Fantasy Football Today - Robert Turbin on Seahawks RBs, Derrick Henry and More (06/28 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: June 28, 2023

Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Former NFL running back and Super Bowl champion Robert Turbin is our guest today to talk about a variety of Fantasy Football topics! As a former Seahawks RB, what is his take on that backfield (2:15)? Does he have concerns about Derrick Henry's age (7:05)? What are his concerns about Jonathan Taylor (15:00) and who would be his Top 5 Fantasy RBs (16:00)? ... Robert provides a list of his sleepers and breakouts beginning with Travis Etienne (19:15). He'll also make the case for Bengals tight end Irv Smith (23:30) and Panthers wide receiver D.J. Chark (28:05). And find out which Broncos RB he likes better this season (32:30) as Robert shares his own experience recovering from a torn ACL. Finally, we talk about Cowboys rookie Deuce Vaughn (41:30) and Tony Pollard ... We finish with a round of random questions for Robert (45:30). He was a teammate of both Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson, so we'll get his thoughts on those two guys. He warns us not to count out Wilson! And finally, he tells us what to expect from fellow Utah State alum Jordan Love and we even touch on the basketball skills of former NFL QB Josh McCown ... Email us at [e-mail] Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Well, we've got a special edition of Fantasy Football today for you here. You know, we talk about running backs all the time. We might as well talk to running backs from time to time. So today, a Super Bowl champion running back joining us on FFT. Ladies and gentlemen, Dave Richard. Thank you. Thank you for noticing and understanding my accomplishments in the National Football League. I take pleasure in holding the record for lowest yards per carry average in NFL history

at negative 26.5. I appreciate that. It's great to be here, Adam. Yes. The blow the whistle scene from Little Giants is based on Dave Richard, in fact. But we are actually joined by Robert Turbin, who played running back for the Seahawks, for the Browns, and the Cowboys, and the Colts. 2013 Super Bowl champion with Seattle, and actually led the Colts in 2016 with eight

total touchdowns, playing with Frank Gore on those teams. He's played with some legends, Marshawn Lynch, Frank Gore, Andrew Luck, Russell Wilson, and many more. And it's his first time here on FFT. Robert Turbin, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me, fellas. That is quite the stat there, Dave. Minus 26. Yikes.

Yeah. That's a pretty good indication of why your career was such short-lived. Yeah, yeah. Only two carries. It didn't go very well and uh got got laughed out of the league did make it in the pizza eating semi-final championship though so i never got home and i'm a wheel of fortune champion i'm proud to say a wheel of fortune champion the host i wanted to be the host but they went with someone that was a little less attractive i understand how that goes it You know, show business.

Sometimes it's about who you know, Dave. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it is. It's so true. All right, so, Robert, we're going to talk to you about not just running backs today, but some players you like and players that you think maybe we should avoid for fantasy purposes. But we'll talk, you know, general football and fantasy football here. You know, we have to ask you about the Seahawks backfield.

All right. You played for Pete Carroll. You played behind a workhorse in Marshawn Lynch. And then Ken Walker comes in, has a great rookie season. And now they draft Zach Charbonnet in the second round. How do you see that backfield looking this year? Well, it's going to be Ken Walker's opportunity to be the man, to kind of be the workhorse, the bell cow per se in the back

field. I think he's going to get majority of the carries. Zach is going to be a great spell for Ken, but Ken's going to have every opportunity to show and prove that he can be the back down after down. I think Zach, where he's going to be able to bring value is particularly on third downs, being able to understand and recognize protections and pass protections and being able to catch the ball out of the backfield and make some plays on third downs. But I think that's where he's going to bring the most value. But Ken is going to have every opportunity to prove that he's a three-down back.

So one of the issues that fantasy managers kind of are grappling with when it comes to Kenneth Walker is that he if he's not going to be a three down back fine he can we've seen running backs play great in fantasy without playing on third downs those are obvious passing downs or usually they're passing downs and I don't think there's any issue by saying that Charbonnet might be a better pass catcher than Walker right now. Where fantasy managers might have some concern is when they're in short yardage and goal line. And that could be an area. And listen, you've succeeded in that role, Robert.

Kenneth Walker did not succeed in that role last year. There were times where his vision was spotty. There were some times where the offensive line didn't help him out. I believe he had 10 carries inside the five and only scored on two of them. Charbonnet was pretty good at it at UCLA. And if Charbonnet can prove to be good at it in the NFL, maybe he proves it in training camp and in the preseason. I think that hurts that upside for Kenneth Walker. So I'm with you on the yardage part, but you tell me how many touchdowns could we be talking about here for Walker in 2023? For the season? Yeah. I think you're looking at about

10 touchdowns for Kenneth Walker for the season. I think that's a realistic goal and opportunity for him to be able to succeed. And why do I say that? Because the opportunities for him are going to be up. He's going to have more opportunity to run the ball and be able to have more opportunity to score. Throughout his career so far, he's had to split time, whether it was Rashad Penny, whoever it was then. Obviously, when Rashad Penny went down, he kind of became the guy, but he was still in some ways splitting carries with the other guys who were in the backfield. Now, it's going to be different. Like the backfield in a lot of ways belongs to him, but I agree with you on the short yardage situations, goal line. That won't be his deal unless he can prove it,

but he hasn't proved it yet. And that's where Zach Charbonnet comes in. Now I don't see Ken Walker as like a priority choice in your fantasy draft, but you'll probably be getting good value with him if you're able to get him later. Right. So I wouldn't take Kenneth Walker in the same range where I would take Derrick Henry or Nick Chubb or any of those other guys. I think we're looking at after that, and I think he's got the upside for those 10 touchdowns that you're talking about.

You spent some time with Pete Carroll. Does he not mind using rookies in high leverage situations like short yardage goal line? Not at all. No, he doesn't care. Yeah, no, he doesn't care what rookie, 10-year vet. If you can play, you can play. And he wants to challenge guys in situational moments, especially if you're a young guy. He wants to bring it out of you. If it's in you,

he wants to bring it out of you. How do you bring it out of somebody? Well, you got to put them in those situations. And so he doesn't care where you were drafted, when you were drafted, and how many years you've been playing in the league. You know, if he feels like there's an opportunity out there that you can take advantage of, he's going to give you that opportunity to do it. You know, let's keep in mind that Ken Walker, he's still a growing player, right? I mean, he's still like a young guy who still has things to learn and he's still

growing. This is going to be his first opportunity to be the full-time starter from day one. So, you know, there's still some question marks per se on what we're going to get from him, but it's a hell of an opportunity to be in because you know you're going to get a lot of chances to go out there and succeed. And it helps that he's young, Adam, 22 years old. That's it. Yeah. Well, on the other side of that, let's talk about Derrick Henry here, who's 29 years old and is actually going to be 30 in January before the regular season even ends. I mean, at the very, very tail end. And we just don't see

running backs have success at this age very often, but we also, Robert, we don't see running backs like Derek Henry. So he is a bit of a conundrum based on his fantasy success. He should probably be a top eight pick at the worst. He's more like the 24th pick somewhere around there right now based on early drafts. Do you worry about Derrick Henry's age? Because I think that's probably maybe one of the only things that fantasy managers are worried about. I'm only slightly concerned, not a lot. And I'm only slightly concerned because I don't necessarily believe in the direction that the Tennessee Titans are going in right now. And for fantasy owners, that could be detrimental to individual players. But in Derrick Henry's case, it's not like the Titans have put themselves in a position or they've positioned themselves to have a guy on their roster that is going to be the replacement for Derrick

Henry. Like a lot of times you see when guys are towards the end of their tenure per se with a team is because the backup is, he's getting a lot more reps than he used to. We don't really see that with the Tennessee Titans. And so because of that, I still think he's going to be a top performer in fantasy because he's going to get the ball. If he's going to get the ball, he's going to succeed because he's Derrick Henry. He's proven it time and time again.

And so yeah, 29, he's getting older, but I still think he'll be as productive as he's ever been. This might be a difficult question for you because you weren't on this Seahawks team, but one of the guys I would compare Derrick Henry to would be Marshawn Lynch. This might be a difficult question for you because you weren't on this Seahawks team, but one of the guys I would compare Derek Henry to would be Marshawn Lynch, who at age 28 was amazing. 1,300 yards, 13 touchdowns, and you were on that team with him. Then the next year, you were not on Seattle,

but that was his last great year, that year I just referenced. 2015, he turned 29, and he only played seven games. He averaged 3.8 yards per carry. Then he would sit out a whole year and kind of revive his career a little bit later with Raiders, but never really get back to what he was. Can you compare the two? Did Marshawn just break down at age 28 or 29, I guess, because he had so much work and long Super Bowl runs,

two straight years. Is that what happened with Marshawn? Well, he had the injury the one year he only played seven games, right? I believe it was like an oblique or something like that that kind of kept him out. And then he had already been debating retirement for a couple of years, even prior to those 28-year-old, 29-year-old seasons. And I think for me, in my experience, any athlete that is debating retirement is sort of losing an edge a little bit. The hunger is sort of dissipating a little bit. You don't see that from Derek. You still see the workout videos, him running the hills and doing all these crazy stuff.

All right. With him preparing for the season. But here's one way that I'll compare the two backs. And I'll even use like a guy like Maurice Jones Drew in this scenario as well. When these guys came into the league, Marshawn, he shared time early in his career with, I believe, Fred Jackson when he was in Buffalo. It was like a one-two punch kind of thing. Maurice Jones drew, same thing with Fred Taylor. And, you know, Derrick Henry really didn't even play much his rookie year, but even when he did first start

playing, he was sharing time. My point is these guys didn't become the bell cow guys until like years three or four of their career. What that does is it actually provides longevity for you as a bat. So when you are the guy carrying the ball 250, 300 plus times a year, you actually aren't breaking down as much as you would see like a Zeke Elliott who had to do all that stuff early. Jonathan Taylor, who had to do all of it early. You see these guys break down much quicker because quite frankly, even as a 21, 22 year old, your body as a running back, isn't quite developed enough yet to be able to take on that kind of punishment. Right. But if you share some time with guys in the beginning, then after a little while, you put these guys in a situation, be able to,

you know, carry the ball more in a season, it provides longevity for them. And so I think that's where there's similarity between Marshawn and Derrick Henry. Why they're still playing at the top of their game at later ages is because they didn't have to do that much early. So then the flip side of that, Robert, I'm just going to tell you how many touches Derrick Henry's had over his past four seasons. In 2019, it was 321 touches. And that feels like a lot. I only played running back two times in the NFL,

and I lost 53 yards apparently when I played. You played a lot more than me. 321 seems like a lot of carries. This is regular season. I'm not even including postseason. 2020, 397 touches. 2021,season. 2020, 397 touches. 2021, in eight games, 237 touches. Henry had the foot issue.

He was done for the rest of the regular season. Eight games. Last year. Right, right, right. That was crazy. That's almost 30 touches a game. Last year, 382 touches in 16 games. 349 of them were carries.

So over the last four years, well over a thousand, we're probably looking at close to 1200 touches. That seems like a lot. And that also makes me feel like a player at his age could be ripe for a breakdown, possibly similar to what we saw two years ago when he broke his foot. But I would think that those types of breakdowns would be more muscular and ligament related rather than fractures of bones well he's taking care of his body really well that's and you know i think that like i said it's really important to note that early in his career he wasn't carrying the ball 300 times right right and so that didn't happen until 2019 yeah Yeah. And so the fact that he's able to do it over the last, I mean, essentially he's had his career started in 2019, essentially.

Right. Okay. That's why he's able to carry the ball as many times as he has over the last three or four seasons. And I think that's why his body won't break down as quickly as we may expect because he's on his way to 30 here pretty soon. He'll be 29. Right. So for fantasy owners, he's still a priority pick because he's still playing at the top of his game. He's still healthy and he's going to get the ball. He's going to get the. But there's nobody else on that team.

There's nobody else. It's true. Upcoming player. That's cool and everything, but Ryan Tannehill is your quarterback. No disrespect to him, but he ain't great. Okay. So Henry is going to get the ball, which means he's going to provide you points week after week, as long as he stays healthy. And last thing on that, and we'll talk about this tomorrow

or on Wednesday's show when we discuss the top five running backs, which he's not in the consensus rankings, but he's been... Yeah, well, it's... Okay, it's McCaffrey, Eckler, Barkley, Jonathan Taylor are the consensus top four. And then I don't think he's number five.

I think Nick Chubb and Tony Pollard might be ahead of him. I got to take Jonathan Taylor out of there. What about Bijan Robinson? Oh, Bijan. I totally forgot about Bijan. Yeah, so it's McCaffrey, Eckler, Bijan, Barkley, Taylor is the top five. Now, you just said, I can't skip over this.

You said it a little bit earlier talking about breaking down. You just said you got to take Jonathan Taylor out of there. I got to take Taylor out of there, man. Why? He was RB1 two years ago what why two years ago yeah that was rb1 they've overused they've overutilized him already jonathan taylor is going to me become he now he's lucky he's got anthony regerson as his quarterback now but i think you're gonna see a repeat of Zeke Elliott.

Already? He's used them way too much, way too early. Wow. But Zeke has so many. He's going to break down much quicker. He had so many great years, though. This is only, this will be year four for Taylor. I mean, I feel like he still has plenty of room left, you know? If he finally has.

He has plenty of room. I mean, he could still, you know, I'm not saying, I mean, he's going to do some great things in the league, but, you know, I wouldn't classify him as a top five, you know, guy on my fantasy, you know, board as far as running backs and roster is concerned. I think we have to get your top five off the top of your head. What do you feel about that? Right now? Well, you got to go with Bijan because he's going to get the rock. You got to go with CMC for sure.

Dynamic. So, yeah, it was Barkley, Eckler, Tony Pollard, Josh Jacobs, Nick Chubb, Derrick Henry. You got to go with Eckler, even though I'm a little bit concerned about Eckler, but they did end up restructuring his contract. So I think that'll, you know, elevate his game in some ways. And the Chargers as well is a team that they're not really prepared for another back. It's not like they have his replacement ready to go.

Isaiah Spiller didn't really show anything yet so far in his career. So Eckler, number three. And, you know, it's hard to leave Nick Chubb out of anything just because he's just a model of consistency. You know, he may not do, you know, have all the flashy plays and things like that, but he's going to be there. He's going to be available every week. And those are the kind of guys I like on my fantasy team.

Well, you only got one spot left. You better put Derrick Henry in there over Barkley and Jacobs. It's tough, right? It's real tough. It is tough. It is tough. But I am going to go with Derrick Henry at number five over Barkley. I thought about even Jameer Gibbs, who I think is going

to get the ball a lot. Let's go. But I'm going to go with King Henry. All right. All right. So B. John, in no particular order, B. John, McCaffrey, Eckler, Chilwell, Derek Henry. All right. That's Robert Sherwin's top five. Now, if you want some awesome things to bid on to benefit an amazing cause, please go to tinyurl.com slash FFT donate. That will take you to our eBay store. It's all going to St. Jude. You can get pre-draft phone calls, Zoom calls, really, with Dave, with Jamie, with Heath, you can, and me, and Chris, and more. So go to tinyurl.com slash FFToday. We're going to be right back with some sleepers

and some breakouts and some busts from Robert Turbin. Did you know that across Ontario, utility damage happens 19 times a day? That's over 4,222 incidents a year. Don't let your next dig be one that causes costly delays or safety risks. Before you break ground, make it a point to request a locate. It's not just the law. It's a step to keep your team and community safe. Visit OntarioOneCall.ca and avoid unnecessary damages to get the job done right. Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report.

Welcome back, everybody. So you gave me a list of five players that you kind of like this year. And why don't we start with Travis Etienne? And he was so good last year after the James Robinson trade. But what do you see from Travis Etienne this year, Robert? And I think that the expectation from the Jaguars is so high. I feel like he's going to have every opportunity to show that not only is he a three down back, that he can become one of the better backs in all of the NFL. And so, you know, if you look at their offense, there's there's no real wide receiver one per se. You know, they like to spread the ball around. They got some good guys. So with Travis, it really opens the door open for him to really excel, not just in the run game but in the passing game as well.

So I expect the Jaguars to utilize Travis Etienne a lot like the 49ers do with CMC. He'll get the ball all over the place. He'll be moving around. This year will be a step above last year for him. I'm hoping for that as far as his role as a pass catcher goes. From week five on, he averages 2.6 targets per game. That's not real close to what Christian McCaffrey averages.

But we know he can do it. We saw him play in college. His quarterback knows because he's the one that threw it to him in college. So I would love to see that role grow for Travis ETN. But I do want to ask you this, Robert, you talked about how the Titans didn't bring in anybody to really compete with Derek Henry or to take reps away from Derek Henry. But we can talk about Tajay Spears. It's not the same thing. Same thing with Austin Eckler that the Chargers didn't make a move to help them out.

What do you make of the Jaguars moves of signing Dearness Johnson, who once upon a time was a good spot starter for the Browns, and then drafting Tank Bigsby out of all? These are two running backs that have some talent. And I wonder if that's a signal that we should take that might mean that ETN doesn't get this huge workload that we normally like to see from our stud running backs. Well, first of all, Tank Bigsby is one of my favorite running backs in the draft. I thought he should have been drafted earlier than he was. I think he's going to have a huge impact,

especially on short yardage situations for the Jaguars. But what this does for Travis is it keeps him healthy. It keeps him upright. It keeps him fresh for the entire season. He dealt with some injuries early in his career. The Jaguars know what they have in him. Like for Deionis Johnson, you know, he's played some games, like he's shown what he can do. He's going to come in as a spell guy,

right? Tank is going to come in and I think he's going to be more of a short yards guy, but it's all in compliment of what Travis Etienne is going to bring to the table. He's the one that brings the total package in some ways. These other guys bring some of this and some of that. I think the plan behind bringing those guys in is to say, hey, we want Travis as healthy and fresh as possible when we get to weeks 15, 16, 17, and then the playoffs. Okay. Makes perfect sense. Hey, just, 17, and then the playoffs. Okay. Makes perfect sense.

Hey, just a quick stat on Bigsby. This is for, I know Robert already knows this, but this is for everybody listening. On plays of one yard to go, last year, Bigsby converted 10 of 12 carries. In 2021, he converted 14 of 18 carries. That's not necessarily a goal line carry. It could be third and one, second and one.

You get the idea. Inside the five last year, he had five carries. He scored on all five of them. 2021, 10 carries inside the five. He scored on six of them. So that role is something that he's proven to be good at in college. If he can convert that over in the NFL, that will take some numbers away from Etienne.

Yeah, 100%. And I think Etienne struggled with that a little bit last season as well. And he did in college, too. His percentages inside the five-yard line scoring touchdowns were much worse than Bigsby's, like 53% for him, and Bigsby in his college career was something like 75%.

A couple of sleepers here. I don't think they're going to be drafted much, but you like Irv Smith, Cincinnati tight end, played just eight games last season for the Vikings. Now he's with the Bengals. And DJ Chark, Carolina wide receiver now on his third stop after being on Detroit last year. So you like Irv Smith and DJ Chark as sleepers.

Yeah. You know, Irv is in a good situation in Cincinnati. Remember, he chose to go there. He could have went back to Minnesota, could have went elsewhere. Obviously, there's a three-headed monster at the wide receiver position for the Cincinnati Bengals, right?

Tee Higgins, Jamar Chase, Tyler Boyd, right? So Irv, who's this really athletic tight end, kind of becomes a forgotten man in some respects, especially to the defense. But you can't forget about him because he's got the intangibles and he's got the ability to be able to excel. And in an offense that's structured like the Cincinnati Bengals, that likes to throw the ball across the yard,

Irv is going to get a lot more opportunity than he would have with the Minnesota Vikings, who seem like more of a run first, Dalvin Cook, get him the ball kind of situation. So I think he's a sleeper because, especially in red zone situations, I could see him having a breakout year. I could see him having the best year of his career, which could equate to a lot of points for fantasy owners. And DJ, yeah, go ahead, Dave.

I was just, if I gave you a case against Irv Smith, it would be this. In the red zone, Burrow leaned on his tight end. A lot in his rookie year, 23% of his targets went to tight ends. In 2021, again, just the red zone, 13.7% of his targets went to tight ends. Last year, 12.8%. And I kind of can't blame Joe Burrow for this because he's got outstanding wide receivers. He's got a running back.

He had two last year and the year before that could catch out of the backfield and he can run himself. That's where I'm worried about Irv Smith. Is he a touchdown or bust type of tight end? That's where I kind of feel he is. I don't know if he's going to end up having a huge role in this offense unless something happens to chase or Higgins where that would open up some opportunities for him that he wouldn't normally have.

Well, I guess my, my, my question would be, you know, who were his tight ends because that's a good question for Irv Smith to come in as a free agent and be the starter should tell you a lot. So the tight end last year was Hayden Hurst. And I mean, listen, I'm not about to name a tight end that's going to blow your doors off. I like Hayden a lot. I actually think he might be a sleeper this year in some ways. Right.

Like I think in Carolina, like I think he's kind of a sneaky sleeper. Yeah. And then before that, his tight end was CJ Uzama. And so, of course, Uzama had some good games. Those are why the percentages were lower. Yes. Right. So Burrow and the coaching staff is going to have to look at Irv Smith

and say, all right, that guy is just as talented as he was at Alabama. We've got to figure out ways to get him involved. I think for him to be good for fantasy, he's going to have to score a lot of touchdowns. And so you'll look at the schedule. You'll see who he plays. Who does he play in week one? I've got the schedule right here. He's at Cleveland. That's a team that I think has got a pretty good secondary. I think they can cover tight ends. So I wouldn't even use them right now. They also got to cover everybody else.

Right, right. That's true. And they do have the corners to compete everywhere else. I'm not saying they're going to, you know, how do you shut down the Spangles offense? You really can't, but a team that's got a good pass rush, good depth in the secondary, solid safety, solid coverage linebackers. I would argue that Irv Smith will not have a good week one. And by that mere fact alone, doesn't make me want to draft him in my fantasy leagues, Robert, but there's going to be matchups coming on down the line where we're going to say, oh, this defense is terrible against tight ends. Give me some Irv Smith. Then I think that's what fantasy managers should keep in mind is that those games where it looks like the matchup's good, go to your waiver wire, pick up Irv Smith and hope that he scores a touchdown. Okay. Yeah. And, and also, you know, we saw this last year with Hayden Hurst.

When T. Higgins was out, Hayden Hurst had a big boost. So he could be a much added player if Chase or Higgins misses any time. DJ Chark. All right. So you've got you've got a rookie coming in. You got Thielen coming in. You got Chark. You got Hurst. Is there really room for Chark to stand out in the Carolina offense? Yeah. I mean, he's the number two wide receiver, you know, next to Adam Thielen. And the fact is, Adam Thielen is on the latter part of his career.

So what sort of wide receiver one production is he really going to be able to provide for you? He's going to be able to bring that veteran presence and he's going to have, you know, that feel for the game, the high IQ. He's going to be able to get open. But DJ is going to be the guy providing those big chunk plays, you know, for you, for the Carolina Panthers. And so for me, I feel like he's going to get targeted a lot.

He's going to be dependent on a lot because, you know, I think he can provide a little bit more separation at this point of his career than Adam Thielen can, especially when you talk about some of the great DBs that are in this league right now. So, you know, I really like DJ Chark. I like the way that he's improved over the last couple of years of his career. And so that's why, to me, just looking at his trajectory, he's a sneaky, he's a sleeper pick for me if I'm a fantasy manager drafting wide receivers. Now, this is one that I totally agree with.

I love the idea of getting Shark on my best ball teams with a late pick and in my redraft leagues maybe with one of my last picks. He showed enough in his last six games with Detroit. Three of them he had over 14 PPR points. He's got speed. And the one thing that I will give Carolina is that they've got a quarterback in Bryce Young who I think is ready to throw it and be good. And Robert, I don't know if you've got an opinion on Bryce Young, but if you watched him play, you know that he dazzled

at Alabama. And I think he's an accurate thrower. I think he can end up being, I think his learning curve won't be so steep compared to Anthony Richardson, other quarterbacks, certainly the quarterbacks in the 2022 draft. And that gives me some hope that DJ Chark could end up being a spot starter for fantasy managers this year. Well, he's got a hell of a foundation around him, from the coaching staff all the way to the veteran players. That's a very good call. Yes, it is. And so you compare that to CJ Stroud, who's got a first time offensive coordinator and a defensive head coach and all of it's a line that was like 23rd or 24th in the league last year.

So he's going to, you know, his, you know, his struggles are probably going to be a little bit more highlighted than Bryce's. He doesn't have the foundation that Bryce has. So for Bryce, I think he's in a great situation, and I think he'll excel. And just to put it out there, this is what he's talking, this is what Robert's talking about. Frank Reich, head coach of the Carolina Panthers, former NFL quarterback. Quarterbacks coach, Josh McCown, former NFL quarterback. He played for like a dozen teams in the league.

He knows what he's doing. Offensive coordinator is Thomas Brown. He managed the running backs in LA, but he knows that Rams offense back to front. So he's got an idea. And Jim Caldwell is the senior assistant in Carolina. That dude's been around some amazing quarterbacks in his time. Absolutely think that that is a great point for Bryce Young, that he's got such a good support system around him.

Yeah, 100%. I think I heard the rumor that Josh McCown is like the nicest guy and was like the nicest guy in the NFL, Robert. Did you ever – can you confirm or deny those reports? Hell no. No. Josh McCown, we were teammates in Cleveland. He's the homie.

Don't get me wrong. I love me some Josh McCown, but he gonna tell you that, you know, he gonna let you know he Josh McCown too. You know what I'm saying? Really? Okay. He's undercover with it. You know, he's undercover with it. Did he's undercover with it did he let you know

he don't slick his hair to the side for no reason okay okay robert did he let you know on the basketball court because i've seen that guy play basketball and he's on that would have never had see if i would have had an opportunity to see him on the basketball court that would have never happened he would have been humble real quick oh Oh, I don't know, man. I have seen McCown play basketball, and he is outstanding. I have not seen you play basketball, but I would sign up to see it. We should make that happen in the office. I agree.

Can we do that for St. Jude or something like that? Yeah, absolutely we should. That would be amazing. So Samaj P. Ryan is next on your list of sleepers here. All right, so let me your list of sleepers here. And all right, so let me paint a hypothetical for you here. I don't know what the current average draft position is, but it's going to be approximately this.

Right now, Javante Williams is something like a seventh-round pick in a 12-team league, and Samaj P. Ryan is something like a 10th-round pick. How do you feel about that? Do you feel strongly that one is a better value than the other? We'll have a better season than the other. Are they pretty even to you? Your thoughts there? I just think that, you know, Samad, and this is no, you know, discredit to Javante Williams, but I would draft Samad J.P. Ryan before Javante Williams, even though he's not the starter. We understand Javante, he's going to be the starter, but he is coming off of an injury. But the guy that you can depend on,

in my opinion, the most is Samajay Piran. He's going to be for sure your third down back, picking up blitzes, catching the ball out of the backfield, picking up first downs. He's going to be able to score. He's going to get the rock as far as carries are concerned. He really showed a lot. I mean, his game really opened up with the Cincinnati Bengals last season, particularly when he had to come in and be the starter. And so I look at that, and I'm saying Samadji Piran is one of the most dependable guys in the NFL right now at his position. I would take him even before the starter because I feel like, you know,

he's going to provide consistency for me throughout the entire season if I'm a fantasy manager. Robert, I might be wrong on this. Did you tear your ACL when you were at Utah State? I did. How long did it take you to feel right again after that? It takes one year to rehab and get back to play. It takes two years to fully heal. That's what I tell people about surgery.

There's a difference. You can rehabilitate yourself and get back to playing. That's fine. But I think it takes another year to get back to actually feeling like yourself again. So how did Adrian Peterson do it? Come on, what did he do? Well, you know, there are some special people in this world. We just have to accept it.

I'll tell you what, one of the things that I learned when I became a professional football player is that some guys, they just got it, bro. And then you can do. They don't have to lift a weight. They don't have to run any hills. They don't have to do much of anything. They just got it. So, hey, you chalk your hands up to them and say congratulations.

Agent Pearson, one of those dudes. Any of your teammates that you looked at and said, wow. Marshawn. Marshawn. Yeah. Marshawn just got it, bro. I mean, he just, just you know that doesn't mean these guys don't work hard

but there's just a there's a there's a space in there where it's just like they don't gotta do as much as you do you know

to perform at a high level and he was definitely one of those guys did does Javante's ACL factor into your call on Samaj AP Ryan being a breakout this year?

No, it doesn't, actually. It doesn't. I still would take Samaj P. Ryan over Javante Williams in any draft. And I know it probably sounds crazy to a lot of fantasy managers, but the way that I look at players and the way that I like to construct rosters, particularly in fantasy, I just look at it different. I want guys that I know are going to be there Sunday after Sunday after Sunday. I don't care about, you know, all of the stats and all of these. I don't really look at all of that all the time. I want the guys that I know that are going to be there because at the end of the season, it works out for me.

It's interesting because we have, as fantasy analysts, a lot of trouble with that who's going to be there thing. Like last year, Christian McCaffrey, Miles Sanders, Dalvin Cook, they did not miss a game. And I couldn't believe that. Whereas Rashad Penny got hurt, and everybody thought he was going to get hurt. So it's kind of interesting to even take that approach

and say who's going to be there. You look at Philadelphia, for example. They have Rashad Penny and they have DeAndre Swift. And from what I gathered, some of the comments I've seen, nobody thinks, not the analysts, but the fans of our show, nobody thinks that either of these guys is going to stay healthy. So, I mean, how can you, how that he could ever ask for. Why? Because it's not on his shoulders anymore. You've got Debo Samuel, you've got Ayuk, you've got Kittle, you've got all sorts of other weapons, and you've got other guys in the backfield, Elijah Mitchell, et cetera.

You've got all of these other playmakers on the offense where you can just come in and be CMC. It's not the weight isn't on your shoulders like it was in Carolina. We have to carry the ball 250 times a year, plus catch it, you know, nearly another 50 to 100 times. You got to do everything. You are the offense. It's situations like that that make a difference. Jonathan Taylor, he was the offense. And what happened?

He got hurt. Once guys are in a situation where they can share the load and kind of spread it out, disperse it amongst other playmakers on the offense, it allows them an opportunity to stay healthy. So for Rashad Penny, DeAndre Swift, a little bit different because regardless of their situations, they've been injury prone like DeAndre Stoof in Detroit. You know, it wasn't necessarily all on him because he had Jamal Williams in there, but he was, you know, mostly used for short yardage and goal line situations. For Rashad Penny, you know, a lot of it was on him.

So that can equate to being more injury prone but i think you'll see a difference this year because those carries will be spread out between not only those two but the other guys in that backfield as well yeah yeah all right i'm gonna ask you i'm gonna skip your uh your busts for this year your players to avoid um hopefully i'll have you come back for another show because this is really great stuff. I want to ask you about Deuce Vaughn, who is another guy that you think is a sleeper, Dallas Cowboys running back,

sixth round pick out of Kansas State. And then maybe we'll just ask you a few questions. I'd love to get your take on Russell Wilson, for example. Jordan Love, who shares an alma mater with you. We're going to take one more quick break. When we come back, we'll hear about one more player that Robert likes and a little bit more from around the NFL. I welcome back here. We're talking to a former NFL running back, Super Bowl champion, Robert Turbin. What's up, Robert?

Hold on real quick. Let me let me exit out and come right back in. No problem. All right. Dave and I will take it from here with Dave. Why don't you and I talk about Deuce Vaughn a little bit here because he's on sure Robert's list of uh of sleepers and um yeah do you think he will have a role for the Cowboys you know it's interesting I I hear about Malik Davis having a role in Dallas I'm just waiting for them to bring back Ezekiel Elliott I'm thinking those guys are going to be the ones that have a significant role in Dallas's offense. But I loved watching Deuce Vaughn play. He's fun. He's in that Darren Sproles mold, not quite as speedy as Darren Sproles because Sproles was a blur when he was out there on the field.

But short guy, 5'5", 179 pounds, and doesn't have a good timed 40 speed. But I think he plays faster than that. And I think he's got really good hands that could work in the passing game for Dallas. It's just a matter of whether or not he'll get those opportunities. And we don't know exactly where Dallas sits with their running backs right now.

Do they feel as though Tony Pollard is going to be the main guy, the featured guy, someone who could handle 300 touches? Remember last year, they weren't comfortable letting him play more than like 35 snaps a game unless they had to. Are they going to up that to 45 or is that going to look more like 60? And if it's going to be more like 45, who's going to work with him for now? I think it's Davis and not Deuce Vaughn, which is why I was curious what Robert was going to say about Deuce Vaughn. But I think the talent is fun.

And I think in time, he could end up being somebody who might have 100 carries in a season, but maybe 50 catches on top of it once he proves that he can hang in the league. All right, Robert is back. So Dave just gave his thoughts on Deuce Vaughn. What are your thoughts? I think he is the biggest sleeper in the draft next to Tank Bigsby. And given the opportunity, I think he can really excel in that Cowboys offense. They don't have a solidified number two guy behind Tony Pollard.

And although I like Ronald Jones, I thought he was a really good signing, I really feel like Deuce Vaughn is going to have every opportunity to solidify his role as a number two back. He's got sneaky skill. And like I said, you know, given the opportunity, I think he really excelled. All right. Yo, I mean, as long as it's not at the expense of Tony Pollard,

I am fine with that, but I, I have one fantasy team right now. And Tony Pollard was my first round pick and I love Pollard this year. So, um, Tony Pollard was your first round pick. He was 11th overall.

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, you're going to rip me. No. Hey, what do you think? What do you think? What do you think? I mean, the only concern I have is just I think you I have a feeling I know where you're going to land on this because he's never been the guy. So but on the pages. Yeah. Yeah. So what do you think? Can he can he handle it?

The problem that I have with the Cowboys right now is there's no solidified number two guy. And when you're in a position where you're putting it all on one guy's shoulders, I mean, it's not like Tony Pollard is, you know, 5'10", 225, you know, and you don't have to be big to be a successful bat, but it certainly helps, especially when you want to talk about longevity. If you're going to be this guy carrying the ball 250 plus times in a year, if that's how the Cowboys are going to want to utilize Tony Pollard, I would not take him first round in your fantasy draft. He won't last. All right. Well, I got my Josh McCown swag. I'm going to part my hair a little bit here. I'm going to play it by flag. Here it is. You can't do that with your hair.

With my hair? No, I definitely can't. I don't know where it's going most days. All right. I had a few random questions I wanted to ask you. You played with some terrific quarterbacks, one of them being Andrew Luck. What was your reaction to his sudden retirement?

I was shocked like most people, just more so because of the timing. I was in shock that he wanted to walk away from the game. I have to be honest, like, you know, at practice over that last year or so, didn't really look like he was having much fun and didn't really feel like he was as into it as he was in 2016 when I first got there. And, and so, you know, you kind of felt like maybe there was something going on in his personal life, you know, who knows, but it turned out to be so, that whatever was going on in his personal life,

it was enough for him to want to walk away from the game. So I was shocked, but not necessarily surprised because I'll have to admit, you can ask any of our teammates, I'd say over that last year leading up to the time he retired, he wouldn't, he wouldn't have much fun out there. Do you think Russell Wilson is washed up? Hell no. Ask a hundred football fans. I bet over 80 of them would say yes. I still want to have a lot of faith in him. To me, he's a fantasy sleeper.

What do you think, Robert? Russell Wilson, he damn near going to be the comeback player of the year this year. Let's go! You know what I'm saying? You can't count. Everybody can have a down year. It happens.

It's life. It's sports. Brady had down years. Aaron Rodgers, all the great ones, Drew Brees. It happens, man. And it's about how you respond. And so I look at Russell Wilson. He's always been a guy who responds to adversity. And he's in a situation that he wants to be in. And so, you know, I expect some big things from him this season. My last question then Dave, I'll throw it over to you is you played at Utah state,

Jordan Love played there. Any insight on Jordan Love? Jordan Love. Oh man, he's ready to be the starter. He's about to take it over there in green Bay. There's going to be some, you know, obviously some hurdles to get over, but Green Bay, they got a good guy, good character, high character, great leader, wants to learn, not selfish. So I think he's going to have a good career. You know, I think Green Bay Packers fans and the organization have to practice a little patience. But if you give him time and let him make some mistakes, let him bump his head a couple times, you'll get a great quarterback. Do you remember the differences between his 2018 and 2019, Robert?

Yeah. You're talking about Jordan Love? Yeah. All his weapons left. left yep that was the big difference yep oh yeah old line too he wasn't throwing the ball to the same weapons he wasn't handing it off to the same guys and i think he lost three or four of his starters uh from that from 2018 to 2019 so and he was running a new offense. That's another big part of it too.

And so, you know, a lot of people look at that like, oh, he didn't have as good of a year in 2019 as he did in 2018. Well, everything changed for him in one year, you know. And so he still played well enough to be a first-round pick. So imagine with some stability what he can do. And so he's been with this coaching staff in Green Bay for a few years now. And it should be an offense that caters to him and his strengths. And he knows the receivers, most of them anyway,

that have been there for a couple of years. And the offensive line is not too bad. I think you could make the case that Jordan Love could have a breakout year. This situation reminds me of Geno Smith last year. Had been with the organization for three or four seasons. He was backing up Russell Wilson. Jordan Love was backing up Aaron Rodgers. And then, boom, Geno Smith got his opportunity to start.

And everybody, you know, and he, you know, excelled and everybody was surprised, you know, but I think for Jordan Love, it's the same. You know, he backed up Aaron Rodgers. He had the same coaching staff. He's been in the same system, you know, on the bench for two or three seasons and he's going to have his turn now to excel.

So I think he's in a great situation. I think he'll have a good year. All right, you and Josh McCown play up to 21 with three-pointers and two-pointers. What's the score? I win 21-16. All right. That's respectable. That's a good game.

I'd watch that game. Yeah, I'd give him some points. You know what I mean? 21-16. I hope he had as much fun as we did. This was terrific. Thank you. Of course I did, man. Thanks for having me. Awesome. That's Robert Turbin. That's Dave Richard. I hope you had as much fun as we did this was terrific thank you of course I did man thanks for having me

that's Robert Turbin that's Dave Richard I'm Adam Azer thanks a lot for watching listening everybody we'll talk to you next time on Fantasy Report