Fantasy Football Today - PPR Fantasy Mock Draft Review With Rookies! Strategy, Analysis & Projections! (05/04 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: May 4, 2023

The FFT Crew breaks down their first PPR league mock draft with rookies! Heath starts by defending his selection Ja'Marr Chase over Justin Jefferson at no. 1 overall (1:00). Then, the crew discusses where Bijan Robinson stacks up alongside Jonathan Taylor and Saquon Barkley (6:40). Next, the run on quarterbacks begins in round 3 with Jalen Hurts, Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, and Josh Allen (23:55). And finally, they review the teams each selected (01:02:01). Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. The NFL draft is over. The fantasy drafts are just beginning. Who's the number one pick in PPR? We're going to tell you that on today's Fantasy Football Today. I'm Jamie Eisenberg. That's Dave Richard. That's Heath Cummings.

Again, no Adam Azer. He's enjoying his time. I guess he's probably in Disney World by now, so maybe he's got his mouse ears on, taking his kids around, going on some rides, having a good time. We're going to have a good time with you here. Make sure you hit that Like button on the YouTube page if you're watching us, and we certainly appreciate you listening to us as well.

All right, guys, we did our 12-team PPR mock draft. It was the majority of our staff, some people from our HQ production side. Always a good time when we do our mock drafts, and this is the first one that we did following the NFL draft, so the rookies are in place, and we're going to show you where they ended up. But a huge surprise at the top. We teased this on Tuesday's show. We had Joe P. Sapia on, excuse me, Wednesday's show.

We had Joe P. Sapia on from Fantasy Pros. He's shocking the world with a new number one overall selection. So we'll start with the first round guys here, and the guy at the top is not the one that we've been talking about for the majority of the offseason. We've been saying Justin Jefferson, number one, Justin Jefferson, number one. Jordan Addison goes to the Vikings.ings he's coming to change his mind he has number one pick he takes jamar chase then justin jefferson then christian mccaffrey austin

eckler travis kelsey and cooper cup the first six picks of the first round so he if you said this on wednesday's show with joe now say it again why jamar chase over justin jefferson well i i don't want it to uh sound like i made a big adjustment because of Jordan Addison. I had Justin Jefferson number one and Jamar Chase number two before the NFL draft. So they were right there back to back. If you look at last year, Jefferson was 1.1 fantasy points per game better than Jamar Chase was. I expect Jordan Addison is going to earn a larger target share than Adam Thielen did. It'll be a full season of playing with TJ Hawkinson. The main edge that

Jefferson had was the fact that he had considerably more targets than Chase. And then I expect also that Chase will be better on a per target basis. He averaged about 11 yards per target as a rookie. That was insane. We knew he wasn't going to repeat that, but it fell to 7.8 last year. For an elite wide receiver like him, I would expect something closer to nine yards per target, which is basically the same as the difference in what their production was last year, 1.1 fantasy points per game if he makes that type of improvement. So I think there's a slight improvement from Chase. There's a slight downgrade in total volume from Justin Jefferson.

That's enough to put Chase at number one. But I have these guys separated by like half a point in my full season projections. So love them both at one or two. Dave, I know for you, you also dropped Jefferson from the top spot. You said that on Monday's show, but you went with Christian McCaffrey. So we got into that on Monday. But in terms of the receivers, is Chase ahead of Jefferson for you as well? He is in non-PPR, not in full PPR.

Chase actually led all wide receivers and targets per game last year. That strengthens Heath's case. But Jefferson, I know he's not going to get 184 targets or however many he had last year. That's going to come down. I still think it's going to be in that 140 to 150 range. And that just makes me feel a little bit more confident in him in full PPR. I guess I can make the case for, I think this is easy. Chase could score more touchdowns than Jefferson, right? He did that last year and he played fewer games. So if they're both playing 17 game seasons, Chase might outscore Jefferson by three or

four touchdowns. The question is, will there be enough in the receiving game for Jefferson to make up for that? And my guess is going to be yes. I think it will be really close, but Jefferson's the one that I would lean toward. See, the reason I don't think the targets come down significantly is this is what Kevin O'Connell told us they were going to do with Justin Jefferson. Coming from that RAM system where Cooper Cuff had 191 targets the year that those guys were together, then he gets 184 targets in terms of Jefferson in O'Connell's first year.

I don't think Addison's getting that much more than the 107 targets that Thielen had. And I guess this is just how we're viewing Jordan Addison. I think it might be maybe 115, maybe 120. So Jefferson goes from 184, if we're keeping it on the same pie scale, then maybe he goes to 184 to 175. I just don't see it's going to be like a huge dip in production. I think it's going to come from Hawkinson. I think it's going to come from Osborne.

I think that's where Addison's targets are going to come from, if there's a dramatic leap from where he's going based on Thielen's numbers. So to me, Jefferson's still the number one overall pick. I have no problem with the Addison selection going to come from if there's a dramatic leap from where he's going based on Thielen's numbers. So to me, Jefferson's still the number one overall pick. I have no problem with the Addison selection going to Minnesota. I think that might help him because Addison might be a little bit better than Adam Thielen in terms of production, so maybe there's a little bit less of a bracket situation or double-cover situation going in Jefferson's direction. So I don't think this necessarily hurts him to the degree that it's going to drop him.

And I know we're talking about dropping from one spot to the next. Right, but this is important. It's important for people that are drafting early on. Oh, sure. Here's the question for you. What does the target difference need to be between Jefferson and Chase for you to buy into Chase as the number one receiver? I think Chase probably has to see maybe 20, 30 more targets.

And how many fewer for Jefferson? You're just going to say it's got to be 25 plus. Yeah, I think that that's fair to say. If it goes 20 targets in each direction, Chase can overcome Jefferson. I will say this, though. This is why you want a top two selection because you get one of these two guys. When you say 20 targets, you're not talking about what Chase was on pace for last year, not 20 more than what he was on pace for.

No. Because he was on pace for, like you said, more than 184 that Jefferson had. If he has 20 more targets than he had last year, he's got 205 targets. Correct. Okay. So he averaged 11.17 targets per game. I'm nerding out here with going to the 100th decimal. And Jefferson was at 10.82.

So a difference of 0.3 targets per game in Chase's favor. If he plays 17 games, that comes out to what? Like five more targets? Yeah. There's also, you know, again, if we're looking at additions to rosters, I think Irv Smith's an upgrade over Hayden Hurst in terms

of talent if he's able to stay healthy and be on the field. You know, so a guy that might command a few more targets at the tight end position. Might command a few more touchdowns. But, you know, this is still a pretty good season. Now you're a seeding core. I think it's better on the whole than it is for the Vikings. So, I mean, look, again, these guys are awesome. It's as we talked about yesterday, it's not a bad spot to be in

if you have one of the top two selections. So, again, those receivers go one and two. Chase goes one. Jefferson goes two. Dave gets Christian McCaffrey at three. Austin Eckler goes to Thomas Schaefer at four. Travis Kelsey at five. Again, keeping the tight end in the top five overall selections.

And then Cooper Cup comes in at six. So, not a huge surprise in terms of the names in the top six, but different order, again, with the top of Jamar Chase going first. Seven through 12 is Tyreek Hill, Saquon Barkley, Jonathan Taylor, Bijan Robinson comes in at 10. That's where I got him. Tony Pollard at 11 and Josh Jacobs at 12. So in terms of 6-12, let's start with first, maybe the order. Barkley, Taylor, Taylor, Barkley. We know there's going to be probably a lot of flip-flopping between those two guys, especially until Barkley's situation is somewhat settled when he's back with the team. I don't think, again, you should panic about the off-season workouts and missing any time, but he does seem to be adamant about wanting to have a contract

as opposed to being placed on the franchise tag and playing under that deal. So Dave, are you Barkley Taylor or are you Taylor Barkley? I'm Barkley Taylor. I think having Anthony Richardson join the Colts and Richardson potentially sn situations, but I do think the Richardson pick probably hurts Taylor just a little bit, just enough. I just wonder though, if it might open up some opportunities for him, A, because they're going to be so run heavy. And you look at the system that Shane Steichen's coming from where obviously Miles Sanders had a great season last year. And I think we could all agree that Jonathan Taylor is a much better player than Miles Sanders, especially at this point in their careers. Sanders last year, Taylor still 25. I think he's only going to be 25 this year.

But looking at those two guys, the question will come, is it going to be a lot of quarterback rushing touchdowns when they're inside the five as opposed to running back rushing touchdowns? So we'll see how that impacts them. I've got to tell you, though, after talking to Joe yesterday, Heath, and for those of you that didn't see the show, Joe's got Bijan Robinson as his third overall player, number one running back.

It just makes me think, like, is Bijan just in a better spot than Taylor, than Barkley? And then you throw in Austin Eckler into that as well as a 28-year-old guy, knowing that his situation is a little bit tenuous, how he feels about the team and clearly what they feel about him from a contract situation. It's making me think that Bijan should be number two. I don't know if I have the stones to do it just yet, but maybe ahead of both Taylor and Barkley. So Bijan comes in at number 10.

Keith, how high do you have him ranked in terms of overall for redraft leagues right now? Yeah, in full PPR, I've got him at 15, so a little bit behind this. I think the concern is that he could have maybe 300 carries, but only 25 or 30 catches. Not because he can't do that. He can do it very well, but because they're probably going to throw the ball 495 times, and 55% of those passes are going to go to Drake London and Kyle Pitts. I don't think, unless we see a big change in the offensive philosophy, they're going to throw to their running backs as much as some of these other teams do. That would be my problem with putting him ahead of Barkley. I'd kind of like to put him ahead of Eckler, and I think we kind of glossed over it.

I don't have any running backs in my top five picks in full PPR. So I do think that Eckler and McCaffrey, they went early. I would take Kelsey and Cup and Tyreek Hill over those guys. So these guys are kind of the back half of round one are all scrunched together. But I'm a little lower right now. I'll probably get hyped up and have Bijan on my first round

before we get to August. Dave, where does he go for you? He's eighth overall for me in full PPR. He's higher than that non-PPR. Top five fantasy running back, regardless of format. He's in that group for me. Here's my problem with putting him at two, and I thought about it on draft night. If I put him behind Christian McCaffrey and that's it, am I drafting him too close to his ceiling? Whoever you draft at number two, you're drafting too close to their ceiling.

But the other guys that I would look at drafting at number two, I've seen the ceiling. I know what the offense looks like. Well, you shouldn't be drafting him at two. Maybe not as much for Taylor. Don't draft him at two. Second running back. Okay.

That's fair. So now we're talking about at earliest fourth overall, because I would take McCaffrey ahead of him and I would take Jefferson and chase ahead of him. I don't know if I'm ready to take cup ahead of him necessarily, but maybe it feels a little too close to the ceiling for me. But to his point, though, I mean, you're drafting all these guys at their ceiling if you're taking them in the first round and they're top five.

The difference being, I know what to expect. I've seen enough from McCaffrey in San Francisco. I've seen enough from the 49ers offense. I feel good about him. Eckler looks like he's going to be back in L.A., looks like he's not going to be forced into a smaller role. I feel pretty good about him. Saquon in New York, feel pretty good about him.

Taylor, we talk about Richardson taking away touchdowns. There's also the potential for him to be more efficient as a runner because he's sharing the backfield with Richardson in defense. You've seen this countless times with running backs playing with Russian quarterbacks. Maybe he could get better there too. We've seen 2,000 total yards from Taylor. So I've seen it from those guys. I haven't seen it from Bijan.

And I know the type of offense that he's in. It should be good for him. It should be really good. But I also know that there's a lot working against it. Are the Falcons going to be in a lot of competitive games again? Or are they going to play from behind? I'm not exactly sure. I'm not sure how much work they're really going to put on Robinson's plate.

So for now, as we sit here, it's early May. I just don't want to take Bijan that close to the sun. I would say this team got better. So I would expect them to be in more as many competitive games and maybe playing with the lead as opposed to playing from behind. And believe me, they didn't draft a mate overall to not put a lot on his plate. They're going to put a lot on the plate i wouldn't necessarily

worry about that so bijan goes 10 tony pollard 11 and then josh jacobs 12 and so again we still see jacobs in the first round i'm sure that's going to be a lot of personal preference in terms of how you view him compared to some of the other running backs and certainly other receivers that go after him but to recap the first, for those of you not watching on YouTube, Jamar Chase, one, Justin Jefferson, two, Christian McCaffrey, three, Austin Eckler, four, Travis Kelsey, five, Cooper Cup, Tyree Kill, Saquon Barkley, Jonathan Taylor, Bijan Robinson at 10, Tony Potter, 11, and Jacob Gibbs takes Josh Jacobs at 12. All right, it's going to round two now here, and this is where Brees Hall comes off the board. So we know that's coming back from the injury we'll see if that's going to you know maybe bump him up if we get Bowser's reports when we get to August coming back from last year's ACL tear

but still the 13th overall pick then Stephon Diggs, CeeDee Lamb, Devontae Adams, AJ Brown, Garrett Wilson I'll just keep going because there's a receiver run here and then Amara St. Brown as the seventh pick in the second round so keith obviously as a receiver guy i'm sure you love seeing this all these receivers coming off the board after bruce hall uh any change in the order for you in terms of how these guys go or just kind of the what we're going to expect when we get into the beginning part of the second round digs lamb adams aj brown garrett wilson all coming after bruce hall to start round two yeah i've got lamb ahead of digs but then it's Adams, and then I've got the two, a Munro and an A.J. Brown back-to-back.

I think I actually have a Munro higher, but those two guys just right there. I thought that these guys were all pretty good values. I have Diggs and Lamb both in the first round. So, yeah, I think I'll be surprised if we only have four wide receivers in the top 12 by ADP. I would not be surprised if one more slides into the top 12, but pretty close to the same order. I do have Garrett Wilson behind all these guys. You got to figure though, Dave, uh, just in talking ADP, we're going to get the quarterbacks in the first round too. So that might, you know, change some things around, whether it's a running back getting

bumped out or not getting that other receiver in there. But it's a very nice situation, you know, like for me, for example, I'm sure, you know, probably Adam Azer feels the same way. Again, this is a 12 team PPR league where we start three receivers. You come away with, you know, one of those running backs for Adam, it was Jonathan Taylor. Then he gets Devante Adams. For me, I get Bijan Robinson, CeeDee Lamb, Mehron Berkson gets Tony Pollard and Stephon Diggs. I mean, that start just feels pretty

fantastic, especially like for me, I'm going to lean hero RB as much as I can, get one of those guys and then load up on receiver. I was thrilled about that. So that strategy, Dave, is that something that you'd be looking to do as well if you're picking at the back end of the first round? Jamie, that's what I did in the early part of the first round, back end of the second round. I love it. I think it's great. And I think, I don't know if in the early part of the first round, back end of the second round. I love it. I think it's great. And I think, I don't know if I'm ready to say that there's going to be like enough running backs there where you'll feel okay when you get to

rounds four, five, and six. I can't say that, but I know you'll feel good about the receivers that you take early on. And I was happy with how my team came together. And I have absolutely no problem with that strategy if you're drafting late in round one. Hero RB, back-to-back pass catchers after that. All right, so again, the run on receivers.

Breesall starts round two. Zafon Diggs, CeeDee Lamb, Devontae Adams, A.J. Brown, Garrett Wilson, Amon Ross ain't brown, and then we get to pick eight in the second round, and some running backs come off the board here. Nick Chubb, then Derek Henry, so we're starting to see where Henry may slide based on how, you know, the new landscape for fantasy managers look could end up being a steal. Jalen Waddle to Dave with pick number 10.

The second round, Travis Etienne. And then Heath ends the round with T. Hagan. So, Heath, I think you're probably a little bit higher on Derek Henry than where he went here, even though I know you're not a running back. Dave, I know you are taking Henry probably a little bit higher on Derrick Henry than where he went here, even though I know you're not a running back guy. Dave, I know you are taking Henry probably a little bit sooner. So should fantasy managers get used to seeing Nick Chubb, Derrick Henry? You know, you want to throw Travis Etienne into this conversation as well. But in terms of the two veterans, you know, falling to maybe the back end of round two. I appreciate the deference that Thomas is giving his elders here, selecting the older backs.

I've got Henry 16th, but I have Eckler lower than this. I don't know that Austin Eckler should be a consensus top four pick if we're going to push Derrick Henry into the back half of the second round. But wouldn't that be a PPR thing, though, just based on his catches? Yes, but Henry has shown the ability to score like Austin Eckler in PPR. He is a year older, and so I do think he should get more of a ding for age. But I'm pretty worried about a more of a ding for age, but I'm pretty worried about a lot of these 27, 28, 29 year old running backs. And Henry,

I don't know if you saw the most recent training video, but none of these guys are in better shape than he is. That, that dude still has the potential to be the best running back in fantasy. I think he's a good pick here, but this is very close to where I have him. I have him, I have him at 16. I thought Chubb was actually a slightly better value. I've got him at 13 or 14. So both these guys, good values where they're taken. I just, looking at Eckler at four and Henry with a fourth to last pick in round two, it feels like one of them is being penalized

for their age a lot more than the other one is. Fair. I think, again, though, most people, I know you're looking at it more from the production standpoint because you're aware of this. I think most people would, though, look at it and say, okay, PPR, you know, I know you're looking at it more from the production standpoint because you're aware of this. I think most people would look at it and say, OK, PPR, I'm taking Eckler. He's got a chance for, you know, maybe 80 catches.

And Derek Henry is going to have to score probably that many more touchdowns than Eckler, which doesn't necessarily always equate what we've seen the last couple of seasons. So, yes, it does feel like there's a little bit too much of a gap. But I think, you know, when our audience is watching this, they probably understand why. So, Dave, you end up with Jalen Waddle. Like you said, you go McCaffrey Waddle Heath, you go with the two receivers. Uh, talk about your starts, David, just in terms of what you, you got in your first two picks and we can even, you know, extend it to around three, you end up going with Chris Olave. So running back receiver, receiver and Heath, you go receiver, receiver, tight end. So Dave, you start first.

Let me start with Olave. I'm hoping for a boost with Derek Carr, hoping that he's the true number one target getter for New Orleans last season. 13.2 PPR points per game. That's not bad. That's basically a number two, maybe closer to a low-end number two fantasy receiver than a high-end. I'm hoping he takes a step forward in his second year, and

I'm hoping that the quarterback that New Orleans got is an upgrade while they basically keep the same offense in place. As for Waddle, look, it was bad without Tua. Four games without him, 10.2 PPR points per game. I don't like that in round two. But I definitely like 16.8 PPR points per game. That's what he averaged in 13 games with Tua.

I am tying myself to Tua Tungabailoa by taking Jalen Waddell in late round two. I would have had a much harder decision if Thomas had not taken Derek Henry. I think I probably would have taken Henry and gone back to my old ways, Jamie, of being running back heavy with my first two picks.

But I didn't have to make that decision. Thomas made it for me, and I went with Waddell instead. Really happy with young wide receivers who should be high in targets per game. I was disappointed that I took Mark Andrews once we got to the middle of this draft. And I don't usually feel that way, but I like Andrews at the 2-3 turn. I love the start of Chase and Higgins, but I really struggled between Andrews and Devonta Smith. I wanted both of them there as well. And when we got to round five and TJ Hawkinson

was still there, if you look at his consensus ranking on fantasy pros, he's a third round pick. We got this round seven and Dallas Goddard was still there. I would have much rather taken Devonta Smith and then taken Hawkinson or Goddard. Like you look, I took him round seven, Traylon Burks. If I could have Devontae Smith and Dallas Goddard as opposed to Mark Andrews and Traylon Burks, I would absolutely love that. So I may not be quite as early tied in as I was if these hold. I don't think Hawkinson's going to make it. He might now that Addison has been drafted by Minnesota. It is true. Could push him down a little bit.

I guess just any concern, and maybe did you consider getting Joe Burrow after you went Chase and Higgins and just go all in on the Bengals? Was that a decision that you struggled with of Higgins versus Smith or just another receiver there? I did not get a chance really to draft quarterbacks, Jamie. The order and the rate that quarterbacks were drafted in this draft, Joe Burrow never came back to me at the end of round four because he was taken in the middle of round three.

I didn't even get a shot at Lamar Jackson or Justin Fields. They went in round four before I picked again. So the league decided for me that I was going to wait on quarterback in this draft. Yeah, and that's something I think you've got to get used to is we're going to see quarterbacks even in our drafts, analyst drafts. We don't usually see that happen. Oh, the quarterback in our draft. Yeah, and that's something I think you've got to get used to is we're going to see quarterbacks even in our drafts, analyst drafts. We don't usually see that happen. Oh, the quarterback in our draft is coming up,

the shocker of the entire draft. Yeah, I guess that's true. We're Anthony Richardson, but we'll get to that. But yeah, no, the quarterback certainly went early. So we're going to take a quick break right now. So we're through the first two rounds, and we'll come back and we'll give you all of the draft that we can get to on today's show. You can read about the draft on the site on cbssports.com.

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Not just the Fantasy app, but also check out the CBS Sports app. It's a great place to catch all of your sports when you're out and about and, you know, maybe in Disney World checking things out. So you can listen and watch the podcast on the CBS Sports app. You've got your best bets in, and now it's time to follow your action. The best way to do that, the CBS Sports app. It features lightning fast live scoring for all major sports. You can track your favorite teams or just individual games you have an interest in

with the click of a button. It's also the way that you get breaking news alerts, watch live sports, and stay on top of all the latest updates. It's totally free whether you have an iPhone or Android, and it's the easiest way to keep your finger on the pulse of every game that matters so nba playoffs nhl playoffs baseball obviously the nfl season coming up make sure you have the cbs sports app it is the best app that you'll find anywhere all right let's get to round three again starts with mark andrews to heath then we got davante smith chris alavi to dave ramondre stevenson i love that pick in round

three to thomas uh jalen hurts the first quarterback off the board then patrick mahomes with the sixth pick in the third round kenneth walker surprise in the third round josh allen goes in the third round joe burrow as he was alluding to the run on quarterbacks i take naji harris with the 10th pick then debo samuel and then christian watson So we have the quarterbacks coming off the board. So we'll start there because I think, again, no big surprise to see Andrews, Devontae Smith, Chris Olave. You can make a case that Andrews, Olave, their second-round picks. I would take Ramondre Stevenson in the second round as well.

But we start with the quarterbacks here. So Jalen Hurts, the first quarterback off the board, ahead of Mahomes, ahead of Josh Allen. Dave, what do you think about that to Zach Brooke taking Jalen Hurts first? I know on the surface, it sounds like you're spending more guts than necessary to take a quarterback other than Patrick Mahomes first off the board, but check these averages out. Last year, Mahomes was at 29.4 fantasy points per game. That's six points for every touchdown. Hertz was at 28.1. We know that Mahomes threw the ball more than Hertz did last year. 2021, Mahomes, not his best year, 24.9. Hertz, his first year as a starter, he was at 22. So he's

trailed Mahomes each of the past few years. He's shrunk the gap year over year. I wonder if the Eagles' defense doesn't play to the level that maybe we're putting them at after the draft, because I'm just thinking they're going to be just as dominant again this year. But what if it's not? Does that mean that Hurts has to throw a little bit more and do a little bit more, and there will be fewer games this season where he's just handing off to the running backs in the fourth quarter, more competitive games for Philadelphia. And if that's the case, might he catch Patrick Mahomes in fantasy points per game? I think it's possible,

but I go back to my B. John Robinson argument. I feel like I'm drafting Hurts a little too close to the ceiling. If I'm taking him over everybody, I'm at the point now where I'm drafting Hurts a little too close to the ceiling if I'm taking him over everybody. I'm at the point now where I'm comfortable taking Hurts ahead of Josh Allen. I'm not there with him over Mahomes. That's a personal preference thing. But I think that you could make the case for Hurts potentially finishing the year better than Mahomes. Just don't know if you have to draft it that way.

I'm just not necessarily sure if he throws more and runs less, if it's better for his fantasy production. Oh, I didn't say anything about running less. Well, I don't think he will throw more and run the same. I think if, if he throws more, it will come at the expense of his running and that will probably be worse for his fantasy production, but it might be a wash. I think the top three are the top three.

It's Mahomes, it's Hurts, it's Allen in some order. I think you have to get pretty creative to make the argument for Hurts. It's easier to make the argument for both Allen and Mahomes than it is for Hurts. Heath, could we make the argument, and Jamie too, could we make the argument that if the games are more competitive for Philadelphia, that Jalen Hurts runs more, not necessarily throws more? I think he just plays his game.

I don't think you dissect it to this game is going this way. I mean, we saw it in the playoffs. We saw it in the Super Bowl. He had a great game throwing the ball and it was, you know, not necessarily because, you know, he didn't want to rely on his rushing. And he was playing, you know, less than 100% with a shoulder problem, you know. So to me, it comes down to, you know, the risk reward. To me, Mahomes is the safest one because I don't think he's going to put himself at risk to be injured to the same level as the other two because of how the other two run, you know. And that's saying something because Mahomes has you know battled some ankle

problems the last couple of years with his rushing you know so uh but it just feels like he's he's the safest of the trio I still think that if Allen had not hurt his elbow last year he might have finished better than both of them so I still think he has just as high a ceiling as both those guys but I I think you know you said it best teeth it's it's almost like what i said about the receivers if you want a piece of jefferson or chase you just you know if you have your chance of taking the pick you know you maybe just take the second pick and let the first person decide if you want to uh one of these quarterbacks and you're in that range you see one come off the board as we saw here you know three of in four picks you just take the last of the trio and you

should be pretty happy about that not Not to say anything, you know, that, that the three guys coming after them, which are going to be, I'm sorry, in some order, Lamar Jackson, Justin Fields,

and Joe Burrow, you shouldn't feel bad about getting one of those three as well. But I think those three are just a slightly different plane. And if they are able to get one of those guys, you should feel pretty happy about that. So I would feel pretty bad about, and I'm not picking on Adam because Adam is the one who did it here. I would feel pretty bad about getting one from that second group in the very same round

that the first quarterback went. Um, I feel like if I'm going to the second group, I should get at least a one round discount. Um, I think that's fair. Uh, and, and to, to be in full disclosure, cause I, you know, he's not here to defend him, I was drafting for Adam. So I was drafting for Adam with the idea of what would he do and who would he want. He loves Burrow. And he does love Burrow. And I thought, okay, now the three quarterbacks are off the board. We're going to see that run.

And so will it get back to him to get him the guy that he wants? So I was looking at the players on the board, again, trying to put myself in Adam's shoes. Who would he take here? And so I wanted to make sure he got at least a player that he would feel comfortable with and probably draft himself. So maybe he does not do that. But, you know, again, that's what I was doing for him as drafting for him. So, again, so Joe Burrow comes right after those guys.

But let's talk about Ken Walker in round three. So we had a little bit of discussion again with Joe PCP on Wednesday's show. So, Dave, you weren't part of that. So I know, I think you're a little bit higher on Walker than he's an IR. Is he still worth drafting in round three? And is this too soon considering that the running backs who went after him, Najee Harris,

Aaron Jones, JK Dobbins, Miles Sanders, to me, he's behind all those guys. So how do you view Ken Walker in this spot? I've got Najee over Kenneth Walker. so I would have taken him ahead of Walker. And I got it in pencil, Jamie.

I've got him actually pegged to the spot where George Maselli took him in our draft. George took him 31st overall. That's where I have him in full PPR right now. And I'm going through this phase where every day I think about the Seattle run game and I go, okay, Walker's really not that bad. He's more talented than Charbonnet. And then I'll read something or I'll see something and it makes me go, I don't know if I like Walker as much anymore. But I have

kind of settled on the theory of if I'm going to take Kenneth Walker, I'm going to do everything I can to get Charbonnet and just lock up the backfield. Because the one thing I do know is that when Pete Carroll does commit to one back, that back gets a decent amount of work. Last year, there wasn't a lot of touchdowns to go around because they didn't have a lot of plays inside the 10 last year. I believe they were last in the league in that format. You can blame that on Geno Smith being too damn good at throwing the ball just outside of the red zone. That could flip last year. I believe they were last in the league in that format. You can blame that on Gino Smith being too damn good

at throwing the ball just outside of the red zone. That could flip this year. They could run the ball more, and they can get inside the 10-yard line more. That would be better for the running backs, and I still think Walker is the most talented guy there. So if I were to say, I'm not going to overreact to Charbonnet getting drafted,

then I'd have Walker still as a first or early second-round pick. I am reactingact to Charbonnet getting drafted, then I'd have Walker still as a first or early second round pick. I am reacting to what Charbonnet is doing, but not to the point where I'm scared to take Kenneth Walker and I'm just going to pass on him with a top 40 pick. I'm willing to get my foot in the water in round three. So, Heath, I want you just to reiterate what you said yesterday because I thought it was, you know, well put how you said

where Walker should go and where Charbonnet should go and in terms of how they went in this draft so just I don't know if we're going to get to uh that spot I just want to pull it up here so it was round one for Charbonnet it was round three for Walker and I think what I said it was one to two rounds too early for Walker and one to two rounds too late for Charbonnet. I'm actually, I could understand Walker in round four. I've got Walker in round five. I think that there's a real risk that if they do get inside the 10-yard line more, it's Zach Charbonnet with those carries, the big-bodied back over Kim Walker. Walker had some real problems with losing yardage on plays

where he should not have lost yardage last season. He was only above expectation on a, I think he was the second lowest running back in that regard to have qualifying number of carries and rushes above expectation. He had a lot of plays. Now he had plays where he was 70 yards over expectation. He hit the home run plays, but he had too many plays where he got fewer yards than expected, kind of like a DeAndre Swift type situation. And I think that we could see Charbonnet, if he proves the ability to do it, be in that Jamal Williams type role in the offense with the difference being that I also think Charbonnet might be a better pass catcher than

Ken Walker. It could really, I remember, I'll throw it back to Ben Gretsch. Shoot, it was probably four or five years ago, but the trap back, the guy who does all the work in between the 20s on the ground, but doesn't catch very many passes and doesn't get very many touchdowns. I think there's a chance that Walker could have twice as many touches as Zach Charbonnet this year, but not the ones that matter as much. It's certainly telling what they did, that they had this young running back who seemed to be very electric for them last year in Walker and then seemingly like a luxury pick.

You know, they didn't need to take somebody of Zach Charbonnet's talent but could certainly use him in a very high regard, which will be bad for Walker and maybe bad for both of them if they're cannibalizing each other a little bit. So I would not touch him in round three, and I agree with you, Heath. I think round four is maybe around the time you should consider it but if you get him in round five i certainly like him much less than i do a lot of other running backs that come off the board which i'll show you in a little bit but i want to i want to touch on christian

watson going at the back end of round three now that we know the quarterback situation is different the trade is official obviously for a couple of weeks now aaron rogers no longer the guy there and all they did was add uh reed uh Reid, in the NFL draft for the receiving corps. They added a couple of tight ends as well. So you know Watson is locked in as the number one receiver. Romeo Dobbs is most likely the number two receiver. Has Christian Watson now put himself in position to be a third-round pick and a top-20 receiver off the board?

Yep. Yep. I've got him ranked at 36th. There's still risk for him, but we're past, I think we're already past the truly safe picks. Like you look at the guys who went right behind him. And I think the very next wide receivers were Keenan Allen, DeAndre Hopkins, and Calvin Ridley. I don't feel any safety with two wide receivers over 30 and a guy that hasn't played football in almost two years. And I don't think those guys have more upside than what Christian Watson showed us that he had. He could be a true target hog number one wide receiver in this offense. And at the very least, he is an elite big play type wide receiver who could be a top 12 guy on a Tyler Lockett type way where you have some dud weeks, but you have some huge boom weeks as well.

I think this is exactly the right spot for him. Dave? Yeah, I've got him in the 50s. I'm nervous about, A, Jordan Love as a quarterback and just him getting the ball to his receivers, and, B, the Packers maybe reconfiguring their overall philosophy on offense and maybe running the ball just a little bit more. And, uh, look, I liked, he had a 20, like almost a 23% target share from week 10 on last year.

I have no problem saying he could be even better than that this year in that 24, 25% range. I just, this is another case. This is the third time I'm going to mention it. It feels like if you're taking him in round three, you're drafting him a little too close to the ceiling. I'd rather try and middle it just a little bit more on Christian Watson. I've got him as an early round five pick. For me, it would be round four, but I guess, you know, it also comes into where you're picking. And so Jacob Gibbs is the one that drafted him into round three.

He's not going to get him again on his next turn. So he took Watson and Keenan Allen. I like Allen better right now. Just I do think that if he does stay healthy in PPR, he should, I don't want to say obliterate Christian Watson, but I think he's going to be a much safer pick than Watson. But again, as Heath said, you're taking a guy in his early 30s

who did miss plenty of games last year due to a hamstring problem. But it's an easy argument to make over Hopkins if you're buying into Christian Watson. It's an easy argument to make over Hopkins if you're buying into Christian Watson it's an easy argument to make over Calvin Ridley if you're buying into Watson I still like those two guys better as of now but Hopkins could easily fall depending on where he goes I didn't like the Debo Samuel pick at the end around three either I think he's going to struggle with all the target competition if everybody stays healthy in San Francisco but again just in terms of where you're drafting if you're at the back end of a round

it's not going to be easy to say okay I can come back next round and get somebody like this. And so if this is a guy Jacob was targeting, he goes and gets him. So that's the end of round three. Again, I'll give you just the last six picks. You can see if you're watching on YouTube. But after the run on quarterbacks, Jalen Hurts with the fifth pick in the third round, Mahomes the sixth pick, Kenneth Walker the seventh pick, and then it goes Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Najee Harris,

Debo Samuel, Christian Watson. We're into round four here. We'll try to pick up the pace a little bit so we get to a few more rounds. Keenan Allen kicks off the round. DeAndre Hopkins, Calvin Ridley, then Aaron Jones, J.K. Dobbins, Justin Fields, Miles Sanders with the seventh pick in the fourth round. Jameer Gibbs,

we'll talk about that. Then Lamar Jackson, Amari Cooper, D.K. Metcalf, and DJ Moore. I bet you can guess who took DJ Moore. So here we go with the fourth round here. Big run on receivers. I think, again, good value for Keenan Allen. Potentially good value for DeAndre Hopkins, depending on, again, where he ends up with whatever NFL team is going to have him.

Let's stay with Hopkins right now. Heath, if he's still on the Cardinals, knowing the quarterback situation could be frustrating, depending on when Kyler Murray comes back. Where would DeAndre Hopkins be drafted if he stays with Arizona this year? Late round five for me. I've got a mid-round five

right now. Again, another older wide receiver and a very, very uncertain offense. So yeah, round five pick with upside to beat that, but I think a really low floor, especially if he doesn't want to be there and he's still in Arizona. I'll go a little bit higher than that.

I'll say he's a round four pick, and I'm hoping that he's got a better quarterback situation, and that's why I have him ranked inside of late round three. I've been around long enough to hear people downgrade Hopkins because of his situation and he's come back in a big way every time. So I'm ready to just stick with Hopkins, call him a number two fantasy receiver, averaged almost 17 PPR points per game last year. That includes games that he didn't

catch passes from kyler murray so i'm i i just still view him as a high level talent at the position i i think that's that's fair based on him i think just the situation knowing that's a different play caller and potentially could be colt mccoy you know i don't know how many people are going to be excited about that uh for how many games kyler murray's out then who knows what kyler murray looks like when he's back so hopefully he's traded hopefully he ends up you know in a situation kansas city buffalo the teams that he's mentioned that would be fun to see but he's going to be one of those guys that could you know certainly change depending on when you do your draft however this goes for him this offseason so uh he if you mentioned calvin

ridley let's just stay there because he's another polarizing guy so you like him a little bit lower dave i know you're probably going to take him in this range. I've come around a little bit on Calvin Ridley after just the owners meetings and talking to people, cover the Jaguars and the Jaguars people themselves. Heath, how far down is Calvin Ridley for you? He's at that 5-6 turn, I think, for me. Again, I think we should be at least a little bit concerned about the long layoff he's had. It will be almost two years by the time he actually plays in an NFL game since the last time he did. I think a year and ten months or something.

We saw that that layoff had a huge impact on Deshaun Watson's performance. And that's a different situation. It's a different position. I'm not saying it's apples to apples, but it should at least provide a little bit of caution. And then you have a little bit of concern about what's the target share like. Can Calvin Ridley, is he going to lead the team in targets? Or is it Christian Kirk? You know the tight end is probably going to combine

or going to get 20% of the targets. And the running backs are pretty good in that regard as well. So I'm just not sure that he has the same upside that he had in Atlanta. And the floor scares me a little bit with the layoff. And Heath's not drafting Calvin Ridley close to his upside in Atlanta. The floor scares me a little bit with the layoff. Heath's not drafting Calvin Ridley close to his upside and close to his ceiling. Here I am, banging my butt on the ceiling with Calvin Ridley, taking him as a late round three pick. I am expecting him to come

back with a vengeance. I think he's in a good offense. Great quarterback. Good system. One that should continue to throw a vengeance. I think he's in a good offense, great quarterback, good system, one that should continue to throw a lot. He averaged 14 PPR points per game in 2021. He was over 18 PPR points per game in 2020. Yes, these are different offenses. He's not playing with Julio Jones anymore. He's playing with Christian Kirk. I'd be surprised if Kirk ended up with significantly more targets than Calvin Ridley. I think it could be fairly close between the two. But we've seen Ridley be a game-breaker, be a touchdown hog.

We've seen it over his career. And I'm kind of betting on the talent coming through on Ridley. Do I have him ranked too high? Yeah, probably. Probably not a top 40 player. He should be out of there. But I don't mind going after him even though he hasn't played in the last... How long is he? 22 months?

I think by the time we get to week one, it will be. Okay. Right. I was looking at receiver here, you know, just making the pick and just with Cooper getting more competition in Cleveland. I liked him better than that. Obviously, the situation in Seattle with Smith and Njigba joining the Seahawks. I like Ridley's situation a little bit better than that, if, again, he's back to being Calvin Ridley.

And then DJ Moore is one that's a little bit tough to say he can be better than Ridley, knowing what the offense in Chicago could look like. Heath, you're about to say something? Yeah, those wide receivers that went after your Najee pick and before Ridley, Debo, Watson, Hopkins, Keenan Allen. Do you like Ridley better than all those guys? I don't like him better than Keenan Allen. Right now, I have Watson behind Ridley, but like one or two spots, and I definitely would take Ridley over Debo Samuel. So the reason I ask is because I thought the very next pick, Aaron Jones,

was probably my favorite pick of round four. And at this point, now that we've made the quarterback change and the running back situation's the same, I'm not sure there's any reason Aaron Jones shouldn't be a round two slash round three type pick. I just wonder if you would like Keenan Allen and Aaron Jones more than you like Najee Harris and Calvin Ridley. Potentially. I don't know if Aaron Jones' situation, you know, getting a little bit older and what we saw at the end of the season with A.J. Dillon and how this offense,

I agree with Dave that they're going to be a little bit more run heavy, not that they weren't run heavy to begin with, but it's a situation where the Packers' offense could be terrible. And I know you could say the Steelers' offense could be terrible, but I like some of the things

that they've done this offseason, you know, adding to the offensive line, adding a very good pass, run blocking tight end you know in the draft i i think that naji harris the way that he finished last season is encouraging and i think that harris could have a bounce back here not maybe to his rookie season because of the pass catching but i do think that naji harris banking on youth you know in terms of him being a little bit younger than aaron jones that's kind of the way i'm leaning with those two guys they're back to back for me in my rankings you know i think I think 13 or 14. But yeah, you know, you can certainly make that case, Keenan Allen and Aaron Jones

better than Calvin Ridley and Najee Harris, knowing where those two guys come from. So I have no problem if that was the route that it ended up, you know, with those picks. Let's talk about some of these running backs here. So I think Aaron Jones is probably a little bit different than the guys that are going to come after him. So it goes J.K. Dobbins. This is not the order, but just the order of the running backs. J.K. Dobbins, Miles is not the order, but just the order of the running backs. J.K. Dobbins, Miles Sanders, and Jameer Gibbs. So Gibbs comes off the board here in the middle of round four, essentially. So, Dave, when you look at those backs, Dobbins, Sanders, Gibbs,

I'm sure Gibbs is the last one for you based on how we've talked about this earlier in the week. But what do you think about those three running backs coming off the board here? It's in pencil, though, man, because you just think about the role that Deandre Swift had in Detroit last year, and he still averaged 13.7 PPR points per game year before that his role was a little bit bigger. He was at 15.2. If you expect Jameer Gibbs to come through at around 14 PPR points per game, which let's, let's talk that out. What does that look like? Is that four catches per game and 100 total yards or 40 yards and a touchdown, something like that?

Does that seem crazy? Maybe a touch too high? But you also know that he's going to have some absolute gems in there where he just has like 150 total yards and two touchdowns because of that breakaway speed so i'm not taking him in round four yet i'm not comfortable with it but i'm starting to kind of see the case for it while also ignoring the draft capital draft capital draft capital spent by the lions on it i i just don't know if that matters as much in general when it comes to Jameer Gibbs in Detroit.

Dobbins I'm taking ahead of. I love that they really haven't added anybody else to that backfield a year removed from that crazy knee injury. And with all the receivers they've added, I think it's a good situation for J.K. Dobbins to step up. So I'd rather have him. And Sanders I'm starting to kind of shy away from nervous that he's not going to be able to come through in a way that the Panthers maybe view him as I know they've talked up his role in the passing game. Be surprised if he ends up doing a lot in the passing game there. And just in general, I think Sanders benefited from playing in Philadelphia and I don't want to give him too much credit for what he did in Philadelphia last season. Yeah, I just, man, I may have the exact opposite thoughts as Dave on this group of running backs.

But I do like all of these backs more than Ken Walker. So I don't necessarily have a problem with any of them in round four. I do think Gibbs has a lot of upside. But man, I know Philadelphia was a great situation for Miles Sanders in terms of rushing efficiency, but I also remember what Deontay Foreman and Chuba Hubbard did in this offense in the second half of last year, and I think Miles Sanders is better than both of those guys. I think the Panthers obviously like Sanders. They made him the highest paid free agent running back in this class, and he's got the rare rookie quarterback in Bryce Young who has shown that he will throw to his running backs. He threw

to his running back, Jameer Gibbs, last year more than he threw, I think, to any other player. So I'm pretty excited about Miles Sanders. I'd be happy with him in this spot for sure. He's my favorite running back that was taken in round four, and I actually have him ranked ahead of the three running backs who were taken in round three. Yeah, it's very interesting how Sanders will be viewed. I'm always a little hesitant when guys change teams. The success rate isn't the best, but the competition isn't exactly the best either for him in Carolina, at least as of now.

I will say this, though, different offense. New coach coming in. So what Foreman and Hubbard did last year, I don't know if you want to carry that over, but obviously Frank Reich did great things with Jonathan Taylor in Indianapolis when he was an MVP candidate two years ago. So it's a great situation for him. It's just a matter of, you know, is there the same upside if Gibbs does hit, if J.K. Dobbins does bounce back.

But I do think round four is the right spot for Miles Sanders. So we'll see how things go there. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we're going to wrap up rounds five and round six, and then we will show you what our teams look like. Again, you can see the full draft on CBSSports.com. Obviously, the draft board here if you're watching us on YouTube. We're going to take a quick break, wrap up the next two rounds,

and then we'll bring on a special guest to defend his draft. That's coming up next on Fantasy Football Today. All right, and we're back. Here we go. Let's go to round five. So Heath ends round four with DJ Moore, starts round five with Damian Pierce, and then we have another little run on running back. So it goes Damian Pierce, Dalvin Cook, Joe Mixon to Dave, TJ Hawkinson,

Terry McLaurin, Drake London with the sixth pick in the fifth round, Isaiah Pacheco in the fifth round, Jerry Judy, Chris Godwin, Kyle Pitts, Rashad White, and then the surprise, Anthony Richardson as the seventh, excuse me, eighth quarterback coming off the board. No, I'm sorry, seventh, excuse me, eighth quarterback coming off the board. No, I'm sorry, seventh quarterback. No, sixth quarterback coming off the board. That's right. In the end of round five.

Somebody count that, please. Seventh. Seventh quarterback. Yeah, I know it was around there. All right, so seventh quarterback coming off the board. So round five, very interesting. So, Heath, I'll start with you. Damian Pierce, we know maybe loses a little bit with Devin Singletary.

We'll see how things go there with CJ Stroud. I believe that is your first running back so what do you think about damian pierce as your number one guy then i think if you're going to wait until round five to take a running back and you get your damian pierce as your number one you should feel pretty good about it we know he has the ability to be a top 12 running back with the right volume. I don't know how much Devin Singletary will matter when they start seeing both these guys on the football field, because I think Damian Pierce is a better running back than Devin Singletary is. Singletary will spell him, but somebody was probably going to do that anyway. I expect if Damian Pierce stays healthy, he performs like a round three or round four player. So I absolutely love it that I can have my top three

wide receivers and Mark Andrews on the team, and I still get Damian Pierce as the number one running back. Why Pierce, though, over Cook and Mixon, knowing that their situations coming out of the NFL draft seem to be a little bit better? Yeah, if it was not for the concerns about them getting cut and or having legal trouble, I would not do that. But I am downgrading both Cook and Mixon right now because there's plenty of speculation that the only reason Cook's still on the Vikings is because he isn't able to pass a physical yet. And I think there's a little bit of worry that Mixon could get

cut and then get charges pressed and then not be able to find a team. But if we get to August and those two guys are still on their teams and there's no legal concerns for Mixon, they're both being drafted two rounds higher than this. Right. I was going to ask you that. Mixon's averaged over 17 PPR points per game over the last two years. That sounds a lot better than it probably actually looked, specifically in the case of 2022. But if Mixon avoids trouble with the law

and he's starting week one for Cincinnati, his competition for playing time is Chase Brown from Illinois. Is there anybody else that's there? Travion Williams. I like Travion Williams for what it's worth. I know. I've liked Travion Williams when he came out of A&M and he's barely played, but I think that they just grind it out with Mixon one more year. And with the improvements that the Bengals have made to their offensive line, plus their

passing game being down, plus he's involved in their passing game, maybe he plays more on third downs instead of a rookie or a guy that's barely played for Cincinnati. Yeah, I think Mixon can beat 17 PPR points per game. He's also currently he's right on the fence

of a round three or four pick for me. Assuming that there's no real crazy talk. He gets to training camp and he's still the starter for the Bengals with no issues. He's going in round two. Maybe he slips into round three. There's no doubt about that. Based on what he's done and knowing the situation, knowing the team and how excited people are about the Bengals.

It's just the concern right now. Same thing with Alvin Kamara. We haven't even mentioned his name yet. You know, he's not going to go on round two, but Alvin Kamara's draft stock is going to fly up the boards if he doesn't have a suspension. So, you know, you got to bake into the scenario right now with Joe Mixon,

what's happening. And that's why he's falling to round five. So I don't think anybody's expecting to be here if we get to August and he's still the starter. So again, we have a couple of tight ends come off the board here with tj hawkinson i'm sure thomas shaffer as a vikings guy and as a smart fantasy player love seeing him in the spot and then kyle pitts to me at the end of the round with the 10th pick uh that was not something jacob gibbs wanted to see because he

was hoping to get kyle pitts and that's why you got to pay attention to your drafting with i know jacob likes kyle pitts i didn't think i was going to get him coming back on the swing at the start of round six. And so Kyle Pitts was somebody that I thought at that spot was good value. And as Heath, you've said time and time again, taking him in round three felt a little icky the last couple of years. I think round five, round six is probably the spot you want to start to target him. And so I was thrilled about that. But let's talk about Anthony Richardson here again, the seventh quarterback coming off the board. I know he's a top ten guy for you, Dave, but would you have taken him over Dustin Herbert and Trevor Lawrence?

Jacob drafted Anthony Richardson as if he shot through the ceiling, through the roof, out of the atmosphere and landed on Saturn and not even the rings of Saturn, the actual planet of Saturn. That's where he drafted Anthony Richardson. I have a hard time believing that in his rookie year, after only playing, what, 13 games at Florida, Jamie? Maybe a few more than that when you add up all the games he partially played in before last year. I have a hard time believing that he's going to outperform Justin Herbert and what other quarterback? Trevor Lawrence went after him. I know that there's crazy

upside with Richardson I see it but I'm also really worried about taking him over a lot of not just quarterbacks but other pretty good players that Jacob could have had I wonder if he could have waited a full two rounds before taking Anthony Richardson instead of taking him at 60th overall? I think first off, he would have to bet that he could get him in two rounds because he's picking on the end. So if he does, like I would obviously, I'd like it better if he had taken Brandon Ayuk in the fifth and then Richardson in the sixth, but no. But he was going to have to bet on him making it to the end of the seventh.

I don't find it as hard to believe that he could be better than Herbert and Trevor Lawrence. I definitely think he can be better than Herbert and Trevor Lawrence were last year. Those two, Lawrence averaged exactly 20 fantasy points per games, Herbert 19.3. I don't have any trouble at all believing he'll be better than that if he starts 17 games. And the fact that he landed with the guy who just transformed Jalen Hurts into an MVP candidate and one of the best fantasy quarterbacks, I expect 10-plus rush attempts from Anthony Richardson. That makes you a top-12 quarterback. So taking him in the round five, for me, sounds a lot worse than taking him at QB seven. I think, Dave, you've already got him ranked inside your top 10 quarterbacks, right?

I actually moved him up a spot. Yeah, so he's taking him maybe ahead of two quarterbacks. Well, Trevor Lawrence has to do a lot better than he's ever done to do what I would expect from Anthony Richardson. Yeah, I guess the only thing would be is those two guys, I hope that's their floor for Herbert and Lawrence. Oh, man, yeah. Last year.

I don't think there's a much lower situation for them in terms of what their points per game. And in terms of Lawrence, I think you sort of look at that stretch that he had once things maybe started to click for him. And then you say, okay, now he just got Calvin Ridley, you know, and that's a pretty good, you know, piece to add, whether he's two year removed Calvin Ridley, or even just Calvin Ridley now, I think that's certainly a better situation than, you know,

Jamal Agnew and whatever they were rolling out there as their third receiver, you know, Marvin Jones, I guess, you know, as their third receiver last year, you know, hopefully Calvin Ridley is better than that. So we'll see how things go there for him. But yeah, look, I think, I think the thing is, as we, as we sort of illustrated with year you know hopefully calvin really better than that so we'll see how things go there for him but yeah look i think i think the thing is as we as we sort of illustrated with you know uh what jacob did did with uh previous pick on the swing uh when he took christian watson you know if he doesn't think he's going to get him you got to take the chance there and if there is a position to take a chance on it's the quarterback position because he can come

back especially knowing that he did it early he can read the board and say okay when do i have to jump in on an aaron rogers or uh or kirk or Gino Smith or whatever that, you know, fallback option might be, as we discussed on Monday, you know, whoever you're going to pair Anthony Richardson with, but you know, that's the type of move that hopefully can pay off. You know, if he does, you know, become that type of guy, then you have maybe some draft capital to trade. If you do, you know, hit on Anthony Richardson being that type of player, I just wrap up round six and then we'll get to our teams real quick. So round six is Brandon Ayuk, as Heath mentioned, to Jacob,

Justin Herbert, Cam Akers to me, Christian Kirk to Adam, George Kittle, David Montgomery, Javante Williams, now falling to, I think last time we did a draft, he was in round two, Javante Williams in round six, George Pickens, Mike Williams, Deontay Johnson, DeAndre Swift, and James Connor. So just a couple of the buzzworthy names here. David Montgomery now falls two rounds behind Jameer Gibbs.

Dave, I know you're still Montgomery over Gibbs, so you got to be excited about that value if you're looking at David Montgomery. I would be excited about that value, but just like the Seattle run game, I'm spending a lot of time thinking about the Lions run game. And, you know, how big will the hurt be for David Montgomery with Gibbs there? If Gibbs is only playing 25 snaps a game, which seems a little silly for a first-round pick, but if that's all he's doing, then this is crazy. Montgomery should be going higher.

And even if it's flipped and it's Montgomery playing 25 snaps a game, well, he's still probably going to be working in those short yardage situations. That still gives him some value, just probably makes him more of a reasonable pick in this range rather than around before. I'm still going to sit on Montgomery in non-PPR ahead of Gibbs, but it's getting harder and harder to keep Montgomery ahead of Gibbs in full PPR. Heath, we got DeAndre Swift coming off the board here. And again, now the

most likely lead running back for the Eagles. Is this the right spot for him or did he maybe fall a little bit, go too soon? How do you view DeAndre Swift in round six? Yeah, I think I've got him in round seven and Penny right back to back. So I took Penny in this draft in round nine, Swift went in round six. If those are the two choices, then I definitely prefer Penny in round nine than I do Swift in round six. I don't think like the end of round six, I'm fine with for Swift though. I would expect he's going to have a month of the season where he's a top 10 running back. But I also think that there are going to be some very dry weeks, partially because of his own problems, but partially because there's weeks where Jalen Hurts just does everything

and there's not much for the running backs. I just hope, you know, for his sake, you know, given the fact that seemingly the coaching staff did not favor him, obviously the injuries that he has that, not to the same heights, but, you know, the Josh Jacobs, Saquon Barkley contract year, go out, ball out, get yourself in a great situation. You're probably not going to get paid, but, you know, at least put yourself in a situation where you're produced at a high level

and he's in the right situation to do it from a team standpoint. There are going to be a lot of great running opportunities for him. Maybe not for fantasy because we saw Sanders lose touchdowns, not involved in the passing game. But, again, Swift might be just a better player than Miles Sanders if things go right and he does stay healthy. So, again, there's the first six rounds. You can see the draft board

on youtube you can follow the site you can follow the you see the story on the draft on cbssports.com and see how the draft unfolded for rounds 7 through 14 but let's talk about our teams here we're going to bring on our guest now zach brooke who wants to defend his honor i don't know why i can get a good draft but we'll show you zach's team as well so let's just start there so zach thanks for joining us let's pull up your team here. So you had the fifth overall pick, and Zach started with Travis Kelsey. So I don't think anybody's going to complain about that. But here's what Zach's team looks like.

I'll go quarterback down. So tight end was his first pick. He started with – he gets Jalen Hurts as quarterback. Again, he was the first one to pull the trigger on Hurts. His running backs are Nick Chubb and Jameer Gibbs. His receivers in the three-receiver league, maybe not the best group from a, not having an elite guy, but Terry McLaurin, Jordan Addison, George Pickens.

His flex right now is Adam Thielen, and he has a very young bench in terms of Chase Brown, Kenneth Gainwell, Quentin Johnson, John Meche, Jacoby Myers, and Donovan Peoples-Jones. So why do you think people are going to, you know, crap on your draft? You don't like it from a public perspective and how they would view it. I think people are really down on McLaurin this year.

I don't really understand why. I think that I don't, I don't think Sam Howell is going to be the starter very long. And I think that Brissette, I think McLaurin could be, I think it could be a top 20 wide receiver this year. So I think he was the safest pick there. And I also think people might've thought I might've taken Gibbs too high, but I'm really excited about it.

As excited as the Lions front office was about taking him, I feel like he's what they thought Swift could be. I know I talked to him at the draft. He's not a big cantaloupe guy. We kind of disagreed on that, but not the draft of the combine. He doesn't like cantaloupe, which that was very interesting. But as excited as they were to take him, I feel like they

have they have a role in mind for him and that that kind of pick i felt like he was the highest upside guy left especially running back well i'm just looking at a couple of comments here so bad guy r-i-r-i says terrible wide receiver game and austin davidson says that team sucks bro so i guess you're right People aren't exactly thrilled about your team. Let's just say, and I'm going to go back to the draft board here. Let's just say, you know, instead of taking

I don't know which player we would take. Maybe taking Hertz, maybe not going the quarterback route. And you had another option at wide receiver there. So if you had not taken Hertz, you would have taken He could have had Debo, he could have taken. Could have had Debo. He could have had Christian Watson. I'd say you have a different receiver there and a different quarterback a little bit later.

How would that have gone, you think, Dave, in terms of looking at his team? How do I think it would have gone for him? Yeah, let's just say it's Trevor Lawrence and Keenan Allen. My beef isn't with Hurts. My beef is with Gibbs. Because if he had not taken Gibbs, he could have had, these names aren't amazing, but they're not bad compared to the other receivers that he's got.

DK Metcalf, DJ Moore, Amari Cooper. Those guys are going to be good number two fantasy receivers for your team. And then you could have come back, let's see, where'd you take Pickens? My man, where'd you get George Pickens? Six. Oh, Pickens and six. So the running, you could have had Swift there running back. He could have had James Connor, who's going to be one of those like, all right, I'll take them to be my RB too. I am not going to have high expectations, but I think I would have liked that a little bit better. You're really banking on

Gibbs being just an absolute game breaker as a rookie, entirely possible that can happen. He did that at Alabama, and if he does, man, you've got like bona fide studs in Kelsey and Hurts to help carry your team each week. You're probably looking at a minimum of like 55 points if Gibbs is who you think he is just from those three players every single week, that's not bad, but it's going to completely hinge on Gibbs. And I just think you're pretty weak at wide receivers, Zach. I wish you had done a little bit of a better job strengthening that. And that's coming from me who I used to take wide receivers cheap like that all the time. Maybe I've learned my lesson. You might too, after this drafting this team.

Yeah. all the time. Maybe I've learned my lesson. You might too after drafting this team. Heath, give him a grade. Yeah, I mean, I think any time that you can have a bad wide receiver core, you want to make sure you only have two starting running backs also. I would say it's a C. It's fine. It's not bad. It's Jalen

Hurts and Travis Kelsey are going to win you a lot of leagues. The running back, I think running back depth is combined with the bad receiving core is a problem. All right, so Thomas, say for Thomas, you want to jump on too. Thomas wants us to take a look at his wide receivers also, so we'll pull up Thomas' team also. So Thomas had the— We have almost half the league on this stream. We do. We do. We do.

We could call Adam at Disney World. So Thomas started his team with the fourth overall pick of Austin Eckler. He's got Lamar Jackson at quarterback. Eckler and Derrick Henry at running back. So obviously heavy on the running back position to start his draft. And then his wide receiver core, Marquise Brown, Michael Thomas, Mike Williams. He's got Hawkinson at tight end and Ramondre Stevenson as his flex spot. I don't know what you're talking about, Thomas.

I think this seems a little bit better than Zach. Sorry, Zach. I like this team a lot. Well, I was just asking, like, because we both waited a long time on receivers, and usually I'm the opposite. Usually I get one big stud running back and then load up on receivers. But I was like, Henry and Stevenson fell to me. So I was like, you know, this is

kind of just how the way the draft's playing out. But I wanted to compare, like, how do you think I did compared to Zach? Because we kind of did the same thing with the receivers waiting. I think the thing I highlighted on Zach's team is the difference. You have three starting running backs. Like, you have a definite strength and remandre stevenson is a spectacular flex you both like he's better than you at quarterback and tight end but you're both really strong at quarterback and tight end you both could have great starting running backs but you got that third running back but yeah your wide receivers are pretty awful too and it's also i should i should mention thomas's bench he's got jameson williams you know coming back after six

weeks so it's almost like a perfect handcuff if you want to go with Michael Thomas and a Jamison Williams-type pairing because when Thomas maybe breaks down, Jamison Williams comes back, and hopefully that's the type of situation you like. But Cortland Sutton, not a bad fifth or sixth receiver, depending on how you're viewing it. And then for what it's worth, Isaiah Hodgins. But I like this receiving core better just because I think there's a little bit more security plus the same type of upside that Zach had.

Yep. All right. So let's take a look now. A couple other teams, Zach, you can hang out with us and you can grade Heath's team. There we go. We'll start with Heath's team here. So again, had the number one overall pick. Started with Jamar Chase, came back with Tee Higgins, and here's his team.

Kyler Murray, a quarterback. James Conner, running back, Damian Pierce as the other running back, Jamar Chase, Tee Higgins, DJ Moore at the receiver spots, Mark Andrews at tight end, Traylon Burks is the flex. And on the bench, which would make Adam happy, Daniel Jones, Devon Achain, Alexander Madison, Rashad Penny, Jamal Williams, and Darnell Mooney. So very Bears heavy, very Cardinals heavy, very Bengals heavy. So Keith, how do you feel about this team? I feel pretty good about the team. I don't like that Traylon Burks is my number four wide receiver, but I've got an elite top

three wide receiver. I am good with Damian Pierce as my RB1. I've got Mark Andrews. I never had a choice to draft a quarterback any higher than this. And so if you're going to wait until round 12 and round 13 and you can double tap Kyler Murray and Daniel Jones, I think that's an okay way to go. Zach, what's the grade? I give him a B+. I don't think Kyler Murray's going to play this year.

Oh, wow. Yeah, I don't think he's going to play. I think by the time he's healthy, they're already going to be out of it. They're in the mix with the number one pick. Why even throw him out there? So I think Daniel Jones is your guy the whole year, if you're happy with that.

Damian Pierce, I was more excited about him last year than I am this year, especially with – what's his name they got from the Bills in there? Devin Singletary. Singletary is in there. Because Pierce, they weren't thrown on the ball at all in the back, but a lot of times even Rex Burkett was out there out snapping him. So I'm not really excited. I do like Andrews.

I think Andrews and Kelsey could be kind of neck and neck, and I do like the combo of the Bengals receivers. And then DJ Moore is also another wild card. If him and Justin Fields are getting a good report this year, I think it could be really exciting. But that quarterback situation is a little concerning for me. But there's some guys on there. There could be some upside picks with A-Chain.

If Dalvin Cook does get released, Alexander Madison could be a flyer this year. But that quarterback position kind of concerns me. All right, so Zach, return the favor. Dave, you want to say something? I was just a little bit of trivia. How many games last year did Jamar Chase and Tee Higgins each have 15-plus PPR fantasy points? I'll say four.

Two. You're both too high. One game where both of them were over 15. If we lower that to 14, then we're talking about two games. If we lower that to 13 points, three games.

I feel like that's weird, and I don't know if that's necessarily something that's going to continue, but that's the first thing that came to my mind is that he's going to be tied to Cincinnati, but it really felt like last year that only one of them would have a big game for fantasy each week. I wonder how many times they combined for 30 points, because I would guess that number's higher. I'm going to tell you what that number is if you give me 30 seconds.

Count to 30, everybody. All right, i'll give you dave's team because we're running out of time here so while dave's looking it up so dave's got aaron rogers at quarterback his running backs are christian mccaffrey and joe mixon his receivers are jaylen waddle chris olave amari cooper dallas goddard at tight end his flex is deontay johnson on his bench he's got damien harris kendray miller elijah mitch Mitchell, Brian Robinson, DJ Chark, and Dalton Schultz. So he double-tapped tight end here with Goddard and Schultz. So, Dave, you have the answer to that?

Six times in 12 games last year, they combined for 30 or more PPR points. My follow-up question to that is, if you had Chase and Higgins on your fantasy team, would you be happy if they combined for 30 PPR points each week, or would you expect maybe a little bit more? they did it half the time. I would assume that a few of those times it was, it was more, I think that was the number of times they reached that number.

I would assume they exceeded that number. Most of those times they were in the 32s, 33s. There's one week where they combined for 47.3. Another week where they were at 40.7. So, yeah, there were some where they were significantly over 3, 10% better at least. I guess an interesting case study would be how many round one and round two picks combined for 30-plus points.

Right. Well, that's something we can do during the offseason, or we can forget about it. We should have Adam do that. There you go. My team's awesome. I love it. I've got some him do that. There you go. I love it. I've got some pretty good running backs at the top.

Hopefully Joe Mixon doesn't get in any more trouble with the law. My running back depth. I'm fine with it. I've got Damian Harris, Brian Robinson, Elijah Mitchell, the backup CMC, and Kendra Miller in New Orleans. Maybe I'm hoping for the cops to go after Alvin Kamara and not to go after Joe Mixon. And that would really work out. So I'm happy with the running back depth. That's going to be something that's going to be in common with all my teams. I'm definitely going to have good

running back depth. That's something that I'm going to have checkmarked toward the top of my list in every single draft I'm in. Receiver's really happy with Waddle Olave, and Amari Cooper is my third. Deontay Johnson, the flex. I think he can bounce back in terms of touchdowns this year. Still expecting to be the top target getter in Pittsburgh. Sorry, George Pickens. Great at tight end with Goddard and Aaron Rodgers. I'm expecting a step forward from last year. Maybe not quite to the MVP level, but still a level where he's around.

Let's call it 23 fantasy points per game. Zach, I'll let you grade this. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus. A minus.'ll let you grade this. A-minus. A-minus, especially because Mixon is a very... I mean, when you take him there, if you're taking him in the third round, it's a little bit different. You're taking him there, it's a very high upside pick, especially if he doesn't miss time. I do really like the combo

of Waddle and Alave. Alave could be amazing this year, and if Tua stays healthy, I think that's the key with Waddle because when they were going with their backups last year, they really weren't getting Waddle involved at all. And then McCaffrey is a surefire. I would have taken him. If he that's the key with Waddle because when they were going with their backups last year, they really weren't getting Waddle involved at all. Then McCaffrey is a surefire. I would have taken him. If he was on the board, I would have taken him above Kelsey.

Then I kind of disagree with Deontay Pickens. I'm very excited to see what Pickens does this year. He's phenomenal last year. Deontay, not really excited at all. Goddard could be great. Then Brian Robinson, as a Commanders fan, not too excited about him. I hope he has a better year than last year.

I know he had the unfortunate injury prior to last season, but I don't really get excited about him this year. I'm not really sure what they're going to do with the running game, but I do like the team, especially wide receiver heavy. Jamie, can I run through my wide receiver depth? I did. DJ Chark. That's the end of the list.

Well, I do think it's interesting because, you know, you've done a good job in our off-season mock drafts of taking Kamara and taking Mixon, you know, playing on the advantage of what you might get with those guys. Now, again, as I think we illustrated before, they're not falling to those ranges if their situations are settled. And I do think just one other point on Waddle. While the backup situations were bad last year,

they're counting on Mike White to be a little bit more sound. So I don't know if you know. You just factored that in also that maybe Waddle's situation is a little bit better if, in fact, he does have a better backup quarterback scenario. So to make you a little bit more confident, if you bind to Mike White, that if Tua does miss time, he should still be okay. All right, my team, and then we'll wrap this up. So I have a 10th pick.

I started with Bijan Robinson, but my quarterback is Dak Prescott. My running backs, Bijan Robinson, Najee Harris. Receivers are CeeDee Lamb, Calvin Ridley, Mike Evans, Kyle Pitts at tight end. My flex right now would be Cam Akers. Sort of handcuffed Bijan, I took Tyler Algier, but my backups are Tyler Algier, Samajit Pirine, Jalen Warren, again, going the handcuff route, Nico Collins, Romeo Dobbs, and took a flyer on Kyle Phillips with my last pick as the second receiver there in Tennessee.

So Heath, I'll let you give me a grade. So what do you think about my roster? Yeah, I think it's a solid B. And I would like it a lot more if I was as high in Calvin Ridley as you are. If you're right about Calvin Ridley, then it's probably an A. The running back depth is outstanding. I like Pitts in round five. I love Dak Prescott in the double digit rounds. It just comes down to Calvin Ridley and Mike Evans and Nico Collins, I think, are three guys

that you're higher on than I am. So if you were right about those wide receivers, then it's a really, really good team. I don't know if I'm necessarily higher on Mike Evans, but I thought as a third receiver, that's the range he's going to get drafted in. So, look, he's older. Obviously, quarterback situation is terrible, potentially by comparison. But if he's even 75% of what Mike Evans typically is, to get him as a top 36 guy, I thought that was still a good value pick. I forget what round I got him in.

I think you could see on the draft board.'s not not a bad spot for him knowing how receivers come off the board to me that it's going to come down to can can be john be be john and can kyle pitts you know turn into that monster that he's potentially going to become so hopefully that's the case and you know we we get that great production from one of the elite tight ends that we're looking at all right again you can see the full draft on cbssports.com if you're watching on youtube you see the draft board board right there in front of us. And so fun to do our first mock draft. We're going to do a lot more coming up, and we'll certainly break them down here on Fantasy

Football today. We'll see if Adam Azar is back from his vacation next week. If not, you'll see us here, some cast of characters as well. Zach, thank you for taking the time to defend your honor with your team. And Thomas Schaefer as well for Heath Cummings, Dave Richard. I'm Jamie Isenberg. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening to Thanks for listening.

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