Fantasy Football Today - 🚨 Jakobi Meyers to the Raiders! Downgrade Adams and Waller? (03/14 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: March 14, 2023

JOIN OUR BRACKET CHALLENGE! cbssports.com/fft VOTE FOR US HERE (Fantasy Sports & Betting Category): https://www.sportspodcastgroup.com/sports_category/fantasy-and-sports-betting/ Does the Raiders signing of Jakobi Meyers mean anything for Davante Adams or Darren Waller? Does it make us excited about Jimmy Garoppolo? We present all sides of the debates and also wonder if Meyers is better than Hunter Renfrow and if Meyers can thrive if he plays more on the outside. Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Visit amex.ca slash business platinum. The wide receiver dominoes. Will they start falling? We'll see. Jacoby Myers is on the Las Vegas Raiders, or he will be. They will sign Jacoby Myers to a three-year deal after they signed Jimmy Garoppolo or agreed to sign. A lot of this stuff is not official yet.

So Garoppolo and Jacoby Myers going to the Raiders. We don't even agree on whether or not this is interesting. Adam Azer, Heath Cummings, and Dave Richard. I think it's interesting. Raise your hand if you think this is interesting. Adam Azer, Heath Cummings, and Dave Richard. I think it's interesting. Raise your hand if you think this is interesting for fantasy. Just me. Just the only one. And I forgot to raise it.

Just me. Okay, Heath, you can start. Sum it up. Why is this not that interesting? I just don't. I mean, I think it makes Hunter Renfro less desirable. It makes Jacoby Myers less desirable. I don't think Jacoby Myers or Hunter Renfro has anything to do with Devontae Adams or Darren Waller. And nobody really wants to draft Jimmy Garoppolo. I think Myers will be the second Raiders wide receiver drafted somewhere around round 10 Renfro may get drafted in round 12 or 13 or 14. But those guys likely need an injury to Adams or Waller to have any appeal. Dave bench depth,

PPR bench depth, Jacoby Myers. We thought he had a chance to land with a team that would use him in a, in a better way than this, maybe even be their number one receiver. We made comparisons about how he could be this year's Christian Kirk. Uh, no,

he's going to a place where he's familiar with the offense. He's worked with Josh McDaniels in new England. McDaniels for all we know may have discovered Jacoby Myers and utilize him. His breakout year was Josh McDaniels last year in new England. And I think he's right. We're looking at a receiver. Who's going to be the number two guy in this offense. So when they're in two receiver sets, they'll be on the field.

When they're in three receiver sets, he might be kicked outside and you'll put Renfro in the offense. So when they're in two receiver sets, they'll be on the field. When they're in three receiver sets, he might be kicked outside and you'll put Renfro in the slot. So death and L for Hunter Renfro's fantasy value. He absolutely will need an injury in order to be good. And Jacoby Myers, you might be able to talk me into taking him in round nine in a full PPR league to sit on my bench and be good for maybe 11 or 12 PPR points.

Now I'm PPR. I don't even think he's worth round 10. I also think there's a, a not, it's not the most likely, but like 30% chance that this is just an awful signing. Um, and that Renfro is better than Myers.

See, that's the thing. Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. I just, I think if you look at the, he's earned a 21, 22, 23% target share over the last couple of years in New England.

But Hunter Renfro would have been the best competition he had for targets on those teams. Yeah. Well, here's the thing about Renfro. I think Renfro has had a pretty underwhelming career. He had one good season. It was 2021. He did almost all of his damage when both Henry Ruggs and Darren Waller,

or one of them, were out. He had a very good stretch. He's played 56 games in his career. He has 70 or more yards in 11 of 56 games, and six of them came in 2021. He followed that up with just a terrible season last year, where he averaged 33 yards per game. Now, here's the thing about Renfro. He's always been a slot guy,

but last year he led the NFL in slot percentage. Josh McDaniel put him in the slot almost every single time he was out there, 86% of the time. Myers is more of a 50% of the time in the slot guy or has been in the past. If they play the same position, I'd rather have Jacoby Myers.

I can't tell you with certainty that Jacoby Myers is better, but I feel like if they were both free agents, Myers would have been more sought after. But that's just my opinion. So I do wonder how the two of them fit together. And I also wonder how this doesn't affect Darren Waller. I could see you saying none of this matters for Devontae Adams. And for the sake of argument, I will argue against that. I'm not sure I believe it, but I will argue against that later. But for Darren Waller, I don't know how this doesn't make a difference for him. When you've got another potential short area target and a quarterback who's a short area passer.

And just, I don't know, just new pieces of the puzzle. And Darren Waller, I think he's awesome, but he's not Devontae Adams. So I'm surprised that you guys are poo-pooing this from a Waller perspective. I think Darren Waller, when he's right and healthy, is one of the elite players at his position. And I subscribe to the tight end bucket theory that there's just a bucket of

targets in the offense that's going to the tight end. And so I just don't think, I don't think Myers or Renfro, and I think we're being a little unfair to Renfro. Like he, yes, he's only had one good year. That one year was far and away better than anything Jacoby Myers has ever done. Not really. Oh.

I mean. Jacoby Myers' best season is 866 yards. And like six touchdowns. But what about, okay, so Myers had 804 yards. I mean, look, you're going to kill me for this. He had 804 yards last year. He played 14 games. Three of those games, he was kind of

limited in snaps. What did Renfro have the year before? Renfro had... 103 catches, 1,000 yards, and nine touchdowns. If you look at yards per game, it'd probably be pretty similar. I can definitely tell you that if you take out the games that Byers

partially played, he blew away Hunter Renfro's 2021 year in terms of his 17 game pace. Yeah. I think, you know, so that's, that's just me. And again, he needed, he needed Waller. He needed rugs to be gone. He's just, I don't know. I think, I don't know.

I think you guys are missing it. I think that Myers is probably going to play a little bit more outside than we're used to seeing. Oh, for sure. Yes. And Renfro's got his role. The first thing I did was check his cap number. If they cut him, it's $11 million in dead money.

So Hunter Renfro is going to be on this team. Could it possibly be that he gets relegated to just special teams work and maybe the number four receiver? There will certainly be times where when the Raiders want to put Myers in the slot, maybe they think that he's more explosive downfield. That is the case. Then they'll do that and Renfro just won't get those opportunities. I don't even know if Renfro is draftable to that regard,

just because I don't know how much he's realistically going to play. He's got almost no shot of matching what he did in 2021. And Myers is going to have a solid opportunity to get targets and catches, which is what he was doing all along in new England. And so he'll do it again here. That's why I'm a little more optimistic. I think I'm a little more optimistic than you Heath when it comes to Myers and full PPR, but it's not like he's ratcheting up the board and is going to be around seven or around six pick. I don't see that happening here because of Devante Adams, because of Darren Waller, because of Josh Jacobs.

And yeah, even a little bit of Hunter Renfro. Renfro will take some targets away too. So it makes for a good receiving core in Las Vegas. He strengthens it. This is a team that's going to end up throwing more than they probably would want to because their defense, I mean, that still hasn't really been addressed.

So if anything, it might make you feel a little bit more encouraged for Garoppolo to complete more passes because he's got a receiver who can get that job done. Sure-handed, short area, and even a decent intermediate area target in jacoby myers i just yeah i really struggle with the idea like we we know four years ago everybody in the nfl thought hunter renfro was a lot better than jacoby myers they've both played four years in the nfl

they have basically the same number of catches the same number of yards the same number of yards per game renfro scored twice as many touchdowns, and now we think Myers is definitely better than Renfro? Okay, okay, look. I don't think Myers is definitely better. I said, I think he's better. I don't know that he's better, so don't, let's not exaggerate what I said. I think he's better, I'll say it.

I was wrong about the stats. He didn't blow away Hunter Renfro's 2021 season. You know, if you remove the partial games, he had a very similar season with fewer touchdowns. So he didn't have an edge there. I think he's a little more versatile. But again, I don't know.

And I don't know how this is going to play out, honestly, because if you're going to put Jacoby Myers on the outside more, well, that's something he's never done before. So we don't know how he's going to do. Yes, he has. I think he was more efficient on a yards per route run basis outside than he was inside. Dave can check me on that.

I have it right here. Now, the question is, do you want it from last year when he was in New England without McDaniels or do you want it from 2021 which was his breakout year with Josh McDaniels? Pick your year. You want me to combine both? Or do you want it separate?

Separately. You want to hear each one. Yes. Right? Go. Okay. Wait, wait, wait. After the break, we'll find out the Jacoby Meyer splits.

And I will talk about Devante Adams after the break. But right now, before you do that, you've got to help us out. First of all, join our bracket challenge. You know about that. Get in the podcast league. Win the bracket challenge. Get in the podcast league. And the link is in the episode description.

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and you should be able to find the awards. All right, real quick break. We'll be right back to wrap up our thoughts on Jacoby Myers going to the Raiders after this. Did you know that across Ontario, utility damage happens 19 times a day? That's over 4,222 incidents a year. Don't let your next dig be one

that causes costly delays or safety risks. Before you break ground, make it a point to request a locate. It's not just the law. It's a step to keep your team and community safe. Visit OntarioOneCall.ca and avoid unnecessary damages to get the job done right. Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report. Dave, did I kill enough time for you to get your stat ready?

Had it ready. All right. Okay. 2021 with McDaniels in New England. Lined up in the slot. Caught 67% of his passes. He averaged 9.5 yards per catch.

8 out of 9.1. Heath likes yards per target. That was 6.3. I like yards per catch. 8 out of 9.1. Heath likes yards per target. That was 6.3. I like yards per route run. That's 1.5. Explosive play rate 10.6%. He was wide. How about do yards per catch,

yards per target, yards per route run. Yards per catch, 12.3 when he lined up out wide. More explosive when he lined up wide. Yards per he lined up out wide. So more explosive when he lined up wide yards per target 7.9, also more explosive than compared to the slot and yards per route run 1.88 better than when he was in the slot. This is not uncommon. There's more room to work with when you're a receiver on the outside

compared to the slot. Now you want to ask about 2022. I'll do the exact same stats when he was in the slot, 13 yards per catch compared to 10.3 out wide, 8.7 yards per target in the slot compared to seven per seven out wide, 7.7 out wide yards per out run. This is where it's different in the slot. 1.6 out wide 2.5. I'm telling, I think he can work outside. He's not a small guy. He's six two. So he can work outside and I'm sure he will be, they can't pay him this much

money and throw them exclusively in the slot. And McDaniels didn't exclusively put them in the slot in 2021. The calculus will change if they trade Renfro and they might do that maybe they can find somebody that wants a slot receiver that they don't have to give up much for in the draft you know probably take a 7th round pick because his cap number is so high this year we'll see what happens

summing things up Jacoby Myers late round pick round 9-ish punch a Renfro perhaps off the board give me real quick on this is this boost just boost sorry Jimmy Garoppolo or you're actually interested in him in a 2qb league I am I am interested in him in a 2qb league this does not boost him okay yeah I mean obviously he's going to get drafted in a 2qb league but I mean you know somebody you want uh and then all all right, and Darren Waller,

you're not moving in your rankings? Not at all. No. Okay, I actually hope that this drops his draft value because he had a 15.8% target share in the eight games. He played eight snaps in week five, not counting that. The other eight games, 15.8% target share, and he was still tight in seven per game in PPR.

So hopefully people freak out. And then, all right, Devontae Adams, I think the only argument I have is he had a little bit lower of, he still had a ton of targets, but a little bit lower of a target rate in the games that Renfro and Waller played. There were six of them.

I think he was on pace for like 170 targets in those games. He was on pace for over 190 targets in the other games so that's it again I'm not saying I believe it but I feel like it's my job to just throw it out there last year we did see lower targets worse production in the games without uh Renfro and Waller and just curious if oh sorry yeah without Renfro and Waller so now they add Jacoby Myers it's just not not doing anything, not moving the needle either way. Yeah, Jacoby Myers is a lot closer, in my opinion, to Matt Collins and the guy whose targets he's replacing than he is to Devontae Adams.

I just don't think he's that – I don't think he impacts the number one wide receiver's targets. Okay. What's the aggregate though? It's everyone. It's everything. They've got a new quarterback who most people would say is worse than Derek Carr. They've got another wide receiver coming in who people thought was the number one free agent wide receiver. It's everything. If they draft a rookie quarterback, they could go to that rookie quarterback at some point.

It's a lot of forces here. I do think that's the one thing. I think Garoppolo is definitely a stopgap quarterback, but I don't think they guaranteed $35 million to him thinking that they might draft somebody to start this year. Maybe they draft Richardson to just sit him for a year. Like I said yesterday, it would have to be a scenario where their season goes off the rails and they said let's see what the young kid seems likely could happen okay all right guys thank you uh Raheem Mostert to the Dolphins give me 20 seconds on that that will be part of the nightly recap show that we do later this evening Raheem Mostert back to the Dolphins could end up being one of the running backs that you can draft and use as soon as week one as an RB2.

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