Fantasy Football Today - Eight Players We Don't Talk About Enough (05/13 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: May 13, 2026

It's time to take a long look at eight players that we haven't sufficiently covered. Let's start by analyzing what Breece Hall, D'Andre Swift and Tony Pollard have in common (3:10) and how a running b...ack emerges from this particular group. Then we've got some news and notes (11:15) for you ... Jaxson Dart (12:00) was amazing as a rookie. We get into what could go right and what could go wrong for him. Then we talk about RJ Harvey (21:10) and whether there is any reason to get excited about him. There is certainly plenty of reason to get excited about Derrick Henry (25:10)! Yes, he's old, but that might be the only negative for Henry ... Finishing up our thoughts (29:10) on Hall, Swift and Pollard. Who among them has the potential for more catches? Which is the best value in drafts? And we finish up with two wide receivers Amon-Ra St. Brown (49:05) and Nico Collins (51:45). St. Brown is so consistent, while Collins has tantalizing upside but is coming off a disappointing season. Why might 2026 be better for Collins? ... Email us at fantasyfootball@cbsi.com Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts Watch FFT on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Shop our store: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠shop.cbssports.com/fantasy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ FOLLOW FFT Dynasty on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ SUBSCRIBE to FFT DFS on Apple: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dfs/id1579415837⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  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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Starting point is 00:00:21 And avocados that aren't still hard as a puck in the third period. So don't cross your fingers and hope for the best. Download the app and get groceries just how you like with Instacart. This is fantasy football today from CBS Sports. What a play! Can you believe this? No, I can't. It's time to dominate your fantasy league.
Starting point is 00:00:43 Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. What's up, folks? Happy Hump Day. Wednesday, May 13th. Players, we don't talk about enough. There are eight of them. Jackson Dart, R.J. Harvey, Derek Henry, Brees Hall, D'Andre Swift, Tony Pollard, a lot of running backs.
Starting point is 00:01:08 Amonrae St. Brown. What's there to say about him? I don't know. I think there's something. He's good. And Nico Collins is the last one. Already a question in the chat. Can we talk about Isaiah Pacheco? No. But Jemir Gibbs is going to miss two to three games with a low ankle sprain. Don't worry about it. It's not a huge deal. Pacheco, you're going to spend all your fab on Pacheco, and then you're going to thank me. I mean, thanks for putting him on my radar. We don't do that.
Starting point is 00:01:35 We don't do that. That was one of the first things I learned on the FFT podcast is we don't do that. You know, it's two to three games with a low ankle sprain. It's fine. I think it's fine. What did I call you before the show started? Not repeatable, not repeatable. Oh, it's repeatable.
Starting point is 00:01:54 No, no, please, no. I mean, it wasn't it rhyme with. No, it don't do rhyme with, Jamie. It started with an A and ended with it. Okay, anyway, welcome everyone, and thank you for watching listening to Fantasy Football today. So we're going to talk about those three running backs in a similar big range, but Breeze Hall, DeAndre Swift, Tony Pollard, Hall at the front of it and Pollard at the back of it. They had two of them, Breece Hall and Tony Pollard, and Tony Pollard, and, sorry, Brees Hall, Tony Pollard, and Jamir Gibbs. they all had 242 to 243 carries last year.
Starting point is 00:02:32 Gibbs had 13 rushing touchdowns. Pollard had five, Hall had four. So let's take a look at some 17-game pace comparisons between the three running backs that I mentioned that we haven't talked about enough. Yeah, pretty cool, right? That is a nice graphic. Shafor for the win.
Starting point is 00:02:50 Breeze Hall, D'Andre Swift, Tony Powell, their 17 game paces. They were all 14 to 15 carries per game, two catches to a little bit more than two catches per game, 33 to 38 catches per 17 games. And I don't know, Heath, I was just looking, you do projections, I was just looking at the touches are pretty similar based on last year's 17 game paces for Brise Hall,
Starting point is 00:03:13 DeAndre Swift and Tony Pollard. But Hall is going to go probably four rounds roughly ahead of Tony Pollard, three to four rounds ahead of Pollard. And Swift is the only one who scored a lot of touchdowns. He scored 11 total touchdowns. The other guys scored five. So is there a lesson to be learned from looking at these touches? Again, if you're not looking at it, it's Breece Hall, D'Andre Swift, Tony Pollard,
Starting point is 00:03:36 14 to 15 carries per game, about two or a little bit more than two catches per game. But Swift had by far the best fantasy season, and he's not the first one drafted. And anyway, is there any lesson to be learned from looking at these guys and where they're getting drafted and where they should be getting drafted? I think, like, Tony Pollard is probably being drafted. too late is the lesson to be learned. When I look at my projections, I have Hall and Swift, I think, separated by seven total points in the projections, the RB17 and RB18 in my projections.
Starting point is 00:04:09 Pollard, though, is like RB21. Now, I rank him a little bit lower because I don't think the upside maybe is quite as high for Tony Pollard. But he's only like, he's less than two points per game behind these guys, close to one point per game behind Swift. So, yeah, I think that the lesson is that Tony Pollard's being drafted too low. Dave, another possible lesson here is that unless the Jets offense is going to get a lot better, Brees Hall might be being drafted too high because he has been on a team that has been 30th or worse in goal-lined rush attempts, or rush attempts inside the five-yard line, I think, maybe three, whatever, three straight years.
Starting point is 00:04:51 He, Brees-hall had two goal-line carries last year. And I looked, I mean, there is a strong correlation between good offenses and just plays run inside the five-yard line. It makes sense, right? So, you know, are we factoring that in enough for Breece Hall? We should be. I'm not sure if everybody is. The graphic that you're seeing is a billboard for draft players on good teams that score a lot of points. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:05:19 Chicago was that last year. The Jets, the Titans, not so much. The end result is one of these running backs is projected for double the judge. of touchdowns. The other two are projected for no more than five. I wouldn't say projected. That was their 17 game pace. The pace. The pace. I'm sorry. Correct. That makes it even worse. I also don't think that Frank Reich is the play caller and Gino Smith as the quarterback are about to change the fortunes of the Jets offense compared to the last however many years that you were talking about. In fact, Frank Reich has a very, very
Starting point is 00:05:51 detailed history of using two running backs. one of them rushing, one of them on passing down, I think Brees is going to be taken off the field on passing downs again. And there's no guarantee that, A, he's going to get a lot of those goal line touchdowns that we love. And B, that he will be the only running back that will be used on rushing downs because Braylon Allen is still there,
Starting point is 00:06:12 and they could sprinkle him in, and that just might be an Aaron Glenn philosophy, more so than a Frank Reich philosophy. Brice is somebody that I'm not very excited to draft. He's like a desperation, bottom of the barrel, RB2. And that's why I wouldn't take him, certainly, I think I'd rather have Swift. I wouldn't rather have Pollard, though. I think Breece is probably the one I'd pick ahead of Pollard. I'm a little more optimistic and a bounce back in receptions for Breece Hall because we've
Starting point is 00:06:41 seen him be so much more involved in the passing game in the past, and it is a new offensive coordinator. And I think that you can think, like, Gino Smith and Frank Reich may not be exciting. But this team was 29th in points, 29th in yards, 29th in, I think, offensive, like they were really low in offensive plays run also. So they could be a bad offense and still be better than they were last year. I'm excited. I'm optimistic too about Breece Hall Heath because I think, yeah, I mean, he's got such a, he's got a great track record as a past catcher. He's been really good at that. Dave, you're right. He didn't have the third down roll last year. but he could still have more than 38 catches.
Starting point is 00:07:25 And I think, yeah. And Jamie, I would say, would you say that Breece Hall has, like, you look at the 17 game paces. He was on pace for 258 carries, Swift, 237, power 242. But do you think Breeze Hall has the most workhorse potential of these three? Like, do you think he could eclipse 258 carries, maybe even push close to 300? It's not close of who has the most workhorse potential. I mean, you know, you're talking about you know who the number two running back is in Chicago. There may be three guys in Tennessee if they use Taije Sharp and Singleton,
Starting point is 00:07:58 who's, you know, gotten positive reviews in rookie minicamp and, you know, a lot of talk if he'd come out in 2025 as opposed to 2026, where he would be, you know, as a prospect. I think you're just looking at it. Breece Hall, for the most part, everything has worked out in a positive manner, not to the optimal positive manner, because, as Dave alluded to, you know, Gino Smith and Frank Reich is not exactly what we were hoping for, but it is an upgrade. And I think to his point, you know, like, can it get worse? Sure. Will it get worse? Probably not. I mean, again, you know, they've invested a lot in their offense this offseason, you know, two first round picks on the offense, spending the money on Breece Hall, you know, and I think that kind of factored into some of the usage
Starting point is 00:08:38 last year. Like, the ceiling for him is, for me, significantly higher than the other two. Again, the offense pulls him back and the situation isn't the best. But, you know, I mean, we could be looking at a scenario in Chicago where it's, you know, 50-50 split between Swift and Monongai. And Heath is right. I think Pollard is a little undervalued. But if they decide to use Singleton and still use Sharp and take Pollard off the field in some circumstances while the offense got better, I think the play caller is better.
Starting point is 00:09:04 I think the, you know, circumstances are better with just everything around him. It's still a time share that could be a little bit messy. So I think Paul is the one you want to draft. I think Swift is the one you kind of want to settle for. And I think Paul are just kind of that guy that I kind of marry him and Chuba Hubbard together. It's just two very good value picks that should lead their offenses and touches and hopefully in better situations than they were a year ago. Jamie is failing the name that Tage game. He said.
Starting point is 00:09:35 It's sharp. But other than that, excellent memories. All right. Right. So, Brees Hall, DeAndre Fonnie Powell, three players will talk about a little bit later. Let me get to the news and notes for, oh, you know what? Actually, let me just give one quick thing on Dandre Swift.
Starting point is 00:09:52 Kyle Menangai got more involved beginning in week seven. That was their sixth game of the year. In the first five games for Swift, he was on pace for, like, oh, man, damn it, where is it? $223-ish. basically the same amount as the last 11 games. Here we go. First five games who's on pace for 238 carries.
Starting point is 00:10:14 Last 11 games he was on pace for 237 carries. But he went from 75% of the running back carries to 55% of the running back carries. They just ran the ball so much in those last 11 games. So that's just another thing when you think about that pace. If they don't run the ball as much and he gets 55% of the carries, the Andre Swift, he's not going to have 230 carries most likely. All right. News and notes.
Starting point is 00:10:41 Just real quick. Michael Pennix is making progress. I believe he practiced a little bit. It was on the field. So that's cool. Bucky Irving, not yet. He's still recovering from off-season shoulder surgery. According to ESPN, Jacoby Reset has been told that he is the starting quarterback for the Cardinals.
Starting point is 00:10:56 Remember, he wants a new contract. And according to the athletic, Jets wide receiver Adonai Mitchell seems pretty locked into the number two wide receiver role. So they'll have their rookie Omar Cooper in the slot, I guess, and Adonai Mitchell will get a lot of playing time. He's exciting at times. The big news is that on Friday, we're on CBS Sports Network at 1 p.m. Eastern, so please join us for that.
Starting point is 00:11:19 Check out CBS Sports Network 1 p.m. Eastern for a special edition. We'll be reacting to the schedule, and much more on CBS Sports Network 1 p.m. Eastern on Friday. All right, let's start. Players we don't talk about enough. We'll go out with a quarter app. the lone quarterback on this list, Heath Jackson Dart.
Starting point is 00:11:38 I'll talk about Jackson Dart all day, baby. You know, he made 12 starts, and he was good enough to be QB8 and 4. 0.9 and 6 point per passing touchdown leagues, which actually surprised me. I thought it was more. He had a zero point game against the Vikings. Aside from that, man, he was amazing.
Starting point is 00:11:57 24.7 points per game in 6-point leagues in the other 11 starts. So do you think he can be that good again? Not maybe necessarily 24.7, but, you know, I'll throw out 23 points per game. You think that's realistic for Jackson Dart? I think that's probably not far off. I've got him projected, I think, for 22. So that's, like he's my QB9 in a tier with QB8.
Starting point is 00:12:26 QB, like, I don't think he's quite the borderline QB one. It's almost like there's the really good guys, and then there's the solid QB ones, and then there's the borderline QB ones. And so he's kind of in a smallish tier. I don't know if this makes any sense or not, but I think we still have quite a bit to learn about Jackson Dart. And the ways that they found success last year were not necessarily traditional for an offense or a starting quarterback in the NFL, and now he's got a new coordinator, he's got a new head coach. hopefully he has his elite wide receiver one back,
Starting point is 00:13:04 but I think the expectation should be that he's going to be a starter. He has upside because of his legs, but there is some significant risk that, like playing in a new system, he just doesn't look near as good. Jimmy, your thoughts on Dart? I mean, obviously very excited. You know, you look at what he was able to accomplish last year.
Starting point is 00:13:24 He did that in a half with Malik neighbors. Neighbors got injured in week four. That was Dart's first start. The really, I think the thing that suez it for me is how much will he run versus how much will they sort of try to protect him based on the injuries that he sustained last year with the concussion situation. So if you just take his 12 starts, you remove the partial games that he played in the beginning part of the season, he was second in terms of rushing yards per game behind only Justin Fields. So, you know, over 40 yards per game in those 12 starts, that's clearly something that you want to, you know, gravitate toward. Tied for second in the NFL and rushing touchdowns for quarterbacks behind Josh. Allen with nine. That's obviously something that's probably not repeatable, but clearly something
Starting point is 00:14:04 that you look at and say, okay, this is why he is a very good fantasy quarterback. And now you give him a full season of Malik neighbors, hopefully, a full season of Isaiah likely, losing Wando Robinson sucks, but I think just the combination of Darnal Muni and likely and, you know, obviously neighbors makes everything better. You said this a lot, Adam, and so it's kind of going to be interesting to see how it plays out. Will they be a run-heavy team? Well, their running back is coming off a pretty significant injury as well. So that sort of factors into the also. So I think you just sort of put DART in context of, does he have, you know, Heath brought this up, I don't think it was a breakout category, but, you know, Jane Daniels and where he's at going
Starting point is 00:14:42 into, you know, 2026 coming off an injury, what we saw from him as a rookie, Caleb Williams and his potential, Justin Herbert and, you know, new offense there, you know, so once you get past really the top, I think four quarterbacks will probably be locked in of Allen, Jackson, May, Burrow. I think that's probably how ADP will sort of view it. Those younger quarterbacks, DAC, maybe Stafford, you know, looking at those guys. Like there's just, I think a lot to like about all of them. And Dart may end up being the best, to be honestly, you know, so it's a matter of, you know, do you want to buy into what you saw last year without the most pristine situation going on?
Starting point is 00:15:21 And now he's got his receivers. He's got a new tight end. He's got, you know, like all these things that are in his favor, plus, you know, a beefed up offensive line as well. by getting, you know, a tackle guard in the first round. Jackson Dart scored 24 more fantasy points in 7 of 12 starts. He was so good. We're going to take a quick break and get Dave's thoughts on Jackson Dart. When we come back, is Dave optimistic, pessimistic looking at?
Starting point is 00:15:45 We actually have some ADP. Dave's been running these only fans drafts and Jackson Dart is QB8, but he's going 91st. It's not a lot of drafts, but that's a really pretty good spot for Jackson Dart. We'll be right back to talk about him on FFT. Okay, Dave. So we've seen C.J. Stroud take a huge step back. Anthony Richardson, huge step back. Baker Mayfield comes to mind his guy who had a good rookie season and a bad second season. But they're not all bad. Obviously, Drake May was great. Justin Herbert, Joe Burrow.
Starting point is 00:16:13 They were great in their second seasons after, you know, very promising or just great rookie seasons. What do you think Jackson Dart ends up? Is he going to be great? Is he going to be terrible? Somewhere in between. I'm not ready to commit to either of those answers at this point. because I want to know if Malik Neighbors is back on the field and good to go. And when we're drafting at this point in the middle of the off season, I think we have to lean toward neighbors being 85% of himself this year. Coming back from the ACL, hopefully he's better than that. And if he's there and he's 85% of what we saw his rookie year,
Starting point is 00:16:47 I would lean toward Jackson Dart being a great fantasy pick, especially what did you say he's going 91st in ADP in our fan mock drafts? Yeah. That's amazing value. you. I feel like you're stealing him. There are some things that I don't love. I don't love that almost 40% of his fantasy points last year came on the ground, nine rushing touchdowns, how much of that is sustainable? Are the coaches going to tell him stop running, stop getting concussed? We need you on the field all the time. Does that change the way he plays? Does that make him a worse quarterback?
Starting point is 00:17:18 And then obviously, is that receiving court going to be great? Is neighbors going to be 85% of himself, or is it going to be 65% of himself? Is Isaiah likely going to be good? for more than just a game here or there, or is he going to be the same guy that he's been his entire career? Is there going to be somebody else who steps up, like Wendell Robinson stepped up last year? These are all big questions. I think the one thing that I feel great about is what Jamie mentioned,
Starting point is 00:17:44 the offensive line. I think the Giants' offensive line could be one of the best in football. And if that line is protecting Dart, that should make Dart's life easier, both as a passer and as a runner, but certainly more so as a pastor. It could give him an extra half second to me. make throws. And if that's what's happening, then he's not running as much.
Starting point is 00:18:02 So I'm kind of sitting on the fence here with Jackson Dart. At this point, he's my QB6. I'm fine with that. I'm fine taking him for the upside ahead of Dak Prescott, Jalen Hertz. The ADP so far with our fan drafts doesn't reflect that. They've got Hertz going ahead of John. Jackson Dart's birthday. And only Dan Schneier knew this. Dan Schneier came into the chat to alert us it is Jackson Dart's birthday. Dave gave him a nice present saying that he has more upside than Jalen Hertz. You disagree? He does.
Starting point is 00:18:43 Yeah, I disagree. I think, I mean, I'm the constant Jalen Hertz defender, but Jalen Hertz has the upside of throwing 30 touchdown passes and rushing for 10 and being one of the best quarterbacks in fantasy football. I'm not sure there's like maybe Josh Allen has more, and Lamar Jackson have more upside than Jalen Hertz. but dart just ran for nine touchdowns, and he put up his numbers last year
Starting point is 00:19:05 without Malik neighbors, and Jalen Hertz is losing A.J. Brown. So I think they both have a lot of upside. I don't mind if you take Hertz ahead of Dart. Right now, I'm taking dart ahead of Hertz. Okay. I'd rather have hurts also. Two Hertz and a dart.
Starting point is 00:19:19 All right, R.J. Harvey is next on the players we don't talk about enough list. He was the number 24 running back per game and full PPR, but he was number 14 per game in full PPR from weeks 11 through 18 without J.K. Dobbins, when he averaged only 3.4 yards per carry. But he averaged 7.5 touches per game when J.K. Dobbins was healthy. Jamie, is there any reason I should be excited about R.J. Harvey?
Starting point is 00:19:46 No. I don't love the situation for him, unfortunately. I think he was, he benefited greatly from J.K. Dobbins' injury. He benefited greatly from Jalemal McLaughlin and Tyler day, not getting work at the end of the season. He obviously struggled when Dobbins was healthy, and now you're throwing Jonah Coleman in the mix, and it just feels as if his ADP at RB25 is way too high, and at best, you're hoping for him to sort of establish himself as the past catching guy. Sean Payton said this week that they like Jonah Coleman.
Starting point is 00:20:22 You're surprised by Jonah Coleman. I forget I phrased it, but, like, you know, his work in the passing game, which he did quite well at Washington. So could we be looking at just a guy that's going to have to benefit from an injury once again and not only benefit from an injury, but prove that he's significantly better than the rookie that they just drafted in round four with very limited draft capital? So I loved RJ Harvey last season.
Starting point is 00:20:46 I thought this was, you know, one of the rookies that was going to take off. It clearly did not happen. And then it was really just benefiting from fantasy production as opposed to actual production because he did not run the ball very well. you got the chance behind. Still a very good offensive line. And what was a good offense? It just, it didn't work out the way I was hoping for for RJ Harvey.
Starting point is 00:21:04 And I think it got worse from this off season. Heath, should we be even taking RJ Harvey ahead of J.K. Dobbins? I would still take RJ Harvey ahead of J.K. Dobbins, just because of the past catching upside. I wonder if we see even more short dump-offs to the running backs from Bo Nix with him coming off of the significant injury. And maybe he doesn't run quite as much. much or scramble quite as much. And then I think
Starting point is 00:21:30 like the Jonah Coleman pick was potentially a bad sign for RJ Harvey, but it's also a day three running back. And we've seen Sean Payton draft a lot of guys and say nice things about them in the summer and then give them like 25
Starting point is 00:21:46 touches in their rookie season. So I don't I don't want to make too much out of Jonah Coleman. Yeah. I mean, RJ Harvey Harvey was only getting seven and a half touches per game before the Dobbins injury. But you're right. Sean Payton is a coach who says a lot.
Starting point is 00:22:02 We have to kind of parse through it a little bit. Dave, this is a guy. I don't think we have to spend a ton of time on, but give me a final thought on RJ Harvey. He could be very good. It just comes down to if he can make strides from year one to year two. He was great for fantasy overall, especially after Dobbins got hurt,
Starting point is 00:22:19 18.6 or more PPR points in four of seven regular season games. if he improves the soft season, he shows he's better than he was last year, maybe his vision's better, then he could end up being a steal and fantasy. I think it's a really interesting, and I'm probably higher on Harvey, maybe even having him with these guys,
Starting point is 00:22:39 but really interesting decision to make in the middle rounds between Harvey, Tutin, and Judarian Price. It's not close for me. He's easily last for me. He's a last for me too, but I think he belongs at the bottom of that tier.
Starting point is 00:22:53 Right. We're getting very, like Harvey did so much more to make us excited last year than Tutin. And Judarian Price is a career backup running back in college. So who's first for you guys at that trio? Price. Price. I've got Harvey right now. The price is right. I don't want to be the RJ.
Starting point is 00:23:15 I feel like Jamie and I just switched places on RJ Harvey. All right. Next up is Derek Henry. I don't know if any of us are the Derek. Henry guys. You reluctantly hit that draft button at some point in the second round on a 32-year-old.
Starting point is 00:23:33 He was 31 last year, and he was RB7 per game. And he got off to a slow start, and then was freaking dominant again, even when Lamar Jackson got hurt late in this season. I think he scored just like 40 points without him in one of the later games of the year. It was against Green Bay, maybe.
Starting point is 00:23:49 Just an amazing player, Derek Henry. An ageless wonder, Jamie, when should Derek Henry be drafted? It's clearly format specific, but I think in PPR or half PPR, for me, it's late round two, early round three. He's in that mix of guys, at least for me,
Starting point is 00:24:05 with... So behind Hampton and Genty, you know, that's like running back seven and eight. It's Ken Walker, Sequin Barclay, Jeremiah Love, maybe missing somebody there, but that's to me where Derek Henry belongs. There's, at some point,
Starting point is 00:24:22 father time's going to catch up to him, but he just keeps dominating and dominating and dominating, and we say the same thing year after year. I hope that you don't, I think like you said, Adam, like he's kind of a settle four pick as opposed to somebody that you target, and this is what we sort of fall victim to, that he has not fallen victim to, but we fall victim to, of in PPR, are you chasing touchdowns versus chasing receptions of this position?
Starting point is 00:24:51 And so he's been so successful at scoring touchdowns that it's hard to overlook that, that it's not a consistent stat for him, despite the fact that he doesn't catch the ball very much. So I don't think that's going to change. I don't think, you know, going from Greg Roman to Declan Doyle is necessarily the change that's going to matter for Derek Kennedy very much. But I think you're just looking at it. Was Greg Roman even the office coordinator list?
Starting point is 00:25:19 Or my way blank on it? No. Greg Roman was Chargers, offensive coordinator. it was the Browns coach. Yeah. I don't know. I say Gregor one. You know,
Starting point is 00:25:29 you go from Monken to Declan Doyle, and it's, I don't think something that's anything changes. Like, you know what Derek Henry is at this point. He's a very good back-end RB1. I think the reason we haven't really talked about him is the same reason,
Starting point is 00:25:46 like that we don't hear Azer talk as much trash about tennis with Dan anymore. It's like we talked trash. year after year about how he was going to fall off the mountain and King Henry stays on top of the mountain. And finally, we just like, we don't want to say it anymore. It's tired of getting our teeth kicked in. Yeah, look, to call him a back end, a low end RB1 or whatever Jamie just called him is kind of an insult to Derek Henry because once in the last seven years, he's finished worse than RB7 per game in PPR. Twice in the last seven years, he's finished worse than fourth.
Starting point is 00:26:20 Last year was seventh. Last year was a little bit worse than what he usually is. Dave, is there any concern about Derek Henry other than age? Nope. He's awesome. Lots of touchdowns, lots of work. He's overcome it year after year. I think he's an easy round two click.
Starting point is 00:26:39 And that's in full PPR. He's a round one click and non-PPR, but you already knew that. All four of you that play in non-PPR leagues. All right. So if you had to go with the sort of unprovenness, of Omari and Hampton or Ashton Genty in full PPR
Starting point is 00:26:58 or Derek Henry. Let's get all three of you rank those three. Gentie Hampton, Henry, Heath. Genty Hampton, Henry. Dave. Hampton, Genty, Henry. Jamie. Same.
Starting point is 00:27:12 Hampton, Genty, Henry. Mm-hmm. Okay. All right, next player we don't talk about enough is Brees Hall. So, we've already talked enough about him on this show. All right.
Starting point is 00:27:29 Here's one positive thing they'll say about Brise Hall, is there was a year under Frank Reich with the last full season he coached with the Colts when Jonathan Taylor led the NFL in rush attempts. It was clear that he was the best running back on the team and Frank Wright gave him almost all the running back touches. And that is not what I'm projecting is going to happen, but it gives us a glimmer of hope that we stop with this Isaiah Davis nonsense.
Starting point is 00:28:01 And the guy who has been a remarkably efficient running back catching passes, I think it was over seven yards per target last year as a running back is insane. And they're like, you know what, maybe we should just throw the ball to the running back who's really good in the passing game. Since entering the NFL in 2022, Breece Hall is fourth among running backs in yards per outrun. He's ninth in yards per catch. He's 14th in yards per target.
Starting point is 00:28:30 He's really good at it. You're right. Does anyone think that he is still an elite rusher, like what we saw in seven games as a rookie? No. I mean, him as a player, yes, him in his situation, probably the tier below that. I think he's kind of Ken Walker.
Starting point is 00:28:51 Like he is elite at making big plays and also he's not consistent at gaining four yards. He has been pretty low in the rate of... He's been pretty bad, I guess, in the zero and negative carry... Zero yard and negative yard carry rate stat. So yeah, he is a little bit of a home run hitter, I guess. Remember, they didn't have Elijah Vera Tucker last year.
Starting point is 00:29:16 And Dave, I think They don't have them anymore. But do you think that they can, do you think they have a good offensive line? Because people talk about, going into last year before the injury to Vera Tucker, the Jets look like the Jets might have a really good offensive line, but do you think they're in that discussion
Starting point is 00:29:35 of actually being a good team up front? I think they are. I think they do have a good offensive line. I just don't know if I believe that they're going to lean on it enough. and make it work enough for Brees Hall to suddenly turn into a hyper efficient running back, which he's going to have to do. Or they give him that passing down's rule that Heath suggested. Heath should write an email to the Jets and suggest exactly that.
Starting point is 00:30:01 And maybe they think about it if something like that would happen because that efficiency is awesome. But I just don't think that they're wired that way. I don't think Aaron Glenn's wired that way. And I sure as hell no, Frank Reich isn't wired that way because you can go back and look at his track record. And he's always used two backs. even when Jonathan Taylor had that monster year. You know, that year that Taylor had, he talked about it.
Starting point is 00:30:19 That's only one of three times in 10 seasons as a play caller that Frank Reich had a running back average 15 plus PPR points per game. Three times in 10 years. And Gino Smith, not only. Who are those guys just for contact? Well, Melvin Gordon is on the list. Taylor multiple years. Like he's in Philadelphia. He had some okay running backs there too.
Starting point is 00:30:39 It's not like he's been around bad running backs over the course of his career. And Breece is a good running back. There's no question about it. But Gino's also had a terrible track record of throwing to his running backs and getting his running backs north of 15 PPR points. He did it once with Kenneth Walker. That's in six seasons as a starter. I think this is a bad situation for Breeze Hall.
Starting point is 00:30:59 I'm going to avoid him in drafts. I think each of the last two years, though, the running back target rate's been pretty good for Gino Smith, right? Because Ken Walker had that big season two years ago with the catches. Was that two years ago, I think? And obviously, Ashen Gentie, that's kind of all he did. But I do think it's, you know, again, comparing those 17 game paces of the three running backs, Hall, Swift, Pollard, I feel like one of them is either going to have to score a lot of touchdowns
Starting point is 00:31:27 like Swift did, or can we get to 50 catches? I don't think Pollard has a chance at that. And I really don't think Swift does either. And I don't think Hall does either. That's why they're getting drafted. Well, that's why they should be drafted in round four plus. but Brees's ADP so far is top 36. And to your point, Adam, I mean, I think there were 90 catches for the Seattle running backs in Gino's last year there.
Starting point is 00:31:58 Yeah, that was a weird year. He threw the ball a ton. But, yeah, I don't know. I guess my thought was he could just get more catches because last year they had Justin Fields and Tarad Taylor for most of the season, and those guys run the ball so much. But Gino Smith's probably going to throw, I don't know, throw out a number five more times per game than what the Jets did. I'll just hope Gino keeps the job.
Starting point is 00:32:19 But I don't know. I guess I'm, I want to believe in Breeze Hall. You know, I feel like he's a really good player. He's been caught in a crappy situation. He said it himself. Did he? Yeah. What he said?
Starting point is 00:32:32 Well, we already know from when Jamie talked to Breeze Hall at the combine that he's got a very, very high opinion of himself, and he should. But he said he's a top 10 running back who's been in some tough situations. Yeah. This is going to be another year of that. I mean, this Jets offense isn't going to be good. The way to overachieve as a running back on a bad offense is to catch passes. I kind of feel like that, well, you can't really predict touchdowns.
Starting point is 00:33:00 Five is really low, but it's been three years in a row with four or five rushing touchdowns for Brise Hall. But you can't predict it as well, but maybe we can hope for some more catches for him. And look, there's been excuses for it, too. You know, he had the injury situation in 2024, you know, the end of the year we was dealing with that knee injury. He had the year before that. We was coming off the ACL tear, you know, so it was like, okay, can he, you know, still be successful? I think for the most part everybody would say that was a win the way that he performed that season. But, you know, it's now full year of health, got the contract extension.
Starting point is 00:33:31 I'm sort of in line with Heath. You know, I was very high on Braylon Allen last offseason. Like these feel like they're just guys. And, you know, Braylon Allen and Isaiah Davis taking Breece Hall, who just got this monster contract extension out the field feels like stupidity. And then it comes down to like which version of Jets coach versus management do you buy narrative? Because Aaron Glenn is probably coaching for his job.
Starting point is 00:33:56 So that would suggest lean on Breeshall. Management may be looking at it as, okay, we get our new coach in 2027 after we get this quarterback class come through. And now we have our, you know, I mean, they've built up around everything but the quarterback. You know, so they're, they're sort of banking on, I think, getting one of those guys in 27, and Aaron Glenn might not be around to coach that. Here's a fun stat.
Starting point is 00:34:18 Brise Hall had 36 catches last year. Gino Smith has had three running backs in the last two years with more than 40 catches. That's cool. Yeah, I hope it happens. Brise Hall, I get last thing on Hall, I wouldn't be shocked if Braylon Allen mixed in at the goal line. Yep.
Starting point is 00:34:37 I agree with that. Yeah, because it happened last year. Oh, good. That makes it even easier to. pass on Breeze Hall. Although I didn't remember this until this morning. Braylon Allen suffered his season ending MCL injury on a carry from the six-yard line that he was about to take in the end zone and he fumbled at the goal line.
Starting point is 00:34:56 It was about a 15 play, very impressive drive. It was so close to being a touchdown. He fumbled, dolphins recovered, I believe. I think it was a dolphins. I would happily trade goal line work all zero goal line carries for Brise Hall, but he gets all the third downwork. 100% deal. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:35:13 Because it's probably a trade of like 70 snaps to two. Like I said, they had five goal line carriers. He had two last year. All right, we'll take a break and come back with some final thoughts on Swift and Pollard. And then we'll get to the two wide receivers, St. Brown and Nico. We'll be right back. Jamie D'Andre Swift turned 257 touches into a top 14 or let's say top 15. finished, depending on the format
Starting point is 00:35:41 last year, per game. Tony Pollard turned 275 touches into RB28 per game. So obviously touchdowns are the big difference there, 12 touchdowns for, no, 10 touchdowns for Swift and 5 for Tony Pollard in one more game than Swift.
Starting point is 00:36:02 Your thoughts on these two players, do they feel similar to you other than the touchdowns? Do you see one with a lot of upside? Do you see one with a lot of downside? side Pollard and Swift. I think they do feel very similar. You know, you look at the situation,
Starting point is 00:36:14 I do expect there to be competition for both of these guys. I'm hoping it's not three for Pollard. They're definitely going to be, you know, two guys sharing the ball in Chicago, as we saw at the end of last season from week seven on, as you previously alluded to. Look, Pollard avoided the ultimate, you know, pitfall of what would have happened if Jeremiah Love was sitting there at four.
Starting point is 00:36:36 You know, so getting Nicholas Singleton on day three is clearly a win overall, but it's still adding another guy to the mix when you have a new coaching staff. And does that sort of change things for a guy who's getting close to 30? So Pollard was really good at the end of last season. I think the guy that we saw in those final stretch-up games, I think it was four or five games, hopefully carries over this year and we get that type of workhorse role. Swift is interesting just because the bears, you know, again, depending on how you view strength of schedule, they have the toughest strength of schedule with the 2025 common opponents, or 25 opponents, excuse me.
Starting point is 00:37:14 I also think, you know, you mentioned this when you talked about Eric Biennamy going back to Kansas City. Well, he just left Chicago, and Ben Johnson was raving about Biennami and his role in the run game. And so losing that as a coach, I don't think it's like that the type of thing that you completely changes your opinion or how you view Swift and or Monongai. But that is a loss, I think, that could be felt. And it certainly has been felt in Kansas City when the enemy left and what the run game has looked like there. So for me, you know, Dave said this about Hall. I think Swift is one of the most easy guys to put in the category of settle for. And Pollard, I also sort of think he's toes the line of either settle for because you get past the top 24-ish running backs.
Starting point is 00:37:59 My guess is ADP will settle somewhere between like 23 and 28. And that's kind of why I sort of put him with Chuba Haber because I think they'll be in the same range. Like it's very easy to see Pollard being the best running back for Tennessee. It's very easy to see the Titans' offense getting better. It's very easy to see Pollard having at least one more good, if not potentially great season. But you could also see him sharing with Spears, sharing with Singleton, offense not getting better in Tennessee, and the Bears' offense just continuing to be a little bit better, a little bit more productive and obviously more touchdown friendly.
Starting point is 00:38:28 That's why I would give Swift just a slight nod over Pollard. Dave, your thoughts on what Jamie just said and anything else with these guys? I'm pretty much in line with what Jamie's saying about Swift. I'm a little worried about just how much more Monongai could take off the plate from last year. I don't like that there were 12 games last year when Swift had 15 or more touches, and there were only five games with 14.8 or more PPR points. So what does that really mean? Like how much of this is Swift, even though he gets a lot of work,
Starting point is 00:39:00 it doesn't guarantee a lot of fantasy production won't necessarily be a stud for our teams, just more of like that okay settle for type of RB2. But in full PPR, that's a dude who's going to catch more passes than somebody like, I think Brees Hall, for example. And that that's something that gives me the nod to take Swift ahead of Brees, both of them over Pollard. Would it surprise me if Pollard was better? No, it wouldn't because like Jamie said, easy to see Tennessee being a better offense overall.
Starting point is 00:39:29 Really like that Brian Dable's going to be. the play caller there too. I think that that'll help Pollard, who did come alive toward the end of the year last year when he said he started to feel like his old self. Maybe a full off season will only help him feel more like himself. Yeah. The thing I'm worried about is that one of the things that Dave said was Swift catching more passes than Breece. Like the rushing production didn't really go down when they started splitting. The receiving production for Swift really cratered in the second half of the year. He had 11 catches in his last eight games.
Starting point is 00:40:07 Was that a Monongai thing or was that an office? It was a Caleb thing. Well, I think it was a Caleb thing. And it was a, he was off the field every other drive. Just like it wasn't like he was off the field until third downs or something. Like he was just off the field every other drive. And he had like 34 catches on the year was actually too fewer than Brise last year. and it really went down in the second half of the season.
Starting point is 00:40:35 Just for a reference, in the first eight games of the year, he was on pace for 49 catches. Yeah. Yeah. When was it that Monagai started to take a roll at him? Week seven. You said week seven. I'd be very surprised if Swift had more receptions than Bruce Hall,
Starting point is 00:40:53 if both are healthy. So that's the thing. It's like I think we've kind of, it's why I brought up that graphic. at Thomas, if you want to throw it up one more time. That graphic of these three running backs of Breece Hall, DeAndre Swift, Tony Pollard, and how they were on pace for a similar amount of touches.
Starting point is 00:41:08 Again, 14 to 15 carries and about 2 to 2.2 catches per game. And the difference for Swift was touchdown. Swift had one of his best seasons ever in fantasy. He finished as a top 15 running back. It was a bit of a week year for running backs. Most seasons, what he average would have been closer to RB20, which is kind of like where he lives between 20 and 24. But I think what I'm trying to say is if you look at a player and you think they're going to get about 17 touches a game, 14 to 15 carries about two catches a game, right?
Starting point is 00:41:40 Yeah. One can they score? Two, can they increase their catches? It's a huge question. And when I was doing this research for this show, guys, I kind of felt like, so funny because I defaulted to him on our Valentine's Day show. I kind of, as a player I love, I kind of felt really bad about Tony Pollard. I was just like, I don't see how it gets that much better for Tony Pollard.
Starting point is 00:42:03 I really don't see his catches going up much. And then, yeah, Dave, you said the offense is going to improve for Tennessee. I guess I'm just a little doubtful about how much it's going to improve. I get it. They have a second year quarterback. They have Cornell Tate still think their offensive line. I'm thinking it's the scheme that makes them better. Yeah, I hope so.
Starting point is 00:42:21 I hope so. But, like, I don't know how Pollard. I don't know how Pollard is anything better. than like RB20. And he was 28th last year. But, you know, Heath, what do you think about that? I don't see him really having this ceiling to climb out of this range. Yeah, I think that there's a hope that he has a few more rush attempts.
Starting point is 00:42:43 He had 260 and 16 games in 2024. He had a few more in Dallas in 2023, 252. If they are a slightly better offense that is on the first. field more often. They only ran 1,0004 plays last year. They could run 50 more plays. They could get them a few more rush attempts. They might be in more games and not needing to throw the ball quite as much playing
Starting point is 00:43:09 from behind. So I don't have a lot of optimism that Pollard catches more than, say, 30 or 35 passes. But also, I think your Valentine call is still good because when we do drafts, Tony Pollard's available in round seven or eight sometimes. Yeah. And if you can get an RB, like, that's where you settle for an RB2 and feel great about it. Sure. I think if you just look at Cam Ward started to play much better down the stretch, whether it's just, as you've said, Adam, just not throwing interceptions.
Starting point is 00:43:40 I think if you just watch the games, like he looked more in control. This was with a very scale down receiving course. We're well aware. You know, so now you give him Wondell Robinson. You give him Carnal Tate. You give him Brian Dayball. But in those stretch of games, the final five games of the season, Pollard was averaging over 15-half PPR points per game.
Starting point is 00:43:57 You know, so whether it was health, whether it was just better offense, whether it was work, you know, because he got a lot of work in that stretch. But, you know, three games with at least 95 total yards, two games over 100 yards rushing. Like, it looked like he was back to the guy that we saw in Dallas or even early in his tenure in Tennessee. And so I think there's reason for hope. But what he said is the best part about Tony Pollard. DeAndre Swift is probably around four, at worst case, around five pick.
Starting point is 00:44:22 Riesel is, should be, as Dave said, around four pick. some cases, you know, running back heavy, he may go round three. Pollard may be close to them in production, as you see right here on the screen. And you're getting him in two or three rounds later. Like, that's the way you win fantasy leagues. Because if Pollard hits, you probably, you know, the hope would be is your first six picks are great. And they, mine will be.
Starting point is 00:44:45 Pollard is RB 28 in the early CBS ADP. He's RB 31 in Fantasy Pros 80s. He has a right in the same range, fans are. That's fantastic. Yeah, that's great. He's not going to do worse than that, probably. All right, so that's good context. Is he the running back you target if you're taking two running backs with your first three picks?
Starting point is 00:45:03 So you're going to take some of the stud running backs early so you avoid what might be a trap with Brise or DeAndre Swift. And then you just wait until the end of round six or into round seven for Pollard to be your third RB. I was thinking he's the running back you take if you go early at tight end or quarterback. And you have elite wide receiver core. And now you found your RB2 in round seven or eight. Yep. Okay, good stuff. And I got, you know, just to tie in two other guys or one other guy, like, I'd rather have Tony Pollard than R.J. Harvey.
Starting point is 00:45:33 I would, too. They are back to back in the CBS. I mentioned Harvey, Tutin, and Bryce. I'd rather have Pollard than all of them. Yeah, I'd take price over Pollard, but that's close. But I'd rather have Price than, I'm excuse me, I'd rather have Pollard than Tutin and Harvey. How about we get to the wide receivers here? And I think it is worth asking, Dave.
Starting point is 00:45:55 valid question, be like, no. Is it even worth talking about Amon Rae St. Brown? Or is he, what he is? He's been a top three. He's been the number three wide receiver overall in PPR fantasy points, not per game, but the number three wide receiver, three straight years. And he's been top four per game in two of those three years.
Starting point is 00:46:13 Amon Rae St. Brown, do we need to talk about him? 10.1, 8.3, 10.3. Those are not his PPR points per game. those are even too low to be his non-PPR points per game. Those are his targets per game, Adam. Anybody that's getting that type of volume is a slam dunk, easy, early round. In this case, first round and full PPR pick. I don't know what there is to discuss.
Starting point is 00:46:39 I don't know. I don't think the Drew Petzing edition is suddenly going to turn him into a seven and a half target per game guy and Sam Leporta into a fantasy beast. I don't think it's happening. I think that they're going to lean on what's been working. And golf's got that connection with ARSB. It's going to keep going on. He is the safest first round pick you can make.
Starting point is 00:47:01 Whoa. In full PPR. Okay. So. I didn't say the best. I said the safest. You know, last year, he had 172 targets in 17 games. The year before, he had 142 targets in 17 games.
Starting point is 00:47:18 He was still terrific. But he really wasn't. I bet that's 8.3 per game. Yeah. He wasn't that. He wasn't nearly, right, I know you said that. He wasn't quite as good. If I take him sixth overall and he ends up as the number seven wide receiver per game,
Starting point is 00:47:32 which is what he was in 2024, I'm a little disappointed. I'm not going to complain. I'm not going to say I lost my fantasy league because I drafted him on Ross St. Brown and he finished his wide receiver seven per game. But I would hope for 10 targets per game if I'm taking him sixth overall. I would not want 8.2 or 8.3 targets per game. Agreed. So what do we, what do you think it's?
Starting point is 00:47:52 going to be, Heath? I'd probably in between last year and the year before. All right, I'll take nine. You know, it's nice they're throwing him in the end zone now. And just a little lesson for you, dynasty drafters out there. If there's a wide receiver, like maybe people think Mackay Lemon is just a slot guy.
Starting point is 00:48:13 I'm on Ross St. Brown had a 75% slot rate right around there in his first year. Now it's about 45%. Jackson Smith and Jigba. I think it was about 20% last year. First two years he was over 70%. So this is a bit of a tangent. But guys can come into the league labeled as a slot-only guy
Starting point is 00:48:31 and develop into something much more. All right, let's talk about Nico Collins then. Jamie, what do you think about Nico? He's been wide receiver 8 through 11 per game, three straight seasons. But last year was a little disappointing because he averaged more than two fewer fantasy points per game than he did the previous two seasons. So give me your thoughts on Nico.
Starting point is 00:48:51 I mean, kind of like we talked about the other day, I think, you know, you look at it as he is what he is. You know, and the hope would be is that he stays healthy and that C.J. Stroud doesn't start to maybe lean on Jaden Higgins or go back to, you know, sort of favoring Dalton Schultz, as we saw at the end of that season, tanked out coming back healthy. I think Nico Collins is a tier below the top seven or eight wide receivers. He's sort of like a tier break for me, you know, so. whereas last year he was in the range of the top tier guys. So I'd rather have Drake London. I'd rather have Rashi Rice. You know, I think it's still safe to take C.D. Lamb, even with George Pickens there and Justin Jefferson, even with now a crowd of receiving core ahead of Nico as well.
Starting point is 00:49:36 But once you sort of get to that mid-round two, late-round two, wide-receiver range, you know, I still think he's got more upside than George Pickens even, you know, with what he showed last year. AJ Brown in a new environment, T. Higgins, you know, that group of wide receivers. I would still take Nico over Malik Neighbors. That's the one I struggle with just because neighbors with the injury. But look, C.J. Stroud has regressed. There's no way around that. I think if C.J. Stroud had regressed in the positive way after what we saw in his rookie season,
Starting point is 00:50:09 Nico may have gone along with him because I think that's kind of the engine that makes C.J. Stroud go. But hopefully a little bit more pressure off of him. These other guys can make some plays. while still getting the targets that we hope for. To me, Nico is, you know, like Dave said, Amon Ra is a very safe pick in round one. I think Nico's a safe pick in round two. I just don't know if he has the upside to get to that tier
Starting point is 00:50:28 that we were hoping to see him get to last year. I know you and I, Adam, are very high on Nico Collins, just expecting him to take a step forward and unfortunately he took a step back. Nico, and I'm glad Jamie said neighbors, because Nico and neighbors are the two guys that I have ranked as low-end wide receiver ones
Starting point is 00:50:43 that I am a little bit worried that I'm too low on. But I think they do have a similarity in that we're worried about neighbors getting back from that injury. And at this point in his career, I think you have to be worried about Nico playing even 15 games. He's only done that twice in his career. Like he misses time every year. And it may be that some of the struggles last year because after some of those missed games, he wasn't 100%. I think that's definitely what happened in 2024. He got off to an absolutely blistering start in 2024,
Starting point is 00:51:21 and that was mostly with Stefan Diggs there. And I think all of it was with Diggs healthy, mostly with Tank Dell. And he was on pace for over 200 targets in his first four games. Then he had two targets in week five, and he turned that into something like 70 yards in a touchdown. And then he heard his hamstring. And when he came back, he just wasn't quite himself.
Starting point is 00:51:40 But even in 2024, if you remove two games where he played 18% or fewer of the snaps, he averaged 18.2 PPR fantasy points per game. That is why I was so excited about Nico Collins. And also they were coming off a year where they had lost Stefan Diggs to the Patriots and they had lost Tankdale for the season. So I'm looking at this guy who averaged 18 points per game
Starting point is 00:52:02 when he was healthy and he was the only guy. I thought he was going to be wide receiver two or three. He's going at the two-three turn. I looked at RADP, fantasy pros, draft sharks, right now Nico Collins is at the two three turn. Heath, that would be one of my favorite picks if I could get him at the two three turn. I think that is very, very close to where I have him at 24. So that's like exactly where I have him.
Starting point is 00:52:30 There are a lot of good players. So I get it. There's a lot of good players that are going to go in that range. Dave, would you be happy to take Nico at the two, three turn? Absolutely. I'd go even a little bit higher than that just because I think that he's such a good target earner. and he's been consistent for fantasy. Last year kind of stunk a little bit
Starting point is 00:52:47 and stunk a little bit for him means 15.1 p.pr points per game. Yeah. There's also a potential contract situation coming up. So keep that in mind. Might help him. I don't really know what happened last year. This guy is just...
Starting point is 00:53:01 He got hurt. He was banged up a lot. He always is. Yeah. Yeah, it's kind of a thing. Yeah. Stroud wasn't great either. But consistently over,
Starting point is 00:53:13 eight targets per game. At least it's been that way the last two years. Okay. Dude's good. He is good. I'm not quite sure we yet know what Nico Collins is as a football player. I really thought kind of like an AJ Brown situation where advanced metrics, he's one of the best. And I thought maybe, yeah, go ahead. Oh, sorry, just one last thing. for those of you who are worried about David Montgomery coming in and changing like the tenor of this entire offense,
Starting point is 00:53:48 go back and look at 2024 when Joe Mixon was actually playing football. And by the way, the Texan's offense had a much more interesting receiving court, at least to begin the year. Tank Dell was healthy. Steph Diggs was there. It was 17.6 PPR points per game, 8.3 targets per game for Nico. I don't know how much of that is weighted in the second half of the last year or of that year, 2024, because we know that Tankdale missed a chunk of the second half of the year, Diggs did too. But I'm pretty sure Nico was good across the board, and that was when they had a good running game.
Starting point is 00:54:20 I don't think Montgomery's chance of being the lead war course there really changes it that much for him. I think the AJ Brown comparison is perfect. They've been very, very similar on a per game basis the last few years. A.J. Brown's what topped out right around 17 fantasy points per game? Yeah. I think Nico has the upside to be 17 fantasy points per game. But with both of those guys, you're probably not getting the Munra St. Brown 20 points per game season.
Starting point is 00:54:51 Yeah, I would think, you know, my thought was kind of like, well, if he gets off the Eagles and he goes to a team that passes the ball a lot, I don't know if Patriots will be that. Maybe AJ Brown could score 20. And I really thought Nico Collins was just set up for nine to 10 targets per game. and elite efficiency and a huge year didn't happen. I guess I'd say I still think it's possible, though.
Starting point is 00:55:18 You know? I don't know who has more upside than Nico. Who has more upside than Nico Collins that's going at the two-three turn? Jeremiah Love, you know, maybe some running. Is neighbors healthy? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:55:36 Where's Jefferson going? First round on draft sharks. Oh, wow. Yeah. Jefferson first round. He's at 14. First round on Fantasy Proise. 14 on CBS.
Starting point is 00:55:51 You're looking at, yeah, you know what? I guess I shouldn't say that because it's George Pickens, Nico Collins, Malik neighbors, AJ Brown are going around the two, three turn. They all have a lot of upside, right? Yeah. Sure. Sounds like a very good group. I really want an early pick this year.
Starting point is 00:56:06 Yeah. I've never seen that in any of the drafts I've done so far because, like, that is very encouraging if you take, Gibbs or Bijan one or two. Yeah. We don't usually take AJ Brown quite better, do we? The two three turn? AJ Brown 28th on CBS,
Starting point is 00:56:24 29th on fantasy pros, 30th. He's going to fly up draft towards a minute he traded. Yeah. I don't know. I think people are drafting him as if he's a Patriot already. I'm thinking it might be like half and half. Once the reality sets in that he's on the
Starting point is 00:56:42 Patriots, there'll be this, this enthusiasm burst. He's been so. I should just abstain being the Jalen Hertz defender. Like, he's, he's been a round two-pick in Philadelphia. Yeah. And he's going around three now. Yeah. But I think also he has, I think people will look at it as he really doesn't have much target
Starting point is 00:57:05 competition in New England. Whereas, you know, Devonty, whatever. Okay. Let me read this question. I think it was funny. It's from Shub. Whatever. I wonder if we,
Starting point is 00:57:20 if the fantasy football today crew cares at all if they get something wrong. A lot of this is just a lot of aerobic. We care. Big time. Do you care, Dave? You care?
Starting point is 00:57:31 Yes. How much do you guys care if you get something wrong? My therapist cares because he hears about it. How do you quantify how much you do? Get something wrong? Yeah. Like on a week-to-week basis or a, year to year basis.
Starting point is 00:57:44 What do you mean by you mean like weekly rankings versus season? I feel worse about the year to year stuff than I do the week to week stuff. Same. Yeah. I think there's a direct correlation between how hard you argued for something and how bad you feel about something. Like do we feel bad about something we say one time on one show? No. I don't.
Starting point is 00:58:06 You feel bad about something you hammer for three months? Yeah. Yes. Mm-hmm. Check out. And we've all been there. We've all been there. It's such a great feeling when you help people win.
Starting point is 00:58:19 Yes. And it's, I would say it's a bad feeling when one of your players stinks for the people who listen to you. And for me, that's a stronger feeling of shame than the feeling of happiness. Agreed. And it's bad if you don't learn from it. So I always like to think of it as I start learning.
Starting point is 00:58:42 one o'clock Sunday afternoon. Turning the page from the week before. What am I going to learn about teams, players, et cetera, in the week ahead? Cool. I think the one thing, though, like, you know, the industry has become so different from certainly when Dave and I started and even when Heath has been with us. Like, it's so, it's, there's so much information. There's so much competition.
Starting point is 00:59:08 There's so much of, you know, ways to, you know, go about this. And I think like he said, you know, something you say one time versus something that you say, you know, months at a time. But also it's like I always find an interesting when like we get asked questions and we don't charge for our advice, you know, for the majority of the advice that we get, you know, whether it's our content here, our podcast, our written content. Certainly whenever anybody asks us questions, I don't charge people for when anybody asks me questions. I don't know about you guys. But, you know, like when you. I have a Patreon. When you give an answer to somebody and the thing that most of our competition, I don't think, falls in this category, we very rarely don't say something without some substance behind it.
Starting point is 00:59:56 I like this guy because I don't like this guy because it's very much researched. And like Dave said, you know, it starts when the game starts. But, you know, obviously it goes well beyond that. And then when we get back the response of you were wrong, okay, well, why were we wrong? Where did we say something incorrect? We don't control what happens at 1 o'clock on Sunday at 8.30, whatever time kickoff is on Thursday and Sunday night. We don't control them. So, you know, Heath coaches at a very high level of travel basketball.
Starting point is 01:00:36 You know, I coach at a very low level of baseball. you know, I can't control what my players do as any more so than what a professional team is going to do. You know, so it's like you put a game plan in place. We put our research in place. We do all these things to, you know, hope that it works out in a certain way and that the chess match unfolds the way that you wanted to. But it just never works out like that, you know, even when you get it right. It's like, oh, yeah. Right.
Starting point is 01:01:05 I didn't know he was going to score three touchdowns. Yeah, that start of the week was awesome. It just doesn't work out that way. That's life. But we do care. We do. And we put a lot into it because winning fantasy is fun. I appreciate Jamie letting me off the hook for Jerry, Judy, for getting out of catch.
Starting point is 01:01:21 Yeah, it's not your fault. You had very valid reasons. I mean, look, I say this all the time. I learn something new every day when we do these shows, you know, whether it's, you know, something Adam Heath or Dave say. It's like, oh, okay. I didn't think about that player. in this way. And whether it changes the opinion
Starting point is 01:01:41 or just gives you a different opinion of it, you know, it opens your eyes a little bit. Like, should I be so gung-hoe on this player? Should I not, you know? My first thing, whenever you say, who was the start of the week this week? I look for Heath and Dave's eye reaction.
Starting point is 01:01:53 You know, like it's the facial expression will tell me everything I need to know. Well, your shoulders are terrible. You should not have told me that. It's, but it's, it's, it's involved. Now I'm going to be like, oh. I thought this show is really helpful, though, you know, just in terms of laying out our reasoning behind things. And I like when we get to do deep dives.
Starting point is 01:02:15 Because I honestly feel more comfortable drafting these eight players today than I did an hour ago, just to hear the three of you talking out. We should do this with eight more players next week. Absolutely. Yeah, I think it's a great idea. All right, guys. Thanks for your time. Thanks for watching, listening. Everybody, we'll talk to you tomorrow on Fantasy Football today.
Starting point is 01:02:36 See you. Podcasts. Thank you.

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