Fantasy Football Today - Free Agency Day One Winners and Losers: Chris Godwin, Jaxon-Smith Njigba, Justin Fields and More (03/10 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: March 10, 2025

With Justin Fields going to the Jets, Sam Darnold going to the Seahawks and Chris Godwin back with the Bucs, we've got our big winners (2:10) and our big losers (10:50). Does Fields vault into the Top 12 of the quarterback rankings? How concerned are we about Garrett Wilson? ... We talk about Godwin's value (15:00) as he was arguably the biggest steal in Fantasy in 2024 before his injury. Then we give our thoughts on Breece Hall (20:10) and Sam Darnold (21:30). Is Darnold an upgrade over Geno Smith? ... How surprised would we be (37:40) if Davante Adams outscored Garrett Wilson? If Brian Thomas Jr. outscored Puka Nacua? If Ken Walker finished as a Top 5 running back? If the Bears offense was awesome? ... Email us at [e-mail] Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Shop our store: shop.cbssports.com/fantasy  SUBSCRIBE to FFT Express on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-express/id1528634304 Follow FFT Express on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6qyGWfETSBFaciPrtvoWCC?si=6529cbee20634da8 SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 FOLLOW FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 SUBSCRIBE to FFT DFS on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dfs/id1579415837 FOLLOW FFT DFS on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5zU7pBvGK3KPhfb69Q1hNr?si=1c5030a3b1a64be2 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday 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." Visit the betting arena on CBSSports.com for all the latest sportsbook reviews and sportsbook promos. 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

This is fantasy football today from CBS Sports. What a play! Can you believe this? No, I can't. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races and he stays at his feet. This is gonna go the distance. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie and Heath.

Midway through day one of free agency, news is breaking. Josh Palmer getting paid, going to the Bills and De'Ami Brown going to the Jaguars. But before that, we had the big quarterback news. Sam Darnold to Seattle, Justin Fields to the Jets. We're gonna talk about that. Chris Godwin back with the Buccaneers and some big offensive line news.

How about the Bears? Their offensive line being completely transformed and looks like it's gonna be pretty good. Welcome everybody, Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath. We're all here to talk about free agency. Let's get some big winners. Who wants to go first? Big winner.

Oh, Jamie. The Bucks backfield with the fake Samajay Peron report. Yeah, fool you. Samajay Peron not going to the Buccaneers yet. I don't know what that was all about. But yeah, we got anybody like any values, any big changes today? Any big winners? I'll go from the dynasty perspective.

Justin Fields is a big winner. Anytime he's a starting quarterback in the NFL, he's got a chance to give you a top 12 season. We didn't know if he'd get a chance to start again. You know, he was the number seven quarterback per game in the first six weeks of the season in four point for passing touchdown leagues and number nine per game in six point. And he's pretty much always done that. I'm for this. Justin Fields stepped his rookie year, but let's see 2022. He was number six per game. 2023. He was 10th per game and four

point 14th per game in four point, 14th per game in six point. That included one game where he left early with an injury. If you remove that game, he's like top seven. And last year, like I said, the six games he started, Justin Fields was a top 10 quarterback per game, top nine. In fact, in both formats, you know, it wasn't really that impressive.

I guess that the first six weeks of this season, they were kind of low scoring if I recall, and the quarterbacks weren't that great, but he did what he did. He has a lot of really big games, Justin. Last four games were good. The last four games were good, but only one like amazing game.

That's what he does. He has these huge games. He's very inconsistent over the last three seasons. He's played 33 healthy games, starts only, okay? And he played four extra games with the Steelers where he did like nothing, but just his starts, 33 healthy starts, 17 of those 33 games scored fewer than 20 fantasy points.

So he's kind of been a boomer bus quarterback, but he has these huge weeks. But it is exciting, we talk about this horrible free agent quarterback class, whatever, but this guy is a fantasy starter year after year. Now he's going to the Jets and Heath, how do you feel about that? Like where would you rank them right now?

He's going to be in the top 12 discussion, but there are a lot of quarterbacks in that discussion. I think Kyler Murray absolutely has an argument to be there as well. And if they're kind of right in the same range for me. So I'll probably rank them around 15. But if you want to stream quarterbacks, you take fields and you take one of those guys like Baker Mayfield that you

feel like is probably going to score you 20 points a game and hope you can hit the home runs on the right weeks with fields. Uh, fields or Anthony Richardson. For now, I would say it's Richardson, but when they sign Daniel Jones, it's going to quickly turn to Justin Fields. But they're both going to be in that same boat of, okay, I can draft these guys and maybe I can start them for the first few weeks, but the bottom can fall out at any time and they could cost you some weeks. I'm shocked that Heath has them as high as he has them. There is certainly a world where there's huge disappointment from Fields.

We saw it in the first two games last year. I'd be surprised if a lot of fantasy managers started Justin Fields through the first two weeks of last year and said, I'm going to keep starting this guy that can't even get me 20 points per game. Now, Egg is on their faces and it might be on mine too, because he was good after those games. But I'm I am skittish on on this. I don't know how long he'll be their starter. I would expect the Jets to add another quarterback in the draft. And I'm I've come to learn that Justin Fields, yeah, he's got the rushing upside. And that's great. But as a thrower, it's not good. And I can say the exact same thing for Anthony Richardson. At

least we've seen more games from Justin Fields than we have from Anthony Richardson. But there are so many other quarterbacks that have compelling upside. JJ McCarthy has more compelling upside right now than both Justin Fields and Anthony Richardson. I don't know if I'm going to draft him ahead of those guys, but I'm kind of leaning toward it. And even if I don't draft them, there's, there's Dak Prescott, there's Jordan Love, there's Drake May. I don't know who Drake May is throwing to, but my goodness, he's got huge upside, too. He averaged almost 19 points per game in 11 games from weeks 6 through 17 with absolutely no one to throw to. So I'm, I don't know if these are going to be the dart throws that I would consider making when we're talking about the double digit rounds on draft day. I don't necessarily agree with you on the upside part of that though. I think the upside favors those two guys more than almost. You're talking about Richardson and Fields. Yeah.

I mean if they hit and it's a big if that's a big if. Um if but if they hit their upside is top five for both of them. Yeah well obviously they have this huge rushing upside. I don't think you should expect. You're talking about two guys that can run for a thousand yards like you don't get that. Yeah Dave I'm a little I'm not really sure I'm feeling your fields analysis like I know he's not a very good passer you could maybe argue that he made some strides last year. Pretty conservative, but it doesn't matter. And he's, I just gave the numbers. I mean, every time he's been a starter, he's been a top 10 guy per game,

even with those two horrible games at the beginning of the year with Pittsburgh. It's like, it was the first six games of last year. It was all of 2023 over 20 fantasy points per game for the season, 2022 over 20 fantasy points per game for the season, 2022 over 20 fantasy points per game for the season. There's risk that he loses his job if they go draft another quarterback. But this is a guy that has, it's not consistent week to week. It's kind of like Tyler Lockett used to be.

Like, yeah, he's going to have some really terrible weeks. He has some really big weeks, but he's pretty consistent in his year to year production between 20 and 22 fantasy points per game, three years in a row as a starter. You're going to love, Heath, you're going to love drafting him as your number two QB in super flex leagues, aren't you? Well, no, I think that's the distinction. I think that the arguments you make against fields are better made in super flex. I'm worried more about his floor in super flex in one QB leagues, most of them, I can go find a guy that's going to score 18 or 19 points. I want a guy that has the chance to

score 25 on a weekly basis. I think I like fields more in the 1QB format than I do in the Super Flex format because I don't have to worry about his floor in 1QB. Fair. I get that. I just, I don't know how often you're going to get 25 points from him in any format. Well, that's a lot to ask for, but you know who did that eight times last year? Eight times, 25 or more fantasy points, six point from last year. Donald?

I think Sam Donald. Yep, one more time. That's not gonna happen this year either. Well, that's what we said about it last year. All right, well, I'm sorry. I don't wanna interrupt our winners and losers conversation. Anybody wanna throw out some more winners? JSN?

Yeah, compared now that Gino is gone, if you're starting from that point, like starting from when Gino was there, I think he's just kind of who he was. Well, what do you guys think was the better thrower under pressure last year? Oh, I don't think the pressure is going to be in Donald's favor. No. But he likes throwing to his slot receivers. And if that's where JSN stays, then.

He does. Huh? He does. I did not really find that he liked throwing to his slot receivers. I mean, he had like a 28% completion percentage of slot receivers. Wait, 28% completion percentage?

That would be bad. So I don't know if that's high. I can't really. Yeah, I don of the stock is not completely 200% of the stock is not exactly bad. 20% of the stock is not completely 200%. I don't know if that's high. Yeah, I don't think that that's high either. I looked through his history and just like the team- Did I read it wrong? Yeah, you read it wrong. If it was 82% I'd be 20.

I just know that 28's that high. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know, look, obviously he's their slot receivers. They're clearly their number one option. I wouldn't be surprised if Sam Darnold had the highest slot rate of his career in 2025. Something happened? No, I just forgot that Justin Fields and Garrett Wilson were college teammates.

That is a fact. I love that. I always loved my favorite narrative. All right. JSN is a winner. So how about this? JSN or Garrett Wilson? Oh, JSN.

JSN. I still have JSN or Garrett Wilson? Oh, JSN. Jason, I still have JSN over Garrett Wilson, but that's full PPR. I'm probably gonna have it that way and non PPR to Jason's a top 10 receiver. What was that? Was that a good? No, I'm not so sure. That's a I think I'm going to disagree with Jamie now. But at this point, it's kind of unnecessary to have the debate about whether or not

he's a top 10 wide receiver or a top 15 wide receiver. I like he's close to top 10. I'm not going to fight you that hard. I'm more passionate about the quarterbacks, I guess. Okay. My arguments against JSN as a top 12 wide receiver or top 10 would be pass volume. And hate that slot rate, 78% slot rate last year.

That's insane. Kind of hard, just like hard. Well, I don't know how little they're gonna throw. I know they don't wanna throw a lot, but if they're like 24th in past attempts, that's probably fine. But it's obviously a great opportunity for him. Uh, so Jamie says top 10, Dave's thinking more like top 15. Heath, how about you for JSN?

I think 15 is perfect. All right. Jamie's the high guy right now. Any big losers today? Gary Wilson. Like you want to talk about pass rate? Yeah. Yeah. Like you want to talk about pass rate. Yeah, yeah.

Well, convince me that, you know, he can't have a DJ Moore like season. DJ Moore in 2023 was number seven wide receiver overall, a top seven in all three formats. He was 11th per game in non PPR, 12th per game in full PPR, 9th, no, sorry, 12th per game in half PPR, 9th per game in full PPR. And I, no, sorry, 12th per game in half PPR, 9th per game in

full PPR. And I will say this, in 12 games with Justin Fields, this was DJ Moore's pace in 12 games with Justin Fields, because remember we had the Tyson Bajan weeks, 101 catches, 1,561 yards, 11 touchdowns on 140 targets. Unbelievable numbers. Just for the record, I don't think, I don't, you know, I don't think that's gonna happen, but let's talk about that. Can Garrett Wilson-

We need to go out on a limb. Well, yeah, I mean, I think- He certainly can. Do you think 1,200 yards could happen? Yes. Yeah, yeah. I don't think Garrett Wilson is a bust, but this was not the ideal situation for him.

That's why he's in the loser category. Yeah. Like also, Garrett Wilson's never had a 1200 yard season. So I don't know that I want to project a career best. I know Moore had one, but. Hmm. He's been around 1100 yards all three years, Garrett Wilson. What kind of target volume? I'm sorry, I don't have it in front of me.

147 to 168. Yeah. Yeah. I, I, I think if I'm drafting him, it's almost like the same thing as JSN. I'm hoping that volume is just crazy high for him. I hope he, I hope he could get to 140 with fields and that's if field starts every game. I I'd be shocked if the Jets didn't draft a rookie to try and push fields. Well, there's not, I mean, it's not like the Adam was talking about how bad the quarterback

class and the free agent is. No, I get it. But if fields goes out there and loses games, the second half of the year could belong to that rookie or to Rod Taylor. I suppose he's a pretty good backup. Jets have the seven pick in the draft. Can you imagine if Tarrod beats out Fields after they gave Fields all this dough?

It'd be shocked, but what if? I don't know, I'm a little surprised that, what was the contract? It was two years, 40, it's not a lot for a quarterback. 30 million guaranteed. It's not a lot for a quarterback. It's a really cheap quarterback. It's like right between backup and starter.

He was traded for a Frisbee last year. Well look, he's coming in to be the starter, whether he holds onto the job the entire season remains to be seen. I mean, look, there's a guy that got hurt in 2023. I think I hurt in 2022, not mistaken as well, right? So last year lost his job after getting off to a four and two start, you know, I mean. Yeah. And his first 50 games as a passer, I don't think look that much worse than Sam Dornald's. So let's talk about any, any other losers you guys want to mention? Kareem Hunt, he's kind of back up running back.

Elijah Mitchell one year deal. We've got other news. So we've got Chris Godwin back to the bucks. 66 million over years. Yeah, that stinks. 44 million guaranteed for Goblin who's recovering from a dislocated ankle. I will remind everyone the first seven games of the season. Well, first of all, overall, he was the number three wide receiver per game. So the first seven games of the season. Well, first of all, overall, he was the number three wide receiver per game. So the first seven games of the season, he was incredible.

He had 62, that's all I played, 62 targets. Mike Evans had 45 targets in those games. Chris Goblin had 50 catches. Evans had 26. Goblin had five, I gotta double check this. Was it really that big of a gap? I think it was. 576 yards for him, 335 for Evans. He was crushing Mike Evans. had five I got I got to double check this it was it really that big of a gap. I think it was 576

yards for him 335 for Evans he was crushing Mike Evans is Mike Evans a loser? A little. A little bit yeah I mean you know you first off turning 32 not ideal. Secondly you have now three receivers that are going to command targets because I don't think McMillan is going to disappear and so you know the nice thing is is that their past game coordinators, now they're offensive coordinator. So things should stay the same, you know, and just build off what you just accomplished from a passing game perspective. But, you know, if Evans is off to a slow start again, and McMillan picks up where he left off, then they're all going to sort of cannibalize each other a little bit. I don't want to underscore that. I mean, he was the best draft pick arguably for those first seven games. Chris Godwin was a what round six-ish pick and at the time of the injury he was the number

two wide receiver in fantasy. Just bonkers on pace for 121 catches, 1400 yards, 12 touchdowns on 151 targets. Do you consider this a big contract? No, DK is getting on average 30 million a year and he's getting 22 million a year, right? There was a report that he turned down more money from the Patriots. So I'll go back to what I said at the start of the offseason. I remember what we did that if they overpaid him, that shows you the confidence level they have him. If he's taking a discount, I don't see to me, this is a fine deal.

I don't think this is anything like too high too low. I think it's and according to reports he wanted to stay. So like to me the money was going to kind of dictate. I think the health sort of. Listen, we got gotta take a break. We'll talk about a little bit more on Chris Godwin. Heath, what's our FFT dynasty schedule looking like? We will be on Tuesday and Friday this week,

breaking down all of the free agent news tomorrow from a dynasty perspective. All right, wonderful, check it out. It's got its own separate audio feed, Fantasy Football Today dynasty. You can watch all of it in the YouTube channel, the same one, youtube.com slash fantasy football today. Let's take a quick break. I want to know where you're going to rank Chris Godwin, where you're going to rank Mike Evans. And why

we'll throw Baker Mayfield in there as well. We'll be right back. Get ready for Las Vegas style action at bet MGM, the king of online casinos. Enjoy casino games at your fingertips with the same Vegas strip excitement MGM is famous for when you play the classics like MGM Grand Millions or popular games like Blackjack, Baccarat and Roulette. With our ever-growing library of digital slot games, a large selection of online table games and signature Bet MGM service, there is no better way to bring the excitement and ambiance of Las Vegas home to you than with BetMGM Casino. Download the BetMGM Casino app today. BetMGM and GameSense remind you to please play responsibly.

BetMGM.com for Ts and Cs, 19 plus to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. That MGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Anybody have initial rankings on Evans, Godwin, the Bucks, basically Bucks passing game? Evans around 20, Godwin right behind him. Yep. I have Evans ahead of Godwin as well, but they're in the teens for me. Part of it's because I don't, I don't love, love, love a lot of receivers

once you get past T Higgins, lad, McConkey, Ty Tyreek. There's a drop off for me. Okay. And if, if Chris Godwin is back to normal and there's great reports about the offense in a PPR league, I might put Godwin ahead of Evans. So I, I get, you know, I probably going to keep bringing this up a thousand times. I am sure we're going to hear reports about Chris Goblin being back to normal, just like we did with Tony Pollard, just like we did with Tank Del. I just know that with those two guys in particular, the results did not match it. And you know, with Goblin coming off the torn ACL a few years ago, it took him two full

seasons to get back to health. So I mean, I'm sure there's going to be optimistic reports and he's full go for this and whatever. I just, I I'm just nervous about the guy coming back from, from a broken ankle, a dislocated. That's why he's behind Evans. Yeah. Right.

Yeah. And I'm nervous about Evans being 32, which is why as of now, I have not drafted Baker Mayfield, I don't think. And I haven't really been targeting him. I don't know how you guys feel about that. Baker? Yeah. I think the encouraging thing with Baker last year

was what he did when those guys were out. Was he good? He was kind of hovering in that 20 point per game range. 20.4, that's the Justin Fields upside range. That is not Justin Fields upside. That's the average for the last three years. That's the Justin Fields average when he's been playing the last two seasons. Three.

That was better than that three years ago. Okay. Yeah. We have a lot of questions about Bruce Hall in the chat. I guess we didn't mention him during the Justin Fields segment. I do think it's probably he's going to be more efficient as a rusher because of fields, but he's done a lot of his damage to the passing game. I'm not sure how many targets he's going to get. I moved him down. It's pretty interesting. Yeah. Anyone else feel that way? It does hurt its value. Yes. I mean, especially with what's

going to be still a rebuilding team. So how much will they be scoring points? It's touched out potential gets lowered a little bit. You look at the the teams in the division, the Patriots spent a billion dollars on defense today. With Mike Grable coming in, so they're going to be better there. Bills are still going to be tough. Dolphins run defense is going to be okay. So six tough games. Where do you guys have Bruce? Uh, oh wow. Okay. Not top 12.

I think he's 15 for me. Is it crazy right now? If everything stays as it is, Najee Harris signed somewhere else to take Jalen Warren over Breeze Hall. Yeah. That's crazy, but look, Jalen Warren's in a good spot right now. Yeah, right?

Is it really good spot? As of right now. Okay, so other, so it was, should we talk about Sam Darnold? Sam Darnold last year was awesome. Let's see, where did he finish? He finished as the number eight quarterback per game in both four point and six point per pass

in touchdown leagues. More than 4,300 yards, 35 touchdowns. Everyone's gonna talk about his last two games. His last two games were horrible. 166 yards, no touchdowns at Detroit when Detroit was historically bad on defense. And then 245 yards, a touchdown and a pick, and he wasn't even that good at the Rams in the playoffs.

That game was at a neutral site. But the two games before that, I just want everybody to just go back two games before that, he scored 29 points at Seattle. He threw for 246 yards and three touchdowns. He scored 31 points against the Packers, 377 yards and three touchdowns. He scored 31 points against the Packers, 377 yards and three touchdowns. What if the season just ended there?

You know, how excited would people be? So it was overall a really good year for Sam Dardold. He goes to Seattle, three years, $105 million, 55 million guaranteed. Is he even gonna be in your top 15? No. Top 20? No.

Uh, around there. It depends what else they do. Receiver. Anybody else to catch the ball? Um, like even if the season had ended after those games, we would still be saying he threw 1800 passes on three other teams before he went to the Vikings and got saved. And he was awful. He had a three and a half percent touchdown rate and a three percent interception rate and average six point seven yards per attempt. That's before last year. Right.

Yeah. He goes through the Kevin O'Connell car wash. But does it stick or like you go get your car washed if you go drive through a mud puddle it's gonna be dirty again. I know they're not the same. Kirk Cousins had the injury and coming back from that, and he's older than Dirk, but Cousins got himself paid. And now Darnold got himself paid. The, he's going, it's not nearly as good of a situation as the team looks now. I like, I fully expect them to improve at wide receiver. They'll draft somebody, and I fully expect them to improve on that offensive line. I don't know if they can do enough to make me believe that Sam Darnold can go back to being north of 20

fantasy points per game. I'm not sure I would want him to be my No. 2 QB in a Superflex league. And yeah, I might even take Justin Fields and that upside that you talked about, Heath, ahead of Sam Darnold. I really don't like it. You might see the Seahawks right now. You boy, you're saying you're Justin Fields. Hate is insane right now. Well, of course he left his bears. I would, I would argue just to give a little bit of credit to Darnold that he was not that bad in six games with the Panthers in 2022. They only let him throw 22 times per game, but he really wasn't that bad. He

threw some nice deep balls to DJ Moore. DJ Moore had a strong finish to that season. Darnold was fine, I guess. And then he broke out this year is really good. Yeah. Now he's going to throw deep balls to DK Metcalf. Oh, maybe not. Oh, there's Tyler Lockett. Oh, no, not him either. So off the air, Dave was teasing me for loving Sam Darnold. I said to Dave that actually last year,

statistically Sam Darnold was one of the best deep ball throwers in the NFL. And he had one of the best completion percentages and yards per attempt on pass attempts of 20 or more air yards and 30 or more air yards. And he was even better on those types of throws in those six games with Carolina in 2022. I watched three games today of Sam Darnold, all of his throws from weeks 13, 16, and 17. And that was one thing that stood out. He did throw some really good deep balls. And he also like, he made some great throws. I mean, I didn't think he was playing quarterback

like some supreme level, but every now and then he would make some great throws, including big throws in the fourth quarter, rallying his team to wins. Did a good job. I also would say that, man, did he have wide open receivers a lot. And just think about this for JJ McCarthy because they made it really easy on him to hit open receivers. And then I also watched a lot of Russell Wilson today and it was like the exact opposite.

It's like, I don't see guys running wide open in Pittsburgh's offense. I see it all the time in Minnesota's offense. So that's just one guy's take. It's the Shanahan McVeigh system. I mean, it's the Shanahan-McVeigh system. I mean, they're gonna get guys up. That's why these guys are coveted. It's working.

And theoretically, that's what they should have with Clint Kubiak going from New Orleans to Seattle. And he has a connection with Darnold. They work together in San Francisco. So I do think that at least the scheme will be familiar for Darnold, but it's a different type of play caller, clearly a different type of receiving core, clearly a different type of offensive line.

And it could be a team that runs the ball a lot more than Minnesota did last year. I totally agree with that. Just one thing I think is the offensive line in Minnesota definitely changed when Daris Hall got hurt and he wasn't playing behind the same offensive line for the second half of the season. Yep. They still did well. Right. He's two interceptions in the second half of the season. It's a better line than what he's stepping into with Seattle.

But he still had to deal with a significant change that wasn't as prolific as it was at the start of the season. And again, Seattle will improve that line. Like they honestly could stand to get four new linemen. The interior probably need, they need to do what the bears did with the interior. When you guys look at it, when you look at Russell Wilson, Sam Darnold, Gino Smith, not Justin Fields. I want to poke my eyes out. He, Aaron Rogers. Sorry. That was the fourth guy. So it's Russell Wilson, Aaron Rogers, Gino Smith, Sam Darnold. Do you sort

of feel like they're interchangeable in terms of the, you know, for the values of the wide receivers that they're throwing to? I don't know what you mean. Okay, like, like, like, like, it Garrett Wilson getting Justin Fields, that's a downgrade because Fields runs a lot, you know, doesn't throw a ton of touchdowns there. But wide receiver going from Russell Wilson to Aaron Rodgers or Geno Smith to Sam Darnold or whatever it is, does it basically keep that wide receiver the same in these

hypothetical scenarios? Are those four quarterbacks basically the same four wide receivers? I think if the Steelers get Aaron Rodgers, that's a benefit to DK Metcalf and George Pickens if he stays. Like better than Russell Wilson. Yeah, slightly. Just because I think what those guys do is something that benefits what Russ does. But you know what I'm saying, right?

The quarterbacks are not shaking up the wide receiver. Those four quarterbacks in particular, Gino, Darnold, Wilson, Rogers. You could rank them any way just in terms of like, oh, this is how many yards they're going to throw for how many touchdowns they're going to throw for. I don't look at Darnold going to the Seahawks comparatively to what Gino Smith just left as a downgrade for JSN. To me, it's a similar situation. You're talking about a quarterback that's somewhat shaky that is going to have some good throws, struggle with pressure. Smith may handle the pressure better than Darnold did. Darnold may throw the ball a little bit better than Gino did.

To me, that didn't change my rankings for him. For Garrett Wilson, had Roger stay with the Jets or let's just say They got Darnold like that would be I think slightly better for Garrett Wilson than what it is for Justin Fields So fields is maybe a slight downgrade. I see Wilson's maybe slight downgrade because of fields going there So, you know the Steelers guys had Justin Fields resigned with with Pittsburgh that would have been problematic for DK Metcalfe and George Pickens because we saw that for no six games for DK Metcalf and George Pickens because we saw that for six games for Pickens. His best six game stretch was the first six games that Russell Wilson took over and he

was the top, borderline top 12 receiver during that time. I don't know if you want to pivot to anything else, but I was just comparing DK Metcalf versus George Pickens over the last three years since Pickens came into the NFL. And I would argue that if you just looked at their raw numbers, you took the teams away, just looked at their numbers, you looked at their per route data, their target per route run, that kind of stuff, yards per catch, yards per target, you probably would have a hard time telling who was a better receiver between George Pickens and DK Metcalf.

Unfortunately, yeah, they were close. Now Metcalf probably has a slight edge because one year was Pickens rookie season. Metcalf has a big edge in touchdowns. So you'd probably go with that guy. But yards per game are nearly identical. At least over the last two years. It doesn't count the first three years of Metcalf's career, which were much better than anything we've seen from Pickens. But, you know, we all like Metcalf better than Pickens, but I just wanted to bring that up because on paper, I think they're pretty similar in terms of production over in the course of Pickens career.

They do the same thing. Pickens a little bit deeper. Yeah, a little bit higher, Adop. But yeah, right. They're similar guys. Yeah. It's a weird fit. Well, that's why I think a lot of people think Pickens is going to be traded. Could be. He won't be on the team. I'd be surprised. I'll amend it. I'd be surprised if he's on the team in 2026. Oh, that's, I think a guarantee. I'd be like, if I'm the Patriots, I'm calling the Steelers and see if I can get this guy for next to nothing, you know, given the fact that you just spent 30 million per year on his upgrade or his clone next nothing, you know, given the fact that you just spent 30 million per year on his, his upgrade or his clone and, you know, knowing that you may have to pay

Pickens, but maybe don't pay him and just say, here, come, we're giving you a fresh start, prove it. And that would be a huge asset for Drake May. I don't know. I'd kind of like to watch Aaron Rodgers and George Pickens just interact for a year. like to watch Aaron Rodgers and George Pickens just interact for a year. So I was gonna say, all right, maybe I'm gonna get maybe I'm gonna regret saying this. If I have to be on freezing cold takes, you know, whatever. I hate this Josh Palmer deal. What What is this three years $36 million? How much guaranteed

for Josh Palmer? 18 million 12 million. Let me see. That's a big deal. Let me get that right. 18 million guaranteed. What? How many years? Three years. It's not that much, but I just, I don't, I don't know. It's not a needle mover for me. There's always one of these a year that makes you scrap like Gabe Davis last year to Jacksonville. Like, you know, there, there is always just a guy who's had some good moments and maybe a team. There's a coach that knows him. Who knows, you know, front office person that knows him from the charters. Somebody scouted him in college somewhere along the way.

I don't know. I mean, he's fine. He's fine, but he's, he's a, he's a good play. You know, like why did the Rams resign to two hours for one year? $10 million. You know, it's just right. Sometimes this doesn't make sense. You know, so maybe he helped them and he'll help them in special teams. I don't know. So Josh Palmer got $36 million for three years. Yeah. Yeah. But half of it's guaranteed. Right. So I don't know if it's what giants go into 12 million. What giant shot are you about to take? No, I wasn't gonna take a giant shot at all. Like I was just,

teams must be really, really worried about Marquise Brown just never bringing himself again. Yeah, we should talk about that too. Cause Xavier Worthy was arrested, not gonna be charged for an alleged assault. And then the chiefs also signed Hollywood Brown. They re-signed him. One-year deal could be worth up to $11 million.

That's probably him wanting to stay though. If he tested the market, he might have got more. He may have. Seems like it based on today. You would think. I mean, I can't imagine if the bill said here's $18 million for these two players, they're taking Josh Palmer over Marquis Brown for what Brown could have done for their office. How about the D'Ami Brown?

D'Ami Brown one year 10 million, Hollywood Brown one year 11 million. D'Ami Brown to the Jaguars, Hollywood back to the Chiefs. Strange. So they've got D'Ami Brown, Brian Thomas and Gabe Davis are the three wide receivers. And Bretton Strange. Oh, Parker Washington. Parker Washington, yeah. Okay, what a crew.

And Nick Mullins, hey, Vikings quarterback room was gutted today. It's been like, yeah, it's been what, five days? No, not quite, it's been since Friday, the Christian Kirk news, seems like it's been a long time, but Heath and I did a bonus podcast about Adams and we kind of mentioned Christian Kirk, but how's Christian Kirk looking right now on the Texans?

Good. It was a good signing. Right. No. Number four wide receiver. Yeah. I was unexcited about him in the wake of the news of him, like inevitably getting cut and then he wasn't cut and he landed in Houston. I think it was Jamie who brought up, well, what if he goes somewhere awesome? What if he's Cooper Cupps replacement in the Rams? That would have been awesome.

receiver, maybe the third down guy to just someone who could be, you know, a pair of reliable hands for, for CJ Stroud, absolutely draftable. Definitely a winner in free agency, but not necessarily like a top 30 type of fantasy receiver. I wouldn't put him that I, I like him better than Josh Palmer. I like everybody better than Josh Palmer. Do you like it better than Khalil Shakir? Christian Kirk or Khalil Shakir? No, no, no. Kirk, they're somewhat similar right now. I don't think the Texans are done adding receivers, let's think. Okay, I've got some random questions for you. I do like, by the way,

the Bengals signing Simajay Perrine as a big win for Chase Brim. I'm glad they signed somebody with the Bengal signs. Oh, I did not even see that. Okay, with that you like that? Yeah, that's the number two guy there. That's a huge one. Oh, he's not gonna be the number two guy. He's the third down guy. P Ryan. Okay, so he's the third guy. He's the third down guy. P Ryan. Okay, so he's the third guy. Yeah, the backup. Well, right now. Yeah, yeah. But you I don't think you can go I don't think see it Cincinnati can be

like, oh, Samaj P Ryan's our number two running back. Be well, if you go with some Ajay P, I mean, they paid him. So not a huge deal. But they paid him. If you go with Chase Brown, some Ajay P Ryan and another trade on Williams type of player, like they got by with that last year. Yeah, you could really buy into Chase Brown at Samaj P. Ryan and another Trayvon Williams type of player. Like they got by with that last year. Yeah. You could really buy into chase Brown at that point. Yeah.

Like chase over Bruce. I'm sure you guys already have chase over. Yeah. Yeah. I'm I'll get there. The only thing I'd say is that chase Brown is not going to play on third downs very much. I would not think anyway, if P Ryan's going back there.

I don't remember how much he did last year. I don't think that's necessarily a horrible thing. As you've pointed out time and time again, with Joe Mixon, by how much they throw to their running back on first and second down, and maybe not overworking him. Yeah, I think toward the end of last season, if I'm not mistaken, Chase Brown was playing 90% of the snaps or something like he was 80% plus in every game from week nine through 17.

And if it's only some Ajay P. Ryan, I wouldn't be surprised if it happened again this coming year. Okay. All right. Let's take a break. I'll throw some random questions at you and we'll be right back on fantasy football today. Okay. How surprised would you be if Devante Adams outscored Garrett Wilson this season?

Not. Surprised. I expected. You're ranking Adams ahead of Wilson? Oh yeah. Okay. I think I'm gonna get there too. No.

Let's talk about that. I think that's pretty interesting. 32 year old wide receiver, number two guy on his team versus fourth year receiver, number one guy on his team. But obviously there are some circumstances. Garrett Wilson versus Devontae Adams. Heath, go. Listen, I think it's really hard to project what's going to happen with Devontae Adams targets because he's had seven straight seasons with more than 10 targets per game. And he's going to a system where they've shown the willingness to just throw 10 passes to

this guy, throw 10 passes to this guy, hand off 20 times to this guy and nobody else gets to touch the football. I think that could happen for Adams. There's a risk in the age and I won't rank him as high as I project him, but I dropped his target share about 10% from where it's been the last couple of years and project him in this offense and he comes out as wide receiver 14, I'm not going to have Garrett Wilson most likely as a top 20 wide receiver. Dave?

Hi. You want to expand on that or hey, what's up? I think it's more likely that Devonta Adams has more touchdowns than Garrett Wilson. I think they'll be relatively close in terms of catches. You can give the nod to yardage to Garrett Wilson, but quality of target and offense is going to favor Devontae Adams. Heat's absolutely right. It's target funnel for sure coming in LA for Adams. He's a great replacement for Cooper Cup. Sucks for Jordan Whittington. I forgot to say that on our last show. Garrett Wilson, there's going to be a lot of uncertainty. All right. Other than the fact, yeah, he'll be the number one guy like that. You can lock in.

Sure. Does that mean he's going to get eight targets per game? How good will those targets be? I'm clearly going to be nervous about this for him. Okay. How surprised would you be if Brian Thomas Jr. outscored Pukka Nakua? Not surprised. Wouldn't be that surprised. How surprised would you be if Brian Thomas Jr. outscored Pukka Nakua?

Not surprised. Wouldn't be that surprised. I'm not going to rank it that way, but I agree. Not that surprised. They're close enough. I bet that's how we all feel. How surprised would you be if Justin Fields outscored Jared Goff in six points per passing touchdown leagues?

What? Not surprised. Not even a little. I would be surprised. How surprised would you be if Jacobi Myers outscored Chris Godwin? I'd be surprised. Not surprised. Um, yeah, the draft will answer that question. It seems like, but as of right now, not surprised.

I think it's projected that way right now. Well, I've run out of how surprised would you be? Is so let's think of some more. How surprised would you be if Ken Walker had 60 plus catches and finished as a top five running back? Not surprised. I'd be a little surprised. What was your on pace for last year?

40 something? I don't know. I don't know so far off on this one cause I've got him projected for like in the fifties. Yeah. I think it's the top five part that gets me more than the 60ifties. Yeah, I think, I think it's the top five part that, that gets me more than the 60 catch part. Oh, we had 46 and 11 games. He was basically on pace for 60 last year. He was

on pace for 71. Yeah. Yeah. So that was remember, because I was at that combine. And the big story was like, can you catch the ball? Cause he didn't really do it in Michigan state. And I remember talking to him and he said, I forget where he started his college career at wake forest. I think. Yeah. And I think he did. He, he was more involved in the passing game there. And so he was saying, he's like, yeah, I can catch the ball. It's, it's not something that is going to be a hindrance for me. And then he didn't do it his first two seasons in Seattle at all, basically. And Shoji can.

Okay. He just won't, he just won't be the only Seattle running back catching the ball. How surprised would you be if the Bears with three new interior offensive lineman and a new head coach have a top five offense this season. Surprised. I'd be surprised at the top five stretch, but yeah, surprised. I'd go an eight on a surprise-o-meter. How surprised would you be if Caleb Williams outscored Baker Mayfield? No, not surprised. Little surprised. That could happen a variety of ways. How about if he outscored Jane Daniels? That'd be very special. What?

That's all I got. Heath, guess where I went today. You went to the gym. A place that you, I think you really should go. I really strongly recommend it. The barber. The dentist. The dentist.

I did, yeah. How was it? Horrible, I hated it. I have to go back Wednesday to get fillings. So. Oh, that'll be much better. Yeah, but I've thought about you, you know, I said, well, he might hate this.

Whoa, big trade. Oh, come on. We're trading, we're trading. Laramie Tunsel, I asked that Jane Daniels question again. Jane Daniels has got Laramie Tunsel. Oh, big trade. Oh, come on. We trade, Texas are trading. Laramie Tunsel, I asked that Jane Daniels question again. Jane Daniels has got Laramie Tunsel. Oh, wow. Wow. What's the deal?

Package of picks. Well, how about that dynasty league that I just acquired Jane Daniels in? Who's laughing now? It's nice. I didn't see the trade. How did you pull it off? I gave up.

What did I give up? All right. You know what? We'll end on this. I'll look up the transaction. I gave up. It was another shady deal where he had to go back and explain one of his trades. Oh, no, I did see it.

I told you I hated it. Now I remember. Yeah. Well, you were on the air when I did it. Yeah, I remember it was a shady deal. We had to stop for some, some reason you just traded away 203 for 209 straight up or something. Well, I had agreed to give 203 in the trade and when he made the trade with

me, he acquired 209 and I said, whoops, you took the wrong pick. So then we traded the picks. Uh, I gave him 203 for my 209. So I think it was 211 actually, but anyway, it was Jaden Daniels and pick 1.7 for Lawrence, McConkey, and next year's first and 2.3. Yeah. Okay.

Well, thanks for watching, listening everybody. By the way, Jimmy Garoppolo back with the Rams. Maybe that makes you feel a little bit better about Pukinokua and Devon. I don't know. I don't know what we'll talk to you. Likely tonight or tomorrow. See you later, everybody.