Fantasy Football Today - NFL Draft Preview! Get to Know the Top Prospects and Senior Bowl Standouts (02/03 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: February 3, 2025

Dave Richard is back from the Senior Bowl and our NFL Draft analyst Chris Trapasso is joining us to get everyone acquainted with the top prospects in the NFL Draft. We start with an overall assessment of the skill position players (5:30) and how they compared to the 2024 class. Quarterback is much worse, but how do the other positions measure up? And if Travis Hunter was going to play wide receiver in the NFL, where would he rank at the position (12:30)? How do Hunter and Tetairoa McMillan compare to last year's top WRs (15:45)? ... Which players could make an immediate impact (17:25)? How does Ashton Jeanty compare to Bijan Robinson (23:30)? And what do we think about the quarterbacks (30:00)? Is Cam Ward the clear #1 guy? Is Shedeur Sanders worthy of a first round pick? ... Dave gives his thoughts on the Senior Bowl QBs (39:00) and we talk about an exciting tight end class (44:00) highlighted by Tyler Warren. We also discuss Colston Loveland and several others. Finally, we finish with a dynasty mock draft (50:30)! Who are the Top 5 picks if your dynasty draft were held today? ... 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 Express on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-express/id1528634304 Follow FFT Express on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6qyGWfETSBFaciPrtvoWCC?si=6529cbee20634da8 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 FOLLOW FFT DFS on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5zU7pBvGK3KPhfb69Q1hNr?si=1c5030a3b1a64be2 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday 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." Visit the betting arena on CBSSports.com for all the latest sportsbook reviews and sportsbook promos. 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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If you or someone you know has concerns about gambling, visit connexontario.ca, T's and Z's apply. 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.

This is going to go the distance. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie and Heath. We welcome you to our Monday show. This is fantasy football today presented by bed MGM, the sportsbook born in Vegas today. 30 minute recap of the Pro Bowl. That's what you're going to get. Uh, no, just kidding. Just kidding. Dave is back.

So, hey, Dave. If we're going to talk about the Pro Bowl, this is going to be the shortest episode of FFTF. Yeah. Yeah. And we have Chris Gepasso here. He's going to help us break down some prospects. He's an NFL draft analyst for CBS Sports. Of course, you've heard him before on our show. He does an amazing job. He is way ahead of us in terms of looking at these prospects, ranking these prospects and telling us about them. Chris, before we get into that, on a scale of one to 10, you are a Bill's fan that you're 10 there. How angry were you about the fourth and one

not being ruled the first down? Pretty close to a 10. I was going to say this was like perfect timing from Thomas, our producer, to reach out to me because last week I watched an inordinate amount of college film as kind of therapy after that Bills loss because I didn't know where to turn and I was like I still got to do work so I watched a lot of prospects just out of anger of how that game ended and all the little things that went against the Bills and in pure pure bills form that led to that three point loss in the AFC title game. Well, then this must be a very productive time of year

for you every single year. It is, it is. Yeah, you're right. It was just like a week later than normal, but it kind of aligned with leading into the senior bowl. I know Dave was there. So it really was like kicking into draft mode for me with such an emphatic loss for the bills of that title game.

I'm sorry. I, America, you know, was with you other than, you know, other than like chiefs fans, but America's with you. But anyway, we're happy that you're with us. Dave, how was the senior bowl? It was good. A lot of interesting talent. A lot of nice guys in the class.

Uh, am I ready to say that the senior bowl was flooded with players that fantasy managers are gonna come to rely on and love for years to come? I'm gonna say no, no to that, especially at the quarterback position, but you know, three, four, five players, kind of like last year's senior bowl that can make an impact right away.

Cool. Well, we'll talk about some of those guys today. And before we do that, a big thank you to our audience for voting for the Sports Podcast Awards. I want to thank you all so much. We told you over and over again to vote. I felt all I hate asking you for that. But you guys came through and girls, you came through and we won the gold medal again two years in a row in the best fantasy,

betting and gaming podcast category. So thank you all for helping us get there and congratulations to fantasy baseball today for coming in second there silver medal. So that was really impressive. And then for CBS really, it was a proud day for us. There were some other CBS podcasts that that place. So just one second. And then fantasy football scout came in third. And I was like, what is this more competition? It's actually a soccer podcast. So fantasy football scout was the bronze medal bronze winner there in the betting and gaming podcast category. What's up, Dave? How are we going to celebrate this? We need to do

something with our audience to give back in exchange for their votes. It was great that they voted for us. There's something we must do. I initially suggested that Adam, you send everybody who voted 50 bucks. I think if we don't come up with a plan, I think that's what we should do. Adam can send everybody $50. So I have already made a plan to celebrate this win. This upcoming Sunday, I invited like 10 people over. I'm gonna order some sandwiches.

I got like football plates and napkins, you know, just in celebrate. Oh, maybe we'll watch the Superbowl too. But that's what we're gonna do. I'm just having a party this Sunday with some friends. Are you live streaming your party? I don't think anyone would consent to that. Can people virtually join your party? All don't think anyone would consent to that.

People virtually join your party. All right. Anyway, let's get to the show here. We're coming up with something, Adam, and we will take suggestions in the comments. Chris, if you have a suggestion, please give it to us. And if it's a really good suggestion, Adam will send you $50. Okay, wonderful. So let's talk about this draft class, Chris, and give me your overall thoughts

from a fantasy perspective on the skill position players. Okay, Dave and I were talking right before we went on the air here. We've been spoiled at the receiver position the last couple of drafts. Obviously last year with neighbors, even Marvin Harrison Jr. kind of had a disappointing season, but it was still pretty darn good.

Ryan Thomas, Leighad McConkie. It's not that wide receiver class. That doesn't mean that like in a year when I come on this show, we'll be saying, man, all the rookies were terrible. We did have a pretty good wide receiver class in terms of the production that they had in 2024. We don't have that this year.

The running back class is very deep and Dave can probably speak to it better having been in Mobile. The tight end class with Ty Warren at the top Colston Loveland from Michigan, two quality prospects, but the depth at the tight end class is probably as good as it's been in a while. So pretty good running back class. It's not just Ashton Gentey wide receiver down a little bit. And I think the tight end class is pretty darn good.

Dave, what's the buzz coming out of Senior Bowl? That's the buzz. I did have a couple of debates with other evaluators about whether the running back class or the wide receiver class was deeper, not necessarily better. I think overall, the running back crop is better. And you've probably heard that from people, maybe from other shows or other outlets, that it's a deep class, a strong class. And I think it's really going to displace a lot of veteran running backs that we know across the league. There might be as many as like four or five running backs, none of whom were in Mobile at the senior bowl, who could end up being quality starters immediately in the NFL.

The headliner is obviously Ashton Janty. He's a Heisman finalist. He was a monster at Boise State. He's certainly in line to be a first round pick as the best of the best running back. We've seen how many teams this year acquired a running back in free agency and leaned on that running back to help them get into the playoffs. And obviously the biggest one of all, Saquon Barkley helped Philadelphia get to the Super Bowl. And so I think a lot of NFL teams are going to see that they're going to try and mimic

that and the cost involved for drafting one of those running backs at Jantzi is not going to go for a top five pick. Chris, you could speak to that. He's a first rounder, but he could be the back half of the first round. Other running backs, there's two from Ohio State, there's one from North Carolina. Those guys might be top 50 picks, but not necessarily first round picks. It's a deep group at running back in the sense that we're going to get a lot of rookies that are going to be part of tandems. And some of them might lead the tandems for a lot of teams in the league. But I did think that wide receiver depth will also be good. Not to the point where a lot of veterans, at least not the younger veterans, those veterans that are 29, 30, 31, will be out of the league. But guys who can contribute, maybe one or two that surprise us. I'm thinking about those Ohio, not Ohio, Iowa state receivers that were at the senior bowl Higgins and Noel, uh, they were impressive and the Jack

bash, another one from TCU. Uh, he was my favorite offensive player period at the senior bowl. I was happy to spend some time with him during the week. Uh, he really had a monster week and probably pushed himself up into top 50 status or so too, but none of the receivers at the senior bowl figure to be the top four or five guys in the class, which just speaks to the depth of the class at both positions. Trey Lockerbie Yeah. All right. So let's lay it out, right? So compared to last year, quarterback is clearly worse. Even if Ward and Sanders

end up being top three picks, it's way worse. Running back though, we just said is probably deeper and we've got a Genty this year. We didn't have that last year, I guess. We had Brooks was the number one coming off of T torn ACL. So we didn't have anything close to Gentie. Trey Benson was the other top consensus. Gentie just ran for 2,600 yards, second most in college football history behind Barry Sanders. So we have that. We'll come back to wide receiver in a second. Tight end looks deeper and we're going to have some first round picks there at tight end. Wide receiver, Ted O'Rourke, McMillan, I see him in the top 10 in a lot of mock drafts. What's the, you know, but we had three top 10 wide

receivers in this past draft. We had Harrison, Nabors and Odunze. So how would you compare a wide receiver in 2025 to 2024, Chris? It's Brian Thomas too, Adam. Yeah, Brian Thomas too. I thought it was a big four. Yeah, I really did. But top 10, sorry. We, Brian Thomas too. I thought it was a big four. Yeah, I really did. But top 10, sorry. We had three go in the top 10. Guys that went in the top 10, yes. Yeah, we had the big four.

And then what did we have? Six in the first round? We had Worthy as well. I don't remember if Keeon Coleman. Legate and Piersol. Oh, Legate, Piersol. Okay, yeah. Wow, we had Sander in the first round last year?

Yeah. Wow. I think so. Yeah. And then we had a lot early in the second round. We had McConkey and we had Keeon Coleman. We had, am I forgetting some, whatever. Yeah. All right. Go ahead, Chris. Sorry. So I think we'll see more from like mid to late first and then into the second to third round range and kind of piggybacking off what Dave said, we've seen in the last five to 10 years,

like you can get guys who eventually become your wide receiver one or start as a really good wide receiver two in the second and third rounds of the draft. So I think that's what we're going to more see where we saw, like you just mentioned, seven first round wide receivers. We're not going to get that. We could see seven second round receivers or seven third round receivers who can come in and be contributors pretty early in their careers. Macmillan is interesting from Arizona. He reminds me a lot of like Drake London T. Higgins, where if you kind of are looking at that now, is that worthy of a top 10 overall pick? Probably not. I think with Luther Burden, he kind of gives me some DJ Moore vibes. I don't think he's quite the athlete of DJ Moore's caliber, but after the catch, he's a monster.

He's the contact balance, the power. He's going to create extra yardage after the catch on a routine basis, and he tracks the football pretty well deep. I just don't know how much he's going to separate down the field. So Burden and McMillan, you're going to see most of the time in the first round in the mocks. Emeka Egbuka is just one of those quality players all around, who's looked like a first or a second round pick for the last like three years at Ohio state.

So it's not quite as good, but like we're kind of outlining, there are some talents who I think in time can be quality players that aren't necessarily first round picks in the actual draft. I'd like to know how you evaluate Travis Hunter and whether or not, Oh geez. Yeah. Where would you put him on this list? If a team drafts him to be a wide receiver first and a cornerback,

you know, part time. Yeah. So this is a good conversation to have, especially from a fantasy perspective, because the few scouts that I've talked to, I mean, we all love him. It's like universally loved his athleticism, how those two mirrored positions, wide receiver and corner, a lot of his traits that work well at corner,

work well at wide receiver. A lot of them have told me that they feel like he's gonna be a corner in the NFL and he's not gonna play, he's gonna be like that, have a package type wide receiver, but not be a full-time wide receiver. So I think obviously from a fantasy perspective, you have to be a little have a package type wide receiver, but not be a full time wide receiver. So I think obviously from a fantasy perspective, you have to be a little leery of that.

And that's why I think I initially forgot about him. I think he can be an, and is a first round wide receiver in terms of his suddenness, his separation ability. And I thought he tracked the football really well throughout his entire collegiate career from Jackson state. And then the two years at Colorado. Pretty good after the catch too, despite not being that chiseled or compact frame. It just feels like, and maybe we'll hear more of the rumors at the combine, it just feels like early on,

teams are more like, hey, this is going to be like a champ Bailey type player who is going to play corner and maybe could get some jet sweeps, some bubble screens on offense, but won't be that full-time wide receiver. I want to talk more about Hunter and where you'd rank him at wide receiver. If, if you knew he was going to play there, which yeah, like I keep seeing likely to play cornerback. We don't know. It's just speculation at this point. So I'll ask you about that. I want to know who we think can make an immediate impact this year and where you'd rank McMillan, for example, amongst last year's wide receiver class. And it's early, okay? It's February 3rd. So a lot's going to change. We haven't had the combine yet, right? Not even close. So we'll come back after this

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Okay, so two questions. If Travis Hunter, I'm playing wide receiver. I hate cornerback. Defense is stupid. Where are you gonna to rank him among wide receivers in this class? And then how do he and Macmillan compare to last year's guys? Okay, I would have him as my wide receiver one like I was that impressed with all the nuances that he showed as a wide

receiver beating press at the line I think he got better at. It kind of felt like last season or I guess two seasons ago at Colorado, he was just winning just because he was a better athlete than the guy that he was facing at corner. This year there was more nuance in getting open at the intermediate level. Like I said, some spectacular displays of how he tracked the football deep where he like understood where the corner, the safety was coming from the deep middle would leap make the catch take the hit and then after the catch made a lot of big plays now if I'm ranking those two compared to last year

I'm actually looking at my scouting grade book. I have Macmillan very close to Roma Dunze last year, which I know I was a little lower on him than most he kind of went came off the heels of that national title game against Michigan. Everyone loved him. He was a first round pit or top 10 pick. I didn't love his separation ability, but he did everything else really well. It's kind of the same with Tet Macmillan where big body, not going to be that

lad McConkey or the Malik neighbors type separator, um, that we've seen have a lot of success as a rookie, but catches everything. He's a rebounder. He's multiple years of contested catch, win rates that you'd like to see out of a first round pick. And he's just a horse in the open field. So I got a lot of Roma doomsday vibes from Tet Macmillan. He would be right in that range for me, which was, I guess,

my wide receiver five last year, like late for like mid to late first round pick. OK, guys, which players do you think could make an immediate impact? last year, like mid to late first round pick. Okay. Guys, which players do you think could make an immediate impact? Dave, I wanna start with you and you can talk about Gentie here, obviously. And if you're in a one QB dynasty league, he's probably the first pick.

If you're in a super flex dynasty league, he might also be the first pick. But which players are you looking at right now to make an immediate impact? Well, Gentie would be the one at running back, but I think Omari and Hampton from North Carolina who's had back to back 1500 yard, 15 touchdown seasons can make a big impact. I already mentioned the Ohio State duo, Quinshaw and Judkins and Trevion Henderson, each of whom ran for over a thousand yards and 10 plus touchdowns.

Caleb Johnson was the force at Iowa. None of these guys were at the senior bowl. Like I said, all five of them figured to be anywhere from mid to late round one into the bottom of round two. And they could all really land with a team that has a need at running back. I think a lot of teams have a need at running back, even if we think they don't, and they could enhance, improve, and make those run games better and stronger. I think all five are capable of doing that. So they're going to be first round picks in dynasty.

And then at wide receiver, we talked about McMillan. He makes a ton of sense as somebody who could be a big time playmaker at wide receiver. If Hunter is drafted to be a wide receiver first, which I think he'd probably prefer since wide receivers make more money than cornerbacks, he would also be an impact player at the position. So really anybody else at wide receiver? Yeah. Maybe burden, maybe egg buka.

I don't know if they're necessarily going to be huge. I don't, can they be lad McConkey huge? I'm thinking, no, I'm thinking that they'll be just short of that. But it also comes down to where they go, who their quarterback is, and whether they're going to see high volume of targets, which is really what matters for fantasy. The tight ends are going to be fun. You've got Tyler Warren, you've got Loveland from Michigan, Elijah Arroyo probably had the best or second best week of any offensive player at the senior bowl. He was just absolutely dominating in drills and, and won every way possible.

Think Jordan Reed for him, just a big bodied wide receiver who happens to be a tight end. That's somebody that fantasy managers will absolutely love. Go ahead, Chris. Um, yeah, go ahead. Who's going to make it? Yeah, no, no. I wanted to mention, which Dave said to me off air to Harold Fannin from Bowling Green, uh, Dave, how did you think that he played against the leveling up in competition?

Because on film and the Mac think like Chigga Conquo, think Isaiah likely, like he was a bowling ball and impossible to bring to the turf with pretty good athleticism too. I think he got better as the week went on. Okay. My notes on him weren't weren't very good on the first day of practice but by the third day of practice he was making one-handed catches in the back of the end zone. Okay. He got more comfortable. I would probably put him a notch behind Arroyo but it's just a notch and he's again somebody who I would probably put him a notch behind Arroyo, but it's just a notch. And he's again, somebody who I would, I'd be surprised if he was as impactful as some of the rookie tight ends that we've seen over the past couple of seasons,

but it's all about the top targets on his team. Absolutely. He could end up being in line for 800 yards, seven touchdowns. targets on his team. Absolutely. Could end up being in line for 800 yards, seven touchdowns. One other, one other player that I want to mention is to jump to, um, wide receiver Jack bash to me, I loved him on film. I don't know if he's quite the athlete of this caliber, but everything else

he does, he reminds me of Pooka Nakua. He is about the same size. He is just ferocious at the catch point. He'll make ridiculous catches near the sideline. If he takes a hit, he's got that bigger frame. He's not Mike Evans, but he's got a bigger frame. And then after the catch, he is never just complacent with going to the turf. He understands on comebacks that he can, you know, spin, get to the sideline, stiff arm, create extra yardage that way, the contact balance is good. We all know where Pukin Nakul was drafted late,

what, fifth round, and just instantly became like the wide receiver one, and now he's really ascended past Cooper Cup in the Rams offense. I get a lot of that same just kind of tenacious, hardworking vibe from Jack Besh, who was like a productive player as a freshman at LSU in 2021 over 40 catches, almost 500 yards, three touchdowns transfers to TCU. The quarterback play was not very good, still went over a thousand yards, averaged over 16 yards per catch. So he had obviously such an

amazing moment at the end of the senior bowl, catching that game winning touchdown and kind of honoring his brother. But I thought just on film at TCU, I went in not really sure what to think of him, but I just loved his all around skillset. And I kept thinking this is Pukinakua 2.0, maybe not quite as good, but has that ability to come in and hit the ground running. Even if in the real draft, he's not picked until the second or third round. And I mentioned this, he was my favorite offensive player. Okay, good.

Week's worth of practices. Like that Arroyo dominated the first day, but Besh did some great things on the first day. He also did great things on the second day and he did some great things on the third day. He was the most consistent skill position player on the field. All the quarterbacks on the American team absolutely loved him. Um, he, and he, like Arroyo, he won every way that you would want your wide receiver to win. He won with speed. He would win with route running. He would win with Physicality. He had nuanced Physicality, able to leverage his body away from defensive backs and make contested

catches. I think if he keeps this up and has another great combine or a great combine and just continues to look good and all that stuff, we're looking at a guy who's going to be a top 50 pick. So this is Jack Besh and you mentioned his brother Chris, his brother Tiger was killed in the New Orleans terrorist attack. So they were kind of honoring him throughout the week and then Besh came out and had an amazing week, which was probably very emotional. So obviously a heart's go out to him and glad that there's some positive, positive stories for Besh.

Compare Gentie to B. John Robinson. I think Gentie's smaller. He's not gonna be, which to some people that doesn't really matter. You don't really want a six foot two running back anyway. I think Robinson was right around six foot. Gentie is going to be short, but that just leads to just unbelievable contact balance. Like there were times where I was, and I watched him live, but going like at the end of the season for Boise State watching his film, there were some obscure games I didn't catch that were on the West Coast of Boise States

And I was like there was six or seven runs where you were positive He was gonna go to the turf four and five times and he didn't I think his contact balance is the best that I've ever scouted I think Bijan Laterally like making defenders miss in the hole is more explosive and is, and has more of that flexibility. But the contact balance coupled with the long speed, and maybe it seemed like Gentie was a little bit faster than his competition playing in the Mountain West, but I think contact balance and speed are every bit as good, if not better than Bijon Robinson. Robinson was just more naturally elusive and a better receiver out

of the backfield than Ash and Gentie. I think Gentie, I think he led the NFL in, in miss tackle rate and avoid tackle rate too. So he hasn't let the NFL in anything. I led the, led the nation. Uh, I'll check on that. Cause I, I was looking at scataboo who was really good at that, but I think he was even better. So yeah, he did lead college football in rushing yards. We talked about that rushing touchdowns. He had 29 of those. He also had 374 carries. I think the only knock that we can really put on him at this point is the workload that he's had over his last two seasons at Boise State. We're talking almost 600 carries over the last two years

and 374 obviously last year. Is that gonna make a team thrilled to draft him, but maybe limit his workload early on? Maybe? I don't know. I think that's a nitpick more than anything else. Guy averaged seven yards per carry and was just an absolute loss.

Yeah, so he let the NFL in avoid rate, 40% avoid rate. So, sorry, I said NFL again. He led the nation 40.3%. Yeah. And if you go back, I have my little chart here for my little analytics model that I use. B. John Robinson's highest was 40.5. So I said that Robinson was more elusive, I think just in terms of skills and traits to just make a defender miss, I still think that that's true. But how the numbers kind of play out,

they were equally as elusive in terms of just making a defender miss. Now, again, I think Gentie, a lot of that was just him bowling through a linebacker or a safety to continue onto the second and third levels of the defense. But yeah, to have that big of a workload, through a linebacker or a safety to continue onto the second and third levels of the defense. But yeah, to have that big of a workload, 375 carries and force a miss tackle on 40%

of your rushes is absolutely insane. Yeah, that's how you average seven yards per carry. And I like, and I can't wait to go back and watch his 2023 games. He had 43 catches, 569 yards, five touchdowns through the air. 13.2 yards per catch. Imagine putting it almost feels like Derek Henry, right? Where you want to put somebody this big in a position to catch passes, but Henry never really did it. Imagine this guy lining up out of the backfield, running a flare out,

catching the pass and then going squared up against a cornerback. I think that that's automatically a win for Jenny. And there should be some evidence that that's automatically a win for Jenny and there should be some evidence that he's capable of doing that. Yeah, what's so interesting about him too, like I said, even if you're like, all right, we're comparing him to Seh Kuan and Bijan

and who's better and to get down to the nitty gritty of the traits, he really is an in space player too, not because he's gonna be LaShawn McCoy making a guy miss, but he can hit those accelerators and I think he's gonna run reallyShawn McCoy making a guy miss, but he can hit those accelerators. And I think he's gonna run really, if he tests at the combine, I think we're gonna be surprised at how fast he runs

because when he was at top gear, maybe it was just the Mountain West. It seemed like Ash and Gentie had that home run hitting ability. He had a lot of long runs at Boise State over the last two years. I'm fired up for Ash and Gentie, but he is 5'9". So when you talk about some of the running backs that have been drafted really early,

Jameer Gibbs is also 5'9", and much thinner than Gentie. I mean, Gentie's 215 pounds. This is a big running back class. These guys have good size. Yeah, they do. But 5'9''s interesting. I mean, Barkley is like six feet, and Fournette was huge. Zeke is big.

I'm talking about guys who were top 10 picks, you know? I don't know if Gentile will get, and Bijan obviously is bigger. I don't know if Gentile will get in the top 10, but he might. It's five, nine is a little small, but he's a big five. He's a thick five, nine for sure. I've almost never heard of,

too short. It's short. Yeah, he's short, not small. Yeah. All right. He's not a quarterback. He's not a receiver. He's short, not small. Yeah. Yeah. All right. He's not a receiver. He's it's okay if you're not a big guy. Barry Sanders height wasn't very big. The one other name on this list that we're showing here, if you're watching on YouTube, Bashal Tooten from Virginia tech, Dave, go watch him. He's a lot of fun on film. Oh, he's great. Yeah. In terms of lateral

quickness. Yep. And like I was talking about elusiveness, just making a guy miss like where the blocking isn't perfect and there's a defender in his face, he can really make those guys miss. He forced a miss tackle on 39.4% of his rushes, I think last season in 2023 at Virginia Tech. So he really is kind of that maybe Bucky Irving or that Tyrone Tracy type. That's going to be picked fourth, fifth, sixth round, but could ultimately be a good fantasy contributor early on. And he was at the senior bowl five, nine, two 11, uh, almost every note I have on him from the

practices involves his cutting ability. Yeah. Uh, stop start ability, which is something that NFL teams really look for good hands on an out route physical running back that you're right. He's definitely somebody who shrewd dynasty managers can remember when we get to the second and third rounds, probably second round sure of the rookie drafts. Sean O'Toole-Moderator Virginia tech and TN. Great for team names. You got your darn Tutin, Tutin up a storm, things like that. So we'll get into that when he gets drafted.

All right. So we haven't talked about the quarterbacks yet. One of the games I watched yesterday was Miami Virginia Tech. Go back and watch a little bit of Cam Ward. I watched, because they were playing Tutin. So it's a good segue for Cam Ward. Shadriss Sanders, I watched the Alamo Bowl, which was awful. Do not remember the Alamo Bowl, if you want to draft Shadriss Sanders. That was a horrible way for him to go.

It's such a contrast, because Cam Ward was incredible in his bowl game. The Pop Tarts bowl, and then like an hour later, Shadriss Sanders gets started or whatever the time was. And they just, his offensive line, his offensive line was garbage all year. That's the big thing. But I'm watching Chidurah Sanders. I watched that game, watched like three games of his. Obviously I'm not a scout, but I mean, I just can't even believe that he's in the conversation for the number one pick. I don't see him basically ever in the three games I watched,

one pick. I don't see him basically ever in the three games I watched make a great, like an amazing play. You know, he's really accurate and when he's protected, he's really good. But is he going to elevate a franchise? I don't really see that. Of course, I'm the, you know, not the person you should be asking, but that's my take on Chaudhry Sanders. And I actually am a Kam Ward believer. I wasn't the entire year, but maybe that bowl game had a little bit too much sway on me, I don't know, but when he's at his best, he is phenomenal, and he does make breathtaking plays all the time, and let me tell you one thing about Kam Ward.

You're gonna hear a lot of people say, well, he plays the hero ball too much, and he does this, and he's got a, he can't, he had two awful interceptions this year where he threw across the field, like, stupid interceptions. I gotta use that word. But he threw fewer interceptions than Shadrers Sanders. He did not have a turnover problem.

He just had some sort of high profile turnovers. They got a lot of attention. It's not even close for me between Ward and Sanders. I think it's becoming clearer for most people that way. But what's your take on the top two, Chris? Yeah, that's how I see it too. I don't think these are elite quarterback prospects by any stretch.

My top 50 just came out on cbssports.com this morning, or I guess yesterday if you're watching later, I think Cam Ward is a little bit better physically. I don't think either have a strong arm, but Ward's is better. I trust Ward, like you're saying, Adam, to make plays off structure, which we know is like a necessity at the quarterback position today. When it comes to Sanders, I just feel like if his name wasn't

Shadr Sanders, we'd be like, all right, this is like a solid, like Dave, uh, like Derek Carr, second round pick that you, that you like his experience at the college level. You like his production, but there's nothing wow about his game, but his name is Shider Sanders and he's Deion Sun and all of the hoopla that really resurrecting that Colorado program. I think that's elevating him up the board. And now we're going to hear so much about his connection to Tom Brady and the

Raiders ownership and their need at the quarterback spot. So I agree with you. I have, uh, cam ward, I think in my 21 or 22 overall prospect and Schitter Sanders at 31. Oh, have you, have you made cops for those guys yet? Chris? Um, I, you know what? I have so many cops that I'm mad that I don't have those right off the top of my head.

Um, yeah, no, I'm like, I don't have those right, right with me now, but problem, no problem. But like neither are, are to me are anywhere close to the quarterbacks that we've had the last two drafts. Well, I talked to a lot of evaluators in mobile about these guys and there wasn't one that had Sanders ahead of cam ward. In fact, almost everybody said that ward was leaps and bounds ahead of Sadr Sanders and one evaluator, uh, with extremely good credentials compared

Cam Ward to Steve McNair and said, I like that one types of quarterback, strong arm playmaking skills, mobility, but not somebody who's going to run all over the place. Like Lamar Jackson takes good care of the football, can make off scheduled throws and has leadership traits. And that's even something that I talked about with Arroyo during the week is I asked him, tell me what kind of a guy Cam Ward is off the field. And he gave me a great story about how Ward would always be on top of his receivers about, all right, here's when we're practicing, here's the date, here's the time, here's the place. receivers about, all right, here's when we're practicing. Here's the date. Here's the time. Here's the voice. Don't be late.

And a Roy Ho ran late one time and he got a FaceTime once he was a minute late from cam ward and ward said, where are you? You're not here. And we're said, man, I'm on the way. And war just looks at the camera. They were FaceTime me and he said, do you want me to throw you the ball this week or not? And a Royal got to where they needed to be to work on their game. So that was impressive.

And I don't know if I'm ready to say that Cam Ward's going to be a first-rounder in rookie-only dynasty drafts. But I think he does. I agree with you, Adam. I think he's got playmaking traits and potential to be a really good quarterback in the NFL, thus be a good fantasy quarterback. And to me, he's easily the best quarterback in this class. One last thing I'll say on him too, is that, and this is kind of going off

what Dave's saying, it's beyond the scouting and measuring the skills. I like that Cam Ward was that incarnate word played really well. Goes to Washington state in the pack 12 improves, then steps up again and goes to Miami and then has his best season. He really is. And I do write this a lot in my scouting reports. He's an ascending talent to me that he's improved in each of his seasons, three different schools, three different competition levels.

I think the arrow is pointing up for him where should her Sanders. Yes. He goes from Jackson state to Colorado, but I don't know if I saw someone getting noticeably better from 2023 to 2024. We said the exact same thing about Jayden Daniels last year. Yes. Yes. And how, when you watch him in his first year at Arizona state, uh, like you, you can see the raw traits, but he was a mess and even his second, the

last year at LSU, he was good, but it wasn't like his last year at LSU, which is great ascending player. I agree. I just want to just say something to defend Shider Sanders. Miami had a really good offensive line and Colorado had a pretty bad one. So it is a little bit difficult to compare the two players, you know, Sanders was kind of running for his life a lot. I think people kind of know that ward. It does have a big issue. I think statistically it's there and just watching it all year with Miami, the deep ball, his deep

ball accuracy is, is terrible. Something like 25% completion rate on past attempts of 30 or more yards air yards. I think I had that somewhere in my notes. So that was really, oh, cause Jackson Dart was a pretty good deep ball thrower. Yeah, so Shudder Sanders completed 42.4% of his past attempts of 30 or more air yards. That was really good. That was 17th out of 124 qualified quarterbacks.

Kamora 29.2%. So I thought I noticed that throughout the year. And then when I saw the numbers, it's like, yeah, he, he did not throw, um, he did not complete the deep ball very well. So that's something to keep in mind. Uh, I've heard at least one scout talk about that. So not a perfect prospect, but I think, I think he'll be a top three pick. I don't know anymore about Sanders and I'm not, you know, it really might be that these teams are like, look, these first three teams, they all need a quarterback, but I think they might all end up realizing these are not the best players in the draft.

So I'll give my early mock draft will be, will be Travis Hunter of dual Carter or cam board. That's my early prediction. That's safe. Hey, who's got the number three pick again? Not only do the, listen, not only do the giants have the number three pick, I also have the number three pick in my super flex dynasty league.

So I have to make the same decision because I desperately needed a quarterback and that's, I'm going to roll the Sean Watson out there again. I just, I think it's funny that you're going to mock your favorite team, your, your favorite college teams quarterback going to your favorite NFL team. Well, I would rather them take Travis Hunter. That would be great. I would love for the Titans and the Browns to take quarterbacks and then the Giants get Hunter.

But I don't think that's gonna happen. I think Hunter will be gone. And then I just hope they don't take Shudder Sanders basically where I'm at right now. All right, let's take a break and talk about Jackson Dart, senior bull standout Ole Miss quarterback. And then we'll maybe we'll spend a little bit of time on the tight ends and we'll wrap things up.

We'll be right back on FFT. Okay, Dave, so what did you see from the quarter? It wasn't just Jackson Dart there. What'd you see from the quarterbacks? No, I thought two quarterbacks were better than the rest. Dart was one of them and Dylan Gabriel was the other. Dart six foot two, Dylan Gabriel five foot 10, Dart 226 pounds, Dylan Gabriel 202 pounds.

So obviously one guy bigger than the other guy, probably the most consistent throwers of the two, maybe Gabriel had a little bit more accuracy overall. There were throws that Dart made versus Air where he was just a little bit off target. I've learned to nitpick that. When you're practicing against air, you need to have a 100% on target accuracy rate.

And he missed that a little bit, but his throwing motion and his arm strength are great. Just absolutely effortless. He can make good throws and have good placement on throws. Even when he's off target I've heard some complaints about dart from the week that he wasn't as anticipatory as they liked I would chalk that up to practicing with players that he hasn't really practiced with much And if he were to practice with these guys for more than a week his anticipatory throws would be much better

We could almost make the same thing for Dylan Gabriel. Then other people complained about Jackson Dart being a one read quarterback, system quarterback. I asked him about his entire history of playing quarterback, how many different offenses he's been in. He's been in four different offenses. The first three years of his high school career, he was in the wing T, Chris.

Wow. He was under center every single snap for three years. So he's got experience running offenses of different varieties. I think he's bright enough to run any type of offense that you put him in. I'm not ready to say that he's my No. 3 quarterback, because basically everybody that's not named Ward or Sanders is vying for that spot. But I think he does have potential to be a capable quarterback and maybe even a starter as a rookie for at least a part of next season. I think he's got that in them, in him. And I don't think he's necessarily a system quarterback, even though his best numbers came in that system. Dylan Gabriel, good accuracy. You know the book on him. I'll let you speak to Dylan Gabriel, but everybody just complained about his size.

Just the fact that he's small and lean and, you know, can, can you really win with that in the NFL? Well, you know, Russell Wilson isn't exactly the biggest guy, but he's had himself a pretty good career at five foot 10. Um, let me know what you think about Gabriel. And if you want to say something about dark Chris, please. So I think with Dylan Gabriel, it's like, I, I put a lot, which I feel bad that I don't have these quarterback comparisons yet, but there's one that I do have.

It's like, I never want to just lump a quarterback or specific player into the most obvious comparison. I really try to look at size and, and athleticism, but Kellen Moore one for me is just too perfect for him because I think he usually makes the right decisions. I think he's going to eventually be an offensive coordinator or maybe a head coach. But the arm talent, the mobility, we saw it in that Rose Bowl against Ohio State that he had a lot of problems just eluding defenders, whether it was Jack Sawyer or someone on the inside, he just could not get away from defensive linemen and edge rushers because he's just not a tremendous athlete. He's got shorter legs. But the accuracy is good. The anticipatory stuff that might be missing from

Jackson Dart's film where Lane Kiffin has those reads just kind of set out for him where it's like, hey, this post is going to be open. You catch the snap, play action fake and throw it deep. Dylan Gabriel has a lot of anticipatory throws on film because he needed to be because he does not have a strong arm. So you're right. Everything that you said about Dart. I agree with. I like with Dart that he's kind of a natural thrower. Like he can be on the run, make a throw, like a shortstop, usually accurate.

I do agree that the overall ball placement with Dart isn't great. And I like how aggressive he was. Now, some of that does speak to Lane Kiffin's system that they're running screens, RPOs, and then deep balls. That's kind of like the entire offense. But I like that throwing a pass down the scene, he will throw it over the back of a sinking linebacker or a safety.

And he can make a bad throw in the next drive, he'll make three or four aggressive passes down the field and it has pretty good functional athleticism. So if you could combine Dylan Gabriel's smarts and football IQ with the traits that Jackson Dart have, you've had a really good quarterback prospect, but I agree that, that I have dark graded higher. I think Dylan Gabriel will go somewhere early on day three and be that kind of student of the game, uh game in the quarterback room.

But Jackson Dard does have some starter upside because of three straight years of quality production at Ole Miss. All right, let's talk about the tight ends here. It's an exciting class and we'll finish on this. And then I'm gonna get a, I'm gonna get a top five, like an early dynasty top five from Dave to finish things out here.

Very early, super early. Don't take it too seriously. Let's just have fun top five from Dave to finish things out here very early, super early. Don't take it too seriously. Let's just have fun. Top five, uh, does Tyler Warren or Colson Loveland, Tyler Warren out of Penn state Colson Loveland out of Michigan. Definitely guys. The first round picks. Can we even use the, the, the Brock Bowers comparison? What do you think? Dave, go ahead. No, I think this is for you, Chris. For, for, okay, not for Colston Loveland. I'm lower on him than most. And I feel weird. I'm coming on this show.

I've been a lifelong Michigan fan. I didn't like Blake Corum last year. People hated on me for that. I don't love Colston Loveland as much as I think the masses do. Ty Warren though is, is close. He's not going to separate like Brock Bowers did his entire rookie season, but he's more of a physical freak. He's going to be one of the biggest tight ends at the combine. The catch point, he absolutely dominates at. He is a moose after the catch. He like will take a shot

and just pop back up time and time again. And he was the heartbeat of that Penn State offense. They were using him on, on tunnel screens, on RPO drag routes underneath like slants. Like he's known and has experience of just being that focal point. So he kind of reminds me of like a souped up version of Dallas Goddard, who was already very athletic in his own right. Um, and we've seen flashes from him being kind of that borderline elite tight end. But if I have to pick which one's closer to Brock Bowers, it's got to be Tyler Warren.

Agreed a hundred percent. Don't really have a whole lot else to add to that other than, um, I think, I think a team will view Warren as someone that they could scheme up in lots of fun, different ways and, and, and count on him to make, make things happen in those ways. That's what Penn State did. Right. Exactly. Like if James Franklin can do it, then any NFL coach can do it. I do think that it'll take a team that really

digs in and is really dedicated to wanting that and adding that to their offense. I don't know if I'm ready to call out an NFL team or two. At this point, that would take that leap right now. Indy is going to be the one that he's linked to and he makes a ton of sense in that regard. You've got a great play caller in Steichen. You've got a quarterback with accuracy issues in Anthony Richardson. Here's a short area target that can burrow through first contact and then make a first down on a catch that, you know, travels three yards down the field.

It may be doing a lot of the things that Michael Pittman was supposed to be doing or still could do. I would love Tyler Warren with the Broncos too. Tyler Warren with the Broncos, okay. Yeah, same idea. Like a lot of short stuff from Bo Nix, they need a tight end. We know the history, Sean Payton, Jimmy Graham,

which I don't think Jimmy Graham is a terrible comp for Ty Warren because they're just big physical freaks where you're like, how are they getting open? You're like, Oh, it doesn't matter. Just throw them the ball. They will make a play on it and make something happen. Like Dave said. So when you look at guys like Harold Fanon Jr, Gunnar Helm, Elijah Arroyo, Mason Taylor, these are right now tight ends three through six in the CBS Sports.com rankings. How do they compare to Jatavian Sanders and Ben Sinnett, you know, that that group, Theo Johnson, sorry, Giants tight end, that second group of tight ends? Like how is the second group that's going to be probably not a first round pick, but after it's set round to date,

let's call it day two tight ends this year versus last year. I would say outside of Arroyo, the last year's group was more athletic. Theo Johnson tested through the roof, didn't have a big rookie season, but could. The upside was always like his main selling point last year. Ben Sinnett also tested very well, and I think he could still be a really good player in Washington. But I think the rest of the group, there's more depth, there's more of a chance of one of these guys hitting. They're more polished players. Harold Fanon, like I mentioned in the Mac, was just, he was kind of the Ty Warren of the Mac where they just threw him up the ball down the field on tunnel screens. He made plays. He's so good after the catch. The one other name that I really like, and I know that Mason Taylor had a big week so Dave can speak on him. I like Terrence Ferguson from LSU or from Oregon. Yeah, Oregon. Sorry, I was looking at the

wrong name there. Terrence Ferguson from Oregon. After the catch, I think he's pretty sleek, moving, can get open, the separation ability. You saw a little bit of it. Really good in contested catch situations. He kind of reminded me of Jordan Atkins, who I know came into the league late, but has had, I think, a pretty good career. Maybe not from a fantasy standpoint, but has been like reliable in Houston and then in Cleveland. He kind of is that dependable guy that I think could grow in terms of his, uh, his rapport, like establishing that connection with whoever his quarterback is. So I didn't hear a lot about Terrence Ferguson from Oregon, but he's kind of

my favorite, maybe day two, early day three tight end that can be like a Cade Stover or someone like that early on where it has a good rookie season. And then by year two, he's now starting to become more of a focal point in the offense. And he's not going to run away from anybody Ferguson, but he already knows how to use leverage to its advantage and that makes him a quality target. Mason Taylor, you're hoping that he's got a lot of his dad's traits. His dad is Jason Taylor, who everybody knows. I think his speed was okay, I liked his contested catch ability. Um, I like his size.

He's six, five, two 50. He's got big hands. Uh, I don't know if he's necessarily a polished product, Chris, and that's something that makes him, he might take. So young too, isn't he 20? I believe he's only 20. So he could take a route where he doesn't do a ton as a rookie, but can explode in his second, third, fourth years in the league.

All right guys. All right. So Dave, I want the top five picks right now in dynasty. I'll, I'll make it super flex for you. And I think we should, if we're going to do super flex, then maybe we should do two top five lists. All right. That's fine. Quarterbacks are going to be pushed up in a super flex. Okay, before we do that though, I just wanted to promote a little company thing here. Paramount Plus, I hope you all are watching Dexter,

Original Sin, it is freaking awesome. And I am sad that I don't have the opportunity to binge watch it, because I'm all caught up, and I have to wait till Friday for an episode to come out. I am so hooked on this show, I've watched all the Dexter's. I'm loving Original Sid. So it's on Paramount Plus. Check it out. Okay, Dave, go ahead. Dave Korsunsky I think Janty is going to be the number one consensus dynasty pick. And because the quarterback class is so weak, I would imagine he'll be the

one on one in super flex as well. The only difference being if the fantasy manager that has the one-on-one is just absolutely desperate for a quarterback, then maybe they take cam ward. But I think Janty is just too good of a prospect to pass up. So he'll be first. Um, is Travis Hunter or a wide receiver or a cornerback? No, he's a corner. Okay. And so he won't be a top five pick.

That'll mean that Ted Arola, Macmillan will be second in one QB. Uh, let's just do one QB. So Janty one, Macmillan two. Uh, and gosh, there's so much that's going to come into play with where these guys land, because none of these other players are necessarily so dominant like Janty is and kind of like Macmillan is. Maybe we can make the case for Warren third. I would say Warren third. Yeah. Yeah. Because he he's got that, that, that upside to be dominant. So let's put him at three. I would probably put a book, a fourth ahead of burden. And then, and then one of the other running backs, either

Hampton Johnson, or maybe, maybe one of Anderson or Judkins fifth would probably be up there. Yeah. It's not as slam dunk of a top five as you, as it was like last year where you had like three receivers, the quarterbacks, like you could read it. Like I could have rattled off a top five. It's a little bit of a harder exercise this year. And I think once Ward is off the board and Dynast in Superflex rather, I don't know if it's a guarantee that Shadriss Anders is going to follow them and be as high as three. We could see something like Janty, you, you, we could see something like Janity Ward, Macmillan, Warren, and then,

you know, take, take your pick from the receivers and running backs that are left. And Sanders doesn't even make the top five. Again, it comes down to how desperate a dynasty manager is for a quarterback. Um, if they've got nothing, they will take Sanders or they will take ward if they have to, but if they've got something that they can at least get through the beginning of the season with, then they're going to go to a different position. Okay, and we haven't really we'll save this for another show. We haven't really talked about Luther Burden much out of

Missouri, but he could be the second wide receiver off the board. He's a slot guy, it seems, who just had a really unproductive season after it's going to come down to the combine for him, I think, thanks. How well does he test? Does he test close to Devo Samuel or DJ Moore or is he more pedestrian and just really pigeon-holed into a hey you got to throw him underneath stuff and just hope he excels after the catch. If he tests really well then I think he probably will be the second receiver off the board. Okay all right well thank you thanks Chris appreciate it. What's

your Super Bowl pick? I can't bet against the Chiefs. It's gotten to the point of me of like so many years where I would bet against the Patriots and then they would always win the Super Bowl. So I'm just going to say the Chiefs are going to find a way. The ball is going to bounce their right way. They're going to make a big play late on defense and ultimately win this game. I think I'll talk about this obviously more throughout the week. We'll do a full Super Bowl preview on Friday. I think they the real position group by position group, the Eagles are better

in almost every one. Yes, quarterbacks might be the only one. There are the Chiefs are better. Maybe defensive backs, maybe secondary. But right, like maybe and maybe quarterback. I don't even know like the way that that Mahomes played this year. I obviously I got to give the edge to Mahomes, but it's not, it's not like, it's not like Hertz can't outplay him, you know? You almost did.

Yeah. So I, it's, it's crazy. You know, I just, the Eagles are to me, a definitely better team. And now how does Fangio compare to Spags? You know, Spags is gonna do something great giving them two weeks to prepare. What about Fangio? All right, anyway, I'm excited to talk about that throughout the week. Dave, thank you.

Welcome back. We will talk to you all on Wednesday on Fantasy Football Today.