Fantasy Football Today - How to Draft From Picks 1 to 9: Dominate Your Fantasy Draft! (08/19 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: August 19, 2026

Help us raise money for St. Jude Children's Hospital here: https://tinyurl.com/FFTDonate2026Adam, Jamey and Heath have your ultimate fantasy football draft strategy for picks 1-9, with advice to help you build a winning roster from any spot. The guys kick things off with news and notes (3:06), including the signing of Najee Harris and what it means for the Giants backfield. They then evaluate quarterback and tight end value (10:16), dive into the Round 5 running backs (13:41), and explain how your early-round approach can impact those later decisions. Finally, they break down the best strategies for picks 1-3 (22:30), 4-6 (43:10), and 7-9 (1:00:12), showing how your draft position impacts not just your first pick, but your overall roster construction throughout the draft.Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcastsWatch FFT on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

This is fantasy football today from CBS Sports. What a play! Can you believe this? It's a no idea. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races and he stays on his feet. It's just going to go the distance. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath.

What's up everybody? Wednesday, August 19th. Welcome with the show. It's fantasy football today. It's Adam, Jamie, and Heath. And we are telling you how to pick from each spot in the draft. First three picks, four through six, seven through nine, ten through twelve. Strategies in a 12 team league.

You know, when do you draft that quarterback, when you draft that tight end, so on and so forth. You start running back, running back. Does your first pick get influenced by who you think is going to be available in the second round? That decision comes into play if you have the second or third pick in your draft. Anyway, good morning, Jamie. Good morning, Adam. Welcome to Florida. Oh, yeah, I love it.

That heat. I love it. Give you all that heat. give me that 93 degrees heath what's up i do think it's going to play in your favor i haven't released my odds yet i guess i need maybe i'll do that at the end of the show yet because i think i've been within a half of a game each of the last two years yeah you've been really good um yeah i'm curious to see where you're at adam's winning this year yeah well i don't know about that uh that you should know because if you're making odds the achilles is barking a little bit but oh

excuses already yeah i've got the one early odd that i can can release. This is, this is scheduled for best two out of three. Is that right? It's first to win two sets. Yeah, but there'll be a 10 point tiebreaker instead of a third set if we get there. So we're up to minus 150 on the match not making it to someone winning two sets and someone having to pull out. And the money is coming in on a withdrawal. All right. Well, here's the retires. Are you going to take that as a like, yes. You really won this? Yes. So I got to take whatever I can get. So let's Let's get into the show here. We have a lot of news, big news with Alvin Camara and much more.

But the Giants signed Najee Harris. Heath does this matter? We're going to find out if it matters. But yeah, I think it possibly is a bad thing for Tyrone Tracy. And I think it has to be at least a little bit of ding on Camp Scataboo because it wasn't like they saw. And listen, they had talked to Najee Harris before Tyrone Tracy completely, apparently blew his assignment. But the fact that him doing that didn't make them think, okay, we'll just play Cam Scataboo even more. We need to go find somebody else to do that job. So yeah, it matters a little bit.

Okay. So is Cam Scadaboo a top 48 player for you? Yes. Jamie? No. Because of the Naji thing? He was already like 46, 47 already. So like I put him, I had him ahead of Judkins. I put Jackins ahead of him. I had him. I think I already moved Swift ahead of him with the Monongai news. So that probably bumped him back a spot or two. So yeah, now he's in round five. I will say that like the one clip I saw of Najee running through some tackling dummies, I mean, he looked like he was moving okay. I mean, he never was moving great. All right. He's never been a great running back. He's coming off of torn Achilles. He himself says he's not in football shape, so I don't want to overreact.

Just to Heath's point, the workout was scheduled before the preseason game. So, Najee was coming no matter what. And the first rep in practice yesterday in team drills, Tracy took the first handoff. So I don't know if that was, hey, we're showing confidence in him. So look, if Najee makes the final roster, then I think we have an issue. There's a long way to go. There was a report a few weeks ago that the Giants wanted to add to their running back room. So not a huge surprise, I guess.

Mike Evans, after I put him on my all-in list, yesterday on FFT Express, he has tightness. He's already missed two weeks with a quad injury. Now Mike Evans has tightness. Would you guys draft him in the fifth round, Mike Evans? Late fifth. No. I mean, I've been out on Mike Evans, so I'm out still. Kyle Menangai is week to week.

Breeze Hall is out two to three weeks with a groin injury. Josh Jacobs returned to practice. Top 30 pick, Josh Jacobs? No, just outside. Okay, I think he went 23rd in the draft we're going to look at today, which could be a perfectly fine pick if he doesn't miss any time. All right, here's one. Alvin Camara Heath out about a month with a knee injury.

What does this mean for Travis A. Chan? Well, it's not just this, but it's the combination of the Naji signing and the Jeremiah Love injury and the Breeze Hall injury. I think Jamie and I have both talked about A. Chan being drafted too high. maybe even called him a bust. I made a public proclamation, and I'm making it here. Taking that all back.

He is a top 15 running back. He's a fine pick in round three. Round three. I wouldn't take him in round three, but he's definitely moved up three or four spots. So he was behind Scadaboo. He's ahead of Scataboo. I'm still torn between him and Breece Hall

just because of, I think there's still a little bit more upside for Hall. If he's right, but look, the injury is probably something that I should reconsider, but round four for sure. I was afraid to take him in round four. So agree with Heath.

He's no longer bust. There's kind of a great feeling in fan. I feel bad saying this because it's at the expense of Alvin Camara. But I drafted Travis A. Chan yesterday before the news came out. And now it's, you know, that feeling when it gains much value. Was this a real draft? Yeah, yeah. It's in my 14 team best ball flex league.

I mean, it's a terrible thing to say and you're a terrible person, but I was really going to blast you if you said that about a mock. I mean, again, just keep in mind, same thing like with Monongai if you're drafting Swift. These guys are not out for the season. They're just out for the start of the year, potentially. I do think that it is more possible that Camara, not because we know anything about the severity of the injury, but just at his age and what he looked like last year, this could have a pretty significant impact in my, or it is my projections at least. Okay.

Also, I want to get your thoughts on this team name. You know, you have to kind of see it. So you're telling me there's E-T-I-E-N-N-C-E. What do you think about that? You're telling me there's A-Chance. Yeah, I saw when you posted it. It was terrible then. I think it's great.

Why wouldn't, why? Because it's not clever with A-Chance. Because it's not clever with Devon A-C-Chand. It's clever with Travis A-Chance. No, you spell E-T-N the right way and just put an S at the end. I don't think so. That's H. So you're telling me.

me there's a chance? I don't think so. I think it's a different sound at the end there. All right, let's get back to the news and notes. Running back, Trey Benson for the Cardinals, he participated in a practice in some capacity. Keylon Black returned to practice in some

capacity for San Francisco. Jadon Blue has a shoulder injury for Dallas. Quentin Johnston limped off. I just want to say that, no, that's a regular size shower. Oh, man. We're looking at comments here.

And Quentin Johnson lipped off. He's fine. Seth McGowan appears to be the number two running back in Indianapolis behind Jonathan Taylor. Parker Washington, day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. Jalen McMillan back for the Bucks. Keon Coleman was in a walking boot. Jaden Higgins for Houston, he left with an injury. I don't have any update on that.

Tyquan Thornton for the Chiefs. He has a hamstring strain. And Jets' tight end Kenyon, Sadiq, is expected to be ready for week one. All right, we're about to get into the crux of the show, drafting from each position. But I'll remind you again, we are one week away from our draftathon show, our live stream. It's going to have some great guests from around the industry. That's going to be on Wednesday, August 26th. And we've got the tennis match tomorrow 4.30 p.m. Eastern.

You can see that YouTube.com slash fantasy football today. You can bid to be on Team Adam or Team Dan, and that means you're going to share a team. The highest bidder shares a team in the Fantasy Football Today League. And also there's a little bit of stakes there depending on who wins the match. But there's so much more to bid on, including spots in the podcast league, spots in the leftover league, spots in the Eliminator League, spots in the Beyond the Boxcored Dynasty League. Go to the auction house at tiny URL.com slash FFT donate 2026. Tiny URL.com slash FFT donate 2026. I think the team Adam, team Dan, is actually not in the auction house section, but the rest of it is in the auction house section.

So great things to bid on. are you kind of running out of time if you want to be in those leagues. And we're all doing it to raise money for St. Jude. We're somewhere around $125,000 right now. Okay. Drafting in each position, before we look at picks one through three, that's where we'll start. Just a general thought. It seems like, I guess, with quarterback and tight end, Jamie, this is my opinion, and I'll ask you if you agree.

In terms of quarterback and tight end, it seems like there's kind of value all. over the board in different spots. So I don't know if you have to really go into the draft thinking about where you're targeting a tight end or a quarterback except for maybe the first three tight ends. But it's, you know, you can go greater later, middle rounds at either of those positions, in my opinion, takes a little bit of the stress off. Do you sort of agree with that? There's value sort of everywhere at quarterback and tight end?

Yeah, I think just if you're going to throw the tight ends in. sort of a theory of having a strategy, you should probably do that with Josh Allen, too, because if you want to get him, you know, you have to make a little bit of an effort to do so. But yeah, you're right. I think it's just one of those things.

Quarterback is easy to sort of just, I'll play the board. I'll take the value, as we talked about yesterday. You know, Dave says he's, you know, waiting to steal the right player, you know, so if ADP holds and it's Allen in round two and then Lamar Jackson,

late round four, early round five, like that's ridiculous, you know, and then the trickle-down effect from I think tight end, like you said, it's the first three guys. Really, I think the tier or the group that defines the position is four through eight because that's where I think you have to make a call of. Okay, now the three guys are off the board. Do I want Tyler Warren in round five?

Do I want the next trio, which is going to be in any order of Leporta, Pitts, Kraft, and when do I want to pull a trigger on that? So that's really, I think, where the strategy comes into play with Tiden is after the first three guys come off the board. But yes, you can still get great value. with Kittle Kelsey likely Goddert relatively late or at least relatively good value and be fine. And Heath, you know, I don't want to be so repetitive on this show because we talk so much about it's not a bad idea to start running back, running back if you can get two of the top 12 and then in rounds three and four, the wide receiver value is pretty good.

Maybe this is more of a if you have a later pick in round one strategy. But you could certainly start your team with, you know, James Cook. and Omari and Hampton, and then Zay Flowers and Ladd-McConkey, or Devante Smith and Zay Flowers, or Teterol, McMillan, and Garrett Wilson, some combination of that, right? But there was a point in the draft when I was just looking at the draft board. Thomas, do you want to throw up the draft board from our spotlight draft last week?

There was a point in the draft that I don't think I've brought up enough. And to me, it's R.B, the running backs are in green here. It's R.B, I would say, 23-ish or so. So you see Travis A. Chan going in around five. I don't think that's going to happen very often. DeAndre Swift, maybe he'll use early round five or something. But it's that point in the draft like Bucky Irving and maybe David Montgomery. Where is David Montgomery on this draft?

I don't even see him. But he should be there somewhere. But Bucky Irving and David Montgomery, I think they come off the board. There's something like RB 23-ish. I think after that is this area of running back, Trayvion, Henderson, Bejel Tootin. Oh, there's Montgomery. Montgomery was a little bit of a steal in round six maybe. Then you got Judarian Price, Tony Pollard, the Steelers guys, Jonathan Brooks maybe.

I think to me, again, you tell me if you agree or disagree, that's a drop off in tier. And for the people drafting late in round one, I don't feel confident that you're going to get to the back end of the top 23. I think they might be off the board by the time your pick comes up in round five. And you're going to have to decide, do I want Bejal Tootin here? Do I want Travion Henderson? Do I want Brooks? Do I want Chadarian Price? Do you see it that way at running back?

So I don't agree with that being the drop off of a tier. And I did. I think I sent it in last night. So I think it'll publish today. I'm updating my tiers this week. So you can go on the site and see all of those. And what you will find is that Bucky Irving and David Montgomery are kind of part of a projections mega tier for me that includes a lot of running backs that are going to be available

in rep the part of your question that maybe makes sense is if you're picking like first in round five and you don't pick again till the end of round six um then maybe i could see it um but but i think a lot of times you get one of those guys in the megatier that are still there okay but your megatieres actually starts earlier than, I guess, what my megatier would be. So you're, so, because I'm thinking, all right, in round five, I still might be able to get Scataboo or Judkins or Swift or Buckie Irving or David Montgomery, something like that. I'd be okay with that. And I think Scataboo, Judkins, Swift are better than Irving and Montgomery.

But what I really don't want is I don't want my RB to, I mean, I'm okay with it. But I just, I recognize like Trayvon Henderson and Bejel Tootin, um, Tony Pollard, Judarian, Price, Jonathan Brooks, Steelers, guys, whatever. Like, that's definitely different from the guys before them. Your starts even earlier than that. So it seems like round five. So, yeah, I basically put, I don't, I don't know. I'm saying no, I don't agree with that.

I put Pollard and Bucky and the Patriots and the Steelers and Tutton and Montgomery, all in the same group. Okay, that's fine. But it's definitely different than like Swift Scataboo Judkins. Yes. Yeah. And there's a chance you can get those guys like early in round five. I think if you have a late pick in round five, there's pretty much no chance you're getting that tier of running back.

Agreed. Yeah. Jamie, your take on this? The way our drafts have played out, late round five seems like significantly worse for running back prospects to me than early round five, in my opinion. How about you, do you see that at all? Yeah, I mean, look, again, we're going to see some movement now because of the potential of both Swift and H.N. moving up in ADP, Travis H.N. moving up in ADP. And I think how we're going to view them. I think scataboo is going to fall a little bit, just by nature of them adding another running back, certainly another running back that has name value. So there's going to be a little bit of a shift there. Tony Pollard, not having the offense not looking great for the Titans and then him getting a little bit banged up, you know, is going to change some things. I think the reports from the Patriots and now,

starting to see a little bit of a shift. I know Dave and I have already made the move of putting Ramandre ahead of Trevion. I don't know if Heath will do the same thing, just how strong of a camp that Ramandres had. Rico Dowell may be separating himself a little bit. So I think there could be some movement there. I'm with you, though. I think it's kind of the cutoff is after really bucky. And then you get that group of about seven, eight guys that starts with Tutin, Price,

Pollard, the Steelers guys, all the guys you mentioned. I think that's kind of where you get a little bit more concerned about, okay, am I good enough there? But I think really, once we're going to get into this, the strategy is, and I did this last night in the mock draft that we did with the St. Jude, the people donated to St. Jude, is I purposely passed on C.D. Lamb and Justin Jefferson at the turn, I had the 12 pick and did go running back, running back to see how it would play out. And really, I feel so much more comfortable with how my roster looks because of the receiver depth that you get in rounds three, four, five, and even round six. And so, you know, not to change the draft that we're talking about

here, but that was, I started with Ashton Genty and Ken Walker. I took Colston Lovell in around three, but then I still got Garrett Wilson, Mike Evans, Parker Washington, and I love that. So I think just if you're comfortable enough, not having a number one receiver by definition, then you should be in a good spot if you go running back, running back to start. All right. So I think we all see the position fairly similarly. The difference might be a one or two running backs in this tier,

like Heath is saying David Montgomery and Bejel Tutton, sorry, Dave Montgomery and Bucky Irving are all part of this big tier with Tutin and Henderson, etc. Jamie mentioned, I would put Montgomery and Bucky a little bit ahead of that.

Jamie mentioned Bucky, but I didn't hear what your thoughts on Montgomery. I like Montgomery better than Bucky. Okay, okay. All right. So just something to keep in mind. And the draft we're looking at today, this is a good episode, by the way,

if you don't typically watch on YouTube, to look at YouTube.com slash fantasy football today. Very, a little surprising that teams 10, 11, and 12, none of them went running back, running back, which is cool. And we get to see, like, you could easily work. We're talking about that all the time, going running back, running back there,

and then two wide receivers, or maybe Colson Loveland and a wide receiver with three, four, but none of them went running back, running back. They all went some combination of a running back and a receiver. All right, we're going to take a break. Be aware. We did this draft. last Friday.

No, I'm sorry, last Wednesday, excuse me, so a week ago today. Yeah. And prior to the Jeremiah Love News, there's also half PPR. Okay. Not full. Yeah, even more a reason to go running back,

running back, I would say. But, okay, we will be right back after this to get into how to draft from each position on fantasy football today. My companion for this summer season has been Z biotics. Let me tell you why. Just headed out to a concert at Pier 17. Howlmouth?

What a show. I got home at 3 a.m. And I realized 8 a.m. Tea time. What am I going to do? I got a big match. No worries at all. I took Zbiotics the night before, had a few drinks,

woke up the next day like nothing happened, got to that course at 7 a.m., warmed up and won my match. Zbiotics, pre-alcohol probiotic drink is the world's. first genetically engineered probiotic. It was invented by PhD scientists to break down acetaldehyde, a byproduct of drinking alcohol. Pre-alcohol produces an enzyme that is designed to break down this byproduct. Make pre-alcohol your first drink of the night, drink responsibly, and enjoy your next day activities. Zbiotics has sold more than 14 million bottles and earn the trust of thousands, including us. Try for yourself today and if you are unsatisfied, they will

be fun your entire order. No questions asked. Head to zbiotics.com backslash FFT. Code FFT for 15% off your first order. In a 12 team league, the running backs versus wide receivers at the two three turn seems like wide receiver is typically stronger. So with that said, first question I would have looking at picks one through three here is does round two affect your round one pick in any way, Heath? I'm sorry, I was having some technical difficulties, and you're going to have to repeat the question. Sure.

So I didn't even ask it that well. So thanks for giving me a mulligan here. Yeah. So the running, the wide receivers are better at the two, three turn than the running backs in most drafts. You're looking at George Pickens and Rishi Rice and Nico Collins, guys like that, Malik neighbors, maybe like him their Jacobs, We like the wide receivers better, I think, in general.

Does that impact your, if you're picking one through three, does that knowledge impact your first round pick in any way? I mean, I've all off-season had it Gibbs-Bijon Chase. That wasn't really because of that. But it's pretty clear for me those two running backs at the top, and then there's no running back that's in contention for that pick when Chase is being taken, so no. Okay.

I was probably the only one who was taking chase over Bijan, but it does give me a little bit of pause to think. I guess if I were going to take Chase second, I would hope that, well, that doesn't matter. I mean, if I was thinking third, I would hope that I might be able to get like two of the Scataboo Judkins-Swift ETN, or A-chan, rather, group in rounds four and five.

I don't know about taking a run-back in round three. I think to your question, though, about what you do in round one, does that impact what you're going to do in round two? We are starting to see a very segmented draft based on ADP, and it's reflective in a lot of the ways our drafts have gone to. Not this one in particular because of where Amon Ross St. Brown is, but you're typically seeing two running backs at the start, four receivers next, and then based on ADP, all running backs to close out the first round. Now, C.D. Lamb will work his way into that conversation. Jefferson will work his way into that conversation. I don't know if any other receiver creeps into that realm yet, but that's kind of the way the draft is.

So if you kind of know where you're picking already, and I haven't really seen it in a lot of our drafts again, ADP still says it's happening. But the cutoff, if you're watching the show on YouTube, it's Amari and Hampton with the seventh pick in the second round, right? One, two, three, four, five, six. Yep, the seventh pick in the second round. So it's almost very difficult to go in thinking that, okay, if I take Jamar Chase, I'm going to still get a top tall running back.

I don't think it's going to happen. So you can almost go with the idea of if I take Gibbs or Bijan, I'm probably going receiver, receiver or receiver tight end because I don't think at this point is worth reaching for love or Jacobs or Chiron or Javante, whichever running back you think is there. And then I think if you're taking the receivers, you almost think you're committing yourself to receive a receiver receiver, receiver tight end as well. Yep. Wait, say that one more time.

If you take two receivers. If you take Chase or Puka or JSN or St. Brown, whatever order that you have them, you should have an idea of, I'm probably starting receiver, receiver. And I may be starting receiver, receiver, receiver with the way some of the guys we wanted to take early round three

have kind of faltered. Would you ever? do that in a two receiver league start with three receivers. Two receiver and reflex, absolutely. As long as it's full PPR. Yep. Yeah, I think I'd rather have

the tight end than the three receivers, but. But then you may be looking at like Malik Navors, Devonte Smith. Well, yeah, you could take Bowers-McBride, that's fine. But I thought the question was, would you ever not take a running back in the first three rounds?

I mean, that can certainly, yeah, I mean, that certainly could be the question. I kind of approach it at this point. Again, you don't want to ever pigeonhole yourself to I'm taking these players or this position until you see the draft unfold. But I kind of go in with the understanding of if I have three, four, five, or six draft slot, I'm probably going receiver, receiver, receiver tight end, probably looking receiver around three and then trying to get one or two of those guys in the group that you continue to mention of. hopefully A. Chan Swift, Judkins, Scatibu, Montgomery, Bucky. If I get to those guys, I'm thrilled with it. If I get the right start. Let's repeat this. That was really important here.

So you're basically saying if you start off your draft with one of Chase, JSN, Puka, or St. Brown, you're probably picking third through sixth in this scenario. and I don't know that, I mean, if you have the fifth or sixth pick, I think you have a decent chance of getting a top 12 running back in round two, Ken Walker, Derek Henry, something like that. Agreed, but I would not anticipate it, though. Okay. But let's just review.

Like, I'm not going into the draft saying, oh, I'm definitely taking Puka and Drake London, you know, like I did in the flex draft. Like, I'm not anticipating that. I'm sorry, I'm not planning on that. But that's kind of the anticipation is that I'm looking probably two receivers. If any of those top 12 running backs fall to you in round two, I think you got to pounce on it.

Because like he said, those receivers in early round three, where it's, you know, the Devante Smith, Zayflowers, hopefully still Chris Oliva, Malik neighbors. If you love those guys, like I don't see a huge drop-off from where, like, Nico Collins, George Pickens are right now. There's drop-off, but I don't think it's huge drop-off. There's a huge drop-off in the running backs. Okay.

So you want to just repeat that strategy one more time, Jamie? if you start your draft of one of those top four wide receivers, you're expecting to do what, 12 team league? I'm expecting to be wide receiver, wide receiver, wide receiver, wide receiver at the start, or wide receiver, bowers in round two, or wide receiver, wide receiver, McBride in round three,

or wide receiver, wide receiver, as well, because I just think, like, you don't want to be reaching for players that aren't as high end, don't have as much high end potential as maybe a Zay Flowers or Devante Smith or Malique neighbors, those type of guys in round three,

but certainly in round three. round two when you're talking about London, AJ Brown, Nico Collins, George Pickens, like you can still get studs and they're available to you without reaching for Jacobs or Chiron or one of those guys. And then it's kind of expecting to look in the running back position

starting in round four. Yeah, however, we keep talking about top 12 running backs. I'll just say them. Gibbs, Bejohn, Taylor, McCaffrey, Cook, A. Chan, Genty, Chase Brown, Barkley, Henry, Hampton Walker. If one of those guys becomes available in round two and you took a wide receiver in

round one, you're probably going with the running back, one of the top 12 running backs in round two, right? One billion percent. Right. And less London's there because he falls to 18 sometimes. Okay. So we think speaking about picks one through three, your chances of getting that top 12 running back in round two are pretty slim. Picks four through six, let's call it 50-50 that you might be able to get one of those top 12 running backs in round two. So just be prepared for either scenario here. I think if you go, this is not necessarily a picks one through three thing, but if you went wide receiver, wide receiver, wide receiver with your first three picks, does that take

Colson Loveland off the board for you in round four? No, no, because again, you know, you first off again, see the board, see how it's playing itself out if you're comfortable enough with David Montgomery as your first running back or Bucking Irving as your first running back and then just start throwing a lot of capital at the position of Ramandre Stevenson or J.K. Dobbins or Jacori-Crossi Merritt. Like there's going to be players who emerge there. You're not going to love what your running backs look like clearly. But now you hopefully have dominated receiver and have a guy who could be a top number one type. It could be the best tight end in fantasy. You know, so you've got to

to be comfortable enough with that. But it's, are you, so I guess the tradeoff would probably be Achan Swift, Loveland, you know, or one of those two guys versus Loveland. Because like if it's Judkins or Scatibu, I'm taking Loveland all day long. What if it's E.T.N. Sorry, Travis H. That's what I'm saying. Like that's a tough of call of the point.

Okay. Heath, speaking, getting back to picks one through three, what is your quarterback strategy, if anything? And if you're looking at this draft, Josh Allen went 47th. So anytime you see a CBS draft, the Josh Allen ADP is never going to match up. The other quarterbacks are going to actually get closer to what ADP is. Lamar Jackson going in round five,

that typically doesn't happen. He's more of a round four pick. But like Josh Allen. The other guys went in round six. Yeah, those guys are round five picks typically. But it is really insane that like we are the kind of like the flagship of the six point per pass touchdown.

And also if you see a CBS draft, you're going to see the quarterback's too low. But. Yeah, what's your quarterback strategy? I don't, quarterback is not a position that I build a strategy on. It's more about if there's not somebody else that I love there, then I will take one. But I think at the one through three for the majority of normal people, I'm not going to take him in the first two rounds and he's not going,

Josh Allen isn't going to be there in round three and I'm not going to take any other quarterback. So. How about let's say that you're probably, you are not going to be taking, quarterback. If you have picks one through three, you're not going to be taking a quarterback in the first three rounds. Would you take Lamar Jackson at the four or five turn? That's, that's right. If somebody was, and this happens in a couple of my leagues that are on CPS, if somebody was drafting, like using my rankings and all of the other guys that I liked were gone, then I have Lamar Jackson, Drake May, Jaden, Daniels, all kind of right there at the

four or five turn. I think that would be fine. I don't ever do that. because I'd take DeAndre Swift in round four and sometimes he's gone. Or sometimes he's still available. Or Quinn Sean Judkins. But yes, if every other player I liked was gone, Lamar I have at 47, May at 48, Daniels at 49, then I would take one of those guys.

Yeah. I really like the, you know, Jackson if it gets the round five, love it. But May, Danielsboro in round five. But it's like, I kind of, that's usually for me later in round five because I you know if A-chan or Swift or Scataboo or Judkins or are on the board that's hard for me to take a quarterback there Jamie would you take quarterbacks two through five in your rankings at the early late round four early part of round five it all comes down to who I'm drafting with so you know I hate to keep saying that but so like if if it's totally random people

just met them for the first time and I'm doing a random draft uh the answer would probably be no If I know like, okay, I know there's a quarterback run coming and I really want this guy, then maybe so. But at that point, I think you usually see if there's that spot in the running back wide receiver rankings where it just dries up. And so then you pivot and you feel like you're getting some of that's pretty good. All right. Also, just for a reference, because I don't think this is going to be a thing that's available to people at all, Lamar Jackson at the end of round four. And in Fantasy Pro's ADP, he's up to 42 now. He's at 41 or 40 in CBS ADP.

He's going to be a round three pick. Okay. So what was I going to say? Oh, this, it picks one through three, you have to know how you feel about Bowers and McBride. Right. I mean, these guys are clearly in play with the second or the third round picks. And the thing about Loveland is if you look at our drafts, Loveland will go late in round three or early in round four.

In this draft, he went mid-round four. But his ADP is 44th and on Fantasy Pro is 45th on. CBS is basically where he went here. You're probably not getting Loveland in round four. So if you want a top three tight end, you got to go Bowers or McBride late in round two or early in round three. Heath, how do you feel about that? I would take Bowers early in round three.

I would take Loveland if he's there late in round four. You would not take McBride early in round three? No, I have Loveland ahead of McBride. Jamie, how do you feel about taking Bowers or McBride around the two, three turn, and Loveland, if he makes it there in round four? Bowers, as early as 20. McBride,

early part of round three. Loveland, late part of round three, early round four. Yeah. I mean, if I knew that Loveland was going to fall to me in round four, I would not even think about Bowers and McBride. I would just take Loveland a round four, but you can't approach it even thinking that's a chance.

It's a pleasant surprise if it happens, but you can't think, oh, I'm going to get Loveland in round four. You probably not. I guess let me ask this question. Would you have preferred, looking at your job, you started McCaffrey and Hampton with your first two picks, would you have preferred Loveland and then DJ Moore or Higgins and James Williams? No, Giovante. No, Javante, excuse me.

All right, yeah, McCaffrey. So I had the six pick and I went McAfrey, Hampton. This is half PPR. Higgins round three. Yeah, I could have taken Loveland there. No, I thought that was a little too early for Loveland. Certainly I could see him hitting that ADP. I wasn't going to take him there.

What a wide receiver core you drafted in this league. Oh, horrible. But that's the price you pay when you, when I, look, Javante Williams, it was too good to pass up at 43rd overall. I couldn't take a DJ more there or Burden or Evans or something like that. But no, I, I, that's the price you pay. And then Lamar Jackson at 54.

It's okay to be weak at positions. If I'm great at running back, I have a great quarterback, you know, whatever. It's okay. Let's go to. I wonder though, if you take. We're not there yet. We got to get to picks four through six.

Oh, the first doesn't matter. The strategy that matters. All right, go ahead, go ahead. I'm just saying, like, because you did something what a lot of people should do is you've got a gift. Giovante Williams in round four is a gift. Yeah. And so then I think it's the tough call is, okay, three receiver league, do I take Lamar Jackson there or Terry McClure in there?

Just, you know, next receiver. This thing that really stands out to me. and we, I think, all have it this way. But all Adam had to do is take them on Ross St. Brown at 6. Right. Yeah. Full PPR, I probably would have, well, not necessarily. I don't know.

I was still on McCaffrey. But fair enough, I could have taken St. Brown. But I mean, I'm not having no problem having Christian McCaffrey on my team. That's it for picks one through three. You have to know how you feel about Bowers and McBride. You're probably not getting LaPorte a late. We're not telling you, we're not advising to take Johnson. Josh Allen at the two three turn.

And just be aware that at that two three turn, the wide receivers are going to be better than the running backs. So if you're deciding between Bejohn and Chase at pick two, that could be the deciding factor for you saying, I'm going to take Bejohn because I'm going to like my wide receivers better at the two, three turn. And yeah, we have, by the way, if you're not watching, we have three completely different builds in the first three rounds.

We have Gibbs, the number of team one went Gibbs, Pickens, McBride. Team two went Bijon Jacobs Rice. And team three was Jamie, Chase, Brock Bowers, and Jeremiah Love before the injury. Now, get out of here. Get out of here. Get Jeremiah Love. Stop.

Dan sitting me with a golf club. Of course he has a golf club in his hand. Not a tennis racket. Yes. Jamie, who would you take there? You had Chase, then Bowers. You took Jeremiah Love with the third pick of round three. If you were doing this draft again, who would you have taken?

I would have taken Devante Smith. Devonte Smith. Okay. Let's take a break. I probably are neighbors at this point. Yeah, neighbors. Alave was actually on the board. You could have taken Alabe, but this was before the-

Oh, yeah, I would have taken Al-Avah. All right. We'll be right back after this on fantasy football today. Okay, see, Dan, if you see him in the background, he feels like he has to hit me with a golf club. He feels he has to go Tanya Harding. Can I get one comment? I'll say this.

Adam may be skinny, but, man, does he look weak? I got no worries for tomorrow. All right, get out of here. It's a good combination. Picks four through six in our drafts. And all three of these teams started with a wide receiver. No, they didn't. I'm an idiot.

Oh, all three teams could start, could start with a wide receiver is what I meant to say in my notes here. Your own team did not. Yeah, I just read my notes wrong. I think oftentimes all three teams will start with a wide receiver. I went with Christian McCaffrey. There's one that's falling, and we'll see how far he falls, and that's Puka. Sure. Yeah. So some of these teams, at least two of these three teams are going to start wide receiver.

Jamie, you already talked about drafting from this spot. You're expecting to go receiver, receiver. I think there's a chance that teams five and six especially could see one of those running backs fall. In this case, it was Amari in Hampton. We got this question last night on the live stream. And I do think that there are people that are going to take this into account, especially they start doing mock drafts or do multiple leagues. Somebody asked, should I take Jonathan Taylor at four, knowing that I'm going to get a great receiver in round two. And so, like, if you have that much of a feeling about Taylor, I think McCaffrey's the other one that will probably, you know, come into the conversation if he gets back to practice

and he's healthy, I don't think it'll be any of the other guys that go that early. If you have that inclination, like, okay, I know what I'm looking at in round two versus what I'm looking at in round one. And there's the possibility of you could still take Taylor early, and as we see based on ADP, still get running back and around two. You know, the Walker, Henry, you know, Berkeley trio that falls to the back, or, you know, whatever ADP says, Hampton.

If you're comfortable with that, great. You know, just know that you're passing up one of the four best wide receivers that have an incredible resume and incredible projections for this year. I think at half PPR, I probably would actually have Taylor ranked at number four. He's above McCaffrey, my projections.

I'm pretty sure he was best. better than McCaffrey and half PPR last year. And I'm more concerned about a drop-off from McAfree than I am Taylor. So that half-p-R does make a pretty big difference when you're talking about receivers that are going to catch 100 passes versus a running back who might catch 40. They could be a way ahead of them in full PPR, and he might be ahead of them in half. I'll just say, I have the six-pick in a draft that's going on right now. I'm actually on the clock.

And it's a 14-team league. So I knew I was not getting a top 12 running back, 23rd overall, as well. my second pick in its 14 team league. And it was a half-PPR league. And I did not hesitate. I took a Jackson-Spin-Jigba. Just like, I'm not getting cute with it. I'm just going to take the best player.

I don't really care what the roster composition looks like here. So there are different schools of thought. Two weeks ago, two Tuesdays ago, Jamie, when we did the fan mock draft, I think the guy with the third pick took James Cook for this exact reason. He's like, I hate, yeah, go ahead. No, no, I just, I'm curious. Why do you think in a half-PPR league, where I think almost, if not all, projections will have Jonathan Taylor projected to score more points.

And he did score more points than JSN during his incredible year last year. Why do you think it's getting cute with it, taking Taylor over JSA? It's not. That's not. I meant it. It's a perfectly reasonable pick. I didn't mean that specifically Taylor versus JSN. I just meant I personally am just going to stick with who I think is the best player there.

I'm not going to play the board in round two with that round one pick. if we still have like the truly elite players like JSN was last year. But no, it's perfectly fine. All right. So that's just something to consider you have a better chance of getting that top 12 running back, but still not a great chance to get that top 12 running back in round two. And again, you have to know how you feel about Bowers and McBride. Jamie says Bowers as early as pick 20.

Heath would not take Bowers in round two from picks four through six. Would we both, Heath, I know Jamie would take McBride. Bride in round Bowers or McBride in round three from picks four through six. Is that a decent spot for you for McBride? I have McBride at the end of round three, so no. The end of round three. Okay, I'm sorry. Right, and you have Loveland ahead of him.

So most people are going to be fine with McBride if he falls to them in round three. Quarterback, I think, is basically the same thing here. I mean, maybe if Josh Allen falls to, has anybody taking Josh Allen if he falls to them in the middle of round three? Sure. Josh Allen in the middle of round three I probably will not but that's the time to start considering him I am the end of round three

Lamar Jackson in the middle of round four not for me no Lamar Jackson in the middle of round five yes yeah but it's not like we should stop doing that because it's just not going to happen okay how about

Burrow May Daniels in the middle of round five sure better Daniels in May for me than Burrow but yeah okay Um, Heath, what's your take on just picking four through six? Jamie gave his. What about?

No, I think, I think it's, it's very similar. Like, I had, um, I had the sixth pick in a couple of drafts a couple weeks ago, the FSG, a draft and a different one. And that's, I started, I think, both of them with three wide receivers or two wide receivers and a tight end. So I pretty much always will do that unless it's a half PPR. And then I think Taylor is in consideration there. Or unless.

A. Chan follows back into that pick four through six range because I have him ahead of a lot of these guys at the back end of the RB2s and he's he's the one that might fall. But I'm like even if I took a wide receiver in round one and Sequin or Henry falls, but Nico and or Pick and or Rice are still available, I'm taking them. I'll just start with the wide receivers. I got to be honest with you. I get it with, you know, kind of strategizing around. when those top 12 running backs are coming off the board and what that can mean for you in round two. And I always say the running back, the wide receivers are better in rounds three and four than the running backs just as a whole. I believe that.

But I still see plenty of opportunities to take Kyron Williams in round three. That's perfectly fine. Javante William, right? Like, it's not a bad thing to take. I don't want to make it seem like you shouldn't under any circumstances take a running back in round three. Right? When's the right time to do that

at picks 4 through 6, could you see yourself doing that, Heath? So in a full PPR league or a half PPR league, it's definitely different. In a full PPR league, I don't think I currently have a running back ranked between pick 21 and pick 35. So it's,

so I know, it's a big, round of wide receivers and tight-ins for me. Jamie, same question of you. No, I would take a running back in round three. I think there's still value for Giovante. I think there's still value for Jacobs now that he's back in practice. We just don't know if there's a suspension so that could change things.

And there's still value for Kyron there. I know that he's going to share with Corum, but he was still extremely productive last year. And his track record, I think, suggests that he's still going to be productive again, as long as he's healthy. I don't think he's getting benched for Corum. You can make a case, as he said, for Travis A-chan, now being a round three-pick. I think if you feel comfortable enough with Breece Hall, you can make a case he's still a round-three-pick. Jeremiah, I love if you're okay with the situation there.

So there's still lots of guys that come into play there. And I think, you know, based on what you're looking at, and that's a pretty, you know, decent enough group that I mentioned if your back end of round three, middle to the back end of round three, that, okay, maybe one of these guys falls into round four, and I can still take a great receiver here. but we're also seeing with that position, especially like neighbors still not 100%. Devante Smith still not 100%. Abuka's got the toe injury now.

We don't know where he's going to end up. And Luther Burden with his groin injury, like that's changed how that position I think has been sort of formed or forming. So there's different ways you can go with it. But I still think, yes, to answer your question, there are running backs worth taking in round three, just not early round three.

Yeah, I have H& and Kairn both in round three. They're just pick 35 and 36. That'd be Travis A. Chan. So let's take a look at the three builds here between picks four, five, and six. We've got two teams that went receiver, receiver, receiver. Now, this is a half PPR three receiver league plus a flex. And we have one team, my team that went running back, running back receiver. So we've got, I mean, personally, I think all three teams, I love all of them, just the starts, the three, the first three picks. JSN, team four was Jack. He went JSN, Niko Collins. Malik neighbors. You'd be happy about that, right? Love it. Yes. J.S.

Niko, neighbors. Do you like it better if it's J.S.N. Bauer's neighbors? Same. I think it's, you know, if you feel comfortable enough with the tight end, he got Tucker Kraft in a great spot. So I think it worked out really well.

I mean, I'd like it better if it was J.S. Pickens, Bowers, or neighbors, but it doesn't really matter, I don't think what names you put there. It's just that, like, those two teams pick four and five,

the fact that they were able to take those three wide receivers, which like I said, I've already done multiple times. And then one of them ends up with Scataboo, A. Chan, that won't happen anymore. And Juddhary and Price, one of them ends up with Judkins and Bucky Irving.

And the guy who got Achan there in round five could have taken Bucky or somebody could have taken, like, that's fantastic. That's exactly the way I want to draft from this point in the draft. Yeah. Okay, right. So again,

I'll just read the first six. picks then, right, for Team 4. J.S.N. Nico Collins, Malik neighbors, Cam Scataboo, Travis A. Chan. That's not a realistic pick at this point, I don't think. But things happen, right? I wouldn't have thought he'd go that late even before the Cameroon News. And Jadarian Price. So

JASN, Niko, neighbors, Scadabu, Travis Achan, Jadarian Price. Tucker Kraft. It's probably more realistic at this point. You just switch Scatabu and A.C. Yeah. Yeah, maybe. Or that's, maybe that's Bucky Irving. Like if that's in, if it's not Scataboo and A. If it's A. Chan and Bucky Irving, are you still happy with J.S.N.

Nico neighbors, H.N. Bucky Price? Yep. Yeah. Tucker Craft at Tide end and then a quarterback later, I'm sure it was really good. All right. Team 5 was Marone who like wins all of our leagues. He's awesome. Puka, A.J. Brown, Devante Smith. And then he goes Quinchon Judkins and then he gets Bucky Irving. Now let's say Bucky Irving had been off the board because in the previous scenario we gave Team 4 Bucky. And he goes, David Montgomery

there. Would you be cool with that bill, Jamie, Puka, A.J. Brown, Devante Smith, Judkins, David Montgomery, Sam Leporta. I like Montgomery better than Irving, so yes. Right. And I think you know, I asked, maybe it's a better question for Heath because you don't really, I think

you don't sense I'm getting is you don't like Irving and Montgomery as much as Jamie and I do based on the conversation we had a half hour ago. So if one of those ended up being your RB2, you went Puka, AJ Brown, Devante Smith, Quintan Judkins and either Bucky Irving or David Montgomery and then Sam Leporta, who you love in round six. Would you feel good with that team?

Yeah, I mean, I probably would have just taken Judkins and then taken Leporta in round five and then taken Pollard or somebody else in round six and then taking a few more running backs. Okay. Okay. And then my team is weird. I just want to bring up something real quick when you get to this because, you know, like you had the situation where Javante landed in your lap. there's going to be, you know, teams that start three wide receivers and you start to maybe get a little skittish about the running backs. He's just brought up a great point. Like, I'm going to take Judkins and then I'm going to pivot to another great player that I like in Sam LaPorter, you know, not to put words in your mouth, but I know that's how you feel.

Right. So, like, there's still going to be very good players. And Dan says this a lot. It's a thousand percent accurate. Your flex scores the same amount as your wide receiver to or you're running back to, right? It's not a different position in your lineup that scores less. So filling out your quote unquote starters or getting high-end backups can still help you win leagues. You don't have to necessarily say, oh, I have to reach for a second running back here.

I don't have to reach for, and I'm just throwing out of the name, I don't have to reach for Rico Dowdle because that's the next best running back on the board. And now I'm passing up three other great players or a great quarterback or a great tight end. Pivot. This is why you have to be flexible in drafts. So don't ever panic because I don't have my second running back filled or I didn't, you know, the draft didn't unfold the way that I. I wanted it to or I thought it was going to do. There's still going to be ways you can win your league by taking other great players, not filling positions.

Absolutely. And don't forget about the waiver wire. Your season's not over after you draft. My bill that's pick six is weird. I don't think you'll see a ton of running back, running back at pick six. But again, the last of the top 12 made it to me. And it happened to be Omari in Hampton in this draft as Ken Walker and Derek Henry went ahead of him. So I took McCaffrey in round one, Amarian Hampton.

I took T. Higgins. Now you look at this draft board. Obviously, if Olavé and Higgins are on the board, I would take Olave at this point. I took Higgins, whatever. That could be any wide receiver you want. It could be Abuca, Higgins, Flowers, Garrett Wilson, Ladd McConkey, Tetero McMillan, whoever you feel comfortable with there. And then I was certainly planning on taking Colson Loveland if he had fallen to me in round four.

He went the pick before me. and in my mind, I'm going McCaffrey-Hamton wide receiver. I'm, of course, thinking, if it's not Loveland, it's going to be a wide receiver in round four, but I couldn't pass off Javante Williams. And I would just say,

if you're in a league like this, I don't think anybody who's listening will be, and Josh Allen's there in the middle of round four. Just take Josh Allen, please. I mean, like I know why, because you're drafting in this group and you know that all the quarterback

are just going to fall this much. But there's a good chance if you just take Josh Allen, we're going to get another round and we're going to start having a quarterback run. Yeah, you're right. All right. It's a great point. But again, to Jamie's point, like, don't reach for a position. I'm not going to say, I need this wide receiver here when I like Javante Williams a lot more than the wide receivers.

And so my wide receivers kind of suck. Because then I took Lamar Jackson in round five because I couldn't pass that up. But I'm okay with it. I don't love Carnell Tate as my wide receivers. receiver two, but I don't know who I would have taken there. I think I would have reached for Chris Godwin or Quentin Johnston. And I have Josh Downs. Yeah, fair enough.

I have Josh Downs after that, and that was before the Keenan Allen thing. But, yeah, that's, I think if you start with a wide receiver, well, I won't say that. You can start with a running back. But if I had taken a wide receiver in round two, you know what? Just forget everything I said. Just take the value as it comes to you. I like the team. It's very top heavy, but I think I got great value in rounds four and five.

It makes my receivers kind of bad, but I can deal with it. But you should have, on paper, best running backs in this league, if they do what they're capable of doing. You should have a top two quarterback if he's healthy. And then it's figuring out the rest of your roster. I mean, Higgins is not the ideal wide receiver won, but he's close, especially if he stays healthy. I mean, like, you're fine. Yeah. All right.

So I guess to sum up picks four through six, you know, you could, You can get away with going receiver, receiver, receiver. We've established that. And if you get, yeah. I would even say it's preferred. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. No, it's okay. I would even say it's preferred.

Yeah. Loveland in round four is awesome. Trey McBride in round three is awesome. You could take Loveland in round three. If he falls to round four, that's great. Don't expect it to happen. Be pleasantly surprised if it does happen. Don't expect it to happen.

All right, pick seven through nine. We're going to end with this. I'm sorry if you have picks 10 through 12. We'll talk about that on tomorrow's show. I'll just say this. There's a write-up about this draft on CBSports.com. There'll be a write-up about the draft we had last night on the site as well by the end of the day. I had pick 12, but I'm going to focus the story on picking from that spot and just what I did by going running back, running back.

And we also have a pick-by-pick series on the website. Go to CBS.Sports.com slash fantasy. There are, you might have to Google these at this point because they've been a little, kind of buried, I think. but we wrote articles about how to pick from every spot. And it was a, I don't know, roughly a month ago. So a lot has changed. But it's a good thing to read if you're in your draft. Oh, perfect.

Yeah. All right. I think again, when you read that, I sorry, I did it, bingo. When you read that, when you read the pick by picks, because you may be reading something that's somewhat outdated from a player standpoint, study the strategy because our strategies are probably going to, stay the same. Yeah, right. Not the players necessarily, but the build strategies. So that brings us to pick seven through nine. Heath, you think picking seven, beginning at pick seven through

12, running back, running back comes more into play here? Yeah, I don't generally do it, but it is, it's like I'm simply not going to do it picks four through six, or three through six. It's about as likely, I guess. It really depends on whether a lot of my drafts, I don't see Henry and Berkeley going quite this early, and they're there at the, at the two, three turn. And so I'll take one of them there maybe. But yeah, it's more likely. I just don't do it that often. What's your ideal start from pick seven through nine? Well, it's seven through nine is probably Taylor or McCaffrey, although I've dropped McCaffrey now until he starts practicing again, so cancel that.

Jonathan Taylor is the ideal start. And then hopefully Devon A-chan, but maybe if Hampton or Gentie happens to fall one of them. Okay, but I know you like Drake London a lot. So let's say you took Jonathan Taylor in round one and Genty, London, like a running back you really liked was there, but also Drake London was there. What are you doing? I have London ahead of Gentie and Hampton. So you will, knowing that in rounds three and four, you might like the wide receiver value better than the running back value,

you're still going to take the wide receiver, Drake London, because he's just your highest ranked player there. I mean, not just because of that, but yeah, I've got a pretty big difference. I wasn't really scared off by the preseason performance of Tua. And worst case scenario, if Tua is a disaster for a month,

Pinnix will probably be back. So, yeah, I have Drake London in round one. And so if he falls to me anywhere in round two, I'm taking him. Jamie, if you have picked seven through nine and you take a running back here, but be it Taylor or Cook or McCaffrey or whatever it ends up being Chase Brown, who has to be on the board for you in round two at wide receiver to draft a wide receiver and not go running back, running back?

Lamb or Jefferson and that's it. Okay, not London or Brown or AJ Brown. I like Brown ahead of London and I have, yeah, I think that's, those are only two. But do you have Brown and London behind? to find Henry and Barclay? I do. Okay. Oh, even in full PPR?

Yes. Okay. I think because of the strategy involving it as well. So in round three, would you guys agree, who would you put in, this is a massive run of wide receivers? I'm just curious, Heath, I know just how much you love Zayflowers. Like, you know there's a very good chance you're going to get Zayflowers if you're picking seven in round three. Yeah, yeah.

So if you can get, or even probably eight or nine, like his ADP is kind of where he went in this draft. So the last pick of, second last pick of round three, would you, would you go running back, running back with the idea of I'm targeting flowers and maybe have a backup plan instead of? I don't have, yeah,

I just don't have a strong preference through three rounds in a PPR league of having two running backs and one wide receiver versus one running back and two wide receivers. It doesn't really matter to me. Gotcha. And so, no, I would just, I'd be thrilled that I, and I'm sure this will happen in the next month, that I started with Jonathan Taylor and Drake London and Zay Flowers.

All right, by the way, as far as tight ends go, we think pick seven through nine in round two, too early for Brock Bowers. You know, if McBride, if one of Bowers or McBride falls to round three, to that point in round three Jamie would be all in Heath would certainly think Bowers there

not McBride but Loveland in round three you would consider from pick seven through nine there yeah I mean I think they may be right around nine

in round three now so I wouldn't like if you really like Trey McBride and he's there at pick seven through nine take him I have McBride at 34

and Loveland at 32 so and actually with Abuka's toe injury we're making the move McBride's up to 33. So I think that's pick nine in round three. So that's fine. Perfect. And for me, if I had this pick, I would love to have Loveland in round four, which ADP says is very possible. And it happened

in this draft. He went 42nd overall. So obviously, I'd love to have Bowers or McBride in round three. I just don't know that they're going to get there. But I think Loveland in round four, you guys would take Loveland in round three. I would consider it. But I would love to have Lovelin in round four, I guess is what I'm saying. think when you get to the back end of round three and you know you have the turn coming up, if you really have the, I want to get him, you get him.

Sure. Because there is a massive tier of wide receivers. And that brings that, okay, so that brings me to this point here, right? Like, if you think you're going to go with a wide receiver in round three,

I don't think Rashy or Nico or Pickens will be there, whatever. Do you think from pick seven through nine, do you think Malik neighbors could be there and would you take him there? If he's there, yes. Do I think he could be there? Maybe.

You know, if he's not practicing. yet by the time you're driving. If he's not, you know, there's still being cautious with him, put it that way. By the time we get to the end of August, then he's going to fall to the middle of round three. Right. And I will say the other thing is like going back to the fact that like I don't have any running backs ranked in this round seven through nine range.

And none of the guys I have ranked ahead of this range are going to be available. And part of the reason for that is like I've got a tier of running backs and I put it Jibante in this tier. I know everybody seems to kind of have him on his own. But like A. Chan, Kyron, Jacobs, Hall, Swift are all kind of the same guy for me in my projections. And a couple of those guys are going to be there in round four. So I think there's a, for me, there's a bigger drop-off from the wide receivers that are going to fall to round four generally. Not always.

Looking in this draft in round four, yeah, pretty much there was the big drop-off, at least in my projections. So I'd rather take the wide receiver in round three. and then you're going to get a good running back in round four. Interesting. I think I would just have a tough time passing up on on Jeremiah Love and Kyron. Like Jeremiah Love, Kyran, A. Chan, I guess, if they're actually, no, like, there are a lot of running backs that if I'm looking at,

all right, all right, here we go, right, I'm going to say this. If the following wide receivers are off the board, Malik neighbors, Devante Smith, and Chris Olave for me. Heath, I would assume they, flowers for you. I don't know if there's anyone else in that tier that seems like a little bit better than the next guys. Higgins?

Who? Higgins? Higgins? I mean, he's got a round 480p, so I feel like I'd be able to get him in round four maybe. Same with like McConkey and Garrett Wilson, a McMillan. Like, I would have a hard time passing up love Jacobs, Travis A. Chan, Kairn Williams at this point in round three, you know? Like, I'll take a lave and I'll take Devante Smith.

I'll take Malik neighbors over them. I just think there's a good chance one of them's going to be there when you pick in round four. Maybe, especially A-chan. Well, I don't know who's going to be there. I don't think so at this point, yeah. Yeah, I'm not so confident in that, especially if I have like the seventh pick. There's a pretty big difference between the ninth and the seventh. You guys feel what I'm saying here?

Like, how do you make the decision between running back and receiver at that point? I mean, depends on what you did in round one. Yeah, DeHeath, you did answer it. Yes. Yes. Depends on what you did in round one. And then I think it's, you know, how comfortable do you feel with, you know, like, so you love those receivers in rounds four and five, too. So, you know, if you start to get into that group of Waddle and DJ Moore and McMillan, McConkey, like, yeah, take the running back and hope that one of those receivers comes back to you if you feel so confident in those guys.

But I do think to what Heath is talking about, like, there's more likely that the running back is there than some of these receivers. All right, so maybe the best way to go about this is if you have picks 7 through 9 in a 12 team league, and we're going to assume that there's no crazy pickings fell to me or Rishie Rice fell to me or Nico Collins fell to me or whatever. Let's talk about the running backs and the wide receivers that you would want, that you would want to be on the board from pick 7 through 9, and you think actually have a chance to be on the board. So let's start with running backs, the ones you would consider in round 3. Who would they be?

consider in round three from pick seven through nine to round three Kyron Javante Jacobs Love I think back end to round three

for me Travis A-chan he's now in the conversation you Heath which running backs would you consider there seven through nine yeah

and they feel like I've answered this question yeah you have you have you have but it's okay zero okay because you feel like they'll be available in the fourth round and you don't have to take it.

Or someone similar. I just have a, like we talked about it earlier when we were talking about those round four or five running backs that I have a bigger tier than you do. I think it's the same case with these end of round three running backs that I have a bigger tier than you do. And they're just, they're pretty, very, very similar in my projections. And so I'm not going to take Kyron Williams over one of these wide receivers

when I can get D'Andre Swift in the next round. Fair enough. which wide receivers are you hoping? This is your wish list. Realistically, picks 7 through 9 in round 3, Heath. Which wide receivers are you hoping are there? So, I mean, Zay, obviously, you said you weren't so sure about T. Higgins.

Assuming that Chris Oliva is no longer realistic, T. Higgins would be next. I don't know if Devante Smith is realistic or not, but he would be next. And then it'd be neighbors, Tetero and Abuca. Okay, so you're definitely going to get a wide receiver you like in round three, like that you love, I think.

All those guys I have ranked in the top 34 ahead of my RB 13, who is Travis A. Chen. Wow, okay. Jamie, which riders? You know, for you, Adam, I think it's Mike Evans. Like, for me, it's DJ Moore. You kind of have a feeling of, like, if you think there's a player you're going to be pretty comfortable and confident getting, like, I take DJ Moore way ahead of ADP all the time.

And I think you do it a little bit similar with Mike Evans. But I mean, just to be clear, I'm not taking Evans in round three. I'm taking him in round five. I'm not talking about where you're taking him. I'm talking about this is kind of what I was asking was A Flowers. Like if you have like a specific player or a tier, which is a better way to do it, certainly. If you have a tier of players like, okay, I know I can get one of these guys a little bit early. So maybe it's McConkey for you in round three.

Like, you know, his ADP is kind of round four. So McCocky in this range, like I know for me again, it's more. Dave is probably Dailen Waddell, you know, not to just keep associating us with the same receivers or players over and over again. But so like if I end up sort of taking a tangent on what may be the initial strategy after the first couple rounds, like, okay, wow, Javante Williams landed in my lap. Or wow, this player, you know, shouldn't be there or I just think that this guy's going to be fantastic. I'm taking him like Loveland. I know I can come back and say, okay, I may have to reach for DJ more a little bit, but I'm comfortable enough with that because I know how good he could potentially be. Yeah, but you're not taking him in round three.

I'm not talking about round three. I'm talking about what I do in round three, because. sort of with the anticipation of, I know I'm taking a particular player way ahead of where he usually goes. That way I can guarantee myself to maybe pivot to something different in round three, knowing in round four,

it may be later. You know, like if you like Parker Washington, you may take him in round five as opposed to round six, around four instead of around five. Again, for you, it might be Mike Evans. Like, okay, I went completely off the board here because this player landed in my lap. So let's just say, for example, I don't know where Mike Evans went. So you have a feeling about Evans,

right? So let's say you take Giovante, and Evans had fallen to you where you took Lamar Jackson. You said it when you were discussing it. Like you would have taken Evans there. Probably. So what I'm getting is like if you have an inkling or an inclination of because that's ahead of where he's going right now. I mean, he doesn't go usually ahead of McCorrin.

I don't know if he goes ahead of Oduenzee. You know, so you kind of can pivot a little bit earlier knowing like, okay, there are players that I know I can get around earlier. also, I'm probably not saying it the right way. Well, it is a round earlier because you- gravitate toward earlier than consensus, earlier than ADP, earlier than the rank list, because I love that player.

So in this earlier round, I'm going to make a different decision. I understand. Okay. Yeah. You're already basically projecting your roster out a round later, or two rounds later, whatever. I understand what you're saying. Okay.

So I guess just in the case of your draft, I know we're talking seven to nine, but six. So you go McCaffrey, Hampton, Higgins, Javante, and because you didn't take Lamar there, maybe that pushes Drake May or Burrow down to you. Yeah, maybe. Sure.

Now, just to finish up this chat, I think if you're picking 7 through 9 in round 3 and Devante Smith or Chris Olave or Malik neighbors for a lot of people, maybe Zay Flowers, there could be a wide receiver that falls there. That's just awesome that you love, but maybe not.

it's like maybe 50-50 at this point that one of the, that a wide receiver that you just absolutely love that you think is in a tier before the guys that are going in a round four is there. It's kind of like, yeah, I would say it's like a 50-50 proposition. So, yeah, you got to be like, these picks, you got to be a little flexible in terms of, am I going to get that top 12 running back in round two? Am I going to get that wide receiver I love in round three? Hopefully the board falls through the right way.

But you're kind of like on the cusp of different tiers. in my opinion at least. And then let's just, I guess let's take a look. We'll finish off with the builds here. Dave had pick seven, Jake pick eight, James pick nine. So Dave goes Taylor A. Chan. Jake goes St. Brown, Ken Walker. James goes Henry Barkley.

So amongst those three teams, five running backs and one wide receiver in this range here. Taylor A. Chan for Dave. He goes, Taylor, A. Chan, Abuka. He probably wouldn't do that now. That could be a lot. That could be a different wide receiver, whatever. but Taylor H.N. Abuka Loveland, McLoren, Brian Thomas, Jr., Jonathan Brooks is his RB3. So to go running back, running back, and then to take three receivers at a tight end, and then Jonathan Brooks is your RB3, that's not bad at all.

Jake went St. Brown, Kenneth Walker, Brees Hall in round three, and then his RB3 is Rico Dowdell. He has Jalen Waddle, Christian Watson, Drake May. I guess I'm, yeah, I don't know that there's like major takeaway there. So it's St. Brown, Kenneth Walker, Breece Hall, Jalen Waddle. This is from the eighth spot in the draft. Christian Watson, Drake May, RICO Dowdle, George Kittle. And then the ninth pick was Henry and then Barkley. That's a risky duo, like kind of older guys that don't catch passes, but also exciting.

Henry, Barclay, Olave. Great pick. I don't know if it's realistic. now at 33. Devante Adams, Romo Dunzei, Jaden Daniels, Alec Pierce, Chuba Hubbard. My final takeaway here, guys, from these three teams, is that all three of them either have two running backs with their first two picks

or two running backs with their first three picks, and they don't take another running back until round seven or eight. Heath, does that feel like a decent way to build a team? I strongly agree with the, if you take two running back, with your first three picks, don't take a running back for the next three, two or three to four rounds. So that, I probably like that part, maybe necessarily more than I do the two running backs in the first three picks. But listen, the, the, the Henry Barkley thing is a little bit unusual for our drafts. And the breeze hall there in round three, I was the only one who wanted to do that.

And now I don't until he's healthy. So, like, I, but, yeah, I, I like Dave's start a lot, except for the fact that Abuka's got a turf toe now, too. Just replace the names with the different players. Right. Yeah, Pousé or Olivae in there. And I think Dave's build is, is the best of the group and one that I really like. Right.

So James, James could be James Cook and Barclay or, you know, like he said, you know, replace Abuca with flowers. Like, there's, there's different ways to approach it. Again, this. Yeah. a lot of times when we're looking at old drafts, which again, a week ago, but we're looking at old drafts,

so much has changed and so much has changed here. And I want you to take a look at those three teams and the way they built their rosters with two running backs early, whether it's rounds one and two, rounds one and two, or rounds two and three. And compare it to my team,

picking six, where I was not expecting to have three running backs with my first four picks. And I was not certainly not expecting to have one wide receiver with my first five picks, but I played the vet. value. I just couldn't pass up

Giovante in four and Lamar in round five. And take a look at what you like better. Do you hate my wide receiver so much? You're just so uncomfortable with them that you think, I don't want to build it that way. It's perfectly fine. Or, you know, do you like my top five picks enough to say, whatever? We'll make up for it, you know, with waiver

wire and whatever. So just questions for you. And again, maybe I could have taken a different wide receiver instead of Carnell Tate, like Godwinner, Quentin Johnston. that's the question that you need to be asking yourself as you look at these builds. And if you're just listening to the episode, I strongly recommend watching on you, even if you don't want to watch the full episode, just go there and pause it and look at the draftboard. YouTube.com slash fantasy football today.

Probably help you make some decisions building your rosters. If you have picks 10 through 12, don't worry. We've got your back on tomorrow's show. And we will talk to you then. For Jamie and Heath, I am Adam. Thanks so much for watching and listening. Talk to you tomorrow on Fantasy Football. ball today.