Fantasy Football Today - Superlatives, Big News, Fade Kyle Pitts? (09/05 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: September 5, 2023

Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and wherever else you listen to podcasts We comment on trends we've seen in recent drafts (2:55) including when Cooper Kupp is being taken. Did Adam reach by taking Kupp 36th overall? We've also got some news and notes (6:35) and Fantasy Superlatives (8:25)! Most likely to be a bust. Most likely to be a second half league winner. Most likely to lead the Eagles in carries. And much more! ... The Fantasy Cops (24:35) tell you which trades are worthy of a veto. Then we read some Fantasy notes from The Athletic (29:50). We've got really interesting notes on Kyle Pitts, Rhamondre Stevenson, Dameon Pierce, the Chiefs WRs, Najee Harris, Ken Walker and more ... Your emails at [e-mail] SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Welcome to week one, everybody, says a man who has three drafts today. Yeah, we're still drafting, but we're also getting ready to set our lineups for Fantasy Week 1. It is Tuesday, September 5th. Hope everybody had a great Labor Day holiday. And now we're ready to labor for 18 weeks. Like work labor, not like labor labor. Adam Azer, Dave Richard, and Jamie Eisenberg.

How many drafts do you guys have left? Two. Jamie, you look so young. It's unbelievable. You look like you're 25. You clean-shaven, got a haircut. And what is that thing in your room near your face? What is that?

Oh, the microphone. Jamie's got a beautiful microphone you look and you sound wait did you show off the sides of your head i'm sure you have yeah yes and adam let's see the size of your head oh they look normal as usual okay you can't really see it anymore that was that was the easy part but this is what adam didn't understand like it i understood i would have done grow back in three days i got to read an email first yesterday we did a uh plant your flag segment where i jokingly said i made it up um email of the day comes from jim where's jim from dave bristol connecticut adam your buddy chris harris isn't going to be happy about you stealing his flag planting shtick he invented this concept like 10 years ago when he

was still at espn and been doing his flag player list every year since it's like his most important segment that he builds up to doing every August. With that said, Harris is a huge Acer fan. And if anyone were to steal his flag player, this concept, you are probably the one person he would be okay with doing it. LOL.

All right, Chris Harris. I am sorry. Did we just steal any segment there? Chris, Chris is a good dude. I think he'll get, he'll,

he'll be okay with it. But yeah, we planted some flags yesterday, but apparently I stole that from Chris Harrison. I apologize for that. You were so adamant, too. What'd you say? You were so adamant, too. Well, you guys,

you couldn't even do the segment right. All you did was your bold predictions. It didn't have to be that way. Don't say you guys. I wasn't there. So Colin pointed out on Twitter, plant your flag, performance that hasn't happened yet

that you believe will happen. Bold prediction, a lofty prediction that is unlikely to happen, but you could see a pathway. That's all it is. I can't believe we have our audience defining our little terms for us. This is twice now

in the last two weeks, Adam. Did you guys, I know, did you guys have a draft yesterday? I won Sunday. Where did Cooper Cup go? Right after my pick of Calvin Ridley in round two. 14-team league. He went in.

My drafts were probably not the best ones because they were both non-PPR. One was a father-son one. One was a keeper one with weird rules. Okay. Cooper Cup, I took him 36th. I took him by the 3-4 turn yesterday. Too soon.

Too soon? Put it all together. Yeah. You know, he hurt his hamstring again, went to see a specialist. Was he not around to pick for you anymore? Yesterday, Sean McVay is going, he can't answer a question straight about what's going on with his hamstring. It sounds to me like it's going to be pretty serious.

Yeah, so this was a two-receiver, two running back, one flex league. If it had been a three-receiver league, I'm not sure I would have taken him there. You know, just having to start an extra player. You don't want to give up a third, fourth-round pick. But, yeah, I don't know. It didn't necessarily feel too soon,

but nobody else took him. So 36, you say, is too soon. Jamie, how about you for a cup? Oh, I think that's perfect. Okay. But the thing is, seven quarterbacks were off the board when I got to 36. And I wanted to take Trevor Lawrence. I wanted that top eight quarterback.

And I don't really like the team that much. And by the way, it's not my team. I was drafting for a 10 year old, but, uh, but, and then he took over for like the second half of the draft, but I really want that top eight quarterback. And I don't care what anyone says.

If that, if it happens again, it won't happen again. Cause all my drafts are CBS drafts are like you guys drafts now. Oh no, that's not true. I do have like one sort of homely Jeff. It happens again.

I'm reaching. And I don't care what you say, okay? Okay. It's your team, man. Have fun with it. Okay. Have fun reaching. Any other observations from your drafts?

Anything stand out? No, again, not the best comparison. Okay. Right. And I'm enough that mine again 14 teams a lot of people that know what they're doing ppr i can go through the results if you really want no that's all right just wanted to know if good because i don't want to bring them up great all right we got live streams starting this week, Thursday night. And we've got Thursday night, Monday night. I'll go in order. Monday night, Thursday night, Sunday morning. Monday and Thursday night are going to be before kickoff,

probably around 7.15 or 7.30 when we start. We haven't settled on the time yet, but we'll answer your questions. Monday night, we can talk about whatever you want. Thursday night is going to be start or sit. For the most part, you can ask whatever you want there too. Sunday morning, 11.30 a.m. Eastern until kickoff. So it's an hour and a half of nothing but start or sit for the most part. You can ask whatever you want there too. Sunday morning, 1130 a.m. Eastern until kickoff. So it's an hour and a half of nothing but start or sit advice. No commercials, just your questions.

And that's youtube.com slash fantasy football today. That's the only place you can find them. youtube.com slash fantasy football today. We also have Sunday morning prep on CBS Sports HQ that you're going to want to check out as well. But join us for our live streams. Got a lot of news and notes for you, including an article from The Athletic where a beat writer from each team answered a fantasy question

and some pretty interesting responses there, including about Kyle Pitts, about Khalil Herbert, Damian Pierce, Sky Moore, et cetera. But first, the Jets are going to be smart with Brees Hall's workload to start the season. And they start the season on Monday night against the Bills. A huge game for the Jets, I'd say. Just kind of a statement, perhaps. And are you guys going to be comfortable

starting either Brees Hall or Dalvin Cook in week one? No. You've got to have lower expectations. We've got to see how it looks. At best, they are low-end, number two, high-end, number three running backs. I've got Hall ahead of Cook, but you could easily

make the case of Cook ahead of Hall. Do you have Deion Jackson ahead of them? No, not that far. No, that's fireable. I would start Raheem Mostert, though, for both? No, not that far. No, that's fireable. I would start Raheem Mostert, though, for both. Yeah.

He's in that group. Cooper Cupp saw a specialist over the weekend, as Dave said. And apparently I took him too early at 36. Miami running back Devon A-chain could be ready for this week's and left tackle Teron Armstead could be back. They are at the Chargers. They are underdogs. Interesting.

Dallas safety Jordan Lewis was limited in practice. They get the Giants on Sunday night. Arizona has not named a starting quarterback yet. They're at Washington. What else? I think Kendry Miller mispracticed. Is that right? I wouldn't expect him to play.

Yeah, he's been on and off the field all summer. And that's pretty much all the news and notes I have there. There will be more. This show is going to be a lot shorter than I thought. Why don't we jump to that? We've got two defensive guys we've got to keep an eye on. Chris Jones, to see if he shows up. That's huge.

And then Nick Bosa, which at this point, you've got to expect both guys to miss week one. Yeah, how is Chris Jones going to play at this point? I mean, it's Tuesday. Either of them. Right. I think I saw something somebody tweeted about TJ Watt showing up last year right before the start of the season

and had two sacks in the first game. Then got hurt. Yeah, Nick Bosa playing the Steelers. Chris Jones gets the Lions on Thursday. Alright, let's do some superlatives here. Most likely to get picked in round four or later, but play like a first-rounder.

Didn't we do this one already? Yeah, we did it on CBS Sports Network. We did a lot of these already. We didn't do it on the show. Oh, on the network, right. Uh-huh. So does that mean you want different answers? Oh, I don't care.

Whatever you want. Most likely to get picked in round four or later, but play like a first-rounder. J.K. Dobbins. Dobbins, yes. Damian Pierce. Do those guys really have first round upside or they have more like late round two upside?

Would you like a plant your flag bold prediction that I'm going to say on CBS Sports HQ today? Sure. Did you already say it? No. Plant your bold prediction. J.K. Dobbins is going to be a top 10 fantasy running back this year and outscored Josh Jacobs and Derrick Henry.

Okay. Okay. I just, like, I guess does he have, do you need to be kind of more in the passing game to be true round one upside? Could that be? But, again, I don't know if he has to be 50 catches. upside. Could that be? Yeah, but again, I don't know if he has to be 50 catches. Yeah, all right.

All right, most likely to get drafted in round one or two, but be a complete bust. Jacobs. Cooper Cup. He's not going to get round one or two anymore. He was in round two on Sunday 14 teams

14 teams was it top 24? I don't yeah I actually think it was what pick did you have yesterday? I think I had five I don't know it was right on the border

I'll say Derrick Henry. Derrick Henry, okay. Most likely to be a second-half league winner? Breesaw. Roshan. Sophomore best value pick. Not best sophomore, but best value of the sophomores. It's either Jahan Dotson, based on where his ADP is still or Sky Moore.

Sky Moore is on the list. How about both Packers wide receivers? Christian Watson and Romeo Dobbs. Dobbs hurt right now, but I think he'll be fine. I hate the hamstring injury for him. I know. Hopefully he's not seeing a specialist in Minnesota anytime soon. Most likely to lead the Seahawks in catches?

DK. Jackson, Smith, and then Jigba most likely to lead all quarterbacks in rushing yards Anthony Richardson yes that is the right answer especially if there's no Jonathan Taylor in 10 games he's going to do that Anthony

Adam Azer, Hot Garbage, Richardson most likely to lead all Eagles. What a plot twist that you've become the Gardner Minshew guy. Yeah, I mean, I'm not really the Gardner Minshew guy. If you're saying that Anthony Richardson's going to be terrible, you are overtaking him. That was the quote, hot garbage. You said he was going to be hot garbage.

For fantasy, yeah. For fantasy. No, I actually think he'll be worse in real life than fantasy. I don't think he's going to be hot garbage. For fantasy, yeah. For fantasy. No, I actually think he'll be worse in real life than fantasy. I don't think he's going to get benched, though. There's just no reason to bench him. He'd have to be so bad to get benched. How many leagues have you drafted Gardner Minshew

in, Adam? One. I know you did one. I think it was... I know you did one. It may have been our Bakeburger Dynasty League where I only have two quarterbacks did one. It may have been our Bakeburger Dynasty League where I only have two quarterbacks. Maybe. It was like a super flex.

That's a super flex league. If I drafted him, it was in a super flex format. So you might have drafted more shares of Minshew than Heath. I may have drafted more shares of Minshew than Richardson. But like I said,

I'm not opposed to drafting Richardson at his ADP. I'm just opposed at your value. I drafted him last night in round 9 or 10. 9. Yeah. And it's a keeper draft. Oh.

So I would keep him around. I already had taken Justin Fields, so it was just strictly for his keeper value. And one of my buddies who went to Florida texted me and said, wow, what a Homer pick. Don't you remember how terrible he was? And I said back to him, I said, his game will be better in the NFL than it is in college because he'll get better coaching. And he said, good luck with that. Yeah, man. Every Gators fan just thinks he stinks. But that's not really relevant because Jamie's right. It could certainly be better. I just don't know

if it's going to be this year. But Dave, I brought this up. I don't think you were on this show. No, you weren't. It was mailbag. I mean, I really think if they get the number one pick in the draft, they're going to stink, right? Yeah, I think so. They have a chance to be the worst team in football. A chance.

I'm not going to project it while the Cardinals are still in the league. I'm betting on it. I think they have to take Caleb Williams. I do not think it matters. I agree. Yeah, they have to. No, I think you're right. Jamie doesn't.

No, if he's epically bad, then yes, they have to take Caleb Williams. If he's showing promise to be the player that he's capable of, I mean, there's nobody that did what he did at the combine at that position ever. And so if, if he's that type of player and he shows promise and the team just stinks, which is certainly capable of happening, then they're taking Marvin Harrison. This owner knows what it takes to win in the national football league. Yeah. He's the best. No,

he drafted Peyton Manning. He won a super bowl with Peyton Manning. He was very competitive with Peyton Manning. He was on his way there many times with Andrew Luck. What? Now we're comparing Caleb Williams to Peyton Manning. No, he's a better passer than Anthony Richardson.

Richardson's going to have to let, let's set a low bar of a 60% completion rate. If Richardson does that, no way. They've got a big decision to make. If he can't even hit 60% of his passes and they've got the number one pick in the draft, they are taking Caleb Williams. They might take May at number two

if they have the second worst record in the league this year. We'll see how Richard... Listen, I love him for fantasy. I really do. He's got to be bad. He's got to be bad. If they don't win games with him running, then the door's open for them to replace him after one year. I don't think Cardinals did it with Josh Rosen.

I just think it's about what he looks like and how his development is. Right, we have to see. Of course. I'm not saying it's going to happen. There's also a lot of dog poop around him right now. That's what I'm saying. There's nothing that's good for him. Nothing's good for Richardson from a fantasy standpoint. His weapons stink.

Except his legs. Yeah. Which is why we're drafting him at around 100th overall. Most likely to lead. Yeah, but you're drafting him much earlier than everyone else. That's okay. He's got that upset. He does.

Most likely to lead all Eagles running backs in carries. Kenneth Gainwell. I'll be hopeful and say DeAndre Swift. Thank you. Best Chiefs wide receiver? Sky. From a production standpoint or a talent standpoint? From a production standpoint.

I'm going to hate this answer, but it's Marcos Valdez-Scantling. Oh, why are you saying that? I hate it for you. Why are you saying that and telling people to draft Sky Moore? Because I'm hopeful Sky Moore's better. This is what I don't...

This is what I don't understand. Now, Jamie had Sky Moore ahead of Kadarius Toney before the Toney injury. But I feel like almost everyone had Toney ahead of Moore.

And everything we read leading up to the Tony injury was that the Chiefs were committed to Kadarius Tony being their number one guy. Well, now he's back. He's ready for week one. We hope. He's able to play.

We hope he's going to play. I mean, I thought Andy Reid said he's good to go. Yes, but does that mean he's playing 50% of snaps? Is he playing 20% of snaps? Right. He's just out there just standing around. You know what I mean? Fair point.

But I guess you see where I'm going with this. If he was ahead of Sky Moore for most people before, and now he's healthy again, is it just that we saw that injury, and there's just no way he's going to stay? Okay. And I bet the coaching staff has a little bit of fear, too. They don't want to overwork him and have him miss time again.

I want to say it was July, but it was before he got hurt, when we had the conversation about banking on injuries or guys that we thought would get injured. I don't know how we phrased it. I know it was just talking about him. And I think Heath said, I think you might have asked, what's the percentage of injury? I forget how you phrased it.

And Heath said, Tony's injury percentage was very high. And you were like, why would you say that? I said that you did. I mean, you were, you were trying to, I think, I don't know, be devil's advocate or, or, I mean, it sounds like something I'd say is a good impression. You know, it's like with, with a player like this, you just have to understand like, there's going to be these problems until it gets corrected consistently. And who knows what that'll ever happen. All right. Let's see what else I have. Most likely to lead the Panthers in receiving yards?

Thielen. That's probably the right answer. I'll say Jonathan Mingo to be a little different. This one hurt my feelings when we did it on the network, on CBS Sports Network on Friday. Funniest member of fantasy football today?

Same answer, Dan Schneier. He is not even close. He's not even close. See, but I think we define humor differently here because I think all of us have different levels of being funny. Every time Dan does something, it just makes me laugh.

He's not funny. He's just, you're laughing at him, not with him. Well, every time I start something, it just makes me laugh. He's not funny. He's just you laughing at him, not with him. Well, every time I start to answer a question, I just see Dan doing this. I know it. Like the laughter. All right, Dave, what's your answer? Who's the funniest member of FFT?

I'll make you feel better, and I'll say you. Adam. I wasn't pandering for that at all. I love to get shit. You are the funniest. You are the love to get you are the funniest you are the most handsome you are the smartest you are the sharpest i'd like to get schaefer's take on that schaefer who's smell nice who's the funniest we get thomas on here who's the you have well-behaved children who's the funniest yeah he's gonna sound like teacher's pet but i'm gonna go easier yeah

because you keep everybody you keep everybody in line. You throw little jabs at everybody. I did jab. He throws little jabs at everybody, and I think it's Acer. For the record, I think it's Dave, but I'll take it. Okay, I got some superlatives from the audience. Most likely to lead the league in sacks, interceptions, and tackles. Need a little more IDP talk from M23NYC.

Sacks, interceptions, and tackles. Hmm. I mean, sacks is probably... You want a different person for each category? Is that what you're asking? Yeah, sacks. I'll just take that. Oh, wait.

So you don't want, like, one guy for everything? No. I don't think any... I'll just take that. Oh, wait. So you don't want one guy for everything? No. I don't think... I'll go Michael Parsons. Yeah, Parsons is a great call. TJ Watts is a great call. Miles Garrett. Miles Garrett.

Miles Garrett might be the best one. Max Crosby. Bosa did it last year. I'm pretty sure. He's like 18 and a half. All right. Most likely the league in interceptions. Hmm.

I'll say... Damien Howard gets a lot of interceptions, doesn't he? Yeah. Jesse Bates. Jesse Bates. Derwin James. He's the one who's most likely to lead in all categories. He's awesome. Most likely to likely to lead in all categories. He's awesome.

Most likely to lead the league in tackles. Roquan Smith. Fulacan. Foley Oluokun. Foley Oluokun, yeah. I think you gave him one of those mashup names. I did. That was good.

All right. Most likely to exceed ranking if healthy all year from Caleb? Jonathan Taylor. Ranking? Yeah. Or ADP? Ranking. Most likely to see ranking if healthy all year?

I will say Javante Williams. Taylor comes back week five and plays 13 games. It's him. Yeah. Most likely to lead the Patriots in receiving from Steeman Beeman. I got a fun answer for this one. Demario Douglas.

Their rookie jitterbug. It's got to be. I'm going juju. Their version of Kadarius Tony. What did you say, Jamie? I said Ramondre. Oh. Most likely to be the hot commodity off the waiver wire after week one.

This is from Sean. Puka Nakua. Savan Achmet. Savan Ahmed. I got one. I'm going to say Phelan, but I'm actually going to look up his roster percentage, which I have. But is Chark going to play?

Not sure. Don't believe so. Yeah, I don't think we ranked him. No, Phelan's 72% roster. Never mind. Doesn't count. I think he got the first version of waivers, and if you're looking for like,

not crazy like Puka or Achmed, although Puka's not that crazy, but Achmed is crazy. If you're looking for like guys that are still low roster, it's crazy to see where Roshan's roster percentage is, where,

I'm trying to trying to like guys we've talked a lot about romeo dobbs not even 70 percent um yep nico collins not even 70 percent it's it's a lot a lot of interesting names out there all right what's van jefferson's i said puka but maybe 22 percent 50 percent 22, so that could also be the correct answer. Yep. In fact, I will change my answer. All right. I got a good one.

Yeah. Just because Dobbs is hurt. Jaden Reed. Jaden Reed's a great one. This is from Bodyguard. Most insane pick you've seen in drafts so far. Insane pick? For me, it was Justin Herbert in round

two yesterday. Herbert in round two? Yeah. I drafted with a Bears fan last night, and he took the Bears defense and Cairo Santos back-to-back, and I said, I did 50-plus drafts a hundred probably mocks total.

And I said, first time I've ever seen the bears defense draft. And he goes, but they get Jordan love in week one. That's not a great thing. Okay. That's an, I think the bears are favored in that game.

Oh, they are. Yeah. Interesting. All right. Uh, let's take a break. When we come back,

the fantasy cops are here. All those notes from the athletic that I was talking about, really interesting stuff, and your emails and your tweets. We'll be right back on Fantasy Football today. Are you a professional pillow fighter or a 9-to-5 low-cost time travel agent? Or maybe real estate sales on Mars is your profession. It doesn't matter. Whatever it is you do, however complex or intricate,

Monday.com can help you organize, orchestrate, and make it more efficient. Monday.com is the one centralized platform for everything work-related. And with monday.com, work is just easier. Monday.com, for whatever you run. Go to monday.com to learn more. Kind of in a no-man's land in terms of content right now. Oh, I got to go in for crazy stick. Oh, all right. That was before the commercial, but okay.

Some idiot drafted Gardner Mitchell. That's nuts. Honestly, I think if I did that, it was a super flex league where I only had two quarterbacks. I think you did do it in Big Burger, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, and, well, we have 23 roster spots in there. I remember drafting Evan Hull with my last pick. Nice. And being so mad because I wanted to draft Zach Ertz instead.

But I think I'm just going to stay with Evan Hull. Yeah, nice job. All right, by the way. He could be the answer for the guy to pick up off of. Maybe. Oh, yeah! Fantasy Cops, settling your league disputes. I didn't put the name in this one.

Dave, give me a name and a city. Khalid from Miami, Florida. Help me, Fantasy Cops. Did I commit highway robbery? Someone in my redraft league took both Kelsey and Andrews, thinking it was a two tight end league. I mean, real record scratch. How do you think it's a two tight end league? How do you make that mistake?

I don't know if you, I would hope they think maybe it's tight end premium league and you could play one as a flex. Then that's somewhat understandable. Maybe, but. It is a double flex according to Khalid's email. I see that, but I thought it was a two tight end league. I never heard that before. Anyway. A little Rodney Dangerfield there.

Yeah. No respect for the tight ends. He went from overrated Bar Mitzvah DJ to Rodney Dangerfield. They realized their mistake after the draft and put Andrews up for trade. I sent an offer of Tyler Lockett straight up for Mark Andrews. While I think Andrews is much better than Lockett when starting a tight end, I thought the offer was reasonable because you lose the positional advantage when you put a tight end in the flex. The Andrews manager accepted

the trade and the rest of the league went nuts saying it was a completely unfair trade and should be vetoed. Tyler Lockett for Mark Andrews. The commissioner said they don't agree with a veto 99% of the time, but this was the most unbalanced trade they'd ever seen and would overturn it with a unanimous vote. Ultimately, the Andrews manager said the app glitched and crashed while they tried to reject the trade, and it was accepted

by mistake. Okay. What a league this is. I took them at their word and agreed to reverse the trade. I am confident in my assessment of the trade being strongly in my favor, but ultimately making both teams better. But the uproar it put the rest of the league in has me doubting myself. Was this a veto-worthy trade?

My Tyler Lockett for his Mark Andrews. I mean, in the sense of if there are vetoes allowed, then yes, it should not be allowed to go through but if the truth of the matter is that he the manager of Mark Andrews did accept the trade then you just have to live with the results league and both parties involved my guess is that the manager accepted the Andrews manager was probably really embarrassed realizing that he wasn't playing in the two tight end league. And that's probably the only offer he got, or maybe the best offer that he got and decided he was going to accept it to make his team more balanced and fair. Um, but to say that the app froze and then the whole league to go crazy, like that's just terrible. Yeah. This manager is a disaster. Like if the app really froze, you would have said that immediately, right?

Right. You would text or call the commissioner as soon as it's happening. Right. Unless, you know, just to be fair, unless it's just a very casual fantasy player, which sounds like it might be. And I don't know when this happened.

When did we get the email for this? Oh, very recently. So, I mean, you know, long weekend, somebody's going away for Labor Day weekend hits what they think is reject, doesn't check their email or, or, or the broken app, you know, and then comes back to all this poop storm of, you know, you did this. Why did you accept this trade? Blah, blah, blah. But I got to say something here. I don't even feel like I know Jamie anymore. You know, for example, the whole bus list, the void list thing,

I thought we were on the same team. Turns out we were on completely different teams. You're saying that Andrews for Lockett is vetoable? I'm the guy who's usually saying it's okay to veto trades if they're egregious. This is not an egregious trade. No, no, I would never veto this trade. I'm saying if you're just talking about player for player in terms of value, it's not a fair trade in that regard. But it's not a vetoable trade. No, I wouldn't veto this trade. I'm saying if you're just talking about player for player in terms of value, it's not a fair trade in that regard.

But it's not a vetoable trade. No, I wouldn't veto the trade. It is not. Okay, okay, okay. I mean, look, if you drafted Andrews last year, you drafted him even higher, right? The second round last year. Lockett was a better player.

Lockett blew him away. Andrews stunk. You know, it ended up, you know, he had the injury and Jackson got hurt. But Lockett outperforms his ADP every year. So it's not a good trade, at least on paper, but it's not even close to vetoable. And for your league to freak out over it, I mean, this is important here. You can't veto those types of trades. You can't veto trades that you wish you had made, basically, because, you know, someone got a steal, or at least you think. But it's within the very realistic realm of possibility

that Lockett could be better than Mark Andrews. So you have to veto a trade that is so out-of-this-world, crazy terrible. You know, that's the only trade that gets vetoed, that really disturbs the balance of the league. Lockett for Andrews is a bad trade, but it's not a veto trade. Mark Andrews for Puka Nakua.

Right, that's exactly right. Or like Cortland Sutton. Probably, yeah. I mean, I probably wouldn't even veto that, but I'd be more... That's even more sketch. You can't veto that many trades. It's got to be a real high threshold.

Alright, notes from The Athletic and their story, a question about each team. The Atlanta question was, where should I draft Kyle Pitts? And Josh Kendall wrote, not high unless you like to live dangerously. For starters, Pitts is coming off a 28-catch, 356-yard, two-touchdown season that ended, blah, blah, blah,

due to an MCL tear. I don't see Pitts being any higher than fourth on this team in targets. Plus, he still must prove he's healthy after last season's surgery. He did not look like himself in the preseason game against Cincinnati. He did not practice every snap against Miami over two days. So he's still working his way back from the knee injury. That's like a month ago. Yeah, I mean, that's part of the issue.

And I had Pitts ahead of London going into the practices, and I moved that. I've splurged that. London ahead of Pitts. And now London's way out of Pitts. I still think he's got a chance. One of the reasons why he had 28 catches, 356 yards, and two touchdowns is because his quarterback was just abysmal.

And so if Ritter can be any more accurate, especially on short and intermediate stuff, then he'll be, he'll be fine. I could see him being second or third on the team in targets. Fourth is crazy. Fourth means that the writer expects Kyle Pitts to miss games. And for Mac Hollins, who did line up a lot with the starters to pick up a lot of targets. Well, he is their starting receiver.

He is a starting receiver. Fourth and targets. He's got to be first or second in targets. I mean, that would be if it's, it could be third. Cause that'd be Bijan. Right.

But sure. I think the only way he's fourth and targets is if he's injured. I mean, that would just be such a gross mismanagement of arguably your best player you know i mean just but what he's capable of doing i don't think he's their best player but you know if he's able to turn into what he's capable of becoming then he is just an absolute freak and so he's got to think that he's he's not right which he references we might not be right. He also mentioned that Arthur Smith said last year that Pitts had a good year because he did the things that Arthur Smith wanted him to do.

It's not got open. Well, no, he he was part of the run game, too. You know, I mean, Arthur Smith just it's not maybe it's just not a tight end friendly offense. I think that was also part of the point, which is great because he's not really a tight end. But the funny thing about that is Arthur Smith, before he became the offensive coordinator for the titans was their tight ends coach right but i think probably more in a run oriented way yeah i mean he definitely when i when i talked to him um in may when i asked him about both these guys he didn't say this about

pitts but he certainly said it about london he said what he does for us in the run game is huge you know i'm like oh. You're talking about your wide receiver in the running. Um, but you know, he values those things. And so, you know, I, I know we don't think of, you know, pits typically as an inline tight end and a blocking tight end, but blocking on the perimeter for a team that runs the ball is very, very important, you know, and it's an underrated skill for a lot of these second and third receivers number two number three receivers to get them in some cases on the field i'm sure mac collins being one of those i mean the guy is just jacked but um they all are i would be i would be very very surprised if pitts is horrible but the point though is with kyle

pitts when you're drafting, and whether you want to put him fourth, fifth, sixth, or seventh at tight end, you're drafting him with the chance to become what he can become. And that's just how you have to approach it. Just understand that you may have to make a transaction at some point after three or four weeks. You're not dropping him, I don't think. I don't think you should. But you may have to find a

second tight end to help you. Okay, so here's a note from Adam Johns, Jans? We'll go Parks and Rex. We'll go Jans. to find a second tight end to help you. Okay, so here's a note from Adam Johns. Jans? We'll go Parks and Recs. We'll go Jans. I think it's Johns. Johns, all right.

Right now, it's Khalil Herbert, but for how long? The Bears' best back could be rookie Roshan Johnson by week three or week four. From his hard-nosed downhill style to pass blocking, Johnson has been everything the Bears said he'd be after they drafted him in the fourth round.

But can Johnson really be an every-down back after backing up superstar Bijan Robinson at Texas? There are a lot of questions, which makes knowing when to draft the Bears running back difficult. He's my most rostered player. Roshan? Wow. I think of 25 leagues, I probably have him at about 17.

Wow. All right. This is from Mike Jones about the Texans backfield. Jones, you think? Jonas? Jonas. The addition of Devin Singletary may mean a lighter workload for Damian Pierce. Pierce should still start, and the Texans would be smart to use a steady dose of the run

to ease pressure on C.J. Stroud. However, with it appearing as if Houston plans on going with a platoon, Pierce as your top back may be unwise. Second back, sure thing. Agreed. He's a terrific number two fantasy running back with the potential to be a number one by the time the year ends he's he's more physical than Singletary and I think he's just as elusive

slash you know ability to break tackles as Singletary like the one thing that Devin Singletary does really really well is he can stop on a dime cut make a guy miss and then keep going and pierce is good at that but not as good as singletary but single pierce rather is good at everything else the type of run on run game that the texans are going to have it's stolen from san francisco pierce was efficient running that when houston ran it last year with a worse offensive line and i think he's a better bruiser at the goal line than Singletary. Fully expect him to be the main running back. I mean, yeah, it's not an argument that Singletary's better.

It's just how much of a platoon is it going to be? Well, I mean, the preseason didn't seem to indicate that. So that's the positive thing. So we'll find out. I just wonder, though, was this notes from the athletic to depress us, or was this notes from the athletic to make us more excited? Hey, get excited about

Devin Singletary. How about this one? Zach Moss will be the likely starter in Taylor's absence. Moss is recovering from a broken right arm, and Shane Steichen said he hopes Moss is healthy by week one. If he isn't available, RB1 duties will either go to third-year pro Deion Jackson or rookie Evan Hall.

That's from James Boyd. So, I mean, the takeaway there, Zach Moss will be the likely starter in Taylor's absence. This is another one going back to your question about who could be somebody you're looking to add in week two. I don't think he's going to be the biggest, most important player to add, but if Deion Jackson and Evan Hall stink against Jacksonville and and Moss is ready for week two and we know that Taylor's still out for three more weeks he's going to be one of the lead guys in my waiver wire running back

section you know so um when I when I wrote this yesterday I said Deion Jackson's the one you should add now because if he does do well in week one you want to make sure you're getting ahead of that so he's the one you should be looking to pick up first if he's still out there. But if you can stash Zach Moss somehow, I don't think that's a bad move because while he's not great, he does certainly profile as someone who's done it before. And that might be something that they're looking at, you know,

just a veteran presence to help their young quarterback, which is what they were hoping Jonathan Taylor would be. And we know that none of these guys are Jonathan Taylor. Some league platforms will let you stash players who are out on your IR and Moss could be one of those guys that you can stash on your IR. And then you don't, you don't even have to wait till Jamie's column to come out. You've already got them on your squad for the record. I think Jackson's just a guy I would rather have Evan Hall. Yeah, I'd rather have none of them personally because it could be, as Dave alluded to, a four-week window. And then hopefully Jonathan Taylor's back in week five and you're not even worried about these guys.

So it just depends, I think, what's on your waiver wire. But if I'm looking at it long-term, I would probably go Zach Moss. All right. How about this for the Chiefs from Nate Taylor? Who will be Patrick Mahomes' number two target behind Travis Kelsey? He does not even mention Kadarius Toney. He says, The two best candidates are Sky Moore

and Marquez Valdez-Scantling. If Moore stays healthy, an argument can be made that Mahomes will target him the most among the receivers. The receiver who is most capable of catching a 50-yard pass, though, is Valdez-Scantling. All right. I don't agree with that. Yeah. I'm just surprised that he didn't even mention Kadarius Toney. Well, I mean, at what point do you start to say, and I think this is different from fantasy. If you're just analyzing the Chiefs receiving core,

it's hard to say that Kadarius Toney is going to make the impact that he's capable of when he's not in the field because he's just not available. And so, you know, he struggled to stay healthy following the trade last year. He struggled to stay healthy with the Giants. He's now struggling to stay healthy going into what is supposed to be his biggest season, you know, full off season with this team and getting ready to maybe be their number one receiver. And so I don't blame, um, the writer

for, for saying that, but from our, for our perspective, he should be at worst, the second guy being drafted because you're hoping for that upside. You're hoping for that type of player to finally shine through and be the, the, the, the first round draft pick that he was by the giants and the player that the chiefs, you know, acquired and trade. And, you know, when you're looking at a guy being attached to, you know, arguably the best quarterback in the player that the Chiefs acquired and trade. And when you're looking at a guy being attached to arguably the best quarterback in the NFL, you want that. Yeah. This is from depressing note number six from the Athletic, from Chad Graff.

Part of the reason the Patriots signed Ezekiel Elliott is his ability in short yardage. There's a very real chance Zeke becomes the team's goal lineback, vulturing touchdowns from Stevenson. No way. It'll be important to pay attention early to how the carries shake out in New England. I'm shocked. No one saw this one coming.

Well, I mean, it's not a good thing. But it's like the bare minimum of Zeke affecting Ramondre. If all he's going to do is steal touchdowns, then I have Ramondre Stevenson ranked low. Jamie will argue that I've got him ranked too low anyway. I think Zeke is going to end up taking away

some rushing work away from Ramondre as well. And it'll be a pain in the butt, multifaceted, multiplayer, rushing approach in an offense that

should be better throwing the ball downfield rather than horizontally. Coach, we need two and a half yards get Zeke in the game two and a half might not even be Zeke so how many carries does he get right he's gonna do it I I saw this somewhere I don't know if it's accurate but that in Belichick's time with the Patriots they their running backs have averaged 436 carries per season.

So if you're looking at it. What? That's not a surprise. That sounds way too high. That's probably close to what every team has. 436 running back carries? Yeah, I could be off. I could be off.

We can look that up. You want to see if I can find that? Yeah. It was something to the effect of there's 200 plus carries available for both of them. And so if there's 200 plus carries available, for both of them. And so if there's 200-plus carries available, Zeke is probably ranked too low if he's going to get 200 carries because he's probably going to still fall into some good production. But if Ramondre is getting 200-plus carries,

plus the opportunity to get, I still would think, 50 catches. You're talking about 250 touches with what he did last year based on his efficiency and the chance to score more touchdowns. To me, that's a third-round pick all day. If Zeke gets 200 carries, then Bill Belichick should get fired. Zeke was arguably the worst running back in football last year. On a per-touch basis, there was a minimum amount of touches. He had the lowest yards per touch, catches and carries.

Remember that game, that Thursday night game, where the Titans sat half their defense and he ran for two yards per carry or something like that. He, he was terrible. He should not get 200 carries. That would be, what was that number again?

I thought it was like, it was either four 36 or four 62, something. Okay. Four 36 would have been the fourth most running back carries last year in the NFL. I was wrong about that being the average. Last year's average was 369.9 running back rushes over the span of a season. Patriots were below league average at 354.

That was in 2022. Let's take a look at 2021. Remember that this Bill Belichick era has mostly been 16 game seasons so that's why that yeah maybe super high but again you'd expect more carries if you're playing an extra game 2021 408 running back carries that was six the most in football the average was right around 370 let's take a look at a year where they played only 16 games that would be 2020 341 rush attempts by their running backs. All right.

So I don't know what the number was. 370 is about league average for all running back carries. Maybe I heard it wrong. I don't know. That's what I heard. All right. Can we get to more depressing notes here? This is about the Eagles running backs from Bo Wolfe.

Odds are the Eagles want DeAndre Swift to end up being the lead man in the backfield given their investment in him. Because this is the most running back friendly offense odds are the Eagles want DeAndre Swift to end up being the lead man in the backfield, giving their, given their investment in him because this is the most running back friendly offense in football. There's an opportunity for any of the three to have a monster season. We just don't know who. Right.

It's going to be game to game. I, I will say this, check out their games weeks one through four. They play against new England, Minnesota, Tampa Bay, Washington. There are some good run defenses that figure to be in front of them. And that would suggest that maybe they throw more to their running backs. That would help DeAndre Swift.

I wouldn't be surprised if he got off to a pretty hot start. It's just something they don't do though. I think they are going to now that Swift is there. I think they are going to morph into doing more throwing to their running backs because they've got Swift. Yeah, I would agree with that. It's just a matter of does that, does it sway it enough that Deandre Swift becomes a starting fantasy option? And that's something I think you got to wait and see, because is he going to get enough from a carry perspective and a catch perspective to be that type of player? and they just didn't do that last year with miles sanders by any stretch and

part of that is the offensive design part of that is jalen hurts just ability to scramble and break you know when plays break down he's not looking to you know his running backs he's looking to run how about part of it being the coaching staff didn't trust miles sanders with targets very fair yeah i think i think they will trust Deandre Swift with targets. All right. This is from Mark Cabal. I have three left here. Let's,

uh, we'll go through this quickly here. I want to read some emails. Mike Tomlin is a bell cow running back coach, and it wouldn't be shocking if Najee Harris equals his numbers from a year ago, 313 touches. That's hard for me to read.

I know, but that would be an offense. That's hard to me to read. I know. But that would be an offense that's hard to watch unless Najee finds a big boost in efficiency. He hasn't even averaged four yards per carry in a season yet. He might be a bell cow running back coach. Who says that Harris is his

cow? Well, you better move him down in the rankings. right anyway this is from michael sean duggar gonna get the uh what remains this is michael sean duggar on the seahawks what remains unclear is whether zach charbonnet pick number 52 in the draft will be a true 1b to ken walker's 1a or a legit backup the type reserved for for moments Walker is tired or injured. The latter scenario dramatically increases Walker's fantasy value. The former would suggest a by-committee situation.

All right, so we don't really have to get into that. I mean, we know that's something we're keeping an eye on right out of the gate. It's their usage. But even the beat writer doesn't know what it'll be. All right, and then, Jamie, remember I planted my flag that the Titans would not be bottom 10 in pass attempts. Here's something Joe Rexroad said from The Athletic. The guess here is Derek Henry comes in significantly below the 343 carries he has averaged in his past three full seasons.

The Titans want to be more balanced and rookie back Tajay Spears is too good to not get some work. If that balance is effective, if Ryan Tannehill can stay upright and get big seasons out of Hopkins and Burks, Henry may have a, quote, work smarter, end quote, season, with similar production despite a lighter workload. I'd be surprised if it's similar production

just because I think he needs that volume because that's kind of what his strength is, that he beats up on defenses, and then the fourth quarter, he's just a monster. So, I mean, look, he can be more involved in the passing game. That's certainly something we've seen the last couple of years.

When he got hurt, he was on pace for 36 catches. When he played last year, he got over 30 catches. So he can certainly be close to a 40-catch guy in 17 games. I do think, though, if he's not close to leading the NFL in rushing and he can still score 20 touchdowns, but if he's not doing that, then you're going to be very frustrated about Derrick Henry. I can't wait to see the play-action stats for Tennessee because they could get linebackers going every which way with play

action. And then Tannehill has options far downfield with Berks, intermediate with Hopkins and short with Henry. And all three of those guys can do damage with the ball in their hands. This is going to be, this is a low key fun offense. I still think they're going to be true to the run though. And if Derek Henry stays healthy, over 300 carries again. It'll

be Mike Vrabel versus Tim Howard, how that goes. You know, if they want to call more pass plays, and Mike Vrabel's like, yeah, you know, we got that guy back there. Let's just do what we do. By the way, Henry had 41 targets in 16 games last year. 37 of his 41 targets came in 12 games with Ryan Tannehill.

In the other four games, he had four targets. Yeah. All right. Let's take a break here. Is that just Tannehill or is that just competent quarterback? Well, they barely...

Competent quarterback. They didn't trust Malik Willis to throw and then Dobbs didn't really throw to him either. But all right. We'll take a break. When we come back, emails and tweets at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com.

That's our email address. We'll be right back. I got a team name Tuesday for you. You have to really read it, I think. It's better. Man in Jameer. You gotta sing it. Go ahead. You love to sing.

Well, this week one, I'm starting Man in Jameer. I'm not singing. It's too early. But Man in Jameer is kind of funny. It just kind of sounds like man in the mirror. Emails and tweets. This is from David. I drafted Pollard at 1.10. I also

drafted Deuce Vaughn. Is he the backup to Pollard or am I better off dropping him for Sean Tucker in Tampa Bay? I don't know if Vaughn is technically the backup. I think Vaughn is going to be more of a specialty back that the Cowboys use, you know, with a handful of snaps to just see how he does. I think if Pollard goes down, it's probably going to be Rico Dowdle right now. And then maybe we'll

see what happens with Ronald Jones or don't be surprised if somebody else is brought in just because that group is probably pretty bad if there is no Pollard but uh I would probably still at this point roster Deuce Vaughn going into the season than I would Sean Tucker I'll go the other way I'll say that Tucker's the one you want to roster just in case he ends up playing more in week one than we thought he's he's a very good back he can play three downs and Deuce Vaughn is just going to be what Jamie said a specialty back they would he would need a litany of injuries Deuce Vaughn is just going to be what Jamie said, a specialty back. He would need a litany of injuries, Deuce Vaughn would, in order to be a feature guy for Dallas. Okay.

By the way, Shane Steichen, just seeing now that he said that they will use a committee without Taylor. Whoever's got the hot hand, let them ride a little bit and go with that. We'll rotate those guys in, see where everyone is at. This is from Kirk. Tajay Spears, Ty Chandler, Deuce Vaughn. Who should I pick up?

Spears. Tucker. From Colin. Oh, I already read this one. If something happens to Derrick Henry, Tajay Spears is the lead winner. Okay, I read Collins previously. This is from Matthew. Start or sit, Trevor Lawrence or Justin Field this week?

Six points per passing touchdown. Lawrence. Lawrence is a top three guy for me this week. Should have drafted him yesterday instead of Cup. Joe from Allen. What did you do a quarterback? Deshaun. Okay, well, that's your guy.

DeShazer. DeShazer, yeah. I am the Cup manager, and I received a tempting offer. I would give up cup and get back Jameer Gibbs and Brandon Cooks. Winner. Cup for Gibbs and Cooks. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, that's a great return.

From Ben, I had the sixth pick in our 10-team draft. McCaffrey fell to me in the first round. I took A.J. Brown in the second. Olave in the third. And Devante Smith fell to me in the first round. I took A.J. Brown in the second. Olave in the third. And Devante Smith fell to me in the fourth. Now I have A.J. Brown and Devante Smith. Should I try to trade Brown or Smith or just start one of them at flex? Roll with them to start the season and then possibly trade one of them.

But congratulations on your playoff berth and then possibly trade one of them. But congratulations on your, your playoff birth, Ben. Don't trade them. No, if you can get something good for him. Sure. Right.

Let's say you could get someone of equal value. The problem is like each week, one of them is going to be good to very good. And the other one will be to good. Oh, it's going to be rare when they're both very good. Oh, why do you say that? If that's the case, then they're

being overdrafted, I would say. I don't even disagree because like I said, we always say 49ers math problem. We rarely say Eagles math problem, but they threw the fewest passes to running backs in the NFL last year. We think that's going to change. Dallas Goddard missed a big chunk of games.

Devontae Smith was not even a top 30 wide receiver before the Goddard injury. Devontae Smith basically had better production and slightly more targets, I think, than A.J. Brown in the second half. The only thing I would push back on is if they're throwing more to their running backs is because they're not getting as many carries.

Maybe. There were seven games last year where both had at least 15 PPR points. Three of them, it looks like, came without Goddard on the field. Right. Almost all of them came at the end of the year. Right. Then the playoffs, I mean, the Super Bowl they both had. Well, the playoffs was interesting because the Super Bowl they both had big games, but

I think the 49ers, Hertz wasn't very good the first two games. No. There's no reason to rush trading one of them now unless you get a great offer. but I think the 49, it hurts. Wasn't very good. The first two games. No, there, there, there's no reason to rush trading one of them now, unless you get a great offer. And, and the math problem also takes into account.

There's a, a better quarterback in Philadelphia. It's then pretty. Yeah, there is. Um, okay. From T who would you play week one?

Adam Thielen at Atlanta, Nico Collins at Baltimore, or Mike Evans at Minnesota? Evans. Evans. That Vikings defense is not going to be good. Agreed. They made some pretty major additions, though.

Byron Murphy, Marcus Davenport. Anyone else? Eh. They also lost Alvin Thomas Thomas and they lost Patrick Peterson. They're probably going to stink. Brian Flores is probably their biggest addition. Yeah. There you go.

All right. Give me a week one upset. You said the Bears are favored? Yeah. Packers. I picked them too. I haven't made picks yet. I suppose I should.

Yeah, I checked the I should week one upset I'm surprised the Jaguars by the way are only a five point favorite who'd you say the Raiders see the spread there Raiders are three and a half point underdogs at Denver who's the biggest dog this week the Texans are ten point underdogs

against Baltimore I would take The Texans are 10 point. Against Baltimore? Yep. I would take the Texans and the points. Me too. I did that. I took the Texans and the points too. I wanted to place a bet, but I got locked out of my account.

Yeah, they need your info. Yeah. And they're not the ones who need it. I'm very concerned that I'm never going to see that money anymore. Not that it's a lot, but I was like, this is my email address. We don't have that email address. Yeah, the state of New York would like to see it. Okay.

All right, we're out of here, everybody. What's a legal site, Dave? Oh, I'm just saying. What? What do you mean? What do I do? They want to make sure that you're paying your fair share. I am doing everything. Erwin R. Scheister might

visit your house if you don't. I'm not breaking any rules. Hit you with a metallic briefcase. You're going to have to grab him by his red tie. I don't know if you guys watch college football this weekend, but Florida State is amazing. I can't deal with it. And Clemson, what's going on, Clemson? It's pathetic.

Apparently Dabo doesn't like the portal. Apparently he doesn't like the portal and they have no wide receiver. But they fumbled the ball twice inside the 10. They missed two field goals, I think. I got two block or something. Alright, we're out of here. I love football. Game on Thursday. Let's go. See you later.