Fantasy Football Today - 🚨Gus Edwards Reaction! (09/09 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: September 9, 2021

Our instant reaction to the Gus Edwards injury. Which RB should you be adding now? Fantasy Football Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. 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

emergency podcast time here for fantasy football today i'm jamie eisenberg that keeps coming we're going with the uh unfortunate news that there could be a season-ending injury for ravens running back gus edwards it's uh happening as we speak so you know we're gonna maybe get confirmation of the news uh before we're done with this emergency podcast heath but uh the ras, as we know, they lost J.K. Dobbin for the season with a torn ACL. That happened in their final preseason game against the Washington football team. They bring in Le'Veon Bell, sign him to the practice squad. They have Tyson Williams on the roster.

Trenton Cannon is also on the roster as well, but we look at him as more of a special teams guy. So let's start with the Ravens backfield here. So Tyson Williams could be the next man up could be the starter most likely for their Monday night game against the Las Vegas Raiders uh if he's available 66% rostered right now is he the most added player by the time we get to uh tomorrow morning for sure should be 100% by tomorrow morning I can't think of any league where you wouldn't want to roster him there's no guarantee that he's going to be the guy for the entire season. It's hard to imagine though,

he's not going to be the guy on Monday night football against a very good matchup in what is still going to be a very good offense. Le'Veon Bell is, you know, I've seen a lot of people adding him prior to this news. So just to give you guys a little peek behind the scenes, you know, Schrager texted us, Ben Schrager texted us and said, anybody around for emergency podcast? Adam Azer says he can't because he has a family situation that he's dealing with. Then proceeds to text us and say, oh, I just added Le'Veon Bell

and all the leagues that we're in together. So dealing with the family situation, but also able to make moves in his fantasy league. Le'Veon Bell right now is rostered in 25% of leagues. What's your interest level in Le'Veon? And how do you see this shaking out long-term? If in fact, this is the season ending situation that we expect for Gus Edwards, is it going to be Williams?

Is it going to be Bell or is it going to be a third guy involved? I would kind of assume there's going to be a third guy involved. I think for this system, if you're looking for a guy to just hit the hole quick and what they do, the read option i i would think latavius murray maybe even adrian peterson would be better suited for that than levion bell but they're going to get him in and see what they can get out of him if you told me that all year long we're going with tyson williams and levion bell i'd probably have them at a 50 50 split because i don't know enough about tyson williams and we haven't seen anything from tyson williams and levion bell didn't look

very good with the chiefs last year but this is an offense that should generate a pretty decent yards per carry out of just about anybody all right so if if let's say you're in a 10 team league a 12 team league where tyson williams didn't get drafted and levy on bells on the waiver wire prioritize those two guys for me just in terms of somebody making a move right now i would strongly prioritize tyson williams at this time but i would want to try to find a spot for both of them. I did pick up Le'Veon Bell in one league. It was where I dropped Wayne Goldman to do it. So I'm dropping most handcuffs,

the types of handcuffs that don't have a role without an injury for Le'Veon Bell. But not like a Tony Pollard, obviously. Somebody that's got a little bit more upside. Right, not a Tony Jones. Tony Jones, you wouldn't be dropping him. You're not dropping Jamal Williams. You're not dropping A.J. Dillonylan you're not dropping those kind of players um what if

latavius murray's out there you mentioned adrian peterson uh todd girley is somebody that they worked out in the offseason you know so that might be a name that they look at can you imagine a backfield of levion bell and todd girley and tyson williams is the best running back on that team uh but what about the guys that are free agents right now? So you're in a 12 team league that's competitive, a 14 team league. So let's say Latavius Murray was dropped. Murray's on the waiver wire in your fancy league. Peterson's clearly available.

Gurley's available. Prioritize those guys if you're trying to get ahead of this. Who do you think is going to be the guy maybe that the Ravens kicked the tires on? I think Latavius Murray has to be the most likely since he was viewed by another team as good enough to be on a roster as recently as uh early earlier this week so I would go Latavius Murray then Adrian Peterson then Todd Gurley I just wonder like lions brought in Todd Gurley for a workout the Ravens brought in Todd Gurley for a workout something happened to Gus Edwards and the Ravens

said no we'd rather have Le'Veon Bell than Todd Gurley so I don't it doesn't seem like and that could change doesn't seem like the Ravens have much interest in Gurley. And then factor in some of the potential trade partners. So Mark Ingram is available in over 70% of leagues on CBS Sports. Obviously, David Johnson, not as much, but he might be somebody who was dropped after the early draft process and still could be available on waivers. Phillip Lindsey in a similar situation.

These guys aren't necessarily rostered 100% across the board. So the Texans are one team I think that we can look at and say maybe obvious trade partner. I don't know if there's another team out there that you're looking at that you could say, maybe they're going to look to try and poach a backup from some of the, somebody else's roster. But let's just say the Texans, for example, are you trying to maybe get ahead of that and look at one of the Texas guys as well? I would be the most, like I'm not probably preemptively adding Texans running backs in hopes that they get traded to the Ravens. But if you're telling me like a Texans running back is going to the Ravens, I'd be pretty excited if it was

Philip Lindsay. If it was Mark Ingram, I would, I would have interest. I'd have more interest than I would if it was Todd Gurley and probably even more interest than I do in Le'Veon Bell. But Lindsay would be the guy who would really move the needle for me. How do you see the Ravens offense operating here? Because look, Lamar Jackson right now is going to have to do a lot of heavy lifting. Again, I don't want to take anything away from Tyson Williams or whatever Le'Veon

Bell is. And I'm sure they're going to try and keep their philosophy as much intact as they possibly can. But they've already said that they want to throw the ball more going into the season. We know they lost Rashad Bateman for at least the start that they want to throw the ball more going into the season. We know they lost Rashad Bateman for at least the start of the year because of the groin or core muscle surgery. Mark Marquis Brown is back.

Mark Andrews got the contract extension. They bring in Sammy Watkins. The draft process is over. So you're not necessarily looking at it as where does Lamar Jackson stack up in comparison to Josh Allen and Dak Prescott and Kyler Murray, because I think most people have already completed their drafts. But if you are a Lamar Jackson fantasy manager right now, are you looking at this as a plus for him?

Because now it's probably going to be an easy thousand yard rushing season. And if he gets to 4,000 plus passing yards, I mean, we could be talking about the best quarterback in fantasy by a lot. I can't decide if I think it's a plus for him, just because I do think it's probably going to make the offense worse than we thought it was going to be with J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards when we have Tyson Williams and whoever else they end up with, if it's Le'Veon Bell or whoever else. I'm a little bit concerned that the Ravens just aren't going to be as good offensively,

but I do think it's probably a little bit of a boost for both Mark Andrews and Marquise Brown and Rashad Bateman when he comes back I had already shifted this offense a little bit more pass heavy than they were last year but I still had him at 50% rush 46% pass for week one at least with this current roster I've got it basically 48 48 like basically an even split and I think there's a chance their hopes of being able to be more pass heavy are going to become more of a necessity of being more pass heavy now. And that'd be good for the pass catchers. I'm not sure if it's good for Lamar Jackson.

Last year, he was a lot better when they just went back to the old school, run the ball, run the ball, run the ball. Yeah, I just, man, it's so hard to wrap your head around just everything that's happened to this team. And just, you know, such a short period of time, you know time, three weeks essentially. They lose their top two running backs, and Tyson Williams was a guy. I made the – not a joke, but the comment on Twitter that there's not going to be a James Robinson this season, but if there was going to be somebody, Tyson Williams seems like the most likely candidate just given the fact that he's come out of nowhere. This was before Tony Jones got the second spot on the Saints depth chart.

So both those guys kind of fall into that category, but now Tyson Williams really has the chance to be that type of guy. And you know, you said it, and I think a lot of people feel the same way. They don't know a lot about this guy. You know, he was somebody that's been on the team for, I think over a year, I saw something there, you know, on their, on their practice squad and, you know, somebody who can hopefully make some plays but again already 25 years old like he's a guy he was in college for six years and then had been on the ravens for two years he's a 25 year old running back so let's let's expand this for a brief minute here

because you know we spent a lot of time talking about the ravens and the options there but for fantasy managers that do lose gus edwards potentially don't have tyson williams can't pick up uh or don't want to necessarily pick up Le'Veon Bell or can't get Le'Veon Bell let's talk about some other guys that just might be available on waivers to me Tony Jones would be the first place that I would look um he's available in just about 50 percent of leagues his roster percentage 49 percent on CBS sports Justin Jackson we don't know I haven't seen a report yet and we're recording this 4 30 on on Thursday the day of the opener um on that on Austin Eckler yet if he practiced or not I don't know if you've seen anything no he's somebody though Justin Jackson just uh as we

saw last year Eckler missed time and and maybe you know something that's uh something to keep an eye on the Jets running back so they interest you aside from Michael Carter Tevin Coleman or Ty Johnson are those two running backs that you might be looking at as a desperate situation just to pick one of them up? I mean, if you're in a situation where you just lost Gus Edwards and you don't have a second running back, it's time to stop being choosy. And I think that you have to at least consider those guys. I do prefer both Tony Jones and Justin Jackson, even if Austin Eckler's there, to any of the Jets right now. But that's because I have the Jets projected as a three-man split between three backs that I'm not all that excited about.

I, but I, I would, I would want to make sure those guys are rostered. I think Jones and Jackson are the top two. Um, and then right after that is some combination of the jets and the Texans, because I do think Mark Ingram could be a nice touchdown dependent guy and

non PPR. I still think David Johnson could catch four or five passes in full PPR. It's time to look for running back by committee on bad teams. And those guys are still pretty widely available. Let me ask you in non-PPR, because I'm going to guess most of the leagues that they're in, these guys are PPR based on the roles that they have. But Naheem Hines is at 64%.

Giovanni Bernard is at 60%. So again, I'm going to guess most of those leagues are ppr half ppr related in non-ppr what's your interest level in those guys knowing that they're going to have significant roles but the touchdowns may be hard to come by obviously the rushing yard is going to be hard to come by how do you stack those guys up compared to jackson compared to jones and compared to maybe the jets guys and even mark england i would still rather have jackson and jones over those guys i think i think i would prefer though to have geo and heinz in a uh just because they're on good offenses i think their touchdown odds might be just as good as the guys like ingram and tevin coleman that might get more

carries might have more goal line situations but they have to pretty much be two yards away from the goal line to score there's there's a little bit more big play ability and hope with both geo and naeem hines so like those would be guys in non-ppr leagues i would prioritize probably right after jackson and jones you have some other guys that are desperation plays but like you know he said that you know you can't be choosy at this point but guys are going to be backups but at some point might have a role to some capacity and then obviously an injury occurs they could be in really good situations but you got way Wayne Gallman with Atlanta. He's at 21% roster percentage right now. Malcolm Brown with the dolphins. He's at 19%. So Von Ackman, a little bit lower than that, you know, so any of those guys, if there's an injury, but they're going to potentially play

Daryl Williams with the chiefs, he's at 28% roster percentage. If something happens, Clyde Edwards, a layer, uh, you could be looking at clearly a lottery ticket type of guy in that capacity and PPR Kenneth Gainwell, he's at 38%. He's going to have some sort of a role with the Eagles. Boston Scott as well. So there are some guys that are out there, but clearly I think Heath, you said it best. I totally agree. Tony Jones, Justin Jackson, those would be the first two guys I would look at. Of course, obviously, Tyson Williams, excuse me, would be the priority, but his roster percentage is getting up there, 66, Ramondre Stevenson in that same range, he's 67%. He can have an opportunity to maybe help you as well, but, uh, take a flyer on Le'Veon Bell, I guess, at this point,

just to see what's going to happen. Uh, he's at, um, he's at, uh, uh, 25% roster percentage right now. And then again, you know, uh, we're looking at the, the, the value for the receivers here. Keith, if you're, if you're looking at this, I guess, from a flex perspective, would you be trying maybe to trade for Marquise Brown? Maybe pick up Sammy Watkins or Chad Bateman also maybe make a trade for Mark Andrews. If you're, you know, making a package of some sort to try and acquire them because their value might improve if they have to throw the ball more. Yeah. Especially if you're in a league where hawkinson and pitts were prioritized over andrews because then you know that people didn't have a big very high opinion of andrews in the first place and so i

that would be a good target i think marquise brown people will not maybe realize that this is going to mean the ravens are going to be more pass heavy he would be a good trade target i'm not sure about bateman just because you're in a crunch right now for roster spots and Bateman's going to have to go into an IRR slot at the very best case scenario you're using in week four. I would kind of think with missing all this time, he's probably more of a second half of the season type guy, but as a desperation flex, I think I'd probably rather have Sammy Watkins right now than the secondary guys on the Jets the texans all right so again we're waiting for confirmation but the report is that gus edwards suffered a season-ending acl tear to his knee in practice on thursday so we'll have obviously the latest update on cbs sports hq on cbs sports.com

we'll bring you the update on our next fantasy football today podcast which will be dropping on friday morning but oh just a tough situation for the Ravens tough situation for fantasy managers as well that have drafted Gus Edwards hopefully you'll be able to find one of these backups Tyson Williams Tony Jones Justin Jackson we gave you the list maybe the the fantasy managers with Lamar Jackson Mark Andrews Marquise Brown Sammy Watkins these guys all benefit but the Baltimore Ravens down to down after losing JK Dobbins down after losing Gus Edwards. I just, I'm,

I'm laughing in, in like sheer disgust. It's just so, so flabbergasting that they, that, that they're going to lose their top two running backs before even three Justin Hill. That's still to justice.

So too, that's a great call, you know, so justice still also don't want to disrespect him, uh, suffer the Achilles tear. So, uh,

yeah, Tyson Williams, he could be a league winner for you. So if you drafted him or he's still available, we'll get him because he could be the lead running back for the Ravens. And who knows, he could be talking about Le'Veon Bell as a league winning potential option once again. That'll do it for our emergency podcast here. For Heath Cummings, I'm Jamie Isenberg. Thanks for watching and check us out on CBS Sports HQ and our

Fantasy Football Today podcast, where we podcast for a bill.