Fantasy Football Today - Latest News, NFC Team Needs, Cooks Underrated? (03/11 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: March 11, 2021

We've got so much to catch up on! First, Heath reacts to this week's big news including the situations for Kenny Golladay, Allen Robinson, Chris Godwin and more. We'll do some updated rankings (7:30): Godwin or Mike Evans? Robinson or Brandin Cooks? Cole Beasley (without John Brown) or Sterling Shepard? Josh Allen or Kyler Murray? ... Even more news (20:00)! Thoughts on Aaron Jones, Emmanuel Sanders, John Brown and offensive line notes. Is Patrick Mahomes going to be playing behind a terrible offensive line? ... Key NFC team needs (34:10) include RB for Seattle, Arizona and Atlanta, QB for Carolina, New Orleans and Washington, and WR for Detroit and Philadelphia ... Your emails at [e-mail] Subscribe to the FFT in 5 podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, or wherever you listen to FFT. Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @CTowersCBS, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCviK78rIWXhZdFzJ1Woi7Fg/videos 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/ Want winning picks each morning in under 10 minutes? Subscribe to 'The Early Edge: A Daily SportsLine Betting Podcast' on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever else you listen to podcasts. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. On his way to the end zone. I'll tell you what, that was a spectacular play. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. What a play. Off to the races.

Touchdown. Oh, he's done it again. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath, and Ben. Well, the Chiefs did so well in the Super Bowl without Mitchell Schwartz and Eric Fisher, they decided, we'll just release him. No big deal. Problem solved. We're going to react to that news

and much bigger news. We'll get Heath's take on, you know, Allen Robinson and Chris Godwin and Kenny Galladay, things he hasn't had the chance to talk about on the air this week. Plus, John Brown getting released, Emmanuel Sanders getting released. It's a big show.

We also have some NFC team needs. Welcome, everybody. This is your Thursday afternoon show. Adam Azer, Heath Cummings, and Dave Richard on Fantasy Football today. Heath, I'm excited to hear what you have to say. You've got a lot of fantasy to catch up on. Wow, Heath. I'm excited to hear what you have to say.

That is fantastic. I'm excited to get halfway through what I have to say and have you cut me off. I lost the bet, by the way. That's why I had to say that at the top of the show. So what's the biggest news for you so far this week? I mean, I think it's probably that Kenny Galladay did not get franchise tagged.

And there had been some indications that the Lions are kind of in full-on tanking mode. So why pay $20 million to a 28-year-old wide receiver, 27-year-old wide receiver, however you want to measure it? But he becomes really, really interesting if he gets to somewhere like wherever Deshaun Watson is. Like maybe top five interesting. It's certainly, I would guess, he will find, I hope, a better spot than with Jared Goff

because Kenny Galladay is not the type of wide receiver I think would have had a lot of success with Jared Goff. Well, then you're not going to like the Miami Herald report that said the Giants and the Dolphins are the frontrunners for Kenny Galladay. Yeah, I could see the Giants and the Dolphins are the frontrunners for Kenny Galladay.

Yeah, I could see the Giants being okay for Kenny Galladay. Jason Garrett's offense has targeted that downfield wide receiver plenty throughout his time. And Daniel Jones can wing it down the field. He probably won't drop it every time before he throws it. So I think the Giants would be okay. All right, Dave. I don't know if they'd be top five okay.

I think they'd be like top 15 okay. Yeah. Well, is he ever going to be a top five PPR guy in your rankings anyway with his low catchness? Well, we don't know if his low catchness. Well, we don't know if the low catchness is going to continue on. It depends on where he goes. If,

if, if we're putting him as Deshaun Watson's number one target, wherever Deshaun Watson ends up, that's pretty good. I think you could have a case could be made where he would see a lot of targets and, and have a chance to be very, very helpful in fantasy and maybe close to a top five fantasy

wide receiver there. Even in New York, I'm not sure. He would be the number one receiver. It would be a good fit in Jason Garrett's offense. I am not sure that the quarterback that's there and the running back that is going to come back will facilitate the type of target volume that we would want from kenny galladay at least to be a top five or top 10 receiver i've got a new favorite destination for kenny galladay the chargers cut mike williams oh and sign kenny galladay oh oh i thought you were reporting news no okay i mean mike okay. I mean, Mike Williams is an $11 million cap hit with no dead money.

Yeah. I don't know if you thought you had a chance at Kenny Galladay. I don't know why you wouldn't do that. I completely agree. Mike Williams. What did you say, Dave? No, I wasn't sure. It took me a second to process what Heath said about Mike Williams' cap situation.

Yeah. Is that true, though? It's his fifth-year option, right? This is his fifth year. It's not $11 million. It's $15 million. They could do that. They could just wipe him out and put Galladay in. That would be tons of fun. Yeah, it would be awesome.

Like I said, they probably lost their second leader, their number two in targets, and that was Hunter Henry. They did not franchise him. There was a lot that went on. I asked Dave on Fantasy Football Today in 5, what does the absence of Kenny Galladay, and it's unlikely he'll be back in Detroit, it's not certainty, mean for

DeAndre Swift? And Dave, you didn't think it would be a bad thing for Swift? No. Would it be a bad thing for Swift? No. Would be a good thing. I think, listen, he's the best suited running back for them when they are playing from behind. He's a great passing downs back.

I think he's got 70 catch potential. You've heard me say that about other running backs before. I think it's easier to believe it with DeAndre Swift now after what we saw from him in his rookie year. And he also did a good job

in short yardage goal line situations. We could see him continue that role. If you're in a points per carry league, yeah, I'm not sure how many carries he's going to end up getting from game to game, but it's those catches that I would look for. It's the touchdowns that I would look for.

And totally yardage should be pretty good. All right. We're going to go through the other news. We already did the bonus pod, so I won't spend too much time harping on Godwin and Allen Robinson and all that, but I would love to get Heath's take. We'll do some ranking disputes.

The John Brown news is interesting. The Emmanuel Sanders news is a little bit interesting. Offensive line news, interesting. Aaron Jones, not tagged. So we've got a lot to talk about here, plus the NFC team needs. By the way, Kenny Galladay,

his best season so far was 2019. I said, can he be top five? I know he can in kenny galladay his best season so far was 2019 i said can he be top five i know he can in non-ppr his best season was 65 catches 1190 yards 11 touchdowns number three wide receiver in 2019 and non-ppr he led all wide receivers and touchdown catches but he was number nine in ppr that feels like one of those where you could look at it and say but he would have been number seven in 2018. He would have been like 1,100 yards and 65 catches even with

11 touchdowns doesn't feel like a top five season in any format. It was almost 1,200 yards if that helps. It was 1,190. But you're right. It helps a little bit. 1,200 yards on 65 catches. I guess we could look it up where he would.

He was number nine in PPR. That's what I'm saying. So 65 catches, just not a lot. All right. Look, more importantly, we're all pumped for March Madness. All right. So I know you want to listen to this podcast. I don't know that this is more important.

Our podcast is the most important thing. But the second most important thing now is the Eye on College Basketball podcast. I don't know that this is more important. Our podcast is the most important thing. But the second most important thing now is the Eye on College Basketball podcast. And I have been listening to Eye on College Basketball. How long has it been going on? It's got to be like a decade now. This is one of our longest running shows.

Matt Norlander, Gary Parish, these guys are awesome. And they are going to get you caught up on the entire NCAA tournament. This is the show I listen to. I make sure I listen to their bracket breakdown episode before I fill mine out. And all throughout March Madness, you're going to listen to them. They're going to give you reactions from the game and previews of upcoming rounds.

So if you want the best March Madness analysis, subscribe to the Ion College Basketball Podcast anywhere that you find fantasy football today. I'm going to give you some rankings questions based on the latest news and players who finished within five spots of each other in points per game in PPR last year. Would you rather have Chris Godwin or Mike Evans? I will go with Godwin.

I think I did a Twitter poll on this and it was very very close i don't remember who won but i i'm gonna go with godwin he's been consistently better if you just take out the weird touchdown thing from evans last year so godwin he's safer he's steadier just like he said he got beat up last year a lot of people might judge him for that, but they shouldn't. He still was top 15 in PPR points per game. And he, he stepped up. We talked about this on a previous show. He stepped up in all of Brady's big games, almost every single one of Brady's big games where he was on the field. He had good fantasy production along with Brady.

And that might seem obvious, you know, and when the quarterback's doing well, of course, his receivers are going to do well, but it's something that you can at least recognize when it comes to when you start Godwin, when Brady has a great matchup, all right, no brainer. He's going to go off stud DFS, pick all that stuff. And Evans, it's, it's the touchdowns. Can you really replicate 13 touchdowns again?

Low target share last year, 6.8 per game in 2020. His yards per catch dipped to 14.4. I'm not sure he's going to get the type of volume to match Godwin in PPR. I'll say this, though. If it's non-PPR, I think Evans is probably the one with a little bit more upside. Is it spooky, though, the touchdowns? He had the second most targets inside the 10. He had the seventh most red zone targets,

and we saw it. I mean, every time it was a tight end or it was Evans, basically. I mean, it just seemed like he loved throwing to Mike Evans in the end zone. Well, when it's one year, we're going to say it's fluky because the year before,

they played 12 games together, and Godwin had eight more catches, 20 more yards, and two more touchdowns on fewer targets. Unless you're saying Adam, it's a Brady thing. And this is just what, how Brady operates near the goal line and they call a pass and not a run.

Well, forget about Godwin. I mean, Evans has had eight or more touchdowns, three straight seasons, four of his last five. And in one of those seasons, like in 2019,

eight, eight touchdowns in 13 games. So I would take out one too, but I'm just saying like, was it that weird? Plus Evans has had Evans is how many players have done this? I forget. He's been in the league seven years.

He has a thousand yards every single year. He might be the only receiver or one of a very small, small list of receivers who has accomplished that really remarkable career so far. When I said fluky, I did not. Mike Evans is above average at scoring touchdowns. He has a career 6% touchdown rate.

Last year, it was over 12%. No one does that. How about next one? Allen Robinson or, and this guy's in the news because they just restructured his contract in Houston, Allen Robinson or Brandon Cooks? And again, they finished within five spots of each other in PPR per game last year. Allen Robinson or Brandon Cooks?

That's a joke? No, because I'll tell you, if Brandon Cooks is the number one wide receiver for the Texans and Deshaun Watson's back, I know everyone's going to take Robinson higher and you're going to rank him higher. Would it really surprise you if Cooks had a better year? It shouldn't. Yes. Breen and Cooks is really, really good.

And I wanted to apologize after I made my Kenny Galladay-Houston Texans comment because Breen and Cooks and Kenny Galladay are basically the same age and Cooks has been a much better, had a much better NFL career than Kenny Galladay are basically the same age, and Cooks has been a much better, had a much better NFL career than Kenny Galladay has. Yeah, and he played four games without Fuller last year. He had 431 yards and three touchdowns.

So I will take Robinson, but they are, I strongly object to Dave's, is this a joke? Me too. I don't. I think Allen Robinson has proven to be consistent and certainly a target hog with bad quarterbacks. It could end up being the exact same thing this year. 15.5 PPR points per game each of the past two seasons.

Top 13 in fantasy points per game each of the past two years. I know that Brandon Cooks has it in him to be a good fantasy wide receiver. We don't know who his quarterback is. We don't know what type of offense quarterback is. Let's, let's do some. Okay.

Let's add her with Robinson. Like we've seen Brandon Cooks. He's gone from team to team. He's played with the best quarterbacks and Jared Goff. He's done very well with them. We don't know what he's like with a crappy quarterback, like worse than Jared Goff is what I'm saying. And especially in Houston where we're not sure what that offense is going to necessarily look like. They Jared Goff is what I'm saying. And especially in Houston,

where we're not sure what that offense is going to necessarily look like. They could be playing from behind quite a bit, and that might help Brandon Cooks get some targets. But I'm still going to draft Allen Robinson first. We've seen it from him. And if he just so happens to play with a good quarterback in Chicago,

maybe even a great one, then you've got to assume that his numbers will really have a chance to shine. Okay. But if I give you that scenario where Cooks is the number one receiver for the Deshaun Watson-led Texans. It's closer. It's closer.

But I'm still taking Robinson, and I might take Cooks, too, with a pick two rounds later. Yeah. I mean, it's very, very close for me. I don't think that they're going to be drafted anywhere near each other. Well, right. I think the problem is that Brandon Cooks is, if the situation remains as it currently is,

going to be extremely undervalued, as he often has been. The guy's got five of his past six seasons with at least 1,082 yards. He's had one bad year basically since 2014. Yeah. That bad year, that was 2019 with the Rams. And he played 14 games. He had 583 yards. He had two touchdowns.

If I remember correctly, and I'll look it up now, he was all right at the start of the year. And then he got hurt. First four games. First four games, he was great. He was on pace for 1,200 yards, four touchdowns, and then it was bad after that. It just seemed weird. It was almost like, is this guy about to just fall off a cliff?

And he answered the questions last year. And he got off to a bad start last year, too. And then he was terrific from week three or four on. Basically, when Watson, who also got off to a slow start, he had the Chiefs and the Ravens and the Steelers. Yep. And then Cooks was great. Okay, next up,

these guys finished back-to-back in PPR per game. Cole Beasley or Sterling Shepard? And John Brown no longer on the Bills. Cole Beasley or Sterling Shepard? I'm going to go with Shepard because I think that he's the more reliable PPR receiver who can get you 10 to 13 points most weeks. Beasley, I think, will fluctuate, and he might fluctuate a lot if the Bills do address their run game this offseason.

And just because John Brown is gone doesn't mean that Cole Beasley is going to see an uptick in targets. I will always trust Beasley and PPR in games where I think Josh Allen's going to have to throw maybe a high-scoring game. He leans on him in those games. I'm not sure he does that in those other games. But I think Shepard is almost relied upon pretty much any time he's healthy. How many games are the Giants going to have where they can just run their way to victory and you think that they'll be ground and pound versus having to move it around a little bit? But Josh Allen threw more passes last year than Daniel Jones, even with their situations, right? Oh, yeah.

I don't think James Grape's going to... Are you talking on a per game? Oh, yeah. Even if you're talking per game, that's the case. But I know Daniel Jones... There's more volume available in Buffalo than there is in New York. Total.

Yeah. And that was without... You know, the Giants had one of the worst offenses, so they probably didn't run a lot of plays. Here's the thing. Tell me how much this means to you, though.

Let me just give you this stat. Cole Beasley, we have to see who they replace John Brown with if they do. Cole Beasley, John Brown played nine games. In Beasley, we have to see who they replace John Brown with if they do. Cole Beasley, John Brown played nine games. In two of them, he played less than 50% of the snaps. So in the seven games that John Brown did not leave early, Beasley had 32 catches, 377 yards, three touchdowns on 42 targets. In the other eight games,

he had 50 catches, 18 more catches, 590 yards compared to 377 and only one touchdown, but he had 23 more targets. Basically, much, much more productive when John Brown wasn't playing. I'll agree with Dave and say Shepard, but they're both number four wide receivers

on draft day. I I'm not whatever. They were both better than that for what it's worth last year. Well, yeah, I mean, yeah, her game. I believe that.

Okay. Uh, I just think Shepard's role will be more consistent. Targets will be more consistent. Track records there. Joshgets will be more consistent. Track record's there. Josh Allen or Kyler Murray? It's going to be whichever team doesn't impact their offense with a better running back investment.

For now, it's Allen. But both teams are probably going to do something at running back. If they both draft a running back, then I'll probably still lean toward Allen. If neither of them draft a running back then i'll probably still lean toward allen if neither of them drafted running back i'll still lean toward allen but let's say buffalo drafts etn with the first round pick in arizona yeah they're going to skate by with chase edmonds and somebody else kyler would be ahead of josh allen there yeah it's paul like i've got him three points apart, so whichever one goes later. But I slightly prefer Allen. It's basically a push.

Thanks for bringing up the NFL draft. Please listen to Fantasy Football today in five. We had Emory Hunt on. First episode aired this morning. Second one will air tomorrow morning. It was great. Yeah, thank you. I enjoyed it.

Yeah, I did too. Learned a lot. He broke down the top three quarterbacks on the episode that you'll hear today and the next two plus a few sleepers on the Friday episode. So that's quarterbacks. We're hoping to have him on every week.

We'll have somebody on every week to break down these prospects, but next week we'll talk running backs. Now, look, I've told you about movement watches. All right, go to MVMT, two Ms as in Mary there, MVMT.com slash FFT right now. MVMT.com slash FFT. Check out the watches. Get 15% off, free shipping, free returns. Amazing deals. You don't have to spend $500 on a nice watch. Spend a fraction of that. Get a

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Not Johnnie Smith. Not Johnnie Smith. Not Chris Carson. Not Aaron Jones. And I don't think we talked about the Aaron Jones thing. But apparently he's still in their plans. So Dave, what do you think right now about Aaron Jones? And next week is going to be incredibly fun, by the way.

So buckle up. We're going to have a ton of news. But right now, on this Thursday, March 11th, what do you think about Aaron Jones? We know that so many teams are in a frustrating salary cap position. They don't have as much to spend as they would like. How many teams are going to prioritize running back and spend upwards of seven, eight, nine million per year on a running back? And is Aaron Jones worth it? I think it's the Packers bet that not a lot of teams will, but they might. And they could step up and say, okay, listen, here's three years, 21 million, something like that. Most of it guaranteed.

Come on back to Green Bay. Maybe they don't do that. Maybe they're in love with A.J. Dillon. I think they'll bring one of the two back between Jones and Williams. We've talked about this. Williams figures to be cheaper. And Williams has been a good player for them. Not that Jones hasn't,

but he could pick up a lot of the slack. So could Dylan. I'm kind of fascinated to see what's going to happen with the running back position and how many running backs will even get decent offers in the free agent market, given the cap landscape. Heath, what do you think about Johnnie Smith

not getting the tag for Tennessee? Conflicted. It wouldn't make much sense to give him the tag. We're talking about a guy who's played four years in the NFL and doesn't have a season with 450 yards receiving yet. Um, there's a, I still love the athleticism. I still love the profile and tight ends sometimes take a long time to have good NFL production,

but this is going to be entirely dependent on landing spot. Like you could make the argument for Smith that part of the reason he's never had a great season is because he's been stuck on a team that runs the ball more than any other in football over the past three years. I would accept that as long as like he needs to go somewhere that clearly prioritizes the tight end and has targets available. If the Colts were able to bring in Jonu Smith, sure, I'd be pretty excited as a low-end number one tight end.

If the Chargers tried to replace Hunter Henry with Jonu Smith, that's excellent. If he goes somewhere, like I saw somebody saying that Jacksonville needed to make a push for Jonu or Hunter Henry, if he goes somewhere where we're just kind of guessing about what his usage is going to be, I'm probably going to let someone else draft him. I don't know how much this matters to you,

but he played two games last year without A.J. Brown, and he had two very good games. One was four catches, 84 yards, and two touchdowns. One was five catches for 61 yards. They were against two terrible defensive teams in weeks two and three, Jacksonville and at Minnesota. But we saw the same thing from Corey Davis, who also might not be back. When Tannehill threw the ball a lot, Davis usually did pretty well.

When he didn't, Davis would suffer. A.J. Brown didn't. But Tennessee is just, I think if you like a player, I don't know that you want him on Tennessee. And this is not a great spot unless they change things around with a new offensive coordinator. It's like A.J. Brown you can count on. Can we count on anyone else

in the Tennessee passing game? Right now, you can't really feel good about anybody else, but they've got some work to do if they let go of Corey Davis and John New Smith. There was talk that they might try and franchise John New, so it was interesting that they decided not to. Could be because they were worried about the cap space they had.

Maybe they think they can resign him for less than what the franchise tag says. I think that they will remain an efficient, well-schemed offense. But Brown and Henry are going to be the two guys that fantasy managers are going to gravitate toward guys that fantasy managers are going to gravitate toward Tannehill with a later pick. And I don't know if I really see anybody else, whether added via free agency or not. Maybe we could talk about Anthony Ferkser as a streaming possibility, and they might draft somebody to boost their wide receiver core, but they're also missing or they let go of a lot of pieces on defense. They let go of Malcolm

Butler, Kenny Vaccaro in their secondary. They're going to have a lot of work to do in the draft to try and improve that side of the football. Not to mention now there's questions about their offensive line after they let Isaiah Wilson go. Do they try and replace him at right tackle or try and get younger there at least? So they've got a lot of holes to fill. A lot of teams do.

They're one of them. Okay, some more news. Houston restructured Brandon Cook's contract. Mentioned that. Jacksonville's GM said that they're going to look to add to their running back room. I'm not sure how you guys interpreted his comments. Did you feel like he wasn't really giving James Robinson a vote of confidence? I didn't like it. It doesn't sound like a vote of confidence, but he also said, you can't have him out there on the field for every play.

And Jacksonville was able to do that because they only ran the ball 290 times, and they probably would like to run it closer to 400 times next year. And so that's fine. He can have a 60% split and still be a borderline number one running back if they have a functional offense that runs more plays and more of them are run plays okay uh cincinnati head coach zach taylor said joe mixon is healthy it feels really good right now melvin gordon's dui charges were dismissed. So he will not...

Well, actually, we don't know that he won't face a suspension, right? The NFL could act on its own. Yeah, I'm not sure they've done that lately, where they've suspended somebody for something that they weren't convicted for. Other than, you know, like a Josh Gordon who kept, was a repeat offender. There was somebody else

prominent, and I don't know what the specifics of Gordon's deal were, but I think that might matter as well. Like, was this a negotiated thing, or was it one of those things where he was arrested for a DUI and then it came back that he was under the limit? There was evidentiary concerns. Well, Antonio Brown got suspended

and he hadn't been convicted. So... His were a little different, but... Right. Absolutely, they were different. I don't know how much the incident with the moving company factored in. You know, that would be more comparable.

But I'm just saying, you know what? Why are we speculating? We don't know, but the charges were dismissed. Matt rule said, Teddy Bridgewater is our quarterback. We know that Carolina's looking to upgrade there.

And then how about these two releases? So new Orleans releases, Emmanuel Sanders, Buffalo releases, John Brown and Heath. Let's start with, we talked about the bills. We can talk more about John Brown.

He's a good player when he's healthy. But does this Emmanuel Sanders release mean anything for Sanders, for the Saints, for Thomas, for whatever? I'm far more interested in who their quarterback is going to be. But they may have just looked at Taysom Hill's sample from last year and said, well, he's not going to throw to any receivers besides Michael Thomas anyway, so why would we want to pay one? Because he threw like 45% of his passes to Michael Thomas.

No, I think this is more like the Saints have and are still in one of the worst salary cap situations. And I don't think if Taysom Hill's the quarterback, there will be enough pass attempts for anyone besides Michael Thomas and maybe Adam Troutman to sneak into this discussion because we know Alvin Kamara is still going to get some targets. So I'm not particularly interested in who becomes the number two wide receiver for the Saints.

Are you interested to know that in seven games without Michael Thomas, Emmanuel Sanders was really good. He was on pace for 91 catches, 1,168 yards, and four and a half touchdowns on 123 targets. He was terrible, terrible with Michael Thomas. He played seven with, seven without. But when he was the number one guy, remember we talked about him all the time. He was Emmanuel Sanders or this guy? Emmanuel

Sanders or that? It was a really fun start, I'd say. Is that interesting or is there some gas left in the tank? Because he's getting up there in age. I think he can play a complementary role for a bunch of teams. I'm not sure if he can land in a spot where he will reliably get the type

of targets and red zone looks that he had in those games without Michael Thomas on the field. He would be a good, like if you were a team that didn't franchise your number one wide receiver in his prime and just wanted to kind of go at it with some young guys and have a veteran come in and teach them how to be professionals and still tank Manuel Sanders might be a good number one wide receiver for the Lions. And he could fit concept-wise

with the types of throws Jared Goff can make a little better. I thought you were talking about the Steelers until you mentioned that the team was tanking. And I'm not sure he would be welcomed back in Pittsburgh as a replacement for Juju. I'm not sure that would work very well. Okay. And then as far as John Brown goes, does this have a lot of impact on Josh Allen? Does this matter? It matters for Gabriel Davis and what's, you know, how excited would you be,

Dave? Give me your bills take. I think, I think this move was done to save Buffalo cap space and put Gabriel Davis in position to compete for the number two outside receiver role. He would play a little bit more, and he gives them something that they don't have from any other receivers, and that's size. And he used it to his advantage. He won a lot of jump balls from Josh Allen over the course of the season. More of those are coming. He could be a factor in the red zone as well. I'm very intrigued by him, and I think he'll end up being one of those trendy breakout picks that people will go after starting in round eight, round nine. He can't replace John Brown's speed, but there

were plenty of spurts during the season last year where John Brown wasn't even on the field. We talked about that already. And at least Gabriel Davis is healthy. He might not be a burner like John Brown, but he'll be out there theoretically a lot more often. Running through offensive line news. We already talked about Miami getting Isaiah Wilson from Tennessee. It's a gamble, but they gave up almost nothing for a guy who was a first round pick just a year ago. It was a great deal for them. The Patriots acquired Trent Brown and they took a lot of money back on a great deal for them. The Patriots acquired Trent Brown, and they took a lot of money back

on the contract for Trent Brown, but the word is, when he's healthy, he's awesome. So this is a huge upgrade, potentially, for the Patriots' offensive line. They got him from the Raiders. He was originally a Patriot, signed a big deal with the Raiders, and hasn't really been able to stay on the field.

Kansas City released Fisher and Schwartz. What's the level of concern? Again, Dave mentioned it. Teams could try to resign these players at cheaper prices, but as of right now, that's two important pieces of the offensive line that are not there for the

Chiefs, and that was a huge issue for them in the Super Bowl. So, Patrick Wilhelms, QB 7, 8? What do you think? They do get the Dr doctor LDT back so that that well he didn't play last year because he was saving people's lives he's a guard

but and he's a guard but that's like an offensive lineman that they will have because I believe their center is also a free agent if they went like what I would say is if they went into the next season with the current offensive line that they have under contract,

it would be enough for me to probably not make Patrick Mahomes my number one quarterback, but they're not going to. Okay. I was joking about QB 7-8 sometimes. No, like it is like the current they have a very, very bad group of offensive linemen compared to the league currently.

Kyle Long is coming back. Former Bears offensive lineman will come out of retirement after missing last year. Baltimore left tackle Ronnie Stanley had a second surgery on his ankle. Hopefully, he'll be back ready for training camp. Carolina franchise tackle Taylor Moten. Jacksonville franchise tackle Cam Robinson.

Atlanta released left guard James Carpenter. Minnesota released left tackle Riley Reif. So between Minnesota and the Giants, the Giants releasing right guard Kevin Zeitler, Zeitler, I would say, was probably the best offensive lineman for the Giants, and Reif was probably the best for the Vikings. He was certainly one of the best.

So they did not get better by releasing those guys, but they also didn't release superstars or anything like that. And defensive stuff, nothing really too major here. The Saints released Quan Alexander and Janoris Jenkins, a linebacker and a defensive back, but they tagged Marcus Williams, a safety. Arizona released cornerback Robert Alford, and we don't think Patrick Peterson

will be back necessarily, so they could have a very different look in the secondary. Miami released Kyle Van Nooy. And yesterday... Lots of movement. Yeah, yes. This is going to be a heck of an offseason

because of the cap dropping $15 million per team. Yesterday, I had a lot of fun on Paramount+. You all need to get Paramount+. It is so awesome. If you're my age, I'm 36,

or around that age, there's a ton of nostalgia. I was like, I'm going to watch Are You Afraid of the Dark right now? And it was really fun. And then I was like, actually, I'm going to watch

Nirvana Unplugged, which is a lot better than Are You Afraid of the Dark? And I was doing my football research last night, put watch Nirvana Unplugged, which is a lot better than Are You Afraid of the Dark? And I was doing my football research last night, put on Nirvana Unplugged from MTV. All know that amazing performance. And it was great. These are the types of things that are on Paramount+.

Sign up for it right now. It's a great price. And it's like... That's amazing. That's amazing that they have that on. I remember watching that live. And it's still... I got the album and uh

now i can go to paramount plus and watch it all over again yeah i didn't even know they had that that's amazing oh yeah yeah they've got like nine episodes of unplugged they have alandis morissette they have pearl jam john mellencamp there's just like all these archives of great things plus there's great movies on paramount plus check it out. My friend sent me an article. Funnily enough, it was a Ringer article. An oral history of Nirvana Unplugged.

I'll send it to you, Dave. It's really cool. Good stuff. Anyway, sign up for Paramount+. You will not regret it. It's really fun. Team needs in the NFC. I asked you guys for three or four positions or spots on different teams that are especially fantasy relevant.

Heath, you went with Seattle running back, Detroit wide receiver, Carolina quarterback, and Philadelphia wide receiver. I'm going to combine here. Dave went with Atlanta running back and Arizona running back, plus a couple of quarterback spots. So if we look at the three running back suggestions, Heath, you said Seattle. Dave,. I think Atlanta running back might be the most attractive of any of the positions. And I would say it's maybe just a small gap to Seattle running back,

depending on how they address it. And then a significant gap to Arizona running back, because I think whoever they bring in is likely to share with Chase Edmonds. Agree 100%. And the Falcons are getting Arthur Smith as their new head coach and play caller as i've said before i don't think it means that they are going to be like tennessee has been which has been a very run heavy team i think he was just making use of the guys that he has he's he's preached adaptability but they need something they don't have anything they've got i don't know

ito smith brian hill i don't think they're going to bring back todd girley uh i don't have anything they've got I don't know Ito Smith Brian Hill I don't think they're going to bring back Todd Gurley I don't think they're going to resign Devante Freeman if they let him go a year ago I think that they're going to try and if they can't get a free agent running back at a good value this is a team that I think could go

after one of the running backs in the draft and that could be really really good. It's an offensive line that's got some potential, but the passing game is going to force safeties back a lot. So there is room for a running back to do well. And they could probably end up being like just under 60, 40 pass run, which might hurt your ears.

If you're Calvin Ridley fan or a Matt Ryan fan, you want to draft those guys in 2021, but they could end up being a little bit more in favor of the run than we've seen the past your ears if you're calvin ridley fan or a matt ryan fan you want to draft those guys in 2021 but they they could end up being a little bit more in favor of the run than we've seen the past few years i and i would just say um like they are a team that when we way early in the offseason we'd say what's your favorite match and we'd say aaron aaron jones goes to atlanta yeah yeah it's like almost impossible they have still i think the fifth worst current cap situation. Seattle is the team that's kind of unique in this discussion

because they are actually in a pretty fine situation cap-wise. Not great. Not like Jacksonville and the Patriots. But maybe we should have been saying, as much as Pete Carroll loves to run the football, maybe we should have been saying Aaron Jones to Seattle.

Would you rather Aaron Jones on Seattle or Green Bay? Green Bay. I think I'd rather Seattle. We've seen Chris Carson get a bigger workload than we've seen Aaron Jones get. And I don't think anybody on Seattle's current roster is as good as A.J. Dillon. And Carroll hasn't quite had the track record of sharing that Matt LaFleur does. So I think there's a bigger opportunity for more workload.

He still gets to play with a fantastic quarterback and incredible downfield passing game to open things up. I think I's a bigger opportunity for more workload. He still gets to play with a fantastic quarterback and incredible downfield passing game to open things up. I think I'll go Seattle. Let's look at the quarterback destinations you guys suggested. Heath, you said Carolina. Yeah, that'd be a pretty good spot to go. And Dave, you mentioned New Orleans and Washington. So Dave, I'll give you the first crack at it.

Rank those three destinations for a quarterback. Carolina, New Orleans, Washington. So Dave, I'll give you the first crack at it. Rank those three destinations for a quarterback, Carolina, New Orleans, Washington. I just got done writing the prospect profile for Justin Fields. And I didn't really consider New Orleans as a possibility for him because I just don't think that they're going to have the draft capital to move up and get him if they really wanted him. Maybe they do it. but I thought about him in Carolina, and I love the fit. You think about Joe Brady and how he wants short passing, time passing, choice routes with DJ Moore,

downfield throws with Moore and Robbie Anderson. Maybe they're going to add somebody to replace Curtis Samuel in the passing game, plus Christian McCaffrey out of the backfield, plus fields will run. And that's an element that they didn't use a whole lot of with Teddy Bridgewater for obvious reasons. I think he'd be fantastic there. I think that would be my second favorite spot overall

with the quarterback destinations that you mentioned. New Orleans would be first because working with Sean Payton should give you some potential to put up some huge numbers in that offense. And Washington will be third. I just think that they're probably a little bit more conservative of a team offensive-minded-wise, and they could be more run-heavy and more short-area focused, not taking as many chances, being as balanced as they can,

leaning on their defense a little bit more. I think that would be an okay spot for a quarterback to end up, but it wouldn't be my favorite of the three. Heath? I think my least favorite's the Saints, just because I don't think Taysom Hill's going away. And most quarterbacks, unlike Drew Brees, can't come off the field as often as Brees did

and still be good for fantasy purposes. And they don't have, like, yes, Michael Thomas, Alvin Kamara is incredible for a top two in terms of weapons in the passing game. I don't imagine they're going to have much behind those guys. So, yeah, I think my least favorite would be the Saints. It's easily my favorite is the Panthers and the combination of DJ Moore and Robbie Anderson and Christian McCaffrey could make somebody really, really fun as a sleeper. analyst, I think he's on NBC Sports now, likes Zach Wilson better than Trevor Lawrence and made a very passionate case for it and a pretty compelling case.

Not that I'm breaking down the film, but you hear him talk about it and you're like, oh, I kind of get it. He knows what he's talking about and he's got a good track record as well, apparently. It's pretty interesting. I'm getting a lot more excited about Zach Wilson. He's going to go to the Jets and I don't like that so much, but Jamie does. I'm getting a lot more excited about Zach Wilson. He's going to go to the Jets, and I don't like that so much,

but Jamie does, I'm sure. All right, anyway, last thing here is wide receiver Detroit. Detroit wide receiver Heath. They got some targets to go around. Yeah, they have no shortage of available targets. Oh, and Philadelphia. Sorry, I forgot about Philadelphia. Detroit and Philadelphia, yeah.

Yeah, and Philadelphia would be more interesting if Zach Ertz was gone. Like if we got some, and I don't think we'll see as many tight end targets as we have in the past, but just looking at it, like I've got Detroit with 269 wide receiver targets. I think there's only two teams that have 269 total targets available from

last year's team. So yeah, maybe Tyrell Williams is going to take 80 of those, but there's, there's plenty of room for someone to come in and be a true number one wide receiver. Maybe that's where Will Fuller ends up. All right.

First terms of Philadelphia. Maybe that's where Will Fuller ends up. All right. In terms of Philadelphia, is that a destination that you think is good for a wide receiver? With Jalen Hurts unsure about his passing prowess, let's say. It would have to be a true number one for me to feel good about a wide receiver. If they went out and got a Kenny Galladay, then I would feel pretty confident that they were going to use him. Like he was supposed to be used.

I think Jalen hurts can throw the deep ball. But I'm not really interested in someone like Corey Davis or somebody like that, finding his way and getting lost in the wide receiver shuffle in Philadelphia on a team that probably is going to run it 450, 500 times. I would be nervous even if it were Galladay or if it were Jamar Chase, somebody like that in the draft. Just knowing that Jalen Hurts was one of the most off-target throwers in his starts in 2020,

knowing that he will run the football quite a bit. Yeah, I would be nervous trusting that number one receiver in Philadelphia. I don't think I would, if Galladay went there, for example, don't think you would see him in my top 12 at wide receiver, probably closer to 15, which would make them more of a third,

maybe fourth round pick. Jalen Rager, by the way, right now on NFC ADP, Jalen Rager is going 57th overall wide receiver behind denzel mims sterling shepherd miko hardman and one pick ahead of gabriel davis so yeah and that's a that's a different story like i would much rather wait on a receiver in philadelphia and potentially take a guy like rager, who's got great deep ball potential.

That's something that helps with Jalen hurts. He can throw that ball. That's one of his defaults when he's under pressure and he's rolling out of the pocket, he'll either run with it or he'll chuck it. And Rager could benefit from that taking a chance on him. You're talking way late in a, in a draft like that.

That's easy to do. It's much harder to get behind a receiver in Philadelphia. If you've got to spend a quality fantasy pick on them. It was one spot ahead of Gabriel Davis. Yeah. That's way too low. I've got them four spots ahead of Gabriel Davis. We're going to take a break here.

Read your emails at fantasy football at cbsi.com. When we come back, whether in the game or in life, the right coverage can make all the difference. Securian Canada gives you that coverage. When we come back. truly matters. Find their products through banks, credit unions, and associations, or visit SecurianCanada.ca. Securian Canada, insurance designed for life. Don't forget a great way to have your question read these days is leaving us a nice review on Apple Podcasts. Leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and we will read your questions once a week, probably on our Thursday show, we'll get to your Apple Podcast questions. So go ahead and leave a question and a review there.

Or you can send the emails to fantasyfootballatcbsi.com like Chris has done. And Dave, where is Chris from? Chris is from Worcester, Mass. A friend asked me to join a dynasty league that he's in. There were two teams that were open and decimated by terrible trades. The league decided to put both teams in a pool

and me and the new guy would draft our teams from there. I have some good players but don't have much after my starters. It's half PPR and I have the eighth overall pick. Would trading the eighth overall pick for Chase Claypool be a smart move?

If you'd like details on his roster I will give it to you. I think I would do that. There's my gut reaction, then I try to get to the trade chart in time to see what it says. It's fine. Is what I'd say.

Okay. Jeez, dude. What's what I'd say. Okay. Jeez, dude. What a hot take. Yeah. I mean, it sounds like he's looking to just add some depth to his team. If you trade down from 108 in your rookie draft, you're not going to be able to get quality depth there unless you're really good at drafting.

And the types of players that'll be there at 108, you know that it won't be Chase Waddle or Devontae Smith. You know that Pitts won't be there. You know that ETN won't be there. Actually, Harris won't be there. Yeah, I don't mind making this deal. I don't mind it. I got an update.

I got an update. So Chris emailed me back today, and he said the offer has changed. So he would give up the eighth pick t higgins and jacoby and jacoby myers and listen so the eighth pick higgins and myers and he would get claypool kenny galladay zach ertz a second rounder, and the first pick in the fourth. So you're still doing the Claypool for the eighth thing, but now you're giving up T. Higgins for Galladay, basically.

And you're also giving up Jacoby Myers, and you're getting Ertz, a late second round pick, and a fourth round pick. First pick in the fourth. I don't think I like it. Your team's getting older. Yeah, I think T. H team's getting older. Yeah. I think T. Higgins is, in my opinion,

the best player in that deal. But he's not too... He and Gallaudet and Claypool and that eighth pick are all in a very similar range for me. So I probably wouldn't do that. I'd rather just trade the eighth pick for Claypool, I think. Yep. And if you need to throw something else in to get the deal done

since that offer isn't on the table, then you do it. Okay. This is from No Name. So, Dave, you're in charge here. Bruce from Nakatomi Plaza, California. From Bruce in Nakatomi Plaza. Hey, Jarvis, Odell, Rashard, Donovan, and Cadarol. Those are Browns receivers, circa 2020.

Okay, I won my league. Time to focus on next year. 10-team, half PPR, keeper league. The first four keepers take up the first, oh, the first four keepers, typo, take up the first four picks. I'm keeping Diggs and Nick Chubb.

Who do I keep with my third and fourth round picks? Or do I throw one back and try to draft someone better in the fourth round? James Robinson,

David Montgomery, Keenan Allen, Jeff Wilson. It is a 10-team half PPR league. Are these guys worth third and fourth round picks? James Robinson,

David Montgomery, Keenan Allen, Jeff Wilson. I predict Keith and I will have the same answer. Oh, Deshaun Watson is also in the mix, you said? Yes. Hmm. Okay. You're really considering Watson with a top 40 pick?

I don't think so, especially not in a 10-team league. I would keep Robinson and Keenan Allen with Diggs and Chubb. Yeah, I mean, again, we get these questions in March, and I really, really hope you don't have to make these decisions in March. But I would go Allen and Robinson right now, but I have

Robinson and Montgomery very, very close, and so there are certainly things that could happen this offseason that would lead me to take Montgomery over Robinson. Next email. Keith from Mechanicsville, Virginia. I swear I was about to say that.

Dave, what is your favorite Mike and the Mechanics song? Isn't there only one that could be a favorite? What's the song they sing? The Living Years. That's right. I love that song. All I Need is a Miracle.

That's a really good one, too. Okay. Dave, here's the question. Heath, here's the question. Last season, I blew up my Dynasty team to rebuild it with the 2020 rookie draft. I traded away my top two 2021 rookie picks and most of my veterans.

I got as many draft picks as possible. The only players I kept from 2019 were Chark and Zeke. Most analysts say to trade away a player like Zeke, if you're doing a dynasty rebuild, it looks like his value is now too low to get a promising young running back to replace him. The best offer I've gotten so far is pick one 11 in the rookie draft. As Zeke's value fall into the point where you're better off keeping him,

even if you are rebuilding? If the best offer you get is 111, then you are definitely better off keeping him. If you don't think you're going to be competitive this year, then at the very, he's probably going to have a good four game stretch this year, trade him then. And he may just have a great season this year and you you may not trade him at all. But if you're

in a two- or three-year rebuild, yes, it is a good idea to get rid of Ezekiel Elliott. But you're already in year two of this rebuild, and you don't give him away for the 11th pick. I agree 100%. He's a buy in Dynasty right now. But he's more of a buy for those managers that are trying to win now because you should be able to get him. Maybe that's the point of this, is that you should try and offer something like the 11th overall pick. That's a team that could be winning now. They finished well in the 2020 season, so they've got a late first-round pick.

They give that up to get Ezekiel Elliott, and they roll with him in their lineup this year. I certainly would want more than that pick for Ezekiel Elliott. If you want me to go back to what we talked about a week ago when we did our Dynasty show, Zeke is entering his age 26 season. Right, Heath? Yeah, I believe that's right.

You didn't ask me, but that's that is that is where i found the most top five finishes for running backs in the last 10 years age 26 now zeke doesn't seem like he's at his absolute peak right now we get that but 26 27 28 for running backs of his caliber, still very, very productive years. I think the key point also in two different ways is that 26, 27, 28, if you look at it as a three-year window, there probably is not a significant drop-off coming for Zeke in the next three years, in my opinion.

But you're looking at 27, 28, 29 29 the odds of a drop off in the next three years becomes much higher so i do think this is the year to trade ezekiel elliott unless you're trying to win a title marshall lynch had two top five finishes at ages 27 and 28 jamal charles finished first at age 27 and seventh at age 28 adrian. Adrian Peterson had two top two finishes. He finished first and second at ages 27 and 28. So that's still fine if you're a special player. Hopefully Zeke is. Hopefully he doesn't go the Todd Gurley route.

But there are obviously concerns. There is one other concern with Zeke, and that is that the Cowboys cut him, which they can do up to the fifth day of the league new year. If they do it, they'll have a massive cap hit this year, but they're going to have it even if he's on the team, but they don't owe him anything in 2022. And I think they just gave a contract out to somebody in Dallas

and might want cap space. I wonder if Zeke could be a cut consideration as the Cowboys try and find cap space moving forward. It doesn't feel like a Cowboys move. They're so loyal to their guys. No, it does not, but if they're convinced that Ezekiel Elliott won't be the same guy

ever again, they're going to cut him. I thought Jerry Jones, to end on this, had a really interesting quote where he said, every good thing he's gotten, he's overpaid for. And when you try to get a bargain, you get what you pay for. You end up with an inferior product, basically. I'm just kind of paraphrasing here.

So he basically acknowledged, yeah, he had to overpay for Dak Prescott. He's paying him $40 million a year. He overpaid for Zeke. But he acknowledges you have to overpay for Dak Prescott. He's paying him $40 million a year. He overpaid for Zeke, but he acknowledges you have to overpay great players. It was an interesting, honest admission and a lot of truth to it, I think. Well, and it's the only way the system works because the system is set up to underpay great players

for the first three or four years of their career. So if that's the case, then the only way this whole sharing things work is we overpay guys later in their career. Yeah. Well, a little philosophy here for you on Fantasy Football today. Fantasy philosophy today.

Don't even have to change the initials. Thanks for listening, everybody. Philosophy. Thanks for listening, everybody. Lost. Thanks for listening, everybody. We'll talk to you either on Monday or when some breaking news pops up. You never know. But check out Fantasy Football Today at 5 for some quarterback prospect talk.

You will enjoy it. For Dave and Heath, I'm Adam. Have a great weekend.