Fantasy Football Today - Fantasy Valentines: Players We Love for 2024 (02/14 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: February 14, 2024

Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and wherever else you listen to podcasts Love you mean it! On today's show we're spreading the love and talking about the players we absolutely want on our Fantasy teams in 2024. We'll go through some news items (2:30) on Brandon Aiyuk and Tee Higgins and then talk about the quarterbacks (4:35) we love including, of course, Jordan Love! Joe Burrow and a couple of others make the list, but are we sure Love is going to be the next big thing or is he the next Trevor Lawrence? ... At running back (23:00), we love a few young guys who need bigger roles. How good could Tyjae Spears and Chase Brown be? Is Roschon Johnson the best Bears RB to draft? ... At wide receiver (35:15), we talk extensively about Christian Kirk and Drake London. How certain are we that the Falcons passing game will improve? We continue with a couple more WRs (49:15) and Dalton Kincaid at tight end as we focus on the Bills passing game ... Your emails at [e-mail] SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 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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Can you believe this? I had no idea. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Hello everyone. Happy Valentine's Day. We love you all. And today we'll be telling you about the players that we love as of February 14th. I just had to check the date. I was doing this whole Valentine's Day intro. I was like, wait, what's the date? You weren't sure, huh?

We love for 2024. It's our Fantasy Valentines. And a fun fact about the two wide receivers that Dave Richard has on his Fantasy Valentines list. They combined for one catch for nine yards in week one of the 2023 season. Lost in history. But yeah, they were. See if you, I might even tell you who they are. See if you can figure it out.

Two wide receivers had one catch for nine yards in week one. They were better after that. So it's me and Dave right now. Jamie will be joining us. It's a Wednesday. Love you. So it's me and Dave right now. Jamie will be joining us. It's a Wednesday. Love you. Mean it. And Dave, you didn't did you get anything for your wife for Valentine's Day? I bought her some flowers and brought them home yesterday. But she insisted that because Valentine's Day was on a Wednesday this year, she didn't want to do anything special.

And so I'm you know, that sounds great to me. Let's not go out and spend a, you know, huge amount of money on a fancy dinner or anything like that. But I just got the text, honey, what do you think? Should we bring in tonight? So somebody doesn't want to cook on Valentine's day. Somebody wants a full catered meal and she already got her flowers. I don't know if she's expecting a card, but the truth is, is that my wife, she's my Valentine her flowers. I don't know if she's expecting a card, but the truth is that my wife, she's my Valentine every day. So I'll do whatever she wants. Well, that is wonderful. All right. Listen, any woman who can sit and, you know,

not annoy me while we're watching the Superbowl is a good, is a good person in my book. And she does that with every football game that we watch together. She doesn't like the games. She loves the games. She loves football. Oh, good. It's one of the best qualities about her. Yeah, that's a good thing. All right, news and notes.

Andy Reid and Travis Kelsey are returning. The 49ers say they want to get Brandon Ayuk signed long-term. He has one year left on his deal. There was a tweet from his brother, right, saying, oh, this is why we're leaving San Francisco. B.A. to the Raiders. Is that right? Is that a thing? Yeah.

All right. Well. No, no, no. That was what was posted by his cousin. Oh, that's what he put. I don't know if it was his brother. Yeah, we'll see. And then did you see the press conference

where he was kind of standoffish with the media? Yeah, he was frustrated. But, you know, I don't know. I mean, they've got him under contract, so hopefully they can smooth things out there. Although for his fantasy value, it wouldn't necessarily be the worst thing for Ayuk to go somewhere else,

and maybe he could flourish. I think a lot of people would expect him to be an elite player if he had that opportunity, which doesn't quite happen in San Francisco. Cincinnati is expected to use the franchise tag on Tee Higgins, according to The Athletic. We're going to talk about Joe Burrow today. The franchise tag doesn't mean he'll stay necessarily.

They could put it there just as a placeholder until they work something out, or they could trade him. But the expectation, according to The Athletic, is that Tee Higgins will get the tag. And Anthony Richardson began throwing and we're going to talk about him as well. Dave, are you excited real quick for fantasy baseball season? Of course I am. It's one of the most important fantasy parts of the year. Yes. And fantasy baseball today is one of the most important podcasts of the year. Sure.

No, Fantasy Baseball Today is great. I used to host it, but now it's even better because Frank Stample is hosting it with Chris Towers and Scott White. They'll talk prospects. They'll get you caught up on all the rookies you need to know about,

position previews. Now's the time. Now's the time to really get ready. Spring training is just around the corner. So check out the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast on YouTube, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, wherever you watch or listen.

All right, it's time for our Fantasy Valentine's, and Jamie should be here any minute, but let's start with Dave's two quarterbacks. Jamie's going to talk about Kyler Murray and Jordan Love. Dave, you're going to love Joe Burrow and Anthony Richardson, and the last time we did a draft, I think Burrow was something like QB eight. Richardson will maybe go similarly based on what

he did last year, but then again, maybe we'll be too scared of him with the injuries. But yeah, so Burrow, let's start with him. Let me preface by saying that I think a lot of the players that I'm going to talk about are guys that I think are great values and not necessarily like my favorite players that I would love to get in round one or Six games, averaged almost 24 fantasy points per game, had three very good games in there. You know that he's throwing to Jamar Chase. Sounds like he's got a really good shot of throwing to T. Higgins. I think the rest of that offense is up for grabs as far as improving the offensive line, maybe getting a new third receiver. They could go with one of their rookies from last season as the number three guy.

Tyler Boyd's a free agent. They don't have to bring him back. And then the run game is a question mark. Are they going to have Joe Mixon back for another year? But they will almost certainly use whoever they have as running back as a pass catcher out of the backfield. That helps Joe Burrow as well. If they do move on from Mixon and not spend a lot of draft capital on a running back,

then it's just more on Burrow's plate. I think he has a chance to finish as a top five fantasy quarterback. I have him ranked accordingly. So he was fourth per game in 2022, his best season. His only great fantasy season. He's played four years, and Burrow only has one season where he's finished higher than, I want to say, ninth per game. And that was, you know. Okay. Look, I mean, he's only higher than I want to say ninth per game and that was you know

okay yeah look I mean he's only been in the NFL for three years his rookie year wasn't great and he tore his ACL last year he came into a the season with a calf injury and then he hurt his wrist so maybe the the biggest issue with Burrow is is not necessarily that he hasn't done it much it's that he hasn't had the opportunity to do it much because he's gotten hurt. That might scare some people off from drafting Joe Burrow, but the value in which you get him at and the fact that you can get a second quarterback

if you want to later on in your draft makes him just, it's an easier player to take once you get past round four. He's been in the league four years. I think the, you know, the drawback. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 2020 was his rookie year. I think the drawback— Yeah? Yeah. Yeah, 2020 was his rookie year.

2021 was his— You're right, you're right, you're right. 2021 was a really good season, but as I recall, it was just a great season for quarterbacks. So he didn't finish that high. But in your second season to throw for 4,600 yards and 34 touchdowns in 16 games, I mean, that's really impressive. A couple things that work against him. He doesn't run a ton. I think he that's really impressive. A couple of things that work against him. It doesn't run a ton. I think he's more like a 250 yard rusher. Last year, didn't come close to that because he had the calf injury. 2021, he didn't come close to that because he was coming

off a torn ACL. But if you look at what he did in college, you look at what he did, I think, as a rookie. And then in his best year, 2022, I think you're talking about a 250-yard rusher, which is okay, but it's not great. He's also a little interception-prone. Didn't really do it last year so much, but 14 interceptions in 2021, 12 interceptions in 2022. So you're going to need probably 4,800 passing guards, which he has shown at his best he's absolutely capable of doing. And you're going to need high 30s in the touchdowns, I think, which again, he has shown he's capable of doing. Two final Burrow questions. Jamie joins the show. Oh, hey, Valentine. Hey, Jamie. Hey, cuties.

Okay. Two questions. We giggle at that for some reason. Would you rather have Burrow or Richardson? And do you think Burrow needs both Chase and Higgins to be a true fantasy standout? Dave, you asking me? No, Dave, then you can go. I'm ranking him ahead of Richardson, and he needs Chase and somebody solid at least. Okay. Jamie,

same questions to you, cutie pie. I would rather have Burrow as of now, but I think for what the expectations are for both of these guys, Burrow has a chance to be among the fantasy elite right now.

Richardson can certainly get there. I don't think Burrow has a chance to be among the fantasy elite right now. Richardson can certainly get there. I don't think Burrow will get there without a good complementary receiving option because we know Richardson can do it with his legs, and Burrow's not going to do that. Okay. And last thing I'll just say, give you these numbers. He's played, I want to say, seven games in his career without T. Higgins, and he has been good, not great.

Those are games that T. Higgins either missed or did not play half the snaps, so less than 50% of the snaps. And good. Again, solid, but only one game with more than 24 fantasy points and six points for passing touchdown leagues. All right, Dave, what do you want to say about Anthony Richardson? It's the exact same boat we were in last year with Richardson, with the exception being that we've seen him play.

It was just a little smattering of games. Played in four games total. He left two of them early. Averaged almost 20 fantasy points per game. In the two games he actually finished, he averaged 28.3 fantasy points. He looked good as a thrower. He should be even better. We don't know what the Colts are going to do to improve the receiving core around him, but that offense was solid with him. And I could very

easily see him finish as a top 10 type of fantasy quarterback. And he'll probably be that way in ADP. He'll probably be top 10, but he'll be closer to 10 than he would be to six. And that makes him a raging value that you can feel excited about on draft day. And just like what we talked about with burrow, you can find another quarterback later, just in case things don't work out with Anthony Richardson. Unbelievable. That week one game.

Cause he scored in week one, 23 fantasy points against Jacksonville in week four, 33.6 against the ramps. But as fantasy points against Jacksonville. In week four, 33.6 against the Rams. But as I recall, against Jacksonville, he got hurt right near the goal line at the end, right? And then Minshew came in. Yeah, he got hurt at the three-yard line. So he could have scored again. And they ended up not scoring.

They lost by 10. But he was so good, Richardson. Do you think they reign him in? Jamie, we hear this a lot, right? Oh, well, he's not going to run as much. And then a lot of times they run as much. That's just who they are. But do you think they're going to have a very different approach with Richardson

that would hurt his fantasy value, Jamie? If they did, then they drafted the wrong guy. I mean, you didn't draft him to, you know, keep him in a box. You drafted him to be, you know, the type of athlete and performer and quarterback that he's capable of being. And he's, you know, got a chance to be electric and look, you can talk about the flaws of Lamar Jackson. He's now a two-time MVP before the age of 28, you know, so obviously he's been doing something right, playing a different style than what most quarterbacks have played in the history of this game. And so, you know, yes, you'd like to keep him healthy. Obviously, I'm sure there'll be some concerns and restrictions

on maybe some of the things that he does. And look, we just went through a whole offseason talking about Tua staying healthy and, you know, speaking to Tua at the Pro Bowl and hearing him throughout the course of the season, you know, playing a full year was a big part of what he wanted to accomplish. And he did different things to make that happen, learning how to fall, taking jiu-jitsu or some form of martial arts to try and help his body and his athleticism. I'm sure the Colts will do their due diligence to try to make sure that Richardson stays healthy,

but running quarterbacks just have that risk. Thankfully, he's not coming off something related to his legs. He's coming off a shoulder injury. So from the perspective of how he plays, you know, at least that's something that is somewhat manageable. Um, and he, and he missed time during, you know, one of the injuries was a concussion. So hopefully everything is, uh, is, is headed in the right trajectory for him because he has a chance to be just special. And, you know, I hope that's the case. You know, he could be one of these guys that I know he will be for me. And I'll talk about one of the other guys that I'm excited about,

that you'll be able to get at such a great value who could by far exceed those expectations because of what the upside is. All right. Kyler Murray and Jordan Love are the two quarterbacks that Jamie has on his Valentine's Day list here. Who do you like better next year, Kyler or Jordan Love? Well, since we're talking Valentine's, it's got to be Love. That's right. Very good.

Yes, I would draft Jordan Love ahead of Kyler Murray. But again, talking about value, Kyler's going to be one of my favorite targets because I'm certainly going to wait on the position as long as I can and have done that so far in the majority of drafts that we've done, the small sample size. But look, we saw Jordan Love and what he was able to accomplish. And I'm sure there's probably some sentiment, at least based on, again, the drafts that we've done.

Is it fluky? Can he do it again? You know, is he going to be able to accomplish that? He's not going to be drafted or ranked in the top five. He has top five potential. I think as his receiving core grows into its own and gets a little bit more established and we maybe get a full season of Christian Watson, which I think is maybe the thing that unlocks Jordan Love's potential. Cause I think Watson is the type of receiver that could take

a player, take a quarterback to the next level, but his receiving core is special. I think the run game is something you got to be a little bit concerned about with the 29 year old Aaron Jones expected to return and we'll see what they do to potentially replace or upgrade on A.J. Dillon. But look, Love was unbelievable in his first year stepping in. We know he had some flaws, but he really sort of corrected himself middle of the year to the end, got the Packers into the playoffs, and just looks like, you know, unfortunately for the NFC North, like the Packers may have just done it again,

found another guy that, you know, can carry them for 20 years as they had with Favre and with Rodgers. So just based on what the expected value is, what the expected production will be, he's just going to be just, again, a great value pick. In terms of Kyler, we have a little bit of an incomplete right now coming into the off season because we don't know what this receiving core is going to look like. You know, it's easy to project Marvin Harrison Jr. to them at four, and that would be fun for Kyler. They have to do something, I think, on top of that because Marquise Brown's a free agent.

And so the Rondale Moore experiment's probably run its course. We'll see what Michael Wilson has to offer, but he was injured very much as a rookie. Greg Dortch is more of a fill-in candidate. But Trey McBride and maybe one or two receivers, that's going to be a pretty nice situation for Kyler. We know what he does with his legs. Year two coming off an ACL, we usually talk about that more for running backs than we do for quarterbacks or any other position.

But I think his legs kind of held up, you know, and maybe exceeded expectations for last season. So these are just going to be two great value picks at a position that's going to be loaded and deep once again. And I think both Love and Kyler Murray can be top five caliber quarterbacks that you'll get with close to maybe round eight or later value on drafting. How would you feel about getting both those guys coming out? I would not make that investment personally, but I don't have a problem with it. What's the difference between Love now and Trevor Lawrence a year ago?

Do you think love proved it for a little bit more, you know, because it was basically Lawrence had like five or six great games that we were really excited about. And he had all this pedigree. Um, yeah, you know,

or, you know, again, it's fine. It's fine to project, but do you think there's a difference here? Do you think there's more to go on with Love or less or the same or what? I think there's more to go on with Love.

And really, it's a lot of more, at least more faith in the play caller, more faith in the offense. I mean, that was a big problem for Lawrence. And I'm saying this in hindsight because I did not expect that to be the case for, for what Lawrence showed in his second season in his first year with Peterson, because it looked like, okay, this offense is catered to him and then adding Calvin Ridley, you know, so you thought it was going to be the sky's the limit for him, but it's a, it's a fair comp, you know, to talk about some of these guys that have the the the small sample size and

not exactly the you know the longevity of doing it year over year but like you said that's why we're projecting why we're in this business you know we're hoping for these guys to do certain things and play a certain way and perform a certain way and look if i think the nice thing about love is he didn't need help to do it and and i'm saying that in that it wasn't like dac prescott got cd lamb to help carry him along the way you know what i mean like he doesn't need help to do it. And I'm saying that in that it wasn't like Dak Prescott got CD lamb to help carry him along the way. You know what I mean? Like he doesn't need one specific guy.

He did it with the group. It was okay. Watson's not there now. It's it's Reed and Wicks. Wicks is not there. Yeah. And, and, and that's, you know, I, I think again, credit to him, credit to LaFleur credit to the receiving core as a whole.

And it's just, it's just a good group so um i'm excited about him but i also think you know to your to your comparison adam we were drafting lawrence to be a breakout candidate we talked about that you know with the our our hits and misses on on our last show or previous show prior to super bowl and you know dave wasn't alone in calling lawrence a breakout we were all kind of in that category except for Heath but and and Love I think will be placed in that breakout category because at then again he does have that top five caliber upside but he's not going to be drafted with the same expectations at least based on what we've seen so far what do you think of Love's offensive line I'm first of all I think it's a fantastic question that you gave us, Adam, and the comparison legitimate.

I thought that Lawrence struggled last year. Part of it's because his receivers would make mistakes. Part of it was because he made some mistakes, but I don't think his offensive line helped him out that much. And so that's the one area of the offense. Like the running backs are going to get addressed in Green Bay, but that's the other area of the offense that's going to get addressed. They don't need to do anything else at wide receiver because that group is so young.

So I'd be shocked if the Packers drafted another wide receiver with a, with a top 100 pick or, you know, made a splash free agent signing at wide receiver. I think they attack the offensive line. I think they try and protect Jordan love even more than they did last year. And that could be the first difference between the two of them. But otherwise you're absolutely right. It's a concern because we saw Trevor Lawrence from week 12 on in 2022 averaged almost 25 fantasy points per game. It was 24.4.

Love did get to 25 fantasy points in his final nine games. And a little bit of that was rushing. He runs a little bit more than lawrence does but it's not necessarily something that you're gonna they both i think they're pretty similar there i really do i i think that you you hit the nail on the head on this one and it's a question that we're gonna have to answer and justify in order to take jordan love like i've got jordan love eighth i really love love and i want to get him or, you know, a quarterback in that second tier. If Love is indeed in the second tier to start building my team out, assuming that they don't go too soon in my draft.

But you have to justify it a little bit before you completely buy in and take him ahead of somebody who seems safer, maybe without as much upside as Purdy, someone like Herbert who's accomplished but might not be in the best offense. I would take him over both those guys. I would too, but I think it does need to be ironed out a little bit just to make sure that he's the right guy to take. Because if he flops, like Lawrence flops, and he takes that big step back,

then you're going to wish you had one of those other quarterbacks. Yeah, I don't know if I want to call Purdy established, though, because they basically have the same career at this point. Love and Purdy? That's fair. And Love's been better. Yeah, and I think the other side of this conversation is... Career games, excuse me, obviously not different. I don't think we should just forget about Trevor Lawrence. It's not like his fantasy career is over.

There's still a lot to make about him. No, no. He's one of those late-round quarterbacks you can get. Yeah. I think, to Dave's question, would you want to take two of these guys? Yes, you would. At least I would prefer to have Love and Murray

if I'm taking two, but you can spend a little bit later pick on Lawrence most likely at this point. I think the quarterbacks that we'll see, and we did this with the listener mock draft, which was a super flex one when Adam gave, I believe it was Benny, Kirk Cousins, like six rounds too soon. Super flex? You mean one pick too soon? I'm joking. But it was – we'll see some of these quarterbacks in one quarterback leagues that are going to be late-round picks that you're going to be like, really? I can still get these guys late like Cousins because he's coming off an injury.

Rodgers coming off an injury. But Tua and Lawrence, I think those are going to be two guys that will sort of hang around on drafts, in drafts. And you'll be – you know, I think, I don't know if excited is the right word, but hopeful that, you know, Tua can maybe be a little bit better than what he was this past season, which he was very good. And that Lawrence can maybe put together,

you know, 13 plus games of what he showed you in 2022, as opposed to what he showed for the majority of last year. Okay, we're going to take a break here. Our email address, by the way, I'm going to see if we have time for emails today. It's fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. That's the letter I. Oh, we got a great one yesterday.

Oh, classic email. Fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Please put something in the subject. Whatever, I'll figure it out. Anyway, we'll talk running backs. Got some good young running backs on our Valentine's Day list here. We'll be right back on FFT. I am so dreading groceries this week. Why? You can skip it. Oh, what? Just like that? Just like that. How about dinner with my third cousin? Skip it. Prince Fluffy's favorite

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Okay, we're back. I think Dave is texting Jamie something about me. No, absolutely not. Oh, okay, okay, okay. All right, let's talk about some running backs here. Four running backs on this list of players we love for 2024, and they all need an opportunity. Jamie, the two you gave,

oh, three. Three were Jamie's, one from Dave. Jamie gave Tajay Spears, Elijah Mitchell, and Chase Brown. Okay. Do you think any of them, okay, not Mitchell.

I understand he's a different case. We'll talk about that, but Spears and Brown, you think they opened the season as starters for the Titans and Bengals respectively? There's a chance. Probably more so with Spears than there is with Brown because at least Spears showed his team. I know it's a new regime, but they showed his GM at least

that he can be a potential playmaker. And we know the NFL is very, you know, they like to stick to trends and you don't pay running backs and win Super Bowls. And so I don't know how many teams are going to be aggressive in spending more money in that position as we've seen it trend in the wrong direction for what those guys are looking to make. And so if Derrick Henry leaves, do they bring in somebody else from a either cheap standpoint to be an upgrade over Spears? You know, if, if let's say Mixon, for example, who follows Callahan to Tennessee, if he's released and doesn't get a big deal or an Eckler or something like that, you know, an older running back, I don't think Jacobs or Barkley fall into this category because I think those guys will get a little bit more money.

But in any event, Spears is somebody we've seen this in drafts. It tends to be me and Dan Schneier fighting over him. I'm very excited about what I saw and the opportunity. Same thing for Chase Brown. Just knowing that Joe Mixon might be out the door and he could be a little bit of, I don't want to say upgrade because Joe Mixon was still very good last year, but has a little bit more juice maybe in terms of what he can offer this offense. And so I'm excited about both those guys. And, you know, at least in the case of Brown right now,

if Mixon does return similar to Mitchell, he'll be two guys that I'll be targeting, you know, Mitchell somewhere. I'm going to be aggressive with him. I've taken him in almost every draft we've done. Startup dynasty drafts with Heath. I've done it in, I think, almost every draft we've done from a redraft perspective. McCaffrey is going to make me nervous next year.

And, you know, for what his age and workload and, you know, I don't think injury risk anymore, but, you know, just for the, the, the two factors of what he did this past season and entering his age 28 year, um, Mitchell has a chance to be, you know, a, a league winner as a lottery ticket. And I think Chase Brown could as well, if Mixon were to miss any time. So if they stay in backup roles, which is certainly what I expect for Mitchell and definitely what I would anticipate for Brown right now, they're going to be two running backs that I'll be aggressive in targeting and just have to be patient with understanding it. And Spears, if he does end up as the lead running back there,

he's going to be a very hyped-up type of fantasy option where we'll be probably saying, oh my God, I can't believe he's going in round three or round four by the time we get to draft season. That's how much hype I think he can get. 52 catches as a rookie for Spears. 100 carries. He averaged 4.5 yards per carry.

Averaged over 7 yards per catch, which was good. It wasn't great. 4.5 yards per carry, very good. The catch, yards per catch, very solid for Tajay Spears. Had the one game where Henry left with an injury, and he had 16 carries for 75 yards and four catches for 13 yards in that game. So that's pretty damn good work, and that was with Henry playing a lot of that game. Anyway, Dave, your thoughts on that trio of Tajay Spears, Elijah Mitchell, Chase Brown? Let's start with Mitchell, because I think the idea of drafting him at this

point is that he's going to be the number two running back in San Francisco. If that ends up happening, absolutely worth it. I posted this on X this week. McCaffrey next year is going to be 28. He's coming off a 19 game, 417 touch season. The last time he had over 400 touches and 2000 total yards, that was 2019. He had five injuries and missed 23 games over two years. And he was obviously younger then. So the idea of getting whoever that backup running back is in San Francisco makes a ton of sense. It just so happens that Mitchell is a proven entity in that offense,

knows how to run the zone run scheme that they have and would be, I don't think he'd be as good as McCaffrey. No one's saying that, but where you're drafting him and someone that would end up being an RB two most weeks. I think, I think it's a great call. So you would take his rookie production in a heartbeat.

Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. He's just not going to catch passes, most likely. Probably not very many. Here's the problem with Mitchell is that if they work him too much, he could break down. We've seen him deal with injuries ever since he broke out in his first year. That part makes me a little bit nervous about Mitchell and, you know, how many games could we realistically get out of him if he's touching the ball at least 15 times per. It doesn't really matter.

That question doesn't really matter when you're taking him in round nine or later, but it's something to think about if he ends up being someone that you're absolutely going to count on in your lineup week in and week out. You might want to eventually acquire whoever's backing him up. If we enter the hellscape of McCaffrey's out for a long time, Mitchell's your starter in San Francisco, and then Jordan Mason, if he's the guy, is there. And also, we just have to see what that depth chart looks like. Chase Brown's good. He could end up being the lead back in Cincinnati. We saw him play well in spurts. I'd love to see what that depth chart looks like chase brown's good uh he could end up being the lead back in cincinnati we saw him play well in spurts i'd love to see what he looks like when he plays more often and gets more opportunities we saw that with tige spears

and his metrics adam and jame over the course of this past season uh when you line them up against other running backs that had at least 50 carries this year, we're awesome. Who met Brown or carry Brown or Brown or Spears Spears. That's easy. Spears is out of all. No, no. I was at,

I was saying, who are you, who are you talking about? I couldn't, I'm sorry. I thought you were talking about drafting. No, I figured you were talking about Spears.

I just want to know Spears is electric. I don't think any of the things that I could tell you about, you know, fifth and avoided tackle rate among qualifying running backs, eighth and explosive run rate. Um, he averaged four yards per carry against eight in the box. I don't think,

uh, Derek Henry's done that for a long time and it's going to be a completely different offense. So if the draft ends and the Titans do nothing at running back, Tajay Spears is going to be everybody's favorite breakout. Yeah. For a guy that came into the league, people were wondering if he had any ACLs and he never addressed that.

He just said, I'm healthy. That's my thing is like, can he be that guy? Can he be a workhorse backer? No, there's going to be somebody else there, whether it's, you know, again, some aging veteran, um, you would hope it was going to, it's, it's like a, and, and not to disrespect any of these guys, but like a, like a Matt Brita or Jeff Wilson or somebody that's going to come in and be, you know, a fill in, not a replacement, not an upgrade.

All right. Okay, let's go to Roshan Johnson. That was the one that Dave gave. And what do you like about Roshan Johnson, and do you like him better than Khalil Herbert? I am going to draft him ahead of Khalil Herbert as of now. I like that in five games when he had at least 10 touches, and there were plenty where a lot of them were catches, he averaged 12 PPR points. I feel like that that could be, I don't think 12 PPR points is a safe floor for Roshon Johnson, but I'm expecting this Bears run game

to be a little bit thinned out, a little bit more dialed in on Roshon and one other guy, whether it's Herbert, whether it's somebody else that they bring in. I think Roshan's just going to get the same type of opportunity that he had last year at the beginning of the season with a chance for it to explode and really come through with what I thought would happen by the end of the 2023 season. So someone that could be in that neighborhood of 13, 14 touches per game, plenty of them coming through the air. Coaching staff already believes in him as a passing down spec. They used him as such and could end up being a feature back for Chicago if things break

right for him. Another one of my favorite running backs to draft. I think I'm still taking Spears ahead of him. There's probably a couple of other running backs that I would still take ahead of Roshon Johnson, but that could change a little bit and it could be Spears and Roshon Johnson, but that could change a little bit. And it could be Spears and Roshon back-to-back with the top 65 pick a month from now. I mean, they could really end up being players that I'll fight for on draft day

because of their huge upside once the season actually starts. You see that same upside, Jamie, with Roshon Johnson? Not as Spears, no. Not as long as Herbert's still there. And I wouldn't be surprised if somebody else is brought in to Chicago, similar to Tennessee as well. But I think for – there's a big gap for me between Spears and Roshan. It's not particularly close.

But I think for what Roshan has to offer, you'd like it to be just Herbert as the competition. Now, the problem for Roshan Johnson is he's never been a featured guy in college in the NFL so far. You know, so is that something that's a problem? Because we've seen these guys, you know, that have a lot of talent but just don't necessarily have the opportunity or the ability to, you know, step into that role. And, you know, I said this, I think, a week or two ago. It was very frustrating, unfortunately, for him that when Herbert suffered the ankle injury, he suffered the concussion that was multiple weeks, and Foreman got the chance to be the lead guy there. He has a chance. I think

it definitely would be a benefit to him and even Khalil Herbert if they move on from Justin Fields because I think Caleb Williams will probably be more inclined to use his running backs, his weapons in the passing game as opposed to Fields, who's going to, you know, be much more apt to use his legs. But obviously there's a lot to like about Roshan's game. There's a lot to like about the situation. Again, if he's just competing with Cleo Herbert, I probably would still draft Herbert ahead of Johnson if they're the two guys in Chicago's backfield, but they won't be far apart. It's very similar to Pittsburgh, just on a little bit of a lower scale. Like I think both guys have the opportunity to be better than the next one, whether, you know, it's, it's the offense, the week, the opponent, you know,

there'll be some games I think where Herbert will be dramatically better than Roshan and games where Johnson will be better than Herbert. But the bears guys are closer to each other than either one would be for Spears for me. Yeah. I mentioned this on a recent show. Khalil Herbert, when he gets work, he's been pretty good. He's been awesome. He's got 11 career games with 16 or more carries.

He's rushed for 97 or more yards in 7 of those 11 games, and he scored 15.9 or more PPR fantasy points in 7 of those 11 games. It just doesn't seem like they're ever going to really let him be a feature back. I mean, it happens in spurts, but for a full season, I don't know. I mean, those last three games of the year, Khalil Herbert had 20, 18, and 12 carries. Roshan had nine, seven, and five in those games. And the other thing working against them is that no matter who

their quarterback is, it's going to be a guy that's probably gonna take away rushing touchdowns from them whether it's field or fields or williams probably more of a threat would be fields i would guess i'm yeah i'm trying to look up like williams had 11 rushing touchdowns last year caleb williams i'm gonna try to look up now because this just occurred to me to look up where they came from but i mean fields is like a massive guy c. Caleb Williams is much smaller. Fields is more built for those goal line touchdowns. So I do think maybe if Caleb Williams is their quarterback, maybe that could help. Maybe that could get you a little more,

you know, true running back opportunities near the goal line. I'm not even gonna look up where those touchdowns came from. It's probably not going to matter when we get to the next level. All right. That's our quarterbacks or our running back. Now, I said earlier in the show that Dave's two wide receivers

that he loves had a combined one catch for nine yards in week one. Jamie, do you know who they are? Well, you might know from the email when he put them in. And everybody got Christian Kirk. So who is the other one?

He had no catches. He had no catches. And that was Drake London. But I also forgot that Dave actually had three wide receivers, and one of them was Jacoby Myers. So forget about him for this little trivia question. But London and Kirk had terrible week ones and london didn't really turn his season around i don't even think he was a top 40 wide receiver this year

he had two touchdown catches uh but kirk did have a very nice season who do you like better right now if you're drafting london or kirk it's gonna sound silly but it's Drake London because I'm hoping for the third year breakout, brand new offense, brand new quarterback. And I like the play caller. I like that Zach Robinson is going to get an opportunity to run the show for the Falcons offense. more accurate throws, maybe even like a little more funneling targets to the good players and not trying to work in Cordero Patterson and Darrell Hodge and John who Smith and Van Jefferson. I think he'd get away from that. And the Falcons just lean on this amazing talent and a big talent in Drake London. I think the end result is going to be a huge upswing in targets per game, catches per game. All the fantasy numbers will come up with it and going to be a huge upswing in targets per game, catches per game.

All the fantasy numbers will come up with it, and he'll be a really good breakout candidate. Jamie, who do you like better right now, Christian Kirk or Drake London? Right now it's Kirk, but it'll be London by the time we get the quarterback in Atlanta. So that's the biggest thing. So I anticipate Calvin Ridley gone. I anticipate Christian Kirk to be closer to what he was two years ago as hopefully the lead receiver for Trevor Lawrence in this Jacksonville offense. He was great when he signed as a free agent. I think a lot of people laughed at it based on what the contract was because it felt like the Jaguars overpaid $18 million a year to get him to Jacksonville.

I know we were joking about this on this show. I called it the Jaguars tax just because nobody get him to, to Jacksonville. Um, I know we were joking about us on this show. I, I called it the Jaguars tax, you know, just because nobody wants to go play in Jacksonville and, uh, it worked out well. And, you know, he had a good season last year. Didn't have a great season, um, and took a step back, but obviously almost everything in Jacksonville took a step back aside from Travis ETN, who he should have traded in week six. But in terms of London, the upside, as Dave alluded to, is much higher. And hopefully they get the right quarterback in place. If it goes where they have to sort of settle for Ritter and a Heineke type, you could see maybe something like Minshew

going there, you know, where it's not, let's say like a Justin Fields or they go into the draft and get somebody that's a significant upgrade. Then it's just going to be another, you know, deflating situation because yes, the offense should be better in theory, but if the passer not getting London, if the passer getting London, the ball is not going to be a dramatic upgrade. It's hard to expect that type of breakout performance, even in his third year. So he'll be better just by, I think circumstance again,

in a better system that will throw the ball a little bit more, but it's gotta be the right quarterback to help elevate Drake London's game. So that's the biggest hope is that that will be the case. Yeah. I think for London, you might be surprised to know their, their passing game

wasn't really that bad. Yeah, it was. No, it wasn't. They were 22nd. I don't care what number they finished. How do you not care? I'm saying they were 22nd in gross passing yards per game. Or gross passing yards total, either one. It was gross, you're right. No, but that's

not that bad. I mean, to say that... 22nd is not that bad? It's not. There were 10 teams that were worse than them. And to say that the Falcons. So they were below average. They were below average. And you have the talent that they have.

It's gross. I understand that. But what I'm saying is to say that they're definitely going to be better. They actually weren't really that bad. Now, touchdowns were bad. They were 26 and touchdowns. And that's no, no, no, no, no, no. Look, I see what you're doing, Dave. But first of all, I think everybody has to I think everybody has to understand something. Offense has been down the last two years. We are no longer I mean, maybe we'll get back to that.

I don't know. But we're we might be in a different era of football right now. 2022 and 2023 were not as high scoring as, I don't know, maybe the three years before that. The Falcons, you think about their passing game, and you think it's terrible, but let's compare them to the Bears. Okay, they had a better passing game than the Bears, and DJ Moore was the number six wide receiver in football. Because they had a better quarterback. They had a better quarterback, and they gave him a huge target share. But you're telling me they had a better quarterback. They had a better quarterback and they gave him a huge

target share. But you're telling me they had a better quarterback, but I'm telling you that the Falcons had better passing numbers than the Bears. And I bet you're including running back passing numbers in there as well. What do you mean? It's the total amount of passing

yards, I'm assuming. It's everyone. It's Bajent, It's Fields. It's every pass thrown for the Falcons. I'm talking about who catches the ball. And I would rank the quarterbacks from those two teams, Fields, Bajent, Heineke, Ritter. It doesn't matter how you rank them, to me, in this argument. What matters—

It's the quality of targets. It's opportunities. I mean, it's— I know, but I'm saying they threw for more yards than a lot of teams, than 10 teams. I understand what you're saying, but that does not mean that that's better for what the passing game in Atlanta is. But they had a better passing game. I mean, how else do you measure? But you're comparing it to Chicago.

I don't want to be comparing it to Chicago when I have to pick London Kyle Pitts and B. John Robinson. But I'm comparing it to Chicago for two reasons. One, DJ Moore, I'm trying to compare like a good wide receiver on a bad situation. But two, I think a lot of people are saying, hey, maybe Justin Fields goes to the Falcons. And my point is, it's not going to be that easy for them to upgrade their passing game

because Fields wouldn't put up big numbers per se. He might be a better quarterback, but he barely throws. And he's honestly maybe not that good of a quarterback. His numbers aren't really that great. Sure. But I also think, again, system will matter. And as Dave said, Zach Robinson coming from the system that he came and hopefully implementing that with the right quarterback, Fields or rookie or otherwise, maybe even it doesn Ritter. Look, maybe it's just somebody giving some better plays and better terminology and coaching and helping enhance the skill set of someone who

may be decent. I mean, look, Ritter was not horrible in college. He wasn't the most prized prospect, but he certainly wasn't a disaster like he's looked like in the NFL. And so it could just be that if they don't go you know, go out and find the right partner or right rookie to step in and replace those guys. I would hope that's the case because I don't want to see that story again. I'd like to see somebody different in there to help bring out the best of London and pits and Robinson and really Robinson should do fine. As long as it's just not Arthur Smith handcuffing him by giving too many carries to other guys. But I think that's the hope is that it's just better play calling and better targets, better opportunities.

You know, every everything you want to attach to it across the board for somebody like Drake London, who came into the NFL as the best wide receiver in that class based on how he was drafted. Someone said the numbers back it up. He had almost seven targets per game. His catch rate was 63%. It should have been higher. He saw a ton of off target throws. Target per route rate was 22.7%. That's low.

16 red zone targets, six end zone targets, two touchdowns. That's the other number that we need to believe in going up by 300%. We need to believe that Drake London is a candidate for at least six touchdowns and definitely over 1,200 yards for him to be considered like a big-time breakout type of fantasy receiver. I'm looking at some of the comments. Falcon's pass game was terrible. Adam, 22nd is bad, brother.

So I think my impression was the Falcons passing game was terrible that's what I thought then I saw they were 22nd which is not even bottom third I mean it's basically bottom third right I mean they're 10 teams worse but think about their passing game was better look at the teams that are below them and then maybe you'll go, okay, actually, it wasn't that terrible compared to Carolina, the Giants, the Jets, the Patriots, the Bears, the Cardinals, the Steelers, the Titans, the Broncos, the Raiders. All average fewer passing yards per game. But those are all teams I would put in the same canoe of just terrible quarterbacks, bad offensive lines, injured quarterbacks, backup quarterbacks. To a different level, though. Right, the Cardinals might have two different.

Atlanta was much better. They're the best of that group, great. They're ahead of that group. I mean, they're right there with Las Vegas and Denver, but they're much better. They were much better last year than Carolina and the Jets and the Patriots and the Giants. But that's not a huge surprise, though.

Yeah, you're basically calling them the best restaurant in Times Square. How about the two teams that were right ahead of them? Baltimore and Indianapolis and Philadelphia. What I'm saying is we have must-start, especially Indianapolis and Philadelphia, we have

must-start wide receivers on teams that averaged about the same amount of yards per game as Atlanta. London didn't have the target share, I think. Dave, you mentioned the target per run. Right, that goes back to the coach. Maybe. And the quarterback. I believe in Drake London, too. I'm just saying, I don't know how easy it is. So, thanks for what you're saying. Hold on, though. So, in terms of just Drake London, so to tie it back to Justin Fields,

if Justin Fields were to go to Atlanta, he clearly has shown he can support a number one wide receiver to a very high level. Yeah. Yeah. So, right. It would be encouraging. I would say that if I were making a statistical argument, I would say that probably DJ Moore, if you just ran it back, DJ Moore and Justin Fields again in Chicago, Moore probably wouldn't have as good of a year as he had. He was probably a little bit too efficient. And I would say that any team with Justin Fields is probably going to struggle to feature a, to have a truly elite wide receiver. I was shocked,

I was surprised that DJ Moore was able to do it this year. He, Fields just doesn't throw for enough yards or touchdowns. I would also say that having Pitts and potentially Bijon in the passing game is more significant competition than anything that DJ Moore dealt with. Well, again, to keep the same comparison going, DJ Moore, I forget what his ADP was,

but the expectations for DJ Moore based on what his career has been were going to be higher than what the expectations are right now for what Drake London is going to be, even if Justin Fields goes there. Now, he's going to get a boost in hype because of us and the industry. Oh, my God. He's got a quarterback now. Oh, my God. He's freed from Arthur Smith.

Oh, my God. Yes, he's freed from Arthur Smith. Yeah. So where, if it was the same situation, right, let's say they kept Arthur Smith and they kept Ritter and somebody else, then we're probably drafting Drake London at the earliest in round six, I would say in a three receiver league, maybe round seven, based on the, just being sour on that entire team for two straight years. Wait, are you saying if Arthur Smith were there or if Arthur Smith were there? Uh, yes. Right. Right.

And now with, with, with Robinson and Morris as the head coach and expected change in quarterback, whoever that guy may be, London is probably going to start to creep into maybe even round four. And so is that fair? We'll find out. That's where DJ Moore was going.

That's where DJ Moore, DJ Moore was going around the four or five turn. I'm looking at ADP now. And that's probably where the hype will end up with Drake London. Maybe it's round five just to be safe and conservative. But I think it's going to hopefully be justified. I like, you know, it sounds like I'm anti, I'm really just playing devil's advocate here. Well, I know. But I did want to bring up the fact that. You're making it personal and your argument's weak. The Falcons.

And you got to stop using not that bad for below average situations. No, it's just because you have to put it into context with the rest of the league. And there are a lot of teams that were actually a lot worse than the Falcons. So I would say in terms of throwing the ball last year. So I would say that it's not a guarantee that things are going to get better for the passing game there. Maybe they get better for more, for London,

but not necessarily overall for the passing game. All right, we got to take a break here. Yeah, we got to take a break and talk about Jacoby Myers and Dalton Kincaid. And there's more. We'll be right back on Fantasy Football today. All right, Dave has Jacoby Myers as a player he loves. Jamie has Khalil Shakir.

Who do you guys like better? Myers has him now. Shakir, for me, has him now. I guess that's not a huge surprise. So, Dave, what is it that you like about Jacoby Myers? I like that he's underrated in fantasy drafts, and no one's going to be excited to draft him. But when you look back on the year, he averaged 13.8 PPR points per game.

He actually started the year even better than that, 15.5. Slowed down in the final nine games after McDaniels got fired, but still 12.5 PPR points per game year before in new England, 12.9. I think you can pencil them in for that 12 PPR point range, even though the Raiders say that they want to be a running team, even though there's just as big of a question mark in Las Vegas, as there is in Atlanta over what to do with the quarterback spot. I think Myers is just a solid player and a lot of fantasy managers are going to look at him. They're going to say he's 27 years old.

He's not that great. He's not going to help me. I'm going to take on a different player that's got more upside. And honestly, if there's a player matched up, like if Christian Watson's there with him or JSN, I'm taking those guys ahead of Jacoby Myers too. But I think Myers has a place as like a, a solid floor play in fantasy drafts that a lot of people are going to pass

on and I'm going to get them. All right. And Jamie, uh, Khalil Shakir, I, you know, we can tie him into Dalton Kincaid,

who is someone that Dave mentioned as a player he loves. Let me just give the last seven games of this. Eh, forget it, because Gabe Davis is probably gone here. But all right, the last seven games of the season was when Dawson Knox returned from injury. So I was doing the Kincaid research here. And this is what the targets were like for the Bills. Seven games would be five regular season games

and two playoff games. The 17-game pace for targets. Diggs had 136, was on pace for 136. Kincaid, 92. Shakir, 66. James Cook, 58. And I didn't even bother with Gabe Davis. He was invisible.

Was it zero for Gabe Davis? Yeah, he was on pace for 34 targets. I think he had 14 targets in his last two games, his last seven games. But anyway, Jamie, what kind of a role do you think Shakir could end up having for this team? I think it depends what they do. You know, I mean, like you said,

it feels as if Davis is gone. Will Shakir face significant competition, whether it's, you know, in the draft or a free agent that comes to Buffalo. I don't know if that's necessarily the route that will end up happening. Most likely, I think we end up getting another rookie there because they have to eventually think about Diggs being gone, especially Diggs entering his early 30s. So they have to start thinking about upgrades. But Shakir showed you in the final three games of the season so week 18 against Miami

and then the two playoff games and week 18 against Miami's when Davis got hurt is that he's a guy that Josh Allen likes and potentially likes a lot and I think Kincaid falls in the same category because it's not just Dawson Knox it's when Davis was gone as well so when somebody was missing in Buffalo's offense those are the two guys that he started to lean on a hell of a lot more yeah and you referenced I believe it was the playoff game, the first playoff game, I think, for Buffalo, or maybe it was the loss against the Chiefs, how little

Josh Allen threw the ball. But his target here in terms of Kincaid was I think number one for what Allen passed up for. Kincaid led the team in receiving in three of their last four games, including the two playoff games.

Right. And, and, and three of those games, Davis was either hurt or missed. So, you know, it,

it's just speaks to, I think those two guys taking a step forward, Shakira is going to be in his third season, you know, so he's got an opportunity not to have an equal Collins type of breakout because no one should be expecting that, but certainly somebody that can be one of those third year type of receivers that takes a step forward.

And so to compare him to Jacoby Myers, for example, I think Myers, if Devontae Adams is gone and the Raiders are just really hitting the reset button, then Myers is the number one guy in Las Vegas. It's much more intriguing. Myers is the second guy in Las Vegas with a rookie quarterback or in the case of maybe a retread quarterback if it's Russell Wilson. It's not going to be as exciting to me. I think Dave's point is right. You know, he's not a bad receiver to settle for and his floor should be okay, but I don't necessarily think he's going to have a highest, as high a ceiling as the second guy in the offense, which is what we saw

essentially when they got rid of McDaniels and Aiden O'Connell took over. Um, I think for what Shakir has to offer for what Kincaid has to offer, you're tying yourself to Josh down. You're putting yourself in a situation where digs may just not be as productive as he has been, even if he's still getting the targets as the number one guy. And so these two guys in particular can have some really big weeks. Uh, Shakir, I think could be, Shakir will be better in PPR than non in half, because I don't know how much the touchdowns will be there for him. Did have a big touchdown in the loss against the Chiefs, but certainly somebody that can be heavily involved in the passing game

as we saw from Joe Brady when he took over as the coordinator there. So I like the setup for him. I like the setup for Kincaid. He would have been somebody, Dave, just having to put his name down first on the list that I agree with. Kincaid's a top five tight end for me. Love the setup for him as the third of the younger tight ends. I just finished writing something off of the Pro Bowl.

And speaking to a couple of tight ends there, Evan Ingram and David Njoko will be on our site by the end of the day. And just kind of where the position's at. We have three young guys that could be awesome. In Laporta, second-year guy. McBride, third-year guy. And Kincaid, second-year guy. And all three of these guys, for me, are top five tight ends.

The other nice thing about Shakir and Kincaid is that they're both versatile. The Bills, if they're smart, can line them up all over the place. And look, I think that they could enter the season. Let's say they keep Stephon Diggs. They could theoretically make Kincaid. I'd argue that Kincaid would be their number two receiver, but you get him at tight end. And leaps andaps and bounds are going to draft him ahead of any receiver really that we've been talking about probably Drake London as well.

Shakir though, like if he's, if he's the legitimate second wide receiver in this offense, not necessarily the second target getter, I think he's got a chance to be good. Does he have the chance to be a little better than Jacoby Myers? Does he have more upside? Listen, if he's got Josh Allen as quarterback, I think it's hard to make the argument for Myers. I just think his floor is lower. It'll be interesting to see how that Bill's offense shakes out. I'm much more confident that Kincaid is going to have a role that's locked into seeing a floor of six targets per game, being a factor in the red zone, maybe coming down with eight touchdowns in 2024. And it just makes sense for him as a top five fantasy tight end.

I just hope we don't have to draft him that way. I just hope that people get more excited about some other guys who have proven a little bit more. Well, there's four that are locked in. There's very little idea. It's going to shake the top four from being the top four, which is in whatever order you want, Laporta, Kelsey, McBride, and Andrews. And I think those guys will be, you know, if anyone falls out of it'll be McBride just because the other three,

one year for Laporta, but the other two are, we know are established. So it's a matter of this, the, somebody push McBride down? But I don't think for me that I wouldn't anticipate that being the, the top four, you know, is it going to be Kittle again? Is it going to be Ingram coming off a hundred catch season is going to be Njoku with people getting enamored by that is Hawkinson healthy. And people look at him and say, he's the guy and look, Kincaid is going to get a lot of hype. I think understandably. So, especially, especially if Davis is gone and no significant upgrade is brought in. It's a day two, day three type of rookie that they add that it's not a lot of hype surrounding it, most likely a day three guy. So then it's, okay, all systems go for Kincaid. Maybe he becomes the guy ahead of McBride based on ADP and upside.

I doubt it, but it could happen. But yeah, I think you're right, Adam. You don't want to draft him in that realm, but tight end five through eight is probably going to be a very similar ADP in how those guys are all gone. And of course, the first place my mind goes is, is that the dead zone for tight ends? Because in years past, when we've taken tight ends in that range, they haven't done so well. And so I'm looking at the two mock drafts we've done in full PPR. Kincaid went 88th overall, half PPR. He went 81st overall.

That's basically on the border of round seven and round eight. That'd be great. It would be. I don't think he's going to go there. I think he's going to go at least a full round higher than that. Me too. If not two rounds higher than that, depending on how things shake out in Buffalo.

And like Jamie said, how is TJ Hawkinson doing? Does he have a chance to start the season on time? Does he make a great comeback from this injury that he had? If he does that, then I wonder if that pushes Kincaid down a spot. And Pitts could jump over him, but based on hype too, if he gets the right quarterback too. There's a lot of scenarios that play. Kittle, Ingram, Njoku, Hawkinson,

those type of guys can all be ahead of Kincaid. I am debating right now. Do I bring up another point on this subject? Or do I just get to the emails? I don't know. What do you think? I got another good point. I think you should make your point. And I will sit and listen and not interrupt you at all.

I think when you're looking, that's crazy. Now you're going to be crazy when you're looking at, you know, breakouts or undervalued players, just like Drake London, you're looking for quarterback upgrades, but don't discount quarterback upgrades on the quarterbacks that are remaining the same.

And what I mean is, at the end of the year, those seven games I mentioned when Dawson Knox came back, the numbers were not good for anyone, but they also were not good for Josh Allen. And they will be better. Josh Allen averaged 211.6 passing yards per game. And part of that was in the last seven games of the year, including the playoffs. Part of that was Joe Brady. He was throwing only about 30 times per game. So I do think we have to ask ourselves two questions.

One, it was just a fluke and Josh Allen's going to be more like 260 passing yards per game. It's a huge difference. 211.6 yards per game is horrible for Josh Allen's going to be more like 260 passing yards per game. It's a huge difference. 211.6 yards per game is horrible for Josh Allen. But also is Joe Brady going to potentially be a fantasy killer? Is he going to be too conservative as a play caller? Is he going to make James Cook the most valuable player on the team

basically? And for fantasy, for fantasy purposes. So we do have to ask ourselves that like We need a bounce back from Josh Allen. He was able to keep it up because he was scoring so many rushing touchdowns from a fantasy perspective. But as a thrower, with Joe Brady, it was unproductive for everyone around him, basically.

Let's see what a full offseason looks like with him implementing maybe some of his own schemes and how much of it was them just changing some things on the fly or just tweaking some of Ken Dorsey's offense. I'm not worried about Josh Allen. Yeah. I specifically, are you, are you worried about Josh Allen's passing output? That's the question. Is this more, I mean, I mean, digs was a letdown. I think digs will be better to what extent we'll find out, but I think he'll be better. I think Kincaid in year two will be better. I think Shakir, if he's in a bigger role, year three will be better. Whatever they do to enhance their receiving core,

hopefully will just help elevate Josh Allen's game. James Cook has proven to be a great factor in the passing game too, so I'm not worried about that. I think if they had maybe won a Super Bowl this way, then you say, okay, they're going to just recreate the formula. But, you know, Josh Allen was getting MVP buzz by the end of the season. And so, you know, how much of that is, you know, they just try to maybe make a push to get him even more productive

to win that award as well. All right, let's read an email or two to finish the show. Fantasyfootball at cbsi.com. This one comes from Steve from a city south of evanston dave city south of evanston uh a legit city or like a neighborhood of chicago i don't care let's go let's go with the 78 okay in one of your recent mailbag episodes adam mentioned that he used to be a theater and he put in quotes t-h-H-E-A-T-R-E. Yes, that's how we spell it in the biz.

Theater. Theater management major at the University of Miami. It turns out my wife sold theater tickets with Adam during that time. I asked her what it was like to work with Adam. She said he was pretty, quote, checked out, end quote. I don't buy that. I don't believe. Okay. For the record, I defended Adam, explaining that he was forced to double major, and this wasn't even his original second major, second world. Anyway, my question for Redraft,

is this a bad year to adopt the great or late strategy at tight end? It seems like there is less separation between the top six this season. Yes. I was not checked out. Okay. I was. No, I took it somewhat seriously. I did a good job.

I got an A. Would you say that you were not too bad? I don't get that. Yeah, I would say. I don't understand. But yes, I would say that I'm not too bad. You were not bottom 10, but you were 11th. Oh, I was 22nd, yeah. I would say that if we have an eyewitness viewing of your performance, we have to trust that. Because you're going to obviously be biased in your view of yourself.

I remember the cold calls I had to make to people to try to get them to buy tickets to the University of Miami Theater. Well, let's hear it. Give us an example. Oh, boy. No, I have nothing. I can't even make this funny. It was cold calls. Sounds like you were checked out, all right. So speaking of theater,, of, of theater,

I ran into, um, one of our, our audience members. Uh, I saw Fiddler on the roof this weekend and I apologize for not remembering your name. Your family was wonderful from Michigan. Um, but standing in the, uh, valet line at the end and, you know, it started to, the line started to move just, you know, the, the, these are, you know, know for for me at least awkward moments um so we're having a nice conversation talking about the super bowl which was the next day and um they were lions fans and then the line just stopped moving so it's like how much how do you continue the the conversation you know like we oh yeah have a you know nice to meet you thank you so much for listening um you know and again very awesome and and very

appreciative that they listen to our show. But it's like, and I introduced him to my wife, whatever. Am I supposed to continue talking? I don't know what to say. Right. And you couldn't do it. We talked about the show.

We talked about football. We talked about fantasy. It was like, I didn't know. Right. I know that thing. There's a moment when you're at an event,

a wedding or whatever, and you're small talking with someone and you both acknowledge it's over. It's gone as far as it's going to go. And so there's always an out. There's other people.

It's like, oh, excuse me. I've got to go say hi to someone else. Yeah, but there was no out. There was no out. You were stuck. There was no out. The worst. You should have just turned, do what I do and just turn to them and say, so is there

anything crazy you want to know about Adam, Jamie? I was at Comic-Con and I met a quasi-celebrity and me and my friend were talking to him and we were boring him so much that his out of the conversation, he had an empty bottle

of water in his hand and he said, oh, excuse me, I have to go recycle this and he just left that was you got to share the story that you told me when i told you about this one about how you got recognized oh god this is this is awful it's not gonna beat mine in the emergency room no no this is this is not awful from... This is how Adam got recognized. Maybe. We're not sure. I got my haircut two weeks ago and I go at like five o'clock on a weeknight. So I'm pretty much always the only one there. And I always wear one of my crappiest shirts

to get a haircut because I'm going to get hair all over it. I'm going to take it off as soon as I get home, take a shower. By the way, bonus points if you go to a barber or a hairstylist that washes your hair after. That's what they should do. This place doesn't even have sinks. But anyway, great haircut play. I love the place. So I wore my high school soccer shirt that had my last name on the back, which is a really like embarrassing thing to wear out in public. But I figured nobody was going to see me. Of course, there was one other person. Well, two.

It was a father and son sitting behind me waiting to get a haircut. And as I got up, you know, I had the cape on the whole time, right? The thing that you wear when you get a haircut. As I got up out of the chair, he looks at me and he's like, you don't host that football podcast, do you? I'm like, yeah, I do. And so he was a super nice guy. But I don't know if he recognized me because he heard me speak, hopefully. No, he saw your name.

Or because he saw the name on the back of my shirt, which is so lame. I was very embarrassed by that. It's a funny story. I never get recognized. Maybe once a year. But I would, of course, be wearing that embarrassing shirt. But at least I wasn't in the emergency room. You didn't think you were dying when somebody comes up to you and says,

I'm a huge fan of your show. What was the problem, by the way? I have to talk about my medical problems on the show now? What medication did you take? All right, anyway, is this a bad year to adopt a greater late strategy at tight end? I think it's changed because I don't see there being a tight end that I'm happy to take in round one or round two or even round three. I think you can wait a little bit because there's some quality tight ends

that can produce and you can find them as soon as round four. Round three will be when we start to see Laporta and Kelsey and maybe McBride or Andrews come out. Okay. I feel like that's too soon. Do you guys ever, it might be, but that's typically the range where the elite

players are gone and you start to question, is this player a difference maker or is it somebody that I'm taking because the floor is high or is it too much of a risk? And in the case of some of those tight ends, they probably both qualify or, you know, different tight ends qualify for each answer. But I think, you know, I know you've talked about this a lot. Dave is like, okay, I'll pivot to the quarterback at this point, you know, at least last year. And I think in the case of some of these tight ends, that's where the pivot will come. That's the first pivot. You'll pivot there before quarterback.

Right. Well, some people will still go quarterback, but that's, that's a good pivot point to a different position. And I mean, look, Laporta, if he builds off of his rookie campaign, amazing. If Kelsey can do it one more time, amazing. Then McBride can do what he did in the, you know,

seven games when Urch was gone. Amazing. You know, so there's, there's reasons to justify it. By the way, uh, Steve from a city South of Evanston included a picture of his wife for Adam

to see. I'll be honest. Did you try to date his wife? No. Yeah, no, I did not. No, no, I didn see. Now, be honest. Did you try to date his wife? No. Yeah. No, I did not. No,

no, I didn't. I, I, I didn't try to date her. No, she's lovely. She would have said no to you anyway.

Absolutely. Yeah. She's like, this guy doesn't even care about theater. Why am I going to, why would he care about me? I'm going to go marry Steve. Uh, yeah, no, no. It was a picture of

what? Six girls in the theater department? How many of those did you try to date? Legitimately. None of them. I'm a professional. Okay? I went there. I sold tickets. Maybe. And that was it. Alright. Anyway, we're out of here.

We're out of here. Did you wear your soccer jersey while you were selling tickets? I swear I said nothing, Adam. I didn't tell him anything. I didn't text him. I didn't say a word.