Fantasy Football Today - Peterson Reaction; Chris Harris Joins Us to Talk Sleepers, IDP and More (09/04 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: September 4, 2020

More RB news on the eve of the season as WAS has released Adrian Peterson. Should we be drafting Antonio Gibson as if he is the next Tarik Cohen? Could he be better? Any interest in Bryce Love or maybe another WAS RB? ... Chris Harris of HarrisFootball.com joins the show (11:40) and gives perspectives that you don't often hear on FFT. Chris gives his thoughts on a variety of players (16:00) including Nick Chubb, Austin Ekeler, DeAndre Hopkins and Juju Smith-Schuster. Then he's got some sleepers (20:00) and players he'll take ahead of their ADP (30:30) which gets us into a good Le'Veon Bell discussion ... Need some IDP advice (40:00)? Chris is your guy! We talk about IDP leagues and when to start taking defensive players. Then we read your Apple Podcast questions (49:00) and your emails (56:50) at [e-mail] Listen to the brand new Fantasy Football Today in 5 podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-in-5/id1528634304 'Fantasy Football Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Follow the new FFT Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/FFToday Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @YardsPerGretch, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCviK78rIWXhZdFzJ1Woi7Fg/videos Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. On his way to the end zone. I'll tell you what, that was a spectacular play. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. What a play. Off to the races.

Touchdown. Oh, he's done it again. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath, and Ben. Well, we got more running back news. How about that? Welcome to a Friday morning episode here, Fantasy Football Today. If you're not listening to our brand new podcast, Fantasy Football Today in 5, please check that out.

Five minute episode, first thing in the morning to get you caught up on the latest news. But we don't have this Adrian Peterson news. We welcome you. I'm Adam Azer with Jamie Isenberg. In about 10 minutes, we'll have Chris Harris of Harris Football coming on. We actually just recorded that interview, so I can tell you, it was really, really good. He gives a lot of

different takes that you don't hear on this podcast, and we'll hear from him, and then we'll read your emails and your Apple podcast questions. Jamie, what's going on? How you doing, buddy? Oh, there you are. Hi, I'm doing well. Are you ready for the Buccaneers to sign Adrian Peterson? It's not going to happen.

Stop, stop, stop. All right, listen, I'm going to get your reaction on Peterson. I'm ready for the Texans to sign Adrian Peterson and Bill O'Brien trading his star receiver to get David Johnson, and then David Johnson backing up Adrian Peterson. Maybe he'll trade Will Fuller. Maybe he'll do a sign-in trade. JJ Watt for Adrian Peterson.

For Adrian Peterson, for a free agent. Draft season's here. Your league can't make picks in person this year, so we've partnered with Google Meet to help you connect. With easy-to-join video calls, your entire league can draft face-to-face from around the world. Post on your league's message board to ask your commissioner to set up a Meet video call for your draft. A meet link can be created from

your commissioner's desktop league homepage or draft setup page, and players can safely join on their laptop, mobile device, Nest Hub Max, and even cast the meeting to the TV. So this is a great way to be together if you can't actually be together. Good luck in your draft, everybody. All right, so Adrian Peterson released by the Redskins, or the Washington football team. I got to stop doing that. I'm sorry. The Washington football team. They have not finished higher than 17th in rushing since 2013

when they had Alfred Morris and RG3. But that being said, Peterson has had more than 200 carries, two straight years, 251 carries two years ago. So it's obviously a big role being freed up here, Jamie. What's your take? Look, I give credit to the Washington football team for two things. One, they realize that they need to get younger and see what they have with their younger guys.

I hope it's not going to be Peyton Barber and JD McKissick, but that's a different point. We'll get to that in a second. But Peterson's not the future. This is not a playoff caliber team. You're investing in seeing if Gibson could be maybe a feature back. You want to see if Bryce Love can recapture his pre-ACL days. Let those guys play. And so don't put Barber and McKissick out there and make those guys relevant.

Let them be backups. But the other side of it is, and this came out with, I forget her name, but the new vice president of communications for the Washington football team. She tweeted that Washington did this today to give Peterson his own day as opposed to him being released on Saturday with everybody else and being just thrown in the mess and in a transaction line so that they could thank him and give him a chance to see if he can land somewhere else. You know, I mean, he's he's obviously what he's done on the field is Hall of Fame worthy. And so it's just maybe his time is done. So we'll see if he ends up somewhere else. But I applaud Washington for recognizing what the right thing is for their franchise,

not to run a 35-year-old running back out there, even though he may get 1,000 yards. He could have. I mean, you know, he was a 1,000-yard guy two years ago, 900 yards last year. They're recreating their football team, and the youth in their backfield should be served to show if they can be the future of the backfield in 2021 and beyond. Okay. Now what are we doing drafts? Well, I mean, we've been drafting Antonio Gibson first anyway, at least we've been telling you to, and you know,

he goes now from a round eight to 10 pick in PPR, non PPR to close to around six pick, you know, I mean, he's going to be just outside my top 24 in PPR. I haven't updated my rankings yet, so I apologize. For me, I'm probably going to take him over Leonard Fournette in PPR. I just think there's such a huge ceiling available here if they do the right thing. Again, we could be seeing a situation of Barber and McKissick. Are you going to take Gibson over, let's say, DeAndre Swift?

Yes. Okay, let's say, DeAndre Swift? Yes. Okay, let me ask you. He is now the fourth rookie running back for me, and that's assuming that Daryl Henderson is banged up. This is a guy that had 33 carries at Memphis. Don't care. Well, do you think he's going to get carries? I think he's going to get close to 100 carries.

Okay. So he's what? Tariq Cohen? Yeah, that's right in the range where I have Tariq Cohen. Except you don't know if... Okay. We don't know if he's going to be as good as Tariq Cohen as a pass catcher. He might be better than Tariq Cohen.

I mean, he might get 150 carries. He might get 200 carries. I think that's very,, very, you know, optimistic, uh, glasses full, not half full glasses, full, you know, view of what Gibson could be. But I, I, there's, there's a path that, you know, there's a path to a lot of work. And so I don't think they make this move that they're not comfortable with him most of all, because Barbara is who Barbara is, you know,

he got 180 touches last year and was terrible in in tampa bay you know is he's been that good in in training camp that they're gonna make him the featured guy is bryce love ready to go is he going to be the featured guy i think 100 carries is realistic and i think 50 catches realistic you know so 150 catches with what he might be able to do on top of that. You're buying upside. 150 touches, yeah. 100 carries, 50 catches, you're thinking. That's not enough for me to... I think he needs more like 70 catches if he's going to be a round six pick.

But I think he could do that now. I do. Okay. What about Price Love? What about Peyton? What about anybody else worth drafting here? Love is the only other one that I would draft in a 12-team, 15-round draft, 16-round draft. uh, what about price love? What about Peyton? But what about anybody else worth drafting here? It's the only other one that I would draft in a 12 team,

15 round draft, 16 round draft. I just don't think you want to take the chances on Barber and McKissick. Cause I don't think those guys are league winning type of players. I don't know if love and Gibson are, but I know what loves pedigree is. If he's healthy, I know what Gibson's pedigree could be, you know,

based on the investment. Um, they got a great offense coordinator, Scott Turner, you know, who's been createdree could be, you know, based on the investment. They got a great offensive coordinator, Scott Turner, you know, who's been created with his backs and his father was one of the best offensive coordinators with his running backs as well. And so I'm going to buy into what Gibson could be as a pass catcher and, and, and what I hope will be as a runner. I'm going to buy into Bryce love,

you know, hopefully impressing enough that they decided to make this move. I hope again, it's not, hey, Peterson and Barber, the same. So let's just go with Barber. Ugh. And McKissick, you know, is a guy that can make plays out of the backfield. Then let's not use Gibson the right way. Ugh. You know, I'd rather them, you know, use the youthful guys.

That's what you're hoping for. It's probably aggressive. But, you know, that's, I think, where I may come out of. And, again, I'm talking this out. I haven't done it yet. But I know how I feel about some of those guys in that 25 to 30 range. And I think that there might be a higher ceiling for Gibson than a lot of them. Certainly than Swift at this point.

Swift is banged up. Isn't it a lot to expect Gibson to be a good running back this year? A good rusher? He has just barely carried the ball since high school, as Dave's outlined. Totally. That's, I think, the right side to come out of it, if you're concerned.

So, you know, Tariq Cohen might be better. And I have Tariq Cohen right outside my top 24, so he's probably going to be right in that range. But you're just buying what the, there's a path, you know, and the path is there for him to... Maybe it is 120 carries. Maybe it is 150 carries. I don't know where the ceiling ends for him,

and the floor could be 33 carries. You're going to take David Montgomery or Antonio Gibson? In PPR, I'm going to take Gibson. In half PPR? Gibson. Okay. PPR? Gibson. Okay. How about Bryce Love or Rykel Armstead? Got asked that question this morning by a friend of mine.

And the way that I answered. Are you talking about me right now? Different friend. That I think if Chris Thompson gets hurt, which we know happens a lot, Armstead could be their pass-catching guy. I probably would hold on to Armstead for now, but I would find a way to carry both if you can.

In this particular case, my buddy said I could drop Jalen Rager, and I said that's easy. Drop Rager at this point and pick up Love and just see what happens. But they'll be in the same range. They're similar situations. Opening is there now for them to get a good workload uh i'm assuming you're gonna take uh antonio gibson ahead of ronald jones easy i mean like i said i may do it ahead of fournette yeah right that's why right okay all right so high on antonio gibson good to know know. And take Bryce Love as a flyer.

Do you have any is there any fantasy impact to the Buccaneers releasing Dario Gumbawale? It's better for LaShawn McCoy. You know, I don't know if they would have used both of them and maybe hold on to both of them, you know, very long. If one was going to be inactive and you figured that McCoy would have been that person just because of what Ogumbawale was for them as a special teams guy. So now you kind of figure that if they're going to have one guy as a passing downs back, it's probably going to be McCoy ahead of Ronald Jones and Leonard Fournette. It just feels messy. It just really feels messy. You know, we've said this a couple of days now that Fournette's the best of that trio. You know, his pedigree and his upside is the one you want to target.

It's just how high you want to reach for him you know like uh again you know referencing where dave and heath have them have him in their rankings i just can't get there i can't get to you know ranking four net as a starter uh for fantasy right now i think he's just a good flex are we going to bring on chris harris in just a bit uh jamie's actually going to step off um and then we'll have chris come on uh like i said we we already had Chris come on. Great stuff, so stay tuned. I know a lot of people, by the way, struggle with credit card debt, and it can be really tough. You don't need to be an expert to know that consolidating credit card debt

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Rate includes a.5% auto pay discount. Terms and conditions apply and offers are subject to change without notice. Visit Lightstream.com slash FFT for more information. And now joined by an awesome guest. Friend of the program. Comes on every year. Also was on the draft-a-thon with us.

Chris Harris from Harris Football football is here good morning chris 7 30 in the morning for you thank you that i appreciate that that you came that you woke i wouldn't have done that for you no way so i mean thank you i was awake i just have i have to do my own show so you know it's gonna fit it all in but i'm happy to be here what What time do you wake up? What's a normal wake up time? I mean, it depends on how panicky I am about how

the show or what I have to do, but maybe 530 or six. Oh, holy cow. All right. Well, good. You're a morning person. That is good.

That is good for what we're asking for today. So, yeah, I just want to get your thoughts on some fantasy football here. Go to HarrisFootball.com and download the almanac and all the great things

and listen to the podcast and find out about Chris. Apparently quite a renaissance man. He's an author. I see you play guitar, right? A little bit. Yeah. A little bit. Tell us about yourself.

You do a lot of stuff. You're not just a fantasy football guy. Right. I mean, hey, man, I like this stuff fine, but if I could get away with not doing it, I mean, that'd be okay, too. This is how you pay the bills. Okay, so would you rather be

a rock star, world famous author, fantasy football guru? How would you rank those three? I don't care about being a rock star. I mess around on the guitar, but I'm not nearly good enough. And I don't care about being a rock star. I mess around on the guitar, but I'm not nearly good enough. And I don't care about being world famous. If I could make money, enough money to live on writing books,

that sounds pretty good. I say that, but you know what? Every year, this time of year, it comes around. And I've been living in a cave for six months, writing whatever I've been writing. And it's fun to... Because my podcast is really well, And it's fun to... Because my podcast is really well and it's five days a week. And it's a very, very, very... You've listened to

the show. It's a very enthusiastic, involved audience who writes songs. And it is crazy. It's a crazy audience. And probably if I didn't have that interaction, it would be a little sad. So it's a nice balance, a little bit of both. Oh, yeah. No, podcasting is the best. Such a personal connection with your listeners. Just different than any other medium. So it's a nice balance, a little bit of both. Oh, yeah. No, podcasting is the best. Such a personal connection with your listeners. Just different than any other medium, so it's great. All right, so any draft tips or strategies you would like to share?

What kind of question is that, Adam? Very vague question. We got a big draft weekend. If somebody approached you on the streets, hey, Chris Harris, I got my draft coming up what should i do take good players i'd say take players you like i'd say that's my my number one piece of advice is take players you like and then of course the response is yeah but i don't know anything yet

who do i like i don't know i mean so this is the year that it feels like the market draft wise has kind of come around to where i always am. I'm, I'm always draft scarcity. You know, I'm just never the person who takes the quarterback or the tight end in the first couple of rounds and running back is always the default for as long as the running backs don't make me nauseous. So I'm, I'm managing scarcity because running back,

you know, the sort of the premier feature running back is the rarest thing there is in fantasy. And so I'll just... This year, it feels like... Because receiver was such a disaster last year. Five of the top ten totally crapped out. The world has come around to this point of view.

And I'm sure the world will leave it again. This year, we'll have some bad running back performances. And next year, it'll be like pick seven. You're an idiot if you're taking a running back. It's time to go wide receiver. But this year, I mean, you saw how our drafts have gone. You know, and that charity draft, I picked seventh. I took Michael Thomas.

I was the only one to take a wide receiver like in the first 14 or 15 picks. It's just, it's super, super RB heavy. I don't think I can tell the random person on the street that you have to take a running back, but you should at least understand how scarce people think running back is and how important. And therefore, if you're going to draft against that,

you have to do it purposefully and have a plan for what happens in later rounds. All right, so I'm going to fire some players at you that have been hot topics, I guess, on our show. Maybe our analysts don't quite agree on. Just tell me how you're feeling. Nick Chubb. I wish he had a job entirely to himself, but I think he's a late

first rounder. I actually did my preseason awards on my podcast today, on Friday, and I gave him the 2020 Fantasy MVP award. The value delivered. Where are you going to take him? Okay. So you mean in full PPR he'd still take Nick Chubb in the first round?

Full PPR it's getting close because I'm going to stick some wide receivers above him and not running backs that other people are going to do. I would probably take five receivers before I'd take Nick Chubb. So he might be close to the turn. How about Austin Eckler?

I mean, in a full point, he deserves to be a second round pick probably no matter the format, I think. And, you know, if we're talking standards, probably end of the second. If we're talking PPR, I feel gross about it, but it's probably like early middle. The gross

thing is just, you know, last year's the most carries he ever had. It was like less than 10 a game. I don't know for sure what the role is, but you got to think he's going to catch a bunch of passes. So in a full PPR league, would you take Chubb or Eckler? I think I have

Chubb higher, yeah. Okay. DeAndre Hopkins? Fully in favor. There are five receivers, I feel like, who stand completely above the rest. I happen to have Hopkins fifth in that group, but if somebody told me that they had him third, that'd be fine.

I'm not concerned about changing teams. I just think we come up a lot of reasons for... There are going to be some players who wind up changing teams, and we can blame the pandemic, and then there are going to be other players who change teams and are great, and we'll just the pandemic and then there are going to be other players who change teams and are great and we'll just forget that.

I'm just going to look because he's someone that Dave is high on. Jamie and Heath have Hopkins sixth for Jamie and non-PBO. Okay, sixth. Oh no, Heath has Hopkins

much lower, 14th. So, yeah, he's been a bit of a hot topic too. I think they're feeling like he's going to get 130 targets. Do you have a target estimation for Hopkins? I don't, because we're terrible at projections.

We all sit around and go, we know exactly how many... In the end, the elite receivers get 7, 8, 9 targets a game. That's what they get. Period. He's an elite player. There's no offense in the NFL that's not going to give him seven eight nine targets a week so does it turn out to be michael thomas getting 500 like maybe not but i don't know like every time i get drawn into a conversation about projection projecting specific stats for specific players like i'm

going to be told on one show i'm going to to be told there's not enough targets there for Hopkins. There's too many other people on another show. I'm going to be said, Oh my God, the pace of that offense is going to be unbelievable. They're going to throw it so many times. Hopkins, how can he not get double digits targets every week?

I just can't really play the game. I'm going to, he's an elite player in whom, if you want to use the argument that they have invested a lot, then they emotionally certainly have invested a lot. I just say elite players, especially at receiver get fed all right how about dj moore uh yeah i i think he's a wide receiver too uh deserves to be in that like 15 to 17 range among receivers really good player uh i think teddy bridgewater is good enough and like accurate

enough and focused enough to to make him useful but probably a little bit up and down. Really like the skill. Juju Smith-Schuster. that I feel like I trust him enough from two years ago with Antonio Brown in the picture and him playing kind of a different subservient, you know, secondary role. That didn't prove enough to me to make last year matter. Not at all. Even though of course the quarterback was a disaster. Juju himself got hurt. I'm a little frightened by the idea that it seems like the Steelers won't have him back next year. I have, I have the space between Juju and Deontay Johnson smaller. Juju's higher, obviously, significantly, than most people do, so I'm never going to wind up with Juju in a draft.

That was discussed on the draft-a-thon when I, like, that was the one time I went away for the bathroom break. I missed all that. That's right. And I think Jamie said something about it. What did he say about that? I can't remember. Oh, he made some gross joke about how I left to take a number two, which of course was not true at all.

I just had to go pee and say hi to my wife, make sure she knew I was alive. Yeah, we did four hours and 15 minutes. Chris Harris comes on. I'm like, I got to go, everybody. So I'm sorry, because I knew I was going to talk to you just a couple of days anyway. Well, you know, we did a telethon on my youtube channel on April and I did about that length too and I know I know the pressures of which you speak you know you just you gotta you gotta stay hydrated right you know drinking a lot of water it's a tough job Chris yeah our voice our poor voices I I really like Juju uh I I just think um

you know I think that I think Roethlisberger's going to target him a lot. I won't project targets, but I think it's going to be substantial. I took him... The earliest I took him was 24th overall. Of course, when you have... Not for me. Yeah, when you have a swing pick,

you got to go early, right? Because I know I wasn't getting him at the end of the fourth round. Sure. I just don't particularly want him this year know I wasn't getting him at the end of the fourth round. Sure. I just don't particularly want him this year. I don't know that he's great. Like in the end, the argument in favor of Juju

as like let's talk about a swing pick. I mean, he's being talked about as like a end of the first, beginning of the second last year because he was because Brown had left Pittsburgh. Like, I mean, other if you know, if what you're telling me is basically some dude who two years ago produced some good numbers with another receiver there, and it doesn't really

matter what he is. He's just a Juju sized uniform. And whoever he is, I would take him at 24th. I mean, I think that's kind of what you're saying because Juju himself is good, but like, I don't think we really know what he is. And I'm, there's other receivers I trust more. Fair enough. Yeah. I always, I go back to his rookie year, though.

You know, 917 yards and seven touchdowns as a rookie. People seem to forget about that. That's a great rookie year. And then 1,400 yards, seven touchdowns as a sophomore. Yeah, Antonio Brown, on one hand, probably helped him. On the other hand, Antonio Brown was 150 targets that year. But I will go around in circles with this argument so understand where you're coming from and Dave would agree with

you Dave is not a juju guy either um let's talk about some of your favorite sleepers do you have any sleepers you want to throw at us I know actually this I was part of on the draft-a-thon but I'm gonna remember who I said that's like going back two days ago. I'll say I'm still okay with taking sort of a mid-round pick on Daryl Henderson. Not that I'm anti-Cam Akers necessarily, but the hype that was on Daryl Henderson that I kind of didn't participate in last year, still knowing that he was a very exciting college player, like really explosive. Players like that don't come around that often, you know? And so just athletically, the idea if a 10th or 11th round on Daryl Henderson, I'm interested in just kind of having him there sitting there. Let's see what can makers does. I expect can makers to be pretty good. And Henderson maybe did not have a great role to

start with, but he's just a really talented guy. And if the Rams are back, he'll be involved. Who else did I have? I mentioned Deontay Johnson in that group. Similar type round situation, maybe 7-8, something like that for Johnson. I'm taking that plunge quite a bit. Emmanuel Sanders, I think I said to you during the telethon, like there's a mentality out there that just goes, there's not enough targets to go around, and the number two wide receiver for the saints always winds up suffering.

And I'm done with Trey Kwan Smith and I'm done with Ted Ginn. And all I can say is, yeah, that's because they're Trey Kwan Smith and Ted Ginn. Like that's three years of not having a good number two receiver there. Manuel Sanders is terrific player and isn't going to get Michael Thomas level targets, but I'm going to view, I think if the Saints are as good as we expect, if they are a wagon offensively,

he is going to partake to say nothing of the idea that I love him in the red zone. He's such a good close quarters phone booth kind of player. When Michael Thomas is getting all this attention and other people are getting all this attention. Sanders scores touchdowns in the red zone. Just, you know,

again, I'm talking not as a fantasy starter to start, but just like as a sleeper sort of mid-round. Sure. Did you say Jared Goff? Is that one of your sleepers? Okay. No, sir.

He's been a popular sleeper. You don't like Jared Goff? Not at all. Oh, I love Jared Goff. We like Jared Goff. I mean, great. Look, do you like Cup and Woods? Because the thing is, I don't know how.

Yeah. So I looked at the last five years. I don't remember the exact stat, but I'll ballpark it. Last five years, every quarterback that had two wide receivers finished in the top 20 in PPR. Or maybe it was the top 16, because that's where Robert Woods was. Jared Goff finished lower than every other quarterback, including like Derek Carr when he had Cooper and Crabtree. Jared Goff last year was something like QB 16. That was the worst finish of any quarterback in the last five years

that had two receivers that were that successful in PPR leagues. So my take is like he just had a low touchdown rate. It was very low. If we like Cup, if we like Woods, I feel like Goff is destined to be a reliable a reliable starter that you take late in your draft i so i agree about the touchdown luck there's there was there was todd girley pro touchdown luck and robert woods anti-touchdown look that is a very fair fair point jared goff is kirk cousins on a slightly better... The problem with players like that

is that they can look good in the aggregate, but there are going to be games where they need it, and they get pressure, and they get off schedule, and they will murder your fantasy team. Just not good enough, in my opinion. Well, that certainly happened with Goff last year against great opponents. And Goff is... We know the book on him.

If he has a good offensive line, he's probably going to put up huge numbers. He's terrible when he's under pressure. So, something, yeah. And you're right, you know, you make good points. I like a couple of things you've said so far. We're bad at projecting players and targets and all those things.

You know, it's true. It is. And the whole thing, and I go, I'm a big believer in this, the whole he's good on an aggregate level. But looking at end of season stats is sometimes very telling, but sometimes very deceiving. And it's also, it's difficult to make that case sometimes. You know, people don't want to hear that.

Well, yeah. I mean, that's welcome to my career, dude. I've been doing this a long time. Yeah. I mean, Amari Cooper is the best example of that from last year amari cooper wow what a season look at those numbers fantastic what receiver what was he six nine i can't remember what he was anybody who had amari cooper on fans team last year wanted to jump off a bridge like it was gross it was you know he's it's he's got an amazing matchup and he and then in second quarter he's hobbling around and has one catch and then the next week he's got a terrible matchup and plus he's been

banged up so he can't do anything and he goes out against a good defense that's nine for 160 like the ride matters man the ride matters yeah for sure i had him as seventh and non-ppr 11th in ppr last year 79 catches not a not a, not a huge total. All right. So I want to ask you about some sleepers that our listeners have brought up. You just, we can just kind of fire through these Cordero Patterson or any other bears running back for the first week or two. Any interest? No.

Other than Cohen. Okay. Tariq Cohen. Yeah. Van Jefferson for the Rams. Super deep. I would say not necessarily draftable, but I would say keep an eye.

Okay. Daryl Williams, who apparently could split carries with Clyde Eberziler in week one against the Texans. Yeah, but you're not going to start him under the potential of maybe. And the problem in the end is that Daryl Williams is just not at all special. He's literally just like another guy.

He's a Carlos Hyde-shaped player in a Chiefs uniform. He's fine. It's just I don't know that you need to draft him because if push comes to shove and there's no Edwards Hilaire anymore, it's going to be him and a bunch of other guys. They're not just going to go, okay, Daryl, go. They're going to give it to a bunch of dudes. So you think Edward Ziller is going to have a bigger share of the work than

let's rewind a year ago where Damian Williams and LeSean McCoy are splitting. You think it's going to be more of an Edward Ziller show? I don't know. I don't think we know, but I think I'm not taking him in the first round. I don't have him rated as a first round pick, even in PPR,

but I get why people are. And I think if you are going to adhere to the logic that says there's a chance that the work coheres around somebody, he's the only one that could cohere around. So I don't mind that logic. I just, again, sight unseen that sort of player. He's not Zeke.

He's not Barkley. He's not someone you just need to immediately a hundred percent believe in because he can do everything like Edward Taylor can't do everything he's not big enough to do everything so uh I wouldn't take him in the first round but and I can't I'm not going to be the one that predicts game flow or the work share like I just don't think we're good at that so I would prefer to stick to it's a a great offense. That's not going away. He himself does some things that that offense is prize really, really super well. And that's awesome. And that's why he should be a top least top 20 pick. But, uh, I can't tell you week one, that means 19 touches for Edwards, Lair and 13 for Daryl Williams. I don't think we know that one more

sleeper. I want to throw out at you, uh, Marquez Valdez-Scantling. I've gotten some emails, some tweets saying, hey, I know y'all are in on Alan Lazard to a degree, but there's some MVS buzz here. What do you make of that? Yeah, it would be one thing if he could play. He just can't play. So I think the Lazard love that's out there, such as it is, as himself a sleeper,

really almost is a default because you can't find another player who can play on that roster lazard himself like he's a tall guy who doesn't run all that well and i mean aaron rodgers quote unquote likes him i i think getting aaron rogers's like at this point is is about not screwing up and at least lazard hasn't screwed up and mvs lost that job last year by screwing up. He got yelled at on national TV maybe more than any other player in the league last year. So

who are some of your breakouts? You give us some sleepers. Who are some of the more high-end guys that you're targeting? I don't know, dude. Name some players. I'll take anybody at the right price. So Cortland Sutton, I like a ton. Again, it's always about the price, always about the ADP, right?

So I can't tell you. I always get that guy because it depends on the price. But I would take Sutton earlier than his average draft position. I'm taking Le'Veon Bell earlier than his average draft position, even though I have misgivings. But if he is being treated as what? What do you have him as? RB27? Something like that?

I don't have rankings, but I will tell you which. No, no, I'm saying the platform. Oh, like our ADP? Yeah. I'll let you know. I would say that we are more like round five, I think, at this point for Le'Veon Bell. Of course, he shouldn't be valued as a first-round pick anymore. It'd be ludicrous. It'd be stupid because we know of all these risk factors. But everything went wrong last year

and he still finished at whatever, let's say what the number is, RB20, whatever it was. And that's exactly where the market is valuing him this year. That means you're making an exactly zero range of possible outcomes any better than last year, which seems crazy to me. They did get a brand new offensive line.

It is just a new year. The NFL does change from year to year. But doesn't he fall into the aggregate category? Because Le'Veon Bell was kind of a stiff last year. He totally was. He caught a lot of passes. Disaster season. So in a PPR league, you could start him and be like,

okay, well, at least I have a high floor. Disaster season. Yeah, he was bad. It was one of the worst high usage running back seasons of the last decade. It was terrible. But do you think he's cooked? Well, I don't, but I think the carries go down

because I think Frank Gore, for some reason... Well, you're playing the game that I don't want to play, which is I know Adam Gay's puppet master, and I know exactly what strings he's going to pull, and the fact is we don't. If Le'Veon Bell comes out and is awesome, and I know people arease, puppet master, and I know exactly what strings he's going to pull. And the fact is, we don't. If Le'Veon Bell comes out and is awesome, and I know people are going to tell me

because guys watching them run against air that Le'Veon Bell's had, quote-unquote, a bad camp, like that means something. I don't know. All of these things could be danger signs. But my point is, he's being valued exactly where he finished last year, a bad season, with no range of possible outcomes for a better season.

So I'll put it this way. At least I view it that way. And so philosophically, what I would like to do is draft players who are being valued at the bottom end of their range of possible outcomes. I think it's hard to argue that Leon Bell has much lower possible outcome than where he's being drafted okay so he's going on our website 37th now that might be dropping because the reports lately so that's a third that's a fourth that's higher than most yeah that's overall that's that is

higher than most places right see that's everybody in cbs is smart that's the problem no you can't get a lot of value there. That's too high. I'm in 30s. Because here's the other, like, Juju Smith-Schuster, Adam Thielen, Cooper Cup, Mike Evans, Zach Ertz, Amari Cooper, Calvin Ridley. There are so many wide receivers that I think a lot of us would rather have at that point. So it's not like I... Depends on what you took previously, right?

It's not like I hate where he's going amongst running backs. Just I'm not passing up on wide receivers that have the chance to be elite to take Levy on Bell. And I know you don't want to get into. Yeah, go ahead. The thing is, I think Bell has a chance to be elite, too. I think you could pretty convincingly argue that some of those receivers you mentioned have a better, higher percentage chance. Their range of possible outcomes includes a higher range of elite outcomes. But unless we're going to make the argument that there's just something about Le'Veon Bell that's changed at age 28 and he himself has just gotten fat and slow and lazy and bad,

there is a range of possible outcomes where the Jets are this year's 49ers and nobody expects the offense to be good. And suddenly it is. And Le'Veon Bell is the prime beneficiary. And he is actually pretty good at football and therefore can capitalize. I'm not saying that's a huge chance. I just don't think that's being baked into his value. Now, as you're describing it, end of the third, early fourth, it actually probably is being baked into the value.

But like you said, I thought most places he's going like fifth round so would you take like uh david johnson jonathan taylor melvin gordon levy on bell where does he in that group uh certainly at what i mean say him again yeah uh jonathan taylor melvin gordon todd uh no, not Todd Gurley. Jonathan Taylor, Melvin Gordon, Le'Veon Bell, David Johnson. I don't think I have any of those running backs ahead of him. I think I would have Bell ahead of all those guys. You're not worried about Frank Gore? Because I know you don't want to project, but he does. Yeah, he stinks.

He does stink, but also he gets over 100 carries every year, and Gase just gave him two years ago, just gave him way too big of a role when it should have been the Kenyon Drake show. Yeah, I just don't. I think my philosophy of this stuff is that you can't selectively apply logic and say, ah, this team, I'm sure.

This guy's going to get this number of carries or number of whatever's if a player winds up being good they get enough work to sustain them as fantasy options especially if i don't have to take them the first couple of rounds like i just feel like i don't try to project too much i don't all i care about is bell significantly better than everybody else on that team if i still that, then I'm not that worried about Frank Gore. I mean, where are you taking Frank Gore in a fantasy draft? Oh, I'm not taking him at all, but I just think he could be a thorn in the side.

It's a bad argument to say, like, you know, I'm really concerned that Frank Gore's going to get potentially like eight or nine touches a week. Oh, no, but I wouldn't touch him. Well, no, because eight or nine touches a week and nothing in the passing game is not enough to make someone fantasy relevant. So like the argument is also, you know, I know we're bad at projecting whatnot, but you still have to read the tea leaves, right? Adam Gase doesn't appear to

have a very good relationship with Le'Veon Bell. I don't know why you say that. Like he just literally came out yesterday and said, I know you guys think we don't like each other, but we do. Aren't you sold by that? Not quite. It's all a soap opera. That's the soap opera aspect of it that I just don't... People don't have to get along if he's good, if he's playing well. The reason they didn't get along last

year is because that team sucked, and that offensive line was terrible, and they didn't have a quarterback, and nobody's going to get along in that sort of situation. But again, I think the offensive line is still terrible, and I look at Le'Veon Bell and nobody's going to get along in that sort of situation. But again, I think the offensive line is still terrible. We'll see. I look at Le'Veon Bell. He has 566 carries in his last two seasons that he's played.

I know he skipped one year, but 566. Are you going to use a wear and tear argument? He didn't play two years ago. No, no, no, no, no. 566 carries in the regular season. Not one of them longer than 27 yards. Not a big play guy, no question about it. He's a phone booth. He's not a sprinter. But that's alarming to me. He might not be good anymore.

I think that we might have to start just acknowledging that. He just might not be that good anymore. I don't believe that numbers tell us whether a player is or isn't good. In football, I think our eyes tell us whether a player is or isn't good. I think in football, I think our eyes tell us if the player is or isn't good. And we absolutely, you can look at him play and decide, I don't see it anymore. I don't see explosiveness. I don't see lateral agility. I used to see the moves.

On my podcast, we call him the jazz runner because he's just this improvisational zone running style. And if you say when you watch him that you just don't see it anymore, there's really nothing I can do to counter that. If you don't see it, you don't see it. I don't think the fact that he doesn't run for a certain number, a length of runs, really tells you much. Okay, fair enough.

Let's get into our IDP draft. That is, after all, why you're here. I mean, we've got to talk IDP. And before we do that, I just want to tell everybody about a charity league that I'm involved in. So is Dave. So is Ben Schrager. So is Frank Stamfel of our Fantasy Baseball Today podcast. This is called Pros with Joes.

It gives everyday players the opportunity to co-manage a team with their favorite fantasy expert, or in my case, non-expert, in a league with more than 50 of the brightest minds in the industry. And it's for a great cause. Proceeds are going to a ton of amazing charities. For me, it's the American Cancer Society. So if you want to team up with me, we're donating to that.

For Frank, if you want to team up with Frank, you're getting a one-year subscription to Sportsline and a Fantasy Football Commissioner League from CBS Sports, in addition to donating to a charity. So if you're interested, go to proswithjoes.rallyup.com and search for the names for Ben Schrager, Frank Stample, STAMPFL, for me and for Dave Richard.

proswithjoes.rallyup.com All right, we don't have a ton of news. Cam Newton's the starting quarterback. Debo Samuel is looking more likely for week one. Good chance he plays. The Jaguars traded another starter. They traded safety Ronnie Harrison for a fifth-round pick. They've now traded Jalen Ramsey.

That was obviously last year. Yannick Ngakwe, A.J. Boye, Calais Campbell, and now the safety Ronnie Harrison. They could have just such a bad defense. The Cowboys released HaHa Clinton Dix, so that's going to, of course, lead to some Earl Thomas speculation. And we got a mailbag to get to as well. So in terms of IDP, do you like IDP?

How do you feel about it? I like IDP the way we play it in the league that we play in together. I'm not that crazy about IDP where you have like three defensive players. It just doesn't feel like it adds any scarcity, and there's just no reason to ever reach early in drafts. But we play in a league where how many – you're starting like nine defensive players, is it, I think, every week? Yes.

Now you've got legitimate scarcity've got yeah now you've got legitimate um scarcity in it like there are definitely i mean any fantasy league what you're looking for different paths in a draft to to win in that in that draft you can make the argument that taking a defensive player in the seventh or eighth round is a good strategy you could also argue waiting until the 20th round is a good strategy which i like also argue waiting until the 20th round is a good strategy, which I like. Yeah, I actually think the way we play makes me less likely to take... I want to try to get

one or two really good defensive players. I didn't quite accomplish that. Well, maybe I did, but I only took one early and it was Bobby Wagner. Yeah, do you know who I took? Who?

Do you know? No, I don't. Do you know right in front of you? No. He's dead, I don't. Do you know who's right in front of you? No. He's dead. I'll put it that way. He plays for the Chargers, and he's a safety. Oh, Derwin James.

Oh, wow. When did you take him? I mean, early enough. You know, not... I think it might have been like the 10th round or something, but it doesn't feel great. Yeah, so there are so many players that it's like getting one stud stud it doesn't do as much for

your total fantasy points i mean we're starting three wide receivers a flex two running backs obviously tight end quarterback and then nine defensive players so it's harder for one player to really have a huge impact so defensive players don't go that early um in this draft i'm gonna take a look and try to go earlier than any, they go earlier than any other IDP draft that I've done. They go earlier. If the people are... Especially if you've been playing it for years.

I mean, I've been in leagues that have three IDP players and everyone's been in that league for a while and they never go as early as they go in this draft. When do they start going? Because we had Darius Leonard go in the sixth round. That was the first pick. Right, which is... It seems to me that as among linebackers,

he's the clear standout. He's almost a tear unto himself. I think it's defensible, even though I wouldn't go that early, but at least I like the idea that it's a possibility and you don't just mock it. Because you say that it's so diluted, but it's diluted for every other position too. If you can find consistent every week contributors in a format like the one we're talking about,

which Leonard is, then they're just as valuable as some dumb wide receiver. Yeah, I think once you start getting to like your fifth defensive back... It doesn't matter, they're interchangeable. Right, there are so many interchangeable. So you do kind of want to get elite ones. But if you're playing in a deep IDP league,

there's a lot of just interchangeable parts here. There were some IDPs that went in the seventh round. And then, you know, obviously a lot later in the draft as well. Are there any in particular that other than Derwin James that you like this year? I don't like Derwin James at all anymore because he's not going to play. It's a bummer. It's a pretty severe bummer. You know, defensive back is the place where i like to make a difference if i can because there are just so many you could say that there's like four or

five guys probably i would say four now now that there's not five because derwin james is gone uh but like you know jamal adams uh landon collins i have you know i've joined joyer, who I was really impressed and surprised. I thought he was in my hip pocket. I was going to take him, and people are on to Jordan Poyer in Buffalo. I had Buda Baker in this league last year. I think he is great and belongs to that conversation as well. And so I definitely don't really think linebacker early in IDP drafts because other than Leonard, it feels like a lot of similar seeming,

very consistent production from middle linebackers who just get tackles, right? That's kind of what they do. I don't mind getting pass rushers, but you, you need to find sack specialists who also get tackles because sacks aren't prevalent enough to have, you know,

the sex be the only thing. But I, but I, I reached for German James. He was the first defensive player I took. It be the only thing. But I reached for Dermon James. He was the first defensive player I took. It was the wrong call. But if I can get one of those four or five defensive backs, I think they qualify as what you just described

as those worth reaching for. They're pretty different from their position mates. Okay, so not really so big on the defensive linemen. Like, Daniil Hunter went in round eight Joey Bosa went in round eight that's not your thing you're not it's fine I mean I think I can't remember who I took I think I took

a couple of those guys I might have taken Melvin Ingram I think he has a potential bounce back he's an interesting sleeper because he was so he's been pretty disappointing the past couple years I'm fine with it. It strikes me that the elite tier of defensive linemen is a little bigger than the elite tier of defensive backs.

So if I'm going to reach the first pick I'm going to reach with is probably a defensive back, but I'm certainly more likely to take a defensive lineman before the hoi polloi, before we just start grabbing bodies. Because at linebacker, I feel like that's all we're mostly doing. It's just grabbing bodies. So my preference of position would probably be, if I could get an elite defensive back, that would be first.

Elite defensive lineman, I'm definitely in. There's just a little bit more of them, so I can wait a little bit. And then linebacker, probably that doesn't matter as much. Fair enough. Blake Martinez is an interesting name. He was kind of a tackle machine with the Packers, and now he's on the Giants. I do not want to take him early.

He, uh... I don't think he's that good. I mean, he didn't have much of a market, and the book on him was that he just made a lot of plays like kind of downfield. And the Packers had terrible defensive tackles for a lot of this. I mean, they had bad run defense.

The Giants have a much better run defense. I'm not sure Martinez is going to... He's switching teams. There's just a lot of variables there. If you're investing an early pick in a linebacker who's not a great player... Blake Martinez is not Darius Leonard, and he's going to a new team,

and there's just some variables. I think that's a mistake. I'm fine with that take. I just think just generally, if what we're trying to do is predict which teams are going to funnel tackles to their middle linebackers,

we don't know that. True. So you're right. Why take an average player under the assumption that just because last year on a different team, they funneled a lot of tackles to him? To say nothing of the fact that the way the Giants scores sometimes split tackles. I don't know if you've ever noticed that before,

but just the Giants scorekeeping in general, you see it, you get a half tackle, and you're like, he tackled him. Why don't we get one tackle there? Oh, no, I didn't know. Okay, even more reason not to like Blake Martinez. All right, well, I hope that's helpful for IDP. You know, if you have any more questions, just tweet Chris.

You know, he'll answer your questions. Your contempt is just dripping from your voice. No, I don't mind it. You know what? I don't really like, I'm not that experimental. I don't like new things. I don't like change. So I'm not really into points per first down. But then once I get in the league and I start playing,

I like it fine. It's fantasy football. I'm into it. I love the IDP league. It's actually one of my favorite leagues now. I wish we had fewer IDPs because I think it would lead to more strategy. But instead, we have so many. I mean, the thing that you're saying about how the,

the defensive backs towards the end of the draft are disposable. You can make the same argument, the wide receivers you're taking toward the end of the draft too. Like, yeah, but you don't have to start those wide receivers. You have, you know,

that you're drafting toward the end. Those are just bench pieces. It's fair. Yeah. It's a fair point. I like it. I, I think a good indication that it's a good league is that every time we do

that, I mean, I've been that league for's a good league is that every time we do that, I mean, I've been in that league for years and years now, and every time we do that draft in the chat, there's like four people going, I'm totally on tilt right now. I have no idea what to do. This league is messing me up. And anything that breaks us out of our,

I've done 80 mock drafts. My strategy is always the same. The players I always get are the same. Like good. Anything that puts the experts on tilt, that's good. I was on tilt before the draft even started. So I had the fifth pick, which is like, I know I'm going to get a player I love, but I don't want to have to make the decision because I don't want to feel like I failed

if I'm going between Dalvin Cook, Michael Thomas, and for me, Clyde Edwards-Zehler, I know not for you. And then I got lucky because Jake Seeley took Dalvin Cook fourth and I took Alvin Kamara fifth. And I was just very happy with that. I knew I got Zeke at three. Yeah. Oh, yeah. All right. So that was when his plan. All right. We got a lot of questions from Apple podcast and from emails. So, Chris, you ready? You ready to answer some listener questions? I'm going to do my best. All right. This is from RJ Gilbert, 14-team PPR League.

Clyde Edwards-Elair and Robert Woods for Kenyon Drake and DJ Moore. Who would you rather have? Edwards-Elair and Woods or Drake and Moore? Being a pretty big Drake doubter, I think I'm probably going to take the other side. But I think DJ Moore is terrific. So there's a lot of upside in the Drake Moore side of that deal.

But I think I'd probably go Edwards, Zolaire, and Woods. All right, this is a keeper question from a city in New York with the state's only pro football team. I guess that would be Buffalo. It's dear Sam, Norm, Cliff, Woody, and Frazier. We know them.

You like Cheers, right? I'm from Boston, man. Oh, yeah, and Frazier. We know them. You like Cheers, right? I'm from Boston, man. Oh, yeah, there you go. Bull and Finch. 10-team PPR Keeper League. A Bullfinch? There's no and? No.

Damn it. All right, we have to start over. Start the podcast over. Keep one of these. PPR. Lamar Jackson in the 12th round or James Conner in the 13th round? Lamar Jackson.

From Tiger the Cat, can you talk about players who are going into contract years? Like Derrick Henry had last year, like who could show up in a contract year? I guess Derrick Henry wasn't really in a contract year, was he? Did they just extend him?

I mean, that's the problem, is that there's really... How many dudes are really... Leonard Fournette. Like, that whole thing about that old saw about motivation. For every time you want to point to somebody who had a good year in his last year of his contract, I can find one who had a bad year. That's not how these guys work. They don't try harder.

You can't play in the NFL without trying pretty hard. I don't think you need to worry too much about it. If anything, I can see the Juju argument that I made maybe winds up being totally not a real argument either, but if

the Jags had told Leonard Fournette, you're not coming back. That to me is a red flag. I don't think the Steelers have said that to Juju, but it's been widely speculated that Juju won't be back or T.Y. Hilton won't be back. I mean, they're in contract years, so you could argue that's big performances

or you could say they're not part of their team's future plans and therefore they'll be de-emphasized. I don't think we know how that goes. This is from, let's see, MarkBD1. Actually, I wanted to read two back-to-back comments that we got from MarkBD1 and from BenCaseyJess. Why do you all discuss non-PPR so often? This is the only podcast or fantasy site I hear even bring up non-PPR at all.

And then BenCaseyJess says, please do a standard non non PPR at all. And then Ben Casey, Jess says, please do a standard non PPR focused episode. PPR is garbage. That's why we don't talk about full PPR. I'm not on this show, but full, full PPR is a terrible scoring format that should be thrown into the sun. Wow.

You're rewarding. You're rewarding nonsense. You're rewarding one yard dump offs. Leonard Fournette catching 76 passes last year, 69 of them four yards down the field or fewer. Zero touchdowns. How is that a good season? How are we talking about him as an RB13 or whoever he was?

Like, gross, disgusting. Full PPR sucks. Yeah, but they want... And, like, half PPR. Everybody just play half PPR. It'll make everything so easy. I don't mind standard. Honestly, people listen to my show.

I'm not really talking... I'll talk about both, but I'll talk about Standard a lot. Okay. Yeah, I think we talk about Standard enough, but I know on our website, more people are playing PPR, which is why we sort of gravitated toward that scoring.

Is that your default game, though? Yes. What do you think? More people on your website? I believe so. But no, we have the commissioner product which of course is you know people can customize um yes but if the default game is ppr then of course like i don't know if it is forever right and they changed after i left they changed over to ppr and so now they emphasize ppr because of course they do that's what their game has in

it i just don't like that scoring format um See if you get the greeting in this email from Grant Witcher. Dear Matthew Fields, Stefania and Secret. Well, yeah, I think I get that one too. Yeah, I think we got that. Joining my first two quarterback league this year. And I was hoping I get some more tips or strategies on when to take quarterbacks in a 2QB league. So, I mean, there's scarcity, right?

So whereas all of us on this show, when I'm guest on your show, when you're guys guest on my show, like we all talk about waiting on quarterback when there's scarcity, you're no longer there. Now you can treat it like a real position. There probably isn't a right answer about exactly when, but like it is very defensible to say

that Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, our first like it is very defensible to say that lamar jackson patrick mahomes are first round picks very defensible it's very defensible to call the next three or four guys second round picks and everyone else needs to kind of be bumped up after that i i always feel like i want to if i can get one of the top dozen quarterbacks but i also don't feel like you're mandated and if there are such a run on quarterback in your league that they're leaving behind DeAndre Hopkins, who we talked about earlier, or leaving behind players who really like who play even scarcer positions, I'm okay punting have a lot of support for this theory. But the way I look at quarterback is your scoring system and the amount of players that you start really matter. What you have to decide, what you have to figure out is what percentage, you don't have to actually get the number, but what percentage of your fantasy points is the quarterback scoring. So if you were

in a shallower league with like no flex or something like that and it's non-PPR, then Mahomes gains value. If you're in a full PPR two-quarterback league and you're starting three wide receivers, Passion Book of Homes them on waivers. But I'm still going to take five running backs before Lamar Jackson or Patrick Mahomes. And that never happens in our two QB leagues. Like Lamar Jackson and Mahomes are usually like the second, third pick, something like that. I love to have three studs. Maybe, maybe it's only two now, but you know, like I'll take an elite running back or something, then an elite wide receiver. And I would end up my ideal quarterbacks in a two QB league would probably be something like, um, Matt Ryan and Ben Roethlisberger or something like that, uh, with a good number three quarterback that I might take earlier than other teams. And I'll just be better at the other positions. So that's where I come from. Yeah, I mean, so I will cosign with the result that you just described. I think the process by which you reached it,

maybe I don't completely agree with, the notion that because it's a league where you start more players, a quarterback is somehow worth less. Like you said, all players are somehow worth a smaller portion of your pie. The real question is the real problem with the quarterback, just generally, that position in fantasy is that there isn't

that much statistical difference between the guys who are really good and the guys who are just meh. So the problem you have is you have to kind of work through is there enough of a difference in the performance of the quote-unquote elite guys to make it worth the while to to bypass players where you know there is replacement level even in a two quarterback league among quarterbacks is a higher level than the replacement level among

wide receivers running backs so. So, but, but still what I just said leads me to the same conclusion as you, which is I'm not, if I have the number two overall pick, I'm not taking Lamar Jackson or Patrick Mahomes. Well, Jamie's going to join us for emails. Ready,

Jamie? Yeah, buddy. All right. Chris, Jamie, Jamie, Chris,

uh, here we go. Uh, from Chris Smith. I just took part in a 12-team PPR league draft. 14 of the first 15 picks were running backs. I drafted Michael Thomas fifth. Is this the sort of draft result craziness?

Or is this sort of draft result craziness? Or is it somewhat common? Chris, you were just talking about this. 14 of the first 15 were running backs in this league, in a full PPR league. Is that common? Do you think people should expect that? I mean, it league in a full PPR league. Is he like it's common? I think people should expect that. I mean, it happened in our telethon draft the other night.

That's I was the guy at seven. I took Michael Thomas. And after that, it wound up being like six running backs before and like eight running backs after. I don't think it's that common. That's the first time I've seen it, especially in a PPR. I felt like that was like the ultimate wise guy result. It was like an industry. But then this happens in the email, so maybe not.

But all I can say is I don't really ever consider myself the zero RB guy, but there is a point where the running backs make me sick. And if you're going to tell me I can get Tyreek Hill in the second round and Odell Beckham in the third round, then I'll make up the running back somewhere else. I think it's a very viable path. I think like we started the whole segment talking about, uh, it's a year where the whole market has come around to no running back,

running back, running back. And that's a reaction to how badly some of those wide receivers did early last year. It's probably an overreaction. And if, if you get a draft, like the one we're describing, then I'm a hundred percent cool zigging while everybody else sags. Jamie, I'll give this one to you. This is from Brett.

Can you spend some time going over targets and strategies for salary cap drafts, which is what we're calling auctions now? Quick minute on what to do in a salary cap draft, Jamie? Well, I think you want to kind of tier your players. So see where there's a cutoff know, cut off of, you know, guys that you can't, you know, live without a group of players you can't live without, you know, and sort of jump into that group whenever you start to see them going off the board. I'll always throw out guys, nominate players that I don't want to let other people, you know, try and bid those guys up because I think that's, you know, a good way to have other people spend their money. One thing I always do is, especially if you play kicker and a defense, DST, is get those out of the way early because you can probably get the ones

that you want for the least amount of money possible, usually a dollar. And so if somebody spends $2 or so on any of those options, then they're just, again, wasting their money. But, you know, I always take a balanced approach. I don't usually like to take the stars, the studs and duds approach. I'd rather take a more balanced approach with building my team,

and that's just kind of a philosophy I go about with salary cap leagues. Okay, this is from Niall in a guillotine league. 17-team PPR, three-wide receiver, two-flex guillotine league. What the heck am I supposed to do

for the draft? I have the third pick. Am I trying to get guys with good early schedules? Should I take Kelsey or Kittle early or does that not matter? So guillotine league, for those of you who don't know, one team is eliminated every week, the lowest scoring team. Chris, any advice for this type of league? I just think you play it like you play it. It's very difficult for me to look at schedules. And, you know, we're wrong about, I say this all the time, but we're wrong about teams all the time. We're wrong about who the great matchups are.

Remember Tampa Bay, San Francisco, was that opening week one last year? And we were all really, really excited because Tampa Bay was going to roll over that terrible San Francisco team. And like I, you know, my feeling is take the players that you think are going to be good and give you a season long winning team. And then week by week, you might get some bad luck, but a good season long winning team

should win a lot of games. Yeah. The only thing I wonder is like in a guillotine league, Jamie, like I'll post to you, do you maybe not have too many players with the same bye week? Um, I don't really worry about that because the way that most of those leagues work is you get the option to pick up other players when those teams are eliminated.

So your team at the start is going to look probably dramatically different by the end in a much different way because stars are going to be available. This is my second year doing a 18 league. Last year, I did take the early season approach of I went in on the ravens with lamar jackson and mark ingram targeting those guys on purpose because the dolphins match up

and it worked out well i didn't manage my salary the best and picking up players because i spent early on guys that i thought were going to be like carry on johnson became available and i spent too much on him for example um instead of just relying on the roster that I had built and maybe saving and just continuing to advance. I made it to the middle of the season. I'm in the draft right now for the same guillotine league. It's other analysts around the industry. And I got screwed in a sense because I went – I think it's 18 –

or 17 other fantasy managers. And I went receiver, receiver, receiver with my first three picks. And my first running back was Ronald Jones. So what I did was to pivot to get a second guy, I looked at the schedule. And I took Marlon Mack, figuring he's going to have a chance to beat up on the Jaguars in that week one game. And so just get me to week two. And if I get to week two, just get me to week three. So I love my receivers,

but my running back situation is going to be a little bit dicey. So now looking for options that I think just want to, you just want to survive in advance. You don't want to be the worst team. Chris and Jamie, thank you. Good stuff, man. It was great having you on. Excellent info today.

Really appreciate it. Oh, thanks for having me. It was a blast. Anytime. Chris Harris. Chris Harris of the Harris football. Yeah, it. Thanks for having me. It was a blast. Anytime. Chris Harris. Chris Harris of the Harris Football Podcast. Good to see you, Jamie. Bye. You guys hung out on the draft. I don't feel bad. HarrisFootball.com, the Harris Football Podcast.

I have Jamie on my show way more often than Jamie's comfortable with. Jamie loves making the rounds. Don't worry about it. Have a great weekend worry about it have a great weekend Chris have a great weekend everybody out there we'll talk to you on Sunday night good luck in your drafts

I'm Adam Ainsley see you later