Fantasy Football Today - 🚨 Tom Brady is Back! Plus Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup and Zach Ertz News (03/13 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: March 14, 2022

We've got so much news to get to, but of course it starts with Tom Brady! After his finish as QB2 in 2021, can we justify ranking him outside the Top 5? Dave, Jamey and Chris discuss Brady and then we compare Amari Cooper's value (8:40) to Michael Gallup's value (12:50) and debate who will be the better bargain on draft day. And of course Zach Ertz is back with Arizona (20:40)!  Join the FFT March Madness pool to win a spot in the 2022 Listeners League and a $100 Paramount+ gift card: https://picks.cbssports.com/college-basketball/ncaa-tournament/bracket/pools/kbxw63b2gy4dmnbrgeza====?pool-join-key=3swuhqd48k3rd80mtd5138xcj5es52vs&invited-by=ivxhi4tzhiytanbvhe3dmobs&via-medium=copy&ttag=FF22_lk_cbssports_cbb_bpm_copySetupInvite Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

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

BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. What is fantasy football without Tom Brady? Someday we might find out. Today is not the day. Welcome everybody to Fantasy Football Today, a bonus podcast. Tom Brady is back. At first I was kind of, I don't know, almost annoyed that I thought about it for five seconds tonight.

This is great. Welcome back. Never leave. We love Tom Brady. Also, Amari Cooper is on the Browns. Michael Gallup, five-year deal, $62.5 million with the Cowboys. And Zach Ertz, re-signed by the Arizona Cardinals. Zach Ertz was a top five tight end in full PPR.

And a lot of catches, a lot of targets. We'll talk about him in a little bit. Adam Azer, Jamie Is Isberg, Dave Richard, and Chris Towers here for this bonus pod. And we're going to have Deshaun Watson news soon, too. It's going to be a fun week, so make sure you tune in. And make sure you join our bracket challenge. I'll have a link for you, by the way, in the episode description.

But cbssports.com slash fftbrackets. Now, the people want to hear about Tom Brady, so we'll start with that. Dave, rank him. I put him at 8. I put him ahead of Russell Wilson, behind Dak Prescott. That's obviously got room to change when we learn more about what the Cowboys do, but I'm assuming that Gronk's going to resign, that Gowan's going to heal up, that they find a third receiver, that the offensive line pretty much stays the same. They're running it back. And I think that Brady has proven, especially after last year, top two in fantasy points per game in six-point passing touchdown leagues,

top four in consistency. Don't see any reason in the world why he's going to start to slow down now. And the other thing that's happening here is that I feel like his return is kind of devaluing the quarterback position a little bit on draft day because now there are so many quarterbacks. You could run through 12 quarterbacks and still not get to any of the breakout guys, still not get to Jalen Hurts, have enough for everybody in your league to have a starter. I think now more than ever, this is the time where you do not want to reach for a quarterback

because you will find one of the great ones hanging around later yeah and deshaun watson too if he's back and absolutely it's gonna be it's gonna be a very deep position okay you have him eighth jamie how about you i'll be six for me um i mean you just know what he's capable of this offense i'm sure looking at you know god owns return i'm sure gronk will be back I'm sure that they will find something to fill that third spot uh to replace Antonio Brown but they don't really need that um I'm curious to see what they're going to do with running back position because that's obviously a big hole you know Fournette is gone you know based on the reports from Greg Allman who is as plugged into this team as anybody so you know if Fournette does leave you know that's that's a big

spot to fill but I mean this division stinks you know who knows what the the Saints who have tormented him are going to look like you know without their head does leave, you know, that's a big spot to fill. But, I mean, this division stinks. You know, who knows what the Saints, who have tormented him, are going to look like, you know, without their head coach there. But, you know, Dennis Allen's still there. But in any event, yeah, I mean, Bruce Arians is tried and true. Brady's tried and true. It's as sure a thing as you can possibly get for a guy who's going to be 105 and still producing at this level. 45, 105, whatever it is.

Chris, okay, how about you we got an eight we got a six where you at on tom brady five i've got him basically right at the top of the third tier after alan and mahomes in tier one jackson herbert in tier two and then it's brady rogers murray stafford all those guys in that range so i think I think you can put him at the top of the tier if you want to have Aaron Rodgers ahead of him or Dak Prescott or someone like that. I think that makes sense. But yeah, he's going to be one of the best quarterbacks in fantasy.

They're going to throw a ton. There's no reason to think they won't. It's going to be one of the best offenses for fantasy again. Yeah, I mean, 8-6, maybe you can even say 5. People could say it's a little bit low for a guy who's just number two and i know that after with basically the last seven games of the uh of the 2020 season except for week 17 when it mike evans left he was third per game when they started

playing with antonio brown uh although i think i didn't count the first game in that stretch where he was terrible but he started playing at an I didn't count the first game in that stretch where he was terrible. But he started playing at an elite level. Because remember the first half of his first season in Tampa Bay wasn't great. Second half he was incredible. Then they had the Super Bowl run. He couldn't play at night. Couldn't play at night.

Yeah, he just wasn't connecting deep. I mean, it was rough. But yeah, I guess my question would be why not third? You know, why? And how could you rank Aaron Rodgers ahead of him, let's say? Yeah, that's the one I struggle with, honestly. And he may come out five for me as well because I have Rodgers fifth right now. And so it's between Rodgers and Brady, the guys I have in front of him.

I mean, it's easy to say Alan Mahomes. And then the next two, you know, you can you can certainly debate it with Justin Herbert and Lamar Jackson. But you have to be a little bit concerned. You know, if you know, we were talking before the show started, when does Godwin come back? If there is a little bit of a lull uh or delay in terms of his you know recovery who's going to be the third receiver is gronk definitely back is there going to be a running back replacement that's going to you know help in the passing game as well but uh you know he he's he's as safe a bet as you can find in this offense as chris said it's it's it's a great offense for

fantasy the weapons are for the most part back if grock returns and so there's little reason to doubt him if the offensive line comes back in as much as it's capable of being back you know based on what their salary cap ramifications are i mean there is one thing he's 45 ah he's indestructible well he was 44 last year i know i know and listen i'm not i'm loving i'm loving that you guys are saying that you want to take tom brady fifth and tom brady's six and he might no no not take rank nothing i'll i'll let everybody hold on a second you're gonna rank him fifth but you wouldn't make him your oh i'm i'm never taking a quarterback early i i i mean because i ranked josh allen first i have to take him first no i'm gonna i'm gonna wait on quarterback

well that's what i'm doing too that's the whole point of this is that i think it's the whole point of it is to tell people where they should be selecting them the whole point is not where i'm drafting him okay all right so that's a better question then what round are you willing to take tom brady in what round am i willing to take a quarterback in is not round when i'm willing to take brady in because if i'm going ahead what's the brady and i get him round am I willing to take a quarterback in is not round one I'm willing to take Brady in because if I'm willing to take Brady and I get him late, I'm going to take him late,

but I'm not going to reach for a quarterback because I never do. Yeah, I know, but... Nine, ten, eleven. Right. Oh, Brady's going to go probably in round four or five.

Right, which I'm not. I don't want to be any part of that. Well, I don't know. If he finishes as one or two, which he's capable of as he showed you last year, then you regret not taking him.

Yeah, I think if you go back to last year, we had Mahomes. I don't remember exactly what ADP was, but Mahomes was round two. Allen early round three. And then you had this group of quarterbacks. Kyler, Dak, Lamar, Jackson. Who am I forgetting? I don't

know that Brady was there. Brady and Herbert were probably just after. But there was a run. Brady was more like 80 to 100 overall, I want to say, especially in the draft we were doing. I think the way I look at it is like, there are probably three quarterbacks who I think have a realistic chance of averaging 30 points per game.

And that's Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, and Josh Allen. We've basically seen all three of those guys do it before. I don't really think anyone else does. I think Kyler probably could because of his rushing ability, but that's probably it. For Brady to do it, you're probably talking about a 50-plus touchdown season and another 5,000 yards, which isn't out of the realm of possibility, but it's asking an awful lot.

I think the way you probably want to look at is like last year brady averaged 26.9 ppr points or points in four point per passing touchdown leagues and he was about three points per game ahead of jalen hertz and aaron rogers um so that's at least if i'm looking at the right numbers and so And so that's where it's like there's that big second-slash-third-tier quarterback. That's where he fits in. And so I think what we're probably all saying is you'd rather pick from the back end of that group and maybe sacrifice two fantasy points per game in order to get better value. Yeah.

Last year, people didn't buy it yet, right? People didn't see Brady as that. They weren't quite there. This year they will be because he just went out and had this incredible season. But anyway, obviously we like him. He's going to be anywhere from fifth to eighth in the rankings for these three guys. Let's talk about Amari Cooper. By the way, we're going to have an episode Monday afternoon.

Usually we record at 10 a.m. We're not going to do that. We're going to wait for the news to develop. So tentatively at 3 p.m. on Monday. Same thing Tuesday and Wednesday as of now. It's kind of a fluid schedule, so make sure you're subscribing on YouTube. And yeah, just be ready for a lot of episodes this week.

We're going to recap the day's events, and hopefully there'll be some really interesting stuff. There will be. I don't have to say hopefully. All right, let's talk about Amari Cooper here going to the Cleveland Browns, who actually, believe it or not, in Baker Mayfield's first season

had 2,000-yard receivers. I had forgotten about that. Both Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham went over 1,000 yards. That was three seasons ago. But Amari Cooper is going to a much, much different offense than the team that led the league in scoring, second in pass attempts. Kellen Moore is always throwing the ball.

So anyway, Chris, I'll give you the first word. Give me a round you think that Amari Cooper will go in as of right now. Things are going to change a lot, I know. But as of right now, and a round you think Amari Cooper should go in in a 12-team PPR league. I want to say round five or six for both.

I think it's probably where he's going to end up. I don't think there's going to be much optimism surrounding him because I think a lot of people view him as a pretty frustrating player for not without good reason. He's been very inconsistent throughout his career. He's coming off a down season and he's playing with a guy in Baker Mayfield who rightly or wrongly has a perception as being kind of a wide receiver killer. And so I don't think there's going to be very much excitement around him. I think it could be more like round six. I don't think anybody's going to push him. Maybe even like,

I think he'll low end wide receiver too, probably is the high end of the range where he'll go. Is anybody excited about this? Nope. I'm not. Baker Mayfield. It's not, I mean,

it's not the worst thing if he's just a total target hog there. Which is what you have to hope for. It's a run-first offense. It's a tight-end friendly offense. Bringing back Najoku, I think, kind of tells you that they're still going to keep a similar direction that they have been. Kevin Stefanski's offense really hasn't changed much.

Beckham flopped going to Cleveland for the most part. You know what I mean? He certainly had some moments, and who knows if he had stayed healthy, which is, you know, much more of a problem for him than it's been for Cooper. Cooper's an amazing talent, you know, and I don't think he gets the credit he deserves.

You know, you saw all the comments, or at least you paid attention and saw the comments. Almost every receiver around the NFL was like, that's all this guy was worth for a guy that's an amazing route runner and player and the production that he's put up. But it's more about Baker. It's more about Stefanski. It's more about the division that he's in now as well. So I don't have him as a starter. He's a number three receiver for me. He's barely in my top 30. So somebody wants to take him in round five. Go ahead. Okay. How about, you mentioned like a target hog Jarvis Landry had a 26 percent target

share last season and obviously I think we think Amari Cooper is much better than Jarvis Landry will do more with those targets but you know that was still right around seven targets per game so even if you know they're gonna have to throw more in order for Jarvis for Amari Cooper to be even in the 125 target range. Jarvis Landry wasn't close to the pace for that on a 26% target share. But he had 130. So they had two guys in 2019 that had 130 targets in Landry and Beckham.

That is just... And they had almost every target. Nobody else had more than 50. So it's possible that Cooper could... I think that's what you have to hope for if you settle on Amari Cooper on draft day. You have to hope that... I think you have to hope for he plays

in the slot, like exclusively, and he does a lot of what Jarvis Landry did. I shouldn't say exclusively. I should say like 60% of the time. And he just soaks up targets and he comes through. And the ceiling for a guy like that in Cleveland, it's a thousand yards, 1100 yards,

five touchdowns, maybe. And that wasn't Stefanski in 2019. Right. I mean, it's right. So like in 2019, when Baker did what he did,

no Stefanski last two years, the receivers haven't put up huge numbers. No receivers had more than six touchdowns in a season from Baker Mayfield. Very few have had over 1,000. Who was the last one? I actually have this. The last time a Cleveland player had more than six receiving touchdowns. I don't even.

Josh Gordon? That's what I thought. It was a little bit sooner than that. It was a fantasy one-hit wonder. And it was not a wide receiver. Oh. Jordan Kaelin. Gary Barnage.

Gary Barnage. 2015, nine touchdown catches. The last time a Cleveland Brown had more than six touchdown catches. All right, you guys want to talk about Michael Gallup? Can I take Michael? Let's say Michael Gallup's healthy for week one. Can I take him over Amari Cooper? You might be smart in doing so, but I don't think anybody's going to do that. You know,

I mean, look, Gallup's in a good spot and the production might be similar. So you probably just wait that out and you take Gallup, but you know, clearly the Cowboys told you what they think, you know, contract matters, but, uh, the fact that they let him walk or essentially leave for such minimal return again somebody had to take cooper's contract so so factor that in but you know giving up such getting back such minimal compensation and then turning around and signing gallop who's coming off of an acl tear you know they they obviously feel pretty good about that situation that they have there so um i i if you tell me that I can get Gallup two or three rounds later,

I'll take Gallup two or three rounds later. And it might be more than that. I think people are going to have to figure out how they feel about ACL tears, right? With Godwin, with Gallup. I think people are going to pay attention to the news with these guys leading up to the draft. Robert Woods, too.

But at least Robert Woods didn't tear his ACL around or after Christmas. Right. Anybody have strong takes on Michael Gallup? I do think people are going to be kind of down on him, but there's obviously huge opportunity here for a team that throws as much as just about any team in football. So that's the weird thing, though,

is they do throw the ball a ton, but they spread it around a ton, too. Am Ari Cooper is leaving a 19% target share behind. So it's not like, you know, he had this huge role. CeeDee Lamb had a 21% target share to lead this, the team and Michael Gallup was at 17%. So, you know, he was on a 850 yard pace. I think you could see a scenario where he's really good in the red zone and has close to a thousand yards and eight touchdowns and is like a a useful wide receiver three with weekly upside but i don't think he's someone that i'm going to be targeting as a as a starter and that's if he plays 17 games yeah right it's probably and may listen he could even play he

might be able to get that in 15 games. Just the nature of the Dallas offense, the role that he could have as an outside receiver. You think about that week one game last year. Exactly. Seven targets in the first half. Right, right, right. So he was well on his way.

So he could absolutely do that for them. But if he's not ready to go and he starts the year on the pup list, then I don't have a problem with someone taking him back half of the draft. You're going to take him. You're immediately going to stash him after the draft, and you're going to go hit your waiver wire to take somebody else. But I do have a problem with people who don't have those PUP IR spots spending anything before round 10 on Michael Gallup at this point.

So it's a late pick, and if you've got to sit on him for six weeks plus, I don't like doing that. I think you can find a player that will have a chance to break out before then, and then people listen. Hopefully he's fine and he's good to go and doesn't do what Michael Thomas just did to us a year ago. It's a great offense. I just don't know how great of a fantasy offense it is. The last three seasons seasons we've had what

one good season from gallop a good season from lamb last year cooper was one of those without yeah i don't count 2020 sure sure yeah sure but even then you know that was they were on pace for like 700 pass attempts but even then the way they spread the ball around, it's really hard for one guy to get... I mean, I don't think anybody's had more than 130 targets in the past, in the Kellen Moore era. Let me give you one stat, and this isn't necessarily about Gallup, but let me tell you when I can find it.

Okay, in Amari Cooper's first 29 games with the Cowboys before Prescott got hurt in 2020. Okay. So that was the end of the second half of 2018, all of 2019, and the first four games of 2020. He was on pace for 144 targets in 17 games, 1,357 yards, nine touchdowns, 99 catches, basically the best stretch of his career. So I think what you could take from that is it wasn't nearly as crowded of a receiving core

as it was in 2021 when he had to compete with Lamb and Gallup for half the season with Gallup, and Dalton Schultz emerging. So I think that was really the only time recently that we've seen one guy get featured. Mari Cooper was kind of an alpha receiver before the Prescott injury and before the emergence of C.D. Well, I think they're thinking Lamb is that guy now.

I hope so. Yeah, but yes, I think, right, as I said, it's not necessarily relevant for Gallup, but it just was different than what we saw last year where they did spread the ball around. Okay, all right. I guess my last question on that is when you look at the contract, five years, $62.5 million for a guy who just tore his ACL, maybe the Cowboys know something we don't.

Jamie, do you think they're higher on Michael Gallup than fantasy might be, and maybe we need to pay attention to that? Absolutely. That's what I'm saying. The Cowboys kind of told you how they felt, that they took such little in return for Amari Cooper. Part of it was shipping the contract out the door because finding a taker for that is not necessarily easy. But this receiver market might get nuts in the next 48 hours

with even who the guys are available. We're talking about Christian Kirk gettingirk getting 15 million a year you know that robinson's gonna get you know so uh and and then you know the the dominoes will start to fall because when you lose the bonte adams you lose chris godwin um you know the the two top guys and then cooper becomes available you know we'll see if landry's market whatever that is if the browns are going to shop them you know so all these moves have domino effects you know so uh Brady coming back you know to tie that in is now going to set the market for what the Sean Watson is probably going to command if in fact you know team is going to go to what the uh the potential return that the Texans are seeking you know three first round picks and a couple

young players that are on the rook deals um you know and now the the Cooper trade is going to set the market as well uh for for what this is Gallup getting that the Cooper trade is going to set the market as well for what this is. Gallup getting that deal, you know, is going to change some things as well. So it's going to get a little nutty here. But I think, you know, in terms of, you know, just the Cowboys, they clearly prioritized two players over Amari Cooper, and that was Dalton Schultz and Michael Gallup, you know, put in the tag on Schultz. We kind of, you know, saw this coming when we heard the Cooper, you know, news or Cooper rumors, excuse me, that they were going to try and get rid of him.

And so Schultz is a huge winner in this without a doubt. Lamb is a huge winner in this without a doubt, but Michael Gallup's not somebody that you should sleep on by any stretch. And if he is ready come week one, there is immense breakout potential. All right. We're going to take a real quick break on fantasy football today. Wrap it up with some Zach Ertz talk after this. What does possible sound like for your business? It's having the spend to powers your scale with no preset spending limit. More cash on hand to

grow your business with up to 55 interest-free days and the ability to reach further with access to over 1,400 airport lounges worldwide. Redefine possible with Business Platinum. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Terms and conditions apply. Visit amex.ca slash business platinum. Welcome back to our bonus podcast here. Zach Ertz, number five in full PPR, number 10 in non-PPR with Arizona. Played 11 games.

He was number 7 in non-PPR and number 5 in full PPR. His 17-game pace in those 11 games was 56 catches. Nope, it was 87 catches. Sorry, 56 is what he actually had. 87 catches, 887 yards, five touchdowns on 125 targets. That was his 17-game pace in 11 games with the Cardinals. Not a lot of DeAndre Hopkins in that stretch. All right, so Dave, what do you think about

or is this the top 12 tight end for you? He is going to be a top 12 tight end for me. I don't have him re-ranked yet based on this news, but I figured that it was not a best case scenario for him to stay in Arizona. I think there were other spots he could have gone to where I think he could have done even better, but he'll be okay. Someone that you can target back half a drafts when you need a tight end, you got to start a tight end. His target rate was 14% in the two games where DeAndre Hopkins played. Hopkins was at 23% in seven games without Hopkins.

And with any Cardinals quarterback, doesn't matter whether it was Kyle or somebody else, he had a 22% target share. My guess is that he's going to be closer to 14% of the target share with Hopkins there, with another receiver coming there, and with Rondell Moore getting a step up in looks too. So it could be a good touchdown target at tight end. And I would expect him to contend for in the neighborhood of seven or eight

touchdowns this year, but not somebody that I would prioritize on draft day. For example, Dalton Schultz way ahead of him, Dallas Goddard ahead of him, Rob Gronkowski banking on him being back in Tampa Bay way ahead of him. He caught three touchdowns in 11 games with the Cardinals, and two of them were from Colt McCoy against Seattle with, again, no DeAndre Hopkins. I haven't taken a look at the green zone, red zone, end zone targets in that stretch,

but that is something worth noting. Who is in the range of Zach Ertz, Jamie? Who are we comparing him to? Oh, Dave mentioned it. You know, it's, and I love this move for Zach Ertz. I love this move for the Cardinals because I do think, you know, you look at what their opportunities are to, you know,

to acquire players and they prioritized him last year. And I think, you know, you heard some of this throughout the season that, you know, bringing him back was important. And Ertz, you know, said that there were some things he was looking for in free agency, continuity with quarterback, climate, money, all these things kind of, I think, fell in place for him.

So I think Christian Kirk seems like he's out the door. Dave mentioned who's coming in there. Clearly that's something we have to wait and see. But if it's A.J. Green and Rondell Moore, I think Zach Ertz is in a good spot. We don't know the health of DeAndre Hopkins. This is a guy that had surgery that was supposed to potentially be back if they made the NFC Championship game or

the Super Bowl. Where's his health at? Is he at the point in his career now where injuries are going to start to become a problem because it's the first time that he's actually had to miss significant time, but he missed two separate times last season. I think Ertz is a guy that Kyler can rely on and can make some plays for him.

He's better in PPR than non PPR. You mentioned the three touchdowns. So in PPR, he might be better than Gronk. Non PPR Gronk is probably going to be significantly better if he could stay healthy, but he's in that group. He's a top 10 tight end. It's just a matter of, you know, I think what format you're looking at half full and non PPR. But I think, you know, if you, if you miss on the top five guys with Kelsey, Andrews, Pitts, Waller, and Kittle, however you rank them, I think you put

probably, at least I'll speak to myself, I put Dalton Schultz and TJ Hawkinson next, Goddard in that group as well, and then he's in that next group with Gronk filling out the top ten. Okay. And Chris, anything to add? I'd much rather have Gronk if he's back 10. Okay. And Chris, anything to add? I'd much rather have Gronk if he's back.

I think he's more in the Noah Fant, Alberto, Mike Kosicki, Cole Komet kind of range where he's probably a little safer than any of those guys. But I don't think there's going to be very much about Zach Ertz that's exciting. You're kind of hoping for five catches and 45 yards per game I think is is where you go and you're just hoping that it's relatively consistent he's probably not going to have many you know 80 plus yard games and you know the the touchdowns weren't there last season that's

the that's the concerning thing because if he's going to be someone who is more than just a streaming quality tight end I think he'll probably need to get into that seven or eight touchdown range. And I just, I have very, very little reason to be excited about him. I think I'd rather take the chance on Alberto, although I would expect he'll end up going a lot higher than him as well. So, you know, maybe it's, you're taking Zach Ertz or Dawson Knox or something like that, or Cole Command. You think Alberto is going ahead of Ertz or Ertz is going ahead of,

Oh, Oh, I think I was going to go way ahead. I don't know. I don't, I don't think people are going to be too excited about him. He's a fourth option for Wilson. They've really been very few good tight ends with Wilson.

You're excited about him, about Alberto. Oh, I don't, I don't know if I'm excited about him yet, but I think people will be, I think he's going to be drafted as a top 12 tight end. I think you're going to see that happen.

Okay. I don't think any redraft leagues are talking about that. I could see him being the 11th or 12th tight end off the board, but I think Ertz will go ahead. I think Ertz, he's that tight end, the bridge. He's the bridge guy between those top nine tight ends and then the Albert O's, the Noah Fance, the Pat Fryermuth, the Dawson Knox's of the world. And I'll tell you what, I think Knox could jump him.

If it ends up being that Buffalo doesn't make any splash additions in their offense, it seems like Knox could be a guy that starts to get more targets next year. In non-PPR, yeah. But I don't think in PPR. He's not catching as many patches as that. Yeah, but he's going to score more touchdowns.

Maybe. When you say the bridge, I mean, maybe he is, maybe Zacherts is the last tight end that you feel comfortable with as a week one starter? The last one drafted?

No, you'll feel comfortable starting some other guys, but those are like the streaming guys. I think he will divert like a little bit better than a streamer. Okay. But not quite as good of a

rock-solid type of tight end. It's also going to depend on who they play. Because if they don't bring anybody else in, and it's Rondell Moore and a few other guys, he's going to be in a really good spot. What if their run game doesn't get I mean, that's the thing about Arizona right now

just has so many questions that they still need to answer this offseason that it's kind of hard to know what it's going to look like. They answered one. You know, again, you got to look at what these teams are prioritizing. Sorry, you know, I was really just prolonging this conversation so I could look up how many red zone targets he had with the Cardinals. He actually had 14, which ranked 10th in that stretch,

tied with Mark Andrews, tied with DK Metcalf. How about goal to go? Anybody care about this? Although, again, no DeAndre Hopkins. You have to assume a decent chunk of those probably would have gone to DeAndre Hopkins had he played more than, what, two of the 11 games? Oh, how about this?

Goal to go. And yes, you're right, Chris. But he had the fourth most... Zach Ertz had the fourth most goal-to-go targets in that time period, weeks 7 through 18. That's pretty interesting. Devontae Adams, Hunter Renfro, Mike Evans, Cooper Cup.

Actually, Cooper Cup tied with Zach Ertz. His main goal-to-go target. And he also did this on the fly. No offseason, no training camp, everything being thrown at him. Also, that all does serve as a reminder of how gross the Cardinals offense was for much of that stretch. Yeah, it was a struggle. That's pretty interesting, though.

So you look at the touchdowns, they were low, kind of like Mike Williams, actually, who we just talked about. Mike Williams had a ton of targets inside the 10-yard line and a very low touchdown rate. Same thing for Zach Ertz when he was with the Cardinals. Yeah, buying on Mike Williams now. It depends. I mean, some people love him.

I think that he's going to... Anyway, I'll get your thoughts on that. I'll get your thoughts on that on Monday. We'll recap everything. Monday's going to be an exciting day, so stay tuned. Remember, join our bracket challenge. Winner is in the podcast league. How much does that cost, Adam? How much does that cost to join? Free 99, as Chip Patterson would say, our colleague.

Free 99. I'm sure a lot of people say that. It means nothing. It means nothing. Don't let the 99 throw you off. If you want our opinion, I think Miami's going to beat USC. I think if you're looking for a 10-7 upset, I think Miami's going to beat USC. An unbiased opinion, I'm going to say Hurricane. I think if you're looking for a 10-7 upset, I think Miami is going to beat an unbiased opinion. I'm going to say Hurricane 75

USC 23 76. We are out of here, everybody. Thanks for listening and CBS sports dot com slash FFT brackets. Join that right now. We will talk to you on Monday or Sunday night. Who knows with another episode

of fantasy football today and I'm hitting the knows, with another episode of Fantasy Football Today. And I'm hitting the wrong button with another episode of Fantasy Football Today.