Fantasy Football Today - Super Bowl Recap, 2022 Outlooks, Valentine's Day Fun! (02/14 Fantasy Football Podcast)
Episode Date: February 14, 2022The Super Bowl was decided by three points, but was it exciting? We'll recap the game and give our thoughts and then turn our attention to 2022. Cooper Kupp or Ja'Marr Chase (14:30)? Cam Akers or Tee ...Higgins (20:15)? ... We compare Joe Burrow and Matthew Stafford (28:00) and then briefly talk about the TEs (31:40) ... We play a special Valentine's Day game (33:00) that covers everything from football to food to TV and movies. Then we'll finish with some news and notes (40:00) including updates on Kyler Murray and Carson Wentz ... Email us at fantasyfootball@cbsi.com Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday 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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This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports.
On his way to the end zone.
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 Beck.
It is Super Bowl Monday.
It should be a holiday, but it isn't.
That's okay.
We are here to talk about the Super Bowl.
23-20, the final score.
Yay.
It is a holiday.
It's a holiday?
Yep.
Valentine's Day.
Oh, it is.
It should be a national. Everybody should have the day. Happy Valentine's Day, guys Yep. Valentine's Day. Oh, it is. It should be a national.
Everybody should have the day.
Happy Valentine's Day, guys.
Happy Valentine's Day.
Happy Valentine's Day. Happy Valentine's Day.
Shout out to all the singles out there listening.
Yeah.
Don't have a Valentine.
I'll be your Valentine.
Oh, Schrager's single.
Schrager, what are you doing for Valentine's Day?
Probably eating a lot of leftovers.
You're not going out to some singles event no but i mean if
any singles want to have an event i'm down all right look them up why dave's your valentine
you don't have to go anywhere that's right oh well uh it's final score 23 20 cooper cup the mvp
i'm sure everybody remembers my initial prediction was 24-21, Cooper Cup MVP.
Then Heath disrespected the Bengals so much that I decided to give the Bengals the game-winning
touchdown. So do I get credit for that, Heath? Do I get credit for initially getting the score
and the MVP basically correct? It's an Acer stat win for sure, yes. But I mean, there's a lesson
to be learned here. I haven't figured that lesson out, but yes, there is a lesson to be learned.
All right, give me your thoughts.
Do I get the Azerstat win for predicting the score?
You predicted the score?
I predicted 24-20. Final score was 23-20, and the Rams missed the next result.
No, that's an Azerstat win, yes.
Yeah, for sure.
Yes, good job.
Okay, so give me sum up Super Bowl 56 in one to two sentences.
Jamie.
Congratulations to Matthew Stafford for getting a Super Bowl win.
Dave.
Offensive line play still matters.
Heath.
The better team won despite themselves.
A close game that somehow wasn't very exciting.
Oh, you.
You don't agree?
No.
It was a super fun game.
Yeah, it was a fun game.
I'm not throwing super in there.
If I had known in the moment that that pass from Matthew Stafford was a no-look pass,
it would have been a better game.
Like that play, seeing it this morning and seeing him look off the defender
and throw the no-look pass, that's one of the best throws in the Super Bowl that I can remember.
Is he now the best no-look passing quarterback or is your guy still that?
I cannot remember a better no-look pass from Patrick Mullins.
I think that's the best no-look pass I've seen.
Certainly the most impactful.
Yeah, we're talking about a throw over the middle of the Cooper Cup
that everybody's just going nuts over.
It was pretty damn impressive.
And a great finish for the Rams.
Obviously, you know, if the Bengals go down and score,
then you're talking about a classic Super Bowl.
But alas, it did not happen.
By the way, if you're listening on Spotify,
you can leave us a rating on Spotify or, you know,
anywhere you can leave us a rating, please do so.
We'd appreciate a quick five-star rating on Spotify.
People were asking, why did Samadji Pirine get that handoff?
I'm pretty sure he was in the entire possession.
There was only one play where I couldn't see the number,
but it had to have been him.
Hurry up offense.
Hurry up offense, right, two-minute drill. P Ryan was in the entire possession. It's
not like they, why did he get the handoff? Why didn't they hand it off? Yeah. Zach Taylor said
they were playing soft and they thought that, that they could sneak it, sneak in a run. But if you,
I went back, I watched the plan. I paused it. And if you look at the offensive and defensive,
like you look at the line of scrimmage, youage. The left side of the line has won the battle.
And he ran right into Arodonald.
I think if he ran left
instead of right,
he picks up that first down.
But I don't know.
Does there any...
Go ahead.
Talk about the game, guys.
I mean,
is there anything
that really jumps out at you
that decided the game
or we just,
hey, Rams were the better team
and they won?
The Rams offense
really went into the pooper
as soon as
odell beckham got hurt i mean that was that was pretty telling you know so they they have some
tough decisions to make in terms of what they're going to do there and and you know we don't know
the the final result but it seems to be like he tore his acl again um you know hopefully that's
not the case but that just seems to be what the the early indications are he was on his way to a
monster game and you know just unfortunate to see that happen um but you know are they are they going to you know if he gives them a hometown
discount per se does he does he come back and do they deal with two receivers coming off acl tears
that are going to be you know right around 30 uh that that's certainly something that they brought
it up about you know maybe moving on from robert woods i doubt that's going to happen just based on
the way that they seem to feel about him.
But obviously money is going to be important to them.
So we'll see.
We'll see what they do with Beckham.
And clearly they need another pass catcher because their offense kind of struggled a little bit once they lost Beckham in that game.
Not having Woods and Van Jefferson just not stepping up.
He had a great night.
Ended up having a baby that night, last night as well.
So great night for Van Jefferson
overall, but just his performance was
clearly subpar after
Beckham's injury.
Dave, what did you think when you were watching the game?
I thought I had
too much pizza.
I kept going back to
it's what I said before when you asked me a sentence to wrap up
the game. I thought the Bengals offensive line proved
to be the liability that we all thought it would be.
But I also thought their defense,
they have been such a good second-half adjustment team.
And the only reason why the Rams won this game
was because Cooper Cup was just getting open enough
and Stafford just kept firing to them that last drive.
They were just like, screw it.
We've got to get the ball to Cooper Cup as much as possible.
And that's what they did.
I know there's people out there listening.
I got two points to make.
Number one, I know there's people out there listening
who are worried about Cooper Cup having a major regression next year.
Look at this offense now.
Robert Woods coming off the torn ACL.
He'll be ready to go.
OBJ, torn ACL.
You know what I realized during the game?
This was a Joe Boo game for Odell Beckham because he had so much to go. OBJ, torn ACL. You know what I realized during the game? This was a Joe Boo game for
Odell Beckham because he had so
much to gain. If he came through on the monster
game, Jamie said it, he was on his way to
having a huge game. If he had come through
for a huge game, he would have gotten paid like crazy.
Don't know if he would have stayed in LA.
Now, we don't know what his future is. It's kind of
weird how it turned out for him.
Cooper Cup is going to be healthy
going into next year. Stafford loves him. He's going to be healthy going into next year.
Stafford loves him.
He's going to be back.
Rams have to fix their offensive line.
I'm okay with Cooper Cup as the top receiver in fantasy in 2022.
The other point, the Bengals' offensive line,
it proved to be a huge liability, especially in the second half.
They were getting tired.
Aaron Donald just kept coming and coming, and he was great. They are $57 dollars under the salary cap as of now and they
have the key pieces on their offense locked in for a long time they're going to add to their
pass rush of course but that offensive line could look much better next year and this offense could
really be incredibly efficient next year if Joe Burrow's got time to throw and Joe Mixon consistently
gets lanes to run in,
I'm going to be bullish on the Bengals passing game and run game in fantasy drafts on the assumption that that offensive line gets really fixed up nice.
How are they going to do that, though?
I was thinking about that, the 31st pick in the draft.
So if they draft an offensive lineman in round one,
that's probably not really going to be a needle mover.
Probably not.
Rookie offensive linemen. I don't know.
Look what the Chiefs did. The Chiefs started two rookies
just from the beginning.
What pick was Creed Humphrey?
The Chiefs nailed it
with two rookies on the interior of their
line, for sure. But history says
that linemen take a while to develop.
Oh, they're going to spend.
Yeah, but on who?
There are some decent offensive linemen.
Teron Armstead would be huge.
But, I mean, I was taking a look.
Maybe I'm missing something.
I was just taking a look at the free agent offensive tackles.
I don't think it's a great class.
No, Armstead's probably the best one as far as left tackles go.
Cam Robinson's out there.
Eric Fisher is okay.
I think that's the guy.
Yeah, but, I mean, think about some of the guys that moved this offseason.
Rodney Hudson wasn't expected to be on the move.
He was. Trent Brown, right? He wasn't guy. Yeah, but I mean, think about some of the guys that moved this offseason. Rodney Hudson wasn't expected to be on the move. He was.
Trent Brown, right?
He wasn't a free agent, or was he?
No, he was traded.
One of the Browns wasn't a free agent.
They made trade.
Orlando Brown was traded.
Orlando Brown was traded.
Trent Brown was traded.
Technically, he's a free agent, too, but I don't know if the Chiefs let him go.
But what I'm saying is, it doesn't necessarily have to be the guys that are only free agents right now.
It doesn't necessarily have to be staying at 31.
They can certainly make a trade to move up.
Uh,
this is where they're going to spend their,
their capital draft capital,
free agent capital.
It doesn't necessarily have to be top of the line superstars.
They don't have to spend huge,
you know,
uh,
contracts to get the,
the,
the middle tier guys,
just because they need to go spend money to get those guys.
The,
the, this is, this is a team that has to go spend money to get those guys. The, the, this is,
this is a team that has changed the perception of where they are. You know,
the Bengals used to be a joke. Their scouting staff used to be a joke.
This team now things that have fallen in place for them,
obviously getting the high draft picks, but you know,
they've made some great, great moves and look,
I think they'll have a good off season and probably put Burrow in a better
spot.
The broadcast did a great job of showing
who are the free agents that they brought in.
They've nailed it with free agency.
It's opposite world.
It's a bizarro world,
because usually you think teams that go crazy on free agency,
they get let down more often than not.
But on defense, Von Bell, Mike Hilton, Trey Hendrickson,
those guys were awesome additions this year.
Ogunjobi, huge addition.
DJ Reeder from two years ago, and then he got hurt in 2020.
Big, big additions to that defense.
They're going to do more.
They're going to do more.
Wabbit?
Don't hate on Eli Apple.
Almost every quarterback gives up a touchdown in that situation.
But most of the other ones were pretty good.
I know Heath did.
I'm sure with all the Chiefs guys just going after Eli Apple.
I mean, who had a worse day yesterday?
I mean, one of them won.
But who had a worse day in coverage yesterday, Eli Apple or Jalen Ramsey?
Oh, Ramsey.
Apple ended up being worse.
No, I would say Ramsey was.
I don't know if Cooper Cupp was lying,
but he said that Eli Apple actually did a good job against him in that game.
It's probably lying.
He's lying.
But I'm sure Eli Apple did a good job against him in that game.
But Eli Apple gave up, unfortunately, you know, some some spotlight moments.
And just after all the trashy talk about the Chiefs game, you know, it came back on him tenfold.
Yes.
OK, so, you know, I can tell that this wasn't the most exciting Super Bowl?
Because I just allowed you guys to talk about the Super Bowl,
and you didn't talk about the Super Bowl at all
because it doesn't really require it.
All right, we'll spin it.
We'll talk fantasy.
I'll give you just a few notes on the Super Bowl.
Apparently, all of the Rams are retiring.
Sean McVay, Aaron Donald, Eric Weddle, Andrew Whitworth.
Weddle's definitely retiring.
The other three, Whitworth seems like he's probably retiring.
It would be kind of shocking for Aaron Donald to retire,
but it hasn't been ruled out.
Same with McVay, but we'll see.
Cooper Cup had arguably the best wide receiver season ever.
Not arguably.
Yeah, okay, not arguably.
Led the NFL in catches, receptions, yards,
and he won Super Bowl MVP.
He is the eighth wide receiver to win Super Bowl MVP.
This stat was from The Athletic.
Joe Burrow was sacked on 28.6 of his dropbacks
after the 75-yard touchdown pass to Tee Higgins.
So after that play, 28.6% of his dropbacks he was sacked.
Also from The Athletic, he was sacked 19 times in the playoffs.
That is the most since at least
2000. And the second
highest amount of
sacks, 12. And he was sacked
19 times. I wonder though how much
of that is most of the time
when a quarterback is getting sacked early in the playoffs,
they don't advance.
Oh, sure. Yeah, you're probably right.
He was the first quarterback to make it to the Super Bowl
after being sacked 50 times, right? In the regular season, I believe. Yeah, you're probably right. I mean, right. He was the first quarterback to make it to the Super Bowl after being sacked 50 times, right?
In the regular season, I believe.
Yeah, but I mean, like, that divisional round game,
you take nine sacks against the Titans,
you don't usually win that game.
Sure.
And then this stats from me.
Notice that Matthew Stafford went five straight seasons,
including this one, five straight regular seasons
without a rushing touchdown.
And he actually did that twice in the
playoffs. Not yesterday though.
And Jamie, he hit the over
on the rushing totals
with that last kneel down.
Yes, you were very excited about that.
I was more excited about the Cooper Cup rush.
One carry for
seven yards. He got over the half yard.
What a carry.
That was a big play.
Huge play. He almost had two fun
passing plays by non-quarterbacks.
Makes him throw in the touchdown
to T. Higgins, and Cooper Cupp
nearly hit the Philly special. He just overthrew Matthew Stafford.
I want to see what would have happened if he
had completed that pass, because
it looked like that could have been bad news for Stafford.
Stafford was about to get lit up. Heath, you haven't said anything lately you want to say anything uh i've got a twitter
poll of the day for you all right who finishes their career with more super bowl rings matthew
stafford or joe burrow you could also choose push or tie push i'll say tie i'll say stafford yeah
the nfc and everybody's intact that the rams could win a few right um joe burrow so currently
has 39 of the vote so everybody still really believes in joe burrow apparently winning
multiple super Bowls well he's young and he's in his second year. Stafford's toward the end.
Stafford will be lucky if he gets another ring.
Burrow could have two.
I don't think it's out of the question.
Yeah, Burrow still has to go through Mahomes and Herbert and who knows who else ends up in the A&P.
Young quarterbacks there.
It is so hard to win the Super Bowl.
It's really, really difficult.
I remember when Patrick Mahomes was going to win like six of them.
Exactly.
It just puts Brady's career into perspective here.
All right.
Let's do some 2020 questions or 2022 questions.
Yeah, should we do some 2020 questions, guys?
Who's going to be the best rookie wide receiver?
I'm going to take Justin Jefferson.
I'm just going to throw that out there.
That's a good call.
2022 questions.
By the way, take Jonathan Taylor over Clyde Edwards-Hilaire.
Don't make that mistake.
Cooper Cup or Jamar Chase?
And even if the answer is obvious,
we should at least talk about it.
But I mean, look,
I can make a nice case for Chase, right?
He just had the best...
Chase is on the case?
Yeah, Chase is on the case.
Yeah, so I know everybody's going to take...
I think everybody's going to take Cup over Chase.
Cup had 64 more catches than Jamar Chase,
which is how many catches Devontae Smith had in the entire season.
But Chase is obviously special.
Did something we've never seen before, and he's got the pedigree.
So, all right, Heath, you can start Cup or Chase.
What was his prop, by the way, his yardage prop?
Do you remember?
78 and a half, I think.
I was going to say because they gave him a bad spot
on the play on ramsey because ramsey didn't touch him and they marked him down where ramsey where
they fell down uh he went over anyway but yeah uh cup or chase heath uh yeah it's cup and you hit
on it it's volume i've got um very way too early projections i've got cup projected for 44 more
targets than jamar chase and Chase is like 12th
or something in projected targets, but I still, I think probably the Rams are going to throw the
ball more than the Bengals next year, and I think probably Cooper Cup's going to get a higher share
of the Rams' targets than Chase's on the Bengals, so I think just volume. They'll be closer than
they were this year but cup will be
better both top five dave i think the more interesting question is who will have the
best fantasy game next year between cup and chase i think couple have more games with like 20 plus
ppr points but could jamar chase have another eruption for 266 yards and all that he did late in the year.
So if you're looking for one big game, I bet Chase could beat Cup there,
but Cup should be more consistent and have more explosive games, smash games.
Yes, don't draft, though, for one game.
Of course.
Do you know what Cooper Cup's best game is and who it was against?
Cooper Cup's best game from this past year in his career,
in his career.
No,
I don't remember.
It was against the Bengals in 2019 when he had seven catches for 220 yards
and a touchdown.
The yardage obviously is his best.
He's obviously had more catches and touchdowns,
but his best receiving yardage game ever was 2019 against the Cincinnati
Bengals.
Didn't hear that stat this past week.
I know.
I didn't either until last night.
I said it on a few of our shows.
I heard it on FFT and five that you mentioned it.
Okay.
So Jamie, how about you?
Cup or chase?
I mean, it's cup, but you know, chase, uh, I think is probably going to be back end of
the first round.
Maybe in some cases, the second round, certainly in non PPR and half PPR cup is a slam dunk first round, maybe in some cases the second round, certainly in non-PPR and half-PPR, Cup is a slam-dunk first-round pick.
So if you want Jamar Chase, you trade down in the first round
and you get Jamar Chase, and hopefully the value is close,
as we saw in the latter half of the season.
I think Cooper Cup is certainly interesting if Sean McVay retires
and how that impacts that entire team. I would be very surprised if he retired, because I think if he was certainly interesting if Sean McVay retires and how that impacts that entire team.
I would be very surprised if he retired because I think if he was going to do that,
most likely Kevin O'Connell would not be taking the Vikings job.
He would probably stay.
I don't know money-wise anything that factors into that,
but I would imagine that if Sean McVay was going to leave
and would like to have a successor in place,
he'd probably like to have somebody on the staff.
And maybe it could be Raheem Morris.
Who knows? But I think if McVay leaves, like to have a successor in place. He'd probably like to have somebody on the staff and maybe it could be Raheem Morris, who knows.
But I think in McVay leaves,
you got to be somewhat concerned about what this Rams team looks like.
Certainly Stafford leaves.
If he retires,
then it's a,
it's really going to be tough on,
on Cooper cup and all the conversations we're having about,
you know,
Aaron Rogers and Devante Adams and that pairing and what that means for
fantasy,
the top of the wide receiver list.
It would obviously shift to the Rams.
If there's a different quarterback and head coach in place
for Cooper Cup. But Cup's going to be
the number one receiver drafted in most cases.
How do you make sense
of it this season?
It's not like Cooper Cup is
a young guy. He's not old.
But this is just so out of line
with anything we've ever seen from him.
It is arguably the best season ever.
He had a new quarterback.
But even that is just incredible, what he did.
And it's statistically probably...
Whatever they're having for breakfast together,
everybody in the league should have it.
It's so...
But it's not just that it's so out of character for him.
What he did is so out of character for football.
Yeah.
We just don't see people...
Like, we know he's not going to be that good again,
but I don't think you should say
he's necessarily going to go back to what he was.
And what he was was awesome.
Like, his 17-game pace was basically
100 catches, 1,200 yards, and eight touchdowns.
So even with some regression,
he's still going to be...
I think he's still probably going to probably worth a first-round pick.
Yeah, and it's not like
he didn't have a career high in yards per catch.
He didn't have a career
high in yards per target. He just
had the most targets he's
ever gotten. He had 191 targets.
That's a lot of targets.
They could
completely surprise us. We didn't
expect Odell Beckham to end up
with the rams you know this is a very aggressive front office and so if beckham leaves and you
have woods back and they make a splash in some way shape or form you know i mean i wouldn't rule
out everything from davante adams down knowing this team you know if rogers does leave you know
you look at all the free agents you know chris codwin you know might they might be able to get
him cheaper than they would expect because he's coming off an ACL tear.
Maybe an Allen Robinson.
Again, I wouldn't rule out anything when it comes to this front office,
but that's the type of thing that can maybe hurt Cup a little bit as well
if McVay stays and Stafford stays and you have Woods coming back.
But I think you just got to look at it and say he's elevated his game.
His quarterback has elevated his game.
And he's at the top of the list right now.
And so Adams is right there with him.
Tyree Kills there with him.
Jefferson and Chase are there with him.
But he's leading that group.
And, you know, he's going to be a slam dunk first round pick.
All right, let's go to our next question here.
2022, T. Higgins or Cam Akers in PPR?
I think the only reason why you'd feel good about taking Akers is because of his position.
But how can you look at how he's played in the postseason
and say, yeah, that guy looks ready to rock for 17 games next year?
It was ugly.
He did not have a good post season.
And it was concerning to me how successful Henderson was in the passing game.
Cause Henderson's the guy who's going to be there and the guy who has been
good whenever he's been healthy.
And so I'm a little bit,
I wasn't the Rams don't generally do the committee thing,
but I'm a little worried that it's more of a split at the start of next
year.
I'll go back to what I said on on the show last night adam that it it's a five game sample size for a guy coming off of an achilles injury with no training camp and was
thrust into a huge role at the most important time of the season and they continued to give him work
so who should you take you should probably take the higgins who are most people going to take
they're probably going to take cam makers because I think what we'll see is
we'll see Sonny Michelle walk.
They'll probably be somebody of the,
the Jake Funk type of guy,
you know,
maybe still him as their third running back.
And he's,
you're right.
The Henderson is,
is going to be a factor.
Uh,
but you still look at it.
Shoulder injury,
13 carries. Nobody was really running the ball well
for them throughout the course of the playoffs you know when they gave sonny michelle some other
opportunities and even daryl henderson in this game four carries for seven yards it was just a
bad scenario all across the board for their run game um i think you know depending on what they
do with their offensive line because there's potential for three new starters there uh
whitworth and then the two interior guys uh who leave. So we'll see what happens there.
That'll probably reshape it as well, what you think of Akers.
But I still think Akers, you know, and Heath, you said this going into the Super Bowl about
where will Akers maybe land if he has a good game?
That's off the table now, I think, you know, so it'll depend on, you know, however we spin
it, however the industry spins it for him.
I still think he's a back end of round two, early part of round three pick
just because he's the starting running back for the Rams,
and that's hard to overlook what he could be.
He still had 16 total touches in the Super Bowl.
But if you're just looking at it, who's the probably better player
for your fantasy team, T. Higgins or Cam Akers in PBR?
It's probably going to be T. Higgins.
I'm not going to be too hard on Cam Akers.
He played...
People hate his yards per carry.
And it was...
Look, I'm going to A's their status for you.
He had 2.6 yards per carry
in the playoffs. Now, I think
against San Francisco and against Tampa Bay,
you give him a pass. Against Arizona
and against Cincinnati, pretty
discouraging that he was 1.6
yards per carry against Cincinnati
and 3.2 against Arizona.
But he's coming off a torn Achilles.
He barely played all season,
so not the easiest circumstances.
His rookie year, 4.3 yards per carry is not so great.
But if you recall, he played Week 17,
and he should not have played Week 17.
And he had a horrible game.
I don't remember off time.
It was something like 21 carries for 35 yards.
I'm on his game log right now.
It was a week 17.
Yeah.
The last game he missed week 16,
week 18.
I mean,
so it was no,
no 2020.
Oh,
2020.
I'm sorry.
He,
he was averaging 4.8 yards per carry.
And then he hurt his ankle.
I think it was his ankle.
He should not have played in week 17.
2020 was 21 carries for 34 yards.
Oh,
I almost nailed it.
He had four catches for 52 yards.
He showed he was a better
runner then. In college, he had a bad
yards per carry, and his offensive line was
terrible. People are going to say Cam
Akers has never been that good. I think he showed
that he was a better runner. His postseason last year was great.
Was that? Oh, yeah. He tore it
up. He was awesome in the postseason last
year. I don't know.
I think he's probably better than the number.
I'm not going to hold this against him, this four-game stretch.
Because look at Joe Mixon.
Joe Mixon, before this game, he was pretty bad for like seven straight games.
Nobody's going to hold that against him just in terms of yards per carry.
It wasn't this bad.
But I don't know.
Go ahead, Ian.
Get in there.
The other thing, though, is we haven't seen it from Akers
except for in very short spurts and small sample sizes.
A two-game stretch here, a three-game stretch here,
a two-game stretch there.
So I don't think he's bad.
I'm not going to hold this against him too much.
But he hasn't done enough, I don't think, to be a second-round pick.
I got to see it. I got to-round pick. I got to see it.
I got to see it first.
I got to read about it first.
We're months away from getting there.
Until then, I'm not going to think highly of Cam Akers
as a second-round type of fantasy pick.
I think the thing that you look at, though, is they trust him, clearly,
the most of the guys that they have.
Because coming back from this injury, it was, they trust him clearly the most of the guys that they have because coming
back from this injury,
it was okay.
Here's five carries for three yards against the 49ers in week 18 in a huge
game.
And then it was 17 carries against the Cardinals with two targets.
So 19 opportunities to touch the ball.
Then it was 27 opportunities to touch the ball against Tampa Bay.
Then it was 20,
14 opportunities to touch the ball against the 49ers again. And then it was 17 opportunities to touch the ball against Tampa Bay. Then it was 14 opportunities to touch the ball against the 49ers again.
And then it was 17 opportunities to touch the ball in the Super Bowl.
They clearly feel like he's their guy.
And so if they get things figured out, you know,
I think you're looking at him as a potential, you know,
great fantasy running back,
which is what we thought of him going into this year before the Achilles tear
prior to training camp, you know?
So there's still that opportunity for him to get there.
Yes, you should probably see what happens and what the reports are.
Again, I'll go back to what the offensive line could potentially look like.
There's a lot to like about what camp makers could be.
Usually this is a team that gets just a ton of rushing touchdowns.
They did not this year.
They only had 10 rushing touchdowns.
It was something like 20 each of the previous two years.
So I'll tell you exactly what it was.
Was that because they didn't trust
golf in the red zone? No, not necessarily. Jared golf in three of the previous four seasons finished
seventh or higher in green zone pass attempts inside the 10 yard line, but he just probably
wasn't as good. Stafford had the second most touchdown passes in the NFL, but they went from
19 rushing touchdowns in 2020 and 20 the year before that.
And 23 the year before that.
So 19 or more in three straight seasons to 10.
Shout out Todd Gurley.
Yeah,
a little bit,
but remember that Gurley had a year,
I think where he kind of stunk.
He just scored a lot of touchdowns.
That's just kind of what they did.
All right.
We're going to take a quick break.
When we come back,
we've got a couple more questions.
We have a special Valentine's day love game that everybody should be very excited for.
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Question number three for 2022.
Matthew Stafford or Jordan Love it is not a Jordan love
game we have the Valentine's Day love game Bryce love Bryce love it's which love which do you love
more maybe I should put Kevin love and Jordan love in there but uh which do you love more we'll have
some fun with it in the meantime Matthew Stafford or Joe Burrow Jamie uh Burrow but it's close you
know just looking at um I want to see what the what
the rams receiving core looks like so i could you know i might change my mind on that one but i think
burrow i know heath is going to you know bring up the efficiency and and the opportunities and i get
that but i i just look at where he's headed and i hope he's headed and and still greater heights
with an improved offensive line.
Yeah, it's Burrow if it's in a vacuum.
But in fantasy football drafts, I have a feeling I'm going to draft a lot more Matthew Stafford than I do Joe Burrow in the coming year because I don't think their ADP is going to be that close.
I'm curious if in our drafts, Burrow is not reached for.
And in public drafts, by the time we get to august burrow is
like a big-time target of people who don't do their research they look at the names they don't
want anything to do with dac prescott because he struggled or kyler murray because he changed his
instagram or who knows what and so they take burrow a little bit earlier than they should
i like burrow better but i think I have an eighth at quarterback.
By the way,
they,
they were back to back in both four point and six point per passing
touchdown leagues.
And Stafford had a much more prolific year as a passer,
but as a rusher,
he was something like 43 rushing yards.
Burrow had two rushing touchdowns.
I mentioned earlier,
Stafford hasn't had a rushing touchdown in five seasons.
He did have 11 in the five seasons before that stretch.
So it's as simple as,
does it get down to the one yard line and keep it himself?
He hasn't done that in five,
he hasn't scored in five years.
He did it twice in the playoffs.
So I don't know how much I care about that stuff,
but Burrow is going to have a more prolific rushing number than Stafford for sure.
And yeah,
it just,
it is interesting that your 80 piece probably will be pretty far apart.
Jamie, I clicked on the wrong link.
I was trying to look up the drafts that we did recently and where these two guys went.
I can try again.
I've got it.
Okay, yeah, let me know where Burrow and Stafford went.
Sure.
And yeah, our next question will be about tight ends,
which will be pretty short.
See if I have anything to add here.
I guess for Burrow, you know,
you're trying to get an ascending player.
He was the best passer in the NFL last year.
He led the NFL in completion percentage,
yards per attempt.
He was second in yards per completion.
He was third in touchdown rate.
He was third in yards per game.
He was second in passer rating. And he did that with an offensive line that ranked 25th in pass blocking,
according to PFF. Dave, you got it? I got it. All right. Hit me. So you just don't want to talk
about the tight ends at all? No, no, I do. I just want to know. We're going to move on as soon as
you tell me where Burrow and Stafford were drafted. In our half PPR mock draft, this was done mid-January. Jamie took Joe Burrow at 102nd overall.
George Maselli took Matthew Stafford at 103rd overall.
So right in that round nine range, man.
That's where they went, and they went back-to-back.
Burrow ahead.
But it was different in our full PPR league.
Burrow went 84th overall, the seventh quarterback off the board.
And he was drafted by someone called Team 12.
I don't know who it was.
And then it was pick 100 by Adam Azer, Matthew Stafford, QB 10 off the board.
Who were the quarterbacks in between?
Burrow at 84, Aaron Rodgers at 90 to Shraggy B, and Tom Brady to Jamie at 98.
Oh, I like my Stafford pick better than your Brady pick, Jamie.
Yeah, it's probably a smart one.
All right, last 2022 question.
When he comes back, you're going to regret it.
Maybe.
Last 2022 question, will either tight end matter,
Higby or Uzama?
Heath.
Yeah, I think Higby will matter.
I think he'll be a low-end starting tight end
that you're constantly looking to replace.
But he'll probably finish in the top 12
if he doesn't get hurt.
Who are they playing in week one?
If they're playing somebody in week one
where they're going to be involved in the offense
and we like the matchup,
then you'll take them with a pick in round 10 plus.
Either one of them.
He'd be better than you.
He was big for them in the Super Bowl.
What happened? Bryson Hopkins was big for them
in the Super Bowl. He was.
Yeah.
Four catches, 47 yards for Bryson Hopkins.
Actually, second leading. Oh, no. Beckham
had 52 yards, so third.
So, do you
know, by the way,
Uzama's snap count? I was very surprised from yesterday's know, by the way, Yuzama's snap count?
I was very surprised from yesterday's game from the Super Bowl.
What do you think?
What percentage of the snaps do you think he played?
I'll tell you in a second.
No, no, no.
I have it.
I'm just guessing.
Oh, I think it'll be 72.
60%.
Oh, 65.
80%.
Hey.
Good for him.
Probably just was not healthy.
Didn't really make a big impact for 80% of the snaps
considering he's getting a lot of targets coming into this game.
You know, if the Rams like Bryson Hopkins better,
they think that Hopkins can do what Higby did.
They can let go of Higby and save over $6 million on the cap.
The guy designated him as a June 1st cut to do it,
but it's an option.
Okay, you ready for the Valentine's Day love game?
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Who do you love more?
Or which do you love more?
That's all it is.
Play the music.
What's the music?
The porn music?
I wouldn't say that.
He's been using your size in porn music a lot, Heath,
so I'd be a little worried.
I mean, we could also do, like, this is kind of a, let's see.
Oh, I've got to turn the fader up.
Welcome to the Valentine's Day love game.
Which do you love more?
Ready?
Here we go.
Aaron Rodgers on the Packers with Devontae Adams
or Aaron Rodgers on the Broncos without Devontae Adams or Aaron Rodgers on the Broncos without Devontae Adams?
Which do you love more?
Packers.
Aaron Rodgers on the Packers with Devontae Adams.
Or he's one back-to-back MVP.
Sure, yeah, but I think he could throw a lot more on the Broncos.
With the same coach that was just on the Packers staff?
No, with a different coach, obviously.
Maybe a different philosophy.
His offensive coordinator is the coach.
He's stepping out.
He's going to run the same exact offense, the same philosophy.
This would be like Tom Brady going from New England to Tampa Bay.
Right.
It would be like Tom Brady going from New England to Tampa Bay
if Josh McDaniels was the coach in Tampa Bay.
You know what?
I think Josh McDaniels is going to be more aggressive in Las Vegas
than he was in New England.
He might.
Okay, fine.
I'll take the double we know.
Okay.
I will too.
But it is fun to think about Rodgers with all those receivers that are there,
assuming that they don't trade any of them to get Rodgers.
And Hackett's pretty aggressive, I believe.
I think he's probably, he might be a little more willing to just let Rodgers do whatever
Rodgers wants in LeFleur.
LeFleur has always wanted to have a little bit more control and utilize that run game
a little bit more.
Which do you love more, pineapple on a burger or pineapple on pizza?
Pineapple on pizza.
I've never had pineapple on a burger Pineapple on pizza. I've never had
pineapple on a burger. Oh, yes, I have.
Pineapple on a
burger. It's amazing. Jamie, what was
your answer? Burger. Yeah, burger two to
one. I'm going to go burger three to one.
So good. I'm going to say it's my
favorite, second favorite burger topping
behind, well, not counting cheese.
Oh, man. Mushrooms, pineapple would be my two favorites. You've had a mushroom pineapple burger? favorite burger topping behind well, not counting cheese.
Mushrooms, pineapple would be my two favorites.
You've had a mushroom pineapple burger?
I've had a burger with
cheese, mushroom, sautéed onion, and
pineapple. Yeah, it's freaking classic.
I'm trying to
what's the name of the place? It's on 441.
The Gordo
Burgers. That's where
they put pineapples in this big cheese thing and
crumbled potato chips it's it's fantastic i used to get it from a place near the office i forget
the name of it what was the day uh you a burger place with pineapple on it yeah we used to go
there it was in that crappy shopping center by the pawn place wings place no by the pawn shop on um power line um no pawn shop
on power line yeah i was in a little corner we used to go there quite a bit and then they moved
and we went there when they moved as well oh i know i know exactly what you're talking about
that was a great burger spot i'll never remember the name, but right next to that New York pizza place.
Yeah.
Yes.
Oh, Burger Freak.
Burger Freak.
Oh, what a great place that was.
Burger Freak.
That was a great place.
I would get pineapple home burger there all the time.
All right.
I had no idea.
All right, here we go.
Valentine's Day love game, question three.
Sorry to interrupt you.
Which do you love more?
How is that a Valentine's question, by the way?
No, it's just about loving things.
That's all.
An elite rookie wide receiver being drafted by the Jets
or an elite rookie wide receiver being drafted by the Eagles?
Which would you love more?
I mean, we've seen an elite rookie wide receiver drafted by the Eagles,
and it wasn't so great.
Yeah.
I would be unhappy because I want Elijah Moore to be that elite receiver for the Jets.
I would not love these things.
You don't love either of them?
Yeah, I don't love either one.
Okay.
Unhappy Valentine's Day.
I love a new question.
Which do you love more,
friends or Seinfeld?
Seinfeld.
Seinfeld.
I like both.
I haven't gone all the way through Seinfeld again.
We've went all the way through friends and now we're going all the way through Seinfeld. And so I'm not to the later way through Seinfeld again. We've went all the way through Friends,
and now we're going all the way through Seinfeld.
And so I'm not to the later seasons of Seinfeld.
I think it's probably Seinfeld still.
Okay.
But one of them holds up better than the other.
Which do you love more?
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Spoiler.
Which one holds up better than the other?
Friends? No, Seinfeld does. I don't know. Friends holds up better than the other? Friends?
No, Seinfeld does.
I don't know.
Friends holds up pretty damn well.
The last couple of seasons of Friends.
I think Seinfeld was better than Friends in the moment.
And probably still better.
But I think Friends is closer to what it was than Seinfeld is.
Yeah.
My daughter watched Friends.
She watched the whole series through.
She's a teenager. She loved it.
That's not a sign of holding up. I don't know what is.
I didn't like it as much after Joey died.
But...
Season one?
Which would you love better?
Michigan State running
back Kenneth Walker.
Oh, Gunther, that bastard.
Michigan State running back Kenneth Walker being drafted by the B him. Oh, Gunther, that bastard. Michigan State, running back,
Kenneth Walker being drafted by the Bills or being drafted by the Bucks?
Bucks.
Bucks.
Yeah,
for sure.
Yeah.
Bucks.
100%.
Which do you love more?
Major League Baseball or the National Basketball Association?
MLB or NBA?
Which do you love more?
NBA.
My son will kill me.
I like, I like White Sox baseball more than the NBA.
My nine-year-old self would kill me,
but it's the NBA by about seven miles now.
Which do you love more?
Jimmy Garoppolo in Tampa Bay or Jameis Winston in Pittsburgh?
Jimmy G. Jameis Winston in Pittsburgh? Ugh. Jimmy G.
Jameis in Pittsburgh.
I will say Jameis in Pittsburgh.
All right, and this one is an Ivan Reitman special.
Which do you love more,
Ghostbusters, Animal House,
or I did not know he produced private parts.
Ghostbusters, Animal House,
or private parts?
Animal House. Oh, Parts? Animal House.
Oh boy.
All of them. Come on.
Give me an answer.
I'll go Ghostbusters
would be different, but they're all fantastic.
Man, that is so tough.
That's the toughest one.
I think
Private Parts is my favorite of those three.
Well, we do have a lot of news, actually.
We can end with this.
So a lot from ESPN and Rappaport,
just people dropping stories just ahead
and just after the Super Bowl.
So Green Bay, according to ESPN,
will go all in to get Aaron Rodgers back.
Kyler Murray is frustrated with the Cardinals.
It's actually a fairly hot
story. According to
ESPN, Cardinals think he's a little
immature and points fingers.
He was embarrassed by the loss,
the playoff loss.
He definitely pouts.
Rosie.
Things aren't so Rosie right now in Arizona.
Is this a big deal?
Worth monitoring? What do you guys think?
Yes. It's absolutely worth monitoring. Is this a big deal? Worth monitoring? What do you guys think? Yes.
It's absolutely worth monitoring.
Yeah, it's worth monitoring.
Is it a big deal?
I would guess come week one of the 2022 season,
he's the starting quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals.
Okay.
Chris Mortensen, another.
He's actually dropped a lot of these stories.
But Carson Wentz, he says,
will likely be traded or released before the start of the league year.
Heath, what do you think about that?
I want to know what Indianapolis has up their sleeve.
I can't imagine that they're trading or releasing Carson Wentz
without a plan for who's going to be the starting quarterback for them in 2022.
And so I wonder, seeing that,
who are they thinking, this is our guy?
They just gave up a first-round pick to get him.
Right. It seems weird.
That was one of the more stranger ones that I saw.
Like you said, Heath, what is their plan in place? Are they in the aaron rogers mix it doesn't sound like he's leaving
are they in the russell wilson mix i doubt he's leaving they're probably not getting to sean
watson because that's a division right rival right so you know do they feel somebody like
jamis or trubisky or mariota or are they going to go for Derek Carr or Garoppolo? Is that the type of
upgrade that you give up more draft
capital to acquire?
It just doesn't seem like it makes a lot of sense.
You don't think that they're going to
call up an old friend?
River?
No. Luck.
Luck.
I would love that. I'd be stunned.
I'd be stunned. That can't be their plan. I would be. I would love that. I'd be stunned. I'd be stunned.
That can't be their plan.
I loved Andrew Luck.
Me too.
I wanted him to play so badly.
Okay, if Luck goes back to the Colts, Luck or Stafford?
Stafford.
If Luck is himself, oh gosh.
That receiving core is still bad.
Andrew Luck is 32 years old.
That's okay.
How old is Stafford?
Quarterback years.
Well, he hasn't played football since 2018.
That's good.
He's fresh.
It hasn't really been that long.
He didn't look very fresh last time he showed up on TV.
Yeah.
I bet they're not calling Andrew Luck.
That would be crazy.
All right.
Some more news.
Michael Thomas expected to play for the Saints in 2022,
according to Ian Rappaport.
The Rams are certain that Odell Beckham will return to the team,
according to Chris Mortensen.
That was before the injury,
but they felt pretty confident they were going to get Beckham back.
Tom Palacero of NFL Network reporting a couple things,
that Tampa Bay has done extensive homework on Deshaun Watson,
and that Kirk Cousins
will remain with Minnesota.
Tampa Bay,
they're not really,
they're not likely
to take someone with baggage
based on recent history,
I'd say.
So I don't know
if that's a fit.
Eric,
BNME's future with Kansas City
is uncertain,
according to ESPN.
And the Raiders hired
New England wide receiver coach
Mike Lombardi,
Mick Lombardi,
pardon me,
to be their offensive coordinator.
There are your news and notes.
So, who's got Valentine's Day plans?
Got two baseball practices tonight.
Aww.
Yeah, I just got a message
that we're supposed to have
a basketball practice tonight.
I think I'm going to,
you know my Valentine is my wife.
I'm going to cancel the basketball practice for the night.
Dave, how about you?
My wife is going to make me bring in food from somewhere because she's not going to feel like cooking.
Did any of you get a card?
Did any of you get a card for your wife?
I got a card.
I got her flowers yesterday.
No.
I was told not to get flowers i didn't get
anything either um i might still run out and get something but you know you know what i did
i got dragged to a restaurant that we've never been to before and had an overpriced, underwhelming dinner that really sticks in my craw.
When?
On Saturday.
Oh, for Valentine's Day?
Yeah, that was our Valentine's dinner
because my son's got basketball practice.
I think my daughter has soccer practice
and it's a Monday night.
And so she wanted to try this new fancy place
on the intercoastal.
And yeah, the Valentine's Day gift went to this restaurant
because it wasn't as good.
Okay.
By the way, I feel like...
Happy Valentine's Day, everybody.
You guys probably love when practice gets rained out
and you don't have to go to your kids' practices.
See, that depends on the day.
So like yesterday yesterday for example
uh my three-year-old he plays in a soccer league that's once a week and so it was rained out
yesterday morning and it was the first time i didn't have to be somewhere on a sunday morning
since prior to the start of the 2021 football season so It was nice to actually not have to go somewhere and stay home.
Then having
he was in the house
by himself. The other two
kids of my three children were somewhere else.
Trying to entertain
him while it was
raining because he's
a sports kid. Trying to entertain him
was not fun. He was just playing
on a device the entire time.
Oh.
But like tonight, I'm looking forward to the back-to-back practice.
Now, Saturday, I had three practices in a row,
three baseball practices in a row.
That was brutal.
That sounds hard.
That's tough.
All right, well, I think we're going to end this conversation.
Now we end this fun.
Thank you guys for participating in the Valentine's Day Love Game.
And happy Love Day, everyone,
for you Simpsons fans. We'll talk to you tomorrow
on Fantasy Football Today.