Fantasy Football Today - Fantasy Superlatives! Predicting the MVP and Much More (09/05 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: September 5, 2022

What was the biggest news from over the weekend? Let's talk about the Rams and Matthew Stafford's elbow (3:00). Are we buying all the positive talk coming from the Rams? Then we'll get into the Fantasy Football Superlatives (9:05)! We give you our predictions for Fantasy MVP, Rookie of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, Biggest Bust and Sleeper of the Year ... More news items to get to (25:10) as we update you on Week 1 injuries and what Bill Belichick said about Rhamondre Stevenson. We also react to a fun ESPN column that featured some surprising Fantasy possibilities (32:25) ... Your emails at [e-mail] Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Welcome to your Labor Day episode of Fantasy Football Today. Happy holiday to everybody out there. If you are off work, chilling out, maxing, relaxing, and cooking up some food. All right, it is Labor Day, guys. How are you dealing with the mixture of sadness with summer ending and excitement with football season and fall beginning. Dave, take us through that for you, this emotional day.

Summer's over, and I'm happy that it's most, I'm mostly happy that it's over because that means it's time for football. And it's what I live for. I love the game, and I love watching it, and I love playing fantasy, and I won't mind if the sun sets a little earlier and the temperature gets a little colder. But I'm in Florida, so that's why it's kind of easy for me to deal with that stuff. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. I live in Florida.

We got like two and a half months of summer left. I don't know what most of football season is during summer. I don't know what you're talking about. We get three weeks of winter every year. Yeah, the worst three weeks. It's really refreshing because there's a little chill in the wind. You might need a windbreaker on those days. Yeah, well, I walked outside the other day.

It was kind of cool in the morning. I was like, oh, no, not already. But yes, football is what saves me from the winter dold was like, oh no, not already. But yes, football. Football is what saves me from the winter doldrums. So I cannot wait for the games to begin. And they will begin in just a few days with the Bills and the Rams on Thursday. Today, though, we're going to give you some fantasy superlatives. We're going to predict the MVP, the rookie of the year, the comeback player of the year, the biggest bust, the sleeper of the year. We're going to give you the updates, the injuries you need to know about for week one.

Are we going to get Chris Godwin out there? Are we going to get J.K. Dobbins out there? Not sure if we know the answer to either of those. And we'll read some emails. Fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. I have two categories of emails today. Emails about Cortland Sutton and emails that aren't about Cortland Sutton.

You know what? I drafted my first courtland sutton over the weekend on sunday the first team all year it was only like my fourth draft without adam and so that's why i got him um i think i took him in round eight no way it was it was a super yes it was um like full disclosure it was a 10 team church, and so my team looks like it was drafted in a 10-team church league. Okay. All right, guys. What was the biggest news from over the weekend?

Heath, why don't you kick it off? Biggest news item from over the weekend. I think it's a better one to start with Dave on. Dave, that's what I meant. I said he's— He knows. He knows what I'm going to say. What is it, Dave?

There wasn't a bigger news story than Isaiah McKenzie being cleared to practice and expecting to play in week one. Yes, that clearly is it. Thank you, Heath, for mentioning that McKenzie is going to be back. You know I'm excited about Isaiah McKenzie for good reason, and I think he's going to end up being – I told somebody on Twitter, I expect 11 PPR points per game, which for a middle-to-late-round pick is pretty darn good. And there will be some weeks where he especially blows up.

Week one could be one of those weeks against the Rams in their zone defense. But if I could be serious for a moment, I think the real news, and this is just me sealing Heath's thunder because I think he thought I was going to let him say this, but I'm not Stafford saying that he's good to go and having that chance now to, to play 17 games. And I think there's still really good value in drafting Matthew Stafford

this year. Yeah. So here's the thing. How much do you believe that? Because Dan Graziano of ESPN wrote a fun article that we're going to try to talk about today. It was a don't be surprised if article and a lot of fantasy stuff

in there. But, you know, he seems to think that Matthew Stafford, that they might be down playing the injury and that this could be an issue all season that they're going to have to manage, at least during the week leading up to games. So yes, it's great that he's clear now

and that he says there are no limitations and Sean McVay says there are no limitations. But a lot of people, a lot of people are still drafting right now. So how much do you believe that Matthew Stafford is 100% Heath? Oh, I don't think he's 100%. No limitation. How much do you put it out of your mind on draft day? I believe entirely that he is without limitation currently. I believe that he has

pain when he throws sometimes, and it will be unpredictable as to when that pain's going to flare up. And he may have a lot of weeks where he doesn't practice or just a few. I mostly put it out of my mind because of where I'm drafting him. If I was drafting him as a top seven or eight quarterback, if I was drafting him in the single digit rounds, I might think about it a little bit more. If I'm pairing him with Fields or Lance and it comes down to him or Cousins, then I would choose Cousins because I think Cousins definitely has a higher floor than Stafford because of this little hiccup. But I mostly agree.

I think the Rams news that was bigger news was that Cam Akers was good to go to for week one. But I mostly am just kind of ignoring it. I do think that Stafford probably has a bigger chance of missing a game due to injury than most pocket passers. And what about for people considering Cooper Cup with a top five pick? Should they? Take them.

Take them? Okay. All right. So that tells you everything you need to know about Stafford. Because if we were really concerned about Stafford, would Cooper Cup be top three? Yeah, I think it'd still be top ten. But I don't think he'd be top three if we had legitimate concerns about Stafford's elbow. Okay.

Here's what we're going to be doing during this season. This is a bit of an odd week because we have a mixture of just kind of fun pre-season-y type of topics and more week one types of topics. But the season looks like this. Sunday night, you get your week recap, right? Week one recap, week two. We are Sunday night, instant reaction,

very fun podcast. Monday, you're going to get kind of another look at the Sunday night game, which we don't really talk about on the Sunday night, which we really don't talk about on the Sunday night episode. You know, you get some injury updates on Monday. You get some advanced stats. Jacob Gibbs is going to be joining me on that Monday show.

So that is going to be kind of an advanced stats. Look at things a different way to look at the, what just happened on Sunday. Tuesday's waiver wire. Wednesday is kind of this grab bag show of some games that we'll play, grade the trade, buy or sell, fantasy cops. Wednesday is kind of a fun, whatever we want to do episode. Plus, we preview the Thursday night game on Wednesday's show.

Thursday is starter sit for the AFC home games. Friday is starter sit for the NFC home games, plus obviously a recap of Thursday night football. No episode on – oh, no, mailbag. Sorry, mailbag on Saturday. We record it on Friday. And then Sunday morning, Heath and I are up bright and early.

We have an 8 a.m., 5-minute episode to give you some injury updates to get your lineup set for week one. And then Sunday night again, the week recap. So that's the schedule. And here's the HQ schedule, CBS Sports HQ. Fantasy Football Today is live at noon Eastern, Monday through Friday on CBS Sports HQ. How do you watch that?

Right on the CBS Sports app. If you subscribe to Paramount+, you can also watch there. You can watch at CBSSportsHQ.com. And the best fantasy pregame show in the industry is at what time you guys get started? 9 or 10? 10 a.m. 10 a.m. Eastern. Eastern.

Eastern time for three freaking hours to get you. I think you guys are doing 9 a.m. this year, by the way. Just want to let you know. Starting at 9. 9 a.m. Central. 10 Eastern until kickoff. CBS Sports HQ on Sundays. And that's so basically we're available to help everybody all the time.

All the live streams, all the podcasts, all the live video shows. There should be no excuses. We're here to help you. Uh, if you email the show, if you've got a question, tweet the show, if you've got a question, and even if you tweet and we don't answer, there's going to be something that we say along the way that will give you the information that you want. So as long as you pay attention and you check in with us, not even every single show, but a couple of times a week. And then again, on Sunday morning, you're going to miss the one thing you need.

Every single show. Do not miss a show. Okay, fine. All of them. Yeah, you must rearrange your lives so that you can hear every syllable we say. Saturday is a great day to catch up. Yeah, just right, Benj. Alright, let's do our superlatives.

Let's get into our fantasy MVP. Who's going to be the fantasy MVP? Keith, can I start with you on this one? D.J. Gimmie Moore. Round four pick. Number four wide receiver in fantasy at the end of the year. He's going to catch 100 passes, go over 1,400 yards,

eight to 12 touchdowns. He will be a top four wide receiver and a league winner from round three or four. Dave. My fantasy MVP that I'll say right now is Lamar Jackson. What if we live in a world where J.K. Dobbins is not ready? And when he comes back, he still doesn't look like the J.K. Dobbins of old.

Everything goes on Lamar's shoulders and he's betting on himself contractually this year. So there's a chance that he throws 57 to 60 percent of the time. And I think he could run the majority of the carries, the good carries, the high value carries for Baltimore. OK, fantasy MVP Lamar Jackson, and you're drafting him as the fourth QB off the board? Yeah. Okay. I'm going to say Justin Herbert, 5,300 yards, 50 touchdowns, wins the NFL MVP, wins the Fantasy MVP. Fantasy Rookie of the Year, Heath Cummings.

I'm going to go with Damian Pierce, the late, hard-charging, maybe number one rookie in ADP now. I feel less confident that Brees Hall is going to immediately overtake Michael Carter. I think that edge that Pierce builds early in the year might be enough to sustain him throughout the year. Could absolutely be a 300-touch guy in this offense if if he can they'll they got one thing left to do and that's prove that they can trust him over rex burkhead on passing downs that's doable and if he accomplishes that he's a full workhorse running back so speaking of full workhorse running backs i think breese hall has that in his profile i think

he's got that upside we might not see that in the first third of the season, maybe not the first half of the season, but I still think he's got the talent to overcome the situation that he's in and not necessarily be strictly a 50-50 chop down the middle like the Broncos running backs last year type of running back. I think he's the best running back with the Jets. I think he's kind of falling. He's the forgotten man. People are drafting Pierce ahead of him. I think Pierce is the chalk for this as far as fantasy rookie of the year. So I'll take the guy that might be not even second behind him.

Brees Hall at this point might be the third or fourth pick, but I think that he'll be somebody who fantasy managers draft, be patient with, and be happy with because he makes plays and gives this Jets offense some life. Give me life! Give me life! My gosh. You're insane today. I had some coffee. Okay. I didn't know you were a coffee guy.

Iced coffee from Wawa. Okay. I don't really know who the... This is a tough one. I'm going to say Brees Hall as well. I was going to say Brees Hall as well. But I was going to say, let's go with a wide receiver.

But the race to be the best rookie wide receiver is so wide open this year. It's very fun. Pick one. Pick one. I'd say Drake London. Drake London. Heath, pick one right now. I'm going to give you mine in just a few minutes when we do our fantasy sleeper of the year.

Pick one right now, coffee guy. Skymore. Okay. Comeback player of the year, Heath. Comeback player of the year. This should be the chalk one. It's Christian McCaffrey. I mean, the guy's played 10 games in two years,

and he's going to be the best player in fantasy this year. It should be an easy walk into the end zone for Christian McCaffrey. Man, you know, I hope you're right because a lot of people, literally one person in every league is, is hoping for that exact scenario. He went seventh in a redraft that I was in yesterday with a bunch of my college buddies, people that Adam should know,

but doesn't know. I think McCaffrey is the easy answer. I agree with you. He I'll make the case for James Robinson that he ends up coming back and plays to a nice level and ends up being the best running downs back in Jacksonville, scores more touchdowns than Travis Etienne, has more rushing yards than Travis Etienne, maybe even averages 75 rush yards per game in that offense and gives that run game some life. Give me life. I'm going to take Tom Brady coming back from retirement and, and a two week mask singer break.

No, I'll take Christian McCaffrey coming back from the marriage counselor's office, whatever it was. I'll take, I'll take Christian McCaffrey as well. The biggest bust of the 2022 season, Heath, will be? Yeah, it's

going to be Devin Singletary. We may be back by the end of the year of calling him Devin Single Carry. Okay, Devin Singletary. Hold on. What? I had to take a sip of coffee.

You're insane. Why did I not talk think i don't know like we've seen how unpredictable and not very valuable the running back role in buffalo has been over a full season every year it seems to change mid-year because they get tired of one of these guys and part of the reason is because they've not really surrounded themselves with super talented running backs and so those guys give the team plenty of chances to be upset with something we know the devon singletary is not the pass catching back on this team it's possible the devon singletary is not the goal line back on this team and then you got josh allen as well i just don't want any part of him at all oh you

don't want any part of singletary not josh you don't want any part of Singletary, not Josh Allen. Right. Okay. Devin Singletary, biggest bust. Dave, how about you? I'm not calling this as the biggest bust. I'm just making the case for it. But David Montgomery in Chicago, it's a nasty offensive line. And there's a report

from ESPN that Khalil Herbert will not only take work away from Montgomery during the year, but could overtake him. I kind of have a hard time seeing that because I think they're both quick, certainly for their size. In the case of Montgomery, he's quick for his size and he's more powerful than Herbert. Herbert just might be a little bit better at like, you know, doing the zone run scheme, but Montgomery could disappoint. Might be a touchdown needy running back who doesn't get a lot of yards and fields is there to take work away from him. So how about this?

If you're drafting between now and Thursday, promise yourself you won't take David Montgomery with a pick in the first three rounds. Wait till round four and then get Khalil Herbert later. I did that exact same thing in a draft last night, but my round four pick of Montgomery was 48. It was the last pick in round four. Yeah, I took him in round five in a league.

Heath, I know you've taken him in round five before. That was a while ago. It's not a lot of reports that seem to indicate that Herbert might be the better fit for the offense, things like that. So it's a little scary, a little scary. I think if they had the ability to block anyone, that might be true. I just don't. Listen, I've said this for three years, and this might be the time where Dave Montgomery is finally,

or I'm wrong, but I think he's Superman. What he's produced on the offenses and offensive lines that he's played behind, I think we really take it for granted. And I thought we saw that in the preseason when he was not available and they were giving it to Khalil Herbert and it was a disaster. You need a guy in this offense that can break three tackles to pick up four yards. Dave Montgomery can do that. Yeah, but eventually you get worn down doing that. And so that's another strike against Montgomery surviving the season, isn't it? Yeah, that's true.

Has he really been that good of a running back, though? Has he really done that good of a job? No, I'm serious. As far as fantasy goes? Yeah, as far as NFL goes. What has he been? He's been a high volume back. He's got, what, a top six finish and a top 16 finish in two seasons.

The whole point of this, in my opinion, is that we undervalue him because his situation has been so awful. And that it is very impressive that he's been able to do that in these circumstances. No, in terms of efficiency, his yards per carry stinks. He's not been good in regards to that, but I think that what he's created and the number of tackles he's missed in the bad situation, it's, it's very impressive. He's had two top 15 finishes. So you're right. And seventh, two years ago. Right. Yeah. And it's just, he's, he's had basically all the work. And I think that's what concerns

people is what if that changes then you know then what do you have if khalil herbert was probably the the biggest threat that montgomery's had you know like he's had because i don't he didn't really have a tariq cohen issue for the last two years right so i don't quite remember what's when did three i think he was playing with uh I don't remember who he shared with two years ago. But, yeah, I mean, I just, like, Khalil Herbert was like a fifth-round running back, right? He was a day three guy. Yeah, something like that. Who went to three?

Like, I love the guy. He was a Jayhawk for a while. But it's not like he's trying to fend off Brees Hall. Yeah. All right. This might interest you guys. It's not like he's trying to fend off Brees Hall. Yeah. All right. This might interest you guys. Yards per rush when running inside or outside zone last year,

Montgomery was at 3.8. Herbert was at 4.3. Both of them had at least 80 rushes in that type of scheme. The rush EPA, Khalil Herbert's was basically at zero. Montgomery's was at negative 0.10, which tells you that Herbert might be the better runner in the zone. And the nice thing about zone run blocking is that you don't need to be an all pro offensive lineman. You just need to be able to move and block the dude in front of you for

about three seconds max. So there, there's a case to be made for Herbert. I just took him. I just agonized over a pick in our 22 team office league. We're in it's round seven, but it's pick 144 overall. And I took Herbert.

I just, I wanted the running back depth. He's my second running back. And I think there's a chance for him to evolve this year. And I don't know, man, I said at the start of this whole thing that I wasn't saying that Montgomery is a bus,

but maybe I am. And maybe it's a late, late preseason move in my rankings for Montgomery to head down the rank list a little. He is 39th overall in CBS Sports ADP, David Montgomery. My biggest bust is Debo Samuel. Let's go to sleeper of the year. Heath, who's your sleeper of the year? You said it would be a rookie wide receiver. Well, I think Dave should should go first he invented this category he's got a whole hashtag built around the guy um you know what he did he gave gave this category life thank you for laughing dave who so he you laughed at me and there are people that have

already hung up on our podcast so who's going first here, Heath or Dave? Isaiah, go. Isaiah. Isaiah Ryder. No. Isaiah McKenzie is the sleeper of the year. Healthy, ready to go as the slot guy. There's a whole article about him on CBSSports.com. You could probably literally Google Dave Richard CBS Isaiah McKenzie.

And you might not even spell Isaiah right. There's two A's in there. And you'll get the Deep Sleeper article. Amazing information on what the slot receiver has meant to Josh Allen and what McKenzie has done and should be able to do now that he's healthy and in that role. I'll go with Jahan Dotson, a first-round rookie wide receiver who the entire offseason, what we've heard, is that Carson Wentz loved Jahan Dotson, a first-round rookie wide receiver who the entire offseason, what we've heard is that Carson Wentz loved Jahan Dotson. Carson Wentz's best rapport is with Jahan Dotson. He had arguably the best hands in the draft,

built great rapport with his coaches and with his quarterback. And I don't think there's really anybody to challenge him and McLaurin for targets anyway. I don't believe in Curtis Samuel. Heath, does it bug you at all that the highest ranked receiver from Carson Wentz in his career has been Alshon Jeffrey at 23rd among wide outs in PPR. No, because I don't think he's played with very many talented wide receivers and he's played a couple. It's Michael Pittman.

It does include Michael Pittman. Michael Pittman wasn't a first round pick. The NFL. No, I think so. No, it doesn't really. And like that, that Michael Pittman season was kind of what you would hope to see,

except don't throw the ball 510 times like the Colts did. The fact that what was wrong with Michael Pittman last year was mostly the Colts' pass volume. Yeah, Alshon had some pretty good – I mean, I don't know if that was a per-game finish, Dave, or not, but Alshon had at least one year where he was really good, but only played like, I don't know, 10 games or something like that. Okay, and my sleeper of the year, I guess,

based on his ADP, would be George Pickens. He's going 120th on CBS, but if you're in a league where people take George Pickens in round eight, then I'll say MVS as a really late round pick. Could end up being, I don't think, going to be a guy you start every week, but could end up being a top 30 wide receiver. Marquez Valdez-Cantley.

There's a chance that Sunday about 7.30 Eastern that Chiefs game gets over and we look at the stat sheet and MVS led the team with nine targets and put up like a seven for 90 and a touchdown. And everybody's like, Adam Azer's a genius. There's just no way that he's going to be good every week. I don't mean every week because nobody's good every week. But there's no way he's going to be a guy that you're just consistently starting.

I don't think, or at least consistent. He's not going to be consistent. He did not in the preseason play the same role with the Chiefs that he has played in Green Bay. Right. He's more of a legit actual wide receiver. Like the transformation that we saw

for part of last year from Mike Williams. And so if they just use him that way and he's playing with Patrick Mahomes, it is possible. Marquez Valdez-Scantling is 63% rostered. Would you rather have Marquez Valdez-Scantling or Michael Gallup? I'd rather have Gallup. If I need a receiver, if it's round 12 and I need a receiver who will either pop for me right away or is totally disposable, then it's Valdez Scantling.

If I want to be patient with a receiver who could end up getting to a thousand yards in 14 games, I think it's Gallup. Okay. And we're going to take a break here. When we come back, more news and notes and your emails at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com and maybe we'll talk about a little Labor Day barbecue. See if that comes out. We'll be right back on Fantasy Football today.

Back here on FFT. Alright, everybody, you can go to your barbecue soon. We'll finish up. News and notes. Talked about Matthew Stafford. Cam Akers and Daryl Henderson are both good to go for week one. Are they starters for you against the Bills on Thursday? No. This will be very interesting.

There is going to be so much to react to from this game, right? I mean, the running backs on both teams, the number two wide receivers, everything is just going to be really, really interesting. Yeah. One of the things I wanted to say for my sleeper of the year, I chose Dotson just because I think like his pedigree and his upside, but I do really think that this could be the Tyler Higbee, Eric Ebron year. Oh, just, oh, with his touchdowns.

It's so hard to believe. It's just so hard to believe. Well, there's never a time when you should expect a guy to have that year. And Higby at least has five to six targets a game in an offense that's going to throw 40 touchdowns. If you're going to pick somebody that happens to have a weird 10-touchdown season, that's the guy. So then why didn't it happen last year? Well, the whole point of those types of years is they only happen once. If it had happened last year, we wouldn't think it's going to happen this year.

Cause it's not a sustainable thing. It's not something I'd ever project or something like just for the same reason. I don't think Dawson Knox and Pat Fryer, Ruth and Hunter Henry are going to score at the same rate they did last year. Um, we don't,

I don't, we know nobody ever thought Robert Tunyon was going to repeat that year. These random tight end touchdown years, I think Higby might be my favorite candidate. Oh, boy. The Bills are always so good against tight ends.

Where do you have him ranked this year? This week? This week, I think he's 10th. Okay. Akers is definitely my highest ranked. This week? This week, I think he's 10th. Okay. I was looking. Akers is definitely my highest ranked. I have him 30th in full PPR and Henderson 45th right now. Okay.

By the way, I'm looking forward to having a conversation after the game. Who do you like better, Allen Robinson or Gabriel Davis? That's going to be a nice comparison. We'll see what happens. Hopefully they both score. Van Jefferson is making good progress. Don't know if he'll be ready for week one, but whatever. Isaiah McKenzie seems likely to play. Buffalo safety Jordan Poyer is on track

for week one. Keep in mind, the Bills, they were number one against quarterbacks last year, but they will not have Tredavious White for at least the first four games. He's their star cornerback. They will not have Levi Wallace, who was a starter forbacks last year, but they will not have Tredavious White for at least the first four games. He's their star cornerback. They will not have Levi Wallace, who was a starter for them last year. He's on a different team. They will have Poyer, which is good. He's a terrific safety,

but it'll be, you know, we'll talk about this on Wednesday when we do the starter sit, but this will not be exactly the same secondary for the Bills. I just, I do want to say like I said last week that I thought the Bills were going to win by two scores, I think, and I was thinking about it this morning, and I don't believe that at all. I'm taking the bills. I just, I do want to say like I had said last week that I thought the bills were going to win by two scores, I think. And I was thinking about this morning and I don't believe that at all.

I'm taking the Rams. I would, I think the Rams are going to win the bills corner problems. First game with the new offensive coordinator. It's a problem. Literally. Yeah. Cornerback Antonio Hamilton of the Cardinals is on the non-football injury list.

He's supposed to be a starting corner. He had a pretty scary moment where he burned his feet. His second degree burns on his feet. He had a grilling accident, I believe, or some type of cooking accident. And thank God he's okay, but he's going to be out for at least four games at starting cornerback Antonio Hamilton for Arizona.

Bill Belichick once again praised Ramondre Stevenson's, I think it was his route running this time, but something about his ability in the pass catching role. And Dave, what does this all mean to you? A lot of Ramondre Stevenson buzz right now, and it seems like Belichick has really gone out of his way to praise him in the passing game. What do you think?

I think Belichick's going to continue to rotate running backs as best as he can. I wonder if a little bit of that comment comes from him knowing that Ty Montgomery may be unavailable. And so maybe Belichick is trying to talk himself into using Stevenson in the James White role that we all seem to covet. The thing that struck me is interesting. All August long was how people were excited about Ramondre Stevenson being that guy.

As if the Patriots have ever telegraphed who their lead running back would be from week to week to season to season. And that everybody kind of gets so excited about remandre stevenson what team does he play for what coach does he play for who are his offensive coordinators and seriously that's that's a real question who the hell are his offensive coordinator because you know they've got a bunch of defensive guys calling plays and no one's really thinking about the offensive line or or anything else there i i don't think i drafted remandre in one league. I'm a little worried that that could be a mistake,

so I've got some FOMO on that. But I also never would have taken him in round seven. I might not have taken him in early round eight either. That's what I'm getting out of it, is that maybe he's trying to talk himself into Stevenson being that third-down guy because Montgomery won't be there. But once Montgomery's back and if Harris is healthy, it's going to be an ugly mess.

And it'll be maddening starting the Patriots running backs from week to week. Okay. But they have a good offensive line. So I know you kind of, well, where did, uh, yes.

Rank them top 10. Yes, he did. So we have, we actually, if anyone's curious, it's only on YouTube. It's an episode I recorded last week with Uche Waneri,

former offensive lineman for the Jaguars. He ranked his top ten offensive lines, and he had the Patriots up there. I watched it. It was an incredible episode, insight on offensive line play that only somebody who played in the NFL could give you. So you put the Patriots in there, huh? Yes, he did. Okay.

All right. So maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Isaiah Wynn's going to end up being just fine and Brown will stay healthy at left tackle. Dallas is negotiating with free agent left tackle Jason Peters. Dallas is signing free agent left tackle Jason Peters. So is signing free agent left tackle Jason Peters. So how long until Dallas is putting Jason Peters on IR? Hopefully. Not at all.

Yeah. Give him life. Minnesota tight end Irv Smith expected to play in week one against the Packers. And Russell Gage is on track for week one. What about Dobbins and Godwin? Are you guys ranking J.K. Dobbins and Chris Godwin right now?

Godwin we are ranking. I believe you put in on Godwin. I put Dobbins on the out, and I don't think Jamie or you argued against that. I have no idea on either of them, so I just went with what you said and figured we'll adjust it when we get more information. Sure. Well, the nice thing about Godwin

is that he's actually practicing in full, and Dobbins is not. Okay. Alright, guys, so let's take a look at that article I mentioned earlier. ESPN's Dan Graziano writing a Don't Be Surprised If column and

thought it could give us some nice fantasy fodder. We'll go through it quickly here. How about all of these wide receiver ones or tight, tight end slash wide receiver ones. According to ESPN, no, according to ESPN's Dan Graziano says, don't be surprised if Isaiah likely is Baltimore's second leading receiver.

Chris Olave is the Saints leading receiver. Traylon Burks leads all rookies in catches. Rondale Moore is Arizona Saints leading receiver. Traylon Burks leads all rookies in catches. Rondell Moore is Arizona's leading receiver. That was the one that really stood out to me. Rondell Moore leading the Cardinals in receiving. Chase Claypool is the breakout wide receiver star on Pittsburgh. Every one of those would surprise me. Not Burks.

Burks wouldn't surprise me. Do you think Burks is going to be a full-time player week one? I think week one, maybe not. By week four, yes. Because he's just different. He's different than the other receivers that Tennessee has. And they have to figure out ways to use him. They had a great passing game presence when A.J. Brown was there.

Defenses had to adjust. They need to identify somebody as that guy. And maybe Robert Woods surprises us all, but I would bet on Burks. I think as long as he is willing to play through some tough injuries and, you know, hang in in that offense, I think he can get force-fed the ball a little bit because he's kind of like Derrick Henry after the catch. He's big. He's physical. He can push guys down. He's got to show that

toughness a little bit more. I think that's what the Titans are looking for and why they played him so much in the preseason. But I would imagine he could displace Nick Westbrook at Keenum pretty quickly if he gets the opportunity to. Yeah, I think he's a good DFS play in week one, Traylon Burks, because the Giants are going to be, I believe, a great matchup for wide receivers. They have a good cornerback into Dory Jackson. They have nothing else at corner.

They have no pass rushes, especially right now because Thibodeau and their two best pass rushers are both hurt. So I think Giants are going to be a great matchup. The nice thing about Burks is that he can make your day in one play. But the bad thing is, how many over the past three seasons,

how many pass attempts have the Titans averaged when the other team fails to score two touchdowns? Yeah, that number is going to be low. It's basically every third and long opportunity they have. I don't know how many third and longs they're going to have if they give the ball to Derrick Henry on first and second down. Well, the nice thing is that they can use Burks on screens

and quick slants off of RPOs to replace those carries for Henry. You don't want to hear this if you drafted Derek Henry, but they could always find ways to mitigate Henry's workload and use their prized rookie receiver at the same time. Do you think the Giants are going to be a good matchup for running backs, Adam? Yeah, I think they're just going to be a good matchup in general. I mean, they should have two very good defensive tackles, but their linebackers stink,

and they were good for running backs last year. But it's weird, you know? Like, as soon as they signed Dexter... When they traded for Dexter Lawrence a year and a half ago, they became pretty damn good against the run. Last year, they had Lawrence, and they had the guy from Clemson. There's their other starting defensive tackle.

I don't know why I can't think of his name right now. He's very good. They should have two good starting defensive tackles, which usually means good run defense, but they got to prove it to me first because they just sucked all around last year. So I think they're going to be just a pretty bad defense, personally. Not to mention their offense could put them in bad situations.

Sorry. Well, no, I thought that's who you said. Oh, Leonard Williams is who they traded for. Sorry. I said. Oh, Leonard Williams is who they traded for. Sorry. I was going to say Leonard Williams is who they traded for. But I wasn't sure where you were going. And now Dexter Lawrence. So they have Leonard Williams and Dexter Lawrence on their defensive line.

They should be good, but I don't think they will be. Yeah, and they're linebackers right now. They're starting a fifth-round rookie. Tay Crowder replaced Blake Martinez. Right. Yeah. Yeah, so they'll be a good matchup for Martinez. Right. Yeah. So there'll be a good matchup for everybody. I think so.

Yeah, Rondell Moore is definitely someone I've been... It's on my radar. I don't know if I always draft him, but I think he's a good late-round pick. And then I see people picking up Isaiah Likely. And is anybody... Do you guys think that Isaiah Likely should be rostered? He's a tight end for the Ravens,

had a very good preseason, looks like a receiver out there. Any excitement on your end? Should be rostered in all deep dynasty leagues. All tight end premium leagues, I would say as well. Sure. He could be Dallas Goddard to Zach Ertz in the old Philadelphia offense type thing. They could throw the ball a third of the time to their tight ends. But even so, it's probably going to be a touchdown-dependent streamer type thing.

Is Rondale healthy? No. Not 100%. Kingsbury said he'd be a close call for week one. Yeah. And he hurts too. Maybe he'll get there and be their leading receiver, but he might not even be on the field in week one,

which would make the feat of being their leading receiver all year even more impressive if he doesn't play at the beginning part of the year. Olave has a shot. Hold on. Olave has a shot if Michael Thomas keeps dealing with injuries. You could certainly consider the friendship strategy with Thomas and Olave, where if you either reluctantly draft Thomas or you target him in round four, you can find Olave in round nine plus.

Get both of them. You're tying two roster spots to Jameis Winston, but I think Winston is probably going to play okay. I think he's going to take a little bit better care of the ball, and he's got that downfield mentality that would definitely support Olave, who just instant acceleration can get open pretty quickly on longer routes. I thought that Traylon Burks would be less expensive. I thought he'd be close to the minimum, but he is not. He is 5,900.

So he will not be in my DFS lineups, unless maybe a tournament, but not a 50-50. Christian Kirk at 5,800, I think, would be a smarter move. Right, but that's what everybody's going to do. Let's see, what else? Don't be surprised if Khalil Herbert ends the season as Chicago's lead running back. I think we already touched on that. I don't think Heath is buying that.

I'd be less surprised by that than the other ones because David Montgomery could get hurt. Well, yeah, it was not an injury thing, but sure. Don't be surprised if Javante Williams wins you your fantasy league. Sort of downplaying the role that Melvin Gordon might have. Hmm. Okay. And don't be surprised if Naheem Hines sets a career high in catches.

I think 63 is his career high. Let's talk about the Javante thing here because what really jumped out to me, I don't remember when I said this, I believe I said this on the draft-a-thon and not on a recent podcast, was the report that Melvin Gordon, it took him so long to sign

because he was looking for other opportunities because he felt that the writing was on the wall, that he was not going to have the role he wanted in Denver. And then he went out and said they want Javante Williams to be the guy. So at this point, I'm wondering if there's more evidence. That's what he said. That's part of a longer statement. But he said that.

He did say they want him to be the guy. He also said, yes, I'm going to get some work. But he said they want him to be the guy. I wonder if there's more evidence that Javante Williams is going to have a pretty big workload than against it. You know? People who I know who have watched Broncos practice do not seem to believe that Javante will have a sizable advantage. The whole key is going to be the same thing we talked about with Devin Singletary. Do they view Melvin as their answer in short yardage or on passing downs?

Because if it's a 55-45 split, but Javante is doing most of the short yardage and passing downs, then he could absolutely be a league winner, even with that split. If it's a 55-45 split, and the 45 that Melvin gets is short yardage and passing downs, then he could absolutely be a league winner, even with that split. If it's a 55-45 split, and the 45 that Melvin gets is short yardage and passing downs, then Williams is a disaster as a round two, round three pick. All right, let's read some emails. Fantasyfootball at cbsi.com.

Fantasyfootball at cbsi.com. All right, first email's about Cortland Sutton. This is from Sam. Where's Sam from? Is this the Cortland Sutton section? Yeah. You talked about the reference?

Okay. He's from St. Paul, Minnesota. 12-team, three-receiver, plus a flex PPR league. I just drafted Cortland Sutton

in late round three. In round six, I was running out of time on the clock and I ended up picking Jerry Judy in a bit of a panic. My wide receivers are Sutton in late round three. In round six, I was running out of time on the clock and I ended up picking Jerry Judy in a bit of a panic. My wide receivers are Sutton, McLaurin,

Michael Thomas, Jerry Judy, Nico Collins, KJ Osborne, Zay Jones, and I have Travis Kelsey. Should I ride it out or try to trade Jerry Judy away? I'm a little worried about their ability to both succeed with Wilson on a weekly basis, on a week-to-week basis. I would only trade Judy away

if you get an offer that you really like. You've got enough receiver depth that you can put Judy on the bench if you want. Or maybe there's a matchup that comes along where you're going to like Judy better than Sutton. Maybe there's a scenario that plays out where Judy is even better than Sutton. It's like 40%. 42%, maybe even higher.

I mean, yeah, I would not worry about that. I love Jerry Judy as your number four wide receiver. Good job. Yeah. Would you like to know who was better in short yardage situations for the Broncos last year? No. I truly do not.

Oh, running back or receiver? Yes, running back. Oh, yes, sure, No. I truly do not. Oh, running back or receiver? Yes, running back. Oh, yes, sure. Yes. It was Melvin. He had eight carries inside the three, scored four times. Javante had eight carries inside the three, scored twice. The rush EPA, I don't know how you measure this

from three yards or closer, but Melvin was much better. Success rate was twice as good for Melvin than it was for Javante. Melvin avoided tackles on 25% of the was for Javante. Melvin avoided 25, avoided tackles on 25% of the carries. Javante 12.5. So again, halfway better. Uh, there's something there to suggest that Melvin Gordon is the better short yardage guy. Okay. Uh, next email about Cortland Sutton is from Zach from a small town north of the border. Oh, Medicine Hat in Canada. Which border?

I think the American border. Which one? That's what I assumed. Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. The northern border. Couldn't you be just north of the southern border? You could, yeah. I think you can. You could be San Diego.

He's from Medicine Hat Heath. Let it go. Dear Cooper, Devante, Michael, and DeAndre. Oh, number one wide receivers the last four years? Yeah. Cup, Adams, Thomas, Hopkins. Well, then would it be Cup, Devante? No.

Oh, you're sure it's not Cup. Yeah. Give me life. I have the fifth pick you're sure? Yeah. Give me life. I have the fifth pick at a redraft league. Give me eyeballs. I'm likely staring down Cortland Sutton or Deontay Johnson in that spot. Who do you like in PPR, Cortland Sutton or Deontay Johnson? Cortland Acer.

I do like Sutton more than Deontay. I don't have a great deal of confidence in it but yeah that's where I'd lean alright next email is from no name or city Dave it is Frank from Beverly Hills California

14 team league this is a grade my draft I'm very Denver centric you only have to start two wide receivers full PPR 14 team league. This is a grade my draft. I'm very Denver centric. You only have to start two running back or two wide receivers. Full PPR 14 team league. Russell Wilson, Jonathan Taylor, Javante Williams,

Cortland Sutton, Marquise Brown, Mark Andrews, Christian Kirk. I mean, that's terrific in a 14 team league. He has Wilson, Javante, and Sutton, though. Is that a problem? No.

I don't have a problem with it. I'll give it a B+. A B+,? He doesn't. This is like an A+. Come on. He doesn't have a number one wide receiver. But he's Andrews.

He's for Broncos. What? He has Andrews. Yeah. He does have a number one wide receiver. He has Sutton um I think B plus is a good grade okay I mean when you take Jonathan Taylor Javante Williams and Mark Andrews with your first three picks you know how are you going to have a number one wide receiver in a 14 team league

I'm not saying he should I'm saying it's a B plus a B plus is a good grade no it's not a good enough grade. This is an A team. What you're telling me is that if I don't draft a wide receiver with any of my first three picks, I can't get an A. That's what you're saying. No. Just take DJ Moore instead of Courtland Sutton. I don't know that he was available. Or Michael Pittman.

Probably not available. Or A.J. Brown. Not available. Well, I don't know if that's true or not. This was his fourth round pick. All right. Emails that aren't about Cortland Sutton. Steve, from 75 miles north of the U.S. Olympic Training Facility.

I have no idea. Is that in Colorado? That's a guess. It sounds right alright how about let's see if we can get this dear Alan, Ian, Ellie, and John

Alan, Ian, Ellie, and John Spielberg movie what? Spielberg movie Jeff Goldblum. And Big Creatures. Jurassic Park. Yes.

I went Hero RB. Who has the highest floor at RB2? By the way, I'm only 50% sure that this is Jurassic Park. Yeah, it's got to be Jurassic Park. I Googled it. Who has the highest floor at RB2 in week one? Damian Pierce against the Colts, Chase Edmonds against the Patriots,

or Amandre Stevenson at the Dolphins? Chase Edmonds. It has to be Pierce. Oh. It has to be, but not according to Heath. Yeah, I've got... I'm not as high on Damian Pierce for week one

as I was as I am for the whole season. Yeah. Well, did he say what the scoring is? No. Well, there's no question if it's non-PPR or even half PPR. I'm basically tired of non-PPR. All right. Here is an email from Eric in Central California.

Dear Rocky, Colt, and Tum Tum. Three ninjas? Three ninjas, yeah. I moved Brian Robinson to the IR spot. Who is the best wide receiver stash to pick up for the end of my bench? Oh, no. Oh, no. What?

Oh, yeah. Sleeper battle. Wandale Robinson, Jahan Dotson, Isaiah McKenzie, Jalen Tolbert, or Josh Palmer? You know who we're going to say.

Yeah, I will say, like, making a case for someone other than that, if Kadarius Toney is not right, Wandale Robinson might be the right answer. He might get 10 targets this week. I would rather have Sterling Shepard. Is Sterling Shepard going to play this week? I do not believe so.

If it's just a bench stash, I think I'd rather have Shepard than Robinson. How about you? I'd rather have Dotson. Yes, yes. I was just in Giants world there. Shepard. Okay. So he's going to say Dotson.

Dave's going to say McKenzie. P.S. Why doesn't Dave do that nerdy voice when he talks, when he says, in a standard scoring, why don't you do that anymore, Dave? I don't know. Bring it back. We like it.

Give it life from Tyson. Where's Tyson from? Catskills, New York. Is that a town or is that a mountain range? A general area of the United States, Adam. Let it go. Dear Scott, Seth, Bob, and Joe. Neighbors of mine.

I had a little too many beers by the end of the draft and i scooped up the rams for my dst and then i realized who they play in week one who's better to plug and play for me for the first week miami against uh the patriots or the chargers against the raiders the correct answer is the Rams. I might have the Rams higher than those two. My DST rankings are not real trustworthy on a Monday morning, probably. After they play Buffalo in week one, they've got Atlanta in week two, Arizona in week three. Well, you don't drop the Rams. He wants to start somebody else over them.

Well, but then you've got to drop a skill position player, theoretically. I don't think he's just got an empty roster spot. If he's got one, then yeah, sure, you can look at another defense. But why carry two? You can take your lumps, and they might even get a couple of sacks and a couple of interceptions along the way. I do have the Rams ranked higher than both of the other defenses. I do have the Dolphins higher,

but I wouldn't drop anybody of significance to get them, and certainly not the Rams defense. The Dolphins might have a ridiculously good defense. There is a chance of that. And the Patriots might have a ridiculously bad offense. I'm going to put the Dolphins in my DFS lineup. I'm going to finish this. Let's finish a DFS lineup.

I'm doing a 50-50 here for $1. I've got Jalen Hurts, Aaron Jones, and Christian Kirk. Now I'm going to have the Dolphins DST. Who do we love this week, guys? We're going to end the show with this. How much is Evan Ingram? We don't

need to go that deep. I have plenty of money to spend. How much is Evan Ingram? We don't need to go that deep. I have plenty of money to spend. Okay. How much is Travis Kelsey? He is $8,000. How much is Darren Waller? $7,000. Waller has a touchdown in three of his last four against the Chargers.

They scare me, though. If they stick Derwin James on him, because I don't know how much James has played in that stretch. Sure.'s go those games derwin didn't play let's go kelsey probably two of those games at least i like it who's your favorite running back let's get let's get jonathan taylor in there and see if we could work that out he's going to destroy the texans and now we've got to get kind of cheap here um but this that shouldn't be a problem with a full slate right what's elijah m Elijah Mitchell's value? I already have two running backs.

I have Aaron Jones and Jonathan Taylor. Now you need what, a receiver? I need two receivers and a flex. How about Michael Thomas at $6,200? That's pretty cheap. That's the same price as Darnell Mooney and Devante Smith, basically. I just realized I was looking at FanDuel while you were looking at DraftKings. No, I'm looking at FanDuel. I'm looking at FanDuel.

How much is Thielen? I was looking at DraftKings while you were looking at FanDuel. Thielen is 6,100. Is it a tough matchup? Ooh, DJ Moore for 6,400. That's less than Alan Lazard. That's nuts. Thielen has given you

at least 22 PPR points in two of his last three against Green Bay. He has at least five catches in seven of his past nine against Green Bay. I already went with DJ Moore. So now I need to not do Kelsey. We need a cheaper tight end. Or we could get rid of Jonathan Taylor.

Dallas Goddard. Goddard's a good matchup. I am a little worried about how much they'll have to throw in that game. Because they could build a pretty big lead. Sanders might be a good DFS play. That's only a four-point spread in that game, and the Lions have...

There are seven teams that have an implied total below 20, according to Vegas. The Lions are at 22 and a quarter. They are just projected as an average offense this week. What? I don't see that. All right. I went with Kyle Pitts.

He's 2,000 cheaper than Kelsey. That means for my last spot, half PBR. Are we going Darnell Mooney? Travis Etienne? Devante Smith? Adam Thielen? For sure.

I've got Etienne as a top 10 running back. Okay, Etienne. That gives me Jalen Hurts, Aaron Jones, Jonathan Taylor, Michael Thomas, DJ Moore, Christian Kirk, Kyle Pitts, Travis Etienne, and the Dolphins. Damn, let's win 50 cents. Or no, let's win a dollar. All right.

Have a great Labor Day, everybody. Thank you for hanging out with us on this Monday. Much appreciated. And that's going to do it for us. We will talk to you tomorrow with some fill in the blank and much more to get you ready for week one. See ya.