Fantasy Football Today - Rankings RISERS and FALLERS After Preseason Week 2 (08/21 Fantasy Football Podcast)
Episode Date: August 21, 2023Donate 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
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He's just going to go the distance.
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.
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.
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,
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,
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.
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,
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.
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
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
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.
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?
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.
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.
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
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?
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.
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,
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
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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,
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,
but you could be your second receiver as well.
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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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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,
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
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,
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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,
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.
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.
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.
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,
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.
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I'm going to,
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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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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,
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,
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,
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
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.
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,
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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,
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,
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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,
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.
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,
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.
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,
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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,
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?
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,
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
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.
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,
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.
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
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,
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,
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.
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.
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,
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
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.
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.
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.
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,
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,
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
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
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
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.
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
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.
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?
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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,
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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,
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.
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,
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,
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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,
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.
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.
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
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,
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,
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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,
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
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?
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...
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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,
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.