Fantasy Football Today - Mailbag, Fantasy Cops and Sleepers! (07/07 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: July 7, 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.  We're answering a bunch of your questions today! First, some quick Scott Fish Bowl tips (1:40) if you're entered into that and your news and notes (5:30). Then we've got tweets (7:35), Fantasy Cops (26:00), Apple Podcast questions (29:40) and emails at [e-mail] (38:40). We're also joined by Lucas Grant who generously donated to St. Jude in 2022 and has his sleepers for the upcoming season (47:10) 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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Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Happy Friday. Happy Mailbag Friday here on Fantasy football today adam azer and chris towers rocking out on friday or something like that yeah rock on chris what's up are we are we rocking out yeah all right i have a music take to give later oh oh boy see i'm gonna put it in the notes before we take our first break music take love. Love it. Love an Adam Azer take. That's why we're all here. That's really the whole fantasy football thing.

It's really just an artifice. It's really just a way to get Adam's horrible, horrible opinions out into the world. Not on purpose, but they do happen to spring out every now and then. Happy birthday, belated birthday to Chris, July 4th. But also, I just read this morning, podcasting is turning 20 years old this week.

Oh, happy birthday, podcasting. You can almost drink. So I thought that was pretty cool. Man, think about how weird podcasting is going to get once it's of legal age. Yeah, I mean... You thought podcasting was weird when it was in his its teens right yeah buddy it just went through its teenager phase so now it's a young adult um all right listen chris scott fishbowl drafts are coming up soon so before we do our mailbag uh let's give some advice for scott fishbowl drafting here which is crazy scoring but some of you out there are in it.

Are you doing one of the live drafts? No, I don't think so. I think it's next Saturday. It's open. People can come. Tito Murphy's in Midtown Manhattan on July 15th. Adam, if you want to swing by. I might.

I might. But we got a tight end premium draft. We have a super flex. We have point per first down. What's a general strategy? per rush attempt, 0.1 point per pass completion. And how about this one? It's a tight end premium, point per first down for everyone. But for tight ends, obviously, it's extra points for reception. It's full PPR instead of half.

Receiving touchdowns are only four points for tight ends. I thought that was an interesting wrinkle. That is interesting. Kind of just a little bit mutes Travis Kelsey's edge on the competition there. Not really. It does. To me, he's my number one pick in this format, but now that it's...

Yeah, I mean... I don't know if he should be. Last season, he was the number four overall player in this format. He scored 562.8 points the number two tight end was tj hawkinson 377 so it it doesn't really do much to his edge he outscored the number two tight end by 190 points last season uh and he outscored all but josh allen patrick mahomes and Jalen Hurts. Those guys are pretty good.

What was interesting, though, is Mahomes was 36.8 points per game in this scoring format last season, which is actually almost three full points behind Patrick Mahomes and two full points behind Jalen Hurts. So that little.25 for rush attempts actually does give Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts a solid bump there. Yeah. Do they not? No more incompletion negatives? I don't think there's any negatives for incompletions in what I'm looking at. Yeah. Right. So you used to have to worry about completion percentage. Now you just need a lot of completions.

Yeah. So, all right. It's a lot to think about if you're in it. Just take a look at the rules, make sure you understand them. Um, third round reversal still, I think so. Yeah, that's a big deal. So that's why if you have a third round reversal, we have a question about that later in the show. I like picking later, uh, you know, 11th, 12th, something like that. I think third round reversal is a huge advantage. Uh, I don't like third down third round reversal to be quite honest with you. Um, maybe. Maybe fifth round reversal or something like that would be more fair. But yeah, Scott Fishbowl is kind of wacky, and you could certainly consider Travis Kelsey as the number one overall player.

Absolutely. I don't know that I will. Now that's only four points for a touchdown. I still think he's definitely in there. I think the contenders for the number one pick are any of those three quarterbacks or Travis Kelsey. I don't think you can really go wrong with any of those three guys. They'll get you 33 to 35 points per game. There will probably be a couple of other quarterbacks

who get to 30 points per game, but it's going to be pretty tough. All right, well, good luck to you if you are in the Scott Fish Bowl, unless you were in my league, the Krusty Crab division, which I am embarrassed to say when I first saw it, I just thought it was a Simpsons reference, and that's why I did it. And then I realized it's a SpongeBob reference, so

I am not in a Simpsons division. Yeah, that was just a little haste there. I think I'm in Nathan's Famous. Oh, good. Okay, that one I know. News and notes. I think I'm in Nathan's famous. Oh, good. Okay, that one I know. News and notes. Dalvin Cook and DeAndre Hopkins. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk says,

the Jets are gaining momentum towards signing Dalvin Cook. They're more interested than people realize. And, you know, I'm not going to react. We already talked about this yesterday. So I think it was yesterday. So I'm not going to react until it actually happens. But think about that with Brees Hall. For DeAndre Hopkins, three teams in particular that have been linked to Hopkins

are the Titans, the Patriots, and the Chiefs. The Chiefs have almost no cap space, so they'd have to do some maneuvering, but the Titans, the Patriots, and the Chiefs, I'm not going to say they're frontrunners, but they're teams that are linked to DeAndre Hopkins, and that's all you need to know right now about Hopkins. Meanwhile, I want to tell you about St. Jude and all the things you can do to benefit St. Jude.

You can donate to our draft-a-thon. We're giving away amazing stuff. It's already underway. Go to tinyurl.com slash fftdonate. tinyurl.com slash fftdonate. And you can see some of the things that are currently available to bid on, like calls with me, or I think Zooms with me and Chris and Jamie and Heath. FFT donate and you can see some of the things that are currently available to bid on like

calls with me or I think zooms with me and Chris and Jamie and Heath the Dave ones are sold out for now but there will be more you can win spots in the podcast league you can win spots on the show and pretty soon we're going to be announcing a new sort of podcast league that I'm super excited about and it's all all to benefit St Jude. So we already raised over $20,000 for that one spot in the Dynasty League. So we're going to raise a ton of money this year. It's going to be great. Right now, tinyurl.com slash FFT donate.

Let's start with some tweets because quite frankly, the emails were almost exclusively keeper questions and that's not great for content. So the tweets... You don't like podcasting for one person? No.

I kind of like... I like a la carte podcasting. I like it. I like it when we... Let's just record one episode for every single person. Those are my favorite comments. Like, that guy's already rostered in my league when you write a waiver warrant.

It's like, I'm sorry. We're working on your league's specific column shortly. It'll be out. It'll be out momentarily. Yeah. Also, assuming there might be a threads segment of this, we're on threads,

so you can find us there. All right. This one is from Ave on Twitter. Eckler as 101, the first pick in the draft. Is that bold? Not at all. He's been the number one running back two years in a row i believe i think the

the the argument against it i guess would just be partially it's a change in offense we don't know how that's going to affect them i think when you have a player like austin eckler you throw the ball to austin eckler because that's a good thing to do for your offense but you know it's it's a different offense and we don't know exactly you know we expect kellen moore's offense to be a little more conservative or a little more aggressive push the ball down the field a little more than joe lombardi's offense so it wouldn't surprise me if eckler takes a little step back in the passing game roll and then obviously there's just is this trade demand slash contract situation going to lead to anything. I think at this point, we all expect it not to, but it's still lingering out there,

and it's a tiny little bit of uncertainty. Each of the last two seasons, Eckler has actually averaged more points per game than Justin Jefferson did. He averaged 21.6 points per game in PPR. And by the way, that's in all three formats, non, half, and full. He averaged 21.6 in 2021 and 22.3 in 2022

compared to Jefferson, who was at 19.5 in 2021 and 21.5 in 2022. So Eckler had him by two points in 2021 and by eight-tenths of a point per game in 2022 in full PPR. His touchdowns is a big reason why he scored like 18 or more touchdowns. 20 and 18, the last two. Right. So you do wonder about that. And he's 28, which I think is fine.

There's been plenty of running backs who have been really good at 28. 29 is a little bit scarier. Plus, he doesn't even have 1,000 career carries. He's just a different kind of running back. So, yeah, I don't know, he's just a different kind of running back. So, yeah, I don't know that it's super bold. It's not probably as safe as Jefferson.

It's a fine pick. Is he your RB one still? He's not, he's mine right now. No, Christian McCaffrey is for me, but it's, it's a,

a coin flip between the two of them really, especially because there are, as with Eckler, there are some minor, minor concerns about mcafree and just how likely he is to live up to his full potential but i i think they're the clear top two i think there's a a clear gap to the number three so either one of them is in the discussion if you take them number one overall i think that's reasonable if you take them if you get them anywhere after that i think

you you did good and if adp is accurate and you can actually get tony pollard or derrick henry or josh jacobs at the two three turn and that's continuing as we get into august then i don't think you should take eckler first personally because i don't that's just well yeah because you're you're you're missing out on the the elite tier wide receiver yes right, because that's just... Well, yeah, because you're missing out on the elite tier of wide receiver. Yes. Right, right, right. That's the other half of it. Okay. By the way, Jonathan Taylor was

RB1 in 2021. Oh, yeah. You're right. You're right. Dumbass. Sorry. Where is it? Danny Perez asks, in a three-wide receiver PPR league, how many wide receivers do you take before RB1? So is it before the RB1,

like before the first or before you take an RB1? How many wide receivers before the first running backs off the board? I would say at least one, maybe two. But that second wide receiver for me is going to be different than for most people because it's going to be Cooper Cup. I think you can make a very good case that Cooper Cup, I think you can make a case for him as the number one player.

I think there are five, maybe six players you can make a legitimate case for number one, and Cooper Cup is among them. Okay, from Pauly, how about a good look at the jacksonville wide receiver room i can get a good look at your butcher uh is calvin ridley the number one no i don't get any laugh for that chris is calvin i don't get it that's tommy boy is calvin ridley the number one what happens to ingram and zay jones's numbers? I think they go down. I think, yeah, I'm projecting Calvert-Ridley to be the clear number one, 24% target share.

That might be underselling it, but I think that's a reasonable place to place it. And then Ingram and Zay Jones, I have right around 17% target share, so below 800 yards total for the season. I think that makes Ingram a low-end tight end one, but I think last season was the absolute best-case scenario for him, and we're unlikely to see him produce as well as he did.

And remember, it was pretty heavily backloaded, and really there was one gigantic game, and then a couple of pretty good games. So I don't feel... If I go into the season with Evan Ingram as my starting tight end, I don't feel great about it. That's not a case where I feel like, okay, the tight end position is set.

I'm going to get good production from it. I'm probably pairing him with a Sam Laporta or Dalton Kincaid to try to get some upside there. And Zay Jones, a wide receiver five probably is where I look at him I don't think there's a huge path to considerable upside there

it's like a Tyler Boyd type situation we've had different opinions on this show about how big of a role Zay Jones will play some people have felt like and this is really the beyond the box score episodes I'm referring to, have felt like Zay Jones is going to be kind of a problem for maybe Ridley and Kirk or maybe just Kirk.

And some people feel like Zay Jones is going to kind of fade into the background now, and Ridley and Kirk will be the two main options. That's mostly how I feel, and I just have to point out, again, I said this earlier this week, I think, Christian Kirk played almost two-thirds of his snaps from the slot. So I do like that for Kirk. I feel like Calvin Ridley is going to be the best outside guy for sure,

and that's going to hurt Zay Jones. And Ridley and Kirk will kind of have their roles. Zay Jones is probably a pretty good number three NFL wide receiver. Yeah. So that's not great for Kirk. Ingram is a good tight end. That's not great for these guys, but I'm just feeling like Ridley, Kirk

have good fantasy seasons. Ingram's a must-start tight end by default, but really a guy who just has some big splash weeks and a lot of frustrating ones. And Zay Jones is a waiver wire guy in certain ways. Yeah, I think if you draft Zay Jones, a must start tight end by default, but really a guy who just has some big splash weeks and a lot of frustrating ones. And Zay Jones is a waiver wire guy. Yeah. I think if you draft Zay Jones,

there's a decent chance you're dropping him by week three. Uh, Kirk, I think there's a, a decent chance that he's like just a guy for fantasy this year that he, he drops back to being like a 110 target guy and becomes much more touchdown and big play dependent than he was last season. And obviously, I think Calvin Ridley

is going to be the big play guy on that offense in addition to being the number one guy. So I could see a situation where Ridley's really the only must-start guy in that offense, not including Travis Etienne and Trevor Lawrence.rence okay here's a

question from ed mccomber if you draft kelsey in round one how significant of an advantage is it to reach for mahomes and stack the the fantasy industry has really gotten obsessed with the idea of stacking and and correlation and this whole idea of like, oh, well, if you look at the schedule in week 17, X team plays Y team and you want those teams on. And it's like that matter that there's a lot of talk in the fantasy industry about these like high stakes tournaments and the puppy bowls and all that stuff. And like that stuff is fun and it matters

for the people who are playing in them. But a lot of the discussion about stacking i i think doesn't matter as much for your standard 12 team season-long leagues you know i think it's an advantage to get kelsey and mahomes because kelsey and mahomes individually are a huge advantage on your competition and maybe there's some value in when Mahomes has these massive games, Kelsey tends to also have big games. There's a big correlation between them. But I think if you want to draft those two guys,

it should be because you want a big edge at tight end and quarterback. And if Mahomes is gone and you have to take Josh Allen, that only slightly lessens the impact of that edge. So, yeah, I'm not going to change my draft strategy to get a stack. But if I'm up in a spot and I have Kelsey and OK, now I want to take a quarterback here. Well, Mahomes is my QB one anyway, but like let's say I had digs or something, you know, would I take Josh Allen over Patrick Mahomes? Would you do that if you had digs or if you had A.J. Brown, would you take Jalen Hurts over the other two?

I think it depends on the specific players. If it's Allen versus Mahomes, I think the gap there is so small that, sure, that's a perfectly reasonable tiebreaker. But if you're talking about, like, should I take A.J. Brown or Stefan Diggs? Well, I think there's a bigger gap there. No, I wasn't talking about that. I guess I was talking from the quarterback perspective, since we all have those top three quarterbacks really close.

If you had A.J. Brown and you got him in round two and Hurts happened to be there, all the quarterbacks happened to be there in round three, would you take Hurts over the other two? No, I have a bigger gap. But I think it's like a mini tier of Mahomes and Allen than a small gap Hurts and then a big gap to the number four quarterback.

I think there is a mini tier between those two guys or those three guys. And I don't think that tier exists in a four-point-per-passing touchdown league. Yeah, I'm projecting for six-point-per-passing. Okay, from Robert Boucher, who has the best sophomore year for running backs? Rashad White, Isaiah Pacheco, James Cook, or Ken Walker?

I'm going to say Kenneth Walker because I don't really like any of the other guys. I think the other guys are all pretty boring. Kenneth Walker is, I think, by far the best player among that group. i i think kenneth walker carries at least some bus potential because of the zach charbonnet of it all i think that that the decision to draft zach charbonnet really made me reconsider how i view kenneth walker as both a short-term and long-term prospect because of the stat that we've talked about a lot where his rush yards

over-expected were very healthy. His rush yards over-expected per carry was pretty solid, but his success rate, his per-carry success rate, and his per-carry rush yards over-expected was pretty mediocre. I think it was the rush yards over-expected per carry, or sorry, his rate. I'm not explaining this well. But basically, the rate of his carries that were over-expected

was the second worst in the NFL last season. He had a lot of long runs where he broke big plays and a lot where he just ran into the back of his offensive linemen. And I do think that the decision to draft Zach Charbonnet could reflect a little frustration with that boomer bus style. Josh Miller asks, would you draft Devontae Adams or Garrett Wilson first? As of now, I have Devontae Adams ranked higher.

But if we learn that Jimmy Garoppolo is going to miss time, then it would be probably Garrett Wilson. I was just reading today on ESPN that Garoppolo, all indications are time, then it would be probably Garowals. I was just reading today that on ESPN that Garoppolo, all indications are he should be ready for the start of training camp. So I think if that's the case, it's definitely Adams for me. Yes. From Jesper, what's your favorite draft

slot in a 12-team PPR league? This should be an entire episode, actually. You're welcome. Favorite draft slot in a 12-team PPR league? I think historically the number one pick has the highest win rate, so I'll probably just go with the number one pick.

But this year, I guess you could say fifth, because like I said earlier, I think there's those five players who are legitimate number one picks, so you might as well just get that second pick a little sooner. Slightly different philosophy. I look at round three.

If I were you, I would look at ADP and rankings and look at who you think you're going to get in round three. And when you get to the point where you don't really like the players anymore, like you're going, oh, gosh, I mean, I like Jameer Gibbs, but I don't know, that's a little rich. Or you're saying Najee Harris, DK Metcalf, you know. If you get to that point, you don't want to be there in the first round. Yeah.

You know, it depends. I would say if I'm drafting with normies, I think I want the first pick because I pick earlier in the third round and that might be the only chance I have to end up with two high end position

players plus a quarterback. If I'm drafting with you guys, quarterbacks, one of the elite quarterbacks tends to still be there at like 30 overall. That's true. And so, you know, that's changing. We're getting a little more QB aggressive. I think one of the drafts we did, seven went in the first 43 picks, which was wild.

But yeah, I want one of the drafts we did seven went in the first 43 picks, which was wild. But yeah, I want one of the high end quarterbacks, one of that, that big three plus two other high end position players. So that would make the case for number one overall, I think. it seems like everyone has a top six of three wide receivers, McCaffrey, Eckler, and Kelsey. So you can say six is a good spot. But I think my point is just think about your third round pick when you make this decision. Because it always seems in fantasy football, there's just a huge drop off at some point in the third round and guys that you're just not really jazzed about. How about from Ma?

Which running back do you prefer in dallas besides tony pollard uh right now i think it has to be malik davis i think deuce vaughn is an interesting player but he's just he's so itty bitty and there's just aren't a lot of there's not much of a trade it's basically darren spouls, right? It's like the only guy that small. Actually, Darren Sprouls was bigger than Deuce Vaughn. Deuce Vaughn's like five, six. So I just, it's hard to project that kind of role.

We'll see though. You know, do they add another running back? Then it'll be whoever that is. But right now I think it's Malik Davis. And finally from Scott Russin, do I keep grilled burgers in the first round or baked burgers in the eighth round?

This is so like, I need, did you broil it no i just baked them i i had three that i had four four meal items okay was it just like beige like how did how did it look it looked no it looked like because like you need like you need to brown the meat. That's like... You need the Maillard reaction to take place and convert the sugar molecules in the meat into whatever that is. Well, listen. You need that...

The browning is the most important thing when it comes to meat. And I just don't know if you can get the brown part. It was brown. I mean, it looked like a freaking burger. It just didn't have char marks on it. I cooked three things in the oven at 400. It just was easier that way. I only have one oven. I boiled the corn on the stove and I put some teriyaki wings in first. And then I put the burgers and the hot dogs in. And they were all at the same temperature. And this is just how I got dinner done.

I was cooking by myself for the party. And they came out really good. I swear, they really were delicious. I'm real skeptical of this. I'm sorry. They were delicious. I'm sorry. I'm skeptical of any method of cooking burgers that doesn't create a lot of smoke.

That's what I would say. I was shocked. i was shocked at how good they were i mean they weren't as good they were not as good as a burger on this on the grill but they were perfectly acceptable and that is what i aim for now here's my music take chris okay okay i really really like the song chemical by post malone like love it. It's a great summer anthem. I do not like Post Malone. I find his whole thing obnoxious.

I haven't heard this song. I have no idea what song you're talking about. But the Sunflower song or whatever from the first Spider-Verse movie, I begrudgingly like that song. So I just, my take is I like that song.

I don't get Post Malone. The image and the music do not match at all. And his lyrics, I feel like he's trying to be really hard. He's got the face tattoos, kind of has to live up to that. But he writes these little pop hits. So he's confusing. I find he's one of those artists where I feel like his popularity is just like,

it's like a big practical joke on me. It's like, this is, this is specifically designed to make me feel out of even more out of touch than I already do as a, as a 35 year old. All right. Well,

let's see how to touch you you are when we come back. We've got the fantasy cops for you on Fantasy Football today. Whether in the game or in life, the right coverage can make all the difference. Securian Canada gives you that coverage. For more than 65 years, Securian Canada has been

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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. We're back, everybody. And we're settling your league disputes. The Fantasy Cops are here. Send us your commissioner issues or whatever league dispute you have. Send them to FantasyFootball at CBSi.com and put put fantasy cops in the subject line here's the dilemma from michael zelensky uh in a suburb of indianapolis that we are not going to guess because we are not dave

uh league format half ppr super flex tight end premium point half point per first down seven keepers i am the commissioner and I traded Brian Robinson, Jordan Love, both of whom will be kept by the other player. Unfortunate for that other player. Well, it's a super flex, so, you know. Sure. Jordan Love. Jordan Love and Brian Robinson.

A 2023 third round pick and a 2024 second round pick for Bijan Robinson. That's an awful trick. The league is in an uproar. Yeah. Normally I ask the party on the perceived losing end of the trade what their thought process was, and if they have conviction without collusion, let it go.

But my vice commish wanted it up for a veto. I put it up for one because it was a steal. And I also talked to the other team who thought it was a 2023 second round pick, we corrected all right so anyway he changed the trade to brian robinson jordan love a 2023 third and a 2023 second um so instead of a 2024 second for bijan robinson uh do i let the league veto this i think this is a win for me but i can also see how adding two keepers to the worst place team and getting two other starters

could be reasonable for the other team. I think it's a win for me. Come on, Michael. Like, come on. It's a win, but it's not... Throw it down. I don't think it's vetoable. If you're going to go up to the rack hard,

don't finger roll it, all right? Dunk. Sean, you know Sean Kemp, you know that one highlight where he like dunks on the guy and then pushes him? Yeah. Do that. If you're going to dunk it, if you're going to hit accept on this trade, don't lay it up.

You know, dunk it. Own it. This is an obviously lopsided trade. You won clearly. There's no question about it. And if the other guy wants to make a bad trade let him make a bad trade you shouldn't veto veto shouldn't be used because one team won that's not how it works all right it should be like if you're gonna veto this you're saying that you don't trust that

guy to run his team and you need to find a new owner for your league yeah i don't think it's quite vetoable it's a bad trade it's a l don't think it's quite vetoable. It's a bad trade. It's a lopsided trade. It's not vetoable. So good stuff there from Chris and the Fantasy Cops. Thank you very much for your submission. I want to read a quick comment from YouTube here. Ever watch a Post Malone fan interaction or interview? He's the sweetest person in all the land. Love him for that.

And Matt continues, says chances of Adam shaking my hand if I met him in public, 5%. Chances of Post Malone shaking my hand and suggesting we take a selfie, 95%. Have you ever been spotted in public, Adam? Is that something that's happened? I have. And how do you react?

I mean, it's great. I enjoy it. I'm pretty sure I shook someone's hand the last time that happened. I don't really like shaking hands. Aldwyn in our YouTube chat is right. Adam definitely gives Monk levels of germaphobe. Monk is one of my favorite shows ever, and that is

part of the reason I do. I don't like germs. I don't love shaking hands, but I will shake your hand if I ever meet you. I also thought the Post Malone covering all that Nirvana was amazing. Very talented guy. I don't really get the face tattoo thing.

All right. Chris, we are, we have a guest coming on. Yeah. He's waiting patiently backstage. So we will get to our Apple podcast questions now, get to our emails later,

and then we'll get to him. All right. Apple podcast question from Ryan in St. Joseph, St. Joseph, Michigan. I am inheriting a team in a 10 PPR,team PPR keeper league. Who should I keep?

Jalen Hurts in the seventh round or Amandre Stevenson in the 14th round? That's a real steep discount for Amandre Stevenson. I think I lean towards Hurts just because he's a bit more of a sure thing, but I could see it going either way. I lean Hurts, though. All right. Next

question from Joe in Detroit or a suburb of Detroit. 10 team, one quarterback, full PPR league, Chase in the 7th or Fields in the 15th? Again, really nice discount for Fields, but just take the best player at a discount.

Jamar Chase. All right. Next Apple podcast question. By the way, thank you all for your five-star reviews. I appreciate it. Finally able to read them. We had a technical issue. Wasn't on our end. From Big Head Charlie, thinking about taking a gamble

and grabbing Bijan Robinson third overall. What do you think? I wouldn't do it, but I'm sure there are people out there who would. And I know this is a generational type talent we've seen that type of player turn into exactly the must start running back we hope they will be but i i just think the the the other things up there are too sure to uh to pass on them like you're passing on one of maffrey, Eckler, or Jefferson. I can't

really see it. Okay, this one comes from Uncle Stinkstonk, of course. 12 team PPR, two keepers. I'm keeping Eckler. Is there any scenario where I should be keeping Jalen Hurts over Stefan Diggs? No.

I mean, I have Diggs ranked about a round higher than Hurts hurt so i don't think so unless there's a a gap in the keeper cost but getting locking in that qb edge can be super valuable and especially in a keeper league where you know at the eight nine spot you might be choosing a quarterback either way like hurts might just be the right pick there, even if you take Diggs, you know? Yeah, I think the scenario is you got to look at everyone else's keepers

and if they're keeping a whole bunch of quarterbacks and well, I'm not really sure because that means they're probably not going to take one in the first round. If you think that the wide, you'll be able to get an elite wide receiver with your pick, you said is going to be eight or nine and can't get an elite quarterback,

then I suppose, but generally speaking, no no you're keeping digs over hurts yep steve and i think the thought there would also just be it's likelier that hurts is there when you're picking at eight nine the digs right steve uh wide receiver versus running back do you take the player with more upside or ceiling or the value what is more more important in your draft? Who has a better chance to win you your league? I think you should always be drafting for ceiling almost exclusively in fantasy football because the roster sizes, the starting lineups are so small

that you need as many edges as you can get. And it's so hard to predict injuries and underperformances that safety doesn't really exist as much as we think it does. So I tend to prioritize ceiling plays over safety nearly all the time. Yeah, I think like that comes into play in the mid rounds with running backs where it's feel like it's kind of safer picks versus higher upside wide receivers which is why we usually gravitate toward wide receivers there and that's why we call it the running back dead zone and all that but that may be going away we have to really take a look more at adp i mean last year was such a bad year for wide receivers it really was um

when you were talking about christian k earlier, talking about how he could be, what did you say, 100 and, what did you say with the targets? 110, something like that, yeah. Yeah, if he has 110 targets from Trevor Lawrence and wide receiver is similar to what it was last year, that's probably still a must-start player. I don't know, you know, I guess what I'm trying to say is if you're comparing running back to wide receiver,

it used to be sort of easy to say, well, the mid-round wide receivers are just better values, have more upside than the mid-round running backs. I'm not sure if that's true anymore. Well, a big part of it was just that for a long time, the RB dead zone was as much about inefficiencies in the marketplace and running backs getting pushed up into the third to sixth round who didn't necessarily deserve it. But I think it's harder and harder to find real edges in every fantasy sport.

Like that's just, this is something because I write about baseball as well. It's just really hard to find consistent market inefficiencies. There aren't true sleepers in the sense of like, this guy should clearly be getting drafted five rounds earlier than he is, but because of whatever he's not, it doesn't really happen anymore. So the drafts are just much harder to exploit in that way. This question is from Justin in Springfield, Missouri. 12-team half PPR,

six point per passing touchdown league. Quarterbacks are way overvalued and most top-tier quarterbacks are either kept or going in the first three rounds. So I have the option to keep Amonra St. Brown in the ninth round or Justin Herbert in the seventh round.

I think Amonra St. Brown's the better player and the better value here and I mean you're you're probably so like if you don't keep Justin Herbert you're probably gonna have to take him in the

first round if you want him right I think that's the way it would probably work out given what he's talking about or the second round right yeah I think you keep him on st brown and try to draft a justin herbert replacement but yeah that's tough knowing the

way your league handles things yeah i think i'd keep st brown from gropp star i'm trying to trade in a dynasty league josh allen for trevor lawrence and pick 1.3. Is that crazy? Give up Allen for Trevor Lawrence and the third pick of the rookie draft. I don't think so, but that's probably JSN. Yeah, I don't love it. Oh, wait, actually, it's a super flex league. So I do like that more

because then I think you've got a 2% chance of B. John Robinson, but probably not. But I think Gibbs. Because he'll have Trevor Lawrence and he'll have Kirk Cousins. So I think you could either get Richardson or Gibbs there. And I think that's worth it.

Yeah, I think that's okay. The gap between Allen and Lawrence, at least for me, is pretty significant. I'm a little lower on Lawrence than I think most people are. So that might be punting like five points per game. But I think it's reasonable if you want a deeper lineup, I guess. This is from VB True T. Okay. Snake draft. IBTrueT. Okay. SnakeDraft,

I'm picking in the 12th spot. I can keep either McCaffrey in the first round, 12th overall, Jacobs in the 4th, Jalen Hurts in the 6th, Ramondre Stevenson in the 7th, Kenneth Walker in the 8th, or Garrett Wilson in the

11th. You can only keep one. Yeah, I'm going with Garrett Wilson. No, I? You can only keep one. Yeah, I'm going with Garrett Wilson. No, I'm keeping Christian McCaffrey. Oh. You're getting a number one pick with the number 12 pick. I get that it's not like

potentially the best value, but I just, this is a situation where the gap between McCaffrey and the number 12 pick is worth keeping. All right. And Rice39 is in a 10-team, 10-keeper

league. What kind of draft pick should I seek for George Kittle? I wish Heath was on here. He thinks about these things more than I do, but I mean, you're looking for a first-round rookie pick, right? This is a 10-team

keeper league. I'm not sure it's even a dynasty league. Yeah, I don't... I don't know. I genuinely don't know how to answer that one. I think George Kittle in a dynasty league is worth a late first pick. Sure. In a keeper league where 10 are being kept, so that's

100 players. Gosh, I mean, a very early pick. 100 players are off the board. Yeah. What are you even looking at here? Kittle's got to be one of the best available. Yeah, I think he's a top 100 pick, so I'm not even necessarily sure you're trying to trade him there.

Unless you just can't keep him. Here are some emails. This is from Nick in sturgeon county hey peter cam and the paper boy i don't know that one the paper boy it's a movie you ever heard of paper boy i've heard of it've never seen it. You ever play the video game? I do remember Paperboy, the video game, yes. After listening to Dave yesterday and how happy he was to nail his Darren Waller breakout prediction a few years ago,

wondering what is your favorite or most memorable player you guys predicted would have a breakout season? What is your favorite, aha, summer fantasy prediction moment from the past decade? Oh, boy. That's a tough one off the dome decade oh boy I read this earlier the dome yeah I read this earlier so I did have a couple I sort of called Victor Cruz I remember Tom Coughlin

being very high on him and Philip Lindsay as a rookie actually one of our emailers wrote in and said like watch out for Philip Lindsay and then I watched him in a preseason game and I really liked him and I think it was Royce Freeman I didn't really like that much. Those are two that stood out, Victor Cruz and Philip Lindsay. I'm sure there's one, but I cannot think of one off the top of my head, unfortunately. There haven't been any

for Chris. No, I'm terrible at this. Chase from the Black Squirrel Capital of the World. Which, of course, that would be what, Chris? Montgomery, Alabama. Norwalk, Wisconsin. I drew the fifth pick in my 10-team Superflex League.

Should I stick with quarterback with this pick? Or is this where you would pivot to Justin Jefferson or a running back? Fifth overall in Superflex. I think it depends on how the first four picks go. Presumably, Allen, Mahomes, and Hertz are off the board. overall in super flex i think it depends on how the first four picks go presumably alan mahomes and hertz are off the board and in that case i'm probably fine taking whichever of the best of the non-qbs is there because i think the the gap after that is a little flatter yeah scoring matters here to me if it's non-ppr then no i'm going quarterback if it's full ppr i think

jefferson is certainly in play or or any of those elite players uh if it's non-PPR, then no, I'm going quarterback. If it's full PPR, I think Jefferson is certainly in play or any of those elite players. If it's half PPR, it's kind of in the middle there. Just keep that in mind. This is from Josh in St. Louis. Dear Stan, Ozzie, Bob, and Lou. Are those Cardinals?

St. Louis Cardinals? Musial, Smith, Bob Gibson, Lou. Louis Cardinals? Musial, Smith, Bob Gibson, Lou... Who's Lou? I don't know. How do you not... Like, give me an Albert. Give me an Albert Pujols there, not a Lou. Lou Boudreau, maybe?

Was he a Cardinal? Lou Brock. Lou Brock. All right, Lou Brock. Rank these quarterbacks in a standard scoring league, six point per passing touchdown. Jordan Love, CJ Stroud, Bryce Young. Brock rank these quarterbacks in a standard scoring league, six point per passing touchdown, Jordan, love CJ Stroud,

Bryce young. I do have love just for 2023 ranked higher than the other guys. If we're talking dynasty, then it's, it's young Stroud and love. But I think in 2023 specifically, it'd be love. I have Stroud and young back-to-back,

but I do have Stroud a little higher just because I think there's going to be more passing volume in that offense. But other than that, I think they're right next to each other. Here's an email from Luke Huber. Who are the top five most dominant players for fantasy of all time?

And team name Friday, 2Infinity and Bijan. Not bad. We did this exercise a couple years ago. to infinity and Bijan. Not bad. We did this exercise a couple years ago. We did the best fantasy players of all time. And I think it's LaDainian Tomlinson. Just the length of time for which he dominated and the high high that he reached in,

what was that, 07, 04, something like that. So LaDainian Tomlinson had a six-year stretch where he averaged more than 22 points per game. I don't think he was quite as dominant in a single season as Marshall Falk or Priest Holmes were, but he had a lot more longevity than Holmes. I don't know about Falk. I only went back to 2001 yeah he laden and thompson had that 30 i think it was a 33

touchdown season because he had a couple passing touchdowns that was pretty good um i think mccaffrey's in that discussion i think uh i mean cooper cup is putting himself in that discussion with his past couple of seasons but unfortunately they really aren't because mccaffrey had one year where he averaged about 29 points, then he did it again the next year, but that was only in three games. And then Cup, you're right about Cup if he had done it for a full season last year.

So, Marshall Falk, Rhys Holmes, LaDainian Tomlinson, they were just on another level. Stephen Jackson was close for a year, I think. Calvin Johnson averaged 21 or more points per game in three straight seasons, which doesn't even... The best wide receivers don't even compare

to what those running backs did. They're talking about eight fewer points per game. But Calvin Johnson was wide receiver one, wide receiver one, and wide receiver three per game from 2011 to 2013. Devontae Adams is in that discussion. 21.8, 18, 26, 22, and 20 points per game. But if we're talking wide receivers,

Jerry Rice stands above and beyond. And then the best Randy Moss seasons are probably up there, but he wasn't as consistent. Antonio Brown had a five-season stretch where he finished either wide receiver one or wide receiver two per game every year. 2014 to 2018. And given

his NFL draft capital, Antonio Brown probably ended up being one of the best dynasty picks ever. And then, obviously, Travis Kelsey. I think it's been six straight years as tight end one or two, and five of them he's been tight end one. I think that's what it is.

I think Gronk was probably similar. Yeah. He had an interesting career. You get hurt. He was amazing, but he got a lot of injuries. All right. That's going to do it for our emails, unless I can do this. I can do this really quick here.

Keeper Lee, give me two for Jerry in Montreal. Cup in round one. Pollard in round six, ETN in round six, Walker in round eight. I think I'd go Cup and Pollard. Cup and Pollard, okay. This is from Deacon, from the land of bourbon and horses. Obviously, Chris, that would be?

Tennessee? I don't know. The Shenandoah Valley region? I'm going to go. I think it's Kentucky. Sure. And the 12-team PPR league? Keep two.

Cup in the fourth, yes. Dobbins in the fourth, no. Pollard in the fifth. Hopkins in the seventh. Ramondre Stevenson in the tenth I think it's Cup and Ramondre yeah and he said dear Evelyn

Waymond Joy and Gong Gong that is maybe my favorite movie of all time oh really I love that movie so much I like that movie destroyed me emotionally I watched it in theaters and like the last 45 minutes of everything ever all at once i was just like sobbing it was it was like the most

emotionally affecting movie i've ever seen in my life wow okay i love that movie so much uh that's everything everywhere all at once yes all right check it. Check it out. You'll probably hate it. I'm sure. I have no intention of seeing it, but everyone else should see it. When we come back, we're joined by Lucas Grant, a very generous man who helped us out with St. Jude last year and is going to give us three sleepers

for the 2023 fantasy season. We'll be right back. All right. Draftathon is in full swing right now. More and more things will be up for auction. You can go to tinyurl.com slash FFT donate right now. More and more things will be up for auction. You can go to tinyurl.com slash FFT

donate right now. Let's bring in Lucas. Hey, Lucas, what's going on, man? What's up, guys? Good morning. How you doing? We're doing great. And good morning to you. You're all the way out in California. So California, that's an early wake up. California. Yeah. Yeah. But town

hour north of L.A. Okay. Dave's not here, so we don't have an answer for that one. I figured I'd give it a shot. Stockton? Is that north of L.A.? It is north of L.A., but that's way up there. No, I'm in Santa Barbara.

Okay. I was about to say Santa Barbara, obviously. Yeah, yeah. Lucas, well, thank you for being part of the poker tournament last year. I hope you're going to do it again this year, I would hope. I am planning on it, for sure. That was a great time. Good stuff. Yes, well, thank you for being part of the poker tournament last year. I hope you're going to do it again this year, I would hope. I am planning on it for sure. That was a great time. Good stuff.

Yes, it was. And you've got yourself a guest appearance here on Fantasy Football today. So I asked you to come with three sleepers for the 2023 season. Who's your first sleeper? Okay, so the first one that I went with was Tajay Spears. We could consider him probably more of a late-round dart throw, but I really like him. A buddy at work turned me on to him, got me watching his highlights,

and it's exciting. So, you know, obviously we've got concerns. He's behind King Henry. He's got the knee issue, and they've got a bad offensive line. But he's being drafted, I think, as the RB57. So he's basically free, so why not pick him up? I think there's a lot of upside. Something happens to Henry based on his age

and where all the rankings are of Henry. I think that's kind of baked into his rankings, that we do have concerns that he could take off. So, I mean, watch his highlights. Based on the eye test that I've seen, the guy is explosive. He has great field vision. He clocked a 4.540, but he looks like he runs and plays faster than that. He had some breakaway speed. He could break some arm tackles. And what I really liked is that he demonstrated that he could catch the ball out of the backfield really well. Actually had some shades of CMC that I saw. So I'm stoked with it. And I think even if he,

if King Henry stays healthy, that he could carve himself out, you know, some passing work and, and still provide some value. So I think, you know, taking the late-round dart throw on him might pay off for you. I think it's a great call. You know, they don't have a lot of depth in the backfield, and Hassan Haskins is another guy who's in that backfield in Tennessee and just got into some serious off-field trouble. So Tajay Spears, this guy's coming out of Tulane,

had a huge game against USC in the bowl game, and had the third most averaged 4.58 yards after contact per carry. That was third best in the country. And yeah, I mean, Chris, it makes sense with Derrick Henry, 29 years old, going to be 30 in January. You know who turned 29 last year, people? Melvin Gordon turned 29 last year. Go look at DeMarco Murray.

Go look at LeSean McCoy. Go look at LeSean McCoy. Go look at Melvin Gordon. And their age 28 seasons were pretty good. Their age 29 seasons were terrible. So getting a backup to Derrick Henry is a very good idea, Chris. Yeah, and especially, I mean, he missed significant time two years ago with a foot issue. Last year, he stayed

very healthy. I think he missed one game, but obviously, it's... I think as long as he's healthy, he's going to dominate the workload and, and, you know, Spears is going to be a true handcuff, but there's a, this is one of those lottery tickets, right? This is one of those situations where if Derrick Henry gets hurt in week 15, all right, it probably didn't work out for you drafting TyJ Spears. But if Derrick Henry gets hurt in week two, which is entirely possible, then, you know, it could be a situation where you've got a must start running back on your Tajay Spears. But if Derrick Henry gets hurt in week two, which is entirely possible, then it could be a situation where you've got a must start running back on your hands.

So you've got to be patient. You've got to draft him understanding that this is a guy you're stashing at the end of your bench. But yeah, there's tons of upside there. Who is sleeper number two, Lucas? Okay, so I went with Brandon Cooks. I think people were turned off of him last year for good reason, you know, not a good team, and he just really didn't produce. But right now I think he's going round seven, wide receiver 42. And if you look at his years, I mean, the guy's a perennial top 20 wide receiver.

Now, that's a little bit of Azar statting. I removed three, three of his nine seasons, but out of six of his nine seasons, you know, he's finished with a thousand yards or more and he's finished as the wide receiver 19 or better. Um, so he's just a, he's a number two consistent wide receiver. And I, and I think, um, you know, obviously he's in a much better situation this year. I like Dak. I like the Cowboys offense. It is vastly improved from what he had to deal with last year. I think that wide receiver core with Gallup and Lamb, that there's going to be a lot of difficulty on the defenses,

and they can exploit that. I like Gam. Gam is a good nickname. Gam, that that's a shout out to my buddy from work who actually talked to me about Tajay Spears. So that's why I said that. Okay. Yeah, so I think Cooks, you know, you can grab him as your third or fourth wide receiver.

And I think he can get 1,000 yards and four or five touchdowns. And he can pay dividends as kind of a low-end wide receiver too. And you can get him at000 yards and four or five touchdowns, and he can pay dividends as kind of a low-end water receiver, too, and you can get him at a water receiver four price. Yeah, he's going about 100th overall, Chris, Brandon Cooks. I'll give you the guys going ahead of him. Jackson Smith and Jigba, Gabe Davis, Cortland Sutton,

and then Quentin Johnston right after him, Jamison Williams, Elijah Moore, Michael Thomas. It's a pretty interesting range. I mean, I certainly prefer Gabe Davis, but I think Cooks versus Sutton, Smith and Jigba, Quentin Johnson, Jamison Williams, you know, maybe he's just done and not that good anymore. He's 30, I think.

But if he's not, then he's probably going to beat most of those guys. What do you think? Yeah, I think he's... I'd rather have him than Cortland Sutton for sure. I think the likely outcome is he outscores Jackson Smith and Jigba, Quentin Johnston

and like Jordan Addison is probably going to be pretty similar. Higher passing off, pass volume offense. I think the one concern I have about Dallas is just kind of across the board, a holistic concern is just the switch from Kellen Moore to Mike McCarthy. I think it's going to be a less aggressive offense.

They're going to play a lot slower. So I am dinging Dak Prescott's pass attempts. But yeah, I think Brandon Cooks is a decent bet for 1,000 yards and six touchdowns, which is kind of a quintessential Brandon Cooks season. And that'll make him a low-end wide receiver, too. And I'm not going to give you per game here, but I'll just give you this statistic here, considering Brandon Cook's wide receiver 43.

But from 2019 to 2021, the Cowboys did have two wide receivers finish in the top 27. Cooper and Gallup, Cooper and Lamb, and Lamb and Cooper. So that's two each year. Last year, it did not happen. And then for Mike McCarthy, from 2007, let's see, 13 seasons with Green Bay, Mike McCarthy had two top 24 wide receivers six times and two top 18 wide receivers four times.

So there's good history on those two sides. All right, Lucas, your final sleeper is one that I'm so excited about. This is a young up-and-coming player that people are sleeping on right now. But in all seriousness, I have officially declared myself, I think it was a week ago, the Russell Wilson guy. So you are also the Russell Wilson guy. Yeah. I'm on Russell Wilson this year. Um, I like it and I would be remiss to say I wasn't influenced a bit by that podcast with you and,

uh, and Robert Turbin. I mean, there's something to be said for a former player who, who has, you know, seen what Russell can do knows, um,

how hard he works. And, um, so I, I like him. I tend to try to shoot for these types of later round quarterbacks. Uh, knows how hard he works. And so I like him. I tend to try to shoot for these types of later round quarterbacks. I think I had him going quarterback 17 right now.

So not a whole lot of risk with that. And I think Sean Payton is going to do a lot of really good things for this team. And that's really kind of what I'm going off. I think he's going to bring some new life to the offense he's going to utilize his weapons and we're going to see a closer version of russell wilson uh you know like what we've seen in his in his heyday in seattle um look he's 34 he's not going to run like he used to but uh he's got good playmakers around him judy sutton patrick i really like marvin Mims. Hopefully he can come on and provide some speed and some agility to the team. And I think, you know, look, I think he's got top 10 upside

if everything pans out, and I like that. So that's what I'm going to probably try and target him in some of my leagues this year. I love it. Chris, I love it. It was so weird last season because we're talking about a guy who was consistently, arguably the most efficient quarterback

in the NFL year in and year out. And his touchdown rate basically cut in half last season. If he was just awful in the red zone, if they can turn that around, if Sean Payton can really make that big of a difference, yeah, I think there's plenty of upside for Russell Wilson.

If you're not going to take a high-end quarterback, I think taking Russell Wilson and one other late-round guy makes sense as an approach. Yeah, people... We just got this comment. Or Russ is cooked. Sure. And people think that, and it's possible,

but my favorite thing about it is it's just not going to hurt your fantasy team. He's going so late. It could be your last pick in a lot of leagues. Lucas, so just tell us real quick, like what's your draft? How do you get ready for your fantasy season, basically? Well, I listen to you guys, number one. I listen to you guys.

And then I just do mock drafts, and I just have fun with it. I've got three, um, I do mock drafts. Um, and I just have fun with it. I've got three different leagues. I do mock drafts. And then really what I, what I've, uh, come to realize is that this is supposed to be fun. And I've been doing this for a lot of years and there was years where I would get so pissed. My fantasy team did poorly. And it's like, look, look, we're trying to guess and predict the future. Let's just have fun. Let's draft people that we want to see succeed and people that you believe in. So, um, I just try to trust the gut and, uh, and have fun with it. Good for you, man. It's, it's supposed to be fun and we appreciate it. And thank you for donating to St. Jude and being part of that, uh, last year. And, um, you know,

good luck to you in fantasy this year and you're an excellent guest. Thank you. I appreciate it. Um, just one, one last thing is, is I appreciate, I appreciate the content that you guys put out. It's really, I think, fantastic. All of you guys do a great job with the entertainment, but also the really good information that you guys provide. So from somebody who's just a fantasy football listener, thank you guys for what you do. And I look forward to keep on listening to you guys. Really appreciate that. Thank you so much. Have a great weekend, everybody. We'll talk to you on Monday with another edition of Fantasy Football Today. See you then.