Fantasy Football Today - Finding Workhorse RBs! (05/18 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: May 18, 2021

Of course talent matters, but workload could be even more important for RBs. We'll try to identify the workhorse RBs throughout the draft after we detail how the landscape has changed since 2020 (6:45). There seem to be fewer aging, lousy RBs with workhorse potential. But the Year 2 RBs (11:15) offer a lot of hope when it comes to workload. We go through each one and discuss! Can D'Andre Swift and J.K. Dobbins get the carries we're hoping for? Is Antonio Gibson a workhorse? ... Moving on to the 2020 workhorses who did not finish in the Top 12 in PPR per game scoring last season (33:00), it's Chris Carson, Josh Jacobs, David Johnson and more. Are they going to be heavily featured in their offenses again in 2021? ... Finally we discuss David Montgomery (45:30) and Melvin Gordon (48:00). And who has a better chance to be a workhorse: Mike Davis or Myles Gaskin (49:30)? ... Your emails at [e-mail] '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

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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. Well, you don't have to worry about workloads when you look at Christian McCaffrey and Saquon Barkley and Dalvin Cook and, you know, hopefully Aaron Jones. You know, the guys that get a lot of carries. Oh, Derrick Henry, by the way. Those are great. We know we're getting big work from those guys, and it's going to pay off for fantasy.

But who else? Who else could be a workhorse this year? And last year we were wondering, we know there are going to be some workhorses, but are these guys any good? They're kind of old. That's Le'Veon Bell. That's Todd Gurley. It's David Johnson. And I think we learned that you should probably avoid those type of players. They don't necessarily exist this year, but we will discuss that. Welcome to the show on this Tuesday morning. I'm Adam Azer with Jamie Eisenberg and Dave Richard. We're very excited about what's going on in the sports world. We're very excited about what's happening tonight at 7pm

Eastern. Dave, I'm very excited for some year two running backs to become workhorses. You think it's going to happen? A lot of them? I think it's going to happen with most of, I don't even know about most, some. I think you can see it with Akers. I think you can see it with Taylor.

Those guys are kind of obvious. Robinson's going to take a big step back. Gibson, we hope, can get there. Swift probably won't get every single touch, but maybe by the end of the year, it'll look like he had a workhorse role. Dobbins, I don't think he's going to get there without an injury to Gus Edwards.

Who am I missing? Edwards-Hilaire. He could get there. It's possible. Certainly, more likely workhorses from the 2020 rookie class than the 2021 rookie class at running back. Jamie, any chance Travis

Etienne becomes a workhorse at some point? Obviously, there's a chance. Let's take a rule. When I say any chance, because I do that a lot, it's a bad habit. So the new rule, when I say any chance, has to be greater than 10%. That's what I'm trying to say. Fair enough.

So yes, there is a greater than 10% chance that he can become a workhorse running back. You know, the way that they are talking about using him and Urban Meyer wanting to, you know, make him his next Percy Harvin and Curtis Samuel. As we talked about yesterday, this is good news for James Robinson's fantasy managers that he's going to still retain somewhat of a potential lead running back role. But you would assume that Travis Etienne, the running back, will shine through and be used properly. And as I said yesterday, he could obviously still catch plenty of passes lining up out of the backfield. So I do think Etienne will be a workhorse running back at some point,

but it may not be until the middle of the season. Yeah, it's an interesting discussion to have because you look at a guy like David Montgomery, 247 carries in 15 games. I don't know if that rate's going to come down. We don't expect 50 plus catches. You look at a guy like Josh Jacobs. He basically was only good in fantasy because he was a workhorse and that's

what you love. But now they have Kenyan Drake there. Mike Davis, can he become a workhorse? So we'll get to that. But tonight is a big night. We're going to be live on the Fantasy Football Today YouTube channel, Tuesday, 7 p.m. Eastern, answering all of your questions. The schedule's out. The NFL draft is behind us. We've got dynasty

drafts underway. In fact, Dave and Jamie and Heath and all the other cool people who are in this dynasty league that I'm not in, I think they're starting their slow draft today. So exciting times. Join me and Dave. Is Chris going to be on today, tonight too? I think they're starting their slow draft today. Exciting times. Join me and Dave. Is Chris going to be on tonight too? I think so, yes. Chris and I will have Chris on next Tuesday. Okay, never mind. Me and Dave tonight. YouTube.com

slash FantasyFootball today. Get your questions answered. Subscribe to the channel. Turn the notifications on so you're going to know exactly when we're live, and we will see you, youtube.com slash fantasyfootballtoday, Tuesday night, tonight, 7pm

Eastern. Quick correction on something I said mistakenly yesterday. Ryan Kerrigan, I said he was traded to the Eagles. He was not. He was just signed. Did you say that? I did say that. Well, I'm sorry I didn't catch that. And then I went on this whole mini rant about how the NFC East keeps trading with each other. I remember you saying that, and I thought you said giving them players.

I guess I interpreted the wrong way what you said. I'm sorry for that. Yeah, that's fine. That's fine. I misinterpreted something and whatever. No big deal. I guess it was just I'm used to you getting things wrong all day yesterday. Yeah, yeah.

You should be. Just yesterday? Just yesterday. That pass rush is interesting now in Philadelphia. It is one of the deepest pass rushes in the league. They've got some dudes that can keep coming after the quarterback now. That's going to be fun to watch. It's a defensive division except for Dallas.

And they are the... Good alliteration. I want to sleep on Dallas, though. They're going to get better. Yeah. Yeah, but I think they're fourth best in the division, even with Parsons there. On defense. Defense.

And they're the favorite to win the division right now. It's going to be interesting. Yeah, and we got the play-in games tonight. We're buzzing. We're pumped for the play-in games tonight. We're buzzing. We're pumped for the play-in games, so make sure you're watching CBS Sports HQ. More on that a little bit later. The NBA playoff games.

Could they do NFL playoff games? Could they take the eight and nine seeds and make them play a quarter or something like that? Probably not. Could they? Yes. Would they? What are the financial ramifications?

That would be what determines that. I mean, pretty soon we'll get to a point where everybody makes the playoffs, and then the team that wins nine playoff games makes it as the eighth seed or something like that. I'd be down with that. Nah, too many. You can't let everybody in the playoffs.

I'm just kidding. I wouldn't be down with that. You're not allowed. All right, so listen, last year... Bad enough that there's seven in each conference in the NFL. Last year. I'm fine with it. Too many.

You should be excited. Knicks are in. Knicks are definitely in. Oh, my gosh. Am I excited? I guess. Don't break your heart. Don't worry.

No, they won't. So look, last year we had this episode. It was, are these workhorse running backs any good? And we wanted to recreate that episode. But it's just not really applying this episode. It was, are these workhorse running backs any good? And we wanted to recreate that episode, but it's just not really applying this year because you had older guys who were going to get a lot of work and it was Le'Veon Bell and it was Todd Gurley. And we probably talked about Melvin Gordon and maybe we talked about Mark Ingram. And it just, it wasn't a good group. And this year's different. I mean, let's take a look.

Let's compare ADPs. Looking at fantasyfootballcalculator.com, PPR, average draft position, the running backs going in rounds three through five. There are some repeat names. Last year, it was Chris Carson, and he was RB16 in ADP. And it just so happens that this year,

there were 15 running backs going in the first two rounds last year. And so far, right now, according to ADP. And it just so happens that this year, there were 15 running backs going in the first two rounds last year. And so far, right now, according to ADP, there are 15 running backs going in the first two rounds this year. So that's good. But round three running backs last year were Carson, David Johnson, Gurley, Jonathan Taylor, Le'Veon Bell, Leonard Fournette, Melvin Gordon,

Mark Ingram, Devin Singletary, Raheem Mostert, Cam Akers, Kareem Hunt, Ronald Jones, and David Montgomery. The only thing is, though, if you played your cards right, you could have had a very good backfield at different points in the season. Yeah, so you would have had to take Jonathan Taylor and David Montgomery would have been the two best picks.

Most of these guys were fine. I'm not even talking about Montgomery and Taylor. I'm talking about Gurley early, David Johnson late. If that's how you just did it, if you were able to work it out that way, that probably worked out pretty well. But overall, I would say this was not a good range. These guys weren't different.

These guys were not league winners for the most part, and some of them were outright busts. And this is what Ben Gretsch talked about a lot. This is a running back dead zone, but it's just different this year. I mean, look at these names this year. Mixon is a round three pick right now, and I don't really think that's going to happen, but he's RB16 in ADP

in PPR, and he's early round three. Dobbins, Edward Ziller, Miles Sanders, David Montgomery coming off that finish. And the top five running back last year, Chris Carson again, and he just seems to be the one who just keeps defying the odds and being really good. Kareem Hunt, Mostert, Gaskin, Melvin Gordon, Ronald Jones. It gets a little weaker, but it's not old bad players coming off bad years. It's young, exciting players like Dobbins and Edward Ziller

and Miles Sanders hopefully bouncing back and David Montgomery trying to repeat. So, I don't know. It's a little bit of a different landscape, Jamie. Do you see that as well? Yeah. I mean, it's, you know, kind of why I think I keep drafting the way that I'm drafting. It's taking three running backs in my first three picks because of the fall off

and the potential of what those guys could hopefully become. Now, it's obviously taking the right three ones, which you never get lucky doing, so that's the gamble. But this position is not as deep as the other position that you're drafting high, which is wide receiver. And so there's a lot more flexibility to take those players in these rounds, wide receivers in those rounds that you're referring to, as opposed to missing out on the high-end guys,

just because the hope would be that you hit on one of those, you know, wide receivers ranked or that are going to be ranked or drafted 15 through 25. Cause there's a lot of guys like, right? Like they feel safer. They feel like safer fantasy picks. I know they're not dripping with like crazy upside, but in some cases they are though, because I mean, you're talking about like CeeDee Lamb and Jamar Chase and, you know, players that can certainly have, you know, huge ceilings, but they're not A.J. Brown or Calvin Ridley

or, you know, those guys that are hitting their prime and hitting their stride. And they've shown you also what they can do because they've given you a little taste of what their ceiling can be. Well, I think after round three it's really interesting i did running backs in rounds three through five but if you look at this list i think we can get excited about mixon dobbins edward z layer i'm not saying that we all like all

of them i'm saying it's easy to make a case to be excited about them right uh miles sanders david montgomery chris carson let's stop there now Now, okay, after that, Kareem Hunt. I mean, I don't want to take him in the fourth round. Fifth round, you know, Raheem Mostert. There's much more downside. We're getting to the point. Mostert, Miles Gaskin, Melvin Gordon, Ronald Jones. It's not, and I don't even buy that Ronald Jones anymore.

Like, that's probably Fournette. I'm sure that has changed. And that's when I think Jamie is pivoting to wide receiver, and most people are going to be going wide receiver, maybe a tight end there. That's a reach probably for quarterback. But there's definitely a drop after probably round three. But, you know, Dave, since we're talking about workhorses,

why don't we just go through? We don't have to analyze all of these guys, but the types of work we're looking for here with the year two running backs, you know, Jonathan Taylor. You know, I'm just going to... Workhorse. Okay, not concerned about Marlon Mack?

I'm not. Okay. I would be stunned if Marlon Mack comes back from a torn Achilles and plays well enough to take Jonathan Taylor off the field the way that Taylor finished last year. There are some people that believe, oh, we're right back where we started with the Colts backfield with this three-headed monster. But I think just what last year showed us totally changed the equation. And that Taylor is awesome.

He was given a lot of work. He was successful with it toward the end of last season. I think Hines is just pigeonholed into this passing downs role in the two-minute drill role. And I'd be surprised if Marlon Mack came back and was a big part of that rushing attack. I think that it's going to be a lot of Jonathan Taylor, and I think that he's worth the first-round pick. Okay. I'm just going to say, kind of looking at their best stretches when they were getting a ton of work last year, what were they actually getting? Jonathan Taylor was getting almost 20 carries per game, but he was only on pace for 37 catches. So you, he might fall short

of any type of, you know, 50 catch benchmark that we talked about. Jamie DeAndre Swift. Now this one's interesting. He never had more than 16 carries in a game last year, whereas Jonathan Taylor had 16 or more carries in six of his last seven games, including the postseason. So we know he's not going to have as many, we think he's not going to have as many carries as Jonathan Taylor. Will he make up for it, though, with the catches? Can we assign workhorse when you combine all touches,

you know, to DeAndre Swift? You have to. I mean, it's not fair to take away what his best asset is and not factor that into what his total workload is. So it's not necessarily just the carries. It obviously has to be what it does in the passing game. It's why we love Christian McCaffrey. It's why we love Alvin Kamara.

But those guys, so Kamara's 80 catches every year, 81, 82, 83. McCaffrey's 100, right? Swift was on pace. That's the reason why they're top three picks. I mean, Swift is going to go in the middle of the second round. So there's a drop-off, but that's what we love about those other two guys that are going early is their ability to work in the passing game

on top of what they do carrying the ball. So the hope for Swift is that what he showed you over his final nine games, what he showed you in the passing game, what the coaching staff brings, and obviously what the offensive line looks like. I mean, they have, you know, I don't know if it's going to be one of the best offensive lines, but it should be upper half of the league and a chance to be top ten. And so, you know, he's in a good spot.

He's not Jonathan Taylor, as we talked about with Jacob Gibbs. You know, you asked the question. Jonathan Taylor, Cam Akers, DeAndre Swift. As he said in PPR, and I totally agree, he probably has the safest floor based on his passing game work. But he does not have the upside of those other two guys because of what those other two guys will do with their carries. So Swift is probably going to be a 16 carry guy.

I mean, you know, you just have to know that going in. That's great. That would be great. 16 carry guy or 16 touch guy. I think 16 carry guy as, as the ceiling,

like that's, that's, that's what he's going to max out. He's not going to be a 20 carry game guy on a weekly week, week to week basis. No, no. But if he gets 16 carries and he can get 70 catches

yeah that's a that's a first round that's a first round player i think in ppr i mean like i said yesterday the touchdowns are going to be a potential problem for him if the offense regresses from a rushing touchdown standpoint which it has to yeah um and the quarterback situation changes the entire tenor of what that offense looks like you know so while he should be uh improved running the ball because again you have anthony lynn and deuce daly and those two guys have a great track record you know individually um what he should do in the passing game the the fear would be is bad offense overall and is jamal williams going to take too much away from him because jamal williams like i said it's it he has a poor man's deandre swift skill set he's he's gonna you know carry

the ball enough he's gonna catch the ball enough. He's going to catch the ball enough that it's going to be a little bit frustrating. But I think if you're banking on Swift, like Heath is, for example, you're hoping for 20 to 22 total touches on a week-to-week basis, and I think he'd do that. Okay, well, that would be great.

All right, so let's just go, just because I want to talk about so many guys. Cam Akers, do we have any doubt that Cam Akers will be a workhorse in his last six games, including two postseason games? He was on pace for 352 carries in 16 games. Everything I'm going to give you is 16 games. That's how it was.

Yeah, that's how it was. That's how it was. We'll have to adjust, but these are just 16 game paces. He was getting so many carries. So just Dave, real quick, do you have any doubt that Cam Akers is a workhorse this year? He's going to begin the season as the workhorse running back for the Rams. I believe that.

I think the coaching staff loves him. I think they're frustrated with Daryl Henderson. Not that Henderson won't have a role, but it just won't be a big role. And I think we haven't seen a lot of Akers as a pass catcher. And I think we will. I think we're going to start to see him catch the ball a little bit more while that's a running back that can blow past 16 carries per game. I don't know if DeAndre Swift can hit 16 carries per game. I'm pretty sure Cam Akers can. What could affect him? Well, if he stinks to start the season, we've seen this coaching staff give running backs a quick hook pretty early on in the year. And Stafford's there now. So they're

going to want to air it out with Stafford. That'll hurt to a degree Akers, but it'll also help him because if the Rams are clearly passing deep and they're using Stafford's arm on intermediate routes, that means that things should open up for him as a rusher because there won't be safeties and linebackers that are just hell-bent on stopping Cam Akers. And even when there were teams that he played where defenders were hell-bent on

stopping him, he found ways to beat them. Okay, so we think workhorse for Akers. J.K. Dobbins. I don't think you can say, right? I mean, you can't say he's going to be a workhorse. I wish. Yeah, it just doesn't have to be much. Right, okay.

So talk about that, Jamie, because Dobbins, in his best stretch, he was on pace for only 205 carries. I just told you Cam Akers, his best stretch, and both were six games. Cam Akers was on pace for 352 carries and 29 catches. Dobbins was on pace for 205. That's like 150, almost 150 fewer carries and only 8 catches in that stretch on pace for.

So, Jamie, you don't... Yeah, so that... He's so tricky in PPR. It drives me crazy. But yeah, talk about Dobbins. It just depends what your expectations are. If you're expecting Dobbins to be a top 12 running back in PPR, it's going to take a Gus Edwards injury or a complete shift in philosophy

for them to start throwing the ball to the running backs more. But if your expectations are a top 15 running back, so we're talking three spots, you know, 12 to 15, that has basically been what he was last year during the stretch. And so I've said this time and time again, going back to 2019, they are 23 times over that span. So 23 out of 30, 32 times,

23 out of 32 times where Ravens running back had at least 13 carries. That's the minimum, 13 carries. The average for those games for that running back. So we're talking Mark Ingram, J.K. Dobbins,

and on occasion, Gus Edwards. The average for those games that running back had was 14.7 PPR points. Eight times over that span, that running back had more than eight times had more than 15 PPR points. So in 2020, last year, 14.7 PPR points per game would have been the number 15 PPR running back. So that's all that he has to do is get to 13 carries. He's going to do that easily. So the question becomes, is he getting to 18 carries?

Is he getting close to 20 carries? That's probably not going to happen consistently when Gus Edwards is there. But I think you're going to see Dobbins take over Mark Ingram's touches, which is something that should happen. And Edwards kind of stays in the same role. There are going to be games where Edwards gets hot and he's going to get more carries. There's probably going to be some games where he stinks and Dobbins is just going crazy. It's not going to be from the reception total, but his final five outings last season, Dobbins averaged 16.2 PPR points per game, three games with at least 13 carries. The numbers speak to itself.

But never more than 15. Right. He's not going to be that type of guy. And remember, they went through this kind of figuring out process last year. They're probably going to do it again because you don't add Rashad Bateman, Sammy Watkins, and the other kid

that they took in the fourth round and say we're not going to throw the ball more because they're going to throw the ball more. They're going to tinker with some things. It might be in-game tinkering, but Dobbins is their guy. So it's just what your expectations are. He's going to score 10-plus touchdowns

if he's healthy in this offense. And the hope would be is that he gets close to Mark Ingram's five receiving touchdowns that Ingram had in 2019. He just needs those touchdowns. 34% of his PPR fantasy points last year came strictly on touchdowns. And you could say that about a lot of running backs last year. But in this offense, you can peg it. That's the thing. I would hope so but you know that gus edwards can work at the goal line and then can pick up touchdowns and

lamar jackson can too and god forbid they start using rashad bateman as a red zone threat that'll take touchdowns away from all the players that we just talked about so there there are there are traps here for uh jk dobbins but i get what you're saying i think it makes sense and that's you said you have to draft him like he's going to be a top 15 running back that's fine by me i think that that makes sense you just can't overrate him which is tough to do because he's so damn good yeah right like in non-ppr half ppr he's going to creep into the second round in full ppr the earliest you should take him is round three yeah Yeah. I mean, there's, I guess there's a chance that they just say, all right, we're riding with this guy. Gus Edwards, you're

getting five carries a game and Dobbins you're getting 15, 16 or something like that. And that would just, that could lead to a huge season because you know, Ravens running backs are going to be very, very efficient. He averaged six yards per carry last year. It's not going to be six, but I would bet it's going to be over five. What would we all take the over on six yards per carry last year. It's not going to be six, but I would bet it's going to be over five. Will we all take the over on five yards per carry for Dobbins? Oh, for sure. As long as Lamar's healthy, for sure. Right. Clyde Edward Ziller, I remind you, his first six weeks before Le'Veon Bell, he was on a 16-game pace of 285 carries and 56 catches.

That's a workhorse. That's a ton of touches. It's not going to be top five in the NFL, but it's pretty damn close, and it gives you great value if you can get Clyde Edwards-Ziller in the third round. Do you guys think Jamie, 10% bar, any chance that Clyde Edwards-Ziller could be on that 330-ish

touch pace? Yes, there's a chance. Over 10%. I think you've got to fear fear because they showed you last year that if they don't love their backfield, and I don't think it's necessarily an indictment on Edward Soler. I think it's more an indictment on the guys behind him that they'll bring in somebody who's available

or who's still going to get cut in the process between June 1st and the start of the season in training camp. Or there's still three big-named running backs that are available in free agency. One, they already kicked the tires on it, didn't work out, Le'Veon Bell. The other two would be Todd Gurley and Adrian Peterson. The last thing you want to see is those guys come in to ruin what Clyde Edwards Hilaire can be. But at the same time, you know, he's got this great opportunity in front of him.

This offensive line should be awesome with what they've done. You know, the hope is that all the moves that they've made are an upgrade, whether it's due to the injury losses that they had at the end of the season to Fisher and Schwartz or just the, you know, the potential of what the guys that they brought in could be. There's a lot to like about what this is. It's still Andy Reid. It's still Patrick Mahomes.

Like you said, Adam, he showed you enough in the first, you know, start of the game with no offseason that he can still have that opportunity and the investment that they made in him. So I think the people that got burned by him last year are probably going to pass on him. But I think passing on him in round two is going to be a mistake. I think you have an opportunity. And look, you debate him with Swift.

You debate him with Gibson. You debate him with Mixon and Chubb and PPR. He's going to be in those conversations. Najee Harris, maybe on the back end of Travis Etienne as well. J.K. Dobbins, he's in that conversation. But I think there's certainly the ceiling is still there of what we talked about last year, and hopefully it fulfills it. That's interesting.

Round two, you think, for Clyde Edwards either. Would you take DeAndre Swift or Clyde Edwards either? Swift in PPR. What about in half? What about in half PPR? Yeah, Swift. I think you just look at what he showed you. There's a lot to like about him in this offense, knowing that there's not a lot of mouths to feed. The Chiefs still have a lot of mouths to feed, and we

know what they do at the goal line. We know what they're certainly going to do passing the ball. So I think Swift's ceiling is a little bit higher, but that's not a knock on Edwards-Solaire. I think Edwards-Solaire is right in the conversation with him. Okay. Dave, do you think Antonio Gibson could be

a workhorse? It was just weird. They just didn't really run the ball that much. For a team that you would think would be built on winning low-scoring games, they were 25th in rush attempts

and 9th in pass attempts while allowing the fourth-fewest points in the NFL. But do you think Antonio Gibson could be a workhorse? Yep, I think he could. I think he can take that next step.

And the reason why I've got some confidence in that, Adam, is because last year he wasn't used enough as a pass-catching running back. And when they did use him, he was used more like a traditional running back. And the touchdowns kind of speak to that. The workload was okay. I think there's room for that to grow.

I think there's room for his efficiency to grow. And I think there's room for his role to grow in the passing game. I think that offensive line has a chance to be better. And I think now that they've got Fitzpatrick under center, they can at least put the threat of a passing game out there. That's better than what they had with Alex Smith and probably what's better than what they had with Taylor Heineke under center. So, so there's, there's about Haskins. Well, probably at this point. Yeah. It's an upgrade. Ryan Fitzpatrick ended up being an upgrade for the Washington football team. Now there there's things to worry

about with Gibson to Curtis Samuels there. Not only can Samuel take carries, he's also a good short area target. We saw last year that he was a big red zone threat for the Panthers. He could very easily replicate that with the WFT. McKissick is still there. That's somebody who could take catches away, potentially, from Antonio Gibson. They're going to use those guys. It was successful for them last year, but I do like the talent. And I do think that there is a chance for opportunity to grow, especially since he's on the other side of that defense. That's going to make it really hard for opposing offenses to put up points. Four of his last five games before the toe injury on that, uh, was it Monday night or Tuesday night game against Pittsburgh, uh, 17 or more total touches. And then he comes back from the toe injury and the final game of the regular season, 20 total touches. So it's pretty clear that he has that opportunity

after not having an offseason, transitioning from wide receiver to running back. The guys that are behind him are guys. He's the star. Absolutely love Antonio Gibson. All right, and James Robinson look I know the catches are going to go down he had 49 catches in 14 games

he had almost to what degree could he be 15 carries per game for James Robinson early in the season yes late in the season probably not and when you say early in the season do you mean just week one against Houston or are we talking like three or four weeks where you know

he's still you know depending on game flow having an opportunity to do that for a few weeks but you know it's it it just depends on what urban wants you know right he wants to try and put this you know this great potential running back into this hybrid role, it could work out fantastic for their team. It could work out fantastic for Travis Etienne. I don't know. I don't know why you would take that in the first round when you probably could have taken that in the second round,

knowing you had the first pick in the second round. You know, so they could have gone a different direction at 25 overall. Seems like they're going to try and make this happen. So I think that's, you know, for James Robinson, it's more so for his dynasty and keeper value. And like we said yesterday, Adam, I think, you know, he went from around eight pick potentially to now maybe around six pick. So that's kind of, I think, where James Robinson is.

But it's hard to see this over the course of a season if Travis Etienne is healthy. Yeah, I've got him in the round seven range and actions speak loud. And this is one of those instances where they took Etienne a little higher than we all thought Etienne would go. They love explosiveness. Urban loves explosive players. Here's one that is familiar with the quarterback, familiar with the offense, can really be an interesting fit there. And of course, it's going to hurt James Robinson. I think Robinson becomes a touchdown-reliant running back who, by the end of the year, will probably average under 12 carries per game.

It's kind of interesting, though. Texans in Week 1 is a great matchup. It is. Broncos in Week 2, I don't know. No, that's tough. It's tough? Okay. That's tough. Cardinals in Week 3, that's fine.

No. That's tough? They're going to be tough Cardinals in week three? That's fine. No. It's tough? They're going to be tough. They're going to be a good defense this year. What's so different about them from last year? They're going to be better this year than last year. All right. And then the Bengals in week four.

I don't look at this as... That's bad. If you draft Travis Etienne, you want James Robinson to fail right out of the gate. Sorry to say it's true. It's not set up for failure. It's not like the year when Jamal Williams started for it. It's all these guys, though, Adam.

Look, we said this about Jonathan Taylor and Marlon Mack. When Marlon Mack went down in week one, you were like, oh, oh. I know, but there aren't that many situations like that. Well, sure there is. Dobbins, you want Gus Edwards out of the way. Akers, you want Henderson out of the way. I mean, there's like six or seven backfields where we don't even know who the main guys are going to be. Well, sure there is. Dobbins, you want Gus Edwards out of the way. Akers, you want Henderson out of the way. I mean,

there's like six or seven backfields where we don't even know who the main guys are going to be. Wait, hold on. Henderson, when Akers got all that work last year. That's different, though.

You're talking about the backups. I'm talking about the starter. I'm assuming James Robinson is going to lead the team in carries in week one. So,

that's what I'm saying. I don't know if he leads them in touches. Is this the only backfield? Is this the only backfield? Maybe Denver. Maybe the Jets. This might be the only backfield, at least in the first four rounds, where you're drafting

the backup running back before the starter. It's a long-term play. That's what I'm saying. That's why this is different. You don't need Daryl Henderson to fail in week one. You need James Robinson. Yeah, but the Mac Taylor situation last year is exactly what you're talking about. That's exactly what I'm talking about.

Absolutely. But it worked out for the Taylor owner in a bad way and not the way we want to see it happen. But, yeah, that could have been so different because Marlon Mack was the starter, got off to, he didn't have a lot of touches, but he had three catches

and he was, he looked good right out of the gate and then towards the killies. And then when you look at these guys, like of these seven running backs we just talked about,

I didn't want to spend the whole show on these rookies. We have a lot more to talk about. Who has serious competition do you think for carries? Obviously,

James Robinson does. J.K. Dobbins does. Does it, do you think, for carries? Obviously, James Robinson does. J.K. Dobbins does. Does Antonio Gibson? Does CEH? Does Akers? Does Swift? Does Taylor? Do any of those five have serious competition for carries in your mind?

Just real quick to wrap it up. I don't know in terms of carries. The Taylor one is interesting because if Mack does come back and he – this was my fear with Mack coming back is that this is a guy that they know. They feel good about him to whatever degree. Maybe they just want to give him another opportunity based on how things finished for them last year. Had they brought in some other slug from some other scrap heap,

then it would be like, okay, it's a Carlos Hyde situation. You know what I mean? Like if we need him we'll use him i just fear that they're gonna try and hey marlin you were so good for us we're gonna give you three four carries a week to see how you go and then if he picks up some steam it becomes a problem plus you have naeem hines taking catches away so uh you know taylor you should draft him the first one this isn't a stay away from taylor thing but it could ruin what taylor was at the end of the season and just what the ceiling could be the The ceiling could go from a 10 to an 8. He still

could finish as a top 10 running back, but when you're debating him versus Barkley or versus Aaron Jones or Nick Chubb, depending on the format, those type of guys, it could maybe change your mind a little bit. Okay. All right. We got to take a break on fantasy football today. When we come back, more on the workhorse running backs, including

will David Johnson be a workhorse? And I'll tell you why his touchdowns might go up this year. Spoiler alert, no. Why not? Well, now they're not going to come back after the break, Jamie. Come on. Yeah, well, look. Does he have serious competition?

Take your break. All right, let's take a break. Who else? Josh Jacobs, the Arizona running backs, Melvin Gordon we have to talk about. Is this break over yet? We will be right back on Fantasy Football today. Whether in the game or in life,

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Visit OntarioOneCall.ca. It's free. It's easy. It's the law. Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report. And the break is over. All right, everybody. So Dave gave me a list of workhorse, you know, last year's workhorse running backs

who did not finish top 12 in points per game in PPR. Chris Carson, I think he was 14th. 13th. 13th. Yes, sir. Josh Jacobs was, I have him as 13th, so we're looking at different sources, that's why. But right around there,

Josh Jacobs was just outside the top 12. And do you think Carson and Jacobs will be workhorses this year? Because Carson, you know, I wouldn't really say he was a workhorse last year. I think his touches were a little bit lower than what we wanted. He was on a 16-game pace in his 11 healthy games.

He left one game real early. His 11 healthy games, 250 touches. That's not workhorse to me, not quite. It's fine for a fantasy running back. It's 2021. Yeah, Carlos Hyde was getting 6.5 carries per game when uh when hot when carson was healthy um in the eight games that they played together basically um so anyway carson and jacobs dave do you think we'll get reliable work workloads um reliable sure high volume no certainly not on a reliable basis and the thing that i've noticed

with carson is that he's been like he's had like a 50 success rate in his healthy games the last two seasons so even if you you're going to start him as a number two running back if you draft him but it's basically a 50 50 shot that he'll come come through for you to get you 13, 14 PPR points, something like that. He's good when he's healthy. This team wants to keep running the football, but they've got to try with Rashad Penny again. And who knows who else they'll bring in to take some work away from Carson. So I'm a little nervous about him,

but he still makes that list of good enough to be a number two fantasy running back. Jacob scares the pants off me. He's got an offensive line. That's a huge question mark. Now they added Kenyon Drake for a reason. Drake was a better North South runner than Jacobs ended up being last year in terms of just how he did in short yardage situations. He's a better pass catcher they like that about drake even though drake didn't catch a lot of passes last year and i i think they're looking for a good strong alternative to jacobs in case jacobs gets hurt or if jacobs becomes inefficient because last year he was carried by touchdowns this year i think the coaching staff could get a little sick of them and uh i you tack all that on with a team that still doesn't have a very good defense,

they're going to end up playing in a lot of competitive games or playing from behind. I am nervous to draft Josh Jacobs, and I'm kind of interested in getting Kenyon Drake on my bench. Jamie, if I have a late first-round pick, which means I have a late third-round pick, looking at that 3-4 turn, is that an appropriate time for Chris Carson and or Josh Jacobs? Carson, for sure. Carson, in terms of his workload, he started the season with three of his first four games, at least 17 or more total touches. If you tell me that that's what he's got the ability to be before

he got hurt, you've got to factor in the injury concerns because he's been hurt a lot. Then he comes back from the injury and it was 15 or more total touches in all but the season finale against San Francisco. So I think he's perfect in that round three spot because you know what you're getting. As Dave said, they're going to be committed to running the ball in terms of bringing somebody else in. I don't see that happening. And Rashad Penny looked like he was struggling to stay in the league essentially last year. You know, he just couldn't run.

And maybe it's the result of the injury. Hopefully he's healthy. But it could be DJ Dallas, probably no. Jacob's no way. That's maybe a spot for him depending on what's left on the board. But you're just asking a guy who, you said adam was so volume and i love josh jake you know i was very excited about him last year yeah i i hate the situation where i hate the fact that the offensive line and again i'll go back to i say yesterday 24th according

to pro football focus does that mean they have a chance to get better absolutely 10 percent chance losing three guys huh 10 chance 10 chance you chance. They lose three starters. At least two of those guys were considered to be very good. And the addition of Drake, Drake's a better pass catcher. Whether he still is using that role, you never know what John Gruden's going to do. But this is an offense that scares me. It's a backfield that scares me.

And round three is fine, but it still feels a little too price that scares me. It's a backfield that scares me. And round three is fine, but it still feels a little too pricey for me. I know Heath would disagree on that, and I get it, but I feel a little icky about Josh Jacobs this year, and I hate it because I like him. Okay, and Mike Mayock, the GM in name for the Raiders, said after drafting Alex Leatherwood, a right tackle in round one, he said, I think we're going to run the football better.

I think we're going to get Josh Jacobs to the second level more cleanly than we did last year. Not just because of Alex, because I think we're getting younger and more athletic. So I think we're, we're, yeah, we're concerned about it.

He obviously has to say that, uh, we're concerned about the line. I think with good reason, we're concerned about the offensive line, but that, that quote right there is an admission about how bad the offensive line was last year.

And, and I think that's why big reason why Josh Jacobs didn't have a very good season. I'll be honest. If, if it wasn't Drake, I'd be fine with Jacobs with this offensive line. It's Drake.

It's the fact that they bring in such a proven guy that may or may not have been great in other spots, but he's been good in other spots, and it's going to be a problem for Jacobs. This is not DeAndre Washington. This is not Jalen Rashard. This is a guy that's had success and success with different teams.

So I just think it's going to be tough for Jacobs to reach the ceiling. We have some other workhorses from last year that did not reach there, did not finish in the top 12 and points per game in, in PPR. David Johnson, Ezekiel Elliott, Mike Davis,

Miles Sanders, Clyde Edwards, Z layer, who was really only a workhorse for six games. Melvin Gordon, who was only a workhorse when Philip Lindsay was out, and James Conner had a weird season. Started out as a workhorse, and he was top

12, and then they just completely went away from him. But, okay, when you look at David Johnson, when you look at Melvin... I don't. Yeah, I run the other way. But this is a guy that I ran the other way from last year, and because he did get a lot of work, enough work,

ended up being a useful fantasy option. You got your return on investment from David Johnson. Yeah, yeah, exactly. You should be happy with what you got last year, but last year's gone. If there's no Deshaun Watson, you're talking about a bottom two offense, probably bottom one offense. You mean Jacksonville last year? That's what the Jaguars were last year.

This is worse because James Robinson had no competition. He now has to deal with Mark Ingram and Phillip Lindsey. He has to deal with a bad quarterback situation. He's got one good offensive lineman. He's got a bad defense that's not going to give him opportunities to be successful. This is the worst team in the NFL. This is also the oldest roster in the nfl who's going to catch the passes when they're trailing who's he's got no more duke johnson right so who's going to catch the passes when they're trailing it could change on a week-to-week basis why wouldn't it be him

i think if you get david johnson as a potential flex option in round five or later yeah that's fine but if you're counting on him being anything close to what he was even last year, I think you're making a mistake. He's almost 30. He's not going to be the primary ball carrier. He had 33% of his reception. Wait, whoa, he's not going to be the primary ball carrier? No, he's going to be carrying with those other two guys.

I think he'll still lead them when he's healthy. He'll lead them in carries, but he won't be the workhorse like he was last year. I'll rephrase it. Okay, yeah. 33% of his receptions came in one game last year. So throw that out. He had 11 catches in one game. But Deshaun Watson doesn't throw to his running back.

So Deshaun Watson, oddly enough, he steals rushing touchdowns, and he doesn't throw to his running backs. We don't know if Davis Mills is going to do that, and Tyrod Taylor is not exactly the most prolific passer to his running backs either. No, he's not. So this is just a horrible situation. It stinks. David Johnson, give him all the credit in the world for coming back after, you know,

the miserable ending to his Arizona career, which was probably unfair how it ended. He was great last year. He was absolutely great. Again, like I told you, if you would have said Todd Gurley and David Johnson were a good pairing, most people probably laugh at that, but Gurley beginning, Johnson at the end, that was good. David Johnson was a very good return on investment.

Well, he was. There was a lot of middle there that we're kind of overlooking that was bad for both of them. Yeah. But they got touches. That's the point. That's the point of this episode.

I don't think David Johnson's getting those same touches. Yeah. All right got touches. That's the point. That's the point of this episode. I don't think David Johnson's getting those same touches. Yeah. Unless guys start getting cut. And maybe Ingram doesn't make the team and that'll make it a little bit easier. It would be a surprise knowing his relationship with the head coach. I agree. But, you know, he's even older than DJ. So there's a chance that

he ends up not being a good team. Or Phillip Lindsay doesn't end up making the team because he just doesn't look good. I hated that. They can't use. I did too, because he's not a three down player. I wanted to see him go somewhere else to get a chance. Like this is just,

you know, you're, you're, you're putting him third on the depth chart, maybe second at best for a situation that's going to be just awful. Their whole damn roster looks like a used car lot. Okay. So sides of the ball,

it's just, here's, here's an old car and here's another old car here's a used car maybe gently used but still used yeah then there's brandon cooks and then there's well he's a little used too and then you've got davis mills which is like a brand new car with no engine we're now we're having this conversation now just assuming that the sean watson is not going to be their quarterback this year it kind of feels that way It kind of feels like that's the conversation we're having. Is that how you are approaching this?

It changes for sure if Deshaun Watson's there, because then all of a sudden you have the guy who was one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL last year. Again, forgetting the off-field stuff, this is just a football conversation. Deshaun Watson makes that team competitive. They're not a bottom-one offense. They're not a bottom-one team. He makes them relevant, but relevant for them last year was four wins. So it's not exactly

like this is a great team to begin with with the better quarterback, but it's a better offense with Deshaun Watson there. It's better for the running backs. And so, yes, it does help David Johnson tremendously if Deshaun Watson is there. It does. You want him on a better offense, but they have

not had a running back score more than six rushing touchdowns since 2014. That was when Arian Foster scored eight. And that'd be a 10% chance. It doesn't happen again. Okay. Let's talk about some more guys here and just whether or not we think they could really dominate carries,

dominate touches. But before we do that, let me tell you about what's on CBS Sports HQ this week. As always, CBS Sports HQ is your home to start your sports news day. We've got live updates kicking off each morning at 8 a.m. Eastern. That's 8 a.m. Eastern. HQ should be on. It is a great way to get caught up on everything. It's always your home ahead of the evening's action.

We've got live picks from the best analysts and cappers in the sports world each day at 6 p.m. Eastern. And this week, our crew is locked in on the PGA Championship. We got our friends from the First Cut podcast going to be on HQ all week with their picks, with the weather reports, highlights, everything you'd want to know about the tourney.

And these guys are the best, and they make golf fun and exciting. Okay, I'm not a big golf guy, but when I see Kyle Porter dishing on HQ or on the First Cup podcast, I get into it. Also, I did the Omni Fantasy League

and I've got a couple, I got like three golfers on there. So that makes it fun. And my guy won the Masters. So that's pretty awesome. I just can't remember his name. So check out HQ on your computer it fun and my guy won the masters so that's pretty awesome i just can't remember his name uh so check out hq on your computer on cbssports.com or via the cbs sports app on your mobile phone or your tv

it's always free it's always on what was the name of the guy he's like a pretty famous golfer who won the masters don't you have google at your house? I'm trying to remember this without cheating. This year's Masters? Yeah, yeah. What's his name? I don't think it was a famous guy. It was... Jackie Matsuyama?

Yes, Matsuyama. That's right. Pretty big name in golf. I even knew who he was. Okay. Because he's on your Omni team. No, no, no. I knew him before that.

Will they be workhorses and are they good? There were a lot of running backs who we asked this about last year, but this year maybe not as many. But David Montgomery, will he be a workhorse and is he good? How about this? He was third in the NFL in broken tackles

and he was second best in the NFL in rushing attempts per broken tackles. The only guy who broke more tackles per attempt, who had fewer attempts for every broken tackle, if you think of it that way, was Mike Davis. Mike Davis led the NFL in that weird metric.

And David Montgomery's been good in that metric twice. So he breaks tackles. He did it in college. He does it in the NFL. Anyway, and he's always ranking low in yards per carry before contact. Does that mean that's an O-line problem? Does that mean he doesn't have a lot of burst? I don't know.

But anyway, is he good and will he be a workhorse, David Montgomery? David Richard, what do you think? I think he's good. Will he be a workhorse? I think there's a chance for it. And that stems from, you know, we talked about Cam Akers and how Cam Akers ended last year. And that coaching staff is going to be all in on Cam Akers. Could it be possible that the Bears coaching staff saw what David Montgomery did, even though they were easy matchups?

He was kicking butt. And they just say, hey, this guy's good. Our offensive line's a little bit better. Let's keep riding him. And what's a good way to take pressure off of your veteran journey quarterbacks slash rookie first round pick that's get a run game going and i know they're getting tree cohen back uh time will tell if he's fine after the injury that he had um and and i know they brought in damian williams i don't care damian williams is is i don't i don't i don't

even know if he makes the team in Chicago. I think there's a chance for David Montgomery to be good. And if he slips a little too far on draft day, I'm okay taking him even as a low-end number two fantasy running back. I mean, that's how I'd like to take him. I'm worried that there's going to be somebody else in my league that's going to take him a little bit higher than that. But not only do I think he can be pretty good in this offense with Dalton, if Fields knows what he's doing out there and he's a rushing threat

and Montgomery ends up being the guy for this coaching staff, then he's going to see his efficiency go up just by getting carries next to Justin Fields. And the RPOs and zone reads and all that stuff are going to work in his favor. And you know that he's a bully at the goal line. Jamie, Melvin Gordon.

Is there any chance? There's not much of a chance that he's a workhorse without a Javante Williams injury. That's my take. What do you think? Oh, totally agree. I mean, it's going to be a split backfield. They did it last year with him and Lindsay in the eight games that those two guys were healthy together.

Gordon averages just shy of 11 PPR points per game. He was much better in the games. He was a solo act without Lindsay on the field. So, you know, you need Javante Williams to be out of there. I guess the only thing that would maybe help him is the acquisition of Aaron Rodgers, if that does come to pass, because I'm assuming Rodgers would prefer, at least for the majority of the season, certainly the beginning part of the season, to have a veteran guy who knows what he's doing and probably a better pass blocker at this point than Javante Williams.

I'm not sure. At this point, I would say that's safe to say. It may not carry over very long. So that's probably the saving grace for Melvin Gordon is if they do acquire Aaron Rodgers. But otherwise, I mean, this is a bad situation for him in terms of being a workhorse, for sure. He's in that same boat as James james robinson for me as a

running back that you'll draft just to get your season off and running with as as a running back starter a zero rb type of target not somebody that you're going to draft and say okay he'll help me all year long as an rb2 he i don't i don't think that that's going to happen here miles gaskin and mike davis right, who has the better chance to become a workhorse? I'll say Gaskin. Why? I like the offense that he's in.

It sounds like they're going to change some stuff around. And I think the coaching staff likes him. Just their actions this offseason. Same thing in Atlanta. You saw it last year i mean like he was good as a pass catcher he was good in short yardage situations he was a workhorse they gave him they gave him 60 of the snaps a lot every time he was healthy he was the guy when he wasn't healthy somebody else was the guy and that's you know a pretty good indication that

they like using one running back. Davis could easily be that type of player. We just don't know because it's a new staff and he's going to a new team. I think people are a little concerned about Gaskin holding up. He got hurt. He's trying to get a little bit stronger. They brought in Malcolm Brown. Ahmed's still there. I think he,

okay, I think Gaskin has, has tougher competition. They, maybe neither Gaskin nor Davis right now has tough competition, but I do think Gaskin has tougher competition. Gaskin definitely has tougher competition. Okay.

Without a doubt. Yeah. So I don't know if he's like, like a Phillip Lindsay where he just maybe can't stay healthy and the coaching staff won't turn them loose because of that. I don't know. You know,

like there's no Melvin Gordon though. I mean, that's the difference. I just, I don't think Denver ever viewed Phillip Lindsay as a guy who could, who could be a workhorse. Not this coaching staff. No way.

Right. I don't think they believe that about him. I don't, I don't know how the Dolphins feel. Look, Gaskin had a five game stretch where he was on pace, 16 game pace for 269 carries and 64 catches. That's the reason you buy into him more so than Davis is because he showed you that.

He showed you that they can rely on him. He showed you that he can get the job done in that role. Davis didn't, though? I mean, I think people were— Not on his team. Davis did on the Panthers. And Davis did— This is a much better team.

And when Davis did it, he was averaging 13 ppr points per game that those were the games without christian mccaffrey gaskin in his games he was averaging 15.6 i'm not looking at the i'm not looking at the result i'm looking at the work and so davis absolutely did it for the panthers but it was we're stuck right but is that not the same in Atlanta right now? We hope so. That's what I'm saying, right now. I don't think they view it that way. If you're talking about names of names that you know, obviously Davis is the name that you know. You might know Kadri Allison's name and obviously know

Cordero Patterson's name, but that's the name that you know because he just did something for you. He just did something against you. I don't really see what's different about Atlanta right now compared to Carolina last year when McCaffrey got hurt. Because they didn't have anybody else. Right? No, they did.

I see what you're saying, Adam. Do you take Kadriolos in and JVN Hawkins? I don't. I don't, but we don't know what this coaching staff does. Yeah. They have another undrafted running back, Caleb Huntley, who might end up being halfway decent too. Hawkins is small.

He is a small, small-handed dude who's got speed. I don't think he'll ever be a workhorse guy. Allison seems like he's just a guy. Davis is the best one there. Don't rule out the Falcons finding a running back off the scrap heap during the preseason. And the same goes for the Dolphins. They already showed you that.

They put him in play for Kerryon Johnson. So they're obviously not thrilled on what Myles Gaskin's role may be either. Okay. Will we get workhorses in these backfields? Buffalo? No. No. Arizona? No. No.

Arizona. No. Nope. Remember what I said yesterday, Jamie? I said the answer is yes at Arizona because Cotter is going to get hurt. Well, if that happens. But even then, I don't know if Edwards, if Edmonds gets that role, that 15 plus touches a week roll.

We've seen it before, but it was sporadic. If it's short-term, I think he will. If it's a game or two, I would... All right. We'll see. I like him. I like his chances to get 1,000 total yards. It's the same in Buffalo.

If one of the two guys gets hurt, then yes, there will be a workaround. Yeah, we saw it last year. Right. But I like Edmonds' chances to get 1,000 total yards, even if Connor stays healthy. By the way, which Bills running back do you prefer? Mosk. How about in San Francisco?

Do we have a chance for a workhorse? No. Not without an injury. Not without like four injuries. For the Jets. Yes. I think there's a chance. It's the rookie.

Okay. Okay. All right. Good stuff. Now, you know what? we have time for some emails here schrager i was going to suggest doing a doing like a 15 20 minute mailbag for friday because i'm really falling behind on emails so i'm gonna consider that we got still consider that yeah we got some like wordy uh statsy shows this week that are taking up a lot of time and not saving

time for emails but let's let's give this isn't every show wordsy and statsy shows this week that are taking up a lot of time and not saving time for emails. But let's give this a shot. Isn't every show wordsy and statsy? These ones are particular, more in-depth this week. Sam in Boulder. I mean, it's a podcast. We're supposed to talk about fantasy football.

Sometimes it's different. It's different. Hey, John. Let's have a podcast where we don't use words. Oh, will you shut up? Hey, John, Bubby, Jake, Jay, and Peyton. Quarterbacks.

Broncos. Broncos quarterbacks. Tough keeper question I need help with. Keep Justin Jefferson in the 12th round or Jonathan Taylor in the 4th round? Jefferson. Yeah, I think I'd say Jefferson too, especially if you can keep him for a longer period of time.

Good afternoon. This is from John from a New York City borough not named Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, or the Bronx. Staten Island. My birthplace. Good afternoon, Phil, Jeff, and Eli. I know them. What do they have in common?

Super Bowl. They're all men. Super Bowl winning Giants quarterbacks. Okay, grade the trade. If you're watching on YouTube. If you're not watching on YouTube, you missed me doing this weird shoulder shimmy. Grade the trade.

Dynasty, two quarterback, 10 teams, four point per passing touchdown. PPR, draft is mostly rookies. I traded Kenny Galladay and 2.8. I got 1.9 and 3.9. I already have Adams, Alan Robinson and Robert Woods. Hmm. Well,

all right. 10 team, two quarterback. He gave up Galladay and, and 2.8 for 1.9 and 3.9. The only way, the only reason why this works is because it's a two QB league and you've gave up Galladay and 2.8 for 1.9 and 3.9. The only way, the only reason why this works is because it's a 2QB league and you've got to figure that one of the big three rookie receivers will make it to 109. So you'll, you, you traded in Galladay to get your pick of what's left from Chase Waddle,

Chase Smith Waddle. That's how I have it ranked in Dynasty. Don't like it. You don't like it? All Alright, give me some grades. It's like a B-. Okay. Sid from Kansas. Dynasty rookie draft this past weekend. It was on a four-hour

timer. It was my first slow draft and by far the worst draft experience I've ever had. I heard you guys talk about being part of slow drafts before, so my question is, what's the point? Drafting is supposed to be fun, and waiting three hours for a guy to pick isn't fun at all. Tell me why I'm wrong.

You're not wrong, but people have schedules, and it's tough always to get everybody in one spot. I was having a conversation with a buddy of mine that was like, why do you guys do your rookie drafts now? Why don't you wait until right before the season if it's the only draft that you're doing for your league? Makes some sense, but people get excited following the nfl draft

they want to do their their rookie drafts but you know if you think about like last year for example keishon vaughn was a top 15 overall pick in rookie drafts i'm going to guess based on the drafts i've done and had you wait until aug August that probably would not have been the case you know so yeah um you know if you if you if you don't like slow drafts and and you have to do them now then you know try and put it put it put it off until you could do a draft all in one spot but you know again some people can't make that happen even for regular drafts so it is what it is slow drafts are like the worst case scenario right and a slow draft in may it sounds like the worst of the worst case scenarios like save the slow draft for when you when you know you can't get everybody together and you start it after the second week of the preseason so the i think that slow drafts are good when you have a lot of drafts,

you know, if you're in a ton of leagues, you can do a slow draft just to mix things up. And slow drafts are also better if you have a teammate, a partner, even if you have a partner who like doesn't really pull his weight and then blames you for all of the problems on the team, even when you're solving problems and he doesn't even realize it.

That's when it's good to have a slow draft because you have more time to talk about it, to deliberate with your partner. Jamie and I do a slow draft for fantasy baseball every year. And I actually like that. I enjoy it. Um, even though it takes two weeks to do the draft, but, um, whatever. Yeah.

So if you're only doing one draft, don't make it a slow draft. That's going to do it for today's show. Thank you very much. We will talk to you tonight, 7 p.m. Eastern youtube.com slash fantasy football today. Dave and I are going to be answering your questions hanging out i will tell dave all about the dinner that i will have cooked at that point um we'll see if dave is impressed and thank you so much for listening everybody uh talk to you on thursday with some regression