Fantasy Football Today - Mock Draft Review! Reacting to Free Agency (03/20 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: March 20, 2024

FOLLOW THE MOCK DRAFT HERE: https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/football/news/post-free-agency-ppr-mock-draft-derrick-henry-selected-higher-than-projected-value-and-more/ Join our Bracket Challenge and get in the Podcast League! https://picks.cbssports.com/college-basketball/ncaa-tournament/bracket/pools/kbxw63b2he4dknjsgq2a====?pool-join-key=39wkhxdq8h3bdf04t65a3zx1j5e05zv7&invited-by=ivxhi4tzhiytkmrugmzdgobz&via-medium=copy&ttag=FF24_lk_cbssports_cbb_bpm_copySetupInvite&sender-role=m5aen7afgbe5rh Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and wherever else you listen to podcasts We completed a 12-team, 3-WR, PPR mock draft reacting to the free agent signings and trades of last week. First, some questions about the "Elite 8" of Fantasy drafts (2:30), updated strategies (4:15), running back value (7:45), when the wide receiver value dries up (9:15) and how to draft if you have a late pick in the first round (13:10). Should you take Jonathan Taylor or Puka Nacua? What are your RB/WR options in Round 2? ... News and notes (20:15) on Mike Williams, Alexander Mattison and Rico Dowdle. Then we get back to the draft! We review Rounds 1 and 2 (26:00), Round 3 (29:30) and Round 4 (36:15). Derrick Henry in Round 2!? When should the quarterbacks and tight ends get drafted? Why is DeVonta Smith seemingly dropping to a lower tier? Did Keenan Allen make the Top 48? ... We review where most of the players affected by free agency were drafted (42:40). This includes guys like Mike Evans, Zay Flowers, D.K. Metcalf, Zack Moss and so many more. Then we go through our teams and roster builds to see what worked and what didn't (52:30) ... Email us at [e-mail] SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 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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This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. What a play! Can you believe this? No, I can't. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races, and he stays on his feet. He's just going to go the distance. Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath.

Oh, man, things were a little crazy in the mock draft yesterday. Derrick Henry in a full PPR league, 21st overall. I think that was a Schneier pick. I hope it was because I definitely want to make fun of him for that. Was that a Schneier? I was going to say you should have Dan on because he had a few controversial picks. Yeah, all right. I'm going to text him right now. We had Cortland Sutton and Jerry Judy. Fire up the toilet,

baby. Cortland Sutton and Jerry Judy went back to back. We had Saquon Barkley and Josh Jacobs going 17th and 20th overall. We still had Rasheed Rice in the second round, the last pick of the second round, 24th overall.

And Calvin Ridley going in the fourth round to Heath, who we mentioned was super high on him. 21st wide receiver off the board. And DeAndre Hopp,

which is lower than Heath has him, right? He has him like 14 or something. Well, just in full disclosure, I was drafting for Heath because he's on vacation. Yeah. But I was going strictly off of his rankings. And so I was like full disclosure, I was drafting for Heath because he's on vacation. Yeah. But I was going strictly

off of his rankings. And so I was like, yeah, I guess I have to. That's three full rounds. Calvin Ridley was pick 4.2, second pick of round four. And Hopkins was the second pick of round seven.

So a three-round difference there. It won't be that drastic, I think, in most drafts. Anyway, I want you to follow along with the draft if you can. If you're listening, as of right now, the story has not been published. Jamie's just been very lazy, not doing anything lately. I don't publish the stories. You're now critiquing our editor.

Have you filed the story? Yes, I filed the story. Okay. So basically, you're throwing our editors under the bus. Good job. It'll be published very soon, probably by the story. Okay. So basically, you're throwing our editors under the bus. Yep, good job. It'll be published very soon, probably by the time you listen. I'm going to put an episode – I'm going to put a link in the episode description that I want you to be able to follow along with the results of the draft. If you're watching, you can see all of it.

We have a spreadsheet up right now, youtube.com slash fantasyfootballtoday. I just want to make clear, when I say he's throwing editors under the bus, he's throwing Schneier. Yeah, of course. Yeah, that's true. Under the bus. So anyway, do we have, okay, here's my first question. It's not necessarily all about the free agency, right?

It is March Madness time, and you got to join our bracket challenge. I'll tell you about that later. But when you look at fantasy drafts right now, do we have an elite eight that could basically go in any order? An elite eight of clear top eight picks? Or do you think it's less than that, more than that? What do you think? I think we have an elite eight. I agree. So the eight in this draft were, in this order, McCaffrey, Tyreek Hill, Brees Hall, CeeDee Lamb, B. John Robinson, Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson to Schaefer, and Amonra St. Brown. Number nine was Jameer Gibbs. Number 10 was Jonathan Taylor. So you think like there's a line there that a St. Brown, for example, in a PPR league should definitely go ahead of Jameer Gibbs? Yes.

And do you think that they more or less could go in any order, except maybe McCaffrey should definitely not go any lower than like, I don't know, three or something? I think the receivers, the top four guys is the most fascinating story for fantasy managers. Now that

free agency is over, we'll see what the draft does. But, I mean, we've been saying for a couple of weeks at least, maybe more, that C.D. Lamb is the number one receiver, maybe since the end of last season. We made the argument that Justin Jefferson could be number one still. And here we have our first mock draft post-free agency, and Tyreek Hill goes first. So those four receivers

in this order was Tyree kill CD lamb, Jamar chase and Justin Jefferson. Uh, I'm, I'm just fascinated by how many different combinations we're going to see of those four guys. And if you want to put St. Brown in there as the fifth, I don't think he will go ahead of any of those other guys. So that's why I don't include him. Cause I think the other four are in the category to be number one. To me, it's the deciding point for fantasy managers if you have a pick in the first seven picks. Okay. Dave, how did your strategy, if at all, how did it change since free agency frenzy last week? You'll remember in the last mock draft that we did that I took two running backs with my first two picks and I came away with a team that I didn't really love. And I told everybody I'm not going to do this again. Yeah. I seem to have a problem. I was honestly, I was, I was laughing to myself, uh, Monday show when you said, I'm going to

embrace zero RB. I mean, some people have really serious problems in their life and I'm, I'm blessed that this is mine because I don't think this problem will necessarily like impact other people in a negative way other than myself. I might only be hurting myself, but that's the advice. The advice, I don't think it's bad advice to say, take the player. You'll like the best when you're up. And that's what I did at every single juncture in this draft. It just so happened that the first two were running backs. I like, listen, we're going to run through our teams. You'll hear my team. I love it. I think

my team was awesome. I feel totally different about this team than prior teams, but I did start RBRB. It was not my strategy going in to say, okay, I'm definitely going to take receiver receiver. Even though I said I was going to do that, but I couldn't help it. Bijan, my highest ranked player when I was up at five. And then spoiler alert, Josh Jacobs fell to late round two. And I liked that guy. I like him in green Bay.

I think that's a good pick. So I did go running back, running back. I went back and thought about why. Well, if I had taken Jefferson Chase or St. Brown first and then another receiver later, how it would have looked out or how my team worked out, I don't think I like it as much. I really do like the idea of just taking the players that I like the best.

It just so happened that these two were running backs at the top. B. John Robinson, fifth overall. Josh Jacobs in round two for Dave. So I texted Dan. Earlier today, I wrote something about Rico Dowdle. We have to talk about him and Mike Williams. There is some news to follow here. Mike Williams going to the Jets.

Rico Dowdle resigning with the Cowboys. He's actually going into his sort of his fifth NFL season. He missed one full season, Rico Dowdle. But yeah, I wrote, if, what did I write? I said, if at Dan Schneier is not, maybe if at Dan Schneier is not busy eating pastrami sandwiches,

he can watch some Rico Dowdle tape. I watched him against the Giants and Eagles, two bad run defenses and thought he looked good. And then I texted Dan and I said, you busy? We're making fun of your crappy picks from yesterday and you can come on and defend yourself. And he wrote, Dan would love to, LOL,

but I can't right now. I would have brought up how you tagged the wrong Dan Schneier on Twitter. Yes, I certainly did. There's more than one? He's Dan Schneier NFL. This one is just at Dan Schneier, and it says account suspended. That was probably his original one.

Yeah, right. He probably got in trouble. I'm going to delete that tweet. All right, anyway, back to the questions here. When did you find the running back value to be good? Because I was just listening back to the last show we did on Monday, and I said, I think I hate running back value to be good because i i was just listening back to the last show we did on monday and i said i think i hate running back and then i was doing this draft and i was like you know what they fell pretty far and here i am in round six and we got james connor tony pollard

nick chubb aaron jones naji harris raheem mostert these are round six picks i was like okay you know what if they're gonna fall then it's, I don't hate running back anymore. It's not so bad. But what, what did you think, uh, Jamie, when did you start to like the running back value?

Uh, I mean, it kind of goes in ebbs and flows. Cause there were some picks earlier on that were like a little cringy. Um, but I, I think for the most part though, it kind of fell in,

in line with how I have it ranked, you know? So to get mixing in round five, I thought that was great. Um, the, the round six and round seven and even round eight running back value, I thought was pretty good, you know, to still get Devin Singletary in round eight, that's, that's very good value, you know, for what he could still potentially become. So, yeah, uh, I liked your Zach Moss pick in round seven. Um,

I thought the fact that, you know, Aaron Jones wasn't overpriced. Tony Pollard certainly was not overpriced. Ramondre Stevenson still at the 7-8 turn was very good. So all those guys I think were very solid picks. And again, not reaches for any of those players, just given what their potential value could be. There's going to be flaws with all of them, but that's why they're falling to those spots.

All right. And Dave, when did you find the wide receiver value dried up? I'm looking at our draft right now. I'm thinking it was going to be right around the midpoint of the draft. So late round seven, like I remember taking Chris Godwin as my third receiver that was in round seven. And I was, I'm fine with him as a wide receiver three and full ppr no questions asked but after that it was jsn christian watson cortland sutton jerry judy jameson williams i i think right around there the wide receivers kind of fall off a cliff 29 31 32 33 34 5 6 it's about wide receiver 40 roughly so that's not bad uh and then yeah yeah i felt i also felt like and you know i'm gonna take i'm gonna take a quick break

on this little cliffhanger here i also felt like after wide receiver one two three four five six seven eight seven maybe maybe seven or eight eight i didn't feel like there was a single wide receiver that that definitely deserved to go in the second round and then of course i had to draft one um so i want to get your thoughts on that we're going to take a break you didn't have to draft one well only a fool goes RBRB in a three-receiver PPR league, and I had taken Jonathan Taylor in the first round. All right, we're going to come right back, but I want to tell you about our bracket challenge. You can go to cbssports.com slash FFT and sign up.

This is it. All right, you got to get your picks in by tomorrow, by tip-off of the first game tomorrow. Join our bracket challenge. I'll put a link in the episode description. If that cbssports.com slash FFT link doesn't work, then go to the one in the episode description. I've been tweeting it as well.

I've been asking everybody else to quote tweet it. I don't think any of you got any, either of you did yesterday. I'm mad at you for that. But I did. Did you? I retweeted it. You retweeted.

I wanted to quote tweet, but that's okay. Anyway, please. I did that at 3.30 in the morning for you, by the way. If you're, if you're, if you win the bracket challenge, you're in the podcast league. And if you don't win, who cares? It's free. You had fun.

You do have to make, if you don't have one already, you have to make a CBS Sports account. It's very simple. Let's take a break and come back with more on fantasy football today. Metro Lynx and Cross Lynx are reminding everyone to be careful as Eglinton Crosststown lrt train testing is in progress please be alert as trains can pass at any time on the tracks remember to follow all traffic signals be careful along our tracks and only make left turns where it's safe to do so

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You can now make the first move or not. With opening moves, you simply choose a question to be automatically sent to your matches. Then sit back and let your matches start the chat. Download Bumble and try it for yourself. So yeah, I took Jonathan Taylor 10th overall and I was sitting there going,

do I take... Yeah, but now looking back, I feel like maybe I should have taken Puka Nakua. I was hoping to get Puka, who I didn't think was realistic, Garrett Wilson or A.J. Brown in round two. After I took Taylor... That's not realistic.

Well, I mean, all it would have taken was one player to get drafted ahead of them that didn't, you know, because they were the last three picks before my next pick. So would you be more comfortable with Puka and Barkley? That's exactly what I was going to say. Yes, I think I would.

Rather than Jonathan Taylor and the guy I took after Kyron Williams, Puka Nakua, Garrett Wilson, and A.J. Brown were off the board, I took Chris Olave. And so who are the wide receivers that went? Olave, DJ Moore, which we think is too early at this point. Nico Collins, Rasheed Rice. Then in round three, Debo, Diggs, Adams, Ayuk, Higgins. I just don't know, guys, that any of them feel like second round picks to me. So that was a little frustrating to me. Olave, I took him there at, what is that, 13th, 15th overall?

Has he done anything to justify that? But I do think he was your highest-rated wide receiver at that point. I feel like if the Texans don't add anyone significant, maybe Nico gets there. But, yeah, I don't know. To me, it's a real weak spot at wide receiver if you don't get one of the top eight or not. I'm sorry. Hill, Lamb, Chase, five, six, seven, eight. If you don't get one of the top eight or not, I'm sorry. Hill, Lamb, Chase, five, six, seven, eight.

If you don't get one of the top eight. It does fall off there. I actually have Nico ranked ahead of Olave. So I think there's, yeah, it kind of lends itself to, you know, and this was something I took away from this because my initial rankings have the three running backs ahead of the receivers because of some of the uncertainty with who's the best out of Lamb, Jefferson, Chase, and Hill. And after seeing it unfold, I think it's more in your interest to take one of those receivers two, three, four, and five because of the running backs that will get pushed back to you at the end of round two, as opposed to looking at the receivers.

Like I was, I was rather lucky to get Nico Collins to fall to me because of how I liked him. I did not want to go running back, running back. So as the draft was unfolding, I, I was shocked that Derek Henry went, but I kind of figured Dave was going to take Josh Jacobs because of just the value that he was, you know, fall into that spot and knowing that he would still go running back, running back. But I was like, oh, I don't know. I don't want to go running back, running back. I really don't want to go that route. And I don't like digs in round two. I certainly do not like them out the Adams, even around three barely. Um, so it was, do I want to take Debo Samuel who was my next ranked wide receiver at that spot in round two or Jacobs.

And I would have probably taken Jacobs. Adam, if you know that you're picking late in round one and there will be one of Kyron Williams, Jonathan Taylor, Josh Jacobs, Saquon Barkley, Travis ETN, let's just say we've got them all in the same tier. You're basically guaranteed that one of them will make it back to you in round two. Unless you have such a strong feeling about one of those running backs,

absolutely take the wide receiver. It's the exact same thinking that Jamie was talking about when you've got those early first-round picks, but this is late round one, and you can almost kind of plot it out. Okay, I'm pretty sure there's only three receivers I like between A.J. Brown, Nakua, Garrett Wilson. Rank them however you want. There's a really good chance if I'm picking a 10th overall,

all three of them will not make it back to me when I'm up again in round two. Maybe a little bit of a chance, but it's like a guarantee with all those running backs. It's a guarantee that one of them will make it back to you. So unless you specifically want to start running back, running back, like that's your plan going in, I would have taken one of the wide receivers first, knowing that you'd be able to get a good running back around to have one of each after your first two picks. I think that's what the majority of fantasy managers are going to accept when

they draft this year, having one of each after around two. Yeah. So let, so I'll ask you after those elite eight, which start do you like better? Right? So the elite eight again was start do you like better, right? So the elite eight again was McCaffrey in some order. This was the order, but it doesn't have to be this order. McCaffrey, Tyreek Hill, Brees Hall, CeeDee Lamb,

Bijan Robinson, Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson, Amonra St. Brown. Yeah, so after that, you had three straight running backs. Jameer Gibbs, Jonathan Taylor, Kyron Williams, Puka Nakua was the 12th pick of the round. So which start do you like best? Do you like Team 9, Jameer Gibbs, and DJ Moore? Nope. Do you like Team— If it's specifically Moore, no.

Yeah, do you like Team 10, Jonathan Taylor and Chris Olave? That's third for me. That's your team, and I'm not saying no because it's you I'm saying no because no do you like Kyron Williams and AJ Brown or do you like Puka Nakua and Garrett Wilson I would rank it Williams, Brown, Nakua, Wilson

Taylor Olave and Gibbsmore I literally have Williams ahead of Brown, Nakua and Wilson in my rankings just because I think he's got the most shot, the best upside, rather to get to 20 PPR game. Not sure if the other three can do it, but the other three can get you like 18, 17, 18.

Yeah. I mean, it's interesting. Put me down for Kyron Williams and A.J. Brown. Puka Nakua was something like wide receiver 12 per game with Cooper Cup. So there's that. Garrett Wilson, I could say the same thing about him that I say about Olave. He hasn't done it. But we're expecting the leap for sure.

A.J. Brown was not even a top 30 wide receiver the last half of the year per game when Jalen Hurts was terrible and they just added Saquon Barkley. So, I mean, if I'm not taking Taylor there at 10, I guess I'm taking Puka Nakua. Do you guys... I would have as well, yeah. Do you have any doubts about Puka Nakua? I mean, obviously,

there's got to be some level of concern just because he's a one-year wonder, but I think you're looking at a lot of the advanced metrics and a guy entering year two in a great system that just upgraded its offensive line significantly and hopefully will continue to do so in the draft based on some of the mock drafts I've seen so there's a lot to love about Nakua's situation so yes I think he warrants being picked in the back half of round one and if you're, you know, you can obviously nitpick here, him versus all three of those running backs. But again, if you're planning out a strategy, as we've kind

of laid out for you, the strategy is probably best to take the receiver and then hope one of those running backs come back to you in round two. And it's not just, you know, those guys, because it's, it's, you know, Gibbs, Taylor and Kyron. It depends how you feel about Barkley. It depends how you feel about Jacobs. It depends how you feel about Barkley. It depends how you feel about Jacobs. It depends how you feel about Etienne. It depends how you feel about, you know, Devon Etienne, who I'd put right there as well. One of those guys will definitely be available to you. You know, so if you just like that group of guys, and they should be tiered, but if you like those group of guys, then you should take the receiver first. And you can always go receiver, receiver. You know, there's still the likelihood of one of, I would say,

A.J. Brown or Garrett Wilson, because I do think that's where the split starts to go, the fall-off starts to go a little bit. One of those guys might be available to you, too. Okay. So let's take a break from the draft here and go through our news and notes, and then we'll get right back into it, tell you where all the free agents,

and not just the free agents, but the players who are affected by free agency, like an A like a dj moore like keenan allen whatever um free agency and trades were where they went all right so your news and notes the jets signed mike williams to a one-year deal let me tell you this about a soon-to-be 30 year old receiver coming off a torn acl well in his last three seasons, go back to 2021 and remove his partial games. He had two very, very short stints where he did nothing.

And then count only the three games in 2023. You are talking about a guy who has been top 14 per game in non-PPR three straight seasons and anywhere from 10 to 17 per game in full PPR, three straight seasons. He's actually been really, really damn good. And if you look at his ADOT in those three years, it used to be like 14, 16, 17. It's been right around 12 yards each of the last three seasons.

Mike Williams has been very good when he's been on the field over the last three seasons. Dave, does he have anything left in the tank? What do you think about this move for Mike Williams? For the role that he'll play with the Jets? Yes, I think he's got something left in the tank and he can be the clear number two wide receiver, a red zone option for Aaron Rodgers. You know that the target should be accurate. And as long as he holds onto the football, which is not always a guarantee with him, he should be fine. I like that. He'll almost never see double coverage. Teams are going to put their safety over the top of Garrett Wilson more often, certainly on those long passing downs. And I almost view him as like an upgraded version of Alan Lazard and Lazard had some huge numbers

with Aaron Rogers once upon a time. Now it's Mike Williams' turn. Could he be around 12 to 13 PPR points per game? In three games last year before he tore his ACL, he was at 16.7. So if he can get 16.7 last year and off to another hot start, yeah, absolutely. You can pencil him for 13 PPR points per game. And not a lot of people are going to look at Mike Williams and say, oh yeah, I want that. Uh,

because he's, he's burned fantasy managers so badly in the past. So I, I like targeting him as one of those wide receivers that should go close to where that cutoff that we talked about was like right around wide receiver, 38, 40, somewhere in there.

That's where he's going to go. And I like him in that range. Okay. The Raiders signed Alexander Madison. Jamie, Zamir White, down the stretch last year. Zamir White was the number nine running back in PPR. In PPR, not like he was catching a lot of passes, number 12 per game.

Now they bring in Alexander Madison, who in the last two seasons, I think it's 254 carries over the last two seasons for Madison. His longest run is 21 yards. What do you think of the Raiders' backfield? I think Madison's a good backup. I don't expect him to be the starter. It's just a little bit of a knock now on Zamir White because there is somebody that could take him off the field, whether you believe he should come off the field or not. But there is somebody to take him off the field now for whatever amount of touches they'll give

Madison. So he's an upgrade to their backups, but don't anticipate Madison coming in as the starter. It's not one of those situations. So this is a good thing in a lot of cases for Zemir White because there wasn't somebody of significance added. I mean, they could have clearly been aggressive in free agency and brought in somebody to replace Josh Jacobs, but it feels as if they're going with him as their starter. So he's a borderline number two running back, a very good flex, someone that should go in that range that we talked about round six, I think at the earliest. But yeah, very, very capable fantasy option based on what we saw last year. I wouldn't rule out the Raiders drafting a running back on day two.

Yeah, that certainly could still happen. But I mean, I think you're seeing their backfield, you know, sort of look the way that they potentially wanted to look. And again, based on how it looks right now, that's good for Zamir White. And Zamir White was the first pick of round eight in the draft we did yesterday. That was actually, was that before the Madison News? No, Madison News was, I believe, two days ago. Right. Okay.

No, that was after the Madison News. Okay. It was before I did my notes, but it was definitely after the Madison News was, I believe, two days ago. Right, okay. No, that was after the Madison News. Okay, it was before I did my notes, but it was definitely after the Madison News. All right, anyway, let's see. Rico Dowdle re-signing with the Cowboys. What an intriguing situation we have there. Who the heck is going to be their running back? Is this the spot that a rookie goes to

and really climbs up to draft boards? Carolina signed wide receiver David Moore. I wouldn't rule out a very cheap trade for them. Like a Khalil Herbert type of trade. Not that that's going to make anybody excited, but that type of thing where there's a crowded backfield that they could get somebody for next to nothing. What do you think the chances of Rico Daudo

leading the Cowboys in rushing is? I mean, as we see it today, very high. You know, rookie may stink. All right, the Saints signed Chase Young. He's going to have neck surgery. He's going to miss part of training camp. The Browns signed Jerry Judy to a three-year $58 million deal

with $41 million guaranteed. They just acquired him from Denver for a fifth and a sixth round pick and now giving him $41 million guaranteed, Jerry Judy. How about that? Cincinnati signed Trent Brown, offensive tackle. They lost offensive tackle Jonah Williams to the Cardinals. The Lions lost Jonah Jackson, remember, offensive guard. He went to the Rams, right?

Rams, yeah. Right, Jonah, offensive guard. He went to the Rams, right? Rams, yeah. Right? Jonah Jackson? Yeah. And they just signed the Lions signing Kevin Zeitler, former Ravens offensive guard, who's getting up there in age. He's been a good player to a one-year deal. Arizona signed offensive lineman Evan Brown. The

Chargers signed a center, former Panthers center Bradley Bozeman to a one-year deal. The 49ers signed Josh Dobbs. He will be an all-pro in a few years. The Vikings continue to add to their defense. They signed cornerback Shaq Griffin and defensive lineman Jonah Williams. Lions defensive end Romeo Okwara is retiring after eight seasons. And the Seahawks signed defensive tackle Jonathan Hankins. If you might recall, the Cowboys run defense fell to pieces last year when Hankins got hurt. So maybe a nice pickup there for the Seahawks.

Okay, back to the mock draft. And we can go through it, I guess. Let's go through McCaffrey, Hill, Hall, Lamb, Bijon, Chase, Jefferson, St. Brown, Gibbs, Taylor, Kyron, Puka. That's round one. Round two, Garrett Wilson, A.J. Brown, Olave, D.J. Moore. Too early for Moore. Then we have five straight running backs in the middle of round two. Saquon Barkley, Devon A. Chan, Travis Etienne,

Josh Jacobs to Dave, Derek Henry to Schneier. Barkley, A. Chan, Etienne, Jacobs, Henry. Dave, Derek Henry to Schneier. Barkley, A-Chan, ETN, Jacobs, Henry. Dave, is anything wacky there? No, I think this is about the range you would find Barkley, Jacobs, ETN, and A-Chan to go in. I think Henry going late round two. It feels wacky to us. I wouldn't be surprised if this is where his ADP was come August, because people are going to be so excited about his, his potential to score 15 to 20 touchdowns in Baltimore

and have, you know, 80 plus rushing yards in half of his games. He could be really good. He just has to stay healthy. What are, what are the knocks on him? He's not going to catch a ton of passes, and he's 30 years old. And as long as he does, as long as he avoids those two things, if he can make up for the lack of catches

with touchdowns and big runs, and he stays on the field, he'll be worth the pick. He'll be worth this pick. I would just rather take him in late round three or round four. All right, that's Derek Henry we're talking about here. Next three picks to end round two are Nico Collins and then a couple of

chiefs, Isaiah Pacheco and Rasheed Rice. Jamie, given the Marquise Brown addition, first of all, who should the first chief off the board be? Let's see, Kelsey went in round, first pick of round four. But yeah, you got Pacheco and Rice back to

back. Should either of them be in round two? Who should the first chief off the board be? Pacheco. You like him there at 23rd overall? Yeah, I think when you're looking at the range of running backs here, this is where he goes. I would take him over Henry personally, but after the group that we saw before Henry.

So Jacobs, Etienne, H.N., Barkley, he's right after that for me. All right. When should Rasheed Rice go? Here's a guy affected by free agency as they bring in Marquise Brown. Marquise Brown was – oh, I just had it. Where's Marquise Brown in here? Round seven. Round seven.

Yeah. Okay. Early round seven, 7.3. So3 goes over she rice 24th overall too early i mean a little bit but you know again if you're looking at still this was not the biggest i think detractor to his fantasy value in terms of adding marquise brown you know so a guy who's going to stretch the field the guy who's not necessarily going to command a lot of targets he hasn't really done that throughout the course of his career the one season's final year in baltimore where he was a high volume target guy but for the most part not necessarily going to command a lot of targets. He hasn't really done that throughout the course of his career. He had the one season his final year in Baltimore where he was a high volume target guy.

But for the most part, he's going to be the field stretcher that they've that they hoped MVS would be. And so, you know, don't view at least as their current receiving core looks. Marquise Brown is the number one guy. Now, he may end up as that guy if, you know, things change because, you know, Rice entering his second year. Brown's obviously an established guy. Now he may end up as that guy. If you know, things change because you know, rice entering his second year, Brown's obviously an established guy. And if Patrick Mahomes decides to lean on him and they change some of the routes that he runs, then he will be better than Rashi rice. But at this point, I think rice is better suited for a round three pick.

Marquis Brown in round seven is the perfect range for him. Let's go to round three. James cook Rashad white are the first two picks of round three, two running backs, James cook Rashad White are the first two picks of round three, two running backs. James Cook, Rashad White. The rest of the round has eight receivers, a tight end, and one more running back. So after Cook and White, it is Debo Samuel, Stefan Diggs, Devontae Adams, Brandon Ayuk.

And Dave, in that group of four, you've got two 49ers receivers and two older studs coming off bad years. Debo, Diggs, Adams, Ayuk. That's how they went. You took Adams. How would you rank Debo, Diggs, Adams, Ayuk? I have it ranked Diggs, Adams, Debo, Ayuk.

So if all four were available to me, I would not have taken Devonta Adams. I would have gone with Stephon Diggs. Diggs, better quarterback, should see tons of targets just like Adams. And I'm not ready to say that he's all washed up because he had a terrible second half of 2023. But Adams getting Gardner Minshew and seeing what Michael Pittman did with Minshew last year makes me mildly optimistic about Adams. I'm not going to say that this is a bargain.

This is about the range where you should expect a wide receiver over the age of 30 coming off of a down year with a, with a quarterback. That's not, you know, perfect throw into him. This is the range. This is me banking on Devante Adams still being good at what he does without that much of a drop off as far as his explosiveness and still getting double digit targets per game. Notice, by the way, we're 30 picks in. We have not had a tight end or a quarterback come off the board. That will change,

though, with pick 31, where Schaefer takes Sam Laporta, the first tight end off the board. Ken Walker to Joel T. And then we get four wide receivers who, you know, they're pretty different players here. Higgins, Waddle, Pittman, Evans to end round three. So we had Debo, Diggs, Adams, Ayuk, Laporta, Ken Walker. And then we end the round with Higgins, Waddle, Michael Pittman, and Mike Evans. By the way, Jacob, who took Mike Evans, his first three picks

were wide receivers. Puka, Wilson, Evans, and then he went Kelsey. So he basically went zero RB. He didn't take an RB until the last pick of round five. So my goodness, the 60th overall. then he took four straight

running backs montgomery connor remandre is a mere white we'll actually we'll obviously talk about that strategy but um you know jamie higgins waddle pitman and evans do you think they belong in round three late round three 100 you know based on how the uh the receivers go you know this is the uh receivers so it's uh 17 18 19 and 20 you know so that's the range for these guys you know you can certainly debate does calvin ridley belong ahead of them does george pickens belong ahead of them does you know drake london i was gonna ask drake i was gonna ask drake london I feel like you have him there, right? Oh, I definitely have Drake London higher than those guys, but, um, you know, the, just the, the run on, on receivers here, I'm sorry, I skipped around, um, tank Dell and Devante Smith and those guys. Um, you can certainly make a case, you know, that, you know, one is better than the other,

but this is the range of receivers. And again, I think when you're looking at it, maybe, you know, Joe Mixon belongs in this range, you know, of, of running backs. Maybe, you know, you can make Cass Alvin Kamara belongs in this range of running backs, but really this is the receiver value that you're looking at, especially in three receiver league. So, you know, if, if you're looking at, you know, three of the four teams, you mentioned Jacob's team that he went, you know, I wouldn't call it zero RB, but he started with, you know, three receivers in a tight end. The other three teams when a hero RB approach, you know, so this is the type of build you're going to have, you know, taking the best receiver that's off the board. I would also expect at least one,

if not three rookie wide receivers starting to go in this range, late round three into round four, maybe the start of round five. I can only see one. Well, if we're at this range, I think if Neighbors ends up on the Chargers and Harrison ends up on the Cardinals. I'd be very surprised if the Cardinals stayed four. Yeah, maybe.

All right. So anyway, I'd be surprised if, if the Cardinals or chargers stayed for this is, this is where the Vikings are trying to get. Yeah. I, I look at the Cardinals. This has nothing to do with the draft or our mock draft, but I think the Cardinals need a receiver so badly that they shouldn't make

that trade with the Vikings. If they want to get one, that's a loaded receiver class that you can maybe get to, but you can't find one. That's as good as Harrison or neighbors. You also can't get two first round picks as well. So yeah, if they need it that badly,

I'm not, I'm not sure if they do it. The chargers, I could absolutely see doing it. If Harrison is as good, I'm sorry. If Harrison is as good as what everyone thinks, if he's as good as Julio Jones, if he's that good, then they should take him at four.

They should not trade down, I think. Is he that good? We'll find out. All right, we'll also find out who was picked in round four after we take a break. We're not going to have time to go through every round. Zach Brooke is here, one of our producers. He's going to talk about his team. We'll get some thoughts on different strategies

and things like that, but also got to focus on where the free agents went. So we'll do one more round, and then we'll talk about the free agents, and we'll talk about the things that worked and didn't work in this draft, and we'll be right back on FFT. With Smartwater's pure, crisp taste,

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Your game time tastes like Miller time. Learn more at MillerLight.ca. Must be legal drinking age. And let's take a look at round four here in this 12-team league. Through 36 picks, we do not have a single quarterback off the board. That's about to change. And we only have one tight end off the board.

That's changing right now. Travis Kelsey is pick 37 overall. He starts out round three, or round four, pardon me. Calvin Ridley is next. Now, this was a Heath pick made by Jamie because Heath's on vacation. And Heath is just very high on Calvin Ridley right now. I was like, man, this couldn't work out any better for Heath. I'm going to give him Travis Kelsey, round four.

I mean, imagine how excited he's going to be. And then Jacob. Yeah, you can't out-chief Jacob Gibbs. You had back-to-back Chiefs fans there, Heath and Jacob. I didn't realize Jacob was a Chiefs fan. Oh, no? No. You really didn't know that? No. Oh, yeah. He's a big Chiefs fans there, Heath and Jacob. I didn't realize Jacob was a Chiefs fan. Oh, no? You really didn't know that?

No. Oh, yeah. He's a big Chiefs fan. They grew up together. Not grew up, grew up together. I think Heath's considerably older than Jacob, but they're both from the Kansas City area. Nice. They probably hung out and rooted for the Chiefs together

at some point in their lives. All right, so Kelsey is 4.1, then Calvin Ridley. And then we have three straight quarterbacks started by me. And I just, I was going to take Trey McBride because I like a top four tight end. But then I was like,

I can't take Trey McBride over Josh Allen. I know position scarcity. I get it. But Josh Allen's Josh Allen. He's been one of the best players in fantasy for three or four straight years. So Josh Allen starts the quarterback run with the third pick of round four.

Lamar Jackson is next. Patrick Mahomes is after that. Spoiler alert, Jalen Hurts did not go into the middle of round five. So Allen, Jackson, Mahomes, and then Drake London is the sixth pick of round four. Jamie, you good? I know you like to wait for quarterback. If you had been on the clock, would you have taken Allen, Jackson, or any quarterback there in round four?

When I selected? If you had been me, I took Allen. Oh, no, I would not. I would not. But I can't fault you for taking the quarterback. I mean, the value for Allen at this point is fine. And again, our drafts go differently. So this is probably two rounds later

than you'll see most of the quarterbacks go. I think we'll see them all going around to this year or the top two or three going around to this year. Dave got an amazing value on, on Jalen hurts. And I think honestly, the only better value was probably me getting Jordan love or you getting Kyler Murray, Kyler, baby, in terms of how those guys can perform based on where their value is. But I mean, to, uh, to, to get what I think is going to end up being the consensus number

two quarterback in, in round five and, you know, 10 picks or so later, then, then, uh, the run on quarterbacks is pretty fantastic for day. All right. So Alan Jackson, Mahomes, Drake, London, then we have Trey McBride tank Dell. I would say he's been a faller since the very end of the season. Since the very end of his season. And I think it might be because

Nico had such a good finish without Dell and then a good playoff game. That might be why. I don't know. This is the lowest he's gone in any of our mocks. He was an early round three pick in January and February. I think it's interesting that Devontae Smith

goes so far after Higgins and Waddell in this draft. Almost a full... You kind of were alluding to this a little bit when you were talking about A.J. Brown, that the addition of Barkley. We've seen Devontae Smith's numbers pop when someone's been missing. Mostly it's been Dallas Goddard the last

two years. Not that he's been bad, but he's been exceptional when the targets have been up, understandably so. And so now you're adding in a better running back, at least based on, you know, I don't want to say name, but based on, you know, probably historic history, um, by comparison to Deandre Swift. So hopefully Barkley changes the offense a little bit for Barkley's perspective, but it's clearly a negative if everybody's healthy with Goddard and A.J. Brown there. So it's understandable why Devontae Smith is falling. Yeah, I think it's interesting that Smith, Jalen Hurts, and Dallas Goddard, I don't know if he fell because of Barkley,

but he was a fairly late pick round 10. Just for a second there. So if you recall in the draft, I backed out the pick when I took, ended up taking Ridley. And I wasn't exactly, you know. For Heath. For Heath.

I'm sorry? Yeah, you took him for Heath, not for you. For Heath. So Heath actually does have Devontae Smith ranked ahead of Calvin Ridley. But I was like, I don't want to give him A.J. Brown and Devontae Smith two rounds apart. I'd be surprised if he had done that. And then you gave Heath Dallas Goddard in round 10.

Well, at that point, it was like that's his highest-rated tight end, but I was like it didn't really matter then. Yeah. All right. Anyway, after Smith, Devontae Smith, we have Alvin Kamara, Amari Cooper, and there's Keenan Allen. 4-12 for Keenan Allen, 48th overall. Yes or no?

We like it? For Allen, he was the 26th receiver off the board. I think I had him 29th. I don't have a problem with it. This is right about where he should go in full PPR. He's right ahead of three other receivers affected some way by what happened last week. Zay Flowers, Jordan Addison, and Christian Kirk.

So I love the way it worked out for me because I ended up with Kamara and Kirk. And I like Kirk better than all four receivers drafted ahead of him. I was debating Kirk in round four just based on how the receiver run was going. But I was like, you know what? I'm going to take Kamara here

because he was my highest rated running back. And I think he still has another majority of a season. I don't know if he'll stay healthy for a full season, but majority of a season of good production. And in terms of PPR, you know, he's still going to be among the top running backs in receptions. And so I was like, let me see how this, this plays out. And so to see Cooper, Allen, Flowers, and Addison, certainly the latter two Flowers and Addison, I like Kirk dramatically better than those two guys. It worked out very, very well for me. I would have probably taken Metcalf if, ifalf if Kirk had gone. I had those guys back

to back, but it worked out as good as I could have hoped based on how that turn went in rounds four and five. Dave, do you like Christian Kirk better than Amari Cooper, Keenan Allen, Zay Flowers, and Jordan Addison also? He's in the middle of that group for me. I'll take Allen and Cooper in some order ahead of Christian Kirk, but Kirk is ahead of Addison and Flowers. Okay. All right. So here's where the... I'm going to call them players

affected by last week. Here's where they went. Some review here. A.J. Brown, 14th. D.J. Moore, 16th. Too early. When should he have gone? I keep saying too early for D.J. Moore. When would you have taken him? A round later. Yep.

Early round three. Like before Debo Samuel? No. I think I'm taking Debo ahead of D.J. Moore. Before T. And it could get worse for D.J. Moore because a ton of people are mocking a receiver to Chicago at nine. That's a team I could see also trading down from nine and taking another wide receiver.

It wouldn't be one of the top three receivers in the draft, but they could end up taking a receiver with a round two pick that they don't currently have right now because they trade down once, maybe even twice. All right, Saquon Barkley, 17, Josh Jacobs, 20, Derek Henry, 21, Rasheed Rice, 24, Mike Evans, 36, Calvin Ridley, second pick of round four, Patrick Mahomes, QB three in round four, behind Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson, Drake London, 4.6, after Calvin Ridley, before Tank Dell and Devante Smith.

Devante Smith, 4.9, Keenan Allenley before tank dell and davante smith davante smith 4.9 keenan allen 12th pick of round four and then in the beginning of round three i just told you zay flowers jordan addison christian kirk and then deandre swift and once you guys are in round five right i'm so sorry round five it's three three players at the beginning of round five was flowers addison and kirk and then back round five was Flowers, Addison, and Kirk. And then, in fact, round five was like a whole bunch of guys affected by what happened in free agency and trades. Flowers, Addison, Kirk, DeAndre Swift, Jalen Hurts, DK Metcalf, Joe Mixon,

George Pickens, and Mark Andrews, as they brought in Derek Henry. I put parentheses, best pick of the draft, Mark Andrews at 5'10". I don't know who took him. Who took him? Who got Mark Andrews? You're going to say you. Oh, it was me.

That's right. It was the best pick of the draft. I was pretty excited about that one. I was looking at it. I was like, okay, I'm going to give Heath Mark Andrews. He loves him so much. I'm like, no, he's not getting past Adam. Yeah, I know because I told you I was going to take Trey Mcs. He loves him so much. I'm like, no, he's not getting past Adam. Yeah, I know.

Because I told you I was going to take Trey McBride in round four. And then a round later, like a long round later, I get Andrews. That was great. But yeah, we had a whole bunch of guys that are relevant. Flowers, Addison, Kirk, Swift, Hertz, Mixon, Pickens, Andrews, all of them in round five. Dave, did that seem like especially good

or especially bad value for any of them? I think just the values will change dramatically by the time we get to August and when everybody's... Who's going to see Jalen Hurts fall in round five in their home leagues? It's never going to happen. So I know drafting with a bunch of other fantasy guys, quarterbacks fall.

I got very lucky to get Jalen Hurts in round five. It's another example of why you just take the best available player as long as you have the need for that player when you're on the clock. But I'm not expecting Hurts to make it to round five. I think he'll end up being like a round three pick in everybody's homies. Here's a question. How many of the players that were taken in round five will move up or down between now and August? I think I can make the case for about half of them to absolutely not be anywhere near round five. Maybe, well, within one round at least.

Yeah, go for it. Who do you think's moving? I think Flowers goes down. I think Addison could go down. Kirk is probably right on in round five. Swift could move down around. Hertz is going to move up. DK will probably end up going in late round four in home leagues.

Cooper Cup, if he's healthy by the time training camp starts, people are going to steam him up a little bit. Nixon could get steamed up. Pickens probably early round five. Andrews will get steamed up into late late round for Javante Williams can fall back around, but he was toward the end of round five anyway. So I,

I almost wonder how high for, I feel like around five will look dramatically different by the time we get to August. Yeah. And I mean, the Jaguars very, very much in play to draft a wide receiver, even in round one.

And I would wonder where, where that would put Christian Kirk, you know, it would move him back. Maybe around. I still think even if they take a receiver that Christian Kirk's going to lead them in targets. All right.

Other players affected by free agency slash trades. Next round, Tony Pollard, 6.2, Aaron Jones, 6.7. Deontay Johnson and Kyle Pitts were also late round six picks. He had Pollard, 6.2. Aaron Jones, 6.7. Deontay Johnson and Kyle Pitts were also late round six picks. You had Pollard, Aaron Jones, Deontay and Kyle Pitts, Jamie.

I mean, again, you know, you're looking at, you know, hopefully some some upside in the case of Deontay Johnson going to be the number one receiver. Clearly for the Panthers as of now, Pitts clearly gets an upgrade with the addition of Kirk Cousins you can make a case Terry McLaurin's impacted because now that they moved on from Sam Howell you know they're getting a quarterback so I don't know how much that factored into somebody drafting McLaurin in this spot or maybe him falling to this spot if you're you know comparing him to some of the receivers ahead of him I would take McLaurin ahead of Flowers and Addison, for example. So, you know, there are clearly some things that play here. Dalton Kincaid also impacted because of the loss of Gabe Davis. You know, again, anytime somebody was missing last year,

Kincaid was fantastic, whether it was Dawson Knox or Davis at the end of the season. So you can make a case. He was, you know, he benefited in some way, shape, or form. So, I mean, a lot of these guys are going to be impacted by something that changed. I don't know if I can go through the whole list here, but let's get to round seven,

because round seven had a bunch of guys impacted. Tell me if these are good values. Round seven for DeAndre Hopkins. It's right where he should be. You know, I don't know if I want to say the round, but certainly the receiver number. He's right in the range of where he should be. In the, you know, I don't know if I want to say the round, but certainly the receiver number, he's right in the range of where he should go. And we're...

He probably falls around into two receiver league. At this point, we're in the mid-70s in terms of overall picks. So Hopkins, Marquise Brown, one pick after Hopkins. Yeah, I was still getting there. I think he should go ahead of hopkins okay late round six is okay for brown austin eckler next pick it's a fine pick at this point it's too early for me chris godwin the next pick to dave fine pick in this point when i was up in round six i took another running back it was was Najee Harris.

I thought it was good value, but I also had a list of like five receivers that I would have been thrilled to get in round seven. And Godwin was pretty close to the top of that list, especially in full PPR. I think, I think he, I think he starts this season strong. I think it'll be healthy another year with Baker. He knows what his role is going to be. I think he's going to be, I think his target volume is going to go up. I'm, I'm kind of excited about getting Godwin in this range, Jackson Smith and jig by the next pick.

Yeah. I mean, you know, you're taking a chance on him being the next, you know, the number two receiver in, in I'll stop saying in, in Seattle. So I don't mind him in this spot. I think it's too soon. I think, I think RJ took him at 78. Maybe there's not a shadow shot of him making it back to RJ and round eight, but there's other players I would have taken ahead of him. They're good running backs that went after JSN. The next wide receivers, though, were Christian Watson,

Cortland Sutton, Jerry Judy, Jamison Williams. So if you're targeting that position, that was already his fourth receiver. Yeah, but all those guys went in round eight. Right, I'm just saying those were the next receivers. I'm saying if you want a receiver there, then it made sense. It wasn't like he reached that receiver. You said there were other players you liked better than him,

which I get. If you wanted a receiver there at JSN, it made sense, but maybe he should have gone with a different position. Tajay Spears is the next pick, and he went 17 picks after Tony Pollard. What do you think? I mean, a little too soon soon just looking at the fact that

zach moss is still on the board or monday stevenson still on the board you know and in the case of thomas's build which i really like i would have preferred a guy that has a little bit more of a guaranteed early season role because i think pollard's going to have a bigger role than spears to start the season so given the fact that he only went with a hero rb approach, and again, I love the strategy. I would have probably leaned a little bit more towards somebody that has, I think a few more guarantee touches. Are you thinking Zach Moss could be one of those guys? Yeah. So I said, you know, the, the three guys that went after Spears, Moss, Stevenson and white, I like those guys slightly better than Spears. Not that Spears is a bad pick. I don't think that's the case at all. I just think given the, the, the setup here and, and what Thomas did,

I would have liked a little bit more of a secure second running back in this spot. All right. Next pick after Spears is Evan Ingram and then Zach Moss. Do they deserve to do it? What's that? Then to a, well,

I was, I'm sorry. I was just doing the, uh, my, I was doing the players affected. Yeah. The players affected. I was just doing the... No, players. I was doing the... Players affected by free. Yeah, the players affected.

You had Ingram and Moss here. Ingram was a great value pick. You know, I would have taken him ahead of Pitts, but that's nitpicking, I guess, if you're looking at just, you know, safety versus upside. Ingram's coming off a 100-catch season and without a guaranteed upgraded number two receiver.

Cause I think Gabe Davis is a downgrade from Calvin Ridley. You know, Ingram should be fantastic once again. And then Moss, like I said, you know, this is a, this is a great value pick for you, Adam, just given the fact that he's going to be the lead runner to start the season, whether he, you know, holds onto the role all year or stays healthy, because that's kind of been the knock on him. Didn't hold onto the job when it was his in Buffalo and, you know, had a basic great five game stretch with the Colts last year, which I think put him in position to get this, this opportunity. And I really love Chase Brown,

but at this point around seven to get, you know, a player of this caliber, the way your build is set up, I don't necessarily love because, you know, you have three running backs and only two receivers in a three receiver league, but the value of Zach Moss, I think is pretty, pretty good. Yeah. We'll talk about our builds. Now we'll go through our teams. And I didn't like the fact that I was pretty weak at receiver, especially because Chris Olabe is my number one receiver, but unfortunately it just didn't fall to me right with the, with the wide receivers.

So I started going to go and best player available. And I do have Josh Allen and Mark Andrews. The Chubb pick is the one that bothers me the most. Yeah, I know. I knew you weren't going to like that. You're super low on Nick Chubb. It's not where he went, though. I think where he went is fine. I think, again, just your build,

knowing that you went quarterback, tight end, and already had one running back and two receivers. You could have taken McLaurin there. You could have taken Deontay Johnson there. You could have taken Jaden Reed there. These guys are low-ceiling plays to me. McLaurin, Deontay, Jader. I don't agree.

Yeah. I think you're taking a 29-year-old running back coming off of major knee surgery. That's not exactly high volume play too. There's more upside, I think, with Chubb personally. But, you know, but... If he's healthy, if he's still the same guy, if, if, if. But also, this is the first time we've done a draft,

you know, since free agency. So if this is the first time we've done a draft since free agency. So if this is going to hold up and I can get Zach Moss or Mondre Stevenson or Zach Zamir-White as my number two running back in late round seven, if I felt more confident in that, then I probably would not have taken Nick Chubb there. I didn't really know how the board was going to play out. So that's why I think that's the purpose of these drafts is to get a better feel.

If I don't take a running back there, then what am I looking at? I wouldn't have wanted to go much later than Zemir White as a number two running back. Then you're in the Jalen Warren territory, Devin Singletary. It's not terrible. Be fair. If Nick Chubb comes back from the

ACL and is back to his old self, how many players have his kind of upside when you get to 60th overall? I don't expect him to be back to his old self, but I do expect him to score touchdowns. That's part of the argument for taking him in round six. Is that when you took him six? Yeah, yes.

Third pick of round six. I think you're unhappy with your team because you. Third pick of round six. All right. So I think, I think you're unhappy with your team because you don't have all stars at wide receiver. Yes. But that's the price you paid by taking Josh Allen and Mark Andrews with two of your first five picks.

Fair. Uh, and I don't regret that. What I regret, I don't know if I regret it when I, it's the old love a pick. I'll tell you, I don't know if I regret it. It's the Olave pick. I'll tell you if you just made one change and left everything else the same. If you had gone Puka.

Yes. Yeah. And still everything the same. So it's Puka, Olave, Waddle, Allen, Andrews, and you commit to zero RB. And then it's Chubb and Zach Moss. That's fantastic. Or even if you take Puka in round one and a different running back in round two, Saquon. Yeah, I like that better.

Then you don't have Olave. You'd like your team a lot better. This is really, for me, a very good exercise of knowing that I really want to come away with a top eight receiver. Unless I'm drafting early, and then if I can take McCaffrey, Brees Hall or Bijan,

then I don't necessarily feel that way. But if I don't get one of those three running backs, I think a top eight receiver is pretty important for me. So I was glad to do this draft. It was helpful. I think we've talked enough about my team, but I'll just give you from the 10 spot. I'll be starting Josh Allen,

Jonathan Taylor and Nick Chubb or Zach Moss at RB2. My starting receivers will be Olave, Jalen Waddell, and Cortland Sutton. This could be okay. Mark Andrews at tight end. I have at flex, I'll have either Zach Moss or Nick Chubb. So I'll be starting both of them. I have Khalil Shakir and Quentin Johnston. I have Tyler Algier, Miles Sanders, Darren Waller on my bench. And my favorite pick may have been Kyler Murray other than Mark Andrews. Kyler Murray. Yes, I have Josh Allen, but Kyler Murray going late in round 11. And the next quarterback off the board was Matthew Stafford.

This is what Jacob did wrong. Jacob at the 12 spot goes Nakua, Garrett Wilson, Mike Evans, Travis Kelsey, three receivers on a tight end. Then Montgomery, Connor, Ramondre, Zamir White. Now he's got no quarterback, but he's got Kelsey. He's got three stud receivers, hopefully. He's got four running backs to choose from. He takes Curtis Samuel. He takes Pop Douglas. He waited and waited and he wanted to take Kyler Murray, and I knew it because I was picking three picks before him or two picks before him.

He wanted to take Kyler Murray with the last pick of round 11. He waited too long. I don't see why he needed to draft Demario Douglas, for example. He could have taken Justin Herbert, Jordan Love, Jared Gold. He could have gotten a player similar to Samuel or Douglas where he took Stafford. Absolutely. So B, wait on quarterback all you want.

Don't go too crazy because guys will take backup quarterbacks before you take your first, and then he didn't get Kyler. Right. There were three managers before him that took backup quarterbacks, you being the last one. So I like Marone's strategy a lot. I just don't like the quarterbacks that he chose. He he waited until rounds 10 and 11 to take jared goff and kirk cousins when he could have taken um kyler one of those two yeah and um uh brandon obviously

took to a tongue of lol way too soon you know given his his build but uh i guess you know jaco was probably looking at it and say, wow, why would Adam take Kyler Murray when he's got Josh Allen? Um, not knowing you, I think like it was either going to be him or Jaleel McLaughlin, who it's a decent, it's a good pick there,

but I just, I think what happens if Josh Allen gets hurt, I'm gonna be pretty happy that I have Kyler Murray. All right. Zach Brooke, one of our producers has been waiting patiently to jump in here. Zach had the first overall pick and he went with Christian McCaffrey, Rasheed Rice, James Cook, Keenan Allen, Zay Flowers, Kyle Pitts, Jaden Reed, Brock Purdy.

His starting lineup will be Purdy at quarterback, Pitts at tight end, McCaffrey and cook at running back and Rishi rice, Keenan Allen, Zay flowers at receiver with probably Jaden Reed at flex. Hello, Zach. Welcome. Appreciate you guys having me. Yeah. What'd you think about your team from the one spot? I mean, when you take, when you're sitting at one Oh you know that second pick's not going to be the best. So kind of leaned on Rice right there. Kind of really wanted Nico Collins, but Jamie snagged him ahead of me. But Rice felt like he's kind of going to be the volume guy next year. Assume Kelsey's role will decline even more in his later years.

And even with the Hollywood Brown signing, I feel like he's just kind of going to be a big play guy i still feel like rice is kind of that short fieldage um target um james cook loved what i saw from him the second half of last year and they really didn't make that many moves on offense and feel like that's just going to continue and especially with josh allen they want him to run less and that's what james cooks can can help you with. Keenan, I was kind of taken by surprise when he was traded to Chicago, but I mean, I feel like every year he has a great year. He kind of falls off a little bit, hoping maybe that doesn't happen. But you feel like he's going to be a big volume guy for whoever they get a quarterback, probably going to beat Caleb Williams.

And then Zay Flowers, expect a big jump from him in year two. Zach, I'm curious with the James Cook pick, why you took him over Diggs or Devontae Adams? I think Diggs' best years are ahead of him. Devontae Adams, I mean, I thought about Devontae Adams. I wonder if Minshew can kind of force feed him sort of like he did Pittman last year. But we don't really know who's going to be in there, a quarterback.

And, I mean, I still think, yeah. You kind of do. I mean, they paid Minshew like who's going to be their quarterback. And, I mean, I still think, yeah. You got to do. I mean, they paid Minshew like he's going to be there. Yeah, they paid Minshew. But, I mean, if Minshew stinks, are they going to go back to O'Connell? Are they going to take somebody? So I was a little bit nervous about that. Plus, yeah, I was contemplating a little bit of maybe –

I don't think Adams is going to get traded. But if he did, maybe. But I don't know. Yeah, I wanted to just kind of go grab my RB2 right then and there. I was going to say, I was going to ask you if that was part of it, too. You just wanted to knock out the RB2 spot and not have to worry about waiting for whoever's left in round five. The 2-3 turn, I think, is where we're going to see a lot of quarterbacks go

because I think we're going to see people kind of struggle with this little bit of a bermuda triangle spot in fantasy drafts because there will be a lot of good running backs there i mean you think about it pacheco will be in this range cook will be in this range white will be in this range and it's hard to pass up one of those guys based on what they still should be able to do going into you know 2024 uh the receivers will kind of be a little bit of no man's land. I don't blame you, Zach. I wouldn't have taken those older receivers there at all in Adams or digs. Um, and so, you know, I, I think what we'll end up seeing most, uh, most drafts, not analyst drafts will be a quarterback coming off the board and not just at the, that spot,

you know, it could be the second pick, it could be the third pick too. You know, this is where I think the quarterback ADP will kind of settle. Yeah. And as someone who's been to the Bermuda triangle, I don't know if anybody else has, but I have, um, why? Cause you can go, I went to Bermuda and they'll take you out on a little boat ride to the Bermuda triangle. Uh, that's a very, I like that. I do like that. Uh, I mean, it doesn't really work from a triangle.

It's not like there's three things there, but I think that's a really good term, Jamie. I'm going to approve that one there. Just some comments about Zach from the chat. Zach is greater than Dan. And that's interesting because Zach relentlessly rips on Dan in the chat every time we draft. And then three people said that Brock Purdy seemed too high.

So you took Purdy with the last pick of round eight. You took him ahead of, after Dak Prescott and CJ Stroud, but ahead of Jordan Love, Jared Goff, Kirk Cousins, Kyler Murray. You want to justify it? Yeah, I really wanted Dak, and then I saw he was gone, and I kind of wasn't paying attention when I think RJ took Stroud. So I was looking for Stroud for like 45 seconds, and then he wasn't there. And I said, all right, Purdy.

Purdy was pretty good last year. They didn't really make that too many moves on offense this year. I feel like it's going to be a lot of McCaffrey again. If Iyuk's there, great. If not, maybe they bring somebody else in, or Jennings takes kind of a leap. But I feel like Purdy in year three is going to kind of take another step, and I kind of like what I saw from him a little bit last year.

And I feel like he's got a little bit of a chip on his shoulder after falling short of the Super Bowl. If you had had the three minutes that might have been necessary for you to find Jordan Love, would you have taken Love over Purdy? I was debating it. I was looking at it a little bit. You've had a day to think about it.

Yeah, I still think I probably would have still gone with Purdy. What happened here? Give me the timeline. You didn't realize that Stroud, you were looking for him? I didn't see him. I kept searching for him, and I'm like, oh, where is he? And I kept looking, and he wasn't there. And I'm literally going through all the pics. I'm like,

did somebody already take him already? And I'm like, oh yeah, he's gone. This is a challenge. I think now that Zach is here, he should tell his Pro Bowl story and what happened to him. Oh yeah, so me and Jamie went out to Orlando for the Pro Bowl. It was a long drive. Not much going on on that road.

No. Flying. There's like a truck stop. I didn't see a single alligator. I was told there was going to be a bunch of alligators. I didn't see a single one. How did you go? Turnpike?

Turnpike? Very boring turnpike. Yeah, turnpike. The way you're describing it sounds like Alligator Alley, I suppose. No, I've been on Alligator Alley. I told you you were going to see an alligator on the turnpike. That's pretty silly. There's like five rest stops along the way.

Yeah, so I went to the rest stop. Stopped over there, got some gas. But no, flying up there, and I'm kind of driving by Disney. I've never been to Disney. It's kind of just like, oh, there's Disney. Get to near the hotel, and there is – apparently they had some U.Ss track and field sort of like uh yeah so every street is blocked off i'm like this is wonderful so i'm turning left and right left

and right finally get there so where's the garage they told me it's underneath the hotel there's no under not underground garage that person was very misinformed i go back over there after a bunch of a bunch of turns i said where it? They said, it's across the street. I said, cool. The one across the street was also close. I go back to the hotel for the third time. And they said, oh, it's next to the parking lot. So I go over there. I pull over there. I'm like, finally, I'm here. I'm good. I'm exhausted. It's like nine o'clock at night. I opened the back of the car. I left my suitcase in Fort Lauderdale. So I strongly debated driving back just to be like, all right, I'd have to leave. I wouldn't get there until like midnight.

I'd have to leave at 4 a.m. and I'm like, you know what? I'm not doing that. I went over to Macy's. I went over to Dick's Sporting Goods. I went there before I checked into my room and I was just living out of the suitcase for two days. So that's awesome. That's awesome, man. Zach, thank you for breaking down your team with us, man. Absolutely. Appreciate you having me.

All right, Jamie had the third pick. His starting lineup is going to be Jordan Love, who he took in round 10, Brees Hall, and Alvin Kamara at running back. Wide receivers are going to be Nico Collins, Debo Samuel, and Christian Kirk with Marquise Brown and Jalen Warren as flex options.

Dalton Kincaid is the tight end. One more time, it's Love at quarterback, Kincaid at tight end, Brees Hall and Alvin Kamara, Nico, Debo, Christian Kirk, and then at flex, Marquise Brown or Jalen Warren. He also has Chase Brown, Elijah Mitchell,

Michael Wilson, Darnell Mooney, and Israel Abinakanda to back up Brees Hall. All right, Jamie, you like this team? Yeah, very much so. Worked out well with, love the running backs. I mean, the fact that Hall and Kamara are starters and Jalen Warren and Chase Brown as a potential flex options. I don't need to play either one of them if I don't want to, but could have the best running back in Pittsburgh, could have the best running back in Cincinnati.

You know, we saw Warren and Harris almost have identical production for the majority of the season until Harris pulled away at the end of the year based on his touchdowns. But we'll see how Arthur Smith uses both these guys. And then Chase Brown could end up being the best running back to the Bengals. If Zach Moss does not pan out, I'm going to try and draft Elijah Mitchell almost everywhere because McCaffrey at 28 coming off a very heavy workload. We know what he could be. If something happens there to the McCaffrey, hopefully not, but just in case, uh, but to get, you know, four receivers like this, um, there's not an, I don't think, um, a top tier guy, because as we said, you know, those kind of dry up after the top, you know, six or seven or eight guys, whatever the number is. But he's in that next group for me, you know, a guy that should be drafted in round two, Nico Collins.

I think Debo Samuel's a borderline top 12 guy and could be amazing if Brandon Ayuk is traded on draft day. And I'm excited about Kirk as well. So Kincaid was great value as he's my number five tight end. I drafted him at tight end six, I believe, after Kittle was taken. And then to get Jordan Love in round 10 is just ridiculous. So I would have been fine if it was Kyler Murray. That was my kind of fallback option, the way the draft was unfolding. But to get Love at that spot is just larceny.

It just goes back to the draft strategy for quarterbacks that I want to use this year, which is you can't believe the value that's staring you in the face and you need a quarterback and you just go and get them. And that's how I felt with Hurts. And I'm sure you felt similarly with Love. Without a doubt. But, you know, five rounds later. Oh, no, I get it.

Why Love over Kyler? You can pretty much pencil in. Let? Oh no, I get it. Why love over Kyler? I, you can pretty much pencil in. Let's, let's pencil in Marvin Harrison to, if Marvin Harrison goes to the Cardinals, would you take Kyler over love? No,

no, I still like love better. Okay. Uh, Dave had the fifth, but they are back to back in my rankings. Nine and 10. Okay.

Dave had the fifth pick and he waited on tight end. He didn't take a tight end until his last two picks rounds, 13 and 14 Dalton Schultz and Pat. Okay. Dave had the fifth pick, and he waited on tight end. He didn't take a tight end until his last two picks, rounds 13 and 14, Dalton Schultz and Pat Fryermuth. Jalen Hurts is his quarterback. Let's put Dalton Schultz at tight end. We've got Bijan Robinson and Josh Jacobs at running back. We've got Devontae Adams, Tank Dell, and Chris Godwin at wide receiver. And our flex will be Najee Harris or maybe Brian Robinson

or maybe Mike Williams or maybe Jacoby Myers. Pretty good depth there. And you've got Kendri Miller and Jalen Hyatt as well. So one more time, the starting lineup for Dave out of the five spot where he took Bijan Robinson will be Jalen Hurts, punted tight end, Dalton Schultz or Pat Frymuth there. Bijan, Josh Jacobs at running back, Devante Adams, Tank Dell, Chris Godwin at receiver,

and then either Nashi Harris, Brian Robinson, Mike Williams, or Jacoby Myers at flex. I like that you have some good flex options there. How do you feel about your team? Love it. I hope I can pull this off on draft day when it matters. But as I've already told you, I think it's pretty unlikely that I'll be able to do it. The one thing that I think I will be able to do is take two running backs with my first two

picks. If these are going to be the running backs, I'll be completely fine with it. We've already run through a bunch of teams that have one good running back and one bad running back or one good running back and some question marks after that. That's even worse. I've got two running backs that I feel comfortable with going into the season as things stand now. I don't see any contract holdouts for either of these guys. I don't think injuries are playing a role for either of these guys right now. I think they're both young enough where they can hold up to a good workload. And I like the teams that they're on. And so they check off a lot of boxes for what you want from the running back position.

And maybe I got a little lucky with some of the wide receivers, Adams, Dell, Godwin. They're not all old guys. In PPR, they all have a role. Dell's got huge upside. I'm really happy with how the team turned out. I just don't know if I'm going to be able to say the same if I draft in August and I take two running backs to start in August. And I already have told you twice now already on the show

that I don't expect Jalen Hurts to make it to round five or even round four. Why did you not take Tyler Algier? You took Kendry Miller in round 11. I took Algier in round 12 with Bijan Robinson as your first pick. Do you regret that? No, because first of all, it's a mock draft, so I don't really care as much. But also, I think there's more upside for Kendri Miller if he becomes a focal point of the Saints offense compared to Algier, who legitimately will need a Bijan injury.

I don't know if the Falcons are going to stick with the two-pronged, three-pronged, if you include Cordero, running back approach, the committee deal that they did with Arthur Smith. I sure as hell hope they don't because I took B. John so early. Well, Patterson's gone. I think it's more the strategy of do you take your own handcuff or somebody else's handcuff? And so, you know, if you're playing, it's not playing scared to say,

I'm banking on an injury. And so taking the handcuff of your own running back, it's more of an aggressive approach of he could have two RB1s if Kamara goes down and Kendrick becomes the guy there. Do you advise the Devontae Adams managers to take jacoby myers as you did no myers just fell to a point in the draft where i felt like he was good value okay there's no mysterious handcuffing thing going on i mean what the hell they're both catching passes from gardner minshu it's not great but it's it was just value for Myers. Okay.

And who are you going to take to win the national championship? I picked UConn. Florida. I think I'm going to go with UNC. I like that. Really? Okay. Yeah, I mean, R.J. Davis is amazing. They got a big man in Baycott.

They got that dude who can hit a lot of threes. I feel like they got the ingredients that you need. Sure. I watched a lot of ACC basketball this year, and there weren't many teams that impressed me. They did, though. I mean, they're the best of them. I'm not taking the ACC to win.

I'm specifically taking UNC. Just to be clear on that. Good luck, everybody. Join our bracket challenge. Get in the podcast league. Scan that QR code. Is this the last reminder before the March Madness? Yeah, not on Twitter.

No, because we have a show at 10 a.m. tomorrow, so I'll handle it there. Later, everybody. It's the season for new styles, and you love to shop for jackets and boots. So when you do, always make sure you get cash back from Rakuten. And it's not just clothing and shoes. You can get cash back from over 750 stores on electronics, holiday travel, home decor, and more. It's super easy.

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