Fantasy Football Today - Preseason Reaction, News Updates, Mailbag! (08/14 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: August 14, 2021

Bid on our Draft-A-Thon items right now to benefit St. Jude! http://cbssports.com/ebay As we record this on Friday morning, we react to Zach Ertz, Mac Jones and others from Thursday night's games. And we go through the big news (10:00) about Carson Wentz and Quenton Nelson, the Chargers backfield, the Texans backfield and more before reading your Apple Podcast questions (17:00) and your emails (38:10) 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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BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. It was so nice to watch football again, preseason's back. We're recording this on Friday morning as you listen to this Saturday Mailbag. So we will react to two games from last night, the Steelers and the Eagles, the Patriots and the Washington football team. And we'll read all your emails, fantasyfootballatcbsi.com and your Apple podcast questions as well. Adam Azer, Jamie Isenberg, Chris Towers.

We got to see Mac Jones last night. We got to see the two tight ends for the Philadelphia Eagles show a little bit. It was nice to have football back. Jamie, what stood out to you in the preseason games? What stood out to me in the preseason games um what stood out to me in the preseason games i hate preseason football it's fun to watch but you know it's like the the anticipation is great and then it happens you're like oh okay let's get to the regular season already um mac jones i thought handled himself well i thought jalen hurts actually pretty good um quez watkins was fun

um there really wasn't much to learn last night from these games. Najee Harris had a couple runs called back by penalties, which was unfortunate, but I thought he ran well again. It's more trying to figure out some depth for certain situations, but Quez Watkins

is definitely somebody of interest now with what this Eagles receiving court looks like. Also kind of annoying that the Stegor starters played, or a lot of them did anyway on offense, but not Ben Roethlisberger. So I know Chris was looking forward to seeing the new offense. I don't know if you learned anything there, anything stand out to you in either of the preseason games,

Chris? I thought Tim Anderson hitting a walk-off home run into the corn was really cool. That was primarily what I watched last night. I'm very glad I didn't see that play. I was flipping back and forth, especially early on. The one thing that really stood out to me, not being able to see Ben Roethlisberger in this offense,

I don't know if he's going to play in the preseason at all at this point. I don't think they've said anything one way or the other. He'll play in the third game. Yeah, okay. thing uh one way or the other but playing in the third game yeah okay the uh they had the washington football team had five third downs with the first team offense and antonio brown antonio gibson was not on the field for any of them uh peyton barber actually was on the field for i think he was on the field for the first one um i think maybe i read wrong but i think he they had five and it was barber on the first one one and then McKissick on the next four.

Maybe. I thought I might have seen him on the first one. If I'm wrong, I'm sorry. But that was definitely one of the things that I want to watch for in the preseason because I think we all knew that Antonio Gibson didn't play much on third down last year. I actually looked it up. He played 21 snaps on third downs last season. JD McKissick played 187, which is a wild gap. And, you know, obviously if we want Antonio Gibson to make this big leap as a pass catcher,

he did, he was targeted three times yesterday. Yeah. Yeah. Three times. But he'll have to have a bigger role on third down. So, you know, it's one preseason game it's basically a quarter and a third um but so far that wasn't what we saw yesterday at least so what was it what was the stat again when were these third down situations because as i was watching it i was kind of uh encouraged by at least the usage with the three targets as you mentioned for antonio gibson uh so go ahead repeat that what you said it was i believe uh this is what i read last night at least it was five third down plays and antonio gibson wasn't on the field for any of them and he was still in the game at that

point yes yeah these were with the first team offense okay okay so he did have five carries and three targets in limited action. So that's good. But the third down thing is pretty interesting as well. Damian Harris started for the Patriots. No surprise. Sonny Michelle came in was okay. Ramondre Stevenson had a 91 yard touchdown run later in the game. And, yeah, I think... Trade Sonny Michel, please. What about Zach Ertz at this point? Is he someone that... Because he had three targets. He dropped. He had a pretty bad drop, but he had two catches for 20 yards on three targets. And I believe he had the first catch of the game

for the Eagles, Jamie. Is Zach Ertz someone that we should be thinking about taking if we punt on tight end, you know, as one of our last picks? He's in the conversation if he stays in Philly. You know, I mean, there's still some talk that they're going to try and move him and maybe they were showcasing him last night. So you never know how that is still going to unfold.

But if he's on the team, you know, I know the talk is Goddard is going to take over the role, but if you're Philly at this point, you look at this receiving core, it's so incomplete. Devontae Smith, they hope, is going to be a star. You don't draft him 10th overall if you don't feel that way, but he's hurt. Rager, they thought, was going to be good. Don't draft him the first round if not. Hasn't materialized yet.

Can't give up on him. While Quez Watkins showed some things. I mean, he's, I think, what, a sixth-round pick? You know, so still has, you know, room to grow. And obviously he's very fast. But those two tight ends could still be their best playmakers and pass catchers, you know, as things unfold if they keep them. So, yeah.

I mean, you know, we've seen these two guys coexist before. You know, it ruins the ceiling for both. But absolutely should be in on your radar like i'll just give example you know we did um one of our leagues that were playing out for our magazine um that should be on newsstands now i think and i punted on tight end and i took blake jarwin i'm looking at the waiver wire you know just for you know options and zach hurts is one of the ones that you know i'll, A, if he's moved someplace else, B, if he's still with Philadelphia, if Jarwin is still banged up and not 100% and losing playing time to Dalton Schultz. Okay. And just, oh, go ahead, Chris. One deep sleeper I want to point out in that discussion, if Zach Ertz does get moved,

they've been raving about Tyree Jackson, who's a converted quarterback who wasn't really working with the first team yesterday, but started getting involved in the third drive when Joe Flacco came in. So he's not too far down the depth chart. He's apparently having a really good training camp. And this is a team that we know wants to use multiple tight ends. So if they do move Zach Ertz, you know, he's an intriguing, he's like six foot seven,

uh, super athletic. So he's a name that's been getting brought up a lot in camp and has been seeing a few reps with the first team. Another, uh, late round running back to pick up or keep an eye on is Anthony McFarland. Um,

you know, this is, uh, I don't know if he's the handcuff for Najee because I don't know what they'll do with Snell or Balazs, whoever ends up in that role. But it, you know, if is, uh, I don't know if he's the handcuff for Najee because I don't know what they'll do with Snell or Balazs, whoever ends up in that role. But it, you know, if something happens, Najee Harris, it seems as if Anthony McFarlane, I was reading some stuff last night, you know, was lost last year, understandably. So, um, and seems to have got it and Steelers second year running backs.

Uh, that's typically when they click, if they click, you know, again, he's not going to be the featured guy, but he could have a role and he could have, uh, if they click. Again, he's not going to be the featured guy, but he could have a role, and he could have some juice if something happens to Najee during the season. Okay, now I'm going to give you two quick notes. I thought that Jacoby Myers looked like he just might be a very good player. He's a solid player. He only had, if you look at the box score, one catch for 11 yards,

but he actually had a really nice catch that if they had challenged would have been overturned. It was ruled an incomplete pass. But I'm interested to see if Kobe Myers can carve kind of a PPR rollout. We'll see if they can distribute the ball to enough players. But I wanted to mention that. And Mac Jones, 4.6 yards per attempt. That's obviously horrible. Very conservative.

But his best throw of the night was a fairly deep ball down the sideline that should have been caught for a touchdown by Christian Wilkerson. He dropped it. Would have made his numbers a little bit better. But Mac Jones is very conservative, but played with poise, as you will read, and a good debut for him. And Cam Newton nearly died. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, one thing, you know, it's a little easier yeah uh doing what mac jones did when you're not when chase young isn't shoving your left tackle out of the way and blowing you up on the blind side yes he stays healthy he may be the defensive player of the year yeah he looks he looked really good okay a spot in the 2021 podcast League is up for bid in our St. Jude Draft Prepping for Charity eBay store. Go to cbssports.com slash eBay. Donate and bid. You want in the Podcast League?

Send something creative to fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. But if you don't have anything to send, you can buy your way in, which we always encourage. cbssports.com slash eBay. Goes to a great cause. Supports St. Jude. The bidding concludes on Thursdayursday august 19th and the podcast league is monday i believe that is august 30th is that right august 30th yes okay at 8 p.m eastern monday august 30th 8 p.m eastern so go to cbssports.com slash ebay uh we already have pushing a 100 entries right now into the Podcast League.

How much has Nando donated to I don't know. For your thing. I don't know. Nando is driving me crazy. Nando went up to $60 on this. This is from me announcing the first round picks of your draft. You can

bid on that as well. Up to $70. Benefits charity. Whoever wins that has to just put the worst team names possible. That's a good idea. All right, let's do some news and notes before we get into your questions via Apple Podcasts and email. Urban Meyer is not committing to Trevor Lawrence

as his week one starter. Are you buying that, Jamie? No, no, not at all. You know, it's the college mentality of earn your spot. It's the, you know, potential of maybe trying to drum up trade interest for Gardner Minshew. It's, you know, Minshew probably playing a little bit better in camp in some moments than Trevor Lawrence is because he's a veteran that's been around a couple years. But it would be the dumbest, dumbest, dumbest thing maybe ever if Trevor Lawrence is not the week one starter for a team that just needs a face and needs a guy to cornerstone.

That's the guy. You don't take him first overall and play Gardner Minshew as your starter. I'm surprised Urban Meyer's not doing, like, helmet stickers and all that. Like, you're not on the team until you make the team kind of stuff. Because, yeah, he seems to be bringing a lot of that college mentality with him. Pete was there. Pete Prisco was there. He said he's never seen a staff as large as Urban Meyer's.

He has the most coaches he's ever seen. Yeah. There was a really good feature in the athletic where he talked about how he wanted to make sure he was surrounded by experienced nfl coaches which is it's a good sign given how different the culture is um he's got a lot of them apparently yeah uh who is the houston starting running back, Chris? Mark Ingram slash Phillip Lindsey, according to their unofficial.

That unofficial depth chart was so strange that it almost looked like performance art. Like, Nico Collins was, like, ninth at wide receiver. Deshaun Watson was fourth at quarterback, which, obviously, I think there's more going on there. And then, yeah, Mark Ingram and Phillip Lindsay listed as co-starters at running back. Sure. So what do we do?

I don't know. What do we do? Do we know, just not draft any of them or take Lindsay late? What do you do with the Texans running backs? I wouldn't pick any of them inside the top 100 at this point. They're all low upside. Like Lindsay and Johnson, I think Johnson's probably still the guy to take.

They wouldn't have restructured his contract and kept him around, I think, if they weren't going to use him. But that's going to be such a bad offense. There's not going to be a lot of value in it anyway. That if they're splitting work, if it's not a clear one number one guy i don't think you're gonna have a starter there the only thing i think to to maybe hope for david johnson

and you know i'll say this to you adam because you drafted him a lot and you know people that have taken him a lot in in early drafts you know best ball whatever the case may be um this is going to be a different offense especially if it's no deshaun watson and we know that he hasn't traditionally thrown to his running backs a lot so if you go just based on the espn report that we saw earlier this week of david johnson playing more of the duke johnson role and again i'm saying this with the offense changing if he's more of a pass catching back which we know he's capable of doing as he showed us in Arizona and in the 11 catch game last season, it may be a benefit to him because they're going to be chasing points and he's going to be maybe on the field a little bit more than the other two guys who may split rushing down

work. So if there is reason to hope for David Johnson, it could be that his pass catching role increases and David Culley and the coaching staff there, they lean on their running backs a little bit more in the passing game. Okay. Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports thinks that Justin Jackson has a stranglehold on the number two running back job for the Chargers. Quinton Nelson and Carson Wentz, they're trending in the right direction. They could be ready for week one. So, okay, are we back? Jonathan Taylor's back closer to the top five now?

Or, you know, are we drafting Carson Wentz? Are we drafting Quentin Nelson in offensive line leagues? We reacted pretty strongly to the initial news that they could miss, what was it, five to 12 weeks. I think one thing that was a little concerning, piggybacking off of this news was Jim Irsay, the owner, saying they're not going to put Wentz on the field until he's a hundred percent. Yeah, but that's not, but still,

but still it's looking like the shorter end of the timeline. Oh, for sure. It's not, it's not October right now. September. Yeah. I think the, the key thing though is they'll, what I was reading is they'll be able to get on the field for the first time Monday and Tuesday of this week, pretty much, or early this early this week with you know being two weeks removed from surgery from what I understand that was like kind of the timetable where they can start working out and I think we probably won't know until then um you know see how they start reacting to this one one other thing that I did read was apparently the left tackle situation there has been brutal in training camp with Eric Fisher recovering from that Achilles tear.

And so if Nelson's not available for week one and Fisher, who has a chance for week one, but it's not clear yet, that could be a pretty bad offensive line to start the season. Ryan Kelly's been banged up to their center. So what does this mean for Jonathan Taylor, though? Is he still kind of toward the back end of the first round? Is he in the middle? In the middle of the first round, non-PPR, he's in the conversation. PPR, I think he's the back end of the first round, beginning of the second, depending on how many receivers and anybody beside Kelsey going in the first round. I think, though, the fact that it is on the shorter end of the rehab schedule

or recovery schedule, and hopefully the left tackle situation is figured out, but that's more of a passing situation than it is a rushing situation because if Nelson and Kelly are right, that interior offensive line should be amazing. I would make offers for Jonathan Taylor now, you know, if you can, because you still may find some panicked people that aren't paying attention. All right, let's fire through the rest of this here. James Conner is on the reserve COVID list, but he's a close contact,

so hopefully he's back within a few days. It is, according to The Athletic, more realistic that Rashad Bateman starts the season on IR than healthy and ready for week one. Yeah. Very disappointing. Cleveland's second-year safety Grant Delpit had a setback in his recovery from a hamstring injury, and he seems unlikely to play in week one, according to The Athletic. We've got to look at Minnesota's offensive line, especially at left tackle.

They don't have Riley Reif anymore, and Christian Derrissaw, rookie out of Virginia Tech, he is recovering from core muscle surgery, and he went to see a specialist. So things not going as smoothly there, I guess. And as I was watching the Patriots game last night, their announcer kept bringing up this new rule on screen passes where offensive linemen, I guess, can't go out and cut block people. I thought that was kind of interesting, something to keep an eye on. Maybe makes the screen game a little bit less effective. Think about a screen pass. Those offensive linemen are out there in the open field

kind of cutting people, and I guess you can't do that anymore. I didn't know about this new rule. We will see it in action, I guess. Okay, Apple Podcast questions from Backman2547. He says, Dear Aaron, Julio, Marvin, and in all caps, Daniel.

Yeah. Keeping up with the Joneses right there. I have a question as it relates to drafting guys with value. There's been a lot of talk about the second round Saquon. Yeah. Heath kind of coined him that and his potential value as his draft stock is currently unstable. In 2015, I had the ninth pick in consensus top five. Eddie Lacy fell to me. I figured it was great value to end up with him there, so I drafted him. He was absolutely terrible, and he sunk my team. Ever since then, I've been hesitant to draft players who are sliding down the rankings, even if they have good value where I'm drafting. This year's case would be Saquon Barkley. I'm drafting 10th overall in a 12-team PPR league,

and I'm almost positive Barkley will be there at 10. I'm probably going to pass on him there, but if he's still there at 15, is he worth taking at 15, Saquon Barkley? I moved him up to six, so I have no problem taking him back into the first round or certainly 15, so I'm probably the wrong person to ask. I'm always going to try and get the the league winner if possible and i think he's a league winner yeah he certainly can be um if he's out there and playing something close to a full allotment of snaps in week one i think you got to approach him as if he's pretty much himself we'll we'll need to see how the rest of the preseason goes. But yeah,

I've got him at eight that running back. I haven't moved him down all that much. I mean, he did when I first did my rankings, he was number two. And then I realized I was being a little too bullish, but no, as far as trying to find upside,

you know, you're trying to win your league. You're not trying to avoid coming in last place and Saquon Barkley can help you do that. From Jay Battinger, grade the dynasty trade. Give up Amari Cooper and Ryan Fitzpatrick. Get Deshaun Watson and a 2022 first-round pick and Michael Gallup. Giving up Cooper, Ryan Fitzpatrick, getting Watson, a first-round pick next year, and Michael Gallup. If you can afford to lose Cooper, then I like the trade. But I'd like to know what the rest of the season looks like. He has Ridley McLaurin, Deontay Johnson, and Jamar Chase.

Yeah. I mean, you're buying in on Deshaun Watson playing, if not this year, next year. I hope you have another quarterback situation, but Fitzpatrick in Dynasty is kind of worthless. Gallup could be certainly interesting on a new team, and then whatever that pick turns into. Yeah, like Cooper 4A one and gallop seems okay you know i

i think not if it's a late round though late one though right right but you know this far out you know i think you would want more but it's not like horrible so even if something does happen and watson doesn't contribute at all this season i think it's very unlikely he's looking at a multi-season suspension, although we'll see. Yeah, I think it's fine. All right. By the way, we're not putting any Keeper. We had so many Apple Podcast questions, we probably would have done an hour and a half

if we had read all the Keeper questions. Like I said, if you want to leave your Apple Podcast reviews, that's so much appreciated. Please leave a nice review with it, not just a question, but please tell people what you like about the show as we try to hook on some more listeners and grow our podcast. But also, no more keeper questions. Just can't really do them right now.

This is from ColbyDog0707. I play in a 12-team half PPR league where you start three receivers and two flex. The league is designed to make the rosters deeper, use more players, and incentivize trading. How do you think the draft strategy should change when you're starting three wide receivers and two flex, and two running backs, by the way, in a half PPR league? This is the format Jamie and I drafted in last week for the flex league.

I think the way you should approach this, and I think this is generally true in a one flex three wide receiver league, but there you probably shouldn't be looking to start a running back in your flex in either spot. The, the, the most optimal approach is probably going to be to have five starting wide receivers,

which, you know, means, you know, we, you guys, I think, Adam, you didn't love John Daigle's approach of taking eight wide receivers

to start his draft or whatever it was when you guys talked about it earlier. Oh, yeah, I hated it. But I think the logic there, getting bench wide receivers before you filled out your other spots, there's some logic there to it. You should be looking to have more viable starting options at wide receiver and a three wide receiver, two flex league, than you have starting spots. But why can't your flex be a running back? This question isn't a full PPR.

No, it's a half PPR question. Yeah, that changes things. It changes things a little bit, but I don't think there are enough good running backs out there to be worth starting in those situations. But it depends on how you start your team, though. It's obviously going to be who you find on the waiver wire, who you get as a late-round pick that turns into a difference-making kind of player. But to take John's approach, John Daigle's approach, like he's, he added to his bench while sacrificing two starting spots, you know, so he's hoping, he's hoping for

waivers or injuries, which will happen. And again, you know, he's going to win this league. If, if Aaron Jones and Ezekiel Elliott go down at any point, and he has a stretch of AJ Dillon and Tony Pollard, uh, but you know, he's, but you know he's he's sort of you know handicapped himself a little bit by the way that he overextended it now I think in half PPR you can't start running backs in the flex um if again if you hit on the right players you know so you know you got to hope that those guys that are going in in the round five through seven range of miles gaskin and mike davis and travis etn and um javante williams and michael cadre you know that those type of players are are starting options that have you know the ability to be better than uh jerry judy or brandon

cooks or you know those type of receivers the receivers are safer you know but i don't think it's a bad idea to necessarily have a running back in the flex spot. I don't think you're going to kill yourself that way. No. And you need to have some depth of running back too, because sometimes as we all know, throughout the fantasy season, it's hard to find even two running backs. You get injuries, you get bi-weeks and things like that. So, you know, you got to start two running backs and you need some depth there as well. I don't know. I wouldn't go completely crazy, but that was just one person doing one thing

that probably nobody else is going to do. I wasn't saying that was the optimal strategy. But the idea of having more viable starting wide receivers, I think, makes sense. Well, Chris, let me ask you. What's your starting line-up in that league? Because it's similar. So, I'm sorry. Time out out your league is full ppr our league is half your

league is half so this is the same exact format so it's the same exact thing three receivers two running backs and two flex one quarterback by the way that draft kind of went sideways on me pretty early and ended up not taking a wide receiver until the fifth round so yeah so you didn't follow you as i say not as i as i teach um i've got lamar jackson alvin camara uh and david montgomery then my wide receivers are actually pretty weak i just had to shoot for upside at that point because i also went with darren waller um so i've got jamar chase will fuller micole hardman ronda more curtis samuel emmanuel sanders so you're starting two of those receivers at flex i might actually end up starting james

robinson but he fell really far in this okay i got him in the eighth round so that's you know obviously the the draft circumstances can dictate other things but getting james robinson in the eighth round you can't necessarily rely on getting a guy with that kind of role that late right but you're right now your flex options would be curtis samuel miko hardman yeah or james robinson for two spots so like what the way i i my team is is uh my flex options right now would be tyler boyd and kareem hunt with a lineup of aaron j Jonathan Taylor, Cooper Cupp, and Keenan Allen. It's one and one. Don't you have to start three receivers?

I'm sorry. Juju's the third receiver. That's really good. Who's your quarterback? Kyler. And you punted tight end? I took Troutman and Logan Thomas. Dude, you have a super team. Thomas fell a lot in that league. You must love your team.

Your team sounds incredible. I got lucky with my 5, 6, 7 round picks of maybe even the 8th round. I think I took James Conner in the 8th round or Latavius Murray in the 8th round. The team is loaded. I ended up with Kyler in round 5,

Juju in round 6, Kareem Hunt in round 7. So those three picks in a row were pretty – I was pretty happy about that three-round run. Yeah, and listen, Juju in round six, and we were just doing the wide receivers preview yesterday, and that's earlier than his ADP. But in this format, remember, three wide receivers, two flex, and I know Jamie said on a different show wide receivers went super early.

I brought this up when we were doing the wide receiver preview that he was the 29th receiver off the board you know that just was to me incredible value yeah all right let's move on here uh from mike in a city with a twin bridge in sydney australia oh i have no idea dear joaquinin, Jared, Jack, Caesar, and Heath. Also no idea. Boy, you're stumping us, Mike. If there was one... What'd you say? Jokers.

Heath Ledger. Oh. Yeah. Oh, oh. Well, I don't know the other guys, I guess. I don't know who Jared is. Yeah, I don't know who Jared is. Jared Leto.

Oh, okay. Who's Caesar? Huh? Who's Caesar? Who's who Jared is. Yeah, I don't know who Jared is. Ah, okay. Who's Caesar? Huh? Who's Caesar? Who's who? Caesar. Caesar was the guy who played him in the TV show in the 60s. Oh, okay.

I can't remember his name, but yeah. Good job, you bunch of jokers. All right, if there was one rookie wide receiver and one rookie running back we should target in a keeper league, who would it be and in what round? 12-team PPR. How vague. Najee Harris and Jamar Chase. Yeah.

If you're going deeper than that. Round 10. Round 10 for Harris and Chase. Yeah, go ahead. You know, if you're looking for guys who may be impact players next year,

Rondell Moore would probably be the first name on the list for me. Just because I don't know how great he'll be as a rookie. But I do think, you know, once A.J. Green is done and, you know, Christian Kirk is maybe on a different team, he could be the number two option, maybe even the number one option, depending on what happens with Hopkins. So he's definitely somebody that you should be targeting the running back is interesting uh who would be a guy that maybe you know ramon you know i hate to just go off of what happened last night but ramondre stevenson he was somebody that i was looking for uh in all of my dynasty drafts and i just was not able to get him kenneth gainwell is another one too just because i think those two

guys could have pretty decent roles like i said i, I hope they move on from Sonny Michel because I think Stevenson could play in tandem with Damian Harris and maybe be better than Harris. Someone I've been targeting late, I think one not quite as late, but Trey Sermon, seventh, eighth round in redraft leagues. I think he's definitely someone worth identifying. But late, late, Javion Hawkins, he's an undrafted free agent for the Falcons who's competing for the number two spot. You know, who knows if he'll actually get that by the end of the preseason.

But I feel like Mike Davis could be like two games where he rushes for 37 yards total on 20 carries away from losing that job, in which case they really like Javion Hawkins, apparently. I don't know when you're airing this, Adam. Saturday. Okay, I was going to say, if you're playing DFS Friday night, that's a great target. Oh, yeah. He is in my DFS lineup, as well as someone whose name I think is

Racey McMath. Oh, think is Racy McMath. Oh, yeah, Racy McMath. Yeah. Tennessee Titans. Uh-huh. Yeah. I would also put, you know, for that answer to that question, Amonra St. Brown.

Apparently have a very strong training camp. Oh, he's also in my lineup, Racy McMath, Amonra St. Brown. And Josh Palmer. Oh, that's a good call, ball yeah but if you're looking for a late round rookie uh they love him yes um i'm glad you brought up trace herman because uh jonathan jones you mentioned him earlier adam with his uh a report on the chargers he's with the 49ers he's going to be uh with us on cbs sports hq on friday um but he was with the 49ers on Thursday. And so he did a hit for another show.

And he said that what he's hearing about Trey Sermon in San Francisco, they're talking about him like Alvin Kamara and Ezekiel. He's getting those type of comparisons. So I don't think it's going to be long before he's the guy for the 49ers, if that's true. Yeah, I've seen a lot of beat reporters in san francisco talking about like the usage of him might be he's actually the starter and gets you know heavier work and then uh raheem moster comes in and you know when the defense is softened

up can break big plays i think it'll be pretty close to even, but he is going to have a significant role. I don't know that I can think of a situation where the defense got softened up and somebody came in and broke big plays. I mean, that just seems like such a ridiculous cliche. Derrick Henry does it for Derrick Henry. Every game, Derrick Henry first three quarters softens the defense. I'm no, I, I think it's more just about the roles. No, I get it. I'm not criticizing what you were saying., I think it's more just about the roles. No, I get it.

I'm not criticizing what you were saying. I just think it's a dumb cliche, but all right, let's go. Let's go. We got a lot of emails to get to here. Maybe the Titans with Chris Johnson and Landell white. I just,

I just think that people, I don't know. Tiki and Brandon Jacobs. I don't buy it. No, I don't believe that it actually happened. I think those guys were just good. Yeah,

right. I don't think Brandon Jacobs, he wasn't being used early in the game. And then Tiki came in later to run, make a big play. No, probably go the other way with that. What do you mean?

That Tiki was usually in the early part of the game. And then Brandon, so what they use Tiki to soften the defense, like the little dude. I don't think so. Well, I mean, it's not necessarily the size of the player.

It's dumb. Okay. By the way, the city with a twin bridge in Australia is Bayonne, New Jersey. This is from a Cajun in South Louisiana. How does an eight team league change your strategy for drafting quarterbacks if it's super flex?

QBs in an eight team super flex league. Jamie, go. The first eight picks, there should be probably seven quarterbacks. Okay, from Rcodyd. Are there any comps to be made or lessons to be learned from the Miles Sanders situation heading into last season versus Jonathan Taylor now?

Sanders was being considered at the end of the first round before a spate of injuries to the offensive line pushed him back. Yeah, so Cody is trying to draw comparisons between Miles Sanders and Jonathan Taylor. Chris, do you see him? The issues for Miles Sanders weren't rushing efficiency. He actually averaged 72 rushing yards per

game on 5.3 yards per carry. He was awesome as a rusher. The problem was he just completely forgot how to catch the ball and they lost trust in him. Yeah, but Taylor's not going to have that huge role. That's been the case in training camp too. Taylor's not going to have that huge role either in the passing game.

So can you look at Miles? I don't know. I think the situations are pretty different. Yeah, there's one big similarity. The guy handed him the ball. Well, that's the thing. If Carson Wentz doesn't... Phillip Rivers wasn't amazing last year,

but he was good enough to provide a steady floor. Carson Wentz, I don't feel confident can do that right now, especially if the offensive line is not going to be good because last year he just could not handle the pass rush. Yeah. Dave keeps saying that Rivers didn't play well last year. Philip Rivers was very good last year. He wasn't a superstar. In my opinion, Rivers was pretty bad until I said he was the worst quarterback in football, and then he became pretty good. He was

kind of what we think Teddy Bridgewater can do for Denver. He's not going to screw up. Okay, this is from NanoDog. NanoDog says 12-team, 4-point per passing touchdown league. Okay, this is from Nanodog. Nanodog says, 12-team, four-point-per-passing touchdown league.

Where would you have the Saints quarterbacks ranked? It is a Team QB league. Oh, this is so interesting. Where do you rank the Saints in a Team QB league, four-point-per-passing touchdown? Eight. Yeah, I think they'd be top 10. Really?

You're going to get whatever crap touchdowns Taysom Hill gives you. Oh, yeah, that's a good point. If Jameis starts, yeah. But there's not going to be that many. Oh, if Jameis throws a touchdown to Taysom Hill? Yes. I know, but you'd have to take him over like Aaron Rodgers. If Taysom Hill was the starter, he would be a borderline top 12 guy for me.

And if Jameis Winston was the starter, he'd be a top 15 guy for me. But really, without Michael Thomas for half the season? It doesn't matter. You're getting the potential of what you just said. There's going to probably be... I'm going to ballpark it somewhere around five. Of what? He had eight...

Wait, five what? Taysom had eight touchdowns when he wasn't playing quarterback. Five non-passing touchdowns for Taysom Hill. Okay. If he's not the starter. I thought you meant five touchdowns, Winston to Hill. No, five non-passing touchdowns for Taysom Hill if he's not the starting quarterback. If he's not as a quarterback.

And if he does start, you're probably looking at 700 rushing yards and eight touchdowns. All right. start you're probably looking at 700 rushing yards and eight touchdowns all right finally josh in a northern kentucky city springfield which is apparently if you watch the uh behind the laughter episode the simpsons are from northern kentucky i'm drafting in a new league this weekend and i'm not sure how to draft based on the roster setup it's 10 teams ppr two running backs two wide wide receivers, one flex. Oh, no, no, no. Okay.

Yeah, this is weird. You've got a super flex. You've got a wide receiver running back tight end and a wide receiver running back spot, so you don't have to start a tight end. Boy, what do you do here? So if he has the number 10 spot, he thinks he should be able to get Lamar and Zeke. Oh, that is a great start in a super flex league.

Right? 10 and 11? 10 and 11 overall. Yeah, if you could get those two guys, you shouldn't be able to. Right. Zeke, yes. Zeke is probably there. I think you might be able to get one of the top five quarterbacks at 10th overall.

Yeah, one thing I would say, I was writing about this in the FF Today newsletter for Friday. I think my number four tight end is Mark Andrews, and he would be my number 26 running back if you just looked at points, and my number 41 wide receiver, which is to say

you probably shouldn't be drafting any of the tight ends except for waller kittle and kelsey as a starter like they can be potential flex options for your bench but that's one real change is that you can kind of push those guys way down the draft board and that's in this league where you don't have to start a tight end yeah you don't have to start a tenant yeah if you can get a top five or even top six quarterback actually 10 team league you don't have to start a tie down. Yeah, if you can get a top five or even top six quarterback, actually, 10-team league, you should probably commit

to taking a quarterback because you're not picking and getting another 20 picks. I just don't see why, if Lamar's there at 10, that's a gift. Yeah, but if you get Russell Wilson or somebody just outside the top five

and a top running back, that's a great way to start. Mm-hmm. Okay. Unless two of those guys are sitting there, if you think it's going to go the other way.

Yeah, you could do that too. I mean, in a 10-team league super flex, you're going to be shocked at all the value you see. All right, then. We're going to take a break. When we come back, we've got your emails at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Did you know 66% of utility damage

is caused by not requesting a locate? Don't let your project become part of this statistic. A quick locate request can save you from unexpected downtime, financial penalties, and keep you safe. Don't let avoidable damage cost you time and money. Click before you dig. Ensure your next project is safe. Visit OntarioOneCall.ca.

It's free. It's easy. It's the law. Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report. Our first email comes from Jared. You should know. Yes, Jared Lito. All right, yeah.

In the top, never mind what I was going to say. In the top 200 rankings, is that based off who's projected to score more fantasy points or a player's positional overall value or some sort of combo. Jamie, when somebody looks at your top 200 rankings, what does that based off of? It's based off who I like best.

Yeah, but it's the second thing. It's not just who's going to score the more points. No, because obviously it was going to be, who's going to score the most points to be quarterbacks, then receivers, then probably a mix of running backs and tight end.

You know, I, I, it's where I think those players should go when you're up in your draft. than probably a mix of running backs and tight ends. It's where I think those players should go when you're up in your draft. Yeah. This was the question I wrote about in FF Today on Friday. And my suggestion would be listen to the value-based drafting podcast

that you guys did last week because that gets into a lot of the discussions of how to value different positions against one another. Also, the rankings are going to take into account upside and downside where you might take a player that you

think most realistic scenario, he's a little bit worse than someone but you're going to rank him ahead of that person because you think he's got more upside. That's the tough thing about rankings. you put them in one list but the way it actually works is like jarvis landry could be anywhere from wide receiver 30 to wide receiver 40 and mike williams could be anywhere from wide receiver 20 to wide receiver 60 right right and so which one do you value more it depends on what part of the draft you're in what your team looks

like already that's kind of the tough thing with the ordinal ranking list. All right, this is from GR. I have the third pick in my 10-team PPR league. I was planning on drafting Kamara. I'm starting to feel some hesitance since the Saints don't seem to know who their wide receivers or quarterback currently are. The lack of wide receivers could result in a stacked box for Kamara and possibly a quarterback who doesn't show a history of checking it down to the running back. Should I draft Kamara at three or should I draft the next running back in the rankings

or go rogue and draft Kelsey in a PPR league at third overall? I just made a change in my rankings last night. I put Zeke three. Oh, wow. Now, first of all, all of the reports indicate that no matter who's been the quarterback, they're checking down a lot right now for the Saints. So that's something to keep in mind for Kamara. But you do bring up good points, GR.

There are some concerns for Alvin Kamara. But that surprises me, Jamie, that you're going Zeke over Kamara at three. When I looked at it, this is obviously assuming that Dak is right. Because if Dak is not right, then it's easy to, you know, drop Zeke down who knows how far. But, you know, he's he's shown the ability to catch the ball from Prescott. He's in better shape. Offensive line is healthy. I wouldn't be surprised if he is challenging for the rushing record again. I just think that he's he's got a little bit more upside right now.

So he's third for me in both formats in PPR, Kamara's four. Kamara's my number two player. I love him this season. I think whether it's Hill, yeah, there's some concerns about how much the passing volume is going to be there, but he's going to be a more efficient runner if Taysom Hill's the starting quarterback, and I think he's going to run more. Um, I think they're going to have to use him.

He's probably, I would, I would imagine he's going to set a career high and rushing and rushing attempts. Um, and you know, as far as the stacked box thing, like that's a, most of the research I've seen shows that how many defenders are in the box when a running back gets carries is a result of the personnel that the offense has on the field, not how many threats they have, you know, whether they have good wide receivers. Like if you throw three, if you're running an 11 personnel, you're probably not going to run against a lot of stack boxes and the saints are probably going to run an 11 personnel quite a bit.

Yeah. I just remember seeing a few years ago that they had such a great running game as your mark it was one of the years where mark ingram and camara are both great and they saw the you know like the fifth fewest eight man boxes eight man boxes i don't know if that was because of what you just said their personnel or because they drew breeze but yeah well that was was that back when jimmy graham was there too no i don't think so no because they're probably on the grandma kamara ever played together yeah because they're a team that doesn't run a ton of sets with their tight end in line either so they're just they spread the field out and that's what the defense is reacting to more than sure right you can't go eight man in the if you've got to cover guys on the perimeter.

Nick Chubb sees a lot of eight-man boxes. I mean, he's really good, and defenses want to stop him, but also because they're in two tight end sets or two RB sets all the time. All right. I will just say that if you really don't feel good about anyone at three overall,

I have made the case that you could, I think it's justifiable to take Kelsey because he is so safe and he's been the number one PPR tight end five years in a row and he's got a huge upside. And he can score over 300 points, which is not something that you see a lot of running backs do.

Kamara and Zeke at their best could score 350 points or something like that, so I get that. But, you know, Jamie, you said that Zeke has more upside than Kamara. But who has more downside? I think Kamara. You know, just we said this on the running back show. You know, I think he's going to be fantastic catching the ball. That I don't think is going to go away.

But if the touchdowns become a problem because the offense is a problem, then you have to really be concerned. And so, again, I think it just comes down to quarterback. If you tell me Dak is right, this is going to be one of the best offenses in football. I don't know if that's going to be the case for the Saints, no matter who the quarterback is. Okay, from Dennis in an Air Force base in North Carolina.

We're in a 14-team PPR league, and we're doing a third-round reversal. So the pick 14 gets the first pick in round three, and then we continue a snake draft. What pick do you want with a 14-team league with a third-round reversal? Chris? Man, I had the second pick in Scott Fishbowl,

which was 12-team third-round reversal, and it's really rough to have to wait that long to get your third player. Well, your second, to get your third player. Well, your second and then your third player. So I still think, though, I think if you get your choice of any spot, I think the first pick is the way to go. Just because I think Christian McCaffrey is such an edge on everything else. And the deeper the league is, having one player who can produce like that,

that's going to make up for so many faults in your lineup. Okay. From Dean, dear Nigel, Sticky Beard, Kookie and Numba, and Numba 5. I looked it up. It's a children's show, I believe. Oh, okay. What show?

Operation Quiet? No. children's show i believe oh okay what what show uh operation quiet no code name kids next door is the name of the show all right god operation operation quiet would be something i really need to incorporate in my house okay so dean is um has the second pick at a 12 i have a three-year-old that's been sitting next to me for 45 minutes. That's actually been quiet. Really? I heard it once. Yeah, that's pretty good. He's watching Wreck-It Ralph for like the 50th time. I love that movie.

Me and him. Oh, man. Makes me cry every time. That's what my brother said. Feel the Dreams makes him cry every time. Well, you cry every time at Jerry Maguire because it's a romance. It is. God, Feel the Dreams is just...

I don't like it. The most overrated movie in history. In history. Also, they weren't actually playing at the Field of Dreams yesterday. No, they're playing next to it. Just to be clear, they were playing at a dream-adjacent field. It was like a couple of blocks away from the Field of Dreams. Don't lie to me, Major League Baseball.

It was pretty cool, though. No, it was very cool. When they all appeared out of the corn in the end, that was... I loved the walk-off home run against the Yankees. Right, shut up. So here's the question from Dean. 12-team standard scoring league,

getting a stud running back in round one. Aaron Boone is so ridiculous. Getting a stud running back in round one, but how would you go about the 2-3 turn and the 4-5 turn with the second overall pick in a 12-team standard scoring league? Jamie, just overall, you're thinking, all right, I got Dalvin Cook in round one at standard scoring. What do I do with my next four picks?

Standard, I would look for a running back in round two. You know, that's kind of J.K. Dobbins, David Montgomery range. You know, I would consider that there. I would probably, you know, look for best available either wide receiver, tight end, and round three. You know, that's typically going to be, I think, where Waller, Kittle are, you know, so inclined to go that route. And then, you know, then I start looking wide receiver.

But I try to get two running backs my first two picks if we can. First three picks, excuse me. Next question from Oscar. Would love a quick breakdown of the top five offensive lines. Who's your top five offensive lines? Dallas is in the conversation. New Orleans is in the conversation. Tennessee is in the conversation. Cleveland. in the conversation Tennessee is in the conversation

Cleveland Colts Cleveland Colts if they're healthy Here's how PFF ranks it I think New England up there now Cleveland Indianapolis

New England New Orleans Tampa Bay Let's not forget about them Then Dallas Then the Chiefs The Chiefs I don't know about right now. Man, the Chiefs, they pretty

much turned over their entire offensive line, didn't they? They have four new starters on the line? Yes, that was right. They have two new tackles. They have Laurent Duvernay-Tarnif back. Actually, Mike Remmers is back at right

tackle. Well, the doctor's out now. Yeah, right. Duvernay-Tarnieff back. Actually, Mike Remmers is back at right tackle. Well, the doctor's out now. Yeah, right. Duvernay-Tarnieff got hurt. Yeah, they signed Joe Tooney. It's Joe Tooney, right? Yeah, Joe Tooney. So they've got a good offensive line as well.

That's the Chiefs. And then the Rams come in eighth for PFF. All right, thank you, Oscar. This is from Zach. 10-team league. Half PPR. I get to pick my, Oscar. This is from Zach. 10-team league. Half PPR. I get to pick my draft spot. Does he just take first?

If you have the choice, you should always take first. Pretty much every season, the first pick has the highest win percentage. Could that have been true last year? Honestly, I think it was pretty close to true. I don't know if it had the best, but it actually was better than you would think,

which is very surprising. But remember, Christian McCaffrey was amazing in the three games he played, and you might have already had Mike Davis. So I had the first pick, I think, in one league, and I won it. It was our Fantasy Football Today League, and I was able to get Mike Davis,

so I'm sure that probably helped. But yeah, it was obviously more challenging than it was in previous years. Yeah. From Christina, 12-team PPR Keeper League. I'm picking third in the second round. I have to keep Patrick Mahomes. Would you pair him with Tyree Kill or best available running back who could end up being Nick Chubb, Jonathan Taylor, or Aaron Jones? I think I have Jones higher than Hill.

I think I have Hill higher than the other two, though. Yeah, I would go Jones. Then from Stephen from Duval. Dear Remy, Jerry, Speedy, and Splinter. These are Ninja Turtle rat masters.

Well, just Splinter is. I don't know who the other guys are. How many quarterbacks will throw 600 times this year? And who are they? Oh, those are just like mice slash rats. Speedy Gonzalez, Jerry from Tom and Jerry, Remy from Ratatouille. Oh, Remy from Ratatouille. Oh, I never saw Ratatouille.

It's so good, Adam. Come on. Gosh, you like all the kids' movies. Love all the kids' movies. Maybe you should get some kids, Chris. Paddington 2 is one of the best movies ever made. Which one? Paddington 2.

Paddington 2? No, it literally had the highest rating on Rotten Tomatoes ever. Higher than Citizen Kane. What? Really Tomatoes ever. Higher than Citizen Kane. What? Really? And it's better than Citizen Kane. That's probably true. I don't care about a wagon or whatever, a toboggan.

So you've got projections. So how many quarterbacks are you projecting to throw 600 times? Oh, well. You got Lamar, Taysom. Yeah. I have 11 yeah how about like 630

times since it's a 17 game season none oh really yeah I don't have anybody projected there but there's a bunch in the 610 to 620 range Roethlisberger Fitzpatrick Burrow, Dak,

Herbert, Mahomes, Allen, and Stafford are all in the six, 10 to six 20 range. Okay. Well, that was a good mailbag,

everybody. I want to thank everyone for contributing, for giving us your emails, fantasy football at cbsi.com and your Apple podcast reviews. Uh, we have a fun weekend coming up. So this is your Saturday episode tomorrow. You've got your live salary cap draft

that we did on Tuesday. I'm airing the entire thing. It's, I don't know, it was a long episode. Was it the entire thing? It was close. We didn't complete the salary cap draft on the air, but it's much of it. And I think you should learn some really good lessons.

We had some good guests from around the industry. I honestly don't remember. But yeah, I think I did like my team. I must say, Jamie, it was the worst team you've ever drafted. I love my team. Okay, no way. Let's go.

I don't know if you guys talked about this on the pod, but nobody overpaid in that draft. It was like the weirdest salary cap draft I've ever done. I talked about it because I read your comment in the chat room. Yeah, every single draft pick, at least based on your guys' consensus values, was pretty much

within a couple of dollars. You usually see early on, maybe someone goes for $5, $6, $7, $8 more, but everybody played it very, very cool. Dude, Jamie, this is the worst team. You've never drafted a worse team. I love this team. Alright, here we go. Ready?

Matthew Stafford, Clyde Edward Ziller, and Miles Gaskin. Very happy about that. Tyreek Hill, Tyreek Hill, Jamar Chase, Odell Beckham, Irv Smith at tight end, Jerry Judy at flex,

and LaVisca Chennault at flex, possibly. Kareem Hunt, possibly at flex. Trey Sermon. You have good depth. I'll give you that. Your best pick's probably the Rams DST. That's my best pick? Chris, come on.

This team sucks. I don't like it, no. What do you like about this team, Jamie? It's so many question marks. I don't have to make a waiver What do you like about this team, Jamie? There's so many question marks. I don't have to make a waiver move. You must have the best bench because you didn't go crazy and spend big on... I'm sure you did on Tyreek Hill,

maybe Clyde Edwards-Elair, but you've got a great... 24 for Hill, 16 for Elair. They were both pretty reasonable. Great balance bench with Sermon and Kareem Hunt, LaVisca Chenault Johnnie Smith and Darnell Mooney but to have Jamar

Chase and Odell Beckham as wide receivers two and three I mean Chase is fine but Beckham at three and Jerry Judy but I can play Chenault if he's the guy

I think he's going to be I can Judy you do not love this team I love it a lot no I yeah Jamie loves all his kids and all his teams

apparently my teams are all my kids. All right. Thanks, everybody. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. And we will talk to you on Sunday as you can hear all about Jamie's team. See ya.