Fantasy Football Today - 🚨 Rob Gronkowski Retires! Is Brady Still Top 10? Evans Top 5? (06/21 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: June 21, 2022

Rob Gronkowski is retiring, but does this change anything in our rankings? How did Tom Brady perform last season when both Gronk and Antonio Brown were out? And how high is Russell Gage going to move in the rankings? Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Bonus Pod, first one in a long time. Welcome to Fantasy Football Today. Reacting to Rob Gronkowski. It's hiring. He is hanging it up, at least for now. Adam Schefter tweeting that Drew Rosenhaus, Gronk's agent,

wouldn't be surprised if he came back at some point during the season or even next season. But right now, we can't draft rob gronkowski can we uh no unless you know we just had a draft 10 minutes ago and he did that was 20 minutes ago before we saw the breaking news. Yeah. Don't draft him, but also I'm not... In a shallow dynasty league, I'd drop him, but in a deeper dynasty league, I'm not dropping him. Okay, let's talk about it. First at quarterback, then running back,

then wide receiver, then tight end for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So Tom Brady wasn't in your top five. Where was he now? Where will he be once you digest this Gronkowski retirement news? I don't think I'm going to move him. I was the low guy on him. I think I had him an eight.

You know, unless Godwin is out for, you know, significant portion of the season, I think he'll still be fine with the three receivers that he has and whatever Cameron Braid or what they do at tight end will, will offer. But I mean, it's a loss, but it's still Brady in this offense and I think he'll still be okay. Yeah.

I wasn't projecting the Buccaneers with Rob Gronkowski, so I'm not going to move them. Really? But it's just, they're so thin now, you know, I mean, I mean,

tenuous here relative to what they were last year sure but they have mike evans chris godwin russell gage is a very good number three wide receiver yeah and robin kowski only had 623 yards in 16 games in 2020 he did catch seven touchdowns but you know brady had a fine season in 2020 wasn't great't great at the start, but it finished pretty strong. Of course, he had Antonio Brown for half that season as well. There were three games that Tom Brady played last year without Brown and without Gronkowski.

And in those three games, he scored 32 points against the Bears, 33 points at the Saints, and 17 points in that weird loss at Washington. But two of the three games, Tom Brady was a total stud. So it's still a top eight quarterback for Jamie and Heath.

Let's go to Leonard. Isn't it weird that we've spent a lot of time talking this offseason about the guys who have left their respective teams, and then we look at those quarterbacks and what they've done without those guys? Rodgers without Adams, Mahomes without Tyreek Hill, now Brady without Gronk. And it just seems like it doesn't matter. It just shows you how great those guys are.

Yeah. Well, we'll find out. Small sample size is obvious. It is. I always go back to, this is not the same, obviously, but I always go back to the Jordy Nelson year when he tore his ACL.

It was terrible for Aaron Rodgers. And, you know, I guess you probably look at Drew Brees without Michael Thomas that last year. But anyway, anyway, let's go to Leonard Fournette. Does he change? Does he move up or down in the rankings? Second round pick right now, Leonard Fournette.

No. I'm not changing anybody as a result of this except for Cameron Bray. Maybe gauge a little bit, but that's it. It makes me feel a little better about Evans as a top 12 wide receiver. If Godwin's, if Godwin's ready week one, that's really about the only change that I would have.

And I'm not drafting Gronk anymore. He's such a, just probably going to come back and play again. He's such an end zone target though. That's got to, that's got to matter, right? He's such a touchdown guy.

I mean, so is Evans. Yeah. I don't, does it hurt Brady? does it help godwin does it help gauge it hurts brady's ceiling you know so when you start to you know debate him versus the other quarterbacks you know for me there's seven guys i don't know where you have me if i think i remember dave had him at at at five um you. When you start to look at the, okay, why this guy over this guy? Why would I justify taking this quarterback? I think this obviously is a knock against him, clearly, but he's still going to challenge for 5,000 yards.

You mentioned 600 yards two years ago. What did he have last year, Crow? He had 802 yards in only 12 games. He went from 39 yards per game to 67 yards per game. So you have the numbers that if Russ, let's just say all three receivers, all three top receivers play the majority of 17 games. They only had Antonio Brown for five games last year.

Is that it? Wow. Seven games, whatever it was. It was a very small amount of games that Antonio Brown for five games last year. Was that it? Wow. Seven games, whatever it was. It was a very small amount of games that Antonio Brown played. And so if Gage plays 17 games, he probably gives you over the course of a season what Gronk and

Antonio Brown give you in the sample that they have or close to it. All right. So what are you going to do with Cameron Brait then since he's the whole reason for the bonus spot apparently. It's the Cameron Brait then, since he's the whole reason for the bonus pod, apparently? It's the Cameron Brait episode. Well, I think Gage is a winner here, you know, because now you have two things in his favor.

You have Godwin injured and no Gronk. And so, you know, I think Gage now creeps into, you know, for me, he was at the top of the wide receiver four range. Now I think he creeps into the wide receiver three range because you have one guy potentially not going to be there, and then the other guy potentially not going to be there, and then the other guy potentially not going to be there to start the season. Brake, for

me, is still a number two tight end. I don't think he becomes a starter, but he's in the guys I would consider drafting if I draft two. He's at the back end of that. Yeah, I don't think I'm going to have him be a tight end top 20, probably. Let me ask you, Russell Gage, or how many rookie wide receivers, I don't think I'm going to have the Tampa Bay tight end top 20, probably. All right, so let me

ask you, Russell Gage, or how many rookie-wide receivers, I guess, would you take ahead of Russell Gage at this point? None. Wow. Probably four. If Godwin's ready to go for week one, Jamie, do you change your mind on that?

No. Okay. I mean, my top rookie receiver is Drake mind on that? No. Okay. I mean, my top rookie receiver was Drake London, or is Drake London, and he's like 35. How about Elijah Moore or Russell Gage? Gage. Moore.

How about Gabriel Davis? Davis. David. Davis. Look. Davis. Okay. All right. So, look, some bonus pods are hot fire.

Some of them are just, you know, we'll get some information out for you. That's fine. We don't need hot takes on everyone. Not a huge reaction, I guess, to the Gronk retirement. Well, what's the percentage you think he comes back middle of the season? Even if it's 100%, it's still going to affect the way I view everybody on the box. So you were going in like yesterday, you were drafting Tom Brady as if Gronk was playing.

Yes. Okay. I think that's why I don't have the reaction because I was not. Okay. You know, I just look with Brady. There's two starters from the offensive line gone. There's no Gronk.

There's no Antonio Brown. We don't know. I mean, we could say Godwin's ready for week one. Is he going to be as good as he was? I don't know. And he may not be ready for week one. And you've got no more Bruce Arians, so perhaps a more conservative approach, perhaps. I think there's a lot working against him.

And I feel like if everything is fine, then Brady's going to have a huge season. If one receiver gets hurt, Evans gets hurt a lot. He misses time or plays hurt. I don't know. It just seems like he could be more like, you have him QB8, he could be that. He just may not have the same upside.

All right, so for me, the guys I have behind him, I know you're a big Burrow guy, you're taking Burrow or Brady at this point? I mean, it's so dependent on Chris Godwin, it's really hard to answer that question.

Godwin ready week one, who are you taking? Brady. Godwin ready week four? Burrow. Godwin ready week three? I'm going to say, I'm going to say Burrow. If Godwin's not ready week one,

then I'm going to have questions about how healthy is he really going to be when he comes back? Are they going to push the timeline? That does happen sometimes. You're in the majority, by the way, because Burrow's ADP is ahead of Brady's already. But that's right. But I'm not there yet.

But yeah. I do think that. All right. Well, look, it's not my show. Anyway, let's. It's it's it's fair. I mean, Heath, you're not a borough guy, but I don't know who you have after Brady.

Russell Wilson or Brady now? Yeah, I'm still probably going to be Brady unless Godwin's starting up. If Godwin's active week one, it'll be Brady. I'm going to end this fun. Thank you guys for hopping on for this bonus pod. Really do appreciate that time.

And thank you all for watching. We're going to sit here and stare at each other for another minute. A minute and 14 seconds. Yeah. We're out of here. We'll talk to you tomorrow. Gabe will be on the show, so we'll get his reaction. We'll talk about the top five running backs in fantasy.

See you later, everybody. Have a good one.