Fantasy Football Today - Rankings Updates! Biggest Movers, WR1 Debate and More (03/18 Fantasy Football Podcast)
Episode Date: March 18, 2024Join our Bracket Challenge and get in the Podcast League! https://picks.cbssports.com/college-basketball/ncaa-tournament/bracket/pools/kbxw63b2he4dknjsgq2a====?pool-join-key=39wkhxdq8h3bdf04t65a3zx1j5...e05zv7&invited-by=ivxhi4tzhiytkmrugmzdgobz&via-medium=copy&ttag=FF24_lk_cbssports_cbb_bpm_copySetupInvite&sender-role=m5aen7afgbe5rh Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and wherever else you listen to podcasts Dave and Jamey give us their biggest rankings risers (2:30) and fallers (4:26) with Drake London, Josh Jacobs and Khalil Shakir among the risers and Justin Herbert, Keenan Allen and Justin Jefferson among the fallers. Who should be the #1 wide receiver in drafts at this point (5:30)? Does Jefferson still have a case? Is it CeeDee Lamb? Tyreek Hill? ... Jamey gives his thoughts on the Bears WRs (15:15) and then we go through the news and notes (21:00) with our reaction to the trades of Justin Fields, Kenny Pickett and Sam Howell. Plus, does A.J. Dillon impact Josh Jacobs (28:50)? And which team has made big upgrades on their offensive line? ... A longer look at rankings (37:50) of Herbert, Derrick Henry, Joe Mixon, Zack Moss, the Commanders running backs and WRs (54:10) like George Pickens and Diontae Johnson ... Your emails 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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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!
Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath.
All right, the rankings are out, published, updated, and new names in new places.
And we'll see where they are.
I've got it for Herbert, for Levis, for Barkley, for Henry,
Mixon, Swift, Pollard, Spears, Moss, Chase Brown,
Devin Singletary, DJ Moore, Keenan Allen, DeAndre Hopkins,
Calvin Ridley, George Pickens, Deontay Johnson.
These are the biggest movers, or among the biggest movers,
in the rankings for Dave and Jamie.
And Heath as well.
Heath is not here today, so it's Dave and Jamie, and I'm Adam.
And hello, guys. Happy St. Patrick's Day so it's Dave and Jamie, and I'm Adam. And hello, guys.
Happy St. Patrick's Day.
Hope you had a wonderful weekend.
I did.
Thanks for asking.
I cleaned my house.
Me too.
Oh, it sucks.
What did you do?
Because I vacuumed and mopped the entire house.
No, no, no.
I do my...
Well, I don't do that stuff every week.
We have a lady that does that.
Her name's Karen.
She's my wife.
But we had to clean the grill and then the garage and then some shutters.
And then there was a kind of like a hole in our foundation that we had to patch up.
And then I found a hole in the foundation of our pool.
And I have a feeling I'm going to be very broke very soon.
I lost interest a little bit.
Jamie, welcome.
All right, let's get into fantasy football here.
I am wearing green for St. Patrick's Day,
even though it's a little late, but I figured let's do it.
That's black.
You're wearing black.
What green are you wearing?
That's green.
I'm all black.
Your pants?
It's green.
All I see are your shoulders.
It's green.
It's green.
Or black, black, black.
It's green.
All right, Jamie, who are...
Can you see green?
Can I?
Not really, which is why I'm questioning myself right now, but I think it's green. All right, Jamie, who are... Can you see green? Can I? Not really, which is why I'm questioning myself right now,
but I think it's green.
Do you think your shirt is a different color than Jamie's shirt?
No, I think it's pretty much...
Maybe a little brighter green.
No, it's black.
No, your shirt is green,
but your camera makes it look a little darker.
Your light makes it look a little darker,
but I know you're colorblind, so I don't know.
No, that's why I'm struggling right now.
Black is the ace of spades.
No, you're wrong.
What color can't you see?
Who are your biggest rankings risers, Jamie?
Risers?
Risers.
Chase Brown was one.
Ty J. Spears was one.
No, he dropped. Chase Brown was one. Ty J Spears was not, he dropped.
Um, Chase Brown was one.
Um, even though Curtis Samuel Stein, still Khalil Shakir was one.
Zamir White was one.
Um, was Drake London one.
Oh, Drake London was one.
Yep.
Oh, um, I was thinking more followers as opposed to risers.
Like everybody that's either been associated or still on the chargers is
falling.
Okay. How about you, Dave? Who are some of your biggest risers. Like everybody that's either been associated or still on the chargers is falling. Okay.
How about you,
Dave?
Who are some of your biggest risers risers?
Oh,
London's up there.
Josh Jacobs.
When I didn't know what his situation was going to be when he landed in
green Bay,
I was very happy.
So he's a riser.
Derek Henry was a riser for me.
Kind of the same reason as Jacobs,
but he's nowhere near as high as Jacobs in the rankings.
Mixon was a riser.
Zach Moss was like,
yeah,
he was like a pick after a hundredth overall,
I feel like.
And now he's firmly in that round six,
seven range,
which we need more of those kinds of running backs.
And Jamie said,
Chase Brown,
I'm with them on that one.
He was a riser.
Yeah.
Moss six,
seven.
We'll see where he goes tomorrow.
I'm very excited to see how the mock draft goes tomorrow.
We're mocking at noon.
We'll talk about it on Wednesday's show.
Jamie Asim is RB20 in PPR.
Dave is RB26 in PPR.
And Heath is RB32.
That's Zach Moss.
So very different there.
Heath, really, I wish Heath
were on the show today
because, as per usual,
his rankings are a lot different
than Dave and Jamie's, more similarity.
His Calvin Ridley ranking is shocking to me.
He's got Calvin Ridley as a top,
he's got him as a round three pick.
16, wide receiver 16 on Calvin Ridley.
Jamie has him as wide receiver 36.
Dave has him as wide receiver 34.
And everybody has DeAndre Hopkins at 37 or 38.
So Ridley's slightly ahead, but for Dave and Jamie, for Heath, wide receiver 16 on Calvin Ridley.
Who are some of the biggest fallers, Dave?
Traylon Burks.
They don't get any bigger than Traylon Burks.
No, Justin Herbert's a faller just because he's lost everything.
So along the same lines is what Jamie was saying.
As far as chargers falling, I think DJ Moore fell.
He was the clear alpha in Chicago.
Now he probably still is, but it's by a slimmer margin with Keenan Allen there.
I moved Rashid Rice down a little bit.
He's not a big time faller.
Uh, Zay Flowers was a faller.
Aaron Jones was a faller. Ridley ended up being a faller for
me. And then one who was a faller, but not like, Oh man, he tumbled three rounds, but he did tumble
outside of being a top three or four overall pick is Justin Jefferson. And I think he's still a
first round pick, but now I kind of feel like I want to take them. If I can get them, I'll settle
for them toward the back part of round one
as long as Darnold or a non-top three rookie quarterback is throwing to him.
Wow.
I mean, I think he could go as early as number one overall tomorrow.
Justin Jefferson?
Yeah, I do.
And as late as six.
Would you take him number one overall, Adam Azer?
I was trying to go through that this morning.
I did a couple of things this morning.
I looked at veteran-wide receivers with rookie quarterbacks over the last nine years.
And who should be the number one receiver taken?
Not running back, just receiver taken.
And I think I'm down to Jefferson and Tyreek Hill and tyreek hill and i'm probably just gonna go with
tyreek hill that's where i'm at right now how about you guys number one receiver you'll have
lamb i see yeah i got lamb ahead of him i've got hill ahead of him and saint brown and jamar are
ahead of him too yeah jefferson right now is third for me, and he'll move up to two if I like the rookie that they draft.
Right.
So they have now picks, well, 12 and 23, 11 and 23.
11 and 23.
11 and 23.
They acquired the Texans' first-round pick.
Yeah, so to sum up how veteran-wide receivers have done with rookie quarterbacks,
it's not that bad.
You do get, I would say the three best, not I would say,
the three best have been DeAndre Hopkins with Deshaun Watson.
Watson only played, I think, six games, eight games that year,
something like that, maybe six starts.
But he was great with and without Deshaun Watson that year.
DeAndre Hopkins, he was a star. Keenan Allen with Justin Herbert. Didn't have 1,000 yards, but he only played 14 games without Deshaun Watson that year. Deandre Hopkins. He was a star Keenan Allen with Justin Herbert.
Didn't have a thousand yards,
but he's only played 14 games.
He's just under a thousand yards.
He's basically Keenan Allen and Nico Collins.
Nico Collins was the third.
The bad examples would be guys like Jarvis Landry.
Not great with Baker Mayfield.
Larry Fitzgerald had rookie quarterbacks,
two straight seasons. He had Rosen and
Kyler, and he was awful both of those
years. He was 35 and 36,
though, in age.
Apples and oranges for that one.
He was coming off three straight thousand-yard seasons.
Mike Williams was not very good with Justin
Herbert. Deontay Johnson, I think, is the
big, is the scariest story.
He was horrible, but Kenny Pickett
was obviously horrible.
It's so obviously tied to
how well the rookie quarterbacks play.
Yes.
Well, I mean, also,
you haven't really set a receiver,
maybe Hopkins at the time,
on the level of Justin Jefferson.
Fair.
Absolutely true.
Okay, so would you love it
if Jefferson were catching passes
from Caleb Williams? Of course. I think we'd be big fans of that. true okay so would you love it if if jefferson were catching passes from caleb williams of course
i think we'd be big fans of that i just stop me at any point in my rambling right now if you
disagree jayden daniels throwing to justin jefferson no i'd feel pretty good about that
no drake may wait no because no no he's he's gonna run so much you think he's gonna be
good look well are we talking about him as a first round picker as a number two or three No, he's going to run so much. You think he's going to be good?
Look, well, are we talking about him as a first round picker,
as a number two or three overall pick?
No, I don't want Jaden Daniels to be his quarterback for that purpose.
Okay, so would you take him as a top three wide receiver?
Let me rephrase the question to make it shorter,
and both of you should answer this.
Which rookie quarterbacks would you be happy to take with Justin Jeffery?
I'm botching.
I'm taking him third overall third,
third receiver right now with Sam Darnold.
So I'm fine with any of the rookie quarter.
Okay.
So you're fine with Williams,
Daniels may or other.
I think I'd be okay with Williams,
maybe may and maybe Daniels.
Probably Daniels.
I think, let's put
McCarthy in the mix here, because that might be
the most realistic.
No. I'd take him
as a top three receiver with
him or Penix.
Penix is a little closer to me than McCarthy.
I'd prefer them to Jade and Daniels.
If they trade up to draft McCarthy, I think that's a mistake,
because there's a chance they could get McCarthy at 11.
Because I think a lot of the hype around him is a little smokescreen.
Yeah, I just don't know that, I don't know that they're going to be able to trade up to 1, 2, or 3.
You know, because those teams need quarterbacks.
Yep.
But unless it's, let's say, New England is sold on Bo Nix,
you know what I mean?
Or they think they get McCarthy at 11 and they want the extra pick.
Let's just talk about this with Jefferson.
The last two years.
Here's what he did in 2022.
128 catches, 1,809 yards, and eight touchdowns.
Touchdowns are a bit of a concern.
I don't know if it's a concern, but they've been low on 184 targets in 17 games.
What did he do in 2023?
All right.
If you, his best sample size,
you take his 20, his 17 game pace.
He was on pace for 200 targets, right?
No, I have him at 183 targets.
This is if you remove week 14,
he played 18% of the snaps.
Take that game out.
His pace was once again,
128 catches,
1,978 yards,
just under 2K
and nine touchdowns
on 183 targets.
Let's compare that to Lamb.
Lamb at 135 catches,
which is better.
1,749 yards,
not even close. And 12 touchdowns, which is better. 1,749 yards, not even close, and 12 touchdowns, which is better than Jefferson on 181 targets. I don't know about you guys. With Lamb, I guess you don't care.
You have him as your number one wide receiver right now. You don't need to see it twice
from him because everyone else, I mean, Hill's done it twice. When you just look at healthy Tua
in 2022 and 2023, Tyreek Hill's done it twice. Justin Jefferson's done it twice. When you just look at like healthy Tua in 2022 and 2023,
Tyreek Hill's done it twice.
Justin Jefferson's done it twice in a row.
Now lamb has not,
that doesn't matter.
No,
because of,
of,
of the three,
you have the age concern with Tyreek.
I have the age concern with Tyreek and for Jefferson,
you have the quarterback slight downgrade by comparison.
And why would Dallas change anything that they did last year? If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
After the bye last year, I hate saying this because I traded away Lamb and Dynasty, but he
averaged 28 and a half PPR points per game. He was getting 12.6 targets per game. It was madness.
I don't know if we should really expect that to be the case again this year,
but even if he's getting 10, 10.5 targets per game,
I think he still warrants consideration at one.
You think anyone's taking chase at one?
Was getting traded.
I'd be surprised just because of the last year and how that unfolded and the
concerns over borough getting hurt for basically three years in a row in some
capacity.
Okay.
It,
it,
okay.
I was going to say,
could you have similar concerns with Tyreek with Tua,
but Tua played all year last year.
So maybe you can't say that.
I think if Higgins is no longer on the team, concerns with Tyreek with Tua, but Tua played all year last year. So maybe he can't say that.
I think if Higgins is no longer on the team, it's an open question for Chase to be wide receiver one.
All right, let's take a break. Quick break here on Fantasy Football today. When we come back,
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If you win it, you're in the podcast league.
There's a tiebreaker as well.
I think it's a total point.
Well, that was one of us wins it.
No, I did say that. I said I this on friday when you weren't there uh maybe
you're playing racquetball or something if we win it whoever's in second place gets in but we're not
gonna win it i might win it you guys won't did you play racquetball i didn't and it wasn't even
it wasn't even keenan allen's fault it just got canceled. That's okay, though. All right.
Jamie,
you were not on our show on Friday.
I wanted to get your thoughts on the Bears'
wide receivers. We've talked about who should be the wide receiver one.
I think that's a very
relevant conversation now. We talked about the biggest
risers and followers. We'll go through a lot
more. We have more news and notes as well.
Let's get your thoughts on the Chicago wide receivers.
No, I, you know, Dave hinted at it before. I agree that DJ Moore is the better of the two for me.
Just, you know, again, um, age is a factor here. Keenan Allen's going to be 32. I think more is,
uh, in the prime of his career and, you know, still going to be the, he may not lead the team
in targets, but I think he still will lead them in yards and touchdowns
and you know we'll see what caleb williams now that the trade has happened the ridiculous trade
has happened for the bears of justin fields going to pittsburgh um who he tends to lean on but i
would i would i feel more comfortable drafting dj more. So Moore is still a top 24 receiver.
Keenan Allen is more of a top 30 receiver.
I just feel like this is going to be the cliff for Keenan Allen where he falls off.
Ooh.
So, okay, you obviously said your piece.
I just want to give this stat.
DJ Moore has been in the league six seasons.
In those six seasons, Keenan Allen, I knew this would be the case in full PPR,
but in half PPR, he has had a better per game average than DJ Moore every single year, Dave Richard.
He's been better. I mean, there's no doubt about it. But we don't project backwards. We project
forwards. Of course. It's true. And Keenan Allen's going to be the elder statesman of this receiving
core. We talked about on Friday, how he does seem to fit
being that scramble option in the short and mid range for Caleb Williams. We know that Williams
is good at being a good scramble quarterback, but when plays stay on schedule, I would expect DJ
Moore to be the primary target. And I still think Moore will be the primary target. The majority of
the time might be a slim majority, but the majority of the time when they're
in the red zone you can get away with saying something like keenan allen is the better value
pick between the two of them because you're going to be able to take them around to two rounds later
but he's also older we know that he's coming off of an injury from last year and there's also and
this is me kind of being influenced a little bit by Heath, huge question about the rookie quarterback and whether or not Caleb Williams can make it the jump in his rookie year,
potentially right away from USC into the NFL with the bears, a franchise that has never seemed to
develop a franchise quarterback as long as they've been in existence. So there's a lot of question
marks still there for both of these receivers, but that's why i'm not taking either of these guys with a first or second round pick even in full ppr yeah more more was a second
round pick for me part of this and now he's what right fourth agree yeah okay all right here's my
case for keenan allen he is arguably the best wide receiver in the nfl at getting open i believe he
was number one on espPN's open metric.
He didn't just have his best year.
He had, let's see, he was on pace for 141 catches, 1,625 yards,
nine touchdowns on nearly 200 targets last year. It wasn't just 2023, though.
He did this in 2022, the last eight games of 2022.
Because remember, the first half of the season,
he played two games and he left both of them with an injury.
The last eight games of 2022, he was on pace for 128 catches,
1,434 yards, eight touchdowns on 176 targets.
Not quite as good as 2023, but still unbelievable.
So it's a year and a half now of him being elite.
He is going to be 32 years old
next month. That is a big deal. But the two guys I compare him to very often, Julian Edelman and
Larry Fitzgerald. Edelman had one of his best seasons of his career at age 32. Larry Fitzgerald
made the Pro Bowl at age 32. After some down years, he bounced back at age 32 with 1,215 yards. He averaged 76 yards per game.
So I think his profile ages better than outside guys that are more physical and whatever.
So he's already done something at age 31 that most receivers don't do.
So that's my case for Keenan Allen.
I still agree with you.
I would take DJ Moore.
But that's touchdowns.
I mean, look, it's a very strong argument,
especially when you factor in Edelman and Fitzgerald.
I wonder, I mean, I know for Edelman,
he really didn't have a lot of competition for targets
on the end of his run with Brady
because it was, you know, just,
they're kind of like throwing Band-Aids
at the receiving core, if I'm not mistaken.
I'm trying to remember who Fitzgerald was playing with at the time but i don't think anybody in terms of
dj morris caliber if i'm not mistaken you know guy entering
his prime in his prime coming off the year he just had the
other part of this is i think keenan allen's never played his
never played football outside the the state of California.
Right.
Well,
I mean,
road games.
Well,
you know what I mean? Like as,
as this,
you know,
his,
his home team.
So we'll see how he handles the elements,
how he handles,
you know,
playing in a different scenario.
You know,
his mindset,
he said he wanted to be a charger for life,
you know,
so how happy is he?
All those things kind of factor in
when you talk about a guy that was his age,
is his age.
If you want answers to your questions,
Larry Fitzgerald in 2015,
he was the leading receiver.
Second leading receiver was John Brown,
who did have 1,000 yards and seven touchdowns
in 15 games.
Carson Palmer was good that year,
really good that year.
Edelman, though, yeah, it was ugly.
The second best receiver on that team was James White.
Gronkowski played 13 games, had only six.
What happened to Gronk?
682 yards and three touchdowns in 13 games.
He probably was hurt in and out.
So, yeah, it was just Edelman that year.
And Edelman only played 12 games that year.
He had the suspension at the beginning of the season, I believe.
Okay. All right, moving on. Take a look at the news and notes here.
I guess it's worth mentioning. I hate to hate to even talk about this stuff.
Police are investigating sexual assault allegations against Dak Prescott.
So it's something we'll have to keep an eye on. Other quarterback news.
I'll put this under the quarterback category. The Vikings did acquire the number 23 pick and a seventh round pick from Houston for this year's second round
pick, next year's second round pick, and a sixth round pick in this upcoming draft. So that gives
the Vikings picks 11 and 23. And then we've got Justin Fields going to the Steelers for a sixth
round pick that could become a fourth round pick and reportedly he
is going there to be Russell Wilson's backup the Seahawks getting Sam Howell for a fourth
and no the Seahawks getting Sam Howell a fourth and a sixth from Washington for a third and a
fifth the Eagles getting Kenny Pickett and a fourth round pick for a third round pick and two seventh round picks um the rams
getting garoppolo as a backup on a one-year deal and then seattle gm john schneider said that
that drew lock was basically being promised a chance to start for the giants when lock signed
with the giants two beat reporters that that I read said that's not true.
Giants beat reporters said that Daniel Jones is the starter.
But holy cow, this Fields trade,
I mean, it has people scratching their heads, Jamie.
And I don't know, what do you think?
Like in a 2QB league,
does this make you less likely to draft Wilson?
Because he's got a pretty established backup behind him.
I don't know if that's the reason I'd be less likely to draft Wilson because he's got a pretty established backup behind him? I don't know if that's the reason I'd be less likely to draft Wilson, but I guess if you are
committing to it and you have deep enough rosters, you could take both of them to see how it all
plays out depending on when your draft is. But it's so disappointing. I mean, you know,
here we had first the idea of maybe him staying and, you know, would the Bears actually keep him?
I don't know how many people believe that, but there was still that possibility.
And then it was, OK, if they're going to trade him, following the Cousins news, because we knew Atlanta was out, is it the Raiders?
Is it the Broncos?
Is it the Giants?
You know, is it maybe Minnesota, you know, with,
with the idea of him, okay, still going to be forget about how you feel about him as an NFL
quarterback. He was a great fantasy quarterback. I mean, he's had some amazing games over the last
two seasons that you could say top five upside. And now for him to go to the Steelers to be the
backup and the compensation that was required.
Now there was the NFL network report that this is where Fields wanted to go
and they were trying to do right by him.
It just, it just really sucks.
It sucks for redraft.
It sucks for dynasty because you're losing a year.
You know, he may be the Steelers starter in 2025.
If he doesn't get the job at some point this season,
because we know Russ is, you know,
kind of worn out his welcome on two franchises in the last three years,
but it just is,
uh,
it's just kind of crazy.
Like,
you know,
here we are.
I wrote the story.
Uh,
what was it?
Friday night,
Saturday.
I remember,
I don't remember what it was Saturday,
kind of blurred together,
um,
Saturday night.
And it was just like,
it was like depressing.
You know,
like,
uh,
I,
I led the story with,
we've been waiting all week to, to, you know,
just get excited about where he was going.
And now we get this, you know, that he's going to be,
he's going to be a backup.
So I hope Tomlin sees, you know,
him in, in camp and says, it's an open competition.
You know, maybe the younger player with upside can win the job.
But it feels as if it feels as if fields is going to be redsharded for a year, which is
really, really sucks. Great move by the Steelers. Yeah. One other thing, though, about this is we
got a report, if not two, that the Steelers were not in the market for veteran quarterbacks.
And now they have two of them. So take all these reports with a grain of salt. I mean,
there's no way that you can feel like Fields doesn't have any chance to be the starter.
And the same with Drew Locke, despite what two beat reporters said.
I mean, how could the Giants feel like Daniel Jones is locked in as their starter when he's coming off a torn ACL and a terrible season?
But I can't I'm just imagining this scenario. I can't think of a backup quarterback that would go for more fab in a one QB league
if the starter got hurt or got benched than Justin Fields.
And you're talking about a guy,
I think of a backup quarterback that could come in
and instantly be a top five quarterback.
You just don't really...
I didn't see that one coming.
But just for a guy with this much fantasy success
to be a backup quarterback is kind of wild.
Yeah, do you think Sam Howell has a legit chance, Dave,
to be the starter in Seattle?
Not unless he has a sensational camp.
I think Geno's pretty much locked in.
I think we should talk about two other things here.
One, let's go back to Fields and his dynasty value.
Oh, man.
Is he a top 12 quarterback?
Is he a top 15 quarterback in dynasty right now?
Top 20?
I don't even know.
Dave, you're shaking your head.
I mean, there's a very realistic path to him
being on the Steelers for one year and then not being re-signed by the Steelers.
He's in a contract year.
The team option is available for Pittsburgh.
I don't think they're picking that up before the season starts.
And he's going to be a free agent next year, and he's signed somewhere else to be a backup.
I think that's probably the most likely scenario, not the scenario where he beats out Russell Wilson
and then leads the Steelers to an 11-6 record or something like that.
I don't see that happening.
The guy's won eight games, ten games in his career,
eight games in the last two seasons as a starter for Chicago.
So I would be very worried, and if someone offered me
a third-round pick in Dynasty for Justin Fields right now, I would take very worried and if someone offered me a third round pick in Dynasty
for Justin Fields right now
I would take it
okay
if you're in a super flex Dynasty league
would you take a second round pick
for Justin Fields?
I would
wait
I'm sorry
I'm getting confused myself
would you rather have Justin Fields
or a second round pick?
in a super flex
I'd rather have the second round pick
especially if it's this year you'd rather have a second round pick? In a super flex, I'd rather have the second round pick, especially if it's this year.
You'd rather have a third round pick?
I don't know what I would do for a third.
That would feel like the NFL team taking a conditional sixth round pick
for Justin Fields.
What would you say, Jamie?
In super flex, he's not going for a third round pick.
He'll go for a second round pick.
In a one QB league, he might go for a third round pick
just because of how, and depending on the size of your league but i mean
look his dynasty value is is you know cratering too it's it you can't expect him to to just get
the job at some point you have to go with the assumption that you know wilson if he stays
healthy and doesn't screw up you know up, we've seen how these Steelers
have won the last couple of seasons since Roethlisberger
has been gone. It hasn't been because of
elite quarterback play. So if Russell Wilson
is managing the game the way they're
hoping he's going to manage the game and not have to put everything
on him,
if they stay a winning
franchise, they'll probably stick with Wilson.
The other thing I wanted to discuss
was Garoppolo. I know he had a
really bad year, but does the Garoppolo
signing make you feel
more comfortable with Nakua and
Cooper Cup, given the injury history
of Matthew Stafford?
Yeah, I
haven't thought about that, but sure.
It's a lot better than if it's Brett Rippon.
Right.
Right, or I would guess, depending on if he's still out there, they could always bring Carson Wentz back to if they feel Garoppolo can't get it done.
But yeah, I mean, look, we've seen it with McVay.
He took Baker Mayfield and made him right again.
He had a good game from Carson Wentz after being through the system.
He could do the same thing with Garoppolo.
It's just he's fantastic.
Running back news.
Green Bay is keeping A.J. Dillon.
I think some of this
we talked about on Friday's show,
but we didn't really get into it.
I wonder,
does this affect Josh Jacobs at all?
And I think if it did,
it would only be from a short yardage
or a goal line situation.
Did that enter into your
Josh Jacobs rankings at all,
the A.J. Dillon re-signing?
I dropped him one spot behind Barkley.
So those two were close for me with the signings.
So originally I had Jacobs over Barkley.
I put Barkley over Jacobs.
Do we know the history of A.J. Dillon in short yardage?
Oh, yes.
I feel like it's not good.
Read the notes, my friend.
So we got this past – oh, I didn't put in the notes.
That's my bad.
Read my notes.
He was terrible this past year. Now he has been,
there are two different metrics you could look at. One of them is first, third and one and fourth
and one conversion rate. Dylan has mostly been better than Josh Jacobs there. Third down and
one and fourth down and one. Running the ball from the one to the three-yard line and scoring.
Dylan was horrible last year.
He scored on one of seven attempts, but better in the previous seasons.
Overall, in the last three years, Jacobs has been better than Dylan there.
So Dylan better than Jacobs on third and fourth and one,
and that's about 35, 36 carries for both of them over the last three seasons.
But Jacobs has converted more touchdowns from the three-yard line or closer.
I don't have a breakdown of what was from the one,
the two, and the three.
That could make all the difference.
But Dylan is coming off a season
where he was just bad all around,
but he was terrible from inside the three-yard line.
So that shouldn't affect Jacobs' chances
of being at least to start the season
as the goal line guy for Green Bay.
I think he's certainly going to play more than Dylanylan i think he's gonna see more targets and catches than dylan
and so i i don't know what's really changed just because dylan's back in green bay
so jacob's a little bit younger than barkley should catch more passes than barkley
maybe barkley outscores i don't know if i agree with that by a a couple of touchdowns. Well, I mean, just the track record of Philadelphia
and Hurts specifically throwing to running backs,
that would be a considerable change for them.
Yeah, but new coordinator coming in and hopefully Hurts can evolve.
Maybe.
Sure.
I get it.
Also, they haven't had a pass catcher like this, I don't think.
No, they haven't had a pass catcher like Barkley,
but they did have a pass catcher like DeAndre Swift.
And he had 40 catches last year?
I think he had 39.
Okay, close enough.
Yeah, I think there's a little bit more upside with Jacobs and 10 more catches than Swift, at least.
I would hope so.
So you think, all right, that's interesting.
Barkley versus Jacobs catches.
And they're back-to-back on your rankings, the two of you.
Yeah, they were close for me before this.
So it was just a slight knock
to put Barkley ahead.
I trust the offensive line of Philadelphia
a little bit more. I trust Barkley's talent a little bit more.
I think he's more talented than Jacobs still at this point.
So it's not a question of Jacobs is bad.
It's just a matter of Barkley. I think he's a little bit better.
We haven't really gotten into the rankings, so
let me go through the wide receiver notes real
quick. And again, some of this mentioned on Friday.
Buffalo signing Curtis Samuel to a three-year deal.
That did not affect your Khalil Shakur ranking, Jamie?
Not really.
I mean, it's probably a mistake.
And I know being the GM there and Samuel have a history together from Carolina, so that kind of factors into why I think he went there.
But, I mean, Curtis Samuel has a hard time staying healthy. And I do think that into it why I think he went there. But I mean, Curtis
Samuel has a hard time staying healthy. And I do think that
Khalil Shakir is going to be on the field more and is a guy
that Josh Allen started to trust. So I still believe
in Khalil Shakir. Joe Brady is now
the full-time OC in Buffalo
and he used Samuel nicely
when they were together in Carolina.
That's a good point.
Last year, Samuel had two more receiving yards
than Khalil Shakir on 46
more targets and 23 more catches.
Vikings are signing Trent Shurfield to a one-year deal.
Dallas released Michael Gallup.
The Patriots signed KJ Osborne.
Does this matter?
They're just stockpiling players who I think have played in the league before.
I feel so bad for the Patriots.
I mean, they can't get anybody.
You know, they were trying to get Ridley.
Who knows what's left? There was the rumor this morning from somebody that maybe Beckham I feel so bad for the Patriots. I mean, they can't get anybody. They were trying to get Ridley.
Who knows what's left? There was the rumor this morning from somebody that maybe Beckham could be a target for them.
31-year-old Odell Beckham going there would not exactly move the needle.
Would you like to hear the Patriots' wide receiver depth chart?
No.
Calvin Ridley said he wants to run all the routes in Tennessee.
Patriots fans definitely want to hear it.
Calvin Ridley, I guess it was implying that he didn't really run the routes,
all the routes in Jacksonville.
He was kind of an open book in his press conference with Tennessee.
He made it clear that money was a factor.
It's kind of refreshing. It always is, but the players don't always say that.
And he kind of let on that there were some issues in Jacksonville that he didn't necessarily like. And Mike Williams is going to
meet with the Jets, Steelers, and Panthers this week. Tight end news, not much. Giants signed a
couple of tight ends that won't really matter. Jack Stahl and Chris Manhurts. And I think people
will be asking about Daniel Bellinger. Don't know that they're ever going to use him in the role that we want him to be used in, but he has caught 87.3 of his targets in two seasons. That's crazy. Low ADOT guy,
though, Daniel Bellinger. So this is big news, Jamie. The Jets, what they have done in the
offensive line, they've traded for, I don't really, I can't tell you how good Morgan Moses
is at this point, but it's upgrades, right? Morgan
Moses and guard John Simpson
from Baltimore, and then they signed Tyron Smith,
who gets hurt all the time, but still played at a
very high level last year.
So that's awesome, I think,
you know, to have
a team that's been so bad on the line. I hope
this helps with Moses, Smith,
and Simpson.
I mean, it can't be worse than what they had
last year, but it's a very old group when you factor in Rogers too, you know, so we'll see
if everybody can stay healthy, then they have a chance to, you know, be a decent offense. Um,
given Garrett Wilson and Brees Hall's trajectory and how good they can potentially be with a
healthy Aaron Rogers. So we'll see.
They're not done at their receiving core, I don't think.
But yeah, it's got a lot of potential.
Yeah, I just don't think Aaron Rodgers is going to be practicing
on the first Tuesday of November.
Just, you know.
And then other news, Aaron Donald retired.
It's kind of big.
Yeah, that is big.
I'd say the best defensive player I've ever seen.
But I was a little after the Lawrence Taylor era.
Lawrence Taylor was a nightmare.
I think J.J. Watt in his prime was impossible to beat,
but Donald was also one of those guys that just...
You could come up with three different plans to try
and slow him down, and eventually he'd break
through.
Your football
viewing, let's say, you had Ray Lewis, right? You watched him?
Yeah, early 90s, I think, would be the start.
Ed Reed? Yeah, Lewis and Reed.
Yeah, it's hard to compare Reed to the big
guys. He would be up there, though.
No, just in terms of difference makers.
Junior Seau
was one of the first that I remember just being...
And Deion Sanders.
Junior Seau, talk about a difference
maker, man. That guy was incredible.
All over the place, man.
There's so many names.
I think you mentioned the three...
You said Lawrence Taylor,
J.J. Watt, and Donald.
I think are the three.
I don't know.
They have something in common, either multiple Defensive Player of the Year awards or first-team All-Pros or whatever.
They're the only three to have done something,
so they might be the three best.
Okay.
Anyway, they're not the three.
Forget what I said.
Jacksonville signed Eric Armstead to a three-year $51 million deal,
and I'm not going to go through the rest
because we have a lot more important stuff to talk about here,
including rankings differences among the players
affected by last week's action.
We're going to take a break and get into that
when we come back on Fantasy Football today.
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Welcome back, everybody.
All right.
So I guess I didn't get every name in here in terms of who was affected by free agency.
But Justin Herbert is 14th for Jamie,
11th for Dave, and 18th for Heath.
Will Levis is 21st or 22nd for everybody.
Those are the only two quarterbacks
I really looked at here.
Is there anyone else that we needed to discuss
in terms of big movers?
I guess we could get Russell Wilson.
Impacted by free agency or guys who have moved?
Moved because of last week. So like Russell Wilson you Impacted by free agency or guys who have moved? Moved because of last week.
So like
Russell Wilson you don't care about?
No, I mean he's 22
for Jamie, 24 for Dave, and
15th for Heath.
But Heath has Justin Fields
16th, so
I think he's out of town.
I saw him on Friday, so I think
he did his rankings and then left.
Yeah, all right.
So just real quick thoughts on Herbert.
We'll spend most of our time on the running backs and receivers.
But, Jamie, your thoughts on Herbert?
He has nothing.
I mean, Josh Palmer, Quentin Johnston, what are they going to do?
The tight ends aren't going to save him,
especially if, you know, was it Will Disley and Donald
Parham?
Or was it Disley with the Rams? I forget.
Where did Parkinson go?
Parkinson's with the Rams.
Yeah, Disley's on the Chargers.
Yeah, so it's not a very
inspiring tight end group. It's not a very inspiring wide
receiving group. They have a plodding running back right now
as their lead guy. It's just
hard to trust. I go back to the Big Burger burger dynasty league i was so excited to get herbert in
the first round i think i picked him right in front of you adam and you were pissed and you
ended up i think with trevor lawrence i don't know which one of us got the worst one um in a
super flex dynasty league startup but um yeah it's you know this has been a terrible off season for
herbert from a fantasy perspective.
I think he'll win more games with Harbaugh and Roman there, but the system won't help him.
The receiving corps is certainly not going to help him.
So they have a lot of work to do to improve the skilled players on offense.
He went 80th overall in each of our first two mocks.
That's before his wide receiver group changed.
That was knowing, obviously, that Jim Harbaugh was going to be his coach.
I kind of can't help myself here.
We're getting a really good bargain on Herbert,
figuring we're going to get him right around 100th overall.
This is a guy who started last year averaging 25 fantasy points per game.
2021, he averaged 25.9, 25.5 in 2020.
Are we really assuming that the Chargers aren't going to add anybody else to this receiving core or to their run game? And are you really believing that the Chargers are going
to turn Justin Herbert into a handoff machine? I don't know if I can buy into all those things.
And if the cost is going to be a pick around a hundredth overall, and I can get another
quarterback later on, I'm kind of in on that. I like that type of value.
This is a dip I'm buying.
Okay.
Let's go to...
I kept thinking about one thing.
Do you remember Dan was offered Joe Burrow
for Justin Herbert and he said no?
I don't remember that,
but I will definitely make fun of him for that
the next time I see him.
Put a stick in it.
So, Saquon Barkley and Josh Jacobs are 7th and 8th for Dave and Jamie.
They're back-to-back.
Jamie has Barkley 7 and Jacobs 8, and Dave has Jacobs 7 and Barkley 8.
And I'll just tell you who is ahead of them real quick here.
It is McCaffrey,
Reese Hall,
Bijan,
Jameer Gibbs.
And then for Jamie,
it's Jonathan Taylor and Kyron Williams for David's Kyron Williams and
Jonathan Taylor.
All right.
We,
I think we talked a lot about them last week.
So let's go to Derek Henry,
Henry and Mixon.
You both have them somewhere between 14 and 17.
So Jamie has Henry 16 and Mixon 17.
Dave has Henry 14 and Mixon 16.
Heath has Henry 22 and Mixon 13.
Heath, come on the show.
But guys like Ken Walker.
So like, okay, Jamie, for example,
has Ken Walker and Alvin Kamara ahead of Derrick Henry.
Dave does not.
That's a big difference there.
So Jamie, you got Walker.
I'm sorry, you go Walker, Kamara, Henry.
And Dave has Henry ahead of both of them.
I'm saying a lot of names here,
so I just want to repeat myself.
Okay, why do you have Walker and Kamara ahead of Derrick Henry right now? I think Walker will be a better runner than Henry this
year. I feel more comfortable with his age and Camara still roll in the passing game, two older
running backs, but I think Camara's role in the passing game will certainly help from a PPR
standpoint, non PPR, half PPR. I would take Henry over both. Um, cause I think touchdowns will
matter. Um, but I Walker, But Walker, I might need to revisit.
But Kamara, for sure, over Henry.
I get it with Kamara, and I think I'd like Kamara.
If he stays with New Orleans and the Saints don't add another running back,
yeah, maybe full PPR.
I can't see either of those things changing, though.
Yeah, right.
And that's not a far-fetched thing at all.
So I get what you're saying.
But the very first thing that we talked about Derek Henry last year in season was game script
dependent. When he's in a game that the Titans can win, we know he's going to get a lot of work.
When he had at least 14 touches in a game last year, he averaged almost 18 PPR points per game.
He didn't do that by getting five or six targets per game. He scored a bunch of touchdowns. I think
he's going to continue to do that in Baltimore. I hate being Derek Henry, and I'm not going to get any more
excited about Henry than I am right now. I would consider him in round three in full PPR. I do
think he's got that potential staying healthy in this offense. They're going to win a lot. They're
going to run a lot and he's going to dominate at the goal line and get a bunch of touchdowns.
I'm okay with Henry.
Looking at him differently than your typical 30-year-old running back
because the dude's just an absolute beast, and he's in a great situation.
For one more year, I'll take a chance in round three on Derrick Henry.
Looking at the last nine games of the regular season
when he returned from injury and then three postseason games,
David Montgomery, I've now pivoted to him,
averaged about 13.7, 13.8.
Let's say he was on pace for about 235-ish carries.
What do you think Derek Henry will average
in terms of carries?
Because you could see them scoring similar touchdowns,
Montgomery and Henry,
but you guys have Henry considerably ahead of David Montgomery.
Do you think Henry is a lot more than 14 carries per game?
In November and December, yes.
September and October, probably right around that number.
I would hope he is, otherwise he's not going to be that good.
I have to look at it.
I don't know.
When is a Baltimore running back average more than 14 carries per game?
They never had a guy like this, though.
But do they have a guy like that?
That's the other thing.
He's 30.
How old is he going to be?
He's 30.
Oh, no, he just turned 30.
I'm sorry.
I would think that they made this move to have that guy.
Now that you have to ask yourself,
and clearly I think Dave and I come out on this a little differently,
is can he be that guy for 17 games still?
And so that's what you're hoping for if you're drafting him.
I wouldn't be surprised if his was ADP in round two,
but I think his ADP will settle in round three, probably early round three.
He's just different.
And so if he can stay healthy, which he's proven to do more times than not,
he had the one injury, which I don't think is something you can say he's injury prone,
then he's going to have a chance for 10- touchdowns, maybe 15 plus touchdowns and, you know, probably 13 to 1400 rushing yards.
The question is, is will he catch more than 25 passes? As Dave told you, it doesn't really
matter. You know, he's that good, you know, so he could still, I don't know in Baltimore,
if he'll lead the NFL in rushing, but he'll probably have a shot to if they feed him to that level.
It's just now you have to then play the game of what does that mean
for Lamar Jackson coming off an MVP season.
I think Jackson's at the point where he'll do whatever he can
to have playoff success and win a Super Bowl
because he's had enough personal accolades and has his contract.
So now he's looking to hang some banners and rings, collect some rings.
So I would guess that he's okay sacrificing some of his numbers,
but it's just a matter of can Henry still do it?
And hopefully that's the case.
The things working against him are age and the history of running backs
who change teams, especially veteran guys.
They just don't tend to perform very well.
Can I name a running back who changed teams once?
2019, Mark Ingram
changed teams, and he went
to Baltimore. He was 28
though at the time. Was he? He wasn't quite 30?
No. Still had, and this
isn't a number that you might like with Derek Henry.
He averaged 16.1 PPR
points per game in 15 games
with Lamar. He had
1,256 total yards.
He caught five touchdowns.
I'll take 16 points
per game.
I think that number is within
the range.
Let me just say, everything
you guys have just said
terrifies me for Zay Flowers.
Me too.
But again, I was probably the most optimistic on Flowers. Me too. But again, you have to, I mean, look,
I was probably the most optimistic on Flowers.
I downgraded him. You have to.
I mean, you have to assume that they're not going to,
you know, enhance their passing game to the level
that it may have, you know, building off of what they did
last year and getting better.
At the same time, you're going to see a lot of eight men
in the box against Baltimore.
And so a lot of single coverage for these guys for andrews for flowers you know and so play action is going
to be big you know rpo game is going to be big you know for for lamar you know there's going to be a
lot of opportunities still here for flowers so he's still a very good high-end number three fantasy
receiver but the position also got a little bit i bit saturated with some of the moves that we've seen.
Plus the rookies that are coming.
Meaning that a lot of running backs
went to destinations that you don't love, and that
pushed up Derrick Henry.
No, I'm talking about the receivers.
The moves that have happened for some of the receivers
have changed some things.
I think Flowers is still...
He's still somebody I want to draft.
I'm just not drafting him as aggressively.
So you guys are taking George Pickens
ahead of Zay Flowers now?
Yes.
Yeah, I'm there.
And Keenan Allen ahead of Zay Flowers?
I'm taking Allen ahead of Pickens.
No, I would take Pickens and Flowers ahead of Allen.
What about Chris Godwin or Flowers?
PPR?
Mm-hmm. Godwin or Flowers? PPR?
Godwin.
Okay.
All right.
Interesting.
A little disagreement there.
So we get to the next three.
How do you guys rank Swift, Pollard, Moss?
Right now it's Moss, Pollard, Swift, but I think I i have moss too high i've got moss at the end of
it and pollard and swift back to back right around 21 pollard swift then moss and they're all kind of
in the 20 to 24 20 to 26 range but okay well then we'll focus on moss here is jamie you have him
20th dave has him 26 heath has moss 32nd. But you just said, Jamie, you think you have him too high. Yeah.
When you said 20, I was like, that doesn't feel
right because I'm
very excited about Chase Brown. So if I can't
be excited about both of them, I don't think they're both going to
coexist and be successful. So
I feel like Moss is going
to lead them in carries if he stays healthy,
but that's kind of been a knock on him going back to his
days at Utah. And
I hope it
just wasn't, you know, a, such a small sample size that is going to lead to success. However,
this is the type of system that he thrived in last year, which was running a lot of shotgun
and that's what the Bengals do. And so we'll see if, you know, just carrying over to what
he accomplished last year, staying healthy. It's not like he got a huge contract and he's
going to rest on his laurels.
It's a one-year deal.
So he still has to go out and try and establish himself as a guy.
And he's young enough.
He's, I think, only 25 or 26.
So I was surprised when it's only his fourth year in the league.
But yeah, I do think that Moss, very similar type of fantasy production situation to the two guys you mentioned.
So Pollard in a shared situation with Spears and Swift maybe sharing with three guys, with two other guys in a committee.
Not exactly the most ideal situation for any of them.
Dave, we look at the commanders.
Jamie and Heath have Eckler 30th and Robinson 33rd to 35th.
You have Robinson 25th and Eckler 33rd in PPR.
You going to stick with that?
I'm just not believing in Eckler.
I just think that he's slowing down.
I know that everybody's excited that he's back with Anthony Lynn
and they're in Washington.
He's going to share.
I don't think he's going to work at the goal line.
You better hope that he gets a ton of catches and you better hope that he
stays healthy and that he stays on the field a lot.
To me, ranking Eckler where I am right,
it's just kind of a way of me saying that I'm out on him.
And I don't even want to be like forced with the decision of considering
Eckler, especially in like non-PPR leagues.
No way.
Full PPR, I'll admit that I think he's got a chance to get 50 catches.
I don't know if he's going to get 100 carries.
We'll see how he looks come July and August.
Maybe I'm in my mind if he looks good and he's better off than he looked last year.
We know that he played through an injury last year.
But this is nowhere near the type of situation that he's had basically since
Melvin Gordon was good and they were sharing a backfield with the chargers.
Uh,
would you guys take Eckler or Devin Singletary of the New York giants?
This is like,
this is how bad I'm downgrading Eckler.
I'll take Singletary and I don't really want to take Singletary.
I don't want to take either of these guys.
Eckler and PPR,
Singletary and half and none.
I feel like I hate running back.
I love Lamp.
I just, you know,
when James Cook
is RB13
and Derek Henry, a 30-year-old Derek Henry, or Ken Walker, who's in a timeshare and doesn't catch any passes, RB14 in full PPR, it's frustrating.
Tony Pollard, RB21.
I don't know.
I have no idea how that one's going to go.
I think the thing that is going to be fun this year is, you know, depending on your strategy,
hopefully it's not committing to,
you know,
RB RB or two running backs.
And,
you know,
maybe let's say the first four rounds,
if,
if you go hero RB or zero RB,
there's going to be so many guys that pop up throughout the course of the
season that if you play the waiver wire correctly or trades,
however it unfolds for you,
or if you draft these guys,
you know,
appropriately as handcuffs or lottery tickets,
you're going to end up with a very successful fantasy team.
If your receivers quarterback and tight end hits.
Yeah.
And I think that that's kind of the decision that managers have to think
about before they draft and lucky for us,
we've got months to do that.
Yeah.
But you're,
you're a,
if you hate this glut of running backs from 13 all the way down to call it 28,
then you're either going to go heavy on running backs with your first two picks,
which could absolutely backfire, or you can go hero, take one of them.
That's not as bad.
And then there's zero, where you're just waiting until round six plus,
and you just start loading up.
And I think I'm going to land in the zero RB camp.
I think this is the year with all the running backs
that are splitting, you just bulk up on your bench,
put two of them in your lap.
You're going to find two running backs each week.
You're going to have to do work during the season.
But I think that's the way to go about it on draft day.
If you don't get your hands on one of the elite
running backs early on.
It also depends on
where you're picking.
You know, that's a big...
Oh, of course.
Like, you're not going to
commit to zero RB
and then you're going to get
the number one pick.
Yeah, I mean, maybe.
Oh, I don't think that's...
No, I wouldn't rule it out
because, you know,
whether it's Lamb
or Hill or Jefferson
or one of those guys,
you know, people still love them.
Sure.
And like Adam said,
it wouldn't be surprising
if Jefferson still goes one overall.
I mean, Schaefer would do it.
Schaefer, who's your number one
overall pick?
You can come on the show.
Where is he?
It would be McCaffrey still.
But I mean,
Jefferson's still number one receiver.
It's not even a question.
Oh, not even a question.
Why not?
I mean, look at what he did
with Nick Mullins.
Like, that's literally all you have to look at. And then you could say, oh, look at what he did with Nick Mullins. That's literally all you have to look at.
And then you could say, oh, look at what he did with Dobbs.
He played like a half, not even.
He got injured because Dobbs is an inaccurate passer.
As opposed to Nick Mullins, who's just dead on.
Dave, just look at the stats that he did.
I am. I'm going right now.
It was insane.
You know, one thing I noticed when I was looking at veteran receivers
with rookie quarterbacks, the targets per game went way up
for both Devontae Adams and DeAndre Hopkins last year
when Aiden O'Connell and Will Levis were playing.
So you do wonder if a rookie quarterback would actually target Jefferson even more
because maybe that's just a tendency that rookie quarterbacks would have,
is just to focus on that guy.
So yeah, there's a lot to consider there.
I don't think it's just as simple, though, as look at what he did with Nick Mullins. Because Nick Mullins was actually, like, on,
he was averaging over nine yards per target,
or yards per attempt.
Because he was targeting Justin Jefferson.
I guess so.
But you just can't expect any quarterback to do that.
The only thing that I would say is,
you guys mentioned that he doesn't really,
he's not much of a red zone
target that's his problem like yeah I can't speak on like why that is it might just be a system thing
where maybe he's doubled or whatever but there is an issue with touchdowns for sure because a lot of
his touchdowns come on like 30 or touchdowns or you know ripping it off but yeah that's the one
thing I would think about.
In those last four games that Thomas mentioned,
and I think Thomas has a point,
he averaged 11 targets per game with Nick Mullins.
Two games with 15.4 or fewer PPR points.
Two games with 26.1 or more PPR points,
including week 18, 36 fantasy points at Detroit,
12 catches, 192 yards, one touchdown.
Yeah, it was great.
But look how good Mullins was.
It just was crazy.
And Mullins only played half of those games. Now the question is, is Sam Darnold as good as Nick Mullins?
I mean, it's not a stretch.
Nick Mullins is awful.
Nick Mullins is not good.
In reality, he's not a good quarterback.
No, he was Jameis Winston over that stretch.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Yes.
All right.
And if Darnold is Jameis Winston over that stretch,
then he'll eventually get benched.
We're just going to assume the Vikings do a quarterback.
The more we like it, the more we'll love Jefferson.
There's no doubt.
By the way, who's ahead now?
Zay Flowers or Jordan Addison?
Flowers. Flowers.
Who's ahead now?
Drake London or DJ Moore?
London.
I have Moore higher.
I guess I should have asked you where Kirk Cousins
is. Kirk Cousins or Trevor Lawrence?
Cousins.
It's Cousins. Wow. Let'sousins. It's Cousins.
Oh, wow.
Let's go back.
You remember when we did that 2QB draft and I was drafting for someone who didn't show up?
I was listening.
Remember what happened?
I took Cousins over Lawrence
and you yelled at me.
You humiliated me in front of everyone.
Now what?
You were right. Adam so you were right adam you were right
let's see if that was a good impression or not uh george pickens or keenan allen
i think we've done yeah we did that one george pickens or Justin Jefferson?
What?
Deontay Johnson or Jordan Addison?
Johnson.
I believe I have Addison higher than Johnson.
All right, Dave, give us your Adam, you were right.
Adam, you were right.
Adam, you were right.
That was pretty good.
You got to get a little bit of Bill Walton.
I've been telling Heath this
ever since he started working here.
There's a little bit of Bill Walton
in Heath's voice.
Oh, for sure.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Any other wide receivers?
Any other wide receivers
you want to talk about?
McLaurin.
You know what?
Jahan Dotson was so much better
when Curtis Samuel
was not doing anything last year.
Did anyone move Dotson up
after Samuel moved to the Patriots?
Oh, that's an interesting point.
He was up not necessarily
because of Samuel,
but just because of
a hopeful quarterback
and system change.
But he's not in the top 40.
Not even in the top 44.
I won't mind spending a late pick on dots and i
know he sucked last year but i'll still take the bet on talent i have him just out i have him like
around round 10 if i can get him then i'm thrilled ingram versus pitts Ingram. What's the format? Full.
Rer.
I think I probably have...
Do I have Pitts ranked higher than Ingram?
You do.
One spot.
I think I do.
Like, back-to-back.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Seven.
Kyle Pitts is seven for everyone.
It's like a slot machine.
And Ingram is eighth for Dave and sixth for Jamie
and fifth for Heath. He's a slot machine that no Ingram is eighth for Dave and sixth for Jamie and fifth for Heath.
He's a slot machine that no one
wins on. Maybe.
He's Orb of Atlantis.
Okay. I'm good
here. So
let's read some emails to finish the show.
He is not Huff and Morpuff.
FantasyFootball at CBSi.com.
Shout out Vegas Matt.
This is from Jim Hamer.
I'll just address this real quick.
I thought it was a good question on Twitter.
JSN fell below your 900-yard threshold, right?
Is he a dynasty sell and unlikely to ever break out?
And I said, no.
A rookie getting to 900 yards receiving,
a rookie wide receiver getting to 900 yards
is a great indicator of future success. A rookie not getting to 900 yards does not mean that wide receiver, getting 900 yards is a great indicator of future success.
A rookie not getting to 900 yards does not mean that it's,
there's not going to be future success.
So no,
I don't want to represent it that way.
Thank you for the question.
Yeah.
But if you can get him for a first round pick,
I might consider that now.
JSN for a first round pick.
All right.
So how many of you do it for a late one?
Not an early one.
How many of the receivers in this draft
would you rank ahead of JSN right now?
Not knowing what team they're on.
At least three for sure.
Yeah.
The tops are easy.
I haven't watched enough of Mitchell
and a couple of the other guys.
I've seen enough of McConkie.
I'm not sure if I,
if you're talking about where McConkie goes,
if you're talking about a super flex league right now,
there's going to be at least three quarterbacks that would go ahead of him.
Yep.
There's going to be at least three receivers that would go ahead of him.
Yep.
And there's going to be one tight end that would go ahead of him.
Yep.
So if you're talking about anything in the first eight picks,
that's easy.
You would take,
you would take one of the eight picks.
Him and Brian Thomas. I would say it's a close call between those two.
Hmm. Yeah.
So if you're talking pick 10, 11, 12 in the first round for JSN,
you'd rather have JSN?
Yes.
I think that's fair to say, but that could change draft night dramatically.
This is from Thomas, and where is he from?
Orlando, Florida.
As a lifelong Pats fan, different,
different Thomas.
Uh,
if it's Jaden Daniels or Marvin Harrison,
they have to go get fields for a third round pick.
It's a little late now.
Maybe not.
Maybe you can call the Steelers.
How big of an upgrade is Jaden Daniels as a rookie over Justin Fields?
It would be hilarious if the Steelers traded fields for a third round pick
after they just gave up a conditional.
What do they have on the bears?
I mean,
between the clay pool trade and the field straight,
it's just,
they're just stealing from them.
Think about that.
The Cardinals got a second round pick for Josh Rosen,
by the way,
how big of an,
the question is how big of an upgrade is Jaden Daniels as a rookie over
Justin Fields?
A lot.
He can throw, he can read defenses and he's not as fast as he is. How big of an upgrade is Jaden Daniels as a rookie over Justin Fields? A lot.
He can throw.
He can read defenses.
And he's not as fast as Fields, nor is he as big as Fields,
but he can move very well.
I'm a big Daniels fan, if you couldn't tell.
Apparently.
This is from Dave S. from ATX.
What is that?
Austin, Texas?
That's what I thought.
Hey, Heath, Jamie, Dave, and Adam.
Those are 85 bears.
What pick would you aim to get for Jordan Addison?
I was offered 2.3.
And then update, I countered with 1.10,
and he accepted. So he got 1.10 for Jordan Addison.
Would you do that? And would you have done 2.3? Obviously So he got 1.10 for Jordan Addison. Would you do that?
And would you have done 2.3?
Obviously, he did better.
But is 2.3 good for Jordan Addison?
I wouldn't have done 2.03 for Addison.
1.10 is fine.
There is a world where the Vikings don't have Justin Jefferson forever,
and they solve their quarterback issue,
and Jordan Addison is their number one receiver long-term.
So you kind of hate to sell them for a second round pick in that scenario,
but getting a late first round pick for Addison,
given this draft and who's available in it,
I don't,
I don't hate that that much.
You know,
Jamie,
another thing I thought was fascinating coming out of this past week,
Keenan Allen mentioning that the jets and the Texans were interested in him.
So I think we should not be the least bit surprised if those teams draft the
wide receiver just to get,
Oh,
the jets for sure.
The,
the Texans,
I guess if you're looking at it as see that one,
I think is,
is more not an indication of their receiving core.
I think that's more just putting another weapon around CJ Stroud.
He can get it cheaply.
The jets desperately need help at receiver.
Man,
things could,
this could be wrong,
but this NFL draft could just be amazing.
You've got this great quarterback class,
great receiver class.
You've got,
it's not a great quarterback class.
It's a, it's a, it's top heavy and it's pretty, it's good. All right. But've got, it's not a great quarterback class. It's a,
it's a,
it's top heavy and it's pretty,
it's good.
All right.
But obviously most,
you know,
you don't get a lot of impact quarterbacks.
You're going to be six guys drafted in the first round.
Six quarterbacks drafted in the first round.
Yeah.
That would be crazy.
We thought there would be five last year and there were three in the first
four picks.
And the previous two times that there were five quarterbacks
taken in the first round, most of them were not
good. So I have to keep that
in mind. But offensive tackle,
it's also deep at offensive tackle.
So this could be just a great...
Those guys indirectly contribute
to fantasy points. This could be a great, great
draft for the future of fantasy
football. And with that,
I am Optimistic Adam Azer signing off here with Dave Richard and Jamie Eisenberg,
and we will talk to you on Wednesday with a review of our mock draft. See you then.