Fantasy Football Today - Mock Draft Review! Can Zero-RB Work? (07/29 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: July 29, 2021

Follow this draft here: https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/football/news/fantasy-football-mock-draft-the-zero-running-back-strategy-in-full-point-ppr-scoring/ Nominate us on PodcastAwards.com! https://www.podcastawards.com/app/signup Some WR trivia to start the show and all of the latest news (4:40)! Deshaun Watson has no restrictions in training camp. Randall Cobb is back with the Packers. Michael Carter worked with the first team. We'll tell you everything you need to know ... Reviewing our 12-team, PPR mock draft. What were the best picks in the draft (15:00)? Why was Darrell Henderson one of the worst picks in the draft (18:25)? What were the difficult decisions we had to make (23:30)? If you really want T.J. Hockenson, Kyle Pitts or Mark Andrews is it OK to reach nearly two rounds for one of them (29:30)? ... We explore Jamey's Zero-RB team (37:15) and see what he could have done differently and if we think it can be a winner. Then we reveal our squads and discuss what worked and didn't (39:40), and we finish with some Fantasy Fill in the Blank (53:00) ... Email us at [e-mail] 'Fantasy Football Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday 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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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. 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 Beck. Well, we did a 12-team PPR mock draft last night, and one of us had the guts to draft four receivers. One, two, three, four. First four picks were wide receivers. How did that team turn out?

You know Dave's first three picks were running backs. How did that team turn out? And so Jamie's here. Dave is here. And king of the auto pick, Dan Schneier is here as well. What happened on Tuesday night, Dan? A lot of auto picks from you. First of all, there were not a lot of auto picks. There was like two.

Let's start by saying that. That's a lot. Second of all, let me just say this. Acer, Acer, Acer, Acer, first of all. You are the actual king of auto picks because we've seen you auto pick i don't know 10 to 25 times throughout this mock season those were my first two of the entire mock season i think you're confusing me with someone i think we know let's just keep the larger sample size frame here all right i'm gonna start you guys off with a trivia question today on the show we will talk about the mock draft we will talk about how our teams

looked what we liked, what we didn't like, some takeaways and advice that we can give to you. Best picks and worst picks, those types of things. We also have some fill-in-the-blank and a lot of news. News on Michael Carter, the Randall Cobb trade, Michael Thomas update, some COVID updates,

those things. Okay, guys, this is not a fantasy-relevant trivia question necessarily, but I think it's fun. There were five wide receivers who led their position with two rushing touchdowns. Five wide receivers last year had two rushing touchdowns. Can

you name them? Curtis Samuel, LaVishka Chenault, or no? No. Is that an auto-pick? Because that was pretty bad. Okay, that was bad. Tyreek?

Yes, Tyreek was correct. Did Devo Samuel play enough games to get one? No, Brandon Ayuk, though. Brandon Ayuk had a couple, right? Yeah, he had two. Oh, there we go. He had three as a rookie, none last year. Three out of five.

We have Ayuk, Tyreek, and Dave, you said, just make sure I don't give away one of the answers. Who did you say? Curtis Samuel. Yeah, Curtis Samuel. Okay, two more. Are they prominent players or are they? Yeah, one of them is probably a fourth-round pick,

and one is, I don't know, maybe a sixth-round pick. Did they give any to Lamb? Did they give any to Lamb? No, no Lamb. Oh, Robert Woods. Robert Woods. Lamb had one touchdown. The question was what? Two rushing touchdowns for five wide receivers. We have Ayuk,

Tyreek Hill, Curtis Samuel, and Robert Woods. Who's the last one? He only had 16 rushing yards, but he had two rushing touchdowns. I feel like it's that weird guy on the Bills that they gave a couple... Is it Mackenzie? Sixth round pick.

It's definitely not him then. Roughly. I'm going to cheat and look at our draft. He was a rookie last year. It wasn't Judy. He wasn't a sixth round pick. He was a sixth round pick. In the NFL draft, he was a sixth round pick.

No, no. In fantasy drafts, he's going in the sixth round. Oh, I thought you meant the NFL draft. He's actually going in. Was it Pittman? He's actually going in the seventh round. No, it wasn't Pittman. Claypool.

It was Claypool. Claypool. There you go. Okay. Fun trivia question to start the show. The trivia question was actually, can you name them? And the answer to the trivia question was kind of. So good job.

All right, we'll get to the news and notes in just a minute. It is the final week to vote for Fantasy Football Today in the People's Choice Podcast Awards. We really do appreciate everything our listeners do for us. Hopefully we give a lot back to you. And if you wouldn't mind nominating us, it will only take about 60 seconds. Go to podcast

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All right. The NFL is placing no restrictions on Deshaun Watson in camp. How about instead of me flying through the news and notes here, why don't you guys tell me what you think the biggest news items are of the last day or two? Jamie, anything jump to mind? We have the Cobb trade.

We've got the Michael Carter first team stuff, Pup List, COVID List. What's the biggest news for you? Well, I mean, obviously, if you're going to make demands on a team, it's got to be to get one of your best friends to come with you, right? Like, that's obvious what Aaron Rodgers is doing.

He also brought up Jake Kummerow in his press conference today. So who knows if there's a reunion coming there also. The Watson news is the biggest thing. The fact that he's on the field with them. He's been doing some scout team stuff. He's been lining up in the backfield he's been lining up uh on defense it's been a very weird day uh the fact that they're letting him practice is strange because if you're trying to

trade him uh and he gets hurt you're screwed um but the fact that he's even out there you know with uh with his team knowing that he wants to be traded and and the investigation is still ongoing it's uh it's a very very very interesting development and the investigation is still ongoing. It's a very, very, very interesting development. And the other one I think that's also interesting just in terms of personnel stuff is Zach Ertz taking the field with the Eagles too. That's something that I certainly didn't expect to happen. And it sounds like, according to Howie Roseman, the GM, he's going to be with the team.

I think the Lamar Jackson COVID news is interesting. The fact that he's apparently tested positive, not there for the first day of practice. We'll see what that means. Maybe the positive thing that comes out of that, no pun intended, is that if he does have it and he gets sick now, maybe there's a really good chance he doesn't get sick again by the time the season's over because antibodies build up and all that stuff.

So not having him there, not having Zach Wilson with the Jets on their first day of training camp, that seems a little inconvenient for both of those teams, but it's something that can get worked out. I do think that the Michael Carter news, the fact that he opened camp as the number one running back for the Jets is very good news. I'm going to go with a little outside the box one here. I think the fact that Garther Minshew is working with the ones and so it, and ones and twos. And so it was Trevor Lawrence. And according to urban Meyer, that's going to be a pattern quote unquote for a while at training camp. I think that's interesting because I came into this somewhat expecting Lawrence to just

kind of take over right away as that one, um, for a multitude of reasons, but Meyer is a little bit more of that old school version coach. And I'm curious if this could bleed over into like deep into the preseason yeah do you think there's a chance like that Trevor Lawrence isn't ready and that they use Gardner maybe for week one I would think that he's one of the most pro ready quarterback prospects we've had in a while so before you brought that up, Dan, I was just about to say, I was going to bring that up in terms of Michael Carter taking the first reps for the Jets. It's hard to gauge with rookies what they're doing,

what teams are doing, because are the Jaguars making Trevor Lawrence earn the spot? Are they putting Gardner Minshew as the potential starter as trade bait because he still has some trade value? Has Michael Carter already earned the job, you know, for the Jets? You know, is that something that they're going to determine already and let him fail before it make him prove himself, you know, the other side of it. So it's so interesting with rookies and the depth chart and how they sort of get the opportunity or lack thereof to start the process and where that sort

of leads them along the way. But yeah, Trevor Lawrence is the starter for the Jaguars. That's a joke. Sure. And just because today, you know, Minshew took the ones or started with the ones. Lawrence might do it tomorrow just because Carter was with the ones today. Maybe he'll be with the twos tomorrow. Devontae Smith was the first receiver going through drills for the Eagles today. It might be J.J. Ortega-Whiteside tomorrow. It might be JJ or if they go white side tomorrow. So just got to wait and see how things play out.

But if there's a consistent pattern where Carter is consistently with the ones and we see it in the preseason and same thing with Smith working with the ones, then I think we can absolutely take it to the bank that those guys have gotten those roles locked up. The Devante Smith thing is interesting because there was three straight passes, according to reports from Jalen Hurts,

in their red zone drill, end zone drill, and Darius Leigh was following Smith, apparently. And on the first pass, he missed Hurts, missed Smith. On the second pass, they scored a touchdown. Yeah, but in Sirianni, he said that Jalen Hurts is with the

ones for now. Do we get the sense that the Eagles... He said that at one of his initial press conferences also, that he has to earn the job. So, again, it's... Coach speaks posture. We're going to say this a lot. If you have a feeling on a player and you read something

from a beat writer or a report, it's going to only encourage what you believe. If it's the other way, you're going to go that way too. So that's this process for fantasy for fantasy. You know, if you have a conviction on somebody and you hear something good, like every Clyde Edwards-Alaire report for Dan is going to make him so excited that we're going to be hard to contain him. Now, every DeMonte Smith report for you is going to be hard to contain you at. DeMonte Smith. I want no positive reports. Keep that ADP low. That's right. Absolutely. Yeah.

He could definitely rise. Carter could rise. Do you think Carter could rise ahead of, say, Chase Edmonds if they say he's the starter? Without a doubt. Yeah. I think the only way that definitely happens is if, you know, you're hearing more of a competition in Arizona. Because that I think, you know, they of a competition in arizona um because that i think you know they're they're very similar in a lot of ways uh i think how people are going to view them then

it comes down to the team the cardinals are obviously a much better team than that and so you know who has the better chance to put up higher production so i'm already taking carter ahead of edmunds really yeah absolutely yeah they're back-back for me, so I could be swayed, but I think Edmonds' ceiling right now is higher going into the 2021 campaign. Okay, because I did take very seriously the report that the competition in Arizona was really in name only. So if Chase Edmonds is really the starter, I'm going to take, I think most people are going to feel like, well, I'm going to take him over the Jets starting running back,

even if he is an exciting young prospect. Pittsburgh GM Kevin Colbert could be disappointed if Najee Harris would be disappointed if Najee Harris were not a three-down back. Not a huge surprise. We know how the Steelers like to use their running backs. NFL.com saying that Michael Thomas could

start the season on the pup list. If that happens, as soon as he'd be eligible to return is week seven. Which makes sense because they bye is week six. Gus Edwards is on the reserve COVID list. Wait, would that be week seven or week eight? It would be week eight. That's what I thought. I did read

week seven, but I said, but yeah, six games, not six weeks. He wouldn't be back until Tampa Bay in week eight. Right. And I think you've heard me say this a lot, Adam. It's the bye, then it's Seattle, I think, is week seven. That's Seattle. And then it's Tampa Bay in week eight. Right. And I think you've heard me say this a lot, Adam. It's Dubai, then it's Seattle, I think, is week seven. Yeah, that's Seattle. And then it's Tampa Bay and Atlanta back-to-back weeks. So those two division games, I think, would be huge for the Saints.

What else we got? Yeah, Gus Edwards on the COVID list. It's early, so, you know, it's not a huge deal. Hopefully he's feeling fine, obviously. Better now than later. Curtis Samuel on the pup list. That was interesting. He's had, according to ESPN, he's had this lingering,

I think it's a groin injury, since minicamp. So not good that it's still something that's bothering him. But obviously this is the type of thing, as Dan alluded to with Edward Solaire, if you believe in Curtis Samuel and you think he's going to be fine, we find he's going to be fine. These things drive down price and then you get the player you want at a much better value. Well,

what do you guys think about the Randall Cobb trade? Do you think he could be valuable in like a Cole Beasley way? Just a lot of catches, PPR, blah, blah, blah. Yeah.

He would be kind of like at the low end of that concept where he's like 10 PPR points a week is what you're looking for. Five or six and non-PPR. You're looking for him to score a touchdown if you're in a non-PPR, half PPR league. But he could end up being a vampire taking away numbers from everybody else in that offense. He could take targets away from Jones,

Tanya, maybe even Adams. It's definitely from Lazard and Valdez Scantling. So it's, it's probably gonna be a situation that helps Rogers and is a receiver that you can probably find on the way, but I don't see him getting drafted except in like deep PPR leagues. There is no ceiling for Randall Cobb.

There is only a floor. And so he takes away any hope you had. And I know this is probably for you, Adam. Takes away any hope for Mario Rogers for year one. Yeah, that's bummer. Anything for what Lazard and Valdez-Scantling were maybe going to do. You know, if you still had a belief in them,

it's going to take touchdowns away from Tunyon, who's not going to get an uptick in targets because why would you? I don't think it hurts Adams or Aaron Jones, to be honest, because those guys are, I think dialed into their roles. Rogers strikes me as somebody,

especially after listening to him today, he wants the Monte Adams to get paid. And so I'm going to guess he's still going to pepper him and pepper him and feed him and feed him and do whatever he can to get him his contract. And I think a lot of people will use Cole Beasley's 2020 to justify a lot of these third receivers on a team. But I don't think it works for most of these teams because the Bills were one of the most pass heavy offense in the NFL to the point where their offensive coordinator this offseason said, we're not going to look for any kind of balance with the running game. We'll just

want to run better when we run the ball. So I don't really see most of these offenses supporting that third receiver. Okay. Cobb was not bad in 2019 with the Cowboys. He had 828 yards, 55 catches, only three touchdowns. But even in his last few seasons with Green Bay, when Aaron Rodgers was awesome, 2016 and 2018, Rodgers got hurt in 2017. I mean, Cobb wasn't that good.

610 yards in 2016 in 13 games, but still not very good and terrible in nine games in 2018. So he's 31. And yeah, he unfortunately for me, I just I'm not drafting Amari Rogers anymore. I was excited to be right about a rookie wide receiver, you know, keep that streak alive. But oh, well, all right. a rookie wide receiver. Keep that streak alive. Oh, well. All right. It's still a good dynasty hold, though, because depending on what happens. Oh, yeah, sure. Devontae Parker and Preston Williams are on the pup list,

so maybe an opportunity for Jim. Now you know it's training camp. And some others, some offensive linemen. Look, it's training camp. They can come off the pup list whenever they want, basically. If they start the season on the pup list,

then they have to miss at least six games. So let's get to our mock draft from last night. Jamie, Dave, and I had late picks. Dan, you had what, the fourth pick? Yes, I did. Dave had the, oh, he had a middle pick. I'm sorry. He had the seventh pick. I had the 10th pick and Jamie the twelfth pick. And Jamie did go with four wide receivers to start, so we will see how that played out. This was 12 teams, full PPR, start three wide receivers and a flex.

If you looked at the draft, what was the best pick that wasn't yours? Anybody got one? Best pick that wasn't yours? There was one that Best pick that wasn't yours. There was one that stood out to me. What do you got?

I got Justin Herbert going, I think it's 91st overall. Nope, 92nd overall to Scotty Angle. I thought that was really good value. I'm fine taking Herbert as early as round seven. I think he's going to be worth that return in ADP. To get him two rounds after that, that's straight up stone cold stealing by Scottie. All right, Justin Herbert. Dan, Jamie?

Yeah, I think the one for me, and it's going to be the same one in most drafts because I don't see his ADP rising to the point where he's not a value in drafts. It's Antonio Brown, round eight, pick seven by Towers. I just feel like in this wide receiver core there's no guarantee to me that Godwin and Evans are going to get a lot more targets than Brown Brown has a good rapport with Brady they like each other they play well together Brown

could easily be a much better player in year two in Bruce Arian's system just knowing the system better having you know more of his legs under him from having the full offseason so I'll be buying Brown all offseason until his ADP rises, at least a full round more than where it's at right now. Do you know who was picked directly after Antonio Brown? No. Yeah. I was looking at it since I had a pick near it.

I took LaVisca Chanel right after him. I would have rather had Brown and then Marvin Jones. No, I don't mean, I don't mean the wide receivers. I mean the player that was right around the player right after him was Justin Herbert. Yeah.

So you guys went with back-to-back picks with your favorite picks. And actually, my favorite pick was probably in round eight, too. It was Russell Wilson. But so, Jamie, how about you? Do you want to go outside of round eight for the best pick? Yeah, I was just looking at it. Jalen Hurts in round 10.

You know, this is still a quarterback, I think, that has top five upside based on his rushing ability. And, you know, it's so hard to say quarterbacks with our drafts because they go later than most. I don't think Herbert's going that late. I don't think Russell Wilson's going that late. I don't think Jalen Hurts is going that late. But when you talk about where he goes in terms of the quarterbacks, he's going to go, I think, in the mix of those guys,

depending on if you are in the Hurts camp or not. But if he plays to the sample size that he showed us last year in those three and a half starts he could be a four thousand one thousand guy and that's hard to overlook what that type of player can be at that position and he did it with the worst off his offensive line will be there's no way the eagles offense line will be as bad as it was last year unless they all get hurt again which is yeah i guess it's possible disaster dickerson's already on the sideline who landon dickerson there was expected though when they drafted him he was right and jaylen rager had a weird report that there was a real report on on jaylen rager that he was he showed up when they're stretching portion uh in sneakers and so it looked like he was going to

miss practice and then i saw a report that he went and quickly got his cleats on maybe he was dealing with something instead he felt okay i don't know on. Maybe he was dealing with something. Instead, he felt okay. I don't know. But apparently, he was fine at practice. But the receiving core is going to be better. Offensive line is going to be better. He's going to have experience. He's been throwing with these guys. So to your situation that you brought up earlier, Adam,

I think he's the quarterback. I think he's going to have a big season. All right, what's the worst pick in the draft, Dave? Biggest reach. I don't know if I'm prepared. We saw Austin Eckler go sixth overall. That was an auto-pick. So I don't know if that really counts as a reach. No, that was an auto-pick based on

a cue, though. So that was... Chris would have taken Austin Eckler there. Okay, so then I'll say that. I think sixth overall, even in a full PBR, is too soon for Austin Eckler. I think he's got a chance to be very good, provided that he stays healthy. I think he's a good fit for what this offense is, but we don't know if he's going to have that short yardage goal line role

that would theoretically put a cap on how many touchdowns that he scores. And we know that he's been nicked up and has missed time over the past couple of years. If that happens again, that's obviously a major bummer. I'm cool with taking Austin Eckler in the first round of PPR leagues. I just think this was too soon.

I guess I'd push back just to play devil's advocate. Last year when he was healthy, so that was two weeks he left with an injury. Remove those, I know. When he was healthy and playing with Justin Herbert, he was on pace to be RB5, and that was with

a 16-game pace of only four touchdowns. But he was on pace to be RB5, and that was with a 16-game pace of only four touchdowns. But he was on pace for 105 catches. Yeah. But we also have Lombardi coming in, who has a history of, if we're going to go by those Saints days, a history of multiple running backs in his offense. But Eckler's never been a feature back, except for, I'd say, four games.

Right. The four games when Melvin Gordon was out. Right, and he scored four touchdowns in those games. He scored three one-yard touchdowns, two rushing, one receiving. But Lombardi, I mean, Alvin Kamara has 80 catches every year. Right. So I think if it's going to look like the Saints

offense with the short passing game and the running back involved, that'd be a good thing, I think, for Eckler. Dave, he's your number eight player. How far should he go? No, I think he should be in the back half of round one. So he's your number eight player how far should he go no i think he should be i think he should be in the back half of round one so he's in the first half of round one here i can give you another name based on your rankings if if you want if you want another one that i think was even worse it was daryl henderson going 38th overall that one

to me was you know tough that's early round four for henderson i have a hard time taking him in late round four i get it if you want him time taking him in late round four. I get it. If you want him, you want a running back that's got potential to be a good workhorse. He's fine in late round four, I guess. But I thought 38th overall was too soon on Henderson. So the running back that went before him was Chris Carson. That was four picks before Henderson. Henderson started that range of running backs that we don't necessarily feel great about,

but it's Miles Sanders, Josh Jacobs, Travis Etienne, that group. Okay, so Henderson in full PPR going 38th overall. Jamie, how about you? Did you have a worst pick? I gave the instructions before the show. Oh, nobody. I think that's why. I got one. I think that's why I got one. Dave said Eckler.

Cause I got one. If you want to give me a little bit of time here, mine's going to be Josh Jacobs here at, uh, in the fourth round of pick 10, I just really ultimately see next to no ceiling for Josh Jacobs. This is actually a stat from Graham Barfield, but I thought it was a really good one.

He said he was the most game script dependent running back in all of fantasy in raiders wins he had 21.1 fantasy points per game in raiders losses he had 10.3 fantasy points per game that's jacobs and 17 of his 19 career touchdowns have come in wins and i just don't see that raiders team winning many games that defense is still at least one off season away from being competitive derrick Carr is Derek Carr. That offensive line has been on the downward trend and losing their best players via trade, via whatever it may be. So to me, I just see no ceiling with Jacobs, and I ultimately don't see much of a floor. Ten point per game is not much of a floor.

And what you're doing when you're drafting him in round four, even at the end of round four, is you're passing up on some potentially high upside receivers like Brandon Ayuk, who went right after him. And so to me, it's just not a pick I'll ever be making. The dude only had five games with 15 plus PPR points last year. That's when he wasn't sharing that much. And when his offensive line was pretty good.

Now Kenyon Drake's there. I think that's going to take work away from him. And I think the offensive line is still kind of a question mark. It is a question mark, but they were 24th according to Pro Football Focus. So is it going to be worse or is it going to be better? They got rid of names. Did they get rid of better players? That's the question.

Did they replace them with better players? It made arguably the biggest reach in the draft. I don't think they replaced them, but they were very hurt last year too. They made arguably the biggest reach in the draft. That's kind of consistent now from Mike Mayock. I don't think they replaced him, but they were very hurt last year, too. So Incognito's back, right? He's back. That's good. Colton Miller was their best lineman somehow.

The biggest loss is going to be Hudson. Losing him, I think, is the one that they'll regret. Okay. Yeah, it was an interesting pick. You took Miles Sanders one pick before Frank took Josh Jacobs. And I guess Colton Miller played 14 games last year for them, so he only missed a couple of games. How's Danny?

You took Waller over your guy. I'm sorry? Oh, over Clyde Edwards-Alaire? Yeah, I'm big on the get one of the three tight ends if I can get one this year. Jamie, you have a worse pick, or shall we move on? You can move on. Alright, next topic.

All the worst picks were auto picks. What was your toughest decision? How about Dan, you want to kick it off? What was your toughest draft decision? Yeah, so for me it was Miles Sanders in round four, pick nine. At this point of the draft, I'm thinking in these terms, yes, it's a PPR league.

And when I'm taking Sanders here, I'm giving up guys I know can be super helpful in PPR, like Cooper Cup, who I would have drafted otherwise. Brandon Ayuk, not as likely, but Deontay Johnson, another player who was right on my list. But at the time I'm looking at it, I see a big drop off for me at running back. The next running backs taken were Josh Jacobs, Miles Gaskin. I'm trying to see a cream hunt players. I'm just not very high on, and I don't see much of a ceiling on for any of those players besides maybe Gaskin.

So I just felt like I needed to get that third running back in and then I don't have to worry about the position for a while. I don't think I drafted one for another, you know, four to six rounds after that. Cause I had three in place. And it just feels good to have some three players who I can at least project for potentially high workloads it doesn't always work out like that but it was it was definitely a tough call in a ppr league to take this many running backs early okay so you started your team what were your first four picks i had waller uh sanders i started with camara and then my third round pick pick was DeAndre Swift. Okay.

So Kamara, Waller, Swift, Miles Sanders with your first four picks. Correct. All right. Dave, what was your toughest decision? I really don't think I had a really excruciating decision to make. I mean, it's fantasy football. We're drafting. It's all supposed to be fun. But I did have to make a call in round three on David Montgomery versus

Allen Robinson. I already had two running backs. Did I really need a third? Did I want to go over the top there and just stock up on running backs? Or did I want to take a safe producing wide receiver, a guy that should be good for over 15 PPR points per week? I went with the running back. I wanted to have a stockpile of running backs. I think that gives my team a big advantage. And I know that I'll get a downgrade at wide receiver by passing on Allen Robinson, but it wasn't that big of a downgrade. I got Chris Godwin in the next round who doesn't have the upside that

Allen Robinson has obviously, but in a full PPR league, I think he can be pretty steady and pretty consistent. Does he not have the upside because he doesn't, I't think he does unless evans or brown get hurt i just think that there are so many guys in that offense that brady can lean on but what but but there might be at least 15 more touchdown passes that you know he would probably have that offense sure he probably doesn't have four or five four or five more touchdowns in alan robinson which could happen i i guess it could i think it'd be more like at best two more touchdowns than alan robinson but i think robinson could

end up with more catches and certainly more targets and more yards yeah so so did you end up liking the decision montgomery over robinson oh yeah i loved it tell me if you guys buy this alan robinson is the bridge-wide receiver. Remember last year I was talking about I think Aaron Jones is the bridge-running back, whatever. He ended up being better than that. Allen Robinson is the bridge-wide receiver. He goes after the really exciting

group of young wide receivers, A.J. Brown, Jefferson, Metcalf, McLaurin, Keenan Allen in that mix too, not that he's so young. But he goes before Godwin, Cooper, Lamb, the ones that we really like, but we don't know how many targets they're going to get. Robert Woods being that group too. So he is firmly planted as a bridge between two tiers, Allen Robinson.

Buy it, sell it? He could be. I think for me it's hard to separate him and Keenan Allen though. I think they're very similar. They're both going to be high-catch guys. Touchdowns are going to be somewhat of an issue. One had the young quarterback last year. One's going to have the young quarterback this year.

So I kind of have those two kind of married together. So if you want to say they're both the bridge, I can buy into that. But it's almost like you're settling for them in some cases as opposed to targeting them. So if you want to go that route. But I think they're still very good. And you can make a case. As much as I like McLaurin, they're safer than him.

They might be safer than Metcalf as well. So I don't know if I'd put Robinson in that category. I think you're right. I don't think anybody goes in a draft saying, I've got to get Allen Robinson. But if you put Robinson and Allen in the same kind of bubble as mclaurin and i think robert woods belongs in there too uh maybe you target one of those four with a pick in from the middle of round three to maybe if you're lucky if you're lucky early round four and those four make up the bridge to the next tier

and uh basically what are the high-end number two receivers? Okay, Jamie, did you have a toughest decision? I mean, I struggled a little bit with Lamb versus Cooper. And I have Cooper ranked higher, but I took Lamb for two reasons. One, the health situation right now. But two, knowing that I was going to buy into going 0RB, that I wanted the player who has, at least more upside. So I took lamb a week from now that should hopefully be Cooper. He's back or two weeks from now, whenever he's off the populist. But I took lamb as the third receiver

on my team. The other one, and this is just being playing hindsight is I would have taken a tight end sooner. I would have, instead of taking Julio Jones at the start of the fourth round, I would have taken one of Hawkinson, Andrews, or Pitts. You know, just to, you know, probably thinking ahead of Heath is probably going to take Andrews at some point. You're going to probably take Hawkinson at some point. Again, this is knowing who you're drafting with and knowing who the players, people target,

and that Pitts was probably going to go at some point in that range that I should have thought it out a little more and said, give me the tight end a little early, uh, knowing that I wasn't going to, you know, most likely have it now the way it played out was, uh,

all three of those guys went right in front of my pick. So it nearly worked out in my favor. However, um, if I was going to commit to this, I think getting the, the, the security at tight end is,

is a little bit better to go, but a better way to go. All right, let's talk about this. This is, this is important here. So Jamie had the 11th pick, 12th pick. Okay, Jamie had the 12th pick.

His first two picks were Tyreek Hill and Stefan Diggs, right? Third round pick was... CeeDee Lamb and Julio Jones. CeeDee Lamb and Julio Jones. So that was three wide receivers in his flex right there. So now at 60th overall, he was hoping to get one of Andrews, Hawkinson, Pitts. They went 57th, 58th,

and 59th. So he just missed. So you're saying in hindsight that you should have taken, if you had known, none of those three would have been there with your fifth six-round pick, right? That you would have taken one of them at the 3-4 over Julio Jones. I mean,

isn't that reaching for tight end and passing up? Yeah, but again, this is more about knowing your league. And so knowing that you like Hawkinson, Frank likes Hawkinson, I believe. Heath likes Andrews, but he typically goes in that range. Pitts is going to go in that range. That playing it out, I should have realized, I'm most likely not going to get one of those guys. Now, the fact that it all happened right in Galladay, Juju, Cortland Sutton, you know, just in terms of how I have it ranked in, at least by memory, um, as opposed to Julio and what I ended up with that tight end, because I just decided at that point that I wasn't going

to reach for anybody. And then guys just started going different spots that, that I wasn't able to get, uh, Troutman or Irv Smith or, uh, Higby or Higby or, you know, the guys that I like late. So I ended up with Blake Jarwin. So the combination of Julio Jones and Blake Jarwin versus Hawkinson and Galladay, I like the latter obviously better than I do the former. Well, but no, but then— You're not including your next round pick, right? Right, exactly. You can't exactly make that comparison.

Because you didn't use the next pick to get Jarwin. Right, right. No, but I'm saying just,'m saying just in terms of my lineup. Looking at my lineup, that's my tight end. So whoever maybe. You want to throw Dallas Goddard in there if I would have gone tight end, the next guy on my list, or Irv Smith two rounds later. You know what I mean?

But you can't take one of those three tight ends 37th overall. No, you could. That's the point that Jamie's making. And this goes back to Dave's comment about Daryl Henderson being one of the worst picks. As we said during the draft when it happened, it was Mike Miller, a pig fan. What is it? Pig bear jet fan. Pig bear jet fan.

One of our listeners. So for those of you that are going to see the draft, what we do Tuesday nights is if you like our YouTube page, right? Am I saying this correctly? If you, yeah. If you click like on the stream or on the, like on the stream and we get to 100, 200, 300, however many we get to, it could just be Adam drafting with 11 of our listeners at some point.

But if you like our stream, you know, we give you a chance Ben tracker at random picks people to draft with us. And so we had two people drafting with us last night. So Mike picked is the one who picked Daryl Henderson in the fourth round. Or was it late third or early fourth? I forget. Early fourth. He was picking 11th. He was never going to get Daryl Henderson again if he didn't pick him there.

I was never going to get the way it worked out. And again, it was right in front of me. But most likely, I was not going to get those tight ends. So should I have picked those tight ends at that spot? No. But knowing your league is important when you do your draft. Yeah, but even if you know your league, but okay, sorry, even if you know your league and you knew for a fact that you weren't going to get

one of those tight ends, you would have taken Hawkinson 37th overall? Yeah, I think looking back on it last night, you know, and as I wrote the story, I don't think I really decided I was going to do this until the draft started. overall? Yeah, I think looking back on it last night, you know, and as I wrote the story, I don't think I really decided I was going to do this until the draft started. You know, that was going to go, I kind of had an idea. I was going to go receiver receiver, but I didn't know what was going to happen in the third and fourth round. So like, you know, when Dan's talking about miles Sanders, he was somebody I was considering at the three, four turn. Um,

miles Gaskin was somebody I was considering at the three, four turn. Uh, you took Chris Carson, I think two or three picks right in front of me, you so if carson had fallen i would have considered carson so you know those are the guys i i kind of had an idea of what i was going to do i also thought maybe i'd take my homes at that spot you know and if i was going to commit to this if he was uh still available as well but as it unfolded i again hindsight i should have probably said okay i'm going to commit to this is my fourth receiver better than one of my top five or six tight ends? And so that's the, the, the, you know, the bargain you have to, the, the trade off you have to make with yourself. But I think this is also like part of the pitfall of drafting

at 12 is that you're, you're almost resigned to taking value with every pick that you get. You can, you can absolutely go and reach for players if you really want them like if jamie had strong strong conviction on hockinson and he took him at 37 or 36 we would have said all right it's a little early but he really wanted him so that's fine to go get him what i actually think jamie did was perfectly fine that he just he took good value when he was up and he knew look he knew he would find tight ends later on he knew he'd find running backs and quarterbacks later on those receivers it's the greatest collection of receivers anyone's ever done in one of our who, look, he knew he would find tight ends later on. He knew he'd find running backs and quarterbacks later on. Those receivers, it's the greatest collection of receivers anyone's ever done in one of our mocks.

It's awesome. So, yeah, he's going to play from behind at all the other positions. But I think that's what you're stuck doing if you're picking at 12 or 1, is that with those back-to-back turns, you just have to take best available most of the time. And this is the crux in general and we don't need to get into this tangent of snake drafts versus salary cap drafts and why i think they're completely unbalanced snake drafts because when you're stuck in these ends of this

draft you're forced to basically play value or reach but i will say this if you're going to buy into the zero running back strategy like jamie did here and he went all in and you got to buy into the all of it and part of it is that you want to try to win the flex. So by getting Julio Jones, you're not just getting a fourth receiver there or whatever it may be. You're getting, you're beating everyone out at that flex spot. You're getting the best possible flex right there that anyone has in this league. He's going to be the best flex you of anyone league. So to me, I like the pick from that standpoint too, because you're, you're buying into the full zero running back strategy thing. And here I was thinking we were about to get into a cd lamb conversation yeah somehow we went into the a lot here yeah okay so well let's see if zero rb work let's

talk about our teams here and whether or not we like them uh again dan had the fourth pick dave had the seventh pick i had the 10th pick you haven't heard about my team i'll tell you a little bit later it was basically the most is it cookie cutter is you know basic the way if you want to like your team coming out of the draft do what i did drafting 10th and i really like this team so i'm not crapping on it at all uh but i was lucky that zeke fell to 10 so i guess just make sure you don't drop Justin Jefferson in week two. No, but I will drop Amari Rogers. We'll have no problem with that. All right, so we'll take a break.

When we come back, we'll start breaking down our teams and beginning with Jamie's. We'll see how that zero running back strategy played out. We'll be right back on Fantasy Football today. 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. By the way, I forgot to mention this.

This draft story about it is published on the website. The link is in the episode description so you can follow along while we talk about it, or, you know, 30 minutes ago. But let's get into it. Jamie, do you think zero RB worked? Talk about your, your team, give us your squad. I mean, it worked to a certain extent, but you know, this is the type of thing, and he brought this up on the stream last night. It's not going to look pretty because of when you see the running back position, but you have to sort of play it

out to see how it's going to work out because the waiver wire is so important when you go this route. So my quarterback is Lamar Jackson. He was the first player that I took after the four receivers. And then my running back group is, and you know, you're going to make throw up, but it's Devante Williams and Melvin Gordon, Zach Moss, Latavius Murray, Jamal Williams, and Samaj P Ryan. That's not the order I drafted them, but that's the group. So it's the two Broncos guys, Zach Moss, Latavius Murray, Jamal Williams, and Samaj P. Ryan. That's not the order I drafted them, but that's the group. So it's the two Broncos guys, Zach Moss, Latavius Murray, Jamal Williams, and Samaj P. Ryan.

So again, as Dan said, I'm not going to play three running backs. Dave is committed to playing three running backs based on how he drafted. He doesn't have to, but that's the commitment he made early on in his draft. By comparison, I made the commitment to play Julio Jones. And so as long as he's healthy, that's going to be the four guys I play, as well as the wide receiver. I guess that was another tough choice I had, was taking Melvin Gordon over David Johnson or James Conner.

I think Conner might have still been on the board. But I thought at that point I had taken Williams. I think I might have taken Gordon second or I took Zach Moss second. I don't remember. I go back and look. But I was like, let me see if I get one backfield and see how that plays out because I committed to Javante Williams as the first running back that I took in round six. In any event, you know the receivers, Hill, Diggs, Lamb, Jones.

I also took Chaquan Smith and Javante Parker. So if one of those guys hit, I have trade bait. And then Jarwin, unfortunately, is the only tight end that I have. But if he's healthy and right, he can still have some sleeper appeal and was my 14th round selection. Okay. So, you know, obviously running backs are weak, but if he's an injury away, like if Latavius Murray's on his team.

And I think, honestly, a team like that might come down to Lamar Jackson. If your wide receivers are good, and they will be good, maybe not all four, but three of them should be pretty damn good. If Lamar Jackson has another ridiculous year, it really probably won't matter how good your running backs are, as long as they're not horrible. All right, that was the 12th pick. Dan, you had the fourth pick.

Let's hear your squad and if you liked it. Yeah, so with the fourth pick, my squad finalizes this. Ryan Tannehill is my starting quarterback and i think it was one of my better value picks i have alvin camara deandre swift as my starting running backs receivers obviously weak when you have this start and you go darren waller's your tight end in round two but my receivers are adam thielen t higgins odell beckham jr as my starters then obviously i mentioned waller's my starting tight end and then my flex for now will be Miles Sanders.

And then what I tried to do is load up on the bench on receivers with some upside. I think the only one I truly landed with a lot of upside was LaVisha Chennault. You tried to do that, huh? Well, at that point, once you fill out most of your roster with running backs to tight end and a quarterback, it's tough to get too much upside there. But I think Sanders also has some upside, too, there in that Buffalo offense. It's tough to get too much upside there. But I think Sanders also has some upside too there in that Buffalo offense. It's going to be incredibly pass heavy. You have a Sterling Shepard,

Chanel, Emmanuel Sanders, and Tyrell Williams on your bench. Starting lineup again for Dan picking fourth is Tannehill, Camara and Swift, Waller at flex. His wide receivers are no wall or tight end. Sorry.

Well, our tight end is at flex Sanders at flex. His wide receivers are Thielen, Waller at tight end. Sorry, Waller at tight end. Sanders at flex. Sanders at flex. His wide receivers are Thielen, Higgins, and Beckham. So, you know... It feels like there's not an obvious weakness on this roster. Like, you look at Jamie's roster, and of course, to begin the season, the way that he built the team,

you look at the running backs and you go, okay, that's not ideal. I don't think we can look at any one player on Dan's roster and say, that's not ideal. That's not a, that's not something I would want to have in my starting lineup to begin the season. So I think it's a good balanced team. So it's funny to me because I agree with that, that statement, Dave, and on paper, my roster looks better than Jamie's maybe because it looks more balanced, but I would take Jamie's roster over mine right now. This is something I rarely do with these three running backs early. I just felt like it fell into the right spots value-wise where I had to. Kamara in a PPR, Swift with the upside in a PPR

with Lynn there, and then Sanders at that spot. But ultimately for me, like you mentioned before, like, oh, he only needs three of those four receivers to hit. I actually think all four need to hit, and I think they will, but if all four hit, he has such an advantage at that flex spot having Julio there versus everything else we're going to trot out. Even, you know, Miles Sanders is my flex that looks good now,

but when the injuries start to hit it, that running back... Yeah, but I don't know why you say that Miles Sanders can't be better than Julio Jones. Julio Jones is going to a team that historically... I mean, I always forget, four or five years in a row, they're bottom five and pass attempts.

Well, Dan needs Julio to be good because he's got Tannehill. Right. No, I mean, Tannehill's been very good without Julio, you know, and Sanders, if he can reclaim, you know, if he can really stake his claim as the number one running back on the Eagles, he could definitely be better than Julio Jones. But there's more ifs in my mind with players like Sanders and even DeAndre Swift, in my opinion, than there is with somebody like Julio. I know it seems like Julio is a big if, but he's been incredibly productive every game

he's been healthy for for so long now. Yeah, he's amazing. See, I think there's plenty of ifs on Julio Jones, too. And I get that you've it's interesting that you think that Julio is the like the make or break player on Jamie's team. I don't know if that's even the right term i think his team turned out great by getting lamar jackson in round five and that's an example of when you're picking at the end of taking value when it's screaming at you and so having lamar jackson get there at 60th overall i think that's what put his team over the top is one that you would say okay i can

get over this running back weakness that i've got when i've got four great wide receivers and one of the top five quarterbacks who's also like half a running back or maybe like a running back i totally get that it brings up a good i think that's what made Jamie's team good. Like if he ended up with Brady or Rogers or something like that, then I think his team would probably not. But if you go this route, you can't commit to that. You have to commit to getting, I think, either a difference maker, a quarterback, or tight end, if not both. I think you could say that,

but I also think it was about just getting good value. And that's what you did with each of your first five picks, if you ask me. It's kind of what comes down to this whole debate. Are you really focusing on the weakness or the strength of the roster? I think when you go zero running back, you're focusing on the strength. And that also works with the tight end strategy. Why I'm taking someone like Darren Waller at the end of round two, I'm looking to get an advantage at that tight end position. I'm looking to face those lineups, those five to six lineups every week that have the three, the three to six points they're getting from the tight end. They're trying to cycle in based on matchups. I'm trying to beat that by 10 points or something on a weekly basis. All right. So Dave's team is another balanced team.

He went with running backs with his first three picks. And then Chris Godwin in round four, Dan went with running back, tight end, running back, running back. So they both had three running backs in their first four picks. Dave, picking seventh, took Jonathan Taylor. What's the rest of your team look like? I thought you were being a little too generous saying that my team is balanced when my first three picks were running backs. Taylor in round one, Najee Harris in round two,

David Montgomery in round three. Absolutely loved getting those three running backs and stockpiling that position. If all three of them get off to a good start, I could potentially trade one to Jamie and get one of those wide receivers to help out my receiving core, which is Godwin, Chase Claypool, Will Fuller. Obviously can't use Fuller in week one. I've got, I think I've got Marquise Brown on the bench. I do. Tight end is Irv Smith, but I also picked up Janu Smith. Quarterback is Dak Prescott, and that was my example of finding good value

and getting a good deal on a quarterback, and I think that's what puts this team over the top. So I'm a little weak at wide receiver, but I think I'm obviously super strong at running back, and the quarterback being Dak Prescott absolutely helps me have a contending team. I can find wide receivers if I need to later on, but I like my chances with Godwin and Claypool, and Fuller might end up being okay.

Bench. This isn't the order that I drafted them in, but here it is anyway. James Robinson is on my bench. Malcolm Brown is on my bench. I mentioned John U. Smith. Paris Campbell's on my bench. Marquise Brown mentioned him.

Trevor Lawrence on my bench. Really likeise Brown mentioned him. Trevor Lawrence on my bench. Really like my bench. Really, really like this team overall. This is kind of like how I like to build rosters when I go running back heavy. Who has better wide receivers, Dan or Dave? Dave has Godwin, Claypool, Fuller, and Dan, I forgot your number one.

Helan Higgins-Beckham. Helan Higgins-Beckham. Dave does. Yeah, Dave. Say Dave. I'll take Dave in that, too. dan i forgot your number one elin higgins beckham elin higgins dave does yeah dave say dave dave i'll take dave in that too i mean i i drafted waller earlier it's a big reason why i'm considering waller's essentially my wide receiver one in a lot of ways yeah right and if we include tight ends then maybe the the pendulum goes back to dan because of waller being there and you know i'm hoping to catch a little fire with one of the smiths if beckham has any bounce back though then dan's group starting group is is better um because thielen

and higgins is very similar to godwin and claypool on paper going into the season just based on where they stack up on their respective teams the one thing i think that the the route that dan went a little bit at least what i would have done, like knowing that you're receiving core is a little weak, Dave taking two tight ends and two quarterbacks. I would have rather spent at least one of those picks, not both on more receiver depth. Like you say, you're going to find receivers.

That's a little tricky. I think you have a better chance of finding a backup quarterback. Certainly. Sure. And, and, you know, maybe Irv Smith isn't the most secure tight end.

And I think Dan, you also took a backup 10. If I'm looking at Hunter Henry, you know, so taking Ir Smith isn't the most secure tight end. And I think, Dan, you also took a backup tight end if I'm looking at Hunter Henry. Yeah, Hunter Henry. You know, so taking Irv Smith and John Smith is fine. I would have probably spent that other pick on Trevor Lawrence. And almost certainly the pick of Malcolm Brown on two receivers there just to get some, you know, flyers on guys. Lawrence was literally my last pick.

So I don't know what receiver was out there that I could have picked up to change that opinion on my receiver depth. The Malcolm Brown call is a good one. I could have gone receiver there. Malcolm Brown might have made it to my next pick. Might have made it to my last pick. Yeah, as I said last night, Malcolm Brown, to me, it's like Rambo Cobb. There's no ceiling play for him. I think he's more of a floor play.

And you mentioned, Adam, how both Dave's roster looks balanced. My roster looks balanced, my roster looks balanced. I think this is just how it plays out when people draft running always produce how they look on paper right after the draft is completed. I think that's the value in the zero running back strategy. That goes into a deeper discussion on fantasy, but I do think it's always going to look more balanced when you go running backs early. Well, my team, actually, not going to lie,

really love how this turned out, but that's really a lot of it because Ezekiel Elliott fell to me 10th overall. Heath took Devontae Adams 9th. Jonathan Taylor went ahead of him. Who else? Eckler went ahead of him. Who was the 8th pick? The 8th pick was Aaron Jones. So I got Zeke 10th.

And basically, I didn't intentionally do this, but I kind of filled out a starting lineup with my first six picks, and I guess seven. So I have Kyler Murray at quarterback. I have Zeke and Carson at running back. I have Calvin Ridley, Amari Cooper, and Brandon Cooks, I believe was my seventh round pick at wide receiver. And I have TJ Hawkinson.

My flex is a little weak. It's David Johnson, but I'm actually fine with David Johnson as my flex. But I love this team. This is what happens when you go, if you have a late pick, you go running back, combination of two running backs, two wide receivers with your first four picks.

I think you can feel very, you know, you can feel a level of safety there. But Chris Carson is really a big player for me. He is the last running back that I'm really happy to get as my RB2. After that, it's Henderson, and it's Miles Sanders, and it's Jacobs. I definitely could see myself, as the offseason goes along, bringing someone else in that group.

I could see myself being high on Miles Sanders again. But I really like Carson. I know Dave doesn't. You like him even in full-point PPR like this, Adam? Yeah, I do. Last year, he had a role in the passing game. They threw the ball more, and he was part of it. He is, without question, their number one running back.

I don't think he has a lot of competition. He just needs to stay healthy. But Carson has been a very consistent, high-end number two running back. So he's a really important player for me if I have a late pick, if I can get him. Jamie said earlier, if Carson had been available with his pick

36th overall, he would have considered him there 37th overall with the fourth round pick. Yeah, I would have gone three receivers and Carson for sure. I have Murray, Zeke, Carson, Ridley, Cooper, Cooks, Hawkinson, and David Johnson. Top five wide receiver, top five quarterback,

top five tight end, balance of running back and receiver. I think top five running back, NZ. Yeah, this is a team that I feel very comfortable with. I was happy with it. Who'd you take in round five? Was it Hawkinson or Kyler? It was Hawkinson. And then Kyler in round six?

So to me, getting Kyler in round six was the cherry on top. That was awesome. Here's the thing. The toughest pick for me was actually Kyler Murray. At that point, when I took Kyler in round six, I'm assuming Josh Allen was off the board, right? Three quarterbacks had gone. Allen actually went first to Mr. Autopick.

Right. And then Patrick Mahomes was second. I took Lamar Jackson third. He's my third quarterback. And then right after that in the same round was Kyler and Dak. So I knew. I had a long way to go before my seventh round pick.

I knew I wasn't getting Kyler or Dak. Right. I could gamble and see if Wilson lasted. And he did. I pretty sure he did. I could have taken Russell Wilson. So I could have. Which combination do you like better?

Kyler Murray and Brandon Cooks or T. Higgins and Russell Wilson? Who's Brandon Cook's quarterback? Tyra Taylor. Who? I like T. Higgins. I'm not all that high on Cooks. If it's John Watson and Cooks, then I would take Cooks.

No, no, no. I like Taylor and Cooks, and I would take Higgins. No, no. I like Higgins better. I'm saying, do you like the combination of Kyler and Cooks? Yes, I would rather have Kyler and Cooks if the quarterback situation is in his favor. Otherwise, I'd go the other route.

I'm assuming it's going to be Tyrod Taylor. Wouldn't you have hated to have Carson and Wilson, though? No. You'd have been okay with that? I think they're going to be a great offense. I got no problem with that. I also don't know if you can assume right now the Tyrod Taylor thing, because I think the NFL is going to take a while

to rule on that. He may be playing this year, Watson. Well, I don't know if it'll be with the Texans. That's the thing. I don't think it's going to be with the Texans. That's why I didn't react that strongly. If he's playing on the scout team and just standing on the field in a hoodie on the first day of training camp, I don't think they have any intention

of letting him play quarterback. Gotcha. If we think that Deshaun Watson might play for the Texans and Brandon Cooks is the best value in drafts. Yeah. No, Deshaun Watson is the best value in drafts. That's true. That's true.

He might be anyway. Yeah. All right. All right. So there's some different approaches to fantasy football. Hope it was helpful for you. We'll do some fill-in-the-blank to finish the show. See if we have time for emails after that.

But here we go. Quick fill-in-the-blank from Eric Walsh. I will draft my quarterback in a four-point-per-passing touchdown league in round blank. Five or later. Seven or later. Eight or later for me. Let me ask you this, though. Ten or later. Eight or later for me. Let me ask you this, though.

Ten or later. I'm just not trapped in them. You know, if you're a guy who likes to wait, or a girl, who likes to wait for Brady or Rodgers, Herbert, I don't know, wait for him, but when you see a four-point per pass in touchdown league, does that give you actually more urgency to get one of the

mobile quarterbacks? Take quarterback earlier? I'm not reaching. I'm still going to look for at least a fair value for a quarterback, whether they are Konami quarterbacks or not. My guess is most of the top-tier guys will go in the range Dave suggested. So you'll probably see around three or four when Mahomes and Jackson and Kyler and dac and alan those guys probably still go anyway uh it's probably you know then the race becomes for

jalen hurt to be the starter just because he has so much upside in that format um but you know tannahill and and the guys you mentioned adam the non-mobile quarterbacks you know if if you're getting potential 5 000 yard season from brady Brady or Stafford or any of those guys, Rodgers, you'll still be okay. Passing yards are often overlooked in four-point-per-passing touchdown leagues. Touchdowns are often overlooked. What are?

Touchdowns. Yeah, I guess. You mean passing touchdowns? Yeah. Butch asks or says, I'm willing to go blank rounds before I take an RB in my zero RB strategy. I mean, I went five

and I was deciding between Javante Williams and Michael Carter. So that's the group you're looking at here. But I think that's the right approach there, Jamie, because if you're going to go that strategy, that's right around the time you want to go. You want to take one of those upside picks and Carter Williams or maybe if ETN somehow falls. Right now, let's be real, though.

Like if Jamie had a if Chris Carson was there in round three, he might have intended to go zero RB. Is it still zero RB if you take a running back in round three? No, no, no. So like you can call whatever you want like you can start your draft receiver receiver receiver tight end whatever you want to do but you shouldn't purposely ignore the position just in case some someone's there at a good value that you say okay all right abort mission i'll go with a running back after all the other part of this though is you know we're talking about our drafts and we're looking at the nfc adp which are very serious players the casual player will take all the quarterbacks that we've

just mentioned those five guys are going to go probably in the first three rounds so that pushes down chris carson that pushes down david montgomery that pushes down you know uh you know whoever else is in that range that you you may consider pushes down those tight ends uh it's definitely gonna push down those tight ends you know so but i think you got to take that into account so what dave said is accurate you know you go in taking receiver receiver i think as we've seen in most years i i would not be surprised if most of our listener drafts have the option of carson montgomery at the three four turn know, and then that makes your team a little bit different or, you know, Sanders maybe gets pushed up a little bit just because of his

name. Jacobs gets pushed up a little bit because name people take those type of guys just because you know who they are. But the other part of it is, is, um, what I would have done is I wouldn't have been looking at a running back until around seven or eight, because had one of those tight ends fallen, I would have taken a tight end around six, you so i would have gone four receivers quarterback tight end and then back to what dan was saying you want to have an advantage it's not wall or kittle or kelsey but it's that next group that if they hit you know pitts hits andrews hits hockinson hits um then i'm in the mix of tight end difference maker quarterback all those. And is there a huge difference between a Javante Williams, Zach Moss running back situation or a James Connor,

Zach Moss running back situation? There might be, there might not be. And then, you know, it's just, again, you're just stockpiling running backs with the hope that one of those guys hits. All right. Next one from Jeremy Myers. If Jalen Hurts starts all 17 games this season,

Javante Smith finishes as wide receiver blank in PPR. 22. I was going to go a little lower. I was going to say 28. I'm going to go even lower than that. Wide receiver 38. Dude, get out of here. Giants homer. It's not a Giants homer pick.

The assumption is because there's so little competition for volume there is that why it's a guarantee he's in the top 30 there might be more competition now with earth that's what i'm thinking yeah with earth back in the mix and got her and you know they're going to want to run the ball you know they have sirianu throws to a lot of running backs i don't know i don't see that much of a volume ceiling there as i guess everybody else sirianu's never called plays though so right That's true, but he's been part of that offense. I think he's going to take

in a lot of what he learned there. It's funny that we say, oh, he'd be top 24, he'd be top 20. Dave said 28, Jamie said 22. I was going to say 24. We are expecting Jalen Hurts to play 17 games, and nobody

has him rank that high. So, um, okay. Uh, from Richard, if I don't draft Travis, Kelsey,

what's happening. If I don't draft Kelsey Waller or Kittle in the first two rounds, I'm waiting until round blank to take a tight end. So I think this depends on everybody else. For me, I'm going to try to get Pitts or Andrews. I'm off Hawkinson, and I want that to be known throughout the rest of this draft season. I'm off Hawkinson.

That's my one claim to fame. But if I'm not getting either of those two, I'm just waiting entirely at the position, and I'm going to be playing tight end streaming the entire year. I'm okay with Hawkinson. I'd like to get one of those tight ends in the round five to six range. And if I can't get them, then I would do what I did in this draft.

I would wait until the late rounds and grab two young high upside tight ends. If I can get Troutman and Janu, that's probably ideally what I would want. Irv Smith getting in the mix there. I don't mind that either. But something like that. Two tight ends late. Hope one of them hits. Rapid fire to finish the show.

If the Bengals' offense clicks, they will be a top-blank overall offense. Six. Top ten for me. Six is a little better. I think ten is fair. I think Jamie's crazy. I was going to say seven.

From Jorge, Jalen Waddell will finish as a top-blank wide receiver. 45. What was it? 35. I said 45. I'm 40. Jay Darren Darst,

whoever that loser is, Najee Harris will end up as a top-blank running back. In my league, he'll be top 12. Top 12. Darcy's a colleague of ours, probably my favorite colleague. From Battle Hardened, Lamar Jackson will be QB1 if he rushes. Is that a shot at all of us?

What? What did I say? Lamar Jackson will be QB1 if he rushes. We all know Nando's your favorite. Blank touchdowns. I'll read one more time. Lamar Jackson will be QB1 if he rushes for blank touchdowns and throws for blank touchdowns. 50 and 50.

I'll say if he repeats 35 plus at the pass and has in the 6 to 8 range rushing. Yeah. Okay. Yep. I know I told some people I'd read their emails. We'll do it on the Mailbag Show on Friday along with your Apple Podcast questions.

Please vote for us on podcastawards.com and thanks everybody for listening. Very much appreciated for Dave, Jamie, and Schnaier. You've earned it.

You've earned the correct pronunciation. I'm Adam. We'll talk to you tomorrow on Fantasy Football Today. For a limited time, switch to Shopify point of sale, and you could save up to 20% and improve your bottom line. We're so serious about savings, we've made this ad 20% shorter. That means you get six seconds back.

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