Fantasy Football Today - Sophomore TEs; Started QB Fantasy Points (02/23 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: February 23, 2021

Don't overlook the rookie TEs just because they weren't very productive! Year Two is often a great year for TEs, so who could make that leap among this group of TEs? It starts with Cole Kmet but there are other names to know. How many Year Two TEs are going to get drafted in 12-team leagues (2:15)? How many are worth rostering in a Dynasty league (4:15)? ... We'll talk about the key players (7:50) like Kmet, Adam Trautman and Donald Parham. Plus let's discuss incoming rookie Kyle Pitts and where he might fit in. After we wrap up the TE discussion we'll go over the news and notes (18:00) you need to know ... What are "Started Fantasy Points"? We'll tell you about it and give you our takeaways (24:00). What mistake did the Ryan Tannehill managers make in 2020? ... Your emails at [e-mail] Subscribe to the FFT in 5 podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, or wherever you listen to FFT. Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @CTowersCBS, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCviK78rIWXhZdFzJ1Woi7Fg/videos Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter 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/ Want winning picks each morning in under 10 minutes? Subscribe to 'The Early Edge: A Daily SportsLine Betting Podcast' on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever else you listen to 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

Kick off an exciting football season with BetMGM, an official sportsbook partner of the National Football League. Yard after yard, down after down, the sportsbook born in Vegas gives you the chance to take action to the end zone and celebrate every highlight reel play. And as an official sportsbook partner of the NFL, BetMGM is the best place to fuel your football fandom on every game day. With a variety of exciting features, BetMGM offers you plenty of seamless ways to jump straight onto the gridiron and to embrace peak sports action. Ready for another season of gridiron glory? What are you waiting for?

Get off the bench, into the huddle, and head for the end zone all season long. Visit BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older. Ontario only. Please gamble responsibly. Gambling problem? For free assistance, call the Connex Ontario helpline at 1-866-531-2600.

BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. On his way to the end zone. I'll tell you what, that was a spectacular play. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. What a play. Off to the races.

Touchdown. Oh, he's done it again. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath, and Ben. You circled your calendars. This is the show we've all been waiting for, looking at the year two tight ends. But don't worry, we've got plenty to talk about and another topic that hopefully will be interesting

for you fantasy managers out there, started fantasy points among quarterbacks in 2020. Adam Azer, Heath Cummings, and J.B. Eisenberg. Heath, as we did fantasy football today in five yesterday, you told me an interesting note on sophomore tight ends the last three seasons. Care to share? I like the way that you came up with the started

fantasy points and you did the quarterbacks and you were a little disappointed by what you found. You thought, how can I highlight this and make it look less terrible? I know. I'll pair it with the year two tight ends. It will be the most interesting thing on the show. I think that the thing that I said yesterday on FFTN5 was each of the last three years, we've had a pair of second year tight ends finish as top 10 tight ends.

I don't think that's going to happen again in 2021, but it is something that's happened. Most of those guys were not very good as rookies. Right. Oh, there's two this year. Who? Cole Komet and Adam Chobham. but it is something that's happened. Most of those guys were not very good as rookies. Right. Oh, there's two this year. Who? Cole Komet and Adam Chobin. Top 10?

Potential. Yeah. Well, it gets a little better if you want to expand it to top 15. In 2018, we had four sophomore tight ends finish top 15. In 2019, we had three. And in 2020, we had two. And in each of the last three seasons, we've had one tight end finish,

one sophomore tight end, year two tight end, finish top 12 in PPR after a rookie season with fewer than 400 yards. Okay, David Njoku, 386 yards. Mike Kosicki, 202 yards. He's a rookie that's terrible, and he finished 12th in 2019. And TJ Hawkinson, 367 yards, two touchdowns. So, you know, Cole Komet is at 243 yards. He was the best tight end last year.

Two touchdowns for him. But maybe he can sneak in, and the targets got better later in the year. So Jamie, how many, your two tight ends will be drafted in 12 team leagues? Probably just those two. If Troutman is the starter for the saints, but I don't think he's a,

he's a lot. Komet, I think is going to be one of those guys that by the time we get to middle of August, that there's enough buzz to take him as that second guy, kind of in that Irv Smith range of how you were drafting him this year. And then you'll drop him if he doesn't do anything like you did with Irv Smith. But that's the type of, I think, fantasy option that he'll be.

You know, I mean, look, we have to see what this Bears offense looks like. Clearly, there's a quarterback issue that has to be addressed. There's a number one wide receiver issue that has to be addressed. But if the quarterback is competent and the wide receiver issue is still the same, I think Cole Komet has a chance to be a decent fantasy option. Heath, what do you think about Cole Komet? I think it's good to hear all the things we just said about not holding a rookie's production against them. It's also true that often second year tight ends aren't that great. It can take a tight end a while to become really good for fantasy. I am more in a wait and see what happens with the situation type of place with Cole commit. Like, I think there's a possibility, like Jamie said, if everything, if he gets a decent quarterback and they don't have a really good number one wide receiver,

then I will be much higher on him than I am right now. Jamie took Cole commit a month ago or like a month and a half ago at this point in our PPR league draft. I reference it all the time. Uh, you took him in the 14th round out of 15 rounds. I don't think there was another, did it say,

was there another tight end off the board? No, I think he was the last one. He was not my starter. No, no. Blake Jarwin was the tight end pick before that. Oh, I think you cursed at me when I made that pick. I did. Yeah, it felt good.

That felt good. All right, let's get to my next question here. How many tight ends from this class are worth rostering in a Dynasty League? Six? Five? I mean, when you ask that question, there is a huge range in the size of rosters in Dynasty Leagues. I don't even know what you would say the standard roster is for a Dynasty League, but if we said 20, um,

with maybe a few taxi squad spots, then I, then I would say five to six is the answer. Can you name them please? I don't know if I can name all of them. Um, Colt, I'll have it commit and Trotman for sure.

You got it. You got to look at Harrison Bryant, Alberto. Um, and then the two Patriots guys I think are worth holding onto to for another year with Asi Asi and Dalton Keene just to see if one of them can maybe step up and show you something. Asi Asi seems to be the better of the two, but I don't think there's anything guaranteed there. Bryson Hopkins is going to get an opportunity with Gerald Everett, most likely leaving as a free agent. And we know that Sean Payton, Sean Payton. We know that the Rams like to use two tight ends.

So it would not surprise me if Hopkins has an opportunity, whether he's good or not, I don't know, but we'll find out. But I think that's the group of guys you're looking at there. I would like to have Donald Parham on a roster as well for now. Yes. Not drafted, but get some big opportunity as well. Donald Parham out of Stetson also played in the XFL was not drafted.

Undrafted free agent in 2019 made his debut last year and he had 20 targets in 13 games. Seven of them came in weeks, 16 and 17. Those were the two games that Hunter Henry missed. He was on the COVID list. So two games. He had 47 yards against Denver in week 16. He had 37 yards and a touchdown at Kansas City in week 17 against backups.

But still did some good stuff, I guess, toward the end of the season there with Hunter Henry. That's Donald Parham, who you might forget about, as I sort of did yesterday on Fantasy Football Today in 5 as part of this class because he was not drafted. And I don't even know that he was part of it. He's 2019, right? Well, he wasn't in the NFL

in 2019, though. He was, right. He graduated college, I think is what I'm trying to say. He's not in the same college class as this group. Maybe he doesn't fit into the second-year tight ends.

But I just thought since last year was his first year in the NFL. He does. He does. He does. Yeah, I know. All right. Last question here. All right. In a dynasty league, would you rather have Cole Komet or a Cowboys tight end, Jarwin Schultz?

Dynasty league. Komet for me. Yeah, Komet for me, too. And I like Blake Jarwin a lot, but I mean, I think you look at what pedigree is and obviously opportunity, and Kemet has both of those. Okay. Would you rather have Kemet or OJ Howard dynasty? Kemet. I actually have them back to back, but I do have Kemet higher. Where do you have Evan Ingram? He's currently slightly ahead of those two, but I don't feel like they're all in the same range. I'd rather have Komet over all of them. I'd rather have Ingram over Howard.

At this time, I'd like to take a look at the 2015 tight end draft class, headlined by Devin Funchess, who wasn't even a tight end. After that, Max Williams, Clive Walford, Jeff Hyrman were, I think there was one more that I'm forgetting that wasn't good off the board, the first five. Yeah, terrible tight end class. Hopefully this one's not as bad, but obviously very little production as rookie. So it starts with Cole Komet. And in Jimmy Graham, in the first nine games of the season, Komet had eight targets. and Jimmy Graham had 55 targets, and he was the number six tight end in non-PPR, number five in PPR.

The next two games, neither of them got a lot of looks. Well, they combined for 12 targets. But the last five games of the season, you had 30 targets for Komet. You had 15 for Graham. Komet had 20 catches, 149 yards, and a touchdown on those 30 targets. And then in the postseason, Komet had four targets. Graham had two. Graham caught a touchdown.

Also to note, the Bears were very pass-heavy last year. Very. Until David Montgomery got going in those last five or six games. So I mentioned the splits for Komet. Last five games, he had 30 targets. That was actually an 18.2% target share, which is pretty good. Mitchell Trubisky averaged just 33 pass attempts per game. They started to run the ball a lot better and a lot more. So, Jamie, you said... Well, first off, when you have Nick Foles and Mitchell Trubisky,

you want to be pass heavy. That's the right opportunity and approach to take. It was weird. They ran the ball, I guess, so poorly that they were just throwing the ball a lot. I wonder what they're going to do at quarterback. It's so fascinating because they seem to be in the Wentz discussion. Then you find out that they really weren't in the Wentz discussion. So are they going to bring back Trubisky and make it another go at it to see if they can make it work? Are they going to be in the Deshaun Watson sweepstakes?

If that's a possibility, I just don't know what they're doing. Yeah. And also the Allen Robinson decision they had to make. So, Jamie, you can start because you sound fairly optimistic about Cole Komet. I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong.

Well, of the groups that we're looking at here. The possible outcomes, though, I mean, in terms of Robinson, in terms of the quarterback situation, there's a lot to look at here in the offseason. Well, I think as we started to look at these tight end situations a little bit more closely, you, you realize again, that if there is not a lot around these guys and if there is talent with that player, then target opportunity is clearly there, but production is obviously there as well. As we've, you know,

sort of noted with George Kittle and Zach Ertz and Darren Waller. Now we're talking about the best of the best at their respective position, but Cole Komet will have an opportunity to potentially do something on a lesser scale. If again, the quarterback situation is right. And he's looking at Darnell Mooney and Anthony Miller as the guys around him. You know, I think there'll be another guy in the mix, whether it's a rookie or another free agent of sorts. But if he's going to be one of, if not the primary focal point in the passing game and the potential target leader, you can't ignore that. And so for a guy that was a second round pick that showed some flashes last year, he's the one that you're looking at. The only reason I bring up Adam Troutman is because Sean Payton, who has shown an ability to get his tight ends going, certainly has touchdown options and red zone threats. If there is no Jared Cook,

who's a free agent, then Troutman steps into a situation where he's not going to be the leader of this passing attack because there are other options there, but he's got a chance to potentially be a sleeper that you take with a late round pick and has the chance to maybe exceed some expectations going into the season. Jared Cook has 16 touchdown catches in his last three seasons. Heath, or the last two seasons, sorry. Heath, give me a scenario where you would think about ranking Troutman ahead of Komet in 2021. The Bears go into this.

They bring Allen Robinson back on a franchise tag, and they go into the season with Nick Foles as their starting quarterback, and the Saints name Jameis Winston the starter, and don't bring in any other tight ends. And would you do it in that situation? Yes, I would. One hundred percent. Yeah.

One hundred percent have Troutman. I don't have them that far apart right now. Can we go back to the 2015 tight end draft class? Because I think that's a it's maybe the most interesting thing we talked about. Do you know the best tight end is from the 2015 tight end draft class? Can I cheat? I do. C.J.

C.J. Osama. It's not. Don't cheat. Don't cheat. Don't cheat. Because you called it a terrible draft class and you're going to have to take it do. C.J. Ozama. It's not. Don't cheat. Don't cheat. Don't cheat. Because you called it a terrible draft class, and you're going to have to take it back.

Oh, crap. Who did I forget? He was not good in his first year or his second year or his third year. I don't think he was good in his fourth year. Darren Waller. Okay. Okay. Yeah.

Thank you. But he was drafted as a receiver, though. That's cheating. That's why he didn't show up here. He listed Devin Funchess. Well, Devin Funchess is listed as a tight end here. I'm on pro football reference. So is Darren Waller.

Wait, Waller. Sure. No, he's listed as a wide receiver. Oh, not on his page. Okay. Yeah, no. If you look at the draft on pro football reference, he's listed as a wide receiver. Oh, not on his page. Okay. Yeah, no. If you look at the draft on pro football reference, he's listed as a wide receiver. Okay.

There is an actually interesting tight end thing at play that's happening, but it's not about the sophomores. According to pro football focus, there are some teams that are looking at Kyle Pitts as a wide receiver and drafting him as such. Yeah, I'm sorry, Jamie. Even if it's interesting, if it's not about sophomore wide receivers, there's just no place for that on today's show. That's good because we're talking sophomore tight ends.

We can talk about whatever we want. Sophomore tight end, damn it. I don't know the difference between a tight end and a wide receiver. Neither did the Panthers when they drafted Devin Funchess. Oh, no, that is interesting. Kyle Pitts. All right, so yeah, off subject,

but Kyle Pitts for Florida. Is he going to be the rare rookie tight end that's worth starting? Is he going to crack your top 12 in the rankings? What's his opportunity? What's his situation? Like, possibly. There's a chance. You know, we did our first run of our top 12s right after the season ended.

You could read it on the site. And Dave put Kyle Pitts in his top 12. I don't know if he was just trying to be different or that's his expectation going in. You could ask Dave that next time he's on the show. But, I mean, look, he's going to be a first-round pick. And so I'm sure a team's going to want to highlight and feature him as much as they possibly can. Does he go to a team? You've heard the Giants.

I'm sure you've probably seen this, Adam. Several mock drafts have had Kyle Pitts go into the Giants. What position is he playing for the Giants? I would think tight end, but yeah, that would be a bad year for him. That might mean one more year of Evan Ingram, but let's say Cincinnati at five takes him. He will not be a top 12 tight end for me.

He'll be in that Adam Troutman, Cole Comet range of a guy that I'll take as a second tight end, but not with the Bengals, no. Yeah, I was going to guess 15 was where he would be ranked if he was on the Bengals. Carolina at eight. Who's the quarterback? They are wildcatting it with Christian McCaffrey all year. I,

I did through the Bible like 17 times to their tight end last year. So I'm not, I'm going to say outside of the top 15. Yeah. But again, if they're making that investment, that tells you that it was more Ian Thomas than it is the offense. If they did take them.

Yeah. Uh, Dallas 10. I mean, what are the Cowboys doing? Why do they need a tight end? Well, because they could have a true stud tight end. They could, but they have a true stud receiving

core. Why did they need CeeDee Lamb? They took best player available last year. It's true. Fair point. No. Still in that 15 range, like he said. Okay. You tell me. Giants at 11. That is mocked quite a bit. Ingram's cut? No, I think he's playing wide receiver then.

Oh. Okay. Yeah. That'd be good. The only thing that would make this a nightmare for Kyle Pitts, for fantasy, is if fantasy sites designate him as a wide receiver because he's drafted that way. Oh yeah. That, well, if he is drafted as a wide receiver,

then you have to, then they have to make him a wide receiver, right? Well, the only way that they would be designated as a wide receiver is if the giants come out and say right off the bat, we're not drafting him to play tight end. We're drafting to play wide receiver.

Do you know what happened with Funchess? You remember what we did there? Well, it was the same thing with Lynn Bowden last year, right? No, we weren't giving dual eligibility at that time. Okay. Well, back to the sophomore tight ends. Anything else you guys want to talk about? Tell me why you think highly of Adam Troutman.

I mean, he did hit 16 targets last year. He caught 15 of them. Is that right? I didn't even notice that. Yeah, what do you think about Adam Troutman? Like, why do you... Opportunity. Why do we care about him?

Okay. Opportunity and system. Searching for something. I think Heath is right. It's got to be, you know, more, it's probably has to be James Winston as opposed to take some Hill to be really excited about that. But, um,

look at this receiving core. I mean, you know, it's obviously Emmanuel Sanders had some good moments last year. Is he, is he guaranteed to be back? Um, you know,

you know, what Kamara and Michael Thomas are going to do. The third guy could be Troutman. Look at that catch rate. 94%. 15 of 16 targets. Look at that ADOT. Four yards for Adam Troutman.

Okay, Donald Parham. If Hunter Henry were not back and Donald Parham entered the season as the starting tight end, is he a top 15 tight end? No, but he's close. Not too far, but not quite. All right, so here's your scenario. Allen Robinson's back, but they have a different quarterback.

We don't know who it is. Hunter Henry's gone. And Emmanuel Sanders is gone. How would you rank Cole Komet, Donald Parham, Adam Troutman? And Jameis Winston's the quarterback. Komet, Troutman, Parham. Troutman, Komet, Parham.

I think this is going to conclude our discussion of sophomore tight ends. I mean, I keep an eye on the Patriots quarterback situation too because one of those two guys has a shot. They seem to like Asi Asi better, but we'll see. Okay, we got some news and notes. Philadelphia released Deshaun Jackson and will release Alshon Jeffrey, according to Ian Rappaport.

And Jalen Hurts, it doesn't seem like he is locked in as the starting quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles. They could explore some other options. They could draft someone. They have the sixth overall pick. They're just going to sign Nick Foles when he's cut. They could do that. But yeah, they're going to have a very different look next year.

Derek Carr is in the Raiders' plans for 2021, according to Ian Rappaport. He's all right. Heath, what do you think about Derek Carr? Great when it's not cold. Yeah, he would really suck in your apartment right now. Oh, man. Would be very bad in Europe.

No, that was one of his quotes, I think, that his girlfriend got mad because he set the thermostat too low. He likes the cold. That's what he said. He's a fine second quarterback in a two QB league. A good one, even. Yeah, my heat and hot water have been out since Friday night.

And the water is really the tougher part. The heat, like I'm wearing two pairs of socks, two pairs of pants, like a waffle shirt and a sweatshirt. You could always bundle up. But the cold water, that's not fun. And obviously, we know it's a lot worse out there in Texas. So think about all those people out there who are dealing with a much worse situation. But that's what Jamie was talking about when he said that car would hate my apartment. Green Bay released Rick Wagner. It's also not very big. And that's their right tackle,

Rick Wagner and Christian Kirksey, a linebacker. Carolina. Carolina, we talked about this yesterday briefly. They really want Deshaun Watson, it seems. According to reports, they have cleared nearly $26 million in cap space. That would be

a pretty sweet landing spot, wouldn't it? For Watson? You could argue that if they replace Curtis Samuel with somebody else, or even if they retain Curtis Samuel, that might be the best offense in football. Well, is Christian McCaffrey part of the deal? Well, then it's not the best offense in football.

Like, still, even if he went there and has DJ more and Robbie Anderson and, and a pass catching running, but it hurts it a little bit if they have to deal McCaffrey, because then I think they also have to eat a bunch of dead money on McCaffrey and makes it hard for them to put a good team around him. Cool. All right,

back to the news and notes, Seattle offensive lineman, Upati is retiring and this was a really cool quote from Mike Evans he was talking on Michael Irvin's podcast and he was talking about Tom Brady quote he was texting texting us a lot of clips lots and lots of film on what to expect on certain downs and distances and he does that all the time but just in the playoffs and especially this game, he went above and beyond. And he went on to say,

you know, talking about how this isn't going to work in this situation. You got to run this type of route like this. I don't know. I thought it was really interesting. Tom Brady dissecting film and figuring things out. Well, I think you're starting to see,

you know, and obviously everybody appreciates Tom Brady's greatness, but I think you're starting to see, you know, just how much, uh, maybe he didn't get the credit he deserves for being the student of the game that he is because of playing for the Patriots and Belichick and Josh McDaniels, just how great coaches they were, you know,

and Bruce Arians has talked about this quite a bit that, you know, how much they put on Brady and allowed him to, you know, be an extension of the coaching staff and, you know, made a lot of sense. You know, I mean, you got a guy who's been in the league as long as he has and has seen as much as he has. And it's just kind of cool to hear these stories. I mean, clearly he's at the end of his career.

He may play another four or five years and win another two, three Super Bowls. But, I mean, he's obviously at the end, so you're starting to appreciate the great – you know, it's like when all the best of the best, when they start to get toward the end, you really appreciate just how valuable they are to their teams, to their locker rooms. And certainly, you know,

if you appreciate the game, you appreciate what those guys do. Yeah, he brought a lot of credibility too. You said to the locker room, I think that's been pretty evident since day one, what he brought to the Bucs. You can tell just from an outsider's perspective.

Impressive stuff. Yeah, we have, I mean, you know, and Adam, I don't want to speak out of turn, but we obviously may have some emergency podcasts coming up with the franchise tags if that's the route we're going to go. Today's the day when they're going to be, you know, giving them. And there's a lot of chatter about Chris Godwin and getting the franchise tag.

And, you know, I don't know how he feels about that, but, you know, run it back one more time. He gets, I think it's $16 million for the season um if i'm not mistaken uh yeah it's right around there yeah you know not bad not bad to be part of that offense again no they definitely want to keep them that's all the rumblings say that they want to keep chris godwin so yeah well we might have a little franchise tag special for you here we will take a break when we come back jamie will keep assigning me more podcasts to do.

And we will look at... If you're cold, it's better to work. No, this is the coldest room in the house. So I kind of hate you right now. But we'll be right back on Fantasy Football today to talk about started quarterback fantasy points and your emails at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com.

Whether in the game or in life, the right coverage can make all the difference. Securian Canada gives you that coverage. For more than 65 years, Securian Canada has been helping Canadians build secure tomorrows. Their insurance solutions are designed to help protect you and your loved ones financially, giving you the peace of mind to focus on what truly matters. Find their products through banks, credit unions, and associations. Or visit SecurianCanada.ca.

Securian Canada. Insurance designed for life. 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. 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. Back here on Fantasy Football Today, I want to remind you that you can listen to our show on your smart speakers. If you have Alexa, just say, Alexa, play the latest episode

of the Fantasy Football Today podcast. Or you could say, hey, Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast. Pretty simple stuff. So check us out on your smart speakers. Also on YouTube, youtube.com slash fantasyfootballtoday. All right, so here's what I did.

I wanted to see if there were players out there that, yeah, they scored a lot of points, but they were always on your bench. Or you started them and they did very poorly the week you started them, and they're so frustrating to have on your roster, this and that. I only looked at the first 13 weeks.

I did not look at the fantasy postseason. By that point, at least half the league is eliminated. The start percentages, the roster percentages, they just don't really mean much. So I looked at the first 13 weeks. did the quarterbacks where they ranked in terms of actual fantasy points where they ranked in terms of started fantasy points uh which was just their fantasy points that each week time multiplied by their percentage started and added it all up and, yeah, came up with a new list. So, for example, Aaron Rodgers from weeks one through 13

was second among all quarterbacks behind Mahomes. And he was sixth and started fantasy points. Took a little while for fantasy managers to realize that Rodgers was, you know, going to win the MVP. It was the absolute must-start guy. Only 76% of his fantasy points were started, whereas Josh Allen was 85%, Mahomes was 97%, Russell Wilson 97%. But the most interesting one was Ryan Tannehill, because he finished seventh from weeks one through 13.

He was the number seven quarterback, but only 31% of Ryan Tannehill's fantasy points were started, and he was 14th in started fantasy points behind Justin Herbert, behind Ben Roethlisberger, behind Drew Brees, who missed some time, behind Dak Prescott. In terms of started fantasy points, Dak Prescott scored more than Ryan Tannehill in 13 weeks.

So he was the most interesting one. I wonder how many people paired Tannehill and Rodgers. Yeah, maybe. But what I took away from it was that, you know, you go into every week thinking, Jesus, is he going to throw enough? I can't start him. he might throw 22 times it's gonna be a derrick henry game and ended up burning a lot of fantasy managers because they had him on their bench a lot well and another thing was that like the number of times he was going to throw

was not always indicative of the number of fantasy points he was going to score like that week two game against Jacksonville he threw 24 passes but four of them were touchdowns so I think and there was some up and down with Ryan Stanley it's tough to feel confident starting him when he goes two or three weeks with fewer than 200 yards passing

but in the end more often than not you just wished that you had started him right I'm trying to look up his start percentage

in that week two game see if week two was Jacksonville yep Tannehill was started in just 29% of leagues

and he scored 35 fantasy points so yeah that was interesting Kirk Cousins was another one and I think you know how much did you factor in bye weeks for this 35 fantasy points. So, yeah. That was interesting. Kirk Cousins was another one. And I think, you know... How much did you factor in bye weeks for this?

Well, they all had a bye week in that stretch. So, it didn't affect anything because they had zero... It didn't affect their percentage of started fantasy points. You know what I mean? Yeah, but I mean, I guess I'm just thinking there's no way to tell this, but who were the outliers during those bye weeks? What do you mean?

Who were the guys that jumped into those top 12? During the bye weeks? The guy, you know, Mitchell Trubisky, the guys that people were picking up and pivoting to. Okay, right. So like Ryan Tannehill's bye week. Justin Herbert had a huge game.

Baker Mayfield had a good game. Gardner Minshew had a big game. Right, those type of guys, you know, people that were... Derek Carr had a big game. Yeah. Stafford had a huge game. Yeah, right. Obviously, I can't know who was started when Tannehill wasn't.

The other guy was Cousins. Did you notice when the bye weeks were going on certain spikes in certain players? I didn't look at that. No.

But Kirk Cousins was another one who was 11th in fantasy points for 13 weeks and 19th in started fantasy points. 24% of his fantasy points in the first 13 weeks

were in starting lineups. So I think it's a pass attempt thing. I'm trying to fully grasp what we're capturing here. And because a guy like Matt Ryan, I see was 15th but 9th in started fantasy points. This is telling us more about how often they were started, right?

Yes. So like it's as much about the confidence that fantasy managers had in them as it is about their production because it would be better for Matt Ryan to score 15 fantasy points with a 90% start rate than for Ryan Tannehill to score 30 with a 30% start rate. But there's no world in which that Ryan performance was better than Tannehill's.

Exactly. And people believed in Ryan more so than, than Tannehill. Ryan's percentage, his, his percentage of fantasy points that were started was 69% in those 13 weeks. Whereas for Tannehill, for Tannehill, it was 31%. And if you put them together, that's a hundred percent.

So maybe you should have paired them. Um, so people had more faith in Ryan on a week to week basis than they did in Ryan Tannehill. So that's, that's what I take away from it. Yeah, and again, I thought this would... I did it.

I experimented with it. I thought maybe it would be a little bit more telling. If I had one takeaway, it would be that when you have players on teams that don't pass a lot, that they're going to be benched in big weeks. It's going to happen. And maybe that's something you should keep in mind. Like, oh, yeah, I'm going to be benched in big weeks. It's going to happen. And maybe that's something you should keep in mind. Like, oh yeah, I'm going to take Ryan Tannehill. Well, you might not get the value

that you think you're getting from Ryan Tannehill because you're going to have a lot of questions about when to start him. And the same with Kirk Cousins. I think what you end up doing, or you should do, is you don't draft those guys as your only quarterback. You draft those guys in a tandem. And the hope would

be is that you just start Tannehill for the start of the season if he's the one you draft first with the expectation of him being your guy and then if you just you know see okay especially in the case of this year where there's an offense coordinator change uh probably a receiver change um does he live up to those expectations that he's shown you over the last two seasons or the limits of production that he's shown you over the last two seasons? Is this an art, more of an argument for just drafting one of the top five or six quarterbacks and just starting them every week,

because it doesn't seem like we were particularly good at deciding when to start Kirk cousins or Ryan Tannehill or a lot of the streaming type guys. I mean, we kept starting Matt Ryan. In the same thought process, you would have missed on Aaron Rodgers and you could have taken Russell Wilson, who got you off to a great start, but then

flamed out. Well, you know, it's obviously, look, fantasy is an imperfect science here. There's going to be times where you bench players who have huge games. But quarterback's the one that you shouldn't really miss on, though. That you shouldn't miss on? You mean on a week-to-week basis?

I mean, miss on starting those big games. You know, if you're going to draft a guy, the idea would be stick with him for X amount of weeks. I don't know how many quarterbacks fall into that category though. Cause if you wait on quarterback and you take two guys who are like 10th and 14th in your rankings, I don't know that either of them has that automatic must start no matter what the matchup is. You're like,

you're going to be streaming them based on matchup, right? Well, I mean, you just made the case for Tannehill that you don't have to stream him if you took him late. You just start him and you deal with the one or two bad games or three or four bad games. So that's what the numbers said this year. But... Well, two years.

Sure. As a starter for the Titans. I wonder how many people would actually have the chutzpah to do that when they're facing a team where it just doesn't seem like i just don't know not based on the start percentage i mean that tells you that most people don't exactly anybody started under 50 is going to be in that category of i don't trust so and and look we're at fault for this i mean you know i say sit right in tan hill when he's

got a bad matchup we don't expect him to throw heath's projections you know spit out a number that say don't trust him in this spot you know dave's uh his column will say you know, spit out a number that say, don't trust him in this spot. You know, Dave's, his column will say, you know, stay away from him. We all fall victim to this. It's just the nature of, like you said, Adam's nature of fantasy. But in the overall picture, and I know like he falls, you know, into this category of like Russell Wilson, for example. You're going to deal with the bad games with the hope that you get the big, the title locket games. You know what I mean? How many times we have the title locket conversation that, you know,

I was saying sit, Heath was saying, start, he comes out with a 50 point game and I look like an idiot and he looks like a genius, you know? So it's, it's that type of mentality when you draft your fantasy team. I think, you know, this was at this point last year, we're having this conversation with Ben Gretsch time and time again, you know, you, you deal with the highs or you deal with the lows when you know the highs are going to win you weeks.

And one other thing to consider here is that your started fantasy percentage or your started fantasy points can't be that high if your roster percentage isn't that high. So, you know, it's not like Tannehill was 100% rostered and could even be started in 100% of leagues. You know, if he was 40% rostered, the most he could in 100 percent of leagues uh you know if he was 40 percent rostered the most he could get from his fantasy points is 40 percent so uh so gardner

minshu like how frustrating is this to have gardner minshu let's say you drafted him and he played really well you feel like a genius well you probably sat him week one he scored 27 points he was started in nine percent of leagues. Week two, he scored 29. Before you keep going down this path, you're not filtering, obviously, 2QB leagues, Superflex leagues. You're not filtering four points and six points for pass touchdowns, right?

No, it's just one number of start percentage. Yeah. So that 9% could only be 2QB leagues, potentially. It could be. Maybe everyone who had Gardner Minchie started him. Maybe. Maybe he was rostered in 9 had Gardner Minshew started him. Maybe. Maybe he was rostered in nine. That would be the next step of this.

I probably need that too. Yeah, I guess I could go back and do that. The ownership percentage or the roster percentage. Compare that. But Minshew started in nine percent of leagues each of the first two weeks. And he scored like 55 points those two weeks. And his started fantasy points were about six.

And then what happens? Week three, he started in 48% of leagues and he scores nine points. So that's just kind of frustrating and that's what happens. So yeah, again, I mean, this is not

what I had hoped, I suppose. But I do think if there's a takeaway, it's that players who are on offenses that don't pass much run the risk of fantasy managers

not having confidence in them, the quarterbacks. And it makes sense. And then they have big games and you feel crummy because you left them on your bench. Alright, let's read some emails here. FantasyFootball at CBSi.com. We got a lot of emails. Try to clear the's read some emails here. Fantasyfootball at cbsi.com. We got a lot of emails.

Try to clear the inbox a little bit here. A lot of dynasty questions this time of year. This is from Andy from a town 45 miles north of Iowa. Wouldn't even... Wouldn't even know. Dear Benny, Bob, Warren, and Towers. Hmm.

I have no idea. Benny, Bob, Warren, and Towers. We'll look it up. I'm in a two... I didn't know what Towers. Hmm. I have no idea. Benny, Bob, Warren, and Towers. We'll look it up. I'm in a two... I think you know who Towers is. Yeah. Probably Chris. But what does that mean

for the rest of them? I don't know where this guy's from and I don't know his greeting. Let's see if we can give better fantasy advice. Two-player keeper league, non-PPR. I will be keeping Kareem Hunt for a great discount. This is a salary cap league.

Nick Chubb will be a free agent. Do you think it's a good strategy to take Chubb and have the Browns backfield or spread it around and go after a different guy like McCaffrey, Cook, or Barkley who will all probably be free agents? I'd rather have non-Browns backfield if I could avoid it.

I mean, especially if you're talking about those other guys, um, they're going to be, you know, as expensive. And obviously in the case of McCaffrey, for example,

more expensive, but I mean, you, you kind of got a pretty good taste of what Kareem hunt was at the end of the season when Nick Chubb was healthy. He wasn't great. Yeah. It's a non PPR league as well.

Let's keep that in mind heath you want to lock up that backfield well we're comparing him to guys that like are above his weight class i feel like like i would i would certainly target mcafree cook and barkley before chubb um but if it comes down to chubb or josh jacobs something like that then i might just go with chubb you know i think this is interesting in a non-ppr league i'm going to do a poll right now in a non-ppr league do you think people would take nick chubb over saquon barkley let's see i don't like i think people are still taking barkley you going to see Barkley ranked ahead of Chubb, but it wouldn't surprise me if they're close.

All right. Yeah, let's see. I'll do a little poll here. See what we got for the last. The only benefit to this is he has Kareem Hunt at what price? Just cheap. It doesn't say. Okay.

So if you were drafting it and saying, you know, like you're getting Nick Chubb, let's say at the back, he's a first round pick in non PBR. So you're getting Nick Chubb, let's say at the back, he's a first round pick in non PPR. So you're getting Nick Chubb in the first round and then Kareem Hunt in the 10th round. That's a handcuff. It's perfect. So if that's, if that's the way you go and you want to save some money, because like Keith said, those other guys are better. It's not bad. All right. Here's Jay from Colorado dynasty off season trade question.

It's a PPR league. It's 10 teams, two running backs, two wide receivers, one tight end, and a flex. So he has an offer of Dalvin Cook and Alexander Madison. That's his team has Cook and Madison. He also has Mixon, Dobbins, and Akers. So he'd be giving up the Vikings running back tandem

and getting DK Metcalf and the fourth pick of the rookie draft. 1.4. Metcalf and Burrow. Oh, and Burrow. Okay. Burrow, Metcalf, and 1.4 for Dalvin Cook and Alexander Madison. Jeez, do this as quick as you can.

You have to. Yeah, it's PPR. Okay, great. I mean, you're giving up Dalvin Cook, essentially. Madison is whatever. This is from Mike. Hi, Ivan, Zoltan, Chris, and Charlie. Wasn't Zoltan? I feel like that was the thing from Big.

Yes. So who the heck are the other people? This is Five Finger Death Punch. Heavy metal band. Oh. Okay. Also something we sometimes wish we could do to you. What are the names?

Ivan Zoltan. What and Chris? Chris and Charlie. Chris and Charlie got to feel like Ivan and Zoltan are cool names. Oh, yeah. Ivan and Zoltan deserve to be in a heavy metal band called Five Finger Death Punch. Chris and Charlie are clearly replacements. Where's the fifth guy?

That's a great... I don't think you can be Five Finger Death Punch with four members. What do I know? We only have four fingers. We have 24 player rosters. This is a dynasty league and up to four on a taxi squad. No more than 20 can be kept. My team is pretty stacked.

I'm wondering how much emphasis to place on retaining defensive players. That's something I've never heard you talk about. And I don't remember it being asked by emailers either. You guys play in a dynasty league with IDP, so what emphasis do you put on keeping defensive players? I keep my starters, and then, you know, in the rare instance that I have a good bench option, I'll consider it, but, I mean,

I certainly take more flyers at this point on the offensive guys to see what materializes going into the season because, like, I don't know about you, Heath. I don't know your roster off the top of my head. But, like, for me, I have Chase Young and Joey Bosa, Patrick Queen. You know, like, those guys are not going anywhere of, of the defensive starters. And I probably have like two or three other guys off top of my head that I could think of that are, that are good. But a lot of the, you know, like my second DB, my second linebacker flex, those guys to me are interchangeable in a lot of ways. So it's much more of an emphasis on

the offensive player. It depends also like we're in a 14 team league where you're starting eight defensive players. I think that's a little different than a 14 team league where you're starting eight defensive players. I think that's a little different than a 12 team league where you have three defensive starters. And but like in this league, we don't have a rule where during the draft or maybe we do. But in some ways, you don't have a rule where during the draft, you have to fill all of your spots. So if I'm really desperate during the rookie draft, I might drop my second defensive back or my third linebacker just to wait until we get closer to the season and I actually need one. By the way, 200 votes. Now it says 133 votes. What a tease. Let's get an update here. 228 votes. Nick Chubb has two thirds of the vote. Who would rather have? Nick Chubb or Saquon Barkley in a non-PPR league? Yeah, I'm sure

a lot of that is recency bias, too. I mean, it's not just that. Nick Chubb is... Chubb's great. Nick Chubb... I think to have that much... That much of a difference kind of speaks to 2020. Yeah, well, I think people are worried about the injuries with Barkley. Not that Chubb

didn't get hurt, but two years in a injuries with Barkley. Not that Chubb didn't get hurt, but two years in a row for Barkley. How crazy is this? How azy is this? Nick Chubb is the best pure rusher in the NFL. Derrick Henry still exists.

Yeah. What is Nick Chubb with Derrick Henry's size? What is he doing? No, I think Nick Chubb has a case. Derrick Henry got a ton, a lot more carries last year. And he deserves credit for that because you can't really... I don't think anyone could handle the workload that Derrick Henry does.

But, man, YPC for life. Nick Chubb is the man. Big plays, he's the man. He's... He's a great player. Big plays compared to Derrick Henry. He's... He's a great player. Big plays compared to Derek Henry? Percentage-wise, like if you go... He's been top two in 20-plus yard carries two years in a row.

And Henry had more this year than Chubb did, but Henry had, gosh, a lot more carries. I mean, a lot more carries. So they both are among the best in that. All right, well, it's not crazy. From Kalen. Last email here. Oh, wait, did I skip?

I skipped Lee. Sorry, Lee. All right, 10-team PPR league, three wide receivers and two flex. Scoring bonuses for big plays, 40-plus yard plays. I get one keeper on three-year contracts. I'm trying to decide between Cam Akers in round six,

DeAndre Swift in round nine, or Hertz or Herbert in round 15. And you do get points for a 40-yard pass. Quarterbacks with big playability are at a premium. So we're looking at a PPR league, Akers in round six, Swift in round nine, Hertz or Herbert in round 15. I'm keeping Swift. 100%

keeping Swift. In a 10-team league, you should not have any trouble finding a big play quarterback. This is from Kalen. Hello, Fantasy Football Today gents. I'm in a 12-team half PPR league. I had the best team all year. I lost in the semifinals and then the third place game,

the two highest scores in both weeks. Okay. I got an interesting decision to make for my keeper. Camara in the first Ridley in the fifth Kyler in the sixth Swift in the eighth or James Robinson in the 16th round. This is a half PPR league. Camara in the first Ridley in the fifth Kyler in the sixth Swift in the 16th round. This is a half PPR league. Kamara in the first, Ridley in the fifth, Kyler in the sixth, Swift in the eighth,

James Robinson in the 16th round. I'm keeping Robinson. If Robinson is still the starter, Robinson is the easy choice. There is a lot of chatter coming out of Jacksonville that they're going to add a running back at some point in the draft or free agency. So depending on who that person is,

then that will sway it for me. But as of now, it would be Robinson. Swift is the easy fallback option. Knowing these guys, I would say that Kyler Murray is last on this list. Right? Kyler at the sixth? I mean, you just have better

options. It's not like Kyler's bad. You're right, but he'll be last. Ridley on the fifth is pretty good. Ridley on the fifth is, to me, like the safest. Well, but Camara, I

assume you're looking at, like, even though it's the first, it's the 10th overall pick.

So that's, like, even in the first round, he's a discount. Yeah, that's true. All right,

well, that's it for today's show, everybody. Thanks so much for it for today's show, everybody. Thanks so much for listening. It's tomorrow, kickers and punters. Sophomore kickers tomorrow. We might be back with some franchise tag news, so stay tuned for that.

Jamie and Heath, thank you guys very much. We've got sleepers, early sleepers, coming up later on this week as well. I'm Adam. Talk to you later.