Fantasy Football Today - Free Agency Hot Takes and Calvin Ridley Reaction (03/14 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: March 14, 2024

Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and wherever else you listen to podcasts We react to the Titans signing Calvin Ridley and debate which Titans wide receiver is the better Fantasy option (2:15). Also, how good can Christian Kirk be? He was pretty darn good in 2022 without Ridley. Has Evan Engram moved ahead of Dalton Kincaid (14:30)? ... More Titans talk including what this means for Will Levis (18:15) and the backfield and we go through the news and notes (21:30) and talk about the Ravens passing game ... We've got your Free Agency Hot Takes! Is Tony Pollard washed up (27:45)? How high should Khalil Shakir be ranked? Are the Bears running backs all losers (33:15)? Will the Patriots score a TD? Plus takes on Sam Darnold (37:50), Saquon Barkley (40:15), Joe Mixon, Terry McLaurin and more ... Your emails at [e-mail] SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection 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

Kick off an exciting football season with BetMGM, an official sportsbook partner of the National Football League. Yard after yard, down after down, the sportsbook born in Vegas gives you the chance to take action to the end zone and celebrate every highlight reel play. And as an official sportsbook partner of the NFL, BetMGM is the best place to fuel your football fandom on every game day. With a variety of exciting features, BetMGM offers you plenty of seamless ways to jump straight onto the gridiron and to embrace peak sports action. Ready for another season of gridiron glory? What are you waiting for?

Get off the bench, into the huddle, and head for the end zone all season long. Visit BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older. Ontario only. Please gamble responsibly. Gambling problem? For free assistance, call the Connex Ontario helpline at 1-866-531-2600.

BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Miller Lite. The light beer brewed for people who love the taste of beer and the perfect pairing for your game time. When Miller Lite set out to brew a light beer, they had to choose great taste or 90 calories per can. They chose both because they knew the best part of beer is the beer.

Your game time tastes like miller time learn more at millerlight.ca must be legal drinking age this is fantasy football today from cbs sports it's time to dominate your fantasy league CBS Sports. What a play! Can you believe this? No, I can't. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. This is going to go the distance. Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Well, hello, everybody.

Calvin Ridley is going to the Titans, where he will be next to a wide receiver. He had almost the same exact statistics as last season. Hopkins and Ridley, they were very, very close. Talk about that a little bit. We'll see who Dave and Jamie like more. We have another Dynasty episode on Friday, so check that out with Heath at youtube.com slash fantasyfootballtoday or just download Fantasy Football Today Dynasty or subscribe to it,

whatever the terminology is these days. I'll tell you why I'm not doing so well right now, guys. You guys good? How are you doing? Wonderful. Okay. Dave, you're good? Is it because you're having that surgery that we talked about before the show? No. This is true. We started at 10 a.m. or Mike checked at 10 a.m. At about 9.58, I was staring at my phone in the kitchen. And I made my way to my office and didn't see that one of the cabinet doors was open. And I smashed my head right into an open cabinet door.

Oh, no. It was probably really funny to look at. I wish there was video of it. Is there a bruise? I'm looking at your forehead. Not yet. It just happened. No ring cameras? No nest? No nothing? No.

It was embarrassing. No baby monitors in the house though? Allie saw. My wife saw. She... All right. Go get her. We need some commentary right now. I can't believe I did that. We've all done it. We've all accidentally.. I'm such a headache.

We've all accidentally. All right, let's rank some receivers. We've all banged our heads into a cabinet or walked into a closed glass door. Let's rank some receivers here. Hopkins, Ridley, Christian Kirk, Gabe Davis, Zay Jones. Kirk, Hopkins, Ridley, Davis, Jones. uh kirk hopkins ridley davis jones i'm i think i'm going to feel the same way but i might flip

flop ridley and hopkins yeah i'm really haven't settled on ridley yet i'm very torn on those two yeah kirk won though kirk one yes. Kirk is the safest as of now. Mm-hmm. Okay. And Ridley and Hopkins close to each other. Figure they'll be in that round six range. Well, not Hopkins. Ridley might be.

Hopkins is going to be seven. So today we have some of your tweets, or we're calling them Twix now. Thank you, Dave. Twitter plus X. Some Twix comments, but just some free agency thoughts. Winners, losers from the people, from the listeners and viewers here. And you can leave your comments on YouTube if you're watching right now as well.

Watching live, youtube.com slash fantasyfootball today. If you're not watching live, you can always watch these shows. Archive, you can see if I'm getting a bruise on my forehead. Yeah, so we're going to give some hot takes from the audience. I'll give one right now. I can't find any statistical evidence based on last year alone that Calvin Ridley is better than DeAndre Hopkins. Everything points me in the other direction. I saw something. Let me see if I can find it.

You guys could talk. I'll something. Let me see if I can find it. You guys could talk off. Oh, look. Yeah. So they had almost the exact same. I haven't even gone down that path yet. I'm still trying to figure out how Ridley will be used in the offense. And I think I've got that down. And then I got to figure out like whether or not will Levis can make it happen.

And at that point, will I consider Hopkins versus Ridley? So I saw this from a Toronto Davenport who covers the Titans for ESPN and he tweeted Twixted, um, Brian Callahan wanted wide receivers that make plays on the outside. That's exactly what they got in Ridley Ridley, 768 receiving yards on the perimeter ranked fifth in the NFL on passes thrown outside. So for a quarterback like Levis, who is going to challenge down the field really on passes thrown outside. So for a quarterback like Levis, who is going to challenge down the field, Ridley could be in a very good spot based on how he will perform.

So that could be something that maybe gives him a slight edge over Hopkins, who we know doesn't run the same anymore. Well, so here's where I was coming from with saying that I can't find any evidence that Ridley is better. All right. So as I mentioned, they had almost identical stats. They had the same amount of targets, 136. They had the same amount of catches, basically 76 for Ridley, 75 for Hopkins. Ridley had one more touchdown. Hopkins had 41 more yards. So almost identical there. Who had better quarterback play? I mean, obviously it was Ridley. Obviously, he had more competition as well, but he also ran 137 more routes. The Titans offense was absolutely terrible for receivers last year. They ran the second fewest routes in the NFL as a team. Only the 49ers ran fewer. So that was just a tough way. They're going to be different. They have been six years in a row, basically completely run heavy.

They have a new head coach and a new philosophy and a lot of weapon. I mean, it's kind of an exciting. Is it exciting? I mean, it's an interesting team. They've got a lot of players that we have hoped for, but we don't know how good they're going to be. And then there's one other thing, and that's these analytics that ESPN came up with measuring how open a guy gets. And they rank wide receivers based on how often they get open, what they do after the catch,

and then they have this catch rating, which I think is just not dropping the ball or making tough catches or whatever. And Hopkins, his open rating is, let's see, it's 82 out of 100, and Ridley's 59. And I guess there's this, you know, he, he basically the, the rap on Ridley is that he can't, he could not beat press coverage, press coverage. Yeah. We talked about that last year. Right. It was a, it was a huge problem. And so what do you,

what, what does a team have to do? I don't want to get like into the minutia on it, but like the two things you can do are be more creative with your receiver, which Jacksonville, I don't think did a lot of, and just simply line them up off the line of scrimmage by yard. So now he's got an extra yard to work with, to buy himself space with, uh, you know, his footwork or just running in general, where he's not crashing right into a defensive back. You better have a good offensive line for that. Immediately after the snap.

Who, Levis? Yeah. Yeah, it's a huge, everything but the receivers are huge here for the receivers because if the offensive line can't protect Levis, Levis is going to have to get the ball out quick. That's not going to help either receiver. And if Levis is inaccurate, even if that offensive line is okay, that's going to hurt the receivers.

You're absolutely right. It's so intriguing with what's going to happen in Tennessee. It's just going to be one of those teams where we're guessing until we start to get an idea of how this offense looks comes August. So if Kirk is number one out of this group,

we're just looking at Jacksonville and Tennessee receivers here. I'll remind you, back in 2022, before Calvin Ridley came, he was, I think, a top 12 wide receiver overall, something like 20th per game, Christian Kirk. Would you take, at this point, Terry McLaurin or any of these wide receivers we've discussed? Is that it, though?

Yes. All right, then. How about... I think I have McLaurin. I have McLaurin at 56. I think I have Kirk a little bit behind him. I am a little more optimistic about McLaurin getting a QB upgrade and playing in an offense that will air it out a little more.

What round for Kirk? Five. Late five. What round for Hopkins and Ridley? Dave said it. And a six, seven, depending on how many receivers you start in your league. I'm going to ask Twix here. Who do you like better, Calvin Ridley or DeAndre Hopkins?

See, I think I have to? I feel like I have to go Ridley because Hopkins is 32 now. I can give you a lot of examples of receivers who were good at 30, good at 31. 32 is harder to find. I want to say Hopkins, but 32

is getting old there. You guys both said Hopkins, right? Just barely? Yeah, I just think that the targets will favor Hopkins still. You know, it's... First off, they're both old. I don't like it.

29's not old. 29's not old. They're both old. They're 29. No, we cannot make every receiver old. 29 is not old. It's two 45-plus-year-old guys calling other people old. Yeah. For their profession, they're old. 29 is not old. It's two 45-plus year old guys calling other people old.

Yeah. For their profession, they're old. Fine, you don't want to say Ridley's old. I just don't think 29 is old. He'll be 30 during the football season. Then he's old. Okay. Moldy breath.

So, I just think that the routes he'll run will favor him a little bit more than what Ridley will do. And Dave, you like Ridley? I'm sorry, I thought you said Hopkins. I don't think they're quite back-to-back in my rankings, but they're very close to being back-to-back. They're separated by one Jordan Addison. And that could change too, based on Sam sam darnold and how we feel about him but i i think ridley probably has a little bit more speed and the the here's what i figured out so far i think if we're if we're going to make comparisons to what the titans offense will be

based on what cincinnati's offense was when callahan was there and callahan has been there since 2019 then ridley's there and this is going to sound silly, and I'm not saying that he's going to be as good, but Ridley will play in the Jamar Chase role, and DeAndre Hopkins will play in the T. Higgins role. It doesn't mean that he's going to get the same. I don't think Ridley's going to get 10 targets a game like Jamar Chase gets. I don't think Ridley is as good as Jamar Chase by any stretch,

but that's the type of role that he'll play in. And I want to give benefit of the doubt in two ways. One of the things that we already talked about, creativity and offense. I think the Titans are going to be creative. Number two, we talked about the offensive line. We're hoping that it's good. We've mentioned the, you know, Callahan's that are now in Tennessee. Bill Callahan is an offensive line genius. I think he can make that offensive line middle that are now in Tennessee, Bill Callahan is an offensive line genius. I think he can make that offensive line middle of the pack in Tennessee. And I think that'll help Levis to me. It's all going to come down to Levis. And I, right now I don't feel good

about Will Levis. I especially don't feel good about Will Levis supporting two 29 plus year old receivers that have some flaws. But if he, if he works hard this offseason and he comes to camp and he looks like a guy who should have been picked in round one, then hell yeah, he might be able to get there. And this offense could be a lot of fun to watch. It just feels like, you know, I said this a lot about when Kirk signed, the Jacksonville tax, like this Tennessee tax to get him there is such an overpay. Yeah. Four years, $92 million. Is that what it was?

Yes. And it just feels like there's going to be a lot of people chasing the money on this one. Yeah. You know, it's 50 million guaranteed. Go ahead. What do you mean by chasing that? They paid him. He's coming off a you mean by chasing that? They paid him. He's coming off a decent season. They obviously want to feature him. I just don't know if he's going to live up to the expectations that people are going to have for him. No.

Do you worry that he had a goal of getting paid, and now that he's gotten paid— Oh, he was going to get paid wherever he was going to go. This is— No, this is chasing a big bag, and he got it. Congratulations to him. He deserves everything that he's allowed to get paid wherever he was. This is, this is no, this, this is, this is chasing a big bag and he got it. Congratulations to him. He deserves everything he's allowed to get. Yeah. Um, but I'm hoping it's not like a Kenny Galladay situation.

I hope overpays cause they need, they need a, they needed a receiver and is the, is the bang worth the buck worth the buck. Um, and, and I love Ridley. He's from around where I live. I support where he grew up. And I agree. I'm glad he got paid. He deserves it.

But I hope that that doesn't make him rest on his laurels. No, I don't think that's about – that's not what I was getting at. It's more about that I think whenever you see these big contracts and openings and potential and we'll levis this and all those things that you're going to hear that he gets drafted too high for fantasy. It's not I think, you know, sometimes when you see these contracts and you see, you know, a guy coming off of a good season or having, you know, a good history. And in some cases he has both.

I, I, sometimes we see people overdraft those types of players. Yeah, absolutely. He's by the way, winning so far, the Twix poll by about two,

two thirds to one third, 64% to 36% with 118 votes in who do you like better? That's surprising. Ridley. And let me give you some more names real quick with those guys. Would you rather have a Titans wide receiver or Chris Godwin? Godwin. Starting to feel like Godwin's the right call.

It just feels like these two guys also are going to cannibalize each other a little bit. Now, to what Dave said, it's going to be a more creative offense. It's going to be different from what we've seen from Tennessee because not only this new coach, but obviously the guy in the backfield is gone. So they're trending toward a more up-tempo, hopefully, and more pass-heavy offense. And so how successful will the run game be? You know, if Tony Pollard, based on PFF ranking him the number one running back from Week 11 on last year, comes off of that saying he's finally healthy at that point in the season and plays like that type of guy. And then Tajay Spears plays like, you know, the, the player that

we saw can be somewhat explosive in a secondary role. Still, uh, they should have success running the ball. So how much will they put on Will Levis, you know, with relying on some older receivers, not necessarily old, but older. Um, but yeah, I mean, look, the, the strength of his team now, I think you got to say is in his receiving core,

you know, Traylon Burks is your third guy and he can ever materialize. That'll be fun. And Oconquo could still be a playmaker. That'll be fun, you know, so a lot of Fs, but you know,

it could turn out to be a very fun team. All right. I got to take a quick break here. Let me ask you one more thing real quick. And I want to get more thoughts, how you think this affects the running game? Because Titans are, are now perhaps the most

intriguing team from a fantasy standpoint and rank these two guys with Ridley off the Jaguars Evan Ingram, Dalton Kincaid they're back to back for me I still have Kincaid 5 but Ingram 6 I'm more excited to draft Ingram now

whereas before I was especially if ridley had re-signed and they had gabe davis replacing zay jones uh he would have been an absolute drop-off candidate now not so much so you have him ahead of pitts who's also obviously a winner this offseason uh yes okay yeah but that's how I have it ranked. I have a Kincaid five Ingram six pit seven last six games of the season without Christian Kirk. It wasn't without Ridley, but it was without Christian Kirk who barely played in week 13. Uh, Evan Ingram was on pace for 173 targets. He had 10 targets a game. He was on pace for 142 catches and 1,244 yards and 11 touchdowns. He was insane without. And only 19 drops.

All right, we got to take a break and get some more thoughts on the Titans, specifically Pollard and Spears and Levis. I don't want to know where you're ranking Will Levis at this point. I have an amazing Will Levis stat that might make you chuckle if I can read after the concussion I suffered 20 minutes ago. We'll be right back on fantasy football today. Mama, look at me.

I'm going really fast. I just got my license. Can I borrow the car please? Mom, kids go from zero to 18 in no time. You'll be relieved. They have 24 seven roadside assistance with intact insurance. Mom,

can you go to Nana's house tomorrow? I want to go to Jack's place today. I'll just take the car. Don't wait up. Okay. Kids go from I'll just take the car. Don't wait up, okay? Kids go from 0 to 18 in no time, don't they? At Intact Insurance, we insure your car so you can enjoy the ride. Visit Intact.ca or talk to your broker. Conditions apply.

I am so dreading groceries this week. Why? You can skip it. Oh, what? Just like that? Just like that. How about dinner with my third cousin? Skip it. Prince Fluffy's favorite treats? Skipp it. Oh, what? Just like that? Just like that. How about dinner with my third cousin? Skip it.

Prince Fluffy's favorite treats? Skippable. Midnight snacks? Skip. My neighbor's nightly saxophone practices? Uh, nope. You're on your own there. Could've skipped it. Should've skipped it. Skip to the good part and get groceries, meals, and more delivered right to your door on Skip.

Well, there's a way to get in the podcast league if you're so interested. Join our bracket challenge. The brackets are back. You can get in the madness today on the CBS Sports app. Run men's and women's pools with friends and enter our bracket challenges for the chance to win a new Nissan Rogue. That's even better than the podcast league. And trips to the 2025 Final Four.

Play today on the CBS Sports app or visit cbssports.com slash play to sign up. No purchase necessary. See terms and rules for details. As far as the Podcast League, we have a bracket challenge, a Fantasy Football Today bracket challenge, and I will start giving out the link to that. I think you can join even now. And if you were in last year, I think you might already be in. So out the link to that. I think you can join even now, and if you were in last year,

I think you might already be in, so I'll check on that, but yeah, we're going to have a big contest, and obviously next week, let me look at it right now so I can tell you if it still exists. Here it is, the Podcast Listeners League, and it's been updated,

and yes, there are 2,300 brackets in in here so far so if you were in it last year you are in it again this year but if you weren't in it last year i will help you out i'll send links to that i'll keep you updated next week on it okay um so will levis and the running backs jamie will levis it's So he led, you talked about him throwing downfield. He led all qualified quarterbacks with 10.5 air yards per pass attempt. Number two was CJ Stroud at nine yards. He blew him away. But this was even crazier. On passes to wide receivers, Will Levis averaged 16.5 air yards per attempt. That's insane.

That is the most since true media started tracking this in 2016. And there's only been one other quarterback in the last 11 years to average even 14 air yards per pass attempt to wide receivers. That was Josh Allen in his rookie season. Levis was at 16.5. He'll change. You know, Allen changed, obviously. But anyway, where do you think you're going to rank Will Levis now? He'll be right around 20.

You know, not a top 12 guy, but certainly somebody that has upside as a number two quarterback. If you love the number one quarterback that you have and don't think that they have many flaws, then this is the type of late round pick that you'll take to see if maybe can turn into something. And then you could hopefully trade that quarterback or in the God forbid situation, your starter gets hurt. Then you have somebody who you can plug in. So he's, he's definitely got sleeper appeal. Um, you know, now with the change in offense, change the coordinator,

um, upgraded receiving core, you know, taking away, you know, uh, uh core, taking away a run dominant, a ball dominant running back that needs to have all those carries. It should lead to hopefully a second year breakout season. However, if he struggles, do they turn to Mason Rudolph at some point and say, okay, you're just not cutting it. So you have a lot of, I think there's a high ceiling and a low floor. So hopefully Levis steps into the situation and just not cutting it. So you have a lot of – I think there's a high ceiling and a low floor. So hopefully Levis steps into the situation and takes advantage of it. The nice thing about it is that you're going to be able to draft Will Levis for value in those super flex two QB leagues. Is he a priority QB too?

I think he's right behind that tier. So he might be at the highest, the 16th quarterback off the board, but it's probably going to be right around the 20th quarterback off the board, but it's probably going to be right around the 20th quarterback off the board. And as for the air yards that you talked about, he attempted 26 passes last year, 30 plus air yards. That was ninth among all quarterbacks, but remember he only played nine games. He was tied for the league lead in pass attempts per game of 30 plus air yards with 2.9. I dare you to name the quarterback who is tied with. I don't think you can do it.

30 plus air yards per game per game. How many games? This quarterback played 12 games and was not great for fantasy. 12 games. Not great for Russell. Correct. He only played for fantasy. Russell Wilson. Correct! He only played 12 games, Russell Wilson?

Remember he got benched? I do remember he got benched, but yeah. He played 15 games. I'm seeing 12, but you're probably right. Yeah, he played more than 12 games. All right, what the hell do I know? How many games did he play? So does this Ridley signing change anything? We're really looking at our data set, and it says 12 games played.

Does this Ridley signing change anything for Pollard and Spears? No. Okay, great. News and notes. The Colts signed Joe Flacco to a one-year deal. That means Adam will be drafting Flacco in every league. The Titans signed Mason Rudolph. The Raiders released

Jimmy Garoppolo. He's also suspended for the first two games of the season for violating the PED policy. The Chargers released Mike Williams. The Raiders released Hunter Renfro. The Saints released Michael Thomas. Welcome to the Saints, Hunter Renfro. Think so?

Yeah. Welcome to the Broncos, Michael Thomas. Welcome to the Saints, Hunter Renfro. Think so? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Welcome to the Broncos, Michael Thomas? Maybe. Did he get along with Sean Payton? Not really at the end, no. Payton said he had the surgery.

Yeah. Let's see. Who was his quarterback at Ohio State? Never mind. It was probably Pryor and Haskins. Probably, yeah. So he'll be on a new team with a new quarterback, someone that he'll get used to.

All right, let's see. We got Jamison Crowder to the Commanders. Yeah. He won't go away. Baltimore releasing Odell Beckham. That's, you know, worth talking about Jamie.

Go ahead. Give me your thoughts on Baltimore releasing Beckham and what it means for the rest of the Ravens. Um, you know, more for flowers, more for Bateman who, you know,

which Harbaugh is it? John Harbaugh seems to, uh, love. Uh, I'd love to see a little bit more of some two tight end sets to see Isaiah likely getting some opportunities, but would not be surprised if they're in the market for a wide

receiver. We were way off on the quarterbacks that Michael Thomas caught passes from at Ohio State, by the way. Who was it? Traxton Miller and Cardale Jones. What a run they had. Maybe in recreational seven-on-seven leagues, he'll catch passes from those guys, but not in the NFL.

Arizona signed former Bengals offensive tackle Jonah Williams to a two-year $30 million deal with $19 million guaranteed. Hey, can we go back to the Ravens for a sec? We're going back to them right now because the Jets acquired Morgan Moses from the Ravens, and they signed former Ravens guard John Simpson. Those are two offensive linemen. The Ravens have two of their five offensive linemen from last year. Is that what you were going to talk about?

I wasn't going to talk about that. I was going to talk about, and maybe this is a topic for another time, what impact does Henry have on the passing game? And who's to say that he doesn't bring the same type of run heavy mentality to Baltimore that he had in Tennessee his whole career. Oh, they're always run heavy. I mean, that's a given, but that's obviously because of Lamar. Part of that is Lamar running too.

But what was my big theory about Zay Jones last year? Do you remember? Or Zay Flowers, I'm sorry. No. He would have his good games whenever the Ravens couldn't effectively run the ball. How many matches are they going to have this year where they're not going to be able

to run the ball effectively with Derrick Henry? Could be more than you think. You're still, again, relying on a 30-year-old running back to be successful. He had a bunch of work in a lot of Tennessee's games and that was surprising. Will the number be higher than six?

Six or more games where Baltimore just can't get going on the ground? Maybe that offensive line, maybe it comes down to that. I think it's a good topic, Dave, because, you know, Zay Flowers, we like him so much, but it's hard to be a great, great fantasy wide receiver, a top 12 wide receiver on a team that doesn't throw the ball a lot. I say this all the time. It's very rare.

Top 12 wide receiver overall on a team that's bottom five in pass attempts. It did happen last year with DJ Moore, and Brandon Ayuk was like right there. But those were exceptions. Usually maybe one a year on average. And he's got Mark Andrews to compete with him. His season took off after Andrews' injury and likely was good, but he wasn't as good or as targeted as Andrews was.

So it is certainly, I think, worth talking about. It seems to, I think, cap the ceiling for Zendaya. Well, when you say like Flowers a lot, what are you referring to? I think we all like him as a player. Oh, okay, yeah. Right? Yeah. Facts.

Yeah. But where do you – I moved him down in my rankings. Yeah, he loses value with Henry going there. Like, he's not a top 60 pick anymore. Oh. He will be in a three or three league. I'd be very surprised if he doesn't. Let's

see. I'm looking at some average draft position here on Fantasy Pros and he's 31st. Now, this is obviously not pre-free agency or including, but this can't be. It's ADP. I don't know what they're using, but I mean, it makes sense. It's T. H't know what they're using, but I mean,

it makes sense. He's it's T Higgins, Amari Cooper, Zay Flowers, then Roma Dunze, uh, Terry McLaurin, Jaden Reed,

like for, for flowers to be out of the top 60 when he was a fourth round pick in the top 48 in our drafts. I'm pretty sure. Right. That's a pretty big drop. Yep. I'm not as interested.

I'm worried about the target volume, not being high. And I'm worried about his touchdowns. He's going to be a big play dependent. And I hate to say it because I love that receiver, but I think Henry changes the dynamic there. Yeah, he does. But also I think Henry helps him too, because now you're going to see a lot more eight men in the box and Lamar kills that defense. Question. Does it hurt Mark Andrews? Yeah, but not to the point, I think, where you're changing value on him. He's still the fourth tight end. I talked about this a few weeks ago when we were doing a mock draft.

I still don't really understand drafting Zay Flowers over Mark Andrews. Not now. Nope. All right. Schaefer did it in that draft, if I recall. He was like, take that. Also, Schaefer said you can just go to CBSSports.com slash FFT to get

into our bracket challenge. That's pretty easy. I can remember that URL. CBSSports.com slash FFT. I cannot remember which Harbaugh is which. I was going to say we should have a Harbaugh jar. Oh, that's a tough thing to say, but I would lose that. I will not have that jar. All right. So with that all said, let's read some fantasy thoughts from Twitter or X or Twix. The hot takes from our

audience, from Rob Thomas. Is he in the house right now? He's our Facebook moderator. He's one of our biggest fans. He is not in the chat right now. But Rob says, Tajay Spears is still a big winner because they only brought in washed-up Pollard. Spears will still lead the backfield in touches and fantasy points. Ooh, hot take.

Your reaction, guys? Only if Pollard gets injured will that happen. What about the washed-up part? I don't think he's washed up. I think he closed the season playing very well. Again, if you believe in PFF's grades, they graded him number one running back from week 11, be number one running back from week 11 on.

He certainly performed much better as a fantasy option, four of six games over 15 PPR points over that stretch. So I guess we had, we should have taken the injury into a little higher account when, you know, pumping him up so much last off season. Cause clearly he was not the same guy. Although I dig it off to a great start last year with his fantasy production. But, um, I, I do think that he's still got something left up left to offer. The worst case scenario for Spears is that he's still in that third down role or passing

downs role that he was in last year. And he was still okay in that role, but now he'll be in his second season. He'll be used to the NFL a little bit, and it's going to be a more creative offense on top of that. So I think he could have a nice double digit PPR floor and we're drafting them a lot later than we were before free agency started. So he wins in terms of being a good value on draft day. And there is potential for him to play huge if Pollard can't play. But even when Pollard's on the field, he could be in a role where he's still going to get you decent numbers. And what could end up happening is Pollard, they could end up just splitting 50-50 where

Pollard gets a series, then Spears gets a series. We don't know what the Titans are going to do yet. What's the theme of today's show? We don't know what the hell is happening in Tennessee. Is it possible for a team, I'm trying to think of a team that has a good offense, but no really must-start fantasy options? Because you could see that with the Titans,

where they aggregate, they have a good offense they put up points but nobody does it consistently the backfield is split right like it'd be like a worse version of the 49ers but yeah let's take let's kind of take McCaffrey out of the equation because he you know I would take a worse version of the 49ers right but but McCaffrey no but not at running back because we're saying they could split 50-50 or 60-40 or something. That doesn't happen. But if you had a worse version of Kittle, Iyuk, and Debo, that would be very frustrating. Even at their best, they're frustrating.

They have a lot of really bad games. It's funny you say that because who's the GM of the Titans and where did he used to work? Right. Who's the head coach of the Titans and whose coaching tree is he under ultimately so there could be a lot to it and that's my fear that the nfl is going to turn into this where every team is going to be like the titans potentially no not enough players aggregate

across the board by the way hey tennessee congratulations you're only the worst version of the 49ers you know what don't don't take it so literally okay I'm making a good point here that you get a lot of really bad games from Iuke and and Debo I really low yardage games Kittle we know is extremely frustrating but they were the best offense in football arguably the most efficient like Brock Purdy led in yards per attempt Will Levis isn't going to do that. You don't want that, Tennessee. Not you. I was making the comparison.

I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Okay. Okay. Next hot take is from Jovan. Ridley and Hopkins will score more fantasy points in 2024 than Kirk, Gabe Davis, and Zay Jones combined.

Wow. What a hot take. We had, I think it was Zay Jones combined. Wow, what a hot take. We had, I think it was, if I remember reading correctly, of the five or six people who did bold predictions for our magazine, I think half of them, if not more, did a Calvin Ridley or Jacksonville wide receiver related. They will do this. I'm not falling for that again.

I'll take the Jaguars, guys. Oh, okay. Jaguars, all right. Wait a minute. Is he saying Ridley and Hopkins combined will score more fantasy points than Kirk Davis and a guy who's not going to be on the Jaguars? Zay Jones, yeah. Yeah, I'll take the Titans.

Okay, you don't think Zay Jones? Kirk will be the best of the three. Why do you think Zay Jones will be? Is Zay Jones a free agent? I think'll take the Titans. Okay, you don't think Zay Jones? Kirk will be the best of the three. Why do you think Zay Jones won? I don't know. Is Zay Jones a free agent? I think he could be a cap casualty. Oh, okay. This is from Gut Check.

Kyle Pitts and Drake London are huge winners due to cousins. Yeah, we agree with that. Shakir is a winner with Gabe Davis gone. And all the running backs that swap teams haven't really moved much for me except for Zach Moss if they don't end up drafting someone. All accurate. Yep.

I mean, I, I moved Jacobs up, but I was a little uncertain about what Jacob's role would even be or where he would sign. But it's not like you moved him 50 spots. I mean, no,

that's fair, but I moved him over a bunch of other running backs. Yeah. But it's not like his... If he had stayed in Las Vegas, you probably would have moved him up, I would assume. Yeah, or Dallas, obviously. Yeah.

Like anywhere where he was going to have the role that we think he's going to have in Green Bay. Yep, I think this is a very safe take. Do you like Shakir better than Gabe Davis? Yes. Yeah, for now. This is from Brownie Fan Mike. The Bears running backs are all losers.

Three talented running backs all competing for touches, plus if they end up drafting Caleb Williams, I don't necessarily know if they want to trust the rookie quarterback, but they might want to show off their new toy and feature an offense that just slings it all over the place. Yes, they will definitely be more pass-friendly with Caleb Williams, show off their new toy, and feature an offense that just slings it all over the place. Yes, they will definitely be more pass-friendly with Caleb Williams,

and Caleb will run in short yardage situations. So when it's second and goal from the three, it might be a pass-play call, but the primary read's covered. Caleb's going in. So that's also going to hurt those running backs there. I like that take. Yeah, I don't know if Caleb Williams, is he worse than Justin Fields for the running backs, though? I don't think he is. I think he's better for the running backs.

Because he won't run as much, you're saying? He won't run as much, and he won't be as much of a goal line factor as Fields, who's enormous. Yes, I would agree. You're right. No, I think he'll still be a decent goal line factor, maybe not to the same degree as Fields, and he won't run it nearly as much as Fields did. But I think that could potentially hurt the efficiency of the running backs in Chicago. The running back's not named Swift in Chicago.

I wonder if they just are going to be done with Khalil Herbert. It just seems like they have trouble committing to him, even though everything he's done, his metrics are so good. They must just, obviously he's not good in pass protection. He's never on the field on third down, but that's what I wonder if Herbert's the odd man out. Could be. Could be. Yeah, we'll see.

But that doesn't mean that they cut him. No. Yeah, but he could be a draft day trade chip. Yeah, this is from from for him from McGuire. Hot take. The Patriots will not score an offensive touchdown this season. How would you guys feel if Marvin Harrison was drafted by the Patriots and they went into the season with Jacoby Brissett, a second-round rookie quarterback, and Marvin Harrison as their wide receiver one. I think that would be very bad for Marvin Harrison.

I think he'd see a ton of targets. I think not that bad. I wouldn't be that disappointed in it. Brissett, I got to give him credit. I called him fantasy poison going into the Cleveland year a couple years ago, and he did great for Amari Cooper, and I feel like he got that commander's offense moving whenever he was in

last year. You're still talking about veteran receivers, though. Yeah, I know, but rookie receivers like Marvin Harrison, I think, assuming he's as good as where he's going to get drafted, have shown that they can come in and be great as rookies. I'd rather see him with Kyler. Oh, have shown that they can come in and be great as rookies. I'd rather see him with Kyler.

Oh, well, that wasn't the question. But I agree. Okay, let's say hypothetical here, right? If he goes to the Patriots and it's preset starting week one, would you draft Marvin Harrison or DeAndre Hopkins, Calvin Ridley? Oh, Harrison. Harrison. Okay, Christian Kirk.

Harrison. You said Kirk, Jamie? Yeah. Allley. Oh, Harrison. Harrison. Okay, Christian Kirk. Harrison. You said Kirk, Jamie? Yeah. All right. Redraft you. Dynasty. Harrison. All right.

By the way, another hot take. The Giants will not score an offensive touchdown this season. Aye, aye, aye. Right? They have no talent anymore. It's insane. It's just all setting up for Bill Belichick to take over in 2025.

Oh, no. All right, I got to take a quick break here. I got some more hot takes and some emails when we come back on Fantasy Football today. Bumble knows it's hard to start conversations. Hey. No, too basic. Hi there. Still no. What about hello,

handsome? Who knew you could give yourself the ick? That's why Bumble is changing how you start conversations. You can now make the first move or not. With opening moves, you simply choose a question to be automatically sent to your matches, then sit back and let your matches start the chat. Download Bumble and try it for yourself. With Smartwater's pure, crisp taste, there's nothing to overthink. So while you may be spiraling over double texting your crush, whether your skincare routine is working because you look the same or is doing nothing because you look the same and whatever the heck red light therapy is,

it's definitely not that. Don't overthink how you hydrate. Life's full of choices. Smart water is a simple one. We are back. Jordan says, if Sam Darnold can be a game manager, the Vikings have quietly been big winners. Great skill

players and some smart additions on defense to take the Vikings to the next level if Darnold can be a game manager. Well, it's not like Kirk Cousins took them to a lot of different levels. So if you're just talking about from a wins and losses standpoint in the playoffs, if they get there, yes, they have a very sound roster. I mean, they upgraded their backfield. Whatever you think of Aaron Jones, he's better than what they had a year ago, even at his age.

The receiving core, if a healthy TJ Hawkinson, still among the best trios in the league because of just the guy at the top of Justin Jefferson. And if Sam Darnold can have a Baker Mayfield type season, which I don't think you can rule that out because he kind of went through a similar process, gone through a car wash, come back on the other side. Maybe he's better with better coaching who knows i mean it's a good offensive line and great great receiving course so wouldn't shock me it would shock me he's he hasn't been a great thrower at any point in his nfl career so for him to suddenly get it now and be on target more often than he has been, that would surprise me. Yeah, but I mean, just again, the Mayfield comparison,

he never had receivers like this. One half a season, right, with Beckham and Landry when they were both healthy? Yeah. Yeah. Still got to know what you're doing. Still got to be able to make decisions. Yeah, but that comes down to –

Still got to be able to throw accurately. Still got to be able to make decisions. Yeah, but that comes down to trying to be able to throw accurately. Cousins excelled at those things. Oh, it's not comparing him to Cousins. It's just putting him in a situation where he could succeed. And the pieces around him are great. Yeah. It's funny. I think people are overrating what he did with Carolina, personally,

those six games. He had a lot of rushing production. Well, you're talking about Darnold. 8.2 yards per attempt is outstanding, but his, his career, his career is 6.7 yards per attempt, which is terrible. But he only threw 23 times per game in those six games. So it's not like they even trusted him to throw the football around and gosh, his completion percentage.

I mean, I can't believe it. 59.7% completion percentage. And that's every single year, it's right around there. He's never even completed 62% of his passes. I don't like to make too much of a completion percentage, yards per attempt, but that's horrible. Oh, horrible. That makes Justin Fields look like Kirk Cousins.

Anyway, next question. Just go draft the guy. From Jim. Saquon Barkley is going to have a career year. He's more motivated than ever now, running behind an extremely improved offensive line. Hurts stealing goal line work won't affect Barkley's production.

Very positive. Second best of his career? Maybe, but he's not topping his rookie season. That was 90 catches and 2,000 total yards. There's no way he's doing that. Yeah. Yeah. He's going to be fun.

Honestly, I'm struggling with Jacobs versus Barkley. The top six running backs for me are kind of locked in. That seventh spot is TBD. And this is from Joey. I think Joe Mixon is going to blow up. Stroud looks so good. I think he's going to have

a Jamal Williams. Mixon's going to have a Jamal Williams type season and fall into the end zone 20 times. So too much barbecue? He's going to explode. I mean, look,

is this offense going to be better than what he had with the Bengals? Run blocking should be. It's a similar offense. this offense going to be better than what he had with the Bengals? Run blocking should be. It's a similar offense. The run blocking will be better. And he does have a chance to get more work than he did in Cincinnati. And he's about the same, if not better, as a runner as Devin Singletary, which isn't meant to slight mix him, but it is what he is.

He's much better as a receiver than Singletary. and he can work the goal line better than Singletary. Yeah. Yeah. There, there, there's absolutely a chance of that with mixing. This is the trend that I have with all these running backs that have changed teams.

And I talked about this already too. I just don't want to draft them too close to their ceiling. Yeah. None of them. All right. Oh, we've got some emails now. Fantasyfootballatcbsi.com is the email address. Fire away.

Fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Also, leave us an Apple podcast. Yeah, I should look at the Apple podcast reviews. I think we have some questions there. So maybe next week I'll get to those. From Kelly, this is a question about Sam Darnold. The last stint of Darnold in Carolina, he really wasn't that bad. In fact, the Panthers probably would have been better if

Darnold stayed or started the whole year instead of the Baker Mayfield experience. I see no reason why Darnold can't be a Geno Smith type level quarterback in the Vikings offense. We kind of just talked about this. Yeah. Alright, we did just talk about that.

It's a good email, but I think we covered it. All right. From Bads from Calgary. Who is this generation's Tyler Lockett, a player who will be of value at every draft for the next five-plus seasons? So we're passing the mantle. Yeah. It was Jarvis Landry, then it was Tyler Lockett and now it's who the no respect

receiver doesn't have to be a receiver I was I could have made the case for Hopkins but I think it's going to be a little tougher now could Deontay Johnson not the next five years that's part of the trick is these guys aren't going to be around the next five years. Christian Kirk. I was actually, off of receiver, I was thinking, if you include the last couple years, maybe Kirk Cousins. He's always good. Sure. But Christian Kirk is Jamie's pick.

Not a bad pick. Amari Cooper. Do you think Evan? No, Evan Ingram's too old to have five more years. Yeah, so is Cooper. Terry McLaurin? He feels like he's been the other way, though. He's the opposite. Yeah, he's the opposite.

Overdrafted for the last four years. Yeah. Well, but we're looking forward now. Yeah, I don't know. All right, next question from Eric. There's going to be some good answers to that in the comments after the show. With the signing of Saquon Barkley,

will that force the defense to respect the run more? Could Barkley take passes away from Smith and Brown but add yards at the point of the catch? I guess the general question is, how does Saquon Barkley impact A.J. Brown and Devontae Smith? It probably takes away a little bit from them, especially if you factor in that Barkley is clearly a much

better receiving option than DeAndre Swift and probably Miles Sanders, maybe combined. So if they do tweak the offense a little bit and make that a little bit more of Jalen Hurts' game, then it's going to come from somewhere. So maybe they're more like the 49ers,

Adam, because there's actually comparable talent, you know, where we lose a little bit across the board from all these guys. That was the comparison I made last year. And yes, they are like the 49ers. Absolutely. But I was saying the worst version of the 49ers for Tennessee. Do you think defenses will play Philadelphia significantly differently now that they have Saquon instead of DeAndre Swift? No. I don't either. So if that's going to be the case, then they might operate similarly offensively. How many targets did the running backs get last year?

I don't know. I think they were somewhere around 20th overall in running back targets. And then how many short yardage? Not that bad. Did they get? I might be wrong about that. How many short? Sorry, I don't remember.

But they got a lot. They got 14-ish or something. And Barkley had six. We'll nail it down and share it with the world. This is a question from Todd in Madison, Wisconsin. Love the show. Mostly Heath and Dave, though. Oh, Jamie, what do we do?

What an idiot. What do we do? 10-team PPR, 2QB, Dynasty League. The trade is I give up Kelsey and Cup for T. Higgins and pick 204 in this year's draft. Kelsey and Cup. It's Dynasty League. It's 10 teams, so that's the 14th overall pick.

This is a yes. Kelsey and Cup for Higgins and 204. I make this trade. Kelsey and Cup to get Higgins and 204? Yeah. And I make this trade now before Higgins gets dealt and potentially sees his value go up. And this is a good year to have the 204 in a dynasty draft.

It's a deep draft. Yeah, and that's only a 10-team league. The Eagles had 14 running back carries inside the five-yard line last year. And that should go up. I think that'll go up. The Giants had six. Yeah. Overall, of all The Giants had six. Yeah. Overall, of all positions, they had six.

The Eagles had 28. Think about that. The Eagles had 28 carries inside the five-yard line. The Giants had six. All right. And then last question is from Mike. So happy to hear Adam mention racquetball on the show this week. Great dying sport that

needs more hype. Adam, don't give up. The more you play, the better you will get. And I'm playing tomorrow, baby, because Calvin Ridley signed, so we are free. Friday is free. What are you guys going to do on Friday? What are we going to do on Friday?

I've got an HQ hit tomorrow, and I'm going to have breakfast with a couple of buddies hey nice why didn't you invite Dave to breakfast I don't think he wants to come with these guys I'm sorry I'm not interested in eating with other professors from fine universities from across the country.

This is going to be a lot of T-ball talk. I'm not going to be able to intellectually hang with doctorates and laureates from Ivy League schools like Jamie Eisenberg. There was a funny comment I forgot when we were doing the hot takes earlier. Matt Weber says, hot take, I eat the stick before eating the burger. That's great. All right, everybody. Have an awesome weekend.

Look, if there's breaking news, like a trade or something, we'll be back tomorrow with an episode. If not, we'll talk to you on Monday. I think we got to get some industry guests on next week to talk about their updated rankings, their thoughts on free agency. So we should have some great content next week. We'll also have a mock draft.

What time are you playing racquetball? So we know when to be ready for the show. I think 1030. I think, I don't know that I'm playing by the way, I have to get invited. So, you know,

you'll just go play pickup racquetball. It's a gym. And I, the guy always gives me, Hey guys, I got next. Hey, can you let me in, please?

I brought my own racket today. We'll talk to you on Monday. You're a good Frenchman, dude.