Fantasy Football Today - Joe Pisapia's Breakouts and Free Agency Takes! (03/21 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: March 21, 2024

Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and wherever else you listen to podcasts We bring on Joe Pisapia of FantasyPros to get some outsider perspective on free agency and some players he loves for 2024. First, we talk about D'Onta Foreman going to the Browns (4:35) and what this might mean for Nick Chubb and Jerome Ford. Then Joe tells us why he likes Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry in Round 2 of a PPR league (8:15). There's no disagreement about Barkley, but Henry in Round 2 was a little too rich for Dave and Jamey ... We discuss Joe Mixon, D'Andre Swift and Zack Moss (21:45). Then Joe tells us why Drake London should be a second round pick (27:30)! ... Ranking the Top 5 WRs for 2024 (37:05), figuring out what went wrong for the Eagles in the second half (43:45), getting Joe's breakout candidate for 2024 (47:30) and revealing our NCAA Tournament Final Four picks (55:35)! ... Your emails at [e-mail] SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Can you believe this? I had no idea. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races, and he stays on his feet. He's just going to go the distance. Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Thursday morning, and it's, in some people's minds, the best sports day of the year, baby. You're so off key. Yes, I was listening to the Ion College Basketball Podcast yesterday.

I got my bracket filled out. If you're watching live or listening to this before like 12, 15, you still have time to join our bracket challenge. And I'm very bracket filled out. If you're watching live or listening to this before like 1215, you still have time to join our bracket challenge. And I'm very excited for it. I did just like Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander on, on the ion college basketball podcast. I did pick against the Florida Gators in the first round. Sorry, Jamie,

at least we're there. Yeah, that's a great point. Filled out a bracket with my son for the first time today. That was a fun father my son for the first time today. That was a fun father-son bonding moment, except he picked South Carolina to win the championship for some reason because he likes red. So that's not going to go well.

Not going to go well. What's the mascot again? Oh, he doesn't know that. He doesn't know that. Anyway, we have a guest here, Joe Pisapia, Fantasy Pros, at Joe Pisapia, Fantasy Pros, at Joe Pisapia 17, at Joe Pisapia 17 on X, on Twitter. Don't say X, on Twitter. Joe, what's up?

Welcome to the show. I agree. I hate saying X, too. I've become accustomed to it, which makes it feel gross. And by the way, Dave, I recorded your amazing rendition. I've made it my new ringtone now for my phone because that was truly spectacular in the opening. I loved it. My condolences to everybody's ears who's around your phone. Last time we had a guest on,

it was Ben Gretsch, and at the very end of the show, Jamie, he reprimanded me. He's like, tell him where we can find him because I forgot to do that for the first hour of the show. So I'm going to do that now at JoePCPS17. Not just tell us where we can find him, but you're a baseball guy too. Tell us about all

your content. I mean, I'm here, so you can find me here right now. I'm hanging out with you guys. Look, you can find me everywhere. I'm always on Fantasy Pros. We got Fantasy Pros MLB in high gear right now doing our daily baseball show starting on Thursday, Monday through Friday. The Welsh and myself

doing Leading Off, which is great. It's the only live baseball show every single Monday through Friday, the Welsh myself doing leading off, which is great. It's the only live baseball show every single Monday through Friday, which is tremendous. We got all the NFL draft coverage. We'll be doing it live again, but we've got mock drafts coming up. We've got Trevor Sycamore joining us this week from PFF for the draft show. We're doing, uh, just great stuff. And of course, betting pros channel too. We've got a ton of content there for baseball, for basketball and sports grid TV.

Every Sunday morning, you can see my face for two hours, Sundays at nine to 11 Eastern time, talking football, talking baseball, talking everything. So yeah, that's enough places. Oh yeah. And the black book. Yeah. For baseball and football every year. I think that's done.

That's I'm exhausted. I need that. I do think that our fantasy baseball today show is also live Monday through Friday. It's the only one with me live. That's a good point. Also, I think Fantasy Baseball Today might be Sunday night. So technically, I don't know. But that's probably Monday night.

But anyway, yes, great. There's a lot of pressure for Adam. He's never been on a show with a better host than him. Oh, man. I think Jamie just indirectly said that I'm a better host than him. I don't host the podcast. You do. You host the show, though.

All right. Anyway, Jamie, so what we're going to do today with Joe is we're going to get his thoughts on free agency. I think it's good to have an outsider perspective here because he liked Derrick Henry going in the second round, for example. We didn't like that one so much in a full PPR draft. I don't know if you were aware of that, Joe. I sent you the draft. I don't think I told you it was full PPR, but I don't know if you were aware of that, Joe. I sent you the draft. I don't think I told you it was full PPR, but I don't know if that changed anything.

I assumed. Okay. Kids love the PPR. We'll talk about the Eagles passing game. How about this for A.J. Brown? Air yards, 30-plus air yards. Let me find this stat real quick because in the second half of the season,

he wasn't so good. First nine games, he had four catches for 173 yards and a touchdown on nine targets on throws of 30 or more air yards. In his last seven games, he had two targets. Compared to nine in his first nine games,

he did not have a single catch on a deep ball from Jalen Hurts in that stretch. We'll talk about that. We'll talk about Joe's top five wide receivers, one breakout for 2024, and who is in all of our final fours. Jamie, the Browns signed Deontay Foreman. You didn't like my Nick Chubb pick yesterday,

two days ago in the sixth round. Does this make any difference? Do you like it even less now? I'm trying to think. Has everywhere he's gone the last three stops, there's been an injury to somebody there. Or a trade, right? Was he the McCaffrey?

Derek Henry's injury was when Deontay Form was on Titans. Then where did he go? Oh, no. Started Carolina. Started Carolina with Christian McCaffrey. Then Derek Henry got hurt. Then Khalil Herbert got hurt. Then here we go.

No, no. Your timeline's wrong. Yeah. Yeah. He was Tennessee in 2021. Okay. Then Carolina in 22. That's when McCaffrey got traded. Traded. Okay, right. Yeah. And then he had a five-game stretch without Khalil Herbert

last year. He had double-digit. He had like 15 or more carries in four of those five games. He had a 33 fantasy point game with a receiving touchdown foreman set a career high with 11 catches last year in nine games but does anybody does this move the needle in any way for for anyone jerome ford or uh nick chubb anything no i think it's just depth but it's probably an indication that they're preparing for nick chubb to not be ready for the start of the season just in in case he is not. So, um,

yeah, I'm, I'm, like I said, I'm probably out on Chubb for the most part. Well, what, what, what was that report that I sent you, Adam, that, that Chubb had ACL surgery in November, even though he suffered the injury in September, they had to do MCL surgery first, and then they had to get to the ACL in November. So I would imagine that that pushed back his timeline to be good to go by two months, which will put him very close to the start of training camp of being potentially ready to go. I kind of like this for Foreman. Like I've moved him into a rankable spot, whereas before no one would even think about him. But if you're going zero RB, there's a chance

this dude might be the lead back for Cleveland. By the time the season starts, he's an RB for higher. Every time anybody has a spot open, they go to Dante Foreman and he's hasn't been horrible for fantasy. Do you think he'll play ahead of Ford? I think he'll mix in with Ford. Okay. Yeah. I think those are your two running backs until Chubb is good to go. So how about you, Mr. Piece of Pia? I took,

uh, Nick Chubb in early in the sixth round. Where would you have taken him? Uh, you know, I think I probably would pass, you know, as much as I love Nick Chubb and I've been a very big supporter of his for

many years. It's just really hard to imagine, especially with the signing today, too. I kind of agree to Jamie's point, although his whole teaser for what seems like an ID network special about wherever this guy goes, why is it that whoever in front of him somehow befalls a terrible tragedy? Coming up next, where will Foreman go tomorrow? And what running back will he kill in order to start? I mean, it's really it was ominous uh but i do agree with dave's point also that it does feel like there's um they are preparing for

depth early which is an indicator to me also that maybe we pump the brakes here on our expectations of chubb i do think nick chubb will come back what that looks like i don't know but there's enough injuries in the nfl uh to you know choke a horse that you really want to start your team with all these question marks in terms of running back already and are going to invest a six round pick. I think six a little too much for me because I'm an eight, nine. OK, now I'm kind of listening there because then Chubb becomes a real like upside play for the second half, perhaps. But I mean, they're out there signing Foreman. They've got Ford. I do think it's going to be a mix, which is going to be terrible for everybody.

All right. So let's get to be a mix, which is going to be terrible for everybody. All right. So let's get to Joe's takeaways from the draft and from free agency in general. So you said that Derek Henry and Saquon Barkley were great values in round two. Barkley went right in the middle. They basically went in the same stretch. Henry just a little bit after Barkley.

Dave and Jamie, would you have taken Henry in round two in PPR? No. Round three? Toward the end of round three, yeah. Okay. So it's a big difference there. So Joe, why are you comfortable with Derek Henry

in round two in a PPR league? I'm comfortable because, again, I don't mind the hero RB strategy. And if there's one guy that I know is going to get all the carries in Baltimore. He's going to get a lot of touchdown looks. It's an offense that is built to run the football. It always has been. I think this is the best case scenario when we, you know, back in end of January, we were predicting where the guys would go. And this is the one I kept saying, I was like, I want Derek Henry to go to the Baltimore Ravens. This

is where I want him to go. It's going to be a great situation for him. They're going to run the football. They need to run the football. They're built to run the football. And even a PPR league, again, if he gets that volume, if he gets those, you know, the touch on equity that he's gotten in the past, I mean, he has upgraded the offense significantly here. I mean, he has not played with a Lamar Jackson level quarterback in his career.

So, I mean, let's look at some of the quarterbacks this guy's played with. So there's every opportunity, despite the fact that he's 30. And I understand the red flags of that, but Derek Henry's physically built different than any other running back that we've seen. So I'm going to put that to a side. This is redraft. We're not talking dynasty here. So in redraft release, I think he's a really good value where if I'm at the end of the second round, I don't mind going, you know, early in there and say, let me lock in Henry. And then there's some other good wide receivers that I feel pretty solid about, especially some of the values we saw later on in this draft too, in the fourth round and fifth round, where there's

some guys out there you could really make a case for that would be pretty strong wide receiver, two upside guys. So I'm okay with Henry there. And in terms of Barkley, that's another one too, where Barkley to me without Kelsey there under center, it makes me just possibly think that maybe the Philadelphia brotherly shove thing isn't quite as much of a thing as we usually get. Maybe it's possible that we do see a Saquon Barkley that gets more, you know, red zone targets and even potentially a lot of goal line carries too. Maybe we start to take a little bit of a pressure off that situation there and expand the offense's horizons. And I think that's a really unique situation.

And with both of these running backs, I still think there's something left of the tank for both of them. And now they're both going to elevated offenses where we're so used to them playing in terrible offensive systems. Now they're going to really good ones and they're not quite over the hill yet. And the rest of the running backs, we can make a ton of cases here and there about, you know, it's just a guy in a new place, but they don't change their stripes. Those two in particular are in really good positions where the offensive upgrade is so much.

And there's still, I think something left in the tank where it becomes really intriguing to me to invest in them. And then, you know, hammer wide receiver, you know, round one, round three, and so on and so forth. Dave, response there. Why are you, I know you're good with Barkley. He went with the fifth pick of round two, but you're not good with Henry with the fourth to last pick. So what would that be?

The ninth pick of round two, probably should have just said ninth right out of the gate there. Yeah. Your thoughts. I agree with a lot of what Joe's saying, and I think everybody could envision Derrick Henry getting 15 to 20 total touchdowns and well over 1,200 rushing yards. And Baltimore should be in a bunch of games

where they should have a lead and Henry will get fed. I do worry a little bit about him getting overfed. He is 30. They've got to know that. So maybe there'll be a lot of games, particularly early in the season where he does share running back snaps with somebody else. And then there's the other thing, and this is really my beef with drafting Henry. It's not the age it's drafting him too close to his ceiling and his ceiling is, you know, top five fantasy running back. I don't think that a top five fantasy running back is getting drafted in round two, but I still feel like round two, it's, it's, it's too close to the ceiling. I want to have a little bit more wiggle room there.

And I think that there will be people in every draft that ignore that they want to get Derek Henry. They see the upside in them and they're going to draft them really close to it. And I just don't want to do that. I'd rather take a chance on another running back who might not get to 18 fantasy points per game, but also isn't 30 years old. Isn't going to catch 15 passes or 20 passes over the balance of the season. Isn't going to play with a quarterback.

That'll take some carries away from him. It's minor stuff. I'm kind of overlooking the age thing, which is dangerous, but I do think that he is built differently. Like Joe said, I've called him a cyborg, Joe. I think I like that. Dave, I got a question for you. I don't know how much stock you put in this, but do you put any stock into the concept of, you know, every now and then we get these guys who are elite level talents that when the team that drafted that moves on from them they have this weird renewed sense of well i gotta prove it again do you put anything to that when you're talking about these elite level guys like barkley or like henry because i'm putting

just a tad of that into this pot as well very interesting the answer to this question dave but i'm gonna leave it like a little cliffhanger there we gotta take a quick commercial break i apologize should have done that a few minutes ago but that was a great way that was a great what a host you that's a great host question from joe ask that question now we'll go to break and we'll get the answer from dave do barkley and henry have a chip on the shoulder something to prove find out after this whether in the game or in life the right coverage can make all the difference. Securian Canada gives you that coverage. For more than 65 years, Securian Canada has been helping Canadians build secure tomorrows. Their insurance solutions are designed to help protect you and your loved ones financially,

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How about dinner with my third cousin? Skip it. Prince Fluffy's favorite treats? Skippable. Midnight snacks? Skip. My neighbor's nightly saxophone practices? Uh, nope.

You're on your own there. Could have skipped it. Should have skipped it. Skip to the good part and get groceries, meals, and more delivered right to your door on Skip. All right, before we went to break, perfect host Joe Pisapia asked Dave about this. What was it? What did you say? I don't want to miss you. Well, first of all, you did the tease, which is really the host thing.

I just asked the question because I think sometimes, you know, when you get these elite level guys in the NFL and they all of a sudden end up on a new team for the first time there, we've seen it with of the quarterbacks over the years, certainly the Mannings and the Brady's and all these guys, but to a certain extent, sometimes the wide receivers too, where sometimes some of these guys, they end up in that new spot and they have this renewed sense of, Hey, I got a chip on my shoulder. I got to prove myself. People think I'm done in this league.

This team didn't want me anymore. Oh yeah. Let me stick it to you. And I don't think that's true for everybody, but sometimes when you got to go like Derek Henry or a guy like Saquon Barkley, they're in a different level. I just,

I'm just curious. I'm not putting too much into that pot, but I'm putting a little sprinkle in there. I just don't know if any of the guys were as well. Jamie's going to apply it to Raheem Mostert, who did something similar, not his first year in Miami, but at 30 years old, changed teams. And at 31, tied the NFL lead in total touchdowns, led the NFL in rushing touchdowns. Now, obviously no one's going to compare their careers and say it's similar, but you know,

he did make reference that I spoke to him at the pro bowl. Uh, Joe always likes when I make my, uh, I spoke to this guy references. Um, game dropping, uh,

uh, in it. I don't think there's anything wrong with, with thinking that, and you know, he is an alien. So there is a lot to love about what he can be. But it's just a matter of will everything sort of align for him to do that?

I think Dave hit it on the head. It's like you're drafting him too close to what his ceiling could be and not necessarily also factoring in some of the pitfalls with him at his age, because that's really the thing that scares me the most is just these guys, when they get to this point in their career, they just fall off a cliff. And so, you know, the, is everything going to hold up for the Ravens too? You know, I mean, it's, it just, it makes me nervous. That's all, you know, because he doesn't get arrested by his past catching game.

Well, Curtis Martin, LaDainian Thomas, and Jerome Bettis, Eric Dickerson. I'm just looking at the all-time rushing leaders, Marshall Falk. All those guys had that second win play, even Edgeron James to a certain extent too. Marcus Allen. It's funny. I'm looking at the top 15 guys of all-time rushing, and all of those elite-level, all-time great running backs, all did end up somewhere else.

All did kind of do exactly what I'm talking about. Not a lot of things are going to end up there. That's the thing. Varying aid. Bettis, I think, was a little older, if memory serves. I think you could put him in that bucket. I'm trying to remember his barn. He had a good kick.

Marcus Allen played until he was 37 years old. Yeah. But he wasn't really that good at that point. I mean, at age 30, he averaged 3.8 yards per kick. But that was kind of like normal for mean, at age 30, he averaged 3.8 yards per carry, but that was kind of like normal for him. He had some, nah. No, he wasn't really so good in his 30s.

Later in his career, actually, how about at age 36? He rushed for 830 yards and nine touchdowns. Well, don't forget, Adam, you know, some of those stats that might not look good some years with the Raiders, that's also when they had a fascination when they were constantly trying to replace him. It was this guy, it was that guy, Bo Jackson, for a short period of time.

Al Davis was constantly trying to replace Marcus Allen for some reason, so you can't always take some of those Raiders stats with a grain of salt. And some of those running backs went on to teams that didn't win. And so the one thing that kind of stood out to me, Joe, with what you said is Saquon Barkley didn't really win a lot in New York.

Derrick Henry was on some good teams in Tennessee, didn't get to the Super Bowl in Tennessee. Jamie, speaking of name dropping, Pete Prisco has a line that he's told us about the order of what players kind of prioritize in their careers. Is it money legacy ring or money ring legacy? It's money, legacy, ring. That's what I thought. I couldn't remember the last two. But we know that Saquon and Derrick Henry, they've each made a boatload of money.

And now I think they want to just prove that they can still play at the high level. I don't think Barkley's got a boatload of money. I think they're looking at the last two parts of that rank and file that Pete talks about when it comes to NFL players. Barkley's got the Campbell soup money, Jamie, don't forget. So I, you know, I think my question about both these guys is the same. They're getting upgrades in situation, right? I mean, we agree on that real quick, right? Is the only thing holding Barkley and Henry back potentially Barkley and Henry because Henry's 30 4.2 yards per carry last year tied for a career low he's got 2030 carries in his career Barkley

I don't know how to judge him he's been a very average if not below average running back recently in his rookie season in 2018, Saquon Barkley had seven carries that went for 40 or more yards. Since his rookie season, he has six in the last five seasons. So he had more of those in one year. He just has not been the same running back.

I feel like people are still kind of hanging on to Saquon Barkley as a rookie. He hasn't been anything like that. But I just wonder if not just the injuries, but the giants pathetic offense and perennially bad offensive line are the reasons for that. He's getting such an upgrade there. So,

yeah, I mean, I almost feel like the only thing that can hold those guys back is, is them is that they are just not that good anymore. They are, they are kind of a shell of themselves. If you know, they're getting upgraded offensive lines, though,

both of them as well. I don't know about the Ravens, though. The Ravens are losing, what, three linemen? Yeah, but I think I have a lot of faith in Harbaugh to make those replacements in those moves. Historically speaking, they've been able to turn that line over over the last decade. I don't know.

The sake of what Barkley said was all true, and the injuries didn't help, but my God, the offensive line, the quarterback play, I mean, it's been a disaster since he got there basically. And I try not to make excuses for Barkley because I think he has underwhelmed. I think that's fair. Deserting the hype he had in college outside of his rookie season, it's been kind of a slog. So this is sort of that renewed life. And, and I, again, I think when you're

looking to win a fantasy league, I think that's the kind of pick where if Barkley does end up fulfilling the prophecy, finally in Philadelphia, man, as a second round pick, that's huge because you could possibly lock in like Justin Jefferson, you know, with the fourth overall pick and then come back around and take Barkley. And those are two guys who might finish top five in their respective, uh, positions. And then the third round, go ahead and take somebody else that could really, you know, be a banger for you. Like that's a hell of a way to start a draft, I think. And then continue to pound wide receiver, tight end, all that stuff, and then take shots

at RB later on. It's a really nice way when you're looking at the player pool of 24, how it's shaking up, especially because it's not a good year for rookie running backs. It's not a rookie running back year. We're going to get super excited about these guys are going to elevate up the charts. I don't feel that's going to happen this year. So we have to have a different sensibility when it comes to these guys and what the pool looks like. All right, let's go to our next topic here. Joe looked at the draft and said that Joe Mixon should be going ahead of DeAndre Swift. We'll get

that spreadsheet back up here and take a look at where they went. Joe Mixon went in the fifth round, and Swift went just a few picks earlier. He was the running back that went just before him. So it was Swift with the fourth pick of round five, and then Jalen Hurts, DK Metcalf, Cooper Cup, and Joe Mixon. You feel strongly about that, Joe, that Mixon should be going ahead of DeAndre Swift? And is that just a Joe thing? I mean, do you also think that Joe Burrow should be going ahead of DeAndre Swift. And is that just a Joe thing?

I mean, do you also think that Joe Burrow should be going ahead of like Lamar Jackson or there's just no bias there? I don't think Joe Burrow should be going ahead of Lamar Jackson in fantasy because of the rushing equity. I think if you're talking about quarterback play, duh, of course. But in fantasy, that's a different situation. But the Mixon one, and this is weird because I've never been a Mixon guy necessarily, but even the expert consensus ranking on fantasy pros has mixing at 18 and Deandre Swift at 26 so far at the early one. And I think that's, there's a bigger gap between those two guys.

You're going to have a rookie quarterback in, in Chicago. That's pretty much a lock. Now. I think we all know that with mixing, he goes into a ready-made offense that really just kind of needs a running back. And you saw when that offensive line did get healthy in the second half, all of a sudden Devon Singletary looked pretty good. So you've got an offense where CJ Stroud can push the football downfield. If tanked out, Kim's back healthy. They brought back Schultz. Nico Collins was a revelation in the second half. This is a really good situation where Mixon doesn't have to be great. He just has to be good and good is good enough here for, I think an easy pick for me over Swift. Jamie, I think you agree there. Oh, totally. Yeah. Uh, you have to forgive this pick though. Joe, it was made by Dan Schneier taking the Andre Swift over Joe mix. I like Dan, so I

don't want to throw shade at Dan too, but you know, sometimes he goes a little, you know, awry and, um, awry and made a mistake here. He also took Derrick Henry, so I don't know if you still want to sign off. Well, it's a love-hate relationship then. So yeah, Dan made a couple of squirrely picks. But yes, Joe Mixon should go ahead of DeAndre Swift. I do wonder, though, if the Bears move on from one of their backs, most likely Kula Herbert, that if that changes the opinion of Swift because of the

upside of the offense. It won't for me, but I just wonder if that will change his outlook in ADP and consensus rankings and all those things just because one less potential mouth defeat. Because right now it does feel like it could be a little crowded if Herbert still has a role, if Roshan has maybe

the role in the passing game. But if they move on from one of those guys and it's all of a sudden, hey, Caleb Williams looks great. They made all these upgrades across the board. They're saving court, tight end, everything. And we get a little bit more excited about DeAndre. So I think the gap's a little bit closer if that happens between Swift and Mixon. But yeah, they're about eight spots apart for me as well

just based on how things look right now. I want to ask you, Joe, about Zach Moss. Zach Moss went in round six of this draft. Joe Mixon went in round five. No, Zach Moss went in round seven, right? Yeah, round seven. And Joe Mixon went in round five. And I don't really think Mixon's going to a better situation.

Moss is going to the Bengals. That's awesome. Joe Burrow throws to his running backs. In year one, C.J. Stroud really did not. I don't know if that was a personnel issue or what. But also, just the idea that Zach Moss might just be better than Joe Mixon. In fact, that's what I think Ben Baby on ESPN basically was saying, that this might be a win-win.

He might just be better. The advanced metrics were also kind of monster. I'm just reading the article. Now I read it a few like last week. I'm also reading something on the athletic from better position. Now is running back more snaps for Chase Brown and the explosiveness fit of Zach Moss or better compliments to burrow in this scheme than mixing. So maybe it is that the Chase Brown being a factor there and Damian Pierce,

not in Houston, but should there really be a two round difference between Joe Mixon and Zach Moss? Yes, I think so. Because I don't think the Texas situation is one that of committee. I think Mixon is the guy there. And I think that's, that's a lock. Whereas Moss does have Chase Brown. It's funny.

Whenever you see this, I'm sure the guys will probably attest to this also. Whenever you see the guys that are ranked right next to each other, like right now it's Moss at 37, Chase Brown at 38. That's what everybody sort of consensus throws their hands up and go, I don't know. To me, that is always the, I don't know. I always circle that and go, yeah, if you guys don't know, and we're all the experts and the analysts, then how is anybody else supposed to know? And the Moss thing too, I don't want to discount how much of a genius I think Shane Steichen is, because when you remove

that genius from Philadelphia, the Eagles suffered, that offense suffered. You saw in some small doses when, you know, he had the healthy pieces when he had Anthony Richardson and even to a certain extent, my goodness, to get where he got with Gardner Minshew this past season. I think Shane Steichen is going to be one of those, you know,-time coaches in the NFL. I think he is fantastic. I haven't had the chance to talk to him the way Jamie has or some of the other guys, but I will say that. This weekend. I get to talk to him this weekend. Well, when you talk to him, tell him I said he's a genius.

I will. Tell him I said hello. And then also tell him that I'm really excited about Richardson, Pittman, this entire offense. But Moss, I can't shake those years where he was just a nothing in Buffalo, and opportunities were there for him to seize it. He just never did. Why? I guess we can speculate as to a myriad of reasons, but at the end of the day, I think to chase what happened last year in a small sample

size with an offense that desperately needed him is foolish because I just don't know if it's fantasy worthy. If you're talking about a flex guy, bench guy, okay. The 36 running back position overall, there's absolutely worse things you could do than Zach Moss for sure. But at the same time, it's not something I'm chasing necessarily either. Okay. Here's one that's, I think is fairly spicy take.

Half of it is anyway. Drake London is the biggest off season winner is according to Joe. Drake London is the biggest off season winner so far. And round four is far too cheap, and that's where he went. He went right in the middle of round four. That's not so spicy. This part is he'll be a second rounder by August and still worth it.

Ooh. You know what, Dave? I'm going to let you react to that first, and then we'll go to Joe. Drake London, great value in round four, and he should be a second, or he will be a second rounderer and it will be worth it there. I'm not sure if he makes it to late round two.

Let's call it that as a as a pick this coming draft season. But I do think that he is an absolute winner because he's getting Kirk Cousins. He's upgrading from Desmond Ritter and Taylor Heineke. I did some digging on just wide receivers and how they do when they get at least seven targets. Last season, the average percent of the time when a wide receiver had at least seven targets and scored 15 or more PPR points was 52%. With Kirk Cousins, it was 71%, meaning 71% of the time that one of his wide receivers had seven targets, they went over 15 PPR points.

London had 6.9 targets per game last year. So I think it's pretty safe to say that he'll be in that seven target range as a floor this year. I completely get it. What worries me about London is the touchdown production. Can he get to eight, nine, 10 touchdowns? Can he actually come through with more than that? I think the catches

will have to really be there. I see him as a PPR proposition. Will he be good enough to be a second rounder? Again, I think you're drafting him too close to a ceiling. If you do that, I'm much more comfortable taking him in round three. So just, just, uh, uh, something with me and Joe last year at the flex draft, Joe was doing the stickers when, uh, my draft was going on. His draft was afterwards. And we were almost like in sync with, he almost knew everything I was going to do. And this is so funny because last night I adjusted my rankings following the draft and Drake London right now is 25 for me. So he's just outside the top 24. And I totally agree. I see the rocket ships just,

you know, completely in the direction for Drake London. Very excited about the situation for him. So he may be a second round pick for me by the time we're done. That's why I'm so glad that Jamie was in that first draft, because I hate drafting with Jamie because we have the exact same board and the same ranking. But I'm just looking, Dave made a great point there, had a great set about Kirk Cousins.

He also played with Marcus Mariota. Okay, let's not forget that. Drake London has never played with a barely serviceable quarterback in the NFL yet. He is a terrific young prospect. And I keep using my prospect because we haven't seen the best of Drake London yet. I think he's going to get a huge amount of that target volume. I do think eight touchdowns as Dave was ruling. That's what he's got to get to is right there. I've got him currently as my 10th wide receiver on the board. And I'll tell you why, because the guys right around there, you know,

Debo, well, here you go. Debo has a situation too, where he's always, you know, we're always worried about him, the injuries and that quotient is always very high. If you want to take Debo over him, that's fine. DJ Moore is now, you know, I haven't met 11. He's always, he's going to be playing with a rookie quarterback this year. We just don't know. Pittman Jr. I love. Pittman is going to be playing with a rookie quarterback this year. We just don't know. Pittman Jr., I love.

Pittman's going to be playing with Anthony Richardson, still kind of a rookie quarterback. We know the Iuke dynamic with Debo Samuel. So all these guys that are going around that cluster, the one guy that sticks out that could be the absolute alpha, that has a veteran quarterback, that is a team ready to win, that is all set at just the end of the quarterback, it's Drake London. And I think that's an easy thing for me. I mean, Mike Evans is another year older. So is Devante Adams. I'm looking at the rest of this board. And although I might be

drafting him at a ceiling, I'm also drafting him with the present construct of the player pool at wide receiver, in essence, basically showing me that Drake London is the best investment of these guys, because even though I haven't seen it yet, there's a better chance that I'm going to see it this year than I will with all these other guys. I could start to throw some shade at here and there. And I think that it's one of those things. There's more, we talk about it. The more we think about it, we're going to keep talking about it and people are gonna start listening and he's going to start flying up draft boards because people like Jamie are going to say it and they're right. And at the end of the, when all said and done, I do believe that London is going to be much

closer to a second round pick. Maybe he doesn't go there, but if he goes in the third, I'm going to take him every single time he's there because I think he can be that good. I think the Falcons are going to win this division. Joe, who do you have at nine at wide receiver? At nine, I have Garrett Wilson currently at nine. I have Nico Collins at eight. No, you know what, Joe? I have Garrett Wilson currently in mind. I have Nicole Collins at eight. So,

no, you know what, Joe, this is very interesting because yesterday we were talking about, you can see this draft board here. I took Chris Olave with the third pick of round two and I just didn't like it. And I said,

after the top eight receivers, which didn't include Nico Collins for me, it did include Garrett Wilson. Yeah. I would have him probably seven. And then AJ Brown eight in PPR. After that, I was like, I don't think, there may not be a single wide receiver

that I think belongs in the second round. You're making the case that Drake London is that guy. So putting him there, it does, I mean, I think it's fine. I didn't really consider it yet. It's a lot. How much of a lock is Garrett Wilson to be a success this year? I'm just saying

is, is, uh, Aaron Rogers, not a volatile 40 year old human being at this point for a whole host of reasons. I'm just saying like, it's not like a lock, like Aaron Rogers comes back and everything is hunky Dory and just great with the jets. Ask any jet fan, if anything is great with the jets and they're going to tell you the answer is undoubtedly. No, never. I guess, I guess you want to compare the two. The one thing would be is that Drake London did not ascend to the heights that Garrett Wilson did in his rookie season with all the crappy quarterback play, you know, so agreed. Drake London is going to be dripping in Cole's cash with Kirk cousins all season long, Jamie. I, but it's a great comparison. You know what I mean, you're talking about two third-year wide receivers

that have the chance to have that breakout campaign that we love to see in this type of scenario that things just improve. We thought it was going to happen for Wilson last year because of Aaron Rodgers joining the Jets. But, yes, these are two guys, like, you want to get in on players like this before it happens as opposed to, oh, I wish I took them after the fact. You know, like, this is the situation where you want to buy into these guys, which is why, you know, like this is the situation where you want to buy into these guys, which is

why, you know, like I said, I was excited about Drake London getting Kirk Cousins, not initially to this point, but yeah, he's he's he's inside my top 12. And like I said, just outside round two, and I would have no problem putting him in round two right now. OK, let's take a commercial break here. And when we come back, I got some more questions for Joe. We'll get his rankings of the top five wide receivers, his thoughts on the second half of the season for the Eagles

and why it was so bad. One breakout for 2024. Final four predictions, emails, and Apple podcast questions. We still have a lot left here on Fantasy Football today. We'll be right back. Miller Lite. The light beer brewed for people who love the taste of beer and the perfect pairing for your game time.

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So while you may be spiraling over double texting your crush, whether your skincare routine is working because you look the same or is doing nothing because you look the same and whatever the heck red light therapy is it's definitely not that don't overthink how you hydrate life's full of choices smart water is a simple one and welcome back joe big weekend plans yeah this is like your last weekend before baseball starts, so you better go crazy. That is, I am so excited for that. You have no idea. It's going to be all kinds of emotions. I'll have no voice on Monday, I'm sure. But yeah, so really, I'm just kind of resting up and gearing up for that. That's really what this weekend is about.

Slowly doing that, you know, get a little family dinner on Sunday, do the whole Italian thing. I'll be cooking on Saturday ahead of time. But it's really resting up, gearing up, and getting ready for WrestleMania. For Mania, yeah. Do you consider yourself a Cody Cry crybaby a hundred percent cody crybaby i love cody road so much and i followed his journey and i love it and you know i love this stuff with his dad always i was always a big dusty fan when i was a kid too and it's funny i recently my dad passed away actually in january and he actually passed away on the morning of the royal rumble and it was just an emotional night getting to see him go and do his thing there.

And I was wearing my Dusty Rhodes shirt and I was kind of like the three hours where he had a little time there where we all kind of like got together, watched the Rumble and you know, had a nice smile there. So I'm emotionally invested. I'm crying right now just thinking about it. I will probably shed a tear that night with a tear in my eye. I'll have Riclair uh have that moment and look 25 years ago i was an idiot in college at wrestlemania in philadelphia for the

rock and stone coles eve austin which was an incredible thing to experience live the crowd was split it was incredible and now 25 years later i'm taking my daughters to go see wrestlemania it's kind of wild and it makes me feel old gentlemen makes me feel old seasoned seasoned i like that that's better well that's that's awesome man i mean that's going to be a fun experience for you um all right how do you rank the top five wide receivers joe you know i thought this was going to be an easy question until i really started to dive into it again because i've been in a baseball you know mudslide for the last i I don't know, four weeks. I've got Lamb at the top, which I think is probably the easy consensus thing. I just can't quit Jamar Chase.

I just want Joe Burrow healthy for a whole season with Jamar Chase. That's all I want for Christmas. If I could just get that, I'd be very excited. I've got Chase 2. It is really hard to not right now put Tyreek Hill 3. I have some concerns about 2. I have some concerns about Tua. I have some concerns about at a certain point too, when does the cheetah lose a step? Because if he does, things may be going in a different direction, but the offense has been so good.

They've been so elite. They're so fast paced. I just feel like it can sustain one more year. I have Jefferson at four, which hurts my soul to have him at four, but I've got to say, well, what is the quarterback situation? I don't know. We get that definitive in a couple of weeks from now. We'll have a better idea what that looks like. Then maybe he could possibly move up, but right now he's holding strong at four, but maybe the best value at five is I'm on Ross St. Brown. And if you're in drafting in the middle of the first round, I don't know how you don't just love getting him at like seven or eight. I think that's a fantastic way every week

to just put a crap ton of points in your lineup. And I think Amon Rod does not get enough credit still. The fact that he's top five in consensus, but for some reason I don't feel like anybody talks about him as elite, and I think that's just wrong. I'm surprised Joe's feed didn't cut up, cut off there by Thomas putting Jefferson. Oh yeah. Thomas is hurt me. I said it hurt my soul. I mean, I did say I'm the biggest, I'm the Jefferson wide receiver. One guy I, I, I bet on him a couple of years ago for AP player

of the year at 12 to one. And it hit that year. I believe me. I love me some Justin Jefferson. He has made, put money in my pockets, but let's be honest, if it's a J.J. McCarthy, whoever it might be, we have to kind of wait and see a little bit how good that might be able to be. And who knows, maybe I'll change my two, maybe he jumps to three or maybe even two. We'll find out. All right, so it was Lamb, Chase, Tyreek,

Jefferson, St. Brown. Correct. Man, you all have Lamb number one. It's interesting. We love Lamb. Man, you all have lamb number one. It's interesting. We love lamb. Is that what's the fantasy pros consensus? Consensus is lamb as well. And I mean, how do you not put a guy number one in an offense where, you know, now they're going to throw the football?

You had 181 targets last year. I mean, even if it regresses to 151, 161. I mean, how do you not get excited about that? 14 touchdowns. Look, is it going to be hard to repeat? Probably, but it's not impossible. And I think a lot of us in the fantasy analyst community have been waiting for this. Like we keep saying, yeah, this is the land breakout.

This is the land breakout. And then we finally got it. And now we're going to like piss and moan and get, you know, crappy about it. Like, well, maybe he's not number one. No, stop, stop self-loathing. We actually got it. It finally happened. Let's enjoy it. Let's put him in number one and not overthink it for once. I just, I, you know, I don't think he's getting necessarily more targets than Tyreek Hill. Tyreek Hill was on pace for 182 targets. Lamb had 181. Tyreek Hill missed one game. He left one game early as well. I didn't factor that in just a 17-game pace based on his 16 games. In 2022, he was on pace for 173 targets with a healthy Tua. He's my number one right now.

I guess it's not really much of a conversation. It's nothing interesting if all three of you just agree. So I'm just going to say that Tyreek Hill is my number one. I'm not worried about him getting old. He's 30 years old. That's fine. For an elite wide receiver, they usually perform very well at age 30, like Devontae Adams did. So that's not a concern for me. I know that they want more targets.

I know that the Dolphins want more players who can make plays. They don't want it to just be the Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddle show. Whether that's a tight end or a receiver, I think they're going to invest in that in the draft. But Tyreek Hill is just so damn good. And...

So do you have more faith in the Dolphins coaching staff to get him that or more faith in Dak Prescott to execute with CeeDee Lamb? I think that's the question I think you ask yourself. Equal faith. Because my faith in Tua is not exactly huge. It's not that he wasn't good last to execute with C.D. Lamb? I think that's the question I think you ask yourself with who you want. Equal faith. Okay.

Because my faith in Tua is not exactly huge. It's not that he wasn't good last year, but I don't know. Lamb had never done this before. And Tyreek Hill has. True. So Lamb, I think, is really the only one that...

Maybe you could say Chase has never really done it. I would say 2022. You could also say the same thing when Justin Jefferson did it for the first time. I mean, there's going to be a first for everything. No, Justin Jefferson was, I'm thinking off the top of my head, I'm thinking a lot better than CeeDee Lamb in 2022, right?

Well, in 2022, Jefferson was the one. So he was the wide receiver one. But I mean, in 2022, CeeDee. So he was the wide receiver one. But I mean, in 2022, City Lamb, 1,300 yards, nine touchdowns. I'm looking at right now, Justin Jefferson in 2022, 1,800 yards, nine touchdowns. So they had the same amount of touchdowns, ironically, but 184 targets for Jefferson. And in Lamb that year, 156. But Adam, you know, you say it's easy to say, because we're saying Lamb is number one. We just had a draft where Tyree Kill went as the first receiver off the board.

If people are comfortable with the Vikings quarterback situation, Jefferson will get right, right there. Uh, Joe said it, you know, if Joe Burrow's healthy and maybe they trade T Higgins, even without training T Higgins, there are going to be some people that might take Jamar chase first or over one of these other two guys. To me, it's the most fascinating decision that a fantasy manager has to make starting at number two overall. Because if you're not going to take Brees Hall or B. John Robinson, you're going to take one of these receivers. And you want to make sure you're doing the right thing. I don't think that there's a lot of flaws with these guys.

You can certainly nitpick them. You know, Tyreek at 30, like Joe said, if he loses a step quarterback situation for, for Jefferson, you know, borough, et cetera, et cetera. But, uh, these, these four guys, and again, not to disrespect tomorrow, but I just don't think he's getting drafted ahead of these guys. So for, for any of these four, it's such a fascinating decision, but really, I mean, again, extended to what the Drake London conversation, you know, it's the receivers past this group too. When do you take them? How much faith do you have in them? Can Puka do it again? Can AJ Brown overcome last year's second half struggles? Can Garrett Wilson and Drake London ascend to these heights?

Who even is in the backend of the top 12 wide receivers? Cause Joe gave five names of, you know, guys that could be in those two or three spots, you know? So it's a, it's, it's a very, very fascinating decision with the top 12 wide receivers. Jamie, do you think that like I'm on raw would be in salary cap drafts easily always less than those guys? Yes. So does that make him a better return on investment

when you're trying to fill out an entire lineup? Absolutely, yeah. All right, what are your thoughts on the Eagles' second half when you look at the way A.J. Brown gets drafted? What I anticipate for Jalen Hurts, I still think he's going to be drafted as an elite guy. He wasn't in this draft. He was the fourth quarterback off the board

and went like a round later than Alan Mahomes and Jackson. But yeah, I think people are going to pay more attention to the year and a half that preceded the second half of 2023, which was just terrible. Joe, what's your take on that? Look, my take on the Eagles is that schedule wore them out. The pressure wore them out. The OC change wore them out.

I think physically Jalen Hurts was worn out at the end of the year. I think this is a team that, you know, carry themselves, you know, by their haunches into the playoffs. And look, at the end, they just didn't have anything left in the tank. And we should not be surprised. I think that's the biggest thing. If you go back, and I dides into the playoffs. And look at the end, they just didn't have anything left in the tank. And we should not be surprised.

I think that's the biggest thing. If you go back and I did this around the Superbowl too, because right after the Superbowl, the 49ers were the favorite to win next year. And I wanted to warn everybody about this because it's the same thing that happened to the Eagles this year. And same thing that happens every single year,

almost without fail. Since 2000, so almost 25 years now, only one team has made it back to the Superbowl after losing. And that team, of course, was a Tom Brady team, only one team has made it back to the Super Bowl after losing. And that team, of course, was a Tom Brady team, the 2018 Patriots, right? And they won back in 2019. The 49ers right now are the current favorite, right? The Eagles last year lost the Super Bowl tough.

Things kind of unraveled for them. It's what happens, especially when you lose. If you go back and you look at the teams that lost tough Super Bowls where they were like last play of the game or in this is overtime scenarios. Things don't go well for those teams. I don't know if it's the wear and tear of the playoffs. I don't know if it's the wear and tear mentally of losing and trying to get back into that space. But I think this was that hangover year for the Eagles. And I think you also realize, you know, as excited as we all were for all those Georgia kids to come through as talented as they all are, they're all pretty green still on the NFL level.

So it takes a little while for some of these young players on defense to really figure it out. It takes in there, even though they all played together at Georgia, they're not playing together with these guys. I think that this is a good year off season where I think the Eagles have done a really good job of, of filling some of the holes they needed. I think Roseman's done a terrific job there this off season where I think the Eagles have done a really good job of, of filling some of the holes they needed. I think Roseman's done a terrific job there this off season. He always seems to be in the right place, the right time to make the right move. And I think the schedule, I think the wear and tear, everything was in there negative. I'm not concerned with AJ Brown at all.

He is my sixth wide receiver. So just, you know, I think that's perfectly comfortable there. Yeah, there was a tail off, but I think the Eagles collectively, we have to kind of put them into one basket and say the whole second half of that year after that incredibly difficult gauntlet schedule where they were running through it pretty well. And then they weren't. And then it just kind of fell apart again. I think it's the mental wear and tear of it. And don't be surprised if something similar happens to the 49ers this year.

And I'm just kind of running that up the flagpole because again, since 2000, only one other team has even gotten back, let won another Super Bowl the year after losing it just doesn't happen in the NFL in this modern day era for whatever reason but I think it's a great thing to study and think about so you're comfortable with Brown wide receiver six what about Hertz top three uh it's hard not to put him top three still. You can split hairs on these guys. I still like Mahomes just by a hair because, you know, I just think Mahomes is just this other world. He's just a little bit safer. You know, maybe he doesn't have that rushing equity.

Okay, it's fine. But there's something about Mahomes. Whereas, you know, there is a range of outcomes, as my friend Derek Brown likes to say, where maybe maybe hurts does continue to move towards the other direction now I don't think it's going to happen but when you have 15 rushing touchdowns and you start to take that back a little bit to 11 okay just change the dynamic a little bit I think the Eagles are me good I think hurts is a good investment I would go Alan Bahomes hurts but again they're all very close I'd be happy with any of them I'll just go to the next one here. One breakout for 2024. What do you got? Well, I think it's pretty easy.

I think Drake London would be that guy. But the other one to a quarterback, Anthony Richardson, I think, could break fantasy this year if things go right. I told you I love Steichen. And I've already seen with the early consensus, which is funny because the early ECR is basically us fantasy pros goons like getting up there and making our ranks. So I know I'm very high on them. Debro is, Erickson is, Fitz is.

So like we're all kind of pushing that. I'm really curious to see what happens as other people start putting their ranks up post-draft and what that really looks like. Because, you know, at the earliest rankings, CJ Stroud was going ahead of Richardson. Now that's not necessarily the case. And I think that's a really interesting pivot point to what's going on, um, in super flex formats right now. How good could he be?

Um, with a healthy off season with, you know, a putting in the work, which I think he's going to do. It's a, it's a special talent and maybe we're overrating him and that's possible. And maybe it'll come back to bite us. But in terms of a breakout, I think that whole Colts team, him and Pittman together could be really special this year. So that would be my big breakout besides Drake London. I think London's just in a perfect spot there this year. Do you have them over guys like Stroud, Jordan Love? I have them over right now. I do. And the reason is that rushing equity. And I also want to see

what the, what happens with the draft too. Like the Bengals really need to keep figuring out that offensive line issue. Like they just have to, like we have to do a better job here. And I know we thought we did and it just didn't happen. And, you know, I love Joe Burrow. I think he's a fantastic quarterback. I myself am surprised. I made my rankings and I went over actually to look at them this morning and see what

the ECR was currently. And I couldn't believe that Richardson was six over burrow. Like I couldn't believe that was the early consensus, but then I realized it's all my, you know, idiot friends over there. We're all kind of thinking the same way. So I'm curious to see like, what is the rest of the group think? Because all this ECR stuff, all this ADP, all it is is polling, right? That's all it is at the end of the day. It doesn't mean it's right. It's just polling and polls aren't always correct. We've seen that in the last couple of years, I think in the last decade, but I think we have to understand what the upside is for Richardson, especially in those super flex leagues. And I think it's gonna be really interesting to see over the summer, how that quarterback board does change as borough gets

healthier. As you know, people keep talking about the Texans and what they could do. Texans were an incredibly public team, especially from the money situation and betting side towards the second half. They went from being undervalued to overvalued. So I'm really curious to see if that hangover carries over into fantasy in 2024. Do you guys have Stroud or do you have Richardson over Stroud? No, I have Stroud over Richardson now. I'll probably keep that. The one I'm struggling with is Love over Richardson. I think once we get he's fully healthy, that'll change for me.

Not that I don't expect him to be, but I just want to wait and see before that happens. Because Love was fantastic to end the season last year, too. I think we have, and this is kind of why you've seen in every draft I've done so far, just waiting on quarterback is the smartest thing to do i mean you have such this group of guys that are going to be ranked anywhere from 6 to 12 that all have the ability to be top five quarterbacks in my opinion so stroud love richardson uh kyler you know these guys are all such high ceiling plays that you're getting at such discounts and again you, you know, you see the draft that we did on Tuesday to get Jordan love as the, I think it was the 11th quarterback off the board.

Don't expect that to happen very often, but that's just playing the board, you know, and I, as I told you, you know, if it wasn't going to be love, it would have been Kyler Murray for me.

I would have been thrilled with that. Okay. Dave, any thoughts? No, I've got love at the top of the list just because of how he finished last year and how he was able to put up fantasy points almost regardless of what wide receivers were available in green bay jane reed was on fire he got hurt became a wide out that played half the snaps the rest of the way

you know it's romeo dobbs stepping up in the playoffs it's don tavian wicks and bo melton late into the season it's tucker craft j Jordan love found a way to make it work with whoever was out on the field. That's the telltale sign of a good quarterback. And I think that Jordan love is exactly that. I know Josh Jacobs is there to take away some touchdowns. It stings a little bit, but we saw love average 25 fantasy points per game in this final nine. It's a small sample size,

but I think he could get somewhere between 22 and 25. Getting that dude is the 11th quarterback off the board is insanely good. Definitely worth the idea of waiting on a quarterback, finding one that comes at a value. You can't believe the value that it's at. And then you take them. And Joe, for you, you guys are going off four points for passing touchdowns or six.

I believe it's going off of four. That's a big difference. Yeah. That's a big difference. Yeah, that's a huge difference. But you know what? To Jamie's point, too, in single quarterback leagues, 100%. Like 100%, like you wait, you'll get a love. I mean, you'll get Herbert for free. You'll get Kirk Cousins right now going as the 16th quarterback, which I think that's going to change over time, too.

Two is out there outside the top 12. So waiting this year, especially it's a smart thing to do because the six, as you're alluding to that six through 12 group, I mean, they're going to be super close in terms of relative position value, which is the black book says to both evaluating players, like they're going to be right there. So why reach for any of them? But if I was to reach for one, it would be Richardson because there is that possibility where it becomes top five.

Whereas I don't know about the other guys in that six through 12. Maybe Love could do it. If he can be that consistent, drag that second half over into a full season, that'd be great to see. And maybe he can do it. And that would be fantastic. But at the same time, in the super flex formats, I think we're in that same thing we were in last year.

Not quite as bad as last year, but last year was really brutal. When you're looking in that second grouping at QB too, it was landmine after landmine, rookie starters here, second year guys, they are inexperienced everywhere. And what it do, it dragged down, not just the quarterback play, but then you had the injuries on top of it. Then you had dragging down all the other wide receivers with them. It was brutal. And I'm not saying it's going to be markedly better this year, but I think it will be a bit better because this quarterback class seems like it's going to be a little bit more helpful in that sense and some of the bottom pieces whether it be you know the baker mayfield's of the world

baker mayfield's 22 right now but baker mayfield was more than serviceable last year as a second quarterback and and just to i think put in perspective if we're talking four points he's fifth for me too richardson yeah okay i still okay i'm still gonna take stroud over him in four point you're not obviously so so who's ahead of him jamie who the four the the top four okay the three joe mentioned alan i'm still gonna take burrow and stroud over him and i get it he hasn't proven enough yet and i think that's where joe's joe's coming from too where he said he's struggling with burrow versus richardson but i think in most drafts you'll see Burrow and Stroud go over them, which is why I like, I, again, I don't think this early consensus is necessarily going to be what the ADP is.

You know, I think after the draft, everybody starts to really dig into it. Everyone get really excited about, but Joe Burrow is healthy. Everything looks good. Like, you know, all that stuff happens and the more CJ Stroud talk and the publicity is going to be there. I don't know about the publicity around Richardson outside of all of us fantasy nerds. Like, I don't know about what that's going to be there. I don't know about the publicity around Richardson outside of all of us fantasy nerds. Like, I don't know about what that's going to look like. Plus, you'll get one of these guys is going to get a surprise receiver added in the draft.

You know, it could be Houston. They've been in on some guys free agency in the draft and trade. I don't think it'll be love, but, you know, you never know. But there's going to be somebody that gets a surprise rookie. And we're like, oh, OK, you know, that changes things. I mean, Indianapolis could do that, too. You know, there's some talk about them upgrading over alec pierce so you know there'll be something that changes it but i do think in one quarterback leagues he's the type

of guy richardson that there are so many decent number two quarterbacks you know you mentioned a few of those but like matthew stafford and trevor lawrence and even deshaun watson you know there's just guys that can get you by if richardson does struggle or get hurt that you swing for the fences with him because he is that type of difference maker. So, yeah, to put him in a breakout category is perfect. OK, Dave Richard, got your your stupid Miami shirt on there. That's just reminding me. They were awesome. How bad? Yeah, but I don't want to be reminded about how bad they were this year.

So it's annoying. But don't wear a 2024 Miami Hurricanes basketball shirt. They don't have it. I miss them being in the tournament. Let's get a final four. You got your final four up? You want me to go first? I'll go first. I have North Carolina,

UConn, Marquette, and Tennessee. I have nothing but ones and twos. It's a terrible bracket, but we're all going to have terrible brackets. It happens every year. I'm not going to be the one who's going to pick a ton of upsets because I think that's stupid.

You have to get it right. If you're going to pick a bunch of upsets, you better get those ones right because you don't want to pick upsets in the wrong part of the bracket and then miss out on the national champion whereas the other half of the bracket had the real upsets.

Whatever. So I just went with a lot of chalk. I got UNC over Tennessee. I will say I don't have Houston or Purdue in my final four, so that in itself is a bit of an upset. North Carolina beats Tennessee to win the national championship. Not many people giving North Carolina that much of a chance. Yeah, they're only one seed.

Why would anybody give them much of a chance? Because they are clearly the worst one seed. Clearly. So, yeah. Anyway, that's North Carolina over Tennessee. I'd be curious to see how many UNC brackets we have. We have about 2,500 people in the FFT League. Anybody else got their final four up?

Yes. I got mine. Go ahead, James. So this is the FFT league. Anybody else got their final four up? Yes. I got mine. Go ahead, Jim. Uh, so this is the one I did. I have a father, son,

um, bracket that we're doing. And this is the one that my six year old picked with me. Uh, so it's, uh, he's got Yukon and Arizona and Florida and Tennessee and Florida being a Yukon. Okay.

I feel better about mine now. But that's good. That's good. You never know. That's how you win, right? Dave, what do you got? Don't forget about what happened last year. How many one seeds and two seeds made the Final Four? Norlander said Norlander's awesome with this

stuff. I can't remember what he said, but there's an incredible streak of a five seed or lower making the Final Four. It happens basically every year now. So I've got two seeds that are higher than five or worse than five, I guess, that make my Final Four. This is in the podcast league where, number one, you've got to be different.

Number two, I've watched a lot of college basketball the last two years. Nobody's any good except for UConn. And I didn't even pick them to make the Final Four because I just want to be totally different. Keep in mind, I'm a football guy. I've got BYU, Nevada, Kentucky, and Creighton in my final four. Fun. And then what?

Who's winning? Kentucky. Okay. Taking BYU. BYU has been a team that I've watched enough of to think that they're pretty good. Better than a six seed. I love that Kentucky.

You know, you've taken that traditional underdog. That's good, you know. What a story it would be if Kentucky won the championship. Says the guy who picked North Carolina to win the national championship. Joe, you're not participating, are you? I am

abstaining. I was never... College basketball, when I was in high school, I was kind of into and then I was never into it. And then, unfortunately, I worked with the Big East for two years of my life. And I have some terrible, awful war stories of some really bad things of people didn't take advantage of and those kids getting taken advantage of. And I just lost my taste for college basketball. But I'm glad you kids enjoy it. I want you to go have fun with the brackets.

Bracket it up, baby. Thank you. All right, I got a few emails I'd like to read here. We'll go real quick because we've run a little long on time. This is from Doug. Doug wants to be clear. He says the Steelers quarterback position will be an open competition,

and the quarterback who helps drive Arthur Smith's offensive scheme will start. He's not buying that Russell Wilson is the starter. Anyone agree or disagree strongly with that? Doug Tomlin writing in. Nice. I saw a tweet from Mark. I always get his name wrong.

Mark Cabali. Cabali. From The Athletic, who covers the Steelers. And he said, unquestioned, that Russell Wilson will be the starter for week one, if healthy. I almost think they promised him it as a condition of him signing with them. I would love to see an open competition and see if Justin Fields can win the job because clearly he's more fun for us.

But I don't think the Steelers are going to go into the season with Justin Fields as the starter. Unless Russell comes to camp and he just looks as terrible as ever and field somehow puts it all together. I would say that the odds are slim that that happens. All right. Let's see Joe's pop culture knowledge here. This one is from Dustin Mills and he says, dear Jeff, Annie, Britta,

Abed and Shirley. No, that is, I got nothing on this one. That is community community. You know, Abed, and Shirley. No? I got nothing on this one. That is community. Community. You know, that was the one that got away from me. I never saw community. It's very funny.

Very funny show. I got to add to the list. It's the Keeper League. Guys are asking about doing off-season trades. We can keep up to three players with a one-round draft penalty, and we allow draft pick trades. I like the idea of having more year round fantasy options, but I'm not sure how off season trades would work in a non dynasty league.

What are your thoughts, Joe? What are your thoughts? Keeper league, three keepers. They can do draft day trades, but not off season trades. Do you think they should just allow for off season trades? Oh, you can. I mean, you're taking a risk though. I mean, the longer out that you make trades, the more possibility of somebody gets hurt while they're training. So I don't know if you want to do that necessarily. I don't know if that's the best scenario for your league.

You're taking more risk on. I'm okay with trading any point in time. When you have keepers, you have keepers. They're your keepers. So I'm okay with trading any time. This isn't the draft penalty. Like, I don't know if you want to put penalties in there. Leagues are always more fun when there's more activity.

So that's the best thing I could say about that. The only thing I'll add is I don't think it's right for you to trade a player that you don't intend to keep. So let's say I just, I, I smashed it last year. I had Bijan Robinson, Puka Nakua,

and Josh Jacobs on my team. I want to keep all three of them. I got them with later picks, but I I'm getting a great offer for Josh Allen, who I. I want to keep all three of them. I got them with later picks, but I'm getting a great offer for Josh Allen, who I'm not going to keep. And so I trade Josh Allen away, but I wasn't going to keep him anyway. Then you're getting something for free.

And that just doesn't sit right with me. I think if you're going to trade a player, you have to declare him as a keeper first, and then you can move on. Otherwise, I agree completely. But what if you're doing like a two-for-one deal and you're getting move on. Otherwise, I agree completely. Make trade. What if you're doing a two-for-one deal and you're getting the best player involved, but the rest of your keepers stink?

You really want... Then it sounds like it's a good deal for you. You really want Christian McCaffrey, but the rest of your keepers stink. You have to make some sort of blockbuster trade to make it happen. You've got to declare your keepers and then trade them away. That's the only,

so you're okay with it. As long as the scenario is you're, you're getting McCaffrey and two kickers, but you're keeping the two kickers. Why do I have to keep two kickers? Because that's the only way you're getting McCaffrey is you're trading away your three best players to get McCaffrey. Yeah,

but I could still keep two other. Oh yeah. I guess I'd have to change your keepers after the trade. McCaffrey. Yeah, but I could still keep two other. Oh, yeah, I guess I'd more keep McCaffrey. You'd have to change your keepers after the trade. Right, right, right. Oh, you can if you've already kept two players or whatever. But you're trading. You don't get this one.

I really want McCaffrey, and I'm trading away Bijan, Justin Jefferson, and Brees Hall. And those are my three keepers that I declared. I'm a moron. I really want McCaffrey, though, and I'm trading away those three guys to get McCaffrey. And your only keeper is'm a moron. I really want McCaffrey, though. I'm trading away those three guys. Your only keeper is McCaffrey. Your only keeper is McCaffrey.

Figure out the parameters. You should play in a league with me. Buy in is $10,000. I will make sure I have Christian McCaffrey on my team. This is from Matt M. 1986. Dynasty PPR, one quarterback league. I traded 1.4 and 1.7.

And a 2025 second round pick for Jamar Chase. Giving up four. Fourth pick and seventh pick in round one this year. And a second round pick next year for Jamar Chase. 1QB or Superflex? 1QB. He also has Tee Higgins. I like it.

So you're getting... You're getting Jamar Chase. You're out of round one. Yeah, but you're giving up... Who's going to be the consensus fourth receiver? Well, it could be Brock Bowers. That's probably... Yeah, he could also be one of the one of the quarterbacks even though it's only a single quarterback league you still might get caleb williams to go yeah i don't know if i love it it's a lot to give up for chase i'll tell you what i mean it's one

of those things where you roll the dice if it works out and chase i'd be looked two years ago i don't know about you guys but i chased number one on my board in terms of wide receiver dynasty guys that i wanted so looking back on it now like now we're all a little bit concerned because things haven't quite worked out but there's still a lot of youth on their side there's still a lot of upside i mean the bangles are theoretically still a big big time contender it's a lot i would have liked to have maybe get another second round pick something back i think the four and the seven was enough. I didn't think he had to throw in the other one, but whatever he had to throw the other thing is,

but if he gave me like, I don't know, another second rounder this year or next year or something like that, that you could like build some more draft capital, maybe move up next year to take somebody else in the 25 draft. That would have been better, but I don't think it's bad necessarily. It's just a little bit more of a risk than it was two years ago.

Hey, Joe, you're such a great host. Why don't you end the show for us? Well, I want to thank our guests, Adam Azer, Dave Richard, and of course, Jamie Eisenberg for joining us here on CBS Fantasy Football Today podcast. We talked winners, losers. We talked about fantasy football advice, but we also had a little March Madness in there to make sure you go to CBS and fill out all your brackets there because it's the best place to do it.

And of course, DVR community and a few other things. Acer, where would you like to plug where you are? Because I won't forget to make sure everybody can find you. I am in the comfort of my own home and I am going to go shopping it a little bit. I'm going to Target today. So I'll tweet from there. Can I tell you, Adam and I are in a fantasy baseball draft

together that we share a team. I've called Adam every day whenever our picks are up, and he is always shopping somewhere. It's the most amazing. Car shopping, clothing shopping, underwear shopping. It's unbelievable. I can't wait for car shopping. You must have paid him pretty good, Jamie. That's what I could imagine.

That's true. I haven't bought anything. I'm just shopping, you know. They don't pay me enough. I'm spending wait for car shopping. They must have paid him pretty good, Jamie. That's what I can imagine. That's true. I haven't bought anything. I'm just shopping, you know. They don't pay me enough. I'm spending so much on gas. All right. We got to go, everybody. Adam, hey, we're up. Hold on. I'm in a store. Adam, hey, we're up. Car shopping. Car shopping. Who enjoys this?

All right. I'll talk to you all later. We'll talk to you all later. Have a great weekend. See you.