Fantasy Football Today - Top 5 WRs After Round 10 (06/30 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: June 30, 2021

Looking for this year's Justin Jefferson or Brandon Aiyuk? Or maybe you're just looking for this year's Cole Beasley who can be a solid WR2/3. We'll tell you which players we're looking at after Round 10. First, we're playing Name That Player (5:55)! Get ready for some Fantasy Football fun! And we've got a quick round of news and notes (15:35) ... Heath and Dave like T.Y. Hilton (18:00), Marvin Jones (20:15) and Darnell Mooney (24:45) as late round picks. We'll debate if Hilton is too old, if Jones can actually be the #1 WR on the Jaguars and if Mooney is held back by his offense ... Rashod Bateman vs. Mecole Hardman (31:00), DeVante Parker vs. Jalen Reagor (36:50), plus some Michael Gallup talk (42:00) ... Your emails at [e-mail] Fantasy Football Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. On his way to the end zone. Tell you what, that was a spectacular play. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. What a play. Off to the races.

Touchdown. Oh, he's done it again. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath, and Ben. Welcome to Fantasy Football Today, everybody. It is Tuesday as we record this. You are hearing this on a Wednesday morning or Wednesday afternoon, or maybe three weeks later. Who knows when you're listening?

But we're here to talk about our favorite wide receivers to target after round 10. And as we look back at our Fantasy Football Today league from last year, Heath, Dave, are you guys ready to hear the wide receivers who were drafted in round 11 or later? Yes. Justin Jefferson. I don't know. I don't think he made it that far. No, I took him earlier than that.

And then I dropped him for that bomb Peyton Barber. Thanks, Dave. I was trying to block it out. You're welcome. I'm happy to remind you of that. And that's going to be a talking point a Steve. I was trying to block it out. You're welcome. I'm happy to remind you of that. And that's going to be a talking point a little later on in today's show as well. Okay, here we go.

Maybe really soon. The wide receivers drafted around 11 or later from our 12-team PPR3 receiver in a flex league from last year. Deshaun Jackson, Paris Campbell, Nikhil Harry, Alan Lazard, Paris Campbell, Nikhil Harry,

Alan Lazard, Emmanuel Sanders, James Washington, John Brown, Brandon Ayuk, Jalen Rager, Golden Tate, and Russell Gage,

and Hunter Renfro, and Sammy Watkins, and oh, Justin Jefferson. I took Justin Jefferson in round 15. I thought it was way earlier. Me too. The pick of the draft, Michael Pittman.

Yeah, mostly guys who were dropped, including Justin Jefferson. So I counted three receivers that ended up being worth a darn that were taken in round 11 or later. I counted John Brown among them. Jefferson was among them. And Iuke was the third.

I don't think Lazard qualifies. I think a lot of those receivers were either dumped after the second or third week of the season, or they were too sporadic in terms of giving good fantasy production to be useful on a week-to-week basis. So we famously know about the drop of Justin Jefferson for Peyton Barber after week two. What about Brandon Ayuk? Did he get dropped? I believe he was also dropped and picked up.

Okay. All right, I'll take a look. Heath, how are you doing over there? Very quiet today. Yeah, I was just really absorbing that list of wide receivers and trying to spin that into a reason why these top five wide receivers we're getting ready to give outside of round 10 are going to be much better than those guys because we're going to talk about guys that matter for fantasy. Okay. So here's the point that I wanted to make about Justin Jefferson is that when you're drafting any receiver in round 11 plus, and maybe more like round nine plus, you've got to decide,

and maybe you do this with every player you draft, but why, why am I drafting this guy? Am I drafting him because I think he's going to pay off dividends right away and if that's the case then why is he lasting that late into the draft or am i drafting this guy because i think he'll pay dividends fairly soon and i'm willing to wait for it but if you can't answer either of those things to the question of why with any of these wide receivers then maybe you shouldn't be drafting them all Adam, I have a question. Yeah, yeah. You still have those draft results pulled up?

I actually don't because now I'm looking at the transaction page, but I can. Oh, he's trying to see. He's trying to find out what Iuke was dropped for to make his Jefferson drop better. Well, the Brandon Iuke journey is a fun one if you'd like to go on it. Heath, what would you like?

Would you rather play the Ayuk game or the draft results game? Tell us the Ayuk game. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, the same night that I dropped Justin Jefferson for Peyton Barber after week two, Heath dropped Brandon Ayuk for Mike Williams. Two days later, Ayuk cleared waivers and was signed by Mehron

and then dropped the next day for Danny Amendola. And it was not until another week when Iyuk was added by Ben Gretsch for $1, who dropped Darrington Evans, and Ben then kept Iyuk for the rest of the season on September 23rd. So Heath and I dropped Iyuk and Jefferson on the same day. How about that?

What week was I iuk picked up after week three and that was right or a kiddle was hurt at that that's when kiddo got hurt i guess yeah nice move by ben grach yeah way to go grachy uh everybody was playing hot potato iuk had five catches for 70 yards on eight targets at the giants in week three i think that's when kiddo was hurt okay so, so listen. Was there something else you wanted to... Well, I was just looking at the top 25 wide receivers from last year. I guess Chase Claypool just wasn't drafted. I don't know.

He might not have been. Let me check. Any other... He's checking. Any other brain busters? Any other what? Brain busters any other way brain busters that's it's uh oh that's bill madison yeah that's look dave look my shirt oh you're rudo any other brain busters all right chase claypool was drafted in round 13 did i skip over him i? I'm sorry. I think you did. I did. Because I would have counted him for sure.

I wonder who else you skipped over. I don't think anyone else. I'm sorry about that. When was Curtis Samuel drafted? No. Okay. Hey, listen, I've got something more fun. Was Devante Adams

drafted? I got a game for us to play. And this is my unofficial game show music till I find something better. We're going to play name that wide receiver drafted after round 10. Okay. Here we go.

Name that player, but only wide receivers who are currently being drafted after round 10. According to NFC ADP in the month of June. Okay. I scored double-digit PPR fantasy points in four of my last five games and caught three touchdowns in those five games.

I have caught... T.Y. Hilton? No. I have caught... Well, maybe, but I don't know. Oh, my gosh. I have caught two-thirds of my targets two straight seasons. My draft value could be tough to...

What's the word I'm looking for? Oh, here's a clue. Gauge. Right, that's the word I'm looking for. Russell Gage. Russell Gage! Yes, there you go. Who won that round? Me. I said Gage. Right. That's the word I'm looking for. Russell Gage. Russell Gage. Yes. There you go.

Who won that round? Me. I said Gage. You said Gage. I said Gage. I told you the word you were looking for. I said Russell Gage. Yeah, I said Russell Gage too.

No, Heath said it before you. I'm giving that one to Heath. Congratulations. I thought you didn't like Heath, and that's why I always won these games when it was me versus Heath. Now you're changing the rules. There are two more rounds, Dave, for you to win.

Yes, Russell. No, no. T.Y. Hilton did score double-digit touchdowns in four of his last five games. Double-digit touchdowns in four of the ten touchdowns? Double-digit fantasy points. Oh, okay. Okay, Heath.

So you definitely get the point. But Russell Gage did as well. And Julio Jones missed most of that. I don't think all, but most of that time. So yeah, what do you guys think about Russell Gage after round 10? In full PPR, I dig it. But he's the type of receiver, when you ask why you're drafting him, it's because you're hoping that that target volume stays where it was

and that you can squeeze out 12 PPR points per week. I don't see a path to him becoming the number one target in this offense. I don't see him becoming a top 20 fantasy receiver. He's like a number three reception-based receiver that you'll take with a late pick. Not exciting. You're padding your bench depth. Okay.

Next up, wide receiver drafted after round 10. Current ADP. According to Wikipedia... Russell Gage. According to Wikipedia, I was born May 9th, 1800 in Connecticut. I have two 1,000-yard seasons on my resume. John Brown.

Yes. Yes, Heath. Good job. Historical reference to John Brown. the Raiders ranked 10th in scoring eighth in total yards and 11th in passing touchdowns in 2021. So that's interesting for him to maybe be the number one wide receiver. Heath, who would you rather have?

Obviously not the number one target, but wide receiver on the team. Who would you rather have? John Brown or Russell gauge? I think I still have Russell gauge ranked higher. It's the thing that with my projections and the Raiders wide receivers, that makes it difficult. And I talked about this, I think earlier in the week, they throw to their receivers less

than any other team over the last two or three seasons. And I don't feel like we have a good grip on who's going to dominate targets. Nelson Aguilar did what he did in such a quirky, unsustainable way that it's hard to say well he could be nelson agler we wouldn't expect anyone to be nelson agler he had like 85 targets or something um so i just don't draft any raiders wide receivers okay dave gager or brown i believe i have brown ranked higher it's something i think i need to change because if I'm answering the question to why with John Brown why would I draft him well he's a boomer bus type of flex or bi-week replacement he I think he's got a higher ceiling if he can stay healthy compared to Russell Gage but Gage has the safer floor and when it's that late I can find other receivers that I'm more excited about to draft than John Brown for upside

purposes. Would you rather draft Ruggs or Brown? I've got Brown for now, but a really, really good training camp from Henry Ruggs will flip that. Heath, I want to talk about Aguilar, though, as it relates to Brown, because you could look at

the bye week as kind of a first half a first verse first half, not half, but first segment of games versus second. And after the bye week, that's 11 games. He had 71 targets. So he was on pace for 103 targets,

a thousand yards, seven touchdowns. So does that do anything for you? Cause really when you look at his total targets, 82 and 16 games, he was basically, I mean, one,

one, three, four, two in his first five games. And then was basically, I mean, 1-1, 3-4-2 in his first five games. And then better. I mean, it took a little while for consistency, but better after that. There were some long catches or some long, yeah, some big plays. But after that, his catches go 5-0, 2-1, 6-5, 4-5, 4-5-1. Right.

He got more consistent as the year went on. Is that fair to say? Yeah. He had a stretch of six straight games. Week 13, he had four catches for 38 yards. Week 15, he had four for 49. Week 17, he had one for 57. It doesn't change the fact that he got more consistent

as the year went on. I don't know. I think he was consistently bad early as the year went on. I don't know. I think he was consistently bad early in the year. Well, very uninvolved. The targets were more consistent, I guess is how I should have said it. Yes, that's true. All right. Last one.

Heath's already won. So, Heath, you can sit this one out if you want. It's BS. I got the first one. I was the... All right. You know what? I'll buy that.

Thank you. Put some stakes on this. That's so typical. I was... That's how these games are always played, Heath. You're always behind the eight ball. I was the number 33 wide receiver in non-PPR and number 27 in PPR last year, yet my

ADP is in the 50s right now. Marvin Jones. I was one of 19 wide receivers with 80 or more catches. Did you hear me say Marvin Jones? It's not Marvin Jones. I was one of 19 wide receivers with 80 or more catches. Did you hear me say Marvin Jones? It's not Marvin Jones. Oh. Yes, I did hear you.

Of those 19 players who had 80 or more catches, only Robbie Anderson and Cooper Cupp caught fewer touchdowns than I did. Hey, Heath! Probably cheated, so I feel like I have to give it to Dave. What do you mean? I think after I get the third one, now I get the clean sweep. I agree. I understand you wanted to make it competitive, but now I clearly won all three.

My last clue was bad children get a lump of me in their stocking. Sorry, I didn't get to that one. I get it. Cole? Yeah, Cole Beasley, who, by the way, in seven games without John Brown, had 58 targets. In seven games with John Brown, 74%... Sorry, 42 targets.

There we go. And then there was one game where John Brown played like half the snaps and Beasley had seven targets, but did get more targets when John Brown was not playing. It's the bottom line. Yeah. All right. Now, Beasley, Gage Brown.

Where does Beasley rank? He should rank behind Gage. Why? And ahead of Brown. Well, there's a couple of factors that we probably aren't really ready to talk about. Let's assume that he makes the team. We do expect Gabriel Davis to be a popular receiver, and we think that he's going to see a target jump.

And Emmanuel Sanders is there, and he can do a lot of the same things that Cole Beasley has been doing. I don't think we have to gloss over that. About the vaccine? Yeah. We're not even told that Cole Beasley is going to play this year. Yeah. I mean,

wait, I know he's weird if he's singled out for it. That would seem weird because there's, there are plenty of players in the NFL who've made the decision to not get vaccinated. There's no problem with that decision, but he has, he's had a long rant about not wanting to follow different protocols than

vaccinated players. And the team has to decide whether or not they and every team has to do this whether you're comfortable with this or not every team has to decide which players they're okay with not being vaccinated they cannot cut him because he won't get i don't think they could they can't no they will they can cut him if he refuses to get tested daily oh Oh, I suppose they could. If he does that, then he might surrender his salary. He will not get paid. Regardless, even if that whole thing's silly,

he is at a much higher risk of missing games than a player that gets vaccinated because he has to get tested every day and they don't. All right, that's fine. But if you wanted to throw that out and just evaluate them as players on i would have beasley slightly ahead of gage if that was the case yeah i'll put him behind gage i think there's more competition for targets with davis ascending and emmanuel

sanders there you have beasley behind you have davis ahead of all both of them yes all right you're too breakout baby i like it uh 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 you can say, hey, Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast. If you have Alexa, don't say the Google thing. Say the Alexa thing. Let's do some quick news and notes. Tyler Croft could be the Jets' starting tight end, according to the New York Post.

Oh, can't wait to draft him. Does that the Jets' starting tight end, according to the New York Post. Oh, can't wait to draft him. Does that even interest you in a tight end premium league? Might be one of my last two picks in the fishbowl. Maybe. Okay. Joe Mixon will have the biggest workload of his career, according to The Athletic. Not really a huge

shock. That was just some speculation by the beat writer who just said he's going to have more of a role in the passing game. He had a massive workload last year. So, you know, should be a big workload. Mecole Hardman has made big improvements according to The Athletic, and this is a guy that we will

talk about. I believe he's on Heath's list of top, yes, five favorites after round 10. And Demarius Thomas retired. Fantastic wide receiver from 2012 to 2016. This is where he finished in PPR.

Fifth, first, second, ninth, and fifteenth. That was quite a dynasty run if you had Demarius Thomas for those years. And he's responsible for like five years of people thinking that Tim Tebow could maybe be a quarterback. Oh, well, that's another feather in his cap.

That'll be honest. If he makes the Hall of Fame, that'll be on the bust. Okay, we will take a quick break. And when we come back, Heath's list, Dave's list, a top five wide receivers after round 10. We'll be right back. Whether in the game or in life, the right coverage can make all the difference. list of top five wide receivers after round matters. Find their products through banks, credit unions, and associations, or visit SecurianCanada.ca. Securian Canada, insurance designed for life.

Did you know 66% of utility damage is caused by not requesting a locate? Don't let your project become part of this statistic a quick locate request can save you from unexpected downtime financial penalties and keep you safe don't let avoidable damage cost you time and money click before you dig ensure your next project is safe visit ontarioonecall.ca it's free it's easy it's the law data sourced from the orcga 2023 dirt report ty hilton in his last six games was a top 12 wide receiver in fact he was sixth in non-ppr and 11th in ppr even better than russell gage as we learned from earlier you know he had double digit fantasy points in four of his final five games nobody knew that that's just a wild stat. Yeah, he's, I think, 31 this year.

In fact, the first two on your list, T.Y. Hilton and Marvin Jones, I believe. Hilton might be 30 this year. Jones will be 31. T.Y. is 31. Okay, so yeah, why don't you talk about, go ahead, start with Hilton, Heath, and he's number one on your list of wide receivers

after round 10. Yeah, I think Marvin Jones has one on your list of wide receivers after round 10. Yeah, I think Marvin Jones has been on this list every year that I've been employed at CBS. We don't have to talk too much about him. We do because the situation's different, though, I think, this year. What's that? The situation's different for Jones. Maybe.

Yeah, I think Hilton is one of those guys that falls because he's old and he's not particularly exciting and people can look at his stats page and say, oh, look, he's getting worse every year. He's not good anymore. And that could be true. But round 11 or 12 is a fine place to find out because I still think it's the most likely outcome that he leads the Colts in targets. I've got he and Michael Pittman back-to-back. I understand if you see Pittman's youth and you want to draft Pittman first, you can do that. You can draft him two rounds earlier or three rounds earlier and then wait for T.Y. Hilton. What do you think about pairing them, a little friendship?

I think it's a fine friendship strategy if you want to use two picks. It just depends on how you've constructed your roster. A lot of times by the time I get to round nine, I've already got three or four wide receivers. I don't necessarily want to use nine and 11 on two more wide receivers. But yeah, on a team where I'm running back heavy and I've got a good tight end and a good quarterback, I don't hate that at all.

What if Pittman's your number three receiver and you can get Hilton and then you lock up? I know this might not tight end and a good quarterback, I don't hate that at all. What if Pittman's your number three receiver and you can get Hilton and then you lock up? I know this might not sound pretty to people in Philadelphia, but you should have the top target in Carson Wentz's passing game. Assuming Zach Ertz doesn't get traded there. Sure.

And if he, well, whoever that guy is, that's your third receiver. It's not a bad way to go. TY's on my list, too. All right, how about Marvin Jones? Because the situation has changed, obviously. New team. Everybody knows I consider Marvin Jones,

maybe not everybody knows this, the most maddeningly inconsistent player in fantasy who inspired me to compile started fantasy points, which became the most annoying project in the world. And I gave up on it. But in reality, Marvin Jones on a season long basis has been basically the most consistent wide receiver.

He is on pace in the last like five years, every year, it's around 65, 75 catches. I don't know, 10, 1050 yards. It's like 110 targets.

It's every single year. No, it's over too many yards,. 1,050 yards. It's like 110 targets. It's every single year. No, it's over too many yards. It's like 900, 950 yards. Maybe about 1,000. Every year, on pace for 103 to 115 targets. On pace for 903 to 992 yards in four

of six seasons. On pace for nine touchdowns in four straight seasons. Or four of his last five seasons. He actually scored nine touchdowns in four straight seasons uh or four of his last five seasons so he actually scored nine touchdowns in three of his last four yeah exactly nine right exactly so um yeah okay anyway that's what he's done and he always finishes as like a high end number three or a low end number two wide receiver basically is that why you like him here do you think he can do this again i think he can and I don't think we know yet who the number one wide receiver in Jacksonville is going to be. I suspect it will be DJ Chark. And Loviska Chenault certainly is getting some praise

from the coaching staff. But they don't sound like they're really very pleased with Chark at this point, or they weren't pleased with what they saw on film from him last year. And Marvin Jones is a pros pro and a very, very good number two wide receiver in terms of NFL. I think he'll probably be a borderline number three in fantasy once again. I don't know if it means anything, but in his last 11 games last year, he averaged 17.1 PPR points per game. That's when he was effectively the number one receiver for the Detroit Lions. That's pretty nice. I think there's a chance that he could end up being the top target in Jacksonville's offense.

We're all gaga for LaVisca, and we know that DJ Chark has big play potential, but this is an offense that's got a really nice quarterback who should settle in quickly, and he might gravitate toward the most reliable receiver in terms of route running, in terms of hands. And I think Jones is it. So to get him and to take the chance on him with a late pick to be a number three receiver for your team, where he finished 26th in PPR points per game last year, I don't think it's a bad risk to take at all. I'm happy to get him. I'm happy to have him at the top of my list for bench wide receivers he he is a whole lot of fun in best bowl because he's going to have a week or two where he just crushes the entire nfl um he probably i was just trying to compile

i think he has at least one 28 point game each of the past five seasons he had three over 25 last year um i mean he had the four touchdown game in 2019 he had a 30 point game in 2018 even though he only played nine games like he all every year he has a couple maybe three just absolute monster games and that means that he also like he's a poor man's Tyler Lockett. But you don't really think of him like Tyler Lockett in terms of style of play. I'm just saying looking at the stat sheet. Right, because he's got a lot of high point games,

some smash weeks, and then he's got a lot of duds. Except when his season is over, like when this season's over, if he has 65 catches for 900 yards and six touchdowns, you'll say, yeah, I would expect that from Marvin Jones. But if Lockett finished with that, I think he'd be disappointed. Right. Yeah. And I just

want to point out, though, he played four games with Kenny Galladay. He had 80 yards against the Falcons and he had a combined 68 yards in the other three games. Do you know how many games he's going to play with Kenny Galladay this year? Well, but the point is, he was the alpha guy. You know, I think you've said, we don't know who the number one wide receiver is.

I think there's a chance that he could still be the alpha guy. I know no one wants to admit it, but I think there's a chance. Okay, next up we have... Now, is this a guy who shows up on both lists here? Yes. So, actually, oh, all three of these guys show up on both lists. I'm sorry. Dave has Marvin Jones,

T.Y. Hilton, and Darnell Mooney is third. And Heath has T.Y. Hilton, Marvin Jones, and Darnell Mooney is third. So Dave, I'll let you talk about Darnell Mooney,

who you have as one of your favorite wide receivers to draft after round 10. I like the way that he finished last year. 14 PPR points in his last three games. If you stretch that that he finished last year, 14 PPR points in his last three games. If you stretch that to four games, it's 13 PPR points. I think he's got some upside

in this Bears offense. And once Andy Dalton gets pushed to the side and it's Justin Fields, I think you could really see his big playability take off. I'm a big fan of Justin Fields' arm. I think he can connect deep. Mooney is the perfect guy to do that. This is a Bears offense that needs playmakers in a major way. And I think that Mooney can contribute. And I think he'll be asked to contribute as a key figure in this offense to the tune of six targets per week, which when you're getting that at a late point in the draft, you're absolutely happy to have it. And here's the other good thing about Mooney. And I think we can say this about Marvin Jones and T.Y. Hilton, too. You can draft them.

And if by the end of week three, it's just not happening, you can cut them and feel pretty good about it. Oh, really? I think so. Yeah. Well, I guess wait till week three. I don't think you have to be that patient. Certainly with Marvin Jones and T.Y. Hilton, I don't think you have to be that patient

with them. Mooney, maybe you'd want to be a little more patient with because he's in his second year. But if his first three games are three catches or two catches and 50 yards and Dalton is rolling and there's no sign of Justin Fields starting, or if Justin Fields is playing and he's not playing great, then I think it's an easy cut and you just move on from there.

Okay, Heath, anything to add on Mooney? great, then I think it's an easy cut and you just move on from there. Okay. Heath, anything to add on Mooney? No, I think Dave pretty well covered it. Okay. Well, I have a lot to add. Oh, wow. He would be, I think if he had a big year and you guys like, actually, why don't I ask you, are you targeting players that you think have, you know, shockingly high upside that could be the steel of your draft?

Or are you targeting players who could just be nice number three wide receivers, bi-week replacements, solid players, or both? You know, what are we talking about? We're in the wide receiver 50-ish range here. So I think that's important. Like when you say after round 10, I think people might think you're in the wide receiver four range or closer. Like if I was at wide receiver 40,

that 40 to 50 range is where you see a lot of guys come off that have that big smash upside. And that's why they're not there after round 10 because all the good wide receivers are gone and then all the upside wide receivers are gone. And then you kind of get to these guys.

So it's a combination of both, and for me, I lean more towards the upside for sure, but it also goes back to roster construction. If you could get to round 10 and you're looking for your number three wide receiver, in that case, you'd like a little bit more stability. I'm of the belief that I can find a wide receiver who's got a floor of 10 PPR points on waivers any week of the season. So finding somebody that can give me 11 or 12 PPR points per week, that doesn't excite me. I've got to have somebody that can get me north of that. And I think that if I can find a receiver that can do that, I'll draft them here. Otherwise, I'm looking for the upside. All right, so two different approaches there. I would just say that I don't think Darnell Mooney is on a good enough offense to warrant an upside pick. I don't know if we've seen this offense play to its upside since Matt Nagy's arrived in Chicago. I think you have to be really careful with especially the Bears

and how good we project their offense to be because it's entirely dependent on whether Justin Fields is the franchise quarterback they thought they were drafting. I think he's awesome. And if he comes in week four or something and takes over and all of a sudden he's just Justin Herbert, obviously in a different situation or a different type of player, but he's just really, really good, then a really good quarterback surrounded by Allen Robinson and Darnell Mooney and Cole Komet and Dave Montgomery and Tariq Cohen probably is a very good offense. So I guess I'm just taking a more conservative approach with rookie quarterbacks, maybe Lawrence the exception, but I still don't expect so much from them. I still expect growing pains.

And here's the point that I was trying to make. I looked at, you know, I always talk about sophomore wide receivers, and Mooney's a sophomore wide receiver, and that's an opportunity for a huge jump. But I looked over the last six seasons at the ones who kind of surprised us, not the ones who come up with 900 yards as rookies, not the Metcalfs, not the McLorens, not the Jeffersons, the Alan Hearns, Robbie Anderson, Chris Godwin, Kenny Galladay, that group, sorry, Michael Gallup, Cortland Sutton.

I found nine of them, if you want to include Deontay Johnson. He had a pretty bad rookie year, but he was not being drafted that way. I think he was being drafted in like the sixth round or something. Maybe a little later. But I found nine of them in the last six seasons. Guys who kind of had surprisingly

very good second seasons. Six of the nine players led their team in targets and receiving. That's not going to happen with Mooney unless there's an injury. And the other three were on offenses that threw for at least 4,400 yards and at least 30 touchdowns. So it happened with Chris Godwin. He was third on the team in targets or fourth or something.

And that was the year they threw for 5,368 yards and 36 touchdowns. It happened with Michael Gallup. He was second on the team in targets and receiving 4,900 yards, 30 touchdowns for the Cowboys that year. So that's my point. It's like either you have to be the number one guy on your team, like Kenny Galladay and Robbie Anderson and Tyrell Williams boys that year. So that's my point. It's like either you have to be the number one guy on your team, like Kenny Galladay and Robbie

Anderson and Tyrell Williams came out of it. That was the year Keenan Allen got hurt. Tyrell Williams was a surprise year two guy. Or you have to be the second best option or close to that on a really good passing offense. And I just don't think Darnell Mooney is either of those. Well,

he's the second option, but he's not on a really good passing offense. So just some numbers. I don't think wenell Mooney is either of those. Well, he's the second option, but he's not on a really good passing offense. I don't think we know that yet. We don't. You're right. Okay. Let's get some more names. Heath, you've got Rashad Bateman and

Mikko Hardman. Really, that is Rashad Bateman and Mecole. I'll spare you. Mecole Hardman. Who do you like better? I go back and forth,

but right now I think I'd probably lean towards Hardman with the... I'm going to go Bateman. I've got them just, I've flipped them back and forth and back and forth. They both might be the number two or number three option at best. Number three option at best, probably.

But when I heard you talking about the wide receivers that were drafted after round 10 last year that were good, or all of them, and only three of them were good. They were all rookies. That's right. And so it makes me want to just have all the rookies

be my favorite wide receivers to draft after round 10. Okay, but don't drop them. Well, that's the problem. You're probably going to. Right. You're going to have to make a bigger commitment to Bateman. Right. Or not.

Just deal with the consequences. I do think Baltimore's intends on throwing the ball more this year than they ever have. Whether that will come to fruition or not, we'll probably determine on how accurate Lamar Jackson is and how good Bateman is at getting open. But I think there's a path to where Bateman could be the 1A or 1B to Mark Andrews 1A, and Marquise Brown gets turned

into just a deep threat only. And if that happens and they also bump up the pass attempts like they're intending on, you could see 110 target season from Bateman. And Jackson's a really efficient passer because their run game is so good. So he could have one of those seasons where he is wildly efficient, scores a bunch of touchdowns, and really surprises some people. Hardman's obvious. He gets to play with Patrick Mahomes.

Sammy Watkins is gone. We've been saying it for three years. Maybe this will be the year. I think what Sigmund Blum said on Twitter the other day was good. It's like the Honey Badgers saying nice things about him. That can't be bad. Well, I'll tell you what, if Hardman

has a good year, I think I probably shouldn't take Kelsey fourth overall. I don't know that that's true. I agree. You don't think so? We'll go on. I think in the case of both of these receivers, one of the things

that would help them get to great status in fantasy is if a receiver gets hurt along the way. And it's obvious in Kansas city who would have to get hurt for Hardman to step up. That would be Tyreek. If that were to happen, then yeah,

I think Hardman would have a shot to be, um, to finish as a top 24 receiver. Let's call it that. I don't think there's as much of a chance for him to do it as long as Kelsey and Tyreek are there versus what Heath was saying in Baltimore, which is, and I'm a big Marquise Brown guy. I like Marquise Brown. I think he can continue to pick up where he left off last year.

But if his role dwindles, it could be because Bateman is playing such a big role as the perimeter receiver in one-on-one situations down the sideline where the Ravens are trying really hard to spread that pass game and force defenses to spread out their personnel. Because if they can spread out that personnel, their run game will be that much more effective. And there's going to be four to six games this year where the Ravens are going to have to throw. And they need to be ready for that and baitman could be part of the reason why they succeed in those four to six games and could build on that as the season rolls on to being a significant component in their passing game i'll just say like the chiefs threw 176

passes last year to hardman demarcus robinson and sammy watkins combined last year he just needs to separate from demarcus rob, which if he's going to ever be good, that shouldn't be that big of an ask. He just needs to earn the targets that went to Watkins and the targets that went to him.

He gets 117 targets. I think he's probably going to be really good. Keith, are you feeling the love for Byron Pringle? Because his name isn't going away. A little bit.

I always like it when there's that guy that doesn't get all the hype, but ends up outworking everybody else and getting the targets. But I think it's a little bit silly. He's getting a little more hype than maybe he should. Okay. I do want to tell you real quickly about what's coming up on CBS Sports HQ this week, and then we'll get to the other two names on Dave's list,

although we did talk about one of them who was born in 1800, John Brown. Yeah, he's already off my list, Adam. Oh, he's off your list? Okay. Off the list. We're going to replace him. Okay, good, good. So basically, CBS Sports HQ, this is where you need to be to stay up to date on sports and to just get really consistent old-school sports coverage with fantasy coverage, with gambling. You're going to really, really love it.

And you can watch it on your Roku, your Apple TV, your Fire TV, any most connected TVs. Just look for the CBS Sports app and check out HQ. It's the only 24-7 free sports streaming network. Start your day at 8 a.m. Eastern with Morning Buzz. That's an hour of highlights, news, and all the days need to know. And then just leave HQ on all day and just peek in during your breaks or whatever. But certainly at 6 p.m., come on back as we break down all the

night's action and release dozens of picks from the best analysts and cappers in the sports world. That's HQ on the CBS Sports app. All right, Dave, who are we replacing John Brown with? I am picking two receivers who I think fit in the profile of draft them for the early part of the season. And if they disappoint you, you can get rid of them and not look back. It's Devontae Parker in Miami, and it's Jalen Rager in Philadelphia. With Parker, we know that Will Fuller is suspended for week one. We know that Jalen Waddell is a rookie. So the first game, we don't know what that connection will be like with Tua. Tua is going to have to throw the ball a lot. I think Devontae Parker

is going to be a great play in DFS. And I think Devontae Parker will see probably a higher than normal amount of targets compared to what he does for the rest of the season he can help you get off to a fast start and maybe he builds off that and he has a good september and and he's somebody that can just be a useful early season fantasy wide receiver and rager's completely dependent on jalen hurts and just how many targets he ends up getting i think it's i think it's safe to say that smith and goddard will have more targets than Rager over the balance of the season. But we don't know how that offense is truly going to operate. We do know that Nick Sirianni does like to lean in the direction of his receivers. He's a former receiver and a former receivers coach.

And I think that Rager does have some big play upside. And Hurts does have an arm that can reach the deep parts of the field. And I, I just think that Rager has some of that, you know, maybe it's just like John Brown where it's boom bust flex potential, but I think he can be a little bit more than that. If given the opportunity, it's a matter of him getting the opportunity and a matter of Hertz showing that he's improved as a passer from year one to year two. And if we see those things in the first few weeks of the season, then you'll be thrilled that you have Rager on your team.

Well, but same argument with Rager as I made with Mooney. We know Mooney's not going to overtake Allen Robinson. For me, it's an if argument, right? It's all about if the quarterback plays better. I understand that, but do you think Rager can, because he's not like, Jalen Hurts could play better.

It doesn't mean he's going to throw for 4,300 yards per 16 games. He's not going to be that kind of a passer, but do you think that Rager could actually be the number one ahead of Devontae Smith? The path for that happening would be Smith not adjusting to the pro game, which you would say that's silly. He's a Heisman winner. He was amazing at Alabama. Well, Jerry Judy was an accomplished receiver

coming out of Alabama last year with an inaccurate quarterback, and he ended up being pretty bad. And there were other receivers in Denver who ended up being pretty good. So maybe that could be what Rager is. And for the dart throw of a late-round pick, I don't see the problem with having Rager on your squad.

Problem with Parker. And I do think that Jalen Hurts could be round pick i don't see the problem with with having gregor on your squad problem with parker could be a 4 000 yard passer in 16 games for sure i said like what did i say though 40 you said 4300 yeah 4 000 is possible um if you divide the kids it's like yards by the three and a half he played three and a half games as a starter it was a 4 200,200-yard pace as a rookie. I know. I don't really believe it, but I know it's true, but I don't really... Look, his receiving core is getting better. The offensive line will be a lot better. I mean, look, he's not going to rush for 1,000

yards and throw for 4,300. If he does, he should be the number one quarterback in fantasy. He's not going to do what he did in those games. If he throws for 4,300 yards I just it's just like and it's just another example of like we use the last four games or last five games or last six games of all kinds of different players and if that's someone we we really believe in and we'll say look what they did last year if they could do that they would be this and then

when somebody does something and we don't really want to draft them, it's like, well, they can't do that again. No, look, I have one real team. We've done a lot of mock drafts. I have one real team. And Jalen Hurts is my starting quarterback. So he doesn't need to do that in order to be worth taking

the eighth quarterback off the board or somewhere around there. I don't think he's going to run for it. I think the thing that would be better to doubt would be the 1,000 yards rushing than the 4,200 yards passing. I haven't projected for exactly 4,200 yards and

728 yards rushing. Okay. Parker starts his season with the Patriots and the Bills. At New England in week one without Will Fuller and then Buffalo the next week. That's not, you know, that's kind of a strike against him, Dave. I believe he's had a great game against Stephon Gilmore

and the Patriots before. He absolutely has. Last year, weeks one and two were against the Patriots and the Bills. Yeah. And he had 100 yards and a touchdown combined in the two games on nine catches. His second game last year was good, but that was against the Bills, I believe.

I really thought when Dave took John Brown off the list to add someone more exciting, he was going to strike a pin through Devontae Parker with the same stroke and just give us two young, exciting players. Parker crushed Buffalo in week 17. game stroke and just give us two young, exciting players. Uh, Parker crushed Buffalo in week 17. I remember Buffalo played like a half of that game.

I don't remember the specifics of Parker's at 14 targets, hit 116 yards, but Buffalo was kind of half playing. They sat Josh Allen in the second half. So, but if you're going to say, Hey, he lit up Buffalo.

He has actually been great against tough teams. He really has. Uh, but I don't know. New England and Buffalo in weeks one and two. Fuller's back in week two. You make the call at home, folks. You figure it out. I do want to

talk about Michael Gallup because he's a round 10 pick. Heath, on yesterday's show, I think it was, no, it was Monday's show, you said, hey, if CeeDee Lamb and Amari Cooper are going early in round four, I might just wait and take Michael Gallup in round 10 and go expand on that they are talking about moving michael gallup around the field a little bit more i think you can pretty much guarantee he's going to get at at very most the third most attention in this offense maybe the fourth most attention he has

big play potential every given week he could very well be like i don't really see a huge amount of difference between him and marvin jones in fact i i kind of wish i had michael gallup ranked higher than marvin jones okay i don't feel the same way i think lambs is a real deal i think cooper's got good rapport with with dac and you know you just look at those first four games. I remember after week two last year, everybody was bellyaching over Michael Gallup not being good, while the other receivers were. And then in week three, he was a monster. He was amazing. And then in week four, he went back to being kind of a dud. And he didn't have a great year overall. I don't think we can really judge him on the final 11 and one quarter games of his season but i i just i feel like he's going to be third fiddle in the passing game which means some weeks he's going to be really really good 25 ppr points but most weeks he'll be at 10 or fewer ppr points he'll be. He actually was a lot better than Lamb with Dalton.

The last seven games of the year when Dalton came back from the injury, Gallup had 80 more yards. And he was on pace for 80 more yards, and he was on pace for 16 more targets than Lamb. So he was better. And it kind of goes back probably a little bit to the same argument I've made for

Juju and for DJ Moore at times. It's that, I mean, he had 1,100 yards in 14 games as a 23-year-old. I don't think he sucks. Most guys that do that are good. And I think there's a possibility the number three option in Dallas is more productive than

the number two option in Jacksonville. Okay, sure. Let's read emails. Let's read emails. Here we go. Fantasy football at CBS.com. You have a mailbag coming up later this week, by the way, with your Apple podcast questions. Brian in Toledo says, Hey, Bruce, Kareem, Deontay and Logan. I want to say that those are Toledo alum maybe I'm starting a new league this year I want to know the best way to set up fab should it be continuous without

running on Tuesday should it not be continuous what what is the best way to set up fab I think we'll have different answers on this I prefer to have it run every wednesday and then have free agency after that i don't have a problem with that players lock for the week once their game starts i was in a league last year where there was one run of fab on

wednesday and that was it that was the only time you could make moves and man was that a nightmare with with covid and players getting ruled out over the weekend so i i'm a fan of that i think you put in your bids and then once the bids are done everybody's a free agent go get them uh as long as fab is turned off Sunday morning, then I'm cool with whatever you want to do. I'm trying to remember. Yeah, go on. I think the Sunday morning thing, what if something happens Thursday afternoon? Yeah, you could do Thursday too.

And then what if something happens Monday afternoon? Nah, I'm over it at that point. I'm trying to remember. There was a point late in the season where a running back got hurt or got put on the COVID list or something, and I picked up this one scrub in as many leagues as I could.

Gosh, I can't remember who it was. I'm looking because I know I picked him up in the IDP league. I'll try to figure it out. What I'm saying is, if you turn Fab off after free agency, you still run the risk of there was an injury during practice on Friday

and this guy's going to be out and then whoever's at their computer or on their phone at the time has the free reign to just go pick up the player. That could be a little frustrating, you know, if you're not around. But that can also happen on a Sunday morning. Was it Ty Johnson?

Oh. I honestly have no idea, man. I have no idea who it was. Yeah. I'll try to figure it out, because I remember in no idea, man. I have no idea who it was. Yeah. I'll try to figure it out because I remember in every league, he was a major talking point for the weekend. He was like a bonus pod caliber talking point. It wasn't called.

No, it wasn't called, but it was really late in the year. Was it Darryl Williams? I don't know. Yeah. I just... I think it may have been Daryl Williams. Could have been Tony Pollard? No, I would remember that.

He was probably rostered. Yeah. All right. Well, I wish I remembered. DeAndre Washington? He had like 15 carries. DeAndre Washington might have been it. Maybe.

I feel like it was Daryl Williams. Nah, why would it be Daryl Williams? Alright, well anyway, next email. Sorry, folks. Trip down memory lane. What a trip it was. From Jack in Dutch Country, Pennsylvania. I'm in the second year of a Superflex Keeper

League. Keeper Lane. We can keep three. My obvious choices are Ridley in the fifth and Herbert in the 15th. It's a super flex. I'm trying to decide, do I keep Dak in the second, Ryan Fitzpatrick in the 12th,

or an undrafted Logan Thomas? I'm going Dak. Where is that pick in the second round? If it's the first pick in round two, do you think you might be able to get a better quarterback than Dak? No. Not with keepers.

All right. Then Dak. Right? Because Dak's a first-round pick in a lot of super flex leagues anyway. So I would say no. All right. From Casey from Nashville, who is better than Emily at fantasy football.

I like that. I like that smack. Damn. I heard that Emily was way better. Subject line was keep Daniel Jones. And the question has absolutely nothing to do with Daniel Jones. Please help me with this conundrum. Don't worry.

It's not actually about Daniel Jones. 10 team, non PPR, four point per passing touchdown. Keep two in that round forever. Forever. I pick ninth. Dalvin Cook in round one.

Remember, this is non-PPR and four point per passing touchdown. Dalvin Cook in round one. Devontae Adams in round two. Kelsey in the third. Eckler in the sixth. Kyler in the eighth, and Aaron Jones in the eleventh. Keep two

forever. I bet Emily would be able to make this decision without even asking us. I think it's Eckler and it's Aaron Jones, and it's pretty easy. I think Aaron Jones is the easy one. Kind of like Kelsey over Eckler.

In non-PPR? In three rounds difference? Yeah. Wait, why especially in non-PPR? Because I don't think Eckler is nearly as valuable in non-PPR as he is in half or full PPR. Whereas Kelsey, you're still getting the elite caliber tight end. And you're getting him in round three.

Yeah, but that's no later than 30th overall. Oh, it's 29th. He's the ninth pick, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. I'm with Team Heath, but the subject line or the greeting was

Peter, Michael, Jack, and Mary. Hey, Peter, Michael, Jack, and Mary. Remember that one? Three men and a little lady? Hmm. Was that the one that had the ghost in the window? I think that was ghost. No.

I don't know. I don't remember. It might have been three men and a baby. Yeah, I didn't see three men and a baby. Okay, this is from Rob in a small town. You didn't see three men and a baby, but you saw three men and a baby okay this is from rob in a small town and see three men and a baby but you saw three men and a little lady you know my friend is the little lady and three men and a little lady good why wouldn't you see the first movie in the series because she wasn't in it i don't care wait what do you mean i thought the baby would turn into the little girl different actress

different actress what do you mean? Fraud. Hollywood lies sometimes, Heath. Okay, Rob wants to know, who would you rather have? Noah Fant or Herb Smith and LaVisca Chenault? I feel like these are all lottery tickets. I'd rather have two lottery tickets than one. I would probably take Herb Smith and LaVisca Chenault than one. I think that is...

I would probably take Irv Smith and LaVisca Chenault as well. I think it's unfair to call Noah Fant a lottery ticket. Yeah, what has he done to even warrant that? Bye. Just kidding. The second year tied in. Basically, I had some bad touchdown luck away from what TJ Hawkinson did last year.

Hey, if you put him in Detroit, I'd take him forth as my tight end for. Yeah, I would. I would. Yeah. Well, don't you already have Hawkinson as your tight end for Dave? Yes. So if Fant got traded to Detroit for Hawkinson, you wouldn't make Fant tight end for?

I think Fant's better than Hawkinson, you wouldn't make Fant tight end four? I think Fant's better than Hawkinson. He's the better athletic talent than Hawkinson. Right, as a receiver, yeah. I feel like everybody feels like Fant's a better receiver than Hawkinson. Isn't that the kind of common thought? Sure, but we haven't really seen

it in terms of fantasy production. Last year, he had two good games early on last year, and then he averaged 7.5 PPR points per game in his remaining 13. And he needs more work in the red zone. He needs more touchdowns. It's a crowded offense

with a very sus quarterback situation. Everything except for the crowded quarterback situation could be said about... Or everything except for the crowded receiving core could be said about or everything except for the crowded receiving core could be said about TJ Hawkinson. Exactly. And it's a big deal. No,

he's got a quarterback that can throw an accurate five yard pass to the tight end. So, so does no, I don't know. His name is Teddy. Oh, that's true.

Teddy can throw a five yard accurate pass all day long. Uh, Joe from a small town north of Boston. Augusta, Maine. Dear Tyler, Jamar, Tee, and Auden. Bengals. I need one keeper in a 10-team half PPR league where we lose the round of the keeper.

A.J. Brown in the fifth, Cam Akers in the sixth, or Antonio Gibson in the seventh. Can only keep for a year. Akers. So I'm drafting first. Yeah. All right. Akers it is. Good show, dudes.

Yeah. Hooray. Should I agree there? Oh, I know. Never mind. I know what the topic is tomorrow. yeah hooray I uh Shag are you there oh I know never mind I know what the topic is tomorrow it's top five

do not draft list players right yeah I'm gonna look at what last year's episode was and see if we got any of these actually right oh no you're gonna do that

right now after this show oh alright I was just thinking like I could probably name some of mine and they were probably awful. Who?

Well, I would say one of them might have been Lamar Jackson because he had to draft him in the first round. Yeah. Yeah, you were definitely... That worked out okay. Yeah. I have a fear

that I may have said Jonathan Taylor. I probably did too. I may have said Clyde Edwards-Alaire, which I wouldn't feel too bad about. That's a good one. I may have said Derrick Henry. I probably didn't say much that show, but I probably would have said Derrick Henry.

I found my article from last year, my Don't Want to Draft article. The first name on it was Josh Allen. Did not work out, as everybody knows. Yeah, that was a big surprise. Yeah. Looking forward to humiliating ourselves tomorrow. Dave, you're on that

one, right? I think. I don't know. I know Schneier's on it. Dan Schneier is coming back to give his five players that he does not want to draft, and we'll have a mailbag. Dan and Heath. Oh, Heath. Sorry, Heath. Get out of here, Dave. Later, everybody. Thanks a lot for listening

to Fantasy Football today. We'll talk to you tomorrow. We'll talk to you tomorrow. See ya. It's the season for new styles, and you love to shop for jackets and boots. So when you do, always make sure you get cash back from Rakuten. And it's not just clothing and shoes. It's time for the Racketan Podcast. to Rakuten first. Join free at rakuten.ca. Start shopping and get your cash back sent to you by