Fantasy Football Today - More Free Agency! Aaron Jones, Ekeler, Moss, Sam Darnold (03/12 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: March 12, 2024

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 start with "Buy, Sell or Rent" (1:00) as we react to the latest news. Can Justin Jefferson still be the #1 wide receiver in Fantasy with the Sam Darnold signing? Is Austin Ekeler washed up (1:50)? Is Aaron Jones washed up (3:25)? And is Zack Moss going to be better than both of those guys (9:30)? ... More thoughts on the Vikings passing game (18:30), specifically Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson. And we spend more time on the Vikings, Bengals and Commanders backfields (26:40). How do Brian Robinson and Chase Brown factor into the mix? ... Revealing some Twitter poll results (34:10) on Jefferson as there doesn't seem to be consensus on how to rank him. Also, Dave defends ranking Amon-Ra St. Brown ahead of Ja'Marr Chase ... 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.

A little free agency update for you here on Tuesday morning, and we'll have more for you throughout the week, obviously. Okay, it's Adam, Dave, and Jamie here. We're going to talk about Minnesota. Very active so far. Made a lot of moves on defense, but now they've signed Sam Darnold and Aaron Jones.

Aaron Jones, a one-year $7 million deal. The Commander signing Austin Eckler and the Bengals releasing Joe Mixon and signing Zach Moss. That's what we've got for you right now. It is time for a game called Buy, Sell, or rent. Rent is, you're not really sure.

We're going to try it out for a little bit. We're going to keep the receipt, and we'll see. All right, buy, sell, or rent. Justin Jefferson cannot be the number one wide receiver now. Buy. Rent. Rent. Why are you renting?

Because I don't think he can. What's going to determine it in your rankings? He can't be the number one in your rankings, I guess is what I was going to say. What I meant. So I'm buying that he won't be number one in my rankings or I'm selling that he won't be number one. No, okay. Justin Jefferson can't be number

one in your rankings. Buy, sell, or won't be number one. No. Okay. Justin Jefferson can't be number one in your rankings. Buy, sell, or rent. We're off and running here. This is great. Well, I think what I mean is, yeah, like for now, if you want to rent, it's because you want to see what they do in the draft or something like that. Yeah. That's where I was going.

Okay. Okay. All right. Buy, sell, or rent. Austin Eckler's washed up. Buy. Reluctantly buying. But I do think this is a good spot for him to have a different role.

You know, sort of what he was like early in his career. And he started to take off under Anthony Lynn. So that 2019 season for him, he had 92 catches. You love Anthony Lynn. That could be a lot of fun. He's not going to do that, but that could be a lot of fun. No. I'm nervous he won't do half that.

This is an air raid offense that doesn't necessarily lean on running backs in the passing game. Yes, I think, you know, if you just look at Cliff Kingsbury and his time with the

commanders. It's not very long with the commanders. I'm sorry, I'm scrambling through my notes here with the cardinals uh there's some there's some encouraging signs about 80 catches 80 running back catches a year not to say that all of them would go to eckler and by the way i think he had a couple of 16 game seasons in there as well if not three but you had actually incredible running back production all All four years. You had David Johnson, Chase Edmonds, Kenyon Drake combo in 2019. You had Drake. 2020 was the year where Drake was a pretty big bust, actually.

He was outside the top 20 per game, but he did score 10 touchdowns. 21, James Conner was a top five running back. 2022, James Conner was top 12 per game. He only played 13 games. So pretty good for running backs. We can come back to that. Let's go back to buy, sell, or rent. Buy, sell, or rent.

Aaron Jones is washed up. Buy. Rent. Jamie, so much conviction there. Well, I mean, I'm not trusting a 29-year-old running back that missed basically four of the first five games of the season last year with a hamstring injury and then three weeks in the middle of the season with an MCL sprain. He's just at the point in his career where you've got to worry about those things. I like the signing for Minnesota. I like the landing spot for him, but I'm drafting either of these guys with any of my first five picks, maybe any of my first six picks, but I think I'd still rather take the shot on Jones over Eckler. At PPR, I'd rather have Eckler. They can both catch.

And that offense in Minnesota, it's going to throw a ton anyway. I don't know how good they'll be throwing it if Darnold's the quarterback. But I'll take Jones, but I'm not excited about either guy. Consider this. I don't know how much this matters to you. Obviously, when you talk about... Also, by the way, it's really hard to say Jones is washed up after what he did in the playoffs last year.

Yeah, he had a great time yesterday. The last four or five games we saw him play, he looked like one of the best running backs in the league. I don't think he's going to do that. Just saying that I think it's a little too soon to use the WU words. He did, but in the first 15 games of the season, he wasn't there for half a moment.

It was terrible. It was night and day, basically. Aaron Jones. I think he didn't have... I'll tell you, two games I'll like Aaron Jones. There you go. In his first, I think, seven games of the season, weeks one through 11, he played seven games.

He averaged 3.7 yards per carry, and this is amazing. Aaron Jones had 66 carries, did not have a single run longer than 11 yards until late in the year. And then he was amazing. He had an 11.3 explosive run rate in his last five games. That's elite. He turned it on.

So one thing, I just want to get your thoughts on this, right? We're talking about these guys. Eckler, 29 years old. Aaron Jones going to be 30 in December. So basically both 29-year-old running backs. Age is obviously important, but consider that both of them have had fewer carries in their career than Saquon Barkley. I don't know if that matters to you guys.

They are not workhorses. They have not taken it. They're not Derrick Henry. They're not those guys. And they're not going to be. So they could have a Raheem Mostert type of season, you know, where they stay healthy and be productive. That's clearly possible, but the odds and history tell us that more times than not, when you get to this age, they fall apart. So there'll be pockets of the season where these guys are good. There'll be a three or four game stretch where these guys are potentially league winning type of running backs. It just comes down to the investment you're going to make on them and who you're passing on them for. So I think again, the, the experienced fantasy player is going to understand that these are not guys you should be taking in the first four or potentially five rounds. But if you are, then you're probably making a mistake. If you're

getting them at the right price. And again, you know, we talked about this with Ben Gretsch last week, Raheem Mostert was an unbelievable discount, which was why he was even more successful because of what you've had to pay for him, which was basically nothing. So if you're spending the right price on these guys, then you'll be fine. If you're spending just think it's fascinating to see where these guys are going to go. And you said first four rounds. I mean, I wasn't even thinking anything close to that for Jones or Eckler. I hope not. I was thinking more like round seven. I don't know how you guys were feeling about that. Where are you guys thinking for Eckler and Jones?

Round six is the earliest for both. Late round six for Jones. Eckler, maybe early round eight. I'm going to be out on Eckler. All right. You know what? For fun here, let's take a look at fantasy pros, PPR, running back ADP in 2023. And let's just see who was going after pick 60.

Okay. So let's say round six or later. James Cook. We've done this before, and it was pretty good, right? James Cook, Rashad White, Alexander Madison, James Conner, Javante Williams, David Montgomery.

So four of those guys were good. Yep. That's it. Cook, White, Conner. Four of six. I mean, you had moments with the other two. Yeah, just before that was Pacheco. But yeah, I mean, do they feel like those guys? Cook, Rashad White, Madison, Connor, Javante?

No, those guys are all young. Yeah. And in better situations. Jones, if things break right, could be in a good situation, meaning he could get a lot of work. But I don't know if I want that for him because of what happened last year. Six games missed. Another three games he left early.

He's at best a part-time back who you can rev up in the playoffs if you make it that far. Spoiler, Minnesota's not going to make it that far. And Jones is just going to be like someone who might score every four weeks, get you 60 yards with it. He's not going to be an outstanding fantasy running back, and he's not in that range whatsoever. Buy, sell, or rent, DeAndre Swift will have more touches than both Eckler and Jones, let's say per game.

That's such a crowded backfield in Chicago. That's the scary part yeah but i can't imagine they're going to keep it to three people i can't imagine it going to one person though either like they're going to use two guys every week i'll buy you because i don't think the other two guys stay healthy no okay that's why he's talking about on a per game basis oh um i think i'll buy it i think he'll get more touches. Buy maybe one to two touches over Jones and Eckler. I'll buy it also just because I think

the investment speaks to what they want to do with him. I'm drafting Swift ahead of Jones and Eckler. It's not going to be by three rounds. Buy or sell or rent. Zach Moss, now with the Bengals, will be third in ADP among the free agent running backs behind Jacobs and Barkley.

I'll sell that because I think Derrick Henry will be ahead of him too. Who else? Pollard. I'm leaning toward taking him ahead of all these guys. It's it. Yeah. I mean, it's pretty interesting.

He feels like such a, such a fluky situation. I mean, his first two years in Buffalo were so bad and now it's not like he's getting old. They're not overpaying to get him. No. And I know it's a very similar type of situation that he's walking into

from an offensive standpoint, how they run the, the, the personnel that they run out of. But I'm more excited about Chase Brown, to be honest with you. Yeah, that's a camp battle to watch, I think. Well, what do you think that Chase Brown is the third down back? Because I was kind of thinking Moss barely catches the ball, right?

I mean, that's just not his thing. No, he can. He did a little bit last year. His career high is like... He's not at the level of like Alvin Kamara or anything like that, but he can catch the ball. He had a bunch of... He's not on the level of Derrick Henry. Here's what I wanted to say is this

dude has like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 career games with 15 or more carries. They all came last year and his rushing average in those games. I don't have the exact number, but it's, it's going to be positive. It's not going to be ugly. And he scored a bunch of touchdowns when given the opportunity, had a bunch of games with multiple catches. I don't mind getting Moss with the hope that he gets 70% of what Mixon 80% of what Mixon got last year, somewhere in that range.

Now, we'll see what happens. Write it in pencil because Chase Brown can be much more than a third down back. They might like Brown the best. They might use these guys and just interchange them by drive. One drive is Zach Moss. One drive is Chase Brown. Everybody throws up. Joe Burrow throws 600 times this year.

Yeah, his injury track record going back to his days in college. That's true too. Can stay healthy in Buffalo. Had a good little stretch at the beginning of last season and did some nice things once Jonathan Taylor came back. But clearly it was, he made the majority of his production in four of the first five games of the year.

Didn't play in week one, weeks two through five. He was absolutely awesome. Can that be sustainable based on the body of work? I don't buy it. No, it's like Madison, but, but go ahead,

Dave. I've got, I don't, I don't think he's going to be in a position to get 20 carries week in and week out unless chase Brown is hurt or unless the Bengals do nothing else at running back. But they brought back Travion Williams. They've got this really uninspiring group of running backs, but I have a feeling they'll find a way to make it work between them.

It's just a matter of whether one of them is actually going to go and be the best of the bunch. For now, I think Moss has got the best shot to be the best of that bunch can I get Zach Moss in like round seven maybe late round six if I'm really in need of a running back and then get Chase Brown a couple rounds after I'd be down for that I think that that would be a good combo well one thing I like about him is if he does become just the first and second down guy the bangles over the last two seasons they are third in 2022 and 14th in 2023 in past attempts to running backs on first and second down it's a pretty big part of joe burrow's game and actually i didn't break it out between

burrow and browning uh in 2023 so i'm sorry but it was a huge part look because we know the way teams defend them they try to take away the deep boys. He checks down a lot. I also think let's make sure when you're looking at Zach Moss' game log, look at the last four games of 2022 also. He had pretty big work. Jonathan Taylor, remember, got hurt against Minnesota, and Zach Moss became the lead running back after that. And he ran 24, 12, 15, and 18 times.

You're right. So they all didn't come last year. Some of them were from 2022, those 15 carry games. 4.8 yards per carry in those games. And he faced four bad run defenses. But he's been capable. Remember, Madison had great numbers, too, in Dalvin Cook's absence. It was always against easy competition.

It wasn't a big sample size. So it does feel that way. But what Moss did last year, I believe, was against some good run defenses, at least at the beginning of the season. Houston, Baltimore, and the Rams. And he was really good. And then I just think he's got more

size than Chase Brown, so I figured maybe that's his role. But also, I mean, I did a search of the last four seasons because that's his entire career. Also, I mean, I did a search of the last four seasons. Because that's his entire career. And his metrics compared to Joe Mixon's, I mean, he is like clearly better.

And I would say almost everyone has been better than Joe Mixon. Joe Mixon just has not been a good running back. It's unbelievable how inefficient and unexplosive he's been. He just doesn't make any big plays. So if Mixon, he's been a top 12 running back like five of the last six seasons per game, Joe Mixon. So it's all about opportunity. Every year but one, over 13 PPR points per game. Yeah, it's all about opportunity in that Bengals offense.

And that's the case for Zach Moss. Case against Zach Moss is he's really like, he's been pretty much a part-time player. He's Zach Moss. They're paying him like one. It's not exactly like they went crazy with this position. They're saving money by releasing Mixon, so that was a big part of it, I'm sure,

the contract situation, knowing that they might have to give T. Higgins a big bag after he wants to get traded. For me, like I said, I'm always going to look at the, the younger, more explosive talent. And I think that's Chase Brown by a mile. Zach Moss led the four veteran running backs that we've talked about. So Moss, Jones, Eckler, Mixon, this is just to your point, Adam, he led them an explosive play rate and avoided tackle rate last year. Yeah, he was good. You're right about him being a little bit more explosive and a little bit niftier than Mixon.

And I think Jamie's right about Chase Brown, that he's somebody who's very interesting now. Okay, so we got to take a break. When we come back, we'll talk a little bit. Oh, boy, I had one more buy, sell, or rent. Buy, sell, or rent. Oppenheimer was overrated. I haven't seen it yet.

I saw it. I thought it was good. But was it overrated? Best picture? No, not overrated. It's overrated i haven't seen it yet i saw it i thought it was good but it was overrated best picture overrated it's over i didn't see very many movies so i can't say whether or not it was overrated by the way moss aaron jones austin eckler joe mix and chase brown who had the highest explosive play rate oh moss for sure or chase Chase Brown. Say it, Jamie. Chase Brown. Chase Brown actually had the highest explosive play rate

and was really close to having the highest avoid tackle rate. Maybe that's the guy. Maybe we just bypassed Zach Moss altogether. What's his size, Chase Brown? He's listed as, oh, he's big, 5'9", 215. He didn't look that big. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, he's not teeny tiny. All right, let's take a break. We'll come back, talk more about the Vikings. He's not as, oh, he's big, 5'9", 215. He didn't look that big. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, he's not teeny tiny.

All right, let's take a break. We'll come back, talk more about the Vikings. He thought he was Guzman. Talk more about the Vikings with Sam Darnold and Nick Mullins. And we'll be right back on Fantasy Football today. With Smartwater's pure, crisp taste, there's nothing to overthink. So while you may be spiraling over double texting your crush, whether your skincare routine is working because you look the same

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Skippable. Midnight snacks? Skip. My neighbor's nightly saxophone practices? Uh, nope. You're on your own there. Could have skipped it. Should have skipped it. Skip to the good part and get groceries, meals, and more delivered right to your door on Skip. Hey, if you want in the podcast league, you got a chance to do it in our bracket challenge. Once that bracket gets released. So we'll talk about this next week. It's conference tournaments this week,

and then March Madness begins next week. But you'll have a bracket challenge, and if you win it, you're in the podcast league. It's free. You just got to fill out a bracket. And, you know, we're all filling out brackets. It'll be fun. Miami's not going to make the Final Four this year,

I don't think. I don't even think they'll make the Final Four of the tournament that's worse than the NIT. They collapsed this year. Terrible. All right. So Sam Darnold, go into the Vikings. All right, James, what's your take on this whole sitch?

I hope at 11 they draft a quarterback. If not, move up to draft a quarterback. This is somewhat uninspiring, clearly, from what they have from a weapons standpoint. It feels like they're settling, unfortunately. I, Nick Mullins, we talked about this a little bit yesterday. Adam, you sent me some stats about what – Thomas and I have some stats about what Nick Mullins was on pace for. So it's a great offense, a great system. If Nick Mullins could potentially be a 5,000-yard passer, that tells you that they're going to get great production from hopefully whoever's back there.

But I think for the long term, for anybody who's got Justin Jefferson in Dynasty or Jordan Addison in Dynasty, and for the short term for those guys as well, you'd like to see hopefully an upgrade over what Darnold or Nick Mullens has been in their career so far. So we're probably looking at, if they stay at 11, Bo Nix, J.J. McCarthy, Michael Penix, you know, McCarthy probably is going to price himself out of that based on how the rumor circles are going. But those will be the three quarterbacks in the mix. Is that an upgrade over the guys that they have? We'll find out. But obviously, Justin Jefferson proves he can play with a lot of different quarterbacks last season, and hopefully that'll be the case moving forward. Dave, the last time that, in my opinion, that the number one wide receiver in PPR,

number one overall finisher, had a bad quarterback, I would say it's DeAndre Hopkins in 2017, which was a little bit of Deshaun Watson. And I think Tom Savage was the other guy. So it's usually a good quarterback, including Cousins. It doesn't have to be an amazing quarterback. But look, I'm doing this on the fly, so I don't know if guys have finished two or three.

Like Jameis Winston and Ryan Fitzpatrick, I think, were Chris Godwin's quarterback when he was the number two wide receiver that one year behind Michael Thomas. You're naming wide receivers that had a ton of volume. Oh, yeah. He's going to get a ton of volume. That has to be the starting point is that the Vikings stay true to their pass-heavy nature.

And I don't know if we can count on that because they were not that way when Dobbs was in there. And I think that was smart for them to do because Josh Dobbs isn't. Jefferson was also hurt for most of it. Jefferson was hurt. That's fair. Toward the end of the season, when Jefferson came back, they did start to throw a little bit more quarterbacks be damned. Not that the results were particularly good for them. I want to see them get a rookie quarterback. I don't know anything about JJ McCarthy yet. But like

if they somehow trade up and they get one of the top three prospects, I'll be pretty happy if it's McCarthy or panics. I don't know if I'll be as happy for now. And this is kind of just going off the conversation we had yesterday. If we're, we're going to say in Atlanta that the targets are going to be much better for Drake London and Cal pits. And that's why we're moving them up our rankings.

Well, the targets probably aren't going to be better or the same for Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison moving forward. And I don't think it's going to be Sam Darnold. If it is, it'll be for a few weeks and then they'll get him out of there and they'll start somebody else. But I'm nervous. I know that Justin Jefferson's an amazing wide receiver, but it takes two to be great

at wide receiver. And if you don't have a good quarterback who's not going to throw in a tight window, it's not going to take chances with the football. You can have 10 targets a game and still catch only four passes. So when I say I'm nervous, I'm not dropping them into round two. He's still going to be around one pick, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to let somebody else take Justin Jefferson at

this point. Well, he can't be any lower than wide receiver four though, right? I'll gladly take Justin Jefferson. Thank you. I'll take, I'll take lamb Hill and St. Brown ahead of Justin Jefferson in PPR. And Jamar Chase?

Not there yet with Chase. Let's see what happens with Higgins. Boy. Okay, I just put up a poll, an X poll. And Sam Darnold to the Vikings. In fantasy drafts, Justin Jefferson is blank. Wide receiver one, wide receiver two,

wide receiver three, or wide receiver four. So I have a tendency to talk about these polls and then never get back to them. So just keep reminding me. I always do that. Right now, only 32 votes

and it's actually pretty close between all of them. But wide receiver four does have the most votes, just barely. But that's going to change. So we'll keep an eye on that. We haven't really talked.

I mean, I keep talking about Jefferson the last couple of days. I never talk about Addison. So, yeah, what do you think? And also, just for fun, Jamie teased what I said about Nick Mullins. The last four games of the season, Nick Mullins came in at halftime of one of them. He started three of them, and he came in in the third quarter of one of them. So three and a half games. He was on pace for 5,198 yards,

30 touchdowns, and 34 interceptions. It was incredible. He averaged 33.8 pass attempts per game. Hi, Jameis. Yeah, right. He's Jameis Winston. But 9.06 yards per attempt. What have they got, Jameis Winston? That's insane. Basically, only Brock Purdy was better than that per attempt.

So he was just slinging it. But it was unsustainable. And he turned the ball over so many times. Eight interceptions in those four games. Anyway, what was I? Oh, yeah. Jamie, your thoughts on Addison and I guess Hawkinson? I'm most likely out on Hawkinson based on injury and quarterback concerns right now so he's not

somebody that I'm going to be very uh very fond of in any event um uh he's got a funny message um uh Addison is I think you just got to treat him as a number three fantasy receiver at this point you know so he's he's I think first off all these guys, you know, especially if people feel the way Dave does about Jefferson, all these guys are buys in dynasty then, you know, because if they do draft a quarterback, you know, you have a window right now to go get some potential great value. If you're, if somebody's selling Jefferson at cost or certainly giving up on Jordan Addison right now. But yeah, I love the idea of, you know,

trying to do that now. But in any event, I think, I think Addison's like, he's going to be a number three fantasy receiver, no matter what. He's going to benefit from a lot of single coverage. He's going to,

I think take a year to, you know, leap. He was doing some good things with Jefferson. He did a few great things without Jefferson when cousins was still healthy, but it's kind of a little bit of an incomplete right now because we don't know what he'll look like.

We don't know really what this whole offense will look like when everybody's healthy because, you know, you had Jefferson missing time, you had Cousins missing time, you had Hawkinson missing time, you know, to see that all the,

all the whole puzzle put together. We probably won't see that probably, I would guess until October at the earliest, depending on who the quarterback is and when Hawkinson is back. Okay. Would you draft Jordan Addison or Jackson Smith and Jigba right now? Addison. I believe I have Addison or Jackson Smith and Jigba right now? Addison. I believe I have Addison and Iyer.

I mean, we don't know when Hawkinson's coming back. You're talking about the second option in a high-volume passing attack. I don't think that whoever the quarterback is, based on who's on their roster right now, including Jaron Hall, they're not going to alter what they do. They're going to throw the ball a ton. And so the volume is going to be much more in Addison's favor based on him being the second player in this passing attack

as opposed to JSN, who could be third. Yeah, he was pretty bad, though, down the stretch, wasn't he? He was okay. In those four games I mentioned with Mullins, Addison had 29.1 points, huge game at Cincinnati, 1.2 points, 5.8 points, and 15.7 points. He averaged about six, seven targets a game. His best games were without Jefferson.

Makes perfect sense. And he was still good, plenty, with Jefferson on the field. But man, when he was the number one receiver, he acted like it, and he showed out. But he wasn't really, he was almost never the number one receiver with Cousins. Yeah, it was rare. Well, with Cousins. There were, I think, two games.

And yes, he was awesome with Cousins and no Jefferson. Yeah, he showed what he could do. All right. Let's talk about the commander's backfield. Is there, in half PPR, would you take Brian Robinson over Austin Eckler? Yes. Yep. Dave, I showed you a clip of Eckler's two longest runs of the season last year.

He had something like a 55-yard run in week one, and then something like a 30-yard run later in the season. Was the last one against the Raiders when they got blown out? No. And he gave the first down signal when they were down by 50 points? No, no. That may have been his third longest run of the season.

But he was a lot... It looked like a lot of fast necessarily. It's not his game. But he was a different running back on that first not fast necessarily, it's not his game, but he was a different running back on that first run. It was week one before his high ankle injury. In that second run, he looked like the slowest running back in the history of football.

So the thing that I can't get past with Eckler, and I'm sure most people are going to think he's washed up, is was he just playing hurt? Because he was so good, he he just playing hurt? You know, because he was so good. He scored like 26 points in week one. And then, and he hurt himself in week one and he was horrible rest of season.

There's a picture of Eckler down 63 to seven, giving the first down signal. That is great. But yeah, what do you think about that? Could it just have been the injury? First of all, that first run that you referenced, and it was against Miami. You can probably find that run on YouTube.

He got caught from behind by three different guys. He did not display the type of speed that we saw from him in the past. That was before he suffered any kind of injury. That was before his offensive line was bad. Optimism was high in LA with the Chargers offense. And he still didn't have that like big time speed that you'd like. I think I told you like 80% of running backs would have scored on that play. He beat eight in the box and then got caught from behind. And somehow he looked even slower than that on his second longest run. It was against green Bay. The Packers were terrible and like trying to stop them, just decent blocking by the chargers. And it's been like that all year. And now he's going to

go from being the lead back in LA to being at best the one B in Washington. And I, I am nervous for him to be anywhere close. I'm nervous for anybody who drafts him because I don't know if he can be anywhere close to the productive player that we saw, um, before 2023, when he was the main guy in LA, he's not going to be the main guy there. Brian Robinson's still there. Robinson makes all the sense in the world as the short yardage goal line guy. Robinson makes all of the sense in the world as the rushing downs guy. And so what does that leave for Eckler? It might leave like seven carries and four or five catches a game.

And I bet there's going to be a lot of games this year where he has two catches. See, but you say that though, about him being the one B I, I wonder though, if the signing, not that they paid him a lot, but obviously his resume is very impressive. And if they still think he could play, are they going to make him the featured guy and make Brian Robinson more of the second guy? And that's what, if that, if that happens and, and, and I agree with you, you know, Robinson certainly suited to play at the goal line and Robinson even proved he could be in, you know, a success in the passing game based on what he did last year.

Austin Necker has got 69 touchdowns in his career. He's been a very good goal line back, you know, despite his frame. And so, you know, again, he's going to a place, you always look for these things. Is there some familiarity? And Anthony Lynn was there at the start of this for Austin Eckler when he started to get going, was the head coach of the Chargers. So I'm sure that's part of why this signing happened is that he looked at someplace where he can have some semblance of, okay, knowing the offense, knowing the system, because Lynn will have his hand in it for the running backs, knowing the, that there's a coach that's going to speak up for him and, and, and help him and still give him a chance to be prominent. And so does it make sense for him to

be the lead running back? Probably not, but can he still come in there and do it and maybe fail? And that's when Robinson gets a chance similar to the bangles. I'm much more interested in Brian Robinson than I am in Austin Eckler, just because I do think that to what Dave said is going to probably end up happening where I think the season will start out that Eckler is the lead running back in, in all facets. And then Robinson will prove to be more capable as a rusher at this point in

his career and maybe take some passing down work away from Eckler as well. The passing down work thing is, is interesting commanders, by the way, led the NFL in pass attempts last year, led the NFL in pass rate. So that won't happen again. But in Robinson, they only won four games. And in three of the four wins, he had, I think, 18 or more carries. So he just, it was bad for him because they were bad. But if they had been a better team, he might have had a better year. They just, you know, it was like Derrick Henry, right? When they were competitive, Henry had good games.

Robinson never really got the work. He just really didn't get a lot of carries because they were so bad, 4-13. So then how could Aaron Jones not be clearly better than all the guys we've talked about today? The commander situation, the bangle situation. Do you think that Aaron Jones really has competition in that backfield and Chandler? It might not be Chandler. It might be a rookie. They could add somebody else.

And I'm almost certain that they will add at least one other person to that backfield and Jones will not get the opportunity to be a huge heavy workload running back unless the Vikings are just completely blind to what has happened to him over the last year plus he's a good co-running back work him in tandem with somebody else I don't know if they're going to invest in that position. I mean, maybe a day three pick, but I can't see spending a lot of capital there. I mean, they kind of, you know, showed their hand the last two seasons of letting Dalvin Cook walk, you know, going with Madison, going with Chandler, making the cheap trade to get Cam Akers to try to bring somebody in,

signing Aaron Jones to a one-year $7 million deal. You know, I mean, they could have spent money on anybody that was out there. I mean, you know, they chose somebody spent money on anybody that was out there. I mean, they chose somebody that they know because they faced him twice. And so they may feel that Aaron Jones still has something left. Yeah, I probably should change what I said earlier in the show, taking Eckler over Jones. I'll probably take Jones over Eckler, both being the same age,

but opportunity should favor Jones. But I do think Ty Chandler will have a role, absolutely. I got to take one more quick break. We'll come back and we'll look at the poll results here about Justin Jefferson. We'll be right back. Whether in the game or in life, the right coverage can make all the difference. Securian Canada gives you that coverage for more than 65 years.

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Download Bumble and try it for yourself. All right, Twitter or X. I'm not ready to call. I'm just not ready to say X. Sam Darnold to the Vox. I had to write that the other day for the first time because I referenced when I wrote Russell Wilson at like midnight the other day. I was looking for something to attach to it. And he had his lovely Twitter post about, or X post, whatever,

and I said, as Russell Wilson said on X, and I was like, this just sounds so weird. It does sound weird. Come on. I mean, it's just weird, Elon. Change it back or find a different name. Sam Donald to the Vikings. In fantasy drafts, Justin Jefferson is blank.

I have 460 votes. Wide receiver one, 20%. Wide receiver two, 24.6%. Wide receiver three, 20.9%. Very close. Wide receiver four, 34.6%. That is the clubhouse leader at the moment. I wonder what people are thinking

are the first three, though. Well, St. Brown was a little bit of a curveball there, Dave. In fact, someone said... Yeah, nobody's taking St. Brown over Jamar Chase. But, I mean, it's not like it's a terrible call,

but Adam Evans said, Dave just lost some credibility for ranking St. Brown over Chase. Still love you, though. Oh, I love you, too. Also, I love that St. Brown outproduced Chase by about 4.3 PPR points last year. Um, when he lost his quarterback, it was a mix. Yeah, sure. That's part of it too. Okay. Fine. When Burrow was healthy, he was at 15.7 PPR points per game when Burrow and T were on the field without T was Burrow really healthy. It was 22 points per game. What'd you say,

James? It was Burrow really healthy though. It was calf. No three games when Burrow was right. And T was on the field. It's only three games. 15. Was he,

was he healthy though with the calf? Like we don't know that. No, it's the three games when he was healthy. So it's like starting from like week six on. All right. Well, how about this?

Jamar chase. And I don't even know how this is going to, who's going to win this battle. Jamar Chase averaged 20.5 PPR fantasy points per game in 2022. Okay. St. Brown average 20.8 in 2023. He's very good.

I just don't think anybody's taking St. Brown over chase consistently. No, I don't either, but I don't, I think Dave, you know, I don't think it's, I don't think it's crazy at all. I over, Jason, consistently. No, I don't either, but I think, Dave, I don't think it's crazy at all. No, but I lose credibility for it, so it's fine. No, he was joking around. He said he still loves you. No, he still loves me, though.

I love you, too, whoever you are. Random stranger on the internet. Adam Evans is his name, but he loves you. I'll send him a holiday card. Dave, I'm just looking for talking points right now. That's basically how it goes. I'm giving you some. We can end things here.

The last thing, was DJ more... He was better with Sam Darnold in 2021 or whatever. Yeah, Darnold did have a stretch, right? Oh, here's one. Name a better best picture of the year, Adam. Okay, let's see. Best picture nominees. Super Mario Brothers.

Oh, I didn't see any of the other ones. But I will tell you, Oppenheimer just wasn't really that good. It was fine. It was fine. It was good. It was good. But there had to be a better i would say there really hasn't been a good movie made in like 30 years it's kind of how i feel all these best pictures

had multiple touchdowns in three of his last or three of five games that he played out three of six because week 18 he just didn't do anything there there is um sam donald you know what you're getting with them there's the j Josh McCown relationship, too. He's now the quarterback's coach in Minnesota. What was my... Oh, Oppenheimer was outstanding. Just a horrific take. No, it wasn't.

The first hour was great. You know what? It needed more bombs. I really thought... It was really... It was about communism. I really thought it was going to be about bombs. And I was, you know... It just wasn't what I thought it was going to be about bombs. And I was, you know,

it just wasn't what I thought it was going to be. You're looking for Oppenheimer without shoes on, running to the top of Nakatomi Tower. Yes. Somebody else's machine guns. Trying to hide the time of those bombs. Yes, exactly.

From Robert Downey Jr. Great acting, though. Did the guy who played Oppenheimer, he didn't win? I know Robert Downey Jr. Great acting, though. Did the guy who played Oppenheimer, he didn't win? I know Robert Downey Jr. I don't know. I don't know. Who won Best Actor? Also, did you guys see...

Oh, he did win. He did win. Good. Did you guys see Barbie? No. No. I don't know. It was nominated for Best Picture, right? You should probably see it. No. I don't know. I mean, it was nominated for Best Picture, right?

You should probably see it. Okay. At least we can all agree that Saving Private Ryan was better than Shakespeare in Love, even though I never saw Shakespeare in Love. I just know that Saving Private Ryan got snuffed. Okay. I'll talk to you all later. Hopefully later today.

I'm going to upload some big news for you. See you later.