Fantasy Football Today - 🚨Mac Jones and Michael Thomas Reactions (08/31 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Starting point is 00:00:00 We'll be right back. The entire thing is live at youtube.com slash fantasyfootballtoday. We're going to raise a ton of money for St. Jude and give all of the draft advice and the season-long advice if you've already drafted that you're going to want on this draft-a-thon. I'm Adam Azer with Jamie Eisenberg. All right, Jamie. Cam Newton is released by the Patriots. Mac Jones will start. Where have you ranked Mac Jones?

Starting point is 00:00:44 31 in quarterback. Really? Yes. Okay. So two QB leagues. And what about the impact for Damian Harris, for James White, for Jacoby Myers? Or is this kind of a nothing burger, as they say? I think it's a good situation for those guys you know it's one of those you know scenarios

Starting point is 00:01:06 of i i think you know for myers he's gonna you know hopefully get a few more short area targets um you know damien harris i think it's a he's the big winner to me because the rushing touchdowns you know the touchdowns that you're going to see go to cam newton i think now go to damien harris so that's uh you know great spot for him to be in. And I think it helps Ramon J. Stevenson. I think it helps James. But I think everybody kind of benefits to a certain degree because Cam is going to take off and run.

Starting point is 00:01:33 And so you don't have that same concern with Mac Jones. Yeah, this is a team last year, one of the worst passing offenses, 3,124 yards. Mind-blowing. And 12 touchdown passes. Cam Newton rushed for 12 touchdowns. The team threw 12 touchdown passes. Two of them were by Jacoby Myers.

Starting point is 00:01:54 So the passing numbers should certainly be better. Damian Harris had six games last year with 14 or more carries, and he had 95 or more total yards in four of those six games, but he only had one touchdown run. In those six games with 14 or more carries. Cam Newton had six touchdown runs. James White had two. So yeah, good for it.

Starting point is 00:02:12 Like, is it good for Harris in the sense that you're actually moving him up in the rankings? I did. I put him in the same range where I have Gus Edwards. You know, I think they're kind of similar, similar type of guys.

Starting point is 00:02:22 Teams are going to run the ball a lot. Obviously they're going to be the leader of their backfields, but it's going to be a shared situation to some extent. You know what Harris is losing in the passing game. You just don't know what Harris will lose to maybe Ramondre Stevenson in the running game. But I think they're borderline round three picks in non-PPR, just based on how running backs will go.

Starting point is 00:02:42 And in PPR, I would buy in in round four. So I think there's a lot to like about what these guys should be able to do. I mean, you know I was excited about Damien Harris to begin with. He was one of my guys. He was a breakout candidate for me. Love the way they use him in the preseason.

Starting point is 00:02:56 And I know you're a James White guy. I think this benefits James White in a big way as well because, again, running quarterbacks hurt pass-catching running backs. And Mac Jones is going to be much more of a statue than Cam Newton. Yeah, and I think you could see him relying on the outlet passes to James White as well.

Starting point is 00:03:10 There was a stretch. I did a mock draft today. There was a stretch late round four just before my pick. Gus Edwards, Mike Davis, Miles Sanders, and then I took Miles Gaskin and then Chase Edmonds and Daryl Henderson went off the board and I think a little bit later than that Damian Harris went off the board that's seven running backs I just named there but you think is that they're all in the same kind of range or how would you so again the names were miles Sanders, Mike Davis,

Starting point is 00:03:45 uh, Gus Edwards, miles Gaskin, chase Edmonds, and Daryl Henderson. I didn't say him twice. Did I know down? And then Damian Harris was a scoring. It was half PPR.

Starting point is 00:03:57 Yeah. I think, um, there's obviously a lot to like about that group. There's a lot of question marks about that group as well, but I think that's, you know, it's funny because we lose Akers, we lose Dobbins, and you get a little bit more clarity, I think, with the Patriots situation. It feels as if, and I know, again, losing Akers and losing Dobbins sucks, but it feels as if it may have helped the position at the top a little bit more if that makes sense because you knew acres were going to lose a little bit to henderson right you knew certainly that i'm just

Starting point is 00:04:35 going in in chronological order okay go ahead you knew acres gonna lose a little bit to henderson but you felt confident about him but really with the raven situation you knew that was going to be a little messy right because dobbins and ed Edwards were going to share to whatever extent but they were going to share um the Patriots situation helps Harris I think you know go from behind the group initially of like Javante Williams Raheem Mostert that he was kind of in that range you know and now he's leapt ahead of that group you know so again I think we're getting the round four or five running backs, which is maybe now putting guys back in the dead zone a little bit more that you could be concerned about

Starting point is 00:05:10 even further. It feels as if the top of the running back group, maybe not the top, the middle of the running back group got a little bit better. Forget about the dead zone where they're ending up. You're getting a huge run on wide receiver going from round three to round four. You're not going to see that many running backs go there. Once you get going from round three to round four. You're not going to see that many running backs go

Starting point is 00:05:25 there. Once you get close to the end of round four and into round five, all those names I just mentioned, they're appealing at that point. You don't have to spend a round three pick on them. Now, non-PPR, it's a different story. As Jamie said, he can justify Gus Edwards, Damian Harris there maybe. But

Starting point is 00:05:40 I think because people are afraid of running backs, they've gotten pushed down to a point where I kind of like the value. Now I'm just wondering if I have a late pick in round one, are any of them going to make it to me with, with my fifth pick, you know, 60th overall or all of them. No,

Starting point is 00:05:56 you gotta go three, four turn. Yeah. And I don't think I'm willing to do that. It depends on the format. You know, the, the,

Starting point is 00:06:03 you know, we, we had this conversation based on your podcast draft on cbs sports hq we were breaking down the 14 team draft and you know like we were saying you essentially did that with giovante williams though i mean you took him probably ahead of some guys because you like him so i think if you like those guys you got to get them yeah giovante will be there but i think a reliable like you took Javante at the start of the fifth round. He was never coming back to you.

Starting point is 00:06:28 In a 14-team league, yes. Even in a 12-team league, he's probably never coming back to you. No. Right, he's probably not going to make it until the very end of round six, I guess you're saying, right? Right. Right, so I had the first pick of the draft. All right, yeah, this will be a good topic for tomorrow's conversation.

Starting point is 00:06:46 Hey, let's talk about Michael Thomas. And Michael Thomas is going to expect to start the season on the Pup List. He must miss six weeks, which would be five games. He can come back in week seven, which would be their sixth game of the season. And a few players, noteworthy players, are going to start the season on the Pup List. David Bakhtiari, left tackle for the Packers. Stephon Gilmore, cornerback for the Patriots. But Thomas is the one we'll talk about here.

Starting point is 00:07:08 Has this changed anything for you? This was kind of the expectation all along. When you saw what their bye week was and you kind of got the initial timetable. So it makes a lot of sense. The Saints, procedurally, you wondered if they were going to put him on short-term IR because then he could have come back a little sooner. But I guess they don't want to rush him. We saw what happened last year. They felt that they rushed him back and they had to put him on IR for the, for the

Starting point is 00:07:30 playoffs or to get to the playoffs, you know? So, um, I think you just look at, uh, where, where he's at now, and this makes it very easy to draft Marcus Calloway, knowing that you're getting five games of no competition. So you feel a little bit more comfortable with him. But in any event, I still think Thomas should be drafted in the same range. Round seven, round eight, if he falls there. Maybe round six, if there's a huge run on receivers and you just want to lock him up. I've seen him mostly, that 75 number just is the one that keeps standing out because that's where he goes.

Starting point is 00:08:04 So to do something that you have done for years, it's a very good friendship strategy. You know, take both of them. It is. Take Marcus Callaway and Michael Thomas and just, you know, play it like a handcuffed running back situation where you're going to get, you know, hopefully five weeks of, you know, borderline starter in the two-receiver league in Callaway.

Starting point is 00:08:22 You know, if you told me right now Michael Thomas is out for the season, Marcus Callaway is in the top 30 for sure. Yeah, we did mention. That's what you should be expecting in the top in the first five weeks of the year. Callaway starts with five teams before the bye that all finished in the top 12. Fantasy points allowed against wide receivers. They were all very good. A lot of them have high-end top cornerbacks,

Starting point is 00:08:41 but one of those teams is New England, and that is in week three. And Stephon Gilmore will not be playing in that game. Not to say that New England's going to be an easy matchup, but that helps him a little bit, and you can get Callaway pretty late. All right, so I guess with this news, with the Mac Jones news, Jacoby Myers versus Marquis Callaway, what do you got? Callaway has the short-term appeal, so I think it just depends on how you build your team i would take jacoby myers for the long-term play you know the hope that he's the guy uh over you know 17 games i think in non-ppr though calloway would still be my choice because a i don't think you know myers is going to be a huge touchdown guy um first off he hasn't scored one in the nfl yet second

Starting point is 00:09:20 ball um i'm sure they're going to be very run heavy still when they get inside the 10, inside the five. But Callaway may score more touchdowns in those first five games than Jacoby scores all year. And Hunter Henry or Johnny Smith? Johnny because he's healthy, but you know, it's very interesting

Starting point is 00:09:39 with these two guys. Sportsline has them projected back-to-back, ninth and tenth. Both, I think, win with the quarterback team. Okay. That's Jamie Eisberg. Thanks so much for tuning in, everybody. Really appreciate it here. I am Adam Azer.

Starting point is 00:09:51 We got another episode dropping tomorrow on Fantasy Football Today. And again, Wednesday is our draft-a-thon. We will see you 6 p.m. on CBS Sports HQ and on youtube.com

Starting point is 00:10:01 slash fantasyfootballtoday.

Fantasy Football Today - 🚨Mac Jones and Michael Thomas Reactions (08/31 Fantasy Football Podcast)

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