Fantasy Football Today - Samantha Previte's Favorites for 2023 (03/30 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: March 30, 2023

VOTE FOR US HERE (Fantasy Sports & Betting Category): https://www.sportspodcastgroup.com/sports_category/fantasy-and-sports-betting/ 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.  Samantha Previte is back on the Podcast to talk about some of her favorite players for 2023. It's early and these are subject to change, but Samantha is going to reveal some of her top players at each position. We start at quarterback (3:50) with Justin Fields, Trevor Lawrence, Jared Goff and Geno Smith. Are Fields and Lawrence ahead of Justin Herbert? Do Goff and Smith have any upside or are they just safe? ... At running back (18:50), we're highlighting Tony Pollard, Rhamondre Stevenson, Khalil Herbert and Tyler Allgeier. We've got great stats on Allgeier, but Adam plays devil's advocate on Stevenson ... At wide receiver (28:50), Samantha likes Calvin Ridley and D.J. Moore plus a trio of second year WRs. Is Moore going to finally reach his potential now that he is with the Bears? How much should separate Jahan Dotson and Terry McLaurin? And finally, Samantha gives us some tight ends (41:00) you can draft late that may pay off ... 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. Special guest joining us tonight on Fantasy Football Today. Welcome, everybody, if you're watching live. Good evening to you. It is 10 o'clock p.m. Eastern time, and we're on Mountain Time with Samantha Praviti at Samantha NFL. She's joining us, and we're very excited to have her. Jamie Eisenberg is here as well.

Tomorrow, so we're publishing this on Thursday. Our Friday episode is going to be the Mailbag. FantasyFootball at CBSi.com is our email address. You can also leave us an Apple podcast comment. That's a great way to get your question read on the air. Jamie, good evening. How's it going? It's going well, buddy.

How are you? Yeah. Jamie and I finished our fantasy baseball draft. I did most of the work as usual. So we should be in decent shape. As usual. Samantha, your mic is muted. So there she is. What's up, Samantha? I'm here. Okay, cool. I'm doing super, super well. I'm just

out here enjoying Colorado. Thanks so much for, uh, having me on. I miss you guys. We missed you too. We thought it was about time to have you back on. You've, I'm sure our fans have seen and heard you before. You can follow her again at Samantha NFL. And she is, we've told this before, but in case you don't know, she is a ski instructor. So I imagine you're pretty busy these days. Definitely very busy out there teaching people how to pizza and french fry and when to do each one of those. I also teach snowboarding and it's just so much fun. We're having a great season for snow, which is, it's been a few bad years for snow. So it's great to

have a good year. And yeah, Adam and I were talking before that it's been a little bit chilly here, but it was negative, I think 17 for like three days straight. So I'm kind of glad that it broke out of that for a little bit. Like we saw the sunshine and got to at least, like it didn't hurt to inhale. I feel like that's how cold it gets here when it like hurts to inhale. Are there any other foods you can pull off with the skis? A pizza makes you stop. French fries make you go. Like is there anything else?

Could you take a hot dog where you just have both feet are kind of lined up? One is in front of you, one behind you. I don't know. Well, it's interesting because pizza and French fries has always been like the two terms. But sometimes you'll tell kids to pizza and they'll be so confused because they'll say, what are you talking about? Pizzas are round. So, yeah. So, you know, I just, I usually say like,

what does this look like? Is it an arrow? Is it a wedge? Is it whatever? So we just roll with that. Okay. All right. All right. So we're going to get Samantha's favorites for 2023.

She's got players at each position that she likes going into the year. Obviously a lot can change between now and then, but some of her early favorites. Two quick news items. The Falcons signed defensive lineman Calais Campbell. The Lions are going to sign Marvin Jones to a one-year deal. I can't imagine that's going to move the needle too much,

but maybe we can bring it up when we talk about Jared Goff, who is one of Samantha's favorites. Before we do that, Saturday on CBS, the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship road to the Final Four reaches its final destination in Houston. Coverage of the semifinal games begins at 3 Eastern with At the Final Four and the Final Four Show. And it's all leading up to tip off at 6 when Florida Atlantic faces San Diego State, followed by Miami clashing with UConn. The NCAA Men's Final Four National national semifinals Saturday on CBS. And please vote for us.

I'll tell you about that in a little bit. Link is in the episode description. All right. Samantha gave us four of her favorite quarterbacks for 2023. And these are, they are Justin Fields, Trevor Lawrence, Jared Goff,

and Gino Smith. So you got Fields and Lawrence kind of in one tier, Goff and Smith in another. Who do you like better, Fields or Lawrence? I guess I have to go Justin Fields. I'm just so happy to see the Bears finally investing in him, and they seem committed to building around him. Obviously, the blockbuster trade with my Carolina Panthers,

who have finally accepted that they are in rebuild mode, but trading away the number one pick. So that obviously takes away the shadow of mystery that they were going to draft a QB this cycle. Then they got the alpha receiver in DJ Moore, which, you know, breaks my heart. But yeah, last last year, Fields top pass catcher was tight end Cole Komet, who caught 50 passes for 544 yards. So this is, suffice it to say, quite a upgrade for him. And obviously his rushing numbers alone make him super attractive. Over 1,100 rush yards and eight rushing touchdowns last year. So he should see an uptick in passing attempts and completions with this way better receiver.

And week six onwards, Fields was finished as a top 10 fantasy QB or better in every week but one, which was week 16 against the Bills and was the QB three on a per game basis in that span. So I think he does have a shot to be a top three superstar this year. Okay, Jamie and Samantha, we had Justin Fields go in round five.

We did a draft last week. Justin Fields went in round five. Trevor did a draft last week. Justin Fields went in round five. Trevor Lawrence went a round and a half later, the last pick of round six. Do either of those strike you as a better value pick? Jamie, I'll give you the first word. So that's Fields in round five, middle round five, and about 18 picks later or so, Trevor Lawrence, last pick of round six. Yeah, I mean, I think I agree with Samantha.

You know, Justin Fields is the better fantasy talent. The always, you know, the question as you posed it is, you know, if you can get a player that you feel can maybe stay in the same range, you know, getting that player later is definitely the better route to go. Now the question is, if they both hit their ceilings, I think Justin Fields is going to obliterate Trevor Lawrence because of the rush, you know, so you're not going to be able to, you know, get that type of production from, from Trevor Lawrence, unless he throws for, you know, 5,000 plus yards, which I don't think he's going to do,

but he may challenge that. Um, I, I would prefer the later quarterback in most instances, but I think if, again, if you're drafting for who, who has the most upside and, you know, to, to look at what Justin Fields did last year, and Samantha mentioned this, that Cole Comet was his leading receiver. That just speaks volumes, I think, to the reins that were kind of put on him a little bit. And now the hope would be is that, A, DJ Moore's addition is going to make him an even better passer. So the hope is the rushing numbers continue to be there.

But B, that they're not done. And I think you've seen it. They bring in dj more they bring in robert ton you know just to give a second tight end that can you know make some plays and maybe catch another touchdown or two but i think they're not done you know i i wouldn't be surprised if they take another young receiver to maybe offset the chase claypool move which they sort of addressed at the owner's meetings and and we'll see what darnell mooney what he has coming back it's it's a good receiving core right now but i wouldn't be surprised if there's another uh addition to it in terms of trevor lawrence though i think he's gonna have another monster season so it's a great great

call you know for samantha to put him on this list they they and i think this is when you see nfl teams that take advantage of situations they stole calvin ridley for what they had to pay at a time when nobody knew what you were going to get. If he's anything close to Calvin Ridley, with what they kept in Evan Ingram, what they got last year in Christian Kirk, Zay Jones, it's one of the better receiving cores in the league if Calvin Ridley is the alpha that we remember.

Yeah, a couple of kind of late-round draft picks for Calvin Ridley. All right, so, samantha how about you trevor lawrence last pick of round six or justin fields first uh middle sorry middle of round five by the way yeah that's a six point for passing touchdown league okay i mean i guess that makes a little bit of a difference but i and and i'm probably in that similar camp where i try to wait on quarterback. But I do think Fields is ceiling is just so, so high. I think that the addition of DJ Moore is going to open up that playbook a lot and just really, really unleash sort of like the talent that we haven't been able to see. Obviously, he gets some some flack sometimes for not being as traditional of a passer, but he's just never had necessarily

that compliment of weapons. Now that said, yes, I do love Trevor Lawrence. And I really just think he should have gotten a mulligan on his freshman year because of Urban Meyer, but obviously thrived under Doug Peterson in year two, went from a 59.6 completion percentage to 66.3, finished top 12 in 10 of 17 starts was the overall QB eight. That was with Christian Kirk as his best receiver.

So as Jamie said, he's going to have Calvin Ridley. And I, last time we saw Calvin Ridley in 2020, he was wide receiver four. All right. So I were discussing that in the picture, by the way. Oh, is that it? Good stuff. All right, so Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields, two popular quarterbacks, good quarterbacks. Do you like either of them?

Samantha, by the way, I forgot to ask this. Do you typically play in four-point or six-point for passing touchdown leagues? I feel like usually four. I guess that that's just been normal, but I also have one of these weird leagues this is the league that i've actually been playing in the longest has the weirdest sort of rules it's

all these like fractional things and there's all these efficiency uh points built in as well so it's that's actually super super fun to play in some custom leagues but you don't get to just rely on people's rankings and and projections and things like that. You kind of have to think a little bit outside the box. So I have played in both, but probably more so in four. Do you like these guys better than Justin Herbert? Ooh. I mean, I think I like Fields better than Justin Herbert.

Yeah. And Jamie? Fields, Herbert, Lawrence. But very close. All right, let's talk about the other two quarterbacks you have here, Geno Smith and Jared Goff. Jared Goff last year was terrific for him. Geno Smith was better.

He was QB5 overall per game. He was number seven in four-point-per-passing touchdown leagues, number eight in six-point-per-passing touchdown leagues. Jared Goff. I think his nickname, according to Pro Football Reference, is Mr. Perfect. I've never heard that before for Jared Goff, but the internet doesn't lie, right?

Goff was QB eight overall, actually QB 10 in four-point, and just outside the top 12 on a per-game basis. So who do you like better, Samantha, Jared Goff, or Geno Smith? I mean, they are like neck and neck for me, probably like back-to-back. I would say maybe I give Goff the slight edge. I mean, what he did last year was pretty crazy.

I think that Goff and the Lions were kind of a joke going into the season. But as they say, he managed to turn chicken crap into chicken salad and earn Pro Bowl honors. Obviously, QB 10 in four-point and finishes the top seven QB in four of his final six starts and will possibly have a healthy Jamison Williams coupled with Amon Ross St. Brown. So I think he is a legitimate threat to finish as a top 12 quarterback

and is likely dirt cheap in drafts. So I love Gino, obviously, too. I mean, fresh off of comeback player of the year campaign, which I mean, some people still want to write that off as a fluke, but it's pretty hard to write off a fluky 17 games. So obviously the Seahawks didn't see it as a fluke through him. One hundred and five million dollars. So, I mean, it is it is crazy to think about. He's a guy that went from throwing, you know, 25 touchdowns and 34 interceptions in his first two seasons, then was a backup for six years and then comes out and it's just nearly 70% completion percentage and overall QB six.

So I think that, you know, also in that in that same conversation like i said very very low cost threat to finish top 12 if you know all the stars align yeah they went within four or five picks of each other in the draft we did both were late round picks around 14 in a 14 round draft we didn't draft kickers or dsts so last pick for dan schneier was yeah was gino smith and the last pick for rj white ice actually three, was Gino Smith. And the last pick for RJ white eyes, actually three picks later was Jared golf. And those are actually the last two quarterbacks taken, uh, not a ton of backups being taken in this league.

Um, Jamie, do you have a strong preference between the two Gino Smith versus Jared golf? Not particularly. The only thing I think that might change for me is, and you know, uh,

Pete Carroll kind of alluded to this, uh, when I was talking to him is there could draft a quarterback and you know the the commitment to gino is there you know financially it's it's more of a one year deal as opposed to what was reported based on the guaranteed money so i can see him being the starter for the majority of the season especially their competitor which they should be but there's always that chance of, you know, whoever falls to them, I think they're picking seven, whoever falls to them in the first round, if they go that route, and they've certainly not been shy about the selfies,

you know, of C.J. Stroud and Bryce Young. You know, Gino struggles or misses time, and a young player comes in and maybe Wally pips him. So, you know, I think if you're nitpicking, that's one thing you can look at. But I think they're both great wait-on-quarterback type of, I think if you're, if you're nitpicking, that's one thing you can look at, but I think they're both great weight on quarterback type of options for you. If that's the route you go. And based on what they did last year, you know, the, the, the receiving cores are fantastic for both. One is established. One is setting in that way. I think, you know, you said this, Adam, the Marvin Jones addition is quietly one of those moves that you like to

see for a team that, you team that lost DJ Chark, replace him with a guy that once upon a time was a 10-touchdown guy, can still stretch the field a little bit. And if Jamison Williams doesn't pan out, that's not a bad fallback option. Clearly, he's not the potential and the upside of Jamison Williams, but he can still make some plays. So if Jamison doesn't mature and take that next step as a player, then I think you're going to be much happier with Dino Smith. They had pretty similar numbers,

but the biggest difference between Smith and Goff, Smith rushed for 366 yards, Goff rushed for 73. So that obviously can't be overstated. The question about these two, I guess, would be thinking about Derek Carr and Kirk Cousins last year. We kind of viewed them as, if you wait a while to take a quarterback or you want to take a second one, these guys have a lot of upside.

Maybe they could have their best seasons. They basically were just themselves. In fact, Carr had a really bad season based on a lot of typical metrics. Can Goff and Geno Smith take it to another level? Can you see any scenario where they're top five quarterbacks, which, you know, Smith was, he wasn't per game, but he did finish his QB five, but obviously some things have to break right for that to happen.

But, um, you know, you don't, are they just kind of safe or is there upside, Jamie, with, uh, Smith and Goff? I think there's more safe than upside. You know, I think, you know, you mentioned it, Gino Smith, top five, but how many things fell apart for the guys ahead of him, or at least expected to be ahead of him, you know, and, and Goff, I think even when he's been at his best, you know, top eight, top 10, you know, it's not like he's going to all of a sudden become a running quarterback. And I think as we saw, you know, the only thing that you can maybe say as a positive to spin it forward for Jared Goff is they lost the guy that scored 17 rushing touchdowns.

Now, most people would say they replaced him with a better talent than David Montgomery, but if those one-yard plunges don't happen and those go to Goff and that's maybe another seven or eight touchdowns, then maybe we're talking about a better season overall. But, you know, you're just asking him to, you know, be a better version of himself. And I think this team just based on how Dan Campbell's been talking still wants to run the ball, still wants to see if this improved defense will help carry them. And right now they might be the favorite in the division, which is something that I don't think

a lot of people expected in the last couple of seasons. So, uh, I don't know if, if these guys ascend to other Heights, but like you said, they're, they're pretty safe options if you can get them, you know, with late round picks. Yeah, I'm thinking in that like they'll probably finish in that QB 10 to 15 range, something like that, which, you know, that's not a bad option for if you're in a two quarterback league or you happen to be in like a 16 team league and just really want to punt on quarterback. I do think that they're they're pretty safe. All things considered, getting someone that late. Well, Jared Goff, you want to roster two quarterbacks. He threw 29 touchdowns last year.

23 of them were at home. Unbelievable. He averaged 30 more yards per game at home and threw 23 touchdowns, six touchdowns on the road. All right, let's take a little break here. When we come back, we'll talk about the running backs that Samantha likes this year. Before we get into that, please vote for us in the podcast awards, different podcast awards, sportspodcastgroup.com. We are nominated.

We are a finalist in the fantasy and sports gambling category. So please check it out, sportspodcastgroup.com. Link in the episode's descriptions. Did I butcher it, Thomas? What is it? Fantasy and sports? I think that's descriptions. Did I butcher it, Thomas? What is it? Fantasy in sports? I think that's what I thought it was. Sports betting?

That's Mel Hulse of the year right there. Fantasy in sports betting, I think. Well, I'm sorry. But please vote for us. We only have less than a week now. So you'll see the episodes, the link in the episode descriptions. You're really selling it, buddy. I mean, I can't imagine how we're going to ever lose with this.

Okay, here we go. Here we go. Fantasy and sports betting. Fantasy and sports betting, yeah. Scroll down so they can see the logo of Fantasy Football. There's some site where we're nominated for something. There it is. Maybe you'll find it. I said the site.

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did you know 66 of utility damage is caused by not requesting a locate don't let your project become part of this statistic a quick locate request can save you from unexpected downtime financial penalties and keep you safe don't let avoidable damage cost you time and money. Click before you dig. Ensure your next project is safe. Visit OntarioOneCall.ca. It's free. It's easy. It's the law. Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report. All right, everybody, welcome back. Samantha's here telling us the running back she likes. All right, again, I like how you sort of tiered them. You got Tony Pollard and Ramondre Stevenson. Pollard was a first-round pick in the draft we just did.

Stevenson was a third-round, early third-round pick. And then you got Khalil Herbert and Tyler Algier. So these are all very topical, very good things here. Tony Pollard, Ramondre Stevenson, Khalil Herbert, and Tyler Algier. Give me a round in a 12-team league, let's say PPR, for all four of them. Tony Pollard is what round for you? I guess second round, I guess I would say. And Ramondre Stevenson maybe shortly after in maybe like early third.

And then Tyler Algier, I mean, that's a pretty big drop-off. We're talking at least like, I don't know, six, seven. And Herbert, maybe a couple of rounds after that, I would say. They're all attractive for different reasons. Like I actually, I messaged you this. I was like, I'm not sure if I'm just supposed to give guys I like or guys that I think are maybe a little sneaky. But yeah, they're all kind of like attractive to me for different reasons.

Like three of them, that would be Pollard, Stevenson, and Herber are kind of in a situation where they just um from attrition basically of their roster that they are in a better position year over year um Algiers a different situation where I just think he just had a quietly really really awesome rookie year um graded as pff's top uh rookie running back which is pretty high praise given his competition with ken walker and breese hall uh finished the season super strong was the rb5 and half ppr after the falcons week 14 by by that point he was clearly the favorite option out of the backfield over Cordero Patterson, out snapped him significantly in that span. So I'm looking at him as a low-end RB2 who has the volume and talent to be super valuable,

even though he's not the flashiest type guy. Pollard and Stevenson, like I said, they're benefiting from guys dropping off the roster. For two seasons now, we've been trying to parse out the the Tony Pollard Ezekiel Elliott situation but in the end Pollard was so much more efficient than Zeke 5.2 yards per carry to Zeke's 3.7 Pollard's now franchise tagged Zeke's out of the picture replaced by Ronald Jones so suffice it to say that the Cowboys seem fairly committed to Pollard being the guy moving forward. So I think he has really, really awesome upside in light of those moves there. Ramondre Stevenson, obviously, anytime you start to talk about a Patriots running back, people are going to, you know, come at you with

pitchforks. But like the TikTok sound goes, I'm ready to get hurt again. He's coming off of this just fantastic year two campaign um damian harris was banged up for a significant chunk and now damian harris is on buffalo so he tallied just shy of 1500 scrimmage yards and 11 touchdowns rb 10 and half ppr so i think we should expect this kind of volume in production moving forward especially now that it seems like he has a Bill Belichick's blessing, you know, for now. Yeah. All right. So it was Pollard, Algier, Herbert, and, and, uh, Stevenson, not in that order, Pollard, Stevenson, Algier, Herbert, if we're going to go by, you know, projected ADP, Jamie, are there any of those four that you think you're out on?

No, not, not out on, you know, the one that's, I think that there's two that make me concerned would be Pollard just because, uh, what we talked about on a Wednesday show with Steven Jones's comments, um, Jerry Jones, his son and member of the front office there that they're still looking at a bigger back. And so, you know, what, what, whatever comes out of the NFL draft will sort of determine, I think, just how high Pollard goes. Because I'm with Samantha. I think right now he should be a second-round pick. If you are drafting today, I thought, you know, the pick was a little bit too soon.

I think it was ninth overall in our draft. But clearly, if he's the guy without any significant competition, and we know who that could be, you know, as we talked about earlier, you know, it could be B. John Robinson. If that's the route that they go, which wouldn't be surprising, then it's, you know, hit the panic button. So he makes me concerned. And then just Khalil Herbert, you know, I, I know I said when they allowed David Montgomery to leave as a free agent, that if they didn't bring in anybody in the free agent process, that he would be my favorite NFC North running back ahead of Dalvin Cook ahead of Aaron Jones. And when we first did our first run of rankings that was the case and then almost a day later they they bring in Deontay Foreman and so I'm just concerned that Herbert won't get the featured work that we want to see but I think

the round that that Samantha gave is perfect you know so you're talking about you know mid-round pick for a guy that's a you know should be a potential flex should be a borderline RB2 but I just don't know if we'll ever get there. If Deontay Foreman's healthy and probably vulturing some touchdowns and certainly maybe getting first and second down work as well. So in terms of where the, where, you know, she laid it out, I'm in total agreement. Second round for Pollard. Uh, I would actually put Stevenson back into round two, but early round three is fine. I was actually a person that took him in the draft and, uh, and, and Tyler Algier, you know, just, again,

we didn't really talk about this on the meetings wrap up, but the people in Atlanta, I think, just are thrilled about what they were able to find. You know, they loved him, you know, coming out, converted linebacker or spent some time playing. Like he went from running back to linebacker back to running back at BYU or Utah, wherever he was. I'm sorry, 102.

I think it was BYU. And just absolutely crushed his rookie season you know so I think that's a a player you can you know if you go the zero RB route you know and you maybe dive in the pool a little bit early he's uh he's a great you know candidate for that but a good second running back if you go the hero RB route as well yeah it was BYU last four games of the season Algier had 17 or more carries in every game. And yeah, his advanced metrics are terrific. You mentioned PFF's number

one ranked running back among rookie running backs. Tyler Algier, so this is a stat that I give that I say every time. I have no idea how it's calculated, but Rush EPA, True Media's Rush EPA, of all running backs with 100 or more carries, 41 of them,

Tyler Algier was number one. He had the highest Rush EPA in the NFL of any running back with 100 or more carries. Number two was Miles Sanders, then Christian McCaffrey, Aaron Jones, Nick Chubb. So there's your top five. Yeah, would you guys rather have Tyler Algier or

Cam Akers? For now, Akers, but I could see myself switching on that. I'm pretty okay with that, I think. Yeah, I think that they're pretty close for me. Okay, I want to just play devil's advocate on Ramondre Stevenson. I think it's because partially I feel this way. It hasn't happened yet. Maybe they have to draft someone.

I don't know, but something just tells me they're not going to give him that passing downs role this year, you know? And that's what I think that's the whole key for him because you're talking about the difference between a guy who could go in the second round than a guy who could go in the fifth round. Um, going to catch those passes? He didn't really profile as that kind of player. It's pretty shocking to me that he had 69 catches last year,

but they didn't really give him that many carries. He averaged 15 carries per game from weeks five through 16. That was when Damian Harris was mostly out of the lineup. And actually, that also excludes the Arizona game when Stevenson got hurt after three carries. So he had only three games all year with more than 16 carries. I'm not quite sure what that was about. But also, how about this? Damian Harris is out of the lineup for about two months,

mostly out of the lineup. He misses four straight games. Ramondre Stevenson has a terrible game against the Bengals. We remember that game because he fumbled inside the 10-yard line late in the fourth quarter. It looked like they were going in for an upset. He fumbled twice in that game. He fumbled four times in his last six games.

He fumbled twice as a rookie. The last two games of the season, Damian Harris comes back and out carries Ramondre Stevenson. If I'm forgetting an injury to Stevenson or something, I apologize. He was playing through an ankle injury, if I'm not mistaken. All right. Damian Harris came back, though, and missed four games and came back and had, you know,

a decent amount more work than Stevenson. He had 22 carries to 14 for Stevenson. So I don't know. I feel like it's easy enough for something to go wrong for Amandre Stevenson. He just doesn't feel like he's guaranteed that type of volume, particularly in the passing game. I feel like he's not going to get it personally. And I don't know what it's based on other than how many times have we seen a three down back in New England? And is he really a third down back? I don't, I mean, I didn't think of him that way. So that's why I have not drafted him yet because he's going a little bit too early for me. But, you know, things could change after the draft. I just think that it's a better offensive system

because they finally have a play caller. You know, Bill O'Brien coming in to replace the Matt Patricia, Joe Judge duo of Drek is hopefully going to be a big upgrade. You know that's still going to be their MO. But, Jamie, what was Mac Jones, what was he flipping out about on the field? Let me throw the ball downfield.

He'd want me to dink and dunk all the time, right? Well, I do think that what he wants versus what the coaching staff wants at this point in his career, when this is a make-or-break season for him, if he's going to have those tantrums on the field now with a hopefully stronger presence on the sideline, not that Bill Belichick is,

is not the end all be all, but you know, I I'm, I'm sure as we saw, you know, the, the tantrums were directed at Matt Patricia. They were directed at Joe judge.

They were directed at the frustration that he was dealing with of not being able to do that. And, and let's be fair. If, if he's going to throw the ball more, unless, like you said, it's James Robinson or Pierre Strong working in the passing game, a lot of those pass attempts that are going to that position

should probably go to Stevenson still. Yeah, maybe. I lost Samantha for a moment. She's back. All right, Samantha, why don't we talk about your wide receivers that you like this year? And the four you gave us were Calvin Ridley, DJ Moore. Oh, you gave us

five! Bonus! Calvin Ridley, DJ Moore, Garrett Wilson, Jahan Dotson, and Jamison Williams. So some young guys there, Garrett Wilson, Jahan Dotson, Jamison Williams going into their second seasons, but Calvin Ridley and DJ Moore. All right, so I do want to talk about DJ Moore. Heartbroken as a Panthers fan, DJ Moore not on the team anymore.

He's been a bit of a fantasy conundrum for fantasy analysts in particular. It seems like they always like him more than the public does. And the public's probably going to write about him. So do you think this is good for DJ Moore going to the Bears? Because we're talking about a guy who's been basically a number two, three receiver for most of his career in fantasy. Do you think this is good for DJ Moore going to the Bears? Because we're talking about a guy who's been basically a number two, three receiver for most of his career in fantasy. Do you think this is good for DJ Moore? How much do you like him? It's I mean, yeah, it's first of all, it is gut wrenching because they have just absolutely gutted the whole Panthers team, obviously, with Christian McCaffrey gone mid season two. So, I mean, I,

yeah, I think it's interesting too, because there are always those guys in the fantasy community. Like let's rewind and think about some of the guys that like the fantasy community was super high. And like, I feel like smudge AP Ryan a long time ago was like super, super hot.

It's just like people like that. I don't know. But I think this is just more of a, we look at him in like an Allen Robinson type way, perpetually plagued by bad QB play. I mean, he had to deal with catching passes from Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, PJ Walker and Jacob Eason last year and managed to still act out a wide receiver 19 finish. I mean, that's, I know that's, that's definitely not great. He was probably being drafted as, uh, you know, in that wide receiver 12 ish range last year. So I get that that is a disappointing year, but I think that this curse stretch could be coming to at least somewhat of an end with this trade. Now, granted, uh, you know, I said this earlier, Fields is not exactly known for his passing prowess, but he's also never had a legit wide receiver one. So it's a little hard to kind of judge that. So I mean, like I said, he's going to be immediately the number one option. So I like him to finish as a wide receiver two or better. But you know, it is it is a little bit of a notch down from I guess, past years,

I still think though, like he is a super talented type guy and there's, I don't know, maybe there is that sense of like, there's gotta be some regression here because he, he just looks so good to the eye and, and, uh, and hopefully this can be the end of a bad stretch with, uh, quarterbacks. Oh man, Jamie, DJ Moore went in round three, middle of round three. And that, that's, that's too early for me. That's too early for me. I think Calvin Ridley went in round three. Middle of round three. That's too early for me. That's too early for me, I think. Calvin Ridley went in round four, about a little less than a round later.

Who do you guys like better, Moore or Ridley? Jamie? I think I'm leaning more toward Ridley. I don't have it ranked that way right now. You can't say it like that. You can't say Moore toward Ridley. You can't say both players' names in that sense. I'm leaning in the direction

of Ridley there you go over DJ Moore um I I and that comes down to you know I think past attempts and and quarterback play not again that Justin Fields is not a bad quarterback look it I think when you when you when you talk about this Bears offense in this Bears passing game and in DJ Moore's edition as Samantha has said he's never had i think a quarterback with this type of talent you know we still have to see him do it in terms of justin fields but fields also has never had this type of receiver in the two years that he's been there so you know if if this is the and this is the optimal situation if he is the stefan digs to josh allen like we saw in buffalo then it's going to be an amazing pairing

to whatever scale you want to you know put them up against each other but you know these are the type of moves that teams make to make a quarterback better and and hopefully dj more will benefit on the other side of it with an improved justin field so you know i i think round four based on how typically receivers will get drafted is the is the spot you want to look for DJ Moore. I would just kind of put it that I would just kind of view it that the numbers that we've kind of gotten from him, wide receiver 19, wide receiver 15 on, you know, maybe in a more optimistic sense, you know, between 15 and 20, if that's your expectations, I think he can live up to that. You know, I don't think he's going to drop back to wide receiver 30 or worse than become Allen Robinson,

you know, going to, uh, you know, a new team. I don't think that's the type of player that he is yet, but I do think that, you know,

to ask him to become a top 10 wide receiver in this current iteration of bears offense is probably a stretch. So if you view him the right way, wide receiver to, um, round four, around five range, depending on,

you know, how your receivers go and the size of your league, uh, PPR, non-ppr all those things take into account you'll be okay with these anymore let's talk about the second year guys here so garrett wilson was one you listed do you like him better than chris olave i i think i do i mean i he's he's another guy that just managed to endure quite a crap show of a rookie season um for the Jets and I think that now that these Zach Wilson experience is plausibly over Aaron Rodgers is all but with the team Elijah Morris in Cleveland I think he has a legitimate path to superstardom I mean 83 catches for just over 1100 yards, four touchdowns. And that's all in light of just some a lot of tumultuous quarterback play, as I said, but clearly demonstrated to us

why he was the number 10 overall pick in the draft. So I'm viewing him as just a low end wide receiver one with sky high upside in light of of this uh massive qb upgrade that's that's sort of in the works um but yeah there are just there were obviously just so many guys out of this class and to think that a lot of in and uh wilson we're on we're on the same team and and everything it's just it's pretty mind-blowing it's it, they are both just great talents. I love a lobby as well. So how about this group of wide receivers in round eight, Samantha, um, Michael Thomas, Brandon cooks, Jahan Dotson, who's one of the players you wanted to highlight and Cortland Sutton, uh, Michael Thomas, Brandon cooks, Jahan Dotson, Cortland Sutton. How do you

feel about Dotson in that group? Yeah, I think I probably like him more than some of those guys, for sure. I mean, he didn't have the flashiest rookie season. And like I said, I mean, it was just such a stacked draft that he kind of got a little bit lost there and obviously missed a chunk of time due to a hamstring injury dealing with subpar QB play again. I mean, the Washington quarterback situation definitely gives me pause as it currently appears. Like if it's Sam Howell, I don't feel necessarily great, but you know, if, and this is obviously a huge if, but if they should win the Lamar Jackson sweepstakes, I mean, we have an entirely different ball game, but I think he's a super talented receiver.

Obviously Washington really believes in him. If draft capital is any indication because they did seem to reach for him in the first round. So I'm super talented. I think he could be on the brink of a year to break out for sure. Yeah. Anything you want to add, Jamie? I think it's just the quarterback, you know, as, as said, unfortunately, I think because of the sale of the team, they won't be able to get Lamar Jackson because you've got to pay him, and I don't think the current owner is going to do that.

And probably by the time the sale is done, Lamar's situation is hopefully resolved. But, yeah, if they were to find a way to get some sort of upgrade over Brissette or Howell, you'd feel a lot better about, you know, not just Dotson, but also Terry McLaurin. It's just a matter of can that quarterback situation support both of those guys? And, you know, you could say, okay, is Taylor Heineke a special talent? No. You know, I think Sam Howell could certainly play at that level, if not better.

Jacoby Brissette I think surprised a lot of us last year, how he played as the starter for Cleveland and what he was able to do with Amari Cooper. Now, granted, it was really just one guy there as opposed to the two talents of McLaurin and Dotson. So the only thing for me holding back the ceiling and the upside is the quarterback and just the situation there.

Like, that just feels like that team, with everything that's gone on, can be an absolute dumpster fire, you know? So I like the talent. They have a lot of positions that I think you look at and you say, okay, they can win. But the overall feeling about the Washington commanders just feels like it's a,

it's a team heading backwards until they get that ownership group in place. How many picks do you think should separate Terry McLaurin and Jahan Dotson? I would say around 12 to 15, maybe. Yeah, maybe a round or two.

Okay. Because in the most recent drafts we did, the one I keep referencing, it was about 35 picks, I think. Yeah. McLaurin went in round five to the guy who reached on every pick he made. Sorry. And Dotson went in round seven. Look at this. Yeah, Samantha, we had one person in this draft

that took Javante Williams in round two, DJ went in round two. I mean, look at this. Yeah, so Samantha, we had one person in this draft that took Javante Williams in round two, DJ Moore in round three, McLaurin in round five. What else? He probably took Caleb Williams in round one and just was getting a head start on reaching. Let me see. The team is Herbert. No, the team is Burrow, Eckler.

He must take an Eckler, then Gervonta, DJ Moore. Who's this? Round four is probably Burrow. Round five was McLaurin. He took Thielen in round eight. He took Njoku. We're going to talk about it. He took Algier and Njoku.

Oh, you'd love this team. He's got DJ Moore, Tyler Algier, David Njoku. He just probably took them all a little bit too early. The overall picture, if Javante is right, is not bad. It's just when those players came off the board. Yeah, that's okay. Every draft needs a Zach.

Okay. Let's take one more break. When we come back, we'll talk about three tight ends that Samantha Breviti is high on going into 2023 as of late March. We'll be right back on FFT. All right, Samantha, what is the most incorrect pronunciation

of your last name, spelled P-R-E-V-I-T-E, that you've ever had? Ooh, I've heard all of them. I like Samantha Private. I feel like that sounds very mysterious and kind of weird. Um, private, that, that almost sounds like proper. Yeah. Put your pinky up. Um, yeah. And I had coaches in high school that, you know, they call you by your last name and they just intentionally call me private. So I think, I don't know. I think private is probably the weirdest one. Cause, uh, because, and people ask me to,

I mean, not to get into my whole life story, but I am adopted. And people ask me like, Previte, is that Korean or something? And I'm like, it's really Italian, but it's okay. Yeah, I would never would have gotten Previte. Never.

Previte? I don't think I would have said Previte because that just had to be wrong. But yeah, Previte is a good one um all right uh samantha breviti then you gave us three tight ends that you like right now and i like these these are late round picks so they were david nojoku chigakonkwo and juwan johnson is that how you would rank them nojoku akonkwo juwan johnson yeah i think that that's how i probably i mean johnson and akonkwo, Juwan Johnson. Yeah, I think that that's how I probably, I mean, Johnson and Okonkwo are pretty close. I mean, let's face it, like the tight end landscape

really feels like Travis Kelsey and a whole bunch of other guys. But, you know, I can try to make a case for some of these less flashy guys. Njoku saw a nice target share all year, finished with a career high 58 catches, double digit fantasy points in half PPR in six games. Him ending up on this list is more of a commentary on Deshaun Watson, who I think will play better in his first full season for the Browns. I mean, I get it. It was a huge disappointment. And this is obviously no commentary on Deshaun Watson as a person, but I do think he's going to end up being quite a good late round steal, leader round steal, I should say. But yeah, Nojoku, if Deshaun Watson plays up

to, I think, what he can play, Nojoku is a legitimate threat to be a top 12 guy who you could get for pretty cheap. And I think that a lot of people are going to end up having to punt at this position. So, cause it is just, it was, it was pretty bad last year. But yeah, in terms of the other two guys, Juwan Johnson, former undrafted free agent who had a legit stretch from week seven through 17, where he was the tight end seven and a half PPR caught seven touchdowns in that span. Definitely profiles as much more of a traditional tight end, unlike Taysom Hill, only in his fourth year. So he could definitely be in kind of in that prime of as a tight end. So I think it's safe to assume that Derek Carr is going to be at the very least at the same level as Andy Dalton, if not better. So Carr was obviously great for Darren Waller's fantasy

value for many years. So I think he could be a legit diamond in the rough likely going undrafted in most leagues like chigo conqua and a guy that i think a lot of us and i mean at least me i was i was uh did not know who he was when he kind of burst on the scene fourth round draft pick out of maryland who ended up making kind of a later season uh splash finished with eight or more fantasy points in four of the last six games. Obviously don't love the QB situation, but he could end up being a nice security blanket for Ryan Tannehill or whoever ends up starting for this team. So I think, yeah, Juwan Johnson and Chigokonkwo kind of in a slightly different tier than the Njoku for sure and going undrafted in most leagues. But I think guys that could end up being certainly like those,

those diamond in the roughs. We got a big comment here. Bold take in the chat from captain Spock. He says, if no joke, who can stay healthy, he is top five. Samantha,

that's, that's pretty bold. I don't know. What do you think? Can he be top five? It's healthy. I think that's pretty bold. I don't, I What do you think? Can he be top five if healthy? I think that's pretty bold. I don't see that

happening, but I could definitely see top ten if he's healthy. Jamie, do you think Captain Spock, whose avatar is a cute dog, little dog, do you think Captain Spock is the name of that dog? Or do you think it's just the commenter's

name? Probably just the commenter's name, but I hope the dog lives long and prosper. Very good. I want to ask you another tight end question. Let's see. When in round one would you take Travis Kelsey? Oh, I mean,

I guess it's going to gonna be like six seven ish like the middle of round one I think um you know if you're missing out on the the top few guys I think Travis Kelsey feels super super safe at this point especially since like the Chiefs I mean they just really don't have a lot of pass catchers with Juju gone. They've got Skymore and Kadarius Toney, and we don't know if Kadarius Toney can string together 17 games for sure. So I think it's the Travis Kelsey show in Kansas City. Because Jamie threatened me last week for our draft.

He wrote, and I'm reading it now, I had the third pick. He said, you better take Kelsey at three. With an exclamation point. He said that. There was a reason for that, though, because in the first draft that we did following the season, you took Kelsey first overall. Yeah.

I think I'm going to move him down to second overall. I think I'm going to go Jefferson Kelsey, but no later than than third for sure. I guess until next month will be for sure. But right now, right now, I think he's second for me. All right, Samantha, thank you very much for joining us. We very much appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me. It was super fun to talk to you guys and awesome to just dive into some guys this season. I'm so excited for this year. And it's really great to get different perspective. I'm tired. I'm honestly so tired of talking to the same people all the time. Jamie, right. I was just like, I don't know if I get it.

Yeah. You know what Dave's going to say all the time. Dave wants to know if he's on the mailbag podcast. I told him no, and I think it hurt his feelings. So I'm going to invite him on the mailbag podcast. Maybe you'll get all three of the analysts. And, of course, you can check out Heath's new Dynasty podcast, which was funny. I'll rip on him a little bit for that on tomorrow's show.

But that is Samantha Braviti. Please follow her at Samantha NFL. Always great to have her on, one of our favorite guests. And this is your Thursday edition recording on Wednesday night. Again, we have a mailbag that we're recording on Thursday that you're going to hear on Friday, or you can watch it earlier at youtube.com slash fantasyfootballtoday. Vote for our podcast, whatever the name is.

Go to sportspodcastgroup.com. Vote in the fantasy and sports betting category, I think. All right, we'll talk to you tomorrow on Fantasy Football.