Fantasy Football Today - Reviewing Our First Mock Draft of the Year! Any Big Surprises? (01/08 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: January 8, 2025

Please vote for Fantasy Football Today here: https://www.sportspodcastgroup.com/sports_category/fantasy-betting-gaming-sports-podcast/ We completed a 12-team, PPR draft yesterday and now we're breakin...g it down. Before we do that, we run through the news and notes (3:30) including injury updates for this weekend and the latest coaching news as the Raiders will have a new head coach and the Seahawks are moving on from offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb ... Draft review begins with an overall look at position scarcity (20:10) and other major takeaways from the draft. Then we get into Rounds 1 and 2 (29:30) with Jahmyr Gibbs in the Top 5, Bucky Irving in Round 1, great tight end value and more ... On to Rounds 3 (42:15) and 4 (49:30) of the draft which leads us to disagreements on Alvin Kamara and Ken Walker, plus an obvious dropoff at wide receiver. We then reveal our teams (56:50) and we hear from the Fantasy Cops (1:02:00)! ... Your emails at fantasyfootball@cbsi.com Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Shop our store: shop.cbssports.com/fantasy  SUBSCRIBE to FFT Express on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-express/id1528634304 Follow FFT Express on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6qyGWfETSBFaciPrtvoWCC?si=6529cbee20634da8 SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 FOLLOW FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 SUBSCRIBE to FFT DFS on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dfs/id1579415837 FOLLOW FFT DFS on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5zU7pBvGK3KPhfb69Q1hNr?si=1c5030a3b1a64be2 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday 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." Visit the betting arena on CBSSports.com for all the latest sportsbook reviews and sportsbook promos. 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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Starting point is 00:00:45 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 at his feet. This is gonna go the distance. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie and Heath. And we welcome you to Fantasy Football Today, another off season edition.
Starting point is 00:01:10 Tomorrow we're going to really get into the weekend games, tell you who to play in DFS, all those fun things. Are we going to do a playoff challenge kind of Office League, Jamie? Yeah, I'll set it up today since I don't do enough for you guys, so sure. We don't have to, I don't care, I'm just curious. Yeah, we'll do it. All right, welcome everybody. This is Fantasy Football Today presented by BED MGM, the sports book born in Vegas.
Starting point is 00:01:33 All right, we have a lot of news to get to, including weekend news and hirings and fire, well, why do I keep saying that? There's no hirings right now, just firings. Jamie, how's the off season treating you? I'll let you know when it starts. I'm writing a lot of stuff, so it's good not to have the same in-season commitments that are very, very enjoyable, but also very taxing.
Starting point is 00:01:58 Yeah, I'm just going to get right to it. I finished Lord of the Rings, finally. So yesterday was... All of them? Yeah. Well, I started on the day after Thanksgiving Thanksgiving so it took me a month and a half to watch three movies and one of them I watched on a plane so basically you know they had that blocked out, that time blocked off but yeah very good, very fun. I recommend it for you, you should get in on it. It's quite popular for a reason but yeah the, the third one was awesome. Super fun movie.
Starting point is 00:02:26 And are you going to continue with all the other spin-offs? I don't think so. I was watching the trailer for The Hobbit and I was like, you know what? I think 11 hours of this was enough. I think I'm good now. I did. So right before the season started, I started rewatching The Sopranos again and I got through the first four seasons. So I started with season five again. It's just so amazing. Never seen it on the list. All right. Let's get to the news and notes.
Starting point is 00:02:52 So Jalen Hurts is in the concussion protocol still. It's gonna be either Kenny Pickett or Tanner McKee if Hurts can't play, but they're optimistic about Hurts playing. Zay Flowers, probably not gonna play. And he's questionable with that knee injury. They play Saturday. The Eagles play Sunday. The only Monday game is Minnesota at the Rams, but Zay Flowers is questionable. Justice Hill is
Starting point is 00:03:14 making progress toward a return. David Montgomery is expected to play next week. They're not playing this week. They have a bye. David Montgomery looks like he'll be back the week after that and Terrienne Arnold, cornerback who got hurt in week 18 for the Lions. He's day to day so he should be good. Mike Tomlin said he's open using Justin Fields more this week at Baltimore that came eight o'clock on Saturday and Christian Watson. Let's talk about this Christian Watson tours ACL that's just awful. Week 18 torn ACL, you know, not going to expect him necessarily for week one, but, but just all the injuries that this guy's had. And what do you think
Starting point is 00:03:49 the impact is for the Packers passing game? Uh, if they don't add someone, um, I believe Romeo Dobbs and Watson were going into year four and Reed is not going into year three. Wicks is going year three. Bo Melton and Heath are guys that they like, not Heath Cummings, but they probably like Heath Cummings. Look, Don Tavion Wicks has seen a spike in production typically when Watson has gone down. So he is somebody to put at the end of your draft. Depending on what the recovery is, he's he's somebody that obviously gets a little bit of a bump in dynasty. And I think they all kind of do. But as we've seen with this team, they
Starting point is 00:04:32 really trended toward a run based system. And that's impacted all of the receiving options to the point where maybe just one guy being out helps the other guys with the minimal amount of attempts if this is the norm for the Packers moving forward. Yeah, so we did a mock draft yesterday. That's what we're going to talk about today. And we will look at the best picks, the worst picks and just kind of lay out the lay of the land on our first mock draft for 2025 with no rookies, by the way, no Austin Ashton Genti or anything
Starting point is 00:05:02 like that. But just speaking of the Packers, you picked Romeo Dobbs, congratulated yourself in the draft. It was a very awkward moment. And I believe Dan Schneier, who was not aware of what you were doing, started basically just talking to himself. Yeah, it was the chat was kind of dead at that point. So I was like, let's let's mix things up. So I took Dobbs in the 10th round. Jaden Reed went in the sixth round, 12 team three receiver PPR league. I took Dobbs in the 10th round. Jayden Reed went in the 6th round, 12 team, three receiver PPR league. I took Dobbs in the 10th round and then I said, nice pick Adam.
Starting point is 00:05:28 And then I responded, yeah, I like the value there. Something like that, but just trying to sneak something. But then Dan just kind of like, I think he's gonna retire. And I was like, I don't know what's happening. Dan's like, I'm gonna try something. And he's like, wait, no, I think he's gonna retire. Completely ignored my Romeo Dobbs joke. And then he drafted Rashad Bateman.
Starting point is 00:05:43 Okay, anyway, that's the Packers. The Chargers are signing Ezekiel Elliott to the practice squad, but more importantly, Josh Palmer missed practice. He may not play this week. Quentin Johnston, J.K. Dobbins, and Gus Edwards were limited in practice. You know, there were two performances in week 18, Jamie,
Starting point is 00:05:59 that we didn't talk about, that really jumped out. And one was Quentin Johnston. Just having this huge game. Let me just get the stats up. Quinton Johnston had 13 catches, 186 yards on 14 targets at the Raiders. And you did have the Josh Palmer injury contributing, but that was huge. And then this one like isn't really gonna matter,
Starting point is 00:06:22 but I knew Juwan Jennings got ejected in the first half. And then I looked at the stats and I saw he had 10 targets. And I thought, did I miss it? Did he not get ejected? Did he come back in? Did they over? No, he had 10 targets before getting ejected. It didn't really matter, but unbelievable.
Starting point is 00:06:41 Seven catches for 52 yards on 10 targets, less than a half. I'll start with the Jennings one. I said this going into the week. They noted this on the broadcast when they lost to the Lions. Both Jennings and Joshua Dobbs played together at Tennessee. So there was two years where they overlapped in college. He was kind of the go-to guy on the final drive for Dobbs When he took over for Brock Purdy and he also was 77 yards away from his first thousand yard season So he didn't get it because he fell short with the ejection, but it felt like okay My college buddies gonna help me get my first ever thousand yard season. So I'm sure that was part of it in terms of Quinton Johnston
Starting point is 00:07:21 My god, this is a this is a big thing to keep an eye on because if he has another couple of strong performances in the playoffs, I would hope that instead of maybe spending a lot of money on T Higgins, they devote that capital draft wise or salary to maybe another tight end. And then you have your three receivers and Quinton Johnston being this type of player. If they bring in another guy, an elite level guy, I think Lad McConkey is still fine.
Starting point is 00:07:47 But I think Quinton Johnson gets crushed. You know, so, yeah, Johnson's had a pretty bad year. That's the thing. I don't want to make too much of week 18. He's he shows you what he can do. I guess so. But like, where was this the first two seasons of his career? Basically, you know, obviously his best game. He drops balls. His catch rate, like his rates are bad. I don't know. I feel like I feel like, you know, they would probably.
Starting point is 00:08:13 Be happy to replace him as the number two guy, good number three for them, I would think. But you're right. I mean, I haven't been to Dynasty League. I'm obviously intrigued. I hope this leads to something. I hope they play more than one game and we'll see. All right. And then, yeah, all right. We'll get back to that some other time. We did not really talk about Tyreek Hill.
Starting point is 00:08:34 So let's talk about Tyreek Hill. And he met with Mike McDaniel for about an hour, apparently. They talked about, you can't quit on the team. He didn't exactly request the trade. But let's see Tyree kill in the draft that we did yesterday went around to the eighth pick of round two ahead of Drake London. Brock, yeah. What do you think? Where should he have gone?
Starting point is 00:08:58 Probably around three. And obviously, if you're concerned around four. But once we get the rookies in and free agency and all that stuff, it'll be interesting to see what happens if he's still in the Dolphins. And that led to some discussion about when Jalen Waddle went in round six. Oh my God, I wish I had taken Waddle earlier. A couple of people commented on that. And Dave is the one who drafted him. He said, oh, this is the last time we'll see Jalen Waddle in round six. Obviously, if Tyree Kill is gone, Jalen Waddle's value increases exponentially.
Starting point is 00:09:28 If Tyree Kill stays, then Jalen Waddle will be an interesting draft pick because of where he finished in 2024. I think in terms of Tyree Kill, my guess would be is that the Dolphins do their due diligence. They're going to try and trade him if they can. If somebody is a taker, then Let's see what they can get for him If not, he's such a big part of what this offense is and if they're running back everything which they are because they're bringing back Chris Greer, they're bringing back Mike McDaniel They're most likely bringing back to a if he's healthy then why would you you know rock the boat to that extent?
Starting point is 00:09:59 Again, unless he really wants out and you get trade capital for it. So this is a story I think that's not done being told. His message after the game, I don't know if you heard the entire thing or you just read the whole interview. Yeah. So it was a lot of rambling and then it just kind of was like I'm out and you know he's known to troll on social, you know and does a really good job of it and he's funny The very next day, you know, he just opened a clothing store in Miami and he was like, hey come on by you know And he's been at his store, you know, so I don't know what's going on there to be honest Yeah, I'd be I'd be surprised if he's if he's gone without a trade Good could have just been frustration
Starting point is 00:10:44 Boiling point and John who Smith went in the 10th round of the draft we did that was great pick without a trade. Good. Could have just been frustration, boiling point. And John Ousmith went in the 10th round of the draft we did. That was a great pick. So that was Dave. All right. More news. Michael Pittman played with a fractured back. And before we get to the firings, Cleveland linebacker Jeremiah Usu-Karamoa had the neck
Starting point is 00:11:01 injury that ended his season. Well, it could be a long-term concern. They're hoping that he'll be able to play in 2025. And Christian McCaffrey is nearly fully recovered from his knee injury. His Achilles is okay now, I guess, and he expects to be ready for OTAs. So what really stood out to you,
Starting point is 00:11:17 we had with in terms of, you know, firings, we had Antonio Pierce for the Raiders. He got fired, but they kept their GM, Tom Tolesco. Seattle fired off. What's that? For now, for now. Okay. Seattle fired offensive coordinator, Ryan Grubb. They are sort of giving a vote of confidence to Gino Smith. I didn't realize Gino Smith has to be on the roster by, I don't know, March 18th or something like that to get those $6 million in incentives that he earned in week 18. But I think they're going to keep him. And you had the Colts and 49ers firing their defensive coordinators. But offensively, it was really Ryan Grubb.
Starting point is 00:11:58 And I guess, you know, we'll get a new coaching staff in Las Vegas. Since the last time we spoke, I don't think I'm missing anything. No, a lot of interviews, obviously, no guys, you know, making the rounds. But the Pierce one was kind of expected. You know, I think a lot of people sort of looked at that one and said, Okay, you know, interim head coaches don't usually have long tenures. And so, you know, the, the word coming out of Las Vegas was, you know, one of the guys that campaigned for him was Devante Adams to keep the job. And so Adams not being on the roster. My lot of veterans guy that is veterans there to speak up for Antonio Pierce,
Starting point is 00:12:32 apparently, and Tom Brady coming in is going to change some things as well. Uh, so that's why I say Telesco may not be the longterm GM as well. And what do you think about the Seahawks offense with a new offensive coordinator? It's not like they had a bad offense. They were 18th in points per game, 14th in yards per play. Probably could have been a little bit better in the red zone. I have some fun stuff. So Geno Smith averaged the same amount
Starting point is 00:12:57 of yards per attempt as Joe Burrow. That's wild. Burrow though, threw 74 more passes than Geno Smith. And then in the red zone, Geno Smith overall was fourth in pass attempts, but he was 20th in red zone pass attempts and like 18th in green zone pass, 17th in green zone pass attempts. So he just didn't throw green zone pass, 17th and green zone pass attempts. So he just didn't throw where it mattered. And then like just, just for a fun Joe Burrow stat, Joe Burrow had 71 pass attempts inside the 10 yard line. 71. No other player had more than 49. That's how you get a high touchdown rate. And so he had 71 and remember these guys like both top four and past attempts overall, but
Starting point is 00:13:45 Joe Burrow 71 past attempts in the green zone, Gino Smith 26. But yeah, anyway, your thoughts on like JSN, DK MechF, the run game, things they want to get the run game established a little bit more. What do you think? We got to see who it is. You know, I mean, clearly Ryan Grubb was great for JSN and we saw the breakout season that he had in year two and now going into year three. Could he be even better?
Starting point is 00:14:08 My guess is Tyler Lockett is done if you don't consider him done already, but who do they add as a third receiver? He's going to be 33 years old. Does the new offensive coordinator like the tight end? As more of a weapon, because I still think Noah Fant can do something in this league. He just hasn't gotten the opportunities. But I mean, look, the offensive line when they started to get healthy is when you started to see those big games from Zach Charbonnet.
Starting point is 00:14:32 That was kind of when Ken Walker got hurt and then they, you know, they fixed the center position after Connor Williams, I believe he retired, you know, so fixing the offensive line is going to be huge. Bringing back Gino and that decision is obviously going to be huge. If they, you know, hit the reset button on that, then that changes some things. But I'm still going to be excited to draft JSN and Metcalfe I think will end up being a good value pick, which I thought he was in our draft as well. So Smith and Jigba went in the third round? Yeah. And no, third pick of the fourth round.
Starting point is 00:15:02 Yes, I'm sorry. So I just did just when we get to it, I had the last pick of round one. I started with three receivers essentially. And I thought about taking JSN as a fourth, which we play flex. So I was considering going not necessarily zero RB, but for the most part that route. Oh, but you did take Ken Walker ahead of JSN.
Starting point is 00:15:22 Yeah, so I took a hero RB approach as opposed to zero RB. Okay, and Metcalf I took in the sixth round, ninth pick of the sixth round. He went in between, like I actually liked my Metcalf pick. It was Jaden Reed, DJ Moore, Debo Samuel, DK Metcalf, Romo Dunze. Yeah, it's great value. Yeah. All right. As you wonder how hurt he was at the end of the season.
Starting point is 00:15:46 Yeah. And even if he wasn't, I just feel like he'll be better. You know, I kind of feel like he's like a Devontae Smith kind of player at worst. He's a two, three at worst, probably like a wide receiver 20 or so. Okay. Let's we're going to take a break. I do have a question from the chat from Dan. What is your hot take on the best Lord of the Rings movie?
Starting point is 00:16:06 So I'm gonna say the third one was the worst. The third one had the amazing battle, amazing, but just very long. They were all long, but this one just felt a little long. So good movie, really good, but the worst. I'm gonna say one, two, three. One, two, three. Dave, give me a thumbs up if you're ready to come on.
Starting point is 00:16:26 I don't think Dave's ready to come on. Oh, he's ready, okay. Hey, Dave. What's up, guys? How would you rank the Lord of the Rings? My son is starting to watch those movies now. How would you rank them? I don't remember the order of how much I love them
Starting point is 00:16:43 from movie to movie. I just know that I really liked the whole series, except for the very end. It felt like they put seven endings on. Right, they just kept, yeah, it was. Yeah, it just kept going on and on and on. Yeah, but good. All right, so my answer is one, two, three.
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Starting point is 00:17:23 if your bet loses. Just make sure that you use the bonus code fantasy when you sign up. More from Dave after this on FFT. Okay, and welcome back. So yeah, Saturday is a big day on CBS. We got both games. Well, I thought we did anyway.
Starting point is 00:17:42 Now I'm seeing that one's on Prime. No, one's on prime. Okay. Well, we have the Chargers Texans game. We also have the Denver Buffalo game. So that's cool. Chargers Texans on Saturday, Steelers Ravens on Saturday night, Denver Buffalo, Green Bay Philadelphia,
Starting point is 00:17:56 Washington, Tampa Bay on Sunday, and Minnesota at the Rams on Monday night. All right, Dave, welcome to the show. Hi. Let's talk about the mock draft that we did yesterday. And so it was 12 teams, three receivers and a flex, full PPR, no DSCs, no kickers. And we went, how many rounds?
Starting point is 00:18:18 14 rounds. So I had the fourth pick, Heath had the first pick, I had the fourth pick, Dave 10th, Jamie 12th. What were your overall impressions, Jamie, of the draft in terms of, I don't know, position scarcity or strategies you might want to employ? How does the draft board look to you when we did this on January 7th, 2025?
Starting point is 00:18:42 I mean, so much is gonna change clearly. The first round was interesting. We'll get into that, obviously. I mean, so much is going to change clearly. The first round was interesting. We'll get into that obviously. Where a couple of those running backs went in round one. The way that the quarterbacks were drafted, I think is still telling of people either going in early or waiting on the position and some of the values that we saw at the back end of the draft of where guys like Kyler Murray and Sam Darnold and Caleb Williams, Bo Nix, those kind of guys went.
Starting point is 00:19:11 Really it's very similar to how the drafts went in August to be honest. It was like the heavy emphasis on receivers early, kind of picking your spots with the running backs and then when I think people sort of, you know, started getting a little bit running back needy, right around round seven and eight, you know, you saw people I think getting some good value picks depending on how some of these guys, you know, bounce back after disappointing season. And how did you feel about the draft Dave, what stood out to you? I think that if, first of all, I don't think this is going to be anywhere close to indicative of how drafts are gonna become August because,
Starting point is 00:19:45 I mean, hell, free agency hasn't happened yet, the draft hasn't happened yet, but let's just say that I think there is going to be just an enormous, larger than ever glut of wide receivers that we are going to view as anywhere from like middle of the pack number twos to low end number 3s. And, you know, like Heath always like talks about how close players are in his projections, and they're like a tenth of a point away from each other. Like, that's how it's going to be. Like, we're gonna really split some hairs trying to figure out which receivers we really like better than other receivers, once you get to like
Starting point is 00:20:27 Receiver 18, 20, they all kind of look the same. And I felt like that was even the case now in this draft before any rookies were involved. And so what that, when I saw that before the draft, that made me really want to prioritize getting as many of the big-time wide receivers as I could. And then just kind of like load up on running backs. And I guess you could say I did a variation of Hero RB, taking one running back with, with my first 4 picks, 2 running backs with my first like 6, 7 picks. I don't remember exactly what it was. And then just loading up with a bunch of other running backs down the stretch and not really even giving a damn about wide receiver much.
Starting point is 00:21:13 And just hoping that with all these running backs that I pick up, I'm holding it like, I don't know what I'm holding, like a giant jar of peanut butter. But I'm hoping that there's at least a couple of good running backs in that jar of peanut butter that I drafted. Well, you say didn't give a damn about wide receiver You meant in the later parts of the draft because I write to because if I'm gonna spend if I'm gonna spend early draft
Starting point is 00:21:31 Capital on wide receivers. I don't really intend on benching those guys and I'll cross my fingers that they stay healthy easy for me To say one of my guys was puka-nuku. I think I took puka in round one Yeah, so he certainly did not last the season. He got hurt in Week 1 and all that stuff. So yeah, that's obviously part of the risk of being, like chasing wide receivers early on and then not really trying to back it up with quality depth along the way. But this is a 3-receiver, 1-flex league, as are all the leagues that Jamie prefers for us to mock. And so getting four good wide receivers with my first, I don't know how many picks it was five picks, something like that. Yeah. I think I can withstand one injury and still find another wide receiver either in the draft
Starting point is 00:22:17 late or off free agency to help me fill that spot. Well, Jamie and I definitely went hero RB. Jamie took his first running back at 37th overall first pick of round four and not another running back until round eight. I took a running back in the third round chase Brown. So that would be 28th overall and not another running back until round seven. One of the things that really jumped out to me. Well, first of all, little surprise that there were only 10 running backs taken in the first two rounds because, you know, a few years ago, that was usually like 14, 15, I think. And then the last couple of years, it's been more like 11. So we took 10 in the first round, but then we had a run of three running backs in the
Starting point is 00:22:58 first four picks of round three. So that's 14 running backs in the first 28 picks. And it was a really good year for running backs. So I'm not surprised. Now, tight ends. I think that's something that jumped out to me is that I feel like I should have taken Bowers or McBride in the second round.
Starting point is 00:23:17 I took Drake London instead and Bowers was the next pick. And I thought, that probably would have been a better pick. Kind of feels to me guys, like you can get a big edge on the competition with Bowers or McBride. Um, I, I feel like when I did my top 25, Jamie had us do a top 25. I feel like they were kind of early round two guys for me and I didn't take them even late in round two. So probably should have done that, but you know, you don't have to always draft based on your rankings. Um,
Starting point is 00:23:43 your thoughts on, on tight end, Jamie? I thought it was great value for both those guys, like you said. And I was kind of thrilled to get George Kittle in round six. And I think Dave's pick of John Smith in round 10. You know, those are the kind of the four that stood out to me just based on where they were selected. Mark Andrews also around seven is pretty good too. You know, so when you're getting one of these,
Starting point is 00:24:06 and clearly we gotta see what happens with Kelsey. So he's also not bad value in round seven. You're taking a chance on what he still could be. Yeah, it's as we've seen, whenever you get one of these guys that could be difference makers, it really sets your team apart. And so you start to look at in round two, like Mike Evans went too soon for me,
Starting point is 00:24:27 Derek Henry a little bit too soon, Tyree Kill way too soon. I would have taken Bowers over all those guys. All right. So Bowers went with the 10th pick of round two and Trey McBride went with the last pick of round two. So hey, Adam, what do you think you were saying about Laporta and Kelsey and the other tight ends that were quick to go off the board? Like, I wish we had last year's first PPR mock around, because I wonder if you said the exact same thing about those tight ends. So I was out on Laporta, but totally in on Kelsey until right before the draft.
Starting point is 00:25:07 I kind of changed my mind on Kelsey. Originally, I think this time of year I had Kelsey as maybe a first or second, early. So you had an early August as a first run pick. Yes, or maybe early second. But I'll take your word for it. I thankfully changed my mind on that. But I feel more confident in Bowers and McBride than I did about Laporta a year, you know, this time. You go like, they just had better years. Laporta was very touchdown
Starting point is 00:25:30 dependent. Not entirely, but you know, this, I love the catches, the yards. I don't have it off top of my head, but I feel like Bowers, many, many more catches than Laporta. Obviously set a rookie record. Yeah, right. More yards, less relying on touchdowns. He has the tight end record, I believe, already for, or no, he didn't, did he catch Ertz in yards? He's pretty close. And he was certainly the most receiving yards for a rookie tight end ever. And he set the record for most receptions from any rookie.
Starting point is 00:26:01 Yeah, they had 111, 112 catches, Bowers and McBride. Last year, Laporta had 86 for 889 yards. So I feel better about the, do you guys feel better compared to last year about McBride and Bowers than you do about Laporta and- McBride is kind of the same player that he was to close last season. I mean, you know, you go from week six on when they got rid of Zach Ertz, like he was just an absolute monster. The thing that didn't change was the touchdowns.
Starting point is 00:26:26 He had three touchdowns in the 2023 campaign. He had three total touchdowns in 2024. One of those was rushing. So that's the biggest thing that he has to overcome. But yes, he's going to be a PPR monster. He's going to be in the conversation for most receptions at the position. The uncertainty with Bowers is what do they do at receiver because they're going to have to add somebody else, and then what's the quarterback and who's the coach? I don't think anybody taking that job is going to say, we're not going to feature him, but
Starting point is 00:26:52 there is a potential change coming. Obviously, Bowers really took off when Devante Adams was released, or trade, excuse me, and you saw what the potential is. Our colleague, Pete Prisco, has been doing this a long time. He said he's the best receiving tight end in the NFL right now. And that's pretty telling that he's got that much upside. And we kind of knew that he had that potential going into the draft. He fulfilled it by leaps and bounds. So there's a lot to love about his upside, but there could be, let's say they sign T. Higgins and they go out and they don't fix
Starting point is 00:27:24 the quarterback position to the Expectations that we have for you know So crappy quarterback with another guy commanding targets then he might get overdraft a little bit still gonna be a top five tight end But you know might get overdraft a little bit I just think the the the upside is worth taking a chance on round two and I shouldn't have glossed over your pick of Sam Laporte around four four, because he could still be an absolute monster, as we saw. He closed the season looking like that guy that we saw as a rookie.
Starting point is 00:27:49 Yeah, I took him at the ninth pick of round four. I liked the pick. I didn't love the pick, but good enough. He's a guy like he's not going to have the catches of the yards, but he is going to score touchdowns and be a solid tight end. That might be my worst pick. That one could be bad.
Starting point is 00:28:08 I kind of went through just, you know, in writing the recap for this, you know, some of the values that I liked, I only got through the first six rounds, but the values that I like and the values I didn't like and Laporta was borderline on the, don't really love it. Yeah. Comparatively to what you started your team with. All right, so we can, why don't really love it. Yeah. And it compared elite to what you started your team with.
Starting point is 00:28:25 All right. So we can, why don't we just go through the first few rounds and see what it looked like here. First round was Chase, Barkley, Bijan, Jefferson, Jameer Gibbs, Amanrao St. Brown. That's your top six. Remember, this is three receivers, full PPR. Chase, Barkley, Bijan, Jefferson, Gibbs, Amanra, St. Brown. Is Gibbs overdrafted there considering he is so much worse.
Starting point is 00:28:54 Still very good, but so not even like should not be a top five pick based on his points per game with David Montgomery. He either should be picked number one overall because David Montgomery is no longer on the Lions and everything's going to fall in Jameer Gibbs' breadbasket, or he should be picked a few spots later because Montgomery will be back in Detroit and they'll be splitting like they did each of the past two seasons. He's still awesome. You should still pencil him in for, I don't know, 17, 18 PPR points per game. I think he was averaging around 18 with Montgomery until Montgomery got hurt. And so if that's the case, he's no question a first-round pick and probably worth starting to eyeball once you get to
Starting point is 00:29:34 6th overall, which is one spot ahead of where he actually went in this draft. There's just some other players, especially in a full PPR format and especially with 3 receivers, guys that have 20 PPR point per game potential that I'd take ahead of them. It's Puka, it's neighbors, those are the types of guys. And then this is what I'm talking about with splitting hairs, trying to figure out, you know, these guys are all great. I'd love to have them all on my team. Well, how do you kind of set an order on those guys? That's one of the things I'm going to look for is who's got the best chance to consistently deliver 20-plus PPR points per game. And I think the receiver is just by nature, compared to a running back who's still going to lose some work to another guy, just make more sense going ahead of Gibbs. It's probably just, you know, how you want to start your team, because he's the next running back that should come off the board.
Starting point is 00:30:23 And so if you're going to go running back with your first pick, this is the spot where you're going to start to see him. So it's, you know, he's, he's a top seven overall pick for me. Uh, he would be seventh, but, uh, he's the, he's the third running back. All right. So then after that top six of chase, Barkley, Bijon, Jefferson, Gibbs, St. Brown. It's McCaffrey seven, H and eight, lamb, Nikua, Bucky Irving sneaking into the first round. And then Jamie had the 12th pick, by the way, Dave took Nikua at 10, then Bucky Irving, then Jamie had the 12th pick.
Starting point is 00:30:56 He went with Malik neighbors and Nico Collins. So he goes wide receiver, wide receiver. Mike Evans is the next pick and then Brian Thomas Jr. So what do we think about team 11 there? He was so distraught after the draft. This is one of our CBS sports HQ, a producer, Jamie and a production staff production staff member, Austin. Um, he was, he was really like down about it when I ran into him later that day. He
Starting point is 00:31:28 was like, I took two bucks. I really shouldn't have done that, should I? And, and I said, it can work out. And there were plenty of games where Bucky broke out. And Mike Evans had some big games too. But I passed on Kyron Williams after taking Puka in round one, specifically because I didn't want to have 2 guys on the same team with my first 2 picks. I even like, the clock's ticking down in the draft room, and I just, I went to just double-check, How often did those 2 guys, Nakua and Cameron Williams, each get over 15 PPR points in the same game? It was 4 games out of like 11 that they played together. It might have been a little bit less, fewer than 11. But I stayed away from it. And I didn't want to double up on, on the Rams, knowing that that's kind of a, it's going to be rare when both of those guys go off. And so that's why I didn't do what Austin did by taking Mike Evans. He should not have taken Evans, A, because
Starting point is 00:32:19 Evans, early round, too, it's just too soon for him. But it also guy on the same team as Bucky Irving, I would have rather had almost any other, literally any other wide receiver, except maybe Tyree Kill for now in that spot. So Brian Thomas Jr., AJ Brown, Drake London. Yeah, they should all be ahead of Mike Evans. All right. So, so after Mike Evans was Brian Thomas Jr., I'm going to say the pick and you tell me if these were good picks in round two. Brian Thomas Jr. Amazing, phenomenal pick. Whoever made that pick is like one of the smartest, most handsome men on the planet. Very handsome. That's Dave's pick.
Starting point is 00:32:56 I was, I was really torn because to have neighbors, Collins and Thomas all staring me in the face in the, in the draft room. I was like, Oh, I'm going to, I'm going to make the wrong choice here. But I went with the two. I had the highest rank. Uh, Derek Henry, fourth pick of round two. It's fine. Yeah, it's fine. It's funny. I don't think any of us want to do it. Right. Like we're all just,
Starting point is 00:33:22 he might've been the pit. Like if, if Austin had taken BTJ instead of Evans, I might've taken Henry there. I might, maybe. What he should have done was taken one of those receivers instead of Irving. No, because then you would've taken Irving. I would not take an Irving. You know, okay. I wonder if he took Irving because he figured, well, a receiver that I really like is going to fall back to me. Yeah, I mean, again, there's nothing wrong with it. I just wouldn't have done it. I wouldn't have taken Irving in the
Starting point is 00:33:50 first round. Okay, after Henry, AJ Brown. Solid pick. Yep. James Cook. Fine. If I'm going to be totally critical, I kind of think you should go a little bit later in round two. But if you really like James Cook, this is totally fine to take him in the middle of round two. Jonathan Taylor.
Starting point is 00:34:12 Same thing as Cook. Should be late round two, maybe even early round three. Just doesn't catch passes. Tyreek Hill. Too soon. I, if he ends up in a situation where he's happy and the quarterback is going to target him 10 times per game, then this is too late. I don't know if that's going to happen. I don't know if he's leaving Miami. Right now. Yeah, I don't know if he's leaving Miami either, but Miami could always try and retailer their offense to appease Tyree Kill, which probably will work out for them if they do. Drake London. Horrible pick. Whoever made this pick is one of
Starting point is 00:34:50 the dumbest, ugliest men walking the face of the earth. You and Dan were fighting over this. And it's funny because Dave, you said you wouldn't even take them in the first three rounds. Yeah, I'm walking that one back. Well, look, I don't want to make too much of week 18. Week 18 was amazing for Drake London. He caught two touchdowns, but he faced the Panthers and he did it without Darno Mooney. But I just feel like London was something like wide receiver 15 per game.
Starting point is 00:35:18 And I just feel like his connection with Penex will be better than his connection with Cousins. Seems like they've started something there. So I went with London. I originally didn't even have him as a top 12 wide receiver. And then I drafted him. I said, Jamie, I got to rewrite my top 12 wide receivers. Right.
Starting point is 00:35:34 Like you and I were on this line of thinking of, well, maybe Drake London's good, but not great. And you know something, especially in full PPR, maybe he can be pretty great. I still feel that way. I don't think he's, you know, I don't think he's going to ever be chased Jefferson Tyree cause I don't know. He's going to be CD lamb, but just top target volume, end zone targets.
Starting point is 00:35:54 I think I could definitely be a second round guy. All right. Brock Bowers we like Trey McBride. We like as the last pick of round two, right in between those, Bruce Hall. That's fine. Yep. This is the range where I'm thinking for Cook and Jonathan Taylor anyway, and Breeze absolutely belongs in this range if not ahead of those guys. Before we go to break and talk about some other picks, I just wanted to say the one pick that really stands out in this draft is AJ Brown with the fifth pick of round two. fifth pick of round two. How much has really changed for AJ Brown? Why shouldn't he still be around one pick? Oh, he's definitely in the conversation. You know, when we talked about the top 12 overall,
Starting point is 00:36:36 you know, for me, it's that group of wide receivers after Puka and St. Brown were, you know, it's neighbors and Nico and Thomas and AJ Brown and CD Lamb and AJ Brown is right there. So I would have taken him over Evans. I would take him over Derek Henry. I would take him over Bucky Irving, for example. So if you have the belief that he's safer than the second year guys now, the neighbors and Thomas, then you have to take him.
Starting point is 00:36:59 If you feel like he's safer than CD Lamb, he should absolutely be in that range. So yeah, he's definitely a first round caliber player, but I would probably put him early second round. Seven point five targets per game this year. Um, when you compare that to other wide receivers that are taken ahead of them and even behind him, that seems a little light. It seems a little low. And so what I would say, what's changed is that other receivers have evolved into high volume pass catchers and those guys are going to be favored over AJ Brown who's awesome, but eight targets per game max. Yeah. Now that is what happened. I mean, Jaylen hurts to stop throwing after their bye. Remember
Starting point is 00:37:41 I talked about it all the time and it certainly hurt AJ Brown. And how much, you know, he battled in the injury early in the season then got a little bit dinged up again throughout the middle of the year you know was he 100% healthy. Okay let's take a break and we'll go through a couple more rounds and go through our teams and by the way I should have mentioned this earlier if you want to see the draft as soon as the story is published I'll put a link in the episode description but also As soon as the story is published, I'll put a link in the episode description, but also you can go to youtube.com slash fantasy football
Starting point is 00:38:08 today and just watch this live stream. And throughout our discussion, we have the draft board up youtube.com slash fantasy football today. Oh, please vote sports podcast group.com. We have less than a week left. Please sports podcast group.com click vote now best fantasy betting and gaming category vote for fantasy football today.
Starting point is 00:38:24 Tell your friends, we'll be right back on FFT. Okay. Let's go to round category. Vote for fantasy football today. Tell your friends. We'll be right back on FFT. Okay, let's go to round three. Same same drill here. Round three and four. You just tell me how these good picks. Kyron Williams. Excellent. Great pick. Lamar Jackson. Means range the quarterbacks are gonna go I think so. Yes, it's fine. A round three pick on Lamar Jackson is totally reasonable. Josh Jacobs. Steel.
Starting point is 00:38:46 Yep. That's who I was hoping to get, but he did not get to me. One pick later, I took Chase Brown. Like it a lot right now. Yeah. He's got first round potential to see what the situation is. He obviously played that that well. Uh, Jayden Daniels as QB too.
Starting point is 00:39:02 If you're going to take Lamar in round three, this is pretty much the same range that Jay Daniels is going to go in. Should not be the second quarterback drafted and was too soon. I agree with that as well. Now was he too soon as in where he went in the draft or too soon because he was QB2? Right. Too soon because he was QB2 and I would probably see him, I'd prefer to see him in round four. Right.
Starting point is 00:39:22 Like Josh Allen should absolutely go ahead of Jay and Daniels and this is where, you you know so what you could say that Josh Allen should have gone here and Jayden Daniels could have gone Anywhere from like one to ten picks later. He wouldn't bat an eyelash All right, so that's Jayden Daniels going with the fifth pick of round three Josh Allen went about a round later Garrett Wilson Little too soon, but this is where he should start to come be convicted. I agree. Especially if wholesale changes across the jets
Starting point is 00:39:52 impact both Rogers and Devante Adams. Well, G-Dub is back to being the number one white out there. Another guy with double digit targets per game. Okay, how about Terry McLaurin next? Solid. Solid, if not a tad too soon. It's going to be tough for him to replicate last year. Here's an interesting one. Chuba Hubbard. Yeah, I felt like this was too soon. I think it's certainly the right spot in terms of the running backs who went ahead of him. He's
Starting point is 00:40:22 behind that group of Kyron and Jacobs and Brown. I like him better than Kamara and Dobbins and Walker. So I have no problem with this. T Higgins. I think he's gonna be close to that group. But I wonder if he'll be the guy that we keep pushing down as other running backs start to stand out. T Higgins. As of now, excellent value.
Starting point is 00:40:47 Agreed. Alvin Kamara. Yeah, Alvin Kamara. What a pick, phenomenal. Handsome. Too soon. Whoever made that Alvin Kamara pick, like just a charitable human being, modest as well.
Starting point is 00:41:00 And yes, probably a little bit too soon. I took him obviously, and I just, I didn't want to miss out on having one quality running back. I'm looking at the draft board, Austin took one running back with his first two picks, Jamie took zero. So I thought for sure that Jamie would take a running back with one of his next two picks. So I just took the guy that I thought was best available. And I thought that that was Kamara who had a good year in PPR without scoring a lot of touchdowns. It's very funny. This is the part of the draft last year where we were saying you got these three running backs, Kamara, Ken Walker and Joe Mixon. And there's still one year later, or four months later, they're still available at this point in the draft.
Starting point is 00:41:45 This is what? 36, 5? Well, Camara's ADP was around 5. Yeah, so he's 34th. Yeah, but Camara I think was moving up a little bit, but all of them were there. Camara is the first to go. So he goes 3.10. J.K. Dobbins is the next pick. I didn't like this one. It's very polarizing. I mean, look, if he comes back as the lead guy, clearly you saw the upside, but it feels like they're going to add somebody else. He's also free agent. So we'll see what they do. And Rashi Rice to Jamie. That's an interesting one. Rashi Rice. Oh, I was just, I liked it. Please let him fall. Please let him fall. Please let him fall. Like he's around to
Starting point is 00:42:23 pick to me. Definitely thought about taking him instead of Camara. If there were a lot of running backs that I liked when, when I was up and around three, Rice would have been my pick. Yeah. See, that's the strategy I like to avoid. Like I'm taking the best player. You still have to, there's still starters. So it was an LCL injury and a hamstring injury. I don't know. I just, I think about Tony Pollard two years ago. I think about Tank Dell this year. These are serious injuries. These guys, I think about Chris Godwin. I don't know how this injury compares, but I do get concerned about it.
Starting point is 00:43:00 Godwin just dislocated his ankle. That wasn't a little- No, no, I'm sorry. The torn ACL from Godwin a few years ago. Oh, in 21. Yeah, sure. Right. Like none of these guys are like, Oh yeah, get these injured guys. And they all disappointed. But those are the only three that come to mind. But obviously that's what we got to think about with Rashid. Right. I mean, Jamie, you tell us how much were you thinking about that injury when you took rice?
Starting point is 00:43:18 I mean, it, it baked into where he's falling. I mean, if he was healthy, this is a guy that averaged 21 PPR points per game in his first three games that he was healthy and was coming off an amazing rookie season. So if he's healthy, and I'm sure the Chiefs are hoping that he's healthy. I mean, you know, they clearly have developed Xavier worthy with what he's done the last three weeks and we'll see what they do with the rest of their receiving core, whether, you know, bringing back Marquise Brown or Hopkins or clearly Travis Kelsey. And we see a complete difference in this offense. I
Starting point is 00:43:47 mean, that my homes looks like my homes again, because they got speed and you know, Ray Rice or Rashi. Rashi Rice is a big part of that, you know, so having him back, I still think he's got the most upside of that receiving core. And I was thrilled to make him my number three receiver on this team. How far behind if at all is he from Nico Collins? If he's totally back, no restrictions, looks like the same old guy. So I would say if we find out that he's 100% training camp, no issues,
Starting point is 00:44:17 looking at the draft board. So he's behind neighbors. He's behind Nico Collins. He's behind Brian Thomas Jr. He's behind AJ Brown and he's behind Brian Thomas Jr., he's behind AJ Brown, and there's Rashi Rice. I think my only issue is if he's 100% back to full health, full go in training camp, it doesn't actually mean he's 100%. That's the trick that's been played on us where these guys, they are fully healthy,
Starting point is 00:44:39 but they're not who they were. Okay. So it's certainly a fair question to ask. Is he going to be back to the form that he had before he got hurt? But I think just in terms of the guys that you brought up, Godwin was an ACL. So a little bit different. I have info on his injury if you want it here. I'm just reading now. So no structural damage to the ACL. It was actually an LCL surgery. It doesn't seem as bad. Go ahead. Well, in terms of you know, just comparing it so Godwin is is
Starting point is 00:45:15 probably comparable if you're talking about just injury risk. Tank Del is a different type of player and Tony Pollard is a different position. So the, the comment that you just put up is probably a little bit more concerning, I think than the injury recovery, which is could he still get suspended while he hasn't had the court case yet, as far as I know. So I don't think the NFL, if they were going to suspend them, we'll not, we'll probably wait until there is some legal ramifications as opposed to just contract detrimental to
Starting point is 00:45:43 bleak. Okay. All right. So that's for she writes last pick around three. We'll go quickly on round four here. Can Walker to Jamie. I was thrilled to have it. Yeah. I felt like it was a little too soon. Yeah, I don't know. Probably the way that Jamie feels about Camara is how I feel about Walker. Yeah. Why didn't you guys take mixing? Cause that I had just forgotten. I missed Mixon. This happens
Starting point is 00:46:09 in these drafts. So we don't have updated rankings or anything. We're using last year's draft rankings. So I don't know why I missed Mixon in my fourth round pick, but I definitely would have taken him ahead of JK Dobbins and Ken Walker. Yeah. Again, I'm just, you know, I guess the ages to me is still going to be there, but you know, it'll be 29 now and it certainly did not finish the season playing the way that he was earlier in the year and how much of that is a byproduct of, you know, father time catching up to him and the concerns that we had early in the year, how much of it was the offense just fall apart? Do they add somebody else? Yeah, I'm most likely out on mixing. So if you were looking at a younger running back, what made you go with Walker over somebody
Starting point is 00:46:49 like Pacheco? And it could be just as simple as the receptions, I don't know. But I think those two will get drafted near each other. I wonder if the offseason is kind to Tyrone Tracy, how far apart will he be from them? Definitely behind them, Tracy, but kind of curious why you didn't want to go in that direction instead of going with Walker. Will he be from them? Definitely behind them, Tracy, but kind of curious why you didn't want to go in that direction instead of going with Walker. Walker went healthy, was a superstar,
Starting point is 00:47:10 and at the beginning of the season, he was an absolute monster. And I think when the offensive line started to fall apart, which is probably why Ryan Grubb is not still employed, I still think he has that potential. So I like the situation for him. I'm still counting on him to be the featured guy there, despite what Charbonne did at the end of the season. The minute that Walker came back, it was his job and he was the featured guy. So I still think he has the upside that I
Starting point is 00:47:33 liked for him going into last year as a breakout candidate in a top 10 running back, top 12 running back. Nothing to me really has changed dramatically for him. He's not at an age range where I'm worried. I still think if they get that offensive line right, he's going to be a star. I'm worried that Charbonneau has shown enough now to where they could split them even more than they have previously. And I mean, everything's up in the air now, because they're going to replace offensive coordinators again, second year in a row that they're doing it. We don't know how the new OC is going to feel about these guys. a row that they're doing it. We don't know how the new OC is going to feel about these guys. But I almost wonder if they're going to be a little nervous about putting too much on Ken Walker's plate after he got off to a great start, and then struggled, maybe because of workload, maybe because of
Starting point is 00:48:15 other things could be the offensive line, but Charbonne definitely showed out when given the opportunity. Yeah, I'm kind of over Ken Walker right now. I mean, you asked, could they bring someone in in Houston? I mean, they've already got someone in Seattle that like Dave said, maybe earns a bigger role. I do think the offensive line is a key there, right? Like just we talked about, we talked about the Seahawks a lot on Beyond the Box score and I watched a lot of Seahawks and, and then you just see it in like the PFF grades and the ESPN offensive line metrics. Their offensive line stunk
Starting point is 00:48:47 and it did no favors for Ken Walker. But I'm just this whole strategy of trying to get an 80 yard touchdown on every play even when you're at the 30. It's driving me crazy. He has so many negative runs or zero yard runs. And I'm sorry, I just don't think the production's been good enough the last two years. All right. So difference of opinion there on Ken Walker,
Starting point is 00:49:11 Lad and McConkey in round four. Loved it. So that was the, I mentioned JSN. Those were the two guys I considered in terms of just punting, running back altogether. And again, you know, starting spots are starting spots, whether you're talking about I got to fill two running back spots, or my third receiver, or my flex spot, they all count the same. To me, that's the type of player that if you want to completely punt on running back would have been a great option,
Starting point is 00:49:39 but both those receivers. As of now, we have no idea. Maybe we can come up with an idea of what the running back landscape will be on draft day come August. In this draft, man, like it just felt like you were grasping at straws. There was going to come a point where you're grasping at straws and running back. And some might say that like as soon as Camaro went off the board, that was the first straw being grasped at. I didn't feel that way. Because I still feel like Pacheco was great value and
Starting point is 00:50:06 Mixon was great value. And then of course, you're like crazy about Joe Mixon. But not crazy about him. He's he went he went in the first pick of round five and 49th overall. You're so crazy about him that you pass on him four times. So I'm thinking I'm thinking that once the dance card is full at running back and we have a better idea of who the the Chuba Hubbard's and Rico Dowdell's and Chase Brown's of 2025 will be, that's when I'll be much more in line with, yeah, just take best
Starting point is 00:50:33 player available early on. And McConkie absolutely is one of those guys who should be a top 40. He should honestly probably be closer to a top 30 pick if things stay the way they are in LA. honestly probably be closer to a top 30 pick if things stay the way they are in LA. All right. So let's go a little faster here. We'll just finish up. Then we'll talk about our teams and other things where, you know, I want to talk about when do the reaches start happening at running back because it still feels pretty good for the most part. Uh, JSN, third pick around. Are we grading picks? Yeah. Just, is it good in round four? Yep. Awesome. And around four. Josh, whoever took that guy. No, don't stop. Unless the coordinator comes in and just, you know, changes everything. Right. But DK Metcalf is a cap casualty candidate. Let's go. The one guy we know
Starting point is 00:51:16 for sure who's going to be around. And the guy who stepped up is here. We're going faster. All right. Here we go. Josh Allen. See, when Josh Allen was born. Say flowers. Little too soon. I agree. Isaiah Pacheco. Good value. Just right, if not too late. No reason at all. I mean, I don't really see why he should.
Starting point is 00:51:38 What's different about Pacheco this year? There's no reason why he couldn't be, he could be a second round pick. Could the Chiefs do what the Seahawks might do. Oh, not with that bum Kareem Hunt. Come on. No, they get a different bum. Maybe.
Starting point is 00:51:51 I could see, I just could see Pacheco ending up in the second round. If the circumstances are right. If he's like the clear cut guy. Uh, even got drafted in our mock Marvin Harrison Jr. It's not a bad flyer as a third receiver for this team. And he was, I think it's a wide receiver 20 or 21 off the board. There's still too much upside to ignore, despite the fact that he had a bad rookie season. Like, you shouldn't write him off because he didn't have a neighbors or Thomas type here. Like,
Starting point is 00:52:24 I don't mind it here. I definitely think it's a good call. It is wide receiver 20. I think we're starting to see a change at the position. Like you have Garrett Wilson, Terry McClure and T Higgins. Then you have Rashid Rice, Lad McConkey, JSN, somewhat question marks. But then you get to Zay Flowers, Marvin Harrison Jr. Our next pick is Jamison Williams. The wide receiver position is changing here as we get to wide receiver 20.
Starting point is 00:52:51 You mean we're dropping off a tier? I think so. Yeah. I agree. So and you're getting to the point where the order could just be anything. Right? I mean, it's personal preference. Yeah, they all kind of look the same once you get to this point. So I'll just read the names and we'll finish up. Jamison Williams, then Sam Laporta, which question will pick by me. Jordan Addison, George Pickens, Jalen Hertz. That's the top 48 right there. All right, let's go through our teams.
Starting point is 00:53:17 We'll just go in order. I had the fourth pick, three receivers. So Justin Jefferson and Drake London were my first two picks. Chase Brown. I wanted to have a great quarterback and a top tier tight end, not necessarily tier one. So I went with Laporta in round four and Joe Burrow in round five. I'll just give you my starting lineup. Okay. Burrow at quarterback, Laporta at tight end. Chase Brown and Aaron Jones was my seventh round pick at running back.
Starting point is 00:53:46 Jefferson, London, DK Metcalf. My flex right now is Jalen McMillan. What? Why? If Godwin's back, I don't know if I like the McMillan. I don't think Godwin will be back. Okay. Well, then I like it. Jalen McMillan at flex. Jerome Ford also an option at flex. And then Romeo Dobbs, I mean, Romeo Dobbs is just a, he's a flex, he's a three receiver league flex. I drafted Zach Moss and Audrick Estime. I drafted Caleb Williams and Adam Thielen. So Burrow, Laporta, Chase Brown, Aaron Jones, Jefferson, Drake London, DK Metcalf,
Starting point is 00:54:19 Jaylin McMillan at flex. I think it's good, I think it's good. And maybe I'd change the Laporta pick. But other than that, I like the fact that I have Joe Burrow in round five. That was maybe my favorite pick. All right. Jamie, you are, Nope, Dave, you are up with team 10. Quarterback was Patrick Mahomes who I got in round seven. You know, I, I didn't really mean to pass on Josh Allen. When I took Jackson Smith and Jigba, we had a couple of moments in our draft where Josh Allen was autopicked. And then someone says, No, no, no, I need more time on the clock. Let me have somebody
Starting point is 00:54:51 else. If I had known that Josh Allen was available with my pick in early Round 4, I would have taken him. But I'm kind of happy with Mahomes in Round 7. I think he'll, I think he'll have a better year this coming year than what we just saw last year, because his receiving corps will not only be faster, but healthier, certainly more experienced in the case of Xavier Worthy. And who knows with that running game? So I'm pretty happy with Mahomes as my quarterback. My running backs were Alvin Kamara in Round 3, Tyrone Tracy in Round 5. You don't care about my bench right now, So I won't get into it, but I've got some decent running backs on the bench. Wide receivers, Puka, BTJ, JSN. And I took Jalen Waddle.
Starting point is 00:55:32 And then that was in the wake of Tyreek Hill saying, I want out, I want out. And it was before we had heard from the dolphins brass about Tyreek Hill. But if Tyreek Hill is traded, Jalen Waddle is not going to be a round for pick. He'll, he'll move up quite a bit because he'll be the guy. And six round six, you took, Oh, is that where I got him around? Round four, round six. Who knows the difference? And then John is my fourth receiver. And then I took John who later.
Starting point is 00:55:56 So a couple of dolphins pass catchers, fingers crossed that two is fine. But I really liked the way that this team came out. I love your team. Cause even if my homes isn't great, I mean, if he's just fine, So he can be better than he was this past year. He barely averaged 20 points per game in six points. He can be better than that, but maybe not anywhere close to 28 plus is what you're hoping for from Lamar, Daniels or Josh Allen. But I mean, I'm getting them four rounds later. I'm very happy with that. His last two games were amazing.
Starting point is 00:56:30 All right, Jamie, you are up. Yeah. Kyler is my quarterback. I got him in around 11. Uh, my running backs as of now would be Ken Walker and Travis ETN, which I thought was pretty good value in round eight, just, you know, with the hope of a new coaching staff, um, getting him back on track. He was a, one of the biggest busts,
Starting point is 00:56:45 but still round eight's pretty good value for him. My receivers are probably the best in the league with neighbors, Collins, Rashi Rice, Chris Godwin would be the flex right now. If not him, it'd be Ricky Pearsall, who's got so much breakout potential. So love that group. And then to get George Kittle in round six,
Starting point is 00:56:59 who points per game was the number one tight end. He may have a little bit of a drop off. I have a very 49ers heavy team, by the way he may have a little bit of a drop off. I have a very 49ers heavy team, by the way. Uh, could we have a little bit of a drop off, but, um, I still think it would be among the top five tight ends, which he has been the majority of his career and then, you know, just going here, RB, you gotta take some shots. So I have both back up 49ers running backs as of now with Isaac Arendo and Jordan Mason and, uh, and Trey Benson, who's going to be
Starting point is 00:57:22 backing up a 30 year old James Connor. So I like the upside of those guys very much. I never get mad during mock drafts. In fact, I make fun of Scott fish for getting mad during mock drafts that he's in. I was fuming when Jamie took Jordan Mason. I was really upset. I really wanted to in round 12. So I, you know, Adam, this is when you can look at me and say, you could have
Starting point is 00:57:44 taken him with any of your first 11 picks. I sure should. I should have. Well, that's our mock draft. There'll be a write-up on when you think the article will be up. Story's done. Just gotta publish it. Okay, cool. So in the meantime, we got some fantasy cops issues. Well, we got one right now to discuss. You ready for the fantasy cops, but on your police caps. It's not even a week into, well, I guess it is a week into 2025 and we have a fantasy cops issue already. Well, it's about, it's about payouts. So, I feel like I read this. I feel like I read this, but I emailed him. I was like, did I read this? He said no. So here we go.
Starting point is 00:58:26 Adam from the best place to live during these cold winter months, which he says is Phoenix, Arizona. Okay. Adam from Phoenix. First off, hopefully everybody's okay in California. Oh yeah, texting with my friend right now is about to evacuate his house. Oh gosh.
Starting point is 00:58:38 So yes, hopefully everyone is okay. It's horrible. I just capped off my greatest fantasy season in 12 years. I won three of four leagues, T Higgins, and all three thanks to your show. Yeah, yeah. I was excited to receive my payout after finally winning an old work league in year four.
Starting point is 00:58:55 I was surprised and disappointed to hear from the commissioner shortly after winning that this year did not have dues. So there would therefore be a free year and we could go back to dues next year. No way. No one was really active on the message board, but in no way was it a dead league. Everyone set rosters and played it out. Here's the background. The league has been going on for four years with a historic buy-in of $30. Typically dues were collected ahead of
Starting point is 00:59:17 time, but in many cases players paid after the season if they forgot. This year a message went out a week before the season asking everyone if they wanted to do the league again, and all 12 players did. Dues were not discussed, so I assumed they remained the same. Again, no one ever mentioned a free year or any changes at all. In no way is this about the money, but rather the principle. I gladly paid my dues the previous three years and have only finished second at best over that time. What say you, fantasy cops? Did it need to be discussed ahead of time or should precedent have been honored? I feel bad asking for a vote at this point as the winner. I will take Heath's preemptive advice and graciously quit the league, retiring on top either
Starting point is 00:59:57 way, but I'd love to hear your thoughts and get some peace of mind. I never hear Heath say anything about doing it graciously. Yeah, this dude's out of luck. There's no way you can retroactively ask for league dues after the league already happened. I don't think he's out of line at all. I mean, if nothing was ever discussed and for years it's been the same buy-in. How could the commissioner all of a sudden say, oh yeah by the way we're doing it for free. Why didn't the commissioner collect fees at any point or bring up fees at any point? Because it's only $30 and he said there's a history of people not. And there's a history of it. They never brought it up before. Well no they have brought it up before. Did the commissioner bring it up at any point in July or August? But did he, did he also bring
Starting point is 01:00:47 it up that they're not paying, playing for anything? No, no, he just never brought it up at all. It had been brought up in the past. People had paid dues, but also, you know, if people had forgot, they paid after. So he probably just felt like, oh, nobody had paid yet, whatever we'll pay. I don't know. I think your league should probably give you like 10 bucks per person or something. I mean, look, I'm never going to tell anybody what to do with their money. This is such a small buy-in. Like, do you really want to ruin the league or the experience of the guy who finally won it for 30 bucks each?
Starting point is 01:01:21 How about 20? Can we do, can we discount it? No, I mean, if that's what it was, that's what it should be. Unless the guy who's running the league said, by the way, this year we're not playing for anything. Do you guys still want to do it? He might as well have said that though, because he didn't talk about the buy-in at any point.
Starting point is 01:01:37 At any point. Jamie, when you send out information about the leagues starting, every year you mention what the buy-in is. I do it with the leagues that I can mesh. What if Jamie didn't? What if he was setting up the FFT league, which I think has a $50 buy-in and he didn't mention it this year? It has no buy-in. It's a membership fee. Go ahead. What if he didn't mention it this year? Would you just assume it's gone or would you just assume
Starting point is 01:02:00 that it's 50? I would probably reach out to him and say, Hey, are you sure there isn't a buy-in for this league? Or did the buy-in change for this league? Someone should have brought it up at some point. You're telling me that no one brought it up, including the winner of the league at any point during the year. It sucks for him. It sucks to win a league and not get anything for it. Unless it's a charitable league, in which case you can feel good about yourself. But it sucks. But I think that the commissioner is probably in the right here. Okay. No, the commissioner is not the commissioner messed up. Commissioner might not be in the right. That might be the wrong thing to say, but the commissioner is appropriate in saying that there is no prize. Is it, is it winner
Starting point is 01:02:42 take all? I don't know, but let me just give his final suggestion. It might as well be with zero dollars left for grabs. No, but I mean, the person who finished second also think that he's getting something from this. That's a good question. All right, let me give one final thought, Adam, from one Adam to another. And you certainly live in a better place than I do in these cold winter months. Play this conversation for your league, because we have Dave who's saying no payout, me who's saying maybe somewhere in between, and Jamie who's saying full payout. Play this conversation for your league,
Starting point is 01:03:13 see what they think. At the very least, they should take you out for dinner or something. Like you've earned something. And you shouldn't have to pay dues next year at the middle. Yeah, there should be something for you. All right, I have a couple of dynasty questions here. This is from Kelly. Kelly has Jamar chase and is looking to rebuild. I'm being
Starting point is 01:03:30 offered Marvin Harrison jr. And the number one pick this year and a 2027 first for Jamar chase and pick 2.5 this year. Would you do it? It's one QB. Yeah. You're getting basically three first round picks last year's first and two first upcoming for Jamar Chase. I think that's fair. Yes. Yeah. Do it. I especially like that the first is in 2027. So the team that you're trading with might be done with their championship run by then. So that first round pick could be an early first round pick. And Anton says, oh, Anton, this is the guy from no country for old men is how he signed it. How much do the Giants retaining Brian Dable impact Tyrone Tracy's dynasty value? Is he a high or a low end RB two in 2025?
Starting point is 01:04:18 We have to see what they do. Because if it's him in Singletary again, then I love it for Tracy. If it's, you know, hey, our run game was good, but it could be better, then it could be awful for him. You know, so they have to find the quarterback. That's the most important thing. I think fixing the middle of the offensive line has got to be huge too, along with clearly the tackle staying healthy.
Starting point is 01:04:37 But there's so much to love about the workload that they gave him in his rookie campaign and what he did on a crappy team. There is no financial benefit to the Giants cutting Devon Singletary and Tyrone Tracy's on a rookie deal. I would think that these are the top two running backs in New York next year. Very good for Tracy. It's very good at tables. It's one of the least of their problems. They got a lot of them. Agreed. That's very well said. All right. Thanks everybody. I am going to finish watching the movie point break, which I think is pretty bad. Uh, but I'll have a full review for you on our next show.
Starting point is 01:05:14 Never seen it before. Uh, okay. But we got that. Of Azers off season movie review. Yeah, this is a lovely off season. Um, okay. Uh, have a good day. Talk to you tomorrow on FFBE.

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