Fantasy Football Today - Lessons Learned, Dynasty Draft Recap (02/02 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: February 2, 2023

Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Heath and Dave are telling us what they learned from the 2022 season. Heath has three lessons to share (1:30), and we'll focus on when to draft players recovering from injuries and how to evaluate WRs who are getting marginal upgrades at quarterback. Meanwhile, Dave is preaching patience for 2023 (14:10) ... The Fantasy Cops are here to potentially strip a commissioner of his title (19:15)! And we've got news and notes from around the NFL (27:45) ... Talking dynasty as we review our 12-team, PPR startup dynasty mock draft. How do you balance winning now vs. drafting youth (31:10)? How do we feel about Dameon Pierce and Tyler Allgeier (40:35)? If you want to draft for the future, how should you go about doing this (43:10)? We also give you the first three rounds of the draft and discuss the best and worst picks (49:00) ... Your emails at [e-mail] 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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No, I can't. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races, and he stays on his feet. It's just going to go the distance. Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. It's Thursday. Welcome to the show, everybody. We've got a lot to talk about. Not as newsy of the show today, but we have lessons learned from Heath Cummings and Dave Richard, and we have a Dynasty mock draft to review. One of the lessons I learned is that we should talk more Dynasty, especially this time of year. So we did a 12-team PPR Dynasty startup mock draft yesterday with no rookies,

and we'll let you know how it went. CeeDee Lamb was what, the third pick, Heath? Fourth pick, third non-quarterback drafted, yes, by me. And it was a one QB. I'm going to explain that to you literally 30 seconds ago, what number he went. He wants to say it on the show, though. You have been very mean to me this month. No, I haven't been mean to you.

Yes, you have. You know, you need to, like, lesson learned. Don't be so mean to Adam. He has feelings. He has feelings. I feel like I've been nicer to you in the last month. You have. And JB is, like, lesson learned. Don't be so mean to Adam. He has feelings. He has feelings. I feel like I've been nicer to you in the last month. You have. And Jamie is, like, picking up where you left off.

I don't understand what's going on here. All right. So we'll do the Dynasty Draft in the second portion of the show. And first we'll start with the— I've heard that story before. We didn't have time for the Dynasty Draft today. We'll save at least five minutes for the dynasty draft, I promise. Heath, what was your lesson learned in 2022?

I said I had a lot of them, and it's true. So I'm going to give you like three, and you can tell me which one you want to discuss. One, and I wrote about this two years ago and didn't hardly even think about it this year, but I do think that we need to remember the value in continuity. We saw a lot of teams with turnover at quarterback or offensive coordinator who really struggled early in the season, and so I'm going to get back to valuing those teams that have the same quarterback, offensive coordinator, and weapon that we're drafting.

Two is I'm going to be a little less optimistic about players who are currently hurt. Yeah. I had too many teams that had J.K. Dobbins, Chris Godwin, and DeAndre Hopkins. Hopkins was suspended, not hurt, thinking, man, I'll get to 500 week seven, and then I'm going to dominate the league.

And I had, I think, one team for sure where I started at 0-5, got back to 5 week seven, and then I'm going to dominate the league. And I had, I think one team for sure, where I started at one five, got back to five and five, and then didn't quite make the playoffs, but I got off to way too many slow starts and then three. And this covered almost all of our favorite round three or round four wide receivers, um, that didn't quite live up to our expectations i'm gonna be more careful with giving um upgrade at quarterback bonuses to receivers if the quarterback they're upgrading to isn't anything special hmm that one is interesting all right all right so we have michael pitman dj moore oh yeah right. We thought those guys, they're going to have a better quarterback this year. Okay, okay.

So we can talk about all of them, I guess. Value and continuity, less optimistic about players who are currently hurt, be more careful with giving upgrades to wide receivers. No, sorry. Be more careful upgrading wide receivers who are getting maybe marginal quarterback upgrades. Dave, what do you think?

Which one do you want to tackle here? Let's start with the last one. Okay. Okay, so we're talking about, because, you know, obviously the guy that crushed me was Cortland Sutton. I thought he was getting a big quarterback upgrade, and he wasn't. I don't know. I don't know that he's the best example of that, but guess he he is now in retrospect right he absolutely is so is dj moore so is a number of

wide receivers um you mentioned it heath it's in that guys in that round three and four range and and it's so easy to make the case like i remember your case for dj moore however many months ago it was at this point. I guess it's like eight months ago. And it made sense. The track record of Baker Mayfield, although it wasn't amazing, it was good enough. You could make the case that Baker was the best quarterback that DJ Moore had ever played with. And with that being the case, DJ Moore should be in line for great numbers.

And instead, Baker took a vacation in Carolina. He was terrible, and it took, it really, honestly, it took until Sam Darnold was under center. That's a terrible vacation. Yeah, I mean, it was, you know, the hotel canceled on you, your luggage got lost, you got food poisoning. Everything that happened to David Pamer in Ocean's 13 happened to DJ Moore. Great reference.

Thanks for spoiling it. Great. And that one's actually a combination of two. Like DJ Moore was so bad of a miss that he covers two of my lessons learned. Because also I think part of what went wrong with DJ Moore was that I overlooked Ben McAdoo, Ben McAdon't. And I think he had either a directive or came

in with a plan at the beginning of the year that we're not going to throw the ball 10 times a game to dj moore we're going to spread the ball around we're going to throw some screens to to shy smith see if we can get those things going um and so it's that continuity thing i was projecting a 30 or 27 or whatever target share for dj moore that's what he'd grown into and then he didn't get that i think we were all we're always looking for cooper cup getting matthew stafford and for stefan diggs getting this josh allen breakout right this mid-round wide receiver four round four round five something like that i mean okay that's where dj moore's adp was we're obviously taking him much higher same with

sutton um michael pitman ended up being around three pick but that whole idea of quarterback I mean, okay, that's where DJ Morris ADP was. We were obviously taking him much higher. Same with Sutton. Michael Pittman ended up being a round three pick. But that whole idea of quarterback upgrade, we don't want to completely walk away from it, right? Because what happens if Derek Carr goes to the Jets or something like that? That, I think, would be a big upgrade. Yeah. But we thought that with Baker going to Carolina.

Carr's better, though, right? The games are actually played. But we're going to be able to make – I don't know if the case for Garrett Wilson is going to Carolina. You just don't know until... Carr's better though, right? I mean, Carr... The games are actually played, but we're going to be able to make... I don't know if the case for Garrett Wilson is going to be so great. We're going to say, yeah, he's upgrading to Derek Carr and he's got Nathaniel Hackett

as his play caller. That makes me a little nervous and I've got him ranked pretty high. Isn't Carr... I'm making on Wilson because of him being a great talent. Not hearing me. Do you not hear me?

I'm sorry. But isn't Carr a much bigger upgrade than Baker Mayfield, though? Well, sure. And anybody's an upgrade over Zach Wilson at this point. Well, and to tie in Carlton Sutton, I mean, it's not like Jerry Judy was bad. Jerry Judy was good with Russell Wilson. He wasn't that good. He wasn't a standout or anything.

He was really only good when Sutton was out. He had a pretty good year. He did not. Jerry Judy? Jerry Judy did not have an impactful fantasy season, especially when you factor in the games that Sutton played. When Sutton was out, Jerry Judy went off a little bit.

But when they were both there, he was fine, but he wasn't anything special. I think you need to do some Acer studying. Okay. At the end of the season, he was fantastic. He had a game where he played one snap, and he had a game where he played 10 snaps. Yeah, I would count those.

Like, he... I think he was... I know at one point in the season, he was like 8 for 8 in games that he'd played at least 60% of the snaps, scoring at least 14 fantasy points. No. That can't be.

Because he... No. I'm just telling you right now. I'm looking at it right now. It can't be. Okay, maybe no. I'm just telling you right now. I'm looking at it right now. It can't be. Okay, maybe it was seven for eight or whatever. But he had a very good season. You are just wrong.

I mean, he had 102 yards in week one. Then he had 11. I think he left that game week two. Then 17 yards, 53 yards, 53 yards, 54 yards, 96 yards, 63 yards. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I don't think it was that great of a year for Jerry Judy. He was never viewed that way. Not until late in the season when Cortland Sutton was hurt

did we start viewing Jerry Judy as a must-start wide receiver. I mean, it feels like revisionist history to me to say Jerry Judy had a great season. His finishing kick was pretty strong. That's what I said. His finishing, that's when Jerry Judy, that's when Cortland Sutton was out. And then Sutton came back and Judy had sort of reclaimed,

had kept that number one role. This is how I look at it. Week seven, he had 16 fantasy points. Week eight, he had 18 fantasy points. Week 10, he got hurt. Week 13, he only played 20 snaps. You don't count those games. It was 38% of the snaps.

Okay. Then he had the three touchdown game against the Chiefs. Yes. Then 14, then 17, then 10, then 20. As I mentioned. But that starts week seven. Yeah, but, okay, yes. Sutton only missed two of those games.

Sutton missed two. Yeah, he left one early as well. But that was actually a bad one for Judy. He also posted a career high in catches, yards, and touchdowns. He had 972 yards in 15 games. He had 67 catches. I don't think we're making him out to be a top five fantasy receiver. He played 31 steps.

Late in the season. Adam, let me ask you a question. Then this will sum it up. Had he not gotten Russell Wilson and this was another year of Teddy Bridgewater, would he have put up these numbers? No, but I think you called him, I think you said he was great. I don't think he was great.

That's what I would... Well, he was, he was, no, I said he was better with his quarterback. Yeah, I believe I heard the word great, but yeah, of course he was better. He was better. He finished great. Yeah, well, I mean, like,

I think Garoppolo is going to be an interesting test case this offseason. You know, the upgrade we give a wide receiver if they go from someone terrible to Garoppolo, you know? I think it just depends on where he goes. You know, if he goes to a situation where they're asking to throw downfield, you know, like if Tampa keeps the same offense, despite, you know, removing their offense coordinator,

but if they keep a similar system where they're throwing the ball downfield, Garoppolo's going to stink. Okay. Dave, what was your lesson? Hold on. Let me promote something real quick. You've got more lessons for Heath, though. No, it's fine. I threw out three. Those are out there. We talked about one. The other one that

I'd want to talk about is the injury one for Heath and how he doesn't want to talk about is the injury one for Heath and how he doesn't want to overvalue injured players. And I would argue that the majority of the players that were hurt coming into drafts last year had a discount on their ADP. If J.K. Dobbins was totally fine, he wouldn't have been taken as a round four or round five guy. The only one that I can think of,

and Heath mentioned he had a lot of this player on his teams, this guy hurt my teams too, was Godwin. Because we saw Godwin starting to participate in training camp and it looked like he would be ready to go. And we knew that he wasn't necessarily an explosive wide receiver in the first place, just a good volume receiver. Well, Dobbins was a round five pick. Right, but where would he have gone if he were healthy?

If he was healthy? If there was no knee injury to J.K. Dobbins. Oh, round three? Yeah. That's not a discount, though, for Dobbins. The discount wasn't big enough. No, Dobbins was a terrible pick. No, it ended up not being big enough, but there was a discount.

Godwin was actually drafted after Dobbins. Godwin was round five? Then shoot, I was drafting Godwin way too early. But Godwin, I guess, was at a discount if his ADP was round five. Michael Thomas had a discount. You can tell me when his ADP was. But it wasn't big enough. In like round nine in some drafts.

Hopkins had a discount because he was suspended. Michael Thomas was round six. Okay. And DeAndre Hopkins, 7-8? Lay them straight? This is CBS ADP. So Hopkins was pick 100. Ooh, even better.

So I feel like that was baked in. And that's going to continue to be the case. Which of those guys were worth that discount at ADP? I think Hopkins was absolutely worth that discount. He's interesting. He wasn't hurt. He was suspended. I think I'm definitely going to back off guys

who are coming off torn ACLs because I did have a lot of Godwin and I did have a lot of Dobbins, just like you, Heath, and it did not work out. It just didn't. I think you've got to factor in, though, what you're hearing by the time you're drafting because, like, Brees Hall, if he's ready to go for training camp and gives you four weeks' worth of practice,

you're not going to run away from him. You may be of practice, you're not going to run away from him. You may be concerned, but you're not going to run away from him. I'm not going to run away from him. Same thing with Gervonta in Denver, especially now with Sean Payton there. Right, those guys had early injuries. Yes, so there's obviously, there are caveats here. Did they have multiple injuries?

Because it wasn't just an ACL for Dobbins. He had multiple knee issues in that same injury. And I think Brees Hall had the same. I don't think it was just an ACL. I'll have to check on that. It might have been like a meniscus too or something. But obviously, yeah, see what the preseason reports are. But I think the teams are always going to express optimism about their guys.

And I think we've dealt with that with express optimism about their guys. And, you know, I think we've dealt with that with Saquon Barkley, for example, where a lot of positive reports and, and then he comes back and it's not until after the year where they go, well, he just wasn't the same.

He wasn't really fully back. You know, that's going to happen. So you can get tricked by the reports too, because the players and the organization, they're going to be, they're going to spin it optimistic. I think. Yeah. But I think for, for Dobbins, so I, you know, you can get tricked by the reports too, because the players and the organization, they're going to be, they're going to spin it optimistic, I think. Yeah. But I think for, for Dobbins, for example, there was videos of him limping and, you know,

his, his gate wasn't the same, you know? So, you know, I, I think you gotta, you said it best. There's gotta be caveats. It's gotta be a case by case basis. Um, Cam Akers was supposed to be a hundred percent, you know, know, and who knows how healthy he was by the time, you know, even rushing back last season, you know, maybe he just wasn't right, you know. So, yeah, we have to gauge it. All right.

So those are Heath's lessons. We have a Facebook group. That's a lesson to learn today. Go to the Facebook group and join it. Go to Facebook.com and search for Fantasy Football Today. There's also a link in the episode description. This is a great way to talk to other Fantasy Football Today listeners, other fantasy football players, and get some advice or just talk shop a little bit. Big trade happens or signing or whatever. Just go to that Facebook group. There's going

to be some reaction. And it's just a good way to socially network with people, I'd say. Dave, your lesson learned for 2022 is what? Call me Axel, because I'm going to preach patience with fantasy football, and in two different ways. The first one's going to be keeping it in mind on draft day, especially when you get to the midpoint of your draft and the end of your draft, thinking about the players who you're willing to be patient with when you draft them.

And these can be high upside players, but the worst thing you could ever do is draft a player that's got high upside. And after two weeks you say, oh, this guy sucks. I'm getting rid of him. And then he ends up being good. And there's the case of Justin Fields from last year. That's the biggest one of them all where the first four weeks of the season, no one could make a case for Justin Fields after the first four weeks of the season.

So I kind of can't blame people for cutting him after they took him with a late pick. But just imagine if you had stayed patient a little bit longer than four weeks with Justin Fields, how happy you would have been to have him on your fantasy team. He averaged 24 fantasy points per game from week five on after averaging only 10 fantasy points in the first four weeks of the season. And there's other players too that started slowly or really didn't do much and then they got going. And some of them, there's an interesting, like there's two sides to the story.

There's a guy like Kenneth Walker who everybody was going to be patient with because they know he's a rookie and it was just a matter of time before he got his chance. You just didn't know when it was going to happen. And then when he did get that chance, he went off versus somebody like James Connor, who through the first five weeks of the season was right around 10 fantasy points per game, wasn't really getting it done. We were very nervous about him. And then when he came back, he basically carried the Cardinals offense for a huge chunk of the second half of the season and averaged over 18 PPR points per game.

So the second half to what I'm saying is not only should you be patient with your players and think about the players who you're willing to be patient with on draft day, but once you've got them on your team, be patient with them for as long as you possibly can. You don't have to set a limit on it on draft day, but maybe think about it as I'm willing to wait these guys out month and a half, two months, however long it takes, because I want to see these guys do well, because when they do do well, they'll be great for my fantasy team. But what happens with two cases? What happens with players that are struggling for several weeks, like Christian Watson, for example?

You know, so you were. Yeah, this is obviously the other side of it. We were expecting great things out of the gate. You saw the big play potential in the first game when he has a drop, and then you start to get to bye weeks, and these are guys that are in that gray area of, I'd like to hold on to them, but I can't justify it because I don't want to drop guys that I'm using.

I think at that point you've got to let them go. But that's the point that I want to get to. I don't want to do it just I'm using. I think at that point you've got to let him go. Okay. But that's the point that I want to get to. I don't want to do it just because I'm sick of looking at this guy's name on my bench. Sure. For the first three weeks of the season. The other part of it, part of it would be is we went through a season where Kareem Hunt did nothing,

but you know what he was capable of doing. You don't want to cut that guy. That's a good example because I have a team with Kareem Hunt that won its league and he was on my bench all once. I couldn't cut him. I couldn't do it. So it's a good example because I have a team with Kareem Hunt that won its league, and he was on my bench once. I couldn't cut him. I couldn't do it. So it's a good example. So Madison, you know, these high-end handcuff guys that, you know,

if something happens to the player in front of them, they're league winners. You know, so those type of players. Like, what do you get to that? I think I do with them what I did with them in years and years past, and that's just hang on to them and hope that I don't need the spot. I'm never going to cut a player just because he sucks. There's got to be a reason to cut a player. It's a roster.

Yeah, it's the numbers game that you hear about in the NFL all the time. It's just like that in fantasy too. Does this mean you're going to be more cautious on the waiver wire early in the season? Potentially. But if there's a player that I believe in who maybe I was looking at drafting and then he went undrafted in my league

and then he gets off to a good start in week one. You loved Isaiah McKenzie. He was my guy. And so McKenzie was somebody you drafted a lot of. How much patience would you take with a guy like that? I held on to Isaiah McKenzie for the first couple of weeks of the season, and I think it was like week three.

I think it was against the Dolphins. He had a good game. He had a big role in that game. I got excited, held on to him. Any other leagues where he was available, I went and I picked him up. And then how about this question? I'll answer this. How long did I hang on to him after those games?

Because he obviously hit a wall in the middle of the season. Yeah, I started dropping him right around midseason. And that ended up being a good move. But I had to do it because of what you talked about. I needed to fill that spot with somebody else. Maybe someone dropped Christian Watson, and I was able to pick up Christian Watson and drop Isaiah McKenzie. That type of move I'm more than happy to do because I'm still getting a guy who I'm willing to be patient with who might have a better opportunity to help me sooner than McKenzie would.

Okay. That makes sense. That makes sense. I help. Patience is the word to keep in mind, and we'll go over this again in August for sure. And that's a really bad Guns N' Roses song, I might add. It's not their best song. No. It's really not.

Okay. Their best song... I'll play the intro to their best song. It's the Fantasy Cops song! Not a Guns N' Roses song, but we do have Fantasy Cops for you today. Are you ready to do some policing?

Yes. Alright, let's do some policing? Yes. All right, let's do it. This is from Joe from the home of the worst ball stadium in baseball. The worst stadium in baseball. Tampa? Oh, probably. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. So he says, hey, Vlad, Bo, George, and Alec. Those are baseball players. Yeah, I guess it's Toronto. Yeah, Blue Jays. Those are Blue Jays. I've listened to almost every show for two plus years, and I just finished last in my league.

No fault to you guys. I had Trey Lance, Kyler Murray, Javante Williams, and Brees Hall in a 2QB league. All right, conscience is clear then. Okay. I'm emailing for your opinion on a proper punishment for our commissioner. This happened on a week where there was a 9 a.m. London game. The game began, and he started

a running back that was injured. Ten minutes into the game, we noticed that he used his powers to substitute the healthy backup in and the injured running back out. Once this was pointed out, he apologized. He took the loss.

He actually won that week. So he gave himself a loss and he offered to lose his first round pick next season. Opinions are all over the place in the league. What should the proper punishment be? A take the loss that week. B take the loss and lose a first round pick. Or C. Get

kicked out of the league. So how many minutes was it? Ten. Ten minutes into the game, he started an injured player. This had to be Kamara, right? Probably. Makes sense. If he had emailed

the league in the early game and said, hey, listen, I overslept, whatever. Would anybody have said anything? Yeah, they would have said you have to keep that guy in your lineup. You think? Yes, definitely. What would you say? I would have said 10 minutes in, change it, sure, no problem.

You're the kindest commissioner on the planet. I mean, it's... You're not so great with the finances, but you're... Unless there's an issue of this guy doing this a lot. Like, if it's the first time that's ever happened and it's an early game.

Oh, man. So, first off, this guy can't be commissioner ever again. I agree. In any league for the rest of his life. I don't think he should have taken an L that week.

He just can't ever be a commissioner again, and he can't start the guy he switched it to. He had to switch it back. I wonder, though, if he noticed it five minutes in and then had the moral dilemma of, do I change it, do I not change it? I know he's going to know. I'll change it.

And then he got busted. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. What if he noticed it two minutes into the game? And he's replacing him with somebody that's playing at 1 o'clock. To me, if it's a 1 o'clock game, it's a little different story. I'd like to know if this was Kamara, because I remember being very lenient with the Kamara situation, because all indications were that he was going to play,

and I felt like anyone who woke up and saw he was inactive had every right to take him out because we just never could have foreseen him missing that game. So I'm kind of leaning towards what Jamie's saying. The commissioner messed up by not being transparent about it. I mean, that's a mess up for sure. Right. Like, if he took the loss and he gave himself the loss, like,

let it go. That's it? So you just say, give him the loss that week? Does he have to give up the pick? I mean, look, he punished himself. If he's been a terrible commissioner,

then there's obviously reasons to remove him as commissioner. I don't think he came out of the league losing a first round pick. If you guys want to go that far, okay, fine. You know,

to really make him pay for it, but, I mean, it's fancy football. Come on. What are we doing here? Okay, well, Heath is removing his commissioner powers.

I agree with that. I think he should take the loss, and he shouldn't be commissioner anymore. Let him keep his first-round pick. I would probably say that the next commissioner should change the guy's team name to Cheater for the next season. His team should be Cheater for the rest of the next season. I think that it's great in theory to remove his commissioner powers, but what if he's actually a good commissioner who just made a mistake? I think it's been demonstrated that he's not.

It was a mistake, Keith. Gosh, you're so harsh. Kicking everyone out. You don't have any leagues. Is this his first year playing fantasy football, and he's never dealt with setting a lineup before games actually start before? He made a mistake. People, we know countless people who play fantasy.

Had a rough night and, you know, woke up a little late. Yeah. We know so many people who play fantasy. They know set your lineup before the games start. Okay, but I mean, okay my gosh we only hear from a small sample size of people complaining about these things you know it would it would have been all over the place if it was a widespread problem with people forgetting about a game so he's there's some responsibility that every man and woman has to take for owning a fantasy

football roster. And we can't hold hands for everybody when it comes to setting the lineup. So what was your Camara? What was your opinion, Dave, about the Camara situation? I felt like you were a little bit more lenient on that. And so for people who don't remember, Camara played in London, 9 a.m. Eastern, and was inactive, a surprise inactive. And a lot of people had Kamara in their lineup. And some commissioners allowed that manager to make a change,

and some commissioners did not. I was on the, yes, you can change the lineup, especially if we're talking about someone out on the West Coast. It was 6 in the morning when that game started and had no idea Kamara wouldn't be in. So what was your, do you remember, Dave, how you felt about it? I don't remember exactly, but I believe I said that if you were to ask for forgiveness and to make a change

and the person you were playing agreed to it, that you should be allowed to make the change. Okay. And maybe you would play against somebody like Jamie, who is a benevolent fantasy manager, and he would say, okay, I understand. You can go ahead and make the change. And a commissioner would probably allow that, and that's cool.

But you should not be allowed, if you're a commissioner of a league, to change your lineup 10 minutes after the game starts. Unless you reach out to people, the person you're playing, and you say, dude, I messed up, I overslept, I didn't take a mirror out of my lineup. Do you mind if I put in somebody else who hasn't started playing yet? And they say, okay, I messed up. I overslept. I didn't take Kamara out of my lineup. Do you mind if I put in somebody else who hasn't started playing yet? And they say, okay, that's fine. If he does that, then we're good.

Yeah. Go ahead, Heath. I'll give you the last one. I'll give you an unpopular opinion. Yep. I don't like the commissioner asking the opponent if it's okay to bend the rules for his opponent in that week. You're putting the guy in a bad position. He has to choose between his fantasy football interests and everybody thinking he's a jerk. And he's not even the one that messed up.

All right. Well, look, all I know is Heath has ruined a lot of leagues by kicking a lot of people out over the years. I did not kick anyone out of the league. I just stripped his commissioner status and changed his team name for a year. I support that. That's fine. All right. We're going to take a break. We'll save Dynasty for next year. No, just kidding.

We'll do some news and notes and talk Dynasty after this on Fantasy Football today. What does possible sound like for your business? It's having the spend that powers your scale with no preset spending limit. More cash on hand to grow your business with up to 55 interest-free days. And the ability to reach further with access to over 1,400 airport lounges worldwide. Redefine possible with Business Platinum. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Terms and conditions apply.

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It's not just the law. It's a step to keep your team and community safe. Visit OntarioOneCall.ca and avoid unnecessary damages to get the job done right. Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report. Some news items for you. 49ers press conference yesterday, Kyle Shanahan said he did not see a way that Jimmy Garoppolo would be back with the 49ers in 2023. General Manager John Lynch expressed optimism that Brock Purdy could avoid Tommy John and basically have a procedure that would have him rehabbing in three months and fully cleared in six months. That is a possibility for Purdy that he'd basically be good to go by training camp or preseason. Kyle Shanahan also said he'd be surprised

if their star left tackle, Trent Williams, retired in a few weeks, he said. Williams, I guess, didn't completely close the door on that. That would be a big loss for them. He's one of the best left tackles in football. The best. Andrew Thomas. Mike McCarthy will call plays for...

There it is. You got the Giants in. Let's go. Bingo. Mike McCarthy's going to call plays for Dallas. Is this a big deal to anyone? How do we... I don't love it. Let me see if I can call up my old date on Mike McCarthy

and what he did when he called plays in Green Bay. To go back to C.D. Lamb. I think Lamb's the one guy who it could be good for. Why is that? Because Kellen Moore wasn't as much of an alpha-wide receiver guy because he's a better offensive coordinator, but he liked to spread the ball around.

And I think we saw McCarthy had more input last year, and we saw Lamb's target share also spike last year. I think Lamb is pretty secure as a 30-plus target share guy i'd agree with that i would think anybody calling plays for dallas i would hope so but they they need more and kellen moore didn't do that that's something to keep in mind with la moving forward uh throughout his time with the packers when he called plays for them 20 of the catches went to running backs, 18% to tight ends. The rest went to wide receivers. They were 60-40

pass on average. This was about a decade as a play caller in Green Bay. Averaged about 64 plays per game. I think leaning toward the pass catchers in that offense is a good move. Okay.

Tua Tunga-Vailoa finally cleared the concussion protocol. It took over a month, and they were very... So can he play in the Pro Bowl? That's actually what I was thinking, but I don't think so. Okay, let's talk dynasty here. If you're watching on YouTube, youtube.com slash fantasyfootball today. If you're ever looking for our full-length shows, by the way, archived on YouTube, you havecom slash fantasyfootballtoday. If you're ever looking for our full-length shows, by the way, archived on YouTube,

you have to click the Live tab at youtube.com slash fantasyfootballtoday. That's where you'll find our full-length shows. Otherwise, you're just going to see clips. But again, click the Live tab, youtube.com slash fantasyfootballtoday. And subscribe to that channel and watch all of our stuff. You can watch it live or on demand. All right.

Let's see. what picks did we have heath you had the third pick right fourth fourth all right still i keep thinking that it was three receivers and then my homes but my home stuck in there third overall uh what did i have heath the fifth pick six pick you were the fifth pick right behind me i'm trying to screen i had the wrong numbers across jamie had the 12th pick dave had the first pick there we go i didn't ask schaefer to participate so he's not on here but um yeah it's uh dave at the first pick me at the fourth pick azar at the fifth pick and jamie at the 12th pick so jamie had the 12th pick, and Adam had the 5th pick, and I had the 4th pick, and Dave had the 1st pick.

And when did C.D. Lamb go? He went to me with the 4th pick. Okay, so I'm just going to read round one. No, I'm not going to do that first. All right, startup dynasty. Let's talk overall approach here. Dave, you had the first pick. This was, by the way, one quarterback,

three receivers, and a flex, two running backs tight end, big benches, full PPR. What do you do for a startup dynasty? There are no rookies in this draft, but how do you kind of balance competing now versus getting young guys? Dave, since you had the first pick, what was your approach?

My approach was get the best player who wasn't too old with the first overall pick. That was Justin Jefferson. That's who I would take first overall in a redraft. And my plan going into the draft was to take young players at the 2-3 and 4-5 turn and then go pick up that value from older players the rest of the way.

And I had to ditch that plan because when I was up in rounds two and three, both Cooper Cup and Devontae Adams were both on the board. And I just loved the idea of having a team with Jefferson Cup and Adams on it. Those are three of the top five receivers in fantasy. So I thought to myself, okay, cool. I'll try and win the league this year. And so those were the first three picks that I made.

And then I thought to myself, okay, then I'll go and win the league this year. And so those were the first three picks that I made. And then I thought to myself, okay, then I'll go after young guys with my next bunch of picks. And I didn't quite do that. Not all the way. There were some older players whose values I just could not resist. But what I ended up ultimately doing was getting stocked up on stud wide receivers and then hog wild on just running back flyers for like almost seven straight rounds in a row, something like that.

It's a very interesting team, Dave, because I wonder if you, I don't, okay. So your first three picks were Jefferson cup Adams. Those are your three starting receivers. That's incredible. But who you starting at running back? Dobbins and Akers? Yep. Deshaun Watson's your quarterback.

Tight end is Okonkwo. Yeah, I screwed the pooch at tight end. Whatever. So what I was going to say, and I've done this before, and I did it a little bit in this draft. I just didn't quite get on one side. When you had Jefferson, Cup, and adams i think what you said was i decided i'm just going to win the league this year and i think you that's what i

thought when i saw you take cup and adams like well this year is pretty much done um but i think if you're going to for me if i'm going to do that then at round four at the end of round four that four or five turn where you took jk dobb Dobbins, I'm probably taking Derrick Henry. I'm probably trying to get an elite quarterback. I'm probably trying to get an elite tight end like a Kittle or a Waller. They fell quite a ways in this draft.

For me, I would like to generally commit one way or the other. That was my question, Dave. Do you think you did that? Because you could have gone, instead of Dobbins and Jamison Williams, who think you did that? Because you could have gone instead of Dobbins and Jamison Williams who were rounds four and five, you could have gone...

I could have had Dobbins and Derrick Henry. Yeah, or Mixon. You could have gone Mixon and Henry. I could have had Henry and Mixon. I think the Williams pick to me is great,

but I think taking Henry over Dobbins makes the most sense. If you're just going to go one way, go one way and stick to it. Because what you don't want to end up doing, and this is for any dynasty league, is be stuck in the middle. Being stuck in the middle is terrible.

So you may win the league in 2023. Then I'm not stuck in the middle. But you probably are for the next three or four years. I could just blow it up. You could. And if you don't win it this year. Which is something that I experienced in our dynasty. Because then you're sort of like, you have a lot of, if this, if that, if this, if that.

If Pacheco's still good, if Robinson's, like, Zamir gets the job. Could certainly send you in the winning direction. Yeah. But, like, I think once you got to that 2-3 turn, you're like, okay, I'm winning this now. Maybe I win it for the next two years. And then I'll take my chances after that. And instead, I kind of towed the line of, well, I got some guys for now. But I think Dobbins has some legs to stay in the league

for more than just a couple more seasons. And I definitely love Jamison Williams' long-term outlook. And then in 6-7, Cam Akers and Pacheco. To me, those were the best available running backs. I'm hoping one of them can end up being good. But you took them over Kamara. I mean, you know, you took them over Kamara. I don't know if you...

Would you do that? You wouldn't do that in a redraft league, would you? No. Yeah. All right, so that's... I don't know what the suspension could be. That was an interesting... that was an interesting, that was team one.

So Dave's team at first overall would be Deshaun Watson and Trey Lance. Running backs are Dobbins, Akers, Pacheco, Brian Robinson's, Amir White, Justin Jefferson, Cooper Cup,

Devante Adams, Jamison Williams. Not bad. John Mechie, Zay Jones. So strength there. All right. Danny Gray was my last pick.

I went with a very young strategy. I don't know, Heath or Jamie, did you... What did you guys do? Young, except for one pick. Which was what? Joe Mixon in round five. What is he, 27?

He will be next year. Yeah. And Jamie, how about you with the 12th pick? in round five. What is he, 27? He will be next year. Yeah. And Jamie, how about you with the 12th pick? I just went best available player, but leaning more toward youth than age when it came to decisions. So who thinks they could win the league this year with their roster?

Dave, you obviously do. Yes, yes. Anybody else think that, oh, I got a league winning team um I wouldn't be surprised if Kyler is Kyler at some point in the season and McCaffrey stay salty I think Alfredo Brown has a league winning team and what is his team he has Derrick Henry and Austin Eckler at running back he has Travis Kelsey at tight end he has Jamar chase Ke Keenan Allen, Tyler Lockett.

Absolutely. Yeah. At wide receiver and Justin Fields is his quarterback. Right. So, okay. That, this was the number two.

So let's take a look at the number two team here. Alfredo Brown, um, Jamar Chase was his pick. Then in the second round, he took Kelsey in the third round. He took Eckler. And these are guys who are obviously getting up there in age,

but they're still going to be potentially number one at their position in the preseason rankings. Kelsey will be one, Eckler will probably be two in PPR. Justin Fields in round four, Derek Henry in round five. That would be, what, 50th overall? Tyler Lockett, Keenan Allen,

and that's his core, his first seven picks. Hopefully Fields is good. He took Geno Smith later in round 14. And then he also has... Instead of taking Cousins instead. Instead of Geno? Yeah.

He could have? Yep. Okay, sorry. That's your strategy. Yeah. So does he have any youth? He has Romeo Dobbs. He has Chase Claypool. Well, he has Jamar Chase and Justin Fields. Jamar Chase and Justin Fields, sorry. And so... If that's your strategy. Yeah. So does he have any youth? He has Romeo Dobbs. He has Chase Claypool.

Well, he has Jamar Chase and Justin Fields. Jamar Chase and Justin Fields, yeah. Okay, but do you think, I mean, if things... What do you think the future... What do you think the 2024 outlook is for this team? Blow it up. Probably. Probably.

Okay. I mean, I think it's possible that team could compete for two years, but it's probably a win it year one, blow it up year two. No, I mean, Eckler and Henry are the key to it. If they're still doing what they're doing, then he should be fine. But, you know, we're approaching 30 for those two guys, and the sustainability of success is just not likely, and Kelsey will be 35 at that point.

You know, he's 35 at that point. He's looking at that point if he doesn't win it and knows what the future is. You're trying to trade Kelsey to a team that's a tight end away or Eckler or Henry to a team that's a running back away. Should we go over the age stuff that I sent you guys earlier?

Is that interesting for this discussion? Maybe save it. I think we can do that on a different topic. Okay. Just a quick conclusion is that you don't get a ton of great running backs after 26. You don't get a ton of great wide receivers after

28. That might be changing, though, at the running back position. Last year was an outlier. All right, so then let's go through the draft. Heath, did you want to catch up there? No, I was just going to say, I thought one of the things with the running back thing, it did change last year, but I think what we saw is there was a great class of running backs

who came in and have mostly dominated the top 10, or two classes maybe, and now they've gotten to 27 or 28, and they had one year where they held on. But we can go to my team. I mostly went youth. I started off with CeeDee Lamb, Jalen Hurts, and Drake London. Damian Pierce is my first four picks.

I did take Joe Mixon in round five. I just thought it was too late, and I wasn't 100% sure that I couldn't compete still. But then after that, I just went youth because I didn't like the aged-out guys who were available. Okay, so Lamb, Hurts, Drake London, Damian Pierce, Joe Mixon. That was your first five. And Elijah Moore, James Cook, and Gabe Davis.

We're all still, I mean, obviously, I know the other two are obviously young, but I think Gabe Davis is still just 24. How do we feel about Damian Pierce in Dynasty? He was someone that I would have strongly considered when I took Dobbins. Yeah, he went three picks earlier, so that was 45th overall. Yeah, I don't know. Let's just briefly talk about him, Heath. What drew you to him when you had Dobbins, Derrick Henry, Tony Pollard,

Joe Mixon still on the board, Dalvin Cook still on the board? You always have to be worried about these guys. And when I say these guys, I'm talking about Tyler Algier who went two rounds later and Isaiah Pacheco who went three rounds later and Brian Robinson who went four rounds later. I guess Robinson was an

earlier draft pick, wasn't he? But these day three running backs who have rookie success are often good cells, which is why I wouldn't have taken Pierce until round four. But I do think the hiring of Ryan's is, makes me optimistic. A lot of times defensive coaches are more focused on the run because they want to keep their defense off the field. They've got enough holes to fill on that team. I think he'll prioritize building the defense first and getting a quarterback.

I don't think Damian Pierce is getting replaced this year. If he has another year like this, he's probably fine for another year. But there's a long list over the last three seasons of guys with his profile who have been replaced the very next year. I think it's also telling who drafted him too. Because Nick Casario comes from a place where they just have basically found running backs off the scrap heap. Whether guys that have gone from someplace else. He's from New England. So guys that have gone from someplace else like a Corey Dillon or a LeGarrette Blount or taking guys

that nobody expected to be featured options as second day picks or third day picks in the NFL draft and have made them into not necessarily sustainable. So that speaks to your point, Heath. But I don't think they're going to be looking in the draft or free agency to go get somebody of a high profile knowing what they have to replace on the team. So coach matters here, GM matters here.

I think for him specifically, he probably does have a two-, three-year window of being the lead guy there. So hopefully that's the case. Okay. He went two rounds earlier than Tyler Algier. Do you guys feel like there is that much separation between Damian Pierce and Tyler Algier in a dynasty league? No.

I thought that was a great pick by you. I think it's more likely that Algier. I think Algier has a better chance of getting replaced sooner than Pierce. Okay. They could both end up being their team's primary running backs for the next three seasons, and it wouldn't surprise me at all. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah, I took the... I don't know, quasi-tanking strategy. I had the fifth pick. I went Brees Hall, then Chris Olave, then Kyle Pitts in the middle of round three. Interesting. I think you would have told that to somebody prior to last year

in a startup dynasty. They would have thought you won the league already. I thought Pitts over Andrews was really interesting. How do you have it ranked? Andrews, Kelsey, Hawkins, and Pitts. you ever ranked um andrews kelsey hawkinson pits um yeah what's the age difference oh it's like four years yeah oh no it's more than that with andrews six i think he's six years older than pits wow um right so i went hall alave pits christian watson trevor lawrence tyler algier those are my first six picks.

And after, I mean, I didn't have that strategy until probably when I took Olave. When I took Olave over like Tyreek Hill and Cooper Cup and Devante Adams, I just, I was like, let's just see how we can do this. Because I've never done it before. I've never actually played it out where I've taken a very young team

thinking probably not going to be that good this year. But you pair this team with a high rookie pick next year, maybe two good rookies, and then you're talking about and then you're on to something here. Have you guys ever actually tanked? Not tanked, but

set yourself up for the future in a startup dynasty draft and played it out? No. I'm not a startup. Go ahead, Heath. No, you. I answered. Oh, okay.

I just didn't hear what you said. I don't play in a lot of dynasty leagues. The one that we're in altogether, I don't remember going particularly young in. You went the opposite. Yeah. I don't remember going particularly young in you at the opposite Yeah But he also did that draft a little differently because he did the veteran draft and then the rookie draft he did it separately so our Our draft order the term like I had a late pick I think I had 11 or no 13 14 team league

I had 13 in the veteran draft which means you got to two in the rookie draft So I knew I was drafting at that point. Once the NFL draft was done, I was taking a letter from another Christian McCaffrey. Ended up working out in my favor. I got McCaffrey. So, you know, it kind of set my draft for me, the veteran draft, knowing that, okay, these are the top two backs. I'm going to probably skew away from necessarily focusing on running back.

I remember how that draft unfolded. I drafted Dez Bryant in the first round at 11 and thinking I'm going to try and win it now and got Michael Thomas. No, I'm sorry, Tyree Kill in the second round. No, Michael Thomas in the second round, Tyree Kill in the third round. So I wasted my first round pick because Des Bryant was terrible that year. But the next two picks were obviously stars,

and that's why I've had such sustained success in that league. I've won it twice and usually compete in the playoffs because of McCaffrey, Tyreek Hill, and Michael Thomas setting me up. And did you think about that in this draft? Did you even let that... Because you had the last pick in our mock. So if this was the same philosophy that we were going

to do that, then I probably would not have taken McCaffrey. I probably would have gone with Garrett Wilson and another receiver, and then just said, okay, I'm going to lean toward probably Buzan Robinson and just go that route. What's interesting about my team is I feel like if Brees Hall, Chris Olave, and Kyle Pitts

and Trevor Lawrence, if they're just good, I feel like I could be decent and not win the league, but I don't want to be decent. We don't have to talk about this now, but if you were going to be decent, right? So does somebody who does this strategy, we don't have to talk about this now, but if you were going to take this strategy, do you just commit to setting a bad lineup, basically,

tanking whatever's legal within your league's bylaws? No. No? I wouldn't, because like you're saying, what if Tyler Algier is the lead back for the Falcons and Brees Hall's healthy week one, and Christian Watson's flurry of success is legit like you might have a team that can compete I wouldn't um you give it three weeks right and yeah at least and with a team this young like yes you'd like to have draft picks

for the following year but you're like in a startup I would like to think about it's going to be good in year two or year three. Yeah. And so it's just found money if you're good now, but you might find yourself competing. It might all of a sudden you're selling your 2024 first. Right. You also, you also, I think have some scenarios where you could,

if it doesn't go right for you, you know, so let's just say you're, you're counting on your core for, let's just say 2024. So 2023 is a wash for you. But Olave going into year three, Pitts finally showing some life. Brees Hall,

Brees Hall, Watson like Heath said. Lawrence obviously has a chance to be a stud. You can sell Christian Kirk for a pick. You can sell maybe Dak Prescott to a team that lost a quarterback for a pick. I know we haven't revealed your whole team yet, but you have guys that you could

maybe move on from and just keep your core four or five. And that's just the type of approach you take. But yeah, I don't think you should go in with the idea of I'm going to be terrible. No, just because you drafted young. Go in with the idea of let's see what happens. And then you could end up being a buyer. Just so everyone knows, I only have one

giant. It's Wanda Robinson, round nine. I like that pick when you pick him. All right, before we reveal a few of the rounds here, Heath, we see Patrick Mahomes went third overall, just ahead of CeeDee Lamb, who you took fourth overall. I had the fifth pick. Heath had the fourth pick. He took Lamb.

But, you know, it's a one-quarterback league. You have Mahomes in round one. You have Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts in round two. When should quarterbacks be drafted in a dynasty league? One QB. Yeah, I took Hurts, so it's obviously where I think he should be taken. But this was maybe four spots higher than I have Patrick Mahomes, but I have Patrick Mahomes as a first-round pick. He entered this year with the highest three-year average per game for a quarterback. In six-point passing touchdowns, he was the number one quarterback this year.

That three-year average didn't include the best year of his career. He's just an enormous advantage who's probably going to remain so for the next 10 years. All right. Let's reveal the rounds. Round one is Jefferson, Chase, Mahomes, Lamb, Reese Hall,

A.J. Brown as the number four wide receiver, number six overall. How do you feel about that, A.J. Brown? It's tough to know who to take there after Jefferson, Chase, and Lamb. And then also, how do you feel about Brees Hall going ahead of Jonathan Taylor? Because it was Brees Hall, A.J. Brown, Jonathan Taylor. Dave, your thoughts on those three picks? I don't mind the Brees Hall pick. You've got conviction that he's going to be great. I think he's going to be great. You'll take some lumps this year with him coming back from the ACL, or at least we think that there will be some lumps with him just not

being all the way back to his former self, but he should be able to have a very good career with the Jets. So you're buying into the flash that we saw before he tore his ACL. We've seen running backs make this recovery before, and they do just fine. I probably would go with the same thing, because I just don't have as much conviction in Brown or Waddle or Diggs or Garrett Wilson's one of my favorites. You guys know that. I'm not ready to take any of those guys ahead of Brees Hall,

and Brees is a little younger than Jonathan Taylor. Okay. It would come down to the running backs. Yeah, but I'm sorry, did you address who the number four receiver should be? I think it's a tough call. A.J. Brown, Jalen Waddell,

Stephon Diggs, Amandra St. Brown, the older guys, Kup and Adams, T. Higgins, Garrett Wilson, Devante Smith, Chris Olava. I think, Heath, you have the rankings, right? So Jefferson, Chase, Lamb, they're all young and they're all awesome, probably going to be the top three for many people. Who's wide receiver for? I've got a tier of, I think, five guys.

A.J. Brown is in it, but he is definitely the oldest. I think he's two years older than everyone else in the tier. So Waddle, Garrett Wilson, Amunra, St. Brown, Devonta Smith, Brown, and Higgins. I would go with Waddle at four, but I have all those guys in the same tier, and I wouldn't make a huge disagreement over any of them. Is St. Brown the safest of this group? I don't know that that's true, really. Not necessarily the most upside, almost certainly not the most downside.

All right, so what's the group again? A.J. Brown, Amonra St. Brown, who else? Waddle, Garrett Wilson, Devontae Smith, T. Higgins. The safest in that group. I have it rated? Waddle, Garrett Wilson, Devante Smith, T. Higgins. The safest in that group. I have it rated as Waddle because I do put a risk factor on it. Who do you guys think? Jamie, Dave, the safest

in that group? St. Brown. Give me the list again. Waddle, Garrett Wilson, St. Brown, Devante Smith, A.J. Brown aj brown t higgins um i would say probably st brown is the safest but just not knowing you know two years from now is jared goff the quarterback so that could change some things you know if they go young all right so let me go through round one. Jefferson Chase, Mahomes, Lamb, Hall, A.J. Brown, Jonathan Taylor.

We know that. Then it's Waddle, Stephon Diggs, Amonra St. Brown, Saquon Barkley, and Christian McCaffrey. Anything to add? Are we good at round two?

Yeah. Okay. Garrett Wilson is the first pick of round two. Ken Walker, Josh Jacobs, well only 20 25 next season josh jacobs yeah uh t higgins josh allen davante smith travis etn chris olave jalen hurts and then we get old. Last three picks, older. Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelsey, Cooper Cup. So you definitely have this stretch of young players and in-their prime players.

Garrett Wilson, Ken Walker, Josh Jacobs, T. Higgins, Josh Allen, Devontae Smith, Travis Etienne, Chris Olave, Jalen Hurts. First nine picks of round two. The last three are Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelsey, and Cooper Cupp. Tyreek Hill is going to be, what, 29? I'm sorry, 29 to 30. Kelsey's going to be 34, and Cupp is going to be 30? 30.

Okay. All right, any thoughts? Anything stand out to you guys in round two? No. I think Kelsey was my lowest-rank ranked player drafted in the first two rounds maybe jacobs those two are both a step back for me but i think he did the right thing if you're going to draft kelsey there then take eckler and derrick henry and just go win your one right and eckler was if he round five. If he had taken Cooper Cup

or Devontae Adams instead of Kelsey, I would not have taken Kelsey at the 2-3 turn. If he... Say that again. Let's say Alfredo had taken Cooper Cup. So then I'm almost certain I would

have taken Devontae Adams and Austin Eckler. Okay. And why would you would have taken Devontae Adams and Austin Eckler. Okay. And why would you not have taken Kelsey there? And when would you have felt comfortable taking Kelsey? I think Kelsey's worth it in round three in a dynasty draft. I just don't want to take it with the first pick when there are some players who are very, very good at their positions who figure to help my fantasy team

anywhere from one to four years longer than Travis Kelsey will. Well, I think that's the question with Kup and Adams, who you took at two and three. How much longer do we expect these guys to do it to be great? Because recent history suggests they're about to run out of time.

Yeah, I think that's where you probably struggle with. Am I trying to win now, or am I trying to build a team that has some balance? And so you clearly didn't even commit to it in your head after taking Cup and Adams, as you said. Yep. So I think had you said, okay, I'm just taking best player available, no matter the age, no matter what, if I end up with a veteran-laden roster, then I'm just going to go with it. Like you said, you kind of didn't know at that point.

I did that for a round, and then I went mostly young the rest of the way. Right. So had you known going in, okay, I'm just taking the best player. I don't care if he's 50 or if he's 20. I'm taking the best player. So Kelsey and Cup, well, I mean Brady almost made it. So Cup and Kelsey, if that was the route you're going, then you just say, okay, screw it.

I'm just winning this thing now. I'm going to take Derek Henry. I'm going to take Keenan Allen. I'm going to take all those veteran guys that just continue to fall and fall and fall. And then you've got to beat me in 2023, and that's not going to happen. Yeah, I'll just say this, right? Because these guys are 29, 30 years old. Devontae Adams will be age 30 in 2023.

I know we were going to save this research for another show, and we still can, but I'm just looking at the last three seasons in the top wide receivers who finished top 10. And this is not per game. This is finishing top 10. There have only been two that were older than 28. It was Adam Thielen who was 30 three years ago, three seasons ago.

He was wide receiver 10. He barely made it. And Devontae Adams last year was wide receiver 3 at age 29. I mean, it's pretty amazing. You just don't see guys after age 28 doing much, but that would mean Tyreek Hill and Stephon Diggs and Devontae Adams, who were all top five wide receivers this year,

and Cooper Cup, who was top five per game and number one per game. That would spell doom for them. So I'm not saying that these trends can't be broken, guys, but I am saying like julio jones for example at age 30 was wide receiver three and that was 2019 and he's obviously you know pretty quickly fallen into huge decline so it's just something to keep in mind you never know when it's going to come it might might be this year for these guys. Right. And I'm sorry, for Adams,

there's a lot of things at play, quarterback being a big one. So age and situation changing, those are things you've got to be a little bit more concerned about with somebody like him. And I think it's worth looking at per game too. Yes. Because last year,

Kup in nine games was the number one wide receiver. And Keenan Allen was 12th. So DeAndre Hopkins was nine. But that's part of it, though. With these guys at this age, injuries become a factor. Yeah, that was the other thing. So while you're getting great per-game production, if you're getting five games out of them, that's not fun.

Okay. So the absolute upside would be, what, I can squeeze out three good seasons from Cup and Adams? They can play relatively well through their age 32 season? If you're doing that, you're putting yourself behind. I think if you go in saying I got maybe two years of great production, but with the idea of if I just get one great season out of this, I can go win this.

I wouldn't approach it with a three-year mindset with guys like that. Once you get to 26, 27 at running back, 28, 29 at receiver, get what you can and then try and get out what you can. Over under two and a half top 12 seasons from Kup and Adams combined left in their career.

Oh, combined? Oh, I'll take the over. Over. Combined, I would take the over. You could take the under? No, he's just setting the line. I would definitely take the under on three and a half. Okay, under on three and a half.

All right, I'll do one more round here. But at that point, let's just say Dave had pivoted. What else would you have done? I'll say your mindset was to go young. Go young no matter what. Would you have taken Metcalf? Would you have taken London? Metcalf would have been on the radar.

Najee might have been on the radar, but I didn't want to go there. Javante, Pitts or Andrews? Maybe Javante. I mean, because it it really is unless you could have taken a quarterback but you're kind of or Pits just with the hope that he bounces back

or Andrews yeah if I'm doing that that's not young well he's still for a tight end I think he's still okay but you're almost in no man's land without the rookies being available. Yeah. Right.

And that, that run of Wilson, Walker, Jacobs, Higgins, Devante Smith, Chris Olave. It didn't leave you with great options if you wanted to go young.

So you did what you had to do. They were all in my queue. My, my, my intent, you know, picking at 12 was when the, when it was,

the draft was starting to unfold. I didn't, I didn't anticipate Barkley going before McCaffrey, and I wasn't going to take Barkley. I was going to go Walker-Wilson. That was my intent as I saw it falling to me. So that was kind of my approach. All right, one more round here. We'll do round three, and then I've got some emails to read.

This does not have to be the last time we talk about this draft, too. I want to talk about some late-round picks. Devontae Adams is the first pick of round three. Austin Eckler, DK Metcalf, Drake London, Kyle Pitts, Debo Samuel. How about London and Pitts going back-to-back? That's interesting. Debo, Devontae, Chris Godwin, Najee Harris, Mark Andrews, Nick Chubb, and Ramondre

Stevenson. It's a pretty interesting round there. What do you guys think? Give me the best and worst picks that you see in this round. Najee was a pretty good pick. I liked Drake London a lot. I was actually thrilled

to get Ramondre at the end of the third round. Yeah, that could go in different directions though, right? Sure. What about the Debo and Godwin picks? Look at a lot of players. Could those be maybe the two least exciting picks of the round? Not knowing the quarterback for Tampa Bay, sure. And then Debo's obviously, you know, was he going to be 28?

27? Is he that old? It's a good word for it. They're not exciting picks, but that doesn't mean they're bad picks, right? Solid. Let's use the word solid. I don't. I mean, as of right now, Godwin's not an exciting pick.

Debo will be 27. I think coming into next year as a healthy wide receiver, Godwin could be as good as Devontae Adams. Right, but not if it's Kyle Trask, a quarterback. That's not going to excite many people. Okay. All right. What if it's Daniel Jones?

Bingo! You're obviously referring to Godwin being on the Giants because we're not taking Daniel Jones off the Giants. That would not be funny. Let's read some Dynasty emails here at fantasyfootball.cbsi.com. I love how he's become the best quarterback. I think before our next podcast, Adam,

you should go through the quarterbacks who are potentially available and tell us how many of them you would rather have than Daniel Jones. Aaron Rodgers and Derek Carr, and that's it. Who else is available? You'd rather have that's it. Who else is available? You'd rather have Carr? Yes. Who else is available? The draft.

The guys coming in the draft. Oh, well, I mean, they're not getting Bryce Young or C.J. Stratton or Will Levis. Make a trade. Fine. I'm really not a Daniel Jones guy. I want you to know that. You know, I'm just not. Okay, Dave's question is Dave and Flint. a Daniel Jones guy. I want you to know that. I'm just not.

Dave's question is Dave in Flint. His Dynasty League is expanding. We can only save our active roster. Everyone on the bench and taxi spots is up for grabs for the newcomers. I'm in a conundrum. I have George Pickens, Michael Pittman, and Cam Akers. I have Akers in my flex spot to

save, but I'm debating, should I save Pittman or Pickens instead? So basically, who would you guys rather have in a Dynasty League, George Pickens or Michael Pittman? Both receivers over Akers. Agreed, but which receiver? He can't say both?

I think he can, because he's putting Akers in his flex. So let's do both scenarios. If you can save both receivers, do that. If you can't and you have to choose between Pickens and Pittman, who are you keeping? I'd lean Pickens right now. I go Pittman, Pickens, acres.

Half PPR? That's what it says here? I would take Pickens. It says that. The only reason is because of youth. Yes, it does. You know his quarterback right now. Okay, this next email.

I'll look up the greeting here. So, it is from Craig. Where's Craig from? Dover, Delaware. Dear Biff, Skinhead, 3D, and Match. Oh. Those are part of Biff's gang

in Back to the Future? Back to the Future. I knew Biff. There was a guy who had 3D glasses, so that would make sense. Okay. I got offered Christian McCaffrey for my Justin Jefferson.

Obviously not. He has come back with McCaffrey for my C.D. Lamb. I am weaker at running back. I have Henry, Etienne, Miles Sanders, and Dobbins. I have Jefferson, Lamb, Hopkins, Marquise Brown, and Calvin Ridley,

and John Meche. So would you give up Lamb for McCaffrey? I don't think you're that weak at running back. You're keeping Lamb. Yeah, I would need something in addition to Christian McCaffrey for CeeDee Lamb. A second round. Keep Lamb, butthead. What if it were Lamb and a second round pick? Oh no, what if it were McCaffrey and a second

round pick for Lamb? Early second, yes. Like top three picks in the second round. I don't think. Maybe if it's the top pick of round two. Maybe. Lamb's going to be of round two. Maybe. All right, next question. Miami's going to be good for a long time.

Jared from? From Hill Valley, California. It's Jared. 12-team non-PPR. We keep two players. It's a keeper league. It's not a dynasty league. We can keep them for two years

at where they were drafted, and then after that, we keep them for what round they are projected for. I have Justin Jefferson, who I'm sure will be a first-round keeper next year. I have an offer

to give up Jefferson for Cooper Cup, who would be a fourth-round pick for one more year. It's a non-PPR league. Would you give up a first-round Jefferson to get a fourth-round Cup?

How long can you keep Jefferson for? I think every year. We can keep them for two years at where they were drafted. And then where they're projected after that. So he could feasibly keep Justin Jefferson for the rest of his career for a first-round pick. It sounds that way. I'm keeping Jefferson.

But then what happens to Cup in two years? Let's just say Cup's still good. Hopefully he's helped me win a bunch of Dynasty titles. So then Cup is back in the first round? After this year, Cup's back in the first round. So it's two more years, this year and another year, of Cup in the fourth round? No, it's one more year of cup in the fourth round,

and then after that it's his projected draft round. Yeah, I'm not giving up Jefferson. No, I don't think I am either. I was trying to think if you had the first or second pick, if I would, but probably not. All right, guys. Have a good weekend. You guys want to do some Pro Bowl DFS?

Must start. Jamie, got the column ready yet? No. All right, guys. Have a good weekend. You guys want to do some Pro Bowl DFS? Must start. Jamie, got the column ready yet? No. All right. I'm going with TV Live. How many flags will this player have over on here? Did Daniel Jones make the Pro Bowl? I don't think so.

Tyler Huntley did. I appreciate you asking about Daniel Jones. All right, I'm going to the gym. We'll see you all later. Have a great weekend, everybody.