Fantasy Football Today - 🚨Fournette Back to the Bucs; NFL Draft Trades! (03/26 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: March 26, 2021

Is Leonard Fournette's return to the Bucs bad for both him and Ronald Jones, or could you make a case that this is actually a good spot for Fournette? And which of these RBs are we drafting first? Are either of them better than Josh Jacobs? How about the 49ers RBs? We also react to the Dolphins, 49ers and Eagles moving up and down in the NFL Draft (9:45).  Subscribe to the FFT in 5 podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, or wherever you listen to FFT. 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/ Want winning picks each morning in under 10 minutes? Subscribe to 'The Early Edge: A Daily SportsLine Betting Podcast' on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever else you listen to 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

Friday news dump around the NFL. We got Leonard Fournette back to the Buccaneers and a couple of big-time NFL draft trades. We're going to focus on Leonard Fournette. And man, Jamie, we've talked about a lot of deals. This is now bonus pod number 13. This is the worst. I hate, hate, hate this for fantasy.

I would agree to a certain extent. I do think, though, given what the landscape of how the running back situation has played itself out and knowing what some teams, at least you can assume, are going to do in the draft, this was probably the best destination for Leonard Fournette's fantasy value. Unless he was going to get a job somewhere where a team that would not be in the draft, like Pittsburgh, for example, was going to take a running back. Okay, but this is why I can't stand it.

Ronald Jones played four games without Leonard Fournette. There was one game where Leonard Fournette technically played. He played one snap, and that was it. You count that, Ronald Jones averaged 15 non-PPR, 18 PPR points per game. That's a top eight running back. Fournette played three games without Ronald Jones, including the playoffs, and he was even better. He averaged 15.7 non-PPR, 19 PPR points per game. So a little bit of point better in both formats than Jones. Basically, when it was just one of them, you were talking about a top eight running back if they had kept that up

all year. So even if they didn't keep that up all year, you were talking about a top eight running back if they had kept that up all year. So even if they didn't keep that up all year, you were talking about potentially a top 12 running back, a must-start, awesome player on a great offense who scores touchdowns. I mean, look at this game log for Ronald Jones without Fournette. 20 carries, 111 yards, six catches. 17 carries, 106 yards. 23 carries, 113 yards, two touchdowns.

18 carries, 80 yards, and a touchdown. I really want to see what Ronald Jones can do, and I don't know that we're going to see this. And it's so confusing to me, Jamie, because at one point late in the year, Leonard Fournette was inactive and they basically chose Ronald Jones. And then Jones hurts his finger, quad, COVID, and Leonard Fournette had one of the better post seasons we've ever seen carries a bunch of momentum into this year. Who do you like better? Who are you drafting first Jones or Fournette?

Oh, Fournette. You know, I think the fact that they keep him and wanted to keep him and made it, you know, overtly obvious they wanted to keep him. I think some of the conversations that came out after the super bowl about what you said,

you know, when he was inactive and Bruce Arians basically said, you can, we can cut you or you can be a part of something special. And Fournette, I think took that to heart. The opportunity opened up for him with Ronald Jones getting hurt. I think he's the guy for them. I think, you know, playoff Lenny and Lombardi Lenny and all the things that he did to help them, he gets the first crack to be the guy, but it's not going to be a solo act.

Ronald Jones will play, but this is now going into three years of Ronald Jones with Bruce Arians. You kind of know what it is. When Ronald Jones is by himself, he's going to get the opportunity. When Ronald Jones has a threat, he's not going to be a part of the, he's not going to be the same part of the offense,

but he had nearly a hundred more carries than Fournette. Well, because of a getting a headstart on the offense and B, you know, what the way it all played out, Ronald Jones at, at the start of last season was the better runner by the end of the season, Leonard Fournette knew the offense. He knew Tom Brady. He knew everything that was asked of him. And that's the expectation. So I think the move to bring back Fournette to tell you that he's the guy, now will he be the guy for 16 games? Probably not. I view it as a better Buffalo, as a better... I'm trying to think of another team that's in that

type of scenario where there's not a clear-cut number one guy. Is it better than San Fran? Better than San Fran. Similar to San Fran. The other thing about Fournette was he was certainly more reliable in the passing game than Jones

was. Jones really couldn't catch anything. It's a big deal with Tom Brady. A few more things here. A little counterpoint. If I'm going to make the argument against Fournette and say, no, Ronald Jones should be the starting running back. Ronald Jones is the one we should take first. Leonard Fournette got signed to a one-year deal

worth $3.25 million. I mean, that is not starter money. And... I mean, today's NFL, though. No, it's not starter money. That's less than what... That's basically what Devante Booker got.

And someone else... Yeah, but this is about running it back for them. This wasn't the defending champions that I would agree with you. But this is about wanting to go back to that situation. Okay, and Ronald Jones, and look, you know

where I'm going with this. 5.1 yards per carry. Leonard Fournette, his four years, he's in his career, what is he averaging? 3.9 yards per carry. He's been above that once, and he was at 4.3. He's just, he's been a high volume guy. He makes big plays. He can break loose every now and then,

but he's got a lot of just nothing plays in him. You still have his game log open? I do. What did Fournette do in the playoffs, yards per carry? That I didn't have, but it will take me two seconds to get it. He was at 4.7. Yeah, that's good, but

that's four games. It's not his career. No, but you're also giving him his career with Jacksonville, which has been one of the most miserable franchises that we've seen, especially during his... 3.8 with Tampa Bay. What I'm saying is, when everything was working for the Bucs... Yeah, yeah. I don't disagree with that, Ronald Jones.

If you were to say, okay, put them both on the Colts, who's going to put up better numbers if you give them equal opportunity from a rushing standpoint? Jones would probably be better. Yeah, but what I would say is that last year, if you put them both on the Bucs, Ronald Jones was better. Yeah, but what I'm saying is take them both out of their

comfort zone, put them on a different situation, because that's what Fournette had to deal with. And so is Fournette the guy at the beginning of the season, beginning of the tenure with Tampa Bay, or the end of the season last year? You know, so comfort matters. Relationships matter. Rapport matters. Offensive line coming.

I mean, what they did is so unbelievable on the fly, given what every team had to go through last year. But they had a new quarterback. They had a new running back. They had a new receiver. They had a new offensive lineman. You know, you threw all those things together and by the end of the season, it worked. And so now this is why they want to run it back, which is why I don't think

the money necessarily matters here. You're not wrong in what you're saying about what the cost is, but I think if he had the chance to, let's, let's say he had the chance to go to green Bay or a chance to go to Seattle or, you know, the jets were, were, were really looking at him, you know, teams that have signed running backs or brought back running backs, Atlanta, if they had a chance to spend some money, I think Fournette gets a bigger deal. If New England was really serious about it, he probably gets a bigger deal. So I think this was for him wanting to be with this team, wanting to be this group. You know, he wrote that story for the Players' Tribune. I don't know if you got a chance to read it, Adam, but, you know, you just talked about this was the first time in a long time. He felt like he was

having fun in football. Once the conversation happened with Arians and he was, you know, fully vested in trying to make this work. So I think all those things matter, you know it's a fun story for, for, you know, some of the things he said about his teammates as well, Jason Pierre Paul in particular if you want to go read it, but he seems, he seems happy and I don't know how happy he was in Jacksonville. You know, you know, the stories with Tom Goughlin and how that relationship unfolded. So I think he's the guy. I don't think it's a slam dunk.

Like you're getting a starting fantasy running back out of either of them. But I'll put it to you this way. Knowing the offenses right now, which running back duo would you rather have? Oh, are you about to go Raiders? Are you about to go Raiders? Are you about to go Raiders? Or Josh Jacobs and Kenyon Drake? That's what I was going to ask you. If I were going Team RB,

I think the Bucs running backs will put up better numbers than the Raiders. Yeah. But who's the best one of the bunch? Who gets drafted first? I mean, Jacobs is definitely going to get drafted first, but you're probably talking about a round at the minimum. Like, we just did our draft. I know we're going to review it next week. Uh, this was before Fournette was signed, but Jacobs went in the early part of round four. I think

that's where he's going to end up going. That's what Mike Wright alluded to as well as the fancy footballers. And we had him on, he said round four. Uh, I said round four when we did the bonus podcast as well. Um. But I could see Jacobs, especially with an early run on running backs and late round three, mid to late round three for nets, not going before the middle around four to probably around five, depending again on how running backs go. Yeah.

And where does Ronald Jones go? I think he doesn't go much, much later than that. Six or seven, you know, format matters. He'll go earlier and non and half PPR than full PPR because for net should be the better pass catcher.

This obviously kills any, uh, potential dynasty value of, you know, Keyshawn Vaughn. Um, that's, that was my last question.

Yeah. You know, I, I, I was kind of hoping that for net had gone someplace else that Vaughn would have gotten a chance to, you know, maybe be the second guy there behind Ronald Jones would have helped Jones

because Vaughn, you know, still has a long way to go. But, um, I go back to a rookie draft. I was in last year, uh, RJ white, you know, one be the second guy there behind Ronald Jones, which helped Jones because Vaughn, you know, still has a long way to go. But I go back to a rookie draft I was in last year, RJ White, you know, one of our fantasy guys, very astute fantasy player and knows his stuff. I tried to trade up in the first round. This just tells you don't buy into a lot of the rookie hype

until you're really comfortable or sure about something. So I tried to trade up. I think it's a 14-team league. I had the 14th pick. I think RJ had nine or 10, and I tried to trade up. I think it's a 14-team league. I had the 14th pick. I think RJ had 9 or 10. And I tried to trade up with him to get that spot because I wanted Vaughn. He said, no, I need running back help.

He takes Vaughn, whatever spot it was. You know who I got at 14? Who? Jefferson? Justin Jefferson. Yeah. Like, you redo that draft right now, Vaughn is barely a third or fourth-round pick. Jefferson might be first. What would you take right now for Keyshawn Vaughn is barely a third or fourth round pick. Jefferson might be first.

What would you take right now for Keyshawn Vaughn? Talking rookie picks. Third round pick? No. No, you have Keyshawn Vaughn. Oh, I have Vaughn? Would I take a third round pick? Absolutely.

Okay. Would you take a fourth round pick? I'd consider it depending on what my team would pick. All right. Give me your thoughts on the wild trades without getting into the 2022 and 23 stuff, all the first round picks that the Dolphins are acquiring. The Eagles got an extra first round pick.

It was the 49ers had the 12th pick. The Eagles had the sixth and the Dolphins had the third. Now the Niners are picking third. They just said that they're sticking by Jimmy Garoppolo, whatever. The Dolphins... Some sources have said that. What's that? They haven't publicly said that. that sources have said that. Okay. The dolphins moved, uh, are now back to sit there.

They're sixth. Sorry. They went to 12. Then they traded up with the Eagles to six, the Eagles dropped down to 12. What are your thoughts? Well, I think San Francisco obviously is taking a quarterback. You don't give up as much capital as they did. Like you said, you don't want to get into the draft picks, but they gave up two additional first-round picks to move up there. So they're going to take a quarterback. Doesn't necessarily mean, like you said, quarterback for 2021, but a quarterback of the future. So it could be a chief situation of Alex Smith and Mahomes

where Garoppolo plays the season, and then they eventually move on to somebody, which could mean Trey Lance. So they're taking a quarterback, which is a very good situation for dynasty because that quarterback is going to inherit eventually could be week one could be who knows at some point, George Kittle, Brandon, Iuke, Debo Samuel. It's a really good cast of characters to be with, with Kyle Shanahan.

So you got to be excited about that quarterback, which could be Justin Fields or Trey Lance. If the jets take Zach Wilson at two, the dolphins seemingly moving down to 12 and then back to six tells you that they are going to still get one of the guys that they covet according to reports, which are one of the three wide receivers, or maybe Kyle pits, you know, they can't be moving back up to six. If they're not going to make that type of move, because everybody thought at three, they were taking Jamar chase or Devante Smith, or maybe pits. I doubt they would take waddle at three, but again, you never know. So now they're still firmly in that mix. They may have still been in that mix at 12. And I still think that

the Eagles are still in that mix as well, depending on how the first round goes, the top of the first round goes. So, um, the Eagles took themselves out of this. I know before we started talking, Adam, you said you didn't like this for Jalen Hurts. Hurts is still hopefully going to get a weapon or two. But this is a receiving core that needs some help. And they may have hurt themselves in that regard. Again, depending on how the first 11 picks go, if they could still get which, you know, right now would look like Waddle as the third guy, but the kid out of Minnesota kid out of Purdue, you know, those guys are going to make some noise. We'll just see how it all goes.

I said I didn't like it for Hurts because I just don't know that at 12, they're going to get one of the top three wide receivers, but you also pointed out that this takes the Eagles out of, well, potentially out of the quarter. Maybe they get Mac Jones or something, but that they are less likely to take a quarterback in round one. In that sense, it is

great for Jalen Hurts. I think also the fact that they signed Joe Flacco, you know, kind of tells you veteran backup to help the young guy, just in case, you know, they are in a playoff caliber team, but Hurts is not getting the job done to their liking or gets hurt. You know, Flacco still keeps them afloat, if you believe in Joe Flacco. And Pene Sewell is one other name

for the Dolphins that could make sense. I don't know if they'd go left tackle, but... I mean, they did that in last year's draft, so... Yeah, right, but this is a guy who for a while was considered to be the second pick in the draft. I feel like every early mock draft had Sewell

left tackle out of Oregon, number two, and now I see him, you know, more like me in terms of prospects or to the team, I guess in terms of prospects, but you know what happens every year, the quarterbacks move up so much from the start of the college football season to draft time,

right? I mean, these guys skyrocket. So I feel like the early lists were always like Trevor Lawrence and Sewell, Trevor Lawrence field, Sewell, something like that. Uh, I wonder if Lawrence and Sewell, Trevor Lawrence, Fields, Sewell, something like that. I wonder if they would take a shot on him at six,

but hopefully they take a wide receiver. That would be more fun. I did for the brief moment when they moved to 12 before they moved back to six, I did get a little bit more excited about Will Fuller because it felt as if maybe they weren't going to be aggressive in targeting that position if they were going to move down to 12, knowing that they weren't going to have the opportunity to draft one of those guys. But I think they,

what they did was, you know, a lot of people are questioning the trade with the Eagles. Like why would they move back up to six? All they did was give up one of the two first round picks that they acquired. It's a lot though. Well, it's a lot,

but you got, so what they did was they got two additional first round picks from the 49ers. They gave up one of those. So they got an extra first round pick to move down three spots. They're crushing it. We'll see how the players that they, you know, end up selecting do.

But the last few years, they've just been experts. And I'm excited. I'm very hopeful for the Miami Dolphins. Thank you all for listening. Have a wonderful weekend and we will talk to you as of now on Monday with another edition

of Fantasy Football Today. See you later.