Fantasy Football Today - Justify It! We Explain Our Draft Picks and Talk NFL News (02/28 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: February 28, 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 Looking at a recent PPR mock draft, Dave ...and Dan have to justify their picks! Saquon Barkley instead of De'Von Achane? Starting with RB/RB? But before we get to all of that, there is a lot of NFL news coming out of the NFL Combine and we react to it (3:30). We talk about Barkley, Keenan Allen, Chuba Hubbard, Rashod Bateman and many more ... Reviewing Dave's team in a 12-team, PPR mock draft and making him Justify It! Dave started RB/RB (18:30), drafted a couple of older wide receivers at the 3/4 turn (24:15), drafted more running backs at the 5/6 turn (27:50) and chose Jake Ferguson over Brock Purdy late (30:00) ... Now it's Dan's turn to Justify It! He went with Amon-Ra St. Brown instead of Bijan Robinson in the first round (35:55), drafted Barkley in Round 2 (40:00), drafted Ken Walker instead of Josh Allen or a potentially elite tight end (44:00) and chose Justin Herbert instead of C.J. Stroud (48:30). And Adam justifies the second overall pick (55:50)! ... Email us at fantasyfootball@cbsi.com 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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Starting point is 00:01:47 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. Yeah, what's up, everybody? We were supposed to go beyond the box score today, but we are pushing that to beyond this week. We'll hopefully do that for you next week, but we still were stuck with Dan.
Starting point is 00:02:09 So we were like, all right, we got to get an episode going eventually. So Dave joined us and we've got Dan and Dave here. And these two have not done a podcast together since yesterday when they were on Heath dynasty show. What's up, Dan?
Starting point is 00:02:22 Hey, Dan, if you were at the NFL combine, what would, what drill would you be best at? What drill would I be best at? That's a great question. I'd be horrible at the 40. I'd be horrible at all the explosive jumps. Bench press. Bench press would be my
Starting point is 00:02:36 best one. That's obvious, though, right? Would you wear any sleeves? The shortest sleeves possible. I'd be the guy showing up with no sleeves cut i cut him right off there you go dave richard thanks for hopping on today i know you were not supposed to be on so thanks for uh delivering in a pinch well you were begging me to come on and i was like listen i i got stuff to do it's it's combine week and i'm trying to get through all these player profiles and you just kept begging and begging and you wore me down and now here i am by the way my best event at the combine clearly the 12 30 a.m steak and shake run that's right there by wherever all the coaches
Starting point is 00:03:18 stay at so that would probably be uh i bet i'd get a good time in that have you guys seen the i don't you may know the name of the place this is saint elmo is that what it's called you know yeah i've had have you seen that massive steak you've had that i've had the steak that looks so good i'm talking about that massive one people post all over social media when they go yeah and the shrimp cocktail everybody makes a big deal about are both amazing or what's the thoughts on but i have no comment oh that's not that's not a good sign. We'll just leave it at that.
Starting point is 00:03:46 Or maybe it is, and I just don't want to have the rest of the world know about this phenomenal... Right, no, clearly you're keeping it a secret, the one that everyone's posting on social media. No one knows about St. Elmo's. All right, so what are we doing today? We got a lot of news coming out of the NFL Combine where the GMs and the coaches were speaking,
Starting point is 00:04:03 so we'll react to that. And we're going to do justify it where Dave and Dan, I'm going to look at some of the picks they made in last week's mock draft and ask them why Dan took a Monroe St. Brown over B. John Robinson, why Dave went running back, running back. And how did that work out? And I looked at every league I was in that wasn't super flex last year and all the teams that went running back, running back with their first two picks there weren't that many and three of them made the finals and one of us on this show today
Starting point is 00:04:31 went running back running back and won the league who was it certainly not me Thomas Schaefer yeah it's Schaefer way to go man and Schaefer was the only one who went running back, running back, and made the finals without Christian McCaffrey being one of those running backs.
Starting point is 00:04:48 That's even more impressive. Yeah. All right, so let's do the news and notes here. It appears that no running back will be franchise tagged, although the Giants did not rule it out with Saquon Barkley. All right, Giants insider Dan Schneier. Is he going to be on the Giants this year? I don't think so.
Starting point is 00:05:07 So I think what's going to happen there is they didn't rule it out, and it makes sense from that standpoint, but they're not going to give him the tag because if they gave him the tag, they might as well have just resigned him last offseason to a long-term deal because the guaranteed money will be pretty close to what they would have given these past few years in guarantee. So he hits the market. That's what they're going to let him do,
Starting point is 00:05:23 and then he comes back to talk to the Giants. At that point, I don't know that the Giants are going to be able to make him the best offer. Why wouldn't a team like Houston who has CJ Stroud on a rookie contract and they have, they're saving 30, 40 million at the quarterback position in cap space. They're a young team. Why wouldn't they pay a running back like this? I don't normally think it's a good idea to pay running backs, but when you're in that rookie quarterback window and you have a stud quarterback coming up up like cj shroud you can get a little bit more aggressive and i think barkley could be a really good fit there for houston so i think ultimately i'm betting on the texans signing him um coming with a better offer and then the giants and those are
Starting point is 00:05:58 the two favorites right now in the odds giants texans chargers cowboys would be your top four depending on which odds you're looking at. Cincinnati director of player personnel, Duke Tobin, said that they'd like to keep T. Higgins. They franchised him. They didn't completely commit to keeping T. Higgins. He is expected to stay with the team, but they didn't, I guess, say as definitively as they did last year
Starting point is 00:06:18 when they said, if you want a wide receiver, get your own, regarding T. Higgins. Dave, Raiders GM Tom Telesco, who was the chargers GM. He said, Devante Adams is a Raider, but he also said that about Josh Jacobs is actually technically a free agent, but he was kind of saying like, you know, he's, he's, you know, Jacobs has been a Raider his whole career, but what do you think? Do you think Devante Adams stays with the Raiders this year?
Starting point is 00:06:40 I guess so. I know that they could save some cap space if they, if they trade him, if they trade him, if they cut him, first of all, why would you cut him? He still can contribute in a big way. If they were to trade him, I think they'd save a little bit of space. Cutting him doesn't make much sense. I would imagine he's going to be in Las Vegas. He's going to be their number one alpha wide receiver. Whoever their new quarterback is going to be. That'll be someone who could obviously make an impact on Adams ADP. If it's somebody who we really love, say they just somehow, some way they get Kirk Cousins. I'm pretty sure we're going to love Devonta Adams. We're going to overlook the age thing and go right into Devonta Adams back as a surefire
Starting point is 00:07:21 wide receiver one. If it's going to be someone on the level of Aiden O'Connell or a rookie that isn't necessarily someone that we love as a passer, if it's Bo Nix, I think that Devontae Adams could actually slip a little bit further than where he's been going in our mock drafts. So far through two PPR mock drafts, Devontae Adams has gone, and I'm talking slowly so I can find the damn thing, 32nd and 19th. So a little bit of some different numbers there, but probably right in the middle, early round three, it's where you would expect to find Devontae Adams with a decent to mediocre
Starting point is 00:07:59 quarterback. Okay. And the Jaguars, according to Sports Illustrated's Jordan Shipley, the Jaguars want to bring Calvin Ridley back. If they sign him to a deal, they will have to give up a second-round pick to the Falcons. If they franchise tag him, it's a third-round pick. And if he becomes a free agent, it's a third-round pick. So it's not like there's no draft pick compensation. It's going to be a third-round pick or a second-round pick that the Jaguars are giving up, depending on what they do with with Calvin Ridley. Let's see a new Chargers GM Joe Hortiz said he did not say anything about what they're going to do with Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Khalil Mack or Joey Bosa. They've got four veteran players who are very expensive and we shall see.
Starting point is 00:08:41 I've already heard that Mike Williams is a goner. That one makes sense. Yeah. Yes. Huge cap hit coming back from the ACL, older wide receiver. I could see that. I was stunned by the news earlier that the chiefs are going to let go of Marquez Valdez scaling at his $12 million cap space.
Starting point is 00:08:57 They're saving there. That was the no brainer of all no brainers this whole season. The Falcons released John who Smith, do you think he ends up on the steelers with arthur smith i think it makes sense i think there's a good chance for that i also think that we are about to see some helium go right back into that kyle pitts balloon i mean there there's so many people who've been wanting to get some ounce of juice out of that that have paid a lot of a heavy price myself included i finally was off the train last
Starting point is 00:09:25 draft season but i was in on the last the first two i am gonna have a trouble not getting back in it i love my boy kyle pitts film at florida was great he's going to be so much healthier this year no johnny smith hopefully a regular offense hopefully a quarterback upgrade maybe justin fields it's going to be tough to not let's let Let's do the ADP game. It's late round six and he's on the board. Full PPR. Are you taking him? No, that's still too rich for my blood, but I think early draft, that may be what the cost
Starting point is 00:09:54 eventually is, Dave. Early draft so you can get him later. He went mid-round six and late round five in our first two PPR mocks. Maybe I'm wrong about that then. I still think that's a little too rich for me. Dalton Kincaid or Kyle Pitts. That's the one like right now.
Starting point is 00:10:11 I don't know, depending on what Atlanta does at quarterback, but if there's a significant upgrade, I would probably go pit. I want to double check my rankings before I give this, but I'm pretty, I yeah, I've Kincaid stop five for me because I'm working under the assumption that
Starting point is 00:10:23 he'll be no worse than the number two target getter in Buffalo. Yeah, I'd go Kincaid as of now. And Jonu Smith, by the way, had 70 targets, which is not insignificant on a team that didn't grow much. And he had four more red zone and two more green zone targets than Kyle Pitts last year. Panthers GM Dan Morgan, Miami Hurricanes legend Dan Morgan. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:10:44 I believe Coral Springs, Florida native Dan Morgan. Yeah. Said Chuba Hubbard. I should check that before I say that, but I'm pretty sure. Said Chuba Hubbard is the team's leading running back going forward. Dave, I didn't even see this one. You told me about it. That's wow.
Starting point is 00:10:59 Wow. That's a big one, actually. Yeah. Go ahead. Discuss. JP Terravella alum, Dan Morgan. I think that this is one of those things where right now Chuba's the guy. He also mentioned Miles Sanders, but he said that Chuba would be the feature back.
Starting point is 00:11:16 This is one of those things where if we go all offseason long and the Panthers really don't add anything at running back, then Chuba Hubbard's going to end up being somebody who matters and maybe even falls into that low-end RB2 range on draft day. For our first two PPR mocks, oh, guys, he went after round 11 both times. No chance in hell that happens if he's the main back for Carolina going into week one. Yeah, and did you guys hear what new Panthers head coach Dave Canales said?
Starting point is 00:11:46 He said, I'm excited for you guys to see how stubborn I'm going to be with the run game. That was his quote. He's excited to see how stubborn he's going to be. He is going to build it through the run game. He did it in Tampa too. Rashad White got a lot of carries, even though he was not effective as a runner, more effective as a receiver.
Starting point is 00:12:00 Chuba Hubbard can also impact in the passing game. And I think there's going to be a focus on Bryce Young to check down to the running backs in the pass game more to find easy solutions that really helped Baker Mayfield in his resurgent season. I was watching a lot of Rashad White tape last night because I thought we were doing beyond the box score with White. And that was a focal point of that passing game, giving Baker Mayfield that outlet at the running back position and creative ways in the passing game. So I think that could work for Chuba or whoever they bring in at running back.
Starting point is 00:12:25 And didn't Bryce do a lot of that at Alabama? I mean, he had Jameer Gibbs, so I kind of can't blame him for that. And Chuba Hubbard is no Jameer Gibbs, but it would make sense for that to be part of the game plan. Yes. Especially for this is an interesting development and Chuba Hubbard maybe
Starting point is 00:12:42 shouldn't be totally ignored in our best ball drafts between now and April. Okay. Dan Morgan, by the way, grew up in Pennsylvania, moved to Coral Springs, Florida. Oh,
Starting point is 00:12:51 another win for the Northeast coast. You're taking wins for Pennsylvania, Dan. That's a stretch, but I will take a New York city's Dan Schneier, who lives in New Jersey, is now stepping up for what's next? You're going to claim you're going to be all over
Starting point is 00:13:12 the place. Anything above the Mason-Dixon line. All right. A few more things here. Kevin O'Connell says that the Vikings want Kirk Cousins back. The Vikings do. Chicago GM Ryan Poles wants to figure out the quarterback situation as soon as possible. Everyone seems to be bracing for a Justin Fields trade.
Starting point is 00:13:33 Well, you saw what happened yesterday too, right? On that front? I think so. What did I miss? Massive, massive jump from an odds standpoint with the sports books. It went from minus 900 to minus 1600 that Caleb Williams would be drafted by the Bears
Starting point is 00:13:48 and I believe that Justin Fields trade odds also took a massive jump. So something interesting is going on there. All right. Seattle GM John Schneider said that Geno Smith is the quarterback until he's not so that he certainly did not commit to Geno Smith. Carolina
Starting point is 00:14:04 head coach Dave Canales, who we were just talking about, said he's going to be committed to getting the ball out quickly. So in addition to running the ball, they want to get the ball out quickly. And when you have a left tackle who gave up, I think, the most sacks among left tackles in the NFL, I don't blame you. I'd get the ball out quickly too. Dallas wants to extend basically all of their best players, Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, and Micah Parsons.
Starting point is 00:14:24 Prescott's set to be a free agent after this season. Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh said that Rashad Bateman will see the ball a lot more in 2024. He's bullish on Rashad Bateman. Is anybody buying that? You mean beyond late-round flyer territory?
Starting point is 00:14:39 Enough to impact Mark Andrews or Zay Flowers. The guys could be fourth-round picks. No. This isn't a high-volume passing offense to begin with. It took a step in that direction, enough to impact Mark Andrews or Zay Flowers. The guys could be fourth round picks. Those two. No, I'm not. This isn't a high volume passing offense to begin with. It took a step in that direction, but it's not like it's absolutely going to become like high flying passing offense.
Starting point is 00:14:55 And Bateman's teased us before. I don't, I don't care if it's around 11 or 12 and you want to get Bateman, go for it. But I'd be surprised if he became a regular fantasy staple I'm gonna take the opposite side of this one I like I just always like Bateman's tape and I know the injuries have been a big problem I'm just banking on the idea that year two in the system Lamar takes a big jump from a mental processing standpoint there were flashes of it obviously it didn't
Starting point is 00:15:19 carry over into the final games of the season there's an interesting stat about Bateman that I found when I was researching leak neighbors, who we might talk about a little bit later, Adam and I on FFT and five for, these are all the wide receivers who had early draft declare status, first round draft capital, and at least three and three point five receiving yards of the, like by team.
Starting point is 00:15:38 So in their peak season, so essentially like dominated the receiving production on their team. It was Des Bryant, OBJ, Mari Cooper, Malik neighbors, CD lamb and Rashad Bateman. So it's just an interesting group to be in. He dominated that, that team, that Minnesota go for the yardage on the Minnesota gophers team. It, I don't know if they'll ever be anything. I know it was a long time ago. I don't know if there'll ever be anything
Starting point is 00:16:01 dominant, but if I can envision a step forward from Lamar, from a processing standpoint in that system, and I know they want to be passed first, I can see a scenario where he can take a step forward. Because we know Odell Beckham is probably not coming back. I would doubt he's coming back. Signed the one-year deal. So there is potential for more targets as well behind Zay.
Starting point is 00:16:19 All right. Washington Offensive Coordinator Cliff Kingsbury, former Cardinals coach, basically said that it's going to be a different offense. They're going to be more balanced. Here's where the Cardinals ranked in running back rush attempts in four seasons with Kingsbury and Kyler Murray. And it's hard with Kyler Murray.
Starting point is 00:16:35 He steals a lot of the rush attempts. But 32nd, 19th, 18th, and 30th. So they didn't give the ball to their running backs all that much on the ground. Texas running back Jonathan Brooks should be cleared by training camp, according to Ian Rappaport. He's one of the top running back prospects. He tore his ACL late in the season.
Starting point is 00:16:52 And a couple more of defensive notes. The Chiefs could use the franchise tag on the Jarius Sneed, but they also seem open to trading him. And Tampa Bay will release linebacker Shaq Barrett. All right. Hey, it's fantasy baseball season. I've been watching spring training. I'm fired up.
Starting point is 00:17:08 I'm get Rodan, get Cortez. Those are the only guys I really know because they're on the Yankees, but I'll know a lot more. I'm going to start binging my fantasy baseball today podcast pretty soon. Position previews are out there. If you don't have time,
Starting point is 00:17:21 you can also check out fantasy baseball today in five, but they do a great job. If you miss Chris, he's on a great job. If you miss Chris, he's on FBT, so Frank Stample, Scott White, Chris Towers, Fantasy Baseball Today,
Starting point is 00:17:30 the best fantasy baseball podcast in the world. Guarantee, I do very well because of that podcast, exclusively, that podcast and what I read
Starting point is 00:17:37 on the website, so check out Fantasy Baseball Today. It is commercial break time. When we come back, justify it. Dan's t-shirt sizes uh and more when we uh when we come back we'll be justifying after this bumble knows it's hard to start conversations hey no too basic hi there still no what, handsome? Who knew you could give yourself the ick?
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Starting point is 00:18:37 designed to help protect you and your loved ones financially, giving you the peace of mind to focus on what truly matters. Find their products through banks, credit unions, and associations, or visit SecurianCanada.ca. Securian Canada, insurance designed for life. So we did a PPR draft very recently, and Dave Richard had the 12th pick. Dan Schneier had the 8th pick. And we'll take a look at their teams and some of their picks
Starting point is 00:19:06 and make them justify it. It was a one QB league where you start two running backs, three wide receivers, a tight end, and a flex. Dave's starting lineup will be CJ Stroud, Jonathan Taylor, Kyron Williams, Amari Cooper, Mike Evans, Cortland Sutton, Dalton Kincaid, and then either Joe Mixon or James Conner at Flex.
Starting point is 00:19:35 His bench has either Joe Mixon or James Conner, Romeo Dobbs, Demario Douglas, Jake Ferguson, A.T. Perry, and Trey Tucker. All right, Dave, three receiver league, full PPR. You had the 12th pick. Off the board, we're at wide receiver. Jefferson, Lamb, Hill, Chase, St. Brown, Puka, and A.J. Brown. That's a lot. At running back, McCaffrey, Brees Hall, Jameer Gibbs, and Bijan Robinson.
Starting point is 00:20:02 First thing you got to justify is going running back, running back. Jonathan Taylor, Kyron Williams. Justify it. Two highest rated players on my board. And the move that I did in this draft, because let's face it, this is a mock draft. There's no rookies. Free agency hasn't started yet.
Starting point is 00:20:20 This is really not the time to get serious with strategies. So I'm trying to like test out strategies. And this one was strictly going with best available player every step of the way. And so when I was up, those were the top two names on my board. I do think that there's a case to be made, even in a three receiver league,
Starting point is 00:20:40 where if there are two running backs that you're just absolutely in love with, you're going to find out pretty quickly. Number one, this year's draft class at running back, there isn't a lot of great talent there. There's a lot of good talent, but there isn't a Bijan. There isn't a Jameer Gibbs. You've got a lot of guys that are going to be part-time backs. There's maybe two guys that could eventually become full-time running backs. One of them, Jonathan Brooks is coming back from a torn ACL. I think you'll find it's top-heavy with running backs this year. So locking in two of the first three, something like that,
Starting point is 00:21:12 with your first three picks, getting two running backs, I don't know if that's the worst idea in the world. And second of all, I think Taylor and Kyron Williams are studs. I think they've got potential to be top-five running backs. We've seen Taylor finish as an RB1 before. Kyron was RB2 this past year, I think. So getting those two and picking over the rest of the wide receivers that were there.
Starting point is 00:21:32 If A.J. Brown had made it back to me, I think A.J. Brown would have been on my team, but he didn't. So I went with the two running backs and I just figured that I'd be able to find some good wide receivers later on. That did not happen. Well, that's, you know,
Starting point is 00:21:46 you took Mike Evans and Amari Cooper in rounds three and four, and we'll talk about that. And they're okay, but neither one of those guys should be a number one wide receiver. Yeah, but I don't know how you guys feel about this,
Starting point is 00:21:56 but last year, let's say you had the 12th pick last year. I'm just looking at our Fantasy Football Today League. 12th and 13th picks were from Wilkinson. You mean a draft that we did after free agency, the NFL draft, minicamps, and training camp. A real draft that we did last year in August.
Starting point is 00:22:12 Okay. Our FFT League was probably in early September. Travis Kelsey and Devontae Adams were the 12-13 picks from Will Brinson. You had Garrett Wilson, CeeDee Lamb, Jalen Waddell go in the second round. Tee Higgins and Devontae Smith were the last two. CeeDee Lamb did not go in. Oh, you mean last year? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm talking about last year. Anyway,
Starting point is 00:22:33 I just want to know how you feel about the wide receivers in the second round. If Puka's not there, I think he will be in a lot of leagues. B.J. Brown's not there. They went 10 and 11 in this league. You know, he went Taylor and Kyron. Dave went Taylor, Kyron Williams.
Starting point is 00:22:50 But the next wide receivers off the board were Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave, Rasheed Rice, Devontae Adams, DJ Moore. So, Dan, would you have done anything differently there? um it's tough to say because i i think my lean is so heavily toward wide receiver in this format uh especially early on with draft early draft couple i probably would have done something differently but i was that was the example you brought up before i was trying to rack my brain to remember this of thomas winning this league was that in full ppr or was that a different form wasn't this league oh yeah obviously i think was half ppr yeah okay i don't i'm just in full ppr i'm a little more skeptical of the start i always like my rbrb teams on draft day and they almost never work out and i think it's you know of the teams that i looked at the seven teams that i looked at in
Starting point is 00:23:41 my leagues that went rbrb three of them were great, but two of those had McCaffrey. And, you know, like I took one of the leagues was me. I took Saquon Barkley and Tony Pollard. I went five and eight. One of the leagues was Dave. He took Austin Eckler and Jonathan Taylor. And Taylor was kind of interesting, right? Because we didn't know if he was going to play and this and that.
Starting point is 00:24:02 Yeah, I obviously didn't use him as a starter. Dave went seven and seven. For the beginning of the't use him as a starter. Dave went 7-7. For the beginning of the year. Jamie did RBRB in one league. Eckler and Chubb, he went 5-9. Dan was the only team that wasn't terrible or great. He was average. He had the five seed in a league.
Starting point is 00:24:18 He went, I don't know what his record was, but he lost in the first round of the playoffs. He went Bijan and Ramondre Stevenson. That was a reach. That must have been an early draft. That was actually, that was the league that Thomas won. That was our magazine league.
Starting point is 00:24:31 So yeah, actually, that was an early draft. Yeah. But it never works out for me. But I don't know. I can't sit here and say that I like the strategy day, but I also can't sit here and say
Starting point is 00:24:40 that you should have taken Garrett Wilson with an aging quarterback coming off an Achilles, Chris Olave, who hasn't done what we want him to do yet, or Rasheed Rice, who, you know, is very uncertain as a top 15 overall pick. You know, 13th overall is where you would have had to take him. I can't say you made a bad pick because I don't love the guys going after. Maybe DJ Moore is the most proven.
Starting point is 00:25:03 Stefan Diggs, but, you know, he's, you know what I'm saying? Like, I don't know that there's a player that's an early player. Yes, I know exactly what you're saying. That's why I took two running backs with my first two picks. And it's going to be a conundrum for people. And right now, the way things look, I want an early pick. Yes, 100% this year. Or, you know who I kind of want, Dave?
Starting point is 00:25:21 How about this? Crazy. You couldn't do it in this league. Jonathan Taylor and Marvin Harrison. Yeah. It wouldn't work out in this league, but I think that's also a little too rich. Well, let's see where Marvin Harrison lands first.
Starting point is 00:25:35 All right. Dave, justify it. In rounds three, four, after taking Taylor and Kyron Williams, you took Mike Evans and Amari Cooper. You took two old receivers there where you still had on the board T. Higgins, Devante Smith, and Michael Pittman went right after that. Maybe would you mix it up next time and go old young?
Starting point is 00:25:57 I think I might mix it up next time and go old young. I'm not sure which young guy I would take, though. I like Devante Smith. I think he's an awesome talent. Jalen Hurts is a good thrower. I like that Kellen Moore is now in Philadelphia, could lead to more throwing. We don't know what Philadelphia is going to do at running back. Again, these are all questions that we'll have a lot of answers to by the time we get to August. So it was a little bit harder to make that call in a draft in mid-February. And Pittman's going to be back with Anthony Richardson. I didn't love his production when Richardson was on the
Starting point is 00:26:30 field. A little bit nervous about him getting 10 targets per game when Anthony Richardson is going to be his quarterback. That number is going to go down a little bit. But I looked at Evans and over the last three years, he's averaged at least 15 PPR points per game. Last season, it was 17 plus. I don't think he's going to get back to 17 plus, even if Baker's back, even if he resigns in Tampa Bay, even if everything's perfect in Tampa Bay, I think 17 PPR points is a little too rich, but I think 15 is right in there. And last season when Deshaun Watson played, there were five games. Mark Cooper was around 17 points per game. So I'm taking a chance on two older wide receivers. No question about it, but they've been productive. They're good players. And I don't think they're about
Starting point is 00:27:15 to fall off the age cliff quite yet. All that being said, I probably still should have gone with like Evans and Smith if I could do it over again and I the other thought in my head is do you think Marvin Harrison would have made it this far because if he had made it this far I would have raced to take him there one other option I want to get your thoughts on so you start Taylor and Kyron Williams then you go Evans Amari Cooper I think at this point you can expect you're not picking again for another two full rounds, which would be the 60th overall pick. You're not getting a top four tight end if you wait to 60. At that point, Kelsey and Laporta, I believe, were off the board.
Starting point is 00:27:55 Yes, they were. But Andrews and McBride were on the board. Do you think going back, so you start with two running backs. You need to start three receivers. You go Evans and Cooper. We talked about maybe go younger at wide receiver what about wide receiver tight end and locking up a top four tight end not in a three wide receiver flex league i really felt like i could like i almost i almost painted myself into the corner especially after rounds five and six of waiting on quarterback trying to get a good value. At least I shouldn't
Starting point is 00:28:25 say waiting. Cause it's not like I waited until around 11 to get Stroud. I got Stroud in this thing. Oh yes. You did. Yes. Around eight. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like I think I got Stroud and Kincaid at excellent values a little bit later on. And so I, I, I just, I just kind of told myself I would wait until I could get a good value on tight end. I don't think that that's a great value for, at least not at this point for Andrews and McBride fair value. Sure. But like 37th overall for one of those guys, I'd feel like I could do a little bit better than that. All right, let's go to our next justify it. Oh, uh, and I think I did a lot of research on old wide receivers,
Starting point is 00:29:06 30 and older, 31 and older. I'm going to save it for another day. It's interesting stuff. It's a big Jamie talk. Jamie's big on that as well. He was, that was one of his tentative issues last offseason. Some of the receivers he was avoiding.
Starting point is 00:29:20 Yeah, no, he's adamant about it this season. Joe Mixon and James Con connor at the five six turn that is for available yeah it is that is simply that there was i was targeting christian kirk oh listen to this so jamie was picking in front of me he took burrow and then he backed it out and took christian kirk and so like for a second, I was like, okay, this is great. Christian Kirk is my third wide receiver. I can live with that. And then he ended up taking Kirk.
Starting point is 00:29:51 Who was my next favorite wide receiver? I don't even know if I had one that I even really liked at this point. Pickens Hopkins. Yeah. I couldn't do it. I couldn't leave. And these are old players too. And at running back, it's worse than wide receiver. But again, productive guys that have put up points,
Starting point is 00:30:10 Mixon and Connor. And so I just took them. They were the best available players. And I'm doing one of the things that just, I hate, I hate it when people draft players and they go, well, no, I don't have to worry about it. I can make a trade later. Well, number one, you don't want to, you don't want to like try and force that because you're never going to get what you want in trade. And number two, it's older running backs. Anyway, it's not a good look. It doesn't feel great. The only silver lining that I got is that I'm rich at running back. And since I've got two older running backs, I don't have to start both of them. I don't have to freak out about them being old and both of them being in my starting lineup. And I can just use one of them each week, whichever one I like better.
Starting point is 00:30:48 And hopefully Taylor and Kyron Williams continue to put up numbers. That was my thinking at the time. But ultimately it was these two guys should have been taken already. We're at the end of round five, beginning of round six, or that's what it was, right? Or end of round. Yeah. Yep. And around five, beginning of round five, beginning around six six. End of round five, beginning of round six.
Starting point is 00:31:05 These guys should have been taken already, at least Mixon should have. All right, fair enough. And look, you can't, it's a mock draft. You don't know how it's going to play out, but there is something to be said about just having the best players and not reaching for someone at a position that you need.
Starting point is 00:31:18 So Dave does draft a bench player before filling out tight end, quarterback, and wide receiver three. So how did he do there those were his next picks at the seven eight turn he goes dalton kincaid as the seventh tight end off the board hawkinson and pitch were drafted earlier to me that was a steal that made me feel a lot better about things and cj stroud as uh let's see, quarterback one, two, three, four, five, I think also seventh or eighth. I think the eighth quarterback off the board, CJ Stroud. So my question for you was actually later in the draft, you drafted Jake Ferguson as a backup to Dalton Kincaid instead of Brock Purdy or Kirk Cousins or Deshaun Watson as a backup to CJ Stroud? By the way, I'm not questioning everything Dave's doing.
Starting point is 00:32:11 I'm just looking for explanations. I'm not saying he did anything wrong. You should question the running backs. That's okay. Jake Ferguson to back up your tight end ahead of Brock Purdy, who was like an MVP candidate, to back up your quarterback. Why'd you take Ferguson over Purdy? Just value, positional scarcity, figuring that Jake Ferguson,
Starting point is 00:32:29 who was already the number two target getter in Dallas last season, could do it again this season. And I thought it was good value. And how many quarterbacks did you just name that were still on the board? It was Purdy, it was Cousins, who else? Watson and Russell Wilson, but they were not on the board. Yeah, well, Wilson was never going to be the pick. They were not on the board. It was Purdy. It was cousins. Who else? Watson and Russell Wilson, but they were not on the board. Well, Wilson was never going to be the pick. They were not on the board.
Starting point is 00:32:48 But they weren't on the board with your next pick is what I'm saying. They were gone. Okay, that's fine. I still believe that that's the one position in a one QB league where you don't have to prioritize getting a backup. If there's one that's a good value later on, of course. I thought
Starting point is 00:33:04 the better value was Ferguson. How about you, Dan? What's the better value, Jake Ferguson or Brock Purdy? Uh, in a one QB league for me, it's Ferguson.
Starting point is 00:33:12 I don't value backup quarterbacks in one QB. You can find some of those guys off the waiver. And you can do it with, listen, you could do it with every position. And that's, if we were to play this league out, it's absolutely what I would hope for a wide receiver
Starting point is 00:33:25 you know i got some wide receiver comes out of nowhere and boost my team and that i could find them off the waiver wire all right there's there's i did not draft justin herbert yeah no i saw that mistake earlier i was hoping something weird happened there because you would have had three quarterbacks i drafted yeah i was like i know I draft a lot of quarterbacks, but... Dan drafted Herbert. Yeah, it must have been Khalil Herbert. No,
Starting point is 00:33:53 I didn't draft him either. Alright, just put an N-A for now. We'll figure it out. I just want everyone to know if you're watching that I did not draft three quarterbacks. I did draft two. What round is this? If you're watching on YouTube, there's like a big random white space on the draft board.
Starting point is 00:34:13 I think that my team and Dan's team might be switched or some of the picks anyway. So we're going to have to address that at a commercial break. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to take a break. And it's Khalil Herbert because Jordan Love was the pick before at 94. We'll address that at a commercial break. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to take a break. It's Khalil Herbert. Because Jordan Love was the pick before at 94. Khalil Herbert went to you, Adam.
Starting point is 00:34:32 I screwed up. At 95. I didn't take Justin Herbert. That's all it is. It's just Khalil Herbert. That's it. Khalil Herbert. Khalil Herbert instead of Justin Herbert. I was looking at – Schaefer had everything right except one name.
Starting point is 00:34:44 Khalil over Justin. Thank you. Never doubt Schaefer. Why were you doubting him the first place? He nailed it. He nailed it. All right. We're going to take a break and I'm going to tell you something that my best friend just did to me via text that I find extremely rude. I'll get your thoughts on it. And we'll be right back on Fantasy Football today.
Starting point is 00:35:01 Metro Links and Cross Links are reminding everyone to be careful as Eglinton Crosstown LRT train testing is in progress. Please be alert as trains can pass at any time on the tracks. Remember to follow all traffic signals, be careful along our tracks, and only make left turns where it's safe to do so. Be alert, be aware, and stay safe.
Starting point is 00:35:27 With SmartWater's pure, crisp taste, there's nothing to overthink. 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. because you look the same and whatever the heck red light therapy is. It's definitely not that.
Starting point is 00:35:49 Don't overthink how you hydrate. Life's full of choices. Smart water is a simple one. Okay, I just got a text message from my best friend. He texted me, my wife. What did your mom have to say? He texted me, my wife. What did your mom have to say? He texted, he texted me, my wife and two strangers.
Starting point is 00:36:11 He is basically, it's a couple, it's a young couple who just moved into my neighborhood or near me. Oh, he's setting us up. Oh, that's terrible. I don't have a problem with this, but he didn't give me a heads up.
Starting point is 00:36:22 That's what I'm saying. Do it without a heads up is terrible. Obviously you don't have a problem with it. If he talks to you about it up that's what i'm saying do it without a heads up is terrible obviously you don't have a problem with it he talks to you about it first he lets you know hey young couple they need friends i'm gonna set you guys up and then that's fine and you could you could say like oh no i'm busy right now i have stuff going on with the kids it's not a good time for it but he just bombards you with it out of nowhere it's devastating terrible move by him devastating it is because now adam's stuck being nice and being like yeah let's do it. No, I'm happy to do it, but I really, I'm going to
Starting point is 00:36:47 give him a hard time for this. You cannot Yeah, you want to do it on your own terms. You're happy to do it on your own terms, not his terms. Exactly. You cannot put me on a text with two strangers as the first time you're telling me about this. Wow. Dan, you just moved up on my friend list. You are
Starting point is 00:37:03 creeping close, because he's moving down and you're moving up. I don't know how this was your best friend in the first place. I've known him since I'm two, I think. Okay. Mommy and me, we met. He's a good guy, I guess. Not today, though. All right, Dan, justify it.
Starting point is 00:37:19 You had the eighth overall pick, and you took Amonra St. Brown ahead of Bijan Robinson. Amonra St. Brown, the fifth receiver off the board. Bijan went with the next pick as the fourth running back off the board behind McCaffrey, Brees Hall, and Jameer Gibbs. But, all right, justify it. St. Brown over Bijan. Yeah, full PPR.
Starting point is 00:37:41 To me, this one's probably one of the ones i'll have to least justify to me it's almost a no-brainer we got a monroe saint brown two seasons in a row in the same system ben johnson returns uh it's not only what he does within the system but it is partially that because ben johnson really does a great job of scheming monroe saint brown open and now with the news that jameson williams might be might well he has to earn, but might earn himself a full-time role, I think it's going to open up even more space in the middle of the field for Monro St. Brown. And for Ben Johnson, just do more unique things to get him open. And that's really a lot of what their play-action passing game is based on.
Starting point is 00:38:15 So there's such a high floor here from a volume reception standpoint. Targets are what I chase. I don't chase touchdowns in fantasy because touchdowns are grass. So I'm looking for volume, PPR. Monro St. Brown to me was a no brainer. I actually think that the only other player I considered here was not B. John Robinson. It was Puka Nakua. Um, but I just, to me, I would prefer a Monterey St. Brown. It's a longer sample size and you know, there's not a Cooper cup potentially waiting in the wings to take away those targets. Is that for any type of format or is it specifically a three wide receiver deal? Like if this were a two wide receiver,
Starting point is 00:38:50 one flex league, are you still taking St. Brown? Old time fantasy? No. Like two, three, four years ago.
Starting point is 00:38:56 No. But in the last two years of fantasy football, this wide receiver, and I'm looking at this draft board and this way, as you went over your team, Dave, this really stood out to me. The wide receiver depth just isn't what it used to be.
Starting point is 00:39:06 You just get really dry really fast, that wide receiver, even in round five, especially when you get into the rounds where it's like Jahan Dotson we see coming off the board, like DeAndre. We're really getting dry at that position. At times, when I get to the middle rounds, I like running backs over receivers. I know you took a pair that you just felt like were the best on the board at the time, mixing and Connor. And I don't blame you for that. So I want to get my receivers early. So I don't think it would change in recent times. If the NFL starts to figure out how to beat these two high looks and we start to get more
Starting point is 00:39:36 passing and more consistency that could change for now, I find receiver to be scared. So I want to get them up top and my drafts always okay uh dave real quick would you have gone bijan or saint brown this is where i think roster requirements plays a huge role i think they're very close to each other the fact that amon rye averaged over 20 just over 20 ppr points per game last year and has been consistent now for three seasons. And he's been really, really ever since Ben Johnson took over in 2021 as the play caller in Detroit, St. Brown has caught fire.
Starting point is 00:40:13 And so in this format, three wide receivers and a flex, I don't mind the pick at all. I think St. Brown over Bijan makes sense. But if it's two running backs, two wide receivers, I might go, and I disagree with Dan. I think running back gets even uglier as you move down the draft board. Wide receiver, I think both those positions honestly will get ugly by the time you get to round seven. But I think running back will get uglier before wide receiver. And so if it's only two wide receivers that we're starting, I might've taken taken Bijan over St. Brown in my rankings, or it's not based on any type of specific lineup requirement. I've got Bijan one notch ahead of Amon Ra,
Starting point is 00:40:51 but in the three wide receiver set, I don't mind Amon Ra over Bijan. All right. And finally on this topic, which start do you like better? Team eight, Dan's team, Amon Ra,
Starting point is 00:41:01 St. Brown and Saquon Barkley or team nine, RJ's team, Bijan Robinson and Rishi Rice? Would you rather have St. Brown and Barkley or Bijan and Rice? St. Brown and Barkley. I can't answer that because obviously my answer would be St. Brown and Barkley as I drafted it. All right. Next up, justify it.
Starting point is 00:41:23 Saquon Barkley in round two instead of Devon Achan or Travis Etienne. Yeah, I definitely considered both of those two players that you mentioned. I also considered DJ Moore here. I was considering going up top with Nico Collins and taking a risk on that one. And Stefan Dix, to me, I still think is kind of being slept on early in drafts. I know it was a bad end to the season, but there is possibility there that Gabe Davis is gone and they just go through the draft to try to, you know,
Starting point is 00:41:48 fill out the rest of that wide receiver room. And that could really help digs. But ultimately I went Barkley on an upside play here. Again, I feel very good about the idea and just make so much sense that Barkley will go to the Texans. And I think a lot of people, when they look at that,
Starting point is 00:42:03 say, Oh, look at Barkley's production running power gap behind power gap scheme versus his production design zone scheme. And it was better with the giants behind power gap. But partially part of that is because giants had some creative plays with power gap that got guys pulling and got sniffer tight ends in the mix, like Daniel Bellinger to make big plays. And they're just well-designed power gap plays. As far as the zone goes with the giants,, the Giants offensive line was not good and was not cohesive.
Starting point is 00:42:26 So of course zone wasn't going to work. The Texans, year two of this slow offense, are hopefully, we hope with the injuries being a better situation there and maybe some additions they can make, going to be a more cohesive offensive line blocking outside zone. And I think Barkley's shown over the last two years he's been much better at getting vertical early and not bouncing as many runs outside.
Starting point is 00:42:44 So I kind of like the fit a lot in that slow system, but that doesn't even add to the fact that Barkley playing with by far and away, the best quarterback play of his career with CJ Stroud, nothing even comes remotely close to what he's got from Daniel Jones or the last year, Eli Manning, in addition to a system that just creates space in the passing game and create space on the field and forces safeties to play further back than they played against the giants. So yes, this is a lot of projection. This pick it's hoping that Barkley becomes a Texan and I don't know where
Starting point is 00:43:11 else he could potentially go. I think it's probably texting giants. And if he, if he does resummit the giants, obviously I'm going to be regretting this pick, but right now I feel good about taking that upside swing there. And the two players behind Jade, you mentioned Adam Travis Travis Etienne.
Starting point is 00:43:25 I was low on him last year, and I was wrong about that. But I do feel like looking at the way he faded down the stretch, I'm not feeling so great about him going into this year. And then Devon Achain, who we talked about, and we were going to talk about on Beyond the Box score, there's still just some quirks within his overall fantasy profile, as far as volume goes, that have me a little bit hesitant versus a player like Barkley, who I know can, has taken on that volume so many times.
Starting point is 00:43:50 And potentially would be that again, if he signed with a good team like the Texans. Dave, if Saquon Barkley goes to the Houston Texans, would you take him or Travis ETN or Devon HN? I think after, after what Dan had to say, I'd take DJ more. I just, you can find flaws with all three of those running backs, and we're going to talk about their flaws no matter what. And DJ Moore potentially could end up being the 1B wide receiver in Chicago.
Starting point is 00:44:16 Who knows how that'll play out. But for now, it almost makes me want to just avoid that whole Hornets next and go with DJ more, especially going back to the format and how, you know, every single mock that we do, it's three wide receivers in a flex trying to lock up a wide receiver one as my wide receiver two, because Dan, you took St. Brown already with your first round pick. But to answer your question, I think I'd lean toward ETN just because a little bit younger, had a great year, did not finish strong, but definitely could put together a complete season in his third year in
Starting point is 00:44:52 Jacksonville. HM, we just don't know how much work he's going to ultimately get, how healthy he'll stay. Saquon in Houston, I still feel like they'll use another running back and it won't be Saquon as an every down 70% of the snaps type of a guy. Saquon in LA with the Chargers, that could be a different story. And that's a power gap running offense as well. So that could be an even better spot for Saquon if he went there. But for now, put me down for ETN, but he's got flaws just like Saquon does and just like Etienne has. So, Dan, with the eighth pick goes St. Brown, then Barkley, and then Jalen Waddell in round three.
Starting point is 00:45:31 And then let's justify it in round four where you took Ken Walker and you took him instead of the guys that I'm going to point out that maybe you could have taken over him are a different position. Josh Allen was still on the board. We didn't have a quarterback selected yet, and you did take Justin Herbert in the seventh round. He's your only quarterback. You could have taken Mark Andrews.
Starting point is 00:45:51 You could have taken Trey McBride, but you took Ken Walker instead as your RB2 with the fifth pick of round four. Justify Ken Walker over Josh Allen, Trey McBride, and Mark Andrews. Well, I actually look at this pick, and as we go through this, Adam, I am somewhat regretful of some of these picks. Barkley, for example, is a pick I regret looking back at it, and Ken Walker is a pick I somewhat regret, I should say,
Starting point is 00:46:16 and it's not because of the guys you mentioned. The only player you mentioned who I regret maybe taking him over would be Josh Allen, but I don't really feel in a one-quarterback league, like for the most part, I want to be taking quarterbacks with these early round draft capital. I did it last year in some of our one QB leagues. It's somewhat worked out if I got Josh Allen, it didn't work out when I got Justin Herbert. It didn't work out when I got Joe Burrow and it's somewhat worked out. I would say with Lamar Jackson, I'm not sure. So sure. He made that much of a difference at
Starting point is 00:46:41 times. Obviously there were good moments of Jackson, but there weren't, oh, it wasn't all pretty trust me with Lamarson as an early round draft capital last year yeah what'd you say no you're right i think yes so it just didn't feel like it i don't want to go back down that route as far as the other guys you mentioned i would never take trey mcbride in round four personally i'm not a huge fan of his difference making talent i think he's great at the catch point can extend away from frame. I think his fantasy value is determined by will the Cardinals run that same exact system with that kind of heavy volume toward him, or will they upgrade at wide receiver or do different things on that offense?
Starting point is 00:47:13 And I think they're going to upgrade big at wide receiver in the draft with their first round pick. And that's going to change that. Now, as far as Andrews goes, that one I considered, but I still think that offense is just too much spread out. It's not,
Starting point is 00:47:23 it's not a lot of, you know, concentrated volume. Like it used to be for Andrews. Now, the picks I regret somewhat are Zay Flowers, who I think could have a really big jump in year two. I'm looking at him now. He was still on the board. And then potentially Tajay Spears, running back who I watched tape for last night for Beyond the Boxer. We'll talk about him whenever that happens.
Starting point is 00:47:39 And I just loved what I saw. But Walker, to me, is another guy whose tape stands out at him. And I just think that he's such a, he's such an explosive runner and he gives you so much upside. If he, now you worry about Zach Sharman. I understand that, but if they still lean on Walker as the, as the one a at the very least in that offense. And there's a lot of, there's just a lot of upside for me, for him as an individual runner. I think there's some risk here.
Starting point is 00:48:03 Obviously I just mentioned some of that. So I regret it looking back. I probably would have gone Zay Flowers if I could have's some risk here. Obviously, I just mentioned some of that. So I regret it. Looking back, I probably would have gone Zay Flowers if I could have done this over. But yeah, that's where I'm at. Well, then justify this. How do you take Zay Flowers over Mark Andrews? I mean, why are we so sure Mark Andrews
Starting point is 00:48:17 should be going over Zay Flowers? Well, we've seen how good of a tight end Mark Andrews. Look, Zay Flowers, I would expect to have more numbers, you know, better numbers, but then obviously it's, does he stand out at the wide receiver position? Like Andrews does at the tight end position.
Starting point is 00:48:32 I think the touchdowns would, I know you say you don't project touchdowns. You chase targets or whatever, but Andrews is like a proven score, a proven red zone, green zone, end zone. Before Isaiah likely got there though,
Starting point is 00:48:44 likely has been a big part of the red zone since, since he got there. Noven red zone, green zone, end zone. Before Isaiah likely got there, though. Likely's been a big part of the red zone since he got there. No, not when Andrews has been healthy. If you think likely's going to have a role, that does scare me a little bit. I agree with that, but it's just like I don't really care about anything stats-wise or trends-wise from
Starting point is 00:48:59 before this offense changed because it's so radically different. Okay, so then just use this offense and Mark Andrews was Zay Flowers wasn't valuable until Mark Andrews got hurt. Yeah, but that's also because he's a rookie and he's getting involved in the system. I also don't really like that system changed and evolved so much
Starting point is 00:49:16 throughout the season and I think it's going to change even more in year two. Okay. All right. It's a projection. I just see that Zay Flowers having a really good year within that system. I think the only argument is that you think Zay Flowers emerges as a top 15 to top 10 fantasy wide receiver. And you can pencil them in for 15 PPR points per game. If that's what you're thinking, then you take them over Andrews. Andrews to me, like, I think he's the floor plate, kind of like what Adam was getting at, safe, and certainly somebody that gets a lot of attention from Lamar Jackson,
Starting point is 00:49:47 regardless of what the offense looks like. Earlier in the year, he got plenty of targets. In the past, before Todd Monken got there, plenty of targets, especially considering how limited his offense through the ball. So to me, it's a ceiling versus floor play between those two Ravens. All right, let's go to our next justify it for Dan. Um, I have a few here, so I'm going to try to, how about Justin Herbert instead of CJ Stroud?
Starting point is 00:50:14 Yeah, this is an interesting one. I, I rely on how I feel about Herbert as a quarterback. And if you look at last year, I had a lot of Herbert shares. It was going great for a while. It looked like a great pick in round four, um, until it didn't. And a lot of injuries happened at wide receiver, the offensive line. And of course, Austin Eckler wasn't at a hundred percent. Now the risk here and why I'm somewhat regretful of this is just what will happen with Jim Harbaugh there. Will this offense be so run heavy that it will affect Herbert? But I actually kind of think that getting
Starting point is 00:50:43 Herbert back under center and having him run play action and taking deep shots off of play action, uh, and using, utilizing his arm in that sense, a little bit more of a power play action passing game could help him from just a, maybe not from a volume standpoint, but from an overall touchdown standpoint. So I'm just banking on the,
Starting point is 00:51:01 I was looking at, I was between Herbert love and Stroud here. And, and I was banking on the idea that there's a little bit less risk to me in Herbert's profile because Stroud year two rookie quarterbacks, we it's not, I'm not saying it's going to happen to Stroud. He's a phenomenal talent, but we have seen examples and this happens in the NFL when defense quarters always say, when I get eight games of film on one quarterback, things change. And we've seen that happen for a lot of quarterbacks who were flashes in the pans as a rookie and just couldn't keep it up in year two. And that's not going to happen for Cedar Shrout.
Starting point is 00:51:30 But I just want to put that out there. Same thing for Love. There's a lot of tape now on what Love likes to do. And you could see it with Matt LaFleur's offense. He went back to what the concepts Love liked in the passing game over and over. And that's great when you're first evolving in a system and breaking out in a system. It makes a lot of sense, but I just want to see them
Starting point is 00:51:46 do it again on film. And I think there's a little bit less risk for me with Herbert. Dave, I actually think Herbert's a quarterback now just because of how much I expect them to run the ball, how much more I expect
Starting point is 00:51:57 them to run the ball. And do they even have a starting wide receiver at this point? You know, on the roster, I can't. When Johnson is it? Yeah, it's their top wide receiver. If they, you know, on the roster. I can't. When Johnson is it,
Starting point is 00:52:07 he's their top wide receiver. If they move on from Keenan Allen, I think they're going to get somebody in the draft too. They can't. Why would they move on from Keenan Allen? Like, come on. I there.
Starting point is 00:52:15 Well, because he costs a lot of money. So if he restructures and stays, that's perfectly reasonable. And so, and that's probably what's going to happen. Yeah. I hope so. What I was saying was, Justin Herbert
Starting point is 00:52:26 is a guy that's now, to me, in the camp where if I draft Justin Herbert, I have to draft a backup. I agree. But you can't take away how talented he is, and something that Dan didn't mention about all the problems that he had last year, he also broke a finger on his not
Starting point is 00:52:41 throwing hand. We don't know how that necessarily impacted him. And really the offensive line falling apart, I feel like it's the second year in a row where he had to play behind a substandard offensive line and his numbers stunk. In fact, it did. It was two years in a row because he didn't even average 20 fantasy points in 2022, but he started 2023 averaging just over 25 fantasy points per game in his first seven games. He was off to a very good start.
Starting point is 00:53:08 If that offensive line stays strong, and that's what Harbaugh is going to try and do. He's going to try and make it a very physical offense, physical team all the way around. But certainly build on that offensive line, try and make it better, fortify it, add depth, all to protect the quarterback and also open lanes for his run game. I think the biggest knock against Herbert is that he might not throw as much, and then we don't know who he's throwing to. That's a conversation that we're having in late February. By the time we get to August, we'll have a pretty good idea of who he's throwing to.
Starting point is 00:53:37 We might even like who he's throwing to. If we're not getting him as a top six or seven quarterback, then I might be very much down for drafting Justin Herbert at, you got him at 80th overall. Is that somewhere in that range? So that's around seven. And then like Adam said, taking a second quarterback later on, just in case Herbert does stink and he's back to where he was in 2022.
Starting point is 00:54:03 I'll push back on that. Cause Adam mentioned it too dave you got to get a second quarterback if you draft somebody like herbert there were 16 quarterbacks selected in this draft adam so like why do i have to get a quarterback from a game theory standpoint if we're in a one quarterback league there's 12 teams and only four had backups in this league i'm not worried about that there's only 16 quarterbacks off the board that means there's a lot of quarterbacks in the waiver wire so i'm going to be fine playing matchups and stream a quarterback on the waiver wire that you think could i mean look jared golf is i'm going to mention one name
Starting point is 00:54:32 i'm not i don't care about one name when i do this strategy i'm looking at matchups per week and streaming quarterbacks and injuries that are going to happen so 16 half the starting quarterbacks aren't even rostered in this league yeah Two quarterbacks that were not taken in this mock who I am positive. Dan would be happy to have sure. Golf. Yep. And Baker Mayfield. And here's the third golf at home.
Starting point is 00:54:53 I'll play. I'm not worried. Aaron Rogers is out there and we didn't draft any rookies. So Caleb Williams or Jane Daniels. Yeah. I forgot about the boat. You didn't even mention the goat, Daniel Jones.
Starting point is 00:55:04 Nice guy. But so I have an interesting point. You forgot about the goat. You didn't even mention the goat, Daniel Jones. Nice guy. So I can make an interesting point. You make an interesting point where you don't necessarily have to draft that second quarterback if you get Herbert. That's an interesting point, but yeah. But when you talk about a guy like Jared Goff, we've seen two years in a row.
Starting point is 00:55:22 At best, he's probably going to be QB 10. No. But you're not looking at it like that. You're not looking at it like, I want my QB 1. I start him every week. You're looking at someone to stream, and you play him in the home matchups where he's probably in the top 10. Are you going to roster him all year where you can do that? Because you're not going to be the only one that wants Jared Goff
Starting point is 00:55:39 in home matchups. So you're going to have to keep him on your roster. I know, but there's going to be other quarterbacks that pop up in our streamable based on matchups. So you're going to have to keep him on your roster. I know, but there's going to be other quarterbacks that pop up and are streamable based on matchups. They will. All righty. And that's it for today's show. Someone wanted me to justify. You can't make you justify your picks?
Starting point is 00:55:56 Someone wanted me to justify Brees Hall second overall. A lot of the picks I saw on your board need a justification. Go ahead. Let's pick the board back up. Pick one pick. One pick. I'll start with's pick the board back up. Pick one pick. One pick. Go the board back up.
Starting point is 00:56:08 I mean, I'll start with just Brees Hall, two overall. That is justified? Listen, the Instagram comments, like the pitchforks and torches were out for you. Oh, yeah. Taking Brees Hall at number two. Jalen Hurts in the second pick of fourth round is a terrible pick. Jalen Hurts has no chance of running for 16 touchdowns again next year. They might even outlaw the Dush Bush. Then you're really screwed there.
Starting point is 00:56:28 Mark Andrews, early tight end capital. No, I'm mostly giving crap with these. Just let me roll. Mark Andrews, early tight end capital. Terrible to dump there. What is he doing? Cleo Herbert. Aaron Jones.
Starting point is 00:56:39 I mean, the oldest running back. But Quinton Johnson, he's using picks on Quinton Johnson. Deshaun Watson is on his roster. What is the point of that? He loves Deshaun Watson. You already said Jalen Hurts stinks. He uses early fourth-round capital on Jalen Hurts and dumps a late-round pick on Deshaun Watson.
Starting point is 00:56:55 People need to look at what Deshaun Watson is doing. Are you kidding me with that pick? Who's my second pick? Who was my first pick? It was Brees Hall. I took his handcuffs. Deshaun Watson, people need to look at the fantasy points that he scored in his games before you start
Starting point is 00:57:10 crapping on the Deshaun Watson pick. He wasn't horrible, but he also missed a lot. Now he's coming off shoulder surgery. We saw how well that worked for Cam Newton. On the plus side, he's got an amazing wide receiver and one in Amari Cooper. I do like this team quite a bit, actually. If you want to make me justify
Starting point is 00:57:25 Brees Hall as the second pick over the wide receivers, I understand that, but as the second running back... I think you should. Why did you take Brees Hall over... Yeah, over Jefferson and Lamb and Hill. Okay. Justin Jefferson. I don't know who his quarterback's going to be.
Starting point is 00:57:42 That could be two fantasy points per game worse. Tyreek Hill. He's going to be. That could be two fantasy points per game worse. Tyree Kill, he's going to be 31 this year, I believe, and I do see it evening out a little bit between him and Jalen Waddell. CeeDee Lamb has never done what he did in 2023. He wasn't even close to that good before. Jamar Chase, kind of a secret that should be out there when T. Higgins is on the field. I have to do the numbers. I have to do the research, but I'm pretty sure when T. Higgins is
Starting point is 00:58:10 on the field, Jamar Chase is not the number one. He's not quite that super elite. He's still great. I still think the most valuable player in fantasy football is an every down running back that's really talented that catches a lot of passes Brees Hall absolutely has the ability to be the most valuable player in fantasy football he is I mean in this day and age is there anyone else that fits that description other than Christian McCaffrey super talented every down back catches a lot of passes. I don't think so. I mean, potentially every running back that was taken in the first 13 picks except for John and Taylor. Not Jameer Gibbs. He splits.
Starting point is 00:58:52 B. John Robinson, absolutely. Still catches a ton of passes. He doesn't get a ton of work, though. He catches a lot of passes. Yes, he doesn't get a ton of work. If you're going to go running back, I'm good with Brees Hall. I just have no world in my taking Brees Hall over any of those three receivers. He's the only one.
Starting point is 00:59:10 He and McCaffrey are the only ones. In a PPR league. But he's a huge advantage in PPR leagues. Now, could he throw to him less? Yeah, they will throw to him less. They're going to have a competent quarterback who's going to throw the ball downfield. But I still think he's among the leaders and catches at running back. So to say it's PPR...
Starting point is 00:59:28 I think the craziest thing you just said is that they're definitely going to have a competent quarterback throwing the football. Knowing the Jets' history, you think Aaron Rodgers is definitely going to play all games next year? No, but they're going to be better at quarterback, I would assume.
Starting point is 00:59:39 They'll be better at backup quarterback. All right, guys. Thank you for your time. Go ahead, Thomas. I had a couple grammar spelling errors in the draft board, and when I was typing in Brees Hall, I actually double-checked that one because I was like, did he actually take him?
Starting point is 00:59:56 Then I went to the website. I was like, yeah, he did take him, though. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I think it's the right pick. I don't think it's the wrong pick if you take one of those four wide receivers, but Brees Hall, to me, has the McCaffrey potential. Not the McCaffrey of the Panthers, but the McCaffrey of the 49ers.
Starting point is 01:00:16 He could average 23, 24 fantasy points per game. It wouldn't shock me in a full PPL. Okay, everybody. Have a great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow. We'll talk about the sophomore wide receivers. And that will do it. I got to go. I got to call my best friend and yell at him.
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