Fantasy Football Today - Quarterback Tiers! Out With the Old Guys? (07/13 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: July 13, 2020

The QB position is changing as young QBs with rushing potential may be pushing out the old pocket passers, and the tiers reflect that. We're using Heath's projections for our QB tiers after we start the show with some NFL news ... The elite tier (5:00) is Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson, no surprise. When should they be drafted? And who is next (9:15)? Dak Prescott is in a tier of his own according to Heath, but do Dave and Jamey agree? And you might be surprised to find out who is in the next tier. It's not just Deshaun Watson, Russell Wilson and Kyler Murray ... How about the Ironman Tier (23:30) of Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Matt Ryan and Drew Brees? What kind of upside do they have? Then we look at the next tier (36:30) which is outside the Top 12 but could certainly have your starting Fantasy QB in it, and then the best of the rest (44:00) ... Your emails at [e-mail] Nominate us on PodcastAwards! https://www.podcastawards.com/app/signup/ 'Fantasy Football Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Follow the new FFT Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/FFToday Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @YardsPerGretch, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCviK78rIWXhZdFzJ1Woi7Fg/videos Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kick off an exciting football season with BetMGM, an official sportsbook partner of the National Football League. Yard after yard, down after down, the sportsbook born in Vegas gives you the chance to take action to the end zone and celebrate every highlight reel play. And as an official sportsbook partner of the NFL, BetMGM is the best place to fuel your football fandom on every game day. With a variety of exciting features, BetMGM offers you plenty of seamless ways to jump straight onto the gridiron and to embrace peak sports action. Ready for another season of gridiron glory? What are you waiting for?

Get off the bench, into the huddle, and head for the end zone all season long. Visit BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older. Ontario only. Please gamble responsibly. Gambling problem? For free assistance, call the Connex Ontario helpline at 1-866-531-2600.

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

Touchdown. Oh, he's done it again. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath, and Ben. All right, it is Tears Week. Last week, we did projections. This week, tears, starting with the quarterbacks. And we welcome back Dave Richard. We couldn't do tears without Dave.

What's up, Dave? Wah, wah. Exactly. Happy tears that Dave is back. Actually, Dave does publish tears, and we'll be using his for the running backs, wide receivers, and tight ends, but we're using Heath's for the quarterbacks.

All right, Heath? What a curveball. Yeah. It is a curveball. I come back after two weeks. We've got a whole week dedicated to tears. It's the thing that I've been doing for basically my entire career as a fantasy writer.

Let's look at Heath's quarterback tears. Well, those are the ones I had. And then I put them into clever categories based on comic book movies and superhero movies. All right, all right. So I'm kind of binded to that. And good morning to Jamie. Hi, Jamie.

Hi, boys. Hi. Hi, Gene. And yeah, let's get to it, guys it guys just one news item unless i missed something this morning you let me know but uh bucks maybe yeah i probably should check that right bucks left tackle donovan smith said that playing during with the coronavirus out there it's not worth the risk so uh you know this could pop up a lot we'll see what happens we should expect like the two sports that are major sports that are getting close to starting have already had multiple

players decide not to play we should expect that to happen with the nfl at least a couple guys right i would imagine so you just don't know which ones it'll be at this point. And I'm worried that people who draft before training camp starts will pick players that end up saying, eh, I'm not going to play this year. Things are too hairy out there, and they don't want to risk their health. You know, one who just dawned on me, because we did the older wide receivers on Friday's podcast.

I'm running a story to go with it. John Brown turns 30 this year. I wonder if his condition with the sickle cell trait, if that's something that could be a problem. Good point. That is a good point. Or he just refuses to play in road games. Maybe he just says...

It could be anything with somebody who has something that's underlying. You never know. Let's keep an eye on it. It's really incentive to delay your draft as much as you can. That's the one news item you're going with on Monday morning? What is there? There's a little bit of a bigger one. The team just dropped

his nickname. Oh, yeah. I just saw that. We're going to find out. I don't know what the name is yet. I don't know what the name is. Would you name it? It doesn't matter. They got rid of the wrong one. They got rid of the wrong one. I think I tweeted about this. There was an article we had that had a great suggestion.

It was about like a civil war. The Red Tails? Yeah, I think it was the Red Tails. Is that the Civil War Battalion or something like that? Yeah, I think that's the best one. The Red Tails is what I'm voting for. You should go copyright, though. It's HTTBD.

Hail to the... Hail to... To be determined. It's HTTBD. Hail to the... Hail to to be determined. To be determined. That's pretty good. All right. That's all I got for news and notes. So we'll get right into the tiers and we'll read your emails

at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. It's Monday morning, tomorrow night, Tuesday night, Twitch night. And I always, I get sad when we don't play poker because I'm having so much fun

playing poker, but I love mock drafts too. So tomorrow, we're doing a non-PPR mock draft, 7pm Eastern. Join us. Follow along. Ask us questions. Twitch.com slash FFToday. 7pm Eastern on Twitch. Twitch.com slash FFToday.

And Podcast Awards. We need your help. Nominate us. PodcastAwards.com. This is the website to go to, and the link is in the episode description. So podcastawards.com slash app slash sign up. And basically, you just nominate our show, Fantasy Football, today. There are two categories you can nominate us for,

People's Choice and Sports. Please do both, but if you're only going to do one, please do Sports. We want to win the award this year. So podcastawards.com slash app slash sign up. It's very easy to do. And we appreciate it. Thank you very much.

All right. Heath left. So... Oh, there he is. No, I'm here. I just noticed that my laptop is not charging. Okay. At least he's not frozen like Friday.

Yeah, that was wild. We're on YouTube. YouTube.com slash fantasyfootball today. I desperately need a haircut. Have you gotten one since this started? Not professionally. My wife's cut my hair a couple times. I've kind of cut some of it as well.

You look like MC Search from Third Base. I am strongly considering the man bun. I was told that someone will come to my house and cut my hair outside. So I'm considering that. I've seen that. Yeah, I'm considering that. Okay, back to the show.

First tier is all superhero movie based. Christopher Nolan's Batman series. This is the elite to the show. First tier is all superhero movie-based. Christopher Nolan's Batman series. This is the elite of the elite. There is no better tier than this one, and that is just two players, Patrick Wilhelms and Lamar Jackson. Everybody on board with that? Yes.

100%. That's the top tier in my tiers as well, although I didn't label it as such. I just said after 25th overall. That's just when you should take them. There will probably be people in your league that take them sooner than that. You're going to have to let them do that.

But if you can get them starting in round three, seems like a really good deal to get guys that are going to put up, you know, 28 plus fantasy points per week. Well, then let's play it out, right? You've got your elite running back. Maybe it's McCaffrey or you had the first pick or you had one of the first five picks or you have an elite running back. And it's McCaffrey, or you had the first pick, or you had one of the first five picks,

or you have an elite running back. And in the second and third rounds, you are deciding, for us, it's kind of a wide receiver area, or like Kittle. You know, so let's say you can take two of these three. Juju Smith-Schuster,

George Kittle, Patrick Mahomes. Let me add, and I can give you sort of a real-life scenario because we did our pick-by-pick series for the magazine. And in both of those, I believe, I took Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson. I know what I did with Mahomes because I had the first overall pick. So what I did was just to try something different.

This is half PPR, and it was myself, Dave Heath, and Ben Gretsch picking three teams in the 12-team draft. We just did three teams in that. And so after I took McCaffrey, I took Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Jones at the turn just to do something a little different. So Jones was the last running back that uh i think is in that two three range for me um you know i prefer to get most of the other guys toward the end of round three or round four um and then with lamar jackson what i did was i took davante adams at nine josh jacobs in

round two and then lamar jackson round three so um yeah but that's really late because it's probably most people aren't going to be able to get him with the ninth pick of round three right well i don't think most of these i don't think mahomes and jackson are making it to the end of round two either you know so i think you know any of the scenarios that we're probably going to give you uh that we've done are not going to be what is going to be reflective in most adp scenarios and probably most of our you know user drafts i think you're going to see those guys go probably at somewhere 10th overall through 15th overall.

I think both guys go off the board ADP wise. Sure. So the first thing you need to think about when you're, when you're contemplating a draft strategy, and this is basic is how badly do you want one of these quarterbacks in your league scoring will probably be a huge factor. If it's six points for passing touchdown, there's crazy rules for rushing and,

you know, long touchdown passes, then maybe you'll, you'll reach up a little bit for those quarterbacks but otherwise just know that the position is deep and you don't have to spend a top 15 pick on a quarterback to still get good value on one all right then fine let's just answer that question though and i'll throw a few more names right you've got two picks and you can have aaron jones george kittle juju smith schuster cooper cup and dj more throw those five out there and kenny gonday those six who do you and the quarterbacks are on the board give me your two that you pick there you already have an elite running back in round one what's the format uh it's six point for passing touchdown and it's half ppr

i'm definitely going to take kittle ahead of the quarterbacks. I will. I'll take Jones out of the quarterbacks. And I may take Galladay. I don't know about cup, but Galladay, I think I would end up taking ahead of the quarterbacks. Yeah,

I'd go DJ more and Kittle. Probably. I would probably take all of them. Yeah. More should probably be ahead of them too. If I'm playing this out, I'm taking everybody over the quarterbacks. Okay.

Let's go to our next tier, which is the Avengers Endgame, which is near elite. And then I have the Avengers Infinity War, which is somehow in a different tier than Dak Prescott because Dak Prescott is in the Avengers Endgame tier, Heath. And then Russell Willis... Heath's teeth, Heath's teeth, Heath's tears are a little different, I think, than Dave's.

I think Dave would probably put Dak. And the thing for me is, like, I technically in projections have Dak closer to Lamar Jackson than I have Lamar to Mahomes or than I have Dak to Russell Wilson and Deshaun Watson. So I do think that he is the guy that could

have 600 pass attempts but also run for five touchdowns, throw for 4,500 yards and 30 touchdowns. I really like his situation, his weaponry, and the fact that he could have a high pass volume and good rushing production both. Okay, so he's slightly ahead of everybody else for you, Heath.

Dave, how do you tier it with Dak and the rest of the gang? So the second tier for me is Dak, Russell Wilson, Kyler Murray, and Deshaun Watson. And I view them as quarterbacks that I would take in rounds five and six in a one quarterback league and I think you might see one or two of those guys make it to round

five in a in a regular old fantasy league that isn't populated by a bunch of fancy dorks like us but these are guys that have the potential to jump ahead of Jackson and maybe Mahomes to be the number one QB in fantasy. So, Jamie, how do you see the next tier

after the top two guys? It's all for those guys. I've said this many times. Watson's my favorite just because I do think that this is his 2015 cam season where he's just going to put the team on his back. because I do think that this is his 2015 cam season where he's just going to put the team on his back. And I do think that the change of weapons is not necessarily great for him losing his number one guy, but I do think what those guys do,

if they're healthy and fuller and cooks that will help him, you know, with a lot of splash plays, a lot of big plays down the field and open up a lot of rushing lanes for him. So I would take Watson over the group, but I think they're all bunched together. They're bunched together in my rankings. I think it wouldn't surprise me if any one of them is the number one quarterback if some things go wrong for the top two guys. But I just think they're so close together.

And as we talked about on Friday, the only thing that would change that for me is if Antonio Brown does sign with the Seahawks, then I would put Russell Wilson ahead of Watson at three. Right now, Wilson is five for me behind Dak. And the point of the tiers, Dave, is that you should be fine with the last guy in that tier, right? It's not really like a big drop-off.

They all have similar expectations. But is that how you're drafting it, or is there one in there that you actually really target? Well, I mean, they're in the order in which I have them ranked. So if all four of those guys are on the board and it's round six and I decide to take a quarterback because it's good value, Dak is going to be the one. But the way I look at it is, let's say I'm up in late round five,

and I know I've got a pick coming up in early round six, and there's only one of the quarterbacks left from this tier, and there's at least one team behind me that needs a quarterback, I know that this tier is about to run out. I want to be able to get the best possible value I can at quarterback. So it almost alerts me, okay, if you're not going to take a quarterback now, you're going to have to pick somebody from the next tier. So you better make sure if you're taking somebody from another position,

it's somebody who is absolutely worth it because you're missing out on a really great quarterback the tears just basically let you know when the next level the next best level of players is coming up and then the group of maybe i'm not explaining it the best you are you are a group of a group of players with the best possible expectations is running out or is coming up you know to be aware of of it. I'm not sure if I'm explaining it exactly well. I wrote it better in the tiers and strategy story that you guys will read on CBSSports.com.

I thought you did a great job, Dave. Yeah, I just gave you a giant read sign. There you go. Everybody is giving you a round of applause for that. But here's the thing. Heath's tiers are a little bit different. It's not just those four guys. It's Dak in the Avengers

Endgame tier. And then the she's I think we lost teeth again. All right, he'll come back. And then the the Infinity War somehow a different tier. The Dak Prescott tier is Wilson. I don't snap his fingers and Heath went away. Wilson Watson

Murray. And then he has Carson Wentz and Josh Allen in that tier. Right, so maybe Heath feels like all those guys have the same type of expectation. In which case, if he's got a tier with six quarterbacks, do I have it right, Adam? Sort of.

It's Dak and then it's Wilson, Watson, Murray, Wentz, Allen. So that's a five quarterback tier. So you're saying Dak is in his own tier? Yes. So that means that he just views Dak as strictly a guy in between the elite and the infinity war group that you mentioned. Right.

So that would just tell me that he views more quarterbacks being comparable after Dak than I do. but I yeah yeah and then it's Wentz and Allen specifically that he has in the same tier as Wilson Watson and Kyler Murray so what do you guys think about that you obviously don't view them that way but you know I wish Heath will be back he's his set his computer froze so he's coming back but I think those those guys are you know and i want to interpret what heath is doing but they feel like they could finish in the top five not necessarily number one where for me i think any of those guys again something the the

four after the top two of watson wilson prescott and murray have number one type upside again i think something would have to happen to Mahomes and Jackson we saw it happen to Mahomes last year when he got hurt and missed time and you know struggled with the ankle injury when he was playing but uh if something were to happen to both those two guys and then you know one of the other four just does something absolutely incredible uh we could see them finish in in that number one spot I don't know if Wentz and Allen have that type of upside I do think that Allen is just outside that group. He has certainly the rushing numbers and pedigree that we've seen

to get to that type of production if his passing improves, but that's a big leap. And then Wentz, as we saw in 2017 before his ACL tear, he was neck and neck with Deshaun Watson for points per game, being as the number one quarterback that season so um you know he's got that that type of uh of upside as well but he's got a whole new receiving core essentially you know if alshon and deshaun are going to miss time you know certainly with uh injuries or other circumstances so i i think you know when you look at those two in particular um to me they're closer to you to maybe their top five as opposed to maybe their top three.

Wentz, you mentioned that he has that upside, but what's happened the last two seasons? It's annoying because the last two seasons, Carson Wentz has not even been top 10 guy per game. Two years ago, he wasn't even top 15, and last year he was 13th in four-point per passing touchdown leagues and 12th in six-point-per-passing touchdown leagues and 12th in six-point-per-passing touchdown leagues per game.

Yeah, but I mean, those are some circumstances that we have to see fixed, and that's the if. You know, it's the two years ago, he was coming off the ACL and he had the back injury, and so he missed time at the end of the season. And last year, his entire receiving core fell apart. You know, so the hope would be one if not both of the veteran guys are there and then rager and maybe another young guy including you know jdr stega whiteside steps up you know so if he has talent around him obviously the tight ends

and the running backs look to be great so if he can get some help in the receiving core you know he's got that type of potential. So I think that's what you're drafting if you're drafting Wentz. So I think he saw the floor when Wentz is healthy last year. I feel like his score is like QB 12, right? He can still finish. I would say 10

if that's what last year was because he was working his way through a lot of different things. It was just the two years of injury concerns. It was everybody falling apart around. I mean, you know, look what he did with Deshaun in week one. You know, how good that combo looked. Look what he had to put together at the end of the season

with Greg Ward and the running backs and those guys doing everything to help him. So I think if you were to say, you know, like if Rager reaches the heights that Dave has for him as, you know, one of the best rookie wide receivers is not the best. And maybe Deshaun or Alshon give you something, you know, of what we've seen them, you know, when they're healthy, you know, the tight ends are going to produce,

you know, the running backs going to produce, you got to have faith in Doug Peterson after what he's shown you as a head coach and a play caller, you know, losing Brooks on the offensive line stinks, but I think there's still a good enough group there that should help Wentz be successful. I think if you're buying into Carson Wentz, you're hoping for more than the 12th best quarterback, but if that's for your floor,

then that's not bad, depending on where you're going to get him. I'm worried about him staying healthy, and I'm worried about what Jalen Hurts might do. Is Wentz going to lose numbers because Jalen Hurts is playing six or seven snaps per game? You know, even if he's just running and not really doing a whole lot else,

not doing a lot of passing, it's still going to hurt Miles Sanders, too. So that would hurt Miles Sanders, too. Why would it hurt Miles Sanders? I mean, it's not like we talk about Taysom Hill hurting Alvin Kamara. We talk about Taysom Hill hurting Drew Brees. That's true. Like, if Miles Sanders is going to be the pass catcher that we think he has already shown and should continue to be then it shouldn't hurt him to the point where you would um you know drop him around

in your fantasy projections look it could it could hurt my like it could easily be jalen hurts comes in a third and goal from the two and runs it in or something like that. Heath, Carson Wentz and Josh Allen being in that tier with those three guys, with Kyler Murray, Russell Wilson, and Deshaun Watson. Welcome back. What do you want to say about that? Yeah, I think undeniably Wentz has a higher floor than the guy that everybody has ahead of him, Kyler Murray. He had all of these receiver problems last year and was still better than Kyler Murray.

And we've seen the top five upside from Wentz. He actually runs not a lot, but enough to where he doesn't necessarily have to throw for 4,700 yards and 30 touchdowns. But he has that type of potential as well. This has been a team that's been pretty, when they're going right, they're pretty pass heavy when it comes to touchdowns, but he has that type of potential as well. This has been a team that's been pretty when they're going right, they're pretty pass heavy when it comes to touchdowns. They're generally low on the rushing touchdowns, high on the passing touchdowns. I wouldn't be surprised if Wentz throws 30 touchdown passes this year.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if he's better than Murray. And Josh Allen? Who knows? The bar is so low. If he could just become an average passer and continue to have this rushing success, then you're looking at an easy top five quarterback. But he might also stink.

Well, I don't think that we expect Josh Allen to rush for nine touchdowns, but the yard should be there. He's going to be among the leaders in rushing yards, which is great. And he just added Stefan Diggs. And he hasn't been a good passer, but what does it mean to you guys that Josh Allen did improve?

His numbers did improve significantly from year one to year two. And they gave him weapons. And they gave him Diggs, yeah. Well, they gave him, no, I'm saying last year, they gave him Brown and Beasley. And so you saw a step forward from year one to year two, and now you got to see the progression from year two to year three. I mean, I think the thing that will sway it is will the rushing go down?

Because I don't think he's going to regress as a passer. I think that would be certainly disastrous for Buffalo if he goes backwards. So, again, if we're talking floor or ceiling, I think we've seen his floor as a passer. And now you're adding a guy who's a great route runner. Hopefully we'll continue to make some plays down the field and help Josh Allen continue to grow as well as Brown and Beasley continuing to be there

and maybe whatever Zach Moss and Devin Singletary do out of the backfield also. So I think Allen's got a high ceiling. If the rushing comes down though, that's going to be a problem. So if he goes from nine to two in terms of the rushing touchdowns and maybe loses 50 to 100 yards rushing though that's going to be a problem so if he goes from you know nine to two in terms of the rushing touchdowns and and you know maybe loses 50 to 100 yards rushing that's going to be problematic if the passing doesn't go up but the hope would

be is that his mechanics improve the addition of digs helps him and and he gets a little bit better so uh i'm with heath he does have top five upside but you know i don't think he has necessarily the downside of being outside of top 12 guy unless he just gets hurt. I think he's got downside of outside the top 12. And I think he, I'll admit that he could finish his QB five this year. Do you know how many games he's thrown for over 300 yards in his career? He hasn't thrown for 270 yards yet. Yeah.

Well, I mean, that was going to be my next question. Thanks. I think a Buffalo smart, they're just going to tell him, don't chuck it deep as much. And they're going to use Stefan digs as a catch and run threat and not as a deep ball threat. And if they do that, then that would probably mean that we're drafting digs a little too late, but it also means that Josh Allen may not be in a position to get like huge chunk yardage and eventually break through for a 275 yard game or 300 yard game.

All right. We're going to take a break here on fantasy football today. When we come back, we've got the Ironman tier durable old guys who don't run. I think that was pretty clever, right? Yeah. That was the best.

That was the best tier. They're also very, very rich. Yeah, that is very true. So we'll see who the Tony Starks of fantasy football are when we come back. Miller Lite. The light beer brewed for people who love the taste of beer

and the perfect pairing for your game time. When Miller Lite set out to brew a light beer, they had to choose great taste or 90 calories per can. They chose both because they knew the best part of beer is the beer. Your game time tastes like Miller time. Learn more at MillerLite.ca. Must be legal drinking age. Whether in the game or in life,

the right coverage can make all the difference. Securian Canada gives you that coverage. For more than 65 years, Securian Canada has been helping Canadians build secure tomorrows. Their insurance solutions are designed to help protect you and your loved ones financially, giving you the peace of mind to focus on what truly matters. Find their products through banks, credit unions, and associations. Or visit SecurianCanada.ca. Securian Canada, insurance designed for life.

All right, according to Heath's Tears, the next group after Russell Wilson, Deshaun Watson, Kyler Murray, Carson Wentz, and Josh Allen is Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Matt Ryan, and Drew Brees. The Ironman group, durable old guys who don't run and can fly. So Brady, Rodgers, Matt Ryan, Drew Brees. Heath, why don't you give us the first word on this tier? Yeah, I mean, you pretty well nailed it with the durable old guys who don't run.

We expect all these guys to have big time passing numbers, but their ceiling, like the way that football is right now with the Lamar Jacksons, the Kyler Murray's, the Deshaun Watson's, if you're not running for 150 yards, they might have to have a 45 touchdown season to just get into the top three or four quarterbacks. I don't know that it's reasonable to expect that one of these guys actually has top three upside anymore, but they could certainly be top five or six guys

with just an outstanding passing production. What will be interesting is what the volume is like. I don't think there's really much question for Ryan and really probably shouldn't be for Brady either. They're going to throw less than they did last year. Rogers and Breeze both a little bit more interesting because we've saw New Orleans before last year was really trending towards more run heavy. We know that Green Bay is behaving like they're going to be more run heavy. If you're on a team or if you're a quarterback that doesn't run and you only get

to throw the ball 525, 545 times in a season, it's hard to crack the top 10. Is Stafford not on this list because of the durable word? He's just in the next tier. He's the first guy in the next tier, which is the Watchmen tier, which is not your first choice, but if it's on, you'll watch it and realize,

okay, that was pretty solid. And by the way, the end of this tier is 12 quarterbacks. So these four guys are 9, 10, 11, 12. Brady, Rodgers, Ryan, and Breeze. So Matthew Stafford is the first guy in the next tier.

So you're taking Rodgers over Stafford? What's that? You're taking Rodgers over Stafford? I've got Rodgers over Stafford right now, yeah. And you have Rodgers over Breeze. But in the same tier? Yes. Well, all right. So breaking these guys down,

Heath, you said you think Brady will throw less than he did last year? No, I think Brady will throw less than Jameis did last year. Okay. Brady actually threw a lot last year, I think, but Jameis threw 626 times. That's a ton. Rodgers.

The question I have about Rodgers is, is the defense good enough for the Packers to be as run-heavy as they kind of want to be? Because when I was looking into Rodgers, just statistically, it's just touchdown rate, right? He's, he's still really, really good. Well, I would just like it's yards per attempt to last year, league median was seven and a half yards per attempt. I don't know that he's been over seven

and a half yards per attempt in like five years. You know, he hasn't, but one thing he doesn't do is throw interceptions, which is a little bit of an underrated stat and fantasy. It just doesn't turn the ball over. So like, I can get the exact stats, but okay. He was the number one quarterback in 2016. In 2017, he only played six healthy games, but based on those six games, he would have been the number two quarterback. So he was still elite. 2018, he was on pace for over 4,700 yards if you remove week 17 when he got hurt after five pass attempts. So his first 15 games on pace for 4,700 yards

with only 27 touchdowns. So the touchdown rate was really low. And then last year was a little more concerning because the rushing really went away too. He was like, I don't know, 170 rushing yards, something like that. But I don't know. Even though the yards per attempt

and the completion rate are declining, I still feel like it's good enough for him if he just gets that touchdown rate back up. We shouldn't be writing him off is I guess what I'm trying to say. Do you agree with that? For me, what has happened to Aaron Rodgers the last two years is what scares me about Russell Wilson and Dynasty.

Go on. The falling off a cliff. Because Wilson, like Rodgers, I think they're one and two all time in career touchdown rate. And they're both mobile quarterbacks and Rodgers hasn't aged particularly well in terms of a mobile quarterback.

So the rushing yards and the touchdown rate are two things that can very easily fall off. And then if you don't have the volume, you're just not very good for fantasy. But there's one huge difference, and that is that Russ's receiving core is trending upward, and it has been for the past couple of years, whereas Rodgers is trending downward. And I would imagine that the packers are aware of the touchdown rate for rogers and that might be why they got devin funchess as gross as that might sound to you guys they probably view funchess as a guy that can help aaron rogers in the red zone and like that's where the touchdown that's where having a lack of a deep receiving core hurts aaron rogers touchdown rate because if he had

Adams and Cobb and Jordy Nelson I think they all were on the team at the same time at one point like that's that's amazing he's gonna throw a lot of touchdowns and last year was kind of evidence especially when Devante Adams got hurt that it's hard for him to to find a lot of touchdowns and the other thing surprising some of his best games came when Adams was out, though. There was like one, right? And I think he had like 30% of all of his fantasy points in two games, and one of them came without Adams. Maybe both of them did. I don't remember.

No, he was fine without Adams. It really just seemed like it was just matchups for him all year, which is weird. And not opportunities to... Well, no, he had opportunities to throw touchdowns. He just didn't get it done. I think if he had a deeper receiving core, we could count on Rodgers to get back over the 30 number.

He's going to end up at a spot where if you don't get the quarterback that you want, you continue to wait. He's going to be one of the two guys that you probably draft and be okay for certain parts of the season. I don't think he has league-winning upside anymore. The guys have laid that out.

And to Dave's point about the red zone potential, I don't think you bring in A.J. Dillon to say we're going to throw more in the red zone or throw more near the goal line. You're going to bring in a big power back to probably continue to run the ball in that range, whether it's him or Aaron Jones, as successful as Jones was last year. So I'm not putting Rodgers in this group. I'd rather have Stafford. I'd rather have big Ben, you know,

if you're talking about guys that are similar in terms of, you know, what they'll do as passers, as opposed to what their rushing potential will do to enhance their passing ability, understandably. So the durable question, that's why I asked, you know, he is, is that the reason why maybe Rogers over Stafford, but durability is a concern for those two guys. I just look at Rogers right now as somebody who, you know, you mentioned the interceptions.

He doesn't want to throw interceptions. Pete Prisco's had a conversation with him. I think I referenced this before from what Pete told me in that Pete said to him, you know, you got to be around 11 or 12 interceptions because that means you're taking more chances. And he said, you know, no, I want to be under 10. You know, essentially was the response.

That is such a Pete thing. And it's just like, that's just not true for Aaron Rodgers. But Aaron Rodgers is great. No, he's not right. Not with Aaron Rodgers. He's 100% right. Aaron Rodgers is one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. He has the ability to be great without

throwing a lot of intercept. He doesn't have to be bread farve. He's not bread farve. That's entirely accurate, Adam, and obviously his win-loss record speaks to that because you're not turning the ball over and you're keeping the ball in your team's hands. But at the same time, though, you're not necessarily putting your receivers

and for what we talk about, putting the opportunity out there to maybe enhance some of your statistics. And so, you know, if you want to put Rodgers back in the MVP conversation, he's got to be 30 plus touchdowns, if not close to 40, with what these other guys are now doing.

I mean, you know, he's not going to be at the Mahomes level if he's not taking some more chances. So, you know, I think that's kind of the point is, you know, if you are still one of the best quarterbacks, which he is, you know, if you're if you're talking about NFL versus fantasy, still one of the best in the game. Fantasy is just not at that level because he's not putting up those numbers anymore. So I think that's where he where you're seeing him. But I do think that we've as an industry pushed him down so far that if he does have even the slightest bounce back, remember he was top 10 quarterback last year over the course of the season, his points per game wasn't necessarily reflective of that,

but he wasn't awful. He was 11th and points per game. Right. You'll get good enough production for the value that you're getting at his cost, but I don't think he's going to win you your fantasy league by himself like he did in that 2016 season or certainly in the early part of his career. All right, so what's that cost?

What round are you comfortable getting? Oh, I mean, that's double digits for Aaron Rodgers right now. Right, and what I'm saying, and this is actually a good thing for everybody else that doesn't take Rodgers before then. If some doofus in your league takes Aaron Rodgers in round seven, it pushes another quarterback down to you. You almost want to root for somebody to take Aaron Rodgers

with the top 75 pick in your draft. That's how I pretty much feel about this tier. I'm pretty happy just taking the last one that gets drafted. I guess my question about this tier, the old guys who don't run, Brady, Breeze, Ryan, Rodgers,

do you want to take like do you want to take this tier or do you just wait? I'm not. It's what I just said. I'll just take whichever one's still there. I'm not I'm not reaching out and trying to go get one in the single digit rounds, but that's a little bit different than saying, well, I'm just going to skip this tier and just go with Stafford Minshew, Daniel Jones,

Baker, maybe like who is somebody later or do you think that there's a pretty big difference between this group and the guys after to the point where, you know, you do want, you don't want to go much further than this then, much further than this group to have your number one quarterback.

This is the safe group. This is the, I know what I'm getting group because they've done it time and time again. The one wild card would be Brady, you know, just going to a different team and not necessarily knowing how it's going to work, but you expect it to work because it's Brady and Bruce Arians and all those receivers. So you're hoping that the, the, the, the two, the two magical forces come together and it's, uh, and it's fantastic.

But I mean, you know, what, what breeze is going to do, cause he's been with Sean Payton forever. You know, what Ryan's going to do because of the volume and what their cutter and that offense does and the weapons that he has. So, you know, it's, it's just a, I think a scenario of if you feel comfortable, like you just want a safe quarterback, this is the, the, one of the guys that you take, if you want to swing for the fences guy, then you take probably somebody like a Daniel Jones, or, you know, again, if you want to put Stafford and Roethlisberger outside this tier, what we saw from Stafford last year and Roethlisberger in 2018, those two guys, I think, may have a higher ceiling than what this group does because of

what they showed us over the last two seasons when both have been healthy. Just keep disrespecting Breeze, though. Just keep it up so I can keep getting him in the double-digit rounds in our drafts. I don't know. I think he's pretty awesome. He was second in fantasy points per game, second in consistency last year. No, not what I've got. Second in consistency for me. No, no, in points per game, Stafford was second. No, Breeze was better, according to what I'm looking at. Stafford was up there.

I think Stafford was third. They might have been like... Stafford was two on our side. Okay, well... I think they were basically... I've got the numbers based on leagues that we were in, and Breeze is two, and Stafford is right behind them. I think they're basically tied. Let me see. He's got the numbers based on leagues that we were in and Breeze is too, and Stafford is right behind him.

I think they're basically tied. In fact, I'm looking at this non-decimal league. Oh, no, this is decimal. Stafford, 25.38. Breeze, 25.36. So I'm going to call it a tie. Second in points per game behind Lamar Jackson. I just think that... I just want to say about this group of Brady, Rodgers, Ryan Brees.

They do have a lot of upside. I mean, Matt Ryan has thrown for 4,900 yards in two of his last four years, and he was about 4,500 yards in 15 games. Matt Ryan's almost always among the league leaders in passing yards. Tom Brady has his best weapons since 2007. The point I was saying, Adam, was I've got Matt Ryan projected for 4,700 yards,

and he's still 11th. How many touchdowns? How many touchdowns did you give him? 28. Well, yeah. He's got this weird thing. Actually, hilariously, 28.3. Why is that hilarious?

Total quinky dink. I don't get it. He's got this weird thing. Actually, hilariously, 28.3. Why is that hilarious? Total quinky dink. I don't get it. I don't get it. Is that literally the very first stat that you put in? Half-time score. Oh. Yeah. All right. But like Matthew Stafford or Matt Ryan was the

number one quarterback and number two quarterback in fantasy two years ago. 2018. He had 35 touchdown passes. Yeah. All these guys, we've said it. When would that season have compared, though, to Mahomes and Jackson the past two years? No, it wouldn't have.

But it would have compared to any other quarterback. These guys are all good. They're all going to help you win. They're all going to help you win. Okay, so let's go to the next tier, which I asked my friend, hey, what's a comic book movie or superhero movie that is not your first choice to watch,

but if it's on your watch and you realize it's pretty solid? And he said Watchmen. I don't know if you guys have a better suggestion for this group. It's a horrible suggestion. Okay, Davey said it's solid. I'm running with it. Stafford, Minshew, Cam, Goff, Roethlisberger, Daniel Jones, Tyrod Taylor.

Stafford, Minshew, Cam, Goff, Roethlisberger, Daniel Jones, Tyrod Taylor. So you've got one crappy second-year quarterback in there. I'll let the listeners decide who they think it is. Is it Minshew or Daniel Jones? And you got Stafford, you got Cam, Goff, Roethlisberger, Tyra Taylor. All right, interesting group here.

Jamie, what's your reaction to this group? Do you think that they all belong in the same tier? I mean, it's nitpicking, you know, with, I think Stafford should be ahead of Rodgers, but in terms of, yeah, these are guys that could, you know, all finish in the top 10. You know, Cam, as we've seen when he's right, Daniel Jones and Minshew, you know, showed you some good flashes last year. Roethlisberger in 2018 was a top three quarterback when he had his best season ever.

So there's, you know, Goff was top six two years ago, you know, before he had four disastrous games last year. So yeah, I think these guys are all great. And then for Tyrod, you know, golf was top six two years ago, you know, before he had four disastrous games last year. So yeah, I think these guys are all great. And then for Tyrod, you know, we've said this time and time again, or Tyrod, that if he were to play 16 games, he would have the chance to be, you know, ranked in this group and maybe drafted in this group. It's just the uncertainty of when he's going to get removed if that happens for Justin Herbert, who was a top 10 pick in the NFL draft. So, you know, there's a, there's So there's a little bit more uncertainty with him, but that's the gamble that you're taking. If you do take Tyrod Taylor, that you're going to get maybe a guy that could be fantastic for you for the amount of games that he plays. Dave, your thoughts on this group?

It's a completely different looking set of tiers. Like once we get to the third and fourth tears on Heath, it's just, it diverges so much from mine. And a lot of the names that he has in this tier, I've gotten a tier called early streamers, which are basically well into the double digit rounds guys that you'll take just to begin the year with Jamie encapsulated to Rod Taylor. Perfectly.

You use them to begin the season. If he's anything like his old self, his Buffalo days, then you're putting yourself a step ahead of the competition in your fantasy league. And if he's like he was in the Browns days, who gives a pedoodle? You go ahead and cut him and you pick up somebody else. And you can say that about anybody that you're taking late at quarterback.

And that includes Cam. It includes Gardner minchu but there are quarterbacks that i think just have a little bit more upside that i would take before them and unfortunately there are a lot of them guys that i would i would take rothsberger above everybody that i just mentioned cam tyrod baker mayfield gardner minchu i'm not sure exactly who's in in heath's tier but there's there's a couple of guys in there. Daniel Jones is another that I just think has huge upside for 2020. And I would put them a tier above those that I would just look at as, all right, they're streamers. I'm going to get started with Cam Newton as my quarterback. If he's great, awesome. I've got this year's Lamar Jackson. If he's not, I can go and pivot to a different quarterback. Yeah, I think this tier should have been the Riddler tier because like all those question marks, there's plenty. It's undeniable.

Cam Newton plays 16 games every time he's done and he's been a top five quarterback. Cam Newton has as much upside as any quarterback not named Patrick Mahomes or Lamar Jackson. Ben Roethlisberger has a ton of upside, but like Cam Newton, he's coming off a major injury gardner minchu and daniel jones have both looked like number one quarterbacks and they've both looked kind of laughably bad at times especially if your league penalizes for fumbles so like

there's i think there's a lot of upside and there's a lot of question marks with virtually everyone in this group which is why none of them are going to go before round 10 much less round 11 or at least that's what i think i wasn't around when you guys talked about cam i don't know if there's anybody that's willing to take cam in round eight or round nine but i wouldn't i think that just depends on the league that you're in when quarterbacks come off the board but certainly uh you know most of our drafts no right yeah like like if you look at NFC average draft position right now, Matthew Stafford is the 13th quarterback off the board

right after Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers. Go get him. He's 108th overall. So you're talking round nine, round 10. At the end of, right, that's the last pick of round nine. And, okay, so there are a lot of question marks about a lot of players in this tier,

but we've already heard Jamie talk about Stafford. Does Matthew Stafford have question marks, or do you feel like you know what you're getting with him? Yes, he definitely has question marks because he's... I feel like every time we run to draft Matthew Stafford, he lets us down. And then the year after that, it's like what we have with Matt Ryan, where one year they're great and one year they're just kind of meh. If the Lions run game can somehow get going, if DeAndre Swift is the rusher that I think

he was at Georgia and he can keep it going in the pros then that's going to cut down on Stafford's attempts but we already know that Stafford finished third in fantasy points per game last year by one-tenth of a point behind Drew Brees he was really really good he was ahead and no no no what I'm looking at is a tenth point you're looking at he's two one hundredths of a point ahead okay he was really close we'll call it a tie that's fine um i was just being goofy and i i do think that stafford if the run game can't get going and the run game has never really been able to be successful on a consistent basis under matt patricia in detroit you're going to see Stafford continue to throw.

And he's immense value getting him at the last pick in round nine in a fancy schmancy high stakes league. That just sounds like a very wise pick that can lead to the playoffs. Yeah, I'd say Stafford probably should be in the tier above this. Go for it, Heath. He was QB 7-9 three straight years. 2015, 16, 17. QB 7-9. 2018, he played the second half of the year with a broken back.

2019, he was having his best season, basically, and then got hurt. I do think what we've talked about with the Lions offensive line in regards to how good the running game could be, not very. I worry about that with Stafford, with his recent injury history. And the fact I think the Lions could just be awful. I worry about him not being protected. When you say awful, you mean just awful, not just defensively, but also running the ball and just like all these fundamentals, things that help make quarterbacks great.

I could really, I think one of like seven or eight teams that could be the worst team in football. I think, you know what, obviously Ben Gretsch, if you listen to us throughout the off season, he loves Stafford the most.

What he said, which obviously rings true is the, the receiving core that happened between Calvin Johnson and essentially Kenny Galladay was these short area routes that these guys have run with golden Tate and Theo Riddick and how the offense operated. And then they gave him some field stretchers with Marvin Jones and Galladay. And you've seen the offense open back up last year, you know, his yards per attempt, all those things were certainly at a career high for Stafford.

So if the weaponry is working and the run game continues to struggle or, you know, not necessarily excels to a high end level, he's going to have to throw a lot, you know? And so, you know, with Galladay and Jones and Hawkinson and, you know, whatever the backs do out of the backfield and Amendola, that's the strength of this team is what the passing game is. So with the defense that's rebuilding and a team, like he said, I think he's right. They're probably going to be chasing points.

It makes sense for Stafford to have a big season, but he is getting to the point where you have to worry about injuries if in fact that's a problem for him now. You know, one nice thing about Swift is that he's a good receiver out of the backfield that could help Stafford and Swift if the if the Lions so choose to actually utilize a running back the appropriate way. Next tier, Transformers tier. Not so good, but if it's on, I'll watch it. Ryan Tannehill. More than meets the eye? That probably would have been better.

I don't know if these guys are more than meets the eye. Maybe less than meets the eye. Ryan Tannehill, Joe Burrow, Drew Locke, Jimmy Garoppolo, Teddy Bridgewater, Derek Carr, Baker Mayfield, Kirk Cousins, Mitchell Trubisky, and Phillip Rivers. It's a big tier. I'll read it again. You can't let go of Trubisky, huh? The rivers. Trubisky had a fold. Yeah, I know.

Well, go ahead, Heath. Defend this this tier and do you want any of these guys I'm not going to defend my number 28 quarterback That's And he's not even number 28 in my rankings But yeah like if Foles Wins this he would be lower because he doesn't Have near the rushing upside that Trubisky Does and I don't think either of them are going to be good as

Passers I've got Rivers ranked Higher than this projection, but I am worried about the drop-off that we saw from him last year and going to a team Ben Gretsch has highlighted a lot. They were very run-heavy when they were ahead. Their defense looks awesome. Their offensive line looks awesome. I don't know how much they may just need Rivers to be better on those limited throws than Brissette was to get into the playoffs. There's two guys, I think, that really stand out in this tier, and it's Burrow and Mayfield, because we can imagine a lot more upside for those guys than the rest of the tier, which is probably unfair to Ryan Tannehill after

what he did last year. But I would say Burrow and Mayfield are the two that you would elevate based on potential upside instead of just the actual projection. Okay. Yeah, go ahead. I may regret this, but I don't even have Burrow in the early streamers tier. I'm worried about the schedule. I'm worried about how he'll...

If he had a regular offseason, I know I'd be more bullish on him. I I know it but it's not that way and so I'm nervous about Burrow being someone that you can't possibly start him week one in a one quarterback league so you're going to keep him on your bench how long is that going to last for if he doesn't get off to you know a white hot start for the Cincinnati Bengals I don't know if that's going to be someone that's even worth a draft pick at this point.

And I think Tannehill does deserve some credit for last year. He was really, really good. And so I've got them ahead of the early streamers. I, I would not hate to have, I'd rather have Tannehill on my bench to begin the year than Joe Burrow, just to see what happens.

Because if Tannehill ends up being the guy that he was last year, he was a league winner in fantasy. He helped people out in a major way. He was unbelievably consistent. So if that's my last pick in a one quarterback draft, I'd be thrilled with it. Okay, Jamie, are any

of the guys in this tier someone you want as your starting quarterback week one for fantasy? Week one? Probably not, no. Okay. What do you think about baker mayfield though or burrow i think burrows uh dave's concerns for burrow are valid you know the lack of an off season the lack of a rapport with aj green because of not working like we talked about last week uh i think he if you said the story you looked up, they have yet to throw together, right? Right.

They were trying to work something out. So Burrow, I think, is going to be in a tough spot early in the season. I do think that he has some Gardner Minshew, Daniel Jones appeal in terms of rookies from last year that you picked up and started at some point during the season. So I think that will definitely happen for Burrow. But Mayfield is interesting because clearly the weapons are fantastic. The offense is going to be run heavy

if Stefanski is not just necessarily doing or was doing what Mike Zimmer wanted and, you know, run, run and run some more. But, you know, we said this about Baker last year. He was great after his rookie season. They gave him Odell Beckham and he fell apart. Now, was that Baker? Was that Freddie Kitchens? Was that, you know, trying to force the ball to Beckham too much and it didn't work out? Now he has another year with Beckham, hopefully a better play caller and Austin Hooper with David Njoku back. Remember Njoku missed, excuse me, a good portion of the season last year and he gets Kareem Hunt for a full season. So there's a lot around him that should be able to work. I do think that Baker is, if you're just looking for a comparison,

you know what Kirk Cousins did last year. He was more efficient. You know, touchdowns were up. Interceptions were down. Could he beat 27 touchdowns again? Maybe. That he showed us his rookie season. But I don't think you're drafting that to be a number one guy.

He does have bounce back appeal, though, if he figures it out. And that's the big question. Will he figure it out? Mayfield going 15th in NFC ADP among quarterbacks goes Daniel Jones, Baker Mayfield, Ben Roethlisberger. I took him as my third quarterback in the fishbowl, and it was like round 15. What? It couldn't be. Round

11. It's going to be round 11. Okay. It's still pretty good. Three quarterbacks with one of them being Baker Mayfield. That's very good. All right. The last year. 26. So technically he should be a third quarterback, right?

26. Oh, in your, in your rankings. He's with Travis hanging out with, with the guy on the bench. Uh, the teenage mutant Ninja turtles with Megan Fox,

uh, tier Dwayne Haskins, Sam Darnold, and to a tug of a Lola. Um, noticeably absent would be Ryan Fitzpatrick. Yeah. I mean, he's got to be their week one quarterback, you would think, right?

Yeah. He very well could be. He was great at the end of last year. Do you love him in matchups at New England and versus Buffalo? Yes. I love him anywhere with that at New England and versus Buffalo? Yes. I love him anywhere with that beard. No, I don't. I think the thing he's...

It's like Tyrod without the running. They're going to be some people in two quarterback leagues or super flex leagues that end up with Ryan Fitzpatrick. If he starts the majority of the season, you're going to be thrilled about that. Let's read some emails. Fantasyfootball at cbsi.com. I think we should get more into the Bears quarterbacks, though.

No, I don't think so. I heard enough about the Bears quarterbacks for the last two weeks. Speaking of guys throwing together, Nick Foles still has not thrown with any of the Bears. Yeah, whatever. He's fine. That's Trubisky? Yeah, he's

been working. There have been reports. He is working out with his teammates in Chicago. You were searching for that one just to give yourself a little ammo for Trubisky. I really didn't think we were going to have a debate about QB28. Dave, Scott from Chicago has our first email.

How was your trip to Chicago, by the way? It was excellent. It was great to see family and all my friends, Giordano, Aurelio, Lou. Everybody's having a summer except for me. I think I might have to start having a summer. Dear Hardy, Miller, Beth, and Mark, this is something called Broadchurch. Never heard of this.

I know there isn't necessarily consensus, but some combination of you are in on each of David Johnson, Will Fuller, and Brandon Cooks as upside plays, with Deshaun Watson as an elite or near-elite quarterback. But I noticed that the Texans' first four games are at the Chiefs versus Baltimore, at Pittsburgh, and versus Minnesota. Does this opening gauntlet scare you off of Texan skill players in the ranges they're going? It's part of the reason why I've got Deshaun Watson

ranked at the back of the second-tier bus. His talent's undeniable. I just got done watching his NFL Game Pass film session episode, and I learned a couple of things. There's a couple of interesting wrinkles in there that I think we can carry into 2020, but that schedule is dangerous and it makes me really like David Johnson less. And I'm not even a big fan of him to begin with because he's old and crappy.

What's the schedule again at Kansas city versus Baltimore at Pittsburgh versus Minnesota. Well, I mean, you saw what he did against the chiefs in the playoffs, right? In Kansas city. I don't remember what his stats ended up being I know they got off to a great start 388 and 2 uh 67 and 1 a 37 and 1 that's a pretty good game yeah it's pretty good game

okay um but you know he did have DeAndre Hopkins back then it's very true he did have DeAndre Hopkins back then. It's very true. He did have DeAndre Hopkins. So I was talking about this on Twitch last week with Chris Towers. And, you know, he was kind of wondering, like, why I would be down on Deshaun Watson. He said, like, has any quarterback, has any great quarterback lost a number one receiver and struggled or something like that? And it's kind of hard to find, but the examples are not good. I mean, Aaron Rodgers losing Jordy Nelson to the ACL tear.

Rodgers had a pretty bad season by his standards. But that's a last. That's a. Well, hold on. I'll get there. Dak Prescott before Amari Cooper was nothing like Dak Prescott with Amari Cooper. Jared Goff lost Cooper Cup midseason and also Todd Gurley got hurt at that point. So things just he hasn't been the same.

I couldn't think of an example of a quarterback losing his best player and not being worse. And Tom Brady, the numbers with and without Rob Gronkowski have always been very different. Now, the difference in this situation is he's getting Brandon Cooks. It's not like he's just losing DeAndre Hopkins. He's replacing him with Brandon Cooks. So that is better.

But I cannot think of a situation where a quarterback lost his best player and didn't fall off. Lost his best receiver and didn't fall off. How did Stafford do without Calvin Johnson? Not great. Yeah, I don't think it was special. But again, what are the replacement options

that were stepping into those guys? Yeah, it's true. But unfortunately, Brandon Cooks and Will Fuller. Will Fuller is the most injury prone wide receiver in football, quite arguably. And Brandon Cooks has concussion history. Right. He's right behind Fuller in terms of missing time, potentially. Well, he's only missed three games in his career, hasn't he?

I know. But you look at his body of work and you know about the concussion issues. And you have to take note of that. That's got to be part of the formula for how you evaluate Brandon Cooks. Well, what do you think? This is a quarterback show after all. So, I mean, what do you think about that? And maybe I'm just forgetting someone.

But even Mahomes last year wasn't as good. Was it because of his injury? Russell was fine without Doug Baldwin last year. Wilson? Yeah. Wilson? Yeah. Wilson was fine. Yeah. But he had a lot.

Yeah. I mean, that's a good call because Lockett and Metcalf. That's a great comparison. It's a great comparison. Right. Because you're talking about an elite level quarterback. Well, I don't think anybody's saying Deshaun is not. Lockett also is profile similar to guys like Fuller and Cooks.

Except he stays healthy. He was hospitalized and didn't miss a game. Will Fuller tweaks a hamstring and it's half the season gone. Alrighty, let's go to Lucas from San Francisco. Is going robust RB a justifiable

strategy this year? During mock drafts when I've gone three or four running backs straight, I can still find target hogs in the rounds after like Robert Woods, Devontae Parker, DJ Chark, Terry McLaurin. The man after my own heart. The problem, I think, is that it's that third running back. Because you can get two really good ones

in the first three rounds. It's the guy you're getting in round three. So it's that group of, and it depends how you like these guys of carson and connor and girly and gordon and bell and david johnson and you know uh ben would probably take john taylor around too at this point but john taylor and you know those other guys that you're getting in that round three range is that better than taking you know galladay or feeling or um aj brown you know, Gallaudet or Thielen or AJ Brown, you know, depending on the format, you know, that's the question you have to ask yourself. What's the answer? I probably wouldn't do it, but I think I can see the upside, you know, those, one of those guys

hits, you're in great shape. How many receivers are you starting? I think that's got to be part of the equation. Fair point. If you have to start three receivers, then I'm probably going to lean toward getting one receiver with my first three picks. But if I only have to start three receivers, then I'm probably going to lean toward getting one receiver with my first three picks. But if I only have to start two, and it's non-PPR, and I know what the running back depth is, and it's the most shallow of any position, as usual, I'll start with three running backs, for sure. And I think that's what a lot of people who who like really study fantasy the people who listen to

podcasts all year long i think they're going to gravitate toward that i think they're going to take running backs early more often than not whereas casual people guys who aren't listening to podcasts will pick up a magazine on their way and they won't think like that they won't take running backs early and then it'll be round five and they're staring david johnson and that tough texan schedule square in the face. Last email from Caleb. This first one's for Ben. If I get the chance to draft Jonathan Taylor, should I consider maybe taking Christian McCaffrey instead?

The second question for everyone, is Dak Prescott a bargain around round five or six? A lot of my mocks have him going in the back end of round five to early or mid round six. Should I take Dak Prescott there or wait for a late round quarterback? I would take Dak. I like Dak there.

All right. Quarterback tears. Who do you think Ben's going to have more stock in? Taylor or A.J. Brown? Taylor. Because everybody's high on A.J. Brown. He's so much higher on Jonathan Taylor than everyone. And he keeps on going earlier.

Well, I don't... But look at their ADP on NFC. Taylor's like 30th. I don't think he's that much... He's that much higher than us on Taylor, but I don't know that he's that much higher than where Taylor's getting drafted. All right, but he's RB18. NFC ADP is so

skewed towards running backs. A.J. Brown is wide receiver 17. I don't know. It's just like, at first he was taking Jonathan Taylor around four. And I was like, hmm, that feels kind of early.

And now he's taking him around three. Maybe I'm crazy. I don't know. But he just keeps going earlier and earlier for him. I mean, maybe he's planning to go to Indianapolis and, you know, feed Marlon Mack a, you know, bad bowl of soup or something before week one. it earlier for him. Maybe he's planning to go to Indianapolis and feed Marlon Mack a bad

bowl of soup or something before week one so Taylor can take advantage. Maybe. Alright guys, thank you for your time today on this quarterback tears episode. We got Dave's tears. Dave, what should we use for your tears? We did comic book movies

for this one. Well, since I'm coming back from Chicago and I put on at least five pounds, I think pizza would probably be. All right. Pizza toppings, maybe? Like first one will be just cheese. You can do toppings or we can do... Yeah, let's do toppings.

That's going to be better. So those top five running backs are going to be the what? Just cheese pizza? Just original, can't be beat? Right? No. What's the elite tier of pizza?

You can get a cheese pizza pretty much anywhere. Hey, I can get a good look at a T-bone. We're out of here, everybody. Satya on Tuesday with running backs and Tuesday night on Twitch. Vote for us, Podcast Awards. Satya. and Tuesday night on Twitch. Vote for us, Podcast Awards. Talk to you later.