Fantasy Football Today - NFL Combine Winners and Losers, Plus News on Daniel Jones, Aaron Jones and More (03/02 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: March 2, 2026

We've got our NFL Draft writer Josh Edwards joining us after the NFL Combine to give his reactions. First, Josh does a mini mock draft with the first five picks (2:15). We know Fernando Mendoza will be #1, but who is next? Then Josh gets into the wide receiver class (5:55) including Carnell Tate's disappointing 40 time, Makai Lemon's interview controversy, who Josh's favorite WR in this class is and more ... Let's talk about the running backs (18:50)! Jeremiyah Love or Ashton Jeanty? You need to learn about Mike Washington! And you need to learn about Kenyon Sadiq (28:40) and other tight ends. And we finish with some quarterback thoughts (32:00) including a lot on Ty Simpson ... Going through the NFL news and notes (45:10). We talk about the Colts keeping Alec Pierce, the Vikings moving on from Aaron Jones, if Tua Tagovailoa would be good for Justin Jefferson and more ... Email us at [e-mail] Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts Watch FFT on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Shop our store: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠shop.cbssports.com/fantasy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ FOLLOW FFT Dynasty on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ SUBSCRIBE to FFT DFS on Apple: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dfs/id1579415837⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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

This is fantasy football today from CBS sports. What a play! Can you believe this? It's a no idea. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races and he stays on his feet. It's just going to go the distance. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath.

Welcome to March, everybody. It is March 2nd. It is an exciting time of year. Free agency is about to begin, the NFL Combine. We got to talk about that. And, yeah, football is going to start heating up. Basketball is going to start heat. Yeah, Dave, March Madness, yeah.

But right now... Back to the gator invitation. We'll accept it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right now we have a guy on the show who's like, what the hell did I just get myself into? Josh Edwards, NFL draft analyst for CBSports.com, is just at the NFL Combine.

Welcome to this show, Josh. Yeah, glad to be on. It's good to have a little energy considering all week. I've just been watching players run in silence, listening to media interviews. So good to have a little bit of energy on Monday morning. So let's put you right on the spot and get a mock top five from you. The Raiders are on the clock. Who do they take?

It's got to be Fernando Mendoza, right? You know, it's like the one pick that nobody talked about this week just because everybody just assumes it's going to be Fernando Mendoza. you know, everybody talks about the Jets, the Titans, but I think essentially everybody was in agreement that it's going to be Mendoza number one overall to the Raiders. Okay, the Jets who just traded Jermaine Johnson for defensive tackle to Fondre's sweat.

They're on the clock with the number two pick. Who are they taken? David Bailey, the pass rusher from Texas Tech. I tend to think like Aaron Glenn, you know, he may be feeling he's on the hot seat a little bit this year. I don't know why he would have that belief, considering he had to fire his entire coaching staff. But I think David Bailey is a more ready-made product for that team

and is probably the favorite at this time. Do you have you noticed anyone else falling asleep at the NFL combat? I feel like I would fall asleep on day one. I mean, it wouldn't take long for me. Yeah, that's fair. And I think if I remember correctly, he snapped awake as David Bailey was getting to run, right? Wasn't it? It wasn't it somebody that was associated with the Jets?

Yeah. Oh, I don't know. That's efficiency. Like that's like you're going to sleep and then you know exactly when your guy is going to run. You wake up and get your end ready to take your notes. It's like, it's almost like somebody yelled at him and was like, hey, David Bailey is coming up. You might want to wake up. Exactly.

All right. The Cardinals are on the clock. Mendoza 1. Bailey, two, the Cardinals are on the clock. The quarterback situation. is obviously going to be fascinating, but they're not going to get one here. I went with Francis Maui Noah, the right tackle from Miami. It was kind of between him and Spencer Fano from Utah, but Jonah Williams is hitting free agency,

presumably, so now you go, you get Maui Noah, who's the replacement at right tackle. Okay, and he could also play guard. He said there's five spots on the line. I'll take one of them. Tennessee's up at four now. This one's interesting. Obviously, Robert Sala, you know, coming over from San Francisco. Francisco. He's always kind of favored that length to his defense. So a couple of buck eyes really

popped off this week in Indianapolis. So I was kind of torn between Arvell Reese, maybe give him Sonny Stiles who could be that Fred Warner in his type defense. But I went with Reese because I think he's just a little bit more twitched up. You favor the pass rush potential here at, you know, number three overall, or number four overall, rather, to, you know, give him a little bit of juice in that defense. Mendoza, edge rusher David Bailey, offensive lineman Maui Noah, and then

edge rusher Arvel Reese, and then the Giants on the clock with the fifth pick. I went with Cardinal Tate. You've got a young quarterback in the building. Malik Neighbors is coming back from a significant injury, and Wondale Robinson is a free agent. I mean, if he walks, you're talking about

possibly not having your top two wide receivers to start the season, not an ideal start to year number two, a rookie quarterback. So I went with Tate, give him a little bit of insurance there in the wide receiver room. Ken Walker, Cardinal Tate,

that's pretty good off season for the Giants. Oh, man. Yeah. What do we think about Cardinal Tate's 40 time, Jamie, ran a 4.53. In a year where a lot of wide receivers are running really good 40s.

4-5-3s, you know, a little on the low, a little on the slow end there, Jamie. Game speed versus running speed. You know, I think he's going to be a playmaker. I'm not worried about that at all. Josh, what was your take on that? Yeah, I'm not too concerned about it.

I never believe that he was going to be this burner sub 4-4 type wide receiver. I mentioned before the show, if you look at the players that have ran sub 4-3 at the NFL Combine, it's not exactly a Hall of Fame list. A lot of players that really did not pan out in the NFL, maybe a couple of role players. So if you can get 4-4, that's great. And he just missed it if you want to believe some of the, you know, reports, he may have actually been in the 4-4s. So I'm not concerned about it at all.

That wasn't an issue for me when I was watching his tape. Okay. Because a 4-5-3, I mean, Dave, you sent me a list of some guys in that range, like Cortland Sutton, Michael Pittman, She Rice. They were definitely, oh, C.D. Lamb did not run a grade 40. But it's, I don't know. It's on the highest. I don't want to just completely dismiss it.

you know, Tenerow McMillan, for example. He's not exactly a burner. He's a tall guy. He ran a 4-4-8. So, all right. Let me ask you, would you rather have those guys you just mentioned or John Ross and Xavier Worthy?

No. But you're, no. It's not that everything is 40-time. And yeah, it seems like the guys who do run the best 40 times are, uh, our bus. You go sign Tyco on Thornton. He's fast. It's not about that.

Don't, don't mock me here. The fact is most of the great wide receivers in the NFL are running. better than 4-5-3, right? Just fact. Des Bryant. You're going to win with guys that can run 4-5 to 4-5-5. Yeah, I think you've got to have size. There's obviously so much more to it than just, you know, how they do running a straight line

without even having any pads on. Okay. I did think it was interesting that he and Jordan Tyson were essentially the same height, which, you know, the whole narrative throughout this process has been that Tate is this big body wide receiver, they can win down the field for you. And he shows up same height as Jordan Tyson. So that was kind of an interesting takeaway. How about Tyson's weight? Was that surprising to you, Josh? Because everything I read on Tyson was that he was real lean. And then when you watch him, you don't think he's even close to 200 pounds. And he shows up to India, 203. Yeah, I mean,

he carries his weight really well. Obviously, you know, you look at the bloodlines in that family with his brother being a guard for the Cavaliers. I didn't, expect him to weigh as heavy as he did, but he more than backed it up. I mean, he took to the bench press as well and set the pace for the wide receiver. So he's stronger than he looks. He's more explosive than I think he's given credit for. So to me, and I was talking with Rancarthon, you know, this week about this, but to me, he is still wide receiver one just because of the versatility that he brings. I mean, he can win down the field. He's explosive with the ball in his hands. He's got the inside outside of

versatility. So he's somebody that I'm really excited about, but the big issue is going to be, you know, those soft tissue injuries, the injuries that he's dealt with throughout his collegiate career. If the medicals come back clean and, you know, that's not perceived as a long-term issue, then to me, he's the best wide receiver in this draft class. Okay, that's Jordan Tyson out of Arizona State, not Carnell Tate out of Ohio State. Interesting. Why don't we stay on wide receivers here? And just your thoughts on the position as a whole? How many do you think go in the first round is a good year for wide receivers? I think it's a great year for wide receivers. You know, we may be lacking a Malik neighbors or Jamar Jammar Chase type at the top, but I think you can get

tremendous depth in this class. It was the group that I was probably most excited to watch because there were a number of guys that ran sub 10-5 in the 100-meter dash coming out of high school. So I knew this was going to be a speedy group. They backed it up on the track in Indianapolis, lots of guys that ran sub 4-4. So I think you can find quality players into day three of this class. But when you're talking about the top, we've already mentioned Tyson and Tate, but Mackay Lemon from USC is going to be in that conversation. Denzel Boston is one that I'm probably a little higher on than most people from Washington. He's a bigger bodied wide receiver that can make plays down the field. But coming out of that Washington offense, they ask you to make to block in space so he can do some of that

dirty work for your offense as well. Casey Concepcion, I don't know where I'm going to end up on him in this process, but he's incredibly fluid. He can make plays with the ball with the ball in his hand. So I may end up pushing him up to board a little bit personally. And then Omar Cooper Jr. from Indiana is someone that has gained steam late in this process as well. He's a presumptive first round pick.

So you're talking about six, seven, eight wide receivers that could get into that first round conversation. And then as I was discussing, I think you can get quality players into day two and into day three. Kendrick Law from Kentucky, Malik Benson from Oregon. Chris Brasel ran a 4-3-7, the big-bodied wide receiver from Tennessee. So it's a really deep class. I think teams are really going to be able to replenish the wide receiver room in the 2026 NFL draft.

Let's go. All right. Jamie, any wide receivers you want to talk about, Jamie? I'm just curious. So if Tyson's medicals come back, would you put him at five instead of Tate? And the mockages did? I do like kind of the complementary skill sets that you would get with Malik neighbors in Carnell Tate. So there is that part of the equation.

If it was solely apples to apples, I would take Tyson if the bill of health was clean, absolutely. But I do think that Tate gives you a little bit something more than Malik neighbors at that position. What did you make of the McCoy Lemon USC wide receiver interview reports that he was really bad with his interviews? Like really bad. Yeah, everybody had an opinion on that after his viral video at the podium. I thought it was overblown. You know, I don't know how he interviewed with teams, but the fact that was all coming out immediately after the draft, or I mean, immediately after the combine, like I think that was all manufactured. there was a report that I think four teams had taken them off their board.

Like those conversations are not happening right now, especially with media. So I think it was all incredibly overblown. He's a tremendous player. You talk about the measurements and stuff like that. He's a little bit smaller than what you typically want out of the position. That's more of the concern to me. But when you look at what he did at USC, I mean, he's incredibly productive. You put the ball in his hands.

That's the type of guy that's winning in the NFL right now, the Amonrae, St. Browns, the Pooka Nakuas that are grounded through the catch. I mean, you just get them the ball in space and allow them to do their thing. They're not chasing, you know, vertical balls and spending half the play in the air. I mean, he's a player that can create yards after the catch. And that's incredibly value in today's spaced out NFL. All right. It's Mackay Lemon, wide receiver out of USC.

That's some talk about the wide receiver prospects. Oh, go ahead, Dave. Actually, can I get a break in real quick? We'll go to Dave with a follow-up question when we come back. Well, the follow-up question is on Mackay-Lemond's. hands and I've watched enough of his film to know that he's got great hands. He catches everything very few drops, but they measured at eight and three quarters inches. And I went and made a list for Adam of the number of wide receivers over the last five

years that have exactly eight and three quarter inch hands. And there's one name that fantasy managers will love and that's George Pickens. Remember, George Pickens does not have nine inch hands, but a lot of receivers that make that list are not great for fantasy. They don't put up a ton of huge numbers. The track record of guys that don't have big hands at wide receiver is pretty limited, Josh. So how much do you hold that against Lemon in your evaluation? A little bit, but not a lot because when you watch his tape,

I never came away thinking that the hands were an issue. I mean, he is physical through the catch. I think he plays bigger than his size, which is kind of a cliche at this point. But he's somebody that I think, you know, just watching his tape at USC, I didn't come away thinking he's got small hands. or that drops were going to be an issue for him. So to me, that was a little bit surprising. I think Wondale Robinson had smaller hands as well.

He's, of course, been incredibly productive, more of a high-volume target than someone that's creating 20 yards down the field. But I was not too concerned with that just because I tend to lean on what I saw on tape, and that was not something that reared its head often from McClemon. Okay. All right, we're going to get a break here. So one person is asking in the chat, so I'm going to give it to you. I had a very difficult dinner, dessert dilemma on Saturday night,

and I had Twitter weigh in, and we'll let Josh and you guys weigh in a little bit later. I think a fun little off-topic. But after our NFL draft talk, Anthony Richardson going to seek a trade. The Colts are going to keep Alec Pierce, George Pickens franchise tag, an update on Jonathan Brooks. The Vikings are going to release Aaron Jones. And just more from around the NFL. We'll talk about that.

But first, more NFL draft talk when we come back on fantasy football today. All right, welcome back, everybody. Josh Edwards joining us here. You can get his content on CBSports.com. And we have such great NFL draft content. We have so many people doing mock drafts. It's really very helpful stuff. And we have a prospects page with all of our prospect rankings,

which will look a little bit different. But right now, Jordan Tyson is our number one wide receiver. It's not going to be consensus. It's not going to be for everyone that ranks these people. So, Josh, who does the rankings? Right now it's Mike Renner. Yeah, Mike Renner does the rankings for us this year. So I had a chance to catch up with him at the Combine

and talk about some guys. So, yeah, he does a great job with it. And I'm sure he's going to have some updates after the Combine. His number two guy is Ruben Bain. I don't know if these are updated or not. Ruben Bain, yeah. He loves Ruben Bain. I saw him talk about Rubin Bain.

Miami defensive end who just throws people around with his tiny little arms. But yeah, his arms, he's got the smallest arms. I don't know what the stat is. Like at least 20 years or so. Maybe any first round, uh-oh, first round, I just knocked something off my death, sorry. First round defensive end ever, something like that, Ruben Bain. But there are controversy already about his arm.

Like, which measurements do you use? Do you like pro day measurements, combine measurements? Like how do you know what's what's reliable? I tend to go with combine measurements. I feel like that's where there's probably the least amount of bias or at least the most that you can talk yourself into. You know, you talk about some of those all-star events. You've got different people doing the measurements. You talk about pro days and there's obviously some favorable adjustments that are probably made considering, you know,

those players have relationships with the people doing the measurements at a lot of cases. So I like to go with NFL Combine just because it's uniform. It may not be the best every single year, but at least it's uniform and you can tell from one player to the next the difference in those measurements. All right. I would love to get your take on Ruben Bain, but I think we should talk more about some fantasy relevant guys.

So tell me your thoughts on the running back class. Jeremiah Love and beyond. How did they test this week? I thought Jeremiah I love, you know, checked all the boxes. Obviously, he's the unanimous number one running back in this draft class, somebody that's incredibly explosive. I do like the fit of him going to an offensive line that's kind of already complete and established because he does have a little bit more of an upright running style. But if he gets to daylight, he's someone that can take the distance on every single play. But really what makes him valuable is his third down, you know, ability.

He catches the passes out of the backfield. similar to Ashton Genty. I know Ashton Genty, you know, in his final season at Boise State, was not overly productive in the past game, but you look at what he did the year prior, and he was one of the most efficient running backs in college football. So Jeremiah, I love similarly, you know, he's got that ability to impact the game on first and second down,

but you can have him on the field on third down as well, whether it's standing in pass protection or going out of the backfield to catch passes. I think he's somebody that's incredibly valuable on every single down, And that makes it difficult for running back two, which is Gerard Price, his teammate at Notre Dame because he was not getting those third down opportunities that Love was getting. So, you know, he has to prove that a little bit, I think the teams. It's a smaller sample size. So is he somebody that's going to be a feature back in the NFL? And then for me, running back three is Mike Washington Jr. out of Arkansas.

all. He's a muscled up 6-2-223. He ran incredibly fast. He jumped out of the building. And when you watch him on film, he's somebody that can make defenders miss in space. I mean, he's not somebody that's just going to be a short yardage back, run over you type player. He can get the ball out in stretch. He can get the ball in open space and break down defenders and create yards after contact. So I'm incredibly high on Mike Washington. I was excited to see him do well in Indianapolis. So, Josh, do you think Washington has jump price to be the second guy? Because it seems like a lot of people are thinking Washington's number two, right? Yeah. I mean, for me, I'm not quite there yet, which is kind of crazy because I feel like

I was one of the first to Washington, so I should be the first to make that jump. But I think Judarian Price is seeing his ability, you know, first and second down, he's a little bit, I don't want to say more twitched up because obviously the measurements wouldn't back that up. But he can break defenders down as well. I think he's a little bit more nimble with his feet, hitting gaps. So I would still say Mike Washington is probably running back three for me, but the gap has certainly narrowed considerably. I think our guys run into this, not from a scouting perspective,

but from a fantasy rankings perspective. Isn't it annoying when you're the high guy on someone way before everyone else? And then they get super high. And then the industry has this epiphany. and then they go even higher than you were. And you're like, now I'm the low guy? What's going on here? Yeah.

Happens on our show amongst us. Yeah, it does. But we feel the way that we feel. And I don't think any of us fake how we feel about any prospect. And I'll speak for myself. I never feel like I have to have a guy higher than the rest of the world. And that includes Keon Coleman. If there were people that were higher than Keon Coleman last year than I was, then so be it.

But I guess I have a Keon Coleman problem. I keep bringing him up every. show. I'll have to work on that guy. Sorry. But no, it's it does it. It sucks a little, but it's also nice to just, you know, target the players you want, talk about the players you love the most or hate the most in some cases and move forward. Yeah. I mean, for for Mike Washington, he's six one, two hundred and twenty three pounds. He's a he's a very good. He was the best running back at the senior bowl in Mobile. And I got to talk to. to him after one of the practices and asked him about, you know,

what he's doing to try and improve his game. And he focused on pass protection and gave me details on what he was trying to do specifically. He's trying to become a workhorse running back. He wants to show the league that he can do that. And he's got size, he's got speed. He can catch the ball in the backfield. He's got great acceleration.

I think he can make the case to be the number two running back in this class. I'm not ready to say yet because I haven't watched everybody like Josh, but I think he can make that case eventually. I had a chance to speak to Mike Washington too, after Dave. And he said, you work with that guy? And I was like, yeah, he's a good guy. I've worked in him for years. He was, why does he talk about Keon Coleman all the time?

Everyone's talking about it, Dave. I don't know. Okay. Are there any other running back? How about this? I'll send somebody in the chat 10 bucks if I bring up that guy again. Okay. I like that.

Or for each time I bring up, he who shall not be named. It's like the swear jar, so you got a key on for somebody that I swore at a lot after week one. Let me see if I can get Mike Renner's top running backs. I can. Jeremiah loved Jadarian Price. He goes, Ketron Allen 3 at a Penn State. He's got Mike Washington 7th or 8th.

Ketron Allen, Jonah Coleman, DeMond Claybourne, Emmett Johnson, Mike Washington. So, yeah, what do you think about some of those names? Ketron Allen, Jonah Coleman. DeMond Claiborne and Emmett Johnson. Emmett Johnson, you know, he's another one of those guys that has great size. He tested well in Indianapolis as well. And for a lot of people, he's in that running back to conversation as well.

I've always been a little bit lower on him than other people. DeMond Claiborne from Wake Forest, I think is probably the other big name of that group who is a smaller back. He's not going to be in every down, you know, past protector. but he's somebody that is incredibly explosive in the open field. He can make defenders miss. So you can have a very specific role for him on an NFL team, but he just does not have that featureback size,

which a lot of teams are not necessarily employing nowadays anyway. So he's got a skill set that's going to fit in an NFL room for sure. But to me, he's a little bit behind those three other running backs that we've talked about, Love, Price, Washington. And I think with those guys, it's very easy to see kind of a featured role for them in the NFL, whereas some of these other guys, it's a little bit more difficult to envision that. All right. Last question about the running backs here. I asked Ryan, Jamie, what's the guy who does the with the first pick podcast that we had on our show?

Ran Carthon. He's really great. Oh, yeah. I asked Ryan Wilson this a month ago. But now I'll ask you, how would you compare Jeremiah, I love to Ashton Genti? Who do you like better? I love Gentie. I'm not going to do the hindsight as 2020 thing and say that I like Jeremiah

love more because that would not be the case. I thought Ashton Genty coming out last year was the total package, you know, thick lower body build. Obviously he's going to be a little bit shorter, but he can contribute on third down. He's incredibly explosive. He can catch passes out of the back field. I thought he was a relatively good pass protector.

The offensive line in Las Vegas let him down this year. That's kind of why I'm maintaining my stock in Ashton Genty. But when you look at the production of him this past year in his rookie season, it has been way down from what we had seen from running backs previously taken top five, top 10 overall. So I'm hoping that he can break out this coming year with a little bit more of a structured offense, presumably Fernando Mendoza as his quarterback. So I'm still holding my Ashton Jentee stock very firmly.

but Jeremiah I love he would probably be below Bijon and Jamir Gibbs for me as well, kind of in that next group. But in this year's draft class, there's just so few guys that you really feel comfortable putting your stamp on because you see the athleticism in a lot of cases, what they tested in Indianapolis. But maybe the production is not there or they've got a smaller body of work, which is the case for a guy like Arval Reese. I mean, he was arguably the best player in college football this season. but he's got essentially one year of starting experience.

So, like, how do you quantify that and project it forward? So to me, I'm still holding on my Ashton Genti stock very firmly, but I have come around on Jeremiah Love greatly as well. I'll ask all three of you. Josh, I don't even know if you play fantasy. So it's a risky one. But if Jeremiah Love gets drafted by the Chiefs, ninth overall, who are you drafting first in fantasy?

Love on the Chiefs or Ashton Genentee? Dave. I would probably lean toward Gentie. Jamie. I'm going to say love because I think Gentie is getting competition, which I hate. Josh, do you play fantasy? And then you can answer the question. Yeah, I do play fantasy.

I'm not going to claim to be as knowledgeable as you guys. But I would take love. I mean, you kind of put my patronage on the line there. But I would probably go love because I think Kansas City has a better offensive line at this point. I think if you put him in that offense, you've got Patrick Mahomes, who is already going to command a lot of respect. A lot of eyes are going to be drawn to a Travis Kelsey. So I think it's a little bit more of a clear path for Jeremiah. I love to really have a big season in 2026.

I think the University of Missouri, Kansas City, UMKC, has a better offensive line than the Raiders. I had to Google colleges in Kansas City. And that was the first one that came up. All right, let's talk about Kenyon Sadiq, and he ran a 4-3-940. So he's a tight end out of Oregon. Looks like an athletic freak. What were your takeaways from Sadiq? And then we'll talk about the rest of the tight ends.

If he were an inch, maybe two inches taller, this would be a no doubter. He's a little bit more sought off at the position. He was under 6 foot 4. So it doesn't have the ideal size, which was one of the things that limited him in that RAS score that a lot of people use, the relative athletic testing. But he's incredibly explosive. if he's somebody that's a better pass protector, run blocker, than what you would expect for a player of his size. But he's somebody that's dynamic down the field. He can make defenders miss

in space. He can stretch the field vertically. He's fast. He jumped out of the building. I mean, he's everything that you want in the position, just a little bit smaller than what you would typically go for. But when you're talking about the players that have been those high volume past catchers of the tight-end position in recent years, it's easy to see him in a similar. conversation with Brock Bowers and Harold Fannan Jr. And some of those others that have been impact players for NFL offenses over the past couple of years. Where would you mock him?

Well, don't mock him to his face. But it would be if you were, you know, put him on a team. Well, if I could put him on any team, I'd love to put him on the Broncos. But that's not realistic at this point, given where they're picking. I'm going to say he's going to go top half of the first round just based on the way that he tested. I'd love to see him with the Eagles, you know, being that Dallas Godot replacement, they're a little beyond that point.

So, like, maybe how he gets a little bit aggressive and goes up to get a player like that. He's, you know, done this before where Zach Ertz was near his end of time with the Eagles and they moved on from him, brought in Dallas Goddard. So potentially you get a guy like Sadiq that's, you know, the plan to move on from Goddard. I think that would be something to watch. And he could be incredibly dynamic in that offense. Any other tight ends you think could be fantasy contributors? Not even in year one, but good productive receivers down the line.

Yeah, I think Eli Stowers from Vanderbilt. You know, coming out of that Vanderbilt offense, you've got Diego Pavia, who's not exactly the most polished passer. He's incredibly tough and has produced a lot of viral clips these past couple of years. But I think he's got limitations as a passer. So if you put Eli Stowers in a situation where they can push the ball down the field more, he can show off his athleticism, which was, you know, top, it was 99th percentile, I think, what he did in Indianapolis.

If you put him in an offense that's a little bit more structured, allow him to move around the formation, put him in positions to where he's going to be in single coverage. I mean, that's a player that can go up and get the football and create yards after the catch. So I think he's somebody that if I were in a, if I were in a, if I were in a, dynasty, I would be looking to stash Elias Stowers, even if he's not taken in the top 50. Jamie, we'll finish with quarterbacks here. If there's anything on your mind, you want to ask Josh, if you want to comment on the position. We know it's not the best year for quarterbacks.

I'll throw over to you, Jamie Eisenberg. Who's QB2? I'm going to go to Ty Simpson. I think he just looked the best throwing the football in Indianapolis this week. The concern that I had coming into the week was he's got one year of starting his experience, And that was not flawless from start to finish. It was very volatile. There were periods of the season where the accuracy waned,

but you always saw his toughness. Again, it's kind of cliche, but he's a coach's son. His dad is, I believe, the Tennessee Martin head coach, Jason Simpson. So, you know, he's coached up well. He's obviously going to excel on the whiteboard, and I'm sure he interviewed very well with teams this week. Could he get into the first round? I think that's a possibility if you get a needy team at the position.

I actually heard, you know, the Rams may have some interest in him. Obviously, they have two first round picks. They're sitting at the back end of the first round there. But at the very least, I'd say you're probably talking about that Tyler Shuck range, you know, early in the second round. Garrett Nussmeyer, we've seen him be successful before, but he's just not that high-end passer that you typically take in the first round. So I think he's somebody that could absolutely step in and be, you know,

a spot starter for a team and be a very valuable backup. But I don't think you're going to take him to be your day one starter in this year's draft. And then obviously there's still a lot of love for Carson Beck. I know there's people that cannot quit Drew Aller in this draft class as well. So for me, Ty Simpson is QB2, but it's not exactly this open and shut case either. There's going to be a couple of guys that I think are jockeying for that position over the next couple of months.

Did you think Jackson Dart would be a good NFL player? I'm very surprised by the success that he had. I'm encouraged, but also, you know, sometimes it's just like a one-year flash in the pan kind of thing. But, you know, we're not putting much stock in any of these guys, but a lot of people didn't put much stock into Jackson Dart. So I just want to make that comparison there. And what did you think of him a year ago?

I liked Jackson Dart in terms of the arm strength, the creativity, the that he brought to the position. I think the one guardrail that I had put in place was that Lane Kiffin offense, just because we really hadn't seen anybody come out of it and be successful. So there were some hesitations in that regard. He's got the size. I thought he had the capability to be that player. But it's similar to the Tennessee offense.

Like you're kind of worried about not having a larger workload being put on their plate prior to getting to the NFL. How are they suddenly going to handle that? And Jackson Dart, to his credit. You know, he's got to probably run the ball a lot less moving forward and protect himself a little bit more. But he did better than I expected as a rookie. Again, I thought he was an incredible passer, but somebody that was going to take some time to develop at this level. Dave, Jamie, anything else for Josh?

On Ty Simpson, the first thing that I would just have you go back and look at Josh is split up Simpson's year. His first eight games, he was healthy. He played great. The numbers back it up. He had a lower, he had a bad herniated disc. He needed epidurals to play through it. Elbow bursitis along the way. I think injuries really impacted him in the second half of the year.

So the same type of injury concerns that you might have about Jordan Tyson, maybe not to the same degree. You could have about Ty Simpson. I think he's a little smallish for the position and certainly short. I don't know exactly what he measured at in Indy, but I think he's around 6-2. But from the neck up, I think he's easily QB2. and somebody who could be just a smart processor of defensive coverage.

And I can't say he can go right into the NFL and slice and dice Peyton Manning style. But he's going to be a smart quarterback. And I think that's what will make him most appealing, especially to like, you know, smarty head coaches, the coaches that are like cerebral and want their quarterbacks to be very cerebral. They'll go after Tyson, who I think also has a good arm, maybe not the best power arm, but certainly a strong arm. Yeah, and to your point, I mean, that lack of experience can be something that is a positive for teams as well because you feel like you have more to tap into. The more playing experience that he gets, like could you get him to a higher level?

I like to say that head coaches are the eternal optimists. They always believe that they're going to be able to get the best version out of any player. So, you know, I'm sure when they sit in the meeting room with Ty Simpson, they're going to fall in love with him. They're going to look at his film and say, hey, he was really great here. we can win with this player. And, you know, they're going to say, all right, let's just get him in the building and see what we can do with them. You know, we can coach him up and get him to be the type of player that we need him to be. I absolutely see that being the case for a player like Ty Simpson.

You just want to like the ideal situation to go somewhere we sits and doesn't start right away. Like if the Jets draft him in the first round, it's like, oh, that's a disaster waiting to happen. Right. Yeah, absolutely. If it's L.A. or Pittsburgh or even Tampa, I kind of love it because. he's going to have that year to really, first of all, he'll be in a great system if it's L.A. Probably a good system if it's Pittsburgh, Tampa, eh. But I think he definitely had the opportunity to gain some just more knowledge of what the pro game is about and what's expected of him if he does have to sit for a year.

Are you dialed in with Alabama at all? Because I've got one huge question on Simpson. What was it about him that couldn't allow him to beat out Jalen Millrow to be the starting. quarterback of the crimson tide. And if you're not on the answer, you know, I wouldn't hold it against you. That's a tough question to answer.

But Millrow was, when was he taken, Jamie Adam, Josh? Last year was he around three pick or around. Just like 97 or something later. So he was like a top 100, but that's pretty good.

But it makes me wonder why Simpson couldn't beat him out. And now Simpson is expected to go significantly higher than Jalen Milrow on the draft. Well, I mean, Milrow was a good, was a good college quarterback. You just,

you know, it's a, it's, about traits, right? He's a playmaker. Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, the football ability, probably, his ability to run the football, gave him some opportunity to move the sticks in that way.

That would be my guess. Okay. No, I get it. I think he stumped everyone. They have a good question there. Yeah, I don't know what the answer is. Dude, that's the other part of this. Like, Ty Simpson, he doesn't have a lot of experience,

but he's also an older prospect. So that's kind of one of my fears, if you put him in a situation where he does have to sit a year or two, and suddenly he's 26 years old when he's named the starting quarterback, you know, that's something to take into consideration. I know if he's the type of player that a lot of teams think that he could be, then you still take that player in the first round all day, knowing that you get that fifth-year option,

you buy yourself a little bit more time. But, you know, there's a lot of things to take into consideration with him. He's kind of a unique prospect. And to that end, I thought, last year that Tyler Shuck, like it wouldn't be ideal for him to play right away, but I thought he was close to being NFL ready. And I, when I wrote the profile about him, I said at the end of it, I think he could be a potential bridge quarterback or maybe even like a franchise quarterback and could play

as a rookie. I don't know if I feel that way about Simpson. I don't know if he could go in midseason and be the stuff. Like if he went to the Jets in Jamie's example and the Jets start the year with Justin Fields and it just, it's more of the same from Justin Fields, and they make the switch midseason to tie Simpson. I don't know if Simpson would be as good as Shuck was. And that makes me a little nervous about taking him, not necessarily with the first round

pick, but like the top half of round one. I think that that would be kind of pricey for Simpson. Yeah, but it's also to your point about coaching, though, because I mean, being coached by Kellyn Moore is going to be a lot different than the Jets coaching style. Right. Which I think is Frank Reich now, right? Yeah, Frank Reich, which used to be an amazing thing. Now we're kind of not too sure.

I got to take a break here. One more question for Josh, my very unimportant dinner dilemma. And we'll be right back on fantasy football today. After this, we still have a lot of important things to talk about. But let's bring on this Twitter poll here. I couldn't decide. I was at dinner on Saturday night. I couldn't decide.

So let's let the people decide. I was feeling very unhealthy lately. I just have been in a bad eating funk. But it was Saturday night. I want to go out. I want to have something good. So I said, what should I do about food tonight? Here are my options. Option A, healthy dinner and ice cream or unhealthy dinner and no ice cream.

I'm just going to leave it at that. I won't say what the dinner options were. But Dave, what would you have done in this situation? Healthy dinner and I voted A. Oh, you voted. Okay. I did. I saw it and I voted for a healthy dinner and ice cream. J.B., how about you? C, unhealthy dinner and ice cream. That was the leader in the comments section. That's the easy thing. If you're going to go enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself for one night.

My God. But I've been enjoying myself too much late. Josh, what about you? Healthy dinner and ice cream or unhealthy dinner and no ice cream? You know, after this week in Indianapolis, it should probably be D, healthy dinner and no ice cream. But historically speaking, I would probably favor the unhealthy dinner and no ice cream. I'm more of like the savory type. But if we're talking desserts at the same time, like I would probably prefer a cake.

or cookies or something of that nature to ice cream as well. So that's really where the dilemma would come for me. Okay. You know, nothing would stop you from having cookies. You could have the unhealthy dinner and then gourd on pledge brownies for. Or you get those hot skillet cookies with the scoop of ice cream on top. I mean, that's the best of both. That's a great dessert, for sure.

But then there's ice cream involved. Then he'd have to have the healthy dinner. True. No. He could have the cookie skillet without ice cream or frozen. He didn't say anything about frozen yogurt. So go get yourself some Giordano stuff pizza and then finish it off with a Pazuki with Froyo.

You guys went out a much better Saturday than I did. So I was going to, it was either going to be this, this Greek chicken with like chicken, quinoa, cucumber. It was like it was really good. It was very good. Out of your 75 pounds. Eat whatever you want. But healthy.

And then I was going to get the ice cream. Or I was going to get a chicken parm sub and French fries and no ice cream. I really wanted. the chicken par sub and franchise. But I compromised. I went with a chicken terriaki rice bowl, which is not exactly healthy, but it's not terrible.

And then I had a cake pop from Starbucks afterwards, which was really good. You ever had those? No, they're so good. They're okay. That was your dessert. Would you say?

That was my dessert. Yeah, we went to the ice cream place, but I didn't have any ice cream. So I got like a little less than... You went to the ice cream place and didn't have ice cream? I didn't. Yeah, I passed it up for the cake pop.

Oh, my God. That is way more restraint than I would have had. Like I said, I've been eating very poorly lately. So I just had to take a little bloated. Josh, thanks, man. This was great. Great having you on. I'm sorry to tell you, this will not be the last time we're on our show.

The information was too good. And we're going to have to have you on again. Thank you so much. Thanks, John. Absolutely, guys. Anytime. All right, man, take care. All right, we do have a lot of news and notes to get to here.

GMs have been talking and reporters have been scouring. and breaking news and all that. So here we go. Your news and notes. The Colts will start with them. ESPN had a bunch of notes. We'll get to what a couple of their reporters had to say. But the Colts, first of all, this was,

I don't know if this was an exclusive or anything, but they're going to allow Anthony Richardson to seek a trade. But ESPN reporting that they're going to keep Alec Pierce, either franchise tag or whatever means necessary. They're going to keep Alec Pierce. A franchise tag or transition tag or sign them to a long-term exception. Right. So that's basically every, I don't know what else they could do.

They could yell at him and just, make him play for free. I don't think that's going to work. They'll make him an offer. He can't refuse. Yeah. I think if we're out Pierce fans, we need to root for Michael Pittman getting cut or traded at this point. And then they have to bring back Daniel Jones, which just seems like they're going to try to do. But, well, they can't franchise tag both of them. I saw, I forget who it was, maybe Art Stapleton, one of the Giants reporters suggesting that this is very similar to the Giants dilemma that they had with Daniel Jones and Saquan

Barkley. Yeah. How'd that work out? Not great. They have chosen. Daniel Jones apparently is like asking for a lot of money and understandably so he wants to get paid. And they have to make a choice if they're going to use the tag on one of them. Now, if they use both tags on each player, it's easier, I think, for Pierce to walk than it would be for Daniel Jones to leave.

Because Jones will get the franchise tag. Right. There are two tags. There's the franchise tag and the transition tag. Use the franchise tag. You're almost certainly going to keep the player. otherwise you're going to get two first round picks in return. Well, you could settle for less than that if you wanted to, but two first round picks.

Transition tag, you're not going to get the same. You get no compensation with the transition date? You get no compensation. But I thought you could use one tag. You use each tag? That would be news to me. I thought that's what I read in regard to the cults. I could be wrong.

I thought you could use both tags, but also I could be wrong. But you can't use two franchise tags. You can't use two transition tags. Right. You're it. All right. Dallas is going to give. George Pickens, the franchise tag.

I don't know why I thought you're it was kind of funny there. Tag, you know. Carolina, according to ESPN, they're at least hopeful that Jonathan Brooks can contribute this season according to ESPN, like I said. All right, now here's some news. What you're referring to is Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano. Yeah, I don't know if all of this stuff is from that same column, but most of it is from Dan Gratziano and Jeremy Fowler.

So then the CBA has not changed anything. you can only use one tag on one player per offseason. Okay. So the Colts have to decide who they're going to say you're in. It could come down to a financial decision for them. It might be cheaper for them to extend Pierce and tag Jones. And that just might be the route they take. If Jones becomes a free agent, Daniel Jones becomes a free agent,

he could become the most sought-after free agent in the NFL. It's wild. The Vikings are going to release defensive tackle, Javan Hargrave. Okay. Also, 31-year-old running back, Aaron Jones, unless they can trade them. But Aaron Jones will be out. They're also, by the way, according to that ESPN article, they're considering Gino Smith and Kyler Murray at quarterback.

But Jamie, what do you make of the Vikings running back situation right now? I mean, look, they're in Cap Hell, so they're going to have to be a little creative with what they do. And Jordan Mason, you know, showed in the four games that Jones missed with the hamstring injury last year, I think it was hamstring, that he could be a serviceable running. back. I don't know if he's a game breaker. I'm sure there'll be somebody else added there to compete with him, you know, hopefully a young running back that can maybe eventually become the successor. But Mason's going to be a, you know, borderline RB2 in that role if he's the featured

guy. That's kind of the way he was, at least for me, you know, I was approaching him that way, you know, starting him that way. He had a good stretch of games. Three of the four, two of the four. He was great, you know, did a solid job when he was the featured guy there. So it's still a really good offense, all of the quarterback situation will be better. I believe the majority of that stretch was Carson Wentz, too. So we'll see what happens for their backfield. But this was kind of expected. Jones coming back was really essentially a one-year deal.

And so, you know, giving an opportunity for Mason to be that guy, I think anybody that has in Dynasty should be excited about the opportunity. I don't really love the idea of Kyler Murray or Gino Smith throwing to Justin Jefferson, though. I'd be okay with Gino by comparison to J.J. McCarthy at this point. Yeah, that's fair. Murray, I'm with you. I don't think it's the most ideal upgrade. In that same story, you know, it was, they're basically going to be on every quarterback.

You know, I'm sure there are some exceptions. But, you know, the thought I think in that story was, which makes sense, is that, you know, most teams are viewing Geno Smith as better than what he showed in 2025 because of the offense, offensive line, et cetera, maybe reverting back to what he showed in Seattle. And so with the right coach and obviously Kenne O'Connell's that guy, you would expect some, you know, significant. upgrades for his production, and then you surround him with this cast of talent, you know, Jefferson, Addison, Hawkinson, you know, whatever they do at running back, it's, it's clearly going to be a good deal. But, I mean, you're going to hear Aaron Rogers there. You're going to hear Kurt Cousins there. You're going to hear potentially Daniel Jones if he's, you know, free. You'll hit Tua if the Dolphons will eat some of his contract, you know,

so all these guys, you know, I believe in the story, they even say, you know, Joe Flacco and some of the older quarterbacks too, or the other quarterbacks, too, you know, Garoppolo also, you know, so they're going to be in on now almost everybody. And I think there was also report after that story came out of Adam, that Carson Wentz is considering going back to Minnesota, too. So they're basically just, it's, you know, open door who can come in to compete with J.J. McCarthy and, you know, having somebody that has some knowledge of O'Connell system would probably be an ideal situation. I can't believe I just made a positive sounding noise at the mention of Carson Wentz going back to an NFL team. Just to leave this here, 2024 with Gino Smith, DK. Meckaff, 15 games, 12.8 p.pr.

points per game. Jackson Smith and Jigba 14.6 ppr points per game. Yeah. That's that's that's that's you know JSN's number is obviously good. We'd be happy with that but not if we're taking JETA's with a first or also year two for JSN it was you know, Metcalf was in and out of the lineup most of the season like jSNN finished super strong right. Well actually he kind of slumped in the last year. We had that stretch when mecalf was out. A great stretch. There's there's there's there's. there's obviously not somebody out there unless it was a healthy Daniel Jones who spent time in Minnesota coming back there that you would say, oh, this is great for Jefferson. I don't even know Daniel Jones is that guy. I mean, you know, Sam Donald was really good for Justin Jefferson.

It's at this point, I think you're either hoping for some sort of light, you know, who? Wentz was good for Justin Jefferson. He was good, but he wasn't great. He was like 16.7 points per game good. Like, that's not even Justin Jefferson good. You know, so I think what you're looking for is a huge step forward for J.J. McCarthy, which is hard to rationalize at this point, but maybe it happens. Or somebody comes in and it's, you know, a retread guy.

Flacco has obviously been great for fantasy receivers in the last several years, but he's going to be 42. Aaron Rogers is going to be 42. Kirk Cousins, can he recreate his old magic there with Jefferson? Again, hard to say. You know, so all of these guys are not going to be the most ideal situation. I think if there's one really that might stand out, and I know this sounds gross, but Tua in O'Connell's system, he got two 1,700-yard seasons out of Tyree Kill. You know, that's not bad based on his accuracy and now in the system. You know, that might be the best situation, to be honest.

The thing is, you know, when you look at like average route depth for wide receivers, the Minnesota guys, Addison and Jefferson, they constantly stand out. I mean, they're not the highest, but they're up there. you've got to be able to throw the ball downfield. It doesn't have to be a bomb, but you get a 15-yard in-rout or something like that. You've got to be able to nail that. Sometimes, too, it can. I mean, sometimes it's really good at that,

but they are a vertical team, right? Like, they want to push the ball down field for sure. Here's another number or numbers. Kevin O'Connell's been there four years. Here's Minnesota's pass attempts in his four years. 672. That's third most. 631, 4th most.

548, 18th most. Last year, 484 pass attempts, 28th. Now, that's partially because they ran the third fewest plays. They were bad. Yeah. They couldn't stay on the field. But their pass rate has declined. Their pass rate's been about a little about, 16th and 14th the last two years.

It was third, the first two years under O'Connell. Their defense has gotten a lot better. So it's a little bit different of an environment than when he first came, and they were throwing the ball more than just about any team in the league. Yeah, and you hear, you know, maybe they're in on Mack. Jones, too, if the San Francisco will make trades. So there's a lot of different routes this can go. I think we have a very huge

incomplete right now on what the Vikings offense is going to look like. Philadelphia has a high asking price for A.J. Brown, according to ESPN. There's certainly no consensus, it seems, about whether or not A.J. Brown is going to get traded. NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah thinks to Sean Watson is the favorite to be

the Brown starting quarterback in week one. Good thing in my dynasty league. Baltimore head Baltimore head coach Jesse Minter does not think Lamar Jackson needs to run more. Maybe it needs to run less, I think he said,

something along those lines. That ESPN reports at Travis ETN unlikely to get the franchise tag. David Montgomery refuted an ESPN report that said he wants out of Detroit. Elena Getsenberg from ESPN thinks that Khalil Shakir will have a bigger role in 2026.

Dave, who are some wide receivers that would be competing with Khalil Shakir in Buffalo for targets. Well, they're obviously going to have to draft some guys, but Josh Palmer's still on the team. Tyrell Shavers, hopefully, well, he got hurt, so I don't know if he's going to be able to make it. Obviously, the tight end, Dalton Kincaid, as long as he stays healthy, he's going to be able to compete as well. Okay.

You get to save. Curtis Samuel's a free agent, I think. So I don't know if he's going to be somebody that can do that. Sorry, folks. I was trying to get somebody $10. Didn't happen. The chiefs are expected to release right tackle, Joanne Taylor, and the Seahawks don't have a timetable. for Zach Charbonnet. Honestly, there were a lot, there were more notes, many more notes.

I just didn't really include them because it's so speculative and free agency is starting pretty soon. So if there's anything else that you guys want to talk about, go for it. I don't know if there's something I didn't cover. You mentioned the Carolina situation sort of briefly. So they, I believe the report was they're hopeful to bring back Rico Doudal. But if he leaves, I don't think they're going to necessarily look to replace him because of Brooks. and maybe getting him back. But that report also seemed to indicate you brought this up last week

with the sophomore running backs that they're high on Trevor E.T. So that's a name to keep an eye on if Brooks can't get back and you're looking for a late round pick for a handcuffed Chuba Hubbard. Cool. Good show. And there was this report that the Giants are in on Ken Walker. Yeah, I saw something pretty unsubstantiated that they really like Jeremiah love. I don't get it.

If you can't be sold on Cam Scataboo, you're going out and getting those guys, you know. Well, I mean, you're talking about the best prospect in the draft class and arguably the best free agent available at that position. So why would you not want to surround Jackson Dart with the best possible options? To your point, if you're not sold on Camp Scada. Now, I think if you look at Harbaugh's track record, he's typically had a very good running back.

Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I hope they don't pick love at five. I just. No, I think if you're going to go that route, you try and. Yeah, if they trade back. Yeah, they trade back. They've done this before taking a running back in the top five.

With Barclay. Yeah. I think it was a fine pick. But, yeah, I don't know. Barclay was a bad prospect. They won. Who, what, they had taken Quentin Nelson, they would have won more, maybe? No, I don't know.

But I just, I, yes, he's, Love is a great player, just like Sequin is a great player, but the argument against taking Sequin in the first five picks was, does he really make your team that much better? He did. And the answer was, no, he was great for the team and all that good stuff. We all know that. But they're trying to win games and divisions and Super Bowls,

and Sequin didn't put them over the top. Let's just take a little history lesson. Just that draft was 2018. It was obviously a controversial pick. They took him second. So after that was Sam Darnold. It's a pretty good drag. That wouldn't have helped them.

Denzo Ward. Baker Mayfield was one. Barclay, too. Sam Darnold, Denzo Ward. He had an amazing career, but he's been on a lot of losers. He's been on some winners. Right. Yeah.

Now Cleveland had the first, two of the first four picks. They took Baker and Denzo Ward. Bradley Chubb, Quentin Nelson, has been phenomenal. Josh Allen has been okay Roquhwin That might have been a good pick Roquan Smith Mike McGlinchie

and then Josh Rosen this is a really good draft actually I think at the time Josh Rosen but I don't you know Look I

I think you can take a running back that early but Look you took take one You could have had two MVP quarterbacks That's all Yeah Hey I wanted to mention

one more thing Real quick here before we get off the air Beyond the box score You know it and love it They have their own YouTube account now. So you can just search for Beyond the Box Score

on YouTube at FFT Beyond the Box. Whoa. All right. Let's hear it. Whoa. I love it. I have traded David Montgomery, the Texans. That was a big double whoa for that trade.

No, that's a big one. Are you kidding? March 2nd. It's a huge trade. It's not like the blockbuster. Well, I mean, the Texas now have their starting. running back and Jemir Gibbs is now set free. It's pretty big.

That is big. All right. So who do you like better now? Gibbs or Montgomery? Montgomery, you know, with that Texas offense is, uh, what if I give you, for Detroit. I give you Montgomery and Keon Coleman for Gibbs. Are we closer?

That might make it worse. Coleman for Gibson. Yeah. It's pretty close. All right. Let's talk about this. While we're here, we might as well talk about this. Well, of course, dummy.

That's what we do. Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm not going to say, I was literally ending the show. Well, obviously, obviously, we can try to get Dave to say Keon-Kulman a few more times. Well, here's the thing. We could stop and do a bonus podcast because we're at, we're an hour into the show at this point. All right, fine. See you in a minute.

Bye. Should we do that? I think we should probably do that. Let's stop and do a bonus podcast. We'll, uh, we'll, everybody hang out. We'll see on the bonus. We'll talk to you shortly. I don't know how.

how shortly, but we'll talk to you soon. We're going to do it for Express, Thomas. There you go. Oh, we'll do it for Express. All right. It'll be our, and all three of us will be on FFT Express. All right. We'll break it down for you momentarily.

See you later, everybody. Whoa. On podcasts.