Fantasy Football Today - NFL Draft: QB and RB Scouting Reports! (04/12 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: April 12, 2023

Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Ready for the NFL Draft? Well if you're not, we're bringing Ryan Wilson on to help out. Ryan is going to give us his thoughts on the best quarterbacks and running backs in this class. First, who is the best overall prospect from a dynasty superflex standpoint (2:15)? Is it Bijan Robinson? C.J. Stroud? Bryce Young? Anthony Richardson? How about one of the wide receivers? ... Ryan gets into the QBs by ranking his Top 5 (11:10). He'll tell you why he's not so high on Will Levis. Do Young and Stroud have rushing upside (14:55)? And generally speaking, are we ignoring some obvious flaws in this QB class (19:35)? Also, some sleepers (24:15)! ... On to the RBs, we of course start with Bijan Robinson (26:00) and a glowing scouting report. Which team do we want Robinson to end up on? Then let's look at the rest of the class (31:40) with a lot of Jahmyr Gibbs talk, plus Zach Charbonnet, Devon Achane and many more. We'll finish with some news and notes (46:40) and a mailbag ... Your emails at [e-mail] Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. And welcome, everybody. It is Wednesday. We are talking NFL draft right now on Fantasy Football Today. Excited to talk about the quarterbacks and the running backs. Next week, we'll break down the wide receivers and the tight ends. I'm Adam Azer. Hello, Dave Richard.

What's up, Adam? I don't know why I sang. Let's keep it going for Heath Cummings. Heath. Yeah, this is weird. Sing. Sing, Heath. Sing.

I just, you know, just bring in the energy. And we're joined. We're finally joined by Ryan Wilson, NFL draft Oracle for CBS Sports. I put in synonyms for expert in Google, and Oracle was one. Yeah, I think we're going to use that for... I feel like the old lady from The Matrix who's smoking a cigarette, eating cookies at her table or whatever there. I'll take that. Okay. I've only seen it once. I don't remember that scene.

Welcome, Ryan. Where were you? Much like that scene, Adam, I think you're saying I'm forgettable. I get that. You know what? Here's the thing. I got home late last night because as Dave pointed out, I was doing some draft stuff in your neck of the woods. Got home late last night. We had a new puppy, which is great timing, by the way. I was out getting stuff for the puppy. Then I

had to sneak into the house to make sure I didn't rouse the puppy from the crate because he goes crazy and yells and screams. Luckily, thank you guys for pushing it back a few minutes. I took the puppy out, did his business, lured him back into the crate because he goes crazy and yells and screams. Luckily, thank you guys for pushing it back a few minutes. I took the puppy out, did his business, lured him back into the crate, moonwalked out of there, and he has yet to make a peep, although you may hear him at some point screeching and yelling. Oh, that's no problem because Schaefer's dog is going to be barking too,

so you guys can have a contest. There you go. Little puppies. You can hear Ryan on the With the First Pick podcast. Make sure you check that out. Ryan and Rick Spielman and other guests. Great podcast to get you ready for the NFL draft, which is rapidly approaching.

First question is going to be for all of you. I'm going to let Ryan answer first. It is a fantasy football question, but who should fantasy managers select with the first pick in a super flex dynasty rookie only draft? If it's not super flex, I think everyone's going to say B. John Robinson. But if it is super flex dynasty rookie only draft. Okay, so if it's not super flex, I think everyone's going to say B. John Robinson.

But if it is super flex, and I'm just going to say this as a startup, so nobody can say well, it depends on who's on your team. Who is your number one player in a rookie only super flex dynasty draft? Yeah, that's the question. Okay, so

as we know every year, I have to explain to you guys that I'm not a fantasy guy. I can tell you everything about these players, of course, in the draft. Give me a 15-second overview of what you want to do. What's your target when you have the first pick in such a draft? Heath, explain the question. I think an elite running back, an elite quarterback is the most valuable thing in a super flex league. Patrick Mahomes is the most valuable player in a super flex dynasty league.

So that's the easiest way to say it. Okay. Super flexes, you start two quarterbacks. A very good quarterback, like the number six quarterback will get taken after probably Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson. Would have said Jonathan Taylor at the beginning of this year. So the best running back generally would be somewhere around the number five or six quarterback in the entire league, not the number five or six quarterback in this draft.

Let me ask one more clarifying follow-up question. Would Garrett Wilson or Chris Olave have been a good pick 12 months ago? That's the number one pick, or is that not rich enough in terms of productivity? Not rich enough. Not rich enough. Okay. No. Who would have been?

Brees Hall. Yeah, Brees Hall was number one last year. Okay. But the quarterback stunk last year. Right. Right. Okay. So I'm going to make it simple.

The reason I asked that question, Heath, is because Jackson Smith and Jigba has a chance to be like a production workhorse early on. But you scared me away there with when Dave sort of said not enough. So I'm going to go easy. Bryce Young, Carolina Panthers, he's going to start from day one. You have Frank Reich. You have Jim Caldwell on staff.

You have the new office coordinator, Thomas Brown, coming from the Rams. And so I heard CJ was their guy prior to the trade up and before the pro days that they really liked CJ. Then they went up. I thought maybe this is going to get. And then we've gone through the pro day circuit and I've heard murmuring murmurings of Bryce Young.

But I think at the end of the day, we don't really know. I would take Bryce. And you talked about that quarterback class last year, Adam, not being great. And in fact, it was closer to terrible. Only Kenny Pickett went 20th. I went trade up.

Next quarterback went third round. Bryce Young, for me, I would take. He feels the most NFL ready of the group. I like C.J. Stroud, but not as much as Bryce because Bryce can do things with fewer weapons around him, and that's all that C.J. had around him were weapons.

Okay, Heath, you got the first pick in your dynasty. Rookie-only, super flex draft. Who are you taking? Well, this is a very odd scenario you're describing where we're doing a rookie-only draft with draft, who are you taking? Well, this is a very odd scenario you're describing where we're doing a rookie-only draft with no other players on our roster before the NFL draft happens. I would not suggest that anyone who runs the Dynasty League do this. But right now, I would go Bijon just because I think you're probably getting five years of an elite running back. I'm not, I'm not certain right now that I believe any of these quarterbacks are going to be elite

fantasy producers. Now the, the one thing that might change my mind, cause I, I do have Bryce young and Stroud ahead of Richardson right now, but if Richardson was the first or second overall pick, and we hear he's starting this year, then what he does on the ground is so valuable for fantasy that I'd probably push him up into that number one pick. But right now, I don't think people, rightly, fantasy analysts are super excited about Anthony Richardson. It seems like there's still a chance that he's like the draft day faller. And it's like, why were you guys talking about him as a top five pick? Oh, no, he's available late in the first or something like that. And so if that happens, then Richardson's floors obviously is nothing. So let me ask this follow up that you mentioned Anthony Richardson two years ago.

I think it was. Was Justin Fields a guy that you would take first? Well, no, because Trevor Lawrence was there. Right. Trevor Lawrence was one of those can't-miss prospects. Right. Would Justin Fields be among the first-round picks? He would have been right after Lawrence.

Okay, got you. I ask that because I think Justin Fields' first-year upside is higher than Anthony Richardson's just because he played a lot. Anthony Richardson's going to have to get all his yards basically on the ground, I feel like, as a rookie. But Jamar Chase probably would have gone, and Kyle Pitts may have even gone ahead of Justin Fields. There's a question.

So, yes, Heath, it is an awkward question because it's not a very common thing, but the question is, just without team need, who's the best player right now before we even know where they go in a super flex league? You're saying Bijan Robinson. Dave, how about you? I'm taking Richardson.

I'm buying into the upside that he will eventually come through. I don't think he's nearly as raw of a passer as Malik Willis was at Liberty. And I honestly, I don't, I don't know how much work he's got to do to eventually get on the field and start making some plays. There are some issues that I would have with him if I were picking him on an NFL team, but if he's playing and he's doing what he did at Florida, that's the stuff that makes fantasy quarterbacks unbreakable. And so I'm going to draft that guy on the hope that he eventually comes through and gives me more than five years of, you know, better than Justin Fields numbers as a passer and just as good as Justin Fields numbers as a runner.

I just want, and Matt Walden made him on yesterday on the dynasty show and he said the same thing and I can't push back on him cause he was a guest, but I can push back on it when Dave says it. There's a, Ryan, there's a, there's a really big gap between not as raw and or as bad passing as Malik Willis and competent NFL passer, right? That's fair, yes. Okay. Yes. Right. That is accurate.

Well, he would have – oh, gosh, I wish I had this stat handy. Richardson is going to – if he's a first round pick, lowest completion percentage for any first round quarterback. It's in the 50s. Is it ever? Or is it since Cam Newton? It's among the lowest. Cam's was higher,

I do believe, off the top of my head. Yeah, Cam's was definitely higher. Yeah. Maybe Vic. I don't remember, but it might be the lowest completion percentage.

I think you're right. I think it's Vic. I think Vic had a pretty low completion percentage. Okay. And yeah, I just saw this stat. Fewest touchdown passes since Michael Vic for a first round quarterback, I think you're right. I think it's Vic. I think Vic had a pretty low completion percentage. Okay. And yeah, I just saw this, that fewest touchdown passes since Michael Vic for a first round quarterback, I think.

So look, Michael Vic had a pretty good NFL career. It was obviously really good for fantasy as well. But Anthony Richardson, his passing numbers are bad by first round pick quarterback standards. Is that fair to say, Ryan? He is such an interesting prospect. He's also only started 12 games, which is an issue. And that's why he shouldn't play right away. That doesn't necessarily help you for your purposes here. But, Dave, you mentioned Anthony. I keep having questions sort of related players.

I mentioned Justin Fields. Would Lamar Jackson have been a first-round pick, knowing that he was probably going to sit behind Joe Flacco for a little bit, but with the understanding that hopefully he turns into

the guy he turns into? All right. We'll get into a little bit more. Adam, I did find a quarterback with a completion percentage in the 50s that was drafted in the first round much more recently than Michael

Was it Josh Allen? Daniel Jones. But it must have been higher than Richardson's. And Josh Allen. You're right, Dave. Josh Allen. His completion percentage was like 56% last year. What was Daniel Jones? It was 59% for his career.

Yeah. He was literally playing with doctors and lawyers. And his yards per attempt were much worse than Richardson's as well. Richardson, 54.7% completion rate for his career. Alright, more on that a little bit later. I've got to tell everybody about the CBS Sports Galazzo Network, the first of its kind. It is free, a 24-7

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All right. So I want to start with quarterbacks, and then we'll do running backs, and then we will have hopefully time for a little bit of a mailbag later in the show, fantasyfootball at cbsi.com. Rank your top five quarterbacks for the NFL draft, Ryan Wilson. Okay. Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, they're 1-1A. Anthony Richardson is ahead of Will Levis for me.

I have him. My technical grade is late first-rounder. And then I have Hinton Hooker ahead of Will Levis. I am out on Will Levis. And that's just where I'm at. And I've talked to teams that love him. They love the physical attributes about him. But we were at all four pro days, me and Rick Spielman.

And if I had to rank the pro days, it would be Bryce and CJ were neck and neck. Anthony Richardson was a lot of fun to watch in person just for the physical things he could do. And then Will Levis probably has the best arm, but he is so built upper body-wise, he struggles sometimes with being fluid. And by that, I mean, it felt like everything was trying to be a 95-mile-an-hour fastball when sometimes you didn't have touch, and he struggled with that.

And Rick actually pointed that to me. He said, watch when he rolls to his left. He struggles with accuracy down the field, even in the pro day, and that was also a thing and i heard he not that he tested poorly in the um or didn't i had poor interviews i heard that he was he was sort of it was like there's a weird interview process and that could be for any number of reasons most importantly though this dude puts mayonnaise in his coffee and i think that is automatically disqualified i... I wouldn't even do that. Have you ever heard of anyone doing anything

close to mayonnaise and coffee? Oh. No. What's the closest? I had a friend who used to put mustard on sugar cookies. That's bad. That's really bad. It's pretty good.

You tried it? Yeah. Too spicy for me, Heath. Yeah, definitely too spicy for Adam. But it's like a sweet and spicy thing. Adam's not a spicy guy. That is so disappointing. But mayonnaise in coffee is awful.

And I'm not talking about a drop. He has a video of it. He appears to be proud of it. It's like a huge... I mean, it's like a quarter cup, it feels like. Yeah. For what it's worth, he kind of did that on a dare. And in any interview that it's been brought up during the lead up to the draft, he goes,

no, no, no, I don't do that. That was a one-time thing. That's important to know, Dave. Thank you for that clarifying. Yeah, no, he's not some sort of like food mashup weirdo. But he might be a guy that might try a little hard to try and like, that's a great way to put it, you know,

impress people. Maybe, I don't know. I don't know. That's the sense I got. Maybe he just gives into every single dare that he gets. But anyway, he's my QB five and hidden hooker for me is QB four.

He had the ACL at the end of the season at Tennessee. He's older. He's going to be 25 when the season starts if he hasn't turned 25 already. But he's a good player. And I think I was talking to Prisco about this earlier and he was pushing back. But I think if him didn't come out last year with the production he had this year, he might have been

the first quarterback taken. But he is 25. He's coming off a torn ACL in 25. So Hooker... He's not going to play probably until December. By the way, Levis also eats bananas with the peel on. Did people talk about that? Yeah, I think that's another dare.

How about he quit doing dares and focus on throwing up a ball? He said he just does it. You're right. Okay, well, that's disgusting. Would you guys rather have coffee with mayonnaise or eat a banana with the peel on? Oh, my God. I would try the coffee with mayonnaise one day. Where – do I have like – did I grow the banana in my backyard and I've taken it off the tree?

No. Or do I have to trust where this peel has been throughout its entire life? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. You got to trust. I mean, I'll make it organic if you want. Yeah, coffee. Okay. Can I do the mustard make it organic if you want. Yeah, coffee for sure. Okay.

Can I do the mustard sugar cookie thing instead? Yeah, I think we'd all do that. 100%. We'd all do that. Okay, so I wanted to ask you about the, we love rushing ability, obviously, for quarterbacks. And we know Richardson has plenty of it. Young and Stroud are not, it's like they want to throw first.

That's great. But what do you think their rushing upside is? Can we see more of that in the NFL? Yeah, especially with CJ. Bryce is, he weighed 204. He probably played closer to 185. I don't know if you want him running a whole bunch. CJ's bigger, 6'3", 213 or something,

whatever he weighed in. But here's one of the things that you rarely see in a bowl game situation. Typically, these3 or something, whatever you weighed in. But here's one of the things that you rarely sort of see in a bowl game situation. Typically, these kids opt out, and you understand why. CJ proved a lot of people, almost everyone, that he could run in that Georgia game, the last game. And that was the best game of his career. And he put that team in position to win the game. They missed a field goal at the end there. But he did so much with his legs in that game that people were like, oh, my God, where's this been?

And I think it was strategic to just stay in the pocket and throw the ball. Again, you have Crystal Lavi, Garrett Wilson, Marvin Harrison. You don't need to do a lot of running. But he showed that he could do it. Marvin Harrison got concussed in that Georgia game pretty early on, so he put more on his shoulders. And I think that was a turning point in the C.J. Stroud conversation for teams. But he can run is the

long answer. I don't know how often he'll do it. He's not Justin Fields as a runner coming out of Ohio State. He's a better passer than Justin Fields. Bryce Young is probably the most elusive quarterback inside the pocket. And there's something to be said for that, but he's not going to, I don't think you want him running a lot. He can do it. I don't know. None of these quarterbacks ran outside of Anthony who ran the four fours. But I don't know. None of these quarterbacks ran outside of Anthony, who ran the 4-4s. But I don't know if you want someone who's 185 pounds trying to outrun Antoine Winfield in the second level after getting past Devin White in the second level, so on and so forth.

So CJ, I feel pretty good about. I think it'll be strategic running for him. Hidden Hooker can run, by the way. He's incredibly athletic. Yes, he can. He just tore his ACL. We're not talking about it. And Will Levis is tough. We make fun of Will Levis, or at least the way. He's incredibly athletic. Yes, he can. He just tore his ACL. We're not talking about it. And Will Levis is tough.

We make fun of Will Levis, or at least I do. He is tough. He played with a bum toe and a bum shoulder every single week. And you can't question his toughness. And he is sneakily athletic. I hate to say that about white quarterbacks because that's almost, at this point, a joke. But he stands in the pocket and throws a ball. But he'll run, and he'll run over you because he's so big.

Dave, I haven't heard much from you. What do you want to talk about from the quarterback world? Well, I think we kind of, we've touched on what each of these quarterbacks can do and how we feel about them. I would like to know if Ryan answered, I want to talk about destinations for these guys really is where I'm going with it. And Ryan said that he would take Bryce Young and then he painted him with the Carolina Panthers blue. Well, if it was C.J. Stroud, after all, would you still take him as your top quarterback in a fantasy draft if he went to Carolina? And is that the spot where you think a quarterback can flourish right away? Yeah, so if CJ goes first to Carolina, I might take him first because then Houston is probably taking Bryce. Houston is taking Bryce. I heard they love him. And then the question is, okay, can they turn things around with a new coach? Nick Casario is still there, the general manager

is trying to figure things out. And a lot of questions at the skill position players. Their offensive line actually isn't terrible. And they have Damian Pierce, which is great. But you have to sort out a lot of other things. And I don't know. I feel like the situation in Carolina is much more stable, even though they're in a new coaching situation. But you know what you have in Frank Reich. Jim Caldwell, you know what you have in him.

He's always been successful and been great with quarterbacks. And I feel like that's an easier transition, even though, well, they won six and five down the stretch. So, I mean, they're going in the right direction. The other thing to keep in mind, and this is sort of interesting. So if Bryce goes first to Carolina, and I think Mike Renner of PFF mentioned this, that, and I don't know if he was reporting this or just a hunch, but Nick Casario may not want to work with CJ's agent, who is David Milogata,

who is Deshaun Watson's agent. So then the question becomes if that's true or any semblance of truth to that. So CJ then will – he's there at three. Arizona, who's going to trade up? Could it be the Colts? So on and so forth. So then let's say CJ goes to the Colts. They're going to trade up because Houston doesn't want him for off-field reasons,

being the agent situation, not that he's a bad person. He's a great person. Then Andy versus Bryce in Carolina and Andy having CJ. That becomes interesting. I don't know who I'm taking first there because I think Shane Steichen using Jalen Hurts' magic for whoever his quarterback is, that could be fun. Although, if it's Anthony Richardson, I think Gardner Minshew starts the season. But you're talking about for Dynasty, so maybe you still feel comfortable

taking the Shane Steichen quarterback over the, the Frank Reich one. I, my final question, I love to spend more time on quarterbacks. Well, I do want to move on to running backs. My final question is last year was obviously a bad quarterback year. And this year, I mean, I guess there's a chance the first four picks could be quarterbacks are going to be, these guys are going to be really hyped up, obviously.

But are we overlooking a lot of negatives? I mean, Bryce Young is really small for a quarterback. Really? Historically small. Yeah. And C.J. Stroud, I don't know. Maybe he's the most complete, but he's been pretty inconsistent. He was really bad against Michigan, and then he was terrific against Georgia. I would push back. His Michigan game wasn't that bad really he he threw two interceptions one went off the hands of the receiver and the other one was like a shovel pass um that was sort of uh

could have been hit the hand of the receiver if i recall correctly and it just was slightly behind the tight end i believe he threw a touchdown in the end zone that the tight end dropped um so the other game the northwestern game that was played in a torrential downpour. Right. And I will say this, he's the most accurate passer in this class and I love, love, love Bryce Young.

Bryce Young throws with more anticipation, but CJ throws the ball to all three levels with nice touch and incredible accuracy. He doesn't throw with a ton of anticipation.

And then you've got Will Levis who's polarizing and then you've got Richardson who's the most polarizing, the definition of polarizing. Are we overlooking the flaws, especially with maybe everyone but Stroud? Because people tend to do that when they want quarterbacks, I think, in the NFL. What's your overall take on these guys? And you can throw Hooker in there as well. No, that's a great point because a year ago this time, we were all trying to convince ourselves that Malik Willis and Matt Corral and Desmond Ritter and Sam Howell are all going to go in the first round, and they all went rounds three except for Howell

who went in round five. Only Kenny Pickett went 20th overall. So you do have to guard against that. And one of the things that Rick Spielman talks about on the podcast is that, and the great thing about Rick is that he'll talk about anything. So he brings up Christian Ponder and that not working out. Christian was a great person, but just not a great quarterback. He said one of the things that happens is that you fall in love with how smart a player is. Christian was incredibly smart, but what we weren't able to account for at the time is you can be smart and be not great at processing things quickly on a football field. And that's sort of the testing they tried to figure out down the stretch, and clearly no one's figured it out because it's hard.

But to your point, yeah, I mean, should Anthony Richardson be a first-round pick? No, if we're being honest with ourselves, not based on what we've seen so far. Will Levis, no, not based on what we've seen so far. But when you look ahead, a GM tell me this back in the fall. He said, how many quarterbacks in the NFL look like Bryce Young? Well, none do. How many look like Will Levis?

All the good ones. I said, okay, well, basically the difference is you can say what you want. You're not getting fired. Guess who's getting fired if I draft the wrong guy? And I got to explain to the owner, yada, yada, yada. So that's right. And you have to sort of sort through these things. The thing this time of year, though, Adam,

and you guys know this, you try to see the best in people because you're trying to figure out what's best case scenario for fantasy purposes, for your organization as a fan, if you're the GM making the pick. But Bryce Young,

the size is a huge concern. I don't care. Again, I'm not going to get fired. I don't think if I have Bryce Young go first overall, I might. But CJ Stroud, to your point, you watch CJ Stroud I have Bryce Young going first overall, I might. But C.J. Stroud, to your point, you watch C.J. Stroud play on Saturday. You're like, okay, he's thrown

a bunch of first-round picks, and he's doing things, nothing super dynamic. And then you meet him in person, and you see his little edge to him, and you start to buy into him as a leader. You talk to his teammates, and they really like him. Anthony Richardson, same thing. When he walked on the set of the Combine, he was literally bigger and wider than Will Anderson Jr.,

the edge rusher out of Alabama who's going to be a top five pick. And then you see him run the 4-4, and then at the end of his pro day – and by the way, I'll tell you guys this. At the four pro days we went to for the quarterbacks, they all start around the 40-yard line of their own 40, so they have 60 yards plus the end zone to work with. Anthony Richardson started at his own 20, and he was just throwing snapping balls 80 yards down the field

like he was playing underhand toss with his kid in the backyard. It was crazy. In the workout, 6'4", 240, he runs down the field and does a backflip and lands it Mary Lou Retton style. I don't know. Heath and Dave know Mary Lou Retton. I don't know if you know Mary Lou Retton. I know who Mary Lou Retton is.

Come on. And you're like, oh, my God. And Rick's like, don't do that. You're going to tear your ACL. I said, Rick, this guy's freaking Superman. He can probably do two of those if you wanted to. So the athleticism takes your breath away. Will Levis' arm is crazy.

But you're right, Adam, there are a ton of questions, and if we're being honest with ourselves, the only first-round pick in terms of the way they look and the way they play is probably C.J. Stroud. But four guys are going to go, and there's a chance that Hendon Hooker goes in the back of the first round because of the fifth-year option. Okay, guys.

We'll take a break here. That was great. Oh, wait. Just real quick. Got a sleeper or two? The quarterbacks, once you get past pick five, then you become a last-year-type situation. I like Aiden O'Connell out of Purdue.

He's accurate. He's incredibly tough. He is not mobile. All four of us could beat him in a foot race. Let's see who else. Oh, Clayton Toon out of Houston. He can spin it. I'll give you Pete likes Dorian Thompson Robinson out of UCLA. He actually threw the ball as hard as I think he was right behind Will Levison in terms of arm strength, which is sort of surprising when you watch his tape, but he's athletic. 6'1", he ran the 4'5",

and he's a high upside guy with questionable accuracy at times. Okay. Now we're going to take a break. When we come back, Bijan Robinson and the other running backs to know about. We'll be right back on Fantasy Football today. All right. So what I was getting at with that question I asked at the top of the show, who should be the first pick, it's related to the last question I asked about quarterbacks

before the sleepers question is, you know, they all have these flaws. Bijan Robinson, is he kind of a perfect prospect? Is he super safe? And that might be just something that makes you draft him in dynasty in a super flex league over these quarterbacks. But we welcome back Ryan Wilson here, the Oracle, the NFL draft Oracle for CBS Sports. Got Dave and Heath here as well. Dave, what's your scouting take on Bijan Robinson? Are you basically treating him like he's going to be Saquon Barkley? Yes, that's the comparison. He's a three-down beast. He's got great elusiveness. He's got unbelievable balance. He's tough to take down. Unreal start-stop ability, which is something that I've learned to really trust as a factor for running backs when they come out.

Unreal lateral agility, great vision, and that helps him create lots of yards. 6.3 yards per carry at Texas. That's amazing. He scored once every 16.3 carries at Texas, and he had 104 missed tackles forced, according to PFF. And apparently his missed tackles force numbers and the grade that came with it were the highest that PFF ever gave out to somebody. And that's coming from a running back who's 5'11 and 215 and who might even get stronger and play closer to 220. He can do it all on the field. He seems to be among the cleanest running back prospects we've had over the last several years.

And I don't blame you, Heath Cummings, for taking B. John Robinson ahead of any of these quarterbacks because he is that safe and he should give you five to six years of really good production. It will be especially hard to pass on bijan robinson if we fall in love with where he ends up if the eagles do something out of character and they take him at 10th overall you're gonna have a very hard time i don't know if i could do it in a superflex dynasty rookie draft take one of these quarterbacks over Bijan Robinson in that specific type of

scenario. And I don't even know, I don't know that I care as much about landing spot because I think anybody who reasonably might draft Bijan Robinson, whatever else they have on the roster is eventually going to be his backup. I do think draft capital will impact it. Like we love him. He is obviously a great prospect. The only flaw he has as a prospect is that he's a running back. And I think that probably a lot of teams have decided they're not going to take running backs in the first round anymore. If enough of those teams pass on him and he falls into the second round then i find it more believable like if a team goes up and takes him or didn't they've said at 10 or arthur smith at 8 or somebody even at 15

then i feel pretty confident he's going to be a three down workhorse back and those are so rare in fantasy he'll probably do it for the next five years it's the most valuable thing you can have in fantasy if he falls to the second round though i'm a little worried that they might just be like yeah he's awesome but he's just another running back i don't think he falls to the second round though i'm a little worried that they might just be like yeah he's awesome but he's just another running back i don't think he falls to the second round and i'll just give you dave mentioned pick 10 and i've done this exercise a thousand times for all these freaking mock drafts i have to do so pick 10 and then i'll list the teams and you can tell me which one you think is the best landing spot because i think they're all pretty intriguing eagles at 10 uh the patriots at 14.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 19. The Chargers at 21. I absolutely love, especially if Eckler's going to moonwalk out of there. Baltimore at 22. The Bills at 27 I love. I love the Bengals at 28 before the Eagles pick again at 30. Then, of course, 31 are the Chiefs. No Cowboys

on that list. Yeah. You think maybe Jerry's learned his lesson? Maybe not. They could trade up to number two and take him. I mean, we don't know. What do you guys think? Which ones really jumped out to you? For me, it was Cincinnati.

And the idea of Bengals replacing Joe Mixon with B. John Robinson turns that offense into an absolute juggernaut. And defenses will have an impossible time dealing with B. John Robinson because they remember they've got a, they've got two safeties on the field. Theoretically, every time they take a snap, the defenses do, and they've got to worry about getting beat deep. So that forces them to play a little bit further back. That means there's not as many times where there's eight in the box and it could lead to some unbelievable yards after contact numbers for example for Bichon which he'll get everywhere but that's a high-powered offense that is expected to score a lot of touchdowns and Robinson would

get a slew of them there I would love that Cincinnati traded up to get him I've been wasting my entire time thinking about my favorite landing spot trying to think of which running back would be the right one to make the joke that the chiefs are going to take over him at 31 like they did with clyde edwards lair over jonathan taylor uh still have nightmares about but no i think like if i don't think kansas city is going to take a running back in the first round but if the chiefs took him that would be i could see later isaiah pacheco right i mean is there a bad landing spot right so i mean no well for a year i think i think like a team drafting him that has a guy like eckler thinking well they'll just share this year and then we'll let eckler move on yeah anybody who did that where he's gonna have to have a 50 50 split his rookie year

well you're losing 80 of his workhorse years, probably. Or 20%. That's a good point. Tennessee, maybe, if they did something like that. Yeah, Tennessee. Patriots might do something like that, too. Dallas would be interesting. I think he'd be the starting running back, though. If, you know, right?

I mean, don't you? You know what? I think that's a topic for another day. We'll see. But I want to make sure we talk about enough players while we still have Ryan here. Um, all right. So, so famously when the giants took Barkley second overall, Nick Chubb was 35th overall,

you know, they could have taken him in the second round. Um, but in between them, Rashad Penny and Sony Michelle went. So, uh, yeah, I don't think those guys were our first round picks. They wouldn't have been available for the Giants in the second round. But you're looking at this running back class, Ryan, what do you think about the guys who are probably going to go in the second round? Do you think there's only going to be, first of all, do you think there's only gonna be one first round pick at running back? And then what about the day two picks? How do you like this class? So Jameer Gibbs has the other chance to be a first round pick. I think he probably goes early

second round. Transferred from Georgia Tech, played at Alabama, and he compared himself to Christian McCaffrey, and he has a lot of Christian McCaffrey in this game. He's 5'9", 199, I think, ran the four threes. We saw him at the Alabama Pro Day. He didn't run because he had run at the Combine, but he went through the position drills, and you were like, oh, my God, this guy moves in a way that people aren't meant to move.

So I love him. And he gives you the versatility of being able to catch the football, which, as Dave noted, Pijon does that as well. But he's Christian McCaffrey type receiver. I love him. Another guy that I like a lot that we haven't heard a lot about, primarily because he played behind Pijon, is Roshon Johnson out of Texas. Low mileage guy. I think he goes in the second round. He's actually bigger than Bijan.

Ran a 4.58, but he plays incredibly fast. And he runs over guys. He'll block. That's not a concern for you guys. But he can catch the ball in the backfield, and he's great on special teams. He's the second round, in my opinion. Devin Ochain out of Texas A&M is a legit sprinter. 10.1800, which I've been told is

extremely fast. But we talked to him at the combine and I said, have you ever, like, even like when you were playing five-year-old PB football or whatever, have you ever been caught from behind? He goes, I have no idea what it feels like to be caught from behind in my entire life. No one has ever run me down. And he like, he's smaller at 188. He'll run between the tackles. He's a one-cut-and-go guy, and then he'll beat you around the edge because he's so fast. A couple other names to keep an eye on. Tajay Spears at Tulane, similar type player.

Had a great senior bowl. Great season. He's in terms of smaller, but can run and catch. Zach Charbonnet, the Michigan transfer at UCLA. A lot of teams like him. He's not incredibly athletic, but he's hard to bring down. He runs through arm tackles. He reminds me a little bit of who was the guy last year at BYU

that went to the Falcons? Algier. Algier. He reminds me a little bit of Algier. Algier's a little more athletic, but that type of player. And then who else got here? Let's go with Evan Gray. Eric Gray, excuse me, out of Oklahoma.

He is a tough running back, and he feels like a Damian Pierce type that no one's talking about, that if he gets in the right landing spot, could be one of these guys that gives you 40, 50 yards as a runner, as a rookie, and then parlays that into a bigger role going forward. I'm going to get Dave and Heath's opinion on these guys, but I just want to know how you compare this year's class to last year's class, which was really good.

Brees Hall, Ken Walker, Damian Pierce, Tyler Algier. We got some, you know, even Brian Robinson. We got some great contributors last year. How does this year compare? This year's class is deep, not as dynamic at the top. I love Ken Walker and Brees Hall. I thought they were very similar players pair this year's class is deep not as dynamic at the top i loved ken walker and uh breeze hall i thought they were very similar players in terms of where i had them ranked on my board um damian pierce was getting buzzed senior bowl and no one was really talking about him and then

he did his thing um you have to i i swear to god you have to refresh my memory because i'm so like uh just forward thinking so you have to tell me some other guys who were drafted last year that had good season paul he he gets you a little, I want to clarify one thing. Cause you said not as dynamic at the top. Is there anybody from last year's class you'd prefer to be John? No, I would take beach on first. And then,

and then I had Ken Walker ranked ahead of, of just slightly ahead of breeze. And last year at the combine, we had breeze on set. And I don't think I told you the story last year. Old Jamie Eisenberg said, hey, Brees, this guy has you number two on his... Oh, we know this story. Yeah. Thanks, Jamie.

James Cook was the third running back drafted last year. I was not a huge James Cook fan. He went to the second round, and Bills fans were very angry with me that I didn't love James Cook. Primarily because he did what I thought he would do. Doesn't mean he can't be great, but I thought that was pretty rich for a second round pick. But what's the difference between him and Jameer Gibbs?

Cause that they, the measurements are pretty similar. They both weighed 199 pounds at the combine. And that's my concern with Gibbs. People love him. My concern is that he is not going to be a real ball carrier, that he's going to be more of a change of pace guy. What do you think?

So like Heath was making the comparison between malik willis and the stretch between that being an average passer i feel like jameer is closer to christian mcafree on a scale of one to a hundred christian's one jameer's 10 and james cook is like 68 okay okay and that's no disrespect to james cook He's just not that dynamic in comparison. Now, he's one of the most dynamic people on planet Earth, and we're doing that scale, but when it comes down to those three players, the things Jameer Gibbs can do in space and small areas as well

and make grown men not even be able to get their hands on him is incredible. And look, I didn't love James Cook cook coming out to as much as the bills did so there's also that bias and he was okay last year he wasn't great and that's okay too when you're a rookie but i think jamir gibbs could be an impact player early on and much the same way as breeson and ken walker was okay so guys other than bijan robinson heath i'll let you answer this first who do you think could be a three down back in this class? I think there could be a lot of guys. I think there's a decent chance

that none of them. Because how many three down backs do we have in the NFL? Like 25% of teams have a three down back. I'm not sure anyone besides Bijan makes, like in terms of who I like in this class, it's Bijan's in a tier down back. I'm not sure anyone besides Bijan makes that like, in terms of who I like in this class, it's Bijan's in a tier by himself, Gibbs is in a tier by himself. And then there's a bunch of other guys that Ryan talked about. And I think like Roshan's a guy who I will

probably be higher on than consensus, especially like we've done a couple of rookie mocks and he's fallen into the third round of rookie drafts. And so if he's going to be available that late, he'll probably be a guy I'm targeting a lot also. But there's guys who are really good at individual things. I'm not sure there are guys who are going to be playing all the time in the NFL. And by the way, Adam, just to follow up, I was thinking about that as Heath was talking. I like Jameer Gibbs coming out of Alabama better than Josh Jacobs and Najee Harris. Wow. Okay. I mean,

I was, I was watching him this morning, a lot of Jameer Gibbs. And I just, I see an extremely explosive player ran a four, three, six 40, by the way,

but I just don't see a between the tackles runner. Right. But I don't know. I mean, what the hell do I know? So you see, do you see Jamal Charles or Alvin Kamara? Yeah, that's the thing.

I think he can be used in such a dangerous way to let his skills really be put on display. What do you think about him, Dave? Oh, sorry. I think that that's the type of fit. And Ryan mentioned Christian McCaffrey. He's got that type of style to his game too. I feel like McCaffrey had enough armor on him to handle between the tackles.

Maybe that's something that Gibbs gets as well. To me, it's going to come down to the landing spot for Gibbs. If he goes to a team that uses him the way that we want him to be used, getting six targets a week, being, you know, a perimeter type player more so than, you know, an a gap runner. Then I think that he'll come through for fantasy managers on a diet of 10 to 12 carries and five, six catches per game. Does that make them a workhorse?

I mean, it's giving them over 15 touches per game. We're looking for guys like that because we're not getting enough of the workhorse type running backs like Bijan Robinson. I'd be happy if he goes to a team that's got that type of desire for their running back to use them as perimeter type players. And I think he'd be just fine there. Okay. Two prospects I wanted to ask you about. You mentioned Charbonnet and I wanted a UCLA running back, 6'2", 214 pounds. You compared him to Tyler Algier. Sean Tucker out of Syracuse, 5'9", 207 pounds.

These guys combined, let's see, Charbonnet had 61 catches in his last two seasons. His two seasons at UCLA. Tucker had 56 catches in his last two seasons at Syracuse. But from the scouting reports I've read, it doesn't seem like people consider them to be threats in the passing game. What do you think? Are Charbonnet and Tucker just

two down backs, basically? No, Sean Tucker. I mean, I went to a bunch of Syracuse games primarily to see the other teams. But Sean Tucker was a big part of that offense. And whether it's running the ball, he's extremely tough. I think he's from New Jersey.

Not that it matters. Extremely tough between the tackles. He can bounce it outside. He's doing everything for that offense. He didn't run at the combine, didn't run at the pro day. So I don't know how fast he is on time speed, but he looks like a 4-5-5, 4-6 guy, and I think he's a day three guy who can do a little bit of everything.

So absolutely, he plays much bigger than 5'9", 207 as well. And then Zach Charbonnet, I got to check real quick. You said he, I'm trying to think, because I haven't thought about him in a while. Da-da-da-da-da-da. I think he's pretty good in the – oh, here it is. Never had more than 13 receptions in a season prior to last season. So here's the thing, and this is the thing that we talked to Ken Walker about too,

Wake Forest and then Michigan State. And I remember having a scout say I had to go watch practice tape to see him actually catching practice catches, making catches in practice. Because if the offense isn't built around throwing to the running back, you might just assume that he can't catch. And you end up having to talk to people to find out whether he is an asset in terms of his hands being good or not. So I can't speak to whether Zach Sarbanet has good hands or not. I haven't asked about it just because it hasn't been on my radar. But it could be one of those things where it turns out he is really good

with catching the football. And Ken Walker was targeted a little bit in Seattle. But I remember being told that you just watch the practice tape and he's making catches all the time at Michigan State. They just didn't do that in the games for some reason. Charbonnet, I'm sorry. I don't want to correct the oracle. He had 24 catches in 2021. He had 37 catches in 2022. okay uh sharpening i'm sorry just i don't want to be uh i don't want to correct the oracle he he uh

he had 24 catches in 2021 he had 37 catches in 2022 um but he looked but he kind of looks like tyler algier that's not the kind of guy that you would expect to be great in the in a passing game tucker i think i may have mixed it up i think it's his past protection that people are worried about but that's probably pretty common for a lot of them. No, he's got soft hands, too. Well, yeah, right. I'm saying his pass protection is hard to protect with soft hands. Bijan is an anomaly. Bijan and Roshan Johnson, both teammates,

are both really good in terms of pass protection, but that is a recurring theme among big play running backs. They're not going to block anybody for you. Okay. Anything else you guys want to say about the running back class? I think we got the big names covered there. I want to know, Ryan, what are you going to do

when the NFL draft coverage is over? You've probably got to write your articles with your winners and losers and you've got to grade every team, but a few days out, how are you going to celebrate? Monday, the draft ends Saturday. On Monday, they'll expect a 2024 mock draft, so I'll have to do that. Caleb Williams will be going first overall.

Spoiler alert. And then I have to grade the draft, like you mentioned, and then I'm not going to do anything. Randy's going to call me to do HQ, and I'm not going to answer the phone. And I'm going to sit in my backyard, stare at the trees, and I'm going to drink a couple beers. That's all I call me to do HQ, and I'm not going to answer the phone. And I'm going to sit in my backyard, stare at the trees, and I'm going to drink a couple beers. That's all I'm going to do. No golfing, huh?

No golfing. I'll let Thomas update me on his – I'll live vicariously through Thomas' golf game. All right. Well, thank you for being here, man. We appreciate it. Absolutely. I love talking to you guys.

Thanks for having me. All right. That's Ryan Wilson. We're going to take another quick break on fantasy football today. Make sure you check out With the First Pick, that podcast with Ryan Wilson and Rick Spielman. Great stuff to get you ready for the NFL draft. We'll be right back. All right. I have to awkwardly hit the remove button on Ryan. Makes me feel like a total jerk. Goodbye, Ryan. And now it's just the three of us. We got some emails, fantasyfootballatcbsi.com.

Heath, before we get to that, what was the most interesting takeaway from yesterday's Dynasty show, which you all of course can catch at youtube.com slash fantasyfootballtoday. If you click the live tab, you will see the Dynasty show. There were a couple of things, but hearing Matt Waldman explain his process

for evaluating quarterbacks, he said, you know, I'm known for running backs. And so when I come on the podcast, everybody always asks me about the running backs. He said it was the first time he'd been asked on a podcast to break down how he evaluates quarterbacks. And it was not a short, glossed over answer. He had really prepared. And it was a nice few minutes just kind of hearing the work that he does. There was lots of other good stuff. Like his number four quarterback, I'm not going to spoil it, but we didn't talk about him today.

Okay. He's a, he's a big Anthony Richardson guy. We also talked about tight ends. It was awesome. Anthony Richardson is a gift to the media, getting to debate him, you know,

a prospect like this. So I just think it's so fun. We have no idea how it's going to turn out, but be plenty of debate. It's, it's interesting. Cause we never have any idea how it's going to turn out, but this one we can see that we have no idea. Yeah. Right.

Trevor Lawrence is boring. Andrew Luck, that's probably pretty boring, right? We do Trevor. Our Andrew Luck is going to be awesome. All right. Let's do some quick news and notes here. Saquon Barkley will not sign the franchise tag, according to Newsday's Kim Jones,

and their off-season workouts begin very soon, so he will not be a part of that. DeAndre Hopkins was not at Arizona's voluntary workouts. Dave, what percentage chance do you have of DeAndre Hopkins being on the Cardinals this year? 15%. So, not very likely, but I can't say 0.0. All right.

Adam Schefter says, it doesn't sound like Aaron Rodgers will be traded before the NFL draft. The Falcons acquired cornerback Jeff Okuda from Detroit for a fifth round pick. Dave. Dave. Okay, that was Barracuda.

I don't know how we do it, but... That didn't sound like Barracuda. Sure it did. Okuda. Maybe to you it did. Anyway, Okuda was kind of a big deal the first half of the season. He was playing really well for the Lions, and then he tailed off. Yeah, he had some buzzards luck in Detroit. So there are some redeemable for the Lions, and then he tailed off. Yeah, he had some buzzards luck in Detroit. So there are some redeemable qualities for him.

And very quietly, the Falcons are building themselves a pretty good defense. I'd like to see them take a pass rusher at eighth overall. What else we got? Devin White, linebacker for the Buccaneers, has requested a trade, according to ESPN. And the Bills are going to bring back defensive end Shaq Lawson. And you have written us emails at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. And here's our first one. It's from Nick.

Where's he from? Boston, Massachusetts. Can you give me a major breakdown of FAB, free agent acquisition budget? I've decided to bring this format to my league, and I'm starting to think about the amount for the free agent budget of using $300. A couple of questions I have is, one, if I'm the only person that puts a bid on a player in which no one else wanted, I would obviously win,

but do I have to pay that for the player if I was the only one to bid? And say I want to sign a free agent player Saturday or Sunday morning, am I able to just go on and add the player or do I have to put in a bid every single time for the player? Yeah, you've got to just go on and add the player, or do I have to put in a bid every single time for the player? Yeah, you've got

to pay whatever you bid on for the player, even if you're the only one to bid on him. That's how blind bidding goes. And if you want to sign a player on Saturday or Sunday, your commissioner should have a way you can definitely do this on CBS Sports of going to add

drops on the day of games so that you don't actually have to spend your fab on those players on those days. You just have to hope that those free agents are available on those days. I'm back, and I'm sorry, but you guys mentioned DeAndre Hopkins, and I missed it. And I just see this thing about the Jets wanting to pursue DeAndre Hopkins now. Do Aaron Rodgers not think Garrett Wilson's the number one wide receiver? Well, I mean, you could still want DeAndre Hopkins. Well, there was a big hubbub over Odell, and then Odell went to the Ravens.

And so now, if what you're saying is right, Ethan, that the Jets are now trying to get in on DeAndre Hopkins, and yeah, they're obviously trying to just overload their offense so that they'll be tough to defend and it'll make it easy for Aaron Rodgers. And Rodgers will, you know, I mean, he's already dying to get out of Green Bay. I can't imagine they don't need to get DeAndre Hopkins. But if you're a quarterback and you're trying to win and you're motivated to play and your team is offering you DeAndre Hopkins on top of everything else they have, I think you'd say, yeah, I'd like to have that.

It would stink for fantasy. It'd be great for the Jets. By the way, just to go back to Nick's question. So you do have to bid on every player and you do have to pay what you bid, even if you're the only player, even if you're the only person in the league who bid. I do like to have Fab run every day except for Sunday. Not everybody likes that, but if there's an injury in practice

one day to a starting running back, we know who the most added player is going to be. It's going to be the backup running back and everyone's going to run to their computer or their phone. I guess mostly phones these days to pick up your phone. Well, it could be in the other room to pick up that player. I still like to have the fab process in place for that. I think you should be rewarded for managing your fab appropriately. But to each his own or her own, a lot of people like to just have fab run on Tuesday night and

then free agents for the rest of the week, whatever you want to do. No, I like the way that you suggested. With the exception being on game day, you get free ad drops. Because what happens if it's Sunday morning and there's breaking news and one of your starters is out

and you need an emergency replacement? You should be able to go to your waiver wire and make that move. The tricky thing is Thursday, though, because I leave Fab on till Sunday. So if you need a replacement on Thursday, it is honestly, I don't think it has ever come up. Heath's computer is dying, so I don't think we're going to have him for the rest of the show. But I don't think it's ever come up where somebody said, oh, I need Fab off right now. It's Thursday and this and that. I'm in a league where the commissioner insists on

Fab every day. Zero ad drops. He's the one that's annoyed and bothered because people in the league come up to him and say, I need an emergency ad. He allows it. It happens every other week.

That's kind of annoying. If you're going to do that,'s kind of annoying. But if you're going to do that, this is the last point. If you're going to leave Fab off on Thursday and not have free ad drops, no, Fab on on Thursday, you have to run your first round of Fab on Tuesday night. You cannot be a Wednesday night waivers league because then there is no time

for the person who needs to make a lineup decision on Thursday to react and make more fab bids the next day. Okay. This is from Kevin. Where's Kevin from? Kevin is from Portland, Oregon.

Oh, okay. It seems like the majority of analysis has a positive spin during the offseason when it comes to team weaknesses. The bad offensive lines will get better next year and the new coach will fix things. There's a difference between what they should aim to do and what they will accomplish, though. I support the impact of regression, but if the bad teams improve and the good teams stay good,

then who will be bad? It would be interesting to hear about team situations that are of concern, though given how last season went with Russ on the Broncos and Geno on the Seahawks, maybe the takeaway is we don't really know who will be good or bad. I mean, that's really what the biggest takeaway is, is that it's football.

It's human beings playing a game. You would like to rely on veteran coaches and say, OK, well, Pete Carroll's done this before. He should be able to do it again. We didn't do that last year. We were nervous about Geno Smith. And Geno, it seemed like, did not have that job locked up until midway through the preseason. And then when he did, we still didn't really believe it. And then he started to play well, and we still didn't believe that Gino Smith was going to be great.

It took until week four, week five. I remember until I saw him play, and I went, that's it. He's great. We should move on and give credit to Pete Carroll. I would hold that grain of salt for all the first-year coaches, and there seem to be a few of them, along with all the second- and third-year coaches who really haven't done great things. I just got done talking about how Atlanta's defense looks like it's getting better. There are things about the Falconscons offense last year that I think people should keep in mind when they look at drafting Drake London and Kyle Pitts.

And in theory, they should be getting better quarterback play from what Marcus Mariota was last year. But there's no guarantee that Desmond Ritter is going to be improved as a quarterback in his second year or better than what Marcus Mariota was last year. And if he's not, then we can't say, oh, well, it can only go up from here for Kyle Pitts or it'll continue to be good. Like it was for Drake London at the end of last year. So it's, it's, it's going to be situation. You'll take it team by team, but I, if it's a team that's got a veteran coach, like the Steelers, for example, I would imagine that they will take a step forward on offense, even though their offensive coordinator is kind of a butthead because Mike Tomlin's been there before. He's certainly better with putting his defenses together, but also knowing that the

offensive line is something that they need to get better at. Kenny Pickett being in his second season, George Pickens being great, and Deontay Johnson catching some touchdowns. That's an offense that should be better this year. And Najee's healthy. So lots of reasons to expect some positive regression for the Steelers, using them as an example. I'll be negative and I'll say Washington is a team that really scares me. I think their quarterback situation is going to be really bad. And I think they're going to have a new owner soon.

So that could mean a new coaching staff after this year, just a franchise that is in a transition, transitionary stage right now. And Tampa Bay also is a team that I think is going to be really bad. They have a coach that just hasn't been good. I'm, I mean, he's just has a bad track record as a head coach.

And, um, obviously it's a new chapter for them, um, at quarterback offensive line looks a lot different. Offensive coordinator is's a new chapter for them at quarterback. Offensive line looks a lot different. Offensive coordinator is a huge question mark for them. Absolutely.

Okay. Thank you, Kevin, for making us be negative. I appreciate that. This is from Dylan in Chicago. Hello, Stark Pollard and the tiger.

Stark Pollard and the tiger. Oh, I know. Tony's. Tony's. Yeah. Keeper help pick two to, and the Tiger. Oh, I know. Tony's. Tony's, yeah. Keeper help. Pick two to keep in the round they were drafted. Keep for one year in the round they were drafted

and then future years in their ADP round. So you get to pick two here. Right. Jalen Hurts in the sixth. Tony Pollard in the eighth round. George Pickens, 11th. Justin Fields, 14th. George Pickens, 11th. Justin Fields, 14th. Khalil Herbert, 15th.

Jamison Williams, 18th. This is easy for me. I think it's the first two. I think it's Hurts and Pollard. I'm going Fields in the 14th and Pollard in the eighth. Okay. Remember that the eight,

it feels has a great year. You can't keep them at 14. I mean, he's not going to be anywhere near 14 in future years. No, it's, you have to keep him at his ADP. So that'd be probably around fifth round.

Whereas her, I would imagine most of the time, the players that you're keeping in this league beyond the first year. And this is an interesting keeper format. I kind of dig it. I mean, usually those guys are probably like superstars anyway. Yeah, but Jamison Williams is interesting in the 18th round because his ADP is probably going to be something around round seven or so.

Well, what's his ADP going to be in 2024? That's the question. Because you can keep him for round 18 in 2023. I interpreted it as no, because you're only keeping them for two years. So it's going to be, you're keeping them in 2024 at their 2023 ADP. No.

And they're 20. I'm reading it as their ADP round of that year. Well, then, then you really shouldn't even care about that. Cause you just want super hence hurts and Pollard. No, hence fields and Pollard for me, hence, Fields and Pollard.

All right, Pollard for sure. He's taking Hurts. I'm taking Fields. I'm who? You're taking Hurts. I'm taking Fields. Okay. I thought you called me Heath.

Sorry. No. Frank in Tacoma says, Hello, Julian, Alex, and Yvonne. Oh, no, sorry. Julio, Alex, and Yvonne. Rodriguez's. That's right.

I've been playing in a Dynasty League that was initially set up with kickers and DSTs, and I've been desperately trying to get them to remove them with a league vote, but to no avail. Our rookie draft is when we pitch

our rule changes, and I want to arrive loaded with a solid argument to get rid of them. How would you guys approach convincing a league to remove kickers and DSTs from Dynasty? I'm against removing DSTs.

I think having defense in some semblance is part of football, and therefore it should be a part of fantasy football. So I'm not going to help you make the argument for getting rid of DSTs, even though it's Dynasty, even though it seems a little silly. Kickers are completely random. They're a nuisance. There isn't a whole lot of logic to picking one other than this is a kicker who plays on a high powered offense, or this is a kicker who plays in a dome. This is a kicker who plays with a great

quarterback. You can follow that logic and use a kicker, but there really isn't skill when it comes to picking a kicker from week to week and season to season. Okay. If you want me to help you convince your managers, I wouldn't advocate for removing them, but I'm in leagues where they have been removed and I don't miss them at all. So I see, I believe me,

nobody's going to miss DSDs and kickers. So, if you're really adamant about it, then that's what I would say. No one's going to care a year from now. Would Frank settle for a combo kicker DST and then you get an extra flex spot? Sure, that's another good proposal. Okay, this is from Danny in Frisco, Texas. then you get an extra flex spot. Sure. That's another good proposal. Okay.

This is from Danny in Frisco, Texas. Would you trade away pick one Oh three for Christian Watson or Jahan Dotson and pick two Oh four and a 2024 second. Bless you. 20 a first round one Oh three for watson plus a 204 plus a second in 2024 yeah um i think i'd rather have the 103 okay and from how do you feel you're a watson fanatic i'd rather have...

In a super flex league, it's easily the 103. In a non-super flex league... Right. I think I'd rather have Christian Watson in the picks because I think Jackson Smith Najigba will be the number two pick. And I don't hear anyone getting super excited about any other prospects,

whether that's Flowers or Addison or Johnston or one of the running backs we just talked about. Or Gibbs, right. I don't know that right now I would value anyone else over Christian Watson. And you never know with that 204. That 204 could be okay. I definitely would rather have the 103 over Dotson.

Yeah, I would only do it for Christian Watson. It's a good trade, though. And this is Sean from the Bay Area. Full PPR, one QB league, two flex, three receivers. Would you trade Travis Etienne, Kadarius Tony, and pick 211 for Leonard Fournette. 1.4, 2.4, and 3.4.

Okay. So you're not even guaranteed to get somebody like Gibbs to replace Etienne. I think I'm sticking with Etienne and Tony along with your second round pick. And that is it for today's show.

How you been Dave? I haven't talked to you in a while. I'm doing all right. I'm recovered from a busy couple of weeks where I was traveling a lot and I'm really excited about this draft NFL draft in two weeks. Should be a lot of fun, a lot of fantasy ramifications coming out of it. And then it's time for us to start putting together

our annual magazine. And there's a lot of content I want to do for that too. Yeah, I'm excited about the tight ends in this draft. We didn't even talk about them. Yeah, next week. It's an interesting group. This could be the Evan Ingram, David Njoku. Was that O.J. Howard, Ingram, Njoku?

Were those the three picks? It was Ingram and Njoku for sure. Yeah. Was it Howard? I think it was. Were those the three first-round picks that year? Maybe. Maybe.

I can't say for sure that it was. Yeah, it could be that good. I mean, Ingram is pretty good. All right. That's it, everybody. Thank you so much for watching and listening. We'll talk to you tomorrow with a buy or sell episode. See you then.