Fantasy Football Today - Pick-by-Pick Review: Draft Strategies from Different Draft Slots (07/30 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: July 30, 2024

Want to be in our next mock draft and have a shot at being on air? Check out our St. Jude Draft-a-Thon Store here: https://tiltify.com/@fftfundraising/fantasy-football-today-draftathon-2024 If you support the show, please nominate Fantasy Football Today for The People's Choice Podcast Awards in the "Sports" Category: https://www.podcastawards.com/app/signup/ Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and wherever else you listen to podcasts We're comparing a team that started with Jonathan Taylor and Jahmyr Gibbs to a team that didn't draft a running back until Round 7, plus more fun team builds to analyze from our pick-by-pick draft! Let's look at how to build squads from different spots in your draft with big takeaways including how to make the RB/RB build work (3:30), why Jamey didn't love going best player available (7:15) and why Adam prioritized a handcuff RB in Round 9 (14:00) ... Twitter polls (22:15)! Let's see how the audience is feeling about the value among wide receivers for the Texans, Bears and Chiefs. There are still a lot of Keenan Allen fans out there. We've also got some important news and notes (27:45) from training camp ... Back to our analysis of our pick-by-pick draft as we talk about Dan's team and why we like the way he started (38:10), how the Titans, Bengals, Steelers, Browns, Cowboys and Commanders backfields were drafted (42:15), Jamey's Zero-RB team (48:30) and when the RB value eclipses the WR value ... Email us at [e-mail] Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and wherever else you listen to podcasts SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 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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I had no idea. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races, and he stays on his feet. He's just going to go the distance. Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Hey, what's going on, everybody? Welcome to our Tuesday edition of Fantasy Football Today. It's a big week.

Tomorrow, we start our position previews, and there's something that could really shake up the quarterback position. We could have one team go from having a top 24 quarterback to having maybe like a top 8 quarterback if Justin Fields can win the job in Pittsburgh. Although if you think he's not going to keep it, you're probably not going to draft him that high. But if you thought he was going to keep the job,

would you take Justin Fields over Jordan Love? No. If they thought he was going to keep the job, like have it the entire season? Uh-huh. Russell Wilson wins Powerball. Retires from the NFL.

No questions about it. He's a starting quarterback. Yeah, I'd take him over Jordan Love. Yeah. No. They break fantasy. No questions about it. He's a starting quarterback. Yeah, I'd take him over Jordan Lowe. Yeah. No. No. They break fantasy. I look at the guy. I've just read my notes on Justin Fields.

He was QB 14 per game in six point QB 10 per game in four point last year. But he left one one game after 53 percent of the snaps. He would have been number eight per game without that game. Number five per game without that game in four point for passing without that game, and four points for passing touchdown leagues. But it's a little unfair because he was having an absolutely terrible game. He scored five points in half the snaps. So it helped him. The year before that, though, he was the number six quarterback per game in 2022,

number five and four points for passing touchdown leagues. So we'll check on that. It would really make things much more interesting at quarterback because Russell Wilson's kind of- By the way, doing the first ADP review, two quarterbacks now in round two. I think they're going to be in round two. I don't think they're going to be in round one.

I don't think we're getting a round one ADP. I think we will get top 15. Who are they? Where are they going? I don't think. Right now it's Allen Mahomes, 23, 24. Yeah, I'm thinking more like 20, 18 to 20. I don't know about 15.

So this is ADP on what's on our website? On our site, yep. Yeah. All right, so we did essentially a draft yesterday. We call it pick by pick. Each of us was assigned to two spots in the draft. Jamie had picks one and seven. Dan had picks two and eight. I had picks three and nine. Thomas, our producer Thomas Schaefer had four and

ten. Heath had five and eleven. Dave had picks six and twelve. If you're watching youtube.com slash fantasy football today, you can see the entire layout of the draft, color-coded, very cool, and how we built our teams from different spots. And they were six picks apart, so we weren't drafting like, there's no sense in doing, oh, I had the eighth and the ninth pick. You don't really get any different strategies there, really. So yeah, we'll talk about how it unfolded. I don't know if you guys, I want to know if you had one big takeaway from what you saw. So today we're going to do, we're gonna do this. I got three Twitter polls. Which value do people like based on where the Texans receivers went, where the bears receivers went and where the chiefs receivers went. And we'll do the news and notes. And then we'll finish up with more observations from our pick

by pick draft. Uh, but, uh, Dave, you started, you had picked 12 and you started with Gibbs and Taylor. Cause man, we had quite a wide receiver run. First round had lamb Hill, Jefferson chase, St. Brown, AJ Brown,

Garrett Wilson, Puka Nakua. And then you took Jameer Gibbs and Jonathan Taylor at 12 and 13. And you said you, you liked the way your team turned out. So you, you felt like, okay,

I can do this. I can go RBRB. I know it's not cool to go RBRB anymore. And it's especially risky when we're talking about a three wide receiver draft, which is what this is. But I'm fine with what fell to me. Your results may vary. You may not feel as good about Cooper Cup, DJ Moore.

Those are my round three, four picks. And then Calvin Ridley, Rashi Those were my round three, four picks. And then Calvin Ridley, Rashi Rice as my round five, six picks. But I think that foursome is good enough to start in a league this deep, 12 teams, three receivers and a flex. Assuming Rashi Rice does not get suspended, which it doesn't look like at this point, I'm totally good with that. And on top of that, I've got two really good running backs in Jameer Gibbs and Jonathan Taylor. I felt like I was forced into this, though,

because Garrett Wilson went with the 10th pick. Puka went with the 11th pick. And I'm not ready to take Marvin Harrison over Jameer Gibbs or Jonathan Taylor, even in this format. Now, if you are, take Marvin Harrison. You'll have that balanced approach. You'll be good to go. But I like how the team started those first six picks. And it makes me feel okay if I am wedged into, well, the two best players are running backs. I'm taking the running backs at the turn. Okay. So Dave starts Gibbs, Taylor, and then this is a three

receiver PPR draft, by the way. Three-receiver PPR. With a flex. With a flex, yeah. So you can start all four of those receivers. Gibbs, Taylor, Kupp, DJ Moore, Calvin Ridley, Rasheed Rice. If you don't love Kupp and DJ Moore, he also could have taken Michael Pittman, Malik Neighbors, George Pickens, DK Metcalf, T. Higgins, Devante Smith. But he went with Kupp and Moore. He went with Ridley and Rice at the six at the, uh, sorry,

the five, six turn. And then there were, there were six players off the board before the next wide receiver came off the board. And that was Marquis Brown. So actually we had back-to-back chiefs wide receivers, but with six other non-receivers in between them, uh, at quarterback, he's got Justin Herbert and Kirk cousins who were two of his last picks. And at tight end, he has Brock Bowers and Pat Fryermuth. Just saw a report about how Pat Fryermuth really looking primed to be the number two target on the Pittsburgh Steelers, which is not a huge surprise. All right. So that was Dave's big takeaway. I guess final follow-up question

here. Obviously, at the 12, 13 picks, you're very unlikely to get McCaffrey for sure but Brees Hall Bijan Robinson I okay there could be some leagues where they fall but it's unlikely no it's unlikely are Gibbs and Taylor the only two running backs that you would have done that with they're the two highest ranked running backs that I had yes, but would you have taken Harrison instead of say Kyron Williams, let's say Taylor or Gibbs had been off the board. I, I, that one would be a closer decision for me,

but if, but then again, if Taylor and Gibbs were off the board, that means that someone else would have fallen. Yeah. It's a math problem, Adam. There's 13 names and I'm picking 12 and 13.

Yeah. It's the very first thing that you do when you know you're picking 12 is you make a list of 13 guys that you want on your team. You rank them and you're guaranteed two of them, whichever two are left or the two you take. I understand that. Um, so you're saying that if Puka or Wilson had fallen to you at,

at the 12th or at the one, two, two, Oh yeah. You would have had a receiver. If both of them had fallen completely different story. No, I would have taken both the receivers.

All right. Sorry. Jamie, you have a major takeaway? For Dave's team or just in general? For your team, any team. Not Dave's, though. I did like going 0 RB with pick 7. I like the way that worked out.

I did not like doing best player available with pick 1, which is what I did. How that worked out. Okay. Let like doing best player available with pick one, which is what I did, how that worked out. Okay, let's talk about pick one then. Best player available. So you started with McCaffrey. You hated that pick? Hated it.

And then, yeah, you went Nico Collins at 24 and Derek Henry at 25. Christian Kirk at the end of round four, Trey McBride at first pick of round five. And then Joe Burrow, Jalen Reed, Jaden Reed, sorry.

Um, Roma Dunze. Did you write Jalen Reed? Uh, Roma Dunze, Jamison Williams. Uh, your starting lineup is Joe Burrow,

Christian McCaffrey, Derek Henry. That's studly. Nico Collins, Christian Kirk, Jaden Reed, and then Romo Dunze or Jamison Williams or maybe Jaleel McLaughlin or something like that. So what didn't you like about that team? I don't like not having, I'm not happy not having better receiving corps. Of Nico Collins, Christian Kirk, Jaden Reed,

Romo Dunzey, Jamison Williams. So what would you do differently then? I probably would not have taken Derrick Henry. And instead you would have taken? Who would you have taken? I probably would have taken one of the 49ers guys. Do you feel... So just before you took Nico Collins,

Olave, London, and then Jalen Waddell, Devante Adams came off the board. It was really your pick of Waddell because I don't know if Dan would have taken Waddell. I thought when you had Tyreek Hill, you wouldn't be stupid enough to take both off. And so... That's the second time I've seen that in mock drafts by the way in like the last week hill and waddle on the same team i don't

think it's so stupid they get i think it's all the targets i know they do get all the targets they do i mean but well i mean i could have gone out it was either adams or waddle for me but um yeah you would have felt better about it if it had been Waddell. I think what the trickle down would have been, if I had to guess, and we could ask Dan on Friday, is if you had taken Adams, Dan probably would have taken Kelsey there. Yeah. Did you consider Kelsey instead of Henry?

Or Laporta for you? I did consider Laporta, yes. But I'm not unhappy with anything but really my third receiver slash flex spot like that's the the thing that i don't love because look if henry stays healthy and does what he's capable of doing i and and obviously mcafree too but i should have the best running back duo in this league um mcbride going to be, again, does what he's capable of doing, top four tight end will be in that conversation. Burrow will be in the conversation for a top five quarterback.

So there are spots where I'm going to dominate potentially. There's obviously risk with that. But, you know, look, Nico's my 12th receiver for a reason. He's not the most surefire number one guy. He's more of a number two guy, you know, just based on, I think, perception and how he's going to perform christian kirk is a is a number three receiver for me uh jayden reed's a borderline number three receiver for me and then it's you know a lot of dart throws here with odunze and williams in the trickle down effect so i just don't like in ppr in a three receiver

league not having a slam dunk receiving court like that just makes me a little skittish like by comparison i love the situation what i did at pick seven where i'm weaker at running back like i'll take that chance all day long yeah we'll talk about that one later that that's jamie went true zero rb not no uh running backs until round seven in that in that uh team so before we take it we'll take a quick break here. And by the way, Oh, big, big announcement, which I'll do in a moment, but who's got, well, can you put the board up one more time? Sorry, Schaefer. Who's got the best Jamie thinks he might have the best running back deal with McCaffrey and Henry. Okay. Is that better than Gibbs and Taylor? Would you rather have Gibbs and Taylor or McCaffrey and Henry?

I'd rather have McCaffrey and Henry just because it's McCaffrey. Yeah. It's a really hard to make a starting point. Yeah. How about Bijan and James Cook? McCaffrey and Henry. Again, yeah. How about Brees Hall and Isaiah Pacheco?

Again, McCaffrey and Henry. It's because of McCaffrey. I know. It's not fair. There's a reason why he's the number one guy. I would like to give a big thank you to Sum Idoit, someone who intentionally misspelled the words Sum and Idiot.

And you can spell your name however you want because you donated $1,000 to St. Jude and you are now the leader. I'll just call you Sum Idiot. You donated $1,000. You are a very smart man. Go to tinyurl.com slash draftathon2024.

Make your donation. There are some other things that you can buy, including spots in Jamie's Superflex PPR League that's going to be on Thursday, and your question being read on a mailbag show. I also want to thank Charles G for donating $540. So you guys are atop the leaderboard. And we have raised almost $5,000 for St. Jude. And we are not even close to done. We're hoping to get to $100,000. We want to thank you so much for your participation there. We'll come back and

give one more takeaway from yesterday's draft in terms of team building and the best way to do it. And that'll be right after this on FFT. With Smartwater's pure crisp taste, there's nothing to overthink. So while you may be spiraling over double texting your crush, whether your skincare routine is working because you look the same or is doing nothing because you look the same and whatever the heck red light therapy is it's definitely not that don't overthink how you hydrate life's full of choices smart water is a simple one i am so dreading groceries this week. Why? You can skip it.

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My neighbor's nightly saxophone practices? Uh, nope. You're on your own there. Could've skipped it. Should've skipped it. Skip to the good part and get groceries, meals, and more delivered right to your door on Skip. One big takeaway for me from yesterday's draft, I had Team 9, and I loved, loved my first, I would say loved my first eight picks. AJ Brown, Saquon Barkley. No one's going to give me slack for taking two eagles, right?

Like the two dolphins I took. Brown and Barkley. Patrick Mahomes in round three at pick 3.9. George Pickens, Chris Godwin. So my three receivers are Brown, Pickens, and Godwin.

Mahomes is my quarterback. I took James Conner as my RB2, so I have Barkley and Conner. I took Jake Ferguson at tight end. I took Ladd McConkie at wide receiver four. And then in round nine, I needed an RB2,

or three, sorry, RB3. So I have Barkley and Conner. Now I've got two, one certainly older running back, one guy who's 27. Both of them have injury history. It's not a great feeling to have Barkley and Conner. So my third running back was Trey Benson. And I'm wondering how you guys feel about this strategy.

I have essentially locked up the Cardinals' backfield now because I feel good about Conner as my RB2 as long as he's healthy. So Barkley, obviously, I need to stay healthy. If Barkley gets hurt, I'm in trouble. But making my third running back insurance, basically, and just go, hey, I'm rolling out Barkley

and Arizona's starting running back every week instead of taking a running back from a different team. I could have taken like Jerome Ford or a guy like Zach Charbonnet or something like that. Devin Singletary went just before I took Trey Benson. But for argument's sake, let's say I took Benson over a guy like Singletary.

Jamie, how do you feel about that strategy of this is just an insurance pick and I will be locked into the Cardinals starter as my RB2 and I will use the waiver wire to, your third running back. You could be screwed come bye weeks. And then if Barkley goes down, you're really in trouble because now you're losing a little bit more leverage. So especially what you did as your fourth running back, which was Nick Chubb. So when's Arizona's bye week?

Arizona's bye week is week 11. Okay, so you should be okay to find some options off the waiver wire before then. So that's not a huge issue. Well, I mean, should I have taken, should I not have taken a wide receiver four in Ladd-McConkie? Should I have waited on tight end? And then, you know, if I miss out on Ferguson, I hate my tight end, basically. So I didn't want to do that.

So that was the dilemma here. And it's easier to do what you're saying in a two receiver league, right? But in a three receiver league, I basically filled out my starting lineup and a backup wide receiver before I got my backup running back. Was McConkie my mistake? Because I think I could have taken Zach Moss instead of McConkie. Unless I have the rounds wrong. No, I could have taken Swift instead of Mccconkie it was amazing value yeah he was pretty good value um so i probably would have gone swift or robinson over mcconkie if we're just playing out how the board fill out and then you could have gotten josh palmer who i know you like oh yeah yeah i could have done that yeah so like i like that route better um but if we're just keeping with the same positions i I probably would have taken, I don't know who's your next favorite guy is after Benson of,

of the players who were drafted. So if it's Charbonnet, if it's Ford, if it's Edwards, if it's any of those guys, I probably would have taken one of those guys and hoped that Benson made it back to me the next round. All right.

All right. Well, we'll talk more about this later. I think this is, you know, just something to consider is, is if you're sitting there, you know, well, I really like my team. Don't feel great about running back. Can you just lock up a team's backfield and feel good about it? I feel OK about it. And then you just have to sort of accept that you're going to walk out of your draft, maybe not feeling comfortable about running back.

But we know how fantasy football works. The waiver wire injuries, opportunities arise. The concern for you is somebody just actually brought this up in the chat. Like what happens if they're splitting carries? Yeah, I don't. That's a great question. I don't see that happening. That would be a nightmare for me. I feel confident that James Conner is going to be worth starting a very good RB2 as long as he's healthy. Yeah, I don't disagree with that, but there's obviously that scenario of what happens. So for me, the zero RB team pick seven, I drafted Brooks and Hubbard. Clearly much different investment of what I made there.

I don't have to worry about them splitting carries. My concern is obviously is when Brooks is back because he's the first running back that I drafted. Like, I don't want to have to rely on Chuba Hubbard. But let's just say, like, I had to rely on the Panthers backfield. My team is not relying on that. Your team is a little bit more reliant on one of those Cardinals guys being significantly better than you.

I'm fine with that. Go ahead, Dave. First of all, you're talking about handcuffing like it's a new thing and it's been around forever. It's fine. I don't have that big of a problem with it. No, I'm not talking about it. I'm talking about handcuffing.

That's exactly what you're talking about. No, Dave. That's what you did. No, but I'm not making it that simple. I understand what handcuffing is. What I'm saying is most people don't use their third running back pick on a handcuff. Okay, I did not build out depth. I could have taken Charbonnet or something like that,

but I used it on Benson because I'm just thinking, all right, look, I'm not deep at running back, but I'm good as long as Barkley stays healthy because I'll have Barkley and a starter for the Cardinals. It's different. Who was your next running back that you liked when you took Benson? Charbonnet. I then in that case, I liked that you took Benson.

Yeah. I like the fact that even if the Cardinals are a mess by week 11, when they're on by Chubb could be back and Chubb could be the primary guy for Cleveland. And I have him. So I, and as far as Barkley going down, like it goes without saying any fancy team that has Saquon Barkley is in

big doodoo if he were to get hurt. So that's just something you accept. I like you. I, what I really like about this team is that you address the starting lineup early and you, you, you've got your guys,

you know, who your lineup is going to be. And having James Conner as your RB two, isn't the worst thing in the world. I think we all agree that that's exactly what he is, is an RB two. And you got the guy that could best replace him. And we know that he misses time every year. I think it's fairly responsible on top of putting together what I think is a really nice team, Adam.

Thank you. I just, I go the other way just because if something happens to Walker, then you have the Cardinals starter and the Seahawks starter, and you still have a chance to get Benson in the next round. Yeah. And that's the thing, right? I mean, there's a big difference. Some people like to go with the other team's handcuffs.

Some people like to go with their own. What was I going to say? Yeah. And this doesn't have to be Connor and Benson. This could be Aaron Jones and Ty Chandler. This could be, I guess, Zamir White and Madison. This could be who else?

Jonathan. I'm surprised you took Connor over Zamir. Zamir really fell. He just kept on falling. Yes, he did. Thank you. Yeah.

All right. Well, yeah, more on that in a second. We have a live stream tonight at youtube.com slash fantasy football today, Tuesday night, 8 p.m. Eastern. Please join us for that. We have a live stream tonight at youtube.com slash fantasyfootballtoday. Tuesday night, 8 p.m. Eastern. Please join us for that.

We're going to be doing a half PPR mock draft. It's two receivers, two running backs. So it's going to be the conventional and still more popular or more used format. And podcast awards, I think today or tomorrow is the last day. So please get on podcastawards.com and nominate us for the sports category and the people's choice category. You just have to sign up.

It takes about 30 seconds and then nominate fantasy football today so we can win the podcast awards this year. All right, let's take a look at some Twitter polls and see what people thought about wide receiver value on the Texans, the Bears, and the Chiefs. So I said, best value, Nico Collins, 23rd overall, Tank Dell, 54th overall in round five, Stefan Diggs, 56th overall in round five. And how about this? Nico Collins is getting

absolutely crushed in this poll. Yeah, of course. Because the later guy is going to win every single poll. I don't know. I mean, well, Tank Dell and Stefan Diggs, they basically had the same draft value, right? Two picks apart in round five. And they're pretty much tied. 44% for Dell, 46% for Diggs, 10% for Nico Collins. Jamie, since you did draft Nico Collins 23rd, does this change anything for you? This idea that, hey, instead of Collins, I'm just going to wait a couple rounds

and maybe I'll take Dell or Diggs? No, because I believe Collins is the best receiver for the Texans. He's the guy that I have ranked the highest. I can't pass on the player who I think is the best in that spot to hope that I get one of highest. I can't, you know, I can't pass on the player who I think is the best in that spot to hope that I get one of the two other guys later. You know, Tank Dell was a fantastic,

both guys were fantastic picks. The range where I have them ranked a little bit higher, but in that range. So I expect them to go kind of at the four or five turn. And for me, Nico is at the 2-3 turn. Okay, how about best value for the Bears wide receivers in our draft?

This one, Dave, you're going to be a little surprised at the results. You took DJ Moore 37th overall. He has only 15.4% of the votes. Keenan Allen in round six, 69th overall. 49% of the votes. Oh, Allen in round six, 69th overall. 49% of the votes. Oh, Schaefer voted for Keenan Allen.

Wow. And Odunze, 96th overall at the 8-9 turn. So you got Moore at 37. Keenan Allen, 69th. Romo Odunze, 96th. And Keenan Allen has almost 50% of the vote. Romo Odunze has about 35, 36% of the vote going at the eight, nine turn and DJ Moore. I do understand that the guy who goes first is unlikely to win this, but, um, I am surprised that this isn't like, I feel like I support Keenan Allen

the most on this show. I feel like, and this would be too early for me at 69th overall for Keenan Allen. Dave, what do you think about this, these results? I think people are still excited about Keenan Allen because of what he's done in LA and, and how great he's been for fantasy. That being said, it's just, it's a completely different situation. I would like to think that everybody's got their heads wrapped around that and that they expect him to not get 10 targets per game, but maybe they're not seeing that as much. I don't know.

But Keenan Allen in this spot, 69th overall. What is that? That's a late round six. Yeah. Even in full PPR, it feels just a little too rich. How good are you guys at this point in your life and multiplying by 12? Pretty good. 50, 50. 12 times 9 uh 108 oh that took too long that took too long that was that was embarrassing 12 times 7

84 that's the hardest one for me i always struggle with the 12 times 7 all right let's see the chiefs wide receiver value was interesting because as I mentioned earlier, Rice and Brown were consecutive wide receiver picks, but they were seven picks apart. They both went in round six. Rasheed Rice went at the five, six turn, 61st overall. Marquise Brown went 68th overall. And Xavier Worthy went 100th overall and look at the results. It is super close. Worthy and Brown, again, Rice and Brown were in the sixth round. Worthy was in the ninth round, 100th overall. They're all between 30 and 35%. So Jamie, no clear winner here. What do you think is the best value? Rice at 61 at the five, six turn Brown, seven picks later, or Xavier worthy a hundredth. It really is. You're debating rice and Brown versus worthy because they're, they're essentially the same spot. So, uh, I would prefer, uh, I like

the way that it, that it went. Um, worthy is going to, I think, have some big moments, a lot of big moments, but not consistent, you know, where the other two guys should be more consistent. And so, uh, rice at this point may end up being a great value pick as Dave alluded to, you know, if he doesn't get suspended, then, you know, had we gone into this process without the off field situation, you know, he may have been around three pick, you know, just based on how receivers come off the board. So at this point, I think for me, it's, it's rice. And again, I have him ranked ahead of this ADP or this draft spot. I have him ranked right at this draft spot. I've got him 60th. And I think he's probably going to be just the most consistent of the three. Do we, cause we've seen it from Marquise Brown, where he's like, he can be great for weeks at a time. And then he disappears worthy. I'm with

you, Jamie. I think he'll have like, you, and that'll help his fantasy stock for a week or two, and then he'll be Dudsville. I think Rice will be the one that consistently sees the most targets. And I've said it before, I'll say it again. The dude just has a nose for the end zone. He finds ways to score. Schaefer, why'd you vote for Xavier Worthy? I drafted him, so...

Which is also why he voted for Keenan Allen, by the way. That's some bias right there. All right, let's do some news and notes. Justin Fields could be gaining some momentum and just reading some different writers thinking about it. And it seems like Wilson's probably still the favorite at this point, but he's not doing himself any favors with this injury. Not that it's his fault, but it is obviously advantageous. Justin Fields last year, Fields averaged one hundred ninety seven point one passing yards per game while leaving one game early with an injury.

Russell Wilson averaged about 206 passing yards per game, something like that. So they were within 10 yards of each other. But that's, you know, that was a career low, I think, for Russell Wilson. He's usually throwing for a lot more yards than Justin Fields and a lot more touchdowns. So George Pickens, how far would you move him, if at all,

if Justin Fields won the starting job? Not one spot. I'd move him some spots. But it's marginal. I think he'd still be a low-end wide receiver, too, for me in PPR. Okay. Yeah, this is a mobile quarterback who scores touchdowns, doesn't necessarily throw to his running backs,

did have a great season with DJ Moore. They made a lot of big plays downfield. That was kind of the secret to it. He also beat up on fields on very easy competition and struggled against good competition last year. I don't like it for anyone but Justin Fields. I don't know how you guys feel about it with Najee and Warren, but mobile quarterbacks are just fantasy point thieves.

Hogs. It would definitely downgrade the running mix. It would? quarterbacks are just, they're just fantasy point thieves hogs, right? They just do. It would definitely downgrade the running mix. It would. Yeah, of course. Warren more than Najee.

Uh, both would get bummed down a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. But it's also still, you know, again,

when guys change teams and change coordinators and, you know, are playing for contracts, you see a little bit of a different situation for them, you know, again, when guys change teams and change coordinators and, you know, are playing for contracts, you see a little bit of a different situation for them, you know? So will he continue to be exactly who he was or will he conform to the system that he's in? And so my guess would be a little bit of both. Uh,

Dave, what did you make of what a Rams beat writer, Jordan Rodrigue said about, uh, he, she, uh, she said Puka became Matthew Stafford's first read specifically in zone very early on in

the process last year but now Cooper Cup will go back to being sort of the one and Puka will go back to being the Robert Woods guy I still think they're gonna throw a ton and so that makes me encouraged to not you know back off of either one of these guys, but I feel almost more emboldened to pass on Puka with a top 15 pick and wait for Cooper Cup in round three. Obvious downside with Cup is that he's older and he could get hurt just as easily. And if he does miss time, the contingency upside that we talk about, Puka Nakua would become an absolute megastar again. They're still going to get a lot of work.

Their very last game together, Puka had a monster game. I think that it's okay to still look at Puka Nakua as the better fantasy-wide receiver between the two of them. Puka's ADP right now on our side is 19th overall. Wow. I never see him go that way. Let's say you got him either in the first round

with the ninth or the tenth pick and then, or in the second round. Let's just say Puka Nakua was one of your first two picks. How would you feel about taking Cooper Cup in the fourth round?

Hate it. If I had a hero RB build or zero RB build, I'd be fine with it. Damn. Dude, I see Puka at 24 in our ADP. Non PPR full.

That was non. Yeah. Don't look at that. No, that's full. My bad. Really? He's falling.

As we speak, Marvin Harrison is 19. Garrett Wilson's 19. I have Puka. Oh, okay. Okay. Okay.

I see the difference. So Puka has the 18th highest ADP on average, but it is 24th. Either way, it's not as high as we've been drafting him. But the guys going ahead of him, there's not a single quarterback in there. No, it's all running backs. So he is the 18th player off the board.

I don't really understand why his ADP is so much lower than his rank, but like Pat and Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen, their ADP is their 22nd and 23rd in ADP, but it's 27th and 28th overall. I mean, look at, look at Jameer Gibbs and Garrett Wilson in our ADP. Right now, Gibbs is the 12th player. Garrett's the 13th. Jameer Gibbs ADP is 13.7.

Garrett Wilson's is 19.3. There's nobody in between. So according to this ADP that there, there is a rock solid top 12 that includes Saquon Barkley and Jonathan Taylor and Jameer Gibbs and does not include Garrett Wilson or Puka Nakua. Yeah. All right. Next news item. Taylor and Jameer Gibbs and does not include Garrett Wilson or Puka Nakua. Yeah. All right.

Uh, next news item, Rashad Bateman has an injury. It is not considered serious. Devante Smith is apparently lining up in the slot more. Uh, Jordan Mason could be in the mix as San Francisco's RB two. Uh, do you guys still feel like very good about Elijah Mitchell as a handcuff?

Yes. It was weird for Kyle Shanahan to talk up Jordan Mason after he dogged him last year. And I wonder if this is happening to try and turn him into a trade chip. Maybe. Okay. And other running backs to know Royce Freeman could factor in for Dallas. Royce Freeman has 471 career carries over six seasons. His longest run is 26 yards.

Head coach Antonio Pierce for Las Vegas. He praised rookie running back Dylan Lauby, who is a pass-catching specialist. He's awesome. Giants rookie tight end Theo Johnson is getting first team reps so is Daniel Bellinger but this interesting Johnson might surpass him you know he just basically came off pup I think and getting first team reps San Francisco wide receiver

Ricky Pearsall practiced on Monday Colts wide receiver Josh Downs is having a good camp Tampa Bay rookie wide receiver Jalen McMillan is having a good camp Colts defensive end Samson Ebukam is likely out for the season with a torn Achilles. Just because of Aaron Rodgers, I have to put the word likely in there, out for the season with a torn Achilles.

Rodgers defying science last year and perhaps being ready almost. Houston defensive end Danico Autry suspended six games for violating the PED policy. Philadelphia right guard Tyler Steen is going to miss some time with an ankle injury. They've been using Mekhi Becton at guard, former Jets tackle. Cleveland center Brian Allen is on IR. I believe he was just a depth piece for Cleveland. Detroit left tackle Taylor Decker signed a three-year $60 million deal extension for him. And this is a rule I did not know about the kickoffs.

If a kickoff lands between the goal line and the 20-yard line, which is the landing zone, is that what it's called? The landing zone, yes. If it lands there and then bounces into the end zone and then it's downed, it goes out to the 20. Yes. Instead of the 30. Correct. So if a kicker can kick the ball and have it bounce into the end zone,

that is the best possible scenario. If it goes out of bounds, it's going to the 40, like before it gets to the end zone. So that's probably going to put two guys back for the return team to make sure it doesn't bounce and go into the end zone. It's going to be two guys every time. That's the rule. Oh, is it? I thought... Two guys have to be back there at all times.

Two more can be I think a little bit off the line where the rest of the players line up. Yeah. I think the teams are going to do one of two things. They're going to try and low- line drive it between the two returners, or they're going to boot it straight out of the end zone and have a touchback.

Okay. We're going to come back after this break with more observations from yesterday's pick by pick. We'll talk to you in about a minute and a half on fantasy football today. Mama, look at me. I'm going really fast. I just got at me. Vroom, vroom. I'm going really fast.

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simply choose a question to be automatically sent to your matches then sit back and let your matches start the chat download bumble and try it for yourself. Welcome back, everybody. You guys, how you feeling about the Olympics, by the way? Who are you rooting for? America? Yes. Okay, just checking. Just checking.

I will say I watched the women's beach volleyball over the weekend. They've probably played again since then. It was amazing. Those girls are incredible. And to do that, the stamina, the amount of effort that they put into each play, two girls on each side in sand.

I'm blown away by it. Amazing stuff. Congratulations to all the athletes out there. I personally, I don't know if it's controversial. I'm rooting for America and I've got no problem with it.

All right, let's get to back back to the pick by pick. OK, sorry, Dave. It was just a joke. Back to pick-by-pick. I love Dan Schneier's start at Team 2. I don't know how you guys feel about this, but taking advantage of guys like Joe Mixon,

the group of Kamara, Mixon, and Ken Walker lasting into late round four and round five. And he started Lamb with the second pick, Devontae Adams, Travis Kelsey, and then Joe Mixon, Ken Walker. I would love that build to get those two running backs. I don't know how you guys feel about that. That was with the two pick, CeeDee Lamb, Devontae Adams, Travis Kelsey, Joe Mixon, Ken Walker.

I think he crushed his first five picks. Yeah, I mean, I don't love Adams in round two, but yes. I don't mind Adams in late round two. I think that this is a very good start. When you first brought the team, I thought that he was the team that had Hill and Waddle. No, Adam, that was you. He took a lot of the players that he liked and a lot of good values.

I thought Walker might have been the best pick of them all just getting him an early round five. By the way, if I could do this draft again, I had Hill third overall, then Waddle in round two. Then I took Jalen Hurts. Schaefer, you took Josh Allen one pick after I took Hurts. Let's say I took Mahomes there. Would you have taken Allen or Hurts?

I would have taken Hurts. I had Hurts like ready to go. And then you took him. So I took Allen. Okay, because my other team, Team 9, had Brown and Barkley. And I thought if I had taken Mahomes instead of Hurts for Team 3, would Hurts have made it back to me with the ninth pick? And then I could have gone A.J. Brown, Saquon Barkley, Jalen Hurts with my first three picks.

And we could have seen that experiment. All right, so yeah, I don't know. I guess my takeaway is that I just really like, like in Josh Jacobs, you got great value on Jacobs, by the way, in middle round four, Dave. But I really like that trio of Kamara, Mixon, Walker, if I can get them in late round four, the beginning of round five. So if you have an early pick, you might be able

to go wide receiver heavy to start and end up with two of those running backs. And I just, I like that, that, that strategy, Dave, do you like that? Or is it too? I do too. I think that that's the goal. If you're taking wide receivers early on and you, and you don't want to designate yourself a zero RB team like Jamie did, by the way, I thought Jamie's zero RB team ended up being pretty nice, but if you don't like that and you want to have at least one good running back, you will be able to find somebody in rounds three, four, and five.

I don't think that's the dead zone. I think that that's a place where you can get some respectable value on some running backs that should be at least RB2s. I know one of them will be your RB1 if your first three picks aren't running backs, but they're going to give you some good value. I like the Mixon pick, the Walker pick. I was surprised that Jacobs lasted as far as he did. I also think that running backs kind of slid in this draft because, first of all, there's only six people drafting that 12.

And we all know that it's a three-receiver, one-flex league. And we all know that everybody else is trying to pick off wide receivers. So I think that people kind of reach for wide receiver at certain points. And that pushed running backs down. And I don't know if that's going to be indicative of what people will have in their home leagues this year. Uh, no,

I think it is. I think that's, that's what's so interesting about it is, um, like in this draft, Alvin Camara was, he was like RB 16, something like that.

There were, I think 26 wide receivers off the board before he went. Yeah. So you really have to realize when the value is shifting back to running back. Right. I almost wish we could do this in a two running back, two wide receiver, one flex format,

and then we can note the differences. I bet running back should get pushed up. We're going to do it tonight. What'd you say? Two running back, two receiver, one flex? Yeah. That's the, that's how like it,

there is still a majority of how people like do their rosters in their leagues. And that's the majority. Yeah. But, uh, we're going to, we'll see tonight because it's not just,

it's not just that format. It's 11 audience members. It's not us. So I think it'll be a much more, uh, hopefully more indicative. Okay. Other takeaways I had, I thought I want to talk about Jamie's

0RB team in just a moment, but I did think it was pretty interesting that you get to round seven and into round eight, the Titans, Bengals, and Steelers backfields were basically interchangeable. These guys went almost back-to-back.

Spears and Pollard, Moss and Brown, Warren and Najee. I think they actually did go back-to-back, Najee, then Warren. But yeah, there was almost no gap, Jamie, between the Titans guys, Bengals guys, and Steelers guys. And then later on, that was round seven and eight. In round 10, Nick Chubb and Jerome Ford went back- back to back. So what do you think about those four backfields basically being back to back? I mean, that's basically how I have it ranked. So I'm not surprised. Like I said, when we were talking about this on Monday show that once you see one go off,

if you have a inclination to want to draft one of the members of this backfield, then you just, you know, wait for the first guy to go and take the second guy if you're not convinced one is better than the other. The only one right now that feels like one guy is maybe flying past the other one is the Bengals. We could see Chase Brown getting drafted ahead of Zach Moss and maybe significantly if the news continues to go the way it's been going or the reports continue to go the way they've been going. But I think the other ones will probably stay relatively close to each other. You know, again,

the Titans situation has been the same report, the same words, the same everything from their coaching staff to anybody covering the team that they're going to be interchangeable. We know the Steelers probably going to be interchangeable and the way they performed last year. So it's not really a big surprise at all. And the Brown situation, again, that's another one, I guess, where maybe one guy could significantly move past the other. If, if we find out that, you know, Nick Chubb is out through most of October, you know, he may just continue to plummet. Meanwhile, Dave Rico Dowdle went 17 picks before Ezekiel Elliott. Brian, you did that, right? Yeah. Brian Robinson. Why did I take Dowdle? Yeah.

I'll get to that in a moment, but let me get Dave's thoughts. Dowdle goes 17 picks ahead of Elliot. Brian Robinson went probably about the same. Let's call it a round, round and a half ahead of Eckler in a PPR league. Your thoughts? I don't mind the Robinson over Eckler. That's pretty much standard at this point. I think most people, outside of those that view Austin Eckler just as name value and not what he is now, I think Robinson's going to go ahead of Eckler.

Let's just leave it that way. When I heard Stephen Jones say that Ezekiel Elliott and Royce Freeman were ahead of Rico Dowdle, thatce Freeman were ahead of Rico Dowdle. That made me scared off of Rico Dowdle. And maybe he surges back ahead at some point this preseason. We'll see it. But the fact that he's competing for a third role does not make me want to take him in round ever, much less round nine. I mean, I feel like they're all competing for the number one spot. And Zeke is, I wouldn't be surprised if Zeke is the worst running back in football.

Like one, if not one of one of, if not the worst running back of all, he, the guy's not good anymore. If Rico Dattle can't beat out Ezekiel Elliott, the Cowboys, I think they have like no chance of having a good running back this year.

And we should chase it because there's going to be points scored in this. And there's going to be catches coming out of the backfield. But I know Roy, Roy's Freeman is a backup, you know, Ze going to be catches coming out of the backfield. But I know Royce Freeman is a backup. Zeke, at this point, should absolutely be a backup. He scored a lot of fantasy points last year in some games because he caught a ton of passes, but he did nothing impressive. So I just think Dowdle right now might be their only chance

to actually have a dynamic running back. The two most important words that you said were right now, because a week from now, three weeks from now, someone could get traded there. Someone could get picked up there and you can say bye-bye to the value for all those guys. So I just happened to see this last night.

I was trying to find it. Um, uh, Clarence Hill jr. Covers the Cowboys for many, many years. Does a good job for them for the Star-Telegram. And he was talking about their backfield. And he said, Rico is the best of the rest. I don't know if that's in regard to.

Depends on how many backs they keep. Zeke, Rico, Royce appear to be locks at the moment royce play special teams uh this is in regard to deuce vaughn making the team um and then he replied to a comment was his rico lock i read their earlier comment by stephen jones that freeman was a lock and rico maybe not and his response was rico is the best of the rest i'm assuming meaning zeke as well i don't know about what the rest. Best of the rest tells me like the rest of the guys after the starter. Let me see if there's more to this. It's obviously important.

You know, I wouldn't spend this much time talking about like the Giants backfield if there was uncertainty. But the Cowboys backfield, hell yeah. I want the Cowboys running back, especially if I can get them in round 10 or later or something like that. But something to keep in mind is, remember the conversation I had about taking James Conner and then getting Trey Benson? Well, this team, team three, where I took Blake Corum,

I built the team similarly. It's wide receiver heavy. It's got an elite quarterback. It's got a top eight tight end. It's got Jalen Hurts, Evan Ingram. And I waited until round nine to take my RB3, just like I did with team nine. It's got a top eight tight end. It's got Jalen Hurts, Evan Ingram. And I waited until round nine to take my RB3, just like I did with team nine.

And that was Trey Benson with James Conner. My RB2 in this league is David Montgomery. My RB1 is Alvin Kamara. I didn't have that opportunity to grab the handcuff and lock up the backfield. I don't consider Jamal Williams to be that. And obviously you can't handcuff and lock up the backfield. I don't consider Jamal Williams to be that. Obviously, you can't handcuff David Montgomery. If you

plan on handcuffing, just be aware. If you have a build like Kamara and David Montgomery, I think I did take... Did I take Jamal Williams in this league super late? I don't think he's... I didn't. I guess I didn't bother. Just be aware of that. You may not like that strategy of having two starting running backs who don't think he's, I didn't. I guess I didn't bother. Just be aware of that.

You may not like that strategy of having two starting running backs who don't really have good handcuffs. Let's see, what else? Jamie, all right, let's talk about your zero RB team. This was a full commitment here. You don't see a lot of this these days. Jamar Chase, seventh overall.

Then Drake London. Deebo Samuel. DK Metcalf, and then Dalton Kincaid. And then I made a joke in the chat about how many picks in a row can you draft someone whose first name starts with the letter

D, and nobody laughed, so that was disappointing. But you went Jamar Chase, Drake London, Deebo Samuel, DK Metcalf, Dalton Kincaid, DJ Stroud. You should have typed in DJ Stroud. That would have been great. CJ Stroud was your quarterback. So you've got your four receivers, Chase, London, Debo, and Metcalf.

You've got Stroud, and you've got Kincaid. Your next four picks were running backs. Jonathan Brooks, Brian Robinson, Devin Singletary, Gus Edwards. And then later you took Chuba Hubbard and Braylon Allen. And you have Curtis Samuel and Jahan Dotson for receiver depth. You only have one quarterback at Stroud and one tight end. It's Kincaid. So did you like you like this team with Brooks, Brian Robinson, Singletary and Gus Edwards in rounds seven through ten?

Yeah, very much so. You know, clearly there's uncertainty at running back, but as you alluded to earlier that, um, you know, we play three receivers in a flex in this league, or that's the lineup that we're going with. And so I just have to get two starters out of this that are hopefully in the, in the top 24 range, if not higher. And I think between the Panthers backfield, uh, hopefully it's Brooks and most likely Robinson, but I'll just have to mix and match and figure out which is the best player

on that particular week, whether it's Singletary or Edwards or Robinson, whoever that all plays itself out. But look, if those receivers stay healthy and do what they're expected to do or capable of doing, there's immense upside there for what the potential is. And so the first two picks were locked in for me. I was expecting one of Alave or London to be there just based on how you typically see our drafts go. So I was

pretty confident I'd get one of those guys. Do you think there's a big difference between Alave or London or do you think they're more or less the same? I think that there's more touchdown potential for London. I think there's a higher ceiling for Olave. I like the schedule better for London. I like the quarterback better for London. So I have London ranked ahead of Olave, but they're basically back-to-back. And then last thing before you get to the rest of your team, for people doing this kind of build,

there's a better chance that you're going to get if you like him a better you're going to get marvin harrison at this spot 2.6 um you're never going to get it in a draft with us like marvin harrison will never last that long but looking at adp on draft sharks for example that's exactly where he's going so 2.6 i'm sure you'd like your team even more if you had Marvin Harrison instead of Drake London there. So I just want to say that that is realistic for, for people drafting out there. Yes, you're correct in that regard. Um, the, the tough call for me was taking Samuel over LaPorta, but I wanted to go a different route and just take receivers. Um, so that's another thing that you could throw in there. So let's just say I had done, uh, I had done that and taken Laporta there and still come back and take Metcalf. Then I'm probably taking, uh, digs in round five as opposed to Kincaid. Yeah. So we never know how it's going to play out, but which would you have liked better Laporta and digs or Debo and Kincaid?

Uh, Debo and Kincaid. Dave, how about you? Laporta and digs or Debo and Kincaid? Uh, Debo and Kincaid. Dave, how about you? Laporta and digs or Debo and Kincaid? Uh, Laporta and digs. All right.

So then you take Kincaid in round five, you take Stroud around six. So then let's talk about your running backs, Brooks and Hubbard late, uh, Brian Robinson, Devin Singletary and Gus Edwards. And you said you want two top 24 guys.

Who is that going to be in your mind? Well, I'm hoping for two top 24 guys. I mean, it's clearly a risk. Who is that going to be? Like I said before, I think it's going to be Panther starter and Brian Robinson to start the season and then kind of mixing and matching. So when you go this route, you know, so, um, it's, it's, you know,

when you go this route, you have to be prepared to play the waiver wire, you know, because you want to jump on the, the Kyron Williams, the Jerome Ford, you know, the guys that are going to, you know, emerge early because of injury or, or, or production. But at the same time, you know, again, I feel like Brian Robinson is going to be in that range to start the season. The Panthers guy is going to be in that range to start the season. The Panthers guy is going to be in that range to start the season. And I think Singletary and Gus Edwards, uh, based on matchups will be in that range to start the season as well, you know, until we start to see them potentially struggle or in the case of Edwards, maybe it replaced, but there's just the opportunity there to,

you know, I, I knew once I, once I committed to this, you know, at, at that point, you know, once I was done with Stroud, like, okay, I can still take another receiver if the right player presents itself. But like, I, I was in my, uh, in my rankings, like Dan screwed me a few times just in how the, the, the, the picks fell, you know, the Swift pick would have been not, not, I think he's dramatically better than Brian Robinson, but I think there's a little bit more upside for Swift if he hits than Robinson. So that was one that I was like, oh, my gosh, if this happens, that's a pretty nice find.

And then I guess he's probably screwed me more on the other two. Yeah, screw Dan. Dan's a jerk. Pick two to pick one was more where he snagged me a few times. But in any event, I like the way it worked out. You know, I'm very happy with the receiving core here. Like I said, you know, I'm always going to be more excited about my fantasy rosters when I know I have three legit star receivers and I have that.

In this case, I have four. Kincaid's one of my favorite, if not my favorite breakout player at that position. You know, it was kind of funny the way that it worked out that both McBride, that all three of McBride, Andrews and Kincaid went in the, in the fifth round. You know, I would expect to see those guys back into round four, McBride and Andrews. So, you know, maybe a little bit of a reach for, for Kincaid, but then you see how the next round played itself out with Kittle and Pitts going right after him. And Stroud was, you know, kind of an easy choice.

Just if, you know, you're going to commit to this, that's the next quarterback for me that was in my ranking. But again, once I was all in on this, it was, okay, once I got four receivers, tight end, quarterback locked up, I'm just taking the best available running backs for at least the next three to four picks, and that's the way I did it. Okay, I've got two questions for you. First one, which team do you like better?

The team where you went zero RB or the team where you took McCaffrey and Henry with two of your first year? Do you feel like you have more, I'll call them mild concerns with your starting lineup with the zero RB team because of your running backs. There's two of them that you've got to mix and match each week versus the McCaffrey team where I know you're a little bit light at wide receiver, but maybe only to the point where there's only one spot that's a mild concern.

In my opinion, I have two concerns there with my third receiver and my flex, whereas they got to say who they are. Sorry. It's Jaden Reed and then one of Odunze, Williams, Chandler, McLaughlin. Those would be the guys I expect to be picking from.

Jamison Williams. Jamison Williams, excuse me. Those would be the guys I expect to be picking from. I feel more confident that the two running backs will sort of shake themselves out. I won't have as many concerns once the season starts to play itself. But once the season gets going. I guess if I could just push back on one thing you said, you might want to use a different term.

I know it's talking and things. You said you're confident you have, I think you said you have four star receivers in chase London, Samuel and Metcalf. Yeah. I don't know if I agree with that. Like DK Metcalf had DK Metcalf had one star season in his five years. Drake London's had zero Depot. Samuel's got his own concerns.

We know the target share volume. And over the last two seasons, he's been on pace for like 980 receiving yards. So if the rushing starts to drop then you know like there's no way you can pick any players there that don't have risk i'm not saying other than maybe like if you've taken my homes or something like that instead of debo samuel and i mean my home's had a bad year last year but i i just i'm not as confident that these wide receivers are going to work out, you know,

as you are. And that's, that's when I get to the point where it's like, well, why are you taking DK Metcalf? Who's the 24th wide receiver off the board? I think right around there, instead of the 16th running back,

that's, that's where I think that we're getting a little, or 15th running back, I think it would have been Josh Jacobs. That's where I think we're getting a little bit carried away. The wide receivers are just starting to go too early, and running backs are being pushed back too much. I just don't think that these guys are definitely stars.

In fact, I would bet against, out of London, Debo, and Metcalf, I would bet against more than one of them being like a true fantasy star. It's a fair question. You know, I guess the better term would be potential stars because, I mean, look, we were, I shouldn't say across the board, but we're excited about the potential of Drake London. And, you know, there's certainly a path for Debo

to be a mega star, you know, playing behind, not playing behind, but playing on the same roster with a 28-year-old running back where he would definitely get carries if something happened to McCaffrey, no matter what they think of their number two running back. And what happens if Ayuk, because of his holdout, hold in, you know, isn't the same level player, plus all these reports you're getting about Debo Samuel are just, you know, it's hard to not get excited about him. And then Metcalf, yes, he clearly has underperformed for, you know, more times than not based on the expectations.

But again, new offense and I think faster or more plays, how Seattle is going to operate under Ryan Grubb. There's, for me at least, a lot to like about that situation. So in terms of, yes, 24th receiver versus 16th running back. I don't see much difference in that. And there's more risk in the running back and the volatility of that position by comparison to the receivers. So it comes down to two things. One, you know, do you want to deviate from what your plan is? And so once I took Debo Samuel, I'm like, you know, I'm going to try this. I want to see how it plays itself out. So that was part of it. And the other part of it is for me, when I'm comparing the players, they're both starters. First running back for me would be Josh Jacobs if I had gone that route or Kamara or Mixon versus Flex in this case for Metcalf. And in PPR and how this format

is built, I like that construction better than I do going with the running back there who I'm not as sold on. I'm more sold on DK Metcalf hitting than I am on Josh Jacobson. Not to mention all four of those wide receivers, Chase London, Debo Metcalf are consensus top 21 in our rankings. Two of them were top 12 in PPR points per game last year among wide receivers. A third was top 20 ish. That's DK. And London is expected to make a huge jump this year. I, I,

I can't take the comment seriously, Adam. No, you don't think these four guys are like, uh, one of these guys is going to be his flex. Another one's going to be his wide receiver. They're all wide receiver ones or twos.

They are all being drafted. But that's like a wide receiver ones or twos. This is your RB. Jamie just laid out the, the, one of the best ways that you could possibly start. I'm not disagreeing with that.

I think it's a great... I wouldn't have taken Metcalf. That's the only thing. I just think probably this being a mock draft, I think you wanted to commit to zero RB and see how it played out. If I had to guess, you can tell me if I'm wrong about that.

But I would have taken Jacobs or Kamara or Mixon over Metcalf because I just think you should not go this deep into the wide receiver pool when you're still that shallow into the running back pool. I mean, I'm going to,

this is a big, this is actually a huge storyline for me in fantasy because last year we saw the start of this. Last year we saw wide receivers start to go ahead of running backs in areas of the draft that we just had not seen before. And now it's like turbocharged. Now it's even more extreme.

And I think the fantasy community is making a little bit of a mistake here. I think they're downgrading running backs too much. And they're acting like wide receivers are so safe. And I laid that out on Friday's show on our mailbag, like which position is safer. I think you could probably say wide receiver is safer, but they're not safe. I will say this, Jamie, you, me, anyone in the world, it's pretty rare. We're going to hit on all four of our first four. So there is risk with everyone. I just think that I'm going to try to do some research and some math before we do the running back and wide

receiver previews next week to support this. But my theory this year is that you can really win in the third and the fourth rounds by kind of zigging where others are zagging and going with running backs over receivers because you are going to be much shallower in the running back pool than the receiver pool. Let me ask you this as well, because clearly the first four picks, I took wide receivers. Would you feel differently about this? Because we're talking about, so Jacobs is running back 15 or 16. What number do we sell on? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. Okay, so he's running back 14. That's me straight.

So it's also knowing who you're drafting with. And Dave referenced this, or Adam referenced this earlier. Six of us, we know that wide receivers. I think Dave said this. We all know that wide receivers get pushed up. So let's just take the four receivers. And instead of me taking Kincaid and Stroud, I take Ramondre Stevenson or James Conner and Zemir White.

Do you feel differently about the build that way? Can you say it one more time? So I don't know who your favorite running backs are of the guys that I took after Kincaid, or the guys that went after Kincaid. Right, so you're skipping out on your tight end and your quarterback. So if I had gone four receivers and I end up with Stevenson and Zemir White instead? Eh, not really.

I mean, I really liked the Kincaid and Stroud picks. No, no, no, obviously I do as well. But what I'm saying is you're saying to lean more into running backs than the receivers. Well, yeah, I'm sorry. Let me clarify. This is all personal preference, right? I just view Jacobs, Camara, Mixon, and Walker as being in a different tier. And I would have wanted, I think you're doing a great job if you start with three really high end or potential star receivers and still managed to get an RB one out of Jacobs,

Camara, Mixon, or Walker. That this is all personal preference. I am not saying you did it wrong. I would have felt more comfortable with one of those guys. I get it. And I guess my point is not necessarily,

okay, you know, Jones or Connor and, and Zamir white. My point is, uh, I also know that how receivers are going to go in this draft. And so by me taking four with that roster, I also know I'm still taking another one of these teams.

So I know when it comes back to me in pick one, I was most likely going to lean wide receiver. I didn't expect McBride to be there. So my anticipation was to go Kirk and probably another wide receiver. Now, the way that it played itself out, I was kind of hoping, OK of hoping, okay, maybe T Higgins or Devante Smith sneak through, they both went. So to go Kirk McBride was more of a, okay, these are now my two best players on the board. But I also was under the assumption that I'm going to take wide receivers. So maybe that pushes Mixon or Walker or somebody down to me in that range as well. So that was kind of my thinking also that, you know, we're going to be heavy wide receivers. And also, you know, it's,

I think you said it best it's personal, personal preference, you know? So for, for the way that I built this team, I just felt DK Metcalf was a, was a stronger pick than Josh Jacobs that moment. Fair enough. And it's not just us. I would just want to point this out because I'm looking at, I've using draft sharks mostly for adp it seems that it has four sources of adp uh pick by the time you get to pick 40 in full ppr there are there are 21 wide receivers and 13 running backs off the board and i think personally that is a very good time for you to think about your,

your running backs there. And if you have, and this is again, I mean, this is what I was talking about, like Schneier, where he took advantage of that with Mixon falling to 47th overall and Ken Walker to 50th overall. Um, and he started with lamb Adams and Kelsey. I just think that if you're getting the 15th running back off the board and you're getting the 15th running back off the board, and you're getting the 15th running back off the board used to be at the 2-3 turn. Now it's at the 4-5 turn almost. And this, I think, is a bit of an overreaction. So, again, I don't want to speak for the podcast,

but that to me just screams like, zig where others are zagging. I can't wait to see the results of tonight's live stream draft. Yeah, that's the other problem. I think it's going to be considerably different. Yeah, two receivers are going to change things a little bit, but it doesn't change things as much as I usually anticipate it does.

I also made the left noise because by the time you get toward the end of round four, just the picks that are left are usually pretty gross. Yeah, Jamie, I think it's going to change like the round six and seven picks where you're not necessarily taking a fourth wide receiver there. Yeah, but the first five rounds,

I don't think will change too much. But that also should push quarterbacks up too. We'll see. We'll see. And these are FFT listeners at the end of the day, so maybe not. Anyway, we'll talk to you tonight on a fantasy football today on our live stream, youtube.com slash fantasy football today. It's, it's a YouTube exclusive and you can watch it on demand. Thanks to Dave, Jamie, and Thomas. We'll talk to you tomorrow.