Fantasy Football Today - 🚨 Russell Wilson Cut! What's His Fantasy Value and What are the Best Destinations? (02/16 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: March 4, 2024

Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and wherever else you listen to podcasts The Broncos are cutting Russell Wilson who was just outside the Top 12 per game at the quarterback position in 2024. We talk about Wilson's Fantasy value, if he is a help for a wide receiver or tight end and which teams we want to see him go to.  SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 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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and your loved ones financially, giving you the peace of mind to focus on what truly matters. Find their products through banks, credit unions, and associations, or visit SecurianCanada.ca. Securian Canada, insurance designed for life. Bonus Pod. What's up, everybody? Welcome to Fantasy Football today. Adam and Dave here talking about Russell Wilson.

The Broncos are going to cut Russell Wilson and take on an $85 million hit on their salary cap over the next couple of years in dead money. That's wild, but that's it for Russell Wilson, who thanked everybody in Denver except for Sean Payton in the front office in an Instagram post. What's up, Dave?

Did he thank you? He should thank the front office because of the contract that he got when he went to Denver. It's true. He was a wealthy man before. He's wealthier now, and he's getting paid regardless here.

So we'll talk about Wilson, what he has left, and where we'd like to see him go. And I think there is a YouTube poll, courtesy of Schaefer here. Oh, which team should target Russell Wilson, the Vikings, Falcons,

Steelers, or Raiders. Hmm. What do you think? Well, it, first of all, you can target them all you want.

Question number one is how much are you going to pay him? And will Russ go? He, I don't see him taking a cheap deal. I don't see him going to Pittsburgh where he's going to have to compete for the starting job. So I'd throw them out. I, I think the Vikings will do everything they can to keep Kirk cousins.

What does that leave us with Las Vegas where he plays Denver twice a year? That wouldn't be so bad. And Atlanta where he'd have some good weapons around them, but I don't, Raiders aren't exactly in cap heaven. So I'm not sure they could sign them. That would leave Atlanta and Atlanta might just be the last place he can go where he's pretty much assured a starting job and be given a chance to kind of start all over with, with a new offensive play caller and a team that hopefully can protect him. That's the thing that bothered,

I think bothered him the most last year was he didn't trust his protection last two years. And so if the protection's better, I'd, I'd argue we'd have an upgrade in weapons in Atlanta. He might actually be decent enough to say that you'd use him as a bi-week replacement quarterback. Well,

we got to talk about what Russell Wilson is at this point, and maybe it's not clear. This was a bit of a bounce back year for him. Wilson was the number 12 quarterback overall. He was number 13 per game in four point per pass and touchdown leagues. He was number 14 per game. And I mentioned this last week or two weeks ago, he scored the same amount of points, same amount of fantasy points as Jared golf. So he had an underrated fantasy season. But he did that with 341 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns in 15 games. And then he got benched. He had, I think, the lowest ADOT or air yards per pass attempt of his career,

or at least the last many years. I don't know if it goes back all the way to his rookie year. But he but you know, he, he was no longer a downfield thrower is running that Sean Payton offense. And I think it's fair to say, Dave, he hasn't looked like a dynamic quarterback, a playmaker, a great quarterback in two years. I know he was better this past year, but still not, not a guy that has looked like someone that, Oh, you're pumped. If you have a wide receiver on your, on your dynasty team and he gets

Russell Wilson. I think that's fair to say. The question is, can he still be that guy? What do you think of Russell Wilson right now? Does he still have the fire burning inside him to compete and to win, and especially to try and prove that the last two years are not who he is. And I would, you know, players usually are that way and they want to show that things didn't go right for whatever reason, but it's not their fault. And I thought that Russ did improve a little bit last year. Um, I, I went back and I looked at his stats, where did he succeed? And his touchdown rate was pretty high. Remember we talked about his efficiency all year long. He threw 26 touchdowns. 20 of them came in the red zone.

He was top 12 in completion rate in the red zone. Top yards per attempt doesn't matter. His EPA per drop back was top five. Touchdown rate in the red zone was almost 30%. That was fourth best. One interception in the red zone. I don't know if it's because of the scheme and Sean Payton finding great plays for Russell Wilson to run, or if it was Russ making plays, but that's a sign of optimism that he can win in the red zone. I bet he did better in the red zone in 2023 than he did in

2022. It's just a matter of his offense getting to that point. And if you're asking him to just kind of manage it between the twenties, and then once he gets near the red zone, Russ, work your magic. Help us out there. I think he could bounce back. The days of him being – didn't he used to be like a top six fantasy quarterback? Every year. You could set your watch to it. Those days are gone.

We're not drafting him to be anywhere close to that. I don't think we're drafting him to even be top 12, even if he were to go to Atlanta. Late round pick maybe in a super flex or two QB league. Yeah, he'll probably be like 15th, 16th quarterback off the board. That's probably as good as it's going to get. Career low yards per attempt last year. So that's something to keep in mind.

The year before that, it was the second lowest yards per attempt of his career. So it's been bad in Denver. But, you know, I think people look at his last year in Seattle as a bad year. And I would say that if you look at what he did his last year in Seattle before his injury, he was probably the MVP. I mean, it was only five games. I'll do the first four games. He was awesome.

He was insane the first four games. He was on pace for 38 touchdowns and no interceptions. So everything changed so quickly when he went to Denver, and maybe he can be revived. Just think of the narrative. He had a falling out with the coaches in Seattle, got traded to Denver. Some would suggest that he was the runner-up for quarterback there

because Aaron Rodgers was rumored to be part of a package deal with Nate Hackett. Certainly that's how it worked out for the jets. And so maybe he was the second choice going into Denver. He realized that he still got paid. Maybe the effort wasn't there. Sean Payton comes in. They have a falling out.

They tried to bench him early. I still think that there's something there with Russ, but not enough to say that fantasy managers should go out and get them, especially since we don't know what team he's going to be on. Yeah, so we don't have a huge YouTube audience right now because this was an impromptu podcast, but we have 12 votes in

for our YouTube poll. Which team should target Russell Wilson, the Vikings, Falcons, Steelers, and Raiders? And I'm going to give you the results right after a very quick break on Fantasy Football today. Bumble knows it's hard to start conversations. Hey. No, too basic. Hi there.

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Skip to the good part and get groceries, meals, and more delivered right to your door on Skip. All right, so which team should target Russell Wilson? Vikings, Falcons, Steelers, Raiders. 42% of the vote to the Raiders. Oh, boy, we have a 13th vote, and now it's tied. 38% for the Steelers, 38% for the Raiders. Oh, more votes coming in. Vikings and Falcons are trailing behind. Steelers and Raiders tied for the Raiders. Oh, more votes coming in. Vikings and Falcons are trailing behind.

Steelers and Raiders tied for the lead. And now the Raiders have taken the lead back. But anyway, it's neck and neck between the Raiders and the Steelers. I voted for the Raiders. I think, Dave, I want to see Russell Wilson, for his sake, go on a team that wants to run the ball. I don't think he can be the focal point

of an offense right now. Maybe I'm wrong. But, you you know play action game and uh kind of a physical team that's what that's what the raiders want to be so um yeah anyway that that was my pick uh what it's what the steelers have been yeah for i mean as long as we've been alive basically and it's what the Falcons kind of tried to be last year and still could be this year. I could see them implementing that type of offense and being more physical

and trying to protect Russ from himself a little bit. If he went there, I think ever all the three teams that we're talking about, the Raiders, the Seals, the Falcons all kind of have that in common, but Atlanta, maybe a little bit more upside Las Vegas too. If they really trust Russell Wilson to air it out because they've got Devante Adams.

So if you're doing a draft right now, you would take Devante Adams in round blank. And if they sign Russell Wilson, you would take Devante Adams in round blank. I'd have to double check. Give me a second to bring up my rankings, which are still not on the site by the way, but that's not anybody's problem. I've got him as an early round three pick right now. He'd probably stay there, maybe fall back a couple of spots. Would I put him behind Jalen Waddle and Keenan Allen if Russell Wilson went there? Maybe. Maybe I would. I don't think I'd move him ahead of Rasheed Rice or Debo. You have Drake London as a round blank pick now you would get you would draft him in round blank if russell wilson were his quarterback i think if if london

is the clear wide receiver one for the falcons and right now i've got him as a round five pick i'd keep him in round five with russell wilson same question for george pickens and deontay johnson yeah they're probably not going to change much. They've fallen back in my rankings. Pickens still ahead of Johnson. It's been that way for me for over a year now. Pickens in round six, Deontay Johnson on the 7-8 turn. That's probably where they'd stay, maybe a little bit lower for Pickens if it's Russ. Justin Jefferson is wide receiver blank for you right now,

and he'd be wide receiver blank if they had Russell Wilson. Oh, man, I would move Justin if they had Russell Wilson. Oh man. I, I would move Justin Jefferson down. If Russell Wilson is his quarterback, he'd go behind Tyreek Hill. Would he go behind St. Brown and chase? I think he might. And,

and honestly, like Minnesota would be a weird place for him to land. That's a team that throws the ball a ton. Do they really. Number one, do they trust Russell Wilson to throw the ball at ton? Number two, would fantasy managers want to trust throw the ball a ton? Number two, would fantasy managers want to trust Justin Jefferson?

If it's Russell Wilson throwing, because the one thing that the deep ball accuracy, I could double check it. If we have the time, I'm not sure it was very good for him. I know it wasn't very good for him two seasons ago, but in 2023, I'm just not sure how good he was in that regard.

Got a question here. I think you addressed half of it, but Jonah says, Dave, just not sure how good he was in that regard. Got a question here. Uh, you, I think you addressed half of it, but Jonah says, Dave, if Russ goes to Atlanta, how do you project pits in London?

Top 15. Again, if, if those guys are the only guys there, the top two targets there, I think they're going to stay right where they're at, where Drake London's going to be kind of on the, like calm wide receiver,

25, something like that. And pits right around tight end 10, 11, 12. And, yeah, he's never really been a tight end guy. I don't know how much that matters to you. Not that he's played with great tight ends per se, but, yeah, would it be a downgrade for a tight end to get Russell Wilson? I don't know if I view Kyle Pitts like a typical tight end. You know what I mean?

If we're talking about Pat Fryermuth in Pittsburgh or Hawkinson in Minnesota, yeah, I think part of the problem is that Russell Wilson, it's like why he didn't always throw to his running backs. He was kind of force-fed throwing to his running backs in Denver last year. Previously, he would just use his legs to make a play and it wasn't all the time. And he would use, let me take a step back in Seattle. He would use tight ends a decent amount of the time. It was just, you know, two, three different tight ends on the field a lot. You know,

there was the Will Disley year. And then before that there were, there's always been a bunch of different tight ends that are a part of the Seattle offense. I'm not saying that he threw to them 25% of the time. He was big time into his wide receivers from Doug Baldwin to the guys, you know, in Seattle from last year. So no, he's, he's never been a big time tight end guy. He's always been like a, a big down the field type of thrower who didn't do as good of a job with Denver the last two years. I'm looking at now his completion rate on throws of 15-plus air yards, under 45%. It's not that great. It's not that awful either. But he always thrived on the second reaction plays, the improvisational plays. Something broke down. He's running out of the pocket. Who's open? Who

does he trust? It was Cortland Sutton last year who really embraced that role. Whoever would be in that role, and it would obviously be Justin Jefferson in Minnesota. Not sure who would be in Pittsburgh. Not sure who would be in Atlanta, but whoever was in that role, I guess it would be London. Whoever was in that role would be someone that I would give a little bit more credence to because Russell Wilson's the QB. I'm going to throw out three more teams that I could see being in the mix. Two of them, they would have to make the decision

to not draft a quarterback in the first round. One of them might not have a choice really, but I'm looking at the Commanders, Patriots, and Giants. And if they, Commanders and Patriots in particular, they'd have to take Harrison or something like that. And then maybe go the veteran quarterback route. And the Giants, yeah, they could get shut out of the big three,

not feel like someone else is worth the sixth overall pick. So I could see those as potential destinations for Russell Wilson. Sure. And I misspoke earlier about the Raiders cap situation. They're actually, they've got the space to sign Russ. So the Raiders do the Vikings certainly would if they didn't resign Kirk cousins.

Uh, the Steelers really don't, they, they don't have that much. And the Falcons, although they can make some, the Falcons are making so much money, same shape as the Raiders.

He's making so much money that he might not need. He might take Raiders. He's making so much money that he might not need. He might take the minimum. He might take or a. Why would he? Like, that's a silly thing to say. Because he doesn't need more money. He's making so much money. Now you're thinking like you and you're not thinking like Russell Wilson.

OK, because if he's at the end of his career and he's already making, you know, a ton of money, whatever he's making this year, 50 million, whatever. Do you know what it is, how much money he's making this year? Like something crazy, right? I can go and look it up, but it's a lot. Right? Like, wouldn't you just want to maybe go to a team that you think is a contender, take a lower salary? I think he'd want to do that to try and salvage his legacy. But he's not going to do it for the league minimum.

What? No, not the league minimum. I shouldn't have said that, but like, you know, $5 million. What? Yeah, I mean, first of all, Jared Stidham makes $5 million. Okay, $10 million.

I don't think a team's going to have to necessarily empty the coffers for him because he's already getting paid so much money. There's a possibility that he'll just take a discount to win. Gino Smith is getting paid $25 million per year on his current contract. I know, but he's – Do you really see Russell Wilson taking less than Gino? He's already making so much more than that.

This is the icing on the cake. He's already getting that money. You know, maybe he falls in love with the destination and he takes a discount. Maybe he does. But I also think if he's got enough money, why does he want to go to a team anyway if he doesn't think it's going to be, you know,

worthwhile or worth it to him? Well, that's what I'm saying. To put his body on the line, to go out there again? No. We don't know how Russell Wilson thinks. I'm saying he goes to a team that he thinks has a chance to win, you know, to be really good. Yeah, I think he's going to want that.

I would imagine that the Steelers and the Falcons are two teams that he could be convinced would be really good and certainly have the chance to win. Falcons, especially just because of the way that the NFC South went last year. Steelers, he might look at as a tougher challenge because of how that division played out last year. I believe the Steelers are right now the odds-on favorite to land Russell Wilson. And by the way, if he goes to the Raiders, he's in the exact same division he was in.

He'll get those two revenge games against Denver, but he's still got to figure out a way to overcome Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in that division. If I'm him and if the Falcons offer a good amount of money, that's the destination. Well, there are no good quarterbacks in the AFC North. He should go to the Steelers. Okay, we're out of here. And thank you for finally acknowledging the joke.

We're out of here. Thanks for listening to our bonus podcast. I'm sure Heath will talk about it on FFT Dynasty tomorrow.