Fantasy Football Today - Talking Rookies with Marcas Grant! (05/10 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: May 10, 2021

Marcas Grant of NFL.com joins us to give his thoughts on the 2021 rookie class. First, what do we make of the Eagles signing Kerryon Johnson (2:06)? What does that say about Miles Sanders? And we weigh in on the Aaron Rodgers saga (7:05) ... If Trevor Lawrence and Trey Lance are both starting Week 1, who should be selected first in Fantasy drafts (12:00)? When would Marcas draft Najee Harris (20:15)? We compare Ja'Marr Chase and Devonta Smith (26:40) and then get into the Kyle Pitts discussion (32:00) ... Finishing up our rookie talk with Travis Etienne (37:50), Javonte Williams (40:40), Trey Sermon (44:40), Michael Carter (47:30), Jaylen Waddle (50:30), Amari Rodgers, Terrace Marshall and more ... Email us at [e-mail] Want in the Podcast League? Try our NFL Draft contest! https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/permalink/1115877195573244/ 'Fantasy Football Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCviK78rIWXhZdFzJ1Woi7Fg/videos Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ 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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BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. On his way to the end zone. 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. For NFL Rookie Talk, these guys can be extremely fantasy relevant, so we're going to talk about them again and again until it gets old. But welcome to the show, everybody. It's Fantasy Football Today on Monday, May 10th. I'm Adam Azer with Dave Richard. Dave, how was your Mother's Day? It was great. Family went out to dinner at my wife's favorite restaurant, and no one yelled at each other.

No one threw things at each other. It was like a normal meal. It was really refreshing. A little strange, actually. Yeah, well, that's good. It's a holiday. We have Marcus Grant joining us from NFL.com. Marcus, awesome guest. Welcome back to the show. How are you? How was your Mother's Day? It was good. We kind of got out, took an outing, went guest. Welcome back to the show. How are you? How was your Mother's Day? It was good. You know, we kind of got out, you know, kind of took an outing, went around, got some sunshine, you know, everything. Nature is healing, right?

We're actually out to go and do normal, semi-normal things. So it's good. That is great. And guys, thanks. Mine was awesome. Thanks for asking. I was about to ask. I swear I was about to ask.

More important things here. Friday is a big day. So Marcus is from NFL.com. You can see him on NFL Network. You can also follow him at Marcus G and that's M-A-R-C-A-S-G on Twitter and on the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. But tell us what you've got going on on Friday. Yeah. NFL Network, we are back at least for a one-off show. NFL Fantasy Live is doing its post-draft special. I believe that it airs at 5 p.m. Eastern, 2 p.m. Pacific, but I keep telling people, just check your local listings and

set your DVR, and at some point on Friday, it will appear there. That's awesome. We'll be watching, and it should be some awesome information, and we're going to ask you about all the rookies today to give you a little preview of what they're going to be talking about on Friday on NFL Network. Let's do some news and notes first. If you about all the rookies today to give you a little preview of what they're going to be talking about on Friday on NFL Network. Let's do some news and notes first.

If you've heard Fantasy Football Today in 5, you heard us talk about Kerryon Johnson going to the Eagles and what that means. So they claimed Kerryon Johnson off waivers, and Marcus, they've got Jordan Howard, Kerryon Johnson, they drafted Kenneth Gainwell, Boston Scott is still there. What does this tell you about how the Eagles view Miles Sanders? They don't love him the way I love him. That's the first thing I know. You know what's funny about this? On Friday, I was on a podcast with a buddy of mine,

and he was just asking me about guys that I would love to see take that leap this year. And I said, I went on this whole thing about how I love Miles Sanders. And now that they've drafted Devontae Smith, that hopefully this can open up a downfield passing game. And maybe there are fewer guys in the box. I just went on this whole long thing about how much I love Miles Sanders. We wrap the pot. We say goodbye. We disconnect. I check Twitter and I see that the Eagles have signed Kerryon Johnson. And I'm like, oh, I mean, it was just such a gut punch. It was. Yeah, I keep wanting them to make Miles Sanders something closer to a workhorse. But everything they keep doing, all their front office moves,

suggest that they don't view him the same. And so at some point, I think it's time for us to start listening to what the franchise is doing and sort of drafting Miles Sanders accordingly. Dave, what's your take on that? You know, the reason why a lot of people were so excited about Miles Sanders after he took over for Jordan Howard in 2019, he had 94. He was a top seven running back, seventh in non-PPR, third in PPR. He had 25 catches in six games. He averaged 4.6 yards per carry, 8.2 yards per catch. And he was kind of a workhorse. He had the seventh most carries and the seventh most catches among running backs. So it was a 318 touch pace and almost 1700 total yards. That's

what he did as a rookie. Didn't exactly build off that. So where are you right now on Sanders and when should we draft him? Eagles actions speak louder than words here. Look at what they've done. They held on to Scott. Like you said, they brought in Kenneth Gainwell and they got carry on Johnson. Those are three pass catching, passing downs, types of running backs. Carry on Johnson might not be able to stay healthy through 150 touches, but he can pass protect. And that's something that he can bring to that offense right away. And then they got Jordan Howard and we don't know howard's going to make the team but that's a physical inside runner maybe he's the backup for miles sanders but it seems to me that the the eagles are sour on

sanders as a pass catcher and he ranked 21st in elusiveness on pro football focus last year he was 10th in yards after contact for a rush attempt that's good but i i think he's sharing and uh it kind of stinks because i think the three of us could probably start the the miles sanders post hype breakout club uh when you drafted him let's talk draft when you talk him up when would i draft him yeah i've got him ranked as a late round three pick in ppr how about you marcus i was gonna say late second really wow late three i mean look if i could get him in the late third i'm happy i just feel like there's still maybe the the hopefully the hype hasn't caught up so somebody overdrafts him i don't know it might be me but uh i i was looking at late second look the

good news is is that he he his offensive line will be, and this is a team that will use one guy in the backfield more than the others. If you just think about how Indianapolis worked, and that's where Nick Sirianni came from, and he's already talked about how he's basically following Frank Reich's blueprint. So they're going to need one main back, their version of Jonathan Taylor. I think Sanders can handle that, and there will be games, theoretically, where he'll be able to get into a rhythm and put up some good numbers. That offensive line, hopefully it'll work for him. And hopefully Jalen Hurts takes less off his plate.

But I think it's going to be a game-to-game thing and not something that we can consistently say over the course of the season. He's losing catches. He's going to lose rushing opportunities to Hurts. That'll include inside the five. I think it makes it frustrating. It'll be frustrating for people to have Miles Sanders

on their fantasy teams this year. Sorry, Marcus. No, look, I know. I'm with you 100% on that. I'll still take him over Josh Jacobs. Yeah. Well, all right. I'm just going to wrap it up here

and let's keep it in perspective. Kerryon Johnson, Jordan Howard, Kenneth Gainwell was a day three pick. Boston Scott. It's not like he's got Kareem hunt in the backfield or anything like that, you know? So, um,

except for when they play the giants, Boston, he's the giant killer. Start of the week. Uh, yeah. So would you take, would you take Antonio Gibson or miles Sanders?

Gibson all day. Same. All right. How about Clyde Edwards, Zila or miles Sanders? This is the age. I think I go CEH yeah Travis ETN or Miles Sanders I might go Sanders I think I have Sanders ranked just ahead of ETN but that's one that could flip yeah uh training camp gets going the more I think about ETN the more I think about how he's going to fit in really

well with what they do in Jacksonville. More on that later, Dave. GM Brian Gutenkust of the Packers. He's becoming a household name these days. He said Jordan Love has a long way to go in his development. Marcus, what's your take on the Packers quarterback situation right now?

Who's going to be the Packers quarterback? Or better question, Aaron Rodgers is going to be the quarterback of which team in 2021? Jeopardy? First off, I bet that quote made me laugh because that really feels like damage control. Like, hey, Jordan Love's not ready.

We really need Aaron back. That's what it feels like. I don't know. I mean, I think the two options are either he patches things up with the Packers or he retires. I think those are the two options. The Packers seem firm. Their heels seem dug in on not trading him, not moving him. And I know the way I feel about this, what I've been saying to people is football people, I think, have a hard time wrapping their heads around football players who don't want to play football anymore. People, I think have a hard time wrapping their heads around football players who don't want to play football anymore.

We're just so used to guys just going out and doing it until the game generally retires them for the most part. You know? And, and I think, I think if you look at Rogers, like, yes,

you can easily say he should have more Superbowls than what he does. But he does, but he does have a ring. You know, he's made a ton of money. He's won MVPs. He's accomplished pretty much everything you can in the game of football. And we have seen other guys who have far less accomplishments walk away far earlier at this point over less. So I say that just to say,

I don't necessarily think he will retire, but I wouldn't be as surprised, I think, as the rest of the world if he just looked at this and said, you know what, I just don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to be here and I'm going to walk away. And, you know, maybe that doesn't end with a Jeopardy hosting gig. But, but I think if you're Aaron Rodgers, there really isn't all that much more to prove. You've got a hall of fame resume. I mean, everything lines up well. You know, the other part of it, if, if he does host host jeopardy um you know alex trebek never had to worry about a blindside blitz from khalil mac so you know it's less money but you can make it over a far longer period of time so that's also something to keep in mind and if he

gets a daily double he can you know he can level his salary like instantly uh well i will i will file your response under things i don't want to happen for 2000, Alex. I do not want him to retire. I wouldn't mind him hosting Jeopardy, though. He can do that. He can do that later. The clock's always ticking on a football career, and he still has a good one left. I think that would be the most surprising result. But I think the second most surprising result would be him going back to Green Bay. It sounds like he really just does not like the direction of the team. I think he's got the right to say something about it. Oh, man. We make the NFC championship every year. God.

What's wrong? No, I'm saying they make the NFC championship every year. What is wrong with the direction of the team? And why do they make the NFC championship every year? Of course it's because of Aaron Rodgers. It's either him or Mason Crosby, one of the two. But they also have built a great offensive line there. I know that might be in jeopardy a little bit.

Losing their set. I actually didn't read that. I think that they have... Look, the 2020 draft was dumb. Taking a quarterback and a running back in the first two rounds. But they've tried to build their defense because they know they don't need to give Aaron Rodgers the best. He's the best.

He's maybe the second best, but he's Aaron Rodgers. So they wisely tried to build the defense. I don't know. It's not as much of a train wreck as it could be made out to be. It's a pretty good team. They're a solid team. Are you buying that Jake Kummerow was the linchpin to this whole thing?

No, I mean, maybe I buy that. You know what? Kyle Shanahan was kind of talking about how off the reporting was about Mac Jones, and how he wasn't going to go out and correct it because it worked to their benefit. Right. So I think I pretty much take those types of reports with a grain of salt.

People throw a lot of reports out there, and they're just not necessarily true. And the report that Marcus was referencing was that they released Jake Kummerow after Aaron Rodgers praised Jake Kummerow, and it really bothered him. And that was, I think, the nail in the coffin. I think a lot of things they've done have really bothered him. All right, well, listen, let's talk about rookies here. That's why we're here. We want to hear what Marcus has to say about Trevor Lawrence

and Trey Lance and Najee Harris and whatnot. But I do want to tell you first about the all-new Stitcher podcast app. It has been rebuilt from the ground up to make it easier to listen to podcasts on the go or on the revamped web player. I will tell you personally that Stitcher was one of the first apps I downloaded, you know, certainly the first podcast app. So a big fan of Stitcher. It's home to all of your favorite podcasts from classics like My Favorite Murder, This

American Life, and How Did This Get Made, and all the CBS shows like Fantasy Football Today and Pick Six and all the ones you listen to. In Stitcher, you have more control, like setting your download preferences per show and the ability to listen at virtually any speed. With Stitcher, you can listen control, like setting your download preferences per show and the ability to listen at virtually any speed. With Stitcher, you can listen to your podcast anytime, anywhere. So give the all-new Stitcher a try. Download it in the App Store or at stitcherapp.com slash download. So we did fantasy football today in five yesterday.

It aired this morning. And the main thing we talked about was Trey Lance, who apparently there's some buzz that he could be playing earlier than we think. And I asked Dave, if Trey Lance and Trevor Lawrence were both week one starters, who would you draft first? And Dave was kind of leaning towards Trey Lance and kind of thinking it, talking it out on the show.

But Marcus, I'm going to give you the first word. If Trevor Lawrence and Trey Lance are both week one starters for their teams, who are you drafting first in fantasy? Yeah, when I saw this question, I'm like, you threw in the week one and that really just, that threw my answer all haywire. I still think I'm leaning toward Lawrence. And I love Trey Lance's skill set. I love the idea of him in a Kyle Shanahan offense. There's just this thing sort of eating away in the back of my head about a guy who one played, played, you know, at FCS level, uh, and two hasn't really

played that much football over the last couple of years. And I think as much as we, uh, you know, love what he can be, I think he's at least a year away from maybe being that I think Lawrence is more ready to go right now. Um, you know, I just, I think level of competition, I think he's at least a year away from maybe being that. I think Lawrence is more ready to go right now. You know, I think level of competition, I think reps certainly play into this whole sort of thing. You know, that is what makes me nervous about Trey Lance. I think the ceiling is really high, but I think it's going to take him a little bit longer to kind of get it.

Look, Rookie's always saying the hardest thing about the transition from college to the NFL is the speed of the game. And so I think for Trey Lance, it's going to take maybe a little bit longer than it will for Trevor Lawrence to get that game to slow down. But if it's a week one start, doesn't that suggest that he's ready to go? Why would Kyle Shanahan put him out there if he's going to make a fool of himself? I mean, possibly, but we've seen it before, right? I mean, we've seen teams do it uh look i think having him there in a shanahan offense makes me a little bit more excited um you know i look i i just drafted him in a dynasty rookie draft and i am thrilled

to death about it um i got him at number four uh super flex super flex okay super flex that's i got him pretty good yeah yeah so i got like i'm thrilled about it you know i i've got a couple of other quarterbacks in case in case lance isn't ready right away i got a couple other quarterbacks that i can kind of roll with early on uh but once kyle shanahan flips the switch then you know so do i that's the way i feel about it is that if shanahan deems him ready to go and puts him in a position where he doesn't have to know a full playbook to get on the field for week one, but if he's comfortable running 10 concepts that can be dialed up 30 different ways just by how you line up your receivers and tight ends and running backs, I think he'd be good

with it. And I think he'd be able to be in a position to not only make good throws, and I'm talking about short and intermediate throws, nothing too far downfield, but also running the ball. And that's the key for me is that Trey Lance just strikes me as a guy who could eventually run for a thousand yards in the NFL on top of what he does as a passer. And that's something that's really hard to ignore. If you can have him on your fantasy squad, knowing that he's ready to go for week one, 17 weeks behind that offensive line in an offense that will be tailored to him.

I mean, they didn't really have a rushing quarterback element with Jimmy Garoppolo or Nick Mullins. They didn't run those guys. Come on. But with Lance, of course they're going to do that and use his mobility. And,

you know, you just think about all the bootlegs and play action. That's a part of what Kyle Shanahan does. And man, if defenses give him 10 yards to get ahead of steam going when he's running downfield, those 10 yard runs are going to turn into 25, 30 yard runs. He's going to, he's, he's fun. He's not necessarily a burner. You know this Marcus, but he is physical and he will be tough to take down.

He will be lots of fun for fantasy. And yeah, I could see myself getting excited to take down. He will be lots of fun for fantasy. And yeah, I could see myself getting excited to take him even over somebody safe like Trevor Lawrence. Dave, why? I get it. I mean, I get everything. Why isn't anyone, why is Trevor Lawrence the consensus number one in Dynasty? When we're sitting here going, man, Trey Lance,

I know Trevor Lawrence is going to be a better passer than Trey Lance, or at least we all think that. Makes sense. And Lawrence can run, too. Let's not sell him short. But he's not a 1,000-yard caliber rusher. He's not Trey Lance. He's more like Dak. Maybe even less than Dak. More like

Burrow. He'll get more touchdowns than he will. You'll be happy with his rushing touchdowns. I don't think he's going to get you more than 300 yards rushing. Okay, fine, right. 300, that is a big difference. But nobody's taking Lance ahead of Lawrence and Dynasty. I haven't seen that. I haven't heard that.

So it's kind of interesting, right? I mean, why not? Sure, so there's two reasons for it. Number one, we know that Trey Lance is yet to be a finished product. It's working on the assumption that if he's playing week one, he's closer to being a finished product

than we ever anticipated. And two, it's whether or not he's actually starting week one. I mean, it's really as simple as that. We know that Trevor Lawrence is going to start week one. You're not going to see C.J. No, but why would that matter in Dynasty?

Unless Trevor Lawrence is, you know, has a broken. No, but why would that matter in Dynasty? Unless Trevor Lawrence is a broken leg or something. Why would that matter in Dynasty, though? Why would that matter in Dynasty? Because I don't know if that necessarily does matter in Dynasty. That's a good question. That's what I'm saying. Look, we don't know yet, neither do the 49ers. It's going to take a full training camp and maybe one or two preseason games

to really get an idea of just how ready Trey Lance is. I think that's what it is. I mean, I think there's still that seed of doubt, right? We really don't have that doubt with Trevor Lawrence. It's a burden to hand kind of thing. We believe Trey Lance can be great. We think Trey Lance can be great, but I think there's still that little seed of doubt. I think if you're drafting at number one in any sort of league, but especially in a dynasty format, I don't think you want that seed kind of hanging around there. if you and look it was easy for me right being at four um i can easily like throw my hands and be like well hey look man that was

that was the best option out there right lawrence was gone fields was gone pits was gone i'm like hey trey lance so like when you're at four that decision has been taken out of your hands if you're at one and you sort of you know muck muck that up, then you're going to be mad. Yeah, you're going to kick yourself for it. That's right. It's true. And then year one does matter. I mean, especially if you have the number one pick, you you might not have a good quarterback. So year one matters. I just want to give a few numbers here. I looked at the last three elite rushing quarterbacks in their rookie seasons, and I would say that's Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray, and Jalen hurts. Jalen hurts has the potential to be,

Whoa, no Josh Allen. Um, he's not a thousand yards, but fine. I could, I could have thrown him in there. Uh, he didn't.

All right. Yeah. You know, and maybe that's an overstep, but, or overlook on my part, but he's not, let's go with what you got.

Yeah. Uh, Lamar Jackson, seven games as a rookie, his per game averages would have made him QB 12. This is, by the way, you could look up Lamar Jackson per-game averages, but that counts all the games where he came in for a play or two for Flacco. I'm just looking at his starts.

Per-game, he would have been QB 12 in four-point leagues. QB 20 in six-point, but really close to QB 14, 15. I mean, very bunched up there. So we'll call him a number two quarterback in six-point per passing touchdown leagues and a low end number one in four-point. Kyler Murray per game was QB 10 in four-point, QB 14 in six-point,

and he played 16 games. So there's no fuzzy math there or anything. And then Jalen Hurts, he averaged in his four starts, and that included the Washington game. He averaged, he would have been QB seven. Because he had one huge game that bumped it up. QB seven in four point, QB 11 in 12 points.

So all these guys were worth starting. But for Hurts, it was pretty bumpy. It was 20 points, 43 points, 19 points, and then 15 points. That's 6 points per passing touchdown leagues. And he got pulled in that one. But still, I think it's pretty encouraging when you look at just the floor for guys who didn't really throw the

ball that well as rookies. And their rushing totals really gave them a very nice floor. Okay. Let's go to our next question. When will you draft Najee Harris? When will you draft Najee Harris? Dave and I have argued about this a little bit.

Marcus, what do you think? When would you draft him? Where I would draft it would probably be kind of early, middish second round. I think in 12 team leagues, I would say somewhere between 14, 15, 16, something around there. But that makes me feel like I'm not going to get Najee Harris because I feel like he's going to be off the board before that. I love the situation. I love him. But I also feel like the excitement by the time we get to August is probably going to carry him into the late part of the first round. I don't know that I'm going to be willing to pull the trigger on it there. So I, like I said,

I'm going to wait till early second round, but that means I may not have Najee Harris in a whole lot of spots when it's all said and done. So you're thinking he's going to be a first round pick. I think he will be. I mean, I think, I just think the excitement is going to carry him there. I wouldn't do it, but I think, I think we're going to see him, especially, you know, once we get to like training camp and stuff. And if he really is kind of getting the reps on the level that, that we expect, I just think, look, I mean, look, look at what the excitement for Clyde Edwards-Hilaire did for his draft stock last year. You know, end results aside, right? Just the fact that we looked at him as being like the guy in Kansas City and thinking of what he could do. I mean,

people were taking him middle of the first round last year. And I expect kind of a similar hype train for Najee Harris by the time we're close to the season starting. Yeah. Dave? Yeah. If you're worried about not getting him, then I for sure am not getting him. I've got him behind you, but that's, it is for now. I'll qualify it by saying that that's how it is right now. But I look at a lot of other running backs around the league and I'm, I'm more, I don't know if excited is the right word, but I guess I anticipate them doing a little bit better than Najee. I think Najee can be great. I think he can finish as a top 12 running back. Adam has talked about how a rookie running back is finished in the top 12. How many years in a row? Five of the last six. Right. Five of the

last six years. So yeah, he's of all the running backs in this draft class, you'd figure he's got the best chance to do it. Of course, we may have said the same thing about Edward Ziller last year and he didn't do it. But I, I, I'm excited about a lot of running backs and I think running backs are going to fly off the board on draft day. I don't even know if it's necessarily a mistake to get Harris in round one just to lock him up, and then you can get another running back if you want one, or a good receiver, or a good tight end in round number two. But I'm concerned about the offensive line. I'm concerned about what this offense will look like. I know they want to rededicate themselves to running the football. That sounds bad for the passing game in Pittsburgh, but I also,

I'm not yet totally sure that Harris is going to look like a man among boys in Pittsburgh, like he did in Alabama. It's a different level. It's a different game. I know he's good, but I'm wondering if, if maybe we're, we're racing and we're putting them up just a little too fast. I know. I mean, I think, I think you're think you're right. I think there's some points to that. I think, though, people look at just the straight opportunity of it all because nobody's scared by anybody else in that Steelers backfield. I think when you get to people who are thinking first round, they're envisioning Najee Harris showing up every week and getting 20 to 25 touches and just totally

being that guy. So, you know, I agree. I think, you know, I'm a little bit concerned about the offensive line, but it felt like the Steelers tried at least a little bit in the draft to help that. I mean, you know, third, fourth round guys, I know they don't necessarily blow you away, but you know, they went and got Fryer Muth who can sort of help out in the blocking, in the running game if they need him to. So I get that they're sort of trying and that sort of makes me a little bit more you know i don't know about excited but you know optimistic i guess is maybe the best word about it um by the way you talk about bad for the passing game i think what's bad for their passing game is ben roethlisberger and his elbow not being able to throw the ball

downfield that that hurts as much as anything oh i'd love to get into you on on that topic but i know we're talking rookies another time another time we'll talk about roethlisberger and what it might mean for those receivers is we're still drafting those wide receivers roethlisberger's arm is mostly fine yeah we are uh and that's another thing too like just let me just tie this in like if the passing game is going to be this dink and dunk game like we saw for a lot of last year that crowds the box that's going to be this dink and dunk game, like we saw for a lot of last year, that crowds the box. That's going to make it a little harder for the offensive line. It's going to make it harder for Harris. Is it, or is it going to make him catch more passes?

Is he going to catch more passes? Who else out of the backfield? That's the thing. It doesn't matter though. If the passes are going to be short anyway, you've got two very capable receivers to take, you know, to run an in route or a slant. And then you've got Clay very capable receivers to take you know to run an in route or a slant and then you've got claypool who can either get a screen or he'll you know go

deep and roethlisberger will try and hit him they essentially turned juju into a tight end last year i mean the way they used them he was kind of look i i don't know i i understand i think i think really when people look at naji harris it's more about opportunity than anything else and i think um you know just listen even listening to you right, Dave, sort of like kind of break this down and kind of go into detail. Like I said, I was a second round guy on Najee Harris, and you have sort of maybe talked me down even a couple of spots just in the last couple of minutes. I don't have a problem with late round two. But I think he's going to be gone at that point by late round two. I think he definitely will be gone.

And there are people on our site for sure who are ready to take naji in the first round so i think i think i'm comfortable saying that if you like naji eris you better hope you've got a late first round pick or maybe if you're lucky an early second round pick i'm just i'm not there with the rest of that world yet yeah i can tell you i had the 11th pick and a half PPR draft last week and I almost took him. I took Devante Adams in round one and then my cue was Aaron Jones,

Ezekiel Elliott, Najee Harris. The only way I was going to get Harris is if Heath had taken both Jones and Zeke. He took Jones and A.J. Brown. I took Zeke. I would have taken Harris, although I think that

then it would have been between Harris and Mixon. That's going to be a really tough one for me. But that's where I have him taken Harris, although I think that then it would have been between Harris and Mixon. That's going to be a really tough one for me, but that's where I have him. You know, I think he's a, I think he's a basically where Marcus said, but right around pick 11,

he comes into play for me, depending on the running backs are still on the board. Um, but you're talking about workhorses there. So, uh, I think, I think he's going to be a workhorse.

Okay. Uh, who gets more targets? Next question. Who gets more targets, Marcus? Jamar Chase or Devontae Smith? I'm going to go with Devontae Smith. So I think there will be more pass attempts

in the Bengals' offense overall, but they're going to have to spread those out. I mean, obviously you've got Jamar Chase there, but I know when Chase got drafted, the Tee Higgins hive, they had a case of the sads because Chase is going to naturally take some food off of his plate. You still have Tyler Boyd there. You know, there's been this talk recently about Joe Mixon never coming off the field there in Cincinnati, and he's going to get some targets every once in a while as well. I think in Philadelphia, I just don't see the same quite level of competition for targets.

You know, look, it was fun the little month we had with Travis Fulgham last year. You know, Greg Ward has come in and made some plays. But, you know, I think they still want this to be an offense that works through their first round receivers, right? They want Jalen Rieger to be something. They need Devontae Smith to be something. So I think he's going to come in there and if not be the alpha right away, be pretty close to it. Whereas I think Chase, there's still going to be games where you'll have the Tee Higgins game, where you'll have the Tyler Boyd game, and it won't know, funneling everything to chase on a weekly basis. Yeah. But you, I'm assuming we'll have chase ranked ahead of Smith. And if so, will it be significantly? He's, he's, he's, he's my first rookie receiver off the board.

Uh, I mean, I got him one, two in terms of the rookies, but I do have chase ahead of him. Um, but like I said, I wouldn't, I wouldn't be surprised. I think, but see, I think chase chase is more, can be more of the big play guy. He's just so athletic, man. I look at Smith, and he's very much a technician when it comes to running routes and catching the football. Not that one is better or worse than the other. They're just different ways of playing.

But I just think Chase is going to be the guy that maybe ends up having more yards, more touchdowns. But I think Smith might be the guy with more targets, maybe even more receptions. Yeah. I'm wondering, Dave, if the gap might not be quite as big as the rankings would suggest in PPR. You're right. And I think that just as there's a hype train for Najee Harris,

there will be a slower, smaller hype train, but still a hype train nonetheless for Jamar Chase, just based on what he did in that magical season the fact that he's reunited with burrow plus and and i think marcus nailed it the bengals are going to throw a lot they're going to they they put the ball in the air it was like 40 attempts per game with burrow last year i think they don't want to do that but they might have to look they don't exactly have an easy schedule this year. They're easily the worst team in their division. The three defenses that they'll play in the division are better than them,

and that'll make it harder for Mixon to run in those matchups. That means Burrow's going to have to throw. But it wouldn't surprise me if Chase averaged nine targets a game right away. I could really see him just falling right into that role that A.J. Green used to have in that offense. And I'm not saying he's going to get it because A.J. Green used to get it. I'm just saying alpha receivers get a high target volume, and he's one that I think is pretty prepared for the NFL. I think it'll be rare to see DeMonte Smith get nine targets a game. I could see him getting around seven. That's still really good. Fantasy manager should be happy with that. And I think he's exactly the kind of target. We've talked about this before. He's exactly the kind of target that Jalen Hurts needs to take a step forward in his development because he's great at running those routes short and mid range, getting open. He's going to get open a ton because like Marcus said, he's a technician. When you said technician, I thought, oh, he's like the excellence of execution. He's like Brett Hart out there on the football field. And I was like, wait a minute, wait a

minute. I'm mixing up my NFL.com fantasy analyst a little bit. Got to save that for whenever I talk to Adam. I'll pass it along the rank. No, what you should do is take it and then you'll blow him away when you say he's like Brett Hardy ony on the football field and i'll be like whoa that's awesome um but that's what davante smith is and i think he'll be great and i agree with marcus that chase is one smith is two uh and i think smith can be a number three fantasy receiver in ppr to begin the season i'm a little cool on him if it's not ppr if catches don't count i'm a little bit nervous about him because I think he's not going to get a lot of 15-plus yard targets from Jalen Hurts. I think that's going to be where Rager fits in. And I know I should be worried about Dallas Goddard and, for the time

being, Zach Hurts taking targets away from Smith, but I really don't think it's going to work that way. I think Smith is going to hurt Goddard. I think Smith is really going to be a key focal point in the offense. And just the last point I'll make is that, and I've said this before, Nick Sirianni, former wide receiver at Mount Union, is a wide receiver whisperer. And he's done a great job of improving the games of his wide receivers. And I don't know how much more improving he needs to do with Devontae Smith because he's so good. But that offense will get funneled a lot more through wide receivers than we're used to seeing. Okay.

Let me ask you one more question, then we'll take a break, and then we'll talk more. We'll get to ETN. We'll get to the Denver running backs, the Jets running backs, the Niners, the Dolphins wide receivers,

other rookie wide receivers that we want to talk about. We'll get to it all. But this is a big one. Marcus, if you think there's going to be a lot of excitement about Najee Harris on draft day or as we get to our fantasy drafts, I really want to know what happens with Kyle Pitts. I think there's going to be a lot of excitement, but I think there's also going to be a lot of people who are like, Oh no, he's a rookie tight end. He's not, he's not going to be what you

think he's going to be. So where do you have Kyle Pitts ranked and when do you think he should be selected in a fantasy draft? I've got Kyle Pitts as my number eight tight end right now. I think next year we will probably be talking about him amongst that top tier of guys. We'll be talking about him with the Kelsey's, Kittle's, and Waller's. I think right now I've got him at tight end eight. Hold on a second here, because I think for all of our analysts, I think he's no lower than seventh. So who's the magical name that you have ahead of him at tight end eight um hold on hold on a second here because i think for all of our analysts i think he's no lower than seventh so who's the magical name that you have ahead of pits that so kelsey kidder uh kittle uh waller uh andrews hawkinson gasicky and so i gasicky

gasicky and who marcus so this is where i I go back and forth. I flip between seven or eight because part of me still thinks that maybe this is – I know I'm going to regret this as soon as it comes out of my mouth. But maybe this is the Evan Ingram year. Maybe this is the year he finally kind of reverts back to what he was as a rookie. I mean he's the last rookie tied in to really be productive in fantasy. And he's been chasing that high ever since. So part of me thinks maybe this is it. Maybe this is the year he sort of comes back. So I've got Pitts at eight, but depending on when the wind blows, that might change to seven. But that's kind of where I am right now. When you start realizing that you're the only one drafting Evan Ingram in your mocks. I know. That's when it's going to hit you.

Okay. Something might not be right about how I feel about Evan Ingram. And I respect how you feel about Evan Ingram because when you look at his talent profile, I mean, the guy is just like Kyle Pitts. He's a wide receiver playing tight end. But he's been given so many opportunities in that offense. And now look at what they've done to add to that offense,

take targets away. Who had more drops last year, Dave, Evan Ingram or Kyle Pitts? I think it was a drop. Ingram like was among the league leaders, but actually let me, let me ask. So you have both Kosicki and Ingram there. The guy that our, our guys have ranked ahead of Pitts is Goddard. They don't have Pitts had a drop last year.

I think he had zero and Ingram had like 10 or something, something crazy. But they all is Goddard. I'm not sure Pitts had a drop last year. Yeah, I think he had zero, and Ingram had like 10 or something crazy. But they all had Goddard. It's Goddard and Pitts is where the debate is for the CBS crew, I think, for a lot of them anyway. I know Heath is no a fan, but with Ingram and Gasicki, you are talking about two tight ends where their teams signed Galladay and Fuller,

drafted Tony and Waddell. That doesn't scare you off of them at all? That doesn't really bother me a whole lot. I mean, I think for Gasicki especially, I mean, I think they love him in the red zone. And he is a tight end. I'm curious to see where they line him up this year because he's technically a tight end.

They used him like a big slot a lot last year. So I'm sort of curious to see sort of how that works for him. But I do think just the fact that he can be a big body red zone guy will certainly – because I think nowadays that's sort of where we are, right? Unless you have a Travis Kelsey where you know he is maybe the main target in an offense, you're just kind of looking for a touchdown upside. I think after you get to tight end like five, six, seven beyond, you sort of want that. And I think that's sort of what Kosicki offers.

I also admit that I'm a little bit, you know, maybe have blinders on with Kosicki, too, because he's always that guy that's kind of hanging around there and that kind of the mid to late rounds. I'm like, oh, Mike Kosicki. And then like, oh, piece of candy. And then I like, oh, maybe I maybe I don't love this as much. So I will admit that maybe I'm a little bit blinded to that as well. That's OK. No one should hold you to anything here. That was a James Woods family guy reference there.

Yes, exactly. Very good. All right. So let me just get Marcus, wrap it up here. Your general expectations for Kyle Pitts. I mean, I think he will finish easily as a top 10, maybe a top eight tight end. And it's funny, I said that with Adam Rank, you know, a couple of weeks ago. And he was kind of like, really top eight?

And I was like, well, you know, to be a top eight tight end, you're looking at maybe what, 55, 60 catches, about 750 yards, like five or six touchdowns. And he stopped and he thought about it. He's like, oh yeah, I could see that happening. So I do think he'll finish in the top eight. I don't think we're ready to see unicorn status quite yet, but I just think with what he can do, I think we will be talking about it.

Because we are so thirsty for tight ends that if we get one that looks like he is ready to blossom, we're going to draft him early. And especially if the Falcons actually do move Julio Jones, then I think it's to the moon with Kyle Pitts. All right, let's take a break on fantasy football today. When we come back, Travis Etienne and the rest of the running backs and wide receivers that we need to talk about here.

And we'll see if we have time for your emails at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. We'll be right back. Whether in the game or in life, the right coverage can make all the difference. Securian Canada gives you that coverage. For more than 65 years, Securian Canada has been helping Canadians build secure tomorrows. Their insurance solutions are designed to help protect you and your loved ones financially,

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visit ontarioonecall.ca it's free it's easy it's the law data sourced from the orcga 2023 dirt report all right back here talking with marcus Grant of NFL Network and Dave Richard of... I don't have a funny joke here, Dave. All right, I love CBS. No, you don't. Should have thought about that. Should have taken a little bit more time with the break there to think of a punchline of Dave Richard. All right, so let's get

the expectations. I'm going to give you guys each one minute at most to talk about each player here so we can get through a lot. for travis etn and where you draft them and dave why don't you go first i'm ready to take etn before the end of round four in ppr i think that he is going to get used properly in that jacksonville offense where he catches four or five passes a game gets put out in space where he can use his explosiveness to make a play. Don't see him getting maybe more than like 11 carries per game on top of that. So still somebody who can get you right around 15 touches per game, but James Robinson still better suited for short

yardage goal line. That's probably the only role that he will absolutely clear cut have over ETN. That might be just to start the season but if they use etn like the saints have used alvin camara in the past like other running backs have been used in the passing game like mcafree um then we're talking about somebody who might be under drafted at call it 38th to 43rd overall i'm sort of with you i mean i like him early fourth round i think i think what's going to happen is that eventually we're going to get out of our feelings. The Jaguars drafted Travis Etienne and all of us who love James Robinson, we felt a little bit hurt by that. I think that has impacted some of a, you mentioned Camara, Dave, I think something like that, like we saw with Camara and Ingram in New Orleans a few years ago, or even maybe a lesser version of what we saw in Cleveland with Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, something like that, I think makes this a pretty

viable backfield with both those guys that are getting opportunities. Worst case scenario is if Urban Meyer actually follows through on what he said on draft night and uses Carlos Hyde as a third guy in there, then all of a sudden, right, exactly. You like I'm I'm hoping I'm hoping that Carlos Hyde is sort of the break glass in case of emergency running back and that they're not going to actually give him a consistent role there. But I think the way you talked about ETN's usage, I think you hit the nail on the head where he is that guy that you want to get out in space, allow him to use his speed, and then use Robinson as more of the traditional kind of straight ahead runner. And I think if that happens, I think a fourth round valuation on him is pretty good value for you. And they didn't come out and say specifically that he's going to do that. But when they said he's going to be like a third down back, doesn't that kind of suggest that's what a third down back does is catch a lot of passes. And maybe that's what he meant.

Maybe that's what Urban meant. Because when he said we're going to use him like a third down back, everybody was like, why did you spend a first round pick on a third down back? So maybe that was the message that he was trying to send. I certainly hope that was the message he was trying to send. All right, next player. We'll talk about the Denver running backs here with them taking Javante Williams and, of course, having Melvin Gordon. Marcus, I will give you the first word.

One minute on the clock. Give me your initial thoughts on the Denver running backs and basically when you would draft them. I would take Javante Williams. Again, sort of like ETN, I would take him in the fourth round. He was my favorite running back in this class. Just my favorite one to watch. And so I was a little bit sad when he went to Denver and knowing that he's going to have to kind of split some time with Melvin Gordon.

I am hoping that by the end of the year that maybe he overtakes Gordon and starts to get a bigger workload. Dynasty, I love him because I don't expect Gordon to be there beyond this season. And so I think next year you're really talking about this backfield opening up and being his. But what I love about Javante Williams when I watched him is that I didn't see that he was really spectacular in any one specific area, but I thought he was really good at a whole lot of different things. And compared to some of the other top running backs in this class, he has a lot more tread left on the tires. Didn't get as much work at Carolina as some of these other guys did. So I think that the situation, at least the first few weeks, might be these other guys did. So I think that the situation, at least

the first few weeks, might be a little bit frustrating. So I think that's where you're having him kind of fall back into the fourth round. But I think by the end of the year, I'm not going to say it's going to be a Jonathan Taylor-like takeover, but I do think he'll start to kind of push Melvin Gordon to the side, especially if the Broncos really have felt like they're moving on from Gordon at the end of the year. I think it comes down to how Gordon plays at the beginning of the year. And if he develops a little more consistency than what he gave them last year, then I think that that's something that'll hurt Williams. But there's a guy, there's a rookie running back in every single class that lands with the team

that's got a veteran running back in front of him, and we all kind of freak out. And we go, well, we got to wait for him to eventually take over and for me last year it was jonathan taylor loved the talent of jonathan taylor recognized how special he was but i was scared to draft him because i knew that not only did he have to share with naheem hines but also marlon mack how was i supposed to know that marlon mack would blow out his achilles in week one and jonathan taylor would eventually become their great back there. The Broncos have kind of made it clear on two fronts. Number one, they loved Javante Williams,

and it's for a lot of the reasons that you said, Marcus. But one of the things you didn't bring up is that he was a damn good pass blocker, which I don't think we can say necessarily. We definitely can't say it about Etienne, and we can't exactly say it about Najee Harris either. He was number one in the class as far as pass blocking goes but you don't think so who's better than that he's reached your minute there's no way that was a minute get out of here are you kidding i go like 90 seconds when you say a minute i didn't even get to my second point well that's the point dave let's go i'm not

gonna give you my second point i'm just to keep it wrapped inside me forever like all my other feelings. You can DM it to me, though. I'll read it. There's the bottom line. I think the Broncos want to use multiple backs, whether Melvin's one of them or not. And Javante was part of a tandem at North Carolina. I like the aggressiveness of going after him in round four,

but I'm never going to take Javante Williams as long as Melvin Gordon's around with a fourth-round pick. I'm thinking more in round four, but I'm never going to take Javante Williams as long as Melvin Gordon's around with a fourth round pick. I'm thinking more like round seven, which might mean that I don't ever get him. That's okay. And you're taking Gordon

ahead of Williams, Dave, right? Yeah. But it's one of those things where I'd rather just wait for Williams and draft him in round seven, especially in PPR, just because I think Melvin

might get more receptions. Okay, I just want to see who went first. Javante Williams? Oh, definitely Melvin Gordon. Not in a Dynasty draft. In a Dynasty startup, Javante will go sooner every second. He'll go in round four in those, yeah. In a Dynasty startup,

I believe he will go ahead of Melvin Gordon. I also like shiny new things, too. I could have figured that out. Shiny new thing for San Francisco is Trey Sermon. Marcus, who's the first San Francisco running back that you're selecting? One minute on the clock. Still Raheem Mostert. He's still kind of the lead guy there until further notice. Sermon might be the second. But here's the thing. There's a huge gap, I think, between where you're drafting Mostert and where

you're drafting Sermon, right? Because I think Mostert's a guy, I guess you can make the case for him somewhere between rounds three and five. But I think Sermon, you're not talking about until double digits, right? He's definitely a late draft guy. What's so frustrating about the 49ers running backs is that you never really know which one is going to pop on any given week, but you know that one of them is going to. I mean, that's sort of the joy and pain of a Kyle Shanahan running game. And again, if we're taking the long view on Sermon, the long view is that he is the only Niner running back when he signs. He'll be the only one that is under contract beyond 2022, I believe. I don't know that anybody's under team control after 2022. So if you're playing the long game there,

then Sermon is definitely going to have a role in this offense. But I don't think you can ignore him because it's just hard to ignore any running back in a 49er offense. I just wouldn't spend a high draft pick on any of them besides Raheem Mostert, even him. Like I said, somewhere between rounds three and five is where I would really kind of think about him. You know how on different strokes, there was like a different character who like the story was about in a given week. It wasn't always about Arnold every single week.

Some weeks it was about Willis. Sometimes it was about Mr. D. Sometimes it was Pearl. So I feel like with the 49ers running backs, each week, and it might be like for three or four weeks, each guy is going to have his moment. And I think Mostert will have his moment at the beginning of the year. I ultimately did rank him ahead of Sermon. Sermon will have his moment too, but I've gotten into this.

Shanahan doesn't give his rookie running backs a lot of run. We've seen that from him in the past. And Sermon's got a pretty bad injury track record. I'm wondering if he'll be able to hold up if he does get an opportunity. So those two guys will get theirs and Jeff Wilson up there is as well. I don't feel comfortable drafting any 49ers running back until maybe the end of round seven. Maybe it's when I think I would actually hit the plunger on that one for one of those backs. Mostert first, then Sermon then Jeff Wilson in the double digit rounds You know what, Dave

let me help you out. You know what would have been a lot cooler if you'd been like, you know how in Game of Thrones some of the episodes are about Arya and then there's an episode about Sazh. Never watched Game of Thrones so I couldn't say it. I was going to let it go because I watched different strokes I was totally vibing on that Plus I'm going to let it go because I watched different strokes. I was totally vibing.

I'd never seen. Plus, I'm trying to, you know, give a nice cultural reference for everybody. Yeah, that's very. I wonder if our producer Shraggy B is watching an episode of different strokes in his life. Come on. No chance. I've never seen different strokes. You haven't.

And you're older than all of us. Well, no. False. Oh, it's spirit. Yes, true. Let's go to the Jets running backs, Dave. Give me your 60-second thought on who, well, obviously Michael Carter's the one to draft,

but when are you drafting Michael Carter? And compare with the 49ers. You mean we're not going after Michael P. Ryan? When Marcus said he likes shiny new things, I immediately went to, just wait till we talk about Michael Carter, because I love the fit of him in that offense. I don't like his competition at all for him to be slowed down easily. A early downs back,

a good pass catcher out of the backfield, not physical, probably won't pass protect very much, but a needed part and a needed playmaker in that offense. They got lucky to get him in round four. I will draft him and redraft ahead of Javante Williams, Marcus, because I think he's got a chance to put together more total yards than Javante Williams will as a rookie. Wow. Okay. I think, I mean, maybe because I just am in love with Javante Williams and I think he's going to push Gordon aside later.

I would take him maybe slightly ahead of Michael Carter. The Jets interest me. And I don't know if I'm going to regret those words later. You are definitely going to regret those. The Jets. They interest me. I mean, one, because they, you know, they did, or they are trying to do for Zach Wilson what they never did for Sam Darnold,

which is actually try to, you know, put some things around him to sort of help him out. So that sort of helps. And I'm trying to, I'm hoping we have exercised the ghost of Gase, right? That, you know, we have you know, we have we have prayed over it. We have thrown some holy water. Now we just need to open the doors and windows and just let this whole thing air out. So I'm hoping that that's the case and that they take a guy like Carter and they use him properly there. So that's that's sort of what I'm hoping.. Like I said, I like Williams a little bit more, but look, man, if I end up with Carter somewhere in the fourth, fifth round, something

like that, I'm totally on board with that as having him as a flex guy, maybe a third running back, depending on how I start my draft. I think that's an okay place to be. And now there's the damn problem again. I'm not going to get Carter anymore because you're going to take him before me, Marcus. I've got him as a round six pick. I just think running backs are going to go so early. I think there's going to be so many running backs too. Yeah, I don't know. I'm not convinced it's going to push up that third and fourth tier of running backs because eventually people are going to say, holy crap, Lois, I need a wide receiver on my team and they're going to go and they're going to draft some wide outs and that'll push back those third and fourth tiers to where I think they'll be. That's kind

of where I think Carter and Williams are right now. Todd Bridges is loving this episode of your show, by the way. I'm going to have to Google that later. So would you guys take Michael Carter or Kareem Hunt? Kareem Hunt. I believe I have Hunt ahead of Carter. Was Holy Crap Lois a bad guy? Oh, okay.

Well, Lois. I thought you said willis my bad that was my todd bridges reference um yeah we got a couple family guy drops in there that's good so who wait dave you said carter or you said hunt no i think i said hunt okay yeah hunt over carter marcus kareem hunter or carter michael kareem hunt Hunt for me. Alright, who is your favorite Miami Dolphins wide receiver? Is this an easy question? Is it obviously Fuller?

For me, it is. I mean, as long as he can stay healthy and not get suspended for PEDs, it's Will Fuller. I had to come around on that, though. I mean, when they first signed him, my thought was well, you know, Tua didn't seem to be a downfield passer a whole lot. So I went back and I watched some of his games at Bama, like, you know, before he got hurt and was sort of at his peak. Um, and he didn't have a

problem chucking the ball downfield there. So it made me feel better about the Will Fuller thing. Uh, you know, and it just seemed apparent that the Dolphins were intent on adding speed to their offense with getting Fuller and drafting Waddle. They wanted to add speed to this passing game. So yeah, I feel it made me feel a little bit better about Tua on the whole, but I think Fuller for me is the guy that I want first in that offense. But it's not too long after Fuller gets drafted where I think you'll see Waddle go. And I think both of them can do two things very well to help this offense. The downfield stuff, yeah, Fuller can do that. We all know that. I think Wad them can do two things very well to help this offense. The downfield stuff. Yeah. Fuller can do that.

We all know that. I think Waddle can too, but I almost wonder if Waddle's a little bit better at the catch and run stuff. The, the three-step drops from two or where he's just letting it rip right out into the slot or right into a slant route or seam route or something like that. And that's where Waddle can just take a little bit of space from his

defensive back, snare the football and then take off take off for a big play. I think Fuller can do that too, but I know Waddle can. It's just a matter of him getting the opportunities to do so as a rookie. But I like both of these guys, and I wouldn't have a problem drafting Fuller right on that round six, seven fence in PPR, and then waddle within the next 12 to 14 picks after that i think that they're both going to go right in that range kind of leave davante parker in the dust and be the the two most popular fantasy receivers on draft day from miami preston preston williams is the odd man out there right yeah no one even knows who he is anymore preston who i was i was confusing with Preston Wilson, the former Mets.

More people know Preston Wilson than Preston Williams. Except for poor Heath. Heath was talking about Preston Williams when he was an undrafted rookie and he's going to be sad to let that one go down in the dirt. Happens to all of us. I guess so.

Let's finish up with our top five rookie wide receivers. I'm sure it goes Chase, then Smith. Marcus, who's finish up with our top five rookie wide receivers. I'm sure it goes Chase, then Smith. Marcus, who's three, four, and five for you, rookie wide receivers? For me, it's Chase, Smith. It's Waddle. It is – this is where it kind of gets tricky for me. Probably Rondale Moore, and then I'm on Ross St. Brown.

I'm going to go kind of – I don't know if that's off book a little bit. And it's not just because I'm a USC homer. I just think he walked into a situation where there are plenty of targets to be had there after Galladay and Marvin Jones left. I mean, they're running with Tyrell Williams and Brashad Perriman right now. That's not exciting. And I think St. Brown, sort of like you talked about Nick Sirianni and what he did for his receivers. And we saw the evolution of Michael Pittman last year. And I think St. Brown can sort of be that guy. I felt that way in the beginning. And then when my pal, our pal Matt Harmon, who I trust his opinion on wide receivers very heavily, he said to me, he's like, I think St. Brown can sort of be for golf in Detroit what Cooper Cup was for him in Los Angeles. And that to me was like, oh, well now I'm totally on board. So I got him there sneaking in at fifth. He sees what I saw with St. Brown as well.

And just the fact that there's just, he seems to be a polished slot wide receiver. And he's going to a team that has a quarterback that's scared to throw downfield. I don't know if their offense even is going to want to throw downfield that much. It sounds like they want to do more spread concept anyway. And they're going to be behind a lot. I think it works out great for St. Brown. He is back-to-back with Kadarius Toney for me as that fifth receiver.

We have the same top three. My fourth is Terrace Marshall in Carolina. Really like his fit in that offense. I like that too. You know, it's going to be hard for him to find even 80 targets there, but I think he's their big man in the paint. When they get inside the red zone and inside the 10, they can use play action. He's guaranteed to have single coverage and he can go up and get the football and it's Donald throwing to him so maybe someone who could be a little bit more aggressive than Teddy Bridgewater with the football and I think that that can help him out so I'm really excited about him but in full PPR I do think that Kadarius Tony's got a chance to get some

good targets and good catch numbers too adding him into that offense I think he'll get some carries on top of it New York needs some explosiveness I know that Galladay's there and yeah Galladay's going to get all the targets and Sterling Sh Shepard, I think, might be mostly unaffected by both of those receivers being there, but I think Tony, not necessarily a great downfield stretcher, but he's got speed and he can just make moves. I'm looking at him as a yak monster for New York, as someone who can catch passes anywhere from zero to 20 yards downfield from Daniel Jones. And he makes Daniel Jones numbers look a little bit better because of what he does once the football is in his hands. I bet he gets the football in his hands. I bet he gets the opportunity to get

the football in his hands about 10 times a game, including carries. But, you know, some passes are going to be off target. So maybe five or six touches or five or six catches maybe could be a little aggressive. No way. Maybe one or two catches. You don't think he's going to get that many? Not a chance. First of all, that's what Sterling Shepard has been with Daniel Jones. Sterling Shepard, whenever Daniel Jones has played, I mean, they've played 16 games together,

not including when Shepard left with an injury. And he's had something like 90 to 95 catches. So that's his role. I don't have high hopes for Tony this year, really. I think he could contribute, make some big plays here and there. But I think he could be fourth,

maybe fifth on the team. I don't think fifth. I think he'll have more targets than Barkley. But it wouldn't shock me if he's fourth. What I think it'll be is Galladay will have the most targets

and Ingram Shepard will be kind of close at two. And then I think Tony will probably be fourth. That's why he has more targets than Barkley. You think? I was going to say that maybe Barkley could be second or third and Tony would be ahead of, no,

I think maybe ahead of Ingram. I just wonder if they've had it with Ingram. Maybe, but that's the thing. We don't know. I, I, that's why I like Amari Rogers.

I think he's going to be second in targets with the best, you know, the second best, which is obviously if Rogers stays, um, guy who's going to be fourth in targets, maybe with Daniel Jones compared to second and targets with Aaron Rogers. It's said,

I don't even care how good one is and how, how much better the other one is. What about a guy who might be first in targets from Jared Goff? Uh, yeah, it's very interesting. Um, I'm still going to lean toward.

All right, fine fine you're giving me first and targets from golf and second and targets from rogers because remember the guy who's been second in targets from rod from aaron rogers hasn't exactly been a mega stud for fantasy in a long it has been a while but there was a time where we were excited about like alan lazar got off to a good start last year and then he got hurt and he got hurt you know he probably would have been about 75 percent rostered something like that if he hadn't gotten hurt so yeah look slot guy i think he's gonna catch a lot of passes amari rogers hopefully score six touchdowns something like that maybe an extra i think i think he's 10 ppr points per week tony's gonna be frustrating there's gonna be no consistency

from tony all i know listening to this conversation, my takeaway is we need like a scale that like, you know, a, a golf one is equal to a Rogers two, right? You know, a Mahomes three is equal to a, you know,

whatever. I don't know what's equal to a Daniel Jones four, but I don't want it. I don't want it on my team. But look, maybe he's just better than Shepard and, and Ingram. Maybe he's two. And that could be, that could be great. All look, maybe he's just better than Shepard and Ingram. Maybe he's two.

And that could be great. Marcus, thank you so much for joining us, man. We really appreciate it. I appreciate the invitation. It was good to talk to you guys. Great to talk to you, man. Make sure you're following him on Twitter at M-A-R-C-A-S-G at Marcus G. Watch him on Friday on NFL Network. What did you say? 4 p.m. Eastern?

5 Eastern. But like I said, just set your DVRs and it'll show up there. Yeah, we'll do that. And the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast as well. That's Marcus Grant and Dave Richard. I'm Adam Azer. Thanks to Ben Schrager for setting this whole thing up. We will talk to you tomorrow on Fantasy Football Today.

Don't move to the beat. Just one drop. What might be right for you may not be right for some. A man is bold. He's a man of me. I'm picturing Adam now as Mr. Drummond, like Adam Olimazine. Hey! Don't know what you're talking about. Lucky there's a family, guys. See ya.