Fantasy Football Today - Offseason Obsessions: 10 Players We KEEP Drafting in Every Mock! (05/22 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Starting point is 00:00:00 What's better than a well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue? A well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue that was carefully selected by an Instacart shopper and delivered to your door. A well-marbled ribeye you ordered without even leaving the kiddie pool. Whatever groceries your summer calls for, Instacart has you covered. Download the Instacart app and enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart groceries that over deliver. Time now for Fantasy Football Today Express. We're looking at players that were drafting

Starting point is 00:00:31 a lot in the mock drafts that we've done so far. I'm Jamie Isenberg. That's Dave Richard. Obviously our buddy Adam Mazer is taking the day off today for FFT Express. So we'll get you covered with some players that we're looking at that we tend to be gravitating towards. So we'll each go with a player at each position. Dave, I'll start with you. Give me a quarterback that you're drafting a lot so far or someone that you think you're gonna be drafting a lot, but someone that you've been taking so far on mock drafts.

Starting point is 00:00:58 You know, I started the off season thinking that I would take a lot of Justin Herbert. And then I've seen this huge collapse in ADP for a lot of quarterbacks. And one of the quarterbacks who I would take ahead of Herbert is Jared Goff. And he had a great year last year, hyper efficient, huge touchdown rate. I think he's not going to be quite as amazing as he was last year in terms of efficiency. But I think his volume could go a little bit higher. I think the Lions will have more competitive games. And I'm getting him to be like my backup quarterback in some ways. We did a half PPR draft yesterday. I took Caleb Williams first. I took golf several rounds later. I love that

Starting point is 00:01:39 combination. And I don't think golf is a bad quarterback at all. He's been pretty steady for fantasy managers. I could see him with more volume being nearly as good as he was last year. And I don't mind taking that guy well into the double digit rounds. Very curious to see how the Lions offense will look without Ben Johnson there. But yes, one of the safest quarterbacks I think you could find still has plenty of upside to be a top 10 guy. I'll take the other guy that you mentioned and that's Caleb Williams. I draft him a lot. I think there's just so much upside with the offensive line improvements, the coaching improvement, the receiving core getting, I think a little bit better.

Starting point is 00:02:16 You know, when you factor in Loveland and Bird and replacing Keenan Allen. So I think those two guys will outdo what Keenan Allen was for this Bears offense. We don't know how the run game is going to play itself out. Again, I think everything will be better because of the blocking upfront and the coaching change. But it's still Deandre Swift, it's still Rochon Johnson, at least as of now. And just look, Caleb Williams was really a hard watch at times last year. There was some flashes of brilliance, but taking the 68 sacks and you know struggling with holding the ball too

Starting point is 00:02:48 much he's not gonna run to the extent of let's say a Justin Fields but I think he'll run enough and you mentioned it the value for him is still very good you know the hype may get a little bit out of control but I think just where Caleb Williams comes in right now and where you're able to draft him plus able to pair him up with still a safer if you want wanna put that word in quotes, safer quarterback. But the upside for Caleb Williams could potentially be top five. So I like what you did there with Williams and Goff,

Starting point is 00:03:11 and I think that's a good approach if you're gonna take Caleb Williams, take somebody with a high floor. All right, let's go to the running backs, Dave. Who's the running back that you're drafting a lot of? I wanna give two names, and I feel like you and I specifically fight over these guys in our mock drafts.

Starting point is 00:03:25 It's Isaac Garando, who we both had on our late round sleeper list on the main show, and Jordan Mason in Minnesota. Funny how one guy's current 49ers backup running back, another one is a former 49ers backup running back. But I like them both for different reasons. Actually for similar reasons too. They're both behind starters who are older, who have had injury concerns over their past few years.

Starting point is 00:03:50 And Garendo I don't think will play that much as long as McCaffrey's healthy. Mason I think could end up seeing seven, eight touches per game, maybe some weeks with 10 touches per game alongside Aaron Jones. And there's obviously the lottery ticket factor with both of them, both strong offenses, both should put up a good amount of points,

Starting point is 00:04:09 both should get a lot of touches if they're the main guy for their teams. And the value on them, I mean, Garendo is going like in that round nine, 10 range. We know that Mason's ADP is well past 100th overall. I don't think you can beat that. I think that these are two running backs that you can draft and stash and kind of carry all year and wait for them to pay off.

Starting point is 00:04:30 If you don't draft McCaffrey, which one are you drafting first, Mason or Garendo? I think I have Garendo ranked higher because I think there's more upside with him in San Francisco if McCaffrey were to miss time. That's a good question. I tend to go Mason first just because I think after what Kevin O'Connell said, it makes me more nervous about Aaron Jones and more excited about Mason because he said in two separate interviews, at least that I read, I'm sure he's

Starting point is 00:04:55 maybe said it more, but prior to free agency said that they felt that they gave Aaron Jones more work and they think that he thinks that he was better as a running back in a committee than he was last year when he set career highs and touches and had a fantastic season. But I think if you pair that with the second comment after they got Mason and brought back Jones using Mason in short yardage situations, then you factor in Jones's age and you talk about the fact that he played through three pretty significant injuries last year. You know, they got a little lucky with the bye week when he got hurt overseas. I think Mason's gonna play and I think he has the same,

Starting point is 00:05:29 maybe not the same ceiling that Garendo has, but we saw what he was doing, you know, playing ahead of Garendo obviously in San Francisco. So I lean toward Mason, but they're back to back in my running back rankings. I just take Mason first if I get the opportunity to, again, if I'm not the McCaffrey manager looking to handcuff.

Starting point is 00:05:46 For me, it's Jalen Warren. I know Caleb Johnson is going to have a huge opportunity, and I would draft Caleb Johnson ahead of Jalen Warren. The thing I like about Warren is he's a great pass protector, and I think he's going to get a plenty of opportunities, hopefully protecting Aaron Rodgers as opposed to Mason Rudolph. But he's the better pass catcher and Arthur Smith This is the only thing that makes me a little skittish about Caleb Johnson Arthur Smith when he had one of the best rookie prospects in B John Robinson was still giving the second running back a lot of work and I think Jalen

Starting point is 00:06:15 Warren's skill set is a little bit better than what Tyler Algeria skill set was which was just basically a Running downs guy Jalen Warren is going to play on passing down situations. And I think he's going to have an opportunity in PPR to be a borderline flex, even with Caleb Johnson healthy. So I gravitate a lot toward Jalen Warren as a third, hopefully fourth running back, depending on the build of my team.

Starting point is 00:06:38 But I like drafting Jalen Warren quite a bit. Let's take a break here on FFT Express. When we come back, we'll get into the wide receivers and tight ends that we're looking at in our drafts right now. The Battle of Ontario is on and Fan Duel is your home for live betting the series with features like live SGPs, build a parlay, any game, any period, or stack multiple matchups onto one slip with same game parlay plus. What's better than playoff hockey, overtime playoff hockey? Get more from the game with live overtime markets. Download Fan Duel today and get more with North America's number one sportsbook. Please play All right, Dave, what's a wide receiver that you're drafting a lot of at this point?

Starting point is 00:07:21 A wide receiver that I am all about. I'm, okay, I don't know how all about I am on Chris Godwin. But I seem to draft him a lot. I think it's just because of good value. And he's, he's, he's obviously got Top 10 potential at wide receiver. And I'm drafting him as like wide receiver 24. Like he just, he keeps fading. And I'm getting them as like wide receiver 24. Like he just, he keeps fading and I'm getting him later and later. I remember I was taking him pretty early in our January and February mocks, and now we're into May. I can double check where he took him in our most recent draft, and it's half PPR. But I'm still finding him at really good

Starting point is 00:07:58 values. And like he's my flex in a 3 receiver, 1 flex league. So as long as I can keep getting Godwin, I got him at 60-second overall. Jamie, that's around 6. That's, that's excellent for somebody like Godwin, who probably isn't going to be as good as he was last year. We know he's not 100%. And maybe he doesn't even play 100% of the snaps, but he's still in tune with the quarterback. It's still going to be a team that throws the ball a good amount of time. And it's still going to be a team that should put up a lot of points. I don't mind taking Godwin in round six. Maybe I am a little excited about him. At that value. It makes a ton of sense. You know, you mentioned, uh, the year that he's coming off of,

Starting point is 00:08:36 he was better than Mike Evans in the first seven games that they played before Godwin suffered that ankle injury in Baltimore. And yeah, five points per game. Better. Uh, he was at over 19 PPR points per game. Evans was at 14 and change. So we'll see how much a book plays a role. You know, you talked about this in the full length episode on Thursday that you know, sometimes these guys just find a way to get on the field and be productive. It feels like it's going to come at coming at the expense of Godwin because of where a book lines up and has the most extensive slot. And that's where Godwin's best production has come. So we'll see how they mix and match those guys and where Jalen McMillan falls into this but I'm with you round six

Starting point is 00:09:10 I think is a great spot to end up with Chris Godwin And and I think it's a it's a great great great call for me. It's Cortland Sutton You know just looking at the situation for him in Denver You know you talked about Pat Bryant and Marvin Mims on the full length episode. Those guys don't scare me when it comes to Cortland Sutton. The one guy that makes me nervous is Evan Ingram. And we'll see how much of a factor having a better pass catching tight end on the field compared to what they had last year is going to matter here.

Starting point is 00:09:38 But Cortland Sutton in two years with Sean Payton has 18 touchdowns. That's hard to overlook. And again, you don't wanna chase touchdowns. But that with two different quarterbacks, one being a rookie, one being a fading veteran in Russell Wilson. So as Knicks continues to improve and Sutton is now chasing a contract,

Starting point is 00:09:53 I think there's still plenty of upside for Sutton to be an 1,100, 1,200 yard receiver, eight touchdowns in that range again. And you can get him in some cases in round five. I look for him as early as round four, depending on how receivers come off the board, but he's a top 20 receiver for me. I like the setup for him and again still somebody that last year I wasn't very excited to draft because I thought the 10 touchdowns with Russell Wilson was a fluke. He clearly proved me wrong

Starting point is 00:10:15 and I think he's going to prove a lot of people wrong once again. So I was asked this question on another show. Are you expecting Cortland Sutton to be better or just the same? And I'm fine with them being just the same. I think that's just a solid number two wide receiver that you're getting at a very good price and can hopefully, you know, be in that touchdown range again and be a very successful fantasy option. Literally. Outlook on the site. Let's close the show with a tight end.

Starting point is 00:10:39 So who's the tight end that you're drafting a lot of right now? It's the same two tight ends that I mentioned as sleepers on the main show. I almost don't want to say their names because I want people, first of all, I want to keep getting them as sleepers. And second of all, I want people to go back and hear the main show. One is cheesy and the other is an animal. I don't know if that's vague.

Starting point is 00:10:59 That might be too vague. Should I just give the names? Just give the names. Tucker Craft, cheesy, Craft, Green Bay, and then an animal, a cult, Tyler Warren, the rookie for Indianapolis. Just think that both of them have huge opportunities to see a lot of volume in their offenses. I don't think Tucker Craft's going to lead the Packers and Targets by any stretch. But he was so efficient last year on like 5 targets per game. If all we're asking him is to get another target per game, after Matt LaFleur lamented that he wished he had gotten him more targets per game last year, like immediately after the year, he could

Starting point is 00:11:34 break out the way that George Kittle did once upon a time. And then I just think Warren is a good short-area option for Indy. I think they drafted him for good reason. I think they're unhappy with some of their other receivers there. And this is somebody who can step in and make a ton of plays after the catch for the Colts. I did this in, I did two drafts on Thursday. I drafted this guy in both of them and that's Sam Laporta. You know, and the questions are clearly there again. Ben Johnson's gone. How will this offense look? Will Jared Goff be as successful throwing the ball? Obviously, Dave told you he's he's he's expected to be if not better.

Starting point is 00:12:08 Jameson Williams is being touted as a breakout candidate and Laporta for the first half of last season was was generally playing like a bust. But you look at the second half of the season the way that he finished he got back to seven touchdowns which wasn't ten but still he was still a difference maker down the stretch and now he's entering year three. He's now going from tight end one or two off the draft board last year to tight end four or five this year and you're getting him in some cases in round six or later. So it's a great value pick for a guy that still has plenty of upside. Still could be tight end two or three. I don't think he's going to, I'd say tight end three or four.

Starting point is 00:12:39 I think if Brock Bowers and Trey McBride hit, they're going to be better than him and hopefully George Kittle will as well. But for me, he's tight end four. I still think there's huge upside with him if he can get a few more opportunities, which I think he will. And this is another team that I think you can see getting funnel targets to St. Brown, to Jameson Williams and to Sam Laporta. Maybe Tesla has a role as a rookie wide receiver. You know, the running backs are going to be involved, but I just like the setup for Sam Laporta. And I love the discounted price comparatively to where he was in 2024. So there's

Starting point is 00:13:05 players that were drafting quarterback running back wide receiver tight end we're going to spend a lot more time talking about these guys clearly on our full length episodes we're going to be writing about them a lot on cbsports.com and make sure you hear me references on the full length show make sure you check out those player outlooks we're doing a great job and getting you a lot of good nuggets on all these players so if you want to get ahead of your league start reading these outlooks now they'll be on the site in early June. For Dave Richard, Thomas Schaefer, I'm Jamie Eisenberg. Thanks for listening and watching FFT Express.

Fantasy Football Today - Offseason Obsessions: 10 Players We KEEP Drafting in Every Mock! (05/22 Fantasy Football Podcast)

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