Fantasy Football Today - Free Agency Day Three Recap: Samuel, A.J. Green, Mack and More (03/18 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: March 18, 2021

People are buzzing about the Washington Football Team! We'll react to the Curtis Samuel signing and much more from yesterday's free agency news. First, Heath is back so let's hear his biggest free agent winners so far (3:00). One of them is on the Washington Football Team! ... Buy or Sell for Terry McLaurin (10:00), Jonathan Taylor (17:04), Christian Kirk (20:44) and Melvin Gordon (24:00). Is Taylor still a first round pick with Marlon Mack back? Does Melvin Gordon have Top 12 potential with Phillip Lindsay out? ... Going through the rest of the NFL news (28:40) including a lot of offensive line talk. The Raiders, Patriots and Chiefs are making a lot of changes to their offensive lines and the Cardinals just acquired Rodney Hudson. We also have a spirited Will Fuller debate (35:40) and listener free agent winners (41:30)! ... Your Apple Podcast questions (53:00) and email us at [e-mail] 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

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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. I'll 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 Ben. Big stuff like Curtis Samuel, Phil Flynnsey, Heath, and Beck. Big stuff like Curtis Samuel, Phil Flynnsey, maybe A.J. Green. Less big stuff like Marlon Mack, Rodney Hudson, Kyle Long. And A.J. Green.

And A.J. Green. I mean, come on. All right, well, you know, it's A.J. Green. That's what we got for you right now on Fantasy Football Today. That's right now at 10 in the morning. But at 3 p.m. Eastern, we got even more

that hopefully will be some news throughout the day. 3 p.m. Eastern, tune in to CBS Sports HQ for a special edition of Fantasy Football Today. I'm Adam, you heard Dave, and we welcome Heath Cummings back, and I have to apologize, big apology to start the show. I whiffed on St. Patrick's Day. Didn't wish

anyone a happy St. Patrick's Day. Don't really care about St. Patrick's Day, but a lot of people do. I am wearing green today. Heath, you probably care about St. Patrick's Day. Didn't wish anyone a happy St. Patrick's Day. Don't really care about St. Patrick's Day, but a lot of people do. I am wearing green today. Heath, you probably care about St. Patrick's Day, right? You don't like the holidays that everybody else likes, like Halloween. So you're probably,

well, I guess everybody likes St. Patrick's Day but me. But since we have nothing in common, I'm sure you like St. Patrick's Day. I've got St. Patrick's Day things to say. Yesterday actually was the first time that I can ever remember that I didn't wear green on St. Patrick's Day because we'd gone camping four days before St. Patrick's Day and not realized that St. Patrick's Day was going to fall during the middle midst of this trip. I wasn't going to go buy green things. But yeah, I definitely had people ask me my first couple of years at CBS.

So you always wear green on St. Patrick's day because nobody in South Florida participates in St. Patrick's day at all, other than going and drinking beer, which I like as well. But please don't put something in it to make it green. Like let's just drink good beer instead of green beer. Does it taste different or is it just

food coloring? I've never had a green beer that tasted the same as the beer without the food coloring. I made shepherd's pie last night. My wife's making corned beef and cabbage tonight. That's fantastic.

It's a little bit late there. We can go there and pick up a shenanigans near our office. We can go there and pick up some Irish-themed chow. There you go. Now, yeah, let's go to shenanigans. All right, Super Troopers, anybody? All right, Heath's biggest free agency winner. Let's start with that.

So we'll start with Heath kind of recapping what he missed. Get your thoughts on some of the big stuff. Your biggest free agency winner. Then we'll talk about the news from yesterday and this morning as it looks like Philip Lindsay will not be on Denver next year. That's pretty big news. And we are going to hear from the, well, I will read what our listeners had to say about their free agency winners. We also have your Apple podcast questions later on in the show. Heath, biggest free agency winner so far? I've got two answers in terms of

how the the meme how it started versus how it's going i think ryan fitzpatrick has to be the biggest winner because he was not someone that i expected to be a top 30 quarterback and as of right now i think you have to pretty solidly look at him as a top 20 guy and maybe a borderline streamable starter with it with a decent set of weapons and probably a high-volume pass offense. I've currently got him 16th in my projections, which is an enormous leap from where he was. In terms of someone who actually really matters, I've got Aaron Jones as now a top five running back in both formats.

He'll still have to share, and he's going to share with A.J. Dillon. And who knows? Dillon may even be better as a runner than Jamal Williams was. But I can expect they're going to continue to throw the ball to their running backs a lot, like they have ever since this regime got there. And A.J. Dillon is not the complement that Jamal Williams is in the passing game.

So while I don't really think there will be an increase in carries for Aaron Jones, I do expect as they're currently constructed, there would be an increase in targets and that could make him like if the touchdowns keep up, he might challenge for number two at running back. Couldn't the touchdowns come down because Dylan is the more physical presence that they could use in short yardage. Talked about this earlier this week that Jones doesn't have a, he doesn't have a bad conversion rate on short yardage plays, but last year, Dylan, and we know he did it at Boston college, but last year he had six plays of three yards or closer to go converted on five of them.

Definitely a better bully at the goal line. If the Packers decide to go that way over Jones. I think that's like, I understand why you're saying that. And he has the better profile. It's hard for me to say that the guy who scored 36 touchdowns over the last two seasons, the second year back with 50 career carries is definitely a better scoring option. Like Jones has been awesome at scoring touchdowns. Right. And it hasn't necessarily all been short yardage goal line. He's had some of them. I could look

up the numbers if you really wanted to hear him again, but it's still somebody who will take 10 to 12 touches per game. I agree with you on the catches. I think that that absolutely helps Aaron Jones' profile, and I think he is a first-round pick. I'm just a little worried that he won't get every single one of those touchdowns, just

like he didn't get it with Williams, but Williams wasn't great in that role. He might have been the worst of the three, percentage-wise. Okay, so Ryan Fitzpatrick and Aaron Jones. Aaron Jones, would you rather have Aaron Jones or Marlon Mack or Jonathan Taylor? Oh, I think I would

take Jones now. I'll take Taylor. You're saying you'd take Jones now because he's back with Green Bay and Jamal Williams won't be, or you'd take Jones now because of Marlon Mack signing yesterday? I did downgrade Taylor just a little bit with Marlon Mack coming back. But mostly I just gave him the Jordan Wilkins workload that I had projected already. It wasn't much. It's more of an upgrade for Jones, but they weren't that far apart for me in the first place. Remember, I mean, we were talking about,

is Jonathan Taylor a top five pick? And I was saying, for me, he was a low-end top 10 running back. Well, that's the range Jones was in in my rankings already. I moved him up a little. I moved Taylor down a little. Okay, how about Ryan Fitzpatrick? Ryan Fitzpatrick, so going back to the end of 2019

and then into 2020, Ryan Fitzpatrick has scored 20 or more fantasy points and six points for passing touchdown leagues in nine of his last 13 games. And, or no, no, sorry. 11 of his last 13 games, he scored 23 or more points in nine of his last 13 games. So he's been really, really good. And he was on a team that threw 600 times last year, which was curious because they didn't have a good passing game and they did have a good defense and they ran the ball pretty well. They still threw all the time.

McLaurin, Curtis Samuel, Logan Thomas, McKissick, and Gibson out of the backfield. It's really not that bad. So would you rather have him? You know, I talked about this with Jamie yesterday. Ryan Tannehill or Ryan Fitzpatrick? Currently, I've got Tannehill one spot ahead of Fitzpatrick in the projections, but it's basically a coin flip.

I think it's interesting. You can look at Ryan Fitzpatrick over the past three years, because it was really 2018 in Tampa Bay when he kind of took his game to a new level, I suppose, at 36 years old. But he has a 16-game average of 3,993 yards and 25 touchdowns. And like a fourth of the games that he's played in that stretch have been partial games.

Right. Because he's been pulled or he's had to come in to save somebody's bacon. I think he's, if you told me Ryan Fitzpatrick's playing 16 games this year, I think he's a 4,000-yard passer pretty easily. Which he's never done before. Which he's if you told me Ryan Fitzpatrick's playing 16 games this year, I think he's a 4,000 yard passer pretty easily, which he's never done before, which he's never done before. He's never done.

Yeah. But if you're just looking like at the pace that he's been on over the last three years, he's been on a better pace than that all three years. It's just is Washington going to draft a young quarterback who isn't as good as him and then fool around with which one they're going to play?

All right. So those are some of Heath's big winners. We'll hear about who you all, you listeners, think are the winners of NFL free agency so far. But look, time's running out, people. The tournament, the playing games are today. The big dance really starts tomorrow. You've got an extra day this year to get your brackets filled out. I'm going to fill

mine out later today. It's going to be tough to go against Gonzaga, but maybe I'll go against Gonzaga. We'll see. You definitely will go against Gonzaga. Why? Because you go against the grain with everything. Do I? That's not true. You're going to pick

like UConn to win. I know you. I watched Georgia Tech, and they've got this guard that is just sensational, and I love him. But I think they're playing Loyola Chicago in the first round. Is that true, Schrager? Can you confirm that?

Yes. And I kind of like Loyola Chicago. Right. To make a little bit of a run here. Well, a run to the second round. They would play Illinois in the second round. Oh, Illinois. That's my college basketball pick in the Omni Fantasy League.

Oh, so you've got to root for them. That's who you're going to pick. Maybe. Yeah. I mean, most people are going to pick Gonzonzaga or the illini for for their tournament so if you want to be different don't pick one of those two teams okay well i've got a lot to think about and what i really recommend is listening to the ion college basketball podcast their bracket breakdown that's what i do every year helps me out i don't just do what they say you know copy

it verbatim but it helps but it helps me out, go to cbssports.com slash FFT brackets. Join. If you win, you're in the Podcast Listeners League. You also can, you know, win a car, a Nissan Rogue, and a trip to the 2022 Final Four. cbssports.com slash FFT brackets. Fill out your bracket right now. All right, buy or sell with some Twitter polls. Terry McLaurin is a fantasy loser with the Curtis Samuel signing.

Buy or sell, Dave? I will sell that. He has been over 20% of the target share each of his two years in the NFL. He played 15 games last year, 24.1% of the targets went his way. 2019, 14 games, 22.4% of the targets went his way. 2019, 14 games, 22.4% of the targets went his way. Clearly the number one guy there. Curtis Samuel is going to take work away from other pass catchers in that offense. I don't think this is good at all for Logan Thomas, JD McKissick, the Sims duo. I think it's going to be just fine for McLaurin. And who's the

quarterback again? The guy that likes to target his number one receiver downfield over and over. So he is not a loser, but he's no longer like a big time winner. Jamie talked about him as a top 10 fantasy receiver. I'm curious if he still feels that way after the Samuel acquisition. Yeah, I don't buy him as a loser. i took um i think like one percent of target share away from he's maybe at 24 and he's at 23 percent target share now but i would expect he's going to be more efficient with ryan fitzpatrick and with curtis samuel on the other side than he's been with the host of bad quarterbacks he's played with over the last two seasons so i still have him ranked or projected as a top 10 wide receiver. I think actually

eighth and seventh. All right, depending on the format and like there might be a couple guys projected below him who might have more upside. So they'll be ranked ahead of him, but he'll be inside my top 12 for sure and probably inside my top 10. Okay, and he's going to be a little bit lower than that for Dave. Dave's got Terry McLaurin

14th right now. Jamie still has him. I think Jamie did move him down still has him. I think Jamie did move him down to 10th. I think it was 7th last time we spoke. So Keenan Allen, Justin Jefferson ahead of Terry McLaurin. Let's talk about Curtis Samuel. When I did the bonus pod last night with Jamie, I said that I felt Curtis Samuel was a difficult player to evaluate. Let me explain why I feel that way. One, I don't think we know how good of a receiver he is. He broke out the last eight games of 2020. He was really, really good.

But it's only eight games. But he's not a guy who didn't have some hype. Remember going into 2019, a lot of people thought he was going to be the big breakout wide receiver, and it didn't happen. His second round draft pick. So maybe it's just his time. Maybe he just needs a better situation, better quarterback play. That's one.

Two, I don't know how the targets are going to be distributed. There were three players that had more than 100 targets last year for Washington. Three, rushing is a big part of Curtis Samuel's game. He's been the second leading rusher among wide receivers two years in a row. Absolutely no idea what kind of rushing role he's going to have on the Washington football team. So I think he's difficult to evaluate. Where did you guys settle on him in your rankings? Heath, I'll go to you first. A high end number three or borderline number two. I don't necessarily disagree with any of the points that you made. I think that there's some similarity there between the second half breakout we saw two years ago from Devontae Parker after several years of not living up to expectations and what we got from Curtis Samuel last year, although Samuel's breakout wasn't quite as good. But he's also still just going into his age 25 season this year.

So the fact that he's played four years hides a little bit the fact that he was pretty young when he came into the league. I didn't really ding Logan Thomas's projected targets too much, but I've basically got it around 140 for McCorn, 120 for Samuel, 110 for Thomas, and then 120 combined for Gibson and McKissick. I do think that the combination of Fitzpatrick and adding a second talented wide receiver is probably going to lead to fewer targets for the running backs. But that's kind of been a feature of the offense the past two years

when Scott Turner and Ron Rivera have been together is just dump off, dump off, dump off. And after year one, we thought, well, yeah, it was Christian McCaffrey. Last year they were doing it to JD McKissick. Maybe it was just a lack of talent at wide receiver, but I think he's a difficult player to evaluate. And that's why he's best served in that high end number three wide receiver range. Feel a hundred percent the same way.

And now you're going to see a merry-go-round of guys that are going to catch passes without necessarily lining up where you see a running back line up. They could do it. They can catch a pass in the flat or a screen. Basically a quick pass that a coach might call an extended run play. Gibson can do it.

You know McKissick can do it. And I think Curtis Samuel has proven, not just last year, but in his prior years in Carolina, when Ron Rivera was there, when Scott Turner was there, that he could do that too. So he's going to be used in a bunch of different ways. That's going to take work away from everybody else. I agree with he, I think he's a low end number three receiver, maybe one that you kind of

target like in that round seven ish range. And that's where we were on him. Once upon a time, a couple of years ago, we were really excited about him. And he scored seven touchdowns. Actually, he scored seven touchdowns in 2019 and 2018. And he just didn't have a lot of touches. We're hoping now that he can get to... What'd you say, Heath? How many targets did you have for Curtis Samuel?

120. I'd be surprised if he got to 120 targets. I wouldn't be surprised if you combine his targets and his carries that he got to write about that number. So he'll be productive. And we know him to be a red zone threat. I think last two years, 12 touchdowns,

one of the touchdowns came outside of the red zone. So, I mean, that's where they're going to use him. And they'll have him occasionally as a big play threat. But he's a short area gadget type guy who can be useful with the ball in his hands

four or five times a game. I can't remember what I said on the podcast last night, but one thing that I liked about Curtis Samuel was that he has had in his last three seasons a pretty consistent yards per catch with three very different ADOTs. He's been downfield, like his a dot the last three seasons, 11.9, 14.6, 7.3, and his yards per catch 12.7, 11.6, 11.1. So he's been versatile. He's been using different roles and he's produced somewhat similarly. The

catch rates haven't been the same, but, uh, the yards per catch has been YPC for life. Okay, next up. Adam, remember who his coaches were in the two years where that ADOT was high. It was right. It was the Washington. Right. It was Ron Rivera. No, I just meant. Not Turner one of those years, right?

Yes. I just meant he had done different things. Okay. Real quick. Curtis Samuel or DJ Chark with Marvin Jones in Jacksonville? DJ Chark or Curtis Samuel? I'm slamming Sammy. Yeah, where is Chark?

I mean, I've got him still in Jacksonville right now, but he's more of a low-end number three, and I'll take Samuel over him. Yeah, you saw that rumor that he might be traded. All right, the the buyers sell. Jonathan

Taylor should not be a first-round pick in PPR, now with Marlon Mack back. Sell the hell out of that. Man, I hope I'm in leagues with people that are going to pass on Jonathan Taylor. Oh, I didn't give the Twitter poll results. I'm sorry. Let me give Twitter poll results. Okay. How much value does

Terry McLaurin lose after the Curtis Samuel signing? 55% said none. 36% said a little. So almost everybody said either none or a little. A medium amount, 6.6%. A lot, 2.6%. So very few people concerned about Curtis Samuel. Now, Twitter poll number two.

Where's my Marlon Mack? Or number one. I guess I went out of order. Is Jonathan Taylor a first round pick in a 12 team PPR league? Yes. 51%. No. 49%. It's very evenly

split. Dave wants to be in the league with the 49% who say no. Let's go. Let's go 49ers by ourselves. Marlon Mack should not be a first round pick Heath. Yeah. Marlon Mack should not be a first-round pick. Heath. Yeah, Marlon Mack should definitely not be a first-round pick. I keep doing that.

I'm not taking Jonathan Taylor in the first round either. I'm not going to really fight against anybody who wants to because I do think Taylor is that special. But it's also probably a thing of how many wide receivers I'm going to take in the first round versus Dave or whether Travis Kelsey is going in the first round. So I think he's a low-end, borderline number one running back. This worries me a little bit just because of how familiar and comfortable they are with Marlon Mack. I expect Mack's going to touch the ball a few times a game. He may get a couple of short yardage carries he makes it easier for them to spell jonathan taylor early in the year um and naheem heinz still exists okay let's just start with this it's it's not even close to the same situation that we had last year where taylor came into the league as a rookie without an off-season program and a truncated training camp. And Marlon Mack was healthy and fine and coming off of a really good year.

Mack is the one coming in, still recovering from the Achilles tear that he had last September. He's not at 100% yet. He'll probably get there by training camp. But we don't know how explosive he'll be, how good he'll be. And we know exactly what Jonathan Taylor is. Is it another mouth to feed? Okay, maybe. Maybe Marlon Mack gets three touches per game,

four touches per game. Maybe he steps in there if Jonathan Taylor goes through a slump. But I see the offensive line. I see the way that this team wants to be balanced. I see Jonathan Taylor as a tour de force in the backfield. There's so much upside with him that I can't get away from him as a first-round pick.

Cannot do it. I have nothing. I've really mentioned this all off season. Does it matter to you that left tackle Anthony Costanzo retired? It's a pretty big piece on that Colts line. It's a big piece, but I care a lot more about the interior line. Well,

and we'll see what they do to replace them. Yeah. I don't think they're going to start some, you know, undrafted guy at left tackle or something like that. We'll see what they do to replace him. Yeah, I don't think they're going to start some, you know, undrafted guy at left tackle or something like that. We'll see what they do. But I'm still very bullish on the O-line being good. Would you like to know how Jonathan Taylor did

without Anthony Costanzo last year? Sure. You're going to tell me that he was terrible. No, he's actually quite good. I'm just looking at this now. Okay. 12 carries 57 yards and a touchdown at Cleveland. 13

carries 91 yards at Houston. They were the worst run defense in football, one of them. 18 carries 74 yards, two touchdowns at Pittsburgh. And then week 17, 30 carries 253 yards, two touchdowns. So he did just fine without Anthony Costanzo.

Okay, next up, buy or sell, A.J. Green should be drafted before Christian Kirk. A.J. Green should be drafted before Christian Kirk. Heath, buy or sell? I have to scroll quite a ways to find AJ Green or Christian Kirk in the current wide receiver projections. None of them, neither of them are top 50 options at this time,

but I would disagree with it. I still think there's more hope that Christian Kirk could possibly slide into that Larry Fitzgerald slot role and then do something besides fall down after he catches the football. So I'm going to draft Kirk before AJ Green, but neither of them in the first eight rounds for sure. Dave, buy or sell Christian Kirk or AJ Green should be drafted ahead of Christian Kirk. I'm going to just sell this whole thing. I don't want to really draft either of these guys. And I agree that Kirk should go ahead of AJ Green. It's a cool story that he's going to a different team. And yeah, if you

thought three years ago about AJ Green and DeAndre Hopkins on the same receiving core, I mean, we'd go crazy. We'd take whoever their quarterback was and put them at number one overall. But he proved last year that he's just not the same guy. He doesn't have it anymore. This is an offense that asks its receivers to make plays after the catch. I don't know how much of that he's really going to be able to do at this point. Well, it's a shame because you only have to go back to 2018. He didn't play in 2019, but 2018, he was awesome. I mean, he only played nine games, left one of them almost immediately, and his eight healthy games, he was on pace for almost 1,400 yards and 12 touchdowns. He was A.J. Green. He was a stud. 2019, he sits out. 2020, he was awful. I mean,

there's really no way to sugarcoat it. He had 104 targets and came down with 523 yards. And Dave, you showed me the next-gen stats. I mentioned this last night. Next-gen stats show how much separation wide receivers or all receivers are getting, wide receivers and tight ends they tracked. A.J. Green had the least amount of separation in the NFL. It's not the most telling list. Like I said last night, Allen Robinson was like 10th lowest or something like that. But A.J. Green had fewer yards of separation than any other.

I think he was tied with Devontae Parker. They were the lowest in the NFL. Thankfully, he's going to a team that has a quarterback who really likes to force it into tight windows. Well, the Twitter people agree. I said, who would you rather have,

Christian Kirk or A.J. Green? Option A was do work, Kirk. 68% of the vote. And smells like green spirit. St. Patrick's Day, 32%. Okay, I'm just looking at some news coming in. Big Giants signing this morning, the one we were all waiting for.

Mike Glennon. Some news on Alan Robinson, but it's not really news. They're in no rush for long-term dealings on the franchise tag. We will see what happens. We still have Juju and Galladay and Fuller and Carson and now Damian Williams on the market. So there are more podcasts to be coming.

All right, that's going to do it for Buy or Sell. Is there anything else you wanted to touch on? Oh, no, wait. I had a bonus Buy or Sell. I had a fourth one. Melvin Gordon, Buy or Sell. You guys are going to sell it. Don't be too hasty here.

Think about it. Melvin Gordon is a top 12 running back. If the Broncos don't bring in another significant running back, significant, meaning a guy like Carson, one of the good free agents or a day one or two NFL draft pick. No, do you really think that's what's going to happen?

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I'd be stunned if they go all offseason without adding another running back. They could add a Keyshawn Vaughn type or something like that. They could add a fourth round running back, which wouldn't

really threaten Melvin Gordon. I would feel better about him as a number two running back. He would not sniff my top 12. Okay. No, he's not. I don't even think he's necessarily in the range where I'd say that if he plays 16 games, he'll probably

end up being a top 12 running back, but he's close to that. He's a low end number two. I'd feel better if the offense was a little better. Why do I say it? He averaged 21 touches per game

in five games without Phillip Lindsay. He was pretty good for the most part, except one game against Tampa Bay. Remember Tampa Bay? They had Vita at that point. They were really one of the best run defenses ever. And if you take his points per game in the five games he played without Phillip Lindsay last year,

Melvin Gordon would have been 14th per game in non-PPR, 18th per game in PPR. But you take away the Tampa Bay game, he averaged 98 yards per game, total yards per game. So it's a usage thing. Just seems like if they don't add someone significant, you could be talking i'm not sure he's going to get to 21 touches per game but like 18 touches per game that would be

pretty exciting i and i think this is a place where like that could just that could happen i've got him projected for 258 total touches um that would be his highest number of touches in a season since 2017. Well, he missed four games, what, in 2019? And 2018. Missed one game last year. I mean, he's played 16 games once in his six-year career.

I'm just saying on a... Well, I'm just saying I'm not sure you use a guy with that type of past track record in that type of role for 16 games. Well, he stayed healthy two years in a row. Because in 2019, he held out. And last year, what, he missed one game?

But he stayed healthy without that type of workload for a full season. That's true. So a year ago at this time, the Broncos signed Melvin Gordon, and we were like, what are they doing? They've got Philip Lindsay. What is the meaning of this? And now if they're letting Philip Lindsay walk,

they could go right back to this very deep free agent running back group, find somebody cheap, and have a two-headed monster. I mean, look, I don't want to speak it into existence but maybe they sign somebody whose name rhymes with kames johnner and now all of a sudden it's it's a swampy backfield for fantasy i think a great situation would be if pat schirmer worked with wayne gallman in new york right and gallman's a free agent maybe gallman signs a cheap deal and that's no that would be great No, that would be great.

That would be great for Melvin Gordon. I agree. But that's what needs to happen to make Melvin Gordon turn into a running back where we go, hmm, okay, maybe I could see myself drafting him. Because right now I feel like there's a lot of people who might recognize what he did last year and still not feel good drafting him. Yeah. So what you're saying is what Melvin Gordon needs is...

Dolvin! It's been a while. Let's take a break on Fantasy Football today. More news and notes when we come back. Big-time offensive line news to talk about and your free agency winners. We'll be right back. designed to help protect you and your loved ones financially, giving you the peace of mind to focus on what truly matters. Find their products through banks, credit unions, and associations, or visit SecurianCanada.ca.

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Football Today. It's time for News and Notes. Deshaun Watson, this is not good. He's facing two lawsuits alleging inappropriate conduct during massages. He is denying it. It's an awkward time because a Houston beat writer just predicted that he's going to get

traded. So we'll keep an eye on this, but not what you want to see. And we'll continue to moderate. Arizona acquired Rodney Hudson, center from the Raiders and a seventh round pick for a third round pick. So he's a good player. They gave up a third-round pick for an offensive lineman. That's no small deal. Dave, give me your reaction to Arizona getting Rodney Hudson, to the Chiefs signing Kyle Long. There was Seattle getting right guard Gabe Jackson from Las Vegas. The Raiders are just spitting their veteran offensive lineman right now. They did re-sign.

The Raiders did re-sign Richie Incognito. And Denzel Good is back. So a couple of pieces from last year will still be there, but they've got a lot of work to do. It's bad for Josh Jacobs. And one more here. The Patriots signed Ted Karras to be their center. Uh-huh, that's good.

Patriots offensive line could be very good. Well, this is the thing. You know, they lost their starting center and Joe Tooney, their starting guard. They signed what I'm guessing is a worse center because they signed him to a one-year $4 million deal. There's no way

Andrews isn't getting more than that. Their center that they are losing. The tackle they just brought back, Trent Brown. I've been reading very conflicting stuff about how good or how bad he is. And he's had trouble staying healthy, although it's been a little bit fluky,

but I don't know that they're better than they were last year. They're just different. The Cardinals getting Hudson feels like huge news. Yes, it is. Okay. So give me your offensive line breakdown right now in free agency. With,

with Hudson going to Arizona, that's going to help them shore up blitzers trying to get to Kyler Murray through the A-gaps, right? So big defensive tackles, linebackers that are fast, that are willing to go between the hog mollies up front to try and shut down Kyler Murray, keep him from escaping through the middle of the line. That's what that's for. And they're building a pretty good offensive line. It used to be a weakness. Now it's looking to be a strength. Uh, I like it for them. I like what Seattle has done with Gabe Jackson. I think he's a terrific offensive lineman as well. They need help there. And then, uh, Kansas city is really the one that I think we should talk about because Tooney went there. He's awesome. And if Kyle Long can find that form from 2018 and before, I mean, that is a huge boon

to Kansas City's offense. And he might even be able to play right tackle, which would be just incredible for them. Well, they don't need a guard, right? I mean, they've got Duvernay Tardif. Is Tardif definitely coming back or is he i don't know gonna keep working on the front lines of the no i think he is expected to come back i think i had read well that's great so then long it could compete to either be a backup

guard or a backup tackle slash starting tackle but he took a year off he probably had his body refreshed he clearly thinks he's got something left in the tank. You've got to trust Brett Veach and Andy Reid because they know how bad their offensive line is. Yeah, they're going to put another body that's got some accolades in their offensive line group and hope that he can come out of it with a starting job. It could be very exciting for Kansas City.

Okay. Heath, anything stand out to you in terms of offensive lineeland? Let me steer this to Oakland here. Sorry, to Las Vegas. This went from last year, a team that looked like they were going to have one of the best lines in football. It's going to be extremely different now. I think you've got to have some Josh Jacobs concerns, right? Well, and there were already reasons for Josh Jacobs' concerns, like as a borderline first-round pick, just because of the way he's been used and the way that he's shared the load and his not being probably a 50 catchback. So yeah, I think it's enough within that tier to cause a little bit of concern. It's probably great news for Darren Waller because if they can't block anybody,

Derek Carr will just dump it off to Waller even more often. I don't love it for Carr. I don't love it for Jacobs. But let's see how they finish up the offseason. Okay. Other news. So the Bengals offered Kenny Galladay a contract. He's also been talking to the Giants. Seems like a one-year deal from the Bengals offered Kenny Galladay a contract. He's also been talking to the Giants.

Seems like a one-year deal from the Bengals, right? Yeah, one-year prove-it deal. This is crazy what's going on. I think I have an idea why it's happening, but why Galladay and Fuller and Juju haven't struck it rich yet. And I think it has to do with the draft class. And it's deep and super

talented and these teams probably figure why should i spend 12 to 18 million dollars a year on kenny galladay when i can get somebody younger faster and cheaper yeah i i think the thing is like there's nobody without warts um kenny galladay has basically had one year as an alpha wide receiver. And even in that year, he didn't even earn 120 targets. Juju is 116. But that's not... We're generally looking like 140 for the guy that we think that Kenny Galladay is. Juju's not been anything for two years now.

Will Fuller's never been able to stay healthy. There's just enough warts. But this is certainly concerning for Galladay in terms of being a top 12 fantasy wide receiver, if this is a level of interest and he may have to settle on a deal with the Giants. I got to say though, it's hard to say that what you just said about Juju and Fuller, juju did have a lot of touchdown like you got to give him credit for some of what he did in 2020 and being being able to reel in touchdowns from roethlisberger and play in the context of that offense it wasn't with the target share that he had once upon a time we knew that that was going to be an issue eventually but he he was he was serviceable he's just not like a consistent game breaker and fuller is a game breaker,

and he proved that last year. But then he had the suspension, and everybody knows about the injury history. So it's like those guys did do things in 2020 to let the NFL know, hey, look, I can contribute. I'm worth a lot of cash. Come get me. But it's like the teams recognize, well, we could come get you, but your price is too high. And I can go get Jamar Chase or Jalen Waddell in April and have to pay them half as much.

Will Fuller, if you think yards per target is a valuable stat, Will Fuller is the best wide receiver in football. I mean, his last three seasons, he has averaged 10.7 yards per target over his last three seasons.

Devontae Adams just averaged a career-high 9.2 yards per target, and Fuller in his last three has been 10.7. Tyreek Hill in his career is 10. Or his last four seasons is 10.3. Fuller in his last three is 10.7. I mentioned this about cory davis five wide receivers last year averaged 15 yards per catch and caught 70 or more of their targets

will fuller was at the top of the list richard higgins justin jefferson cory davis and julio jones were the other four but yeah with the go ahead yeah with the start of baseball season right around the corner i think it's important to talk about sample size with Will Fuller. It's a bit like a lefty masher who gets 350 plate appearances a year and hits 350. But until you've seen the guy do it over a full season facing the full level of competition, you don't really know. We kind of got that from Will Fuller last year.

I think he answered the question. He was a top 10 receiver per game. He was a top 10 receiver per game. But again, we don't know if he can play 16 games. And he was doing that. That efficiency was on six and a half targets per game. He was on pace for 118, 115 targets. Yeah, but he still has been really productive.

Yeah, he's been really productive. I'm not saying he's super explosive. I thought you went too far when you said if you like yards per target, then Will Fuller is the best wide receiver in the game. Because averaging 10 yards per target over 70 targets per season is not really comparable to someone who's... But it's his last three seasons. His last three seasons is averaging 10.7 yards per target.

That's got to mean something. He's awesome. It means he gets a little more efficient. I do not think Will Fuller is the best wide receiver in football. I'm sorry if the sarcasm didn't hit there. Right. He's averaging four and a half catches per game over that stretch, and he's playing with Deshaun Watson

and two-thirds of it with DeAndre Hopkins on the other side. That could be the one other thing. Is Will Fuller in a holding pattern because he wants to play with Deshaun Watson. And is that why he hasn't signed? He wants to see where Deshaun Watson goes and then he'll try and follow him there. Maybe that's part of it.

Maybe it Fuller also has caught 70% of his targets in the last three seasons. So yeah, I wish it were more. It's only 191 targets in 29 games, but it's 70% catch rate. It's 15.3 yards per yards per catch and 10.7 yards per target. Yeah. I think it's safe to say that he will be the best boom or bust wide

receiver. He's the best receiver in the boom or bust category this year. Unless Kenny Galladay is in that category because he plays for the giants. Yeah. I do not want him to go to the giants. I think that would hurt everyone except Daniel Jones. Who's nobody's interested in, but it would hurt all of the giants receivers and it would hurt Galladay.

It was not the best spot for him. Although, I mean, Galladay would be far and away the best option. You could see him getting 120 targets on the Giants, right? Yes. Can you see him getting 11 touchdowns on the

Giants? Well, how many did they throw for 12 last year or something like that? I mean, that's why he's bad. But two years ago, a lot more. He might get to 120 targets, and he might get you 1,200 yards on those targets, but he might only get you five touchdowns i would think that look daniel jones threw a lot of touchdowns in his rookie year

so it's just the problem is there's such a run heavy ground and pound type of team that's that's their their goal that's what they want to be so that's why i don't want gollum maybe they're right but or they're saying we want to be able to be more balanced or even try and you know evolve daniel jones here let's add a receiver here's a great one and it's it's you can't assume the patriots are going to be exactly as run heavy as they were last year after they added all this talent at receiver that's the patriots telling you we're going to try and jump start the passing game trying to see if there's any other significant news. Gerald Everett and Anthony Ferkser. So Gerald Everett won your deal with the Seahawks.

Could be worth up to $7 million. He'll be reunited with offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. And Anthony Ferkser, Jamie mentioned him as a sleeper. He and Jeff Swaim both re-signed with Tennessee. This, so if you like small sample sizes, then Anthony Ferkser is a top 10 tight end. One game without Johnnie Smith last year, five catches, 51 yards on seven targets. Anthony Ferkser, I mean, how crazy would it be to take him over Hunter Henry? If we were just drafting right now to take Ferkser over Hunter Henry? It would be insane. I mean, wouldn't it?

Because he could be number two in targets on the team. Yeah, but he's not the same type of player as Janu. And I think he could be in line for way more playing time and certainly a jump in targets as possible. He averaged five catches for 51 yards without Johnny Smith in one game. I know. You said small sample size stat? You could call it a food court stat.

Four of those catches were on the final drive of the game. Oh, Shraggy B, Acer stat. That's a really small sample size. That's good. All right. In one drive in his entire career, Anthony Ferg, sir.

Okay. Let's see what the audience thinks right now. I asked you, who is the biggest winner in free agency? Could be someone who changed teams.

Could be someone like Cam Newton. Could be someone like A.J. Brown who lost target competition. I will just read. I'll just read some answers here. We have a bunch of comments. Rick says, Josh Allen, the defense has not improved and neither has the run game. He's getting an Ironman slot wide receiver

to run through the air to play across from Beasley as opposed to John Brown, who is always hurt. So he's getting Emmanuel Sanders. So Josh Allen, a big winner. Keep in mind, I do think that even though the defense, they is always hurt. So he's getting Emmanuel Sanders. So Josh Allen, a big winner. Keep in mind, I do think that even though the defense, they haven't added, I mean, they re-signed Matt Milano, the defense got a lot

better later in the year. So I would expect their defense to be better in 2021 personally. But is Josh Allen a winner, guys, or just the same? So far, he's a winner. I mean, I'm not moving him up to the number one quarterback in fantasy why is he a winner again why is he a winner because he the bills haven't splurged at

running back yet okay but that's what i'm worried about with alan is that buffalo makes a big deal at running back and that's their sign it's the opposite of what the patriots did they're saying we need to be better running the football and taking some pressure off of Josh Allen, who basically was the entire offense last year. Yeah, if anything, I would probably say that Allen's a downgrade because I don't think Emmanuel Sanders is as good as John Brown right now. But he's still got Gabriel Davis to step up.

And he's such a... I mean, what are you going to do? You're going to put Kyler Murray ahead of him because Murray got A.J. Green? step up and he's just he's he's such a i mean what are you gonna do you're gonna you're gonna put kyle kyler murray ahead of him because murray got aj green i mean i'm not sure i'm not sure why you got rodney hudson okay uh i don't know if that's enough to move murray ahead of josh allen maybe we'll see it to me alan's moving down the Bills do something big at running back, if they do something big at running back. But the Card Hunt. Check out Fantasy Football Today in five. Yeah, that's on Fantasy Football Today in five, Adam? Yep, yep. We talked about Etienne and Harris on today's episode,

and we talked about number two, number four, and number five, because he has Etienne number three, but number two, four, and five for him, for Emory Hunt in his prospect rankings. Check out March Madness, by the way, on the CBS Sports app on your connected TV or on your phone. From there, you're going to see every tournament game available to watch, whether it's on CBS or March Madness Live. Think of it like a gateway to all the action.

So download the CBS Sports app now so you never miss a minute of the NCAA tournament. I strongly recommend it. Also, I don't want to keep saying the word tournament because I say it funny and Dave makes fun of me for it. I was about to make a comment. Yeah, yeah, I know. Uh,

I more winners. Uh, Joshua says everyone, but Chicago bears fans. Okay. Uh, uh, I shouldn't laugh.

Um, let's see. Cam Newton, obviously as a winner, again, a lot of Cam Newton. You guys feel good about that? I think relative to where he started

at the beginning of free agency, he's like absolutely a winner in that same Ryan Fitzpatrick range. Were we even drafting him? I don't think so. When free agency, not when the rumors, before he signed with New England, we

weren't even drafting him. And then when he signed with New England, we weren't even drafting him. And then when he signed with New England, we were like, oh, okay. But yeah, I mean, he's definitely in that range. And I would currently draft him ahead of Fitzmagic. I would not, because I still think that the Patriots could make a move. I think they're more likely...

Yeah, I do. I think they're more likely to make a move at quarterback to cause some worry over Cam Newton starting 16 games than Washington. Because Washington still has Allen and Heineke. You're set. You got those two guys. Well, listen, they signed those guys. They seem like they want to keep them around. I don't necessarily believe that they're going to draft a quarterback. Okay, from King Hassan.

Here's an autocorrect for you. It's clearly Stanford. He had zero chance of ever even getting to the postseason for the rest of his career had he not been traded. So, Matthew Stanford, now of the Rams.

Yeah, I mean, I would assume that the Pac-10 will be back on a regular schedule next year. And so there will be a chance. Did you just call it the Pac-10? Yeah. What was the last time you watched college football? The Pac-10? Would you like to join a bracket with me?

It's Pac-12. I don't know how many teams they have, but they are the Pac-12. Yeah. That's a little bit confusing to me because the Big 12, I think, only has 10, but the Big 10 had like 14. I don't know if the ACC has any teams that begin with the letter A.

This is from Michael Blood. Winners, me and all the other poor Patriots fans, we had to go through one miserable season of the Pats being bad. Problem solved. I wonder how good they're going to be. I do think their defense is going to be pretty good. Kyle Van Nooy coming back. Patrick Chung retiring, but between the opt-ins and the defensive upgrades,

yeah, I think that they're going to be the most boring team in football. But they'll win games. Yeah, they'll win. they're going to be the most boring team in football, but they don't win games. Yeah, they'll win. They're going to be an unpredictable team. When I wrote the story on Hunter Henry, I said, you know how like they always

have a running back situation that you can't quite trust because it's so unpredictable. Now imagine that with the entire offense. Because they've got they've got guys that they can play

matchups with week in and week out. And it's perfect for them. What they're doing is great, but it's going to suck for us. Okay, yeah. Okay, so how about from Matt Johnson, William Jackson. Can't wait to see Washington football team competing with the D. Yeah, so they signed one of the top cornerbacks on the market. So just want to give a thumbs up.

Good call there. Some fantasy relevant stuff. Matt Costanzo says James Robinson. James Robinson, biggest winner. So far. Yeah, yeah.

Carlos Hyde seems like a very adequate backup for James Robinson, but not much more. So if we could get through April in this same situation, you'd feel great about it. Dustin Deet says, Trevor Lawrence?

No. You added Marvin Jones. I like Marvin Jones. Oh, I do too. Oh, he's a draftable bench receiver for sure. But their current starting tight end is now... Oh, what's his name? Oliver?

No, they traded him to the Ravens. They traded... Who did they trade to the Ravens? Josh Oliver, right? They did? I believe Josh Oliver was traded to the Ravens. How did I not know that? And I believe... I think O'Shaughness. How did I not know that? And I believe

I think O'Shaughnessy is the only one left. O'Shaughnessy. They signed a free agent tight end Chris Manhurts. I see the Pistol of Oliver on the roster. Yeah, O'Shaughnessy. They may

have had a dream about Josh Oliver being traded. Yeah, it's O'Shaughnessy. O'Shaughnessy is from one of my favorite Key and Peele bits. You ever seen that one with Substitute Teacher? Okay, so 15 hours ago, Ian Rappaport tweeted, the Jaguars are trading Josh Oliver to the Ravens for an additional draft pick. Okay, I didn't catch that. I wasn't online 15 hours ago.

Ian Rappaport also said the Jets have had conversations with Juju Smith-Schuster. All right, more winners. Darren says T. Higgins is going to be a beast this year. Yeah, I think we all knew A.J. Green wasn't going to be back, so he's not a loser, that's for sure. But not if they sign Kenny Galladay, probably. Right. Isn't that a sign? That's true.

That's kind of a freak-out sign that they are in the market for a sign. That's true. That's a kind of a freak out sign that they are in the market for a receiver and anybody that they bring in that's high profile would obviously hurt the upside of T Higgins. We are getting so many people are answering with Terry McLaurin or Ryan Fitzpatrick. So the Fitzpatrick to McLaurin stack

getting a lot of love. Washington football team getting a lot of love. Who do you guys think is going to win the NFC East as of right now? I think Washington has the best chance with Dallas right behind them. I think I'd go Dallas with the best chance with Washington right behind them. It's a

two-horse race and it'll be very interesting. I just feel confident. I feel confident that a team from the NFC East is going to win more games than they lose this year. There you go. That I agree with. Greg says, thinking

outside the box, how about Jamison Crowder in a contract year? The addition of Corey Davis puts Crowder back in his traditional number two role as the slot guy should see plenty of targets. If the offense is predicated on the slot, like it was last year, then sure.

That's possible. And if Crowder is actually on the roster to begin the 21 season. Okay. I'm not, I'm not excited about any jets right now. I think this is, sorry, this is the best one for me.

Might be my biggest winner. Clyde Edwards-Ziller, Colin Bassett suggesting CEH, and AJ Brown, also a lot of votes for him. But I think it's huge for Clyde Edwards-Ziller that Damian Williams was released. I think it helps.

And the offensive line being rebuilt helps. Well, I mean, right now, we think the offensive line is still worse than it was last year, right? No, I think just by the addition of Tooney coming in, that helps the offensive line strengthen from where it was at the end of last year. Tackles, they got to do something about that too. But before free agency started, that line was a disaster. I want to clarify. It's much better than where it was before free agency started, that line was a disaster. I want to clarify. It's much better than where it was before free agency started.

I was saying over the course of what it was last year versus what it currently looks like, it is worse. Yeah, they need tackles. Obviously, they're going to be a lot better at guard. They're going to be a lot better at guard, but they're currently much worse at tackle. And they don't have a center yet either, right? Yes, I think they do have a center.

I was just reading... Hold on. I only know this because I was just reading about Duvernay Tardif when we brought him up. I think they have a center. I mean, technically, they have a center. Andrew Wiley, is he a guard for them?

Yeah, I can't profess to know the Chiefs offensive line that well. I think that's really Heath's job. The Chiefs have made an offer to Austin Ryder, who was their center last year, but he has not accepted the offer yet. Okay. And then there is the show additional replies, including those that may contain offensive content. Well, I got to show, I mean, I got to see what people are saying, right?

Ryan Fitzpatrick, that's the offensive content? What? Okay, yeah, all right. So a lot of Washington love right now, and I get it. Makes sense. To the Apple podcast questions. This is from Clint. Clint's in a keeper league standard scoring. I get to keep two of these with my final

two rounds. All three were picked up on the waiver wire. Is the decision this easy now? So pick two. A.J. Dillon. Yeah. A.J. Dillon, Canmakers and J.K. Dobbins. Yeah, it's easy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I said it nice when things are easy. Joey in a small town west of Houston, Texas. El Paso.

Okay. I don't know why I was waiting for Heath to respond or something. Okay. How's it going, Jim, Jason, Rex, and Kyle? Those are Bears quarterbacks. Yep. 12-team PPR Keeper League. I've won this league twice now because I drafted Michael Thomas

in his rookie season in round eight. Every year your keeper moves up a round, you keep them. Michael Thomas will be a fourth-round pick this year. Should I keep Michael Thomas in the fourth or T. Higgins in the eighth? I'm keeping T. Higgins. I can't believe you said

that. Me too. Quickly, no less. I know. I thought you were going to keep Michael Thomas. You are the Michael Thomas truther, but I mean, I get it. I shouldn't say truther. More like you know, fortune teller. I shouldn't say truth or more like, you know, um, fortune teller. I, I,

I tend to agree, but I'm going to change my tune. If the Bengals do add some talent at receiver. 100%. And I don't know, like how confident are we? And Jameis Winston winning that job. Cause that would,

no, it sounds like it's a competition, which is something that I didn't think was necessarily going to be. I mean, and Jameis Winston winning that job. No, it sounds like it's a competition, which is something that I didn't think was necessarily going to be. I mean, I think I knew it was going to be a competition, but I just kind of leaned toward Jameis getting it. But now I think you literally have to look at those guys as a competition. It makes projecting that entire offense a nightmare

because it's two different offenses. It is. Yeah. But on the plus side, we did see Taysom Hill lean heavily on Michael Thomas before, and we think that Jameis could probably do the same thing.

Who else are you going to lean on? Michael Thomas has been basically quarterback-proof. Bridgewater, Breeze, and Taysom Hill did not catch a touchdown with Taysom. He didn't catch a touchdown all year, did he? Michael Thomas? Zero touchdowns. Yeah, he didn't catch a touchdown with Taysom Hill. He didn't catch a touchdown all year, did he? Michael Thomas? Zero touchdowns. Yeah, he didn't catch a touchdown

with Taysom Hill, but he had a lot of catches. Okay, that's it for Fantasy Football Today. Thank you guys, everybody. We have a lot of great free agents still yet to sign, so we'll be back soon. And make sure you watch our video show today on CBS Sports HQ, 3 p.m.

Eastern. We'll tell you our favorite destinations for some of the free agents that are still out there, our biggest winners and losers, and a lot more. For Dave Richard and Heath Cummings and Ben Schrager, I'm Adam Azer. Thanks for listening. Talk to you soon.