Fantasy Football Today - Pick-by-Pick Series: How to Build Your Team from Each Draft Slot (08/20 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: August 20, 2021

Bid on our Draft-A-Thon items right now to benefit St. Jude! http://cbssports.com/ebay 12-teams, 3-WRs, PPR. We've got four analysts to draft three teams apiece and give their thought process with each pick. We explore a number of different ways to build your team. Let's start with Round 1 and see how early Travis Kelce goes and when to take a WR. Then it's on to Round 2 (5:00) as we debate RB vs. WR throughout the round and see if the other top TEs come off the board ... Is Round 3 (12:30) the time for Patrick Mahomes? Which Chicago Bear will get drafted first? Which teams are leaning towards Zero-RB? And into Round 4 (20:30) we have tough WR decisions and a possible reach for Miles Sanders ... Round 5 (29:40) brings us a QB run and a couple of TEs too. Does Myles Gaskin finally get drafted??? And after we pause to recap our squads through five rounds (44:00), we move to Round 6 (58:30) which some of us find exciting and others are less enthused about ... Email us at [e-mail] 'Fantasy Football Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday 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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Touchdown. Oh, he's done it again. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath, and Beck. Okay, it is time for our pick-by-pick series. What we are going to do is start a draft right now and give you our philosophies and kind of our decision thought process. Probably a better way to say that with each pick. Adam Azer here with Jamie Eisenberg, Heath Cummings, and Chris Towers. We each are going to have three picks in a 12-team draft.

And it is PPR starting three receivers and a flex. Okay, it looks like I'll go ahead and start with Christian McCaffrey. Jamie, you can have the second pick. Heath, the third. Chris, the fourth. What's the thought process behind Christian McCaffrey? Well, you know, he's pretty good. I'm not really sure.

I just see a lot of rankings have him number one. Jamie took Dalvin Cook. Is this a full PPR league? Yeah, full PPR and three receivers and a flex. Start two running backs, one quarterback. We're not drafting kickers or defenses here. We're going to go through the first round pretty quickly. Heath, you're on the clock with the third pick.

Chris, I have to see. Go ahead. Yeah. Uh, I thought I had his knees. Yeah. The fourth pick is the first decision that I have to make. And,

uh, I will go with Travis Kelsey. Oh, all right. Go ahead. Give me your thought process there. I'll make the fifth pick. Yeah.

I mean, I'm higher on the tight end, the top tight ends than, uh, anyone else. I think make the fifth pick. Yeah, I mean, I'm higher on the top tight ends than anyone else. I think that's been clear all along. And if you look at the history of the tight end position, basically, the non-elite tight

ends over the last five seasons have been some of the worst investments you can make in fantasy. Tight ends pick between 51 and 100 overall. Actually have a lower rate of finishing in the top 12 than tight ends pick between 101 and 150, which is shocking. And so I just think getting one of those elite tight ends

is a bigger edge than having, I would have taken Austin Eckler number four, if not. What if I guaranteed, Jamie, you're on the clock, by the way. I took Derek Henry fifth. Jamie has a sixth pick. What if I could guarantee you Waller in round two? Would you still have taken Kelsey? That's always the question for me. Waller or

Kittle in that second or maybe even third round. That's the risk of taking Kelsey early, but I'd rather lock in one of them than take the risk of not having any of them. Okay, so Jamie took Zeke sixth. I took Henry fifth. Jamie took Zeke sixth.

Remember, these are different teams. We each have three teams here. Seventh pick was Aaron Jones. Chris, you have the eighth pick. It's Austin Eckler. That means the best running backs available with the ninth pick would be i'll just use dave's rankings to be neutral jonathan taylor saquon barkley i'm gonna go with davante adams i think

it is time for the first wide receiver to come off the board adams goes ninth jamie of the 10th pick who's gonna be saquon barkley okay over tyreek hill jamie yes Yes. Barkley over Hill. Yes. Okay, we'll get into more of Jamie's thought process in a little bit. Our goal today is to kind of help you draft from different spots in your draft. Tyreek Hill.

I will say, I did move Saquon Barkley back into my top six at running back. I don't feel great about it. But I just think you're balancing upside versus the risk. Saquon Barkley has as much as anyone.

So the fact that he seems healthy, the fact that he seems like he's going to be a full go, or at least as much of a full go as he can be, that's where I have. What percentage of his 2018 season do you think is reasonable for upside? Because I don't think he has the same upside as he had in 2018 with this team.

No, no. I don't think he's got 2,100-yard upside or whatever it ended up being. But even if you just take the games where he's played with Daniel Jones, he's on pace for about 600 receiving yards over a 16-game season. He's on pace for between 1,100 and 1,200 rushing yards, I believe. That's with what I think is probably the nadir of the Daniel Jones era. You would hope he

plays better this season with better offensive line play. That's, I think, 1,800, 1,900 total yards and 12 to 15 touchdowns as a reasonable upside makes sense. Okay, with the 11th pick, Heath took Tyreek Hill. Chris with the 12th pick took Joe Mixon.

Chris, you're up again. So this is how you would start. Now we're in round two. Here we go. So Chris started his team with Joe Mixon at pick 12. And remember, this is a three-receiver PPR league, only two receivers off the board, and you took Stephon Diggs. So why did you go with Diggs over, let's say, Jonathan Taylor or whoever your highest-ranked running back was?

My highest-ranked running back probably would have been Najee Harris, but I just think... Yes? Nothing. I was just really happy to get Jonathan Taylor in round two. I thought we had passed that little blip portion of the preseason where you got to get Jonathan Taylor in round two. I thought we had passed that little blip portion of the preseason where you got to take Jonathan Taylor in round two. He was always a second-round pick for me.

It just comes down to the passing upside not being there in a PPR league. Stephon Diggs is just higher ranked for me than the other running backs in that area. Jamie's up. Jamie with a team that had Barkley and you just took Najee Harris. Why did you take Najee Harris over, let's say, Calvin Ridley or Hopkins? I just think there's a little bit more upside at the position.

I'm looking to try and gain an edge at the running back spot. I think I'll still get a great receiver in round three. You went running back, running back. For the sake of this exercise, I will go wide receiver, wide receiver because the best running backs available are Antonio Gibson, Nick Chubb. Chubb is certainly, to me, justifiable here,

but considering the top five wide receivers, there's still some on the board. I'm going to go with Devontae Adams and Calvin Ridley to start this squad. That was the ninth overall pick was Adams, and thenontae Adams and Calvin Ridley to start this squad. The ninth overall pick was Adams, and then in round two, Calvin Ridley. Chris is up with Austin Eckler. We'll call this Team 8.

Had the eighth pick, Austin Eckler. So what are you going to do in round two? I am thinking I'm going to take DeAndre Hopkins. He is my top player on the board. The fact that he hasn't practiced in over a week at this point does make me a little concerned. I'm also a little concerned about that, having taken Stefan Diggs with the other team.

And all the receivers. Who hasn't practiced in a couple of weeks. AJ Brown hasn't practiced in a week. Yeah, but... Julio Jones doesn't practice. By all accounts, like, DeAndre Hopkins, we don't know what it is. Stefan Diggs, it seems like

it's a very minor knee injury that they just don't want to push. Maybe those turn into more serious things. That's always possible, but given the information that we know right now, I think those guys are quite a bit better than the second or maybe third tier of running backs,

depending on how you want to define them. So team eight is Eckler and Hopkins. Team seven, Aaron Jones for Heath in round one. He took A.J. Brown in round two. And Jamie took Antonio Gibson to pair with Ezekiel Elliott. It's nice to have Christian McCaffrey and Ezekiel Elliott on the same team. I got to tell you, we should talk about Antonio Gibson. I did not like the quote I read from him yesterday.

I read this on, I guess, Thursday morning, that he was saying he's still trying to figure out when to cut, when to cut back, and when to hit the hole. That's what I was kind of saying about him. I kind of wonder if him is, you know, I kind of wonder if he's still a wide receiver masquerading as a running back. You know,

I think he's learning the position. He's still learning the position. I wouldn't say masquerading because, you know, he's, you know, a year plus into this, but he's obviously still learning.

He doesn't know all the nuances of the position. He did play running back prior to playing wide receiver, so he went from one to one to one. But the only thing that I get a little skittish about, I just did a radio spot today on a station that covers the Washington football team, and they asked me, you know, which Washington football team players are you interested in the most? And it's hard not to, you know, say the two obvious ones.

And so, you know, they're going to give Gibson every opportunity to be a superstar. The question becomes is where the reception total will lie, because you've already seen a double digit touchdown season out of him in where he was learning everything on the fly. And so if he can get more involved in the passing game, there's just the sky's the limit for him. It's hard to overlook what the upside could be for him.

You kind of saw the downside a little bit. He was touchdown dependent, but the upside is pretty high. Has anybody seen the tweet? I couldn't find it this morning, so I don't know who did it. Hopefully somebody else does. Just with all the different tweets of different people on the Washington football team that I've been compared to Christian McCaffrey in the last year and a half. Yeah, it was Bryce Love at one point.

It was. J.D. McKissick. Antonio Gibson again. Who's the other one? It might have been Ryan or somebody. Pretty fantastic. Maybe it was Peyton Barber. That's why I dropped Justin Jefferson for him.

All right, hold on. Let me get us back here to the draft. With the fifth overall pick, I took Derrick Henry. That team came up in round two. And Nick Chubb was probably my highest ranked player. But in a full PPR league, I can't go Derrick Henry and Nick Chubb. That's just a little bit too risky. So I went with Justin Jefferson instead. Team four was Chris. That was the Travis Kelsey team. And Darren Waller was still available. But you went with, obviously, you weren't going to take both tight ends. I was just making the point.

You went with Kelsey and, oh, a little chief stack. Kelsey and Clyde Edwards-Elair. That puts Heath on the clock with the third team, which is Alvin Kamara. And what's your second pick going to be? Yeah, this is a tough spot. Nick Chubb. It does not feel like, for me, there are any second-round picks in full PPR.

And my favorite running back is going to be there in round three. So I'm going to take Keenan Allen. Oh, my goodness. Jamie, take Nick Chubb. Yeah. This is your Dalvin Cook team. Jamie, take Nick Chubb. Yeah. This is your Dalvin Cook team. Yep. Took Nick Chubb.

All right. It's about time. All right. Pick one is Christian McCaffrey. We still have DK Metcalf on the board. Well, I will say, Adam, so I wasn't planning, obviously, on Nick Chubb. I was planning on DK Metcalf.

How do you fall in there? But, you know, taking Chubb, I still have, depending on what you're going to do, you had the first pick, right? Yep, I had McCaffrey. Well, whoever the McCaffrey owner is. Me, me. You know, there's three picks that I think make a ton of sense

for my team, depending on what you do, because you're not going to be able to take all three, would be Metcalf, Waller, and Allen Robinson. I'm going to take the first. You can take Chubb there as a second one. Yeah, I would have taken Chubb. I'm going to take Metcalf and Waller in just a second. I do need to tell you that it is Draft Prepping for Charity Month,

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And there's a lot more on there. Please go to cbssports.com slash eBay to donate and bid. cbssports.com slash eBay. So, recapping. What we're going to do now is, when everybody's on the clock, I want you to say who's on your team and what you're doing, what your thought process is,

and make your pick. Okay, so I took McCaffrey. For Team 1, McCaffrey. The best running back available is David Montgomery. I don't hate him, but I like Waller and Metcalf better. So, did I make those picks or did somebody make them for me? To speed things along. Okay, Waller and Metcalf better. So did I make those picks or did somebody make them for me?

To speed things along. Okay, Waller and Metcalf. Jamie, the second team, team two, who are your three players now? Dalvin Cook, Nick Chubb, and Allen Robinson. And you went Robinson over Montgomery. Would you have done that if you didn't start with two running backs?

Would I have taken Montgomery if I took him as a receiver in round two, you mean? Yeah, yeah. Potentially. Depends on which receivers were there. All right, Heath, third pick. Yeah, in full PPR, I actually have Montgomery ahead of Nick Chubb,

and I knew that Nick Chubb would go first, so I took a wide receiver, and so now I'm taking David Montgomery. So I've got Alvin Camara, David Montgomery and Keenan Allen. I, you know, I thought you were going for Deandre Swift when you were talking about,

I, I would have gone for Deandre Swift a couple of days ago. I'm I've moved him behind a couple of guys, just a couple. Okay. Chris, he, he hasn't practiced yet,

right? I believe he practiced today and did some team drills. Yeah. All right. Um, team player. Yeah. All right. Team player. So team four, picking fourth overall, I have Travis Kelsey and Clyde Edwards, E-layer.

And my top player on the board is Robert Woods. My preference would be to take a wide receiver anyway. So that's an easy call for me. All right. So now in hindsight, would you have taken Kelsey in round one? Or would you have taken, who is your, Eckler, you would have taken Eckler, Waller, Robert Woods? Is that better than Kelsey, Clyde, Woods? I think it's pretty close.

I would much rather have Eckler, Waller than Kelsey, Clyde personally what did Dave or it it it depends on you know whether Waller can do what he did last season again or at least come somewhat close to it because you know there's a big difference between what he did in 2019 as good as what he was as as good as he was and what he did in 2020 you're you know you're talking about almost four PPR points per game. Okay. How about you guys real quick? Waller and Eckler or Kelsey and Clyde Edwards-Ziller? Eckler and Waller. Kelsey and Swift. Okay.

So this is team five. This is Derrick Henry in round one, Justin Jefferson in round two, and I'm going to go with Terry McLaurin. I still like him better than the next best runner. Ooh, you know what? Maybe I should have taken DeAndre Swift there. No, that's okay. I'm going to go with McLaurin.

It would have been McLaurin or Swift for me with that pick. Jamie, you're up. Team six. So this team has Ezekiel Elliott in round one, Antonio Gibson in round two, and this is easy just to take George Kittle in round three. Oh, okay.

Kittle over Swift, over Dobbins, over Carson. Yeah, I don't think, you know, it's not worth going three running backs in a row when you're staring at George Kittle. I mean, the third round, middle of the third round is the perfect spot for him. And you feel like in a three-receiver league, you don't have a wide receiver yet, you're okay with that? Yeah, because I'm in the middle, so I'll still get probably a top 20 receiver coming back to me, you don't have a wide receiver yet. You're okay with that? Yeah, because I'm in the middle,

so I'll still get probably a top 20 receiver coming back to me in that range because there'll still be a few running backs that will go. But you don't pass it on value when there's a player of his caliber there. I know, Adam, you have some bus concern over George Kittle, but that's, I think, at the back end of round two. Middle of round three, I think, is just tremendous value for him.

Yeah, and that's actually kind of opposite of where they're actually going so far in CBS ADP, at least. Kittle's been around 20, and that's actually kind of opposite of where they're actually going so far in CBS ADP at least. Kittle's been around 20 and Waller's been around 29. Those are going to get closer. You look at different websites and those two are all over the board.

Okay, DeAndre Swift. Sorry, Heath. So, Team 7. I had Aaron Jones and A.J. Brown and went with DeAndre Swift, and this is definitely the most Heath team that has been drafted so far. But it's important to note that with McLaurin and Robinson off the board and maybe Robert Woods, that we are now into the next tier of wide receiver, right?

You know, the Cooper-Lamb Cup. Lamb's in that same tier for me. who with mclaurin and robinson uh no but with woods with woods okay okay uh so then chris you just made that pick yes yeah i had teammate austin eckler austin eckler and deandre Hopkins. I took Amari Cooper. I am slightly higher on Cooper than I am Lamb. They are both quite high for me. I'm still not sure Lamb's going to be the number one target there. So I'd rather have Cooper, but you want a part of that offense. And I think the wide receivers right now are definitely better

than the running backs who are available. Okay, so now we got to go to Team 9. This is a wide receiver, wide receiver team. Keeping in mind, PPR, three receiver league. This is a really interesting pick, and I really want to know what you guys think. I have Devontae Adams and Calvin Ridley. Don't take a running back. What's that? Don't take a running back.

Just for fun. I think there's one left. I think there's one left that's fine here. I think there's two. I think Carson and Dobbins are fine here. I think they're both fine here, but you have the chance to take Mahomes and sort of... That's the thing. Do I take Mahomes? ...get your team apart differently.

Yeah, but you know if I take Mahomes, then I don't get Kyler in round five or whatever. You have two other teams to pick. That's assuming that you have a chance to get Kyler in round five. You have Mahomes staring you in the face. All right, let's do it. You're hoping for Dobbins and you're hoping for Carson. You know what you're getting from Mahomes.

I agree. Mahomes. All right, so Mahomes, Ridley're hoping for Dobbins and you're hoping for Carson. You know what you're getting from Mahomes. I agree. Mahomes. All right, so Mahomes, Ridley, and Adams. That'll be interesting. And I'll be fine with Daryl Henderson if Carson and Dobbins are gone in round four. Heath, I'm assuming you would have taken Mahomes at 35? Yeah, yeah, for sure.

I would have taken him at 36 if not. All right, well, I took him at 33. Jamie at 34 with Team 10, who had the 10th pick in the draft. What do you got now? Yeah, again, you know, starting running back, running back. I love the way that this turned out,

getting CeeDee Lamb in round three. So I think he's going to have a superstar season. I would take him over Mark Cooper. So I like that Chris made that decision easy for me. So I think CeeDee Lamb is going to have a monster campaign. And, you know, pairing him with Barkley and Harris, there's a lot of volatility there, but there's a lot of upside as well and i'll always take the upside when it's available to me all right and you have bark that's barkley naji harris lamb yep that is okay heath

team 11 yeah i started off with jonathan taylor tyreek hill probably my favorite team after two rounds um and that was in reverse order, right? Hill one, Taylor two. Hill one, Taylor two, yeah. But they're all basically like, those picks are all first round picks. They are. And then I took Chris Carson. So I do think there's a bit of a drop off,

definitely in floor. I'm not sure about in ceiling, but maybe in both. So I've got Taylor and Carson as my running backs and I don't worry about that anymore. Obviously, we're not going to take another quarterback for a while the best wide receivers both cowboys guys are off the board robert woods is off the board so you're looking at the bucks guys you're going to cooper cup dj moore tyler lockett white players like that chris what did you do with the 12th pick yeah at Yeah, at the 12th pick of the third round, I went with Julio Jones.

I know there are concerns about the health. I know there are some concerns that the upside might not be as high in this offense, but I'm at the point where the wide receivers are the clear best players. And he's the top one on my board still because of the upside. You look at how efficient Ryan Tannehill has been. You look at how efficient Julio Jones has been over his career. Even if he gets 120 targets, I think he could still get 1,200 yards and eight touchdowns. I think one thing that might be overlooked

or undervalued with Julio Jones is he's not the guy in the red zone anymore who's going to get double-covered. So it's going to be easier for him to score touchdowns. Sorry, just to move it along, right? I want you to tell everybody who's on your team, since obviously people don't have the draft board. So that team is Mixon, Stefan Diggs, Julio Jones, and Tyler Lockett in that order. So just a ton of upside there. Okay. So that's Team 12.

That's three wide receivers plus Joe Mixon. Mixon, Diggs, Julio, and Lockett. And look, Chris likes Joe Mixon. If you out there don't like Joe Mixon, and if you are listening to a fantasy football podcast, it means you don't like Joe Mixon. That's just what I've learned. Jonathan Taylor, Najee Harris, Antonio Gibson, all on the board.

Heath, with Team 11, what'd you do? Who'd you have and what'd you do? Who's your daddy and what does he do? Back to the Jonathan Taylor, Tyree Kill team, with Chris Carson as my second running back, just took Cooper Cup as my second wide receiver. I think Taylor's a fine number one running back. I feel like I have an elite number one

wide receiver and an elite number two wide receiver. Really happy with this start. Let's see if Jamie's going to snipe me here. Jamie, team 10. Yeah, that's Saquon, Najee Harris, and CeeDee Lamb. I'm going to take

what I think is the best available player on the board which is J.K. Dobbins so lock up the flex spot and get three quality running back here. Alright and like I said if Carson and Dobbins were gone I would be fine with Daryl Henderson so this is the Devante Adams

Calvin Ridley, Patrick Mahomes team and we'll throw Daryl Henderson in there Why not? You just lean into what your strengths are. Because I like Henderson here. I don't feel like I'm settling. And I don't know. Like, if you wanted me to just keep punting RB.

It was a coward's pick, Adam. No, I'm not. You wanted him? No, no, no. I just think, who would you have Jamie said? Steering into not having an rb was probably the the better move why i don't get that like you hey i just so you know you have to start two running backs in this league like that is a requirement you gotta start all kinds of players

though right but you could have gone with with mahomes and a three receiver set of you know more godwin with those other two guys it's hard to beat. Yeah, but my philosophy is that this group of Moore or Godwin is not that much better than the group I'm going to be looking at of Claypool, Higgins, Juju with my next pick. See, that's where it's different for me. I have a teardrop right after Moore at 18, and Dobbins is closer to the Mike Evans, Chris Godwin teardrop in terms of my projections, at least then he is to more. There's about a,

a point per game difference for me between those two. All right. So let's catch up. So that was team nine. I gave, which was Adams, Ridley, Mahomes,

and Daryl Henderson. Team eight was Chris. And what do you got? Uh, hold on. That was your Eckler team. I think yeah um oh come on eckler hopkins you want me to help you want some help here sorry sorry i'm just having trouble yeah eckler hopkins amari cooper and dj moore um moore was the the clear best player on the board for me

i think there's a drop after him at both wide receiver and running back. So pairing him with my number four wide receiver and my number 13 wide receiver plus my number four running back. I'm happy with it. I just can't get over the fact that DJ Moore had how many catches did he have

last year? I mean, it'd be better if I knew the stat, right? It was like 70. He had 66 catches last year in I mean, it'd be better if I knew the stat, right? It was like 70. He had 66 catches last year in 15 games. If he's playing that role again and he's got Darnold as his quarterback,

it might not be that much of an improvement in terms of the touchdowns. I don't think he's worth the 41st pick. I don't even know if he's worth a top 50 pick in that sense. I think that makes sense to a certain extent, but I think it's also worth keeping in mind that, yeah, his catch rate was lower,

but his ADOT was higher than it had ever been. It was 13.2. He had a very, very high. I think he was for sure in the top 10 in air yards for the course of the full season. And he might have been like right around 15 to 1600. And that was in 15 games. So I get it.

But that's going to lead to fewer catches. It's going to lead to fewer catches. So he's got to be great in yards. What's that? He's going to be great in yards. Top 10, two years in a row. Right. I think there's probably 75 catch uh that's dj moore last year and how he was

used all right so that's dj moore um mark okay heath you had the next pick what was that team yeah i had uh this is my aaron jones deandre AJ Brown team, and it was not really a wide receiver that I wanted to take here, so I took Mark Andrews. I've had that conundrum too where it's like, eh, I don't know. Do I want Godwin, Evans, Dillon, or whatever? I don't know.

I guess I'll just take Mark Andrews. I do not think the difference between those guys and the wide receiver that will be available to me in round five is as big as the difference between Andrews and the remaining tight ends for me. Okay. Jamie, with team six, I believe. Yes, team six.

What's that team looking like? It was easy to take Chris Godwin there. This is the team I started without a wide receiver after going with Ezekiel Elliott, Antonio Gibson, and George Kittle. I still think Godwin can be a top 15 wide receiver. He's going to play the slot for the Bucs when they go to their three receiver sets.

They'll still be on the field when they're in their two receiver sets for the most part. So playing for a contract, still very confident in Chris Godwin as the best Bucs wide receiver. All right, this is the team that has the fifth pick, team five. That's Derek Henry, Justin Jefferson,

and Terry McLaurin. I really love the start so let's see what we're going to do next we could go with uh i don't think i'm going to take deontay johnson here jamie's highest rank wide receiver is also deontay johnson heaths is deontay johnson so everybody says all right let's take a look at the running backs. Jacob Sanders, Gaskin. Yeah, I'm okay with Miles Sanders here. I'm going to take Miles Sanders for this team. So that's Derrick Henry and Miles Sanders at running back and McLaurin and Jefferson. Why? We just did a draft where you took Jacobs

over Sanders. I was doing a podcast at the time, and I got down to the final second between those two, and I just clicked draft on Josh Jacobs. But I basically think they're even. So that's fine. But why not take Deontay Johnson then? I don't think that he's necessarily the best Steelers wide receiver. So I can wait another round.

Because Miles Sanders is the best Eagles running back. Yes. Miles Sanders is the best Eagles running back. You sure? Yes. Positive about that. Positive, okay. It's not Boston Scott. Are you positive that Derrick Henry is the best Titans running back? Yes.

Let's not compare Miles Sanders to Derrick Henry. There's no way without an injury that someone's going to be better than Miles Sanders on the Eagles. I wouldn't go quite that far. I think that's probably a fair statement. That doesn't necessarily mean Miles Sanders will be a very

good fantasy option. I think a lot of players in this range won't be very good fantasy options, unfortunately. All right, Chris, what did you do with the next pick? That's kind of why I just took Travis Etienne there on my team that has clive edwardzilla there robert woods and travis kelsey um because at this point in the in the draft at

running back you're looking at a lot of guys who are like josh jacobs who has a relatively high floor but it's hard to see huge ceiling mike davis who is projected for a lot of points but doesn't necessarily have a floor at all et Etienne is an incredibly talented player, and so it's just a bet on talent and skill set. He has a very fantasy, conducive skill set if he hits. Okay, Heath, Team 3. Yeah, I already had two running backs in Alvin Kamara and David Montgomery.

Keenan Allen was my only wide receiver. You mentioned it. Deontay Johnson was my top-rated wide receiver. There's four quarterbacks all basically in the same tier, five quarterbacks for me all in the same tier, and there's only four picks between this and my next pick, so I wasn't going to take a quarterback, so I took Deontay Johnson.

Okay. I don't really like taking Deontay Johnson in round four. He doesn't feel like a round four pick, but I do think he was the best pick to take there. All right, Jamie, you're on the clock with team two, which has Dalvin Cook. Dalvin Cook, Nick Chubb, and Alan Robinson. Yes.

By the way, did you mean to set this as a two-receiver league as opposed to a three-receiver league? I did not. But I set this up right before the draft started. But I said several times, three-receiver league as opposed to a three-receiver league? I did not. But I set this up right before the draft started, but I said several times, three-receiver league. Right before the show started. Yeah, let's treat it as a three-receiver league with a flex. With a flex, okay.

Yep. I'm going to take Josh Allen. You can't expect a guy that doesn't read the rules to set the rules. Exactly. You took Josh Allen. That comes back to the number one pick, which has McCaffrey, Waller, and Metcalf. Easy pick for me here is Kyler Murray.

This next pick is going to be tough. Three receiver league. Probably want to get that second receiver here. I think it's time to take Mike Evans. 49th overall. That is now McCaffrey, Kyler,

Metcalf, Waller, Kyler Murray, and Evans. You should really like your team if you're drafting first. I mean, I love that team. Drafting first usually has the highest win percentage of any spot in the draft. So, yeah.

Jamie, you are up again after you just took Josh Allen. Yeah, I don't love going quarterback tight end back-to-back in the first five rounds, but I like TJ Hawkins in here. I'm not going to get a chance to draft him in the spot. I think he's got breakout potential. I think he's going to have a big season, so hopefully he's healthy,

dealing with a minor injury right now. But easy to pair a top three quarterback and a top five tight end together with the combination of Cook, Chubb, and Allen Robinson. And I saw today Hawkins expected back at practice next week. So it doesn't seem like there's a concern there. It is. That's the thing that's so tough with these injuries is a lot of guys are missing very similar periods of time.

And some of them we are really getting concerned about and dropping in rankings. And some of them we're just like, yeah. And it basically depends on what the coach has said. And they're all liars. Right. Like that's... Depending on which coach.

I think Hawkinson and Swift on the same team. well we don't know hawkinson's injury that's the one thing you know soft tissue injury for running back is obviously not good you know so i think you look at each injury um in the case of both of these guys one's got competition to a certain extent i don't think jamal williams is better than deandre swift right i mean hawkinson's competition is his receiving core, and it's miserable. So I think that context matters. But I dropped Hawkinson.

I mean, we've had this conversation. I dropped him behind Andrews as a result of the injuries around him. So I don't know who exactly you're referring to, but Swift hasn't really moved for me. All right, so listen. Here's what I want to do. I want to kind of pause the draft. We're not going to do a full draft.

I'm going to try to publish these so people can see it, but we'll do our best there. I want to go through all the teams real quickly. Two of the teams have made five picks. The rest have made four. Let's go through the teams. We'll finish the fifth round first so everybody has five picks. Fair enough. Let's finish the fifth round.

Heath, you're on the clock. Since you called me a bad host today, I'll call you a round. And Heath, you're on the clock. Since you called me a bad host today, I'll call you a bad host. Heath, you're on the clock. Yeah, that whole four or five turn worked out really well because everybody has their favorite. I talked about that tier of quarterbacks. My favorite's Lamar Jackson. Jamie's favorite's Josh Allen.

Your favorite is Kyler Murray. We all got our number two quarterbacks. Hey, all right. We're all super cool, super happy. All right. So that so what's your team? What's team three started with Camara? Lamar Jackson, Alvin Camara, David Montgomery, Keenan Allen and Deontay Johnson.

Lamar Jackson, Alvin Camara, David Montgomery. OK, solid. Team four started with Kelsey, Clyde Edwards, Z layer. And what else you got? What else you got? Yeah, I ended up taking... So, Clyde Edwards-Ziller, Travis Kelsey, Travis Etienne, Robert Woods, and Jamar Chase

is my team so far. Jamar Chase was... I'm feeling a little nervous about the reports coming out of Bengals camp regarding him and the offense as a whole, but I still think he's the upside play here. There's another kind of mini teardrop. But if you had just taken ETN,

do you once again go with an upside play? I don't really like this team, do you? Yeah. Yeah, I love this team. I mean, let's talk about it. I hate it. Adam, I think that one of the things is just that I, in fantasy football, you know, having, you know,

been an analyst for both fantasy baseball and fantasy football, one thing I've started to realize is upside is a lot more important in fantasy football. Because the rosters are relatively smaller, because waiver wires are, you can generally find more impact players on the waiver wire more consistently. You know, chasing high upside players like if jamar chase and travis etn bust and i finished 12th well somebody's got to finish 12th you know like that that's just kind

of the way it works no i i i'd rather chase first place than try to avoid last place but the thing about chasing first place in in football is your lineup is never going to look the same as it does when the time at the end of the season comes. Right, right. I think you want to have a solid core, and then you end up filling around that. Taking too many high upside players, especially early, that's where I think your team becomes,

you're settling almost for trying to finish last. But two things. First off, you've got Travis Kelsey and Robert Woods, so it's not like it's all high upside guys. On the other side, there's so much best ball discussion that has been pushed its way into regular redraft leagues. And the whole first or last, I think, is 100% a best ball thing that makes perfect sense.

You're playing to get into the playoffs. Sure. What percentage of the times do we see the highest-scoring team in the regular season wins in the playoffs? You're playing to finish in the top half of the league and then try to have a good team then. I'm not trying to crush your process. Sometimes I draft a team and it doesn't turn

out the way I like it. We just did a draft before the show, 2QB League, that three times the one player that I specifically wanted went one pick before me to RJ White. I really didn't like my team all that much.

The guys I wanted didn't fall to me. I'm just saying, objectively, I don't really like this team. It's Clyde Eberziler on ETN, Robert Woods, Jamar Chase, and Travis Kelsey. You know, you say you like it. I don't. I just wanted to have the discussion. I have a slightly different process than a lot of people, I think. And I'm okay with that.

Okay. Let's go to Team 5 then. Team 5 has Derek Henry in round one. It's getting hard to remember all this. Justin Jefferson in round two. Terry McLaurin. Miles Sanders. Everybody crushed me for that pick,

so I'm going to try to do better here. Do we still have a top five quarterback on the board? Yep. Yep. All right. So I feel a little bit better with Dak. You're saying Wilson too? I feel a little bit better with Dak over Pitts in terms of

taking the high end tight end versus... I'm going to take Dak here. That's now Dak Prescott, Derek Henry, Miles Sanders, Justin Jefferson, and Terry McLaurin. I feel very, very safe and secure with this team. We'll see how it plays out. Jamie, you are now on the clock with the team that had the sixth overall pick. Yeah, it's Ezekiel Elliott, Antonio Gibson, George Kittle, and Chris Godwin. I don't love the receivers on the board here. You took the last quarterback I would consider in this range.

So I'm going to take a player. I have not drafted at all yet so far this season, which is Josh Jacobs. I'll take a flex here. I think round five is perfect for him. Yes, I agree. 100%.

I was getting ready to take Josh Jacobs and I always take Josh Jacobs. So I was just glad that somebody else took him. But I think this is like this people, every time somebody drafts Josh Jacobs, everybody I was just glad that somebody else took him. But I think this is... People, every time somebody drafts Josh Jacobs, everybody just doesn't like it. And Josh Jacobs in round five is a good pick. It's relative to cost. Well, it's making... I mean, it's

pretty clear to me that I didn't need to take Miles Sanders in the previous round because he still had Josh Jacobs, Miles Gaskin, Mike Davis on the board, so I don't know that Sanders is that much better than them. But I think in a normal draft, I don't know that. You should have taken Deontay Johnson. Yeah, again, I don't know.

If anything, I may have taken a quarterback there, and I got Dak in the next round, but it's fine. Yeah, but imagine that team with Dak and Deontay. Chris, are you up now? No, Heath, you're up. You're up with the seventh pick. Yeah. And I'm very regret so much.

I like my team, but I don't like my options from here. And I may do what we talked to you about doing and just lean into a string. I've got Aaron Jones, Deandre Swift, AJ Brown, and Mark Andrews.

And I don't feel like there are any round five wide receivers really left. Um, and I think miles Gaskin and Mike Davis both need to be picked in this range. I don't feel like there are any round five wide receivers really left. And I think Myles Gaskin and Mike Davis both need to be picked in this range. And I can start them at flex and running backs get hurt. That gives me a little bit of depth in an important position. So now I just have to decide which one of those two I want to draft.

And that changes every time I look at my rankings. I think this time I'm going to go there's no conflict with buys even. I'm going to go with Mike Davis this time. All right. Now, do you, in retrospect, do you wish you had not taken Mark Andrews in round four because Kyle Pitts was available in round five? No.

Okay. Interesting. So this team has one wide receiver. It's A.J. Brown, Mark Andrews, Aaron Jones, DeAndre Swift, and Mike Davis. Chris, you are on the clock with Team 8. Yeah, I'm starting to think there's a bigger gap between Davis and Gaskin. Gaskin's probably a tier below, at least for me. Maybe I'm overreacting to what we've heard and what we saw in preseason week one, but he's more in the Chase Edmonds tier for me. Maybe I'm overreacting to what we've heard and what we saw in preseason week one,

but he's more in the Chase Edmonds tier for me. So I would have rather had Mike Davis there if he had fallen instead with the team that has Austin Eckler, DeAndre Hopkins, Mari Cooper, and DJ Moore. I took Kyle Pitts, and this is a team that I actually do think has quite a nice high floor with especially Hopkins, Eckler, and Cooper. And so taking a chance on Kyle Pitts and the upside there,

I think hopefully Adam approves of that combination. All right, the next pick is Team 9. This is my team. This is Mahomes, Devontae Adams, and Calvin Ridley, and Daryl Henderson. And there are a number of receivers that I'd be happy with here, including both of the Steelers guys who are still on the board. T. Higgins,

Brandon Ayuk, maybe even Kenny Galladay. Yeah, even Adam Thielen. I'll bank that one of them gets back to me. No tight end, no quarter. Obviously, I have Mahomes. No tight end. So that means I'm going running back here, and I'm definitely going to go away from your rankings, guys, so you can rip me

for it. I'm going with Javante Williams. I'm just a believer in Javante Williams. So that is now Mahomes, Darryl Henderson, and Javante Williams. Yes, very risky. Javante Adams and Calvin Ridley. All right, Jamie, you're up with the 10th pick.

Yeah, so this team has three running backs and one receiver, risky Devante Adams and Calvin Ridley. All right, Jamie, you're up with the 10th pick. Yeah. So this team has three running backs and one receiver. So it's Saquon Barkley, Najee Harris, and JK Dobbins with CD lamb. So I'm going to take another receiver here and I'm going to go with Brandon. I, you,

this is, you know, banking on two sophomore receivers that I think are going to take the next step. I think I, you is clearly the number one receiver, not the number one target leader for the 49ers, but Brandon, I, you, I think is going to take the next step. I think Iyuk is clearly the number one receiver, not the number one target leader for the 49ers. But Brandon Iyuk, I think, is in a good spot.

Hopefully the eventual quarterback change from Jimmy Garoppolo to Trey Lance doesn't hurt what Iyuk's ceiling could be. But he was so impressive last season when everybody was hurt. I think he'll still be good enough to be a number two receiver. You took him over Claypool. You took him over Juju and Thielen and Higgins. Is there a particular reason why? to be a number two receiver. You took him over Claypool. You took him over Juju and Thielen and Higgins. Is there a particular reason why?

I think just the Steelers could be a little messy. I mean, you know, you kind of alluded to, I think, with the Deontay Johnson hate earlier when you said you don't know if he's a number one receiver. But I like Juju. I like Claypool. They're all ranked in the same range for me. But I think, you know, IU can take a step forward ahead of those guys.

Okay, Heath, you're on the clock with the 11th pick. Yeah, I've got Jonathan Taylor and Chris Carson at running back. I've got Tyree Kill and Cooper Cup at wide receiver. Yeah, still kind of in that same spot where I don't really want to take a wide receiver, especially since the team that's picking before my next pick already has three out of their four players are wide receivers.

I think I'm going to just go ahead and take... He might come back to me, but I'm going to go ahead and take Russell Wilson here. Wilson, Carson, Taylor, Tyreek Hill, and Cooper Cup. Very solid. Nice, safe, solid team there.

All right. Chris, you're up with pick 12. I hate it. I hate you too, Russell Wilson there. I really don't like this point in the draft. I'm looking at my rankings across the board and there's nobody that I really feel comfortable taking right now. I love this point in the draft. I got to say, I love this point.

We got some really good wide receivers left. I think there's just like a ton of seventh round picks right now. There's like 47th round picks left on my list. We got Miles Gaskin, Chase Edmonds, Michael Carter, Raheem Mostert, Kareem Hunt. You got this. You got. Yeah, that's pretty gross.

That's a pretty gross list of running backs. I don't know. Look, we are 60 picks in. You got Juju and Claypool. You got Thielen and Higgins. You should take Higgins. Go ahead, man. So this team is mixing with three wide receivers.

Julio, Diggs, and Lockett. Yeah, and I think I'm going to take a wide receiver who I have not taken at any point in any draft so far this season. That is Adam Thielen. So he is my flex. And I'm going to go against my better wishes. You want to stop there? You want to stop there?

And we'll recap the first five picks, first five rounds. Okay, here we go. Let's recap the first five picks, first five rounds? Okay, here we go. Let's recap the first five rounds. Pick one was McCaffrey. I like that you suspended a draft from no clock. I don't want anyone to pick. All right, teamwork has Kyler Murray, Christian McCaffrey, DK Metcalf, Mike Evans, and Darren Waller.

Yay or nay? Good? Bad? Very good team. That's an A-. A-. Okay. So that's,

you know, if you want to take a, obviously, one running back, okay? It is Christian McCaffrey, but now, still have to wait 12 more picks for the next pick,

but it's a little bit risky because your running back death might suffer, but this is a good team. All right. Team two is Jamie's team. That is Dalvin cook. Okay.

Josh Allen, Dalvin cook and Nick Chubb, Alan Robinson and TJ Hawkinson. Any issues here? Like it good. Yeah. I mean, there there's the,

there's similar. Clearly it's two running backs versus two receivers for your team, but there's similar builds, quarterback, tight end. Yeah, I feel like the fates of these two teams, I mean, they're both good, but what may be determined

by the next 10 picks, is there a wide receiver run that would not work out well for Jamie, who's the number two and number three wide receiver? Is there a mini running back run? Adam's second running back might be kind of... My second running back is probably going to be...

I mean, I'm hoping I can get Raheem Mostert. Yeah, I would prefer Adam's build, but yeah, I think they're pretty close. Let's go to team three. This was Heath. This was Lamar Jackson, Alvin Kamara, and David Montgomery, Keenan Allen, and Deontay Johnson. This is so boring.

It's good. It's not the most boring team I've ever heard of. It's good. It's boring, but it's good. It would not be a great start in a non-PPR league, but in PPR, I think it's really good. Yeah, it's good. All right, Team 4. It's so much easier to look at these teams when you know you have that security

of one of those top-tier running backs. So it's just a matter of what you put around it. Typically what we're seeing, I mean, he was able to start with Kamara, Allen, and Montgomery. I mean, Montgomery's the one that may sway some people just in terms of should he go in the early part of the third round. But if you have a strong feeling on him like Keith does, and then you pair him with the quarterback, and then you put that with what is a potential top 15 wide receiver in Deontay Johnson, it's like home runs across the board. All right, Team 4, I love.

This is my favorite team so far. This is Kelsey, Clyde, Edward Ziller, Travis Etienne, Robert Woods, and Jamar Chase. We already talked about this one. High upside team. Okay, that brings us to the fifth pick, which was Derrick Henry. Remember, this is full PPR. Start three wide receivers.

Derrick Henry, Dak Prescott, Derrick Henry, Miles Sanders, Justin Jefferson, and Terry McLaurin. That's good. If Sanders is anything close to being top 15, you want to say top 20, this team is fantastic. Yeah, you just need him to be a reliable RB2 that you don't have to take out of your lineup. Well, Jefferson McLaurin is as good as any start to any receiving core that we have.

And Henry, obviously he's not the best PPR running back, but he's still top five, and you took him at number five. Jamie, you're up. This would be the sixth pick, which you started with Zeke. What else you got? Antonio Gibson, Chris Godwin, George Kittle, and Josh Jacobs. So I already have my two running backs in the flex. Kittle was, I think, a very good pick in round three.

And you can obviously debate Godwin with the other receivers there. But if my running backs hit, then this is going to be an easy playoff caliber team. Sorry, it's an F. You drafted Josh Jacobs. Well, I do see a ton of risk on this team, though. And I won't even talk about Kittle because I just have a personal thing with Kittle. But let's just say Kittle's...

Well, I'm not going to criticize. The Kittle pick was a great pick. It was 30th overall. But I see a lot of risk on this team, personally. Well, you're not a Kittle guy, and you're not a Gibson guy. No, but even if I were a Kittle guy... On Godwin, too. Godwin and Jacobs have question marks, right?

I think they have question marks about how high they can rank. But I don't think there's a lot of ways it goes wrong for them. Godwin is not probably the same. He's obviously not the same as the expectations were last year. He was drafted as a top 7, 8 receiver, whatever it was. He could have been top 5 for some people. So does he still have that type of upside like what we saw in 2019? Potentially, but it's such a crowded receiving core.

Look, even Ezekiel has question marks. People are saying there's no way they're drafting him in the top six or seven picks. I think us as a group, we encourage that. So we're a little against the grain with that one. And then Gibson and Jacobs are kind of in the same situation. So there's a volatility to this team, but I think there's a ton of upside also. Any regrets? Or would you keep it?

I would have preferred a better second receiver as opposed to taking Jacobs as the flex. But in the fifth round, it was hard to pass him up, given the guys on the board. All right, Heath. Seventh pick. Oh, sorry. I can read it. Aaron Jones and DeAndre Swift and Mike Davis at flex.

AJ Brown is your only receiver. Mark Andrews is your tight end. This is a pretty interesting team. Aaron Jones, DeAndre Swift, Mike Davis, AJ Brown at wide receiver, Mark Andrews at tight end. Do you like it? Oh, if I find a couple of wide receivers that I feel okay about as potential top 20 guys, then I absolutely love it.

It's risky to only have one receiver after five rounds in a three-receiver PPR league. Two receivers, two receivers. Three receivers. I mean, the rules currently say two receivers. I'm a pretty big stickler for reading the rules. And this is about how much you like players. But I think, for me personally, I think Mark Andrews is not too far from Kittle Waller.

I think DeAndre Swift has top 12 upside. So I can understand that people that don't like DeAndre Swift and Mark Andrews wouldn't like this team very much. Yeah, I think any team that has three running backs in the first five picks is going to be inherently risky. It's just the nature of that kind of build.

So there's a ton of upside in all of those guys. Here's team nine. This is Chris's team. This does have three wide receivers. Austin Eckler, DeAndre Hopkins, Amari Cooper, DJ Moore, and Kyle Pitts. What do we think about this? Eckler

with Hopkins, Cooper, and Moore, and Kyle Pitts. I like this team. I like it. Yeah, this is a good one. Good job, Chris. Finally. All right.

Finally, Chris gets a praise. Let's see what you do. No, I'm very happy with this team. Pitts is kind of the only one who I feel like is potentially a reach, but obviously that's all about aiming for the ceiling. Let's see if you guys like this one. I know we like the way it started. Did I flub it with my next two picks?

This is team nine. Mahomes, Darryl Henderson, and Javante Williams. Javante Adams and Calvin Ridley. So it started with Adams, Ridley, and Mahomes. Then Darryl Henderson in round four, Javante Williams in round five. I'm happy with it. I'm fine with it. I think, and Mahomes, then Daryl Henderson in round four, Javante Williams in round five. I'm happy with it. I'm fine with it.

I think that kind of start, personally, I think it should have steered into the wide receivers. I think that's a zero RB start. I don't understand this. I think you kind of reached for running backs. No, see, I don't think I reached for Daryl Henderson. I think Henderson in round four is fine.

There's nothing wrong with him in that spot, given the guys who are still left. You said this, Adam, and I think you're right, so I'll retract what I said at the time, but DJ Moore versus Darryl Henderson at their respective positions. Godwin, Deontay Johnson. Henderson has just as

much upside at his position than those guys do. It's justifiable, right? It's justifiable. Who was available when you took Javante Williams? That was round five? At receiver? You could have taken Ayuk, you could have taken Thielen, you could have taken one of the Steelers guys. That's probably the spot, I think, where you could have gone back to what you started.

Yeah, but I can still do that. That's kind of the point. Maybe. Juju, Claypool, and Higgins are all on the board. My pick is four picks away, so unless they all get taken, I'm going to get one of Juju, Clay claypool and higgins are all on the board my pick is four picks away so unless they all get taken i'm gonna get one of juju claypool or higgins or i could take chase edmunds who i also like and get a third running back so you could have taken chase edmunds here if giovante had gone and gotten the receiver that you wanted well put it this way between

giovante williams chase edmunds and one of those... I wanted four of those. I only had two picks, basically. So I don't know. When we say lean into it, and this is the part where you disagree with me all the time, but I still will maintain that it's true. I think if you had Mahomes, Javante Adams, Calvin Ridley,

Chase Claypool, and Mark Andrews, you could find running backs on the waiver wire. Yeah, maybe. With that team. That's an underrated thing, an under-discussed thing, I think, about the zero RB or hero RB or whatever RB light strategy you want to call it, is there is value in having clarity going into the season that you know you have to chase for the running backs.

Obviously, everybody's looking for upside at running back on the waiver wire but there's a there's a value in having clarity about what your weakness is and what you have to go hard after rather than just well i guess i'll throw a dart at this guy or i'll throw a dart at this guy you know you're taking as many bites at the apple at running back as possible but he's not done that's the thing though it's like we're we're we're finishing his team in the fifth round he could still get a jamal you're taking as many bites at the apple at running back as possible. But he's not done. That's the thing, though. It's like we're finishing his team in the fifth round. He could still get a Jamal Williams, a Gus Edwards, an A.J. Dillon, a Tony Pollard, you know, and you never know how those will work out for him.

I would have taken Henderson. I think Henderson's a solid pick there, but I would have gone back to it instead of taking Jamal Williams. All right. So the next team was Team 10, and this is Jamie's team, and this was the fun team. Saquon, one of the fun teams.

Saquon Barkley and Najee Harris to start. J.K. Dobbins, well, no, C.D. Lamb in round three, J.K. Dobbins, Brandon Ayuk. So you've got three running backs and two receivers, Barkley, Harris, Dobbins, Lamb, and Ayuk. Yeah, and just, again, you're talking about your team. I pick in front of you, so I am going to take one of those receivers, whether it's Juju or Claypool or Higgins lamb and iuk yeah and just again you know you're talking about your team i pick in

in front of you so i am going to take one of those receivers whether it's juju or claypool or higgins um you know just knowing that it worked out for me where i got three running backs that i really like certainly harrison and barkley uh two receivers that i'm very fond of uh with the way that this roster came together and then i'm going to get a very capable third one so i i i'm thrilled with how this team was built. I think this is maybe the most, I mean, upside or boom bust, like what you're going to call it,

this is the most wild swing team that could just be so much better than everybody else or a couple things could quite obviously go wrong. Right. Let's go to the next team then. A lot of it is injury related. Right. Team 11 was Heath, and you have Russell Wilson,

Jonathan Taylor, and Chris Carson, Tyreek Hill, and Cooper Cupp. You know, I'm... Yeah, but the thing is... It's very chalky. I'm happy. Very happy with it. Right.

This is the second time... I'm pretty sure I'm making a playoff. This is the second time that we've looked at a Heath team that through five rounds has had a quarterback, two running backs, and two wide receivers, and we like them. It's not a bad way to start.

I also have a theory, and this is borne out on Twitter, that when you share a team after four or five rounds, everybody loves it, and you share the same team after you pick your later round players, and everybody just picks it apart, all the bad players. You're going to really screw up the first five rounds for people not to like it.

I mean, Chris tried with that other team, but he... Let's look at the last team, Team 12 here. That's Chris's team, Joe Mixon and Stefan Diggs, Tyler Lockett, Julio Jones, Adam Thielen. So this is four wide receivers and Joe Mixon.

Three wide receivers and a flex are full. Diggs, Julio, Lockett, and Thielen, and Joe Mixon. And again, for those of you who aren't as high on Joe Mixon, this could be Jonathan Taylor. Sometimes, it's probably not going to be Barkley anymore. This could have been Taylor's

could have been Gibson if Najee Harris if you like them. But Chris, this is a this is an exciting team here and you're going to take are you going to take a call? I know you wanted Russell Wilson.

So do you take a quarterback here? We'll start around six in a second. Now you keep going. No, it would be it would be a reach. I think to take a quarterback here, especially because

my next highest ranked quarterback i know is someone who tends to fall a little bit among this group so i think i could wait uh at least two more rounds um so here it's i'm thinking miles gaskin but i i feel so gross about him that I'm not sure I want to go that way. Well, you think about it while I go to commercial break. We've got to take a quick break here on Fantasy Football today. When we come back, I will hit the resume button and Chris will draft.

Okay, we're back. Chris, you are on the clock with four wide receivers and Joe Mixon. And I'm going to go with T. Higgins. It's my fifth wide receiver. I'm steering into it. There were several Adam teams, I feel like, that we looked at that said he really needs there

not to be a wide receiver run, and there is about to be a wide receiver run. And there should be. I mean, this is, I think, a very good range of wide receiver for, you know, for your sixth pick. We're in round six here. So Higgins went and Heath with Team 11, you just took Juju. Yes, that gives

me Tyreek, Cooper Cup, and Juju Smith-Schuster as my wide receivers. I love that receiving core to go with Taylor and Carson at running back and Wilson at quarterback. I love it. What a team. Mwah! What a crop. What a crop. What a team.

This will be our last round that we do on the air. Jamie, what did you do with Team 10? I told you I would take a receiver. Claypool was the last one left of the trio that I was looking at. Easy to pair him with the sophomore wide receiver. C.D. Lamb, Brandon Ayuk, and Chase Claypool. Very happy with that.

They are with Saquon Barkley, Najee Harris, and J.K. Dobbins. So interesting team. You're not going to have a top six tight end. You'll be fine at quarterback, obviously. Well, I'm not going to draft a top six tight end. I may have a top six tight end. True. And then, yeah, I sold you all the players I wanted,

and you guys took T. Higgins, Chase Claypool. You should have had. And, you know, again, this is where it comes down to knowing who you're drafting players I wanted, and you guys took T. Higgins, Chase Claypool. You could have had, and again, this is where it comes down to knowing who you're drafting with, Adam, because do you really think that any of us were taking Javante Williams in the fifth round? I don't know. I don't know. You tell me. You should know. Probably not.

However, for the purposes of the podcast, I do think there's a very good chance that in your leagues out there, people, that Javante Williams is going to be a top 60 pick. He very well might, but again, it comes down to kind of getting a gauge of your league. Now, you're never going to

know. You're obviously never going to know what somebody's going to do. But you do know what we're going to do. Would any of you have done that and nobody has taken Javante Williams? I would not think Javante Williams in the fifth or sixth round in those spots. No.

Okay. So we go to team nine. This is Mahomes, Adams, Javante Adams, and Calvin Ridley, Daryl Henderson, and Javante Williams.

Best players available to me are Chase Edmonds, Miles Gaskin, and probably Kenny Galladay. Yeah, I'm going to go with Chase Edmonds. Go best player available. This is the second time now that I've taken Chase Edmonds over Miles Gaskin. One in a real draft, one in a mock draft.

Am I going too far here? I mean, I'm going to take Miles Gaskin here on a team that has eckler um sorry i lost it that's okay well let's let's yeah eckler hopkins cooper more in pits and the way i had talked myself into it is just eight days ago i hadles Gaskin inside the top 35, probably. So he's lost almost 30 spots in value based on playing three fewer snaps than Malcolm Brown. That might be an overreaction. It might not be, but at some point, the slide has to stop.

Sure. Well, Adam, just to answer your question, so which offense do you like better, the Cardinals or the Dolphins? The Cardinals. And one guy is looking like he's going to have a little bit more of a solidified role right now, right? Yeah, but that's... Well, James Conner hasn't played.

Right now. I'm just saying, right now. Who do you feel more comfortable with their playing time? Edmonds. I think Edmonds. I hope not, but I think so. Who would you take, Edmonds or I think Edmonds. I hope not, but I think so. Well, who would you take, Edmonds or Gaskin? I mean, I still have Gaskin ranked like one or two spots ahead of him right now,

but if we get to the end of this weekend and it's still Malcolm Brown trying to plow his way into the end zone and Savan Ahmed playing more because he looked really good, and Gaskin just kind of being a fill-in option, then absolutely I'm going to take Edmonds over Gaskin. Okay, so our next pick... It's an improved offensive line for the Cardinals, and James Conner has a hard time staying healthy. Our next pick is Heaths,

and this is the Team 7, I believe, right? Yeah, and this is where my wide receiver rankings really diverge from the group. And so I'm just going to go ahead and take my favorite wide receiver because he wouldn't make it back to me because I have another pick in this round. Robbie Anderson. That was actually Jamie's highest ranked receiver too.

So now this is Aaron Jones, DeAndre Swift, and Mike Davis. AJ Brown and Robbie Anderson and Mark Andrews. That's another good team. All right. Jamie is on the clock. Yeah. Team six here. Yeah.

So I need a receiver after only drafting Chris Godwin through the first five rounds to go with Kittle and my three running backs of Zeke, Gibson, and Jacobs. And this is where when you go this route of leaning into your running backs, your receiving core starts to look a little yuck. So I like Tyler Boyd a lot. I think he's still going to have a ton of catches. He's much better in PPR than non-PPR. He may lead the Bengals receivers in catches. It would not surprise me, given his role in everything you're hearing about him at a training camp. So I like him.

I prefer him as a number three receiver than a number two, but if you take a tight end and three running backs with four of your first five picks, you're going to be chasing receiver a little bit, but Boyd is certainly fine for this team. Everybody likes to say you like upside. We like upside. We like upside. When do we take Michael Thomas? Sorry, Chris. All right. Team five is on the clock. This is my team, and this was a Derrick Henry team. And let me just get the full roster here.

Dak Prescott, Derrick Henry, Miles Sanders, Justin Jefferson, and Terry McLaurin. Still no tight end. That will not be happening here. Still no third wide receiver, and still no flex. Best running backs available. Not feeling it. Kareem Hunt, Michael Carter.

Yeah, I'm going to go wide receiver here. And we've got some good ones. Judy, Galladay, Sutton, Cooks, Beckham, Michael Thomas. I am going to take Kenny Galladay to go with McLaurin and Jefferson, Derrick Henry, Miles Sanders, and Dak Prescott. All right, Chris, you are up with

your Kelsey team. Go on, sir. And I'm feeling like I might get berated again because I think I'm going to take another risky upside pick, and it's just which Broncos receiver should it be. I will go with Judy here, Jared Judy,

with this team that has... Clyde. Now, Clyde Edwards-Hilaire, Travis Thetienne, Robert Woods, Jerry Judy, Jamar Chase, and Travis Kelsey. Okay. Heath, you're on the clock with your Camara team, Team 3. Yeah, I don't really like... I think the right answer is probably...

My favorite player, by a pretty good margin, is Kareem Hunt. Taking a third running back at this point when I have Kamara and Montgomery and I haven't got my third starting wide receiver yet seems a bit foolish, especially since I know there's a team between me and my next pick that needs a couple wide receivers.

So I think I'm going to bank on Chris being wrong and I'll take the other Broncos wide receiver. Okay. This is team two. Now on the clock, Jamie Eisenberg. So that didn't work out well. Uh,

so again, you know, you play, you play the, the, the risky game when you take a quarterback, a tight end and, and two running backs with your,

you know, for your first five picks. I'm just going to hopefully lean into what my strength is, which is my running back, Chubb and Cook. I'm not going to take Kareem Hunt because I don't want to have both Browns running backs here. I'll take Michael Carter. I still hope he's the best Jets running back and is capable of flex.

He's in this range to go. We'll see what Adam does now to get his second running back there and see what I end up with in the next round. I think you took the wrong Michael. It's Michael Thomas time. As we go to the 72nd overall pick, Team 1. What's that?

This will be the earliest, I think, that we've seen him go in any of our drafts since the injury. He's ahead of schedule, apparently. I took him 75 in Tuesday's draft. So this team has Kyler Murray, only one running back, Christian McCaffrey, Darren Waller, DK Metcalf,

and Mike Evans. Two picks coming up here. I'm going running back and receiver. And, gosh, these running backs. Oh, no, I like Mostert enough. So, yeah, Mostert and Michael Thomas for me. I just think if you have, like,

McCaffrey, Waller, Metcalf, Kyler Murray, you've got studs at those positions. If Michael Thomas comes back, because he could come back in week five. You know, this is just too... If he's Michael Thomas for more than half the season, you just have an opportunity to just crush it. I mean, it's too enticing for me there.

All right, guys, thank you. Good stuff. Let me ask you this as we look at the remaining player pools. I like how you allowed yourself to make an extra pick. Yeah, well, you have to. It's a swing. Kareem Hunt, James Robinson, Trey Sermon, Damian Harris, James Conner, Melvin Gordon, the Bucs guys, the Bills guys. First of all, Kareem Hunt lasting into the 70s is interesting.

But how do we feel about these running backs in general? Are they flex options? Are we cool with them as our number three guys? Absolutely. Okay. Yeah, as number three, I think they're fine. Yeah, I don't know about as like a flex necessarily, but Hunt, I think he probably needs a chub injury to be a starter.

But if that happens, he's probably a top 10 running back at least. Wide receivers are Beckham, Antonio Brown, Devontae Smith, who Jamie's going to pick and win the league. Jaguars guys, Jalen Waddell, Will Fuller, et cetera. Curtis Samuel. How do we feel about these wide receivers? What's stronger right now?

Beckham. Who is? The running backs. The running backs. Heath, what do you think Beckham Antonio Brown Devante Smith Jaguars guys or Kareem Hunt James Robinson Trey

Sermon Damian Harris etc yeah I think the running back is more likely to have a league winning running back than a league winning wide receiver from this group I think and of course there are only six quarterbacks off the board, only six tight ends off the board,

so plenty of good quarterbacks around as well. I have bad news for Andrew. Well, what happened? Is he going to be okay? Oh, Carl Lawson? Yeah. For some reason, my son is deciding he's a Jets fan. No matter what I say, no matter what I do,

who do you like, Giants or Jets? Jets. Stop. Reading the Jets beats, talking about the Packers-Jets joint practices has just been like the Jets don't really belong on the field.

It's been very depressing. I would just think that having been alive through multiple seasons watching you watch Giants games, I don't think that would been alive through multiple seasons watching you watch Giants games, I don't think that would make anyone want to be a Giants fan. It's not like he picked a better alternative. Well, he doesn't know, which he definitely doesn't know.

When you know your team is bad, you don't get that upset. You just kind of accept it. Don't you? No, I don't. This was the first year I was upset about a Knicks game in a long time. Put it that way. I will be upset about the Giants because I do expect them to win the division. And with that, we will end.

What are you going to do after week one of the college football season? Oh, week one doesn't even count. When your team is playing Alabama in week one, week one is week two. That is preseason week one. They're going to lose by 40, and I don't care. Disappointing that we're not going to get the U.S. back after week one for the 12th straight season. Why didn't I just end the show five minutes ago?

Thanks for listening, everybody. The Yankees are doing well. The Yankees are doing well. For Jamie, Heath, and Chris, I am Adam. Hope this was helpful. It should be helpful, at least in terms of giving you some ideas on how to start your team and build the core of your fantasy team. We'll talk to you tomorrow with a mailbag on fantasy football today.