chair chances as the lead tight end, I think he's going to take that step forward where I think a sec,

he has kind of shown you who he is. He'll have, like you said, some good stretches. He'll have some good opportunities, but I do think that he needs to be a little bit more of the focal point of an offense to be better suited to help your fantasy team. So if you're taking the upside here of those two guys, I would much rather take my chances

with Irv Smith to see what he becomes. But if you're taking the floor play, I think Gusecki is the better option, at least as we sit here today. That's interesting. So you're saying that you think Irv Smith has more upside than Mike Gusecki as of right now?

I think eventually he will. But as of right now, no, I don't because I don't know what the Dolphins are going to do. But I do think once we get past free agency in the draft, you're going to see an entirely different Dolphins offense and maybe an entirely different Dolphins quarterback, you know, if they're able to swing the trade for Deshaun Watson. And the flip side of that is that you already know what's going on in Minnesota. Justin Jefferson's a stud. Adam Thielen is all reliable for Kirk Cousins. And so that ceiling just isn't quite there for Irv. Minnesota. Justin Jefferson's a stud. Adam Thielen is all reliable for Kirk Cousins. And so that ceiling just isn't quite there for Irv.

I don't think Irv Smith has top five potential today. I also don't think Gusecki has top five potential today. I think Gusecki is closer than Irv Smith is. Like I've got Gusecki right ahead of Smith, for example. Yeah. I mean, Gusecki is safer, but I don't think Gusecki is going to win you a fantasy league. I think Irv Smith has a better chance of that. Yeah, I think definitely both have top five potential, but the bar for top five is relatively low.

Yeah, I mean, do you guys know where Gusecki finished? He was sixth or seventh. I was going to say seventh, yeah. It's ridiculous. That's kind of what he is, but it's like a position stinks number seven as opposed to he's great number seven. Yeah.

Basically, what you have to do every year is look at the sixth best tight end and be like, ugh, tight end's terrible. So Gasicki was sixth in non-PPR. He was seventh in PPR. Irv Smith did catch three touchdowns in his last four games of the season. Kyle Rudolph missed all four of those games.

Chris, I was going to throw to you. You have Noah Fant as a tight end breakout. You look at these three Irv Smith, Noah Fant, Mike Kosicki is Fant your favorite right now? I think Fant is and this might be a hot take, but I think Fant is clearly

the most talented of that three. I think he's got the George Kittle skill set, the ability to make plays down the field, but also the ability to make plays with the ball in his hands in a way that is relatively rare for a tight end. And so, you know, that's a skillset that I'm really looking for when I'm looking for a breakout tight end. The problem is, and I kind of only threw him in there just so I could have a tight

end. Um, the problem is I just, I don't think the offense is going to be good enough to support you know a Jerry Judy breakout Cortland Sutton being very good and Noah Fant breaking out I I think if they got to Sean Watson or if they upgraded a quarterback and some other way I would be really really excited about this whole offense I I'm lower on Drew Locke than I think most people and I think most people are pretty low on drew lock okay but so are you taking gosicki or fant or smith uh i think i have fant ranked the highest of that group um but i'm not super excited about drafting any of them necessarily right this might be an advertisement for why you should take a tight end early in your fantasy drafts in 2021 maybe yes uh but obviously everybody can't do that though so it's what do you do if you can't for why you should take a tight end early in your fantasy drafts in 2021. Maybe. Yes. But obviously everybody can't do that, though,

so what do you do if you can't get those guys? Yeah, yeah. Are you ready to become diss towers? Sure. All right. Let's diss Chris's breakout. Let's do it. One of them is Marquise Brown.

It's pretty simple, actually. He has not been a top 40 wide receiver per game in either of his first two seasons, and the Ravens have been last in past attempts two straight years. This towers. Well, neither have you. I think you got me there talking.

Yeah, no, that's true. The the Ravens aren't going to throw the ball very much. I think we can all agree on that. Did they actually throw the ball less in 2020 than they did in 2019? It was pretty close. Yeah.

Last in the NFL both years. I don't know about that, though. The thing is, Marquise Brown early on in the season was getting the kind of target share that our number one wide receiver is supposed to be. And it was primarily downfield targets, which is what we wanted to see. That's what you're going to need in a low-volume passing offense to be a good fantasy option at wide receiver. The problem was him and Lamar Jackson just couldn't get on the same page. Lamar Jackson was really bad on his deep attempts.

Through the first 10 weeks of the season, he was 9 of 32 on passes that went 20 yards or more downfield. Over the last seven weeks of the season, he was 9 of 20. We're talking about small sample sizes. I don't want to overreact to that. But that also coincided with Marquise Brown taking a nice step forward. The last six games of the season, he had six touchdowns. I don't expect him to score 16 touchdowns next season.

But he was heading on big plays more consistently. Lamar Jackson was finding him more. And if you include the playoffs, his final eight games of the season, it's 534 yards on 34, 37 receptions with six touchdowns. I think a 75 catch, 1,000 yards, eight to 10 touchdown season is not asking too much.

I know we kind of hoped for that in 2019, but I think he's better and Lamar Jackson is better than they looked early in the season. Okay. So do you realize those numbers are, are, yeah, those are great numbers. Last eight games, as Chris mentioned, it's 37 catches, 534 yards, six touchdowns, 57 targets. That's two postseason games where he had over 85 yards in both games. Do you realize how little Lamar Jackson was throwing, though, down the stretch?

It was crazy. And he was still putting up these numbers. He's pretty good numbers, Marquise Brown. But he was averaging 20 pass attempts per game. And he didn't play in all of the last six games. He missed one of them. But so Baltimore quarterbacks averaged fewer than 22 pass attempts per game in the last six games of the year.

And ironically, that's when Marquise Brown started putting up bigger numbers. They went 5-1. And I remember Lamar Jackson saying they were struggling. I think they were 7-5 or something at one point, maybe 7-4. Because around the time he had COVID? Or missed game for COVID? He missed one game,

and then he came back, they won their last five games. And he threw 20 passes per game. And I remember him saying that he just like, we're struggling, I just got to run the ball more. And if they add someone,

and you kind of feel like... Not yet. Right, exactly. They kind of feel like they will because there's a lot of heat on their passing game. Oh man. I love Marquise Brown,

but I might just be out on a team that they, you're right, Chris, they threw 406 times in 2020. They threw 440 in 2019. They're going to throw the ball that infrequently and add someone. It's going to be tough, but I know we haven't added anyone yet.

So I know, yeah, it's early, but it's just, it could be a tough outlook for Marquise Brown. Yeah. And he's always going to be a but i know we haven't added anyone yet so i know yeah it's early but it's just it could be a tough outlook for marquise brown yeah and he's always going to be a low volume guy like i think you're you're hoping for 110 targets from him the hope is that those are you know in an offense that should create passing touchdowns at a higher rate than you would expect given the low number of attempts because they're so efficient running the ball. They're in good situations.

I just think if he's getting consistent downfield targets and him and Lamar Jackson are hitting on them like they weren't early in last season, I think you can live with the low amount of targets in a 2019 Stefan Diggs kind of way. I think for him to be a breakout guy, he's got to get double digit touchdowns. I mean, because you can't like Chris, the numbers Chris gave catches and yards, I think is within reach, even in what they do.

If he can get to 10 plus touchdowns, then he qualifies, I think, as a breakout. Otherwise, he's just a good player. You know, I mean, it's not like he's a, I don't think he's a bust. I don't think he's a sleeper. I don't know if he will get to that breakout level of becoming you know I think if you're going to put a receiver in that category he's got to be a consistent weekly starter for you you know again I'm I'm projecting the same thing for DJ Chark I think they're kind of similar in that regard that you know things have to really work out well for them but the thing with with

Marquise Brown like you want to have like the the best Deshaun Jackson season the best Lee Evans season like that's the kind of player he is you know he's just never going to be a a high volume everything else unless the touchdowns come along with it and that's the thing that could save him is if if he does get into the end zone more and maybe they you know give him some different opportunities you know give him some bubble screens give him some carries you know give him some opportunity to touch the ball a different way and get a little bit more creative in their offense but i I think Marquise Brown is the type of guy that you say, I'll draft him as my third receiver, and if I can start him every week, I'm thrilled about that.

Okay, so let me tell you the wide receivers that went around Marquise Brown in our January PPR draft. This was round seven. It was about 77th overall. Odell Beckham, Marquise Brown, Debo Samuel. Odell Beckham, Marquise Brown, Debo Samuel. Dave, your thoughts on that group I

like Brown better than all those guys I think the way Jamie wrapped up what he said about Brown where you draft him as a number three and you start him that way that's great if you're in a deeper league or maybe you're swinging on other positions and you wait on wide receiver and he ends up being

your wide receiver too, that's okay. And it's all contingent on the Ravens not making a splash at wide receiver. The bigger the splash they make at wide receiver this offseason, the more it's obviously going to impact Marquise Brown. And we've talked about this. If they add speed to their passing game,

A, it's going to be good for Lamar Jackson because it's another player that can make a play after the catch or attack deep with. And B, it forces defenses to not cram up against the run. So it, there's a lot of sensible things in play, but the bigger the Ravens go at wide receiver,

the more it's going to impact that target share for Marquise Brown. And that just, it fits them into that wide receiver three hole even more. Cool. All right. So we've got a lot more breakouts to get to. You know, we don't have to talk about the sophomore running back.

I mean, you can just listen to the sophomore running backs episode. That's kind of like an early breakouts episode, but we will touch on them. Cam Akers is on Dave's list and Jamie's list. DeAndre Swift is on Jamie and Chris's list. Miles Gaskin's an interesting one. We'll talk about him.

A couple of you had Miles Sanders on your breakout list. T. Higgins, Michael Pittman for Dave. Jamie also has T. Higgins and CeeDee Lamb. So we like your two players a lot as breakouts, which again should come as no surprise. We also like fantasy baseball. We are big fantasy baseball fans. Chris is on the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast.

And Fantasy Baseball Today has launched a new show. It's FBT in 5. Fantasy Baseball Today podcast. And Fantasy Baseball Today has launched a new show. It's FBT in 5. Fantasy Baseball Today in 5. You've listened to Fantasy Football Today in 5, so I don't have to tell you all that much about it. But Fantasy Baseball Today in 5, get that every morning. First thing in the morning, five minutes, quick fantasy baseball update, very convenient, brand new podcast, just launched. So be one of the first, leave a nice review, spread the word, Fantasy Baseball Today in five. We're going to tell you about Paramount Plus a little bit later on in the show,

but make sure you're checking that out because streaming for Paramount Plus starts very soon. News and notes, Alex Smith and Washington are expected to part ways, according to Ian Rappaport. Jamie, who's going to be the Washington quarterback in 2021? Sam Darnold. Really? You think so? Makes sense.

Okay, I dig it. A 17-game schedule is highly likely according to Peter King. So we'll get... When that breaks, we'll react to it. But there will be more fantasy football. Do you know that if Dak Prescott does not sign with the Cowboys,

the longest-standing quarterback in the NFC East will be Daniel Jones. Give me a break. He's like, but he'll be sacked in like the second play, so he won't be standing very long, you know, but where's my, where's the rim shot sound effect here? Don't I have that somewhere? Oh, yeah.

There we go. See? Timing is everything, folks. Ian Rappaport also says no one believes Deshaun Watson will be traded. Okay. Keep an eye on that. So what does that mean? That means that the Texans are okay with him

sitting out the entire offseason program and training. They're just driving up the price. I hope that's what it is. Let's get him on a team where he can keep shining. It's going to be a bidding war between the Jets and the Dolphins. Who gets traded first, Watson or Wilson? Watson.

Wilson's not going anywhere. I agree with that. Who gets traded first, Watson or Darnold? Uh, could happen in the same move. It's good. Oh yeah.

That's a good point. All right. Uh, Houston. Oh, we'll get to Duke Johnson, but the, uh,

Houston Chronicle says that Will Fuller will not be franchise tagged. Houston released running back Duke Johnson and center Nick Martin. They may want to resign Duke Johnson at a lower salary, according to the Houston Chronicle. He had 28 catches in 11 games. If you're wondering,

how many catches did David Johnson have without Duke Johnson? He had two, two, 11, three and three. David Johnson had 33 catches for the season. He had 11 of them in one game. He wasn't, neither of them were that involved in the passing game. A lot of that depends. I think a lot of that depends on Deshaun Watson.

If Deshaun Watson's there, I don't think they're going to have many opportunities for running backs to catch the ball. That's just been the case for him his entire career. And it's something to keep in mind wherever he gets traded. Okay. Hear that, LaMichael B. Ryan? San Francisco has inquired about

Teddy Bridgewater, according to The Athletic. Sean McVay said Cam Akers is a very special player and an every down back. Julian Edelman may not fully recover from his knee injury. So, hopefully he can get back on the field. If not, it's going to make Jacoby Myers a lot more interesting. Meanwhile, opt-out news or opt-in news.

New England did not have their safety Patrick Chung, their linebacker Dante Hauer, their offensive lineman Marcus Cannon last year. They all opted out. They all plan on playing in 2021. Same thing with Giants. Formerly left tackle, if he's on the team, will probably be the right tackle. Nate Solder, he plans on playing in 2021.

All right, let's do a few more breakouts here. A lot more breakouts. Well, try to get guys we haven't talked about, and then we can wrap it up with the ones that we have talked about recently. Let's go Joe Mixon, Dave. He is a breakout for you. Believe it or not, he was on a per-game basis 12th in non-PPR, 11th in PPR. He only played six games, but we know so much of that was one huge game

against Jacksonville. He was a strange and frustrating running back last year. What do you expect from Joe Mixon as an early 2021 breakout? I think he's got the chance to put up career-best numbers,

which is what I said about him last year, too. as an early 2021 breakout? I think he's got the chance to put up career best numbers, which is what I said about him last year, too. And he was not going to do that to start last year, but his offensive line was terrible. And it took a little while for the offense to start to involve him in the passing game. And I think that they learned that that's something that they could rely on Mixon for. I also expect the offensive line to get better.

They can draft a guy. They can add a free agent. It's an obvious need for Cincinnati. And the passing game offensive line to get better. They can draft a guy. They can add a free agent. It's an obvious need for Cincinnati and the passing game is going to be there. There's going to be receivers that are going to challenge the safeties to stay back. That'll open things up for mixing as a runner and as a pass catcher, I think he'll be very involved. And I just don't want people to forget about Joe Mixon and say, well, he's a Bengal and he sucked last year. So that's that don't draft them. I don't think that's the case at all. I think he absolutely has a chance to have his best year ever.

Yeah, he was on pace for over 300 carries. Every running back in the last five seasons that's gotten to 300 carries has been a top five running back in both formats. And that is only true because LeGarrette Blount only had 299 carries five years ago. He was top 10. He was not top five. All right, so let's make this a broader discussion here. Mixon,

Miles Sanders, who showed up for Jamie and Chris on their breakout list, and not Jonathan Taylor because I know how you guys feel about him, but Cam Akers, DeAndre Swift. Let's talk about those four running backs. Mixon, Miles

Sanders, Cam Akers, DeAndre Swift. All of them are on this early breakout discussion for some of our analysts. One, two, three. Chris, why don't you go ahead and rank them? Mixon, Sanders, Swift, Akers. Sanders, Swift, and Mixon are five spots apart in my RB ranks in that order.

I have Sanders highest and then acres is eight spots behind Joe Mixon. So I am not quite on the K makers breakout train. It's not that I don't think he's particularly good. I think he's pretty good.

It's mostly comes down to the passing game role. And that's also why I'm a little lower on Joe Mixon. I think the Canmakers breakout train just crashed when you said that. What was that? There was a sound in the background when you were talking about the train. Oh, sorry. Sorry, Mike. Is that the Canmakers breakout train?

Yeah, that was the Canmakers train coming off the rails. No, I actually think between Sanders, Swift, Mixon, and Akers, I think Swift is the only one I really count on to be a legitimate passing game help. The way the Lions used him last season and the skill set that he showed, I think he's probably the best bet among this group to have 65 to 70 targets.

I think it's an open question for everyone else. So he might actually end up being number one among this group once I tweak things. But I like all of them well enough. I think Akers is the one that I'm least likely to draft this year. The six games where he was really the every down back, playing 65% to 75% of the snaps. He rushed for 561 yards, which is awesome, but

only had 14 targets in those six games. 147 receiving yards. I'm not sure what the receiving game role is going to be. That hasn't really been there for the Rams since Todd Gurley. He's got a new quarterback who throws his running backs all the time.

In fact, DeAndre Swift has a new quarterback that hasn't thrown his running backs in two years. I just don't think... I think that matters a lot more within the context of the offense than the quarterback themselves. There are certain quarterbacks who don't throw the ball to the running backs,

but that's mostly mobile quarterbacks like Deshaun Watson who are more willing to scramble than just dump it off. So, you know, Akers, off. So, you know, acres, the carries were, he got huge carry numbers, 28 in the first playoff game,

132 overall in those six games. When that 15 to 16 per game, rather than 20 to 25, I'm just not sure how high the ceiling is. If that receiving role doesn't materialize. All right, Jamie, why don't you give us your rankings of those four? Chris went, how high the ceiling is if that receiving role doesn't materialize. All right, Jamie, why don't you give us your rankings of those four? Chris went Miles Sanders, Swift, Mixon, Akers.

Akers, Swift, Sanders, Mixon. Akers, Swift. So you go Akers first. Wow. Akers, Swift, Sanders, Mixon. Okay. And then Dave. They're all in my top 15.

Okay. Dave, give me your quick ranking. Then Jamie, I'll let you expand on Akers number one. Akers, Swift, Mixon, Sanders. Yeah. Very interesting. Very interesting. top 15. Okay. Dave, give me your quick rank and then Jamie, I'll let you expand on acres. Number one, acres, Swift, Mixon Sanders. Yeah. Very interesting.

Very okay. Jamie, you're up first acres. Number one. I just think their game flow is going to be a lot in his favor. This is going to be a team that's going to have a chance to win a lot of games. I think his role in the passing game will increase slightly.

I don't think it's going to be to a point where he's a dynamic pass catcher, but I think a full off season is going to matter for him tremendously. I do think the quarterback change will help him. I also think that McVay is going to realize what his skillset is and expand that based on what he did in college. You know, he was a pretty good pass catcher at Florida State, and I think that will carry over to the NFL as well as he's used in more some obvious passing down situations. I don't think they've fully trusted him until the end of the season to be a little bit more of a pass blocker. So just being on the field in those situations with Malcolm Brown gone,

a veteran that they trusted to be in those spots, he's not going to be part of the roster anymore. So I think acres can be a 35 to 40 catch guy and what he'll do running the ball. I think that will put him in the top 10 range. So that's why I think he's a breakout candidate as well. Everybody's got Swift second. That's interesting. Dave, you have Sanders last you go acres got Swift second. That's interesting. Dave, you have Sanders last. You go Akers, Swift, Mixon, Sanders. And where is he, by the way, just in your overall

running back rankings? He's 19th, but I still view him as a third round pick. And he's the cutoff for me. He's the end of where you can get a running back that's reliable. And it's really just coming down to how much will he play? How will his role change? He already talked about mobile quarterbacks and how they don't necessarily throw to their running backs a lot. He's got a mobile quarterback now with Jalen Hurts there. Hurts can also steal opportunities

from Miles Sanders, both in general and near the goal line. So I'm a little nervous about just how much of that workhorse role he will still have in 21. Chris, why is Miles Sanders number one in this list for you ahead of DeAndre Swift, Joe Mixon, and Cam

Akers? The big playability that he's shown, the fact that Jalen Hurts, I would expect, won't throw the ball to him as much, although that wasn't really a part of Miles Sanders' game after the first five or so games last season anyway. But I just think among this group, he's the I think the easy bet to be the most efficient runner. And that big playability also makes him more of a touchdown threat.

I also just don't think he has very much competition for touches, although I think that's pretty much true for all of these guys. The key for him, can he get back to the downfield role in the passing game? Even if the targets do go down, if he can go back to being someone that they look for 15, 20 yards downfield, I think that can be a real differentiator for him. And it just, it continues to make his ceiling higher than most running backs in his range. He just has to get back to it. Last year, it was the Ravens game. He dropped a touchdown. That was pretty much the last time they threw the ball downfield to him.

I want to see them get that confidence back in him. As far as Mixon goes, that was Miles Sanders we were talking about. Mixon has barely played without Giovanni Bernard, who's his free agent now. If you look at his six games, the first three games of the year, Giovanni Bernard was getting's a free agent now. And if you look at his six games, the first three games of the year, Giovanni Bernard was getting a lot of the catches. But after that, it was kind of all Mixon. Bernard had 16 catches in those six games,

and 12 of them came in the first three games. Mixon was getting more and more involved in the passing game. And I was actually surprised that in two of his three seasons, he's been on pace for, I think, 49 to 53 catches. So he had one year where he was more like a 35 catch guy, but he was on pace for 56 catches in 2020, Joe Mixon. It's interesting, and

hopefully they'll all be workhorses. Final question, who's got the most upside? Miles Sanders, DeAndre Swift, Mixon, or Akers? Let's go Jamie, Dave, Chris. Who's got the most upside of this group of four? Akers.

I have a tough call Akers over Swift, but I've got it ranked that way, so I will also say Akers. And that's in PPR. If it's not in PPR, it's easily Cam Akers. I think it's Swift. I think in non-PPR, it might be Mixon. The only concern I have with Swift is that team's going to be so bad.

You know, and so, like, he may have the most catches of this group. That would not surprise me at all. I think coaching staff is clearly, you know, everything you hear from, you know, Dan Campbell and Anthony Lynn and everything that they've done, Deuce Daly, you know, just speaks to them doing some nice things to help DeAndre Swift take that next step. But this team's going to be terrible, especially if they lose Kenny Galladay. This could be one of the worst teams in the NFL.

They're going to build towards something. There's a lot of potential here. But I think for 2021, that could hurt DeAndre Swift in terms of his scoring chances, his rushing yards, rushing opportunities. So I have Swift right now ahead of Mixon and Sanders, or ahead of Sanders and Mixon, in that order. But he makes me a little bit nervous just in terms of what his eventual total production could be. Yeah, but, man, they were bad last year, too, in his last five games.

And that was with him, you know, having that concussion, not necessarily being that every down back that we hoped he would be. He averaged 17.6 PPR points per game over the last five years. Oh, he's great. He's great. This isn't a Swift. He's not a good player.

But they're going to be worse than they were a year ago. Oh, man. Yeah. They probably will be with no Stafford. But, man, that offense was a mess. So I'm hoping that they at least have a better game plan. They'll be a little bit more. I don't think they'll be as aggressive with the pass

as they were last year. I think that they'll dial that down. Anthony Lynn has already compared DeAndre Swift to Austin Eckler, said that they have a similar skill set. And Lynn's been using pass-catching running backs his entire career. He's going to build that in. Swift has a chance to easily lead all of the running backs that we're talking about in receptions but Lynn has also said that he's going to find somebody to share

the workload with so this is not going to be a DeAndre Swift it could be Peter three down they can give seven carries a game with the Adrian Peterson I'm worried it's going to be more like 12 and we saw that with the Chargers where that guy, anywhere from 8 to 12 touches per game, and then Swift could theoretically get the rest. Jamie's point about them playing from behind a lot means that the carries won't be there, but the catch as well. Chris, I think you said that there's potential for Swift to have 65 or 70 targets. I think he's got a chance for 65 or 70 receptions. His work at the goal line was also good last year.

But could he finish the year with, I don't know, 180 carries, 70 catches, eight total touchdowns? I think that's well within reach, even if the Lions offense stinks. That's not a lot of carries. Yeah, but that'd be a really good season. That's not even 12. That would still be really, really good. Yeah, that'd still be like a 16 PPR point per game season yep he's good he's just not he doesn't have the highest upside i don't

think he's got the highest upside of anybody that we're talking about you know what i know these numbers i mean 16 per game you said so that would be last year that would have been 14th per game behind austin eckler who was at 16 and a game. Eckler, though, left one game really early, so he's probably a lot better than that. All right, so that's a really good discussion here. And I guess to cap it off, DeAndre Swift, if they are going to use another running back, let's just hope they don't do what Anthony Lynn did last year and put Kalen Balazs in at the goal line

instead of Austin Eckler, that kind of garbage. Use another running back all you want. Just let DeAndre Swift score those touchdowns. As Dave mentioned, he was really good from short yardage near the goal line. He had eight rushing touchdowns. All of them were from six yards out or closer. Two of them from one yard, two from two yards, two from three yards out. We're going to take a break here on fantasy football today. When we come back, more breakouts for you. How about DJ Moore? How about, how about Brandon Ayuk? Dallas Goddard. Talk about Dallas Goddard.

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Back here on our early breakouts edition of Fantasy Football Today. Jamie, I'm looking at your list that you gave me and it's got T. Higg, CD lamb and Brandon. Iuke three year, two wide receivers. What can they break out to? Can they be top 12 wide receivers? You think Higgins lamb? Iuke. I mean, uh, not that I took the low hanging fruit, but I took the low hanging fruit. I mean, you saw the, the, the sample sizes of what these guys were when they were at their best last year, two of which, when they had their quarterbacks in terms of T Higgins with Burrow and C.D. Lamb with Dak Prescott. And, you know, you just see what the potential could be over 16 games. And hopefully those guys stay healthy with their quarterbacks. And, you know, you could be talking about must start wide receivers. And Ayuk, when

he was healthy, was a superstar, you know, so all three of these guys have the chance to be special. Now, Ayuk, you got to work in Debo Samuel being healthy because he missed so much time and George Kittle missed that stretch of game. So, you know, can he still do that with those guys around him? I'm going to say yes, if the quarterback situation is at least Jimmy Garoppolo and hopefully maybe an upgrade. But, you know, I just see the upside for all three of these guys going into their second year. Not all three are going to materialize, but I think the sample of what you saw should make you very encouraged about what they could be as their careers continue to progress. So, Higgins,

Lamb, Ayuk, did you say which one is the most upside? I think Higgins probably just given the opportunity to be the lead guy there. You still have to worry about Lamb with Cooper, Ayuk with the other guys there, but T. Higgins could easily be the number one receiver for Cincinnati.

If he does take that next step, burrow comes back at 100 they add another offensive lineman obviously run the ball a little bit better with joe mix and open things up in the passing game i mean you can see the cincinnati offense and what the upside could be as we talked about with joe burrow you know what was he top six top seven in terms of the passing yards per game uh when he was healthy and higgins was putting up a big portion that that was with AJ Green on the field for whatever that's worth whether Green was producing or not producing he was still there taking targets away and so is the third guy who's going to replace AJ Green going to be better than AJ Green I don't think so right away maybe eventually depending on how they address that but

you know what T Higgins showed you last year should make you very encouraged by what he can become and that could be a top 15 fantasy wide receiver. Yeah. This first 10 games with Joe Burrow, he was 23rd and non PPR. He was 27th and PPR. His best, best stretch was a seven game stretch,

you know, after the first three weeks of his career, basically, and rookie wide receivers get off to slow starts after that. I mean, he was awesome. He was on pace for 80 catches over 1200 yards, five touchdowns. And AJ Green was getting a. After that, I mean, he was awesome. He was on pace for 80 catches, over 1,200 yards, five touchdowns.

And A.J. Green was getting a lot of targets. I mean, A.J. Green had 77 targets in those first 10 games. And T. Higgins had 61. So Green getting a lot more targets than Higgins. Higgins so much better. And now you don't have to worry about that. Maybe they won't throw the ball 40 times a game, but still, you like to target

charity. And Dave, you have Michael Pittman on your early breakouts list. I know when it comes to drafting an ADP, he's going to be way behind these guys, but in your mind, how far behind CeeDee Lamb and Tee Higgins and Brandon Ayuk is Michael Pittman? He's still fairly far behind. I mean, we're talking the neighborhood of 30 picks overall, so maybe three rounds behind them. And as, as hype builds for a while, Carson Wentz is looking good.

And Pittman is his best outside threat that'll rise. And he'll probably end up being maybe two rounds behind that group. But in, in PPR, I think he's going to have a target increase. I'm expecting T Y Hilton to leave Indianapolis and go somewhere else. And if that's the case, he's,

he's that type of Alshon Jeffrey, Travis Fulgham, physical perimeter receiver that Wentz has leaned on as he's grown in the NFL. And the Colts are really good at mixing and matching their guys. He was running a bunch of crossing routes last year. He can run deep routes as well. He can be utilized in the red zone. He can be a factor pretty much any way Indianapolis wants to use them. And the opportunity should be there for him to do well with it. Okay.

Let's take a look and see where Michael Pittman went. He went in round 12 in our January draft. That's ridiculous. Well, Chris, I don't think we'll see that again. Chris, you could have taken him.

You took Darnell Mooney. And then who took, who took Michael Pittman with the next pick? We think it was Dave or Jamie. Who do you think? Jamie. It was it was Jamie. Diabolical. Yeah.

We did this draft without ranking. So it was not easy to remember all the players we wanted. Darnell Mooney, Michael Pittman, Gabriel Davis, Christian Kirk. Those were the four wide receivers. The first four off the board in round 12. Mooney, Pittman, Gabriel Davis, Christian Kirk. Those were the four wide receivers, the first four off the board in round 12. Mooney, Pittman, Gabriel Davis, Christian Kirk. Is Pittman the consensus best of that bunch? Yeah.

Yeah, okay. Chris speaks for everyone. I mean, we still have to see what they do. You know, they're not going into the 2021 season with this receiving corps looking like this. There's no chance. Chris, you have a couple of breakouts on your list and wide receivers.

DJ Moore, Deontay Johnson. Who do you like better? I like DJ Moore better. I think he's, one, just a better player. I'm actually, I think the jury's still out on how good Deontay Johnson is. But, you know, the role that he has is so valuable. But in a vacuum, I think DJ Moore is clearly

the better player. Dave, Jamie, who do you like better, DJ Moore or Deontay Johnson? And in a vacuum, he's a better player isn't really the argument here. Yeah, I don't know. DJ Moore is the better player. DJ Moore has the higher ceiling. I don't see Deontay Johnson being better than he was last year

unless just things dramatically changed for him because he was pretty good last year. So it's not like it's a knock on Deontay Johnson or Chris saying he's going to be a breakout player. I just don't know. Like if there's a lot more room for him to grow in the current construct of the Steelers office. Well,

if Juju leaves that theoretically opens the door for more targets for Deontay Johnson, the problem is that throw James Washington in there and throw him the ball, you know, as much as they were throwing the ball to J targets for Deontay Johnson. Yeah, but don't just throw James Washington in there and throw him the ball. As much as they were throwing the ball to Juju, I would be surprised. No, no, no, but they'll throw him the ball more, and obviously Claypool's getting a bigger role, and obviously they're going to have to address the run game too.

So I just don't see Deontay Johnson being that much better than he was. I think all of that's true, but Chase Claypool and James Washington are very different players, and I just don't think they would use them the way they use Juju. Deontay and Juju were the short area guys. Juju may come back. He may come back. There's a report saying that he's gone.

He's had some quotes saying he wants to come back. He may take a discount this day. If Deontay Johnson has a similar role as last year, if he gets 144 targets, I just think he'll be better. I think the drops won't be as much of an issue. I think his catch rate will be a lot higher. And he had, you know, remember, he had a lot of games where he left early with injuries.

He played 15 games, but he had one game where he played only 8% of the snaps. Another was 24%. He was a really frustrating player, especially in the early to middle part of the snaps another one with 24 he was a really frustrating player especially uh in the early to middle part of the season i think he can become a more consistent pass catcher with this high volume short yardage role i think he could be someone who you know catches 110 passes in this offense and that's going to have a lot of value i think he'll just honestly i just think he

plays better in year three. Yeah. Hopefully it doesn't drop the ball as much. First thing, Ed Boucher to the athletic believes that you choose gone. Doesn't think that he'll be back. He said basically the same thing with James Connor. Second of all, with Connor gone and a huge question market running back for Pittsburgh,

does that mean even more short area passing for the Steelers? It'd be hard to do more. Please. No, I know it's ridiculous. It's completely preposterous that they keep doing what they've been doing.

And my problem is I see the talent with Deontay Johnson and I do have him literally one spot ahead of DJ Moore and I have both of them literally one spot

ahead of Chase Claypool. And I think about Johnson and Claypool and I think about Roethlisberger and I get that feeling in my stomach that I'm going to be sick because I'm just not sure that Roethlisberger, he had flashes of greatness last year, but they usually came after a half of terrible passing.

What's going to happen next year? How is he going to be able to improve? I expect him to be pretty bad again. Yeah, I expect him to be pretty bad again. But that's kind of why I like Deontay Johnson because it's a lot easier to throw the ball six yards down the field than it is 15. Yeah, but defenses are going to know it.

I do get a little nervous about these receivers, and I really like Claypool. But I get nervous given Roethlisberger's arm. Would you guys rather have Deontay Johnson or Adam Thielen? Deontay Johnson higher. Thielen. Deontay Johnson or

Robert Woods. Robert Woods. I'll take one. That was. I have Woods one spot higher. Me too. Juju said yesterday he's hoping to return to Pittsburgh. Yeah.

Well, we'll see what happens. I think we've... I hope not. Where do you want to see Juju go if he doesn't go to Pittsburgh? Miami. Jamie, you want him at the Jets? Miami.

I mean, you've heard the Raiders link to Juju. I would hate that for fantasy. Why? Because he's going to snag a ton of targets away from everybody else there. There's only one guy I'm worried about him taking targets from. Yeah, well, that's the one that I'm... Yeah, well, that's a pretty important player. Yeah, right.

Those three tight ends, man. They need to hit. They're going to be drafted super early. Would you rather have Deontay Johnson or CeeDee Lamb? Deontay. Me too. Deontay's safer. Lamb has a higher soon. Who's the year two wide receiver that has a big year

after doing almost nothing as a rookie like like Deontay Johnson basically like DJ Chark and Michael Gallup the year before that and Cortland Sutton is it Pittman? I think Pittman. Well, I think Judy is the easy answer. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Rugs do. I mean, if you want to just go with nothing. Yeah, but if

Juju's there, I'll throw Jalen Rager in there. Rager's got a shot likely to be the number one wide receiver. He had like three separate injuries in the first five or six weeks of the season, including training camp, that just really made it hard for him to ever get going. I've been studying Nick Sirianni

over the weekend, and I talked to a couple of people about Sirianni. First of all, he's a former receiver. He won three Division III National Championships at Mount Union. Apparently, everywhere he's a former receiver he won three division three national championships at mount union and apparently everywhere he's gone he has improved the passing game for wide receivers um you'll read about it on cbssports.com zach paschal told me that he's the he's the reason why he's like he had a good year last year it was nick sirianni and just getting... Zach Paschal's the answer then these guys are screwed. No, I don't think it's like that. No, Paschal wasn't

as good. Paschal just had what, the best year of his career? Yeah. Look, he's a role player. Come on, Jamie. There's no question about that. No, listen. I don't think he's about to have a bunch of Zach Paschals. Congratulations, Jalen Rager. You're about to be Zach Paschal. You're headed for 500. I mean, look, if you think it's

Paschal levels, that would be a breakout. It would. For him, technically, it would be to Pascal levels, that would be a breakout. It would. For him, technically, it would be. Good point. For him, it would be. The point is that I think receivers are going to have a nice role in Philadelphia because of Sirianni. They can't be worse.

They can't be worse. They didn't have anybody great last year who was healthy. All right, so, well, they did have Dallas Goddard. And, Jamie, you have him listed on your breakout list here. And he, in three games with Jalen Rager, averaged right around 40 yards per game, did not score a touchdown. He was on fire. What about Jalen Hurts?

Yeah, Jalen Hurts. He was on fire the three games before that with Carson Wentz, 66 to 77 yards in all three games. And, you know, whatever. The production wasn't as good with, with Hertz, but those were Hertz's first starts. So anyway, Dallas Goddard,

what, what is his upside? He could be a top five tight end, if not better. I mean, this is the type of situation that we look for a terrible receiving core with a chance of a tight end leading the way and being the best guy on the team. And I think that's pretty clear with Dallas Goddard,

what he showed you in tandem was accurate. It's the year before when he was a top 10 tight end, what he showed you in tandem with Zach Ertz the year before when he was a top 10 tight end, what he showed you at the start of the season last year when he was healthy and Wentz was actually playing well. I think Jalen Hurts is going to realize that Dallas Goddard is his best option in the passing game. So I think Goddard's got a chance to be really special this season. Anybody disagree with that?

I'm not totally convinced Dallas Goddard is like, I don't know. There was like some Dallas Goddard's better than Zach Ertz talk last offseason. I'm not sure he's that kind of talent. I don't think he's really showed that he's been a relatively inefficient receiver over the course of his career. But look, if the targets are there, if he gets 120 targets, he's watching their routes too and he's watching their splits and making sure that they're running routes perfectly so that they get open for the quarterback this is going to be an offense that's predominantly

west coast i think goddard has a chance to do to have his best year yet and it's got i mean having zach urt's not there if he leaves that's obviously going to help him get to that point. But I think the offense will be very good for Goddard as well. Well, it's not going to be better than Paramount Plus. Paramount Plus, live sports, breaking news, and a mountain of entertainment. You can go straight from game day to movie night with Paramount Plus. You can get The Godfather, Indiana Jones, Mission Impossible, new episodes of critically acclaimed original series like Star Trek Picard, The Good Fight, and The Stand. And it's where you can dive into live sports from CBS Sports, including the NFL, March Madness,

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I think we have some time for emails here. Let me check the old inbox. In the meantime, while I find emails, how's everybody doing? Do you watch the Golden Globes? No. Yeah, me either. I didn't even know they were on anybody seen ted lasso i've heard great things i started re-watching it last night i i love that show re-watching it yes it is so good yeah i think i need to get in on that it's like the perfect solve for like the world in 2020 2021 like i feel like if it had come out in any other time, people would have

loved it, but the fact that it came out when everyone was feeling crummy about themselves and it's just this bright beacon of hope and light in the world has just made it a phenomenon. I cannot recommend it more highly. Maybe that's why people call me Ted Lasso. I'm a bright beacon of hope.

Exactly. Here's a question from John. 12 team, PPR league, one quarterback, it's Dynasty. I have pick 101 and 205. I was offered Eckler. Oh, God, no. I was offered

Eckler and 109 for 101 and 205. I am one running back away from being a top team in my, I mean, I guess in theory. I'm one running back away from being a top team in my, I mean, I guess in theory, I'm one running back away from being a top team in my league. Would you give up the first pick and pick 205

for Eckler and 109? Okay, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have reacted that strongly. What would you guys do here? I guess if you just, you know, you want to play revision this history, the ninth pick this year could have been if you want, you know, you want to play revisionist history, the ninth pick this year could have been, if you want to be optimistic, could have been Antonio Gibson. Maybe it could have been Cam Akers.

Depending if, you know, I don't know. Does it say this is a one quarterback? That's one QB. Yeah. It's one QB. So Lawrence is obviously not going one-on-one and one-on-one last year would have been not a bad pick, but not the best running back in the class, at least as of now. We'll call it over to Lair.

Do you think typical Dynasty League, you're going to have within the first seven picks, you'll have, or let's say six picks, sorry, two running backs, the two big running backs, the two big wide receivers, and maybe Waddle, maybe three. Maybe that's five, plus Lawrence, plus Pitts. That's seven picks. Pitts may not go that high, though.

Oh, I think he will. Well, if he's a receiver, no. If he's a tight end, then yeah. Maybe. What I'm getting at is, with the ninth pick, you might be able to get the fourth best wide receiver to the third best running back in the class. That's what I'm saying, though, you're getting Eckler in that. Yeah.

Yeah, I think you probably do it. The chances of whoever you pick at 101 being better than Eckler in 2021 are pretty slim. You know, maybe 2022. Right, right, yeah. And I think he's just also, like, I have him as a top five or six running back for 2021. So I think you're getting that elite player.

He's got to be an elite player before we call him an elite, like for a full season, because he's not shown that he can hold up to that. He's clearly going running back if he gets one on one or he stays at one on one. Right. So that'll either be Harris or Etienne. If Etienne goes to the Dolphins. Adam, who would you rather have, ETN or Eckler? Long-term? No, 2021.

Eckler. That's not close. I don't know because, you know, sometimes you get those rookie running backs who have these monster seasons, and I think ETN would be capable of doing it if he goes to the right spot. He certainly would be capable of it,

but I'd still rather have Eckler right now. Adam, Eckler was the number four RB in 2019. Yeah. Okay, but he did not have a full workload. That's what I'm saying. He hasn't shown that he can handle a full workload. For a full season, he's very small. Yeah, I don't expect him to ever have to prove he can hang on.

Well, I don't want him to get hurt. Yeah. No, that's fair. I just think... Before we go to the next question question just because you teased it I think it should be brought up Chris had Gaskin as a breakout oh crap yeah forgot about that yeah and obviously

that depends on who they bring in I would assume they bring someone in but if not I mean you're talking about he was one of the most consistently good running backs in fantasy last season I think it's a really good situation for him. They showed last year they want to use one running back.

When it wasn't Myles Gaskin, it was Savin Ahmed getting 75% of the snaps. So I think Myles Gaskin, if they don't bring in legitimate competition, if they just bring in another role player uh he's gonna be i think a a top 25 pick for me in 2021 it depends on who they bring in and what the rest of the offense looks like but uh miles gaskin is someone i'm very excited about as things stand yeah it just it's it seems i mean you see the aaron jones rumors uh obviously the running back situation being what it is they've got more draft capital than anybody, so they can move up, down, and all around to try and corral either ETN.

Right, but I think to Chris's point, if it's not Harris or ETN or one of the Carolina guys in the first two rounds, and if it's a day two or day three guy, then Miles Gaskin's in a much better standing to at least go in and prove himself to be that type of guy. Yeah. And what I just want to clarify what I was talking about with Eckler,

he's only had his career high as 132 carries. So, I mean, that's just my only concern that he might not be a workhorse. He was for four games in 2019 when he was RB4, but he also had 92 catches that year, which is not going to happen. Just give me the trade again.

It's Eckler and 109 for what? Eckler and 109 for 101 and 205. PPR. And he doesn't give the rest of it, or they don't give the rest of their roster? He said he's one running back away from being a contender. I mean, look, Eckler makes you a contender 2021. The question becomes 2022 and beyond,

because Harris, to me, is the best running back in his class. contender 2021 the question becomes 2022 and beyond you know because it's harris harris to me is the best running back in his class and if he is what he could be with the right team then you don't want to pass that up so if he can hold off on the trade until the nfl draft then i might try and do that all right i know you love to hold things against me four years later so you can hold this against me travis etn is definitely the best running back in this class. He might be. I mean, to me, they're 1-1A. I'm not... To me, they're 1-4A. Like, he is... Travis Etienne

is going to blow the doors off of Najah Harris. Of course, it will matter where they end up. But I'm calling my shot. I'll give you an opinion on that once I find out where they land. Yeah, fine, fine. Alright, last one here from Nick. Another Dynasty question. I mean, Travis Etienne can end up in a crappy situation like Edward Tiller and go to the Chiefs.

Oh, wouldn't that be something? 14 team, full PPR, one QB. I have the 14th pick, 1.14, 1.14. Why do I keep saying 1.14? In our startup draft and 1.01 in the rookie draft. Okay, so they're doing a startup draft and then a rookie draft. So he's got the top pick in the rookie draft. He's got the last pick in the veteran draft,

and he's got the first pick in the rookie draft. I was offered the 12th pick in the startup draft for my third round pick and pick 101. No. Why would you do that? Just to move up two spots? No. No.

You don't do that. No. Why would you do that? This one's an easy no. I'm just going to respond. No. Exclamation point. Thank you, Nick.

And we're out of here for today. Thanks to Chris and Dave and Jamie and Ben Schrager. Good to have Ben back. All of you for listening. We appreciate it. We will talk to you tomorrow with early busts on Fantasy Football.