Fantasy Football Today - Titans RBs, Nick Chubb, Chargers Offense and More: Major Takeaways from the NFL Meetings! (03/25 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: March 25, 2024

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 Jamey Eisenberg is at the NFL Annual Meetings and has great insights to share on injury recoveries, backfield splits and more. We'll go over some of the big NFL news items (2:15) including L'Jarius Sneed going to the Titans, NFL Draft rumors, Russell Wilson's status with the Steelers and whether or not we are underrating Gus Edwards ... Jamey updates us on the Jets offense (12:10) and the status of Mike Williams. Then find out what Brian Callahan said about the Tony Pollard/Tyjae Spears split (13:10), what Zac Taylor said about Zack Moss (17:25) and why Heath ended up being the high guy on Calvin Ridley (21:30) ... Updates on injured players (22:35) Joe Burrow, Nick Chubb and Tank Dell. Then we talk about Najee Harris (28:40), Josh Palmer and Quentin Johnston (38:25), the Bills offense (43:50) and more ... Email us 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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It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races, and he stays on his feet. He's just going to go the distance. Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. It is Monday. We're back with another episode of Fantasy Football today. The NFL annual meetings can be very helpful for fantasy managers, not because of what the owners are saying

or anything like that, but the coaches are there and they're talking to the media, including our ace correspondent, Jamie Eisenberg. He has been on the scene with the latest. Should we start taking Gus Edwards a little bit more seriously? Will Nick Chubb be ready for week one? Did Heath have fun on his vacation?

Does Dave Richard have the worst bracket in March Madness history? It is so bad. He is in second to last place at his maximum score. His maximum score is 46 points. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. I thought Lucas had the worst bracket ever, and he had a maximum score of 94.

He's already lost like three of his Final Four teams. Dave, how did that happen? I think my favorite quote maybe ever from Dave was, I've watched a lot of college basketball. Yeah, not enough. I used to not be a 60. All right. He has BYU losing to Kentucky in the championship game.

I told you before I said anything, I'm a'm a football guy well it's just great i've watched a lot of college basketball i did just goes to show you well what i didn't do was pick good teams because i tried to be different and listen i've got other brackets that are doing much better than the one in the bracket pool where I don't win even if I win. That's true. I kind of half-assed that one. But it's still very funny that it's so bad. It is so bad.

Okay, anyway. So bad. Yeah, we do have a lot to talk about here. Let's go through some news and notes real quick, and then we'll get to what Jamie has gotten from his interviews. So, LeJarius Sne need is on the titans right now and they can not not officially according to brian callahan uh he kept saying i can't talk about that yet i can't talk about that yet so um it's obviously happening but he's like uh you know has to be the play the company line one of those agreed to terms but hasn't

signed actually the trade hasn't become official yet. Okay. Well, they did have contract details for your $76 million, $55 million guaranteed, so that's a luxurious need. Going to the Titans and not shadowing as many AFC West receivers, now going to a different division.

But big offseason for the Titans. They've obviously upgraded, and we'll hear about them a little bit. Mike Tomlin, how about some quarterback news? You guys can tell me what you're buying here. Mike Tomlin says that Russell Wilson is the leader. He's in pole position to be the starting quarterback for the Steelers.

Antonio Pierce, the Raiders head coach. He said that Aiden O'Connell will compete for the starting job. They brought in Gardner Minshew, Gerard Mayo. The Patriots head coach, said that Jacoby Brissett could be the starting quarterback in 2024. Brian Dable says that Daniel Jones is the starting quarterback for the Giants, but we don't know when he's back.

We don't know when he's going to be back necessarily. The reports have been encouraging, I guess, in terms of his progress from the ACL injury. Mike McDonald, the head coach for the Seahawks. How about all these new coaches with these quarterback situations here? Pierce and Mayo and McDonald. He says he's very confident in Geno Smith, and right now the Seahawks are talking like

Geno Smith is their starter. Heath, when you look at the Steelers, the Raiders, the Patriots, the Giants, the Seahawks, and those five quarterback situations, how many of them do you feel are settled? Settled for week one or for the entire season?

For week one. Okay, so I think that Russell Wilson's going to start week one for the Steelers. I feel pretty confident. I think Geno's going to start week one for Seattle. I think the Giants is unsettled because of injury, but not because of competition. Who are the other ones? Patriots and Raiders.

Patriots, I think, is going to be a rookie, but not settled. And yes, they'll have a competition, but Gardner-Vinch is going to win it. All right. The Patriots, the Commanders, Patriots, and Cardinals have all been saying that they're kind of open for business, listening to trade offers at the two, three and four spots. Of course, we know not everything should be believed here.

Dave, the tush push will not be banned. Is that a huge deal? I mean, we were kind of expecting that to be the case, right? Sure. And so we need to know if Philadelphia is going to stick with it. I don't know if that's the play that pushed Jason Kelsey into retirement or if it was just Kelsey being old. If you listen to his press conference, he had some very choice words for how he described what he said before each tush push that he participated in.

And if the Eagles keep the tush push, is it going to be as effective without Kelsey? You're also going to have a full off season where everybody's going to figure out how to defend the tush push and other teams are going to see if they can do the tush push as well, if not better than Philadelphia. So we'll, we'll see. Ultimately it could mean more quarterback touchdowns. If you can just figure out that they're good at it. Just a terrible rule.

What is a terrible rule? You that you can eliminate it, You, that, that you, you begin or eliminating it, push someone forward, but you cannot push someone backwards. If forward progress exists as a rule and you're not allowed to push someone backwards, then you should not be allowed to push someone forwards. Hmm.

Oh, I'm just going to let the chat. I'm just going to let the chat criticize Heath for that. Okay. That's fine. The dolphins could sign Odell Beckham. They've made him an offer. And, Jamie, how about the Chargers here

with their GM, Joe Hortiz, saying that Gus Edwards will be the bell cow? And I must admit and apologize for not even taking him seriously as a free agent, really. I feel like when I talk about the free agent running backs, I don't even talk about Gus Edwards. It's crazy.

Heath took him with the second-to-last pick of round nine. That's 119th. No, sorry, 107th overall. In our last draft? In our last draft, in full people. I thought that was my best draft of the offseason. Oh, that's right. Jamie did it.

But, yeah. Followed your rankings to a tee. Should we be taking Gus Edwards more seriously, Jamie Asenberg? Yes. I think he's a very good running back if you go hero or zero RB to plan to start the season with. It's a prime destination for a rookie running back. And that's most likely going to be, I think, what the Chargers do on day two or day three, or maybe both. They're going to add, you know, players there, but what is their GM going to say right now? He's their best running back on the roster. So until somebody else of any significance

is added, you have to take Gus Edwards seriously, but will he be the guy that we're talking about the majority of the season? Probably not. And to be honest, hopefully not just because i'd like to see somebody a little bit younger and maybe a little bit more explosive in the passing game there uh but look he scored 13 touchdowns last year they're going to be a much more physical run the ball type of team jim harbaugh spent a lot of time talking about that today and i think that's something that you can expect is that gus edwards as long as he's healthy we'll have an opportunity to potentially lead them in carries and potentially lead them in touchdowns yeah if you're you're listening right now, you might be hearing Jamie just skip out a couple of times there just so you know. I'm sorry. I'll hold the microphone

a little closer. No, I don't think I don't know. But he's at a hotel room right now in Orlando covering this event. So I thought it'd be great to have the most immediate reaction that we could to all these interesting comments that we're hearing from the coaches. So you sound good. Don't worry about it. Just an occasional hiccup, I guess, there. Just letting you know what our situation is. I was just thinking about this, though. If the Chargers do draft a running back, Gus Edwards, he's been –

I mean, he is good in short yardage, and he's good near the goal line. And I looked at him throughout his career. He has a slightly higher conversion rate of scoring touchdowns, Gus Edwards, from the three-yard line or closer than Ezekiel Elliott does in that span. And we all consider Zeke really good there. So, you know, Dave, how much do you think, if they bring in a running back,

they draft on the second day, the Chargers draft a running back. We'd love that, right? Awesome. Blake Horum. Woo-hoo! Does Gus Edwards, is he the goal linebacker? How much does he hurt the ceiling of a rookie running back? I would expect Gus Edwards to be, at worst, a 1B running back for the Chargers.

You know, Michigan used two running backs last year. It wasn't just Blake Horum that carried the mail for them. They had another guy, Edwards, I believe is his last name, and he had some great plays. You're going to see two running backs in L.A. Gus will be one of them. I'd be surprised if he were the 1A, but he could swipe some touchdowns. He could swipe 12 carries a game.

He's going to be exactly what Jamie said. He's perfect for that hero or zero RB build. You're going to get to around eight. He'll be there. You'll take them. I think a good comp could be not to the same level of production, but Raheem Mostert, you know, older running back. That's going to have a younger guy in the same room who knows what that other running back will be last year. Devon HN, obviously, but Mostert was in it. And in the latter stages, I his career, clearly 31, Gus Edwards 29, can still be very productive in

this system. Last Gus Edwards question. Heath, in this draft that you did last week, when you were on vacation. I can't believe I stole him in round nine. You drafted Gus Edwards, so JB did for you, ahead of Jerome Ford. Who would you rather have, Gus Edwards or Jerome Ford?

Gus Edwards. Okay. Two other things real quick here. Number one, Matt Weber. He's one of our most dedicated audience members. He's on just about every live stream watching, often from work. Happy birthday, Matt. It is his birthday.

Thank you for being a big part of the FFT family. We appreciate you and have an awesome birthday. Happy birthday. CBS Sports HQ is absolutely crushing it right now. March Madness is... CBS Sports HQ is great every day, but March Madness is when HQ,

I think, is at its absolute best. First of all, this time of year is not just March Madness. We have so much, you know, intense sporting events going on right now. We've got hockey

and NBA playoffs, for example, heating up. USA Soccer. Yeah. And of course, March Madness for three of the four people on here. We're still watching March Madness. But CBS Sports HQ is crushing it.

So please check out HQ. You can watch it on the CBS Sports app. Yeah, it's free and it's 24-7 and it's the best streaming sports coverage that you're gonna find we're gonna take a break on fantasy football today and come back and talk about the titans backfield uh how nick chubb is doing what zach taylor the bangles head coach said about zach moss and more we'll be right back on FFT. make the first move or not. With opening moves, you simply choose a question to be automatically sent to your matches.

Then sit back and let your matches start the chat. Download Bumble and try it for yourself. I am so dreading groceries this week. Why? You can skip it. Oh, what, just like that? Just like that. How about dinner with my third cousin? Skip it.

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Should have skipped it. Skip to the good part and get groceries, meals, and more delivered right to your door on Skip. Welcome back, everybody. All right, Jamie, what did you find out about the new york jets um quite a bit obviously you know with a lot of stuff going on there um in terms of aaron rogers robert sala said uh this is a quote i know he's on a mission he's working his tail off out in california knowing aaron he's on a mission to do a lot of things that he wanted to do last year, and he's not going to stop until he gets it done. He does anticipate Rodgers being ready to go.

I think his quote was fully anticipating him to be available for the spring. And he said seven on seven, he should be able to do all that. So that sounds like he's making progress. As we know, he was pushing to potentially return last year. So I think it would be a surprise if he's not ready to go by at least the start of training camp, fully healthy from the Achilles injury. And so hopefully that's the case. In terms of Mike Williams, who's coming back from last year's ACL tear, Salah said he's got a long way to go. This is a quote, long way to go, and said he's on a similar time frame to Breesall.

But they are very excited about Mike Williams. Called him a dynamic receiver, a dynamic athlete, and he said most 50-50 balls to other receivers are 70-30 balls to him that they expect him to win most of those. So called him a great compliment to Garrett Wilson. So you got to be a little bit cautious, though, with Mike Williams coming back from his injuries.

Don't get overexcited about him based on the fact that he's got that recovery. I wonder where the Jets Super Bowl odds were last year when they got Rodgers compared to now. Because they're middle of the pack. They're in between the Dolphins and the Falcons. They still should have a great defense.

All the reasons why people were excited about them last year still exist. Interesting. Except Rodgers is older, coming off a major injury. But the offensive line definitely got better. I mean, that was something Salah was clearly raving about. And you got a healthy Brees Hall. He said he hasn't scratched the surface yet with the way that he played last year. What he's capable of doing this year.

So, very excited about Brees Hall. He also talked about Israel Abanakanda. And he seemed to indicate that they're not done adding another running back. So, we'll excited about Brees. He also talked about Israel Abanakanda. And he seemed to indicate that they're not done adding another running back. So we'll see if they bring in somebody else. We know last year that they had Dalvin Cook on the roster too. So we'll see what happens there in terms of

backfield depth for the Jets. Alright, let's go to the Titans backfield. So what do we got there? So Brian Callahan said he doesn't really have it figured out yet what the roles are going to be for both those guys in terms of Tony Pollard and Tajay Spears. He said, until I get my hands on them, I'm not really sure. But I asked him just what he thought about Pollard and how he performed based on what Pollard said coming off the injury

and he said himself with the Cowboys that he didn't feel like he was back to his normal self as we've talked about quite a bit since until that week 11 game against Carolina. And so he said, you know, a lot of times this Callahan, a lot of times when, you know, players are coming back from injury, you know, it's that second year. And typically you see those type of things from the player that you're looking for. And that's the type of player he said he hopes they're getting. But he did say both guys can work in the passing game. He's excited about that. He expects to mix and match both of them.

I would anticipate probably Pollard still being the lead guy and Spears in a secondary role. But to what extent Pollard comes off the field and Spears plays, Callahan wasn't saying. It sounds like he doesn't really know yet. But he sounded very excited about both those guys. Heath, another great home run pick for you. Tony Pollard in the second pick of round six.

So, Heath, let's take a look at where these guys went last week. Pollard, round six, second pick, and Spears, round seven, right in the middle, about, let's say, 15 picks later. Which one's better value? That seems too close to me. So I would lean Pollard there. Five, six range sounds about right for him. I would think maybe just a little bit later for Spears. I guess what we don't know is what the total number

of running back opportunities is going to be in this offense. I'm not expecting a huge number of running back targets. And without that, I don't think there's enough work for both these guys to justify being drafted in the first seven rounds of drafts. But it is one of those situations. And I had Gretch on FFT Dynasty the week before I went on vacation, and he was talking about how he loves to target ambiguous running back rooms. And it is one of those, because if Tony Pollard ends up with a 65% share or Spears somehow ends up with a 50% share,

then those guys are great values in round six or round seven. And if one of them gets hurt, then the other one probably smashes. Anything to add, Dave Richard? No, the only other quote that I heard from Calhan was that they were interchangeable as of now, and he did use the term as of now.

So camp's going to come, and they're going to see what Pollard can do. And I think at worst, Tajay Spears just keeps his role on third downs, and Pollard handles first and second. But they could end up switching where Pollard gets ij gets a series and that's how they rotate and that'll make it stink for fantasy managers because you're not going to know exactly who will do what from game to game okay give me an update on the new bangles running back jamie eisenberg zach moss oh my gosh zach taylor was just raving about him and the one thing that he said which is something that we've talked about a little bit,

is the fact that he's worked so well out of the shotgun. And he talked about how he did that well in Buffalo. He talked about how he did that well in Indianapolis. And you see this all the time. I got to go back and look if one of you guys want to check. You always get these players that change teams and the teams that sign them because there was a good game from that player against the team.

Oh, that happens all the time. Right. And so he brought up the game that he had. I don't remember exactly the numbers that he had, that Moss had against the Bengals. And so he said, you know, we saw it firsthand and what he was able to accomplish, but he was just raving about it.

Now he did say in relation to Chase Brown and Travion Williams, he said, you know, we're going to use multiple guys. So take that into account. Now, I didn't like the fact that he said both guys' names as opposed to just saying Chase Brown's name. But it sounds like they have a plan to use multiple running backs. But he was very excited about Zach Moss, about how he's a good pass protector. And he did say good pass catcher out of the backfield.

He said he's a little bit different than what they had in Joe Mixon. So we'll see how that sort of plays itself out from a touch standpoint and obviously some of the different things that they do with him. But in any event, he was – the reporter who asked him about Zach Moss, just a huge smile on his face and was very excited to talk about what his chances are for this year. So week 14 last year, Zach Moss played at Cincinnati. He had 13 carries for 28 yards and no touchdowns.

Caught half of his eight targets for 28 yards and no touchdowns. Was it maybe a Buffalo game? I don't know. I looked. I don't see him against Cincinnati unless we go. I don't know if he's ever played against Cincinnati except for that game. Playoff game? No, that's it.

Last year, a dope 2.2 yards per carry average. So take what I said and flip it around. Whenever a player does not do well against them, they get excited about it. But he brought up the game. I mean, I was listening to him. I was. Yeah, well, you know, I think he made a great block on a play.

It was maybe that's what it was. It is possible that Moss had great games against other AFC North teams, and the coaches saw that in their preparation for Indianapolis. Very true. And then they shut down Moss in that game. 30 carries, 122 yards, two catches, 23 yards, and a touchdown at the Baltimore Ravens in week three. Mystery solved.

By the way, forgot to play a clip. Let's go. Let's rewind. Schaefer, let's rewind back to our Titans talk here and Callahan talking about Pollard and Spears. Look at this young reporter with the intensity. There he is. Jamie. Wrong question. Hang on to every word. Yeah, either way. He's talking about Will Levis here. What did he say about Will Levis? So the question was about the weapons that they added.

And he was actually, I think, in this answer talking about not just the receivers, but also Cushenberry and the offensive line is giving him better protection up front. But I always seem to find myself in these photos. Last year it was Doug Peterson, I believe, or two years ago, where something always happens and somebody posts something. I'm sitting right there. But, yeah, he was saying that this is what – he said he talks to Will Levis all the time,

and this is the type of thing that you want to give young quarterbacks is a lot of options. And he talked about, in terms of Calvin Ridley, the ability to move around. He's excited to get now Hopkins in some situations where he can take advantage of some of his matches. And he even brought up Traylon Burks for what it's worth, just in terms of his opportunities. So it should be fun to see this Titans offense unfold. Hopkins in some situations where he can take advantage of some mismatches. And he even brought up Traylon Brooks for what it's worth, you know, just in terms of his opportunity.

So it should be fun to see this Titans offense unfold. You know, he's, he's very excited about all the, all the off season additions. I'm just excited. That's going to be like an offense that moves into the 21st century for Tennessee.

You know what, let's take it. Let's take a little detour here because Heath, you haven't really, I don't think we've gotten your thoughts on Calvin Ridley and you are very high on him compared to dave and jamie at least you were initially is that is that sticking with i know i do think i definitely came out high on him i i thought it was weird that i because i was kind of the doubter last year but i some of those struggles early in the year i just wouldn't be surprised if that was Rust from not playing for a year and a half.

And he was pretty good late in the season. They gave him a bunch of money. DeAndre Hopkins is old. I just kind of expect for Ridley to be the one and Hopkins to be the two. Okay.

Yeah, well, once again, you took him in the draft last week. Yeah, of course I did. Round four? Round four, yeah. Yeah, great pick. Man, can course I did. Round four? Round four, yeah. Yeah, great pick. Man, can we play this one out? Jamie, you got updates on Nick

Chubb, Joe Burrow, Tank Dell. What's the most interesting thing that you heard about injured players? You also talked to us about Mike Williams, which I thought was pretty interesting and being cautious with him. But in terms of injured players, what's the most interesting stuff you came away with from there?

So Kevin Stefanski was asked about Nick Chubb's health. And I, the question was kind of phrased is, and if you, you know, follow Nick Chubb and how he works out in the off season, is he pushing himself too, too much to get back early?

And Stefanski said that Chubb and the medical team are working together. They're not going to rush him back. And I thought it was interesting when you asked Keith the question about Gus Edwards versus Jerome Ford. I would, I agree. Also I would take Edwards over for two, but if we find out come training camp that Nick Chubb is going to go on the pup list and we know that they added Deontay Foreman. I know we spoke about that a little bit last week,

but if Chubb is not ready to go because he was coming back from significant injury. And as Dave brought up on our last episode, that the ACL tear had to be repaired a little bit later because I think of this swelling and the MCL no tear as well, that there's a very realistic chance that he's not ready to go to start the season. And so Stefanski wasn't exactly like he's he's going to be ready you know i think he was

kind of just trying to put some caution to it and so jerome ford's very interesting um just in terms of starting the season you know potentially similar to like august edwards you know depending on what the rookie running back there is for the chargers i i did anybody ask about Nick Chubb's contract? No. Because I'm shocked that is still on the books as it is. He's got a $15 million cap hit this year with $4 million in dead cap. I don't want to say nobody asked. Nobody asked when I was sitting there. So just to kind of give – Dave knows this because he's been to these before. I jump around from table to table.

I don't sit there for the whole time, listen to the same coach. There's just not enough time. We get like 40 minutes with all – today is just the AFC coaches. Tomorrow is the NFC coaches. So there may have been somebody who asked the question about Nick Chubb's contract. So I don't want to say nobody asked, but nobody when I was there. Well, I mean, Jamie is just constantly looking. Which coach can I get closest to so I can be on Twitter?

It's basically... Yeah, so Callahan I sat next to. Who else? I sat next to one other person. Which coach did I sit next to? I can't remember. There's so many. No, but I sat down...

There was like a chair open. I sat down next to him for a minute. Maybe it was Stefanski. And then I was like two chairs away from zach taylor i was standing behind demico ryan's when i asked him a question about tank dell so he had to like turn around i don't know if there's any cameras there at the time what did he say about tank dell so uh he had just finished just answering a question about cj stroud and how the expectations are going to be ratcheted up in year two but basically like the

season gets reset but the question was phrased him just about, you know, coming off a strong rookie season. So I asked, you know, about tank Dell's rookie season and also a health update. And he said, you know, they were very thrilled with the production they got from them as of now, they're expecting to be ready to go. And he just said, you know,

in terms of what he has to do for next season, just kind of be himself and build off what he was able to accomplish last year. So this is one of these teams where we know they've been in on some wide receivers. I'm very curious to see if they're going to add somebody else, you know, bringing back Noah Brown to kind of be that third guy. But we know that they may be looking to get a little bit younger at that third position too.

So third receiver spot. So we'll see if they add anybody else to the draft. But obviously, I know we're all very excited as a fantasy community for Nico Collins and tank Dell. And it sounds like he's going to be ready to go coming back from his, uh, from his leg injury. Do you think Burrow is going to be all systems go?

Yeah, that's what, uh, Zach Taylor said, you know, as of now, he's trending in the right direction. Um,

you know, he's, he's one of those coaches that says, I trust the medical staff and those things. So he seems to be very confident that Burrow will be out there, uh, for the start of spring. Um, you know, he's, he's one of those coaches that says, I trust the medical staff and those things. So he seems to be very confident that Burrell will be out there, uh, for the start of spring. Um, uh, and again, you know, for me, it's always training camp, you know, so whatever he does in the spring is I think a bonus,

but the fact that he's going to be ready for camp sounds like he's, uh, he's on track. And I did not hear anything about T because I was, I was kind of hanging around a little bit to see if he's gonna say anything, but I didn't catch anything. And I was there at the start of his media session. I had a thought yesterday while I was driving, I think. Probably should have been paying attention to the road. But if Nick Chubb goes on the pup list, would that increase or decrease his value? I know that.

Think about that, because then you wouldn't have to waste the roster spot on him. You could just stash them. What do you think better or worse for his fantasy value? If he, if he gets picked later than where he went in our most recent mock, it'll be by one round max, which was round. Someone will buy into the name and they'll take him in round seven.

And I can't say it's a terrible move, but he also won't be there in round seven. And I can't say it's a terrible move, but he also won't be there in round six. If it's all systems go and he's cleared like at round six in this draft, seems like a hedge between where we're going to draft Nick Chubb, if he's fine and where we're going to draft Nick Chubb, if he's on pup, where would you take him? If there's no pup,

if he's like active at the start of training camp? If he's in the same boat as Brees Hall. So Brees Hall was practicing pretty much full go by the time training camp ended. I can't see him going later than round five. I don't know if I can see him going later than round four. I don't think I'd take him there, but I bet that's where the ADP would settle. So I think, Adam, to answer your question, the value in terms of where you draft him probably gets better.

But I think if he goes on Pup, his ADP definitely goes south. Yeah, I guess I thought maybe there might be sort of an in-between between he's cleared, ready to go, and he's on Pup. Because Pup is four games, right? You have to miss at least four games. There could be a, well, he might miss the first two games, but I guess I'm getting a little bit too specific here. So, yeah, I mean, there are varying degrees

of how healthy he could be in week one, but we should probably just go with those two scenarios. He's good for week one, and he's on Pup. And at his age, there's a significant chance that even if he's ready for week one, he's not Nick Chubb this year. Right. There's so much going against him,

and I think the Foreman signing was a bet to protect Cleveland's run game in case of anything going wrong with Nick Chubb over the next four months. Jamie, Najee Harris last year, I think he scored all of his touchdowns in wins. He was like Derrick Henry. There was a big difference between how Najee performed when they won and how Najee performed when they lost. 17.6 carries per game, 4.3 yards per carry in 10 wins,

only 11.3 carries per game, only 3.5 yards per carry, and no touchdowns in seven losses for Najee Harris. On a per-game basis, let's just say half PBR, he was RB 29 per game, just not good enough. Based on what you heard about the Steelers, are you feeling any more optimistic about Najee Harris? How are you feeling about him right now? The same, you know, I, I think the Arthur Smith signing is,

is reason for encouragement, you know, just because of what his system has been and the fact that they will be a little bit more run centric. And, you know, I, I think everything we're, we're sort of hearing, including today, you know, just because of what his system has been and the fact that they will be a little bit more run-centric. And, you know, I think everything we're sort of hearing, including today, you know, with the backing of Russell Wilson suggests, you know, more of a game manager as opposed to, you know, necessarily opening up the playbook and making it a more pass-friendly offense. So Najee, the question that was asked to Mike Tomlin was about his fifth-year option,

and he said they haven't, that far yet, but he did say he did bring up the fact that his three consecutive seasons of a thousand yards has been very encouraging for them. And he's he's he talked about his consistency. So, you know, it sounds like. He's still going to be the lead running back. I would anticipate still a split for him and Jalen Warren to what degree we'll find out how much Arthur Smith is going to do that. But we know that that's something that he's clearly done with Bijan Robinson and Tyler Algier, for example. So I can't imagine that's going to change. But I still think that you look at Najee as the lead running back and borderline number two slash flex type of option. Better non-PPR than full PPR because his receptions have cratered since Ben Roethlisberger left. Not like Russell Wilson obviously throws to running backs a ton.

And so Jalen Warren is still a very good high-end flex. And in some cases, you can make a case he might be better than Najee Harris, as we saw last year. All right, let's take a look at the running backs who went in round six of the draft. We've already spoken about some of them. This was a draft we did, what, a week ago? No, a week ago tomorrow, so six days ago james connor tony pollard nick chubb

aaron jones naji harris raheem mostert it's actually six running backs in this round half the round james connor tony pollard nick chubb aaron jones naji harris raheem mostert dave does naji harris belong in this group with connor pollard chubb aaron jones, Raheem Mostert. Dave, does Najee Harris belong in this group with Connor, Pollard, Chubb, Aaron Jones, and Raheem Mostert? I think you can make the case that he belongs at the top of this group because of the work that he should get. Given the changes in the Pittsburgh Steelers offense, Jamie mentioned Arthur Smith. I think we can agree that Arthur Smith has proven to be very good at scheming up the run. And I think we can agree that Najee finished last season good enough or well enough to still be the 1A back in Pittsburgh. And they never, ever really considered making a change

from Najee to Warren over the course of the year. And I know that we don't love Najee as much as we used to. He's let us down in fantasy in the past, but I'm, I'm mildly encouraged by what he might bring touchdown wise, touch wise in this offense that should have a better offensive line and should have a passing game that should threaten defenses a little bit more than what they had last year.

So would you put him at the top of that? You said you could make the argument. Would you put him ahead of James Conner, Tony Pollard, Nick Chubb, Aaron Jones, and Raheem Mostert? Yeah, he's there for me for now at the top of that list. Not for Jamie and Heath? No, I'd go Pollard, Conner, Mostert, Najee. I would go Connor, Pollard, Najee, Jones, Mostert. And there's Chubb in there too, but he's kind of a different case.

All right. Heath, convince me that Jalen Warren should be drafted ahead of Gus Edwards based on what the Chargers are saying about Gus Edwards. Well, I think it's a harder thing to convince somebody of in non-PPR, but in full PPR, I think that Warren has more upside in the event of a nausea injury, because I think Gus is going to be in a 1A, 1B situation, and there's a chance that Warren could turn into a semi-feature back if something happened to nausea. And also, Warren can be a low-end number two running back with Najee there

and low end number two running back and full PPR is probably the best you're going to get from Najee. So I think they have similar expectations, but there's more upside for Warren. Jalen Warren had 61. Yeah, go ahead. Yeah,

no, I would say that the thing I think that you kind of want to do if you're drafting from a hero RB standpoint is you want to get shares of guys like Jalen Warren and Tajay Spears. You know, kind of what Ben Gretsch was saying on Heath's show is you want to get shares of these guys because of what the expected workload will be while the quote unquote starter is healthy, but also the chance of what happens when these guys get hurt. If in fact they do get hurt because they could just be absolute superstars. And that's what I think you're, you're targeting, which, you know, the problem with taking, you know, Jalen Warren and Najee are so close together is, you know, you're not maximizing the value of them, but you get them at the right price.

You know, the difference between Chase Brown and Zach Moss, I guess maybe even the closeness in rounds doesn't really matter because if the starter's, again, going a little bit later, but this is the type of way I think you want to draft. You can get these type of guys and get maybe two or three of them just to see what happens. Well, there were 15 picks between Tajay Spears and Jalen Warren in the draft that we did. Spears went mid-round seven. Warren went pretty late in round eight to Jamie.

I like that better than the picks that he made for me. What did you say? I like that better than the picks you made for me. I used your rankings. I can't help it. Yeah, I mean, do you guys see a big difference between Spears and Warren? No, not at all. I prefer Warren. Does Spears have more

upside? Let's say Pollard and Najee both got hurt in week one. Sorry, but let's say that happened. Who would you draft in that case? Let's say they won the lottery, as Dave likes to say, and retired. You draft Spears, Dave? Spears over Warren.

I would go Warren over Spears, but it's close. They'd be very, very close, yeah, but I'd probably go Warren. We're going to take a break. Before I go to break, I want to tell you that there is a guy that works for us that has gone 12 and 1 in his last 13 in-game

bets on the NCAA tournament. And his name is Dave Richard. So I was having fun with Dave for his horrible bracket. Oh no, please continue. It's hilarious. The bracket is hilarious. I mean, we got like 1200 brackets, 1200 entries to be second to last with, I think, the lowest possible point. That's hard. That's hard to do. And it only took me like two minutes to put that bracket together. But Dave knows what he's doing. So 12-1 in his last 13.

That's a pretty good score. I know what I'm doing when it comes to football. With the live bets, you're just watching the games and you're seeing how they play and then you make the bet. That's not that hard. It's the same thing I apply to football. You're just watching the games and you're seeing how they play and then you make the bet. It's not that hard. It's the same thing I apply to football. You have to watch them play. By the way, Schaefer saying that the Jets were 14-1 to win the Super Bowl

after they signed Aaron Rodgers. Right now they're 28-1. It depends where you look, but 22-1 is the lowest. So that's wild. Okay, we've got to take a break and we'll come back and wrap things up with more. We'll talk about the Chargers offense here, even though we talked about Gus Edwards,

but more from Jim, I believe it's Jim Harbaugh on the Chargers offense. And 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, giving you the peace of mind to focus on what truly matters. Find their products through banks,

credit unions, and associations, or visit SecurianCanada.ca. Securian Canada. Insurance designed for life. Metrolinks and Crosslinks are reminding everyone to be careful as Eglinton Crosstown LRT train testing is in progress. Please be alert as trains can pass at any time on the tracks. Remember to follow all traffic signals. Be careful along our tracks and only make left turns where it's safe to do so. Be alert, be aware, and stay safe. Back here to talk about the annual meetings here in Jamie Eisenberg on the scene. We'll give us

some leftovers. We'll discuss the Chargers offense. Just a random note. I started watching Necessary Roughness yesterday just to kill some time. Great football movie. Very fun. Jason Bateman is in it. I forgot about that. But, you know, it doesn't get a lot of love

as one of the better sports movies. It's tremendous. Is that the one with the... I don't remember that one, I don't think. Kathy Ireland was the kicker. Okay, yeah. I remember that one. Don't throw at the Stonehands!

That's in that, too. Jim Harbaugh, what did he have to say as he's back in the NFL? He was very encouraged by the receiving core, which is surprising, given the fact of the guys that are there. But he didn't really single out any of the big group. But talked about Quentin Johnston,

talked about Josh Palmer and said that they can win with those guys. He, you know, you were talking about the draft before, and he's very excited about the spot there. And because, you know, there's a chance that a team can trade up in front of them to go get a

quarterback. And if a team does not trade up in front of them, they could trade out a five. Somebody's looking to get most likely JJ McCarthy.ccarthy so you know he feels like they they kind of have a great spot to be in the draft and it's such a deep receiver draft we i think we're all kind of hoping that they they do draft one of these receivers because of the ability to put somebody around justin herbert um but they're going to be uh i think one of the the more interesting team to monitor during the draft. Because it wouldn't surprise me if they come away with two receivers in the draft.

Hopefully they get one. It would be great if they got one of five because we know they have the ability, if not, to get Marvin Harrison Jr., maybe to get neighbors. And just to give Herbert some help because that's really the thing that he needs. But you're going to see a very physical Chargers team. That's kind of what Harbaugh's built his resume on, no matter where he's been, which is interesting because of the position that he played as a quarterback. But it's going to be a team that

if you want to bet on not making the playoffs a year ago to making the playoffs this year, it'd be surprising if the Chargers stay healthy, which we know has been a problem. If they stay healthy and they don't make the playoffs. News just came through that the hip drop tackle has been banned. Oh, how about that?

Yeah, the Chargers can... I don't know what they're going to do. I don't think they can make the playoffs with the receivers that they have right now. I wouldn't pick them. He wins everywhere he goes, man. That's just... That's what Harbaugh does. I don't know if they're going to beat the Chiefs.

I don't think that's the case. I don't think anybody's going to expect it. But to be a wildcard team and make the playoffs, I think that's something that I'd be surprised if they stayed healthy if it didn't happen. What do you guys think? Dave, what would you do at 5 if you're the Chargers? Not at 5 o'clock.

I don't care what they're doing then. In the NFL draft. They're going to kick back and have a beer if it's 5 o'clock. I think Neighbors makes a lot of sense if he's there because not only is he this instant accelerator of a receiver who can make plays after the catch, he's very physical. And I think Harbaugh will like that. He's also good in the run game.

He can block well, and that's going to be part of what they're going to ask receivers to do in LA. So I think that that would be the direction if they don't trade down first, because they've got the option. They'll have suitors to move down. And if they move down, they can obviously get more players and the type of receiver that they could add later on in round one. Is it a drop off from neighbors? Sure. Is it a big drop off? I'm not ready to say that it is

so there's there's definitely options there but if they don't move down neighbors makes the most sense i mean you're saying neighbors with the idea that that harrison's gone goes to arizona yeah i i think that's the the key is what does i mean if the four teams in front of them do right so now like if like if Arizona trades down, say they trade down with Denver and Denver moves up to a quarterback, Jim Harbaugh is racing that card to get Harrison. Yeah. To play running back, probably.

To block. Nearly to block. Is he a good blocker? Not as good as neighbors, I don't think. Doesn't anybody... I'm working on a joke here. I've been working on it for the last 30 seconds. Does anybody want to see neighbors go to

the Jets so you get Mr. Rogers going, hello, neighbors? That was good. The best joke you came up with. Thank you. You better hurry up and mention my bracket again before people notice how bad that joke is. Heath, in the

draft that you crushed last week, Josh Palmer went about eight picks ahead of Quinton Johnston. Schaefer took Palmer. I took Quinton Johnston. This was round nine and round 10. Who should go first right now? Oh, yeah. I don't know that I'm going to draft either of them quite that early,

but I would probably take Johnston. I think Palmer's median projection is definitely higher. If I had to make a bet on who's going to score more fantasy points next year, it would be Palmer. It's just like 75% of the outcomes where Palmer outscores Johnston, neither one of them matters. So I would take Quentin Johnston higher, but I would not be excited about excited about drafting either.

Fun fact. They both went ahead of Justin Herbert who also went in round 10 shortly after Quentin Johnston to Thomas Schaefer, who went with that charger stack, Josh Palmer and Justin Herbert, people are going to be talking about that charger stack for a while. Obviously we expect things to change personnel-wise after the NFL draft. It's so interesting because their defense has been such an issue, and you look at them having a glaring need at wide receiver

and a glaring need at running. I mean, I would think a glaring need at running back, but maybe they don't feel that way. So you wonder what that team's going to do. It's an interesting team. Thankfully, they have a good quarterback. Let's see. All right, Jamie, empty the bag here.

Give us some leftovers. Sean McDermott was talking about Curtis Samuel and his opportunity to play a significant role in the receiver room. The one thing that he did say, which, uh, you know, it may speak to what their, their plans are, you know, in terms of, he was talking about the receivers and he brought up the tight ends, you know, so hopefully it's a bigger role for Dalton Kincaid, which will be fun. I think that's what we're kind of all hoping for here. Uh, but in terms of Curtis Samuel, you know, he talked about his speed by comparison, I think to Gabe Davis. And, you know, I, I think

we all kind of look at Davis as kind of a guy who can run. Samuel's a little bit of a different kind of runner and different kind of speed. So I just hope that Samuel doesn't impact Khalil Shakir too much in a negative way. I'd like to see Shakir get a bigger role because I'm excited to see what he can do. He also talked about the durability of James Cook.

And he said that that's something that they have to be aware of on both ends of the spectrum, not giving him too much work, but also making sure that he's getting enough work. And so very curious to see what they're going to do. Cause their rest of their running back room is not exactly in the best of shape. Damien Harris coming back from an injury.

I think Latavius Murray might still be on the roster. I'm not sure about that, but obviously an older guy. Just not a lot of players I think that you look at and say, I'm confident in that guy if something were to happen to Cook, but also that's great for James Cook because it doesn't seem like he's going to necessarily lose a lot of work to somebody who may or may not be better than him in certain roles.

So as it stands right now, I'm getting more excited about James Cook. Not that I'm going to change how I'm ranked. He's an early third-round pick for me. But one of those guys that's a borderline number one running back. Does anybody agree with this comment in the chat? Gabe Davis's speed is more comparable to Adam's speed. Than what? A cheetah?

I mean, if you're getting compared to gabe davis just smile and say thank you an automobile i would like to know if anybody asked doug peterson about gabe davis's role i just did a search on twix and did not get any results doesn't mean he wasn't asked but distance running i was i was talking to uh buddy of mine who covers jaguars not named pete and he was saying like the uh the roles because i asked i said is is zay jones staying on the roster and he said most likely yes um had they signed calvin ridley they might have moved on from zay jones but what he said is most likely gonna happen which makes sense is zay jones g Gabe Davis, which feels like they're kind of the same type of player. Both those guys are going to be the outside receivers and Christian Kirk goes back in the

slot. And he said, Kirk's going to have a huge year. Evan Ingram's going to have a huge year. It's hard not to agree with that. You know, coming off the seasons that they've had each of the last two years, Ingram, a hundred catch season this year, Kirk, what he did two years ago, those are two players I think you can get excited about for Jacksonville. Matt was saying that Gabe Davis's speed is closer to Adam's than Curtis Samuel's. He gave us their 40 times here. Curtis Samuel ran a 4-3-1-40. Gabe Davis ran a 4-5-4. I would bet my entire life savings and Dave's NCAA tournament bracket that Adam is not closer to Gabe Davis than Gabe Davis is to Curtis Samuel. So would that would be like four, seven, nine or something like that?

Like a four, seven, nine. I'm not sure it'd be a fight. I wouldn't, I would bet the over on five. Oh, I really think I could run a four, seven, nine, four. Oh no. No, there's no way you could run a four seven nine four oh no no no way no you don't think so no in cleats indoors in indianapolis well when you put it that way okay i guess maybe i'm a a little high on myself here, overrating myself a little bit. Let's see if I can azer stat that in some capacity.

All right, anything else, Jamie? You don't have to. I mean, I'm not trying to. We have plenty of good stuff here. Well, I have a lot too, but I'll wait till the end. I haven't gone through, like I said, everything yet because, like I said, I can't get to every coach. So I'd like to see what they said in terms of their media availability.

So thankfully a lot of reporters and team sites, they provide that. So I'm looking forward to the rest of my day going through that. I'm glad you're there. I appreciate you being there. Thank you for being there. Who do you want to talk to tomorrow? If you had a wish list of the top three coaches and the top three questions from the NFC,

what would they be? Oh, boy. Raheem Morris, just to make sure he's not going to screw us on Bijan and Drake London and those guys, because I think we're all excited about that. I'm actually curious to hear what Dave Canales has to say, just because, you know, new coach and a good play caller uh what's going to be the case in carolina uh mike tomah was very um not surprising but very uh glowing about dionte johnson one of the panthers reporters

asked him what kind of receiver they're getting and he raved about his route running and ability to um want the ball and not do it in a pouting type of way. Then the third guy of the three, Kevin O'Connell, just because of the uncertainty in Minnesota right now with the quarterback situation. Also, I need to speak to him for the magazine story that I'm doing

on who is the best slash number one receiver for fantasy. We've talked about it quite a bit. I think it's one of the one receiver for fantasy um you know i we've talked about quite a bit i think it's one of the biggest stories for fantasy managers in the first round and kind of the trickle-down effect and how that will go so i zach taylor was amazing on jamar chase today and i'm hoping kevin o'connell will say the same about justin jefferson no surprise i'm sure he will um but just to get some of those you know quotes there but yeah those would be three that

i'm looking forward to talk to and then brian dave well obviously would be a fourth if i had a fourth choice just you know tell him about adamation his love for the i agree my uh my nine-year-old was begging me to uh get an andy reed autograph and i tried to explain to him that that's not the case so i took a picture of andy reed for him and i said this will have to do so i'll do the same for you i don't take a picture of uh of bAbel for you. Thank you. I appreciate that. There was one other note, Dave. You said that the Chargers wanted to get the tight ends involved, right?

Ravens. Wrong Harbaugh knucklehead. Oh, damn it. I had a... The Ravens are going to get the tight ends involved? I had a Donald Parham. I was going to get all into Parham here. Okay, the Ravens wanted to get the tight ends involved? I had a Donald Parham. I was going to get all into Parham here. Okay, the Ravens wanted to get the tight ends involved. Harbaugh, John Harbaugh,

specifically talked about the younger tight ends on the roster. So could be a sign that Isaiah Likely gets a little bit more work. Charlie Kohler, someone that I think was mentioned specifically by John Harbaugh. The prospect of a two tight end set with Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry in the backfield with a good offensive line, that should scare a lot of defenses because the Ravens should be able to do anything they want to out of that type of formation. That could be really dangerous.

I don't know that it will scare defenses quite as much as the hip drop tackle being banned um i'm wondering how much of a scoring explosion we're going to get if this is a 15 yard penalty and a first down every time somebody executes that tackle well honestly i just i felt like the defense they didn't penalize the defense enough right yeah it's too easy to play defense in the nfl days, especially cornerback. So I'm glad. No, I mean,

look, it's safety is important. I, it didn't seem like the players wanted this. I have to, the players association specifically said they did not want this. Right. So,

um, I don't know. I, I don't love it, but, uh, okay. Thanks for,

uh, thanks for watching and listening. Everybody. We'll have more from the meetings. Asie mentioned the nfc coaches tomorrow so we'll talk about that hopefully on wednesday and uh good oh heath how was your vacation it was fantastic so i went to uh central tennessee did a bunch of hiking fall creek Falls State Park Burgess Falls State Park Cummins Falls State Park it was really

really good time saw a bunch of waterfalls went chasing waterfalls you think I would have enjoyed this? it doesn't sound like an Adam trip no I don't think you would have enjoyed it at all although we did spend like we just spent a couple days

just hanging out in the Airbnb and not really doing much of anything which was really nice also yeah I would have enjoyed that. Okay, that's my life for you. We'll talk to you. You've got the Dynasty Show tomorrow. We're back on Wednesday with another episode of Fantasy Football Today.

Have a good one, everybody.