Fantasy Football Today - Favorite Mid-Round Picks; Mailbag! (05/07 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: May 7, 2021

Last year you may have taken Kareem Hunt, Kyler Murray or Justin Jefferson with a mid-round pick. We'll tell you some of our favorites in 2021 after we give you the news and notes (2:00) and discuss the Lions backfield ... Kicking off our discussion of mid-round picks with some of the RBs we'll be looking at (6:45). Myles Gaskin, Chase Edmonds and Mike Davis come to mind. But which Cardinals RB should we prioritize (8:35)? Also, Heath thinks Robby Anderson shouldn't be overlooked in this range, but did he reach for Terrace Marshall in a recent mock draft (15:15)? ... Which QBs should you draft with a mid-round pick (17:35)? And how do we feel about Juju Smith-Schuster and Chase Claypool (20:30)? ... Your Apple Podcast questions (28:40) and emails (42:00) at [e-mail]. And a "Heath Sigh" compilation (51:45)! Want in the Podcast League? Try our NFL Draft contest! https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/permalink/1115877195573244/ 'Fantasy Football Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCviK78rIWXhZdFzJ1Woi7Fg/videos Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

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

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

Touchdown. Oh, he's done it again. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath, and Beck. Mid-round picks they could make or break your team. Last year, maybe you took Kyler Murray in round six, or maybe you got a little luckier and he was round seven. Justin Jefferson you got even later than that. There were plenty of good ones.

Kareem Hunt was a mid-round pick in a lot of leagues, and these are important, important picks that have big-time upside in a lot of leagues. And these are important, important picks that have big time upside in a lot of cases. We welcome you to the show. We're talking about our favorite mid-round picks going into the 2021 season. Adam Azer, Dave Richard, and Heath Cummings on Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. Getting ready for what should hopefully be a great weekend. Weather's nice.

Yeah, Dave, I'm fired up. Mid-round picks. Woo! Weather's nice. Yeah, Dave, I'm fired up. Mid-round picks, woo! Nothing associates the start of the weekend like mid-round picks in a fantasy football draft that's several months away. Yeah, I don't know. Heath, I'm just in a good mood, man. I'm just really excited for the weekend.

Oh, I think everybody's working for the weekend. That's right. Ben Trager has no idea what you're talking about, by the weekend. Oh, I think, I mean, everybody's working for the weekend. That's right. And you're no exception. Ben Trager has no idea what you're talking about, by the way. I have two slabs of ribs and about four pounds of wings sitting downstairs

just waiting for this podcast to conclude. And then I'm going to put them on the smoker and I'm probably going to open a beer and it's going to be the weekend. There's no way you're going to be able to eat all that food, Heath. It sounds like too much. So you know what? I will be the kind, friendly co-worker

to come over and help you out with that over the weekend. I'll be there maybe like Friday at noon, Saturday. I'm just going to come over Friday at noon and just stay parked in your driveway until they're done. We got a few quick news items. Also, this is a mailbag. Apple podcast reviews and your emails at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Miami signed Jason McCourty, cornerback Jason McCourty, released Bobby McCain, starting

safety from last year. Detroit signed center Frank Ragnow to a four-year contract extension. He's now the highest paid center in the league, $54 million extension. They were 13th in run blocking last year and 9th in pass blocking, according to PFF, and they added Penesul with the 7th pick, so he might have a good offensive line in Detroit. When

was the last time we said that? And they also signed tight end Darren Fels, which does not have a lot of fantasy impact. In fact, none of those items do, so we will... I think Fels can block, though. That's great. I think what they're going to do is like, they're going to line up golf and Swift and nine blockers with them. And just run every single play.

If you are 1930s football over again. I do. I do think we didn't say enough. Like when they dropped carry on Johnson, I didn't make a big enough deal about what it means for Jamal Williams. And I think he's probably a good flex now. There's always been two

running backs in this system and that sounds bad for DeAndre Swift. It's not. The Chargers have always just given more running touches to running backs than any other team. And so I think Jamal Williams could have a role similar or slightly elevated from what last year was.

10 to 12 touches a game, Heath. Is that what you're thinking? Yeah. Yeah. A hundred and 170 to 190-ish for the season. Yeah.

That's good flex stuff. Yeah. And there could be a game or two that Swift misses. Hopefully I'm dead wrong on that. Swift plays all 17. And Jamal Williams, if he has the opportunity

to start could be very good behind that offensive line he's not a bad running back he really isn't so there there's a very good opportunity for him to be a healthy contributor he's one of the guys that i think should be in that mix with pollard madison guys that you're going to draft is like handcuff ish. I think he's right there with them. And that's usually late middle to late picks. So not quite somebody we should talk about on this pot. He's definitely going to go after those guys. And my estimation, I'm looking at NFC ADP and the two drafts that have been done since May

1st. And he is directly behind Latavius Murray, which I think is a fantastic... I mean, we saw what Latavius Murray did last year when Alcmaier got hurt. And he gets often right around 10 to 12 touches. Now, I think Williams will be more in the passing games. He'll be possibly more valuable in PPR leagues

than Murray. But they're both going with the first two picks of round 11. Yeah. Jamal Williams, by the way, he has been good when he's stepped into Aaron Jones' role. Thankfully, it wasn't very often, but he has 500 carries, and he has four of them for more than 20 yards.

So he is what he is. He's not an explosive player. I like that stat because Aaronones has so many big runs like aaron aaron jones is so much better than jamal williams there we go that's basically what i was trying to say the packers agree with you so so are all the other running backs you can draft in round 11 oh yeah that had absolutely nothing to do with fantasy um no i think like you started to do that remember when you were going to do the started fantasy point set? It's still on the back burner.

I think we should just leave it on the back burner. I'm halfway through. I am halfway through running back, wide receiver, and tight end. I'm doing them all at the same time. I'm halfway through. It will be done sometime by the end of May. I have a more urgent Acer set that I think could actually catch on. I need some sort of explosive rating for running backs where they get points

for what percentage of their runs were at least 20 yards. I think it's an important stat. It's why that's why I'm, but I, but I don't know when you tell me that a running back has four out of 500. Oh yeah. How many of these are the average running back have every 100 attempts? I don't know. That's a good question. I guess that's not hard to figure out.

The problem with it is sometimes, you know, you get a running back that has one good year, and then, you know, it's not necessarily predictive of the next year. But it's huge if you can get big plays because it makes them a little bit less

bust-proof week to week. That's why I love Nick Chubb so much because even if he doesn't catch passes, if you give him enough carries, he's likely to break one of them for a big run. All right. Anyway, let's move on to our favorite mid-round picks. But if you're watching on YouTube, we want to know your favorite mid-round picks. Comment right now. Give us some of your favorite mid-round picks.

We'll pick out our favorites and discuss them on a future show. That's at youtube.com slash fantasyfootballtoday. If you're watching, please comment favorite mid-round pick and we'll read some of our favorites later. Okay. Dave, I know you got a bunch of names. So give me one or two that you want to start with your favorite mid-round picks. I'm going with round six through nine in a 12-team league. So that's after pick 60, the next four rounds, six, seven, eight, nine. That's my general definition of a mid-round pick, but it doesn't really matter. Five through 10, whatever you want to do that range. Go ahead. So I always like looking for running backs that are in this range and looking at the ADP, um, two that stand out to me or guys,

I just think can be good values especially in PPR one is Miles Gaskin who it looks like is going to be the primary back for the Dolphins gotta like that fit the fact that the Dolphins went all offseason and really didn't do a whole lot to transform their run game Gaskin still feels like the best guy and he was pretty good last year when given the opportunity so he's one guy and the other one is Chase Edmonds, who played less than half of the snaps last year with Kenyon Drake, still had over 850 total yards, still had over 50 catches. I think he gets more playing time with James Conner there this year. And I think he can do better than 850 total yards and should be in position

to catch more than 50 passes. So those are two of the running backs that I'm looking at in that mid-round range that I think can be helpful for people who decide to go in different directions with their earlier picks. Yeah, I think Gaskin and Mike Davis were the two that stood out for me as just not belonging where they are.

But if you scroll a little bit later, I like Cortland Sutton quite a bit in round seven. I really like Noah Fant in round nine James Connor is at the very end of round nine I don't know why I kind of agree with Dave

that Chase Edmonds is a pretty good value in round six or seven I don't know why James Connorner would be going two or three rounds later than him. I think it's because people are nervous about him getting back to where he was two seasons ago, three seasons ago in Pittsburgh. But I understand that.

There's a wide range between where Chase Edmonds has ever been and where he was two or three years ago. He could lose 20% of what he was as a fantasy football asset and still be as valuable or more valuable than Chase Edmonds. He was actually,

James Conner was a top 10 running back through week, well, he got hurt in week one. But weeks two through eight, he was a top 10 running back. He was getting a lot of work. But you know what happens with him. He gets hurt.

And the Steelers abandoned the run. They just completely abandoned the run. Heath kind of teased me. And then they abandoned James Conner. Not really. It's not like he got hurt. He missed three games. No, I'm talking about after the season.

Oh, oh, oh. It's like they didn't even bother trying to get him back. Well, I don't want to give away too much of the draft that we teased, the magazine draft that we talked about on yesterday's show. But I took James Conner 59th, and then Chase Edmonds went 73rd overall, I believe. So Heath kind of teased me off the air for taking james connor

59th i would have taken him 62nd if but i thought there was a chance that you might take him because you had the next two picks and i knew you weren't going to take the other guy i took which was hawkinson so i prioritized connor i'd rather take him in round six i took him at the very end of round five i'd like to see him go maybe 10 picks round six. I took him at the very end of round five. I'd like to see him go maybe 10 picks later than where I took him, but I knew I wasn't getting him if I didn't take Connor there.

Yeah, so Heath, why did you think that I reached a little bit on Connor, 59th overall? Well, because his ADP is 95th. I don't think there's a chance. I didn't know that at the time. There's no chance he's going to be. It's actually 105th currently. No, I just, like, when you see James Conner in the fifth round,

I can't imagine, which you didn't have a quarterback yet, right? No, that's the one where I should have taken a quarterback there. And I think, like, that's the point in the draft where we're looking at our favorite running back is James Connor and our favorite wide receiver is maybe, I don't know, Chase Claypool. And if any of the Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray, Josh Allen group is there, it's time to pounce because those guys will make a difference. These other guys, you're just hoping you don't have to start. Connor averaged 13.9 PPR points per game in 2019, 11.7 PPR points per game in 2020.

And an offense like Arizona's, I have a hard time believing he's going to be able to average better than either of those two years unless he's scoring a crazy amount of touchdowns. And I guess your argument for Connor is, well, look at what Kenyon Drake just did. Connor can fill that role. Theoretically, it makes sense. Can he stay

healthy enough to do that? Was he really good at short yardage touchdowns? I think a couple of years ago, he was very good. Now I'm not so sure that he will be. It's going to be all about Kyler. I think you couldn't ask for a better setup if you want short yardage touchdowns

because Kyler Murray is such a threat that if he just hands the ball to James Conner and fakes as if Kyler's keeping it, that's a really tough decision for the defense. Okay, Kenyon Drake scored 10 touchdowns last year. I think James Conner can... Basically, I don't think they're going to expand Chase Edmonds in the run game that much. That's basically what it comes

down to. So I think Connor will have a similar role to Drake's. I feel like there's a wide range of belief about what Kenyon Drake's current and past talent level is. For most of their careers, we thought James Connor was a better running back than Kenyon Drake, right?

Yes. No, not me. You just thought they were the same? Oh, I've got Conor Summers. I thought they were in... Yeah, I thought they were in a similar... The other thing I was going to say was... And I agree, James Conner is one of... Seems to be one of the biggest injury risks

at running back. But his lowest touch total over the past three years is 150 touches. Chase Edmonds set a career high with 150 touches last year. We don't know if Chase Edmonds could handle 15 touches a game. He's never really been asked to. I think that's also part of the difference between PPR and non-PPR here.

And that Edmonds' appeal to me is way more so in PPR because I think he's going to be in line to catch those flare outs and screens and stuff like that from Kyler. Whereas Connor probably won't be on the field in obvious passing situations. And I spoke out of turn. I got to give Connor credit last year, five of six converting goal line touchdowns or touchdowns. I should say inside the three yard line, he was three or four on goal line jobs and he was two and four

the year before. So I think that's what you're hoping for is that if you draft Connor, he stays healthy. He has a chance to get eight plus touchdowns. Hopefully you start him on the right weeks when he gets those touchdowns. I don't know how much more you can count on from him for now. Yeah. Yeah. Right. You need to, you need touchdowns for sure. Heath, moving on, who else would you like to talk about? I just think one last thing on that. Sure. This whole conversation shows how important it's going to be where his ADP ends up.

Because he is a guy that I absolutely love in round nine, and I mocked you four in round five. So what would it take? In round seven? I don't think he's going to round nine, but I think round seven is better. And round five, it's a little tricky to say round five because it was the very end of round five.

To me, it was a round six pick. And I would love to get it. Yes, round seven would make me feel better. I should have absolutely taken Lamar Jackson over him. Without question. What would it take for you to feel comfortable taking James Conner at 60th overall, Heath?

What needs to happen? I don't think anything's going to happen. Maybe after all the ribs and the beard and the wings. Chase Edmonds could get hurt, but I wouldn't want that to happen. What if there were really glowing reports out of Arizona's training camp

that James Conner looked great, and then the preseason comes around? Remember, we're going to have preseason games this year. All right, come on. We've beaten a dead horse here, so let's go. I want to talk about a lot of players. If Conner opens the preseason

and he's clearly getting lead work in that offense, I think that you would have to change your thinking on him. Heath, give me some more names in the mid-rounds. I still like Robbie Anderson. I do like Terrace Marshall also, but there's enough room for three wide receivers to have a thousand total yards. We've seen that before. And last year they did go away from him, but what it looked like to me was teams treated DJ more like the number one wide receiver. So they threw to Robbie Anderson a bunch. Teams treated Robbie Anderson like the number one wide receiver, so they went to Curtis Samuel or DJ Moore.

I don't think that Robbie Anderson, now playing with his old quarterback, playing for his old coach, is going to disappear just because they drafted Terrace Marshall. His ADP is at the start of round eight, and I actually think that one's probably pretty reasonable. I still believe that he can be a high end number three wide receiver. Well, you mentioned Cortland Sutton. So it looks like Sutton and Anderson,

a very similar ADPs. Who would you take? That for me would come down to format. I think, I think Sutton has more upside and non PPR, but I do think that Anderson will catch more passes and I'd rather have him in full PPR. I'm taking Sutton in both. I think I can probably draft Sutton and still have a chance to draft Anderson with my next pick if I so chose. I don't disagree with what you're saying about Robbie, and I even like the idea of drafting Robbie and Terrace Marshall

just to have that little friendship strategy going and to get a nice chunk of the... Adam Azer a shout out in the draft room and he just ignored me. When? In our most recent draft. I said, Azer is going to love this. I wasn't there. Back to back, I took Robbie Anderson and Terrace Marshall at the 7-8 turn.

Oh, no. I was... Yeah. That seems a little early. I don't know if I'm ready to take Marshall on round eight I wasn't actually in the draft room it was Jamie called me

and I made my picks via the phone that's why I didn't take Kyler Murray instead of James Cotter or Lamar Jackson instead of James Cotter okay go ahead

Dave you think that's too early seven and eight I think round eight is a little too early for Marshall I think you probably could have tried

and listen I don't think you should ever go into your draft saying I've got to get the Panthers friendship strategy going. But you take Anderson at 7'8",

and then you get another player then, and then you hold Marshalls there in 9'10", or even 11'12". Yeah, well, he was 24 picks away from his next pick, so I'm sure that factored into it. All right, Dave, quarterbacks in this range. Obviously, if, like Lamar Jackson in the draft we did, he went at the very end of round five or first pick of round six, you know, right there.

But anyone from that group falls, you took Dak Prescott. That's great. But are there other quarterbacks maybe toward the back end of the mid round picks rounds eight or nine that you'd be looking at? I'm just going to point out all the second year quarterbacks because I think this is the range that they're going to go in. I think Herbert's going to go much earlier than Burrow and Hurts, but I like all three of these guys. Really love the upside for Herbert. Love that the coaching staff has changed there. Not that it was bad last year for Herbert, but I think it could be even better for him. I think he can be more efficient on the same type of passing volume, maybe even a little bit higher. They're saying in LA that they're going to build this offense around him. They didn't do a whole lot to improve the running backs. They did do a whole lot to protect the offensive line or to upgrade the offensive line to theoretically protect Justin Herbert. And I think that that'll go a long way for him. I think he's got top five potential and you don't have to draft him that way.

I also think Joe Burrow's got plenty of potential. The reasons are obvious. They drafted Jamar Chase. They've done some things to improve their offensive line. I don't believe that Cincinnati is suddenly going to become a bastion of rushing and that their defense is going to start playing well. So Burrow, Burrow might not be very efficient. I think he's just going to get a ton of volume and hurts on the other hand. I think I actually think I like what the Eagles are doing. They've, they've continued to improve their offensive line. All the guys that were hurt last year, they're healthy coming into training camp. They added another piece in Dickerson.

He's an interior offensive lineman. I like him a lot. Devante Smith, I think is a huge piece for them because he is a reliable set of hands, a very good route runner, and someone who can improve the completion rate for Jalen Hurts on both short and intermediate throws. And that's the area that I think really matters when a quarterback breaks out. You look at Josh Allen last year, you look at other quarterbacks in the past, Kyler, it helped him when they get a new receiver and they get less pressure on them and they improve that intermediate accuracy. They break out. They have a big year. And I think that that's part of the puzzle for Hertz. And obviously, Philadelphia didn't do anything to try and challenge Hertz for that starting role. Joe Flacco is not going to take his job. So I think he's worth taking a chance on if you find yourself waiting a little bit on draft day.

And I think it actually makes sense that if you can't get a good value, like Dak in round six, Justin Herbert around six or round seven, you kind of take Hurts in round eight. I think he'll make it there. And then you take another quarterback, a blue chip quarterback in rounds 10 plus,

whether it's Trevor Lawrence or for this year, I think Matthew Stafford qualifies. And you're rolling your draft with two quarterbacks, hoping that hurts as the guy, but if he's not, you've got another option in case he stinks. Heath, if you saw two, you won't, you won't see Deontay Johnson here, but if you saw Juju Smith Schuster and Chase Claypool available in this range, do you think this is the right time to start taking these Steelers wide receivers? And look, the numbers... Hold on. This is actually important. So I think it was that stat I gave about James Conner being a top 10 running back. In that stretch, Ben Roethlisberger averaged 35 pass attempts per game. And then in the last eight games, he averaged 45.3 pass attempts per game. So now they've drafted a running back.

Does that lower the pass volume for the Steelers? And if you're splitting it almost three ways fairly equally between these three guys, what does that mean for the Steelers' wide receivers? I don't know that we should expect it to be fairly equally chase claypool was quite a ways behind deontay johnson and juju smith schuster and we don't know exactly how the offense will change but i i love taking juju in this place in a ppr league but i look at it as if listen he's been at 12 yards per attempt or per reception for his career he was at 8.6 last year. He's going to be better. He might not be backed up to 12. Maybe they're continuing to run an

offense that only targets him four yards down the field, but I think you should expect increased efficiency. And he's pretty much been a five to six catch per game guy for his career. So you really shouldn't expect a big drop in his volume. And so I, I look at Juju as a bounce back candidate. He probably won't score as many touchdowns he did last year. He had nine, but I definitely expect him to get back over a thousand yards. I think he's a number two wide receiver and he's one of the guys that

makes it easier to go running back heavy early. Okay. Dave, do you kind of gravitate toward Claypool? I do, uh, over the Steelers guys and non PPR. He's my second favorite in full PPR. Because I feel like we're not, I'm not at a point where I coaches are thinking about, we've got this giant who can move. Let's put them in positions to make plays, especially inside the red zone.

And I think he's the one that's got the best chance to lift his numbers from last year. And I don't think that's saying a whole lot because it's going to be hard for Deontay Johnson to do better than he did last year. And Juju, he could get the ball. That would be a good start. That's true. And Juju, he could catch the ball. That would be a good start. That's true. And Juju had a ton of catches and a ton of touchdowns. His yardage could get better, but I,

I, I have a hard time believing that he's going to see the exact same type of target volume and the same type of touchdown production. I think Claypool is the one that can take the biggest step forward. Okay. Why? And I don't, I don't think I don't have a good um guess on this but why do you

expect juju's targets to go down and claypools to go up i just well one because i think there will be more plays designed for claypool two i don't know do you really think that they are excited to have juju back after what happened this offseason? They had a pretty terrible half situation. Yeah, okay. We saw how they treat a player they were not excited to have back. They changed the locks on James Conner.

Right, that's true. But they were like, okay, we'll give you a one-year deal to Juju. They didn't franchise tag him. They didn't give him a multi-year extension. I thought this was supposed to be the next great stud receiver in Pittsburgh. And they ended up getting

him back on a discount deal. All the information we have is that he took the third best deal that he had offered to him. Which, do you think that's true? He says he had the chance to go to Kansas City or Baltimore. I would imagine that Baltimore and Kansas City both offered more than that. Yes. And you really think that he chose to take less

to catch passes from Roethlisberger? I think his agent told him the cap's going to explode next year. It will be a much easier year to get a long-term deal. Take a one-year deal. Pittsburgh is the place where you have familiarity and you know what your role will be. They throw it 600 times. I also think it's... If that is what happened... If you go to Baltimore, it's easy to say no. It's easy to say no to Baltimore. I think they have trouble getting wide receivers there

because a lot of people don't want to play on a team that doesn't throw. But to point out the targets here, Chase Claypool was a rookie, and they both played 16 games, and Claypool had only 21... No, only 19 fewer targets than Juju. And Deontay Johnson blew them both away. He played 15 games.

He left two of them early, and he still had a lot. He had 144 targets. Claypool 109, Juju 128. That actually, to me, that's a pretty small gap for Claypool in his rookie season to be only 19 targets away from Juju. So I don't know if that's telling, but it's interesting. And the other thing is that Juju was strictly a slot guy, basically. He's, I don't like that they've done that with him.

They are basically confining him to the slot. Well, I think that's the thing about this whole thing and why I don't want to make any statements that are too declarative. But they're hopefully changing what they did last year. Hopefully. Please. They've behaved as if they're changing it. Well, they're going to try running the football. That's for sure.

That could bring the targets down for all these guys. If Harris is wildly successful, and you know he can catch passes, that's going to hurt all three of them. The structure of the team, does that suggest they've got two other wide receivers now? It's not just Antonio Brown and Juju and then other guys. It's three guys that they feel... I feel like Juju is going to stay as a slot receiver.

And I think that's really going to cap his abilities, his potential, unfortunately. Not to say he's not a great mid-round pick because he can still be both, right? Yes. But I don't like that he's basically strictly a slot guy now. I think that kind of sucks for him. Well, it certainly does if that slot role

is what it was last year. I mean, if it's an 8 ADOT as opposed to the 5 that it was last year, and he's averaging 10.5 yards per catch like a normal slot-wide receiver, and the volume stays the same, then he's a top 12 PPR-wide receiver because he's going to catch 95 passes for 1,100 yards and probably score seven or eight touchdowns that might have been the expectation last year i have a hard time believing that's

going to be the case this year i really do okay well those are some of our favorite mid-round picks and we got more but we'll save them for another show and of course comment on youtube and we'll read yours as well uh We are going to take a break here. And when we come back, we will read your emails and your Apple podcast questions. We'll be right back on fantasy football today. Whether in the game or in life, the right coverage can make all the difference.

Securian Canada gives you that coverage. For more than 65 years, Securian Canada has been helping Canadians build secure tomorrows. Their insurance solutions are designed to help protect you and your loved ones financially, giving you the peace of mind to focus on what truly matters. Find their products through banks, credit unions, and associations, or visit SecurianCanada.ca. Securian Canada, insurance designed for life. Did you know 66% of utility damage is caused by not requesting a locate?

Don't let your project become part of this statistic. A quick locate request can save you from unexpected downtime, financial penalties, and keep you safe. Don't let avoidable damage cost you time and money. Click before you dig. Ensure your next project is safe. Visit OntarioOneCall.ca. It's free. It's easy.

It's the law. Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report. Welcome back, everybody. Big, big time in the sports world right now. A lot going on. Heath, what are you excited about in sports right now? Oh, I am so excited about the start of the NBA playoffs. The Knicks are getting ready to puke their way out of the 4-5 matchup, falling to the

sixth seed, where they're going to lose in the first round. And it's going to be fantastic. That is probably true. They're probably going to end up playing the Nets in the first round. That's just going to be horrible. Also, the Royals are on a five-game losing streak. I know Heath didn't mention that. They have fallen out of first place,

but they still have a better record than the Yankees. But anyway, there's plenty to follow in sports, and HQ is where you want to be, and CBS Sports, we have a great app for you as well. So make sure you're watching HQ, and make sure you're downloading our app, and you can watch HQ on the app, by the way. But it's the best scoring app for your phone. It's where you're going to get breaking news and alerts and stories by us and standing schedules, team pages,

all the sportsy digital stuff that you're used to. If a game is airing on CBS, that means you can watch it on the CBS Sports app. So download it. and if it's got the little cloud logo next to it, re-download it, and give us a five-star rating because we love those. So thanks so much for downloading the CBS Sports app. And thanks so much for your Apple Podcast questions and reviews. Those are really helpful as well.

Five-star review and a question gets you on the show. From Marks Wells, I have the number three pick, and we'll do emails after this. I have the number three pick in this year's rookie draft. Should I take Kyle Pitts or Jamar Chase? I have Jonu Smith, Robert Tunyon, and Irv Smith,

and I have a needed quarterback, but it's a super flex tight end premium league, and the quarterbacks are nerfed? Yeah. What does that mean? I think that he is not anticipating being able to acquire a quarterback with a third pick, but I,

I think like looking at the roster, he's got my homes and then it folds as number two quarterback, those tight ends. I don't love. So I would lean towards pits except like, first off, it's not chase. It's Kyle pits or either trey lance or justin fields

whichever one does not get selected um i'm probably going pits but not chase nerfed means like weakened so i think i think the scoring or maybe the yeah either way so nerfed hold on let's see what it says on on google cause to to nerf is to cause to be weak or ineffective did you know that obviously not okay i didn't i felt like something that your kids would know you know like a video game term i've not heard them say that but they've they kind of don't say things like that anymore around me because when i hear a new term like that, I just use it constantly so that they don't like it anymore. So they've stopped

bringing those things into the house. I am going to use nerfed. I swear every show once a show until it's not funny anymore. I'm using nerfed beginning with beginning on Monday. Schrager remind me. All right from Sloop Vic B. A player in our league had Watson Beginning on Monday. Schrager, remind me. All right, from SloopVicB.

A player in our league had Watson and drafted Herbert last year. He traded away Herbert for two first-round picks in this year's draft. His team is ready to win now, but getting up in age. Since Watson's off the field stuff, he felt he was in trouble. He traded away 1.6, 1.8, and 1.14

for the 101 in this year's draft. He'll be taking Trevor Lawrence. Did he give up too much? 6th, 8th, and 14th in this year's draft. So this is a one quarterback league? I think so, but I don't know. The answer is most certainly he did. Give me both scenarios.

It's super flexor and super flexor. In a one quarterback league, I think he probably just nerfed his team for the next three years. In a two quarterback league, it's close. I could get the trade chart out here and try to add it up. It's not something that's very easy to do while talking.

If only we had someone else who could be answering. Dave, what do you think right now? Dave had to get up for a few minutes and didn't turn his camera off. So we have an empty chair in front of Dave's helmet. Yeah, even in a two quarterback league, nerfed. Okay. See, nerfed. Okay. See, this sucks. You're doing to me what you do to your kids.

I'm not going to be able to use nerfed because you're going to kill it before I even get a chance. All right, here's a question from Alf878. You've touched on the prime age for running backs and wide receivers in the past. Can you go over those ages again and name some players who will be prime age for this fantasy season? Oh, that's from Alf878. I'm going to try to get...

You look that up. I'm going to explain something about the prime age thing because I think it's important. While it is true that players' best years happen between those ranges, I would use it more for the players that have surpassed those ages that we should begin to worry about and not so much targeting 26 and 27-year-olds. Because if it's a 26 or 27-year-old that's going to be awesome. He's already been awesome. Most likely. I don't think 26 or seven is like when you're expecting the breakout, which would be when you would target lesser known 26 and 27 year olds. That's a great point. So it was, it was 26 was the age that had the most top five finishes over the last 10 years at running back and wide receiver, uh, for running back. I think it was like age 25 through 28 was the peak 28 was no not necessarily the peak but 28 was the end after 28 you didn't see a lot of top five finishes

were there top 10 finishes top six i don't know i only looked at top five uh but 28 is an age where you don't want a guy you don't want a running back you don't depend on a running back after 28 really i guess i'd say in your dynasty league, but 26 does appear to be over the last decade, the most top five finishes and for running backs and wide receivers. So anywhere in the 24 to 28 range, I think you're good, but maybe there's something to it. Maybe 26 is the, is going to be the best. So who's 26 this year is like Dalvin cook 26. Well, that's the thing also, like i can give you the guys that i have is 26 but that is at the beginning of the season the thing you're talking about is guys

that are going to turn 26 by the end of the season uh but yes there are a bunch of 26 year old running backs dalvin cook alvin camara aaron jones ezekiel elliott austin eckler um Kareem Hunt. So there's plenty of targets there. I don't think that's quite as common at wide receiver. It seems like there was a little bit of a lull. There's some older guys, and there's a bunch of 24- and 23-year-olds. Calvin Ridley will be or is 26, and Tyler Boyd, but he's already been nerfed by Jamar Chase.

You're such a jerk. Okay, so... Yeah, damn it. I can't find the episode that we talked about this, so I can't find it in my notes. But 26 is basically the answer, but there was more to it than that. All right, let's move on here. Uh, from Jay Lee, 12 team, half PPR, super flex dynasty trade question, T Higgins and one Oh five or Brandon. I Uke and one Oh nine and a 2022 first. first? I will take Brandon Ayuk and 109

in a 2022 first. I think I might just... It's close. That's an easy one for me. You're taking Ayuk? Yeah. Over who? Oh, look who's back. All right, Dave, here's the trade. It's super flex, doesn't matter. It's half PPR.

Tee Higgins and 105 or Brandon Ayuk, 109 and a 2022 first round pick? The thing is the difference between 105 and 109 is bigger than the difference between Higgins and Ayuk. I wouldn't do it if it's not for the 2022 first round pick.

I agree. That is such a game changer. I got to say something and I feel bad about this. We were asked last week or just before the draft, we were asked about this draft class versus last draft class, next year's draft class, sorry. My theory was that you had

these three stud wide receivers that had such huge potential. You had Kyle Pitts that this was the draft class that you wanted to be in and that it was supposed to be a deep class. I think I was probably very wrong about that. Running back ended up being worse than we thought. These wide receivers ended up being drafted on spots

we didn't really want them to go to. And next year, what I had just recently read was that because so many players were given an extra year of eligibility because of COVID and took advantage of it, that next year's draft class might actually be pretty damn loaded. So I don't know that the quarterback, I don't know. I don't think there's a Trevor Lawrence prospect.

I mean, I doubt there is, but I think next year is going to be a lot better than this year or better. Let's just say that. I just wonder, is it, is it going to content? Cause this year's class was old. Next year's will be old. Yeah. Next year is going to content because this year's class was old um next year's

will be old yeah next year is going to be even older probably for dynasty purposes we're not going to like them quite as much probably maybe but maybe part of the problem with the running backs this year is that the guys from last year are still younger some of them yep and this let's be real this class had you know awesome quarterback and in Trevor Lawrence, a guy that we loved him so much as a prospect. We haven't seen anybody like him in years and years and years. Pitts, we've never seen a tight end like that before. The receivers at the very top of this class, they're awesome. I think the running backs is where you can definitely see better options next year than this year. All right. A question from NotBomba. I have the 10th pick in a rookie draft. Should I move up to six? He gives his roster here. I'm not going to read it all,

but is there that much of a difference between 10 and six? Yes. Yeah, there really is. Okay. Try to move up. From Josh Allen in shorts. This question is from... Oh, yeah. Oh, sorry. I read it wrong. It is From Josh Allen in shorts. This question is from... Oh, yeah.

Oh, sorry. I read it wrong. It is from Josh Allen in shorts. I have picks 1.3, 1.10, 2.3, and 2.06. Do I trade up? He has 1.3. Do I trade up to 1.01 or 1.02 to secure Harris or ETN or take the better players and chase or pits at

one Oh three. I have no running backs. My receiving core could use depth, but I have Julio Judy and Emmanuel Sanders. Yikes. It's so interesting. The different perceptions about how rookie drafts are going to go. Like in most of the rookie drafts I've been in so far,

chase and pits are the first two picks and Harris and Etienne are both there at number three. So I would want, first off, to be very certain about how, before doing that, I would need to know who people are planning on taking, but I'm mostly just staying at three. It depends on what the cost is. If I got to give up, he had 103 and 106.

Yep. If I got to give up both of those to move up to 101, I'm not going to do it. If it's something much, much less, then I would consider it just to control my own destiny. But I think if I had this guy's team, even though I'm weak at running back, I'd still be thrilled to have Chase or Pitts or Harris at three.

Or Etienne, if you really just absolutely have to hammer the running back position. I think everyone's going to hate this question, so I'm not going to say who it is, the smartest football, fantasy football guy in the world of correctly choosing between Kyle Pitts, Jamar Chase, and Najee Harris, who will be the most valuable for fantasy football

in the next five years? I think the smartest person would say that Chase is most likely to be that guy. Right. No, I agree. 33%. He's most likely to be that guy. Right. No, I agree. 33%. He's most likely.

What's his chance of being right? I'd say 33%. Yeah. I might give him like 38%. I'd go a little higher. 38%. Yeah. 33% would be just rolling the dice.

So I'd give him like 38 to 40. But that's the thing. What are you going to give up to move from a 30% chance of having the best of the three to a 40% chance? Don't do it, but if you want to make a trade, you've got 110, 203, and 206. If you can package two of those picks to get up to five or six, that would be a better option for your team to keep 103.

I bet the guy with six would give him six for 10 and 203. Right? What? I thought he had six. He has three. So did I. No, he has picks three and 10 in round one and three and six in round two. 10 and 203. Right? What? I thought he had six. He has three. So did I. No, he has picked three and 10 in round one

and three and six in round two. Oh, okay. Yes, I would give up 10 and both the twos to get to five or six. Wow, what if he gets Harris and ETN?

Okay, guys, let's go to our emails here from Daniel from the beautiful Seattle, Washington. Hello, gentlemen. Hello, gentlemen. Hi, Daniel. Hey, I have a suggestion.

The PPR and non-PPR ranks make sense for wide receiver running back and tight end, but don't impact the quarterbacks at all. Would it be possible to have six point per passing touchdown and four point per passing touchdown be the two options for differing quarterback ranks? It's a brilliant idea, Daniel. We've considered it before.

I read that and I was like, damn, Daniel. Yeah. I think it would be fantastic. That's something that I think we'd have to talk about. How would that lay out? How would that look? Because I don't know if we've necessarily got the we could do it i don't know how i don't know i'm my brain's kind of like on overload thinking about how people would

go like the pull downs would have to change like these are all cosmetic things that could be done yeah what would have to happen was when you change to the quarterback pull down it would go to a different right it wouldn't be ppr rankings part and the ppr non-ppr would change to happen was when you changed to the quarterback pull down, it would go to a different whole. Right. It wouldn't be PPR, not PPR. And the PPR, non-PPR would change to a four and a six. And then when you go to a different position, it would go back to PPR, non-PPR. You could be done. You could give me 25 years and I would never figure out how to do that.

But it seems like there are people that could do it. Yeah. We know people who could do that. We'll run it past them, Daniel. In fact, I'm going to take your exact email and pass it along yeah here's the thing just know that if you're in a four point per passing touchdown league and it's full ppr in my opinion quarterback value is definitely nerfed in that format uh this is from this is from sick sick willie he says hey rick bobby and brad those are guys in last place in the palm This is from Sick Willie. He says, hey, Rick, Bobby, and Brad.

Those are guys in last place in the Palm Beach League. Trolling. All right. 16 team, full PPR, two keepers, and we're adding two additional keepers. So four total. I have Barkley and Chubb. I have picks 101, 112, 26, 28, 216, and 301. Holy moly. What can I trade up with the second round picks?

What can I trade up to with the second round picks, which again are 26, 28, 216, and 301? Or if I gave up 112 and 2.6, what would you be looking to get? Can I, Dave, would you want to speculate? And I will try to look up. But I don't. Yeah.

I'll look it up. I don't know what the hell you just asked me. But I'll forgive you for it if you send some of those wings you're smoking my way. Just answer the question, I think is what he was trying to say. How high can you move up from 112 if you give 2-6? This is a regular draft, not a rookie draft.

No, no, he wants to keep 112. He wants to give up his second round picks, which are 2-6, 2-8, and 2-16, plus he has 3-0-1, so it's basically the same, you know, four picks in that range. I would imagine there's somebody in the league that would love to have

those three second round picks, and they would give up a first round pick and other picks later on. I think you could probably get as high as like sixth overall. Okay. I think that, well, listen, this is a keeper league and he's got Saquon and Chubb. How many stud running backs are actually going to be available for drafting? Wherever that cutoff is, that very next pick is where I think you'll be able to trade up to. I've got one 12 and two six being worth one eight.

All right. Let's go to our next question. It's from Eric. Eric in Detroit. I'm in a 10 team standard scoring league. The player pick number one, or picking number one, has already said he's going with Derrick Henry. He had Christian McCaffrey last year, and evidently he's sour about it. Should I not overthink this and go with Christian McCaffrey, even in standard scoring? And what would your dream picks be at the 2-3 turn for

me, having the number two overall pick? The dream picks at 2-3 would be one tight end from Waller or Kittle and the best available running back. And if there's only one tight end left when you're picking, if it's either Waller or Kittle when you're up in round two, you take that tight end then, and then you come back with the running back in round three. If both tight ends are there when you're up in round two,

take the running back first and then take your favorite tight end from running back in round three. If both tight ends are there when you're up in round two, take the running back first and then take your favorite tight end from those two in round three. My dream two, three turn would be Swift and AJ Brown. Even in non, even in non PPR. Right. Like in non PPR.

I don't know how dreamy that is. I think AJ Brown's I've got AJ Brown number three at wide receiver and non PPR. Yeah. And a Brown isn't the one I have a problem with. It's swift. I think it's how you drop a little bit. Right.

But in a non PPR league at pick 24, you're on running back 18 by then. So it's pick 23. And we didn't answer the first question. Would you take McCaffrey second? Yeah, for sure. That's why we didn't answer.

Mega easy. Take McCaffrey. Would you give any thoughts since it's a non PPR league and going with my homes over one of those tight ends? Yes. No. I would. I would take him over both the tight ends. I would not. Supply and demand. I want to have that stud tight end.

I'm going to get an advantage in my lineup. I can find a quarterback that can put up good numbers with my fourth-round pick if I wanted to. Next email. This is from Bill in a town if I wanted to. Next email. This is from Bill in a town in the Pacific Northwest. Tacoma. Hey, Lauren, Nando, Ben, and Adam.

Are those former CBS hosts? Almost. Yeah. He said, P.S. Adam, you made the list because you did announce you were leaving briefly, even though you ended up getting to stay. That's true. That is fun fact. Yeah, I remember it well. Thank God ended up getting to stay. That's true. That is fun fact. Yeah, I remember it well.

Thank God I was able to stay. Pick three in a salary cap league with a $200 budget. You start one running back, two wide receivers, and three flexes. So you could start up to four running backs and up to five wide receivers and one tight end. Kamara for $21. This is a $200 budget. Kamara for $21. This is a $200 budget. Kamara for $21. Michael Thomas for $31.

Dak Prescott for $5. Clyde Edwards-Egler for $9. Antonio Gibson for $21. Godwin for $38. And Mike Davis for $5. There's two that are obvious. Kamara for $21 is obvious and Camara for 21 is obvious

and Dak for 5 is obvious I was going to say Clyde for 9 is obvious I think he might be the next best one you're just going to go into your salary cap draft with three excellent bargains already on your team and that'll allow you to splurge a little bit on the receivers

you really really want great next email is from Danny from Danny is from Danny. From? Danny is from Pensacola, Florida. It's one of your favorites. Dynasty PPR League. Should I trade in my Dynasty PPR League, should I trade

111 and 113 for A.J. Brown? I can keep A.J. Brown for three years and the rookies for five. I think that's a yes. I think it's a yes. If it was a true dynasty league, then this would be rookie picks and it would be

easy. But if you can only keep players for a certain amount of time, then that suggests there might be some players available in this draft besides rookies. I'm actually in a league that's like this. I think we have one, three, and five-year contracts, and then we get to franchise some players

and stuff like that. Cool. There is... Sounds like a lot of work. No, it's fun. Why not just make it a true dynasty league and you just keep them forever? Why keep her for this long?

Unless you do this and then do that. Too many... It sounds like all those rules are kind of nerfing the fun of fantasy football for days. Right, right. Two years ago, I lost in the finals by a quarter of a point. Really? And I had...

Oh, that sucks, Adam. Is that really... Yeah. Three or four... Tell me more about your fantasy team. Three or four players who were in their final years of their contract. I lost all of them. Wow. Yeah. It had to have been upsetting. Why is he doing this? I'm saying

this adds the... What the hell? It adds the strategy. I went for it. I lost. Then I lost all my good players. Yeah, so in my league... Well, at least you have the integrity to not quit the league. I'm proud of you for that. In my league, there are probably not 13 good players.

Adam, is Danny in your league? Well, I'm... What the... All right, forget it. Hold on. These are not dynasty picks? Because he starts the email with dynasty.

So these are not rookie-only picks he starts the email with dynasty. So these are not rookie-only picks. They might be. I have a rookie-only draft in my league, and then I have a separate free agent veteran draft. Yeah, you know what? Make the trade. Just make the damn trade. I'm really upset right now.

You've totally nerfed this show for me. And I used that wrong. You want to take a break? No. Heath and I will answer some emails. From Nate, conceived in a small town in Wyoming. Conceived there, Dave. Pensacola, Wyoming.

Dear Plexico, Victor, Abadi, Kenny, Darius, Sterling, and Kadarius. Those are dancers in a Broadway show of cats. I'm in a 12-team, two-quarterback, tight end, premium startup league. I have pick 102. I have Waller, Ebron, and Hurst, and I have Wilson

and Ryan at quarterback. Who do I pick at two in the rookie draft? Take a QB, or assuming Lawrence is number one, or take Kyle Pitts or make a trade?

What I was saying is that it's not actually Cats, the Broadway show. It's a Broadway show just with cats, and those are the names of the cats. I see. Thank you. I just bought tickets. They're reopening Broadway in September. I bought tickets to Broadway show. It's a Broadway show just with cats. And those are the names of the cats. I see. Thank you. I just bought tickets. They're reopening

Broadway in September. I bought tickets to this show. That sounds like you. Anyway, he's got Waller, Ebron, and Hurst. And he's got Wilson and Ryan. It's two QBs. It's also tied in premium. Lawrence is off the board. Who do you take it to? Pits. Nice.

Yeah. Man, I pets nice yeah yeah man I I hate to do that like I really want to say chase I might see what I could get for it ah okay I might see what I could get for it. Ah. Ah. Ah. Ah.

Okay. It's funny, but a little uncomfortable. Let's read from Ron in Ontario. Greetings, Sean, Gus, Lassiter, and Henry. For such an average show, Psych really does get a lot of love from our emailers here. I'd like to tell you now for the next five minutes about how I used to watch Psych and my experience with the TV show.

I have a strategy question for my standard scoring 12-team Dynasty League. I have pick 108 in the rookie-only draft. I don't have a second-round pick because I traded it away. What do you think of the idea of offering DeAndre Hopkins and next year's second-round pick

to try to move up and grab Jamar Chase. Love it. Hopkins and 1.08 for Chase? No, Hopkins and next year's second rounder. He's keeping 1.08, but keeping... I don't know if that's going to get accepted. I don't know if that's enough. Somebody's going to be enticed for that?

Well, it depends. You know how good DeAndre Hopkins is? DeAndre Hopkins and a second next year? No, wait. He's not giving up 108. No. It's just Hopkins and a second. I don't think anybody's going to accept that for Chase.

Well, I would accept that if I had a great team, because I think Hopkins is going to help me win a championship this year over Chase. Chase is going to help you win a championship this year over Chase. Chase is going to help you win championships in many years. But the team that has 101 probably doesn't have a great team. They're still not if they're trading out a 101 for DeAndre Hopkins

in a second next year. Hopkins isn't really that old. I could see him having three to four very good years left. I think he could have two really good years and then two more that are pretty good. I have Chase and Hopkins pretty close. He'll be 29 this year. Yeah.

Who's higher? Chase. That's what I thought. But it's only like 10% difference in value. I guess the second's probably not enough to make up for that. Chase and Pitts better live up to the hype because people are passing up. People are definitely drafting them right at the top. We've said it over and over again. I think you might have nerfed that sentence.

Why? They are. They are. They're really drafting them. Drafting them right at the top. Right at the top. Of their drafts. What planet am I living on today? What am I saying? What am I doing?

That is so wrong. I don't understand. All right, Dave, where's Danny from? Pensacola, what state? He's from... What's another one that I always give all the time? Let's go with Grand Rapids, Michigan. 10-team Superflex

Dynasty League points per completion. I work my roster, so I now have the first overall pick and the ninth pick in our rookie draft. Burrow and Hertz are my two quarterbacks. My receivers are, they could use help, Pittman, Higgins, and Thielen, and I'm stacked at running back.

So at one-on-one, should I take Najee Harris or maybe hope one of the big three receivers fall to... No, they're not going to fall to you at nine. It's super flex, but... Actually, it might happen. I've seen it happen in two super flex leagues already where Waddle or Smith or both were there at nine, so

I could see it. You didn't tell us about your tight end, which is an important piece of information in this draft. Yeah, because people are taking pits right at the top. Right at the top. I really hope it works out for them because people are just

taking them at the top. I'd take Chase. I agree. Okay. I have to Google this and make sure I'm not saying something that's in Urban Dictionary that I don't...

Did I screw up? Did I do something really? Oh, my God. All right. I think maybe I did say something wrong. No, I don't think so. Yeah, I kind of did. Okay.

Well, that's Urban Dictionary. Just turns everything into something sick. Anyway, Keith, thanks for making everything into something sick. Anyway, Keith, thanks for making me self-conscious. Yep. Dave, thanks for the trip to Pensacola.

Anytime. And thank all of you for listening and for watching on YouTube. Have a great weekend. We've got guests coming on next week. We're going to be talking dynasty next week. It's going to be awesome. And, uh,

the schedule is coming out next week, right, Ben? Next week, 8 p.m. Eastern schedule comes out on Wednesday. So we'll be talking coming out next week, right, Ben? Next week, 8 p.m. Eastern. Schedule comes out on Wednesday. So we'll be talking about that next week as well. Fun times.

Bye.