Fantasy Football Today - Mailbag! Ben Gretch is Back and so are the Fantasy Cops (11/14 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: November 14, 2020

We welcome our old friend Ben Gretch back to the show! Ben discusses the wacky 2020 Fantasy Football season and we run through the latest injuries (7:23) and your Apple Podcast questions (8:40). The Fantasy Cops (21:30) are here to solve your league disputes and then we get to your emails (34:30) at [e-mail] You can also download and subscribe to the full-length Fantasy Football Today podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-podcast/id261735167 Follow the new FFT Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/FFToday Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @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 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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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. Welcome to your Saturday Mailbag, everybody. We got your Apple Podcast questions, your emails at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Adam Azer here with Frank Stample. We're going to give you the latest news and answer.

Oh, and the Fantasy Cops as well. What's going on, Frank? Yo, what's going on, Adam? The week of death is here. Oh, gosh. Week 10. Yeah, I was trying to think of something better than that. You can do better than that.

Yeah. I was trying to think of something that was tough, right? I was like, what about a really well-done steak, right? Just a gross char-broiled steak. That's pretty tough. That's what this week is. This is the week of well... Yeah, if you eat your red meat well done, you're just

not well done. That is not well done. That is a job poorly well. Yeah, if you eat your red meat well done, you're just not well done. That is not well done. That is a job poorly done. You're missing out. We have a special guest on today's show. His name is Ben. I'm told his last name rhymes with catch. Ben Gratch is here.

Ben Gratch is here. Ben, I know you. What's up, man? What's going on? I'm glad to be back. Still getting all the AskFFT questions in my fantasy. My Twitter notifications still kind of loosely being roped in with people. I'm not sure people realize that me and Schrager are different people still to this day. I have to remind myself all the time.

It's like, don't insult Ben Schrager about the Washington Huskies. He doesn't care about them. That's not, it's a different Ben. It's a different Ben. Well, listen, this is Ben Gretsch at Yards Per Gretsch. He was on the show for two years, right? Was it two years or one year? About a year and a half.

Year and a half. Okay, right in the middle. What are you up to these days? I am... Tell us about yourself. Just doing a newsletter and some sports betting stuff. Yeah, I'm missing you guys.

It's been a little different. Definitely not having the regular chats with you guys, not getting Acer's news and on on pods that always kept me informed of all the latest information kept me kept me sharp so yeah well i sort of miss you but i don't like the fact that one of the last things we argued about was me saying that you cannot draft Christian Kirk over Julian Edelman in a PPR league. You're crazy if you do that. So I was enjoying that never coming up, but now you're here. So I'll own up to that. So good job on Christian Kirk. I think we've been

giving you huzzahs for that. I don't even remember that. The feedback I get is a lot less huzzahs, a lot less excitement about that guy and Will Fuller and Stefan Diggs and a lot of the guys I got right, and a lot more questions about Jonathan Taylor and DJ Moore. That was the first thing I asked Ben before we started recording. Hey, Ben, what's going on with Jonathan Taylor? What are we thinking? What are we thinking?

Are you optimistic about him? I wouldn't say optimistic, no. I mean, I think pretty clearly there's a trend going the wrong direction here. And, you know, it seems like Naheem Hines is a better fit for the offense right now for what Phillip Rivers needs. But at the same time, I just tweeted out earlier today, I think it's really interesting for the season. Jonathan Taylor has the exact same amount of carries right now

as Jordan Wilkins and Naheem Hines combined. And he has one more rushing yard and one more touchdown. He's basically been just as good as the other backs. He's averaging like 3.8 yards per carry. Not good. Hines at 3.9, Wilkins at 3.7. They're all basically not good. But I think the perception right now is that Hines and Wilkins have been way, way better. And lately they have been the last couple of weeks. But I think when you look at it from that perspective and you say, OK, Taylor feels like he can't possibly be any worse than he's been. And he's still kind of basically been as good as these other guys that seem like they're

playing OK and playing better than Taylor. That to me says, well, there's some potential that if Taylor figures, whatever's going on out, you know, like we saw Miles Sanders figure out last year in his rookie year, but there's still some upside down the stretch, but yeah, you can't be super,

super optimistic about him right now at all. Are there any players that you are super optimistic about to have a big second half? I should have prepared you for this. Sorry. Yeah, no, I mean,

there's, there's definitely some, I, I talked about rookies a lot in the offseason and we've seen a lot of the rookie receivers do well I think we'll see some of these rookie running backs do well down the stretch all of them it feels uncertain right now but I mentioned Sanders because uh in week six to week eight last year that was the three-game stretch where he got the fewest touches of any of his three games all year it wasn't right away early in the year. It was, it was like middle of the year that there was all this talk that, you know, he's never going to get an opportunity. Yeah. It took an injury to Jordan Howard, but people also were really questioning his talent. So there's guys,

you know, I don't love DeAndre Swift's situation right now, but I love the way he's played so far. Antonio Gibson, it seems like JD McKissick's always going to be there, but I love the way he's played so far. Antonio Gibson, it seems like JD McKissick's always going to be there, but that's somebody else that I think if he gets the opportunity, man, could be pretty good. Cam Akers is a really tough one, and I was never particularly high on him, but who's the other one? Oh, J.K. Dobbins. If Dobbins gets a little bit of a longer run, a longer leash, I think he could certainly have some upside the rest of the way. So the young guys, for sure. I mean, there's the long-term trend that rookies do better

in the second half of seasons. We saw, you know, A.J. Brown's another example from last year. Wasn't great through this point. Week 10 is when he started playing full-time. D.J. Moore two years ago. Week 10 is when he started playing full-time. We started to see that with some other some other lesser known receivers as well. Denzel Mims, some guys like that, that could have big second half.

So I would say, look at those rookies. Don't give up yet just because they haven't been great so far. Adam, one name. Jerry Judy. There you go. He's at, yeah, it is sort of happening with him. Yeah. And my guy had been Jarvis Landry.

I did trade for him. One of the best situations you can be in is in a two-quarterback league where you have, like, four quarterbacks, and bi-weeks hit people hard. Because I was able to trade Nick Mullins for Jarvis Landry in our two-quarterback league, PPR. And I even think, and it's a little bit late for this,

so just remember this for next year, I guess. I even think if you have a good quarterback situation in a 2QB league, you can be aggressive with Fab and go get that fourth quarterback when Dak Prescott gets hurt, you go get Andy Dalton, when Garoppolo gets hurt, you go get Nick Mullens. This is only a two-quarterback league

where there's zero starting quarterbacks on the waiver wire, and you get that one shot to get a starting guy. Because I spent about $35 on Nick Mullens, but now the way I look at it is I spent about $35, 35% of my budget on Jarvis Landry. So you can always, I see these lopsided trades all the time in two QB leagues. Um, cause people, people cannot win without a quarterback in their lineup that week. So they're desperate and they give up an asset. Maybe Landry will stink. I don't know, but I think he's going to be all right after this week because of the

wind. Um, they give up an asset for your trash quarterback that you don't even need. So that's some nuggets from us. Let's get to the news and notes. David Johnson out this week. That's almost official. He's going to be out. Joe Mixon mispractice.

So Frank, Duke Johnson or Gio Bernard? Yeah, I have Duke Johnson ranked one spot ahead of Gio Bernard. I like both guys, but in terms of usage, what we saw from Duke Johnson last week, 80% of the snaps, 20 touches. It's not a great matchup against the Browns, but there is a revenge game narrative. I would expect around 15 carries,

a couple of receptions as well for Duke Johnson. And while it's not a great matchup, it is a better matchup than Gio Bernard going up against the Steelers. So I like both high-end RB2s. Give me Duke Johnson. Mark Ingram practiced and Devante Freeman missed practice. So Ben, if Freeman is out and Ingram is in,

who would be the best running back on either Baltimore or New York? Would it be Gallman or would it be a Ravens running back? Gross. I guess Gallman. I mean, I would not be

very excited about either backflip in that scenario. TJ Hawkinson practiced, but Kenny Galladay did not. These are all Friday reports here, so Hawkinson is probably going to play,

Galladay probably not. Jerry Judy is expected to play, and LaVisca Chenault is out. We got your Apple Podcast questions. Here we go. Thank you so much for your five-star reviews we appreciate it this is from all right i can't read these names i have to zoom in here i have to do the same exact thing right they're very small very small

dean daddio flex help needed pick two out of three will fullerer, Tyler Lockett, and Nick Chubb. Will Fuller, Tyler Lockett, Nick Chubb. I'm going to bench Will Fuller there. I'm putting on my meteorologist hat. Let's go to the CBS weather desk to Frank Stamfel. Look, I love Will Fuller and what he's done this season. Shout out to Ben. It was a fantastic call on Will Fuller. And I still like him to an extent.

I think he's a solid wide receiver too this week, but give me Nick Chubb in a weather game where I expect him to run a lot in a good matchup and Tyler Lockett, who will not be shadowed by Jalen Ramsey in that game. Okay. And Ben, do you agree? Yeah, yeah, I would just echo that.

I think if for some reason the forecast changes, then Fuller probably projects better than Chubb, but it looks like there's going to be 20 plus mile an hour wind. And I would say if, if it still looks like 20 plus mile an hour wind, you got to go Chubb. This is a question from P Babby. He's already starting Michael Thomas.

So would you go with Drew, Drew Brees or Jared golf? I think I'm going golf just because Brees has a little bit of a shoulder thing that's a little bit unclear i think he's gonna play and everything's fine um but golf has just a fantastic matchup against yale yeah i have got a few spots higher so i'm cool with that from 9779064 i really hope that is not someone's phone number but it certainly it definitely is when i said it out loud i was like that is definitely somebody's phone number, but it certainly is. It definitely is. When I said it out loud, I was like, that is definitely somebody's phone number. But we don't know the area code, so yeah, don't worry about it.

I have Jimmy Graham and Jared Cook. Can you please talk about their upcoming schedules and rank them? Graham and Cook. Okay. Well, that's going to take a little bit of time so let's do this first of all i'm going to say that i would take cook regardless of upcoming schedules i think um they're both really kind of questionable but graham has been losing snaps to rookie cole commit lately he's definitely still going to have a red zone role and have some touchdown

potential but i think uh you have to like cook's quarterback and situation quite a bit better so i'm not gonna like dig into tight end matchup so much that i'm gonna go for the older you know i guess they're both old but the the the guy that has uh a rookie really um it's funny because cook has adam trotman there too but kemet has already started to make a move on graham and so so I wouldn't be going with him over Cook. Okay, but on the other hand, Cook does get the Falcons twice and the Eagles. All right, forget about the schedule.

On the other hand, Cook has four and a half targets per game and Graham has six targets per game. Take that. Yeah, but he just read his fewest routes of the season this past uh week in terms of routes per drop back uh and it has been trending down i think it was the the the fewest the week before as well i'd have to pull that up but it's been trending down all right so so gram or cook for ben how about you frank yeah i think this is super close. And I hear what Ben is saying.

I've noticed the trend with the routes as well. But Graham is tied for second in the NFL in red zone targets. So I don't think that he's good, but he is used in that part of the field. And that's what you want out of a tight end, right? You want a touchdown. So it's very close, but I'll take Jimmy Graham by hair. I cannot believe I just gave out someone's phone number on there.

More questions here from Dan in the Mitten. Grade the trade. Give Kenyon Drake and Robbie Anderson. Get Nick Chubb. That is a B-? I'm going to give it a C. I think Robbie Anderson is pretty good. He hasn't scored a touchdown, though, since week one,

and it was kind of a fluky touchdown. Right. It's also kind of fluky for a guy to have as many targets and catches as he has and not be scoring more touchdowns. I mean, that's the other side of that coin. I knew you were going to say that. I knew he was going to say that, everybody. That's the fluky thing that I would say.

He leads Carolina wide receivers with seven red zone targets as well, so it makes it even more fluky, Adam. Okay. How about any green zone? I don't know. Franklin. Yeah. All right.

So I give it a B plus. B minus from Frank. C from Gratch. From Justin. Dear Gallman, Dayman, and Nightman. Rest of season. If I were to stick with one DST Would you go with the Patriots

Or the Packers Why are you sticking with One DST rest of season It's got to be some weird league I think the Packers They have a pretty good schedule the rest of the way They do They have Jacksonville this week

They have a couple Jacksonville, Colts, have a couple reasonable options. Jacksonville, the Colts, the Bears, the Eagles, the Lions, the Panthers, and the Titans. Yeah, that's a good schedule. By the way, the Patriots kind of stink

on defense. It's kind of out on them. They got Baltimore this week. From Grant Witcher. By the way, do you guys know the whole Dayman thing? Dayman. Yeah. Always Sunny.

Right. Oh, my God. Frank? I used to watch Always Sunny, but I kind of fell off. So I don't think I saw that. I don't even watch it, but that is the most famous scene, I'd say. It's so funny. Grant Witcher.

Grant Witcher. Would you trade Dalvin Cook for Derrick Henry based on their end of year schedule? No. No, I wouldn't. From Andy with no facial hair. Grade the trade. Give James Robinson and Justin Jefferson.

Get Michael Thomas and Keenan Allen, half PPR. I think if you have running back depth, I like this trade. I would give it a B+. Yeah, I'd give it. With the same caveat, I assume that you have enough running backs

if you're trading Robinson. I think I'd give it an A. I mean, Keenan Allen is top five receiver right now, and Michael Thomas, I think, should be as well. So you're getting two very good receivers, potentially. From Quadman80. us i think should be as well so you're getting two very good receivers potentially from quad man 80 hey dustin justin bryson and brooks a little master's love there huh those guys play golf they golf full ppr 12c i know golf the best of the. I'm so glad to be back. Mini golf, right? Oh, yeah. Those guys

play golf. I'm so bad at mini golf. Yeah, this is... By the way, this question is from Quadman, which is my nickname at the gym. All right. Full PBR. I'm glad Ben's back. He's the only one who laughs at my jokes. Yeah, people are laughing at your jokes again, man.

Yeah, it's good stuff. Oh, come on. It's back. He's the only one who laughs at my jokes. Yeah, people are laughing at your jokes again, man. Yeah, it's good stuff. Oh, come on. It's enough. It's enough. Thank you, quad man. This is the gym. No, I've been working on that one. Thank you. Okay, give up Leonard Fournette.

Get Lamar Jackson. Yeah, I'm fine with that. That's a B. I like that, especially if you need help at quarterback. From Danger Aaron, grade the trade. My name is Aaron, and I decided to trade Kamara and Cooper for McLaurin and Zeke.

What do you think about that? That's a D? Kamara and Cooper for McLaurin and Zeke. Don't love that. Yeah. That's a bad. Do I have one of those? I do. Oh, no, wait. Where's the

wah, wah? You'd think I'd know where all these things were located by now. From Pod Raider. I love that he started with my name is Aaron. And I like, he was at, I know it was really funny to me, a fantasy and anonymous meeting where he knew that he knew the grade.

He knew the grade. My name is Aaron from pod Raider. Thanks for the great shows. I have a question for this week in a tough matchup as well as going forward. Does a quarterback wide receiver stack at some point outside the obvious teams become subject to a law of diminishing returns. I'm starting Joe Burrow this week with Matt Ryan on by,

and my top four wide receiver options are Cooper cup, Tyler Boyd, T Higgins and DJ more. So basically he's wondering like, he's got to start Joe Burrow cup boyd higgins more i don't think he wants to start too many bangles against the steelers so like do you sit one of them for dj more or what i to the broad question i the way that i always think about this is in dfs terms and head-to-heads you don't usually make these big stacks when you're playing in gPPs, you're making, you know, game stacks. You can stack a quarterback with multiple receivers and

those types of things. But the stacks that you're targeting are teams that have these high implied totals based on, you know, high over unders in the Vegas markets. And usually they're favored as well. The, the, the Bengals have a, an applied team total of 19.5 points. It's very bad this week. Broadly, long-term, I have no problem with Burrow and two of his receivers stacked. This looks like a team with a bad defense and a willingness to pass, especially on early downs. They're passing with intent. They're above average on their pass rate over expectation on early downs.

That's the type of team that the Seahahawks and like the, the Cowboys, especially back when they had Dak, like when you have a bad defense as well, you're going to throw a lot and you can have multiple receivers and that type of passing offense. It's great. I think bro is going to be a top 10 quarterback the rest of the way, but this week probably don't want to go there. Not against the Steelers,

not with the D the team total under 20. It's just not a good setup for, for a double stack with burrow. Okay. From fan from cheese says fantasy q how do you value dj chark and jonathan taylor rest of season waiting or wanting to send them in a trade but not sure what they're worth well it's a jonathan taylor question i can't answer it yeah i mean taylor's a not to be relied on running back that still has upside. I mean, I think there's, there's, it depends on value. If you can get value right now, it doesn't seem

like you will get any value from him right now. There seems to be a pretty clear consensus that Jonathan Taylor stinks. And so I think you hold him and you try not to start him if you have other options and you hope that he breaks off a long run at some point. You know, people talk about, oh, Miles Sanders. Again, I keep going back to that because there's a lot of strong corollaries there. But he only did it because Jordan Howard got hurt. He also had a really long touchdown in one of the in week eight. When I was talking about his week six to eight week stretch where he wasn't playing a lot the Colts still have to know that Jonathan Taylor's their their their best bet as at a consistent running game their running game hasn't been great regardless but they took him they traded up to take him in the top 50 picks like he's a very good talent they don't want to get

this out of him the rest of the year they're going to give him opportunities and if he hits on something they're gonna hopefully ride him a little bit more I mean they've been a little a little in and out with him with playing time. But, yeah, I still think there's upside if he gets a couple big plays and gets something going. Chark is great, by the way. Love him. Jake Luton keyed on him last week.

He's starting again. Love to throw downfield more. He's not good this week, another win game, but I'm high on him the rest of the way too. Okay. So, Ben, you want to hear the stat that I give every week? You know those Acer stats? I keep updating it every week. You mentioned Miles Sanders.

I've already said it four times this week on the podcast. All the listeners at home, you can play along. Seven straight games, no running back has had a carry of longer than 14 yards against the Giants. What do you think about that? Do you think he's going to do it? He's had two 70-yard runs 14 yards against the Giants. What do you think about that? Do you think he's going to do it? He's had two 70-yard runs this year against the Ravens and the Steelers. Can he get to 15 against the Giants?

I mean, that's a pretty good stat because about the only thing the Giants do well is defend the run. And you were telling us that this offseason. The Giants have a good run, D. That was your Homer bias. No, the Giants have a good run, D. That was your Homer bias. No, the Giants have a good run, D. That's the only thing they do well. It is, pretty much, except when they win this week, they're going to win the division.

What can I tell you? Wow. The Homer bias is coming out big time. I know. You've got to have something. Thank you very much for your Apple Podcast questions. We'll get to your emails in a little bit. That was not what I meant to press.

This is what I meant to press. There we go. It's just pathetic. How do I not know where these things are? The fantasy cops are here. This is our fantasy cops music. Yeah.

Yeah, it's funky. All right. This is from Stanley. He says, Dear Jerry, Larry, Terry, and Gary. Did you ever watch it, Adam? Parks and Rec? Parks and Rec?

Yeah. Yeah. I finished it. That's happened in the last year, right? Because you hadn't really been a big fan of it. I binged it during the quarantine, basically. During quarantine, because we were telling you it's such a great show.

It is really funny, except the last season is painful. Absolutely painful. I mean, one of the worst... One of the worst seasons I've ever seen of any show. I don't even remember it. It's so bad.

Like, Ron and Leslie are in a fight at first, and then there's this, like... Oh, that's right. The corporations moving in. Spread off to different areas. Oh, it was just awful this like... Oh, that's right. The corporations moving in. Spread off to different areas. Oh, it was just awful. But...

Yeah, yeah. But it didn't ruin the show. The show was great. All right, here's the question for the fantasy cops. I normally am there. I normally am. There should be no vetoes in fantasy, but this just went down in our 12-team keeper league.

One keeper. Team A is 1-8 and has not set his lineup since week three. Has been called out for it in the group chat for not setting it and has not set his lineup. Basically, everyone assumes he's not making any effort anymore. Team B is, excuse me, on the fringe of the playoffs and makes the following trade with Team A. Team A gives DeAndre Swift, Devante Adams, and Nick Chubb. Team B gives Daryl Henderson, Chase Edmonds, and Marquise Brown. So Swift, Adams, and Chubb for Daryl Henderson, Edmonds, and Marquise Brown.

Pretty crappy trade. What do you do in this situation? I at least texted our thread saying that if you're going to make trades, you need to set your lineup, and it's fair. It is fair to make plans for the future with one keeper, but this trade is lopsided and with a team that wasn't putting effort in. So I'm challenging you guys because I know you don't like vetoes, especially you, Frank. You need to veto this trade, right? So I play in a keeper league where for years we have these lopsided fire sale trades at the trade deadline every single year. And my

retort would be, this is a keeper league league and if any of Daryl Henderson or Chase Edmonds or Hollywood Brown have some great round value as a keeper then I don't think that there's anything that you can do with this trade I think you just let it go through if there's no phenomenal keeper value involved I mean it's pretty egregious and the fact that Team A is not setting their lineup. I mean, I would probably just say, yes, veto this trade and probably kick that owner out of the league. Yeah, what's interesting is it's a one-keeper league, and I'm assuming maybe Adams doesn't have great round value attached to him, but DeAndre Swift is still pretty clearly the best keeper here.

It's kind of hard to... I mean, I don't know. To me, Swift does look great. The three best keepers are all on one team. Right. Swift, Adams, and Chubb. It's going to be until 2021 for him, but it seems like he's going to be good.

We have, in my longest running league that's not a keeper, we actually have a rule in place um and it's it's kind of a league that it started when we were all you know teenagers um but a lot of the rules are sort of informal as we ran into these types of things and we have a rule in place that when a team is very much in the situation one and eight not setting their lineup they can't make tricks like if you're out of it, you can't impact the top of the league. It's a redraft league. You can't send a specifically, actually,

clarify, specifically trading your best player for a bunch of bit parts where you're dramatically impacting the balance of power at the top of the league. You're sending Devontae Adams to a contending team. You just don't get to make tricks. I think the key here is like what Frank said.

If there's some type of incredible keeper value, then it's hard to say that it's hard to veto it. It's a crappy trade, but it's not necessarily vetoable. But if there's not,

if that's not a factor here, then veto and remove from league. Okay, great. You're getting into the Heath coming spirit of kicking people out of the league, Frank. You're one of us now.

Heath wants to kick everyone out of the league. We're going to have nothing but four-team leagues once Heath's done with everyone. Kicking everyone out. All right, this is from Ben. Hey, Sheldon, Leonard, Raj, Howard, Penny, Bernadette, and Amy. I bet Frank's never seen The Big Bang Theory. Oh, I've seen

I've stumbled across it a few episodes not my cup of tea I'm the same as Frank there I haven't seen a whole lot of it alright we had a trade in our league we're a guy who's more experienced than the other than another in the league this is the other guy's first year

okay they made a trade so experienced guy rookie player our friend sent them a trade giving T. Higgins and Tony Pollard for Aaron Jones. The inexperienced guy accepted the trade. The other league members and I are very adamant that the trade be vetoed, but the trade initiator

says that the trade isn't that lopsided. And that would be Higgins and Pollard for Aaron Jones. Okay, what do we do, guys? I'm testing you again. Are you ready to veto? I mean, this is a very lopsided trade, so whoever thinks... Yeah, the idea that it's not lopsided is pretty funny. Like, T. Higgins is...

He's fine. He's like a high-end wide receiver three, but Pollard is a handcuff who sees eight to ten touches per game for a top five running back in fantasy football right now. So what are you going to do? Mr. No veto. The fact that,

I mean, there is a caveat here that the other person is inexperienced, right? So I would say yes, veto this trade, undo it, and maybe kind of explain to that person why this is a lopsided trade. Explain to the inexperienced player why it's lopsided.

This is another one where I'm going to go, I've experienced this before. We had a first-year guy do this, and we said, okay, there's been all these objections raised. I need you to defend your reasons for making this trade. And if he can make a solid case for why I think Steve Higgins and Tony Pollard are going to beat Aaron Jones the rest a solid case for why I think Steve Higgins and Tony Pollard are going to beat Aaron Jones the rest of the season,

then I think it's hard to veto it. But in that case, that person said, no, I really can't. I didn't really think about it because he's new to fantasy football. And he was just like, I really just didn't think about it.

And we ultimately vetoed it because, and that made the other guy Matt. So it's, it's challenging, but if the, if it's a new person in a new person to this and doesn't really understand what they're doing and literally can't defend the trade, then it's hard to let it stand.

My favorite part of that at this is that the experienced player is trying to justify his giving up Higgins and Pollard to get Aaron Jones. Like, you know what you're doing, man. You know you're lying. I used to be like that too, man. When I first started playing fantasy, I was a shark, Adam.

Really? I would be that guy who sends essay text messages telling people why they should make this trade. I made a trade with my dad in a league once, and people were like, this is collusion. Yeah, I bet it was. I've come a long way, though. I've come a long way.

Oh, man, we would have kicked you out of a lot of leagues. All right, last one. I've come a long way. Oh, man. We would have kicked you out of a lot of leagues. All right. Last one. Last one from Dave from Ontario. Okay. Follow along here. In our league, dropped players just become automatic free agents. This includes players dropped as part of trades. Before game time on Sunday, our commissioner put through a trade

in which Leonard Fournette was dropped. After putting through the deal, the commissioner immediately picked up Fournette. While this has always been our rule and format, our commish has never jumped on a player like this. His argument is that if he would have waited, someone else would have grabbed Fournette. Okay.

The commissioner has said he's open to a league vote on the issue. No one in our league wants drop players to go to waivers. So what is our solution? Kick him out of the league. The commissioner? Yeah, kick out the commissioner. This is weird. You know, the only thing I can say

is that I commissioner a baseball league and I turn off waivers every Monday morning to make it a free-for-all. So, you know, you put your claims in every night, but Monday morning before you set your lineups, you know, waivers are off, it's free agency. I always wait probably five to 10 minutes after I turn them off.

I send an email to the league, I say waivers are off, and I try to get the same time pretty much every Monday morning. But I always wait five or ten minutes. I'm not going to turn them off and then immediately go in and pick someone up because that's the kind of person I am. You know? You wait five or ten minutes

and that makes you a hero? Yeah. I give people an opportunity to get in there. That's just... I didn't want to use the word hero, but if you're going to use it, fine. That makes me a hero. You get five minutes. The clock starts right now. You better have been paying attention.

I picture Adam with a countdown. 4.59. Hope you won't walk in your dog. That's why I don't have a dog. Dogs are bad for fantasy. Anyway, this is a weird league. What would you guys say? This guy, commissioner, puts through a trade, picks up Fourn up four net immediately and says well you guys would have done it if i

didn't so uh what do you do i think if the commission pushes a trade through specifically then the player like that's the rule like no one wants drop players to go to waivers in the league but i would say that you have to make a little carve out that if the commission pushes a player through he's got to go on waivers till the next week or whatever. Like apparently this, this happened right before game time on Sunday, just put them on. Like,

I assume they have waivers once at the beginning of the week. Right. Like why couldn't four net have just been on waivers? Yeah, I don't know. And that's a good point because this is a very different drop situation. This is one where the commissioner knows it's happening as it's happening and has clear dibs.

It's not like other players get dropped throughout the week. You might get a notification from your league. You go in and everybody's in the same boat. The commissioner has a huge advantage here. So I think Ben is right. I think we kick Frank out of the league and we put Fournette on waivers. These are good fantasy comps questions. They were.

I have another solution just moving forward for this league where once a trade is accepted, it doesn't have to go through the commissioner. It's just accepted right away. So whatever comes of it, everybody has fair dibs. The commissioner doesn't know about the trade before it happens either. Everybody finds out about the trade at the same time. And if there's any player dropped,

then it's a free for all for everybody. Okay. Okay. Well, you're saying, so there's no, there's no trade review period. It just goes through automatically.

Yeah. So there's no trade review period. I'm anti veto anyway. So yeah, no trade review. The commissioner doesn't see it. You've been vetoing a lot of trades today, Frank.

I don't know if I believe you anymore. Well, you know, everyone's anti veto until the, you know, there's circumstances, Adam, come on.

I'm very much anti trade review period. That's worse than a veto trade. Should just go through. Thank you for your fantasy cops questions. Keep them coming. Fantasy football at cbsi.com or on Apple podcast. And we're going to take a break here on Fantasy Football today. When we come back, we will read your emails at FantasyFootball at CBSi.com.

Did you know 66% of utility damage is caused by not requesting a locate? Don't let your project become part of this statistic. A quick locate request can save you from unexpected downtime, financial penalties, and keep you safe. Don't let avoidable damage cost you time and money. Click before you dig. Ensure your next project is safe. Visit ontarioonecall.ca. It's free. It's easy. It's the law. Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report. And welcome back. Adam, Ben, and Frank here reading your emails.

This is from Colin. Grade the trade. Okay, I think this is a dynasty trade. Yeah, it's a dynasty trade. DeAndre Hopkins, Mecole Hardman, and a fourth-round rookie pick for... Well, it's not a grade the trade.

It's which side you like better because I don't know which side he is. Hopkins Hardman, fourth round, rookie pick Deandre Swift, DJ Chark, second round, rookie pick.

Hmm. I think there's a real clear balance on this trade of going for it this year or not. Right. Cause I just mentioned a little bit ago, Swift is a guy that feels like, you know, the breakout could come in 2021.

It's probably not going to come in 2020. And so Hopkins is clearly the, the win for, or the go for now option. But if you're not really competing this year in a dynasty, I would be willing to trade him away for Deandre Swift, plus a DJ chart, plus a second round pick.

I think that's a fair return. Just depends where you're at in the standings and what your long-term outlook is. Yeah, I think it's a very fair trade, but it just depends where your timeline is at. So if you are getting the Swift side and you're looking towards the future and you're trying to rebuild or retool your team,

then I would go with the B side. If you're trying to compete, then obviously I would want the A side. I think it's a very fair trade. From Mario, what in the world do I do with Jonathan Taylor in my keeper league? Do I keep holding on to hope that he turns a corner this year and can be a beast next year, or do I trade him for some kind of strong pull? Adam, you 100% pulled all Jonathan Taylor questions. There's nobody we're getting more questions about right now than Jonathan Taylor you drop him and then whoever picks him up you kick him out of the league Ben do you still think he's gonna you know gonna be end up being a great player

yeah yeah yeah no I there I am absolutely not not basing an entire career evaluation on a player that was this good of a prospect with this good of a profile on the first eight or 10 games, especially when his usage has been very inconsistent. And he's done some good things like he's been good in the past game. He's caught almost that. That was the issue. He was stone hands, can't catch, caught over 95 percent of his targets. And he's averaged like 8.8 yards per target, which is phenomenal for a running back. He's been explosive when using the passing game. He has one fumble. That was a very high profile one last week.

He got him benched, but that was the knock on him coming in. This guy's going to fumble all the time. He has one fumble in like 130 touches. That's not, so yeah, no, I'm, I actually see some positives on Taylorlor and that the red flags he's kind of shown the doubters that he can handle those those things he can catch the ball he can hold on to the football for the most part what's shocking is that he can't run for any kind of

efficiency right now yeah i think that will you know the game will slow down for him we've seen that i mean derrick henry it took him like three years to be consistently an efficient runner. There's a guy that people love that I have never been high on. Just another name that popped in my head for whatever reason. But it's not bizarre. Miles Sanders was the other one I brought up. It's not bizarre for a guy to struggle a little bit in his rookie year. It's just not that.

Yeah. All right. Let's talk about the Broncos backfield. This email is from Rich. You noted that Denver has a great play. Let's talk about, let's talk about the Broncos backfield. This email is from Rich. You noted that Denver has a great playoff schedule for running backs, Carolina, Buffalo chargers and Vegas in weeks 14 through 17. While nice with the current split of touches, it doesn't help as much, but Melvin Gordon had his court date moved to the Monday after week 14. It appears that if Gordon gets a three-game suspension,

he may possibly serve at weeks 15 through 17. If stars align, this could be an RB1 added to your roster by low on Philip Lindsay. I don't really agree because I don't know. His court date is, I think, December 14th. I don't know that he has a court date and then gets a three-game suspension right after. I'm not willing to...

I'm just not willing to take that chance. Yeah, and the other issue with Lindsey is that his upside is always limited in pass catching because they just start using Royce Freeman to pass block and passing down. So it'd be exciting to have Lindsey as the clear starter in good run matchups, but I don't know that he would be

that explosive of a, of a ceiling type player. But also Melvin Gordon, another great example for Jonathan Taylor, another great comp first round pick struggled in his first year. Everyone thought he was terrible and he's been very good throughout the most of his career. All right.

This is from Bert grade, the trade give Burrow, Zeke and Gronk get, get cousins. Sorry. This is from Bert. Grade the trade. Give Burrow, Zeke, and Gronk. Get, get Cousins. Sorry, laughing at something else. Give Cousins,

Evans, and James Robinson. Burrow, Zeke, and Gronk. For Cousins, Evans, and James Robinson, this is a two quarterback league.

So what do you think, Frank? I, hmm. I'd rather have Burrow than Kirk, even though Burrow's schedule does get tough. Oh, wait, he has Watson and Murray already. Okay, so that definitely helps.

Kirk Cousins is, all right, just some kind of injury insurance. Yeah, I would prefer to have the Mike Evans and James Robinson side. Robinson, to me, is a clear top 12 running back rest of season, and I never thought we'd say this, but his outlook is better than Ezekiel Elliott moving forward. Gronk, you know, he's a borderline usable tight end. Mike Evans is going to be inconsistent, but I do like getting Robinson in this deal, so I would give it a B.

All right, next up from Andrew, should I trade away Kenny Galladay, Marquise Brown, and David Montgomery for Miles Sanders? Galladay, Marquise Brown, and Montgomery for Miles Sanders. I have Connor and Josh Jacobs. I still have McLaurin, Chark, Juju, and Sterling Shepard. This is one of those trades where it's a three for one. It's clear that the best piece is on one side,

but it's also an overpay on the, on the three side. Cause those are all usable pieces. If it's a deep leap. So it like league depth matters a ton to me here. If those are not easily replaceable pieces, then Galladay is a good enough player when healthy that, you know,

also adding Marquise Brown and David Montgomery is a little bit of an overpay for Sanders. If it's a shallower league, Montgomery is, you know, probably fairly replaceable because he's not like a high ceiling guy. He's more just a floor guy and Marquise Brown probably also fairly replaceable, basically just a boomer boss deep threat at this point. Then yeah, you take the Sanders side. If it's a shallower league. Yeah. I like consolidating the talent here. And you still have three solid receivers,

McLaurin, Chark, and Juju. So, yeah, I would do it. All right, from John. I didn't pay attention to the rest of his roster. Oh, well, you should have, Gratch. All right, from John. 12-team PPR Dynasty League. There's an owner who always sends terrible offers

for Mike Kamara and or Devante Adams. He was talking a lot of smack last night about how I'm the one always sending horrible trade offers, so I decided to send him another one. I offered him my Alvin Camara for his Derrick Henry, Travis Kelsey, and Allen Robinson. To my surprise, he countered, saying

it was a little too much, and he offered me, instead of Robinson, a 2021 first and a 2023 first. I couldn't pull the trigger fast enough because we're both in the top three in the league this year. So he gave up Kamara. At the end of the day, John gave up Kamara. He got Henry, Kelsey, and a 2021 first and a 2023 first.

I think that's pretty good. I can't turn that down. That is a slam dunk. Yes, of course, you'd rather have Kamara over Henry in PPR, but you are getting the best tight end in fantasy, so you don't have to worry about that, and you're getting two first-round picks on top of it. That is a slam dunk.

From Pat in Massachusetts, Dear Nacho, Mike, Kim, Howard, and Jimmy. That's a good show. It's a good show, Mike, Kim, Howard, and Jimmy. That's a better call. It's a good show. It's a good show, but I stopped watching. I guess I'll try to pick it up again. Better than Breaking Bad, you know. No.

I already got out of with that take a few months back. He did not like it. Give up Cook and Ridley? Get Derek Henry and Keenan Allen. Cook and Ridley for Henry and Allen. Yeah, that's close because I really like Keenan Allen, Cook and Ridley for Henry and Allen. Yeah, that's close because I really like Keenan Allen, but I also really like Ridley. I want

Cook. Yep. Okay. Agreed. From Jacob. Grade the trade. Give up Herbert and DJ Moore. Get Derek Henry. Five point bonuses at 100 and 150 rushing or receiving yards.

That's actually pretty relevant. So give up Herbert and Moore, and he already has Kyler Murray. Okay, he doesn't need Herbert. It's a super flex league, but he has good quarterbacks. So Herbert and Moore for Derrick Henry, non-PPR. Yeah, I like this. Yeah, I like it a lot. I'm going to give that an A-.

Agreed. B. From Matt. Hey, Wayne, Lavernius, Santana, and Santonio. Oh, Frank, you know them. Whoa, Jets wide receivers. Grade the trade. I've been starting Herbert over Lamar Jackson, and I need a running back.

I traded Lamar Jackson and Le'Veon Bell. I got Cooper Cup and DeAndre Swift. That's a clear A for me. That's great. Herbert's a top 10 QB, and you're just trading from a position of strength then, right? And you're getting... I think I'd much rather have Swift than Bell, actually,

and you're getting Cooper Cup. People are dropping Le'Veon Bell. Yeah, that's maybe a little bit of an overreaction, but... Can't really blame them, but... Yeah. If something happens to AP or carry on, Swift's going to be a monster. I would much rather have Swift right now.

Yep. Starter set questions from Andrew. Dear Mitch, Beanie, Frank, and Cheese... Old school, right? Yeah, I don't remember cheese. The Dean, they called him cheese. You don't remember that? Oh, yeah.

Okay, now I remember. Yeah, I remember. You can tell. I really truly remember. Nobody ever called you cheese? No, I would never. You strike me as like a Dean. What?

Get out of here. All right. I can't disagree with that. Okay, so the question is from Andrew Flex. JD McKissick or Deontay Johnson? Deontay. I kind of like McKissick. This is close.

Yeah. I mean, I think I like McKissick too, but I just like Deontay more. But yeah. Wide receiver three, John Brown or Antonio Brown? John for me. Yep. John,

that, that game, that Arizona Buffalo game, again, going back to like implied totals, that's going to be a high scoring shootout affair. I don't think you can trust Antonio Brown this quickly over, you know,

a key piece in, in a game that should have a lot of points scored. And he says, thanks guys. Listen to the show every weekend while I do yard work. Uh, how much do you, how much yard work you think I've done in my life? Not my thing.

All right, from Mike. PPR League, rank these running backs. Geo, Dobbins, and Duke. Duke. Geo, Dobbins. I'm going to go Duke, Dobbins, Geo. What? Mark Ingram's probably going to play.

Oh, then Duke, Geo, Dobbins. Okay, there you go. From Matt in Nashville. 12-team PPR. Deontay Johnson, Chris Godwin, Zach Moss, or Alan Lizard? Lizard, sorry. I'll go Godwin there.

I'm going to go Deontay. Good matchup. I think a little bit less competition than Godwin right now. But they're both in passing games where all the targets could go away from them and it wouldn't be that surprising. Yeah. All right, from Brian. Oh, you want my other favorite stat of the week, Ben?

Every wide receiver who's had more than 60 yards against the Panthers has had double-digit targets. Interesting. Yeah, which Godwin has not had once this year. From Brian, pick two running backs. Bell. Oh, this is week 15? I'm sorry, Brian.

I'm not going to read this one. This is the most insane question I've ever seen. Yeah, I'm not going to read your question. I did the mailbag all last year. This is the most insane question I've ever seen. Two running backs for week 15. Running back in opportunity position. We have no idea what depth charts are going to look like.

And there's a list of like eight people. And they're almost all terrible. And there's a list of eight people that are just not very good. And one of them is Sony Michelle. Rojo and Pirine are who I'm going with right now, but I'm going to say that's subject to change. Yeah, when Week 15 comes around, you're

going to have a lot more clarity. There's nothing to do with this right now. Yeah. All right, from RJ. Hey, John, Shannon, Steve, Floyd, and Terrell. It's a bunch of Broncos, right? Elway, Sharp, Terrell Davis. That's the...

Steve Atwater. That's the 98 Broncos. Who's Floyd? Floyd. Leonard Floyd of the Bears. He was on that team. His dad. His dad. Leonard Floyd Sr. His dad, Floyd Floyd. the Bears. He was on that team. His dad. His dad.

Leonard Floyd Sr. Lloyd Floyd. I'm in a league that awards significant bonuses for a high score each week. So shooting for upside is the best way to go. Who has the most boom this week? Which two wide receivers? Tyler Boyd, Brandon Cooks, Christian Kirk,

Justin Jefferson, and Mike Evans. Boyd, Cooks, Kirk, Jefferson, Evans. I think it's Boyd and Cooks. I do think there's a very low floor for Cooks because of the weather game. But in terms of boom, I think Christian Kirk is up there as well. The floor is lava.

This is such a tricky question because part of, you know, like I love the boomer boss wide receiver types. Part of my thing is you have a whole roster of them and you take your booms with your bus, and it's a very challenging thing to predict. It's a high variance thing. But I would be a little bit worried about the wind in the coach's game. Jefferson looks like that's going to be more of a running heavy game against

Cleveland. I mean, against Chicago, you know, Mike Evans, Evans and Kirk have the big team totals. Again, you have Kirk in that, in that game, I was just talking about Arizona and Buffalo could be a lot of passing Evans. The, the, the, the bucks have a high team total as well, so maybe he catches two touchdowns. Boyd has a tough matchup with the Steelers. Stop thinking about it and give me two names.

It's probably Kirk and Evans because of the team totals, but Boyd would be my third right there. From Joe. Hey, George, John, Thomas, and James. The first four presidents. No, those are 49ers. George K John, Thomas, and James. The first four presidents. No, those are 49ers.

George Kittle, John Lynch, Thomas Jefferson. Yeah, those are presidents. Richie James. Thomas Jefferson. He got to the third one. You're doing well. Yeah. John Lynch.

He names the GMs. Yeah, John Lynch, right? Pick two of these three in PBR.osh jacobs dj charke duke johnson i think jacobs and duke for me yep and nick needs a wide receiver three out of keelan cole or josh reynolds josh reynolds yeah i would typically say cold off the the bat because Visca's out, but you have Wind and you have Reynolds and just the absolute best matchup, the just stone cold best pass matchup you could possibly have against Seattle. Do people call him Visca, or are you just such a fan of his that you are on an abbreviation term with him?

No, people call him Visca. I'm also a very big fan of his. Ben, it was great to have you on man i miss you yeah it was a blast this was a lot of fun the only good thing about you leaving was that we had we still had a ben so i didn't have to change the intro i noticed it yeah that was i got a lot of those messages like you just got on the intro i never cared about the intro but it was great to hear from you and everybody everybody follow him at Yards Per Gretch. You can get some fantasy advice and, of course, some gambling advice as well.

Frank, thank you. I know now that you don't mean it when you say nobody should veto. I exposed you today as a dirty liar. And, yeah. Why are you picking on me, Adam? No, don't do that again. Made me feel bad yesterday. But thanks for all your questions, everybody.

We appreciate it. Good luck in week 10. We'll talk to you Sunday morning on HQ, Sunday afternoon on Twitch.