Fantasy Football Today - FFT Dynasty: 2023 Rookie-Only Mock Draft! Jordan Addison over Jaxon Smith-Njigba? Plus Sleepers! (05/02 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: May 2, 2023

Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  The FFT crew conducts a live rookie-only mock draft! First, Bijan Robinson (1:58), Jahmyr Gibbs (6:00), and Jordan Addison (7:04) round out the top 3 picks in the first round. Then some sneaky running backs, like Israel Abanikanda (26:30), Kendre Miller (30:00), and Roschon Johnson (35:30), get selected in the second round. Next, they get into an in-depth breakdown of the top 3 tight ends in the class Dalton Kincaid, Sam LaPorta, and Michael Mayer (41:55). Lastly, they wrap up the mock draft by discussing their favorite player that did not get drafted. (49:10) 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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It's a no-win game. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Welcome to Fantasy Football Today Dynasty. I am your host Heath Cummings joined by jamie eisenberg dave richard we have our first post-draft rookie only mock how excited are you guys except i'm picking 12 that kind of stinks well that's why you were the last you were last to reply to the email so we actually didn't you never replied to him i don't think i ever replied to the you were in whether you wanted to be in. And I thought it was interesting because I think last year, Jamie, when you put this mock together, you tried to mostly give us our draft spots based on the YOLO League that we were in. This year, I actually got the number three pick, which is what I have in our YOLO League.

But I noticed that most other people did not. Although I think you two are towards the end, right? I didn't even look at that because it's the different cast of characters. I think I'm somewhere, it's a 14-team league, so a little different. So I think I'm 10 through 14. And Dave's got to be last

because he won it. I won the league last year. Take that. Random YouTube commenter that thought I sucked at Dynasty. So I've got 14th, but I also have somebody else's first-round pick,

and that's at six. And so I'm really curious who goes off the board at six in this draft, but I got two picks in our dynasty league. My window is still open to compete in the YOLO. So before we get into the opening picks, we should tell you, this is a one quarterback league. This is a PPR draft and we will be doing three rounds, no snake. So we will do a super flex mock next week. I is a PPR draft and we will be doing three rounds, no snake. So we will do a super flex mock next week. I know a lot of you play in those types of leagues. We may even get a tight end premium mock in at some point in the next month or so, but this will be a one quarterback PPR league. There is absolutely positively no debate about who should go number

one in this format. I think in super flex, you get a little bit of debate, maybe between Richardson and Bijon. And I know some people think in super flex, you get a little bit of debate, maybe between Richardson and Bijon. And I know some people even have Richardson ahead, but in a one quarterback league, it's Bijon. I think the interesting thing, and he did go first in this mock. The interesting thing is how much would you pay to get to Bijon,

especially if you have a team that's, that's pretty good. Like, is it worth two firsts? Is it worth three firsts? How much would you pay Jamie? I can tell you, um, because I'm in a super

flex rookie-only mock draft where Bijan did go one, and then immediately after Bijan went, there was a trade. I'm going to get the trade parameters of what it was. Bijan went one, Richardson went two, then there was a trade to get Bijan

from the manager. I will find it for you. In that super flex draft, it went Bijan, Richardson, Gibbs, and then the other two quarterbacks. I have, Dave, in our YOLO league, a team with Patrick Mahomes, Brees Hall, Garrett Wilson,

Drake London, Devontae Smith, Chig Okonkwo, David Njoku. My second running back is Khalil Herbert. My third running back is you. And so I have the third pick in our YOLO League. Dan Schneier has the first pick. I've already made one offer and he's negotiating real hardball. He will not even make a counter since he's not trading Bijan. I offered a 2024 first, my third pick in the 2023 draft, and Elijah Moore. That was not enough to get Dan to make a counter.

That doesn't make me feel good about my chances of making a move to one with Dan, because I also sent him an offer. It was not as good as mine, is what you're telling me. Well, I don't know. Certainly, mine had more quantity to it than yours did. Right. But mine, I don't have a third overall pick, so I can't offer that. Jamie, I will tell you, when Dave says mine has more quantity than yours did, I received a high-quantity, not quality, offer from Dave.

I think it had multiple fourth and fifth round picks in the offer, which is super exciting in a rookie draft to pile up those fourth and fifth round picks, especially in a 14-team league when you're looking at pick 60 and beyond. To be fair, there are free agents also available. Once upon a time, in one of these rookie- only drafts, I got Mark Andrews in round four. So, and he was not a rookie. He was a free agent. That's how good we are in our dynasty plays that Mark Andrews was a free agent at some point. And he didn't even go until around four. So there are still some veterans that could be had with those picks, especially it's an IDP league, linebackers, defensive backs. You can find those types of players.

So I kind of like those fourth and fifth round. So we've already. Go ahead. Yes. I was going to give you the trade. Here's the trade. So this is a dynasty league. It's actually in Mike Taglier's honor.

He's the one started the league. So we've continued it without him. Obviously miss him. And, you know, league's not the same. So Bijan went one, and then the Bijan manager immediately flipped him to the person with the second pick. And to get to Bijan, gave up 102, 202, and round one in 2024. So gave up 102, 202, 2024 first to get Bijan and a 2024 second. Ooh, they got the 2024 second as well.

No, second round. Right, but still, like to get another pick, I thought, and I think in Superflex, the gap, like we talked about, the gap between one and two is not as big as Superflex

because of Anthony Richardson. But that's still a pretty good haul to get two, I mean, the second pick and a 2024 first. No, no, no. Just for Bijan. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so we already showed you the draft board. We've got a couple picks in already. Bijan Robinson went number one.

That was no surprise. Jameer Gibbs went to Jacob Gibbs at pick number two. Dave, is it just as obvious that Jameer Gibbs should be the number two pick in a one quarterback league as it is that B. John should be number one? Gibbs gonna Gibbs. Look, I think that because there isn't a surefire wide receiver that we can all wrap our arms around and say, this is the guy who should no doubt about it be the 102. I almost think you gravitate toward either the upside of Richardson or the upside of Gibbs and most fantasy managers. They're going to have their quarterback covered

in a dynasty league. They might not take Richardson at 102, totally reasonable. And therefore Gibbs would be the best available player with the highest upside, save for a couple of wide receivers that also have terrible downside, but so does Gibbs. So I think that Gibbs is the one that makes the most sense. Yeah, I think it will be in a majority. Now, there will be some JSNs sneaking in ahead of Gibbs,

but I think a majority will be Bijon, then Gibbs. And then it gets interesting at pick three. And I had pick three. I took Jordan Addison, which is not the same way I had it ranked before the draft. For me, it was Bijon, it was Gibbs, and then it was JSN with the fourth pick. Part of it is landing spot. But I also had Addison as my number two wide receiver right behind JSN. So it didn't take a big difference. But Jamie, I think landing in what will, I think, be a high pass attempt offense with Justin Jefferson on the other side, but room for plenty of targets besides that, versus landing with Lamar Jackson and Baltimore in what they'll throw more this year, but probably is still a low pass attempt volume for Zay Flowers. Do you agree that it's Addison and JSN clearly as one and two?

And then how do you rank those two? I think if you're trying to compete this year and that's your decision, I would go with Jordan Addison. If you're looking at it long-term, I would probably go Smith Najig, but just because I hope based on what his pedigree was, that he can be the top-tier receiver in this class. Now, I don't think that there's a huge separation between him and Addison. I think both guys are going to be pretty special talents. But, I mean, we've seen Tyler Lockett outproduce DK Metcalf

really the majority of their tenure together. Would it be surprising if Smith Najigba outproduces DK Metcalf during the majority of their tenure together? The thing you've got to take into account with maybe both situations, but I think probably Kirk Cousins maybe has another year or two longer with Minnesota, maybe than Gino Smith does with Seattle, just given the fact of where they've come from and what they've done. We could easily see Minnesota hit the reset button and say bye-bye Kirk. But I think you know what the scenario is.

I don't think, though, that Jordan Addison is ever going to be better than Justin Jefferson. That would just be such a huge leap, clearly, to get there. So to see Smith Najigba go ahead of Addison, we're not surprised. No, I think it will be the case. Dave, I want to look at that Seattle situation just a little bit for 2023. Jamie mentioned that I think once Lockett's gone, JSN could be better than DK Metcalf. It wouldn't be that surprising.

This year, though, he's going to be with both Metcalf and Lockett. What do you think the chances are as a rookie that JSN's better than Lockett? Slim, because Lockett's just been so consistently good for fantasy. He's just one of those underrated guys that no one goes into their draft saying, I've got to get Tyler Lockett. But by October, you're going, I wish I had taken Tyler Lockett. He's pretty much been that guy year after year. And he does a really good job. This is an underrated part of his game. He does not take a ton of hits. If you watch him play, he gets out of bounds when at the last

possible moment, when a defender's coming, a defender's right there in the middle of the field, he makes a catch, he gets down. So he's done a pretty good job of preserving his body. That being said, he has had some injuries that have kept him off the field. I think the Seahawks ran into a lot of trouble last year, and I don't have the stats to back this up, and I do intend to do the research on it.

I think they ran into trouble against two high defenses. And so when teams are trying to just take away the deep ball play against the perimeter, middle of the field is open. They, they couldn't consistently win in those situations with Smith and Jigba. They will be able to win considerably more often in those situations. He did a lot of that at Ohio state. He played in the slot a ton. I think that's where his career begins, is out of the slot. And he just creates a whole bunch of new problems for all the defenses that are going to play against Seattle.

The other trick is, will Seattle continue to throw the ball at a 59% rate, which is high for them? They're usually around 55, 52, somewhere in that range. Pete Carroll loves to run the football. You've heard that a hundred times before. If they continue to trust in Geno Smith, and my hunch is that they will, just based on what they did in round one by drafting Smith and Jigba, that there will be a modest amount of targets to go around for all three guys. But I do have a hard time believing that Smith and Jigba will score as much as Lockett or be as explosive on a per-catch basis or on any of the per-catch metrics than Lockett was or will be.

Now, you see here, I think we all agree, Edison and JSN, pretty close for dynasty purposes, but they did not go back-to-back. Zach Brooke actually took Anthony Richardson at pick four. He was one of my biggest risers, the biggest riser for sure of players that I had in my top 12 before the draft, because the one risk that I saw with Anthony Richardson was that the NFL saw him as too big of a project to take him this early. Jamie, with the fact that he went number four, with the fact that he has Jalen Hurts, offensive coordinator from the past two years,

how high is the ceiling for Anthony Richardson in the first couple of years even? It's immense. I mean, it's, you know, we're early in Justin Fields' tenure, and look what he did last year for fantasy. You know, he had that stretch of games, ended up finishing the season, you know, just shy of Lamar Jackson's rookie or Lamar Jackson's rushing record for,

for quarterback, um, and didn't throw for 2,500 yards, you know, so he doesn't have to be a prolific passer to be great for fantasy managers. So I think when you start to look at what he can do and what hopefully he will do, you know, it's, uh, it's, it's a division that doesn't, you know, present a huge amount of challenges. When you compare him to the other rookies, I think he's got the best receiver and maybe the best receiving core when you compare him to Bryce Young and his situation and C.J. Stroud and his situation. And so I could see a scenario where he surprises us as a passer, at least that's the hope.

But we were having this conversation yesterday, Heath, with Adam, that if he can get to 3,000 and 1,000, that's going to shatter the expectations, if he can become that. And Adam brought this up. I thought that Daniel Jones had passed for more shocking than he brought up Daniel Jones, but that he only threw for 3,200 yards and just over 700 rushing yards. And one of only nine quarterbacks to ever do that, to go 3,007.

So if he can get to close to 3000 and and maybe eclipse 3000 and you know he ran for 600 plus yards at florida last year and so 26 total touchdowns you know it's it's worth in redraft leagues to take him as a a top 10 quarterback and in dynasty you know i i think he should be the first quarterback i i thought that even going into the draft process because he just does things that these other guys don't do okay dave so i know you already said that richardson's inside your top 10 right now um doesn't i said i'd do that if he wins the job over week one over gardener minshu and i think he probably will but i what i struggle with is can i rank him much higher than 10 in dynasty?

Because looking at my dynasty rankings, he's not going to be a top five quarterback. I'm not ranking him ahead of Mahomes, Allen, Hertz, Fields, or Lamar Jackson. The next three guys, Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence, Justin Herbert, their floors are so much higher than Anthony Richardson's floor. In two quarterback, I don't think you can even consider it. But in a one quarterback league, doeson have to be nine behind those guys or would you rank him in dynasty ahead of herbert burrow or lawrence i can't do that just not at this point in time why do that but it doesn't it seems strange that this rookie quarterback who is like the fourth or fifth pick

in rookie only drafts will have the same ranking and redraft as he does in Dynasty? Sure. And that's, I don't know, I guess that's par for the course. I mean, here's what I would ask of you, Heath. Measure him. Who is currently your ninth quarterback in Dynasty rankings? Anthony Richardson. After him?

After him is Kyler. Tell me why you ranked Richardson ahead of Kyler. Because I don't feel like Kyler's floor is close to Herbert Lawrence or Burrow right now. I think there's some real uncertainty for Kyler Murray based on this offensive system in Arizona, based on the weapons that he might have around him, based on his own health and his recent play. Makes sense to me. Who do you have behind Kyler Murray? That is well,

that then we get to the rookies, Bryce young, then two, then CJ Stroud. Okay. I think when you, when, when you get to forget about young and Stroud,

when you get to Tua and you get to Kyler, and we've seen a couple of years from these guys, and they've had their amazing moments, and they've also had injuries that make us nervous. I just think it makes sense to lean toward the unknown and the upside, and that's what you have with Richardson. We know that the Colts are going to use him for his rushing. This is a game of stats. He should get a ton of rushing yards and plenty of rushing touchdowns. There's a great article, an in-depth article on The Athletic about how far the Colts went to research Anthony Richardson. And they talked to a ton of people. There were about five people in their front office, if you include Shane Steichen,

who were really invested in studying him. And they all came out of, like two weeks before the draft, supremely confident in Richardson being not only available when they picked a four, but also the guy that they want. And that makes me feel better about Richardson. So I think I'm good to go with where you have him ranked. I think you've got it exactly perfect. Dave is on the clock, so we're going to give him a break here to go make his pick. We've had a flurry of picks come in.

Zach Charbonnet, Zay Flowers, Bryce Young, Quentin Johnston, CJ Stroud, Dalton Kincaid. We're going to talk about those guys and more right after this break. What does possible sound like for your business? It's having the spend that powers your scale with no preset spending limit. More cash on hand to grow your business with up to 55 interest-free days. And the ability to reach further with access to over 1,400 airport lounges worldwide. Redefine Possible with Business Platinum. That's the powerful backing of American Express.

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Visit OntarioOneCall.ca and avoid unnecessary damages to get the job done right. Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report. Okay, Jamie, our first big surprise of the mock, at least for me, according to my rankings, Dan Schneier taking Zach Charbonnet at pick number six, ahead of Zay Flowers, ahead of Quentin Johnston, not discouraged at all, apparently, by the fact that Charbonnet landed in Seattle with Ken Walker. Where are you comfortable with taking Charbonnet? And do you think that to pick him at six, do you have to believe that he's going to win the job from Walker? I don't know if you have to believe he's going to win the job from Walker,

but you got to, you know, obviously assume that he's going to have a pretty significant role. And it's, it's a huge leap, not necessarily from where the talent is because it wouldn't surprise me if Charbonnet is better than Ken Walker in terms of maybe getting more work, not necessarily being completely dominant over him in terms of where they are from one year to the next for these two players. But I think taking him over the receivers is probably where the risk comes in.

Like when I first looked up at the draft board, because I picked right before Dave, I was like, oh, maybe I'll consider Charbonnet here. And I was like, oh, he already went. So that was a little bit of a shock. But, you know, I really think when you talk about this draft in a 1QB draft, 1QB rookie draft, the talent really gets thin from the top tier guys going into what the process is. so with Flowers and Johnson, Johnson, you know, you can see a pretty clear path to them being, if not this year, next year, the best receiver on their team. And, you know, for Johnson, he could be with Justin Herbert for, you know, the next five, six years. For Flowers, you know, if Lamar Jackson takes hold of this new

offensive system that he's in and, you know, is that guy, you know, even if he's just Marquise Brown, you know, that's that's not a bad place to be, you know, from where Brown was with Jackson in the early part of their career. So I think Charbonnet, just knowing that the running back lifespan is not very long. The fact that he's going to be behind, you know, or sharing with Walker for at least the next three seasons is it's a little bit tough to take him over those two guys. OK, so Dave, you took Devin A-chain. I'm going to say that wrong about seven million times. You just said it right. I've struggled with him versus Charbonnet. You got A-chain at pick 12.

Charbonnet went pick six. If they'd both been there when you were picking, would you have taken Charbonnet or would you have gone with A-chain? I think A-chain has more upside than Charbonnet just because you look at the other running backs that he's with in Miami and you've got to figure that he'll have a shot to wrestle away the lead job as soon as this season. And if he does a good enough job with it, the worst that the Dolphins will do going into next year is pair him with somebody that might handle

certain situations, like situations like maybe, maybe third down something like that, that a chain might not be great at, but take some work off of him, but he can still be a really good player. He's got unique speed. I think he's perfect for the type of, uh, run scheme that they have in Miami. And I just think he's got the most upside. I look at a lot of the other receivers that are left, and they might all play longer than A-chain. I don't know how many thousand-yard seven-touchdown seasons Jalen Hyatt's going to have, Jonathan Mingo's going to have,

Rasheed Rice is going to have. But I think what I'm doing here basically is I'm taking the thinnest position because I know that when I'm back up in round two, there's going to be almost nothing left at running back that I'm going to like, and there will be something at wide receiver that I'll be able to sink my teeth into. So if I'm building this imaginary team for Dynasty, I'd rather start with a running back getting one while I can. He just makes me so nervous because he's so small.

He is. I was just going to say, he doesn't necessarily play small. Right. But he is small. There's no question about it. So, Jamie, there was two wide receivers taken before you. And one of the reasons Dave took a running back is because the top four wide receivers are gone.

And a lot of people think there's only four wide receivers worth a first-round pick in this rookie class. And that might be true. I've got five. But Zay Flowers and Quentin Johnston went two picks apart right in front of you, and you said you had to make this decision in a league. This is another one where I had Flowers ranked ahead of Johnston one spot before the draft, and now I've flipped it after the draft because Johnston got tied to Justin Herbert,

and Johnston landed in the more high-octane pass offense. Where are you at on those two? I'm the same. I was struggling with it, and for me, it's a super flex league, so I had the choice between those two receivers and Will Levis also. And so I may regret passing on Levis just because my quarterback situation isn't the best, but I was looking at who's the best player. And I do think that if you're talking about for this season, it wouldn't be surprising if they're somewhat close in production,

just because while I think Flowers is the best Ravens receiver, you still have Odell there, who I think is going to get force fed targets. You still have Rashad Bateman there and obviously Mark Andrews. It's going to be very difficult to see a situation where Quentin Johnson, if everybody's healthy, is getting more targets than Keenan Allen and Mike Williams. But as we saw last year, both guys missed a ton of time and Mike Williams had a hard time staying healthy. So, uh, I think if you, if you're just looking at the short term, I probably give flowers a slight edge, but I think long-term, I think you said it, Johnson being tied to Justin Herbert gives him a significant advantage. I love the fact that

Kellen Moore is there. I think it's going to be a very prolific passing game. No surprise because of the quarterback. And so Johnson to me could be could be a superstar. Wouldn't surprise me if, you know, he's a total flop. You know, we've seen some of these big receivers, especially he's a basket catcher kind of guy, you know, that tend to struggle a little bit. But I also think, you know, he profiles, you know, how we always used to make fun of Adam that, you know, receiver's got to be a certain size in his mind to be a number one guy. You know, this guy's got size speed that, you know, a lot of the guys in this class don't have. So, um, you know, he, he feels like he could just step into Mike Williams role as early as 2024 and it could be a special type of player. So I went with Johnston and just

hopefully that pays off and I don't regret, you know, for me, mostly it was passing on the quarterback, but, um, don't regret making the wrong decision at receiver. I'm going to stick with you, Jamie, because your first round pick is a struggle that I've had Dalton Kincaid and whether he should be a first round pick and rookie drafts. I I've just kind of grown sour on taking any tight end in the first round of rookie drafts with the way the last few years have gone. And I don't know how I feel about this Buffalo landing spot. On the one hand, it's a fantastic offense. You could make the same argument for being tied to Allen as you would for being tied to Herbert. On the other hand, it's a fantastic offense. You could make the same argument for being tied to Allen as you would for being tied to Herbert. On the other hand, they've not used a tight end in the way

that everyone's just presuming that Dalton Kincaid is going to be used as this big slot now. And I have a hard time projecting that offensive philosophy being different because of one player. Are you doing this because you think he's going to have immediate success or because long-term you love the upside so much? A little bit of both, not necessarily immediate success because we know rookie tight ends tend to struggle a little bit, but you know, he comes in a little bit older, a little bit, you know, hopefully more mature and, and hopefully that will carry a little bit of weight. But I do think that, you know, they've, they've been struggling to find a third receiving option. You know, Dave was in love with Isaiah McKenzie last year,

understandably. So it was a great opportunity. You know, I was hoping Khalil Shakir was going to be that guy this year. It may develop, but it feels like it's going to be difficult with Kincaid there now. Stefan Diggs is getting older, and so they're going to have to at some point turn over this receiving core. But this might be the type of guy that could just be a playmaker for one of the best quarterbacks in the league. So yes, it's not exactly the fit that you would say because of what they've done dawson knox and kinkader are totally different type of players and you know uh like adam's been arguing for example adam age has been arguing about the touchdowns and so how knox has been very touchdown dependent does kinkade catch those touchdowns i don't necessarily agree with that but i do think he'll be a better pass catcher i think he'll be more involved to get more targets get

more opportunities and so you know it kind of shows you, you know, once you get past, if you want to even consider Bryce Young and CJ Stroud first-round picks in a 12-team, one-quarterback league, once you get past those four receivers, and really the choice for me was Mingo or Kincaid. But I went with difference maker at that position versus where Mingo may or may not get to at the receiver spot. If Kincaid hits and is one of these premier tight ends, you want that on your fantasy team.

Yeah, and Mingo is my number 12 pick. I've actually got him ahead of Kincaid and H& Dave. The other reason I wanted to stay with Jamie for that pick is because I wanted you to talk about my pick and tell me how I was pronouncing his last name wrong, but Israel Abinakanda. This was a draft Nick Darling before the draft, and there was just all the helium came out

because he was drafted to go to the Jets, and Breece Hull's already there, and I see him now in the third round of rookie drafts sometimes. I'm still perfectly fine with him in the second round. He still has the elite athleticism. He still has the huge big time upside. And he has an offensive coordinator who mostly has run a two back set. Like this could absolutely be an Aaron Jones, AJ Dillon type situation with, with Brees Hall and Izzy. I think

he can be a high end flex even with Hall and Hall's coming off an ACL. There's an opportunity. If he turns into the lead back, I think he's a top 12 guy. Okay. So everybody that's trying to trade for Brees, Hall and dynasty, take the last 45 seconds of what Heath said, clip that and send it to the person that you're trying to get Brees, Hall from, because that's, that's the downside for Brees, Hall. And it's the upside for Abanacanda. I like the talent, too. The talent belongs exactly where you took him.

He's a good running back. The only thing I'll say is he's bigger than Davon A. Shane, but he's got smaller hands than him. But other than that, really good running back, lots of experience in a pro-style offense. He's a good player, and it's almost a little bit of what Seattle did by taking Charbonnet. The Jets just want to get better at running back. They know that they don't have a sure thing with Brees Hall this year. Here comes a Bannacanda who can come in and potentially be their starter for the first month of the season

if Brees Hall isn't ready, or be the guy that helps ease Brees Hall in. The thing that I have a hard time believing is that he's going to see more than like 15 snaps a game when Brees Hall is playing like Brees Hall. So if you look at him and say, okay, this is the Jets insurance policy for Brees Hall, I kind of feel like you took him a little too soon. But if you look at him and say, okay, this is just a talented running back, he'll get a little bit of time, and then if something happens to Brees Hall, look out because a band of candle will be the hottest name in fantasy football. Okay, you got him at the right time.

I'm curious. Here's the other thing. What other running back do you take there if you're set on taking a running back? If it's Roshan Johnson, Jamie, who a running back? Kendra Miller. If it's Roshon Johnson? Jamie, who'd you say? Kendra Miller. Kendra Bell? Okay.

Kendra Miller. I think people take Tajay Spears, too. They're all interesting picks, and Spears is interesting just because he might be next in line in Tennessee. The thing I have, and we'll talk about Spears later, but the thing I have so much trouble with is he's starting behind Derrick Henry. So unless Henry gets hurt this year, he has no value. And the reason he fell in the draft is because they discovered he does not have an ACL. And so they think he's probably a one-contract back. I wish every team would think they're just a one-contract back.

Heinz Ward once thought, Heinz Ward didn't have ACLs either. Is that right? Jamie, do you remember that story? There's something, yeah. Some cartilage situation, isn't he? I know. I think O.L. Beckham said he didn't have one for a while, right?

Does he have one now? Did they put one in? I'm not sure. Yeah, I don't know. He might have four ACLs at this point. Yeah. For me, I would take Miller over 18, personally.

Right. And I think he went two picks later to Jack, you see here, I think those guys will be in the same range. I just like Miller. I don't know that he can fulfill the past catching role. And so I think this year he's probably, even if, if Alan Camara is out and he'll probably won't be out for more than half the year, he's still going to be in a big time committee with Jamal Williams as well. Yeah, but you're still talking about short-term versus long-term. When we're in the second round, I can't see if Brees Hall is healthy,

is he having a huge role really ever for the Jets? It's even going to be, I think, a stretch to see him have the backup role guaranteed to be his. You know, whether they give up on Michael Carter, whether they, you know, continue to use Zonovan Knight, you know, I don't know how they'll view those guys, you know, unless Izzy comes in and blows the doors off, which he easily could. I mean, we saw how those two struggled at times last season. But it's such a difficult path for him to be the the lead guy there and then a chain again being smaller you know if you want to go rookie season versus long term i i could

certainly see if he has a a productive rookie season and he's behind two very injury prone backs but there's still two in two injury prone backs who are very familiar with the coach with the system and i think you're going to have the the the role ahead of him until that potential injury occurs for one, if not both. So for me, like Jamal Williams is not a long-term solution in New Orleans. Alvin Kamara is probably done as soon as his, you know, maybe after this year, depending on even what happens with the suspension. So if Miller has a productive rookie season in whatever role he has, you know, he could end up competing for that lead job next year. So that's why, you know, I look at situations a little bit more

than maybe necessarily talent. Right. So we're already halfway through the second round in terms of picks. I want to recap the first round and the first six picks of the second round. The first round, we went Bijan Robinson, Jameer Gibbs, Jordan Addison, Anthony Richardson, Jackson Smith, and Jigba, and Zach Charbonnet, sixth to Dan Schneier. Then we went Zay Flowers, Bryce Young, Quinton Johnston, C.J. Stroud, Dalton Kincaid, and Devin Achain to Dave with the 12th pick. Now we are rolling in round two. Jonathan Mingo, who is my

12th player, and Jamie said his fifth wide receiver, went with the first pick of round two, followed by Josh Downs. I took Izzy, then Marvin Mims, Kendra Miller, and Rasheed Rice. We'll stop there. So we kind of had the Abanacanda-Miller discussion. What about Josh Downs versus Marvin Mims versus Rasheed Rice? I have Downs and Mims right in this range, back to back. And There are two guys who I'm really struggling with. Surprisingly, as the guy with all the Chiefs paraphernalia behind me, I am not a big fan of Rasheed Rice. So if either one of you can convince me, he was not in my top 15 wide receivers before the draft,

and I didn't bump him up because he went to go to Kansas City because I'm not sure he's better than Sky Moore or Cadareous Tony. Does anybody disagree with me about him? No. And we, we had this discussion. It feels like he's a MVS replacement, which is not good because he's not a burner.

Yeah. So, okay. So basically we're just saying we hate Dan's draft. What I can tell you is that he has 19 touchdowns in his last 24 games at SMU. I think he's got a shot to be a capable NFL receiver. I'm going to take Josh Downs ahead of him. I think Downs is maybe a little more capable,

definitely could have some huge volume. I think his floor is a slot receiver for the Indianapolis Colts for the next four years. Maybe doing the things that Paris Campbell never could do. Is that a good thing with Anthony Richardson? Jamie, he's a gator, so I'll ask you, doesn't Richardson profile as better for the downfield guys than the short area targets?

It's kind of why I don't really fear Michael Pittman. I think Pittman's game is going to be a little bit different this year, you know, in terms of what we saw from him last season, because Matt Ryan couldn't throw the ball down the field and the other guys were just inept. So, yeah, but I think, again, you know, you have to sort of project out what these guys can become. And so the hope is that Anthony Richardson becomes a better quarterback as a passer and helping him doing that is a guy that's going to get open in the short area you know part of the field and so I think Josh Downs is going to win in a lot of those scenarios and so um it look it's not like he's going to become

Julian Edelman in his heyday with the Patriots you know that's not necessarily what you're you should be hoping for but you could be you know in a situation where cole beasley stats you know that that type of you know player where you know not not dynamic superstar but if you're getting that as a low end as the floor you know that's not a bad place to start you know and so it's obviously a a receiving core that's still in the works. You know, I think Alec Pierce has to take a big step forward. You know, he didn't have the rookie season we hoped for him. But there are some nice pieces here. And so I think Josh Downs steps into an opportunity right away where, you know, some of these other guys may have to struggle.

We are finishing up round two now. So the seventh picked, Chris Towers took TyJay Spears. We talked about him behind Derrick Henry. Also has the medical concerns, but some big-time upside if he actually ends up in that Derrick Henry role next year. Jalen Hyatt goes to George Maselli. Roshon Johnson goes to RJ White. I want to talk more about him because he was somebody I liked more

before the draft than I do now. Sam Laporta at pick 10 in the second round. Cedric Tillman goes to Jamie, a wide receiver out of Tennessee. Hyatt and Tillman played together, went one pick apart in the second round. Cedric Tillman goes to Jamie, wide receiver out of Tennessee. Hyatt and Tillman played together, went one pick apart in the NFL draft, go three picks apart here. And then Dave takes Jaden Reed with the 12th pick.

So first, Dave, those five guys that went before you, Spears, Hyatt, Johnson, Laporta, and Tillman, how many of those guys would you have taken over Jaden Reed? Definitely would have taken Tillman. I'm not sure on Laporta. Probably.

Maybe not because I could have taken Meyer. I had a real tough call with my pick in round two. So I'm going to say no on Laporta. Definitely yes on Roshon Johnson. And probably yes on Jalen Hyatt and probably yes. Okay. So, so you, you're optimistic. You're the,

the bears fans. So, uh, I know the Chicago bears always say that you always argue with me. Uh, so Khalil Herbert, Deontay Foreman already there. You think Johnson wins the job?

I think he'll have a chance to have a huge role in that offense for the next couple of years. I think he's better than Deontay Foreman. I'm not sure if he's better than Deontay Foreman in September. But to get a bruising back in Chicago, those guys have usually been really good for the Bears and really good for fantasy when they've been given an opportunity. I think he's more elusive than David Montgomery, for example. Although that's not saying much.

Yeah, I think he'll have a chance to be the one be back by 2024, and he will provide good running back depth for whoever gets him in Dynasty for the next couple of years. David Montgomery catching strays for no reason at all. I worry a little bit, this offense that, you know, I don't think Justin Fields is going to throw the ball a ton to his running backs and Johnson's probably not going to have huge. I mean, he was, he did that a lot in college. I'm not sure he's going to do that in the NFL, but I worry Dave says the one B, the one B on a team where the quarterback runs the ball 180 times and doesn't throw to his

running backs. Doesn't seem particularly exciting to me i i'm still trying to figure out who's going to be the one a you know because you know you know dave says in september foreman might be better i mean look we've we've kind of negated deontay foreman at the start of every season understandably so for the last couple of years and by the middle of the season we wereably so, for the last couple of years. And by the middle of the season, we were talking about him backing up Christian McCaffrey, backing up – no, I'm sorry, not backing up McCaffrey. But just what he's done the last couple of years, just in terms of stepping into some roles. Derek Henry.

He was behind Henry. Yep. He's a good runner. And you could play the what-if game with him if he had never popped his Achilles, you know, maybe what kind of career he would have had. And so is Khalil Herbert the lead guy? Is he more of a specialist? You know, he had some good production last season when David Montgomery was there. So I think you see, let them all compete and see how it all shakes out. It's not a bad spot for Roshon Johnson if you're talking about a poor kid

being stuck behind one of the best running backs that we've seen in the last 10 years at Texas with B. John Robinson. He's a backup to Robinson. I'm excited. I don't mind the pick there. I think in round two is where he's going to go. He fell to round three for me, but I have a really hard time distinguishing between those three backs, and I do think Deontay Foreman might be the best.

We're just going to have to wait and see how that works in the world. But it's also another short-term versus long-term, because Foreman's probably not going to be around very long. Right. And Herbert's going to run out his rookie deal, and we'll see if they decide to bring him back as well. So Johnson may not have to wait long to be the feature guy, even if he doesn't do anything very much in his rookie season.

We are working our way through round three. We'll talk about that next. Okay, first three picks of round three. Michael Mayer, the tight end from Notre Dame. With the first pick of round three, I don't think anybody thought before the draft he was going to be available in round three. We'll see if that continues.

Tank Dell goes to Jacob Gibbs with the second pick, and then I took Michaelael wilson i know we we kind of glossed over laporta in round two jamie i saw in one of the show notes that you have him as your top ranked rookie tight end and redraft i do as well he's also my number two in dynasty dave where are you on these three tight ends, both in redraft and in dynasty? Well, we know that Kincaid is the number one. I'm a little worried about a target crunch for Laporta, certainly in his rookie season.

So I think I might lean toward Mayer in redraft because I think there's a chance he could see more targets and score more touchdowns than Laporta. If you told me Laporta is going to be the guy you prefer long-term over Michael Mayer, I totally get that. I totally understand it. He's a little faster.

Not nearly as good of a blocker, so he'll be used more in that passing game role rather than asked to block a lot more. But I could see Mayer being a good contributor. I thought about taking him at the last pick in round two. Opted against it just because, and I guess this is where I really come out. I'm not sure. For all the depth that this tight end class has, I don't know if there's one or even two guys that can be outstanding for fantasy over the long term.

I think they can be good, but as top five type guys, I don't know if any of these guys are going to make it there. I think for can be good, but I don't, as you know, top five type guys, I don't know if any of these guys are going to make it there. I think for Kincaid and Mayer, both, maybe not for Laporta, cause I do think he'd be the best one this year. Um, I just told people set an alarm on your phone for October of 2024 to make an offer for Dalton Kincaid and Michael Mayer. If you really want them, they will be cheaper than, or at least Kincaid will. I'm not sure Mayer will. It will be cheaper than he is right now, I think. It's interesting thinking that Laporta

has more competition for targets, but Michael Mayer has Austin Hooper there. Oh, yeah. Laporta doesn't have more competition for tight end snaps, certainly. That will be interesting to see that work out. Jamie Tank Dell went with the second pick in round three.

He was drafted by the Houston Texans. He was the first wide receiver they took. And then we saw Xavier Hutchison go there also. They pair up with Nico Collins, Robert Woods. Is there a chance Tank Dell at 5'8", 165 pounds, leads the Texans in targets this year? I mean, there's obviously a chance. Nico Collins struggled to stay healthy last year.

We know the situation with John Metz. Thankfully, he's, you know, trending in the right direction. But it's, you know, Robert Woods is 31 and, you know, clearly was terrible last year. He's only really had success, you know, if you factor in his time with the Rams. You know, his rookie, his first part of his career was pretty frustrating with Buffalo. So, you know, I think there's clearly an opportunity. And anytime you have new quarterback and rookie receiver coming in, that pairing may take off and, you know, be the rapport that we love to see.

So, you know, I'd be surprised. You know, I'm kind of rooting for Nico and Mechie to be the top two guys there just based on what I like about Nico Collins and the story for Mechie. But it's not a bad dart throw here, round three. And you can make a case that some of the picks in round two, if you're just taking position value, wide receivers we know are better in Dynasty than any other spot, to take a chance on a guy that has opportunity to step in

and be a playmaker right from day one. I took a wide receiver right after Tankdale, Michael Wilson, who will be as soon as DeAndre Hopkins is traded, whether that's in training camp or the middle of this year, the biggest wide receiver on the Arizona Cardinals, and maybe even the only wide receiver over six foot tall on the Arizona Cardinals. I do think Wilson could develop into a good red zone threat there and has the upside to just be the number one wide receiver.

Will Levis goes to Jack Capitordo with the fifth pick in round three. I don't really feel real excited about drafting Will Levis in a one quarterback league, Dave, but do you still think that he has the upside to justify where we thought he might get drafted? Yeah, I do because I think he's got a chance to start for the Titans in 2024. And I tend to believe that the Titans are a smartly coached team. They know what they can do. They play to their strengths. And I think that'll continue even after Derrick Henry leaves the team.

And so if they've got Will Levis, I think they'll just play to his strengths. And that might mean continuing to try and running the ball 50% of the time and limiting him as far as passing goes. But, you know, there were things about him, especially in 2021, that I liked. You know, I thought that he mostly did a good job of taking care of the football when a play broke down. There were a couple of bonehead interceptions. The strong arm is evident.

You can watch him, the velocity on his throws. Sometimes it's to a fault. But I think he's got some good traits, and I think he can be, if harnessed properly, could be a good quarterback with a chance to have top 12 stats from time to time at quarterback for a third round pick. I don't think it's that much risk and there's enough reward. You just have to be patient for it. We have two picks left in round three, two picks left in this draft. You guys need to make those picks. I am going to read through the 10 players

we've had selected so far in round three, you not only have to think about who you're going to take with these picks, but then think about who is the best player in your mind who didn't get drafted. Leagues that go deeper than this, who should people be looking for that didn't get drafted? We had Michael Mayer go first, Tank Dell second in round three, Michael Wilson, wide receiver for the Arizona Cardinals, goes third to me. Chase Brown, running back for the Cincinnati Bengals, possible Joe Mixon replacement. I think more likely Samaj P. Ryan from last year replacement. Goes to Zach Brooke. Will Levis goes fifth to Jack. Luke Musgrave. Dan takes the tight end, sixth. Seventh is Zach Evans, one of my biggest fallers, and I

do still think there's upside there. I like him in round three. Tank Bigsby goes eighth. Hendon Hooker goes ninth. RJ White. Dwayne McBride. Thomas Schaefer. That's no surprise. Dwayne McBride is a Minnesota Viking.

And we're still waiting on the last two picks. There's Luke Schoonmaker, Jamie. He actually is my favorite tight end named Luke in this class. I like him better than Musgrave also. Obviously not ideal to take two tight ends, but you know what? You put something in my head that probably stuck with me. You said that last year when we did this rookie draft, I did it based on our league, the order. Right now, my roster in that league is Darren Waller and no other tight ends.

And so I guess I had that in my head that I needed to add some tight ends. So taking Kincaid and schoolmaker, but again, you know, uh, never a bad situation if you like your team and, and think about it. If you're picking at the end of a rookie draft,

right. Your team is probably coming off a championship, uh, a playoff run, you know, deep playoff run. If, if you,

if you typically go that route, you know, barring in trades. And so I, I think you're adding, trying to get, you know, deep playoff run. If, if you, if you typically go that route, you know, barring in trades. And so I, I think you're adding, trying to get, you know, something to,

to a very set roster. And so never a bad idea to try and take best player available. And for me, that was schoolmaker at this point. Okay. So Dave finishes off draft with Evan hole, Jonathan Taylor's new, hopefully backup Annapolis.

And so now we've got 36 players off the board. Now, our rookie draft goes six rounds. We were talking about that. It has IDP players and it has free agents. But a lot of rookie drafts go more than three rounds. There are players in my top 40 who weren't drafted. I'll give my favorite player after you guys. Jamie, who's the best player who didn't get drafted

in this draft? Oh, gosh. Dave, do you have one ready? I've got two. Just give one because you're going to cheat. You can text one to Jamie. I am hoping that the what do we call it? The New England Patriots car wash takes care of Kayshaun Boutte.

Okay. You know how in car washes they have those signs that say that the vehicles can't be outside of these parameters, it can't be over 10 foot tall, or it can't be super wide? Right. The Patriots car wash does not work for wide receivers. No wide receivers accept it. But, okay. So so Kayshaun. You're rejecting, so you're rejecting my answer. No, I'm not rejecting.

I think he's a good pick and a guy who, I mean, a year ago, if we'd have done a just pretend mock draft, he'd have probably been a first-round pick. And before the draft, he might have been a second-round pick. And so the fact that he's not getting picked until round four now, I think that's a good one. Jamie, do you have another one besides Kayshaun? I was going to go Deuce Vaughn, just with situation,

knowing that the Cowboys have an opening at running back behind Tony Pollard. Again, barring, as we talked about yesterday, barring the potential of Ezekiel coming back. But Pollard's on a one-year deal right now with the franchise tag. They don't really have a backup of significant value. Ronald Jones, Malik Davis, those type of guys. If Tuzpon does anything, he may not ever be the featured guy, but he could work his way into a shared role.

And we saw last year the two running backs in Dallas. Whatever you think of Ezekiel, he scored 12 touchdowns. And Pollard was a pretty special talent. So there is room for two guys to be productive for fantasy. So that was another player that I was considering when I took, you know, Schoonmaker. You definitely chose my favorite player who didn't get drafted. Absolutely love Deuce Vaughn.

Really hopeful that he can have a role in Dallas and make a fantasy impact. He's fantastic. I will go with Eric Gray. Hopefully the backup to Saquon Barkley, who may not be there for another year. Who knows? Maybe Saquon won't even show up for week one. He says he's not signing the franchise tag. That's going to do it for our three-round rookie-only mock draft, the first one we've done since the draft. Jamie's going to write this up. It will be on the site. Be looking for that. We're also going to do a full redraft mock with the rookies today, and that will be up

this week as well, right, Jamie? Yeah. Yeah, so we've got multiple mock drafts coming your way. We've got Dynasty Download just published today. Go subscribe to that. We've got more mock drafts coming next week, and of course, we'll have more fantasy football today. Dynasty next Tuesday for you. We'll talk to you next Tuesday. Weight loss. It needs to be fast and sustainable. Noom GLP-1 starts at just $149 and ships to your door in seven days. Take it from Clay Vossier, who lost 35 pounds on Noom.

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