Fantasy Football Today - RB News (Le'Veon's Weight, Jacobs' Catches, Gurley's Workload) and Mailbag (08/15 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: August 15, 2020

We've gotten recent news about RBs Le'Veon Bell, Josh Jacobs, Marlon Mack and Todd Gurley. How important are these reports? We start with the IND backfield (1:40) and when we think Jonathan Taylor will take over and to what degree ... Bell is lighter and motivated, while Gurley's knee is a bit of a question mark. Who do we like better in Fantasy (8:00)? Then we touch on Josh Jacobs (15:00), Greg Ward (17:04), elite TE value (22:00) and more ... Answering your questions (23:30) about which rankings to use for 0.5 PPR leagues, Cooper Kupp's outlook, Tarik Cohen's outlook and more draft questions before getting to your Apple Podcast questions (31:30) ... Your emails at [e-mail] Hey! We are giving away a 75 inch and 55 inch TV! The contest is completely free to enter. To win, go to CBSSports.com/giveaway 'Fantasy Football Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Follow the new FFT Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/FFToday Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @YardsPerGretch, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCviK78rIWXhZdFzJ1Woi7Fg/videos Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

Touchdown. Oh, he's done it again. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath, and Ben. All right, we've got some big running back news around the NFL and the fantasy community. Le'Veon Bell is lighter. The workload for Todd Gurley might be a little bit lighter in training camp.

Josh Jacobs, can he actually catch 60 passes? I'll take the under, but hey, he wants to get there. And Marlon Mack, we have some insight on the Colts running back situation with Frank Reich saying Mack is the starter, but that the running back situation is going to be week in, week out, hot hand, all those things. That good news for Jonathan Taylor. Welcome to Fantasy Football Today.

You're listening on Saturday. It's Friday right now for us. Adam Azer with Dave Richard and Jamie Isenberg. Happy weekend, guys. How's it going? It's going great. It's going good. Yeah.

I'm sitting right next to my pool that has yet to be built and wishing I was in it. Don't dive into it. If I dive in, I'll go to the hospital. Okay, cool. Well, we don't want that, Dave. Not a good time to be going to the hospital. Some people might, it sounds like, but no. All right.

So we got all that running back news. We're going to talk about the tight end contracts as well and some tight end fantasy value. But Dave, which running back news item do you think is the most consequential? I don't know if any of them are consequential. I think the one that might have the most meaning and by most, I mean not very much

is what's happening with Marlon Mack and the Colts in fact that they're saying that he's going to be the starter and I think we knew that that was going to be the case and that Jonathan Taylor was going to mix with them but those two are going to split rushing downs work to begin the season Naheem Hines has the passing downs work they know that they like him in that role and it just just makes me, if I draft Jonathan Taylor, I've got to have the same mindset with him as I had with Miles Sanders and Devin Singletary last year. There is a chance that he will be almost worthless to my fantasy roster

through the first six to eight weeks of the season. You think so? I think there's a chance. Yeah, I think there's a chance. You don't think so? No, not at all. I think the hot hand was basically, Jonathan Taylor, go get the job. It's yours.

Well, he's got to do it. There's, you know, Ben's talked about this a lot. Their schedule is favorable. Their run script should be favorable. Their offensive line is fantastic. Jonathan Taylor is not going to watch Marlon Mack get 20-plus touches. He's going to probably get almost an even rushing downs workload would be my anticipation.

And so once you see those two guys on the field and how they operate, Marlon Mack is a good player. I had Steven Holder who covers the Colts from the athletic on fantasy football today. And he said, you know, he thinks a little bit is made being made too much of, and this is probably where Dave comes out in this step.

Marlon Max is going to sit on the bench and i totally agree he's not gonna sit on the bench but i don't think once you get to uh watch these two guys operate and what john the taylor looks like compared to what marlon mac looks like uh you're gonna see a different player and so um my guess is frank reich is is not wanting to say which he shouldn't because, because again, Marlon Mack hasn't been bad by any stretch. But you got a chance to upgrade at the position. And so I think we'll see Marlon Mack do his thing. But I don't think it's going to take six to eight weeks by any stretch for John Taylor to be in your fantasy lineup.

I think it's going to be probably two or three weeks before we start to use him. Well, that's optimistic. And I never said that any of these, either of these guys would get 20 carries on their own, but it could be a situation where Taylor only gets like 10 in week one and 12 in week two. Like, I don't think he's coming in house of fire. Like he gets the hot tag from, from Randy Savage and that's Hogan clearing house.

I don't think it's going to be like that. I think you're going to see a legitimate split. And if he makes any mistakes, that split's going to last longer. And I think the fact that the schedule being easy, which I agree with, I think that helps Mac stay on the field longer because he shouldn't struggle. There's not going to be an excuse for him to get booted off until Taylor does something to boot him off. So follow up on this.

Okay, we've seen like, let's take Joe Mixon's rookie year. I'm just going to pull up his game log. But I think it was week three or four when they were like, all right, like, let's take Joe Mixon's rookie year. I'm just going to pull up his game log, but I think it was week three or four when they were like, all right, it's your turn, Joe Mixon. And then he was basically the guy, as I recall. Nick Chubb didn't really hit any work until they traded

Carlos Hyde, and then they completely turned Nick Chubb loose. When the time comes, if the time comes, that Jonathan Taylor is basically the starter, does he get 15 touches? comes that Jonathan Taylor is basically the starter. Does he get 15 touches? Because I think we are already a little concerned about his involvement in the passing game, at least on third downs because of Naeem Hines. But does he fall into this kind of trap where he's just kind of like gets 13

carries, one or two catches and isn't super valuable. Like he's worth starting. You know what I mean? Does he ever get a full workload? Yeah, right. Right. Because it's not like Mac's going to completely go away. Do you think that Jonathan Taylor ever gets thrust into a role where he is just, he's

just dominating touches? No, I don't think we're going to see more than, you know, 15 to 18 on a, on an optimistic scenario if Mac is healthy. And, and I, I know I said this a few weeks ago, I wouldn't be surprised if maybe Mac starts to cut into Heinz work on passing downs. And maybe that's something that they do to keep him involved because look, Heinz is average 54 catches each of the last two seasons. He hasn't done a lot with it. And so, you know, I, I, I, and I'm,

I'm a optimistic Naheem Hines observer. You know, I I'm hoping that he can be successful in this passing downs role that we've seen from Phillip rivers, who has gotten, I think it's six running backs, at least 75 or more targets in a season. And maybe Mac is that guy. Cause they did use him more in a passing downs role as a rookie than they have in the previous two seasons. So we'll see where Taylor's workload comes out.

But again, I just think that when you watch these two guys and how one should run versus how one has run behind this offensive line with a better quarterback scenario, I think we're going to see Jonathan Taylor force Frank Reich's hand to say, okay, this is your hot hand. Why are you not giving me the ball more? So maybe the Joe Mixon scenario, maybe it's what, you know, Mark Ingram was a year ago where he wasn't getting a ton of work,

but he was so efficient with that work. You know, that's what I'm hoping for with Jonathan Taylor. Taking him in round three is a mistake. Taking him in round four is if you're, you know, in the camp of this is going to be the best running back for the Colts and maybe one of the best running backs of the season. Taking him in round five is a steal. Okay. And Joe Mixon, by the way,

eight carries in week one as a rookie, nine carries in week two, and then the next three weeks, 18, 17, and 15 carries with a combined seven catches in those three games. He didn't actually do that well, and then his workload was reduced a little bit, but it was week three when they said, all right, Joe Mixon, it's your turn.

Dalvin Cook, I think like right out of the gate, got some. Yeah, right. He was different. Right. He was the one right out of the gate for Minnesota. There's one other point that I just have to make here. And it's pro Jonathan Taylor. When Naheem Hines was a rookie, Colts put him on the field right away.

And he wasn't a Ballyhooed second-round pick. He was a day-three pick, and they were using him. He had a lot of catches right away as a rookie. So if the Colts are willing to do that with Naheem Hines, then Taylor should be able to play a lot as a rookie too. So the opportunity, it's really just going to come down to if something happens to Mack, something happens to Hines, doors open for Taylor to go and run wild. And I'm not downplaying his talent either. I just hope he can hold on to

the football, be better as a pass catcher, and then he'd be amazing. He could end up being a top 12 running back if he really gets a huge opportunity. All right, Jamie, Le'Veon Bell says he was a little complacent last year. He's lost weight. He's not making excuses. And Todd Gurley, they might be limiting his workload in training camp. And his workload was already pretty limited last year. His carries per game were way down. His yards per catch,

his yards per carry were awful compared to years past. And we know there's this chronic knee issue. So who do you now take earlier, Le'Veon Bell or Todd Gurley? I'm still going to take Todd Gurley, but if we get to a point where, you know, the thing about limiting his workload didn't really worry me as much because why would you want to overwork him in this scenario of things? You know, he's got to get the install of the offense and knowing what he's doing,

but he spent a lot of time with Matt Ryan after what Ryan told us on CBS Sports HQ. I think if the thing that came out of the story about him at some point walking with a noticeable limp is the problem, then that's the bigger concern. So if that continues to be an issue and you continue to hear those types of reports, you know, they, they said when he was in the drills, he looked fine, but you know, whatever is maybe bothering him is, is bothering him off the field.

That would be the bigger concern for me. Le'Veon Bell is not necessarily a Le'Veon Bell issue. Le'Veon Bell is an Adam Gase issue. And so if Adam Gase can commit to Le'Veon Bell, I think he could have a good season. Maybe a great season. But he did commit to him last year and he was terrible.

He was still useful in fantasy though. He committed to him last year almost by he was terrible. He was still useful in fantasy, though. He committed to him last year almost by default. Remember, Bilal Powell was hurt. They didn't really have anybody else to sort of turn to. Whatever the reason is, I mean, he got a full workload. You cannot have any complaints about the amount of work Le'Veon Bell got, and he was only good because of the workload, but he was really bad.

Yeah, it's the worst year ever. Yeah. But, look, they revamped their entire offensive line. I don't think it could be worse. You lost Sam Darnold for three games. Again, I've said this time and time again. We don't know when he was healthy coming back from the mono situation. When was he 100%? They add two receivers to replace one.

They get their tight end back on the field who has a chance to be really good. And this is all good for Le'Veon Bell? This is very good for Le'Veon Bell. The fact that they have better receivers and the tight end back on the field who has a chance to be really good. And this is all good for Le'Veon Bell? This is very good for Le'Veon Bell. The fact that they have better receivers and the tight end's healthy. Well, what did he have in Pittsburgh? Did he have a bad team around him or a good team around him? He was a different player and he had a great offensive line. Yes, and

this offensive line will be better than what it was a year ago because... It can't be worse. That's true. That's why I stopped myself there. Do you guys think that either Le'Veon Bell or Todd Gurley are good anymore? I think if Le'Veon were in the right situation, he could be a top 12 fantasy running back again.

I like that Le'Veon lost weight. I think that's always a much better situation. You know, this is not a Ronald Jones criticism, but I think whenever running backs put on weight, as opposed to what they do when they lose weight, you always see them come in and they have better seasons. It happened to Le'Veon Bell. He said he was overweight in his rookie season.

He came back a second season and he had a monster campaign. I'm reading a report right now from Rich Cimini, who covers the Jets for ESPN. Le'Veon Bell says he's in the best shape of his career, getting a lot of early run. He looks frisky, burst on outside runs. And so, you know, there's a pattern that's forming here of he rededicated himself he comes in the the way he played in high school uh there's motivation there remember he took a year off so we don't know how much rust there was from from last year

and just how bad you're buying it you're in on leviabelle no i haven't yeah i haven't changed my rankings i haven't changed the way i did draft him in that in that uh um was it twitch i think might have been twitch track jamion um but in round four and in some cases round five it's the same conversation we have the letter for net sometimes you just take value when it's presenting you in the face and so he's gonna get work frank war is going to ruin him to a certain extent this is what i mean by an adam gaze problem so we're gonna see levion come off the field in some situations that are going to ruin him to a certain extent. This is what I mean by an Adam Gase problem. So we're going to see Le'Veon come off the field in some situations that are going to be really frustrating, but he's still going to get the most work of that backfield.

He's still going to be a guy that's going to get a lot of opportunities. It's just what will Adam Gase do to ruin what Le'Veon Bell's ceiling could be? And so that's the problem you have with Le'Veon Bell for me at least. Okay. So you guys are still girly over Bell, though? I am in non-PPR. I can't do it in full PPR. And they're back-to-back in non-PPR,

so I'm not going to beat you down with the baseball bat if you say that you'll take Bell first. But the offensive line is going from the worst in the league or second worst in the league to maybe still in the bottom 10 for sure. Yep. And he had a career low in touches last year 20.7 per game like we talked about that's what carried him the the finish that he had and gore averages around 10 carries per game when he's on a team and there was evidence of that when he was with case in Miami. He did that last year in Buffalo, although that did slide a little bit toward the end of the year. It is going to hurt Le'Veon and Michael P.

Ryan could end up hurting Le'Veon. This is a mess. I want Le'Veon to get traded. Let him get traded. Let him go to a team. That's a playoff contender and let him, let him run his patient style behind a better offensive line. Then I'll be way more excited about him.

I'll still take Gurley in both. As long as again, this doesn't seem to become a worse situation for his knee. The one thing about it is his passing game work could bounce back in a big way with the foul. That's true. That's true. All the,

all the throwing that they're going to do. And Matt Ryan was so excited about it. You know, you could, you could just tell in his voice, like we're going to do some different Matt Ryan was so excited about it. You could just tell in his voice, we're going to do some different things with him in the offense. And Matt Tepic covers the Falcons, also joined us on HQ, and he said the same thing, that they're going to be a little bit more creative in their opportunities with him in the pass game.

So I don't know if he gets back to, again, peak early, 2017 girly, even the early part of 2018 girly. But if he can get close to that 50 catch threshold, which I think he can, then you're going to be happy about it. He was terrible working out of the backfield as a pass catcher last year. He just didn't get as many opportunities. I think the opportunities do go up. And I'm not sure how to process Dan Quinn saying that he's going to have

two running backs as his number two running back, that he's going to have, you know, Smith and Brian will kind of split that role, right right like he didn't even mention the other guys that he's got he's got cadre allison and uh the last guy their name escapes me right now but they're they're kind of deeper running back they've got this big battle yeah thank you um they've got this big battle for who's going to end up really being the number two but if they've got two guys as the number two i mean does that really mean that they've got three guys in that backfield? Until Hito gets hurt, of course, and then they're back down to two.

Gurley still makes me nervous. Still not somebody I'm excited to draft, but if he's there at the right part in the draft, if he's there round four, round five, the same range as Le'Veon, you've got to look at him. You've got to consider him. He's still a number two running back based on, you know, optimism that he gets a lot of work and a better offense. Wrapping this up. A better rushing offense.

Should we take James Conner and Chris Carson ahead of both Todd Gurley and Le'Veon Bell? Yes. Yes. Okay, good. As long as Carson's situation is okay. He's dealing with the death in the family, left the team. You know, hopefully he's back soon. Obviously, you know, our thoughts are with his okay. He's dealing with the death in the family, left the team. Hopefully he's back soon.

Obviously our thoughts are with his scenario that he's dealing with. I think Melvin Gordon should go ahead of them too. Guys, we have a lot more to get to and not that much time. So we're going to go quicker here. Josh Jacobs saying he wants to catch 60 passes this year, 60 or more. Did that make you move him up at all? No, but I was already excited about him. And this is, I think, just another affirmation of they're going to involve him in the passing game more.

He's not getting 60 catches. That's just ridiculous. But does he now have a chance in the 30 to 40 range? I think so. For a guy that had 20 catches as a rookie in 13 games, they're going to use Jalen Richard. We don't know what they're going to do with Lynn Bowden, but I think Bowden, Bowden, whatever the hell, Bowden, the rookie, Lynn B, they're going to clearly make an attempt to get Josh Jacobs the ball in the passing game more. So he is a

easy first round pick in non PPR leagues, and he should be a first round pick in PPR as well. Here's a quote from John Gruden. We've got to get more out of Josh as a receiver. That was from September 23rd, 2019. What happened in the four games after that quote, he had 10 catches for 74 yards in four games. That would have obviously been a 40 catch pace. I think 60 is a little much, but I do think he can improve on the rate that he had last year. His receptions went down after those four games. It's like Gruden forgot he even said anything. But I think if you pencil him in for 35 catches,

I think that's safe. That's improvement. That's good. He's definitely a first-round pick in non-PPR. Is he in PPR, Devontae Adams or Josh Jacobs? Adams for me. In PPR, Adams. Travis Kelsey or Josh Jacobs?

Jacobs. I will take Kelsey. Interesting. Okay, and that's your running back news. Some quick wide receiver notes. John Ross is on the reserve COVID-19 list. Hopefully he's back soon. And Doug Peterson said that Greg Ward is in the mix at wide receiver.

You know, he was certainly usable at the end of last year, Greg Ward, but they have more mouths to feed now. Do you buy this? Do you buy any fantasy relevance for Greg Ward for the Eagles? Last pick in a best ball. It probably wouldn't hurt. Receiving court to potentially avoid. Thanks for telling me this now, Dave,

when I've just finished my best ball draft. God. Ridiculous. Who was your last pick? Mine was Alton. I think it was Amir Abdullah because of the return yards. And I'm just hoping he gets return yards.

You should have taken Greg Ward. Maybe. Actually, he had a pretty good finish. Jamie, you got Alshon with your last pick? Oh, you know what? I think I did too. I think that's who I took. Or at least I meant to.

You know what? He's still on the board in mine. I like how I said it after a receiving court to avoid, but in best ball, it's not. Yeah, that was round 20. Yeah. Okay, let's see. Team roster.

Did I get Alshon Jeffrey? I got Josh Jacobs, I'll tell you that. Did you? And his 35 receptions. No, I did not get him. So I totally lied to you. I got KJ Hamlin. You're still going, Dave?

What's up? You're still going? Oh, yeah. So I totally lied to you. I got KJ Hamlin. You're still going, Dave? What's up? You're just going? Oh, yeah. We still got three more rounds. Wow. I think Nick Foles was my last pick, actually. All right. Well, anyway.

That might be okay. In this best ball draft, I got Miles Sanders and Josh Jacobs with my first two picks. I had the 11th pick. Excellent. And last night, you know me. You know how I love Miles Sanders. Last night, I was just watching Miles Sanders highlights, and I was just smiling.

I was like, this is going to be so fun. Don't you usually save that for Saturday nights? He is so good in the passing game. That's what I was noticing. I mean, he gets downfield. He's a killer on wheel routes. They will use him in the past. I just, in my mind.

Do you watch the play against Buffalo? Everything. What he did against Dallas. In my mind, it's Clyde Edwards-Ziller versus Miles Sanders. Edwards-Ziller versus Miles Sanders. And it's like, I think if everything goes absolutely right for both of them, Clyde's probably better. But I do think Sanders has a higher floor.

Do you guys agree with that? Sure. Yes. There's no scenario where Sanders is not a workhorse, I feel. No, he should be. I don't think that Boston Scott or Corey Clement are going to take him off the field for significant stretches. All right, well, I'm done drooling.

So more news. No Saints fans for the home opener. Chicago safety Eddie Jackson is going to play some wide receiver. That's weird. Joe Montana had a good quote about Jimmy Garoppolo. He thinks he's going to be better without the knee brace. And Montana said, I had six clean outs in my knee, going to be better without the knee brace. And Montana said, I had six clean outs in my knee, and they

wanted me to wear a brace, and you just can't get used to it. Hopefully you see a fresher, different player this year, although he had a pretty good year last year. I'm looking forward to him doing the same thing. Didn't Brady get used to wearing a knee brace? I guess, but this is Montana. Montana's like the greatest quarterback ever.

What the hell is Tom Brady? Will Disley's practicing. The Cowboys. That was cool. That's cool. Is it cool? Yeah. I think, I mean, we'll see what ends up happening there.

They're going to have a lot of tight ends to mix and match. I don't know if any of them will be good for fantasy, but they'll help Russ. Every time Disley has played, he's been good. He just gets hurt all the time. It's true. The Cowboys signed Everson Griffin. They have a very interesting defensive line

of guys who are probably past their prime, but could be really good. I don't think Everson Griffin's necessarily past his prime. I think he can still get a very good year out of him. You know what? That's what I thought, but how does he go

this far without getting any contract? You know what I mean? Because he's still unsigned. Right. He's going to sign for a lot more than Griffin. He's got a pretty fair deal. No, I don't know if he'll have that opportunity to. But I think people are worried about Griffin's mental state after what happened

in Minnesota. Maybe. Well, it was a good signing, I think, for the Cowboys, for sure. Zavian Howard, Miami cornerback. He's on the reserve COVID-19 list. Let's see. Kima Siverind for the Seahawks, rookie special teamer. He has been waived

for sneaking a girl into the team hotel and disguising her as a Seahawks player or a member of the team. Very strange. I got some stuff from the conversations we've had with some beat writers, if you like. I think you guys have to go soon, and I need to read emails.

So we'll save those. Sure. Yeah, that's pretty much all we need. And then Kelsey and Kittle signing their contracts, and then we have this Twitter question from the Fantasy Football Today account at FFToday.

Which tight end price is your favorite? Kelsey early round two, Kittle late round two, Ertz early round four, Andrews late round four. What'd you vote for? Andrews. Hey, that's what I voted for. And that's the leader right now. Andrews 39% of the vote, Kittle 32%,

Ertz 16%, Kelsey 13 and a half percent. Wow. Kelsey's lasted early round two. I thought for sure he'd be I thought he'd be second to Andrews Yeah, but it's not round one still getting a really good player before you get Kelsey. Yeah, I think I guess people don't really see that big of a difference

between Kittle and Kelsey and they're going to go with Kittle in late round two compared to Kelsey in early round two. All right. Let's read some emails here at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. First, we're going to take a quick, quick break. Come back and read your emails and your Apple podcast questions. Whether in the game or in life, the right coverage can make all the difference. Securian Canada gives you that coverage.

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Be careful along our tracks and only make left turns where it's safe to do so. Be alert, be aware, and stay safe. Email here from Terrence. On your podcast, could you give a little detail on when it comes to formats? Is my half PPR draft, based more closely to non or full PPR?

I think it just depends on the player. You know, so Derrick Henry, I think, is not as dinged in this format. James White gets a little bit of a boost as a result as well. So it just kind of comes down to player specific for me.

But if you're looking for a rankings guide, I'd probably lean toward PPR and non-PPR. The one player that I feel like I've identified as having, for me, a lot more solidified value in half PPR is Mixon. Because he's not Henry. He's not going to get 20 catches. He's going to be more like 35, maybe 40 catches.

He's kind of outside to get more than that. I don't know if he necessarily will. Sure, but based on the last couple of years, 35, 40 catches maybe would be a safe estimate for Mixon. And in half PPR, I mean, that's really not that big of a downgrade from like Zeke and Barkley, who might be around 60 catches, you know?

So, I don't know. I feel like big, bigger... I feel like Mixon, since he's kind of in between the high catch running backs and the low catch running backs, half PPR, first round pick? Mixon?

Yeah. Mixon's a first round pick in any format. Correct. You think? Yeah? All right. Yes. Okay.

Then second email from Mark. In a city where Giordano's is not a top 10 choice? New York? Yeah, it's got to be. I mean, it's among the top choices for me no matter what city I'm in. Well, you've never been to New York then. Deer, O, My, Mommy, Bambi, and Rudolph.

Those are Kyles. They are Deers. Why do we keep splitting Cooper Cup season in half instead of thirds? In his last five weeks, he caught 27 of 30 targets for five touchdowns. I don't know. It's going to be,

I'll tell you that cup Higby, the numbers are going to be so fascinating because I don't know if both can be sustainable. Higby. Are you mean from the last five weeks of the season? I don't think cup is going to be as, you know, let as not as uninvolved as he was.

And I don't think he could be, he's going to be as good as he was. Well, that goes without saying, but I don't know how, I don't know if he's going to be half as good as he was. Well, even if he's half as good as he was,

that's still really, really good. I think cup is, is a no brainer. I can't stop drafting him. I think that he's still a candidate for 90 catches and big-time red zone threat. Higby could take a little bit away from him. Yeah, contract year two.

But I think Higby, even if he did 50% of what he did in those last five games, would be good enough to use as a reliable starter week in and week out. I think he can be better than 50%, not as good as 100%. He's not getting 11 targets per game. But I do think he's got a chance to really be one of those top five fantasy tight ends. I think he could be the next Kittle.

I look at him. I see a lot of things that Kittle does. Why did it take so long? That's a problem. Because the Rams had a better running game, certainly a more reliable running game. They wanted him to block in that regard. I think they tried to get Gerald Everett going first. And I think that that experiment is still going on.

I don't know if Everett's going to end up being great ever. But they've got a lot of other wide receivers. They have Brandon Cooks on top of Woods and Kup. And I think the decision to feed those guys and attack downfield with them versus utilize Higby, who's not as fast as a wide receiver. I think that made sense. But even when cooks came back,

they weren't using them the same way he wasn't as effective. And they just started to use Higby and their offense kind of perked up. Golf started to play better. Their matchups were better as well. They are going to have a lot of those same matchups this year. You can say what you want about Seattle and Arizona improving their secondary. Seattle especially will be tougher. But I still see Higby as an ascender.

And I think he'll be good. If you're drafting him in round seven, round eight, or later, you're doing awesome. Colin from Bruce City says, Hey, Curly, Vince, Mike, and Matt. Packers coaches. Come on, guys. Come on.

Yes, yes. If I drafted up running backs to act as starters earlier in the draft, is there a point in drafting a floor pick like Tariq Cohen to sit on my bench? My instinct is to prefer high upside handcuffs or rookies who could be league winners rather than someone who is more likely to be a low grade bi-week replacement than anything else.

Agreed. Yeah. The thing about Tariq Cohen that's going to be interesting is with John DiFilippo there, because we know what he likes to do with his running backs and throw into those guys. And so, you know, it's going to hopefully help David Montgomery clearly. But, you know, Tariq Cohen gets back to anything that he was two years ago, then he's going to end up being a low-end starter in PPR. Just DiFilippo's not the play caller this time. Yeah, but he's got an influence on the offense. I don't know if he's got that big enough

of an influence on the offense. It is what I would... I'm just some big, fat, bumbling fantasy guy, but that's what I would do if I were in Chicago. As soon as you realize Montgomery's not getting it done, just start throwing more to Cohen. Let him make plays. One day I will reiterate just how unprecedented

the success that Cohen had in 2018 was. But not today. More emails from Cameron. 10-team PPR league, 10th pick. In my mock drafts, I've gotten a lot of Julio Jones. I feel he's a very safe pick at 10. Then I usually take mix in or Sanders with my next pick. Who would you target with the last pick of the first round and the first

pick of the second round? I would, I would target Sanders or mixing and then hope to get Julio in round two. It's a 10 team league. So he's the back-to-back picks. Oh, okay. Well then honestly,

then I'd probably go Mixon and Sanders. Not bad. I'd put Josh Jacobs in there, too. And I don't know where Clyde Edwards-Elair is going, but if he falls to 10... He should be in that mix, too. Sure. Yeah. This is John in a city north of Richmond, Virginia. Boston, Massachusetts.

Dear Trent, Joe, Elvis, and Tony. Those are Chiefs. Yeah. I'm in a pickle. I'm in a 12-team PPR super flex. No, worst food ever. Super flex keeper league. I don't have a first or a second round pick,

but I do have Lamar Jackson. I've been offered 1.5 and 2.12 for Lamar. 1.5 could be Edward Ziller, Miles Sanders, Joe Mixon, and theoretically pick 2.12 as someone in the late fourth. Do you think this is a fair offer for Lamar Jackson? I'm also keeping Zeke.

Yes. No. It's a super flex. I would say quarterbacks carry more value there we've done super flex mocks where lamar jackson goes earlier than in a one quarterback league i i think he carries a little bit more value here wait a sec oh never mind never mind he's trying to get lamar jackson all right no he's got lamar no he's got lamar oh yeah don't get more for that i'm sorry adam do you dislike relish as well as pickles or just pickles? I don't

know that I've ever had relish, but it doesn't look like something I like. I could tell by the look that I wouldn't like it. What kind of sheltered life have you lived? Have you ever had ketchup and mustard at the same time? I don't think I've ever had them at the same time,

but I've had them separately. Yeah. I don't really like mustard ever had them at the same time. What? But I've had them separately, yeah. I don't really like mustard, and I do like ketchup. Okay, these are some quick Apple podcast questions from Trap from AK. Keep two in PPR. Mahomes, Josh Jacobs, DJ Moore, Leonard Fournette. Jacobs and Moore. Does the rounds matter?

No. Jacobs and Moore. From Cody Chris matter? No. Jacobs and Moore. From Cody Chris, I traded Miles Sanders and Will Fuller. Oh my gosh, Ben Gretch hates you. I traded Miles Sanders and Will Fuller for Tyreek Hill and Cooper Cup. I only have Montgomery, Dobbins, Michelle, Gibson,

and Freeman at running back now. Why does Ben hate him? He loves Tyreek Hill. Everybody loves Tyree Kill. And Cooper Cup is going to be good for a long time. I assume this is a keeper league. I say it's a good trade.

Yes, now turn around and trade Tyree Kill or Cooper Cup for a running back. But yeah, you got better value. From Phoenix0424. You know, when I was younger, ketchup was the default condiment for hot dogs, by the way. And at some point, that switched to mustard,

and I don't really appreciate that. I'm joining a very deep PPR Superflex Dynasty League. I wanted to know how to value wide receivers versus quarterbacks. I know Superflex Leagues value quarterback much higher, but we start four wide receivers and a tight end wide receiver slot. And to flex along with two quarterbacks. Wow.

Good Lord. Yeah. So at this point, at this point, when I see that I, I kind of throw out position scarcity as a, as a factor in drafts. And I just,

I almost default the best player available because you're going to be able to start all your first, goodness, like eight picks in your draft. Yeah. So are you thinking in a league like this where you have to start four wide receivers, you can start up to seven and it is super flex or yeah, it's super flex.

So I'm in a league like that where we start five wide receivers, super flex, and another flex option. So it's not far off. Is the question starting quarterbacks in the super flex? And it's PPR. No, it's – Do you go after quarterbacks earlier or do you target receivers earlier?

So the startup – this is a dynasty league. So the startup draft, I i got carson wentz in his rookie year in like round seven or eight like where you would be getting joe burrow um i'm trying to think who i took first i took matt ryan i think maybe like round four or five so uh scoring matters too you know it's uh this is a five point for passing touchdown league so i think that some of you got to take into account but you know you want to get one or one or i'd say probably two of your top 15 quarterbacks right relatively soon yeah but it's not a situation where like you want two top five quarterbacks because you do need to build at the other

positions right especially with the receivers yeah, my first pick was Mike Evans. Did you say how many managers are in the league? I don't know, but it's 28-man roster, four taxi squad spots. You are really devaluing quarterback. It's PPR, and you're starting so many players. So just keep that in mind. I will say this, though. It sounds like it's a dynasty league.

In our league, and this is a league with other analysts, the rookie draft is always like to uh herbert uh obviously um joe burrow those guys were uh like top eight picks wow all right well uh we're out of here thank you guys for doing this bonus episode very much appreciated make sure you're all watching fantasy football today live noon eastern monday through Friday on CBS Sports HQ. Download the HQ app. And this is your last day, last chance really to get our TV giveaway. So go to cbssports.com slash giveaway. Get yourself a big screen TV.

Link is in the episode description. For Dave and Jamie, I'm Adam. Hope you enjoy your weekend, everybody. We'll talk to you Monday. Hey, Adam. Yes. Four more Sundays. Ooh, nice. Nice. All right. That's Monday. Hey, Adam. Mock draft Monday. Yes. Four more Sundays. Ooh, nice.

Nice. All right. That's it. We're done. Thanks for interrupting my awesome intro. Bye. For a limited time, switch to Shopify point of sale, and you could save up to 20% and improve your bottom line.

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