Fantasy Football Today - NFL Draft Day Three Winners and Losers (04/30 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: April 30, 2022

Download and follow Fantasy Football Today in 5 for Fantasy advice in just five minutes! You can find Fantasy Football Today in 5 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else podcasts are found. Which Day Three picks have immediate Fantasy relevance? Packers WR Romeo Doubs, Texans RB Dameon Pierce and Falcons RB Tyler Allgeier have potential. Dave also tells you who his top two dynasty picks are, who his #3 RB in this class is, if Kyren Williams is bad news for Cam Akers and which Day Three WRs could matter.  You can also follow the full-length Fantasy Football Today podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-podcast/id261735167 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 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs, @BenSchragg You can listen to Fantasy Football Today in 5 on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today in 5 podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today in 5 podcast." Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter 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

What does possible sound like for your business? It's having the spend to power your scale with no preset spending limit. Redefine possible with Business Platinum. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Terms and conditions apply. Visit amex.ca slash business platinum. Welcome to the day three recap. The NFL draft, I'm not going to lie to you, it is not in the books.

It is still going the books it is still going on it is in round six uh heading into round seven right now but dave and i figured probably an okay time to do the podcast the other guys getting drafted now are probably not going to have a huge impact in 2022 what's up dave uh are you happy to put the draft behind you i'm happy to put the draft behind me but i'm excited to dig into the players that I didn't get a chance to dig into yet already. For example, I don't even know if I can pronounce the Dolphins

receiver's name. Eric. Eric, that part I got. It's Eric. Eric. The last name I'm going to need a little bit of work on. Interesting dude, just from 6'2", and it looks like he's shifty in his routes. It seems like he understands angles when he's got the ball in his hands and you know there's a bunch of players that i i can't get to them all i wish i could but i'm gonna get the chance to we've got

some time between now and the start of the season hopefully we've got enough time between now and your rookie only draft yeah dynasty leaguers out there, we need to find some of those uncut gems. And I know that right now, round six is going on, and then round seven, there will be a player or two that'll come out that we'll talk about on the podcast next week. I believe one of the podcasts that we're going to talk about next week is simply titled Sleepers. Yeah, it is.

And I don't think it's meant to be like, maybe it is supposed to be sleepers for the whole 22 season it includes everybody yeah oh okay well we'll throw in some rookie sleepers well i think i i think it's gonna be you know leaning rookies uh by the way we are just so such adam sandler rights that even when you're not trying to make a reference you say uncubbed gems so very good there okay who's your who's your one 1.2 in a rookie only after assuming breeze halls one one oh no i i think and it's in pencil but i think breeze hall is my 1.02 okay who's one romeo dubs just kidding although i am extremely excited about

romeo dubs going to Green Bay. I think it's Kenneth Walker. I'm not ready to commit to it. I want to see how things shake out. If I were drafting right now, yeah, I think I'd take him. I understand that. Excuse me. Hold on. Oh, now you're going to rip me for this. Go ahead. I want you, I know you love Ken Walker. I want you to take a deep breath. I want you to separate, really think about it. Take away your love for Ken Walker and really think about it. Do you really want to do that?

Because everybody's going to be on Breece Hall, so you're going to be on the island, which is fine. But do you really want to be on Ken Walker Island? Is it a nice island, a hospitable island? Is that where you really want to be? Do I want to be on the walker island is it a nice island a hospitable island is that where you really want to be do i want to be on the island with the running back who has three down skill set but may never be a three down player because his team's philosophy is to use multiple running backs whereas in seattle yeah there have been times where pete carroll has absolutely used

multiple running backs and maybe for this, he could frustratingly use Kenneth Walker and Rashad Penny all the time and bother us. But Penny's on a one-year deal. I don't know if Chris Carson's playing again. I don't like the depth chart behind Walker and Penny. I think Walker's a really good talent, and I think he's a really good fit in that offense. I hate that they don't have a quarterback. That's a problem. Rookie tackle's also a problem. You don't have to follow me to Ken Walker Island, and I don't know if I'm going to stick with it either. But for now, I kind of like Walker better long-term than Brees Hall. I think they could both be good. Okay, we're going to talk about day three here. This is not going to be a full-length show,

so this will be about 15, 20 minutes, something like that. Give me a day 3 pick that immediately screams fantasy relevance to you. Can I give you like 6 or do I have to give you just 1? No, I wouldn't say 6 but more than 1 is fine. I'll give you a running back and I'll give you a wide receiver and I already brought up Romeo Dubs

and I am excited about Romeo Dubs going to Green Bay. He doesn't have the top shelf speed but he's a good route runner he's quick off the snap he's got 10 inch hands and i think he's going to get an opportunity to find playing time in green bay as well they're going to have them all in competition and it's not just going to be you know the rookies and undrafted wide receivers that they have they're going to compete with lazard and with Sammy Watkins and Randall Cobb and all that stuff. And if Watkins stinks, and he has really for the past couple of years, Lazard will be out there. Cobb can be a part-time player. I don't know if he's going to

be a full-time player. Someone's going to have to step up and be another receiver and another target. And if they're better than Lazard, they'll get more targets than Lazard. They're looking for somebody. And we're all excited about Watson and Watson could be that guy. I don't want to discount it at all, but I think dubs is pretty good. I, I, I'm, uh, I think if he were given the opportunity, he would be useful for fantasy as a borderline number three receiver with potential to have some top 15 weeks. Okay. Romeo Dubs, fourth round pick of the Green Bay Packers and you're running, or was it a running back? I assume another player. It's a running back. Yeah. Damien Pierce going to Houston. Yeah. Any running back that was going to go to Houston, I'd be a

fan of, but I liked watching Pierce at the senior bowl. I liked his film from Florida. Again, not somebody who's a complete player doesn't have that second gear necessarily but i i think he's pretty well rounded and he should get an opportunity because what's the competition in houston it's rex burkhead and you know a bunch of other guys who haven't really been able to make it uh is david johnson even still on the roster if he is he's not the david johnson of old i think pierce is going to have an opportunity to get some meaningful playing time and potentially help fantasy managers out. He's going to get drafted in every single league. Yeah.

I guess my issue with him is I'm not sure he's going to be a huge factor in the passing game. He had 19 catches as a senior, 17 as a junior. Ran a 4.59. I'm just not, quite frankly, I'm just really not into that. It's just not very good. But it doesn't mean he can't be useful or solid. But the other thing is he just hasn't had a lot of work.

He's never had more than 15 carries in a game, Damian Pierce. So, again, you know, and that's fine. But you just want to see it that he can do that. It's not like there have never been any part-time players. Who were we saying? Josh Jacobs, right? Josh Jacobs was a guy who, I don't know if he had never had more than 15 carries, but he had a pretty light workload coming in,

and there were maybe some questions about that. But he showed that he can, for the most part, I know he gets dinged up a bit, but for the most part he can be a horse. He certainly gets opportunities, especially when the Raiders are winning. And that's the thing. That's the one thing about a running back in Houston is how often are the Texans going to be winning games this year where a running back

is going to get that kind of opportunity. If Davis Mills takes a step up, they're kind of like the Jets. They've got an established veteran. It's different. They have Brandon Cooks. you know, they've got some talent. Maybe they can be good. And he does not have a lot of competition, so that was good to see. And then you've got Tyler Algier. they can, maybe they can be good. And he does not have a lot of competition.

So that was good to see. And then you got Tyler Algier, like compare Damian Pierce going to Houston, Tyler Algier going to the Falcons. I think Algier is kind of in the same boat as Pierce, maybe a thicker version, not somebody that you're going to expect to be, you know,

a three down player and certainly not somebody that's got top end speed, but he's physical. He's tough. I wonder if Arthur Smith sees shades of Derrick Henry in Tyler Algier. There are people who compared him to James Conner. So that physical grinder type of running back who might get an opportunity to be part of the run game in Atlanta. They need to do something there. They need youth. And this is a coach in Arthur Smith that kind of got run game in Atlanta. They need to do something there. They need youth. And this is a coach in Arthur Smith that, you know, kind of got the job in Atlanta on the strength of a power running game. Again, how often is this run game going to have opportunities to pick up wins and be successful, find the end zone, how many touchdowns are going to be there for the taking. And if there are 16 of them over the course of a year,

how many are going to fall into Algiers' hands? I'm not sure how many that'll be. Wynn Patterson's still there. Mike Davis is still there. He's got some work to do. But like Pierce, he's someone who will get drafted and he'll begin the year on fantasy benches. I don't have a problem with that.

Right, yeah. So who's your number three running back just for 2022, presumably behind Brees Hall and Ken Walker in some order? Right. And let me make clear that Hall is going to be ranked ahead of Walker for this year. I'm not sure if it's going to be that, like I've already talked about it. I'm not sure how it's going to be in like Hall is a great three down player. How many targets is he going to get from Zach Wilson when Zach Wilson wasn't thrown into the running backs last year? That's stuff for a different time.

I'm sure I'll be debating that for months. I've got James Cook third. I don't know if I'm going to stick with that because I think Pierce has an opportunity to maybe get more work. It'll come down to, you know, I think they see James Cook is more of a pass catcher than a runner. And there have been teams that have done that. And then the running back ends up being great all the way around.

Alvin Kamara is a perfect example of that. That's the ceiling for somebody like James Cook. But he could also end up being somebody that's just a passing downs component to the offense and may not even line up where a running back lines up. He could be their slot receiver. So there's a lot of interesting elements that James Cook can bring to Buffalo. And that's an offense that I'd love to have a running back in. So for now, he's ahead of Pierce. Pierce is fourth. I've got Spiller fifth, but I'm not sure how I feel about him versus Brian Robinson. And we can talk about Rashad White, Samir White, TDR going to San Francisco.

I thought that was an interesting choice. Ty Davis Price, yeah, at the end of round three or near the end of round three. I think they love his lateral agility. I think that that's what they're going to bank on. But I didn't think that he was a 49ers offense type of running back, an outside zone type of running back. He did it all. Like, I'm sure he could learn it. It's not, you know, when you're a of running back, an outside zone type of running back. He did it all.

I'm sure he could learn it. It's not... When you're a professional running back, you're going to learn that type of stuff. But it's not like LSU... It's not like their run game majored in it. So I'm not going to... College on the mind, so...

College germs. I'm not going to go through every running back, but we'll just... Zemir White out of Georgia was an interesting guy. He went to the Raiders, which isn't a great spot for this year, but Josh Jacobs, they didn't pick up his fifth year option.

So maybe if Zamir White shows something this year, he could have a big role in 2023. Isaiah Spiller going to the Chargers. I mean, that just kind of stinks. I think if Isaiah Spiller had gone to the Texans or the Falcons, we'd be really excited. He'd be third for me.

But remember- Wouldn't even be an issue. That's our evaluation, right? That's, that's the, the common evaluation was that Spiller was in the mix to be the third best running back in this class, but the NFL looked at him and decided no.

And eight running backs were taken ahead of him. It was the ninth running back off the board. So I guess I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Chris Trapasso loved it, gave the pick an A. He's the most accomplished running back in this class in terms of college production. But obviously, he's not beating out Austin Eckler.

What is his role, do you think, in 2022? The way that I sent it in our group Slack was, he's a good yin to Austin Eckler's yang, meaning that when the Chargers want to go to a more physical approach spiller can handle that i'd be surprised if spiller caught 10 passes as a rookie but i could see him taking the role that maybe we thought that larry roundtree was going to have last year or the role that melvin gordon kind of sort of had once upon a time i don't think he's going to be like you know he's going to take away work from austin eckler and this is something to worry about Austin Eckler. I don't think so at all, but I wouldn't mind having this guy on my bench.

If I had Austin Eckler with a first round pick and it wouldn't surprise me if he stole a couple of touchdowns over the course of the year. I think he is a, he is a physical running back. When I watched him play, he reminded me of Zach Moss when Moss was coming out, but he doesn't have all the injuries that Zach Moss had, nor was he as old as Zach Moss was when Zach Moss came out. I think he could be an interesting complementary back for the Chargers who might annoy people who draft Austin Eckler. Okay.

His dynasty value will be really interesting to debate and discuss as we move forward. And then I thought the Patriots taking Pierre Strong in the fourth round was... I don't know. He's un-Patriots-like to me. He's not like anybody on the roster. He's the fastest running back in the draft. He's out of South Dakota State. And I'll just give all my notes from him.

5'11", 207 pounds, ran a 4.37. He has 10 rushing touchdowns in his career of 50 or more yards. I saw that on NFL.com. Amazing stat for Pierre Strong. 10 rushing touchdowns of 50 or more yards. So the Patriots get some explosiveness there. He has shown the ability to catch the ball. And he was the 1,668 rushing yards last year.

And that was his third year with over a thousand rushing yards. Yeah. And he led FCS in that, in that stat with 1,668. So it's just, just tremendous year for him. All right, let's turn our attention.

Passing touchdowns too. Yeah. Not receiving passing. He's I'm positive. The Patriots added him for the speed and just the overall potential that somebody like that can have an offense and maybe he works his way into a role where he gets five touches a game and they just hope that he can break a long run and take a couple of carries off of their main running backs but it could also end up being down the line and I'm talking two years from now or

maybe even one year from now because Damon Harris is in the contract here the Romandre Stevenson Pierre Strong show uh he's dart worthy in rookie only drafts for sure and one other running back I wanted to talk about I'm sorry sorry to take up the whole show that's what we're supposed to do right Kyron Williams out of Notre Dame he's James White fifth round pick of the Rams. Very good in the passing game. Yeah, he's probably just going to mostly be a third down specialist. But is that bad news for Cam Akers? I think it could be.

And it certainly suggests, and this is assuming that Williams is good when he gets there, it suggests that the Rams are going to fall victim to being yet another team that will use multiple running backs in specific roles and not lean on one guy for three downs. I don't know if it's an indictment on Cam Akers' health or his ability, but I can almost certainly bet that it's an indictment on all the Rams running backs from last year not being

consistently effective slash available in the pass game because there were moments where Daryl Henderson's been good in the passing game but he hasn't always been available so it's a play against that I think and also I think the Rams were just drafting for value all the way through I don't think they were drafting necessarily for need but they'll find a way to work him in. And as a third down back, because he's got a lot of traits that remind me of James White, and I'm sure he reminds a lot of other people of James White, that's what he's going to do. Could end up being a guy that catches 25 to 35 passes as a rookie. And then if he does a good job with it, could be getting 40, 50 catches a year. All right, we turn our attention to the wide receivers now. And you already mentioned Dubs going to Green Bay.

I'll take a flyer on Khalil Shakir. He was the first wide receiver drafted in the fifth round. He went to Buffalo, and he's out of Boise State. And 6'196", ran a 4.4340. Just kind of like a solid player. Really good career at Boise State. Good yak potential. Yeah, I don't know.

They're not exactly rock solid at number two receiver. So I think there's a chance for him to get in the mix. How dare you say that about Gabe Davis? Maybe they are. Maybe Gabe Davis is better than I think. I'm just saying there's a chance for Khalil Shakir to get in the mix. I don't expect much from any. Honestly, I just don't expect much as a rookie from day three picks.

It's pretty rare, especially the fifth round or later. But, hey, there's opportunity there for Shakir, and he's a very accomplished player. He's a slot receiver. He will compete for the slot role. Right, and he's got Jameson Crowder to deal with there. Anyone else that you wanted to mention other than your boy, Romeo Dubs going to the Packers? I think Dubs was probably the one that I liked the best based on what we've seen so far. Okay. Okay. And in terms of quarterbacks, saw Sam Howell go with the first pick of the fifth round out of UNC. He went to the Washington Commanders.

So there were three in round three. We saw two on day three. Anything? Do you care? No. Okay. How about tight end? Kate Otten going to Tampa Bay. Yeah, that's what I was going to bring up was, and going to Tampa Bay. Yeah. That's what I was going to bring up was out and going to Tampa Bay.

It could be a sign, but they know that they're not going to have Gronk forever and they just lost OJ Howard. So they needed to restock at that position anyway. And Otten was good when he was healthy. So he's, he's again, another,

another worthy dart throw in rookie-only drafts. Someone who won't make it to redraft leagues unless Gronk is out, Cameron Brate gets hurt, and Otten shines in training camp. All right.

So I'm just thinking, putting our heads together here, any NFL veterans who were potentially affected today, I think, you know, I think maybe Cam Akers. I don't think that's a nothing

thing, even though it was a fifth-round running back. Williams has to earn the job. He does, but I don't think they have that player on their roster, really. And they also haven't... Have they ever? That's the thing. No, they haven't really had that

specific third down back. I was about to No, they haven't really had that specific third down back. I was about to say, we haven't seen that under Sean McVay. He's kind of a one running back guy when he finds the guy, with 2020 being a bit of an exception as they were kind of sorting through Daryl Henderson, Cam Akers, Malcolm Brown. But yeah, that would be a departure, but it would be bad news. And anything else? I would imagine that players that impact veterans,

it's going to be minor rookies impacting minor veterans. For example, you brought up Zemir White going to Las Vegas. And I guess there's potential because we know that this is the contract year for Josh Jacobs. They didn't pick up his option. If he shines, they could move on from Jacobs, theoretically, and Zemir White could be their lead back moving forward. Or if they want to use a tandem and they don't like Kenyon Drake,

Zemir White could be the other half of that tandem for this year. So he's somebody who could end up being relevant in fantasy for this year. You brought up Strong. Oh, before I get to the guy who i was going to bring up i want to get to snoop connor physical running back seems to me like he's the insurance policy in case james robinson isn't ready to go okay that's another name to keep in mind snoop connor yeah okay oh by the way yeah the patriots added another running back, Kevin Harris, who's like the opposite of Pierre Strong.

He's strong. He's physical and type of, you know, guy who might be able to work in specific situations. I don't know what the Patriots are doing, getting two running backs like that. But they're going to have some serious competition at that position. And, you know, we just talked about Zamira White on the Raiders.

Just wanted to mention one more thing about him. He had, in his career in Georgia, 17 catches. So probably not a guy who's going to be working on third downs. And that was a huge deal for Josh Jacobs. If they don't go back to Kenyon Drake in that role, they have a new coaching staff, a coaching staff that has,

Josh McDaniels has a great history of using third down backs. I don't know who it's going to be. If it's going to be Jacobs, whether or not it is Jacobs is a big, big factor in his fantasy value as we saw last year.

All right, that's day three, Dave. You want three more? Yeah. Running backs. Tyler Beatty going to Baltimore does kind of remind me a little bit of kenneth dixon and justice hill you know guys that were like professional runners speed guys not necessarily physical guys um i think he i think he's a good insurance policy in case

one of the other running backs in balt't ready to go. And there's a sense that one of them might not be ready because they were sniffing around Melvin Gordon before Melvin went and resigned with Denver. So he might have an opportunity. Keonta Ingram, former USC running back, going to Arizona, kind of another guy that's like physical, reminds me a little bit of James Conner. So that might just be a good backup for him in Arizona. And then right after that, the Bears drafted Treston Ebner from Baylor and Trapasso. I didn't know anything about him, but Trapasso wrote this amazing recap saying that he's got a thick lower half and doesn't have a lot of mileage on him coming into the NFL, called him a complete back, useful in the receiving game, has deceptive speed. That's

a guy that I'm going to look forward to reviewing a little bit. Montgomery, I'm almost positive, is in a contract year. And as much as we like Khalil Herbert behind him, maybe this is somebody who gets into the mix a little bit. Bears did a lot of digging on day three. They're going to have a couple of good players that end up making the team and having some semblance of an impact. I'll tell you,

we should talk more about Keontae Ingram just real quick here. So he's the one who went to Arizona. We had talked about how James Connor was a big winner. Um, you know, 89 catches in four seasons is really not bad in college. 27, 29,

11 in a shortened 2020 season. And then 22, that's not bad, in college. 27, 29, 11 in a shortened 2020 season, and then 22. That's not bad, but I think the scouting reports do not really indicate that Keontae Ingram is going to be a third down back. No. As you mentioned, he's a bigger guy,

and I don't think he's going to take James Conner off the field there. Maybe he's not going to take Eno Benjamin Oh, I don't think he does. I think he's a backup. Yeah. But what do we know about James Conner? What do we know about all running? I just want to say it could be, you know, Benjamin could be someone else in that role, but I don't think it's Benjamin. Benjamin is a, as a little guy passing down. That's what I'm

saying. That's what I meant. What I'm saying, Davis, we know James Connor is a starting running back. Is he also the third down back? Is he in every down back? Might be. Really might be. I don't think anything's changed since the NFL draft. That's all I'm saying about Keontae Ingram. Right. Like if Kyron Williams had gone there,

that would have really hurt James Conner. Right. All right. That's it for our Day 3 recap. Thanks very much, everybody. And we've got five episodes coming out this week, plus a live draft on Tuesday at 1 p.m. Eastern, which you can only watch on youtube.com

slash fantasyfootballtoday. For Dave Richard, I'm Adam Azer. Have a great, great day. Have a great rest of your weekend. We'll talk to you on Monday here on Fantasy Football Today.