Fantasy Football Today - Free Agency Day Two Recap: Chark, McKissic and More (03/15 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: March 15, 2022

Heath starts with some hot takes comparing Dalvin Cook and James Conner! We'll also talk about some under the radar wide receivers (5:00) like Russell Gage and perhaps Allen Lazard ... Speaking of hot takes, what do the listeners have to say (14:00)? There is some Chase Edmonds love and a Javonte Williams vs. Najee Harris debate (20:40) ... The rest of the news at QB (27:30), RB (28:40), WR (32:50) and TE (38:10). We touch on Deshaun Watson, the Bills and Commanders backfields, D.J. Chark and the rest of the Lions passing game and more. Join the FFT March Madness pool to win a spot in the 2022 Listeners League and a $100 Paramount+ gift card: https://picks.cbssports.com/college-basketball/ncaa-tournament/bracket/pools/kbxw63b2gy4dmnbrgeza====?pool-join-key=3vwthxdt8939d504tu5a3rxnjsed5cvd&invited-by=ivxhi4tzhiytanbvhe3dmobs&via-medium=copy&ttag=FF22_lk_cbssports_cbb_bpm_copySetupInvite Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Touchdown. Oh, he's done it again. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath, and Beck. It is day two of NFL free agents. Z, Z, Z, Z, Z, Z, Z. You get it? Snooze Fest. Not much going on today or last night,

but we do have maybe some sleeper wide receivers emerging. We had Russell Gage going to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I think we're done. What else? No. What happened? We've got Evan Ingram going to the Doug Peterson offense. We've got Antonio Gibson being set free. DJ Chark. DJ Chark. DJ Chark

is going to play for the Lions. JD McKissick killing Devin Singletary. Well, yeah, we do have some stuff to talk about. It's not the sexiest show, but there is plenty of news. And who knows, in the next half hour or so, maybe we'll get some more. Heath, you didn't really get a chance on the full-length show yesterday since you weren't on to talk about all the other stuff,

like the Christian Kirk signing. So we'll talk about all the other stuff, like the Christian Kirk signing. So we'll talk about all of that. We have some listener hot takes. What do you want to lead with, Heath? What's exciting right now? I gave you some hot takes on your tweet. What was my tweet? When you asked for the hot takes, I quote tweeted it with my five hot takes.

I thought maybe you would have seen those, but you don't see my tweets you get me muted um i i knew you had chris muted but i didn't think i tweeted quite as much as him um i don't know i don't mute anyone wow when you meet ryan wilson you know that james connor and dalvin cook okay go ahead you can read them uh james connor and dalvin cook are basically the spider-Man meme going into this year. Antonio Gibson's a top five running back if they don't add somebody else significant. Russell Gage is going to be better than DJ Chirk.

Mitchell Trubisky's an upgrade for the Steelers offense over what they've had the last two years. Pretty hot. So hot right now. Antonio Gibson, top five. He only averaged 3.1, I think, catches per game without McKissick. Something like 2.3 with McKissick.

But there's room for more, obviously. But yeah, that would be a big deal. What about Jarrett Patterson? Sure. No, I think Jarrett Patterson will, like, he gets into that. Not the, like, what's the second level? Not the Kareem hunt level but the running backs who are going to have a role but if the other guy goes down will be starters

he's in that group the i think a lot more work than we expect all right so wait let's let's break that down james connor and i can talk about james connor all day like i like i did yesterday james connor and dalvin cook are the spider manMan. That is the dumbest thing I've ever... Just to go back to all of your James Conner takes since he's joined the Cardinals. When he joined the Cardinals, you liked him better than Chase Edmonds. Originally. Then I flipped.

Then you flipped and you went to Edmonds. You just stuck with Conner because Conner was better. Then Conner became the guy for those five games and you were back all in, which understandably so was correct. Now Connor gets a three-year deal to stay with the team that made him successful last year, and you hate him. Look, as much as I could love James Connor,

I could never love him more than YPC. I just don't know. Well, obviously, it just depends on what they do. If he's going to be a big part of the passing game, then I'll like him. But I think to call him Dalvin Cook is a slap in the face to all the people who have been following YPC for as long as I have. I do not think he'll be near as good as Dalvin Cook in YPC leagues. leagues, but they will both be 27-year-old running backs who have top three, top two upside if everything goes right, who are probably going to miss

somewhere between four and six games due to injury. That's a lot of games. When's the last time Dalvin's missed four to six games? What did he play last year? I think he missed three games and left one early. I think he missed three games and left one early. I think he missed three games last year.

Okay. Three to five. Okay. Three to five. I could be wrong about this. He missed four games. He missed four games last year. He's played 14, 14, and 13 games the last three seasons.

Well, two years ago, he missed one because of the death of his father. That's right. Well, he's had three shoulder injuries in the last four years. He's definitely amongst the most injury-prone running backs, I thought. Yes. We don't have to argue. Yeah, we can agree on that. Yeah.

Okay. All right. So how about this? Are there any sleeper-wide receivers that have emerged? You've got Isaiah McKenzie back with Buffalo. Alan Lazard looks like he's going to stay in Green Bay. They tendered

him a second round offer. Zay Jones to Jacksonville. What are you doing, Jacksonville? Russell Gage to Tampa Bay. Cedric Wilson back to Miami. Maybe a guy like Rondell Moore in Arizona. Not back to Miami, going to Miami.

Sorry, going to Miami from Dallas. Don't confuse him with Albert Wilson. Or like what I did yesterday, confuse Jamal Agnew with Chris Conley. Oh, well, I do that all the time. Are there any sleeper wide receivers that you guys are getting excited about? I think you, well, I mean, Rondell Moore,

you know, now that there's potential for him to have a bigger role for the Cardinals, if no one of significance is brought back or drafted as it stands right now, I think you look at Russell gauge, you know, depending on Chris Godwin's timeline but stepping into Antonio Brown's role, he's not Antonio Brown. He doesn't have the rapport with, with Brady, but there's an opportunity there. If Godwin's not ready to go by the start of the season.

Yeah, McKenzie would only be if Beasley goes and nobody else comes in return. But Gallup and Dallas, I guess you put him in that category, right? I don't know. I feel like he'll be somewhere around 100th. I guess I meant deep sleeper, late round flyer. I don't know. Gage and Gallup, I don't think we'll get that far apart because people get excited about the Tampa Bay situation. What do you think about the Tampa Bay situation

with Russell Gage now? Like I said, there's an opening with... First off, we'll probably find out between now and tomorrow at this time that Gronk is back because I think it's in their financial benefit to bring him back before the league year starts, if I saw that correctly. So assuming that is the case and you have Gronk, Godwin, Evans all on the field week

one, I think Russell Gage will probably be overdrafted. If you have any sort of delay in Godwin's return, then I think Gage has some early season upside. But he's not Antonio Brown. And I think Russell Gage took advantage of an amazing opportunity last year when Calvin Ridley was off the field and Matt Ryan really had nobody else to rely on aside from him and Pitts. Tom Brady doesn't necessarily have to worry about that.

Heath, anything to add there? Do you think he's fantasy relevant, Russell Gage, if Godwin and Evans are healthy? I think he'll be a number four wide receiver if Godwin and Evans are healthy. Mid-range flex, but there will probably be a few weeks where one of the two of them is not there, and it may be at the beginning of the season because Godwin's not ready, and so I do think he could have some weekly appeal if it's just Evans or just Godwin. Alan Lazard caught five touchdowns in the last five games of the season. He started playing in the slot a little bit more, whereas Russell Gage actually started playing outside a little bit more last year. But toward the end of 2021, you saw Lazard play in the slot more and have some

success in his last five games. The 290 yards, five touchdowns. That's a pace of 986 yards and 17 touchdowns, which is better than Christian Kirk's 17 game pace and his, for any season of his career. But yeah, I mean, look,

MVS looks like he won't be back. They, they got this Devante Adams situation, but gosh, I mean, could I make the case that Alan, why are we talking about this? Can I make the case that Alan Lazard

is better right now than Russell Gage if he's back with the Packers, of course? You could make that case. I would probably lean towards Gage's direction, but I mean, we know it's... The interesting thing will be is if Devontae Adams keeps his word and they haven't got him signed to an extension yet.

Right. What if we get to week one and Al Lazard is number one receiver for the Packers? I'll take it. I think it's a floor versus ceiling situation. I think the end of season numbers will probably be better for Al Lazard,

but the highs and lows will probably favor Russell Gage. I think the Bucs will draft a wide receiver in day two. And move on from Tyler Johnson?

I mean, they gave Gage three years. I think it was $20 million guaranteed. That'd be a weird place to spend resources with Evans and Godwin and gage and but they need something for the future i'm just not sure they're thinking about the future when you have tom brady at quarterback every year could be the year that you start to rebuild and and to your point adam though godwin might price himself out of staying there and might want to leave after you know two

consecutive franchise tags. They could be looking to find a long-term upside play, but I'd be surprised if that's what they did. You remember that. Remember this day because I'm going to forget as soon as we're off the show, I'm going to forget. Schrager, write it down. Bucs, day two, take a wide receiver.

What you should have done was you should have gone all in on Amari Rodgers again because if there's no Devontae Adams and there's no MVS, then Amari Rodgers might be the guy in Green Bay. Absolutely. Okay. Maybe not, though. You're known for your patience with your rookie wide receiver takes. Yes, when you drop Justin Jefferson for Peyton Barber.

Okay, listen. I do think there is some upside for rondale moore um if they can get him into that christian kirk role and then we saw him and chase edmunds do some similar things at times last year maybe connor stays and it's sharing with eno benjamin and rondale moore gets a little bit of the chase edmunds role from last year and the christian kirk role did you like my new nickname for him? What was it? It was the other tweet that I sent you the notification for.

Placebo Samuel? Placebo Samuel. Rondell Moore? Because he's going to take over the Chase Edmonds role and the Christian Kirk role. Debo Samuel? Placebo Samuel? I know. Yeah.

I'm not getting it. I'm not getting it at all. It's a terrible job. Just join our bracket challenge. I understand there's been some issues with the link. We're working on it. I will put a link in the...

Okay. Christian Kirk and Chase Edwards gone in the same day. Rondell Moore managers have been filling both roles. Rondell Moore officially placebo Samuel. I just don't...

I don't really... I don't really think it works. JB, what do really think it works. JB, like, what do you think? Eh. No. It's, uh, well, thankfully Twitter liked it more than you guys.

So, I made a dad joke up, Heath. Would you like to hear it? No, not now. What did the farmer say about the lost vegetable? What did the farmer say about the lost vegetable? What did the farmer say about the lost vegetable? Uh-huh. I don't know.

It'll turn up. That's good. Yeah, thank you. All right, join our bracket challenge. Hold on, I have to get the copy for this. Make sure I do this right. So yeah, like I said, I know people have had some issues with the bracket link.

We'll put one in the episode description that absolutely works. We're working on getting a shorter one for you, but we want you to compete with us in the bracket challenge. I'm going to be in it. Heath's going to be in it. I feel like Heath did really well last year

and don't know how. Jamie's going to be in it. Dave's going to be in it. Chris is going to be in it. So right now, if you go to cbssports.com slash FFTbrackets, hopefully that will work. If not, again, I got the longer link in the episode description. But you join it.

It's free to join. You get to fill out a bracket. That's incredibly fun every single year. You don't have to have it done until Thursday, even though they're playing games start tonight, I assume. And you got two great prizes here. You can be in the Podcast listeners league if you win, and you get a $100 gift card for Paramount+.

Heath has told me that the new Scream movie is actually not that bad, and it's on Paramount+, and I'm going to watch it. No, good. It's good, okay. It's good, yeah. Maybe I just don't believe you. I think I'll settle for not that bad.

I'll settle for not that bad. But just anyway, join the bracket challenge. We do it every year. It's going to yeah. Maybe I just don't believe you. I think I'll settle for not that bad. I'll settle for not that bad. But just anyway, join the bracket challenge. We do it every year. It's going to be super fun. And if you win, you're in the podcast league and get a $100 gift card to Paramount+. Okay, let's do some listener hot takes. But first, I do want to let Heath know

that all the hurdles have taken over my life. Of course, I do Wordle. Of course, I do Quartle because of you. I also do Nerdle, the math problem one, sometimes. And now I'm on to Hurdle, which is the music one. Have you done Hurdle? I've not done Hurdle. I also do Dortle, which is two, and Ock Dortle, which is eight.

And Worldle, which is the map geography. Ofer, I've not gotten that one yet. I'm not even going to try that one. Anyway, yeah, Hurdle is very fun. I did my first one this morning. I got it on the first try. Very easy one. Okay, listener hot takes from Recklesfan18.

Chase Edmonds can go early second round. He was super efficient last year, but lost all of the goal line work to James Conner. Now he fills a terrible backfield with an upgraded line and a coaching staff for the run game. So that's the hot take. It's very pro Chase Edmonds. I saw a little bit of Chase Edmonds love in this hot takes thread.

So Jamieie it would just require the dolphins really using him that way what do you think about this hot take of chase edmunds okay we're not gonna take him in the second round but you get the point having a big um if they get a revamped offensive line and nobody else shows up meaning nobody else like he's the only running back on the roster then maybe what if it's miles gaskin and him no no it has to be nobody else 100 of the touches go to chase edmonds um i mean look yes there's definitely possibility for him to have a significant upgrade in his value in production because mike mcdaniel hopefully brings a similar system that he was part of in San Francisco.

And Chase Edmonds does get the type of workload that he was getting with the Cardinals last year when things were right for him or even when things have been right for him during his time in Arizona. But it's very hard to imagine that there's not going to be somebody else sharing touches with him based on the 49ers system. But obviously this offensive line needs to improve and improve in a big way. Yeah, go get turned on Armstead. Let's start with that. system. But obviously this offensive line needs to improve and improve in a big way. Go get Teron Armstead. Let's start with that. There's still some decent offensive linemen out there. Well, didn't they sign somebody today?

Yeah, Cowboys guard. Connor McGovern? Connor Williams, I think. Connor Williams. Connor's right. I probably combined. Connor McGregor, they signed? Okay, go sign Maybe. Connor's right. I probably combined. I think it's Connor Williams. Okay.

Connor McGregor, they signed? Okay, go sign somebody. All right, more hot takes. Kenny Parker says, by the time redraft season starts, Amari Cooper will be valued at least a round higher than he is this week. Not by me.

I take that back. Deshaun Watson goes to Cleveland. His value will be higher. I don't know where he's valued right now. Yeah, I don't either. I think I'm probably going to be the high guy on him. But I think I'm like around five range. Around four or five.

That is, I think that is going to be the high guy on him. Yeah. Around six for me. So you're higher than me. Okay. What do you think he'll have any chance of being around for a guy by the time draft season rolls around? If Watson's there?

Yes. If Baker's there? No. What if it's Derek Carr? He's reunited with Derek Carr in Baker's there, no. What if it's Derek Carr? He's reunited with Derek Carr in Cleveland. No. Okay. Unless Stefanski's gone.

That's pretty interesting. If he has Derek Carr. I think he... Fifth round. Why are they shuffling in one okay quarterback for one okay quarterback? Carr's better than Baker, but I mean, what's the... He might be a lot better than Baker.

I just don't know because Baker was already unhappy, right? Huh? Baker was already unhappy and they had to have a meeting with him and tell him we're not trying to bring somebody else in and now they're having phone calls with Deshaun Watson. That may be an untenable situation. I mean, if I'm the Browns, I don't care about Baker's feelings.

Go out and play if you want to get your next contract. Okay, by the way, the Cowboys do have a center named Connor McGovern and the Dolphins signed Connor Williams. Yeah, they're not sure if they're going to play him a guard or tackle yet. Okay. McGovern is not the center.

He is their left guard on Dallas. Okay, back to the things that people care about. From Tesla Tunnel. I saw a Tesla on the road today. I really would like a Tesla. If anybody, we have a promo code maybe. Kyle Pitts will massively underperform expectations. Vacated targets aren't a thing,

and teams will double team Kyle Pitts as needed. I mean, it's certainly a concern based on the offense, as you brought up, Adam, that it's going to right now potentially be a terrible offense. But we still don't know what this looks like. And again, he may have Deshaun Watson throwing him the ball because that seems to be the destination that appears to be the one that Deshaun Watson is favoring.

I don't quite know why, aside from he was once a ball boy for the Falcons, is what I read today. But in any case, the setup right now is a little troubling for Pitts. On one hand, on the other side, I don't think it's vacated targets. I think if he has 10 to 15 more targets just by natural progression for a guy going from year one to year two, he's going to be a top five leader in targets at the tight end position, and that's hard to overlook. Heath, you write a whole thing about vacated targets. Defend its honor. I don't agree that they don't exist.

I do mostly agree that targets are earned, but what I generally do, and I call it the opportunity index, but it is a good tool when heading into free agency, heading into the draft to see who has room, who doesn't. If somebody gets added

and they didn't have any room, then who's losing? I don't know. Pitts doesn't really need to see a big increase in targets next year to meet expectations. He just needs to score a touchdown every once in a while. That'd be nice.

You have an example of vacated targets from a year ago that somebody stepped into and was great. Like I could see maybe like a Monroe St. Brown. I think that was the first one I thought of was a Monroe St. Brown. Yeah. Because I don't know that they had any returning targets

from last year at live receiver. I'm trying to, it would take me a very short period of time to pull that up. And yeah, I'll circle back. Yeah, well, you could make the argument, you could do an in-season vacated targets and look at a guy like Russell Gage, right? Right.

Well, I think even going into last year because they were their first year without julio and he had quite a few targets even though he he was getting 10 targets a game in the game he was playing in yeah um who else the most vacated targets for a wide receiver last year was the detroit lions by over 100 targets anything else else? Any number two? Well, like the Jacksonville Jaguars had a lot, but that didn't work out so well

because those guys didn't, they averaged like five yards per attempt. Hey, we got to talk about DJ Chark, actually. He's fairly significant. All right, let's do another listener hot take,

and then we'll get to the news and notes. The other stuff. Russell Wilson's this is from Adam, not from me. Russell Wilson's presence in Denver will limit Javante Williams' total target upside and cause him to be a bust in 2022. Javante Williams

will finish outside the top 15. I guess you're banking on Russell's track record of not necessarily throwing to his running backs right right so you got two things that play there you have one the quarterback and his track record and then you have the play caller and his track record with a different set of running backs giovante versus the seattle guys so you, you've brought this up time and again, Adam, how the Packers, which Nathaniel Hackett was there for a big part of this under Matt LaFleur,

the second leading target guy was Aaron Jones. So is that a system thing or is that an Aaron Rogers thing? And so we'll find out if Nathaniel Hackett's going to carry that over. When he was in Jacksonville, I think he threw to his running back, if I'm not mistaken, to Fournette during the season or two that they were together. I would think that Javante Williams, assuming that there's nobody of significance and there's at least one report that Melvin Gordon is not returning to Denver, if that's the case and we're talking about Mike Boone or a day two rookie

or day three rookie or another retread veteran guy, I think Javante Williams is in a good spot. It's hard to overlook the potential of that offense and what his role should be in that offense. One other thing to keep in mind, and we'll see if this is an NFL trend or not, but there were three running backs who finished top five last year. Let me just make sure I'm on the right scoring. I want to say three running backs that finished top five, yes, with 42 or fewer catches. It was Jonathan Taylor was number one, Joe Mixon, James Conner. They had 37 to 42 catches.

And that is – And per game, Henry would have been there too, right? Yeah, but he actually – I don't know what his pace was for catches. He had quite a few at the beginning of the year anyway. But it was almost like, I mean, I brought this up all the time. It was almost impossible to finish as a top five PPR or any format. Top five running back with fewer than 50 catches in a 16-game season. We had three guys have 42 or fewer catches in a 17-game season

and finish top five. So maybe it's not as important as it once was. I know McCaffrey and Barkley have been hurt, game season and finish top five. So maybe it's not as important as it once was. Heath, you know, I know McCaffrey and Barkley have been hurt, but also maybe it's just a trend. I know you've pointed out teams are throwing fewer times to their running backs now. Yeah, but I mean, I think there is some risk that he could be a bust and be a top 15 running back because like I saw a lot of stuff yesterday saying, well, if it'sante williams and mike boone then i want giovante williams over naji harris now because trubisky is the quarterback and so if if giovante starts being drafted as a top five pick or the top five

running back and finishes as a low end number one you're not gonna be very happy with that anyway but i don't think that like this guy's bold prediction that he's going to finish outside the top 15 running backs unless melvin goes out into the world and finds out he can't get the money that he wants. And that whole tweet was the Broncos saying, we're not going to pay him the money he wants. And he goes back for a cheap contract. I think Javante Williams is probably going to be a top 15 running back. Also keep in mind how many top 15 running backs is Russell Wilson had. He's had a bunch. Chris Carson is always around there, and Marshawn Lynch was top five. Top 15, he should be top

15, but let me follow up with this. Is it really so crazy to take Javante Williams over Najee Harris if Javante Williams has really no significant competition in his backfield? It's not crazy. They're not going to be far apart for me if there's nobody else there

and i think it's easy to do i mean he's going to be on you figure a much better offense i think it's easy to justify i think it's easy to adjust it's a better quarter i mean look trubisky may be great but he's not better than russ um and offensive line probably favors denver yeah team favors denver situation who knows you know probably a wash because denver's gonna be a offensive line probably favors Denver. Team favors Denver. Situation, who knows? Probably a wash because Denver's going to be in a lot of tough games, but I don't think that's a bad thing for Javante. You just have one guy did it over the course of the season in pretty miserable conditions.

Bad offensive line, mediocre quarterback, just the only thing that you could say that was good for Najee, which not necessarily changes Trubisky, because at least we saw it with Trubisky. He throws to his backs. He may not throw it to the same level out of need like Brodbisberger did, because he's just not mobile, but

I don't think they're far off if it's Javante by himself. Okay. In the chat here on YouTube, we have some misspellings of jamie's name good and derrick richard who's always in the chat said prediction for this season 12,543 people people will spell jamie incorrectly when referencing jamie and i noticed jamie sent an email to colleagues a couple of weeks ago asking if we could do a draft, the rookie-only draft, and someone

responded to Jamie's email, someone who has worked with Jamie for years and years and years. No, no, no. That was on purpose, though. That was because Nando used to call me Jemay. Oh, yeah, sure. Or it could have been Jaime. Okay, because he spelled Jamie's name

wrong? That is wild. All right, we're going to take a break here. When we come back, we will talk about DJ Chark. It will be bad because that's like he spelled jb's name wrong that is wild but all right we're gonna take a break here when we come back we will talk about dj it will be bad because that that person you're referencing does put together my stories for me so if you spelled my name wrong maybe on the bad stories he just spells pretend it's a different person that'd be good i would welcome that yeah all right we'll take a break when we come back we'll go through all the notes here. DJ Chark, Zay Jones, Evan Ingram, CJ Uzama, Andrew Whitworth, et cetera. Or Dan Arnold. Sorry, Heath. All right. We'll be right back on Fantasy Football today. What does possible sound like for your business? It's having the spend to powers your scale with no preset spending limit. More cash on hand to grow your business with up to 55 interest

free days and the ability to reach further with access to over 1400 airport lounges worldwide redefine possible with business platinum that's the powerful backing of american express terms and conditions apply visit amex.ca slash business platinum. It looks like the AFC South, very interested. Panthers, Saints, and Falcons, very interested in the NFC South. The Saints reportedly today are in the positive with their cap space. What is the point of staying under the cap? You know, it's so easy to manipulate. It's so easy to get under the cap. I feel like every year the Saints and the Cowboys are in cap hell,

and nothing ever comes of it. Well, we've seen the Cowboys have lost a couple of really good players this year. The Saints have had to cut a lot of guys over the last two years.

The Cowboys, in particular, they had to move on from Cooper to keep DeMarcus Lawrence. And so that was a priority for them. But they lost Randy Gregory

in the process. Yeah, but they obviously had enough money for him because they thought they were signing him. Yeah, but I mean, they were trying to maneuver things around. They had to cut Greg Zerline. That's a big loss. Yeah, well, look, obviously you can't keep everyone, but these teams seem to do just fine

being in cap hell all the time. Anywho, the Jets re-sign Tevin coleman we'll go to our running back news start with the big yeah yeah what do you guys think about that uh buffalo signs jd mckissick to a two-year seven million dollar deal very interesting sign and uh yeah actually we have some pass catching running backs in the news here so jd mckissick to the Bills. Boston Scott did not get tendered by the Eagles. And the Patriots bring back James White on a two-year, $5 million deal. He missed most of the season with a hip injury.

But he had 12 catches in two games. So, alright. Jamie, what do you think is the most interesting here? McKissick to the Bills. Scott, Boston Scott not getting tendered. And the Patriots re-signing James White.'re all interesting because they all have you know domino effects uh for the either the respective backfields that they're part of or the ones that they

are leaving um McKissick's the one I think that you know is is the one that needs the most probably discussion just because Singletary was coming off this amazing stretch run. And can he still be on the field as much if there's now a significant upgrade as a pass catching running back? Cause I don't think Matt burrito was this obviously Zach Moss is not this. And so, you know, Singletary was somebody that, you know, I, I know we've, we've had conversations, breakout candidate, um, you know, somebody that should be drafted in the first three rounds. I don't know if that should still be the case anymore. He's still the best running back in Buffalo, but his upside feels a little bit cap

right now because of maybe a loss in the passing game. And it could hurt the receivers there in Buffalo as well, because McKissick again again brings a different dimension that they've never had with Josh Allen Heath yeah it's um it's 100 McKissick was the most interesting of those to me just because of what Gibson could be that that offense has been one of the most running back centric offenses um kind of like an Anthony Lynn type deal where they're just there's a lot of touches for backs and if it's Gibson and Patterson, then I think I'm probably going to be really, really high on Gibson and probably a borderline first round pick. Um,

Singletary and McKissick are now both flexes for me in Buffalo. And if they doesn't really kind of takes away any appeal, if they were to draft somebody to replace Singletary as well. So what about James White? Like I said, six catches in each of the two games that he played. A lesser version of McKissick. Like,

I don't know if he can stay healthy at this point in his career. And it does. I took a little bit away from Harris and Stevenson in the passing game, just a tiny bit, because if white does stay healthy, I think they're more likely to bring him onto the field to do things than they would have been with Brandon Bolden. Okay. And what about this Boston Scott news, Jamie? What do you think it means for Miles Sanders, if anything?

I hope it means great things for him and Gainwell. Jordan Howard's a free agent, so we'll see what happens there. But if they go into the season with those two guys at the top of their depth chart and not anybody that has been there before in the case of Howard or Scott, and the reports coming out of Philadelphia, this does not mean that Scott is gone. It just means that they just didn't tender him. But it would be surprising, I guess, at this point if he did come back. But whatever they do to fill out their backfield is going to be telling

because clearly Sanders has had a hard time staying healthy the last two seasons for the course of the season and is Gainwell ready to step into that secondary role. So should be excited about both these guys as it stands right now. So it's a good situation for them, barring whatever else they do, you know, fill out their backfield. To call him a pass-catching running back, Boston Scott might be a bit of a reach.

He has 62 catches in 45 games in his career so yeah and like really if if boston scott was a threat to mile sanders then somebody on the roster is probably going to be a threat to mile sanders right oh poor mile sanders free mile sanders i say yeah wide wide receivers uh detroit signed dj charke to a one-year 10 Sanders, I say. Yeah. Wide receivers. Detroit signed DJ Charks to a one-year $10 million deal. He broke his ankle in week four, missed most of the season. Zay Jones gets three years, $24 million. And again, it's not all guaranteed or anything.

The numbers are always higher than what the contracts end up being. Not always, but often. The Bucs signed Russell Gage. Dolphins signed Cedric Wilson. Green Bay, looks like they're going to keep Alan Lazard. That's pretty much it. I mean, I talked about McKenzie earlier, but since we last spoke, that's what I got.

What do you think about Chark on the Lions? Is this a downgrade for Hawkinson? Is this a downgrade now for Amonra St. Brown? Heath, your reaction? I dinged Amonra St. Brown? Heath, your reaction? I dinged Amonra St. Brown just a tiny bit. I'm not even sure if I should have. I saw an interesting question. Like, if you stack up ARSB

and Hawkinson and Chark and Swift, how do those four rank in targets next year? And I don't know that we know, but I wouldn't probably put Chark first or second. He's just really never been a big target guy. He did have 118 in 15 games in 2019.

But I think that if he's able to get all the way back to what he was, then he will help Jared Goff maybe open things up short a little bit for Hawkinson and Amonra St. Brown. But I don't think he's going to take a bunch of targets away from St. Brown. Jamie, your thoughts on the Lions passing game? I generally agree with Heath. I think when you talk about St. Brown,

it's not just Chark, it's Hawkinson back, and it's Swift back, and it's putting the whole puzzle together, and if Anton Randall-Elb, the receivers coach there, has his way and they get another guy, which is certainly possible in the draft, then you're looking at a better receiving corner, better team, but not necessarily helping, you know, the guy who helped a lot of DJ Char who's clearly an upgrade. They also brought back Khalif Raymond as well today. So for what that's worth, he'll be more of a special teams guy,

but stepped up and filled the role. I think it was a career-high 48 catches if I saw. So you're starting to see what this Lions team is looking like. It's a great signing because you get a guy coming off an injury that still has plenty of upside. He doesn't necessarily do his best things, don't necessarily fit with what Jared Goff's best things are, which is not necessarily throwing the ball down the field. He's kind of trending in the wrong direction when it comes to that.

But I think you look at just the overall picture here for Detroit, it's a downgrade for St. Brown to whatever degree. And he plays almost exclusively out wide, DJ Chark. So he's not one of those guys that moves around a lot. And the middle of the field is kind of Goff's thing. But, you know, the Lions offense, actually, that last six-game stretch where Amandra St. Brown went nuts and was a top three wide receiver, overall top five per game.

The Lions offense really wasn't that bad. If you look at their points per game, it's pretty solid, actually. Points per game in those last six games, it would have been good enough to be 16th for a full season. So they were an average offense, and they had a few games with around 30 points. And Jared Goff played four of those games, and he was on pace for a pretty good—he was good.

They were good down the stretch. I don't know if they can carry that over. They didn't have Hawkinson for five of those games and he was on pace for a pretty good, he was good. They were good down the stretch. I don't know if they can carry that over. They didn't have Hawkinson for five of those six games. They didn't have Swift, I think for four of those six games, yet they still were putting up points and they were doing it with Tim Boyle a couple of games too. Does anybody think this is a sleeper offense? By definition, yes. It's a good offensive line.

It's, you know, very good running back, obviously, that can do a variety of things. Top 10 tight end, you know, not just fantasy, but obviously reality, you know, if things come together for him. I think it's just a matter of the perception of golf is obviously not the best. And he has to do that more than just a six game stretch. He has to do it over, you know, 17 games. And I don't remember all their opponents, but schedule's going to matter. So Packers' defense might be a little bit worse because of some of the guys that they lost.

Vikings are going through a transition with a new coach. Bears' new coach. So division might be a little bit easier defensively if you want to look at it that way. So I think it is a sleeper offense. I think there's certainly a lot of pieces that we like, fantasy-wise. But when you start to

compare them to the top tier offenses in the league more more times than not the other team you're stacking them up against is going to be the one you choose it's funny because like a sleeper offense in the sense that they could be better than everybody thinks they're going to be yeah but swift's probably going to be a second round pick and hawkinson's going to be a top six tight in drafted and everybody's kind of excited about what St. Brown's going to do I guess Chark might be a sleeper on the offense it'd be a sleeper offense without any sleepers I mean it is interesting if if Brown if Swift Brown or St. Brown pardon me and Hawkinson are all picked in the first six rounds. Is that fair? That seems fair-ish. Yep.

If they have a bad year offensively, that's not going to go well. You know, to have three players that are all top 70 overall in fantasy, you can't have a terrible offense and have that. Right. Right? I just brought Kalief Raymond back as well.

Josh Reynolds is signed to a two-year deal, so they've got all kinds of weapons. Yeah, yeah. Okay, so tight ends. All right, so the Jaguars signed Evan Ingram to a one-year $9 million deal. Then you got the Colts re-signing Mo'Ally Cox, the Seahawks bringing back Will Disley,

three years, $24 million. I think same contract numbers for C. for CJ Uzama on the Jets. Uzama finished strong last year. Is Ingram the most interesting one here, Heath? Yeah. It'll be interesting to see if he can separate. I mean, the Dan Arnold jokes I will take for at least a couple of weeks. But if he separates, because they kind of had a two tight end system

generally in Philadelphia, I think both those guys will probably play. And over the past couple of years, at least on a per target basis, Ingram's been the worst tight end system generally in Philadelphia. I think both those guys will probably play. And over the past couple of years, at least on a per target basis, Ingram has been the worst tight end in football. So how much does he improve? I, I had, I have him as a high end number two tight end,

I think 16 to 18 and Arnold's around 24 now. But if one of those guys could earn a hundred and 110 targets, they could be really good. How about Najoku Howard and Ingram? All the first round picks that year didn't really work out. And two of them are getting $10 million this year. Yeah. Maybe Howard will too.

You never know. I guess I'm getting nine. Um, yeah. What do I, what am I supposed to make of the Jaguars' offense right now? Because, you know, I hate it. I really, if I were a Jaguars fan, I would not be happy. Why do you hate it? They've got, to me, one player I'm excited about.

Now, it's the most important position, maybe ETN. But I hate it. I just hate what they've done. But why do you hate what they've done? I think they did what the Patriots did last year. They spent too much money on players that don't deserve it. Well, part of that for Jacksonville. The Patriots, I think, overspent really on two guys, right?

Kendrick Bourne, Nelson Aguilar, Hunter Henry, Johnnie Smith. I mean, you could argue they overspent on all of them. Who was the first one you said? Kendrick Bourne, Nelson Aguilar, Hunter Henry, Johnnie Smith. I mean, you could argue they overspent on all of them. Who was the first one you said? Kendrick Bourne. Oh, Bourne and Aguilar. Yeah. Um,

part of the reason for the Jaguars spending some stuff that I read yesterday is they have to, because nobody wants to go there. And so, you know, it's, it's kind of like, Hey,

come mom. I don't know. You're Jacksonville. Okay. We'll give you $10 million more than you're expecting. Okay, I'm here. Because the Kirk deal, it really, when you break it down, it's like a two-year $37 million deal, I think, $38 million deal. So that's what, $19 million a year?

My math's right. People are expecting to get $15 a, you know, in most places. So there's the slight overpay. The defensive guys, the slight overpay. But, I mean, they got one of the premier offensive linemen available in Scherf. They got a guy in Kirk. Yes, we can all crap on his numbers. But around the league, he has a good reputation coming from the team that he's coming from. He has a good, you know, standing, you know, that people thought he was a better player, not necessarily performer, but better player in terms of how he carried himself than DeAndre

Hopkins, if you hear some of the things coming at Arizona. And you have to put weapons around your young quarterback. I mean, you know, that's kind of been the formula for how these guys have improved. And so obviously it's not a Stefan Diggs going to Buffalo, a Hopkins going to Arizona, you know, you know, Kenny Galladay, if you want to put him in that category, you know, the Giants, what they try to do is probably

closer to that, but you got to overpay. So they're overpaying, you know, to get some of these guys. The Zay Jones deal makes no sense to me. I agree with you on that. Yeah, yeah. Well, I think if you look at the Patriots last year, it made them better. It made them better, right? Look, maybe they overpaid for those guys, but it helped.

And this will help Jacksonville. I'm not any more excited about Trevor Lawrence than I was from a fantasy standpoint. Well, you should be somewhat more excited. Okay, I'm sorry. Yes, it's better now. It's not in a significant way. And maybe there's nothing they could do about that.

It's not like they're in control. If you go back to a year ago and, you know, post-draft, when we're talking about Marvin Jones, DJ Chark, and LaVisca Chenault, now you're saying it's Christian Kirk, Marvin Jones, and Zay Jones, you know, because there's some talk about Chenault getting shipped out the door. Evan Ingram versus what they had at tight end. So, you know, you want to get to the trade part of it, you know, so is Dan Arnold. I mean, it's all basically a wash, but I think it's, you factor in Doug Peterson over urban Meyer. That's a win. You know, you factor in the

sheriff signing over what they had last year in Cam Robinson staying. I think that's a win. Yeah. So, so Peterson is a win over urban Meyer, but do you think he's a win overall? Because it certainly seemed like teams figured him out, and they got worse offensively every single year in Philadelphia. Yeah, but is that him, or is that the Wentz-Foles combination? I don't know. I mean, it was the same quarterback, right? It was Wentz

for most of it when he was healthy, and they just kept getting worse and worse offensively, and he lost his job. But there was also some things in the building that I think factored into it. Yeah, but if you're going to run your offense through your tight ends,

I just think that's such a limited upside for the offense. And it also might be like, I thought they were the team that should go send a fifth-round pick to the Cowboys and get Amari Cooper because you knew you were going to have to overpay for a free agent would you rather have Amari Cooper or Christian Kirk on a fifth round pick 100% Cooper it you know I I think most people would take Cooper now but you're also

looking you know there's a four-year age difference there right and so you know how much does that factor in um so yeah I think you know if you're looking to develop Trevor Lawrence you want to give him the best weapons possible and if you're going to overpay I think, you know, if you're looking to develop Trevor Lawrence, you want to give him the best weapons possible, and if you're going to overpay, overpay for better players at this point. But, you know, we had this Kirk conversation yesterday. I don't know if he's going to be a great fantasy receiver, but we've also never

seen him in this role before completely. You know, the dedication to him is as the number one guy. You know, can he fulfill it? We'll probably all say no. You know, don't expect him to be a true number one guy. Can he fulfill it? We'll probably all say no. Don't expect him to be a true number one guy, an alpha receiver. I mean, he doesn't profile like that, at least based on what we've seen. But who knows?

I mean, there may be that opportunity for him. And so I think you just kind of take it that it's seemingly better. Probably the perception of what you said, Adam, is correct, is that it's frustrating to be a Jaguars fan right now. But at least, you know, they're doing what they have to do because of the state of their franchise. You know, they have to overpay. They have to try and reach for some guys,

and they have to kind of hope that it hits. I mean, think about their drafts and how their draft picks have failed. They're just releasing Miles Jack, or they're expected to release Miles Jack. You know, Fournette didn't stay. It didn't work out. Jalen Ramsey didn't want to stay. They get these guys. Blake Bortles was a whiff. They just continue to make mistake

after mistake after mistake. Maybe it's Shad Khan. Maybe it was David Caldwell. Maybe it's now Trambalky, who's got a horrible reputation around the league. At some point, they've got to start to find the right thing to make it work. Who knows if what they're doing this time around is the right thing. I guess I can't totally blame them.

I mean, look, you have all this money to spend and not the best free agent crop, right? It's just face facts. It's like some years in the NBA draft where you've got these elite players at the top and you can get Durant. And then other years you're getting the guy that Michael Jordan drafted. What was his name? The guy that Jordan drafted? Yeah, to the Wizards.

Oh, Kwame Brown? Kwame Brown, right. You know, so it's just bad luck, I guess, for the Jaguars that they weren't able to go out and get that franchise-authoring player. But yeah, I don't know. Some curious things. And they might in the draft. They're probably going to go on the line. They're probably either going to

take Hutchinson or Tapp. Yeah, unless they trade down. They're not drafting a receiver, I think, at one. No. When was the last time the number... I have no idea, by the way. The last time the number one overall pick was

a senior, not an underclassman. Because that's what Hutchinson is. And that's unusual, I think. I don't know. I'd like to look into this. Baker was a junior? I think so.

I don't know what this transfer status, what that meant. Yeah, I think he was a junior? I think so. I don't know what this transfer status, what that meant. Yeah, I think he was a junior. Yeah, it's unusual. Oh, Burrow. No, Burrow. Burrow, right? Burrow, I think, had another year of eligibility. He was like his sixth year in college.

That's true, because he wasn't a good prospect. He wasn't a good prospect. He might have been. I think he was a fourth-year junior. But check on that i'm looking right now he was a um fifth year senior okay all right well that's a good prospect he would have gone soon the 2020 draft was the last time that a senior was the first-round pick. I'd like to know. I think it's pretty unusual, though. I think it's pretty unusual for a senior to be the number one pick.

Okay, not that unusual. I know it's happened once in the last two drafts. Damn it. Now I'm going to look into this. Okay, Andrew Whitworth, give me some offensive line reactions. If there's anything anything that really jumps out at you i'm not going to go through all the notes um i like the dolphins getting connor williams i think that's important help their situation um i mean most of the ones we talked about yesterday i think were more impactful um steelers got a little better.

Andrew Whitworth retiring from the Rams, starting left tackle. Right, but they bring back Brian Allen, and we talked about this, I think, yesterday, that note-a-boom and play left tackle. Yeah, I don't know if I have time to look into all these NFL drafts. Okay, so... All right, let's go to defense. Look into all these NFL drafts. Okay. So, damn it. All right, let's go to defense.

Anything on defense jump out at you guys? Ah! By the way, the Giants signed two starters on their offensive line. That should help. Bills too, right? The Bills, well, the Bills, yes. They did stuff. Or did they just keep guys? I know they kept Mitch Morse.

They kept Mitch Morse. They lost Jonathan Feliciano, but he was a backup. They lost Darrell Williams. They lost Darrell Williams. Yeah, I think they've probably downgraded a little bit on the line, but probably not significantly. So Kyler Murray wasn't a senior, but he was a fourth-year junior, so basically a senior. No.

No. He was a fourth-year junior. So basically a senior. No. No. That's no. He was a junior. Okay. I can – Why does that matter? This is all I'm doing now for the rest of the show.

It matters. Years of experience, it matters. Baker may – okay. So let's end the show. I think we should end the show unless you guys have anything else to... Well, I mean, we're probably going to be doing this again in like an hour once there's some significant news. That's what I said yesterday.

Sean Watson coming around the... Baker Mayfield was... Who's left? Baker Mayfield was a senior, by the way. So that's two of the last four drafts. I thought Baker was left. So rare. They're quarterbacks, though. I thought they could. So rare. They're quarterbacks, though.

I mean, a senior defensive end? That's got to be rare. So rare. I can't wait to talk to Emory Hunt about this. Let's do destinations for the guys who are left. Okay, you do it. I'm doing this draft thing. All right, so Heath, where do you want Deshaun Watson?

I mean, do I have to choose between Carolina and the Saints? Because it seems like it's one of those. If I could choose anywhere that doesn't have a quarterback right now, I would choose Seattle. But it seems like Seattle's been ruled out. So I will say... You got Atlanta, Carolina, and... Carolina will be my choice.

Carolina will be your choice? That's why I said yes, right, too. The running backs are left. So we have Fournette. We have Gordon. We have... Those are the two big ones, right? I'd like to see Melvin and Tampa Bay.

Huh? I'd like to see Melvin and Tampa Bay. Not Fournette going back? I thought that they'd kind of... Kind of like the Melvin going back to Denver thing. They'd kind of decided that wasn't going to be a thing. I think the Fournette news came, though, before Brady decided to play again.

So I wonder if they run it back. If Fournette goes back to Tampa Bay, where are you drafting? Round two? Round three? Fournette or James Conner? What do you like better? Probably we'll have Conner just ahead of Fournette. Assuming they haven't added anybody besides Eno Benjamin.

Where did you put Connor? Connor, I have 12th at running back right now. Yeah, I have him 13th. Dave, I think, was the little guy, 17th. Yeah, I'd probably have Fournette somewhere between 12 and 15. There's a lot of guys in that range. Yeah. Okay.

Allen Robinson, where do you want to go? Atlanta for sure. You'll get him 150 targets for Matt Ryan. Matt Ryan goes to Houston. What do you think of Brandon Cooks? Matt Ryan goes to Houston. Brandon Cooks is a high-end number two wide receiver, which is where I have him now.

I'm not sure it would matter as much to me, the difference between him and Mills. Really? I feel like it should. He's better for them. He said he doesn't really... Of course I think he's better than Davis Mills for Brandon Cooks. Is that a hot take?

I didn't think that'd be a hot take. Well, I mean, Matt Ryan's allergic to throwing his number one guy touchdowns. Yeah. Was Davis Mills a senior? That's what I want to know. Almost certainly. No? By the way,

I think it is pretty rare. Baker Mayfield was a senior. Then I had to go back to 2013 to Eric Fisher. That was the last time a senior. Davis Mills was a senior. Another lineman. What's that? Another lineman.

Davis Mills. Yeah. Yeah, but before that, you had like Jadavion Clowney wasn't. It's been mostly quarterbacks, to be quite honest with you. But I stand by what I said it's rare medium rare okay

thank you guys fun show we have another one tomorrow there's a lot of names out there we're waiting for Watson Garoppolo could be moved I think I saw something that Garoppolo may not get traded till the summer

yeah i did see that too i also saw that he they might just stick with him so there's been a ton of reports about jimmy garoppolo also that's probably just driving the price remember when tom we had tom brady's going to san francisco you know so i don't pay attention too much to reports right now. No. What? What? Oh. So who's better? Daniel Jones or Mitchell Trubisky now that we have destinations?

What's the bet between the two? What's the – is it fantasy points? No. My thing was if Trubisky went to the Giants, he would win the job. No. Now they're both starters. They can go head-to-head. Who will be better in what regard? Who's a better fantasy quarterback for the 2022 season?

I think I have Jones higher in fantasy. I'm sure Trubisky will win more games. He's always been a better real-life quarterback. I'd take Trubisky. I would take Trubisky over Jones, I think. Yeah. The more I thought about it, he really might be better than Jones.

Jones is so bad. Well, thanks for watching and listening, everybody. We will talk to you tomorrow on Fantasy Football Today. It is time to end the show and this fun. See you later.