Fantasy Football Today - FFT Express - 6 Most Wanted Players for 2024! Players You Must Draft! (07/26 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: July 27, 2024

Discover Dave Richard's most wanted fantasy football targets for the 2024 season with this FFT Express edition! Dive into his expert insights on must-draft players such as Tank Dell, Tyjae Spears, Joe Burrow, Jayden Reed, Brock Bowers, and Josh Palmer. Arm yourself with these essential picks and strategies to dominate your draft and clinch the championship in your league! 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 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs. You can listen to Fantasy Football Today Express on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today Express podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today Express podcast." Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter 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 hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get an ice rink on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Goal tenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries, and we deliver those too. Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. All right, welcome everybody to Fantasy Football Today Express. Let's talk about Dave Richards' most wanted players for 2024. All right, Dave. Six players that are on your most wanted list. Dave's most wanted. What do we got?

Well, first of all, none of these guys should be taken with a top 40 pick. So these are all names that I've earmarked for later on in the draft, guys that I have kind of veered toward taking for a number of different reasons. The first name I'll give you is Tank Dell in Houston, clearly the most explosive of the three wide receivers. Also a guy that developed chemistry with CJ Stroud, Stroud and Dell have been friends for a while that showed on the field late last season, or I can't say late last season, but late last season when Tank Dell was playing, they seem to be on the same page. Dell seemed to be a go-to guy at times for CJ Stroud. And I know that we're adding Stefan Diggs into the mix, but I think those big plays,

those hype plays that Tank Dell will make could help carry him if he stays healthy all season long. I like getting him to be my number three receiver and I found him as late as round six. I would expect to get him in round five. Yeah. Diggs, a good buzz out of training camp. And obviously that's not affecting your call there. So tank Dell is number one.

Who's number two. Tajay Spears for now is a really good value on draft day. And we've talked about it on the main FFT show, Adam, that the Titans intend to use Spears and Tony Pollard as a rotation. We've watched Tony Pollard for years and he's had moments where he's been awesome, and he's had a lot more moments where he's just okay. And I think that TyJ Spears, if he's going to get the same amount of playing time as

Tony Pollard, and if he's a little bit more of an efficient running back, and maybe even a more explosive running back than Tony Pollard, and maybe as he proved last year can be a better passing downs running back than somebody like Tony Pollard. I know Pollard can catch the ball too, but last year Spears had that role for that version of the Titans offense. I wonder if there's obviously a path for him to be the better Titans running back, but even if they both stayed healthy for 17 games, maybe he just outperforms Pollard by a little bit.

I don't think there will be designed roles for each of these running backs. I really think that they are just going to use them in a rotation. That's kind of random. And I want the value of Tajay Spears in it. I had this thought. What if Tajay Spears ADP goes higher than Tony Pollard's? Would I then jump on the Tony Pollard bandwagon?

I don't think I would. I would change my colors. No, I wouldn't. I would stay with Tajay Spears and keep him as the Titans running back that I'd want the most. All right. Yeah, Tajay. I hope his value stays pretty low.

Actually, what we're seeing is Pollard's value, I think, going down. And Spears is not necessarily going up, which is good for both of them. I think Pollard, we opened, I don't know, after free agency, he was just going a little bit too high. All right, and who's number three? Number three is Joe Burrow, and we've seen it from him before. When he's been healthy, the receiving core's been healthy, everything's good and sincey, his numbers can pop.

He's got the potential to get you an average of 26 fantasy points per game in a six-point-per-passing touchdown league. That's really good, and we're getting him sometimes as late as quarterback eight in fantasy drafts. That's a value pick that I'm looking for. If I want to have a QB that's got QB one upside, I know he doesn't run like Jalen Hurts or Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson. Yeah, those guys should go ahead of Joe Burrow for that reason. Same thing with Anthony Richardson.

But I think Joe Burrow's receiving core is awesome. I think that there is a path. And, frankly, the fact that he's healthy and that his offensive line is stronger than it's been in years past and that they've kind of got some depth at wide receiver makes me more encouraged to take Joe Burrow. I'm waiting for him a little bit on draft day if, and this is a big if, if a value at a quarterback that's available sooner doesn't fall into my lap first.

Example being the mock draft we recently did. Josh Allen fell to round four. I took him. I wanted him to be on my team at that value. I'll do that. But short of something like that happening, Burroughs who I'm targeting in that round six, seven range.

Would you rather have Burroughs or Stroud? Stroud's ranked higher for me. Okay. I like his receiving core a lot too. Yeah. Hopefully you can wait around and get Joe Burroughs. Dave, we're going to take a quick break on Fantasy Football Today Express

and get the rest of your Most Wanted list. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get an ice rink on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Goaltenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes.

Because those are groceries, and Joe Burrow. None of these players are going to be top 40 picks. Give me three more. Let's go to number four. Number four is Jaden Reed in Green Bay, and his ADP is falling because of all the exciting news about Christian Watson, and he's healthy, and he's figured out how his hamstrings are able to work together

or something like that. I'm not sure what it is, and it's not me saying that I'm against Christian Watson. I get why we're excited about him. We've seen him do well, but we've seen Jaden Reed do well too. In fact, late last season, he was getting work as a runner, as well as a pass catcher. He was playing hurt. He battled through it, scored a slew of touchdowns. I think he's the most versatile receiver that the Packers have.

I'd be shocked if they didn't use him more, presuming that he's healthy than they did last year. Second year wide receiver who should be in line for at least six targets a game, hopefully somewhere in the neighborhood of six to seven targets per game and two to three carries per game to help pace the Packers and make their offense even more explosive. I'm,

I'm finding his ADP falling a little bit. I like the idea of waiting for him in round seven, round eight. I'm okay with him being my wide receiver three to begin the year. Yeah. And I would put Christian Watson, I guess on my most wanted list. I'm okay with him being my wide receiver three to begin the year. Yeah, and I would put Christian Watson, I guess, on my most wanted list. I prefer him to Jaden Reed.

I think he's a better player, capable of doing more. And if he stays healthy, he would, I think, be on the field more than Jaden Reed, who played in the slot about 75% of the time last year and may not be on the field in all two receiver sets. So yeah, and Watson does go a little bit later than Reed still, so he'd be on my list. All right, Dave, number five.

The only pushback I'd give you is that I don't know how much the Packers are going to play more two tight end formations or two running back formations compared to the rest of the league. I don't think they'll do that. I think they'll be in 11 personnel quite a bit. The next one is Brock Bauer. 20th or so in the LaFleur era. That's kind of like where they live. That's fine. I can deal with that. Bowers in Las Vegas,

rookie tight end. This is another guy who's versatile, can line up anywhere. The minicamp reports were great. The training camp reports so far are good. I know there's a quarterback issue. That stinks, but I think that's baked into his ADP a little bit. This is a player who I think can finish number two on the Raiders and targets and, and be a factor for them in the red zone for sure. And I'm, I'm looking for him around pick 90. I think that's like right around where his ADP is. That's round eight. There have been drafts that I'm in where he slides and I've already got a tight end. I take Bowers anyway, because I think he could end up being maybe even a flex

for my fantasy team over the course of the season, just a Supreme talent in a situation where I think he can get some work. And let's get number six. All right, Dave, number six on the most wanted list. Let's keep going West. Let's go to LA and it's Josh Palmer, who we've seen mesh with Justin Herbert before. We think that lad McConkie is going to be the top target getter in LA. We know the Chargers are a team that's not going to throw the ball 600 times this year, but when they do throw the ball, I think McConkie will be on the field. I think Palmer will be on the field pretty much every single down. Those two, along with DJ Chark, have already been working in the two-minute drill, the hurry-up offense, but I think in their two tight end sets, and they'll

run a lot of that. That's an offense that'll use two tight ends quite a bit. I think you'll see Palmer and McConkie on the field a bunch. And he was the go-to guy for us when Keenan Allen or Mike Williams got hurt. That was even as recently as last year. Those guys aren't even on the team. There isn't anybody else that's really established as a veteran or someone that's worked with Justin Herbert on the roster that's better than Josh Palmer. I think it's going to work out to his advantage,

and we're finding him late on draft day to love having him as my top wide receiver on the bench could end up using him as a wide receiver three during the season. Someone in our chat named Nathan said, can I ask a league advice question? And I'm giving him 10 more seconds to get the question asked or we're going to end the show, Dave. So I like your glasses, Dave. What?

I like your glasses. Why? I've had them for years. I'm just killing time for Nathan here. All right, Nathan, you are out of time. You are out of time. We will not be answering any questions. I am sorry.

We have to go. That's Dave Richard. I'm Adam Azer. Have a wonderful weekend, everybody, and we will talk to you on Monday on Fantasy Football Today Express.