Fantasy Football Today - Half PPR Mock Draft and Running Back Reflections (01/25 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: January 25, 2022

Follow along the draft here: https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/football/news/fantasy-football-mock-draft-january-0-5-ppr-mock-draft-sees-former-consensus-no-1-fall-to-no-4/ We're running through the first half PPR mock draft of 2022 and reflecting on the running back position! Favorite mock draft picks, including Patrick Mahomes in round 6 and Gabriel Davis late (2:30) ... Least favorite picks in the mock, including Cam Akers drafted a round ahead of J.K. Dobbins (7:30) ... Half PPR mock draft (11:30), going round-by-round then breaking down our own teams. Three tight ends in round 2? Deebo Samuel or Stefon Diggs? Barkley, Elliott, Jones fall to round 3 ... Running back reflections (45:30) starting with early round strategy ... Running back sleepers (56:30), breakouts (59:00) and busts (1:03:20) ... Email us at [e-mail] 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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BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. On his way to the end zone. Tell you what, that was a spectacular play. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. What a play. Off to the races.

Touchdown. Oh, he's done it again. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath, and Ben. Welcome to the Fantasy Football Today podcast. I'm Jamie Eisenberg. That's Dave Richard. That's Chris Bowers. As you see, no Adam Azer.

He unfortunately is in mourning today, so we're going to take a couple seconds here just to, you know, think about our friend Adam and everything that he's dealing with. Unfortunately, the University of Miami no longer has the turnover chain, so Adam is really, really upset and he's taking the day off to collect his thoughts and make sure he's okay. Dave is thundering through as a proud University of Miami alumni. Thank you for putting aside your feelings about the turnover chain and being here. I'm retiring all my versions of the turnover chain. I was going to say, how much money do you think Adam has spent on his own version of turnover chains in the course of the turnover chain, I was going to say, how much money do you think Adam has spent on his own version of turnover chains in the course

of the last five years of the turnover chain's existence? You know, knowing how cheap he is, probably none. So I'm going to guess he's probably got zero. I'm going to guess Chris probably has more turnover chains than Adam does. Yeah, but they're just, they're apple and cherry. Well done.

Dave, do you actually have a turnover chain? I occasionally donate to my alma mater, and so one year they sent me a version of the turnover chain, which my kids promptly broke, by the way. I was going to say, now it's a piece of memorabilia. I need a new chain for the turnover chain. It's in pieces. Well, maybe Adam chain for the turnover chain. It's in pieces. Well, maybe Adam does have one or two lying around at home.

So hopefully he'll be back on Thursday's show. He is actually mourning the loss of his dishwasher, so he's dealing with some appliance issues. That's why he's not with us this morning. But today we're going to be talking about our half PBR mock draft that we did last week. So we'll go over the review of that, and we'll also get into some running back reflections,

a little bit looking ahead to the 2022 season. so it should be a fun show for you today so let's start with the uh the mock draft here so i asked uh or actually uh our buddy ben trager asked uh the guys to pick their favorite pick in the mock draft and the least favorite pick in the mock draft uh dave says he has seven of his favorite picks so dave you're up first what's their what's your favorite of the seven of the picks that you're looking at for today? My favorite of the seven picks from our half PPR mock draft was Patrick Mahomes going in the top of round six. Wow.

And what especially drove that point home for me was that Josh Allen, I think there's probably going to be a consensus, not necessarily an overwhelming majority. I like Mahomes better than Josh Allen at this point. But, Jamie, I think you like Josh Allen better. Chris, I'm not sure where you come out on it. But I see Josh Allen go at 40th. So a round four pick for a quarterback.

And quarterbacks always go late in our mock drafts. But that's pretty late for any quarterback, period, at 40. But getting Mahomes at 61st overall. He went 64th overall in the PPR league. I think that's tremendous value for a guy who could easily be the QB one in fantasy football. And you're getting them after round five. Holy moly. That's the best pick in the draft.

So let's put that a little bit more in perspective because most I think of, you know, casual drafts, you know, non-analyst drafts are going to see quarterbacks probably go middle to the end of round two. I don't think we're going to see a lot of round one quarterbacks, but that's still going to happen. But anyway, I think most drafts are probably going to see middle to the end of round two. And then round three through five is when we'll start to see the big push

of quarterbacks. So let's just say that let's, let's push that up. And let's say Josh Allen goes middle to the end of round two, Patrick Mahomes goes middle of round three. Does that change things for you if that's the case? I don't think I would take either one as a favorite pick in a draft. And honestly, I don't think I'd see myself taking either one of those guys in the first three rounds of any draft this year

because I'm confident the other quarterbacks I'll find later on. And to be fair, so in this draft, so what we did was in the PPR draft, it was basically the same 11 of us we did was in the PPR draft, it was basically the same 11 of us. Ben was in the PPR draft. Ben was not able to do the half PPR draft. RJ White stepped in for Ben in the half PPR draft. And when RJ took Josh Allen in round four, he said, is this really where we're going to see quarterbacks go?

Again, you know, take into account that it's an analyst draft versus non-analyst drafts. I think that's probably, you know, for our drafts, but I agree with you, Dave. Patrick Mahomes going two rounds later essentially is a huge surprise. You want to just give us the names of the other six favorites that you have? You like that. You did that, don't you? Ridley was one of my favorites in the full PPR draft.

He was in this one too. I think you got him this time, Jamie, at 43rd overall. That's insane. I can't imagine that that got him this time jamie at 43rd overall uh that's insane i i can't imagine that that'll ever happen again where he goes 43rd overall justin herbert's my qb3 right now he went 89th overall gabriel davis 91st he was on this favorite list before what we saw in the divisional playoff game against kansas city i think he's going to be a good pick we talked about that on yesterday's podcast cad Kadarius Toney, 97th overall. Joe Burrow, 102nd overall.

And there's always going to be interest in late-round running backs. I know everybody's looking for him. The one that's on my list is going to be Kenneth Gainwell. He went 126th overall. Young running back on a team that loves to run the football. They'll use multiple guys, but I don't know what the other running backs in that stable from last year will remain next year except for Kenneth Gainwell. Pleased to take him in round 11.

Yep. So you just basically listed my entire team, so you don't have to review my team later. So I have Burrow, I have Ridley, I have Gainwell, I have Davis. So I guess you like the way that I drafted this team. I did. Give us your least favorite pick in the mock draft. And if you have seven, you can install seven as well.

That's probably about four rounds later than Gabriel Davis is going to be drafted in most drafts next year, right? Yeah. Let's stop there because we had a good discussion on this yesterday, Chris. So I'm of the belief. I'm not going to take him in that spot, but I'm of the belief that we could see him maybe if there's a heavy run on receivers creep into round four i think probably around five is where we're going to see him go um especially you know once we find out how this you know receiving core looks

like for buffalo so where where do you come out on gabriel davis where do you think he's gonna get drafted uh too high probably at least based on like i don't know it's so tough because it's like targets are earned and his target per route run rate is decent 20 that's not terrible but you know we're talking about a guy who over two years has a 10 target share yes that's because he hasn't been on the field all that much but if he was as good as we think he's going to be he would have been on the field more you know it's so it's always tough with that kind of player but i think he's probably going to end up in the fourth or fifth round range. I wouldn't be surprised if we see him going ahead of someone like DJ more,

and that's probably too much. So yeah, I would guess it's going to be higher than I'm willing to take him. But I mean, you look in this draft and like Elijah Moore was in the fourth round. So, you know, I'm not a hundred percent sure Elijah Moore's better than Gabriel Davis.

So that's a so that's uh that's a range where speculative wide receivers tend to get pushed to is like the fifth round so is elijah moore your least favorite pick uh no no although i i don't think elijah moore 48th overall is is a great pick i think you know he went over tyler lockett that doesn't make a lot of sense to me right yeah right so i i think I guess there's one that I would say is my least favorite, but only in reference to another player, which is Cam Akers going 25th while J.K. Dobbins went 37th. I know we've already seen Cam Akers, and so that plays a part in that.

And I think maybe we just – maybe people just think Cam Akers is a better player than jk dobbins but i feel like he's probably 25th is actually probably the lowest cam acres is gonna end up going in any draft uh for 2020 2022 and i just think there's probably a bit more hype than is deserved there the rams haven't really thrown to their running backs all that much only 73 targets between michelle and h and Henderson this year. Only nine touchdowns between the two of them. Akers still coming off this really tough injury,

and as good as he's looked relatively speaking, the production has actually not been that great over the course of the two games. He had the 140-yard catch, and that's accounted for about a third of his yards. So I think relative to other running backs, Cam Akers was not the best value. Fair enough. I do think, though, you know, taking into account the defense that he played this past weekend, you know, factors into the yardage, at least, you know, from a ground perspective.

But it's going to be really interesting. I didn't realize that the Rams could potentially have to replace three offensive linemen this season. You know, their center, one of potentially have to replace three offensive linemen this season. You know, their center, one of their guards, and Whitworth if he retires. That could be really problematic for anybody on that offense, especially, you know, the ground game. But, you know, knowing Sean McVay and knowing that team, especially how aggressive they are in bringing in big-name players, I'm sure they'll be just fine with the offensive line. But it is something just to keep an eye on.

But I actually like the Canmakers pick, but I see where you're going with just, you know, comparing him relative to everybody else that went around him. So we're going to break down this mock draft and obviously talk a little bit more about the outlooks for some of these guys next season. But Gabriel Davis was really fun in DFS. And if you want to get an early edge on setting your championship Sunday, DFS lineups, the fantasy football today, DFS podcast brings you all the DFS insights you need to dominate in the DFS world.

Frank Stample, Mike McClure, and Sia Najad provide cash and GPP analysis, deep diving into pricing and matchups. You can listen to the Fantasy Football Today DFS podcast wherever you listen to FFT. Let's get into this draft here. So we'll go through the first three rounds. Then we'll look at our teams and bring up some more of Daveave's favorite uh 55 uh late round picks that he likes um in this in this mock draft so round one and again this was all of our uh cbs staff for the most part you know a lot of the guys that are in this draft but uh here's the first round you can see if you're watching on youtube just the way that it shakes out here as ben has the uh the graphic there for you so when jonathan taylor

derrick henry alvin kam Kamara, Christian McCaffrey to Chris at four. Jack Capitordo took Austin Eckler. I took Dalvin Cook at six. Devante Adams, first receiver off the board, number seven. Najee Harris at eight. Cooper Cupp at nine. Justin Jefferson, 10. Joe Mixon, 11. And Tyreek Hill at 12. So just to recap that one more time for those of you listening, Jonathan Taylor, Derek Henry, Alvin Kamara, Christian McCaffrey, Austin Eckler, Dalvin Cook, Devontae Adams, Najee Harris, Cooper Cupp, Justin Jefferson, Joe Mixon, and Tyreek Hill. So as you would expect, heavy running backs early.

First six picks were all running backs. Then we get the first receiver off the board, number seven there, as Devontae Adams. But let's start with the top half of this draft here. We all had a pick in the first six. Dave took Alvin Kamara at three. Chris, you took Christian McCaffrey four, and I took Dalvin Cook at six. So any surprise there that it went Taylor Henry?

In the PPR draft, it went Taylor, Austin Eckler. I took Eckler at two. That's something that I might revisit. But any surprise that that was the start of the draft Dave and then just just take us through your thoughts at number three they're taking out my first two are Taylor and Henry in pretty much every draft so it didn't surprise me one bit Camara is my third in in half and non-PPR I don't have it in front of me exactly where he is in full PPR but he could be close to Eckler there toward the top. And it's just, it's, it's a running back who is entering 2022 healthy offensive lines.

Good. I'm assuming that at worst, uh, Taysom Hill will be the starting quarterback for New Orleans. That wouldn't be great for Alvin Kamara. It would be great if they upgraded from Taysom Hill to a quarterback that will be more willing to check down to Alvin Kamara so that those receptions come right back up. But even if they don't come all the way back up into the 80s, he's still somebody that can rack up tons of yards, decent amount of touchdowns,

and I shouldn't even say decent, double-digit touchdowns. I think he's capable of doing that. And he could have a better year than what we saw this past season in New Orleans. So I'm comfortable taking him that high. Any concern, if at all, and I know it's probably a small chance at this point, but if Sean Payton does decide to leave New Orleans, how much would that change things for Kamara?

I mean, we have to see what they, how they go about changing their offense and what they do. But yeah, that's a pretty big problem if they don't have Sean Payton there. Payton's been a mastermind for years. Of course, he's had great help as far as having Drew Brees for most of those years. And then he's developed some help as far as you know having drew breeze for most of those

years and then he's developed some great receivers from colston to thomas and he's done a great job with the running backs there too but if he's not there overseeing the whole thing the puppet master gone from the bayou i think we could see some trouble there for alvin camara and at that point i would probably think about other options there that's where i'd probably lean toward austin eckler going at number three instead of Alvin Kamara. That's a good call, Jamie. If it happens, that's going to be a little frustrating, I think, for people to deal with. There was the report from the NFL Network was Sean Payton considering maybe leaving the world. I forget how it was phrased. And Alvin Kamara

on social media said, I'm considering putting ketchup on my fries tonight. So he was kind of poking fun at the report there. All right, Chris. So I know you were, when we were talking about a running back breakdown, Christian McCaffrey, somebody you're looking at, I think as early as number one. So to get him at number four,

just take us through the idea of what your expectations are for McCaffrey. And did you consider anybody else at that spot knowing maybe half PPR versus PPR and non-PPR uh I think if I pick anywhere in the first six picks Christian McCaffrey's probably going to be the pick as long as he's there I mean really if I'm anywhere Christian McCaffrey's and available if if Christian McCaffrey's available he's going to be the pick it comes down to just I think he's the best player in fantasy I don't think it's particularly close even in a half PPR even in non-PPR I think he's probably still the best player in fantasy. I don't think it's particularly close even in a half PPR. Even in non-PPR, I think he's probably still the best player in fantasy. And so, you know,

the injuries, I know all about it. Everyone's scared of him. A lot of people are going to just take him off their board. I think that's the wrong way to view it. He hasn't had any really serious injuries. He hasn't had surgery, nothing like that. So for the most part, it seems like it's mostly just been kind of fluky, random injuries rather than serious recurring ones. Ben McAdoo is the offensive coordinator. I mean, look, I know he's a punchline. He's been with the Giants. Everybody associated with the Giants over the last half decade is a punchline.

But Saquon Barkley had his best season as a pass catcher with Ben McAdoo. So I don't think that's really going to change Christian McCaffrey's role. So, yeah, I just think he's the best player in fantasy is what it comes down to. And I'm not that worried about injuries. I'm certainly no more worried about Christian McCaffrey's health in 2022 than Derek Henry's. Understandably so. I mean, obviously, there's been more of a track record for McCaffrey's injuries. Only played 10 games in the last two seasons.

But like you said, Chris, when he's on the field, he's amazing. Just hopefully he stays on the field, and that's what we're all rooting for in 2022. Henry did okay coming back from the foot injury. I think conditioning probably factored in a little bit while we saw probably more of Deontay Foreman and some of the other backs there than we were expecting. But as long as he gets through the offseason, fine, which should be the case, that's going to be a fun debate, I think.

You know, Taylor will probably go one across the board, and then, you know, who's going to be two? Henry versus, you know, still McCaffrey, I think, as Dave alluded to, you know, taking Kamara, also Austin Eckler. So format will matter too. Should be fun, fun topics. We'll get into that a little bit more when we look at the running backs a little bit later in the show.

Back half of the first round, again, we saw the receivers start to come off the board after I took Dalvin Cook. I think, you know, Cook was an easy selection for me there at number six, kind of similar to what Dave was saying. You know, the track record, Kamara track record for Cook, very similar. Hopefully the new coaching staff there in Minnesota will continue to feature Dalvin Cook. So another guy with injury concerns, but you know what he's capable of when he's on the field. So let me get the receivers coming off the board back half of the first round.

Adams goes first. Up goes two picks later, but the next receiver off the board, Justin Jefferson and Tyree Kill. Dave, any surprise that those are the four receivers drafted and the fifth guy was taken at the start of the second round, so Heath could have obviously had the back-to-back picks at 12 and 13, could have taken Jamar Chase over Tyree kill but uh surprised that chase went after hill and just the four guys that went to start that uh that wide receiver run see in this case i can't

say that i'm like wow i'm so surprised that hill went ahead of chase because he took both of both of them so he could have just clicked on chase first and then hill so i don't really know if this is really how he feels about it that he he absolutely has Tyreek Hill ahead of Jamar Chase. His rankings will say how he genuinely feels. If he had to pick one, who would he take? I'm guessing it would be Hill since he took Hill first, but it's a guess. We don't know. But these are the first five receivers that you're going to be seeing off the board. I think it's interesting that Devontae Adams went first. And I know that the track record has been great. And when you're looking for 20 PPR fantasy points per game,

and that'll probably be down in the neighborhood of like 17 and a half when, when you're talking half PPR, I get it with him, but I don't think Cooper cup situation is changing very much. Safford still going to be in LA cups still going to be the top target there. He's just, he he's continuing to get wide open even in the playoffs. It's crazy how well he's schemed, how good of a route runner he is,

how good of a receiver he is, how good he is after the catch, that deep touchdown that he had against Tampa Bay. That was impressive. And, of course, basically the game-winning catch that set up the field goal so that the Rams could beat the Bucs. He's outstanding. He's my number one receiver. So I wouldn't be surprised if Devontae Adams went first like he did in our draft.

That's okay. But obviously, there's more that can change for Adams than there could be for Cooper Cup, certainly the quarterback, and even where he's playing going into next year. I'm sure that when – who took him? It was George. I'm sure that when George took Devontae Adams, he was assuming that he was going to stay in Green Bay and that Aaron Rodgers would still be his quarterback. And if that's the case, then it makes perfect sense.

Jefferson should be three. I think Chase should be four. I just, I love the way that he's playing. And you want to talk about a situation definitely not changing. It might actually get a little bit better for him because you look at the Bengals in that offense, the O-line, you've talked about this before, James. You know that they're going to address that this offseason their defense is going to get

better too might it mean that they're playing in fewer close games maybe that might help their run game a little bit more and hurt their passing game volume but i still see jamar chase being an amazing receiver for a long time i don't mind taking him one bit and tyree kills awesome but he's a little volatile some weeks he's going to give you a six for 60 and some weeks he'll give you a six for 260 it's just the way that he is it depends on what your tastes are in fantasy definitely both receivers are league winners I think Jamar Chase will be a little bit more consistent I think if I'm not mistaken and and we don't begin too much but but Chris you also have Cup over Adams as well, right? Yes, I did.

And it's just because of Aaron Rodgers. I think you were the only two in the wide receiver rankings that we did, if I'm remembering correctly. The story is on the site of the six of us that have Cup over Adams. And as I wrote, and as you said, Dave, I think all of us consensus will clearly go to

Cup if one of the two leave, you know, for sure. So, you know, I don't know where Adams would play that his situation would get better. Obviously Rogers staying with Adams is what we're hoping for. If you're in the Devante Adams camp and then yeah, chase and Hill based on the wide receiver rankings that I, that I saw the six of us, that's the consensus top six Stefan digs. I think maybe for Dan Schneier,

it might have been ahead of one of those guys. I don't know if he would change his opinion after the two playoff games, but at the end of the regular season, that was the consensus. Six receivers and Diggs is the next receiver off the board as we get into round two. So Chase kicks off the start of round two,

then Stephon Diggs. Then we finally get the tight end. Travis Kelsey goes to Dan Schneier with the third pick in the second round. Ibo Samuel, who might be better than Stephon Diggs now, if you're looking at it, you want to kind of speculate. That's somebody you can also say could be in that number seven

spot or maybe in the top six of the wide receiver position. DeAndre Swift goes next running back off the board. Nick Chubb, followed by Javante Williams, Mark Andrews, Kyle Pitts. So we're getting a little tight end run here in the second round. David Montgomery took Dave, AJ Brown, and Antonio Gibson. Again, the second round is Jamar Chase, Stefan Diggs, Travis Kelsey,

Debo Samuel, DeAndre Swift, Nick Chubb, Javante Williams, Mark Andrews, Kyle Pitts, David Montgomery, AJ Brown, and Antonio Gibson. Again, if you're following the show on YouTube, which I highly encourage, again, if you do, please hit the Like button. You can see the graphics and have the draft board there right in front of you. So, again, we know the receivers there. So, Chris, I know you're a first-round tight end guy. Did you give – well, I guess you wouldn't have taken, obviously, Kelsey

over McCaffrey, but had you had a pick in the back end of the first round, would that have been the player you were targeting over some of those receivers? It depends who it would have been been i probably would take him over joe mixon i probably would take him over tyreek hill i think that's probably around the cutoff maybe jamar chase um but yeah it's it's right in that 10 to 13 10 to 15 range um is where i would take travis kelsey and then you're also a deand Swift guy. I know in the first mock draft we did, I think you took him in the first round in the PPR draft. Just your take on how good he can be,

not knowing again what this Detroit offense is fully going to look like, but we have a pretty good understanding of what Swift's role was before the injury, the shoulder injury he suffered on Thanksgiving, and kind of, you know, I think how the team views him going into next season. Yeah, I think he can be Austin Eckler. I mean, that's the simple way to phrase it. And it was easy to make that comparison last year with Anthony Lynn, but I still think it works. You know, Austin Eckler, Alvin Kamara, that type of player who derives

more of his value from the passing game, but should still have plenty of value in the rushing game as well. It's not a great offense, but for a pass catching receiver, as we saw with Swift earlier in the season, that's not necessarily a bad thing because he's going to have a role in games where they're playing from behind. Hopefully next season they'll get him the ball before the fourth quarter because for the first eight weeks of the season, something like 45% of his fantasy points came during the fourth quarter. It was wild.

I'd never really seen anything like it. But he's so good. They know he's good. They know he's arguably their best playmaker. I don't think seen anything like it, but he's so good. They know he's good. They know he's one of the arguably their best playmaker. I don't think that's going to change. So yeah, I think anywhere inside of the first 18 picks inside in a row in a league where points where catches count for points is a great pick. I think, you know, he kind of got robbed of what might have been the best stretch of his season because when Dan Campbell took over play calling for Anthony Lynn, Lynn Lynn favors and I know this sounds a little strange coming from his tenure with the Chargers

but he favors a bigger running back and so yeah he was the one kind of more in the Jamal Williams camp I think Dan Campbell was probably more in the line of the DeAndre Swift camp and when Campbell took over play calling I think it was like one or two games in and that's when Swift had the shoulder injury so we really didn't get to see I think what might have been that early down work in some of those uh earlier game action that would have benefited Swift so hopefully that's when Swift had the shoulder injury. So we really didn't get to see, I think, what might have been that early down work in some of those earlier game action that would have benefited Swift. So hopefully that's the case next season, but we'll see who's going to be calling plays there

for Detroit coming up in 2022. Dave, take me through these running backs here. So starting with Swift, Swift, Chubb, Javante Williams, you took David Montgomery and Antonio Gibson to close out the round. You can even factor in Cam Akers, you know, because since that's what Jacob Gibbs did at the turn. So that group of backs starting with Swift and again, PPR versus half PPR. So Chubb gets a little bit of a benefit, I think, you know, maybe comparing him to some of

these other guys who catch more passes, probably so going into next season. And I, I'm thinking that when you're in a half PPR or a non PPPR league, it's okay to veer toward running backs early on a little bit more so than wide receivers. I know I'm going to keep talking about my New Year's resolution about drafting more wide receivers early. I just couldn't do it in this draft. I just wanted to know for a fact that I would get good running backs on my squad, and then I would take what was left at wide receiver later, especially since it's half PPR. That takes a little bit of that pressure off of trying to collect so many wide receivers.

And I think my team turned out okay because of it. I actually took three running backs to start my draft. Montgomery was the second of the two. These are all running backs that we're talking about that we've seen it from Montgomery. We've seen it from Chubb. We, we've seen it from Gibson.

We think we'll continue to see it from acres where they're getting close to 20 touches a week. Plus goal line work. The guy that we haven't seen that from, at least throughout the rookie season, was Javante Williams, except in the game where Melvin Gordon didn't play, then Javante Williams got a huge workload, and he was outstanding in that matchup. By taking Javante Williams in round second, we're all basically conceding that we are hoping that he becomes the lead back in denver there's no guarantee that that's going to happen there's a coaching staff change in denver so the opportunity is there plus melvin gordon scheduled to be a free agent i believe so there's definitely

a chance for giovante williams to be one of those feature backs and i'll tell you what jamie i think if it comes to pass that he does become one his his ADP will go higher than this. And we might get to a point in August where if the hype is really rolling, the Broncos do a nice job of replacing Bridgewater and Drew Lockett quarterback. We like what the offensive coordinator is. We like what the scheme is. We think that offensive line is already pretty good, even if that gets better. Javante Williams could be in line to be a first-round pick. So I know it's a little crazy to see him going in round two right now

after what we saw last year, but the range of outcomes for him is very wide. He could end up being in a 50-50 split again. It just depends on what the new coaching staff says, but he could just as easily become the feature back there. I mean, if Aaron Rodgers ends up in Denver, there's no doubt he's going in the first round. I think we could end up seeing 10 running backs in the first round

by the time we get to real draft prep season because I think Akers could get pushed up there. I think Adams could fall out. And I think Javante Williams could get pushed up there. So it wouldn't surprise me if Cooper Cup and Justin Jefferson were the only first-round wide receivers in ADP when we get to July and August. Yeah, I mean, you could potentially see Najee fall out of the quarterback situation.

If they end up going Mason Rudolph, that could scare some people off. He's not getting past probably round two, but there could be some people concerned about that. So, yeah, and we'll find out. Obviously, PPR versus half PPR, the receivers will get pushed up a little bit more. At least that's the expectation. And, again, going back to the Patrick Mahomes conversation, there are still going to be people that take a quarterback in the first round. We will always say no, but that's going to happen generally

based on the ADP that we see time after time. All right, Chris, so you took Kyle Pitts with the ninth pick in the second round. I know you're a tight end guy. I think people are going to look at that and say, okay, maybe a little bit too soon, but this is a guy I know you're going to target. He's my third tight end as well behind both Andrews and Kelsey. Tell us your thought process on just going with Kyle Pitts there. Partially, it's a flag planting. I'm going to be the Kyle Pitts guy. I'm going to have him on as many teams as possible next season. This was probably too early.

I'm pretty confident he still would have been there at 28, so not the best usage of draft resources. I would have felt a little better about A.J. Brown and Kyle Pitts instead of Kyle Pitts and Mike Evans, but it's mostly just I want Kyle Pitts on my team. I think he's going to have an amazing second season. I think what we saw from him as a rookie, he basically lived up to as much of the hype as he possibly could, except he didn't score many touchdowns, and that's really the only thing. But if you look at almost 10 yards per target, big target share, big air yards share, all of these things that should lead to just absolutely massive, potentially league-winning production

at the tight end position. Matt Ryan's not going anywhere. I think Kyle Pitts year two, we could be talking about 1200 yards, you know, from him in year two. It's just a question of, does he have the Julio Jones thing where he doesn't catch a lot of

touchdowns? I guess that's a concern, but touchdowns are so random that I'm not willing to be worried about it yet at this point in his career. Yeah. I would imagine if he's an 85, 1200 and seven, eight touchdown guy, that's, that's not something you want to overlook. Dave, I would imagine if he's an 85, 1,200, and 7'8 touchdown guy, that's not something you want to overlook.

Dave, I don't think he's your third tight end, if I'm not mistaken. He is. He's my third tight end. Okay. How early would you have taken him, though? I wouldn't have taken him where Chris got him. I understand why Chris took him in round two.

I would have gambled that he would have made it back to me in round three for the reason that Chris said. He'd rather have A.J. Brown pitts than kyle pitts and mike evans but is it that huge of a downgrade from brown to heavens potentially to lock up just to lock up pitts potentially but i don't think it's it's that terrible so uh yeah you like the guy you take him at 21 i wouldn't do it um because a i, I don't want to spend that type of draft capital on Pitts because I'm not certain that he's going to get to 85, 1207, Jamie. But I also know that there are going to be some other tight ends that I'll like later on

and I'll feel a little bit better about myself not reaching for one of those other tight ends versus reaching for Pitts just in case he has another year where he averages a shade under 10 PPR points per game. And I'll tell you this, Chris, the way that worked out for you, I mean, I don't know if you would have taken Akers, Barkley, Jacobs, Gibson, or Montgomery, but the fact that you got, I mean, if Mike Evans gets Brady back and Godwin is gone,

this is a steal in round three. So, you know, we've seen it. We've seen it now for the end of the season. The playoff game was great for Mike Evans. I mean, we know he's good. He's unbelievable when he's essentially the solo act. I know Gronk is still there, but in the receiving core. So no Brown, no Godwin.

He really took advantage of the final stretch run of games, and that could be what we're looking at next season if Brady comes back and Godwin signs somewhere else as a free agent. So those were the three tight ends in the second round. We're going to see more tight ends come off in the third round. Let's take a look at what happened in round three. And we're only going to talk about the first three rounds. Again, you can see the full breakdown of the draft on the site on CBS sports.com.

But we'll, we'll go through our teams and give you some of our other late round picks that we like, but here's our round three unfolded. So again, Cam Akers, first pick in round three, Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs to Dave, uh, Chris, again, taking Mike Evans, then CD lamb comes off the board. So maybe a little bit early for him. Uh, I took Keenan Allen there at the six pick in the third round, Ezekiel Elliott in the third round, DK Metcalf, Aaron Jones, Jalen Waddle,

and then the rest of the top five tight ends. I think these are going to be the consensus top fives with Darren Waller, top five, excuse me, Darren Waller george kittle rounding out that uh that group there so after you see kelsey andrews and pitts come off the board but waller and kittle could also factor into that third tight end spot so again round three cam acres saquon barkley josh jacobs mike evans cd lamb keenan allen ezekiel elliott dk metcalf aaron jones jalen waddle dar Darren Waller, and George Kittle. So we spent a little bit of time on acres, but Dave, Saquon Barkley and Ezekiel Elliott in this round,

how the mighty have fallen. I guess Aaron Jones as well, looking at these three guys, which were, for the most part, if not in the first round last season, borderline first-round picks. I think Barkley might have slipped into round two. But in any event, is this a good spot to target these guys for some bounce back potential, knowing that you're still going to get featured work, at least for Barkley, probably still leaning in the majority for Ezekiel Elliott,

and who knows what happens to Aaron Jones depending on what Aaron Rodgers does. But looking at these three guys, good value or still a little bit too soon? I think it's going to be different answers for each one. You can't put them all in the same box. Jones has a Dillon problem. A.J. Dillon is absolutely going to continue to take away work from Aaron Jones. When there are games where Dillon doesn't play, like we just saw against San Francisco, Dillon got hurt after scoring a touchdown.

Aaron Jones really did take off and had a lot of opportunities in the game. When he's had those type of opportunities, that's a guy that can get you 15 plus PPR no questions asked it's just how many of those games will there be where he's got the whole gig to himself it's not going to be 17 anymore it's going to be in the neighborhood of maybe four or five and that's assuming that Dylan actually misses four or five games and there's also the chance that jones misses some games i guess i'm okay with him in round three but i really view him more as a running back who it's one of those last gasp rb2s one of those guys that you're going to take just so you've got that roster spot filled with someone that you know is a good football player and is going to get some good opportunities just not the 17 plus touches like

we've been used to seeing from him i think ezekiel elliott is is in big trouble you just look at how he finished the year and then as soon as the game's over in the playoffs he's like oh pcl there's my knee it wasn't because of anything else blame it all on my knee and i just tried to play through it like a good soldier and i don't know if i buy that completely we're going to hear reports during training camp about how good he looks, but I bet we hear good reports about Tony Pollard too, and that's assuming that Ezekiel Elliott does stay with Dallas. I think he'll stay with Dallas because they owe him so much money this year

that trading him, I just don't see it happening. I don't know if there's a team out there that's going to trade for Zeke, but there's a part of me that's like, I would pass on Zeke in round four, but kind of lean toward Pollard into that 6-7 range if he's there. I do like Pollard, and I'm wondering if the coaching staff there in Dallas says, we got to get the speedster a little bit more involved. Tony Pollard is so good. Saquon's a wild card. I think there is potential for Saquon to bounce back. It really does come down to who the coaching staff is.

Are they going to be sharp enough to lean on him? How healthy is he during the offseason? I think he's in a better spot now than he was in the past. And is he still going to get a ton of work? It really comes down to how the new coaching staff in New York views him. But I can't help but think that they're going to view him as the main running back at minimum and a guy who can come through for 15 touches, work the goal line. They know he's certainly capable of catching the football. Does he get back to 20 plus touches per game? And is that offensive line going to gel for them? And if is the quarterback going to stay healthy

for them? But those are all questions where you can say there's a chance with Zeke. I feel like there's no chance with Saquon. I think there's a chance. So Ike, I feel like there's no chance. With Saquon, I think there's a chance. So I'm okay with Saquon here, and it wouldn't surprise me if by the time we get to August, he's a late second-round pick. Did you, and Chris, I want to get your thoughts on this as well, but did you consider Saquon, if he had stayed on the board, you took Jacobs once about after, would you have taken Barkley?

You mean if I didn't have? I took Jacobs first, right? No, it went Barkley and if you mean if I didn't have I took Jacobs first right no it went Barkley than Jacobs I was happy to get Jacobs so you would have taken Jacobs I would have taken Jacobs anyway okay I'm doing a full 180 on Jacobs James I think he's gonna end up being a really in a really good spot next year yeah no I agree I don't think he made a bad pick I'm just curious you know because you said Barkley's in a different position. You were a little bit encouraged by Barkley. I think there's a chance. I think there's reasons to have some optimism. I'm not

going to go, you know, bouncing into the rainbow with Saquon Barkley here, but I think that there is, I just don't look at him the same way that I view Zeke. And to a degree, I don't view him the same way that I view Aaron Jones. Chris, your thoughts on that group and factor in Jacobs as well. So Barkley, Zeke, Aaron Jones, Josh Jacobs too.

Does the RB dead zone start in the third round this year? I don't want to be relying on any of those guys as of now. Like I think they could all be fine starters. One of them's probably going to be awesome, but with the questions I have about how Akers is going to hold up in his first full season back, Barkley just hasn't looked very good really since his rookie season. Josh Jacobs, I don't know if he's going to have the passing game role again. That was really the key for him in the second half of this season was once he started getting five targets per game. And it was after Greg Pendry, so that's fair. Yeah. Ezekiel Elliott,ott who knows i think he's still

going to be the guy aaron jones even like the next round jk tobbins damian harris uh michael carter in the fifth round like it running back starts to look pretty bad at this point in the year obviously we'll have rookies come in we'll have teams revamp their offenses maybe you know the Packers do something that makes Aaron Jones look really valuable or something like that but I don't love running backs in this range and I think getting a running back on the first two rounds at least based on what we've seen right now is going to be a real key I don't I don't want to go uh two rounds without getting a running back and have to try to make Saquon Barkley or Cam acres work as my RB one. But let me,

I think I'd rather just keep going. Let me, let me go back to something you said about, about McCaffrey. Cause they brought this up that Barkley's coming into the season. Healthy last year is coming into the season off the ACL tear. And we didn't know what we were getting. If we're hoping,

and I know it's a hope or hoping McCaffrey is going to overcome his injury woes. Uh, you know, again, 10 games in the last 33 that he's played. What if Barkley does the same thing? If we're hoping, and I know it's a hope, we're hoping McCaffrey is going to overcome his injury woes, again, 10 games in the last 33 that he's played. What if Barkley does the same thing? Because you mentioned it. I don't know if he's ever going to get back to his rookie year, and I don't think he has the same heights as McCaffrey, obviously. It's not saying that they're going to do the same thing.

But if Barkley does bounce back to maybe what his 2019 season was, or was it 2019? His second season was when he showed you at the end of that stretch after the ankle injury. If he gets back to that type of player, is this a steal in the third round? Potentially. I mean, is he still going to be on an offense that scored 25 points over the final four games?

Well, I mean, we got it. It's not going to be as bad. Sure. Can't be as bad. The offense gets better. You know, I guess I'm just, you know, you're taking a very optimistic view on Christian McCaffrey, which I totally get.

Why not the same thing for Barkley? Because my questions about Barkley aren't injury related. It's purely production related. I just, I don't think he has one. He definitely doesn't have the passing game role that Christian McCaffrey does. I don't want to compare the two. I'm saying to take the best player available in this spot, why shouldn't he be a round two pick?

If you're assigning the he's going to be his best version, because I know that's what you're doing with McCaffrey, so his best version in the offense, put it in context of how you frame it. But I guess trying to make a comparison about how they both can be exceptional not the same same you know yeah well because again it's it's not just with with mcafree the only question for me is can he stay healthy and it's it's a question

but it's a question that i can't answer barkley i just don't know if he can be a must-start fantasy player anymore after what we saw last season, you know, the offense has to be a lot better around him. They have to commit to using him in a way that they didn't really this season, especially in the passing game. And so I even if Barkley stays healthy, I think there's a chance.

He's just the 20th best running back in fantasy. And then that's that's the concern for me. It's I was hoping, you know, I fantasy. And that's the concern for me. I was hoping, I was pretty high on him coming into the season. I was hoping the passing game role especially would be there, and it just wasn't. So for me, it comes down to the situation that he's in has to get a lot better, and I don't know if I'm going to be able to trust that

even if they have a really good offseason, which I'm not even sure what that would look like at this point. All right, so a lot of questions still to be able to trust that even if they have a really good offseason, which, you know, I'm not even sure what that would look like at this point. All right. So a lot of questions still to be answered on guys like Barkley. I think we covered some of the running back questions that we'll get to with the running back preview, but let's go through our teams quickly. I'm just going to read your teams and I'll ask you one question maybe about how each team unfolded for you.

So again, Dave had the third pick here. How is here is how his roster turned out. Aaron Rodgers at quarterback Alvin Kamara, David Montgomery, and Josh Jacobs his first three picks. So he's going to go two running backs and a running back at the flex spot. This is a three-receiver league, so Dave's three receivers actually ended up pretty good for going three running backs early. Tyler Lockett, Terry McLaurin, Adam Thielen, Noah Fant at tight end.

His bench is Deshaun Watson, James Conner, Kenyon Drake, Antonio Brown, DJ Chark,ny galladay so dave you got to be pretty pleased how this receiving court turned out knowing that you started running back running back running back i am pleased with it i like adam phelan as a third receiver that really made the difference for me we've talked about antonio brown before and that he's still an interesting player and apparently there's some talk that he's going to go to baltimore now so maybe the career isn't done just just yet. The pick that makes me kind of grossed out is Galladay because I could have gotten Gainwell there

and picked up another running back. And it's like, what was I really thinking? What am I expecting from Kenny Galladay, even with that late pick? Kind of made me a little bit queasy. And probably the next time I consider drafting Kenny Galladay, I'm going to punch myself in the face, Jamie,

and say, don't do it. Draft somebody else. Draft somebody younger. Make a smarter pick than Kenny G. There could be some bounce back potential there. So don't punch yourself in the face just yet. Do you think he's going to bounce back to being a number two wide receiver?

No, but I think in a three receiver league, he can still be a starter, especially once we get into bye weeks. And you're talking about maybe starting four receivers. I don't think it's a bad pick where you got him. Don't you think that you'd rather spend that draft capital taking a shot on a breakout running back or maybe even like a younger receiver than somebody who can be a starter for you during the bye weeks. We did this without rookies. We did this without knowing who the giants coach is going to be.

So, you know, there, there's a lot of questions that could go either way. So I don't think he made a bad choice there. So Valadie is going to be, I think. Want to trade McGainwell for him? Potentially. We'll see. That's a way to draft. We can make a pretend trade.

Chris's team, again, he picked fourth. So he started with McCaffrey, but his quarterback is Lamar Jackson. He's got Christian McCaffrey, Leonard Fournette. His receivers are Mike Evans, T. Higgins, Chase Claypool, Kyle Pitts at the tight end position. Chase Edmonds right now is his flex spot. His bench, he's got running backs of James Robinson, Deontay Foreman, Chris Evans, and receivers of Will Fuller, Van Jefferson, and Curtis Samuel. So Chris, you know, a team that hinges on some question marks at the running back position. McCaffrey obviously obviously being healthy for net,

where is he going to play? Just your overall thoughts on how this team came together for you. There are definitely things that I would want to improve on. And when I look at my bench and I see Deontay Foreman and Chris Evans and guys like that on there, it just makes me think I can't wait until we're drafting rookies. So the bench spots will look a little better. But as you know i

think i'm very strong at running back if leonard fournette signs somewhere i've got my number three quarterback um and then you know mike evans t higgins i think t higgins has been one of the best values i've drafted him in both of the drafts we've done so far once in the fourth once in the fifth i think and he's a top 12 wide receiver for me. So I think he's a great value. I'm very excited about him. So getting him as my number two makes things look a lot better for me. Yeah, it was a pick that I was considering when I took Calvin Ridley in the fourth round. It went Ridley, Deontay Johnson, T. Higgins, Terry McLaurin to Dave. So that group of receivers, I think, very, very interesting.

Deontay Johnson's kind of a wild card, obviously not knowing the quarterback spot. but uh clearly if ridley's in a spot where he's not with a good quarterback because he could leave the falcons uh i would have taken t higgins over both those guys so good pick by you in the fourth round there uh for me i had the uh the sixth pick like i said i started with dalvin cook uh my quarterback is joe burrow uh dalvin cook javante williams are the running backs keenan allen calvin ridley darn on mooney are the receivers i also have gabriel davis as well uh dalton schultz tight end and demin singletary is my flex as of now on the bench justin fields gus edwards kenneth gainwell and then the receivers of marcus calloway gabriel davis and josh palmer so uh if you remember our

ppr mock draft i said i was jealous of frank stanfield for taking josh palmer i wasn't gonna let that happen again. Gabriel Davis will not go where I drafted him, which was in round nine. So, you know, I mentioned this on the Monday show, how I like this receiving core of Allen, Ridley, Mooney, and Davis. You know, with Mooney and Davis kind of being

interchangeable and also flex-opt. And so, I'm very happy with how this team came together. And obviously, as Dave said, he loves all of my late-round picks. So it worked out really well getting game. Well, I also think Gus Edwards is somebody you want to keep an eye on because we know they're going to use both those guys, Dobbins and Edwards. And clearly that was the case going into this year.

Edwards would have been, I think, in the flex conversation, probably more so in half and non-PPR compared to full PPR. But I think he would have had a significant role. And then had he stayed healthy following the Dobbins injury, could have been in line had a significant role. And then had he stayed healthy following the Dobbins injury could have been in line for a great spot. So there's our half PPR mock draft. Again, you can check out the full results on cbssports.com.

We're going to take a quick break. When we come back and again to our running back reflections, looking back on 2021, looking ahead to 2022. 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 1,400 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. All right, and we're back. So let's take a look at the running back reflections here for the position that, you know, clearly matters as you heard from our mock draft breakdown. A lot went into looking at the running backs here. I want to just go through quickly what the average draft position on CBS Sports was for the running backs.

Again, we do average draft positions, cumulative of non-PPR, half PPR, full PPR. So it probably looks a little bit different on some other sites that do break it down. But here's what the running back ADP was. I'm just going to read you the order. All these guys went in the first two rounds. They actually all went in the first 19 overall picks.

So Christian McCaffrey was one. Dalvin Cook, two. Derrick Henry, three, Alvin Kamara four, Ezekiel Elliott five, don't throw up, but that's the way it happened. Aaron Jones six, Nick Chubb seven, Austin Eckler eight, Jonathan Taylor, Steele obviously at nine, Najee Harris 10, Saquon Barkley, don't throw up again, number 11, and then Joe Mixon at 12. So again, the ADP, McCaffrey, Cook, Henry, Kamara, Zeke, Aaron Jones, Nick Chubb, Austin Eckler, Jonathan Taylor, Najee Harris, Saquon Barkley, and Joe Mixon. Now here's how

the finish was top 12 in PPR points per game. This is on our site. You may see some different numbers, some, some other places, but this is how the finish was on our site based on points per game PPR. Again, factoring in some of the injuries so derrick henry was one jonathan taylor was two austin eckler was three leonard fournette four christian mccaffrey five alvin kamara six joe mixon seven naji harris eight james connor nine uh deandre swift 10 dalvin cook 11 and nick chubb 12 again that was henry one taylor two eckler three four net four mcafree five kamara six mix in seven naji harris eight james connor nine swift 10 cook 11 and chubb 12 and that went just from a point perspective 24.4 points for henry all the way down to nick chubb at 15.4 points again you might see that some different numbers elsewhere but on our site that's

the way we have it so uh that's basically what we're going so that was those were four running backs that finished in the top 12 and ppr points per game that weren't drafted in the top 12 and yes or net right honor yep swift and chubb right wait no chubb was in the top 12 chubb was number seven, yeah. Was Najee top 12? Najee was drafted in the top 12, yes. Okay, so it's three, not four. Yes, it was Najee, Connor, and Swift. And so you see what the upside is for some of these guys based on their points per game. This is actually a low for McCaffrey.

It's factoring in a couple of games where he left early, but clearly you see what the upside is. So when we're looking at early round strategy, Dave said he's trying to steer away from taking in the running backs, but he gets pulled back in. The gravitational pull of the running backs, he can't escape those. Based on Adam watching the Empire Strikes Back, the pull there of the dark side can't escape the tractor beam. Chris, by the way, Adam told us he watched Empire Strikes Back for the first time this past weekend.

I don't want to know what he thought about it. He said he it he said he liked it he couldn't wait to watch return of the jell-o but he actually said he liked new hope better which was a little bit surprising uh so when we're looking at running backs i just looked at the the two drafts that we did so ppr and half ppr so in the half ppr mock draft that we just went over there were eight running backs in round one five in round two so 13 in the first two rounds and 18 through the first three rounds in the ppr draft which is a little bit, so there were more receivers drafted in the half PPR than the full PPR, nine running backs went in the first round, three running backs in the second round, so 12 through two rounds, and then six went in round three, so same amount of running backs.

I don't know if there was a difference in players, but 18 running backs in half PPR, 18 running backs in full PPR in the first three rounds. So I know, Dave, you're going to try to avoid running backs, multiple running backs if you can. It's a little hard for you. But, Chris, your strategy seems to be maybe take one and then veer in a different direction. Yeah, I think the data shows that hero RB, I think, is the way we're referring to it now. But taking one anchor RB to anchor your roster and then building out your wide receiver core, I think history generally shows that that's the optimal approach

or at least as close to the optimal approach as you can get, especially given how I did a bunch of research this last offseason about running backs and basically starting in round three it's a coin flip at best all like your chances of hitting on a top 24 running back aren't that much better in round three than they are in round seven which does not fit with how we think about it but i think generally speaking that's probably the way to go getting that one very good running back early. And obviously if someone falls, you know,

if you end up with a spot where like Najee Harris falls to the second round and you took Joe Mixon, it's probably okay to take both of them. You shouldn't just dogmatically adhere to one approach. But I think one anchor RB is the optimal way to draft, to build your team in PPR and half PPR at least. And again, based on points per game, that's kind of how it played out. Like Dave said, you know, there's only three guys that you know that were not drafted in the first 12

running backs. Again, this is points per game. Now Zeke, for example, if you want to go to the flip side of this, his total points had him finishing as a top 12 running back, but we know what the week to week, you know, sort of struggles were, especially after the knee injury sort of became a problem for him as he addressed at the end of the season so uh dave if you're going to try and veer away from taking um as many running backs as you typically do what's going to be your new approach is going to be to take one

running back go receiver receiver is going to be take one you know receiver running back running back you know how's how's your approach going to be in the early rounds and it doesn't have to be just the first three you know first five six rounds. Sure, sure, sure. I don't know if I've got a full blown strategy yet for 2022. 2022 just started. I'm really going to be focused on just taking best player available.

You saw it in the mock drafts that we've done. If I've got a pick in the first half of round one, I'm locking up a running back. There are too many running backs I just look at as high upside elite type players that i'm not just going to force myself into cooper cup or davante adams and and pass on one of those rare gems i don't want to let those guys get past me and that was kind of my attitude in the half ppr mock because i started with three running backs but when it was my pick in round two, there were some receivers that I was okay with.

But I like David Montgomery, and I think he's going to be a really good RB2, if not a potential RB1. So I was happy to take him there. And I feel the same way about Jacobs as I do Montgomery, a really good RB2, if not an RB1, assuming that things work out well this offseason in Las Vegas with the coaching staff.

I expect that offensive line to get better. expect that defense to get better too so i i saw those guys available and i didn't want to just force myself into taking a wide receiver a tight end just because i've got this new year's resolution or just because i'm trying to you know get balanced and the one other thing i knew and i've already realized this this much I know as far as draft strategy goes that RB dead zone is for real by the time you get to you know the top 18 or so running backs off the board you're not going to be happy with what's left and the wide receivers that are going to be left at that point you are going to be happy with and I was especially happy at least in the half PPR draft with the receivers receivers that I got in four, in five, in six.

We talked about those guys, quality players that have some good stability to them, hopefully some good consistency to them. So I'm not – I think my answer to your question, Jamie, is I'm just not going to force it yet with any position. I'd like to do a mock where I'm not picking in the first six so I can see what I would actually do when I'm picking ninth and Cooper cups on the board and is Najee Harris on the board am I really going to take Najee over cup or is that going to be an instance where I'm going to take what might end up being the safer pick for now in Cooper cup yeah I think in that case and that's what I can

bring up next is kind of where you pick matters you know because if you're picking early in the first round it's very difficult to you know take a Devante Adams or a Cooper Cup over one of those top, you know, five or six running backs. But also, you know, when you're picking at the back end, Dave, like you brought up, you know, you may find yourself, okay, Najee is not necessarily your best player. Cooper Cup might be your best player, but you know, coming back in the early part of round two, there's going to be maybe one of Chase Jefferson Jefferson, or Tyreek Hill, as well as maybe, you know, a Debo Samuel or an A.J. Brown if you want to go that route. If you don't want to go Stephon Diggs, I know you're kind of leaning away from.

But also Travis Kelsey, you know, so you might want to say, okay, I'm going to take the best available running back, knowing that I don't want to take Nick Chubb or Devontae Williams or any of the other guys yet. And so that could also factor in, not necessarily you, but for, you know, what people are thinking. You know, I went through, you know, a similar thing with each of our two drafts. So in the half PPR, I kind of was going to play it out where if Javante Williams was there, I was going to take him just to, not necessarily along the same lines you're thinking, Chris, of planting your flag, but also just kind of, I want to see how this would play out if I took Javante Williams, how I would like it. But I think, I don't think, it was tough for me to take Javante Williams over A. But I think, you know, it was, I don't think it was tough for me to take,

you know, Javante Williams over AJ Brown, just knowing what his potential is and to get a number one receiver like that in a three receiver league. Also in the first draft that we did, the PPR draft, I was picking second. I took Austin Eckler. My next best receiver that came available, that was available to me when we got to the end of round two was Keenan Allen. And so it was twofold.

It was, do I want to take him there over, you know, some of the running backs that were available or, and also do I want to double up on the chargers? Not that that's a bad thing with Justin Herbert, but that kind of, you know, just was the thought process I was thinking of. So I took Antonio Gibson. I forget who was picking first.

Took two different players. And then there was Keenan Allen right back there in round three. So it was easy to go Keenan Allen at that point. So I think also if you're picking at the end of a round, you kind of have a little bit more options available to you as opposed to, you know, if you're stuck in the middle and what are you going to do, you know, how it's going to all unfold to you. So that factors in as well. So the way that I came away from 2021 with my leagues, you know, and, and, and the championships that I won, it was more of the hero RB, you know, strategy, Chris, it was taking one running back and then sort of going to the receiver route

and then coming back to the running back position with some of those guys that are handcuffs that have the opportunity if there's an injury to unfold and clearly playing the waiver wire. But I do want to go back to something that you said, Chris, about the running back dead zone because you sort of stopped at Michael Carter in that round five spot in the half PPR draft. But I do think that Carter has some breakout potential. You took Leonard in that round.

Clearly, that's a steal if he ends up back with the Bucs and knowing that he's going to be a big part of Tampa Bay's roster. He probably doesn't stay in round five, but I don't know if he escapes round four, maybe round three. We'll see how things go there for him with the perception of him. I took Devin Singletary in that round. We know how his season has unfolded and how he finished. He should be a third role there.

I know people are down on him but we know how ever to layers you know role could still go and then miles sanders also in this round so you know it might be a situation where the dead zone maybe shrinks a little bit but it gets pushed up a little earlier you know somewhere in the it starts maybe at the end of round two even and gets into that round three round four range but then we sort of start to pick things up you know in round five round six where maybe things change a little bit because people are now gravitating toward more receivers early, but you get Travis Etienne in round six. You know, he might be the last one, but you took Chase Edmonds.

If he's back with the Cardinals and Connor leaves, you know, there's a lot of potential there for some of these guys. So it's a, it's an interesting position that we'll certainly have a lot of conversations about this off season, but I want to make sure cause we're getting a little bit long here, get to some of the the players that we're looking at here. So let's go through our sleepers, breakouts, and busts. We'll have a lot of running back talk, obviously, throughout the course of the

offseason. But let's go one sleeper from all of you. So Dave, I'll start with you on this one. Who's a sleeper that you're already targeting going into 2022? I mentioned Kenneth Gainwell. I think he makes sense as a decent sleeper. Just the track record of what we, well, it's not much of a track record. It's what we saw this year from Philadelphia and the way that they ran the football. Still have a strong offensive line. I don't think that's expected to change much. We'll wait and see.

I know it's a mostly veteran offensive line, but Gainwell, good pass catcher out of the backfield. Someone who can handle carrying the load if need be. Won't be an every downdown feature-type running back, but could end up being somebody who could be reliable for 10 PPR points per week with some upside that you can draft late and use as an RB2 during the year if you need it. If this offense stays the same in terms of how they approach things

and they don't bring back Jordan Howard, which I don't know why they would, and Boston Scott isn't part of the team, if he's the number two guy behind Miles Sanders, my goodness, he's going to be awesome because we know Sanders is probably going to miss some time and he'll still get an opportunity even in tandem with Sanders. Yes, I'm totally in agreement with you, Dave, that Kenneth Gainwell's got a lot of potential if they do move on from those guys. And so Boston Scott's a restricted free agent.

Jordan Howard is a free agent. I think Miles Sanders might be in a contract here. Sanders is still going to be there. He'll still be there. So I think he's in a contract here. I don't think he's a candidate to get cut or anything like that. I don't think he makes that much money or is that bad of a player. So I can't help but think that Gainwell will at least be second on the depth chart

or at best, I should say not at least, but at best be second on the depth chart. Yeah, no, lots to like about him. All right, give me a sleeper that uh that you're looking at i never know how to define sleeper so do chase edmonds or travis etn count i put etn more in a breakout scenario um i think for edmonds it's kind of a wait and see because if he's the lead guy again for arizona there's no way people are viewing him as a sleeper yeah that's why if we're talking now you know if he goes if he goes somewhere else where he's in tandem guy again for Arizona, there's no way people are viewing him as a sleeper. Yeah, that's why if we're talking now. If he goes somewhere else where he's in tandem with somebody, then yes, I think he qualifies. Yeah, because I think he's a really skilled player,

and I think he's capable of more than the Cardinals have let him do. We've seen that pretty much any time he's gotten to be the lead back. He's put up big numbers. So I think Chess Edmonds, I'm hoping he gets that opportunity next season. I'm hoping so also, but just a matter of where he ends up getting it and who he's getting it in tandem with that's certainly a big key but it'd be nice if he's back in Arizona and James Conner's gone because we saw what the upside could be all right let's go breakout Chris you'll go first on this one but the only caveat I'm putting is you cannot say Javante Williams because that's going to be

everybody's favorite breakout running back uh you mentioned Devin Singletary getting him in the fifth round I think he should be a third round pick based on what we've seen in the second half of the season the you know maybe the bills won't go into next season with him as the lead back maybe they'll go back to a tandem but if he is the lead back i think he's looked great in that role he's shown really solid skills as a pass catcher and as a rusher i don't think he's some incredible player i don't think there's probably top 12 upside, but if he's going to dominate touches in the way he has over the last eight or nine weeks,

I think he deserves to be in the top 20 running backs and probably in the first three rounds. A hundred percent of the snaps in the game against the chiefs. The last seven games, when you factor in the playoffs, he was exceptional. I think they're running back group should be set. I mean, Zach Moss showed that he can be a good number two guy. I don't

think he's a league guy, but he can certainly fill in when needed. They probably bring in another Matt Brita type to have a veteran just in case they need somebody to have there and somebody to play on special teams. But yeah, Devin Singletary, if he's not their league guy, I don't know what they're doing. Unless there's some fantastic draft pick lands in their lap or somebody wants to go there cheap just to play with Josh Allen

that they think is an upgrade. But Singary certainly showed he handled the work and finally got free of being stuck in this in this uh you know committee and and look really good you know so yeah i'm with you i don't know around three but i certainly think he's somebody that you want to target as a as a potential top 20 maybe even top 15 running back going into next season uh dave breakout running back for you so let's's go to Denver and Javante Williams. I don't know if you guys have heard of this guy. Is it too obvious if I say Michael Carter?

No. As a breakout candidate? Because I think that the offensive line got beat up this year in New York. I expect the players who played this year for the Jets gained a lot of good experience, and the other players that come back, along with the other players that they add to that offensive line turn it into a real strength i think that offensive line could be one of the better units in the league at minimum a top half type

of offensive line and i think that by the end of the year when he was healthy michael carter was proving that he could be an effective running back for them he was getting upwards of 70 of the snaps in some of the games that he was in. Who else do they have on the roster right now that's a real danger to his playing time? Tevin Coleman, Ty Johnson, Austin Walter. I don't see it happening. I don't think that those guys are going to be major for them. If they add somebody, if they sign a free agent, I, of course, would get worried about it.

We've seen Michael Carter thrive in a number of different I, of course, would get worried about it. But I still, we've seen Michael Carter thrive in a number of different roles in this offense. And I think the situation will get better next year, including the defense getting better next year. Remember who their coach is? It's Robert Sala. I still think he's a good schemer on the defensive side. They won some games this year that where they beat the Bengals for crying out loud in one of their games this season. So I think that there's room for Michael Carter to have a really strong second year. And I'm not sure he really belongs in that RB dead zone just yet. Yeah, no, agree.

I think, you know, the upside, you know, it's unfortunate that his best pass-catching games came without Zach Wilson because that's something that he would have liked to say, OK, you know that that's what he's going to do, that that's what this quarterback's going to do. And we saw it a little bit more toward the end of say, okay, you know that that's what he's going to do, that that's what this quarterback's going to do. We saw it a little bit more toward the end of the season when, you know, when it wasn't Carter, when Wilson was starting to lean on Ty Johnson a little bit more, Tevin Coleman a little bit more. But yeah, there's just so much to like about what Michael Carter brings to the table.

So I don't think we'll see him going round five either. I think he's probably going to be around four, maybe even around three pick, depending on how things go and how many running backs come off the board. I guess I should give my guys as well. So I'll go back to the, the, what I said on FFT and five last night. Keyshawn Vaughn is somebody that I think you can look at just because if Fournette and Ronald Jones are gone as free agents,

we don't know again who the quarterback is, but if it is Brady and there is a change in the backfield, you know, and it's a Giovanni Bernard type of guy. And then Keyshawn Vaughn, I don't know if he showed enough to be the lead guy, but I think he showed maybe he has an opportunity, especially given what their salary cap might end up being with how they spend money.

So Keyshawn Vaughn, somebody that just, you know, late round pick is somebody that I would look at. And same thing with Jared Patterson, another guy that I like just knowing that Antonio Gibson's injury track record, if he does have to miss time,

remember he played through all those injuries. Patterson probably going to be number two on the depth chart there. So somebody I will also look at with a late-round pick. And then just to kind of throw in a breakout, J.K. Dobbins, I think we talked about it this year being a breakout guy. Last year, he's going to be a breakout guy. I think if he's healthy, knowing what this team does with their running backs, he should have a chance to come back from that ACL and be 100%.

All right, let's go to the bust. So, Dave, I'll go back with you. Who's a bust that you're probably going to avoid in 2022? Well, we talked about Saquon. Or not Saquon. I'm sorry. Maybe that was a Freudian slip. What was that? We talked about Ezekiel Elliott. I think that he's kind of an obvious

bust. Where did Damian Harris go in our half PPR? I wonder if that's a little too high for him. Just to put that in context, we talked about this in both drafts. It was George Maselli. He's a Patriots guy. We all agreed in every recap that we've done of these drafts,

none of us are taking Damian Harris that high. Sure. So I don't mind Harris as an RB2 to start the year. I just don't think that that's the right spot for him. Right. And I'm worried. Ramondre Stevenson, if you were going to tell me that I couldn't use Michael Carter as a breakout, I was going to tell you that Ramondre Stevenson has

breakout potential. There were times this year where he looked better as a runner than Damian Harris did. We've seen him do well as a receiver. Can he do it without an injury? I think it'll be hard for him to overtake Damian Harris. I think it'll be hard. Possible, but I think it'll be hard for him to overtake Damian Harris. I think it'll be hard. Possible, but I think it'll be hard.

We know that Harris is not a big pass catcher, touchdown-reliant type of a running back there. Don't want to take him too soon. Yeah, one guy I had listed as sleeper was James White, too. I was surprised that – He's a free agent. I don't know if he's going to be back there. No, but I think anywhere he goes. But if he does come back to New England,

he could be somebody that maybe Brady says, hey, if I'm going to play back there. No, but I think anywhere he goes. But if he does come back to New England, but he could be somebody that maybe Brady says, hey, if I'm going to play, go get him, knowing what their relationship is. Oh, my God. I wouldn't overlook him in PPR. So who's your bust? Harris? Yeah, let's say Harris is the bust.

Okay. And you made your case for Zeke earlier as well. Sure. So I have two busts. Where would you take Zeke, though? Round four? Yeah, I think i'd i'd settle for him around there if i took a couple of receivers early and he was one of the last

best guys but i i wouldn't feel great chris what about you who's the bus you're looking at harris was the obvious choice for me i don't think things like obviously injuries and some inconsistent playing time but in terms of the production you got from him i'm not sure you could really expect all that much better from damian Harris. 15 touchdowns, almost 1,000 yards in 15 games, 1,100 yards in 16-game pace overall. That's probably about what I would expect in something like a best-case scenario for Harris. He finishes RB19 per game, so I just don't think there's a path for him being much more than that you know maybe he could be 15 or something like that but it just it's not a skill set that

is worth targeting in fantasy if he was my number four running back i might be okay with it heading into 2022 but not someone at all i'd want to have in my starting lineup okay so we'll see what happens again with uh with what stevens does they got to bring in a receiver too, uh, in new England, because I know the tight ends, they didn't materialize. Uh, you got some good moments from, from Aguilar and born and obviously Jacoby Myers, but that's something they really have to do is help Mac Jones in the receiving department and probably not draft anybody because they have a terrible track record when they draft wide receivers. Uh, for me, I'll go back to a guy I said on, on FFT and five. And also we talked about this a little bit on Monday show. If Aaron Rogers leaves the Packers, I'll go back to a guy I said on, on FFT and five. And also we talked about this a little bit on Monday show.

If Aaron Rogers leaves the Packers, I probably will not be drafting Aaron Jones in the first three rounds. Um, I, I think, you know, you just look at the split that will be coming once again with AJ Dillon and knowing that the points will come down. If the quarterback is certainly Jordan love, even if it is another veteran guy, that's not Aaron Rogers. So, uh, Aaron Jones makes me a little bit nervous. So, uh, probably around four pick at the earliest for me. But if Rodgers is there, that changes things.

But if Rodgers is gone, Aaron Jones is somebody I will probably be avoiding. But we'll get a lot more into our running back conversations throughout the course of the offseason. Adam will do a much better job navigating that conversation than I did. And we welcome him back on Thursday's show once he's happy and recovered from the loss of the turnover change. So great job, Dave. Great job, Chris. Thanks everybody for watching. Remember, please hit the like button and we'll be back on Thursday to preview the AFC and the NFC championship games, as well as look ahead to the wide receiver position for the 2022 season.