Fantasy Football Today - Fantasy Superlatives and Players to Add Right Now (09/06 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: September 6, 2021

We're giving out some Fantasy Superlatives on today's show beginning with our Fantasy MVP picks. It would be easy to say Christian McCaffrey but we won't take that route. Then we've got your news and notes (6:45) including the latest on Noah Fant and Saquon Barkley and why Ezekiel Elliott's Week 1 matchup just got tougher ... Which players grew on us during the preseason (12:00)? These are guys we found ourselves drafting more than we would have imagined. The rise of Marquez Callaway and Jerry Jeudy certainly caught our attention. And if you're looking for some roster moves to make before the season starts, we've got a great suggestion for you (20:15) ... Superlatives time! Rookie of the Year (not including Najee Harris) (25:10), Comeback Player of the Year (28:40) and Biggest Bust (32:30). Barkley made his way into two of these categories. We'll also tell you who our listeners picked for these categories (37:40) ... Your emails at [e-mail] Fantasy Football Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

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

BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Welcome to week one, everybody. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath, and Beck. Welcome to week one, everybody. But we still got some preseason, well, you know, draft prep to talk about here. We'll give you some fantasy superlatives. MVP, Rookie of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, Biggest Bust will make our predictions for the 2021 fantasy football season. If you're still drafting, we have news for you.

And if you're not drafting, we have news for you that will be relevant. And looking forward to getting this season started already. I'm Adam Azer with Chris Towers, with Dave Richard, and with Jamie Eisenberg. Fellas, I am going to ask you about some of your preseason risers in the sense that you've done most of your drafts now. And I don't know if you found yourself kind of taking the same players, like maybe it was Mark was Callaway or Damian Harris or something like that. I'll ask you about that. But first I want to start with your fantasy MVP. I'm going to go alphabetical here.

I'm going to go with Chris alphabetical order. Chris, you can start us off. Who's your fantasy MVP with your 2021 preseason prediction here? I'm going to go with Joe Mixon. Certainly if Joe Mixon has a great season, he's going to be the fantasy MVP for me because of how many leagues I have him in. So that's going to be my pick. I think this is finally the year we see that big Joe Mixon season people have been waiting for. Okay. Joe Mixon. I like it. Dave, you are next in the alphabet. The fantasy MVP will be TJ Hawkinson. Tight end of the Detroit Lions. The lowly Lions. This will be their Super Bowl is TJ Hawkinson

having a big year. It's not going to help them win games. Well, maybe it'll help them win a couple. But I think fantasy owners that take him are going to be real happy with the results at the end of the year. Jamie, you are next. I'm going to go with the same guy I gave for the fantasy footballer, so I'll be consistent on the two the end of the year. Jamie, you are next. I'm going to go with the,

the same guy I gave for the fantasy footballer. So I'll be consistent on the two best podcasts in the world. Miles Gaskin is the fancy MVP. So I think Gaskin is going to have a monster season. I'm glad that Brian Flores gave us that scare in week one, just because I drove down the price a little bit with Malcolm Brown week, one of the preseason with Malcolm Brown getting

all that work. So Myles Gaskin's going to have a monster campaign building off what he did last year. Who is the player that benefited the most from the price being lowered due to injury or something like that? If it's not Gaskin. Might be Dak Prescott.

It's going to be Jamar Chase. I think there's going to be Jamar chase. Uh, I think there's going to be a handful of receivers. Cause we saw it. If they're healthy and they're right. We saw Mike Williams fall. We saw Curtis Samuel fall. We saw Marquis Brown fall.

We saw all these guys basically become free on draft day. So all those guys without a doubt. Mm. Hmm. Deandre Swift and the higher end. Uh, potentially. Yeah.

We'll still believe in him. Yeah. Potentially we'll see. Do you still believe in him? Yeah, potentially. Does anyone still believe in him? Yeah, I do. What's that? Okay, it took me a second to get that. But yes, he still does believe in him. I'll get my assortment.

What do you want? Heath's side, one, two, three, four, or compilation? What's the one that sounds like he's really excited, if you know what I mean? Let's try this one. How's that? That's the one. Go on. I just did a face.

Sorry, everybody. Alright, good stuff. So those are our fantasy MVPs. I asked you on Twitter who your fantasy MVP, all the superlatives are given today, so I'll read some of those a little bit later. Ben Schrager, his flight was delayed.

He usually tells me what to promote, but he didn't tell me what to promote today. So if you guys, I'm going to let you all promote one thing. Chris, promote your newsletter. Fantasy Football Today newsletter. Subscribe, cbssports.com slash newsletters. It's going to be in your newsletter. Fantasy Football Today newsletter. Subscribe. CBSSports.com slash newsletters. It's going to be in your inbox. I don't know. Every morning.

So make sure you subscribe. Chris, we are having a little bit of trouble with your internet connection. You can find it. Just type in CBSSports.com dot dot dot letter and uh you'll be able to find if you i don't know if you're on wi-fi maybe you could switch over there jamie promote hq uh we are live labor day monday cbs sports hq but we're there every day at noon to help you dominate your fantasy leagues. And starting Sunday, a week from today,

or I guess it'll be six days from today when you're hearing this, but Sunday, 10 a.m. Eastern is the best pregame fantasy show and probably the best pregame gambling show and probably the best pregame anything show that you'll find. 10 a.m. Eastern, CBS Sports HQ. Are you better than inside the NBA? Pregame NFL show. But HQ. Are you better than inside the NBA? Pre-game NFL show. But yes, we are better than inside the NBA. We can name all the players.

Thanks, Adam, for supporting your teammates. You can name all the players. That's good. Yeah, we can correctly identify which players all the guys play for. So we got that going on for us. That is a bonus. And Pete Prisco is probably just as entertaining as Charles Barkley, just not as well-known.

Pete Prisco is up there. He is very bonus. Pete Prisco is probably just as entertaining as Charles Barkley, just not as well-known. Pete Prisco is up there. He is very funny. Dave? He's making his return to HQ for FFT on Wednesday when he challenges Heath Cummings for Name That Player. Does Heath ever win that? Does Heath ever win that? Heath always wins?

Oh my gosh. I watched it during the telethon. It was Price is Right. It was Price is Right that I was watching. Heath always wins? Yeah, thanks, Watt. Oh, my gosh. Wait, no, I watched it during the telethon. Oh, no. Oh, no, it was Price is Right. It was Price is Right that I was watching that Dave watched. Yeah, Heath got screwed out of ADP Price is Right. Yeah, yeah, sorry. All right, Dave.

Producer decision. Promote your trade chart. The preseason trade chart, I don't know if it's out yet, but it will be soon. It will help you in case you did your draft and you go, oh, crap, my team sucks. It'll help you make deals you did your draft and you go, oh crap, my team sucks. It'll help you make deals to improve your team and make it better. I'd also like to promote my mother, Sarah Lynn Richard, fantastic mystery author. You can go to palmcirclepress.com,

order your own copy of A Murder of Principle. What happens when a new Maverick principal gets murdered in their new school? You're going to find out with a murder of principal only available at palm circle, press.com and also on a site called Amazon. Okay, great. Now let's go to some football news here. Jamison Crowder tested positive for COVID.

Jamie, what's the fantasy impact here? None for week one and probably none for a lot of fancy drafts. I mean, hopefully he's okay, obviously, but I don't think anybody's really excited about Jameson Crowder and may open a few more targets

for Elijah Moore and Corey Davis, but maybe Denzel Mims as well, Tyler Croft, who knows, but he's got still a lot to prove before fantasy managers are interested in him. Davis and Elijah Moore are good DFS plays this week. Zach Wilson might be a good DFS play too I had trouble not playing uh they've got some weaknesses in there their front is pretty good I had trouble not putting uh they'll be really popular on DFS

I'm sorry I had uh trouble not putting Robbie Anderson in my DFS lineup because he got the revenge factor there the Jets are at... Everybody's going to do that stack and they're going to do a Jaguar stack. Those are two stacks that are going to be really popular. All right, Zach Martin is on the reserve COVID list. He's out for week one. That's a big story.

Dallas is all pro guard. And Lyle Collins is banged up. And yes, he practiced though. He's looking like he's going to play. This is a Thursday night game at Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay's run defense, two years in a row they've allowed the fewest fantasy points to running backs. When they had

Vita Veya healthy last year, they gave up fewer than three yards per carry. The year before that, 3.05 yards per carry to running backs. So, you're starting Zeke. Let's hope he's involved in the passing game. Let's hope he scores. But if he doesn't have a good game, I mean, they have done,

like last year, Vida Vea faced Alvin Kamara, Christian McCaffrey, and those guys actually caught a lot of passes, but they didn't run well. So if Zeke doesn't do well, don't panic after week one. Trade for him.

Sure. Noah Fant is expected to play at the Giants. And speaking of that game, Dan Duggan, maybe Duggan, Dan Duggan of the Athletic expects Saquon Barkley to play week one, but not to have a full workload.

Yay. Hats off, Dan Duggan. Hats off, Dan Duggan. Oh! Not looking as good for Evan Ingram right now. He's got the calf injury. What do you make of this, Chris Towers? The Indianapolis coaches, according to the Athletic, want Naeem Hines to have more touches this season.

Chris, you there? Oh, there you are. Every. Yeah. Yeah, I'm having some issues. Chris and his tracks. It's really only happening when you're asking me to speak. It feels like there's something there.

I've been there, man. It's crazy. If Chris was in the incredible, he'd be frozen. Ooh, I don't get that. I feel like there are, there are probably, you could probably find a story

about every player you want with their coaches saying they want more touches. Given what we know about Jonathan Taylor and the workload he's likely to have, I would be surprised if Naheem hadn't had more touches

than he did last season. Especially with the switch. If Chris was in the Marvel Schwarzenegger movie, I would be surprised if Naheem Hyden had more touches than he did last season. Especially with the switch. If it was a Marvel Schwarzenegger movie, he'd be in Batman and Robin as Mr. Freeze. Hey, Jamie, chill out. I think the Naheem Hyden story has a little to do with the receiving court situation that they're dealing with. You want to get as many potential pass catchers on the field as you possibly can. And look, Paris Campbell's got a big opportunity in front of him.

They bring in Kiki Kuti after Houston cut him on the practice squad, so we'll see what his role eventually is. But I would not be surprised if we see Naeem Hines maybe playing a little bit in the slot for them. If you were going to now rank Giovanni Bernard, Naeem Hines, James White, Jarek McKinnon? How would you rank them? James White, one. Gio, two. Hines, three.

You mean JD McKissick, not Jarek McKinnon. Did I say JD McKinnon or Jarek McKinnon? No, you said Jarek McKinnon. We think you're just making a mistake by suggesting that Jarek McKinnon should be on our roster. White, Gio, McKissick, Hines, though.

Flip it for me. I'll take Geo first. Geo, White, McKissick-Hines. Yeah, there was some story that, I don't know who wrote it, that Mac Jones is just going to be fantastic for, I think maybe it was a radio show. Somebody had a Patriots beat right around.

I think that's why I saw somebody tweet it, that they were saying James White's going to just have a monster, monster season with Mac Jones. Could see it. New Orleans tight end Juwan Johnson is apparently eligible at both tight end and wide receiver, so keep that in mind. That's on our site.

On CBS, yeah. I cannot say for sure about other sites, but we made him dual eligible. And Jacksonville signed tight end Jacob Hollister. Does that matter to anybody? Oh, yeah. No. Okay.

You made Chris freeze in his tracks. Juwan Johnson. Should we be paying more attention to him? I feel like nobody ever drafts him or cares about Juwan Johnson. I watched him play. He's average. Maybe a little better than average. He's just gonna... He would need a lot of targets. He'd need

to be used like Jared Cook to be useful in fantasy. It's also... Look, Troutman's coming back. So we'll see what his role's gonna be, too. Okay. So Chris, I'll start with you. Let's hope. Nope. Chris left. Okay. See if we can get him back. He's back. I Chris, I'll start with you, let's hope. Nope, Chris left. Okay.

See if we can get him back. He's back. I can... I'll be your Chris. No, he's back. Chris is back. Hey, Chris. I'll start with you on this.

As you did your drafts, who were the players that really grew on you this preseason that you ended up drafting a lot and maybe surprised you? I don't think I'm going to be alone in this one, but Jerry Judy is definitely one of those guys. Just ended up drafting him a lot more than I thought I would early on. Jalen Waddell. I like Jalen Waddell too.

I wasn't 100% sure. Yeah. Wasn't 100% sure what his role was going to be, but with training camp i think it's worth taking a flyer on him so i know you like will fuller but who's if you were going to take a dolphins wide receiver now who would it be are you asking me uh it would still be Fuller first, but I like the upside of... Okay, I think we might have to...

I feel like he's pulling mad libs. Yeah, I'm sorry. I don't know. It's like unbelievable how this just... My favorite Dolphins receiver is... As soon as I stop. My least favorite Dolphins receiver is... Noun.

Proper noun. Right, right. Chris is providing mad libs for noun. Right, right. Chris is providing Mad Libs for us. Dave, how about you? Any players that are on a lot of your teams that grew on you this preseason? I was a really big fan of...

And I also really started to not like... Okay, okay. I'm done. Look, Jacoby Myers was somebody who I liked and thought he was good as a late round pick and then i just watched him play and i saw how mac jones played and i got really really pumped about him and now like i've got him right as a top 85 player in ppr marquez calloway another guy that really stood out really did uh grow on me and i actually now

legitimately believe that he's going to be a factor all year long in New Orleans offense. And I think I like Tyson Williams. I think I like the skill set. I think he's going to be able to contribute for Baltimore. And there would be a really big chance for him if Gus Edwards suddenly became less efficient or missed playing time. How about you jamie uh players i dropped a lot of i actually went through um all 20 in my league so far and i i did this because we're gonna talk about this on hq the the guys that we've drafted the most uh myself dave and heath so i give you heath if you like as well um but uh i was surprised that in the 20 league so far the player i took the most was myers i took him in seven leagues so far. Deontay Johnson was next, was sixth.

I was actually surprised how many times I took Kyler Murray. Five times that I've drafted Kyler Murray. So, you know, for usually waiting on quarterback, I just felt the value for him was obviously good. Of the 20 leagues so far, 10 of them I have either Kelsey Waller or Andrews. So getting a tight end makes me feel a lot better. I took Michael Thomas in five of those leagues. Six of you include one of the dynasty leagues and then the running backs that

I've taken the most of Damian Harris, five of them, miles Gaskin, five of them, both Packers running backs, not necessarily in the same league four times of AJ Dillon and Aaron Jones and Antonio Gibson four times I've drafted him as well. So it was fun going through and looking at, you know, the kind of the, the, the guys I've taken the most of. And I think I mentioned this, um, uh, to Heath at some point, I don't know if it was on the air or not, but I have really mostly drafted back half of the first round and almost every

draft, which has been a little weird. Um, so I have no exposure to Dalvin cook or Alvin Kamara. I only have one league with McCaffrey cause it's dynasty league. So I have none of the top three guys I've picked fourth or lower in every draft. So I have Henry in one league, Zeke in one league. And again, this is 20,

20 plus leagues. I still have four to go. Um, I don't have the draft order yet in two of them. So maybe I'll get lucky and get, you know, somebody in the, in the top half,

but, uh, I've not, I've not drafted Dalvin Cook or, uh, or Kamara in any leagues that I'm playing out. That is really, but I've not drafted Dalvin Cook or Kamara in any leagues that I'm playing at. That is really wild. I think I've done 10 drafts, and I've got one McCaffrey,

I've got three Dalvin Cook, I've got one Kamara. That's half my leagues I had a top three pick. Yeah. And that's lucky. And it's funny because I like Edward Solaire, and I went through and I don't have any leagues with him in it. I did a lot edward c lair and i went through i don't have any leagues with him in it i did a lot of mocks with him in it but i don't have any i was looking at how many the top 15 running backs that i have and i don't have any with uh with

ever to layer or those other two guys everybody every other league i have at least one of the other guys uh and the receivers that i don't have at the top i don't have any ridley and i don't have any dk metcalf which makes me mad that I don't have those two guys. I'm not sure I have any Metcalf either, and he's one of my favorite players, and that does bum me out a little bit. I was surprised that I have very few of the top five quarterbacks. I got a lot of Brady and a lot of Jalen Hurts. I have a lot of, besides Kyler, it's Tannehill is my second guy that I have a lot of.

Just so everybody knows, Heath and I took Kyler Murray and Lamar Jackson with our first two picks in the Superflex League in the 10-team Superflex League. That's kind of cool. Yeah, it was fun. Let's have some fun with it here. We had the seventh pick out of 10. How did the rest of that team turn out? I can look it up for you. Chris?

You guys got Mixon. I know he was happy about that. Yeah, we got Mark Andrews. We got Mixon. I don't love our wide receivers. It's a solid team, I guess. Heath's five guys that he said he's drafted the most. Patrick Mahomes, Joe Mixon, DeAndre Swift, Jamal Williams, and Tyler Lockett. I found it interesting that he's taking both lines running backs.

Yeah. He's got both of them as breakouts. Did anybody find themselves deviating from your rankings? And I'll give you an example. You know, look, you could criticize me for this if you want. I'm supposed to be kind of a fantasy host of the list or whatever. But I took Russell Wilson over Dak Prescott. I would always tell you to take Dak over Wilson.

But he does that, though. I love Russell Wilson. No, he doesn't. I'm sorry. He's just one of my favorite players, and I wanted to take him. But one that I really, if I did rankings, I think I would probably change and maybe this is nuts, but I took Marquez Calloway over Brandon Cooks

and I was looking at him and I'm like, you know what? Let's just go for it. I've got this feeling. Dave's got me juiced up. I've got big Calloway vibes. There's a limited upside there with Cooks. There's a limited upside season long for Calloway for sure, but if he's got limited upside there with Cooks. There's a limited upside season long for Callaway for sure, but if he's got big upside for six games,

I'll take that. Maybe it's only five games they have to buy. Chris, did you find... It could be good long term. You never know. You could. Did you find yourself, Chris, doing any of that? Deviating from your rankings and going, maybe I have to reconsider here. Yeah, there are definitely things that I rank based

on projections, especially if I'm going off of that. I'm playing with you guys. I have Melvin Gordon ranked projected slightly higher than Javante Williams. Obviously, I'm much more likely to take giovante williams he's actually someone giovante is another guy that as things went on i i started drafting more and more of him um and so yeah and also we play in so many leagues that like you're not always going to draft exactly by the same order every time because sometimes you just realize i don't have

dk mcaf in a league yet i don't have there are certainly times when i've reached for kyle pitts because i view him like i viewed vladimir guerrero jr coming into the baseball season where like the most likely outcome is he probably isn't a great value but if he hits he's going to be a massive massive part of winning fantasy championships. Totally, yeah. If I'm playing 10 leagues, I want him in one or two, at least. Okay, you guys want to hear the Superflex team? Here we go.

Okay. Got to come up with a new team name because it's still run for miles for Miles Sanders last year. Kyler Murray and Lamar Jackson, 10-team half PPR. Joe Mixon, chase Edmonds, AJ Brown, Amari Cooper, Mark Andrews, and our flexes are Juju Smith,

Schuster and Jamar chase. We also have Daniel Jones. We have Daniel Jones. That's huge. We have Jalen Waddle, Michael Carter, Ronald Jones. And most importantly,

Oh man. Okay. Last segment here before we get into the superlatives. Jamie, I'm a little pissed at you because you did something that I should have been doing, and I just... Everybody should be doing this, but you've been the king of it. You've made a lot of transactions

because of IR spots. Picked up players that aren't on IR because you're going to move players you drafted into IR, or You've picked up players that aren't on IR because you're going to move players you drafted into IR, or you've picked up players that are on IR because why not? So tell me what you've been doing. So everybody pay attention and do this tonight. I went through, and obviously our leagues,

I think, are a little bit deeper than most, but I went through, and the three players that I look for in every league were Jeff Wilson, Tariq Cohen, and Rashad Bateman, where he was available. He was the least available of that trio, but the other two guys were readily available. And I would probably do a TY Hilton if he was available too, but I don't think that's going to happen as of now because he was drafted in so many leagues. But in any event, any of these players that are on short-term IR, see what happens. See what the next few weeks hold for

them. I mean, Tariq Cohen and PPR still be in that same conversation as you asked, you know, James White and Giovanni Bernard and those guys for sure. Jeff Wilson, by the time he's back, who knows what the 49ers backfield looks like. And he helped a lot of people in fancy championships last year. And then, you know, Bateman is still going to be a big part of that Ravens passing attack when he's healthy. So I would do it in deeper leagues. You know, if I, if I,

if I really was looking at it, Darrington Evans, now, you know what happens derrick henry gets hurt in the first three weeks and evans comes back from his knee situation he's on short term ir and he's the lead guy for the titans you know there's so many guys out there that are on this not so many guys there's enough guys on there that are in this uh situation that if you have ir spots take advantage of it you're not cheating you know these guys are legitimately hurt they're legitimately guys you could stash um dave i have one question for you because it because it's in one of the leagues you commissioned, our salary cap league. Guys on the pup can't be placed in IR spots? I don't know.

Is that a setting that I can make? It should be fair. It should be fair that pup guys go. Yeah. It should be open to all of them. I can't stash Draco. Yeah, I had that issue in one of my leagues. It might have been the salary cap draft.

So, yeah, I'll fix that for you. Okay, I didn't know if you could see on there, but it just came up. I think the way that setting works is like... Every commissioner should look at something like that. I totally love what you're doing, Jamie. I've done it in a bunch of my leagues as well. What were you saying, Chris?

No, I think the way that setting works, I had this issue in one of my leagues in a CBS league is like, if you have it checked, only players on IR can go in injured spots, then PUP and NFI players can't go on there. Let's see if I can do it right now. Very frustrating.

Okay, so then if you uncheck that, you're going to have to... Any injured player can go in. You're going to have to look at your team's... I made a rule. And if anyone puts a non-IR player in their IR spot, their entire season is forfeited. I'm not messing around.

No shenanigans like this. Okay. My league always has people trying to get around the rules. Okay. Are you going to freeze them out of their league? 100%. I've warned them already. I am not putting up with any BS this season.

He's unplugging them all. I'm calling Igor Melo out. Wow. He's always trying something. Really? Okay. Interesting. Always trying. Mello out. Yeah, that'll be his new team name. Alright, listen. So just keep that in mind. If you're in a CBS league and you turn that setting off that only players are on

IR can go in an IR spot, that means anybody can be in an IR spot and you have to police your league. You have to be on the honor system here. You have to always keep an eye on it. Make sure people aren't taking advantage of that. Sometimes people don't even realize they don't do it on purpose. They might have a player come off IR and they forget to bring him off.

Yeah, and I'll give you a perfect example of that, Adam, because Heath is the commissioner of our Dynasty League, and he's been trying to police everybody. And I had Ryan Tannehill on the IR spot because he's on the COVID list, and now he's off, and now I have to make an ad drop before this week. So I have to adjust my lineup. But I'm aware of it, but I think people should be aware.

It is funny, though, with the league that we were talking about with Dave, because I went and looked. I'm like, oh, is nobody allowed to be on IR? Like, did Dave not have IR spots? And so I looked at the roster, and the first player I saw that had somebody with an I next to it was Dave's roster. And I was like, what the hell?

Cheater. Cheater. All right. Well, mystery solved. We're going to take a break. When we come back, we're giving out our superlatives for 2021 and we're reading yours as well.

We'll be right back. Did you know that across Ontario, utility damage happens 19 times a day? That's over 4,222 incidents a year. Don't let your next dig be one that causes costly delays or safety risks. Before you break ground, make it a point to request a locate. It's not just the law. It's a step to keep your team and community safe. Visit ontarioonecall.ca and avoid unnecessary damages to get the job done right. Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report. Let's start with the Fantasy Rookie of the Year.

Can I take Najee Harris out of that? Can we? Yeah. All right. Other than Najee Harris, Chris, I'm going to talk very slowly to help your internet get ready for this. Who is your rookie of the year? I think it's got to be Jamar Chase. If it's not Najee Harris.

I know training camp and preseason didn't quite go as we hoped it would, but he's still, I think, the most talented pass catcher in this class. I think he's still, given that none of the other running backs are slated for a huge role in week one, I think Jamar Chase is the guy who has the best potential for that. You know, Odell Beckham, Justin Jefferson, gigantic rookie season. Even if like those two guys, you might have to wait a little while for it. Okay. Jamie?

Well, first, if any of those quarterbacks hit, it's have to wait a little while for it okay jamie well first if any of those quarterbacks hit it's going to be a runaway you know out of lawrence fields or lance because they can have a justin herbert type season but i'm going to go cow pits because if he hits at the tight end position being the position that it is i mean that's going to be a huge difference maker for fantasy managers like chris said you know if he has that unicorn type of season he has that breakout season that we're all hoping to see. Um, you know, I, I know I've been down on pits based on his price tag on draft day, but my gosh, if you knew what you were getting and he ends up being that type of player, you'd be drafting him in the second round and the

same conversation with Waller and, and, and Kittle. So, uh, I, I think, you know, pits, if he hits is going to be the rookie of the fantasy rookie of the year, probably the NFL rookie of the year. It could just be a record-breaking performance for what he's capable of doing. Kyle Hitz. Dave? Just to be different, I'll say Devontae Smith. Taking the Heisman Trophy winner, taking the Bolitnikoff Award winner, taking the best receiver in college football last year, who's on a team in Philadelphia that is probably going to end up

throwing the ball a decent amount. He should be their top target getter. We saw Joe. I agree with the Chase call. I think Jamar Chase could be it. And I agree also, like Trevor Lawrence is probably going to be the actual rookie of the year. And if he's good for fantasy, then yeah, he'll probably be up there as rookie of the year for fantasy. But man, Devontae Smith could be one of those excellent picks that people are taking in round seven or eight.

They're not necessarily going to start him to begin the year, although I do like the matchup against Atlanta. And he ends up evolving into a number two receiver. Yeah. I mean, you think about this class and the opportunities that they have. You know, Waddle could be the number one receiver in Miami by a runaway. Javante Williams could be the best running back in Denver. It could be awesome.

You know, obviously excluding Najee Harris. You know, it'd be nice to see Trey Sermon and Michael Carter be the lead rushers in their teams, too. There's a lot of opportunities for this class to be successful. Oh, yeah. And so many of those guys are being drafted within four or five rounds of each other, right? I mean, Pitts, Javante Williams, Jamar Chase,

Devante Smith, Jalen Waddles. I'm talking about the rookie wide receivers going late in fantasy drafts who all have. I think Terrace Marshall's got a big role. Elijah Moore, Rondell Moore, these guys. We all expect will be big parts of their offenses. It's a very talented receiving class, especially. The receiver rankings could really look a lot different

in a couple years with the talent in the 2020 and 2021 drafts yeah hopefully we got a bunch of breakouts there all right fantasy comeback player of the year dave you can start fantasy comeback player of the year can it be anybody else other than dac prescott yeah yeah mcafree yeah mcafree yeah okay fine there's two mcafree would probably be the better one but i i'm i'd look at dac prescott and i think he's got a golden opportunity to keep doing what he did last year maybe not to the same type of volume but certainly putting up plenty of fantasy points for people any other any other uh suggestions guys i hope it's saquon i mean look we're expecting mcafree to be awesome dak we're expecting to be awesome

uh barkley's the one that everybody's freaking out about. Understandably. So, um, yeah, I mean, McCaffrey almost feels like he doesn't count. Cause he was so good when we did actually see him that it,

there's almost no, what's that? It's funny you mentioned that. Cause I spoke to him on Friday. He was, uh, he was on HQ and coming out of the conversation, we showed the odds,

uh, on William Hill and the Caesar sports book of comeback player of the year. And so, uh, Dak, I think is the, is the odds the caesar sportsbook of comeback player of the year and so uh dak i think is the is the odds on favorite this is nfl comeback player of the year and mccaffrey and barkley i think we're pretty close uh i know mccaffrey was plus 750 but yeah it does feel like he's just you know walking back into this just magical situation because we've been drafting him first overall from a fantasy perspective but it's not gonna be easy you know for him just to all of a sudden recreate exactly what he was. We're hoping for it.

We're expecting it, but it's not, you know, anything easy, but Barkley is coming off just such a much tougher injury, you know? And so the hope is that, you know,

he's by the middle to the end of the season, the old Saquon Barkley. And then we're all going to be sitting here going, remember when we should have drafted him the first round. I like to be saying that. By week three. I hope it doesn't take that long. Well,

I mean, you know, I mean, I'm talking about like, you know, peak 2018 and 2019, that guy. Like if he's that guy again, that'd be great. Yeah. I don't know if you can win comeback player of the year just for being horrible the previous season, but Ben Roethlisberger is a dark. I don't know if there are any odds for him, but he could come back from being a pretty bad quarterback.

Carson Wentz. Wentz could be a good one. Yeah. Hey, would you guys be interested in hearing how the first round of a draft I'm in right now went? Because there's somebody missing who didn't get picked. Wait, I'm going to guess. Make your eyes pop.

Zeke. McCaffrey first. Wait, what's the scoring? Full PPR plus a quarter point per first down. Cook is second. Kamara third. Zeke fourth. Devontae Adams fifth.

Henry sixth. Aaron Jones seventh. Nope, Aaron Jones went seventh. Eckler eighth. Jonathan Taylor ninth. Kelsey. Chubb tenth. Adams.

Devontae Adams. Kelsey. No, Adams was fifth. Saquon Barkley eleventh. Tyreek Hill twelfth. Kelsey. No, Adams. Adams was taken. Saquon Barkley, 11th Tyreek Hill, 12. Kelsey. No,

Travis Kelsey in the first round. And you do have to start a tight end. Who did you take over Kelsey? I took Taylor. I like, no, it's not Jonathan. Taylor's going to be awesome.

It's not going to be better than Kelsey. I'll find a tight end layer. Look at this whole league is going to treat tight ends this way. I'm going to get a great tight end in round three. Should've gotten a great tight end in round three. You should have gotten a great tight end in round two. You should have gotten one in round one. My brother was doing a draft full PPR, and he got Kittle in round four.

In fact, he called me, and he had his third round pick, and I'm like, all right, tell me who's available. I was like, oh, take this guy. And they go, you know what? I should have asked you about the tight ends. He's like, George Kittle. I'm like, oh, we better not miss him in round four. Luckily, it came back to round five.

How about I help my 12-year-old cousin draft his team against his friends tonight? That seems unfair. We get to the third round, and he's like, I mean, I was just giving him names. So his first, Dalvin Cook falls to five. I told him to take Waller in round two. And then he gets to round three and he's telling me the receivers.

I'm like, God, it's crazy. All these receivers off the board. We didn't get to like the fifth round until he told me it was a 14 team league. That helped. That's good to know. Yeah, but he did a good job. All right. Fantasy, biggest bust. Biggest bust.

This is where I would put Saquon. I think he's absolutely a candidate to be a huge bust this year. I'm not asking for candidates, baby. I'm asking for who's going to be the biggest bust. Round two, though? That's a big bust for him? If he gives you less than expectations... But you were saying last week you're taking him 15th or 18th overall? Yeah. Even at that point, if he doesn't deliver

1200 yards and seven touchdowns something like that i think you'll be a little disappointed but then why would you take him in that spot in the second round yeah i would take him in the second round but i would still be a little disappointed if that's all he gave me if it was a year kind of like i don't know who had 1207 last year i can't even remember off the top of my head it seems like it was four years ago. He gets banged up, and the Giants stink, and it's just a slog of a year where he's got five or six good games,

and everybody just looks at him and goes, oh, he wasn't even worth a second-round pick. The end-of-the-year totals are what I'm saying. 17 games, seven touchdowns, and he just doesn't deliver. Chris, biggest bust? saying 17 games, seven touchdowns, and he just doesn't deliver. Yeah. Okay. Chris, biggest bust.

I hate to say it because I'm such a fan of the player, but Miles Sanders. I just, if the pass catching doesn't come back, I think the floor could fall out for him. I wrote about that in Friday's FFT newsletter. I think there's a real chance he just loses a significant amount of value between this year and next year. We're not talking about him as even a top 75 pick. I offered George Maselli in our 2QB league, I offered him straight up my Josh Jacobs for his Miles Sanders. He turned it down.

He then countered Miles Sanders and Cam Newton. Thanks, George. For Josh Jacobs and Jameis Winston. But you obviously insulted him. I mean, you remember I made that pick when I was doing a podcast and I was like regretting immediately not taking Miles Sanders.

As I said on the Mailbag Show, regretting immediately not taking Miles Sanders. As I said on the Mailbag Show, I'm tired of this Miles Slanders. People are slandering his name. He is going to surprise people. I hope so. He doesn't have to do much to be a fifth round pick. I don't know. It seems like he's got the yips. Even if he doesn't catch the ball,

that doesn't really make him any different than Josh Jacobs. If you get him in round five, he'd be fine. Round five is perfect. Yeah, that's fine. I've been very much anti-Miles Sanders, but I took him in a draft last weekend as my third running back. That's perfect.

You get him as a second guy if you go heavy receiver to start your team. If he falls to round five still, I think people are still a little bit enamored with the name. Even round four. I mean, look, it's's all about cost anytime you get a player that's falling to the right price it's just perfect okay who's the biggest bust for you jamie you know i i'm not going to look at the adp because i think it's you know unfair for the way our site does adp but aaron rogers is still the fifth quarterback off the board and that just makes me a little bit you know nerve-wracking because i think we're going to

see some regression to whatever extent and if he's back to what he was prior to 2020, he was still a very good quarterback, but he's going still ahead of Russell Wilson and Dak Prescott. And I just can't understand that. You know, again, I don't know what the, uh, scope is. Cause it's always hard to gauge quarterbacks when we look at ADP because, you know, especially ours, when it factors into quarterback and super flex. But, uh, if you tell me that this is realistically happening, that Aaron Rogers is going ahead of Dak Prescott and kyler murray excuse me ahead of dak prescott and russell wilson i i can't i can't buy it i'm not sure if you guys uh read the article i sent you about the rules changes this year i skimmed it but i didn't read the whole thing

some interesting stuff first of all it was an espn article was a q a with uh john perry i think one of the one of the former officials who's like did replay stuff and basically there's a rule i wasn't aware of that you cannot block low line offensive players cannot block low outside of the tight end box so yeah for screen passes yeah so think about so the the lineman can't take out a defensive back low or anything like that. But the official actually said this is an advantage to the offense because the defensive back also cannot go low. So he thinks this will help outside run games and screen passes, or specifically outside run games.

But the other thing that I saw was that they are probably going to call more holding this year, offensive holding. And, you know, we had such inflated passing numbers last year, and I think a lot of that was because we had so few offensive holding calls. If that goes up, the mobile quarterbacks could have an even bigger edge against the pocket passers, because passing numbers are going to come down. So it's just something to keep in mind when you start taking Aaron Rodgers over. Dak, not so much. I mean, Dak's not a huge rusher, but I mean, compared to Rodgers,

he's probably 200 more rushing yards. So it's something to keep in mind. We'll see how it plays out. Shouldn't expect as many points as we had last year. Most points in a season in NFL history. Obviously, 17 games will change that, but per game. We have some tweets. Let's see. Let me get on Twitter.

I asked everybody for your fantasy superlatives. Those four categories, which were MVP, and I think a lot of people said McCaffrey, by the way, for that, and I don't blame them. MVP, Rookie of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year,

and Biggest Bust. Okay. All Dade says, Derek Henry, MVP, Kyle Pitts, Rookie, Comeback Player of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, and Biggest Bust. Okay. All Dade says Derek Henry, MVP, Kyle Pitts, Rookie, Comeback Player of the Year, Gaskin. I don't know that I get that one. Yeah, that's a little... I mean, he missed six games, so I guess. Okay.

And maybe he's coming back from preseason week two. Yeah, coming back from being buried in week one. Preseason week one, yeah. And Saquon Barkley, biggest bust. Interesting. Let's see who shows up a lot. Oh, he could definitely be the biggest bust,

but you were saying take him in round two, in the middle of round two? So what's wrong with that? He could still be a big bust when you take him in the middle of round two. But you're telling people to take him there, though. Well, everybody else is saying to take him in late round one, including you.

I'm not calling a bust, though. You're telling people still to take him in the middle of round two, and you're calling a bust. I don't get that. I put him so far in my rankings where I think I'm never getting him. Because I think in every league, someone will take him before then. Right. Okay.

Vincenzo, fantasy MVP, Devante Adams, rookie of the year, Elijah Moore. Yeah, Iante Adams. Rookie of the Year, Elijah Moore. Yeah, I like that. You know, Zach Wilson, not getting enough respect. Nobody cares about him. Fantasy Comeback Player of the Year, Jameis Winston. That's not a bad call. That's a great call. Biggest bust, DeAndre Swift.

I mean, McCaffrey is the call for Fantasy Comeback Player of the Year. Yeah, probably. But people want to be original. Jameis is a good original pick. Well, that's why I'm kind of fitting into that, by the way. It's probably just that a lot of people just don't even think about Christian McCaffrey for this one. Because it wasn't like a serious season-ending type injury. It wasn't

surgery. It wasn't anything like that. It was just kind of cheap. Is McCaffrey going to play this week? Is McCaffrey going to play this week? It was annoying. anything like that it was just kind of is mcafree gonna play this week is mcafree gonna play this week it was annoying that's what it is uh fantasy fantasy biggest bust deandre swift and i don't know at some point i don't know if this happened to you guys at some point i was like you know what he's on the lions i don't know how great could he be yes you realize this now no no because, because I see every year there is a player who

I like DeAndre Swift. If he falls to me in round four, and I have one more draft, if he falls to me in round four, I am all over it. But every year, there's at least one running back who's on a terrible offense that finishes as a top 12 running back in PPR. The only thing you need to do is be involved in the passing

game. And I guess I would say have a heavy workload with involvement in the passing game i don't it's not going to typically be like giovanni bernard james white so he fits that but god they just oh they're such a mess and they're really going to use jamal williams enough i don't know i'm not sure he can get the work and the touchdowns scare me even though he had a lot of them last year but i i don't know why i'm saying all this, because I really like Swift. I think there's risk with both Swift and Hawkinson disappointing in that offense. But I think they're both going to be so involved that the floor is not going to drop out. Obviously, with Swift, the injury could change that if the groin injury just lingers.

But I think he's going to get so many touches and so much passing game work that no matter what happens, even if he's not great, he's going to be pretty good. And I think the same is true of Hawkinson, even if that offense is a disaster. I think where, where I worry for both of them is just,

can they hit the upside in that offense? That's my concern. Not so much that the bottom is going to fall out. That's very good way of saying it. All right. Let's see from, from bada bing way of saying it. Alright, let's see. From Bada Bing Bada Boom. MVP is McCaffrey. Rookie of the Year is Fields.

Comeback player is Saquon. Here's a fun one. Biggest bust is Antonio Gibson. I can see it. It's not fun. I can see it if the passing game is not there. If he's still only playing like 10-15% of their third down snaps, I could definitely see it. I hope not.

I'm not expecting it, but it's a possible possibility. They gave you a good little blueprint, though, about what they're going to do first and second down with him. He still had five targets on first and second down and like 30-something snaps, so there was still a pretty healthy usage.

Okay, let's see. From Mendel. MVP, DeAndre Swift slash James Robinson. Who do you guys like better? Robinson. But I don't think either one of them will be the fantasy MVP. It would take a lot.

Rookie of the year, Kyle Pitts. Robinson was the MVP last year. It's true. Rookie of the year, Kyle Pitts. Comeback the MVP last year. It's true. Rookie of the year, Kyle Pitts. Comeback player of the year, Carson Wentz. What a tough scenario for him. Loses T.Y. Hilton. Has basically

no preseason. No preseason. No left tackle. No left tackle. No left tackle. I don't know when Eric Fisher will be back, but for now, no left tackle. Valuable time not practicing. First the foot, then COVID. tackle. I don't know when Eric Fisher will be back, but for now, no left tackle. It's a valuable time not practicing.

First the foot, then COVID. Tough spot for Carson Wentz. Biggest bust. George Kittle will finish top seven, but not top three. You called that too. I'm less... I feel like Trey Lance

is a long way from starting. But I also feel like Trey Lance is a long way from starting. But I also feel like him just being on the field and being in the mix is also not good for Kittle. Yeah, I think it's bad for all the pass catchers there. Because anytime you see two quarterbacks taking over, usually that leads to more running. How often do you see two quarterbacks work in tandem? First of all, you rarely see it. And then when when you do one of them is usually a good rusher

and this is already a team that doesn't throw the ball that much so there's where they both run for sure and that would be terrible for iuk when when this looked like it was happening and i started to process it i moved iuk down and kittle to me as like a late round three pick now. Yeah. The thing for me is just anytime we've seen Kittle on the floor, no matter what, or on the field, no matter what permutation of other pass catchers,

quarterbacks, whatever, he's always been a target hog. You know, even when I, you played last season, the 16 game pace, when him and Kittle shared the field was like Kittle getting like 40 more targets over 16 games or something like that.

So every number seven tight end, it's going to have to be Hawkinson and Andrews and pits all hitting. Yeah. And somebody else, obviously Logan Thomas or fans or whoever you might want to say, or the fluke, like we saw last year with Tonya or, or,

or Logan Thomas, you know, somebody's gonna have to push him down without him getting hurt. I mean, obviously he gets hurt and it's a different story. I'll read one more. From, all right, from something Philly. Conchie, Philly, I don't know.

Christian McCaffrey, MVP, Javante Williams, Rookie of the Year, Jameis Comeback Player of the Year, and Ezekiel Elliott, biggest bust. I mean, the news this weekend didn't help. I mean, he starts off on a bad foot and people are going to get panicked, but it's hard not to see what the upside is with him.

I'm really interested to see what he looks like this year because I think he knows he did not run well enough last season and it's really been two years in a row where the explosive plays are basically gone so is he a guy who's just had so much work that we're starting to see him slow down um you know because he had a ton of work he's this is what his sixth year uh he's had so much work so far in his career. He's slimmed down. He's one of the biggest storylines for me. I have a lot of Zeke actually. Maybe three or four teams. I want to see what he looks like.

I want to see how he runs this year. I want to see Zach Martin on the field for as many games as possible. Yeah, look. Martin's probably going to miss one game. We're 0-1 on that. There's a game to miss because he's probably going to struggle against the Bucs anyway. Yeah. Let him go out and catch six or seven passes.

That'd be nice. Yeah, that's the thing. You're hoping on him, even if he's not a great rusher per carry, he's going to catch a lot of passes. That's what you're hoping for. And this is his sixth year, and he has 1,400 carries.

The amazing thing with his workload and how long he's been in the NFL is he's only two and a half years older than Najee Harris. Yeah, but he does have a heavy workload. Oh, yeah, no, and workload might be, you know, as if not more important when you're talking about when a running back might fall off in age. And you want to make a nice wager.

His over-under on rushing yards is 1100.5 wow i think he shatters that yeah yeah take the over he was on pace just just just to give you the the last year's numbers he was on pace over 17 games in the five he played with to go for over 1200 and this is still a two-time rushing champion yeah okay oh look who the third quarterback off the board was in this draft that i'm in aaron rogers aaron rogers see that i don't i don't get it i don't get it 38th overall okay from mark i stand by my bus call where's mark from omaha nebraska dear billy dick, and Doc. Those are holidays, right?

Yeah. Okay. Billy Holiday, Doc Holiday. Dick Holiday. I think Dick Holiday is a thing. I don't know what Chavez Holiday is, but that's my guess. Okay.

Tight end premium league, deep dynasty. We have three taxi squad spots. Which of these three players would you place on your taxi squad? I have Kyle Pitts. Albert O., James Washington, Amari Rogers, Jawan Johnson, Anthony Ferkser, OJ Howard, Larry Roundtree. I think Ferkser is the first name that I would put. Not a tiny premium. I keep him active.

Albert O. is easy. He's up there, but I think Ferks gets more work than Alberto. Right, so you don't want to put him on your taxi squad. You want to keep him active. Well, did he say how the taxi squad works? No. I'm assuming these guys are on his roster, right?

I honestly don't know. I don't know. Yeah, kind of. Because he said, who would you place on taxi squad? Right. So I'd want to have the opportunity to use Ferkser. I'm never playing Albert O unless Noah Fant gets hurt and all of a sudden the tight end position for Denver changes dramatically

and they start leaning on him. Right. I think Dave would agree with that. He'd rather start in Ferkser. So don't put Ferkser. Okay, so Albert O, James Washington you can put on your taxi squad, right? Yep. And then it's Amari Rogers, Jawan Johnson, O.J. Howard, or Larry Roundtree.

I mean, it comes down to, I mean, Amari Rogers. What's he going to do when everybody's healthy? Return punts. Okay. Yeah. Craig from the home of Larry Holmes. I don't know. Hollywood, California.

Sure. I have the eighth pick. Holmes? Eighth pick in a 10 team? Yeah. I don't know. Hollywood, California. Sure. I have the eighth pick. Homes? Eighth pick in a 10-team non-PPR league. My thoughts are Chubb and Najee or some combo of two running backs. Or should I go a receiver like Diggs or another top five guy? What would you do with the eighth pick in a 10-team non-PPR league?

Chubb would be fantastic. Are you going like running back, running back, running back receiver? Remember, non-PPR, I'd love to go running back, running back. Yeah, 10-team non-PPR, I think running back, running back. From Rivan, who... I was going to sing leave on, but I don't think I should. Please don't sing. Yeah, I won't.

Who to start week one at running back? Who wants the thing? Go get your cat. Go get your guitar. Who to start at week one? Shave a J in your chest. Pick two running backs. Javante

Williams, Trey Sermon, Devin Singletary, Giovanni Bernard, Kenyon Drake, or Wayne Gallman? What's the question? Who does the pick two running backs to start? I have to pick two of those.

Yeah, Javante Williams, Trey Sermon, Singletary, Gio, Drake, and Gallman. Sermon. I'm taking the rookies. Yeah, I think Williams and Sermon. That's how I have it ranked. First time I've said that for a regular season question.

Woo! My gosh. If Javante Williams has like four catches in week one, I'm going to win all my leagues. It's going to be just like, oh my god, he's the passing downs guy. It's going to be great. What if Melvin Gordon has

four catches in week one? I'm going to lose all my leagues. Okay. Good stuff, guys. Thank you for a very entertaining show. We are looking forward to getting week one underway, so we'll keep telling you some of our favorite stashes. We'll give you some potential buy lows. Yeah, even now, just players that you can look to trade,

sell highs, those types of things. We are going to preview Thursday. We always preview Thursday night football on Wednesday. Then our Thursday show is the AFC home games. Our Friday show is the NFC home games. We also have a lot of live streams for you. We have a Tuesday night, a Thursday afternoon, and a Sunday morning live stream on our YouTube channel.

Keep all those details out later in the week. Thanks a lot to Jamie, Dave, and Chris. We'll talk to you tomorrow on Fantasy Football. Tuesday.