Fantasy Football Today - Rivers, A.J. Green, Combine Reaction and More (03/02 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: March 2, 2020

Philip Rivers seems like he is headed to IND. What does this mean for him, Marlon Mack, Jack Doyle and the rest of the Fantasy relevant players? And we talk about A.J. Green's likely return to CIN (8:35), where we want to see Austin Hooper end up (13:40) and what Jerry Jones thinks about in the shower ... CBSSports.com NFL Draft expert Ryan Wilson hops on to talk about the NFL Combine (25:50). Find out who his Top 5 QBs are, which RBs stood out at the combine, how deep the WR class, what to order when you're out to dinner with your boss and which of us has the worst proposal story ... Some dynasty talk as we answer your emails and get into a brief discussion at the very end of the show about the best pick to have in a rookie draft ... Your emails at [e-mail]. And tweet us questions using #AskFFT. 'Fantasy Football Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox, Bullhorn and wherever else you listen to podcasts. 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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Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Welcome to March, everybody. We're getting closer and closer to the NFL Draft on April 23rd, and we are talking about some of the top prospects today with our man, Brian Wilson, CBSSports.com NFL Draft expert. That's coming up in a little bit. We also have some big-time news. Phillip Rivers, A.J. Green, Austin Hooper.

We'll talk about those guys and what Jerry Jones is thinking about in the shower. Always a hot topic on Fantasy Football today. I'm Adam Azer with Dave Richard, who killed it last week hosting the show. Thank you, Dave. And Jamie Eisenberg is back from a big week at the Combine in Indianapolis. Welcome back, Jamie. How was your week, man? It was awesome.

It was awesome. Getting a chance to talk to a lot of the coaches, a few general managers, a lot of the incoming rookies, the great Ryan Wilson. It's always fun. Yeah, it was a great week. We did a great job on CBS Sports HQ. And if you want to see any of those interviews, I suggest go watch them because we had everybody from Joe Burrow to Otunovailoa, C.D. Lamb, Jerry Judy, J.K. Dobbins, John Taylor, you name the high prospect. Defensive guys, Chase Young, Jeff Okuda, just a ton of guys on our set.

It was a great week. Great week. I'm going to make a bold statement here that is based on not much of anything, but here we go. The Bengals. The Bengals should take Tua Tagovailoa with the first pick in the draft. They should do it.

Wow. Because he's better. He's better than Burrow. If he's healthy, he's better. He's been better his whole life until he got hurt. Come on. He's better.

All right. Let's make a bet. Burrow versus Tua. Ten years. We'll cash it. Next ten years. Okay. All right. Lunch in ten years. You's make a bet. Burrow versus Tua. Ten years. We'll cash it. Next ten years. Okay. All right.

Lunch in ten years. You got it, man. All right. Let's talk about the big news here before we have Ryan Wilson on to talk about the NFL Combine. So there are a bunch of reports about Phillip Rivers. The latest one was that the Redskins plan to pursue him. That was according to Pro Football Network. But there was also a feeling, I guess, that he's going to the Colts.

How confident are you guys that Phillip Rivers is going to be on the Colts next year? It seems very likely. It's a great fit. Bruce Arians was kind of alluding to almost anybody who spoke to him that he would take any of these quarterbacks. He would take Tom Brady, clearly. He would take Rivers. He would take Teddy Bridgewater.

He still wants Jameis. I think Rivers moving to the panhandle of Florida, you start connecting the dots that maybe that's something that's interesting to him, especially for a guy that was, it's a longer travel, but traveling from San Diego to L.A. to play for the Chargers after they moved. But I think the Colts setup, if there is a setup that fits Phillip Rivers the best, that's the one because offensive line is great now that costanzo is back their left tackle uh deciding

not to retire um so the offensive line is arguably the best in the nfl um they're going to think be pretty aggressive um as ryan wilson will tell us when he comes on later you know i was looking at his latest mock draft he has the colts taking justin her, which I don't think is out of the realm of possibility, even if getting Rivers, because Rivers does not have a long tenure left. But I think more likely, if you follow Ryan's thinking, both receivers are available at that point, Jerry Judy and CeeDee Lamb.

If they sign Rivers, you get one of those receivers, you pair them with T.Y. Hilton, Jack Doyle, Paris Campbell, hopefully healthy, and a strong run game as we saw last year, that team could be competitive right away in a division that I think is still wide open. I know the Texans are the best and the Titans were really good last year, but the Colts with the right quarterback situation, whether or not you agree Rivers is that guy, could put them right in the playoffs. And the only thing I would add to that is that Rivers has a history with Frank Reich,

with Nick Sirianni. Those are the two top offensive coaches in Indianapolis. So Rivers probably wouldn't have much of a learning curve there. I would like that fit very much. Still don't know if that makes him a top 15 fantasy quarterback. That's the range, 15. He might get drafted. He might be like your second quarterback in the one-time league.

And a priority number two quarterback in a super flex. If they end up with Lamb or judy with hilton with rivers it's not a bad setup it's true no i think it's so interesting on so many levels when you just look at philip rivers history first of all you cannot i know he had a bad year but he was so much better at least in terms of just the numbers he put up then jacoby reset i mean this is a huge upgrade if they get him this is at the sixth ranked passing team in the league in terms of yards per game the Chargers were. The Colts were 30th. So the passing yards will go up. That's good news. The interceptions are obviously a huge concern. But just looking at the trends, Keenan Allen's been a top 12 wide receiver in PPR

three straight years. The running backs get targeted so much. What would that mean for Marlon Mack? He was actually, I think, the number 23 running back in PPR. If you give him 10 more catches, 100 more yards, and one touchdown receiving, he's the number 18 running back in PPR. I mean, he was kind of not that good for PPR. Half his games were single-digit fantasy points. But what would that do for him? Would it do anything for him?

Would it make Naeem Hines, who had like 50 catches, would it make him viable? The tight ends, we know the history. There are so many levels to work through here, and I specifically want to know what you guys think about the running backs. I mean, does Marlon Mack go from being like a 15 to 20 catch guy, maybe a 35 catch guy? That would be a huge deal for him.

What do you think? Because Ben Gretsch outlined it last week. The Phil Rivers history with throwing to running backs is really extreme. He's a statue, you know, so he's got to get the ball out quick. He's not going to move, you know, so with with any pressure that he'll face, that's one of his easy outlets. We've seen it, you know, whether it was LaDainian Tomlinson or Melvin Gordon, Austin Eckler, that combination, it's it's worked really well for him. So I think so,

you know, 35 catches is probably where I would, you know, put the close to the ceiling just because they will use Naeem Hines in that role. I don't think you want to make the leap of Naeem Hines becoming Austin Eckler. Cause I don't think that's fair. But you know, he can be a, probably a 50 catch guy. You know, just given what his role would be. I think it all comes down to what other playmakers they add, and is Paris Campbell healthy? Those are two big factors, because Campbell barely played last year because of injury, and who knows if he's going to stay healthy for 16 games.

And then is it Judy Lamb, or is it like we could see in the NFL draft, which is a lot of day two, day three wide receivers, we'll talk about this with Ryan, that you can get some great value from one of the second tier wide receivers third tier wide receivers in the nfl draft ended up to the colts on day two or day three and that guy could be probably better than you think dave how are you going to feel about the starting tight end on the colts if phil rivers is their quarterback uh I'll be interested for sure. And it seems like Doyle will be that guy, right?

Yeah, I mean, go get Hunter Henry. Well, that would be amazing. But now we're living in a magical world where the Colts have never-ending money to spend on players. But Rivers won't be expensive though. That's the thing. Compared to other quarterbacks, that's true.

The other factor in this is Jacoby Brissett still on the thing. Compared to other quarterbacks, that's true. The other factor in this is, is Jacoby Brissett still on the roster? Because if he's still on the roster, which seems to be the case, they seem to like Jacoby Brissett a lot. I think they probably like him better as a backup. And so is it a Rivers-Bressett combo, which makes their salary cap situation a little bit tricky, depending on what Rivers gets?

I don't think Rivers is getting the Dak Prescott money or what the Patrick Mahomes money is. Does he get $ 20 million probably the range yeah no i think that's that's fair um you know depending on how the market goes you know brady comes out and gets a 35 million dollar deal you know or the or the raiders offer to rivers could ask for at least 25 right then that changes things a little bit but you know not fully uh knowledgeable in what their colts and what the colts salary cap situation is could they they afford Hunter Henry Phillip Rivers? Probably. Doyle would be a good short area target. Could be good for a bunch

of weeks. He'll be in that 10 to 12 ranking range. I don't think he gets that much higher than that, but yeah, great value on draft. I feel like people will chase upside and so they'll take guys like Fant and maybe Hawkinson ahead of Doyle.

I don't know Hawkinson, but Fant for sure, Gusecki probably, Higby probably. Those are the guys that will be in that conversation with Doyle. I just default to the second-year tight ends when we talk about upside tight ends. All right, Cincinnati plans on using the franchise tag on A.J. Green if they don't sign him to a long-term deal. He missed the entire season with torn ligaments in his ankle. 2018, he played nine games, but really just played eight games. In those first eight games, he was on pace for 90 catches, 1,374 yards,

12 touchdowns. He was looking like a top five to top seven wide receiver in a great year for wide receivers. So, yeah, what's your take on Tua Tagovailoa throwing touchdown passes to A.J. Green in 2020? The Greens in Miami? Okay. Good for the Dolphins.

Washington. What do you think they gave up? Look, I think any quarterback upgrade in Cincinnati would be good for A.J. Green, and I think it could reinvigorate A.J. Green. I don't think Dalton's the problem, though. That's the thing. I mean, Burrow obviously he's younger he's got a probably uh not probably he has a higher ceiling I mean but look AJ Green put up great numbers with Andy

Dalton you know so I don't think this is necessarily better quarterback play the thing that I want to see from AJ Green biggest thing obviously stay healthy second thing is what's he gonna do Zach Taylor's offense you know that's the thing is we saw if Zach Taylor is taking the Sean McVay system and it's going to be multiple guys getting high volume targets like we saw two years ago when Brandon Cooks and Cooper Cup before he got hurt and Robert Woods and those guys were putting up good numbers. Can AJ Green live in that world to the same level with Tyler Boyd, who's a very good wide receiver?

If John Ross stays healthy, a lot of ifs, obviously. But I don't think that and I know this is Heath's concern, Joe Burrow stepping in as a rookie is probably for the first year or the first eight games a downgrade because he has to learn the NFL. And rookie quarterbacks take some time. Sure, sure. While Burrow's ceiling is, again, higher than Andy Dalton's, I think for what we're talking about for A.J. Green,

what does that mean for him right away? There could be a little bit of a stumbling out of the gate. So that's, I think, the thing you have to worry about is because, look, as great as Burrow was in college, 60 touchdowns and, you know, all the yards that he threw for winning the Heisman, winning the national championship, he was an absolute monster. But Kyler Murray struggled a little bit. Baker Mayfield struggled a little bit, took those guys some time, and then you start to see the numbers follow. So, I mean, A.J. Green, I think if he ends up there and plays and he's happy, you're going to get great value because he's going to go in round four, round five. So if he stays for

six, plays for 16 games, he's probably around three or round two player. Well, is he going to play for 16 games? That's the question. But that's the bigger question. That's the biggest question with A.J. Green because everything before that, when we talked about the quarterback, I think it's less of a concern. I think in time, Joe Burrow will be fine,

and his learning curve might not take eight games. It could take three or four games for him to get going. If it's Tua, I think his learning curve could be slightly longer. I don't think it's going to be. I think Adam's just making stuff up. No, it's not. The Redskins should take Tua, though. I'm not sure if I agree with that, but I love what they're doing.

But as for aj green if the offense is going to be like la and they want to spread the ball around it's just going to make it harder for defenses to tilt that coverage consistently toward aj green it's going to make them just that much easier of a target and we've seen burrows accuracy we've seen him play well in crowded pockets i think he's going to make good throws so i'm trying to really block out what happened with aj green last year and and get into considering him a little bit more probably sooner than i would have taken him last year after he had gotten hurt when we were all hoping to get him in round six i think his stock and fantasy

could end up being around four by the time we get to yeah he's not making it around six there's no way no but i'm thinking like a top 50 pick is where he kind of being if he's a good soldier and shows up and doesn't have any issues with sure sure oh i you know that would be the second biggest question then yeah i think i gotta go back and try to figure out how wide receivers have done with rookie quarterbacks um veteran wide receivers young wide receivers and whatnot i mean off the top of my head like this year there were good ones but you know terry mclaurin darius slayton christian kirk yeah but mclaurin mclaurin mclaurin you're projecting over a season because you didn't play the full season with dwayne haskins and you know his numbers were fairly similar i agree with

you but again touchdowns but but but you know we just you can't make the same full season compared like you know you look at the guys in Arizona. Nobody had a great year. No, none of them had top 50 overall player, but none of them are H.A. Green. I'm looking at right now. Darvish Landry was pretty good in the first year. Not great, but he was good in the first year with Baker two years ago. Reggie Wayne had 106 catches, 1,355 yards, five touchdowns in Andrew Luck's rookie year.

Reggie Wayne was 34 years old. He did, however, have 195 targets. His yards per target actually wasn't that great. But for him, a veteran wide receiver, to get paired with the number one overall pick and to have 1,355 yards, five touchdowns on 106 catches at age 34 and coming off a bad year, too. That was pretty good. All right.

Other news items. We'll get to Austin Hooper. Jameis Winston had surgery on a torn meniscus. He was the number four quarterback in fantasy. Led the NFL in passing yards in 2019. We'll see where he is in 2020. But it seems like the Falcons are going to let Austin Hooper test the market. The Bears are going to make a run.

Green Bay is going to make a run at them. So let's do the Hooper-o-meter. I give you a team. You tell me on a scale of 0 to 10 how excited you would be if Austin Hooper ended up there. First team, Atlanta. 10. I was going to say 9. I'm going to stick with 9. That's still pretty excited. Green Bay. Ten. I was going to say nine. I'm going to stick with nine.

That's still pretty excited. Green Bay. Ten. Nine. Which would you prefer, Atlanta or Green Bay? Atlanta. I'll take Green Bay if the Packers don't add another receiver in the first three rounds of the draft,

which I kind of find hard to believe. You think they will or they won't? I think they will. Oh, they're definitely. Well, let's put it this way. They should. Yeah, they are. Okay, so nines and tens for Green Bay and Atlanta. How about Chicago?

Two. Seven. We saw what they did with the free agent tight end two years ago. Really? It was terrible. Yeah, but I think that's a specific case. I just think Trey Burton had some good numbers when he was there for the first half of the

year. He never had good numbers. He never had good numbers? He may not have been consistent there. He had three good games, I think. Pretty sure he had more than three. But I do think Austin Hooper could get used not as well as he would be in Green Bay and in Atlanta, but he'd still be

a top 12 fantasy tight end. Any other teams you want to put on the Hooper-o-meter? No, but you could put him on the Bust-o-meter if he goes to Chicago. We'll have the Bust-o-meter for sure. What about New England? What about Indianapolis? Those two are contingent on the quarterbacks there. What about the Chargers if Hunter Henry leaves?

Again, all contingent on Hunter Henry. Sure, of course. All right, so how about the Cowboys? They might use? I mean, they're all contingent. Sure, of course. All right. So how about the Cowboys? They might use the exclusive franchise tag on Dak Prescott. That's worth about $33 million per year or just $33 million. And that's actually about $6 million more than the non-exclusive tag. But there's also this scenario, guys, with the CBA.

If it's not ratified, you can't use tags on two players? Or if it is ratified? There's a scenario where they can't tag. If it's not ratified, you get the franchise tag and the transition tag, which will help three teams in particular. It would help Dallas because of Dak Prescott and Mark Cooper. It would help Tampa because of Shaq Barrett and Jameis Winston. And it would help Tennessee because of Ryan Tannehill and Derrick Henry.

So if those teams are allowed to tag both those guys, they end up in great shape. If they're only allowed to get the one tag, then you've got to make a tough choice of who you're going to tag. And so it's kind of the writings on the wall. Dallas is most likely keeping Dak Prescott. Tampa is most likely keeping Shaq Barrett. And Tennessee is probably going to end up keeping Ryan Tannehill. Okay, and Jerry Jones won't rule out Des Bryant returning to the team,

and he said he thought about it in the shower. That was an interesting moment of honesty there for Jerry Jones. Yes. Let's never speak of this again. Des has been working out with Patrick Mahomes, and Andy Reid was asked if Mahomes was going to get any surgery on his knee to clean up, and he actually referenced that workout

that Mahomes and Dez have been throwing together. So, Jamie, I wanted to ask you about a few of the conversations you had at the Combine. Sean McVay, you talked to him about the running backs. Yeah, so he, and not me talking to him. It was part of the the um media availability that he had but um he was asked about daryl henderson and you know he said he's excited to see what he's going to do in his second year he said the ankle injury really hindered him they

were going to play him i think it was week 16 against the 49ers maybe week 17 against the 49ers and he said he was going to get a a big opportunity there but we know the story todd girley's um you know a year removed from all the conversations with his need to not look like the same guy. They're not going to move on from Gurley, but was there going to be a little bit more management with him? And one thing McVay, you know, it seemed as if it was like part of his campaign, you know, if you will, with Gurley saying that, you know, the maintenance plan that he was on last year has really been no different than what they've done with him in his entire career.

I find that to be a little bit hard to believe, obviously not knowing what they do with him on a day-to-day situation with practice. But he said they're going to continue to monitor Gurley while trying to increase Daryl Henderson's role. So I don't think we'll be right back in the same scenario where you go, where it's completely avoid Gurley, try and get as much Daryl Henderson as you can, because remember coming off the draft, people people taking him in round six um and he was a first round pick in um in rookie only drafts but i do think there's reason to be optimistic about

henderson going into year two if he could stay healthy and gets more workload in tandem with girly remember jay sternberger quiet rookie year for the packers tight end what's going on with him so this is another scenario of does Austin Hooper, Hunter Henry end up finding their way to Green Bay? If that happens, obviously Sternberger is not going to be a good fantasy option. But as Dave said, which I agree with, I think you're going to see them take a wide receiver. And if they go a little bit more youthful

and give Sternberger a bigger role over Jimmy Graham, who is, I think, slated to earn the most money at the tight end position for the 2020 season. Most likely he'll be a cap casualty. So if Sternberger gets that role with no competition, he's going to be somebody that you do take as a second tight end, not a number one tight end. Maybe if you miss on the position,

you hope that he gets off to a hot start and you stream him, but he's got a lot of sleeper appeal. I mean, obviously like Dave said, second year tight ends is when we see a big jump in in production when role and opportunity increase and when they know the nfl he's not going to be as popular as fan not going to be as popular as hockinson but matt lafleur was talking him up and i think that's encouraging if he does end up as the starting tight end he's another guy that they said similar to what mcveigh said about

henderson they were trying to ramp up his role down the stretch but as we know they were fighting for a buy in the playoffs and a lot to like about what Sternberger could be in this offense. And by ramping up his role, I think he played as many as 44% of the snaps. So he didn't have an every-down, big-time role in Green Bay, but

at Texas A&M, I've said it before, he looked like a man among boys. Definitely had that Gronkowski appeal. And so, yeah, if he can take that step in his in his second offseason he could be very very good that's why I was a little shocked to hear about Green Bay going after Austin Green Bay I think is definitely I I think from looking at LaFleur's you know sort of facial expression trying to read his body language talking about Sternberg they like him I think that's very clear that they like him do they like him to be the lead guy in an Aaron Rodgers offense?

Do they like him to be a developmental player that may be in year three or year four or depending on who they do end up signing, if they do go that route, look, they're winning now. I mean, obviously, their window to win is wide open. Getting to the playoff run that they made and Rodgers being 35, this is their time to win. So what makes them a better contender? Is it Austin Hooper, Hunter Henry, or is it Jay Sternberger? Obviously, it's one of the veteran tight ends. So I think they want to help Aaron Rodgers as much as they can.

And so Hooper or Hunter Henry make more sense. But Sternberger is not a bad fallback option for them. Johnnie Smith for the Titans. He's going into his fourth season. What did Mike Vrabel say about Johnnie Smith? They like him a lot, and that's very obvious. This is a scenario of a guy that what we were talking about with Jack Doyle, I think you've got to put Johnnie Smith in that same range.

Somewhere between probably 8 and 15 in the tight end rankings is where you'll see Johnnie Smith sort of shuffle around this offseason. It's clearly going to be dependent on what happens with Delaney Walker and obviously the quarterback. But if they are able to, let's say, get Tom Brady or they keep Tannehill, you know that those two guys, we saw it from Tannehill, you know what Brady's history is. They're going to use their tight ends. And one thing Vrabel said is he wants John DeSmith on the field. And so I think you saw that with using him as the one big player where he had the carry

out of the backfield. He's not going to replace Derrick Henry if Henry leaves, but somebody who is in a great spot to sort of take that next step in his career. And I think it's going to be really interesting to see what they do. You know those two spots. Delaney Walker, quarterback, could be really important for John DeSmith, but another guy that if you miss on tight end, this is going to be a great fallback option for you in your fantasy draft. I mean, how often do you see a tight end being used on an end around or a creative play where he gets

the ball on a carry? You almost never see that. So that tells you that A, he's got some athleticism and B, the coaching staff realizes it. You know what would be great? Delaney Walker retires and Derrick Henry doesn't re-sign in Tennessee. And it means that the offense opens up just a little bit more and that there's more opportunities for Smith to catch the ball. I'm not thinking about him getting carries, but catching the ball, running routes, being out there, let him hit his potential. He's in his third year or fourth year. I believe this is third year. Right. So he's going into his fourth year. OK, thank you, Adam. This is this is a good time for him to break out. So I agree. He should get

drafted in every single league. Finally, Jamie, let's talk about the 49ers running backs, a fantasy headache for sure. Yeah. What did Kyle Shanahan have to say about the running back depth? This one was, you know, I'm sure 49ers fans are happy to hear this, but obviously fantasy, like you said, fantasy headache, not so much. So we know what their scenario is.

They have Raheem Mostert, who was awesome down the stretch in the playoffs uh tevin coleman i think will still be around and then it's matt breed is a restrictive free agent jerek mckinnon um has yet to play for the 49ers but is you know coming off of injured reserve hopefully healthy and don't forget they have a fifth guy in jeff wilson who they really like so shanahan was asked about his running back depth and here's the quote i there's only thing i brought my notepad in for to get the quote right um he says it's two years in a row that we went in with four backs and we needed all four i used to look at it as a luxury but now i think it's a necessity so highly unlikely all five guys are back um who's gone most likely mckinnon i think that's an easy one for them to move on from. They save a ton of money.

Do they allow Breida to walk? I don't know what they're going to end up putting his tender at if they're going to tender him at all. If he's still there, do they move on from Tevin Coleman, who's still relatively cheap? He's in the final year of his two-year deal that he signed. I would imagine he's probably a very comfort factor for Shanahan

having been with him in Atlanta. It's probably going to be a headache again. I don't think that's going to change very much. It's probably a very comfort factor for Shanahan having been with him in Atlanta. So it's probably going to be a headache again. And I don't think that's going to change very much. It's just a matter of which of the probably four guys remain. Or maybe they get paired down to three, which would be a little bit easier. But if it's four guys, again, you know, we've talked about this a lot. I think Mostert may end up being a little too expensive if he ends up going too soon on draft day, which could make Coleman the better value pick.

Remember, every time Coleman and Mostert have been on the field together, Coleman's still been the starter. So that's something I think that, you know, even though Mostert's been better, you wonder if that's going to change. Well, if you're stressed out about it and you need to talk to somebody about fantasy football, these things are really weighing on you. We're not available 24-7, but our Facebook group is. So please join our Facebook group. We're actually, we pop in there, we have some chats with you, but search for Fantasy Football Today on Facebook, or you can click the link in the episode description.

I will put the link in there, but it's facebook.com slash groups slash fantasyfootballtoday. Just a really good way to talk fantasy, maybe join some leagues, chat FFT with some listeners, and there's a lot of Dynasty talk right now as well. CBS Sports HQ crushed it last week at the Combine. But 24-7 sports streaming. There's gambling talk. There's fantasy talk.

There's everything that you could want on there if you're a sports fan. CBS Sports HQ. Download the CBS Sports HQ app. Watch it on your connected device. And right now you should be listening to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast after you're done with the Fantasy Football Today podcast. Position previews are out. They're published. Today we're going to kind of recap all of our position previews

and finish up the starting pitcher with some late-round picks. It's been hopefully really helpful for our listeners. So if you play fantasy baseball and you need some help, Fantasy Baseball Today podcast, we got you covered. All right, we're going to take a quick break here on Fantasy Football today. When we come back, Ryan Wilson joins us to recap the combine. Whether in the game or in life,

the right coverage can make all the difference. Securian Canada gives you that coverage. For more than 65 years, Securian Canada has been helping Canadians build secure tomorrows. Their insurance solutions are designed to help protect you and your loved ones financially, giving you the peace of mind to focus on what truly matters. And now we are joined by our CBSSports.com NFL draft expert, nicest guy in the industry,

Ryan Wilson. You should follow him on Twitter. I recently did at Ryan Wilson, CBS and Ryan had the pleasure of hanging out with Jamie all week at the combine in Indianapolis. Welcome to the show, Ryan. How was your week with Jamie?

Pretty good. Actually. There's some things that didn't go so well and we can talk a little bit for 99% of Jamie's is, is very good. Less so with Frisco. Well, like I said at the start of the show, I want to be Ryan Wilson's agent. There's nobody who's got more of a meteoric rise in the draft world. He's been a great NFL analyst for years, but his stock is definitely on the rise. Like I said, if you want to get the best NFL draft coverage, Ryan Wilson is the person to follow, unlike Adam Azer. So what Ryan is referring to, the 1%. So we were out to dinner one night. I think it was first night, right, Ryan? We were there? First night for me, second night for you. And a friend of ours may or may not be getting engaged soon, maybe proposing to his

girlfriend. We'll leave that person nameless. And so we were just talking about proposals and things like that. And I'm going to ask, so you guys think, Dave and Adam, you guys think about your proposals. So Ryan was sitting next to this person and he was across from me. And I was just like, Ryan, how did you... And I had no clue about what was going to come out of his mouth, which you're about to hear. But I said, Ryan, how did you propose to no clue about what was going to come out of his mouth which you're about to hear but i said ryan what was uh how did you propose to your wife and ryan you marry what 19 years yeah i said i said ryan what how did you propose to your wife and it was as if i unlocked the worst memory from a human being he goes oh my god i can't believe i'm about to tell the story so take it away ryan tell Ryan. Tell your proposal story.

Yes, you guys will very easily believe this. Once Jamie finds out that you're telling that story 25 times over the next five days. So, yes, I'm telling the story, and Jamie asked, and this is how I go. Jamie's very disarming, so if you're not paying attention, like Jamie being sincere and Jamie being sarcastic with plans to hurt you are the same Jamie in the first five seconds of the conversation. So it's like, yeah, so what's your story? And I had not thought about my engagement story in 17 years. And you'll understand why very shortly. So I start five or six words in. I'm like, oh, my God, I can't I can't stop now because Jamie will know something of it. I'll make it worse. So I lived in Pittsburgh.

My wife, she was a teacher. She went to bed earlier than I did because she got up earlier Can't stop now because Jamie will know something of it. I'll make it worse. So I lived in Pittsburgh with my wife. She was a teacher. She went to bed earlier than I did because she got up earlier than I did. So she had gone to bed, and I had already called her parents to ask them if I could have their daughter's hand in marriage. And, you know, they like me, so it's fine. But here's how romantic I am. I went to the grocery store and didn't make these things. I went to the grocery store and bought a sheet

of brownies. Store bought. Got some icing, piped, will you marry me across the brownies and closed up the old box, put it on the counter and went to bed. And I went to the next morning and that was how she was left.

By the worst man she got was how she was by the words. God. And I was better, much more embarrassing for me that I would have rather told than that story. So I spent the rest of the week recounting that story to any any maniac that had to. That was it was with an earshot. I'll give Brady Quinn credit. He said, yeah, that's that's interesting. What I would do is we would like meet random people whether somebody ryan knows or somebody i knows and i literally two seconds into meeting these people hey so uh how'd you propose to your wife and and they look at me like

what okay well i'm glad you asked and ryan ryan would do the same preamble to the story every time of, yeah, Jamie's so disarming and I don't want to tell a story. It was honestly – it was fun for the first couple of days until we moved on to the next thing, which we could talk about at the end of the interview. About what's the right tact to do when you go out to dinner with somebody who's paying for you, your boss per se. So you guys can think about that as well. But how did you propose your wife? I got down on one knee at the beach and asked her if she'd marry me. Adam? Oh, I had an elaborate night of deception.

She knew it was coming because, you know, I didn't want to pick out the ring because I knew I'd screw that up. So she picked everything out. She knew I was going to propose. And I know she likes the melting pot a lot. So we went to the melting pot and she thought I was going to propose. And I know she likes the melting pot a lot. So we went to the melting pot and she thought I was going to propose there. And she said something like, is the ring going to be like in the fondue or something? I was like, oh, they're taking forever to get the ring made or whatever. I threw up.

And then we got home, went upstairs. And then there was like, I think there were flowers on the bed and there was a ring in the middle of the bed. And apparently I said, this is happening. And she just started cracking up. Yeah. Yeah. I get made fun of for that all the time. This is happening. And then we had brownies later because that's just what people do when they get engaged, right? What about you, Jamie?

My proposal story was pretty bad, too. I proposed on the boardwalk at Disney World. I took her out for dinner, one of her favorite places, and then we walked around and just found a little gazebo area and I proposed on the boardwalk at Disney World. I took her out for dinner, one of her favorite places, and then we walked around and just found a little gazebo area and I proposed it. Nice. With brownies. Very nice. All right, so Ryan Wilson, if the Bengals are asking Joe Burrow to marry them,

he's going to say yes at this point, right? Yeah, that's what he said during his press conference in Indianapolis. He told us as much when we spoke with him, and that's his plan. He actually seemed sort of surprised that this even became a story. So yeah, if he gets drafted number one, he's going to Cincinnati. And I talk about these quarterbacks in this draft class. A lot of them need to be in good fits like Jordan Love or Justin Herbert. They need to go to the right place, Indianapolis or New Orleans. I think Joe Burrow is one of the few guys who could go anywhere and make that team better pretty early on in his career. He doesn't need a lot of prep time, given the way we saw him play last year at

LSU. So I think Cincinnati, Joe Burrow, it's happening. I don't even know what the draft package would have to be for the Bengals to not be interested in Joe Burrow. But I think come April 23rd, that is, Joe Burrow will be officially a member of the Bengals. Ryan, you're very much Burrow, too, but I think three and four is interesting for you because after what we've seen at the Combine, and I know you've been on Jordan Love very heavily prior to the Combine, but he moved ahead of Justin Herbert for you, and I think that may be the case for a lot of people, right? Yeah, so my latest mock draft came out Monday Monday and this is the first time I think that I can remember I do one every week that I had him going ahead of Justin Herbert so he's going number six to the uh Chargers and then

number 13 because there were no trades in this mock draft I had um Justin Herbert going to to the to the Colts so um here's the thing and I sort of touched on it with a previous answer I like Jordan Love athletically a little better, but I think above the neck, he could potentially be a lot better than Justin Herbert. And that's my fear with Justin Herbert. He grew up in Oregon, Eugene. He never left. I don't know what kind of adversity he's experienced on the football field beyond what he's seen. I was talking to someone. He didn't go to any of the sort of the passing camps that these high school kids go to. So I don't know what his worldview is inside the world of football.

And, you know, I'm not worried about it, but that's something that gives you pause. Jordan Love, we know, has faced adversity. He played with virtually no one in 2019 at Utah State, and his numbers showed it. He didn't play very well at all. But he's a really good player athletically, and the 2018 season stands out. And I tell this story a lot, but Jamie and I talked to Darwin Thompson at the Super Bowl, and he explained the new coach, new offensive line, new playmakers are all the reasons why Jordan Love struggled.

And Jordan Love told me he felt like he was trying to do too much, and it looked like it. But again, so if he goes to New Orleans, for example, and sits for a year, that is a match made in heaven. I mean, if he goes to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, there could be some issues to have to work out, as we saw with Jameis Lentz. So I think the fit is incredibly important,

but I think long-term he has a chance to be better than Justin Herbert. And I feel like the fit's going to be important with Herbert, too, because with him it feels like everything needs to be perfect. He needs to have a good offensive line. He needs to have receivers that can make plays after the catch. I know he's got accuracy when he's got time, but I didn't like it when he was trying to press the issue late in games. He didn't look like he was a very competent quarterback then.

And I think love going through what he went through last year. I think that actually helps him. I think that actually helps him become a better impromptu type quarterback where things break down. He's got to make a play and he can make it. And we saw it at the Senior Bowl, Ryan. Jordan Love played well there. He didn't play well in the game.

He barely played in the game. But I thought in the practices he was making some money throws. No, you're exactly right, Dave. I'm right there with you. By the way, quick aside to the Senior Bowl, one of my favorite moments. Dave was quite popular there with the fantasy football crap. But either the first or second guy we met referred to him as Mr. Richard, so the rest of the week,

I just called him. Yes. Right. My whole family is from France. Richard. I have to make it Richard for the podcast. So I sound, sound cooler.

Not as, not as Frenchy. I think Justin Herbert is just a tick behind Jordan Love who had, who had a good week. Who's fifth? It's got to be Jacob Eason, right? Yeah, it's going to be Jacob Eason, I feel like. People are trying to still sell me on Jake Fromm,

who is incredibly smart, and I get all that, but his arm strength is an issue, his athleticism inside the pocket is an issue, and his deep ball accuracy is an issue. If those things don't bother you, then by all means. He's got tiny hands. But Jacob Eason, I wish both he and Fromm had gone back to school for a year, but for different reasons.

Jacob Eason had to take a year off when he transferred from Georgia because he couldn't beat out Jake Fromm. Went to Washington. The first half of the season in 2019 in Washington, he was great. He was really, really good. Sort of struggled down the stretch. Once the protection broke down, he started being errant with his his throws but he is on short and intermediate throws really accurate which is something you don't always see with guys with strong arms but yeah right now he'd be number

five i don't think i would take him in the first round because he definitely has to sit for a year but if he went the second round that wouldn't shock me at all right and how was your conversation with the running backs during the combine did you get a chance to talk to him quite a bit yeah i said earlier that in the show that 99% of the time Jamie was okay. It's 98% of the time because 1% was the wedding story. The other 1%, I had to use the bathroom and got off set. And I came back in plenty of time to still talk to the running backs. Jamie refused to get out of my seat, stayed there for 30 minutes,

talked to all five running backs. And he is now the new draft guy. That was a joke for me. Yep. You go too. somebody else goes one um okay so jamie who's the best running back in this draft class then um first off i was supposed to be on the set with ryan to talk to the running backs that's the way it was supposed to go so that's uh whoever did not get out of ryan's seat was um what was the culprit there uh i mean ryan could tell you i think john Jonathan Taylor, you know,

certainly impressed the most. And there was, you know, I think a fun conversation, maybe going into the combine of Swift, Taylor, Taylor, Swift, no pun intended, you know, Dobbins. Oh, pun intended. Absolutely. Now Adam's back in the conversation because we said Taylor Swift. Yeah, Taylor Swift.

All right. You know, you know, Dobbins obviously is going to be in there zach moss is in that conversation you know i i don't know how ryan came out of the combine ranking them but uh you know it's hard not to be impressed with obviously jonathan taylor and the way that he ran you know not that it was a surprise being a track guy but uh he was he was impressive you know in talking to him um you know the the one i think concern you may have with you have with a lot of guys when they get a lot of work in college is, you know, what's the tread on the tire? And he said, you know, check my track record. I never miss practice.

You know, I didn't miss any time in the games. He feels like he's a durable kid. And I think he's now ascended to not just the number one running back in the class. And Ryan, you can certainly address this better than I can. But I think he's the 101 in dynasty drafts, you know, the rookie dynasty drafts. You know, unless you're going to go receiver, if you're taking a running back first, you know, it's going to be between him, Judy, and Lamb.

Obviously, Fitz is going to be important for all these guys, but I think the top running back for rookie-only drafts right now is Jonathan Taylor. Yeah, I like Jonathan Taylor a lot. I do want to see, I think DeAndre Swift, he actually ran really well, as also DeAndre Swift did, and he catches the ball a little better than Jonathan Taylor. I think Jonathan Taylor, his first two years, 2017, 2018, had just eight receptions each of those years. I think he had 26 last year. So there was an effort to get him more involved. But I do want to ask you, Jamie, because I wasn't there for Clyde Edwards-Hilaire either, but he's a guy that people liked a lot

after the combine, but also as the course of the season went on, he became more and more popular uh and i think you tweeted out that he he had a really good conversation with you guys he was fantastic uh you know the the theme for this week uh well i guess we have a lot of themes ryan but um the the theme from the football perspective is the term fire in the belly uh that is a pete prisco ism um for you know there are a lot of ways you could take this. It's a lot about desire and showing heart and fight and all those type of things that kind of sum up an older guy like Pete Prisco. But I asked him because, I mean, look, like we just talked about, I might have been off the air, but Ryan's latest mock,

there's no running backs in the first round. And you can see maybe one or two. Ryan, how many do you think it most would go in the first round? Maybe three tops? Shocker. I think over under one and a half. So I asked

Clyde Edwards-Hilaire, who's most likely not going to be a first round pick. Maybe the second round pick could be a third round pick. If you don't go in the first round, what's that going to be like for you? And he told the story about how he didn't start at lsu and that led a match in him and he said if uh 32 teams want to light another match in me they're going to be really upset when they face me on a week two week basis because i'm a prove it type of player and i'm going to prove it to them that they made a mistake in in not taking me and so he's obviously not very big there was uh he was list of players to work out at a different position.

I don't think he did, but he was requested to. And I think he's going to be one of those guys. He's clearly small, but he's a good pass catcher, as we saw during his time at LSU. And I think he's going to be one of these guys that ends up not to the same level, so don't make the comparison fantasy-wise, but how it took Miles Sanders some time and Devin Singletary some time, and eventually these guys became very relevant fantasy options.

And on the right team, if he's in the right role, I think he's going to end up being one of these guys. So once you get past, at least for me, and you guys can sort of take it your own direction, but I think Taylor Swift, Dobbins, and for me, Cam Akers. I think Akers, actually, I'd probably put him third right now. But those four are the potential

difference makers. And then you got Zach Moss and the kid from Vandy and Edward Talaire. I like CEH the next best just based on what I think he could do as a receiver. I was stunned that he ran a 4.640 because you watch him play, and he's just... He's game-sipping all over the place.

Game speed over 40 speed. And you talked about the catches for Taylor and for Swift. He had 55 grabs last year at LSU. Really good fit for their offense. What I'm scared of is that he ends up following Joe Brady to Carolina, and now the Panthers' backup running back is going to be Edwards-Alaire, and they use him to spell Christian McCaffrey a little bit more, that would scare me.

That would not make me love McCaffrey. Yeah, I mean, they obviously need some depth at that position. Right, there could be good depth for them. They need so many other things. You wonder if that's not necessarily a priority of where most likely Edwards-Alaire has to go. If he's a third-round pick, I think there's a chance that that could happen. But, you know, you want Edwards-Alaire to go somewhere

where he can be used kind of like McCaffrey. Yep. Not, all right, he'll be used kind of like mcafree yep not all right he'll be used i know your point yeah as a pass catcher just as much as a running back but not getting 20 touches right you don't want to see him end up being darren sproles you know or boston scott or that type of guy you want to see him a little bit more of a featured opportunity but i don't know if that'll necessarily be the case he's going to be part of a tandem somewhere but hopefully it's a successful tandem that he's getting close to 50 percent of the touches.

Ryan, I want to ask you about J.K. Dobbins. I know he had the ankle injury, so we didn't see a lot from him in the combine. He's my personal favorite running back. I guess I have to do a little bit more evaluation, but I just love what I saw from him. When I watched him, I couldn't believe that there were other running backs that were ranked ahead of him in all these draft

rankings. And we have him third on CBS. So Dobbins from Ohio State ran for 2,000 yards. He also caught about 25 passes per season in his three seasons, which is pretty good for a college running back. And I don't know, maybe he's just a product of a great offense and it was set up beautifully for him. But he just reminds me of Ezekiel Elliott, to be honest. So where is he right now, and how does someone who didn't participate in the combine look right now compared to all these other guys who have some type of buzz? It's funny, Azar.

When I do, on a rare occasion, have a running back go in the first round, I usually have him go into the Chiefs because I think it would be funny, but it's also almost always J.K. Dobbins because for the same reasons as you, I like J.K. Dobbins a lot. He runs low to the ground. He's a one-cut-and-go guy. Almost all these guys, other than Edwards, DeLair, and Swift,

have to get better as pass catchers. But that's typically the case with a lot of these running backs coming out. He is younger, so there's that going for him. And you mentioned the ankle injury. I don't think at the end of the day anyone cares about whether he participates in the combine because he'll show up at his pro day in the private workouts, and these scouts and GMs and coaches will get exactly what they want out of him. So I don't think it affects him so much in the short term.

Or once the draft rolls around, he feels like a second-round pick, just like almost all of these guys. And maybe one of them sneaks into the first round, and that's certainly a possibility. I mean, Josh Jacobs made it to the late 20s last year for the Raiders, and that was a good pick given what they needed. and no one thought that was an overreaction. And it's fair to say that the top three or four or five guys that we've been talking about here are in the Josh Jacobs category. Also worth noting, Josh Jacobs ran a 4.6 something. So running backs running 4.6s aren't a huge concern, but I am with Dave, with Mr. Richard, that the

fact that Edwards, a layer, ran a 4.6, where a layer ran, of course, given his play speed seems shocking. But I don't think that'll affect what NFL teams think either. So let's go to wide receiver because there's so much talk about this position, how deep it is. And did that play out at the combine? Did it impress observers, you know, the way that the buzz was leading into the combine? Yeah, I mean, the number one conversation was what is Henry Ruggs going to run? And he told us he was going to break the four, two, two record.

He didn't break it. He ran four, two, seven. And it's weird to think that people were actually disappointed watching him run a four, two, seven.

So he's, he's the first round guy, but he is going to be probably the third wide receiver off the board. As we sit here right now, behind Jerry, Judy and or CD lamb, depending on which one you like best. Judy ran a little better than Lamb, but I think Lamb's athleticism,

even though I think he ran a 4.5, 4.51, and his vert wasn't necessarily incredible by what we saw with the other wide receivers, but his athleticism, his ability to sort of contort his body in the air and make catches, we even saw that during the combine drills. You just can't forget that. The only issue with C.D. Lamb is that he played in the Big 12. He didn't face a lot of press man coverage, a lot of off coverage,

and you have to figure out how does that translate for you as an NFL team. I think my latest mock, I had him going to Denver. Is that right? I had him going to one of the teams in the top 15 picks. Oh, no, I had him going to the Cowboys of 17. So, I mean, that's even better for Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott, which you just mentioned. Another guy to watch and sort of under the radar,

and Dave and I saw him at the Senior Bowl, is Denzel Mims. I think he ran a 4.38. He was dominating people at the Senior Bowl. He's 6'3". He clearly runs very well. He's physical, high point catcher, all those things. I don't know how that relates to fantasy. He's still a little raw and he has work to do,

but he could be a third-round guy, maybe even a second-round guy, and get some opportunities. He feels sort of like a Miles Boykin to fantasy. He's still a little raw and he has work to do, but he could be a third round guy, maybe even a second round guy and get some opportunities. He feels sort of like a Miles Boykin to me in terms of the raw athleticism. He went to Baltimore, obviously, and didn't have great numbers, but he has a chance to be a really good player down the stretch. I'm optimistic in Mims. We've seen the film shows that he's developed as he's been at Baylor. He's a three year starter at Baylor, and he continued to develop as he's been at Baylor. He's a three-year starter at Baylor. And he continued to develop as he was at the Senior Bowl, Ryan. He was running better routes and starting to use his speed to break away from defenders. He had a hard time doing that in his last year at Baylor.

But in the year before, he was doing that. If he can continue to add to his technique and use his acceleration a little bit more, because it felt like in 2019 he was running at one speed which was a good speed just one speed I think he can be a pretty decent receiver and I compared him to Devante Adams when Adams came out had all types of skill all types of potential but it took him three years to really get the opportunity and really show what he could do and I think that that's just what Mims needs to be. So I think he's like a top 15 pick in rookie-only drafts. Not sure if I'm ready to draft him in a seasonal league with a late-round pick,

but I do think he's got some exciting potential. Jamie, which wide receiver stood out to you? I mean, I was really more disappointed with a couple of things. One, the Vance Everson foot injury. I actually was walking with him down the street at one point during Indy, and it was the day before the news came out. It didn't seem like there was a problem, but obviously a stress fracture. Something showed up on the MRI.

The other one was Jalen Rager and the fact that he ran slower than – I don't remember what he ran, but I know we were talking about him. Like in the high 4.5s maybe? I think so, but he was supposed to be not in the conversation with Ruggs, but a burner, and it was a little bit disappointing to see him not get to that 4.4 level. So I was more disappointed in those two guys, but Justin Jefferson, the fact that he ran what he did,

for a guy that had 100 catches and 18 touchdowns last year at LSU, clearly a product of playing in that great offense and showed that he could play he did. For a guy that had 100 catches and 18 touchdowns last year at LSU, clearly a product of playing in that great offense and showed that he could play in the slot. He's somebody that's certainly interesting as well. I'm excited to see where he's going to end up and play on the next level. 447 for Rager was the official time. His first run was slow.

Ryan, do you think we have superstar potential in this class? Yeah, absolutely. And Jamie hit on my guy, Justin Jefferson, who I love. I love him coming in. My concern was, is he going to run fast? Because there was some chatter that he might not. 6'1", 202, or his height and weight, that is perfect.

He's a slot guy primarily. And I asked him, I said, okay, the whole, you don't face a lot of press man coverage out of the slot. You always get a free release. What do you tell teams when they ask you about that? He said, it's not going to be a problem. My first few years I played outside and had no trouble beating press man. And, yeah, the fact that he ran that 4-4-3, I think is what it was,

is hugely impressive. Jamie mentioned Jalen Rager. And I was shocked, too, that he ran a 4-4-7 because the chatter was 4-3 something or whatever. But I sort of compare him to Deontay Johnson, the third-round pick of the Steelers last year, who ran a 4-5-7 because the chatter was 4-3 something or whatever. But I sort of compare him to Deontay Johnson, the third-round pick of the Steelers last year, who ran a 4-5-3. And he didn't look slow at all at any point during his rookie season. And I think that Jalen Rager has that type of potential. He's a returner as well. And one other guy, Adam, Brandon Ayuk, Pete Prisco's got Arizona

State, only ran a 4-5. I think he's injured. He was sort of banged up at the Senior Bowl. He didn't work out there. He is much faster than that when you watch him play. He's also a return guy, but he's a big guy. He's one of these athletic guys who can come in right away and just get you yards after the catch. He was a yak monster. The fact that he didn't run well concerned me,

but I think if he gets healthy, and I'm not convinced he's 100% healthy, then that will certainly change that 40 time. Adam, one thing we talked a gets healthy, and I'm not convinced he's 100% healthy, then that will certainly change that 40 time. Adam, one thing we talked a lot about, and I'm sure you'll see this reflected in Ryan's mocks as he branches them out round by round. We're going to see a lot because this class is so deep, and I know this is important to you because you talk about first-round wide receivers and how they typically perform from the NFL draft. This class is so deep that you're going to see probably something similar to the 2019

wide receivers where A.J. Brown and D.K. Metcalf and Terry McLaurin and some of these guys ended up in great spots, had big seasons. Deebo Samuel had big seasons. Not necessarily the same thing like Nikhil Harry and Marquise Brown. Because this class is so deep, you're going to see teams take other position needs and still end up round two, round three, round four, getting higher grade wide receivers because they'll get pushed down a little bit because there's so much talent in this draft class.

So don't necessarily get scared off once we get to April and you see these wide receivers maybe falling in mocks or certainly in the NFL draft and they fall to pass round one and say, oh, maybe there's something wrong with them. Maybe there's a problem with their talent or their opportunity. I think it's going to be a big situation for these guys. Even though they may be frustrated not being first round picks, they can still be very talented. And the 2019 class certainly proved that.

And the tight ends, we're not going to have the same conversation about the tight ends right now. Ryan does not have a tight end going in the first round. Can we just skip over them for fantasy for 2020? Certainly not in Dynasty, but do you think we're going to have an impact fantasy tight end, Ryan, in this rookie class? Well, if Noah Fant and the kid out of Iowa that went to Hawkinson, if they didn't have impacts, I think it's going to be really hard for them. I mean, Cole Komet is the kid that came out of Notre Dame. I think he was 6'6", when it was all said and done. And the first thing I said to him, I said, hey, don't you throw 90 miles an hour?

And he said, whoa, whoa, whoa, I throw 95 miles an hour. My follow-up was, why are you playing football? He said he's from a football family. So he has a fallback plan. But I don't think he'll be first-round pick or have an immediate impact. Adam Troutman's a small school guy out of Dayton, who was a fun story, the senior bowl. He ran pretty slow. Look, I'm not worried about a tight end running a 4.75.

I think Hoxton ran in the 4.7s. Noah Fant was a burner. But again, I think it's more about getting acclimated to the NFL and playing, in Adam Troutman's case, going from FCS to the NFL and the time it takes to make that transition. So there are no sort of A-list first-round picks. Hunter Bryan out of Washington played with Jacob Eason, but he gained

a lot of weight for this combine to be bigger. I think he came in at 248. He ran a 474. He's a much faster guy than that. He sort of reminds me of Evan Ingram, but he's got to lose some weight, which typically is what will happen now that the combine's over. We'll see if he gets faster, but again, these guys feel like day two guys is where that conversation starts with the tight ends.

Adam, this is going to be interesting more for Dynasty than for seasonal with these tight ends. And you think about it, there's two pretty big pieces in free agency that are going to shape that position. You know, where Hunter Henry ends up and where Austin Hooper ends up. You know, if Green Bay does not get one of those two guys, Jay Sternberger becomes very intriguing like we talked about. You're going to get a scenario in new england if they're going to you know be aggressive obviously we know what that offense likes to do with that position and so

there's going to be some free agent moves that dictate some of the the draft scenarios uh maybe eric ebron as well you know just depending on if the team falls in love with him after what he did two years ago so this is more dynasty you know because similar to fan hawkinson like ryan alluded to we could be looking at 2021 as uh bryant or troutman or you know clement as guys that could be really important fantasy options but not necessarily in their rookies can i give a sleeper someone that i noticed a year ago that's out now we'll call him albert o i'll take a stab at saying his name. I think it's Oak Wu A. Bunam. But I remember watching Drew Locke film

last year and he stood out. And now here he is. He's got an opportunity to play. He has at least six touchdowns every year in three years at Mizzou. Pretty athletic move tight end. He ran a 4-4-9-40. That's rare. So that's somebody that I'm going to target with my mid-round picks in our Dynasty League draft.

And Thaddeus Moss. Don't steal him. Thaddeus Moss is interesting. Didn't run at the combine because of another foot injury. Obviously the pedigree is there. Randy Moss' kid. Not huge numbers at LSU, but good enough in a crowded offense. Depending on where he ends up, that's another move tight end too. He's small

though. That's my problem. Yes, Dave. I was trying to figure out how to pronounce Albert Ok okwe ibn am's last name and it turns out it means evil cannot bring us down so that's he's got that going for him nice that's what ryan says to me all the time together yeah especially when jamie orders the kobe steak at the company dinner and everybody else is getting like chicken sandwiches right so um so so what's what's the the approach there so um we went out to dinner a couple times with uh with one of our supervisors i don't i don't know if we need to label him anything other than that but one of our supervisors and um uh based on our company company policy he's supposed to pick up the tab so there are a lot of nice steakhouses in indy and we were at one in particular

and so one of our coworkers, I don't know, was it the most expensive thing on the menu, Ryan, or it was pretty close to it, right? Yeah, I think it was number two. Okay, so it was a steak that he ordered, and it was close to $100. And so we were giving him a hard time afterwards that he went on the high end of things, obviously, for what he did.

So, Adam, you said you had a story about this. Then you went out to dinner with one of your bosses one time? Yeah. I mean, it's not a great story. But I was actually in Indianapolis. It was the Final Four. So it was like 2009, 10, something like that. It was Butler versus Duke that year.

Amazing game. And I think it was the night before the the championship game we all went out to dinner it was like a company it was like 10 of us or so and i actually asked my boss because i was pretty young i was like 25 something like that um i didn't feel all that comfortable getting something too expensive i said yeah what can i get here said get anything you want and so i did get the kobe steak and it was like 80 bucks or something like that, which back then that's like a hundred bucks now. And it was really good. It's the only time I ever had a Kobe steak and, um, because I didn't pay for it. So that was the only reason why I got it.

It was delicious. So I think you have to ask permission if you're going to go something that high ends, which I did and I dominated it. It was great. I don't think most people ask permission. Dave, what's your approach? Get what you want. Don't go crazy. Be respectful of the situation, and thank your host at the end. Ryan wanted dessert like it was everywhere we went that somebody else was paying. It was amazing.

He's like, do you have brownies? I would never do that. Thank you for sharing your personal stories with us. Much appreciated. Thank you. I was happy to do it, let me tell you. Honestly, like I said before, I'm going to say it again. Ryan is the best at what he does.

You know, you could talk about Kuyper, McShay, Dane Brugler. They're all amazing. Ryan is right in that category. And, you know, if you want to get great knowledge from the mock draft experience, from NFL draft analysis, read his stuff. Follow him on Twitter, unlike our host. You will enjoy everything that Ryan puts out. He is fantastic at what he does, and he's just killing it right now for the draft process.

Go get some rest, Ryan. You've got a busy two months coming up. Thank you, guys. All right, at Ryan Wilson CBS. Thank you for joining us. Are you going to finish our show? I think so. He follows me, CBS. Thank you for joining us. Are you going to finish our show? I think so. He follows me, so I may as well follow him.

We'll finish our show with some emails, fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. All right, first email comes from Sean. Where's Sean from, Dave? Sean's from Portland, Oregon. Okay. Would love to hear what you and your peers think A.J. Green would be with a new quarterback and a better offensive line. Is A.J. Green ahead of Amari Cooper and Juju, or is he top 15?

And then a follow-up, should I keep A.J. Green in the sixth round or Mark Andrews in the first round and have PPR? I would keep Green over Andrews based on those prices. We talked about this already, and there's going to be concerned about the offensive line in Cincinnati, but it's better than people think. Right? Yeah.

Yeah. Jonah Williams healthy is going to be big. They're going to get another guy in the draft. I'm sure. Look better, better quarterback play. And again, you know,

you could debate Dalton now versus Burrow and what his upside could be. Right. But that team looked a lot better in the second half of the season with the way they ran the ball. You put A.J. Green out there, that's going to make things a lot better for the entire offense. And so there's a lot to like about this Bengals. This is a team to buy stock in,

not necessarily to be a playoff contender right away, but this is a team that could be competitive much more so than they were last year, obviously. But specifically the question was, is A.J. Green ahead of Amari Cooper or Juju Smith-Schuster or top 15? I don't think so. I mean, maybe ahead of Cooper if Cooper ends up in just a terrible situation with free agency. But it's hard to see that happening. So I think A.J. Green, at least for me, probably highest he'll get is somewhere around 18.

20 is probably end up where he'll live if he's on board, as we talked about, healthy and happy with his contract. Can't say the exact same thing for me, but there are – I mean, if he just has an outstanding training camp and there's tons of buzz about Burrow, he'll get closer to 15 than 20. The Bengals were 5-3 before A.J. Green's injury. They have won three games in a year and a half since. This is from Bob in St. Louis.

He says it is the best baseball city in America. I say, look, it's great if you only have one team, but in New York we have two teams. Just like our pizza, it's the best. What about Chicago? Chicago is great, but New York has better pizza and better baseball. I don't know about the pizza part. Do they have better baseball?

They do. Yes, they have better baseball. Right now? 100%. They've got – Yes. I mean, listen, the Yankees are the Yankees. Do the Mets count?

No. Right? No. The Mets are good. What about Los Angeles? The Bay Area. I think the Yankees and the Mets will combine for more wins than the Dodgers and the Angels. Oh, let's make that bet.

All right. Ten years from now, Jamie. No. Over the next ten years. This year. This year. Okay. I think that's a good bet, actually.

Yes. I think that's a good bet. That'll be close. Are the Yankees healthy, by the way? I think I've heard that. They don't need to be healthy. They missed several. Severino missed the whole year.

Judge got hurt last year. They won over 100 games. All right. Question is, he's in a competitive fantasy football league where IDPs get a lot of points, and so do DSTs. The Patriots' DST was only outscored by McCaffrey and Lamar. He gives you a scoring two points for a tackle, five points for an interception or a sack for IDP. When would you start prioritizing IDPs?

I would start chasing the stud IDPs in round six. Fair. Okay. Ryan from Charlotte. Don't drop luke eagle keepers yeah i'm keeping dj more with a seventh round pick pick two of these players but they cannot be in the same round okay okay hopkins or cook in the first round evans or mixin in the second round chris carson in the third round so you need to pick two of them but they can't Cook in the first round, Evans or Mixon in the second round, Chris Carson in the third round. So you need to pick two of them, but they can't be in the same round. Hopkins or Cook in the first, Evans or Mixon in the second, Chris Carson in the third. What's the scoring?

Don't know. I'm going with Cook and Mixon. I don't care what the scoring is. If it's PPR, I would go Hopkins and Mixon. If it's non-PPR, I would go Cook and Mixon. If it's half PPR, I would go Hopkins and Mixon. If it's non-PPR, I would go Cook and Mixon. If it's half PPR, I'd go Cook and Mixon. I'm surprised that you're not going Cook and Evans. I don't know who the quarterback is.

And I think I know what Mixon is going to be. I'm bullish on Mixon. Same, yeah. Mixon's going to be awesome. I think he's a first-round pick. Here's an interesting one. Josh from a suburb west of Minneapolis, Dave. Fargo.

Would you send pick 205, fifth pick of round two, for Preston Williams in a 12-team PPR Dynasty League? No chance in that. Oh, my God. No. No. I don't know if I would do it if half the receivers that are available in this year's draft weren't there. He may be awesome.

He really might. Preston Williams? Yes. He might be awesome. But I think you take the potential upside of what you can get there right now. If it was 305, it's a different conversation. Mistake-prone wide receiver with a bad knee versus a fresh young receiver. To me, there's no comparison.

It doesn't even have to be a receiver. One more email. Second pick in round five. Fifth pick in round two. Right, right. One more email here. Ross O'Shea from the sailing capital of the world. I wonder if he's related to Rick O'Shea.

Tempe, Arizona, the sailing capital of the world. 12-team startup PPR Superflex Dynasty League. All right. It's going to start with the 2020 NFL season. We will be doing a veteran draft first, then a 2020 rookie class draft after the upcoming NFL draft. Kickers will not be used in the league, but our rookie draft order will be determined based on the order in which we each draft a kicker during the veteran draft. With that being the case, would you purposefully

draft a kicker early and sacrifice some value with the veteran picks to secure an early rookie pick? Or would you focus on getting quality veterans in the earlier middle rounds of the veteran draft and settle for a later pick in the rookie draft by drafting a kicker late? This is where Heath Cummings' dynasty trade chart comes in.

I'd take the third kicker. That makes sense. If you can handle that, what if you're at one of the ends and after you pick, two kickers get taken? Sure, you're probably not going to get there. You might want to take a kicker sooner. But Heath has a value for all of the rookie picks right now. And I see where you're coming from with getting the third pick

because then you're guaranteed one of the top three running backs. No, you're guaranteed Judy, Lamb, or Taylor if you want one of those three guys. And if you feel the same way about Judy, Lamb, Taylor, Swift, Robbins, and Ruggs, that's six, so you can get one of those first six picks and you'll be okay. Judy and Lamb are most likely going to be the first two players taken because receivers should go ahead of running backs. There's more longevity. It's just the nature of how fantasy should be played.

Yep. But one of those running backs will certainly go there. I just think you guarantee yourself if you want one of the top two receivers or one of the top running backs, you'd take at least three. Okay. You are bringing up something that needs to be discussed tomorrow because I'm going to make a case for taking a later pick in the rookie draft based on recent history with wide receivers,

based on how deep the wide receiver class is. It seems like there could be a lot of really good first-round picks, so we're going to end that today and discuss it tomorrow. The thing about that, though, Elsa, is that if you end up with the late first-round pick, it's not Snake. Correct. All right, we'll talk about late first-round pick, it's not Snake. Correct. All right. We'll talk about it tomorrow.

In ours, it usually is. Yeah, it's true. And I hate that, by the way. But we'll talk about that. I won't be there, so you guys can let it go and have fun. Farada and Elsa, I'm Adam. We'll talk to you tomorrow.