Fantasy Football Today - Rankings RISERS and FALLERS After Preseason Week 2 (08/21 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: August 21, 2023

Donate to St. Jude as part of our Draft-A-Thon! Bid on guest spots on our show, Zoom calls with our analysts and more! https://tinyurl.com/fftdonate Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the... Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts It was a great weekend for the Steelers offense excluding Najee Harris. We'll talk about that plus Tyjae Spears and the Giants offense in our WOW segment to open the show. Then Jamey and Heath tell you their biggest rankings risers (9:30) and fallers (20:30) from over the weekend. Jeff Wilson, Raheem Mostert and Jaylen Warren are moving up. Jameson WIlliams and Najee Harris are moving down ... News and notes (26:40) with updates on Jonathan Taylor, Josh Jacobs and Cooper Kupp. Then we've got more rankings risers (29:25) and fallers (44:40). We discuss Geno Smith, Michael Thomas, Jordan Love, the Giants wide receivers, Juwan Johnson and more risers, plus fallers including Greg Dulcich and Miles Sanders ... A look around the rest of the preseason action (48:40) with a long talk about the Chiefs WRs ... Email us at fantasyfootball@cbsi.com SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 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?
Starting point is 00:00:38 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
Starting point is 00:00:54 at 1-866-531-2600. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. What does possible sound like for your business? It's having the spend to power your scale with no preset spending limit. Redefine possible with Business Platinum. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Terms and conditions apply.
Starting point is 00:01:16 Visit amex.ca slash business platinum. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. What a play! Can you believe this? No, I can't. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races, and he stays on his feet. He's just going to go the distance.
Starting point is 00:01:37 Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. And it's Monday morning. We are recapping preseason week two, which saw a lot of starters play. Some good things from the Steelers offense. Good things from the Giants offense. Jimmy Garoppolo got out there and he looked okay. Devonta Adams played one snap. We'll tell you everything that you need to know.
Starting point is 00:01:58 Ramondre Stevenson was lined up at wide receiver. Great stuff going on in preseason week two. And I am Adam Azer. With Heath Cummings and Jamie Isenberg, we're going to give you our winners and losers, our rankings risers and fallers, and wow! We're going to start with our wow moment, or wow player, or wow team.
Starting point is 00:02:16 And Jamie, I want to start with yours, because it makes me very happy inside. What was your wow team from preseason week two? Well, I did this just to appease you, of course. But I do like the fact that Heath is wearing the team colors as well. I think it's fun to see what this giant's offense might,
Starting point is 00:02:35 you know, turn into now that they have, you know, maybe some better pass catchers and, and getting healthier as well. You know, Sterling Shepard coming back also, but that first drive,
Starting point is 00:02:43 my gosh, Daniel Jones looked great. Darren Waller looked awesome for targets, three catches. You know, if he had come down with that one where, you know, seemingly dropped, but he just got popped really good, um, would have been even more impressive. So, uh, you were there to see it in person. So you probably have a better, uh, idea of what it looked like and what it sounded like. You know, I'm sure the crowd was really excited. Well, if you were in my seats, if you had my seats, you know, that I did not have a better view of it. What you had on. Okay. Well, if you were in my seats, if you had my seats, you'd know that I did not have a better view than what you had on. Okay, well, Waller looked fantastic.
Starting point is 00:03:08 I think Paris Campbell is going to actually be a thing, depending on what again happens to, you know, potentially Shepard and Wanda Robinson at some point. But he's definitely of interest. And this was all without Saquon Barkley. Stick that into account. It's the preseason. But I think Daniel Jones could have a very,
Starting point is 00:03:24 take a leap in terms of what his production could be. And as a passer, now he has, he has a legitimate pass catcher and Waller. I think, you know, again, you know, I've been excited about him, but can challenge to be that second fantasy tight end this year. If he stays healthy. Yeah. I don't think I drafted any Daniel Jones and watching that drive. I just, Heath, I think, you know, you're always trying to project half pass heavy run heavy.
Starting point is 00:03:45 I don't know. I mean, he threw nine passes on that drive. They didn't Heath, I think, you know, you're always trying to project half pass heavy, run heavy. I don't know. I mean, he threw nine passes on that drive. They didn't have Barkley, as Jamie said, but are we going to see a different, this is not your father's Giants offense. I don't know. I don't know. I think it was one of those things where if, and we've talked about this, like if you were excited
Starting point is 00:04:02 about the Giants or you were interested in being excited about the Giants, you have every reason to watch that performance and be excited about the giants um i was yeah yeah yeah like i i don't think that they're did they have a run play yeah the only run play was daniel jones scrambling right no they had a handoff i think to jalen hyatt and i think they had a matt brita run on that drive too i think I think. Speaking of Jalen Hyatt, he also is having a good preseason. We'll talk about him later. It was an impressive performance. It'll be interesting to see how the offensive line holds up
Starting point is 00:04:33 when the other team plays their pass rushers. Yeah, there it is. It was good. I don't know if you saw my tweet, but let's say you guys were... I went to the game, as Jamie mentioned. I was in seats one through four. There were people in seats five and six. We were the only people in the entire row of 16 seats.
Starting point is 00:04:53 So we sit down. If you're in seats five and six, how do you not move over a seat, right? You were with your family? Yeah, I was with my wife and my two kids, my screaming kid, who was just, Andrew was just like cheering at anything. Just like, yeah! Like so, I mean, I thought it was funny. I'm sure they thought it was with my wife and my two kids, my screaming kid who was just – Andrew was just like cheering at anything. Just like, yeah. Like so – I mean I thought it was funny. I'm sure they thought it was funny. Like why didn't they move down?
Starting point is 00:05:11 I didn't mind, but I would have moved down. Aren't you – if you go to the movies and you can leave a seat open next to you, don't you leave a seat open next to you? Did you say something? No, of course not. Hey, look. That whole row is empty. How many open seats were there? Ten.
Starting point is 00:05:28 So you could have gone and sat six seats away from them. I was my aisle. I went in my aisle. I can see why Adam didn't move because he's with his two kids. But I would have probably said, wow, look at all that space over there. The empty seats were next to them. There were no empty seats next to me. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:05:52 Anyway, Heath, what was your wow moment this weekend you should go first because you stole the most obvious one and the one that i like the most but i'll go ahead and say other than the one you were going to say it was it was ty j spears um he's and it wasn't the first time and that that dude's quick and looks like an nfl running back and we've not been like you're getting ready to talk about the best handcuff in fantasy football we've not been really drafting spears with the other top handcuffs and i think that spears probably deserves to be in that especially considering that the only reason that we're not drafting derrick henry in the first five picks is because he's 29 years old and we're worried that he's going to break down. If that does happen, then Spears is free money. Pittsburgh's offense is what everybody's talking about right now. And I was interested after the first preseason game when they seemed pretty aggressive, pretty pass happy, felt like
Starting point is 00:06:40 they showed a little more confidence in Pickett and they backed it up in this game. And they played against the Bills first first-team defense, and they were kicking their butt. They were up 14-0 in about five minutes. Jalen Warren is that handcuff that Heath was talking about. We probably shouldn't even call him a handcuff anymore, right? I mean, I was thinking, what's the difference now between Jalen Warren and Samaje Pirine?
Starting point is 00:07:01 Who would you guys rather have? He had a 62-yard touchdown run, Jalen Warren. So you can answer that first, Warren or P. Ryan. P. Ryan still. I'm very, very concerned still about these guys coming back from their ACL injuries. That's the big difference between Warren and P. Ryan is that Najee Harris is not coming back from an ACL.
Starting point is 00:07:21 Okay. I also think for P. Ryan, I know Javante Williams had five targets and four catches, but P. Ryan still played on the majority of third ACL. Okay. I also think for P. Ryan, I know Javante Williams had five targets and four catches, but P. Ryan still played on the majority of third downs. Yeah. And so, but anyway,
Starting point is 00:07:30 the Pittsburgh offense in general, they're just, maybe they're going to be better. And it's inspired me to draft Deontay Johnson. I did it over the weekend in the FFT Open, 58th overall
Starting point is 00:07:41 in a two-receiver PPR league. But yeah, I don't know. Heath, feeling better about the Steelers' offense than we were a couple weeks ago? A little bit. I haven't moved. I think maybe a couple of guys have moved because guys have gone behind them.
Starting point is 00:07:55 But I was already pretty high on Pat Fryer-Muth, and I was already pretty high on Deontay Johnson relative to where his ADP was. I'm still kind of down on Pickens. But I drafted Deontay in the best ball championship as well, I think in round eight, round seven, round eight. So yeah, I like him as a borderline
Starting point is 00:08:12 number two wide receiver in full PPR. And I think he probably catches over a hundred passes. It's kind of a battle between Muth and Pickens. And I think the real interesting thing, and you've kind of hit on it a little bit, and we've talked about it a lot
Starting point is 00:08:24 this off season, is how run heavy are the Steelers going to be? We've got that six or seven game sample size from the end of last year after TJ Watt got healthy when they went super run heavy. But that's not something Matt Cannon has really ever done before. Jamie, what do you think? I mean, you guys both have Najee Harris. I mean, it's funny, we're talking about how great the Steelers offense looks. We're have Najee Harris. I mean, it's funny. We're talking about how great the Steelers' offense looks. Not Najee Harris, though. What's your outlook now for the Steelers? Are you higher on them than you were two weeks ago? Yes.
Starting point is 00:08:52 So I was somewhat pessimistic about Pickens, but you're seeing him do some different things, which is obviously important. Forget about the highlight catches, because a lot of that is pass interference where he's pushing off guys. But I think just seeing a better Kenny Pickett, that's the biggest thing. And I think this is what you're talking about.
Starting point is 00:09:11 The trust in Kenny Pickett seems to be there. And so they've had playmakers. They drafted great the last couple of years. Fryermuth, I think, is going to be a playmaking tight end. Pickens is going to be a significant receiving option. And so I've always kind of been hovering around. You know, Deontay Johnson's kind of gone from 24 to 26, you know, just depending on who the guy's around.
Starting point is 00:09:32 You know, I'm keeping him right now at 24 in PPR. He's a little bit lower in non-PPR. Pickens has probably jumped about five or six spots for me. So he was right around wide receiver 38. Now I think I have him at 33. You know, so I could see a similar path to success for him like a Jahan Dotson. I like Dotson better, but second receiver on the team, probably going to have more touchdowns than the first receiver,
Starting point is 00:09:57 as we saw last year in the case of both those guys. And I think going to see better quarterback play, like in the case of both of those second-year guys. So very high-end number three receivers, but I'll say what I say all the time. You can go from receiver 22, 20, to receiver like 35, 36. Any one of those guys could be, you know, you'd rather have them as your third receiver,
Starting point is 00:10:18 but you could be your second receiver as well. Got a donation here for St. Jude in our chat. If you're watching on YouTube, youtube.com slash fantasyfootballtoday, there's a donate button, I think, below the chat. So please feel free to donate anything you can. We'd appreciate it. It all goes to St. Jude. We've got about 10 days left. Our draft-a-thon is next Wednesday.
Starting point is 00:10:36 I'll tell you about that in a second. George Pickens or a rookie wide receiver, Addison or JSN? Pickens or those guys? Addison, JSN, Pickens or those guys? Addison, JSN, Pickens for me. Pickens first for Jamie. Pickens last for Heath. Pickens or Gabe Davis? Pickens.
Starting point is 00:10:54 Gabe. A difference of opinion there. Who's the biggest rankings riser for you guys this weekend? Heath? Probably the combination of Jeff Wilson and Raheem Mostert. The Dolphins running back's not named Devon A-Chain. A-Chain's suffering a hopefully not major injury, but also it just seems like he's clearly behind those two guys. And I'd been ranking it as if it'll take a couple
Starting point is 00:11:17 weeks and then A-Chain will not be the lead back, but be the best back to roster on the Dolphins. And now I've moved Wilson and Mostert both ahead of them. Still only around 10 picks, but they weren't somebody I was drafting even that early before this weekend. And you prefer Wilson to Mostert? Just slightly. And how do you rank Wilson versus Jalen Warren? Very different players, I think. I've got them in the same round. I currently have Wilson ahead. Does your team construction matter at that point? Yes. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:11:53 So just go ahead and say it out loud. How does it affect whether you're drafting Jeff Wilson or Jalen Warren? If I've drafted on a zero RBb build i would rather have jeff wilson and if i'm looking at a a true number four running back then i'd rather have jaylen warren okay yeah i would say hero rb also for wilson uh jamie who's your biggest rankings riser i mean aside from some of the guys we've talked about it's been kind of a gradual rise but like jaylen warren is is clearly one you one where he was in the mid-40s. Now he's 39 for me, so jumped up several spots.
Starting point is 00:12:33 Daniel Jones moved up to QB 14. I'm trying to think who else. Jordan Love. I did move Jordan Love and Kenny Pickett ahead of Ryan Tannehill. I did have Tannehill ahead of those guys. And just after seeing the last couple of preseason – oh, Jaden Reed is a big riser for me. He's jumped about 40 spots.
Starting point is 00:12:51 So he was like around wide receiver. He was around like 160 overall. He's not in my top 60 yet. He's at 61. But he's in that same mix for me as like a Jacoby Myers, Rondell Moore, the third, fourth, and fifth chiefs receivers, you know, those type of guys. But it's, I think, and this makes me a little bit concerned about Christian Watson,
Starting point is 00:13:12 that is it going to be a spread offense here because they have so many young options that are going to play well? I mean, Luke Musgrave is somebody to keep an eye on. Obviously, you know, Romeo Dobbs, you know, Is Watson going to clearly dominate targets? I think he's definitely the one you draft first and still draft him as a number two receiver, but I think you should definitely put some attention, if you haven't done so already, on Dobbs and Reed just because of what
Starting point is 00:13:34 Jordan Love is doing right now. He looks good. I think Dobbs for me is someone that I have to start drafting. And look, I brought this up. I don't know if it was last week, but I brought this up somewhat recently. We've gotten a lot of Romeo Dobbs love from the reporters,
Starting point is 00:13:50 and I feel like as a fantasy community, kind of brushed it aside. After the NFL draft, the beat writer, the athletics beat writer, predicted that Romeo Dobbs would lead the team in catches. And then there was a report that he had the best connection with Jordan Love. And then if you just look at so far through the preseason, when Jordan Love has been on the field, you've got Luke Musgrave, Romeo Dobbs, and Christian Watson all playing 28 to 29 snaps, all running between 16 and 19 routes.
Starting point is 00:14:18 And Musgrave actually has the most targets. He has six. But Dobbs has the best production by far. Four catches, 73 yards, and a touchdown on four targets. Watson has two catches for six yards on three targets. And Jaden Reed has only played 16 snaps and run 12 routes, so about two-thirds of the involvement as the other guys, but he has three targets as well.
Starting point is 00:14:38 So, you know, look, I don't know how much you care. Apparently Christian Watson was talking to Dave about this this morning. Watson's been great in practice. It's 29 snaps, 28 snaps over two games. But Dobbs has been better than Christian Watson. How are we supposed to interpret all of this data right now as we consider Christian Watson? I mean, you took him 36th in a mock draft last week.
Starting point is 00:15:02 So, yeah, what are we thinking here about the Packers wide receivers? I think we have to be careful making too much out of target share in the preseason. Like I would assume that Musgrave has seen the most targets because they want to see the most from him. So I'm not, I'm not taking too much out of that, but I am a little bit less comfortable with Watson than I was. I agree with Jamie. I still think Dobbs is probably my favorite value in terms of where they're being drafted out
Starting point is 00:15:31 of all of these guys. I still mostly view Reed and Musgrave as lottery ticket types that are more likely to be dropped than be contributors on your fantasy team. But if those two are both involved, then it's definitely going to be a bad thing for Christian Watson. I'll give you two things. First off, the stuff that we saw, which was go back to the start of last season, Dobbs was better than Watson and then Dobbs got hurt. And that's really when Watson took off. And so you remember he had, I think it was a toe or an ankle injury. And Matt LaFleur talked about this at the owner's meetings, you know, that Dobbs was, you know, off to such a great start. And then he got hurt and he didn't really get back to that
Starting point is 00:16:10 level. But the other part of this is what LaFleur said at the owner's meeting. He said, when he looks at Romeo Dobbs and he goes, I'm very, I'm going to be very careful what I say here, that he's got a lot of Devante Adams type movement to him. And so, you know, they really value him. And so while Watson as an athlete is probably better and we'll do some different things that I don't think Romeo Dobbs can do. That doesn't mean like what he said, you know, that, or you said, that he could lead the team in interceptions, that he could be a favorite target for Jordan Love. But the best part about both these guys is any, and even reading Musgrave,
Starting point is 00:16:43 like we're talking about concentrated targets to those four guys you know and and to to i don't know what varying degrees but varying degrees you know and then you factor in what aaron jones and aj dillon brings to the table too it's we know where the ball's going you know it's like that's the fun part about it you know where the ball's going and so is it going to be uh 10 more to watson in in terms of target share is going to be 20 you know that's i think, the thing you've got to be a little bit cautious about, how much you're excited about Watson. But look, if Watson hits, he's going to be awesome. If Dobbs hits, he's going to be, I think, startable.
Starting point is 00:17:13 I think that's the way you want to approach it. Will this finally be the first time in, what, four years that Aaron Jones doesn't finish second on the Packers and targets? Hopefully, for everybody we're talking about. I had one of those moments, you know, Dave and Jamie have both talked about this, where you're on the clock and you look at your rankings and you have two guys ranked back to back and you don't know if you want to take the guy who's ranked higher. And for me, it was Romeo Dobbs and Elijah Moore.
Starting point is 00:17:40 Like those two, I am really struggling with ranking right now. I actually took Elijah Moore because I thought that he had more upside and it was the best ball championship. But I think I prefer Dobbs. He's got him one spot higher. Yeah, I do too. All right, fine. So let's go that same team.
Starting point is 00:17:56 Would you take Christian Watson or Amari Cooper? Watson. Definitely Watson in the best ball championship. But I think still Watson. Yeah. Uh, Christian Watson or Keenan Allen PPR. Watson. Um,
Starting point is 00:18:14 I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to make a change right here. I'm going to go with Keenan Allen. Okay. All right. I'm going to, I'm going to,
Starting point is 00:18:21 we're going to all try to make a change by donating to St. Jude. Our draft-a-thon is next Wednesday, 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern. We're going to have guests from all over the industry. Ben Gretsch is going to open the show with us. You remember Ben Gretsch? Joe Pisapia is lined up. We've got incredible guests, Jake Seeley, Joey Wright, Tara Roberts.
Starting point is 00:18:40 We've got a full lineup of awesome guests, including Pete Prisco, Will Brinson. Nick Kostos is coming on the show. We've got a big, fun show planned for you Pete Prisco, Will Brinson. Nick Costos is coming on the show. We've got a big, fun show planned for you. 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. No commercial breaks. All of it's on YouTube. YouTube.com slash Fantasy Football Today. Don't forget our famous artiste.
Starting point is 00:18:58 Our famous artiste. Jesse Eisenberg? No, he likes to draw things. Sketcherdoodle? No. I don't know. Dave? What does Nando like to do to you?
Starting point is 00:19:11 Oh, no. Nando DeFito, of course, will be on for two hours. So, yeah, but really the whole point is to raise as much money as possible, and it kind of culminates in that big draft-a-thon show. But go to tinyurl.com slash FFT donate right now. Let's see how much the spot in the Leftovers League is going for. You can get a spot in our podcast, Leftovers League, 10-team super flex right now.
Starting point is 00:19:36 It is up to $666, and we have three days left. And there's a lot of stuff that you can bid on here. It all goes to St. Jude. tinyurl.com slash fft donate how much would i have to bid to change the name back to the for the people league instead of calling it leftovers league you know what this was a high level decision i got i got uh overruled i thank god so um we can't change it but yeah i actually like the leftovers league it's got a nice alliteration,
Starting point is 00:20:05 and it reminds me of one of the best TV shows I've ever seen, The Leftovers. So there's that. Let's take a quick break. When we come back, the biggest rankings faller. I have a couple of IDP sleepers I'll just mention. When's our IDP draft? Tomorrow?
Starting point is 00:20:19 Tomorrow. All right. And we've got the rest of the news. Jonathan Taylor, Josh Jacobs, Cooper Cup updates, and a lot more from the weekend. We'll be right back. that causes costly delays or safety risks. Before you break ground, make it a point to request a locate. It's not just the law. It's a step to keep your team and community safe. Visit OntarioOneCall.ca and avoid unnecessary damages to get the job done right.
Starting point is 00:20:56 Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report. All right, we talked about the wow moments, impressed with the Giants, impressed with the Steelers, impressed with Tajay Spears, Jeff Wilson and Raheem Mostert rising for Heath, Jalen Warren rising for everyone, Jaden Reed in the mix, talked about the Packers wide receivers. Let's get a little negative here. Jamie, who's the biggest rankings faller for you? Heath mentioned one in Devon A-chain, just you know, just, you know, the concern about the shoulder, but also the usage. You know, I read something, I think it was in Sports Illustrated, Alan Poupard and Omar Kelly, who covered the Dolphins for them, saying that Poupant, I think is how you pronounce it, I apologize, that Sivan Ahmed or Myles Gasson is going to make the team.
Starting point is 00:21:42 But at this point, both those guys, I think, have been running ahead of Devon A-Chain. Certainly Ahmed has, you know, so, you know, both those guys, I think, have been running ahead of Devon A-Chain. Certainly, Ahmed has. You just see the way that this depth start is shaking out and does not look good for A-Chain to have the impact, as Heath alluded to, prior to maybe the first few weeks of the season. Biggest faller, Heath? I guess I'm going to say Jamison Williams just because I'm just not drafting him anymore.
Starting point is 00:22:06 And I was pretty low on him in the first place. But just like inability to stay healthy, lack of experience practicing with the team, definitely not going to be with the team for the first six weeks of the season. No telling what type of shape he's going to be in and whether he's going to be able to stay healthy when he gets there.
Starting point is 00:22:23 And where he's at on the, they're trying to add another wide receiver right now so um pick him up off the waiver wire if you want to in week seven yeah and he and this is jamison williams lion second year receiver i'm just looking up his stats he ran 26 routes he played a lot and he had two catches for 18 yards on seven targets including a dropped deep ball it was catchable if he had two catches for 18 yards on seven targets, including a dropped deep ball. It was catchable. If he had caught that, his line looks a lot better. But didn't exactly have a great preseason debut a couple of weeks ago, Jamison Williams.
Starting point is 00:22:53 All right, we have to talk about Najee Harris, guys, because I want to know where you're ranking Najee Harris if you've moved him down. It's like the Steelers' offense is running away from Najee Harris. I don't know. what do you guys think? Jamie, Najee, go ahead well I mean look, it's not so much what Jalen Warren did with the 62 yard touchdown run which I can't imagine people
Starting point is 00:23:17 seeing that and not getting excited about him and not being concerned about Najee, but it's the playing time the fact that they're using Jalen Warren in the spots that they're using him and what we saw at the end of last season as well. Look, I mean, Jalen Warren's been a more explosive player than Najee Harris in their short time together. And you've heard just nothing but positive reports, you know, going back to the NFL draft about what they want to do with Jalen Warren and offseason, minicamps, all those things about getting him on the field.
Starting point is 00:23:42 And so, you know, I don't think Najee's going away. I think he's still going to be the goal line option. I think he's still going to play on first and second down. But is he going to be involved in the passing game? Is he going to be on the field as much as he has been? That was the allure of Najee Harris was him staying on the field, the allure of the Steelers running back. Mike Tomlin's running backs have played three downs consistently,
Starting point is 00:24:00 and hopefully when they stayed healthy, been very productive. You know, Najee's not necessarily profiling like that right now so he's still worth drafting as a number two running back but he went from a guy I was taking in round three to a guy I'm taking toward the end of round four yeah Heath where do you have Najee Harris well well I already had him in round four I have moved him down to round five now um and I just don't think I'm probably going to get him but I've got him 21st at running back now. The names that I always give, the long list of guys who have been as inefficient as him, I'm not going to give the list,
Starting point is 00:24:29 but three combined top 20 seasons from the nine running backs who have seen as many touches of him in their first two years. I'm not going to bet on him being a top 20 running back this year. And I just wonder, I know Mike Tomlin's history, and I lean on coaching history as much as anybody, and the way he's used running backs. We saw a little crack in that midway through last year where all of a sudden he had a third down back,
Starting point is 00:24:52 and he hadn't really done that very much in the past. Then there was some talk this offseason about how Jalen Warren needs more work. I know what we all saw watching that run, but I just think of Matt Kamada and Mike Tomlin watching Jalen Warren break that run and run past safeties. And I just, there's no way they don't think we have to get that guy the ball more. Yeah. Yeah. The one thing I keep going back to though, with him is how much was the foot a problem, you know, for Najee last year and is he, is he healthy? And so a healthy Najee Harris may change some things. It's not, I think changing what exactly he'd said that they're going to get
Starting point is 00:25:24 another guy on the field and giving him the chance to play more. But there's the other side of this with Jalen Warren is that you're getting him at a much, much better value, clearly. His ADP is going to rise from what's happened this weekend. But if there is the Najee injury and he misses time, he's a league winner. He's an absolute league winner.
Starting point is 00:25:44 So these are the type of guys you want to get in on because you can use him if you need him as a flex. You don't want to have to use him because he's probably not going to get a lot of production, at least right away. But if Najee goes down, then he becomes that guy. And then you probably won your league because of getting a player like that. Yeah. I was thinking about some running backs that I keep seeing, you know,
Starting point is 00:26:02 being taken in maybe late round four through round five, and I want to know how many of them you'd take over Najee Harris. Because in my mind, I'm thinking, I think I'd take all of these guys over Najee Harris. So just tell me, would you take this player over Najee Harris? Damian Pierce? Easily. Yep.
Starting point is 00:26:19 J.K. Dobbins? Was there for me before this weekend. I still got Dalvin's behind. James Conner. Yes. Alexander Madison. Yes. Might get a little tougher here. Ken Walker. No.
Starting point is 00:26:35 Najee. Brees Hall. Najee. Najee. Okay. Alright, and then, so our rankings followers, Devon Achain, Jamison Williams, Najee Harris. A couple of players that showed up in preseason at middle linebacker or inside linebacker. Miami linebacker David Long.
Starting point is 00:26:53 This is a guy they signed from the Titans who just cannot stay healthy. But a lot of people thought this was a great under the radar signing. He could get a lot of tackles in that Dolphins defense. David Long and Philadelphia linebacker N'Kobe Dean, young player who's going to replace T.J. Edwards. T.J. Edwards, in our IDP league, was the fifth-best linebacker in IDP. He was on the Eagles last year. He needs to be replaced.
Starting point is 00:27:17 N'Kobe Dean looks like he's going to be the guy doing that. Look, I'm not really a big IDP guy, but I looked at four different IDP rankings for David Long and N'Kobe Dean, and they're pretty low on the linebacker list. So just want to throw those names out there. All right, let's talk about some guys who were at one point maybe first round picks, then second. Now you'll see them going in the third round, Jonathan Taylor and Josh Jacobs.
Starting point is 00:27:40 Jonathan Taylor will be back with the team this week. He was excused for personal reasons. He's still not healthy, apparently. Josh Jacobs is expected to... This was pretty vague, but the Las Vegas Review-Journal says Josh Jacobs expected to report to the team before week one,
Starting point is 00:27:58 but not really clear that he'll be ready for week one. He can't just show up, and then they're going to throw him in for a full workload in week one. So can't just show up and then they're going to throw him in for like a full workload in week one. So I had a huge, a very hard time picking between the two of them, Taylor and Jacobs. Jamie,
Starting point is 00:28:12 when do you take Taylor and Jacobs and who do you take first? I would take Jacobs first right now. And Jacobs is in the back end of round two and Taylor is in the beginning of round three. Same question to you, Heath. Same answer. Okay. Jacobs is in the back end of round two, and Taylor is in the beginning of round three. Same question to you, Heath. Same answer. Okay.
Starting point is 00:28:32 Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts, or these guys? Or both? QBs. I still have Jacobs ahead of the quarterbacks, but another week of this, and the quarterbacks will move ahead of Jacobs also. Okay. Cooper Cup will practice this week. Hooray.
Starting point is 00:28:44 Cleveland head coach Kevin Stefanski says he wants Elijah Moore to be a big part of the offense. And we've seen that and we're looking forward to that. Jacksonville running back Tank Bigsby had a really good game. 13 carries for 70 yards and a catch. It was backups versus backups in that game of
Starting point is 00:28:59 Jaguars-Lions. But Doug Peterson said that Bigsby could see a bigger role as the season progresses. Is anyone getting nervous about Travis Etienne? Not really. Just more excited about Bigsby. Okay. Houston wide receiver Tank Dell, the star of the first preseason game week, was held
Starting point is 00:29:21 out. He had tightness in something. I did not see what it was, but Tank Dell, the precautionary. Talked about Devon Achain hurting his shoulder. And there was an article in the Palm Beach Post that was pretty glowing about Jeff Wilson sort of making the case for Wilson as the top guy in that backfield. Buffalo running back Damian Harris missed the game with a knee injury.
Starting point is 00:29:44 He did return to practice last week, but wasn't ready to play in this game. Chicago offensive guard Tevin Jenkins could miss time with a leg injury, and that would be a pretty significant blow for them. Hopefully he's back soon. And Jacksonville defensive tackle Devon Hamilton is out indefinitely with a back injury. I got a whole big list of rankings risers and rankings fallers from Heath and Jamie, and let's get right to it. Heath, you told us about Jeff Wilson, Raheem Mostert, and Jalen Warren, but there are a lot of players here that we haven't talked about, including Geno Smith, who on CBS is QB 17, on Fantasy Pros is QB 16.
Starting point is 00:30:17 Geno Smith is a riser for you. Yeah, and it's just like I didn't have a lot of huge movers, but I did move Geno ahead of Aaron Rodgers. Man, JSN. You're talking about another guy who has had some wow moments the first couple of preseason games, including in Week 2. It's just a reminder of how special a talent he is. And you pair that with DK Metcalf. You pair that with Tyler Lockett.
Starting point is 00:30:39 Listen, there's probably 15, 16, 17 QB1s this year. Geno Smith's definitely one of them. And I would not be surprised. There's been talk about how much is he going to regress from last year. He might be better than he was last year. When you guys are drafting a quarterback in that range, if it's Cousins, Gino, Daniel Jones, Jared Goff, Aaron Rodgers, I don't think we're going to put Russell Wilson in that group, but maybe,
Starting point is 00:31:06 whatever. Is there anything that determines who you pick? If I already have my QB1, I take this guy. If I don't have a QB1 yet, I take this guy. Do you just mix it up? Those guys are tough, I think, to differentiate from each other. How do you guys differentiate them? If I don't have a QB1, I'm taking two of them. Typically the one that I'm looking for with the most upside is Daniel Jones, because he does something just a little bit different with his legs.
Starting point is 00:31:34 So if you're going to get another 700-yard rushing season from him and then he does improve slightly as a passer, then you're going to be very happy to have Daniel Jones on your team if the sort of carryover from the Brian Dayball coaching plus the addition of Darren Waller is there. But I think if you don't get one of those guys,
Starting point is 00:31:52 like to me Cousins is very similar to Dak. We've had this conversation. So we're actually doing tiers today on CBS Sports HQ, quarterback tiers. And I don't usually do tiers, but I had to give them for the show. And so my final tier of the starting group, I did put Cousins, who's my QB 13, in with Deshaun Watson and Dak Prescott. And so those are kind of like the fallback top 12 guys, you know, per se. So it's a, you know, Baker's dozen essentially.
Starting point is 00:32:20 Once you get past those guys, though, I think Geno, Jones, Rogers, and Goff, they all could be top 10 guys. I mean, they're all capable of that. It's just a matter of who will fall out of that group if you're banking on somebody else. And obviously ADP tells us something differently, certainly on our site, where Tua Tungavailoa and Anthony Richardson are not being drafted as starters right now, which is very surprising. So I think, again, it's sort of if you need a second quarterback,
Starting point is 00:32:49 I wouldn't necessarily, and this is probably a mistake, but I wouldn't necessarily want to pair Daniel Jones with Anthony Richardson because there could be too much volatility there. But if I take Anthony Richardson, I'm looking more at the safer options, just in case Jones does falter. And last year was kind of a fluke, which doesn't look like that's going to be the case, but you never know.
Starting point is 00:33:09 Yeah, it's pretty much for me it's Jones or Geno, just because Cousins goes earlier usually in the drafts that I'm in. But I have Cousins, Jones, and Geno in a tier, and then I have Rodgers and Wilson and Goff in a tier behind those guys. So usually if I draft one of those guys, it's Jones or Geno, and it's usually after I've taken Tua or Richardson. Right. Richardson is in ADP. He's with this group.
Starting point is 00:33:35 For us in the rankings, he's way ahead. I guess I'm a little unclear about Cousins. Jamie, you said he is with the starters, so he's ahead of them. How about for you, Heath? Is he definitively ahead of Geno and Jones? I've got Jones, Cousins, Geno, back to back to back in round 10. Okay, gotcha. Sorry.
Starting point is 00:33:54 All right, Chris Godwin and Mike Evans are risers for you, and that's interesting. I actually didn't give this note. Baker Mayfield didn't play, but Todd Bowles said he's not naming a Buccaneers starting quarterback. That's good is that why Chris Goblin and Mike Evans are risers for you it's no it's it's a couple of things and it's more projections changes but also I do think that like Trask gives them a little more floor
Starting point is 00:34:17 than I was if Trask was awful then they had the floor of bad Baker which we know how bad that is we saw it with DJ more last year. Um, but there was a couple of things. The Russell gauge injury causes me to think that the targets are going to be a little bit more concentrated. And then like, I don't know that Tampa, I, my, I've gone into this year thinking Tampa Bay definitely wants to run it a lot more than they have when Tom Brady was quarterback, their run game looks awful. I'm not sure that they are going to be able to run it very often, even with Rashad White. So I've upped their pass volume just a tad, but concentrated
Starting point is 00:34:51 their targets more as well without Russell Gage there. Michael Thomas is a riser for you. Yeah, getting good reports. He's staying healthy. He looked good in the first preseason game. It was, again, a small move, but I did move him up a little bit. Top 100 pick? Yeah. He's a round eight pick for me. Okay. That's Michael Thomas. Would you rather have Michael
Starting point is 00:35:18 Thomas or Odell Beckham? Thomas. Romeo Dobbs or Michael Thomas? They are within three spots in the overall rankings, but I've got Thomas slightly higher right now. I mean, that really should tell you about the value that people can get for Romeo Dobbs. I hope it continues to be that way.
Starting point is 00:35:35 I don't know how much he'll rise in ADP. And two tight ends on your risers list, Chigo Conquo and Luke Musgrave. Yeah, Musgrave just moving him up into that top 20 range where maybe he makes a difference. Still just a tight end too, but there's just been too much of a drumbeat to completely ignore him
Starting point is 00:35:52 at a position where it doesn't take that much to become a top 12 guy. And then Okonkwo, there was at the beginning of training camp some talk from Vrabel that didn't sound super positive. And then there was the signing of DeAndre Hopkins and I kind of cooled on him.
Starting point is 00:36:06 But he has played 100% of their snaps when they only have one tight end in the field, which is a big change from last year. And now that Burks is not going to be there at the start of the year, I think there's a little more opportunity for him to get off to a good start. So Okonkwo back in that borderline top 12 range for me.
Starting point is 00:36:22 All right, again, Heath's Risers, Geno Smith, Jeff Wilson, Raheem M Again, Heath's risers, Gino Smith, Jeff Wilson, Raheem Mostert, Jalen Warren, Chris Godwin, Mike Evans, Michael Thomas,
Starting point is 00:36:30 Chigo Conquo, and Luke Musgrave. Let's head on over to Jamie's risers. Jamie's got two quarterbacks on his list, Jordan Love and Kenny Pickett. ADP has Jordan Love at about quarterback 25 or 26. Kenny Pickett at QB 21. Where are you moving Love and Pickett?
Starting point is 00:36:47 And who do you like better? I like Love slightly better than Pickett, but I still love Pickett. But I think you look at just the way these guys have played and the offenses that they're in. I don't think we give Pickett the love of what he might do with his legs as well. You know, he did run quite a bit,
Starting point is 00:37:10 or a good enough amount in college that you can potentially buy into that, that he might be a 300, 400-yard type of rusher. But again, I think just look at the weapons that these guys have. I think they're worth drafting as quarterback twos with upside. And as far as love goes, we don't want them to make bad throws because someone's going
Starting point is 00:37:29 to pick it. True. Right. Okay. And you said you moved them ahead of Ryan Tannehill. Yes. So they were, I think 20, I think I had it, uh, Howell Tannehill love picket. And I just moved Tannehill behind those guys.
Starting point is 00:37:42 What about Matthew Stafford versus Love and Pickett? I have Stafford ahead of those guys, but again, I think it's a matter of what you're looking for, floor versus ceiling. Stafford, I think, gives you a safer floor if he's healthy, but that's the risk you have to worry about with him. All right. Let's go to your wide receiver risers, George Pickens, who you talked about earlier, Michael Thomas,
Starting point is 00:38:00 also a riser for you, and Jaden Reed, who you talked about earlier, and Paris Campbell of the New York Giants. I only said that because people might not know what team paris campbell plays for michael thomas though you share that sentiment with that heath uh you're feeling good about it well it's funny because you know i had sent you that uh note i forget where it was from at this point but i'd sent you that note last week where they were there was a lot of concern about Michael Thomas. And apparently he did bounce back, I think that day in practice. And I think it was one of the Saints beat writers was saying that. I got it for you if you want.
Starting point is 00:38:33 Yeah, go ahead. Jeff Duncan, he said, A former NFL receivers coach asked me from the sidelines today, What's up with Michael Thomas? He can't get off the line of scrimmage. He's getting locked up by a safety. And then he says, my column on the reality of where Michael Thomas is at his return to the playing field after
Starting point is 00:38:49 three years on the sideline. And that was for NOLA.com. Yeah, so I dropped him about four or five spots, and I just put him back exactly where I had him. Why? Because there was some video of him actually looking good and some of the reports the next day. Maybe he was motivated by that. I don't know what it was,
Starting point is 00:39:05 but it was the next day or two. He looked, he looked good. And so it's just a matter of if he's healthy, he's worth drafting with a mid round pick. You know, you don't get overly excited about Michael Thomas at 30 years old, having played 10 games over the last three seasons and say,
Starting point is 00:39:21 okay, I'm going to jump all the way back in. Like we did last year. We got burned, you know, but he's still capable of being a quality receiver. And I do think he's getting better quarterback play this year with Andy Dalton gone. I do wonder if Michael Thomas like literally read the quote that Adam read, because the tape I saw was of him breaking Derwin James ankles. And the quote says he couldn't get off the line against the safety.
Starting point is 00:39:44 I wonder, cause they've been practicing together, I wonder if it was James locking him up one day and then Thomas getting his... That's a pretty good safety, too. Yes, no kidding. All right, and then Paris Campbell. I don't know. I guess Giants wide receivers in general.
Starting point is 00:39:57 Darius Slade didn't do anything. Isaiah Hodgins had a long catch, like 18-yard catch or something. Paris Campbell is their slot guy right now. Who's your favorite giants wide receiver. My favorite giants wide receiver is still Hodgins because his role is locked in, but I had been somewhat bullish, I guess,
Starting point is 00:40:15 with the hope of take the chance on Wanda Robinson, when he comes back, you know, and he's the guy that this regime drafted and, you know, hopefully, but he's still on the pop list at this point, it's hard to overlook the Paris Campbell's got that role. And and the really i think the one guy that's going to take it from
Starting point is 00:40:28 it would be shepherd and so we'll see if that's the case but i think if they're if you're like looking at their three receiver sets at this point he's a slot guy and we know what that's kind of been to daniel jones so is he going to be the the the shepherd slot receiver where it's been the only guy there no because i think waller is a significant upgrade over anything that Daniel Jones has ever played with. But I think Paris Campbell is, in PPR, he was like in my 190s and Wanda Robinson was like around 170 something. And so I just basically flipped it and took Wanda Robinson out. Honestly, Jalen Hyatt, Wanda Robinson, I don't think is worth waiting on. Jalen Hyatt though, is surging and playing with the starters. So I don't think, was worth waiting on. Jalen Hyatt, though, is surging and playing with the starters. So I didn't think there was any chance Jalen Hyatt was going to make a contribution this year.
Starting point is 00:41:12 Are you guys getting excited about him? Like half of these guys aren't going to be able to play. Right. You can't play seven wide receivers in a game. I mean, at this point, like Cole Beasley, Jamison Crowder, obviously we're not counting on them. Slayton and Hodgins are locked in, right? As of now.
Starting point is 00:41:30 But Hyatt could certainly get on the field. But yes, I'd say Slayton and Hodgins. Do you think he's more likely to take Slayton's job or Hodgins? I think Campbell's. I think he could play out of the slot. But Slayton's, I would say. More likely Slayton's than Hodgins. But I don't know.
Starting point is 00:41:47 They have to figure it out. See, what I heard earlier in the year was that Slayton was like the one guy who was locked in. Hyatt is more similar to Slayton, I think, than to Hodgins. But I think we're probably spending a little bit too much time on this. I apologize for that. Juwan Johnson, a riser for you, Jamie. Yeah, you know, I mean, another guy that's getting great reviews. And, you know, just looking at it, what he did last year,
Starting point is 00:42:11 the quarterback he has this year, I'm drafting him as a starter. He's moved ahead of Dalton Schultz for me, which is a guy that's falling. And, again, when you're taking these late-round shots, who's going to be somebody that can maybe hit i think he fits the profile former wide receiver had a good touchdown season not a great touchdown season but did well finding the end zone last year and you know he's talked about this um last week with at perry just about the rashid shaheed injury i think their top three pass catchers right now if everybody's healthy or al are Olave, Thomas, we'll see Kamara,
Starting point is 00:42:45 but I think Jawan Johnson's that third guy. And so I think the fact that, forget about the Jimmy Graham situation, hopefully he's okay, but they do have a lot of guys there, but I think all you're hearing is just great things about what Jawan Johnson has been doing, and I think will continue to do once the season starts. And Greg Dulcich is someone that Chris on FFT and five Greg Dulcich was a loser for Chris and you guys
Starting point is 00:43:08 like Johnson better than Dulcich at this point yes that was something that I changed after last week's preseason game but yes for sure I think I might still have Dulcich ahead but I haven't really I have a hard time
Starting point is 00:43:24 and I guess like it's probably just because I haven't really... I have a hard time. And I guess it's probably just because I haven't projected a massive increase in pass volume for the Saints. But if Michael Thomas is there and Chris Olave is there, I have a hard time seeing... And they're going to throw it to their running backs how Jawan Johnson is going to see
Starting point is 00:43:38 more than four to five targets a game. Okay. Well, Dulcich was a guy that Chris was just saying is not playing enough, basically. Right, yeah. Yeah. All right, that's just something I just want to throw that out there because I don't think he's in the notes.
Starting point is 00:43:54 Oh, he is in the notes. He's one of your followers, Heath, Greg Dulcich. Sorry about that. Yeah, yeah, he definitely moved behind Okonkwo. I moved him behind Gerald Everett. I've got him at tight end 18 now. I could be tempted to move him five more spots. You get into that 18 range, and the difference between that and 23
Starting point is 00:44:11 is just kind of guesswork at tight end. But it's not good that he's not a full-time player. When we come back, rankings fallers find out why Miles Sanders is on both of these guys' fallers list and why Keenan Allen is on Jamie's. We'll tell you right after this. And Miles Sanders hasn on both of these guys' followers list and why Keenan Allen is on Jamie's. We'll tell you right after this. And Miles Sanders hasn't played yet. He's been nursing a groin injury. Should be back soon, hopefully.
Starting point is 00:44:32 He's on both of your followers lists. Jamie, how come, let's take a look at your followers first, including Najee Harris. We don't have to talk about him. I've said enough about him earlier in the show. Devon A-Chain, same thing. But Miles Sanders stands out. Why is he a follower and where'd you move Sanders to?
Starting point is 00:44:47 Bryce Young does not look good. The offensive line does not look good. You know, you're hearing reports just about some struggles there. But it's just a couple spots. You know, it was more about shuffling around that group of Najee and Sanders and Connor and Madison. So I just put Sanders closer to where I have Najee right now. I just think it was – I hope put Sanders closer to where I have Najee right now. I just think it
Starting point is 00:45:05 was, I hope he's going to help things, but Bryce Young scares me a little bit right now. And that's a big part of it. And how about you, Heath? You've always been the Miles Sanders guy. Yeah. I'm just trying to be consistent. I don't want to only move down the hurt guys who I didn't like. So I, and both Sanders and another guy I'll talk about in a minute, David Montgomery, kind of guys where I had them more than a round ahead of where they were being drafted. And so I've tried, or maybe even two in Montgomery's case, and I've tried to not draft them a round earlier than I have to.
Starting point is 00:45:37 But it sounds like Sanders is going to be okay. I just am trying to be a little bit consistent on how I rank the injured guys. Keenan Allen, Jamie. Interesting. Why did you move him down? Part of the reason is because of, I think, the usage we're going to see.
Starting point is 00:45:53 His allure is being a slot guy. If they're going to really use Mike Williams in the slot and put him on the outside, that's going to give him some different opportunities, but I think also give him some tougher coverage. And then Quinton Johnson's looking good as well. Again, distribution of targets may not be the same for him. But again, it was just moving him down a couple spots, not like a significant drop.
Starting point is 00:46:10 Plus he's, again, speaking of being consistent, I can't sit here and rail on Devontae Adams and DeAndre Hopkins being 30 and not give him some sort of a ding as well. Dalton Schultz, ding. That offense is also looking a little bit bad, but also a lot of options. know so schultz is being mixed in with some other their tight ends there and i think we're gonna see cj stroud spread the
Starting point is 00:46:32 ball around so it was more about when i looked at the end of my my top 12 and i was looking at kincaid laporta juwan johnson and schultz i just put schultz behind all those guys all right heath your fallers include miles sanders you talked about david montgomery you just Jawan Johnson, and Schultz. I just put Schultz behind all those guys. All right. Heath, your fallers include Miles Sanders. You talked about David Montgomery. You just want to expand a little bit on that. You just don't want to be too high on him based on his ADP? Right.
Starting point is 00:46:55 Yeah. It's like I know, and I make this process in my head where if somebody's in the top of my queue, and I know they're not going to go for another round and a half, I just don't take them and take them in a round that I know that a lot of people using my rankings don't do it that way. So I just move him down a little bit to try to make it. So nobody's drafting him at the four or five turn when they can get them in round six. Right. Fair enough. By the way, please hit the like button if you're watching on YouTube right now. If you feel like we've earned it, 1,300 people watching, appreciate that. About 219 likes.
Starting point is 00:47:26 We can do a little bit better than that. Let's get that up to 300, huh? All right. David Montgomery, Najee Harris, Devon Achain, Traylon Burks. Same thing he's just heard. Earlier you said it doesn't look like he'll be there for week one. How confident are you in that opinion? I'm confident that if he is there in week one it's it's it seems
Starting point is 00:47:47 like it's unlikely that he is like fully ready to go it looks at the timetable that everybody's giving is like putting him maybe he's able to get back just in time for week one okay that's trailing burks so yeah he should be someone you draft and don't need. I think you put him in that Kadarius-Tony range. Right. Oh, my gosh. We've got to talk about the Chiefs wide receivers. Let's get through the rest of your fallers here. Greg Dolsic, I mean, we pretty much covered everyone.
Starting point is 00:48:17 Jamison Williams and Greg Dolsic are on this list. Yeah, yeah. Chiefs wide receivers. This was, fair to say, worst-case scenario for the Chiefs wide receivers, This was, fair to say, worst case scenario for the Chiefs wide receivers, what we saw in this game. Does anybody feel that way? I don't know what you mean. I mean, a lot of them played,
Starting point is 00:48:35 and none of them had more than two targets from Mahomes, who threw 15 or 16 passes. There was nobody who jumped out. There's no hierarchy. Well, I think you look at playing time. I think that matters. There wasn't much of a hierarchy there either. Well, wasn't Sky Moore on the field the entire time with them?
Starting point is 00:48:55 So let's go through that. And MVS was like 80%. MVS is the one who's always on the field. 20 snaps for Mahomes, 14 for Kelsey with Mahomes on the field, 15 for MVS, Sky Moore, 12 snaps, 10 routes, which was good, which was tied for the second most.
Starting point is 00:49:17 It's only one target. But you want to look at routes with Patrick Mahomes. It was MVS with 14, Clyde Edwards-Elair and Sky Moore with 10. Kelsey with nine. Justin Watson, six. Rasheed Rice, five. Justin Ross, two.
Starting point is 00:49:31 Jarek McKinnon, four. It seems like it's pretty clearly Sky Moore and MVS are going to be the guys running routes all the time. And somebody else is going to mix in. There was no other receiver within. There was more than half of Sky Moore, right? Justin Watson had six routes. More had 10. Okay.
Starting point is 00:49:50 But it'd be nice for Sky Moore to do something. I mean, he, he has proven nothing so far. Preseason. It's still 20 snaps that Mahomes was on the field. And, and he was only on the field for 12 of them. And that's not something to be discounted.
Starting point is 00:50:01 It reminded me, it reminded me of, uh, cause they, they mentioned this in the broadcast, they played the Cardinals week one last year, and it was Mahomes can't be great without Tyreek Hill. He'll be good, but he won't be great. And he threw five touchdowns in that game.
Starting point is 00:50:15 I'm not talking about Mahomes, though. But I'm saying he's not throwing five to Travis Kelsey. He might, but he's not throwing five to Travis. There's a reason why I think you don't draft Sky Moore right now in the top 30 to 35 receivers. This is once you get past wide receiver 40s where he comes into play. So you don't want to overvalue Sky Moore. But it's also a reminder of when you get to the end of your draft,
Starting point is 00:50:35 I take chances on all of these guys. I don't think I've left a draft so far that I've done since Kadarius Toney's injury where I don't have one Chiefs wide receiver, whoever it may be, just because. It'll be probably the first player that I drop if it's Richie James or Racy Rice not doing anything or MVS just because who he is. The ones you want to gravitate toward, I think, are more still Tony Rice. And for me, it's, it's Justin Ross.
Starting point is 00:51:05 But I, I don't think you overlook Richie James. I don't think you overlook Justin Watson. You know what I mean? There's, there's going to be some of these guys that are going to be significant. And some of these guys are going to be relevant and might be a week to week thing where you're,
Starting point is 00:51:16 you know, shuffling in and out and you regret dropping that player. So it's a, it's a great late round dart throw. You know, like David said this in every draft we've done, I hate the players on the board when we get to, like, round 11. Like, for me, like,
Starting point is 00:51:25 this is where the fun starts. You know, like, in taking players like this. Sure. Also, like, we're getting a lot of comments in the chat about how none of the Chiefs will matter.
Starting point is 00:51:34 None of the Chiefs mattered last year. That's just not true. Juju was a top 24 wide receiver for half the year last year. Mikko Hardman had a five-week span where he was a top 12
Starting point is 00:51:42 wide receiver. Like, it might not be the same guy for 17 straight weeks, but there are going to be guys who matter, and they're all dirt cheap. So yes, if we were drafting Sky Moore where we're drafting Christian Watson, then I would be really upset that Sky Moore
Starting point is 00:51:58 is not giving us fantasy points in the preseason. But he's a round nine or round 10 pick. Right, but he is still being drafted. I mean, I'm looking at Jamie's rankings right now and in the FFT open and just the available wide receivers. I'm in round eight. Jordan Addison, Michael Pittman, Sky Moore, Michael Thomas. So that's, that's not a nothing price tag.
Starting point is 00:52:19 You still have Juju, Brandon Cooks, Heath, your rankings right now. Sky Moore is lower, considerably lower. Addison, Thomas, Dobbs, Elijah Moore, Juju, Cooks, Nico, your rankings right now. Sky Moore is lower, considerably lower. Addison Thomas, Dobbs, Elijah Moore, Juju Cooks, Nico Collins, Sky Moore. Yeah, so. Like, you're not saying a lot of names that I feel confident starting week one. It doesn't. Okay. I haven't ranked for the upside.
Starting point is 00:52:40 That's simply why he's in that range. But keep in mind that you could say that he ran almost twice as many routes as any other wide receiver not named MBS. Mahomes played 20 snaps and Skymore played only 12 of those. It's the preseason. I know, but I don't know what to make of that. It's not like he's an established veteran.
Starting point is 00:52:58 Go with the other names. Take MBS out. Right? The only other guy that's played with him is Justin Watson. Right. But I'm just saying this was not what I wanted to see from Sky Moore. And I also don't think it's a situation necessarily. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:53:16 I don't know. He's not necessarily the veteran player that just didn't play that much because he's this proven veteran and they took him out. If he's only going to play half the snaps with Mahomes. So Mahomes threw how many passes? 16? 15. So if 15 and let's say Sky Moore had four for 52 and without a touchdown, you'd feel better?
Starting point is 00:53:37 Of course. Dramatically better? Like you'd jump him up 10 spots? No, but I'd be more comfortable taking him with a top 100 pick. I've taken him, for the record, I've taken him in each of the last two drafts that I've done that have gotten to that point. I've met a lot of slow drafts. So I'm not opposed to Sky Moore,
Starting point is 00:53:54 but he has not done anything in the preseason other than Kadarius Tony getting hurt. The only thing Moore has done is Kadarius Tony got hurt, and Moore is a starter. Moore's a starter for the Chiefs. It's also who he's attached to. I mean, we're not, you know. I know, but he hasn't done anything good, I really don't think.
Starting point is 00:54:11 What has he done? That's why, if he had, he'd be drafted in round five or six right now. Right. Like, that's why he's being drafted back with Nico freaking Collins. Yeah. Like, all you've heard is that he's doing well in practice. It's the same thing we're hearing about Brandon Cooks. You haven't seen Brandon Cooks do anything.
Starting point is 00:54:29 I know you know what Brandon Cooks can do. Right, exactly. Brandon Cooks, you know, I think, well, he's done something. He's an older player on a new team. I'd rather take the upside of a younger player with a better quarterback. There's another angle here that I'd like to discuss. And who was the second most target? Actually, who was the most
Starting point is 00:54:45 targeted? Now, nobody had more than two targets, but CEH was one of those players that had two targets. What if they throw to the running backs more? And what if that helps Pacheco or CEH and they have more of a role than we anticipated? I mean,
Starting point is 00:55:01 have they not always thrown to those guys? Not really. Certainly not Pacheco. Pacheco got almost no targets. Yeah, but I would... What? I mean, in the AFC Championship game, didn't he have a... I think so. But when Pacheco took off,
Starting point is 00:55:17 that's when McKinnon also had a huge role and was awesome. Well, this is just strengthening your case for McKinnon, who you love. I agree, but McKinnon, who you love. I agree, but McKinnon's only going to play on third down. So I'm saying if he throws to his running backs more on first and second down, that could be an extra few points in PPR for those guys. Heath, you don't seem
Starting point is 00:55:37 open to this idea at all. There's a lot of things that we need to care about in the preseason, maybe. But what the Chiefs are doing offensively with their preseason snaps, I just don't know how much I care. I mean, that is fair, but they don't have a Juju Smith-Schuster on this team. Last year, they didn't have a Tyree Kill, but at least they had a Juju Smith-Schuster. You've got to look at this wide receiving core.
Starting point is 00:56:04 It is not proven at all. At all. They did take the Giants' best receiver from a year ago. Yeah. There's nothing proven on this team at wide receiver. Can we at least agree on that? Again, look, you're drafting based on what
Starting point is 00:56:19 could happen. And what could happen is that Sky Moore takes the Juju role or better because he's younger and more explosive than Juju was last year and didn't hope and hopefully won't miss time like Juju did when he suffered the concussion. You know, so again, we have to do this for what we do for for our jobs is project out and anticipate and, you know, try to give people some expectations to win their leagues. And this is the type of guy that if he hits is going to be a league winner. I get what you're saying.
Starting point is 00:56:46 If he had a three catch for a 40-yard day, you'd feel slightly better about taking him in this range. But if he had a five for it, if he had the Rachie Rice stat line, eight catches, 90-something yards on nine targets, like he said, he would now be ahead of 20 receivers. Right off the bat. I know. Alright. Alright, well, I've
Starting point is 00:57:09 talked about it as much as I can. Not getting anything there, that's fine. What did you guys think of the Falcons' offense? I heard Bijan had a good run. I didn't see it. First run. That guy looks like he's shot out of a cannon.
Starting point is 00:57:25 It's amazing. He's going to be fun. Yeah, it's awesome. I thought that, I mean, we had this conversation yesterday, Adam, you and I just talking that I thought Desmond Ritter looked better. You know, so that was encouraging. You know, the interception wasn't his fault. He, you know, he's going to, you know, hopefully be good for those guys,
Starting point is 00:57:46 you know, to what degree, we'll find out, you know, for Drake London and Kyle Pitts. I did think there's a couple of receivers that are going to be annoying that if you're in a very deep draft, take shots on. Mack Hollins, I think, is going to be, you know, involved. Again, very low pass volume, but going to be involved for the Falcons. Kendrick Bourne looks like a guy that Matt Jones is going to lean on. That could be annoying. So those are two veteran guys that I don't want to have any shares of
Starting point is 00:58:14 in a five-person bench, but a 15-round draft. But you get a little deeper than that, those are guys that could maybe be third, fourth, fifth receivers for you, depending on how many you play. Okay. Heath, Khalil Herbert did not play. Deontay Foreman started, and Rashawn Johnson had another very good game. Thoughts on the Bears running backs?
Starting point is 00:58:33 I think that I was not sure that Khalil Herbert would be the RB1 to start the year, and it seems like he's probably going to be the RB1 to start the year. I think he's a fine number three running back to have. He's got more upside in non-PPR than he does in full PPR. James Cook played 15 snaps. Josh Allen played 16 snaps. Of these three guys, do you feel...
Starting point is 00:59:00 Okay, who has the highest snap percentage of these three guys, or rank them in terms of percentage of snaps they will play in the regular season, like on a weekly basis? James Cook, Damian Pierce, Ramondre Stevenson. Percentage of snaps? Yeah, who's getting the most playing time on a weekly basis? Cook, Stevenson, Pierce. Based on what we see right now, I would probably say Cooks.
Starting point is 00:59:25 Cook? Cook, sorry. But Pierce, I was impressed that he played on third downs. You know, that was nice to see because it's not like they're taking him off the field for a single turn. I'd say total snaps. I guess I might change my answer and say Pierce. Yeah, I've changed my answer. I'm going to say Pierce. I'm going to say total snaps Cook because the Bills might run 100 more plays
Starting point is 00:59:43 than the Patriots or Texans. Fair. Fair. Okay. Yeah, Zeke didn't play, so we didn't get to see that split. But Ramondre Stevenson was absolutely an every-down back when he was on the field. And positive for him that he had a goal line touchdown. Yep. And Pierce was an every-down back, too.
Starting point is 00:59:59 But what happened with Pierce was he played the first two series, and then he left the game, and Singletary came in, and Stroud stayed on the field. So that was it. Running backs just don't play that much, a lot of them. Barkley Dress didn't play. Aaron Jones played one snap each of the last two weeks. So I don't know what that means for Pierce.
Starting point is 01:00:17 Was Singletary just going to get that series? He's going to get every third series? Or we won't probably know until week one. I don't understand the Aaron Jones thing. Why play him? They get him to tackle. or we won't probably know until week one. I don't understand the Aaron Jones thing. Why play him? They get him to carry him. They get him to tackle.
Starting point is 01:00:32 Rico Dattles started for the Cowboys. Do you guys have a preference at backup running back for Pollard? At handcuffed running back? Deuce. Deuce is the only one I'm drafting. Wide receiver notes. Jalen Hyatt, Jonathan Mingo. They both were working with the first team. Demario Douglas, people said,
Starting point is 01:00:47 so I got an email from Matthew. He said, you haven't talked about Patriots receiver Demario Douglas. Would you guys like to talk about Demario Douglas? He's having a very good camp. We did talk about him on Fantasy Football Today Dynasty last week. You guys should subscribe to that podcast.
Starting point is 01:01:01 Yeah, I really think it's probably Juju and davante parker douglas could be a waiver ad when and if one of those guys gets hurt later in the year it's also worth noting that we haven't seen uh gaseki and what this two tight end offense will look like to debo samuel two catches on three targets 39 yards on the first possession pretty Purdy looked good. Purdy did look good. Purdy good. And Devontae Adams played one snap. And at tight end, the only really notes I had were about Dulcich, who we already talked about, not playing much. And
Starting point is 01:01:33 thank you, Chris, for that. And Darren Waller, four targets, three catches, 40 yards on the first possession. Lined up out wide, and yeah. Has Aiden O'Connell made you guys feel any better about Devontae Adams? No. Dave would say yes.
Starting point is 01:01:49 Dave said Aiden O'Connell looks good. Watch his tape. His first throw was awful. He had a guy wide open, deep down the field, no pressure, and he just made a terrible pass. And then after that, he was great. He really was. Oh, very good.
Starting point is 01:02:05 So that's the backup quarterback for the Raiders. All right. Potentially. Potentially the backup quarterback, right? That's all I got for today. Thank you, guys. Thank you all for watching and listening. We're back tomorrow with another episode.
Starting point is 01:02:17 We have a live stream on Tuesday night. It's actually at 9 o'clock on Tuesday night. We'll be doing a Superflex draft. We'll talk to you tomorrow morning on Fantasy Football Today.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.