Fantasy Football Today - Top 6 WRs for 2023 (01/25 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: January 25, 2023

Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Justin Jefferson is our #1 WR even though Cooper Kupp was better than him on a per game basis. We'll discuss that and a lot more today as we reveal our Top 6 WRs for 2023. Who could join the elite group in 2023 (3:10)? What was the toughest call for Dave and Jamey to make (6:00)? Who has the most bust potential (8:00)? ... Taking a look at some small sample sizes for the Top 6 WRs and what they might mean for next season (9:40). How good was Tyreek Hill with Tua Tagovailoa? How much did Davante Adams struggle when Hunter Renfrow and Darren Waller were on the field? After that, we reveal our Top 6 (15:45). While there aren't any real surprises, there are some good debates to be had ... News and notes (32:30) including what the Bill O'Brien hire means for the Patriots ... Your emails at [e-mail] Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Welcome to our Wednesday edition of Fantasy Football. Today, we are talking about the top six wide receivers for 2023. They look a lot like the top six wide receivers at the end of 2022. Not exactly 100% the same, but I don't know. Does it bother you guys? You think about our running back rankings, and it's definitely different than what the standings look like.

You think about our quarterback rankings for 2023. Some of us have Trevor Lawrence in the top six or Justin Justin Herbert didn't even come close to finishing that high Justin Fields Jamie wide receiver it's just like wash rinse repeat with the exception of Cooper Cup it seems you know it's uh the thing that's that's good about it is with all the guys that changed teams and still had successful seasons with Tyreek Hill and Devontae Adams obviously being the top two and A.J. Brown staying healthy and having a big season. But with Hill and Adams, there was a lot of questions. Obviously, going from the quarterbacks that they left

to the quarterbacks that they went to, and for them to have the success that they had is pretty exciting. So we'll see what happens in year two. Obviously, Derek Carr is leaving the Raiders, so Devontae Adams is going to have a new quarterback, but you know, to, to see that those guys and their games carried over.

And in some cases, you know, Tyree kill, you know, most, most yards he's ever had Devante Adams still as dominant as ever, you know, that,

that they were that, that good is, is pretty comforting, exciting. And Dave, I actually, I forgot Jamar chase cause he missed four games too. But if you look at the top six, for me anyway,

I think we probably all have the same top six. They are the top six finishers per game in some order, okay? In full PPR. So it was cup per game. It was cup, Jefferson, Chase, Tyreek Hill, Stefan Diggs, Devante Adams. Is that your top six in a different order? It's in a different order.

And it's not as easy as saying, well, we're just going to take the top six guys and just rinse, wash, repeat. But I do feel like they carry safety on top of everything else that we know about them, their high volume wide receiver ones for their fantasy, for their NFL teams and thus for our fantasy teams, potential to score tons of touchdowns. I don't think we should try and split the Adam here and try and make the case for why, you know,

one of these, I don't want to split the Adam or the Adam. One is messy. And the other one is way beyond my mental capacity. Uh, but I'm not ready. I'm not ready to put like one of these second year receivers in my top six. I've already got receivers in my top six.

I've already got one in my top 12. That was a big step. So I think it's just the mindset that I'm going to have going into the drafts as of now is that there are six wide receivers that are absolute studs. Would love to have one or two of them on my team if I can pull it off. Yeah, so again, the wide receivers we'll be talking most about are the ones who finished top six per game cup, Jefferson chase,

Tyree kill Stefan digs, Devante Adams, who would be the net? Who could crack that, uh, that group, Jamie? Um,

who can crack that group? Tyler Boyd. I mean, you lamb is seven for me and you. A.J. Brown is seven for Dave, and Lamb is eight. Lamb could definitely. I think Lamb is a good choice. I do think it's interesting that in the last 10 games,

including the playoffs, Devontae Smith has been better and got more targets than A.J. Brown. Yeah. It is interesting. By 20 PPR points, by the way. So I think Lamb is probably the best candidate to do it. I could see if Hopkins is in the right situation, even at his age, if he gets to a team

or the Cardinals find the right, you know, system for him. Not that the system has been bad for him, but I guess it's probably bad things. If he goes to a different team, he gets traded or Kyler's healthy. You know,

he could be in that conversation too. And Dave, you've mentioned the second year wide receivers. What about one of them? What about a Monroe St. Brown? You know, who else could get,

could get in there? CD lamb average 17.7 PPR points per game last year. In Garrett Wilson's games without Zach Wilson, doesn't matter if it's Mike White, Joe Flacco, Joe Namath, whoever, he averaged 17.3 PPR points per game. And now there are rumors starting to build that they're going to get Aaron Rodgers. I would love that.

That would be amazing for Garrett Wilson. He's the second year wide receiver that I would draft as a top 12 wide receiver, top 10 actually. But I think he's got the best chance to crack that top six. There will be a ton of excitement if he gets the best quarterback upgrade this offseason. Just doing some math right now. I think this is right. CeeDee Lamb averaged, you said 17.7, right? So that made him. That's what I've now. I think this is right. CeeDee Lamb averaged, you said,

17.7, right? So that made him... That's what I've got him at. Yeah, that is right. Wide receiver seven per game. But in just the games that he played with Dak Prescott, well, not including week one, sorry. So when Dak Prescott came back from the injury, 19.2. That would have been wide receiver,

also wide receiver seven, but a point and a half more than the current wide receiver seven, but a point and a half more than the current wide receiver seven, which is Lamb and A.J. Brown at 17.2. 19.2 since Dak Prescott returned. That was through the end of the regular season. Didn't count two very good

playoff games. And for reference, Stephon Diggs was 19.8. Devontae Adams was 19.7. So Lamb with Dak. Now, that's dragged down by a horrible week one, but with Dak, he was pretty close to this group here.

All right. Let me ask you another question about this group. What was a tough call? Do you have a tough call within the group? Maybe it was who to put at number one or number two or something like that. Anybody have a tough call that they had to make within this group of six? I think the fourth wide Anybody have a tough call that they had to make within this group of six? I think the fourth wide receiver is a tough call.

You've got some great candidates with Tyreek Hill, Stephon Diggs, Devontae Adams. I think if you're judging it solely based on who their quarterback is going to be, it's easiest to just go with Diggs because you know it's going to be Josh Allen. We think it's going to be Tua in Miami. How long that lasts with Tyreek Hill, that remains to be seen. He was still pretty good without Tua, but you'd want him to have a

steady quarterback all year long. And we have no clue who Devontae Adams quarterback is going to end up being in Las Vegas this coming year. I ranked it Tyreek, Diggs, Adams. Those three are my four, five, and six. I wouldn't fault anybody for having Devontae fourth or Diggs fourth. That order of the next three, I think that's a half tier down from the first three. How about you, Jamie? No, no real struggles. I think they've hit it. The quarterback concerns for Miami and for the Raiders are certainly relevant. If there is no two, you got gotta be a little bit

concerned because we did see Tyreek struggle at the end of the season with Skylar Thompson. I would hope there's something better than that if Tua is not ready to go. And then obviously whatever the Raiders decide to do. Um, but I think Devante Adams again, has, has shown that he's almost quarterback proof at this point, unless it's a rookie or somebody that's an absolute disaster. So I can't imagine the Raiders doing that. It's amazing that Justin Jefferson finishes the number one receiver in fantasy with only eight touchdowns.

Well, actually he had nine because he had a rushing touchdown, but eight touchdowns on 184 targets receiving. He had over 1,800 yards and only scored eight touchdowns. I mean, think if he had had a 12 touchdown season or something like that, or if he had had a 15,

there's no reason why he couldn't have had a 15-touchdown season. Seeing players like that with getting that many targets have that kind of season, just imagine how much better he would have been. That's amazing. More on that in a moment here. Who's got the most bust potential? That's my last question for you,

and then I'll tell you about an awesome new podcast that I listened to last week that you need to start listening to. But who's got the most bust potential in the top six? I would say it's Adams, you know, just because again, quarterback not knowing who it is and he's getting obviously up in age. Tyreek, I guess same thing. You know, these guys aren't getting younger and for Hill, you know, if he loses a step with his speed,

you got to be really concerned because of his size, you know? So those would be the two for me. Diggs probably also he's in that age range as well. Diggs is in the age range, but Cooper Cupps, the oldest of them all. He's 30 and his quarterback is 38. Double checking. No, no, no, no, no. 35.

Sorry, Matt. So oversell your age. The fact that they're old, that's kind of a concern. The offensive line, I need to see that rebuilt in LA. But we know that McVay is going to be there. That's a good thing.

That gave me the confidence to put Cooper Cup at number two. Okay. Let me tell you about with the first pick. I did take a listen to it last week. Got very acquainted with some of the draft prospects.

It was awesome. They did a mock draft with four of them. And so it was Ryan Wilson and Rick Spielman. They're on some of the draft prospects. It was awesome. They did a mock draft with four of them. And so it was Ryan Wilson and Rick Spielman. They're on all of the shows, and he brought on two other CBS draft dudes and learned a lot about the prospects. And, you know, it was really cool to hear a mock draft go down.

So check it out. It's called With the First Pick. It's Ryan Wilson hosting it. Rick Spielman, the former general manager of the Vikings, is on it, and he'll bring in a cast of characters to help you learn about all these players, the strengths, the weaknesses. C.J. Stroud versus Will Levis, for example. The best defensive players.

All these great things. With the first pick, wherever you listen to podcasts, check it out. Okay, so with a little help from my buddy Thomas Schaefer, we have the Azerstat wide receiver standings. Okay, what the heck are these? Nobody knows. Well, here's what they are. Taking my favorite sample sizes from all of these players

and figuring out, based on those fantasy points, who is number one. So, okay, how about Cooper Cup? Cooper Cup in eight games with Matthew Stafford, his 17-game pace would have been 403. I'll just round up. 404 fantasy points. Okay. That would have been number one. Azerstatt sample size number two, Stefan Diggs with Josh Allen before the elbow injury. He scored 400 fantasy points per 17 games. Number three in the Acer stat standings is Justin Jefferson, and it was just his full season, 365 PPR fantasy points.

I spent a lot of time on that one. Way behind. So Cup at 404, Diggs at 400, Jefferson at 365. Number four in the Acer stat standings, Tyreek Hill. I thought he'd be higher. Tyreek Hill with 12 games with a healthy Tua. You know, almost 1,800 yards, 10 touchdowns. I thought he'd be higher.

He's 10 points basically behind Justin Jefferson. Number five is Jamar Chase. And that would be in eight games that he played without T. Higgins leaving with an injury. And then number six is Devontae Adams. Six games with both Darren Waller and Hunter Renfro. Way behind 270 fantasy points. 271 fantasy points.

Number one was Cooper Cup at 404. Devontae Adams did a lot of his damage without Renfro and Waller on the field. But anyway, Cup with Stafford

is the easiest case to make. Cup was horrible in the one game with John Wolford. But the eight games with Stafford, he was much better than everyone.

Diggs with Allen, first eight games of the season before Allen's elbow injury, on pace for 128 catches. That's the same as Jefferson. 1,821 yards, that's 12 more yards than Jefferson. 15 touchdowns compared to the eight for Jefferson. Actually, like I said, nine for Jefferson because he had a rushing touchdown. But, I mean, what do you make of that? Stephon Diggs before the Josh Allen elbow injury

was as good as anyone. He was almost as good as Cooper Cup per game and was better than Jefferson significantly because he scored a lot more touchdowns. I don't think it's that surprising. We've known that he's been an awesome target for Josh Allen for as long as he's been in Buffalo.

15 touchdowns is a lot. That one opens my eyes a little bit. This is why these guys are top five fantasy wide receivers. Wasn't that the issue for him in year two last year with Josh Allen? He didn't score a touchdown.

And the other thing is, Josh Allen in those games, those eight games before the elbow injury, he was having a much better season than anything we had ever seen from Josh Allen. He was up to pace for 5,100 yards. He'd never come close to that. You also azer-statted that without taking out the game Gabe Davis missed. I mean, Gabe, that's true, but...

The one Stephon Diggs went absolutely nuclear. Did he? The Tennessee game. Yep. Oh, well, yeah. But they only played three quarters in that game, so. Well, there's a reason. Yeah.

Okay, no, that's. I wonder if that's the most downfield productions the Fondicks had all year. I mean, I could certainly look at that, the route depth and all that stuff. You're right. I think I'm going to have to rerun those numbers. Okay.

But it still doesn't take away from Diggs being an amazing receiver. Right. No, it doesn't. But, you know, again, it's like the Joe Mixon Carolina game. Like, it's just a little bit of an outlier for a great player. Right. Tyreek with Tua, though. What do you think about Tyreek with Tua?

That one stood out to me, and the Devonta Adams number stood out to me. The Adams one is there's a report that the Raiders might be considering a complete overhaul. I think as part of that, the note was teams are monitoring Darren Waller and Hunter Renfro, and if they'll be available. That could clearly

change some things. Obviously there's going to be players still there. And I do think the, the one quarterback that makes a lot of sense based on rumors is Tom Brady going there and is Brady going there with Gronk. And so Brady and Gronko there is Gronk just going to take Darren Waller's spot if Waller's moved, you know, so it's, it's kind of a wash in some way, shape or form. But in any event, yes, Tyreek Hill clearly is,

it was great with Tua. I mean, I think that was, you know, pretty clear. You know, so you say you thought he'd be better. No, I thought he would rank higher. I thought he would rank higher in these standings based on 119 catches, 1,768 yards, 10 touchdowns. That was his pace in 12 games. Did he factor his rushing too?

He didn't do much of that, I don't think. Maybe not in those games anyway, but no, I did not. What about when the Dolphins' line was at its healthiest point? I'm not getting into that. I'm just doing the two-a stuff. Oh, okay. Yeah, I mean, they were significantly better when Austin Jackson was there,

which I think we might have overlooked a little bit because a left-handed quarterback losing his right tackle is pretty significant. He only had like 40 rushing yards or something on the year. That Tyreek Hill we're talking about. The Devontae Adams thing, the six games he played with both

Waller and Renfro, he was on pace for 176 targets. That's the encouraging thing. For some reason, he just didn't do that's the encouraging thing, right? It's, he just, for some reason, he just didn't do that well in those games, but he still was averaging more than 10 targets per game. You know, so it's probably

a little bit fluky there. He just, he had that stretch mid to late season where he was unfreaking believable and those guys were out for those games. All right. So without any further ado, let's go through the rankings here. freaking believable. And those guys were out for those games. Alright, so without any further ado, let's go through the rankings here. And does everybody have Justin Jefferson

won? Yes. Anything you want to get into? Why you kept him won when Cup was better? Does everybody have Cup 2, by the way? I do. I did not initially, but I was just waiting to see what Stafford and McVay were going to do when we released our rankings.

But yes, he will be too now. I think for me, Jefferson has just been so tried and true in four seasons or three seasons. You know, now in year four, just Kevin O'Connell's system, you know, we thought it was going to unleash him a little bit, and it did. Cousins has has certainly you know played well enough uh to show that he can support the best receiver in the world um and i you know he's just continuing to add to his game you know so his his route tree has developed his his ability to you know get open and and and to escape you know the double and and and to prove that he is that guy and so i think year two in the system will be him better.

I think hopefully the touchdowns will spike a little bit. So he's just not the number one receiver. He's the number one player in fantasy. So he's the number one wide receiver and the number one player to draft in full and half PPR. Okay. And Dave and Jamie both have Chase third. So it's just Jefferson Cup Chase? Yes.

That's how I have it. Okay. Do we all have the same top six? Jefferson Cup, Chase, Hill, Diggs, Adams? That's my top six. Yes. Oh, wow. How about we talk about Jamar?

Can we just make a point here that it's not like we all get together and talk about players before we do our rankings. No, but this position is so obvious, though. I know, but I just want to make sure that people don't think that we're group thinking here and that we did this organically. I mean, it does feel obvious. However,

it's interesting to rank Cup second when it feels like the, I don't know, it doesn't feel like things are great for the Rams right now. And what I like about Kup was he was that good, and Stafford stunk last year. I would say things are actually very good for the Rams right now. Imagine if they didn't have McVay and Stafford coming back.

That would be an absolute disaster. But still, even with those guys, they were still bad. I don't know if they were bad, but they were not good with, uh, with, with those, with Stafford healthy this year,

you know, he had a bad season, uh, and the line sucks. Yeah. But you know what though, at the end of the year, they,

they got some semblance of continuity. I think it was like, I don't think it happened a week 18, but I think week 15, 16, 17, there was some two game, three game stretch in there where they had the same group. And that's when acres was, was, was doing this thing. I'm actually

curious to see how this is going to work. If the run game is actually successful, successful, because you know, they, they won the super bowl really with the lack of a consistent run game. You know, Sonny, Michelle had some good moments. Obviously acres did a little bit in the, in the playoffs, but it wasn't exactly like he was, you know, averaging five yards per carry. It was, you know, struggling, but this, this run game took off at the end of the season, you know, and, and can that maybe impact how they throw the ball and maybe what they do throw in the ball, you know, McVay is going to have to retool his offense a little bit. And the second receiver is going to be important to see what they, what they do, if it's still Alan Robinson,

which will be terrible, but you know, did they find something in, in maybe two, two Atwell or Ben Skoranek or, you know, somebody else to step up and help there? Van Jefferson, is there another player coming in? So I think the thing that you bank on with Cup is the rapport, the breakfast, everything that those guys do together. You know, I mean, they've been fairly consistent over, you know, for the most part, a two-year stretch when you factor in how many postseason games they play together. You know, so it should be something that you could feel comfortable buying into with those two guys, even though Stafford, as Dave has aged him to 65 years old, that, you know, they still have that.

As long as he's healthy, I think, you know, with everybody back, I'll trust in McVay and those two guys still producing at a high level. Yeah. So cup cup was not as good as he was in 2021, but he still was the number one wide receiver per game. That included one game where he left with an injury and played with John Walford and was terrible. But if you look at Stafford, just to keep things simple, you know, I won't get it. He, he was per 17 game pace just with his eight games with Cooper Cup, right? He was about 800 yards worse than he was in 2021,

and he was on pace for 17 touchdowns compared to 41 the year before. So Cup was that good with a major downgrade at quarterback. Pretty incredible. Bring back Robert Woods. Yeah, Bring back your left tackle. Alright, so Chase

had a very interesting year. He went from 18 yards per catch in 2021 to 12 yards per catch in 2022. He went from six plays of 50 or more yards in 2021, with five of them being touchdowns, to one play of more or more yards in 2021, with five of them being touchdowns,

to one play of more than 41 yards in 2022. But he became a touchdown machine. He dominated the team in red zone and green zone targets, despite missing four games. So that was interesting. They did not throw the ball downfield much on average. They changed a lot offensively. And Dave, what do you make of that little metamorphosis for the Bengals offense and

for Jamar chase? I think they were taking what the defense was giving them and they just did not want to get beat deep. And so chase was shortening his routes and he's, he's going to be good no matter what he does, but that helped them move the chains. And then he's just so good in the red zone as we've seen. I think it's interesting that he had one game with 13 or 14 PPR points, one with 15 or 16, one with 17 to 19, one with 20 to 24. And then his other games with 15 plus PPR were 25 plus. So, and I think that's kind of a common trend that we'll see from all the elite wide receivers, certainly with Cooper Cup, who is that way. But a lot of top heavy production where if they're not getting you huge games,

they're usually going to be somewhere between okay and uh-oh. And you could see that from Chase in his first five games of this year. Week one, he was a monster. The four games after that, he was terrible. Did anybody panic? No. Did anybody bench him? Also no. The two games after that, he was the number one receiver in week six and seven.

So maybe he's a little more flighty than other wide receivers, but just that top-end potential and knowing that he can beat defenses either going over the top or by just racking up targets in short area. Number one in targets per game among all wide receivers last year. Chase deserves to be a top three wide receiver. That's so surprising with the presence of T. Higgins that Jamar Chase was the number one wide receiver in targets per game. That's wild to me and he was 37 how good he is you know and it's no slight to t higgins but you know there's there's obviously a a talent difference to whatever degree you want to put on

it and now he's entering year three and you know that's where the the maturation process you know is starting to get complete and the route tree understanding is starting to get complete and all those things you know so you're taking an elite level prospect who's done this through two years and now it's okay the thing that that that NFL players always tell you and coaches and personnel people always tell you, rookie year is a circus, you know, you go through the draft process, you go through finding a house, you go or find a place to live, you go through all those things in your first offseason, your real first offseason is really year one to year two. And then it's how do you take that schedule, everything that you did that process and go really year one to year two. And then it's, how do you take that schedule,

everything that you did that process and go from year two to year three. And that's why we always talk about third year receivers. So it's not necessarily that their stats might get better. Their understanding of the game is better. Their understanding of their quarterback is better. If you're in the same system, that's even better, you know? So he's got all those things going. He checks every box, you know? And so it's, it it's he may not have a statistical explosion in year three but my god if he does hello you know we might be under better than cooper cup last year uh per game if yeah if he if he has the explosion look justin jefferson just finished his third year and he had his best year ever that was was, is that what you're talking about,

Jamie? When you say, well, he's a little different, but yes, I mean, you know, he,

he had a new system, you know, so, but it was kind of like the, the, the best of a best case scenario, because it was a system that was going to feature him to the level that we hoped he would be featured.

That's not going to change for Jamar chase, at least unless Zach Taylor just, you know, again, retools his offense after what, you know, teams try to do to take away Jamar Chase in the big play in year two. So I don't think he's going to have that big leap in production in year three, but I do think that

he still is, is trending in the right direction. So he should have a little bit of a bump in numbers if things go well. And again, you know, we don't know how much the hip injury, you know, the, the first game back, set him back at all, you know, how, how healthy was in those first few games. But you have a quarterback ascending, you have a, a, a coach that's, you know, proving to be one of the better play callers in the league. And you have a player that was expected to be a superstar playing like a superstar, and he might not be doing it yet with the full capacity of what he's capable of doing and if that happens again huge explosion can come along with it yeah jamar chase is going to average more than 12 yards per catch there's just that's way too i would think yeah all right i think we've more or less covered all this here digs hill and davante adams rounding out the top six and uh just, we have a wide receiver question in our chat,

so let's take a wide receiver question. And the question is about Kadarius Toney. Where do you guys see Kadarius Toney getting drafted in 2023? There's obviously a lot of variables here because we don't know what the Chiefs receiving core is going to look like. I did the stock up, stock down off the playoffs. And again, we talked about this on Monday, receiving core is going to look like. I did the stock up, stock down off the playoffs, you know, and again, we talked about this on Monday that he played 20 snaps. In those 20 snaps, he had seven

targets and a carry and had five catches on the seven targets. He does not know what he's doing yet in this offense. I mean, you know, he has a little bit of an idea, which is why they're playing him a little bit. If he can stay healthy and if there's not a lot of significant talent brought into this receiving core in this offseason. You know, let's just play it out. They re-sign one of Juju or Mikko Hardman for a minimal deal. MVS stays. And they have that much faith in Kadarius Toney, who is a first-round talent that they got for basically nothing from the Giants.

You know, so if he's in that role, he could be a superstar. Absolute superstar. So the way that I wrote it in the stock up, stock down thing was, depending on what the Chiefs look like, round six is where you'll start to consider him. I don't think you want to go much crazier than that. That's kind of where we were drafting Juju this year, round five, round six. So if he's in that lead role, potentially, I think that's safe. Now, if there's nobody brought in role potentially I think that's safe now if there's

nobody brought in and it's you know Justin Watson type of guys you know not not to slight those type of players but it's just a you know Sky Moore is still there right you know the the the guys that haven't done anything yet in their careers then I think you get a little bit more excited about Caderius Tony so maybe around five but I don't think you want to go over the top yet with him I'm worried that by the time we get to August, we'll be so excited about Kadarius, Tony, that we will be talking about taking him in round five for now. I think round seven is a good mindset to have because I mean, you really outlined it, but you got to remember the downside. Mahomes already said this year, it's going to be a different receiver every week.

I don't think it's going to suddenly change in 2023. And Tony's going to become a focal point a la Tyreek Hill. I don't think he can get there. We know he's got hamstring issues. And, um, the, the one thing that was, uh, a problem with him in New York, there was talk that he wasn't really as focused on football that seems to be changing. And so that's a positive in his favor. I think round seven is a good time to take a risk on him

because most people think back about the players you've taken in round seven. How many of them have helped you absolutely crush your league? Sometimes it does happen. Sometimes it doesn't. The players in round eight and round six, typically just as good. He's worth the upside players in round eight and round six, typically just as good. He's worth the upside shot in round seven. If he really did have focus issues in New York, I'm glad he got traded to the Chiefs. Me too. Because don't you think if a player has focus issues, you're on a franchise

that's been, I think, the second worst franchise in football over the previous five seasons. You can't go to the Chiefs and have focus issues. I mean, they have nothing but credibility, right? Well, you could, but then you turn into Sky Moore. Well, I don't know what focus issues mean exactly. I mean, it's pretty vague. Not caring as much as the coaches want you to care. And I'm not saying that Sky Moore doesn't care as much,

but on the field, Sky Moore definitely had some focus issues. Well, that's different on the field and off the field. I'm just saying, like, you can't, you go to the Chiefs, they go to the Super Bowl twice in the last three years. They're the best franchise. One of the best coaches, they have Mahomes, right? You're going to fall in line. Well, I think the thing that happens with

certain players, and this is why they, you know, don't last long in the league, the not for a long type of guys is they think their talent is going to overcome any work ethic issues they may have, you know, and we, we, we've had these conversations, not necessarily us, but, you know, people that, that cover the league about Kyler Murray, for example, you know, and his dedication and, and, and the clause that was put into his contract about the study clause because there were some concerns whether valid or not.

And Kadarius Toney might be that type of player, at least maybe he was, that, oh, I am a first-round talent. I'm a superstar player. I was coveted, at least reportedly, by two teams because the Jaguars wanted him, that somebody will take a chance on me. And even if I fail here I'll be successful someplace else well now he's been dealt and and that's already happened once and so you know maybe he's opened his eyes a little bit but yes being in that type

of culture with the Chiefs where the quarterback is not going to the quarterback will hold you accountable the coaching staff I think top down will hold you accountable and The coaching staff, I think, top-down will hold you accountable. And it's lack of distractions because clearly being in New York and that area is a little bit different than being in Kansas City. So, hopefully all those things factoring in make Kadarius Toney the player that he's capable of being. He also went from Joe

Judge as his coach to Andy Reid. Well, yeah. Well, Brian Dable, he had an off-season. Dable, right. Right. So, I don't know. Maybe there was something. Dable, right, right. So I don't know. Maybe there was something that Dable also didn't like that they couldn't connect. I don't want to speculate on that. I'm just saying that you talked about culture. You go to the Chiefs, you should fall in line.

They know what they're doing, right? I mean, they have a ton of credibility. So I'm happy he ended up there because I love Kid Arias, Tony. I want to see his career flourish. And just the point about the the hamstring injuries yes it's something to keep in mind i don't know if this year's hamstring injury was really a hamstring injury um so just oh at the beginning of the year right yeah we'll we'll see how much of that maybe just disappears reportedly he felt like he could come back and the giantsants just, you know, were either playing it slow or just didn't

want him to come back. No, I tried him. Okay, let's take a break. And when we come back, we will talk about the news and notes, get you updated on some of the things for this weekend, and read your emails at fantasyfootball at cbsi.com. Oh, Bill O'Brien is the new offensive coordinator for the Patriots. We'll talk about that

right after this. Did you know that across Ontario, utility damage happens 19 times a day? That's over 4,222 incidents a year. Don't let your next dig be one that causes costly delays or safety risks. Before you break ground, make it a point to request a locate. It's not just the law. It's a step to keep your team and community safe. Welcome back to Fantasy Football today. Here are your news and notes from around the NFL.

So the bad news, San Francisco defensive lineman Charles Omenahu arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor domestic violence. We never want to see that. Don't know what's going to happen with him for this game this weekend. But obviously it's more serious situation than football. Christian McCaffrey is dealing with a calf issue. And I told you that he was injured. Yeah. So I mean, I guess we'll, hopefully we'll get an update for tomorrow's show.

We'll get a practice report and see how he's doing. But he wasn't really able to finish the game. There was sarcasm found on my comment there, for those who were listening. I hope they were. It was pretty obvious. I hope so. Just making sure. Patrick Mahomes is going to play, but he has a high ankle sprain. Tony Pollard should be ready for training camp. It'll be very interesting to see where he ends up. If it's Dallas, that's great. If he goes to another team

and he can't do anything until training camp, that might be a setback in his quest to be a number one running back. Tony Pollard. Let's talk about the Patriots hiring Bill O'Brien to be their offensive coordinator. He was the head coach of the Texans from 2014 to 2019, and then in 2020, he was fired after, I believe, four games. But in those six seasons before that, his team never finished higher than 11th in scoring.

They were top six in rush attempts in four of six seasons. They were top 12 in all six. And only had one season where they were higher than 14th in pass attempts. In one season as Patriots coordinator, they went to the Super Bowl, but they were third in scoring, 17th in rush attempts, third in pass attempts. So completely different than his philosophy with Houston. Jamie, your reaction to Bill O'Brien going back to the Patriots

as their coordinator? It'd be great for Mondray Stevenson if he's the lone guy there, but whoever's the running back group there, you got to feel comfortable about those guys.

So Damian Harris is a free agent. It'd be interesting if they bring him back or whatever else they do to add to Stevenson, but Stevenson's going to be... He was already

a top-12 running back for me with the assumption that Harris is gone and this will solidify it if nobody of, of name value is brought in. So he's, he's worth taking as early as round two. Um, I think for Mac Jones, there's a relationship there. Those guys had some time together in Alabama. So we'll see how that goes. Uh, by all accounts, there's expecting a lot of fireworks are expected between O'Brien and Mac Jones from how those personalities may clash again. I don't think it's going to change how you view the Patriots passing game, or at least it shouldn't, you know, until they prove otherwise. So we'll see what this receiving core looks like. Jacoby Myers, a free agent, if they comes back, I still think he's the best option there. But, you know,

Taequann Thornton is somebody that you want to keep an eye on just in case he takes that next step and gets a little bit more of an opportunity because he showed some flashes when he got playing time. Hopefully, he could turn into something that could be maybe a number three receiver in fantasy. Dave, is this a big needle mover for you? Bill O'Brien to the Pats? Anything's better than what they had last year. At least now they've got somebody that's got all kinds of experience calling plays on offense and understanding how to manipulate defenses. And so it's a plus.

Is it a huge plus? Does it make me want to run out and draft Mac Jones? Hell no. It makes me think that DeAndre Hopkins has 0% chance of landing in New England because those two did not see eye to eye in Houston. I think I'm going to be at the point where I'm really going to be only excited about Stevenson if the Patriots offense doesn't change that much. There's some interest in Taequann Thornton,

and I'm curious what ends up happening with Jacoby Myers. Myers will be a free agent, but it's not going to be an offense that will be a well of fantasy production. I feel like, well, I know it. Now I'm looking at it. Ramondre Stevenson had a really bad finish to the season. Terrible. He wasn't getting nearly as many targets. He wasn't getting nearly as many carries.

He wasn't getting nearly as many anything. He had one big game at the Raiders, 19 carries, 172 yards and a touchdown, two catches for negative four yards in that game. He did have five catches at Buffalo in week 18. So that was nice. But before that... What was he playing hurt?

Yeah, I guess. But I don't know, man. It just wasn't a great finish. And I, I just have doubts that he's going to be a three down back. He just doesn't,

he never profiled as that. I don't know why they used him that way when they seemed to have some options. But, you know, if James, if James,

if, sorry, if Ty Montgomery hadn't gotten hurt, he wouldn't be, he wouldn't have been a three down back. So, that wouldn't shock me at all if they brought in someone to be the passing downs back.

They might already have that guy. Pierre Strong has some potential to be that guy. Yeah, so I'm just... I know you guys are very high. I get Jamie, at least, very high on Stevenson, but I could see that changing pretty quickly based on personnel. I don't know. How do you feel about it?

You know what I mean? I just don't think he's going to be a three-down back. I'm just going to say that now. I don't think that's going to happen. Damian Harris takes a walk, and Ramondre Stevenson is the lead back to begin the season.

He's at the door of scoring 10 plus touchdowns and getting anywhere from 11 to 20 carries a game, depending on how the game script goes. And we know that he's capable of catching passes. If he's playing on first and second down, I have a feeling they will be willing to throw to their running back at times on first and second down the Bengals do it as an example. Patriots could do it too if they wanted to, if that was part of their game plan. And if there was an injury to Pierre Strong, Ty Montgomery, Kevin Falk, whoever they get as their third down back, Stevenson has the upside to be a top five fantasy running back because he's been that when he's been an every down player or a majority player

for the Patriots. So there's still a ton of upside and a lot of appeal. I think it just makes more sense to look at him as a top 15 type of running back and not a top 10 guy. The last time the Patriots had an offense coordinator, Damian Harris scored 15 touchdowns. Okay. What do you think about the catches? I don't think his catches are going to crater. I do think that he's certainly, whether his profile showed you that or not, and whether Ty Montgomery's injury was the reason or not, he certainly showed that he could do it.

And it's not like they just showed you he could do it with a three-catch game, a four-catch game. He was their primary receiver in certain games this season. Matt Jones obviously trusts him. And so I can't imagine that Bill O'Brien coming in and Bill Belichick, which you've said many a time, Adam, when they have a guy, they use a guy. And he's going to be their guy. So is it going to be where Pierre Strong is the next James White

or Kevin Falk or Shane Vereen or whoever you want to put there, Danny Woodhead? Maybe. But I don't think that Ramondre Stevenson is going to be LeGarrette Blount and he's going to get 300 carries and two catches. No, I don't think that's the case. I think we're looking at a guy that has the chance to be a 200-plus carry guy and at least a 30-to-35 catch guy.

And I would say that's probably on the low end. So I'm going to buy Ramondre Stevenson if there's no Damian Harrison. Okay. Most catches for a Texans running back under Bill O'Brien, 41, I think, 44 maybe. Duke Johnson. Yeah, 44. Duke Johnson in 2019. And I'm not looking at 2019.

A lot of that, though, is Deshaun Watson doesn't throw to his running backs. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, look, they had good— That's why they had a lot of rush attempts too was because deshaun watson would run i don't even want to get into the most rushing time i don't think they had a double digit rushing touchdown guy in any of those because they had watson yeah okay uh two more notes jacksonville gm trent balky said there's mutual interest between the jaguars and evan ingram for a new contract and adam schefter thinks the Packers would trade Aaron Rodgers,

but to an AFC team if they did trade him. So that brings us to your emails at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Thanks for sending your emails, everybody. This one is from Kevin. So Dave, this was an email in response to the conversation that we had about Ken Walker versus Travis Etienne. And you and I both seem to think that physically, Ken Walker was more suited to be a lead back than Etienne.

But Kevin says... Well, it's not just about their actual size. It's about how they play and how they push piles and how physical they are in general. Right. He says Etienne's weight is actually listed above Walker by a few pounds, but he's one inch taller. So his BMI is a bit lower, uh,

this and that. And when McCaffrey and Eckler are demonstrating that smaller backs can be quite potent at the goal line, why do we still lean so heavily on trying to assign workload projections based on RB size or what we think their size is? So, because a lot of coaches do, it's not whether or not

Jacksonville decides to not I just think we sort of felt like Ken Walker was more suited to be a true workhorse running back than Travis Etienne I know Etienne looks pretty good to me he does but I thought they would use him more like Kamara

coming out right I thought he'd be or like Eckler you know I didn't thought he'd be, or like Eckler. You know, I didn't think he'd be running 20 times a game. You thought it would be more like 13, 14 carries and five, six catches. Right, exactly. That's what I thought too. And that could still happen. Like, that's the wonderful thing about it. I think that would be the case if it was a different coach.

Say what? I think that would be the case if it was a different coach. Doug Peterson doesn't usually do that. Yeah. Maybe. coach. Say what? Maybe that'd be the case, but it's a different coach. Doug Peters. We don't usually do that. Yeah, maybe. Well, he had a different coach when he came out of college.

So, uh, didn't know what he was doing. All right. Anyway, I don't know if Dave, you wanted to say anything to Kevin's bar in Columbus. Uh,

no, I don't know if there's anything else that we really need to say. If you, if you watch these guys play Walker is the the more physical. He's definitely more physical than Etienne. It doesn't mean that he's going to score three more touchdowns and have a better yak after contact type deal, but they're both going to be good for fantasy. I think I'm still taking Walker

ahead of Etienne, probably a full round ahead, if not a round and a half. Whoa. That's, whoa. Okay. No, I've got Walker as a first round pick. All right, from Joey. 12-team dynasty, full PPR league. Would you trade the third pick of round two,

pick 203 for Gabe Davis? I also have pick 111 in the first round, so would you trade 203 for Gabe Davis in a PPR league? Are you a competing team? Well, 203 would suggest probably not. 111 would suggest yes, though, so I don't

know. I think if you feel like your first round pick and gabe davis puts you in contention then yes because we know what typically second round picks are it's a 12 team league yep so 15th best rookie is that a difference maker you know so you could obviously go back and and and check how drafts have gone like this year you might have gotten damian Pierce to that spot. So that's something you want to consider. Algier.

Tyler Algier, you know, those two backs, for example. But for the most part, you're not getting a difference-making type of player. Now, is Gabe Davis ever going to be a difference-making type of player? And so I would probably pass and just take my chances with the rookie there. But if you feel like you're a piece away, then see what it is. If he can be a good third receiver for you, as we illustrated on Monday, as Adam made the case for, pre-elbow injury, take away the foot injury, minus the square root of the sun, he had some good moments.

He's still 24 years old. I'm taking Davis. All right, this is from Matt Moran. Would you trade the seventh overall pick straight up for George Pickens? I do believe this is a Dynasty League, so this would be a rookie pick. I need to rehaul my running backs. I have Derek Henry,

Aaron Jones, Joe Mixon, Leonard Fournette. I also have the second overall pick that I want to use on a running back. So he takes a running back at two overall. Would you then trade set the seventh pick for George Pickens? I would, I don't have a great grip on what type of player slash receiver would be there at one Oh seven.

The only thing I saw, and I haven't really done my homework on this class either, but I did see Daniel Jeremiah, who I respect, say that the top receiver in this class compares to Jahan Dotson, who he had ranked sixth last year. So, you know, you're again, you're like, he said the class is good, but the top of the class is not as good. So, you know, once you take away a couple of running backs

and now you're looking at maybe the third or fourth best receiver there, is that the same as getting a guy who may have been in the top three had he not had some off field concerns? You know, so I think what George Pickens showed in the sample size that he gave you as a rookie, for me, I would take a chance on that. The problem with this class is that we were going to have two superstars and they both had bad years at wide receiver yep uh kashon booty and uh jackson smith najigba go ahead and i still think smith najigba can be good and i've done my homework on him i like him but there's also jordan addison this class. He was outstanding at Pitt. Jalen Hyatt has had some great moments at Tennessee this past year. Quentin Johnston is someone that my son put in front of me.

Those are four receivers right there that are, are they on par with, with George Pickens? Maybe. I mean, Pickens has superstar potential. Okay. A couple of these guys might, too. I don't know if I'm ready to say that if I give up seven for Pickens.

And I love Pickens. This is from Luke H. This is a hypothetical question. But if a fantasy league added fullbacks as a roster spot, who would be the first couple of fullbacks drafted and what rounds would they be taken in? Oh, my gosh. Why would you ask this if it's hypothetical?

What are we ranking them on? Their blocking potential? Oh, my God. Fantasy points. Kyle Juszczyk? I mean, Juszczyk would be one. Probably be one. Let's see how many points Kyle Juszczyk...

Ricard barely catches the ball. He's just an extra lineman out there. Alec Ingold? Kyle Juszczyk scored... You might get a dozen catches out of him. Yeah, and Ricard barely catches the ball. He's just an extra lineman out there. Alec Ingold? You might get a dozen catches out of him. Kyle Jusek scored 56 points. So he scored about three points per game. The answer is ignore fullbacks in fantasy, just as it's been for the past 200 million years

of Earth's existence. But he does give you, I think Jusek probably gives you a pretty decent edge on the rest of the field. Yes, he'd be Travis Kelsey. I'd take him number two overall then behind Kelsey. This comes from Sahid

in Houston. Who is a better keeper in half PPR? Ramondre Stevenson in round five or Christian Kirk in round seven? Ramondre. Ramondre. Ramondre. Ramondre. Razor Ramondre, Dave. What do you think about that team name? Hey, yo.

I don't remember him talking. I don't remember what he said. I just remember the toothpick. Well, Razor had the fake accent because he was trying to act like the main from Scarface from pacino basically oh i didn't realize that and then you know scott hall ditched the accent as soon as he became scott

hall but if we're going off of razor ramon then you need the accent you need the toothpick you need a lot of gold chains you can't do the whole survey says bit and uh you'll never be the world champion you'll only be an intercontinental champion okay thanks dudes tomorrow heath and jamie on with me to talk about the top six tight ends and take a preview take a look at the weekend ahead will we get heath to pick against the chiefs obviously they are going to lose to the Bengals. Oh, now let me bring this up. Jamie, you did not pick the Bengals to go to the Super Bowl, did you? No, but after Mahomes got hurt and the Bengals being the Bills. Yeah, but what's up with your playoff challenge lineup?

Because you went Bengals-Niners the entire time. I did go Bengals-Niners the entire time because I thought what would be the most successful second game, I thought that the Bengals would put up points in week two. And so I thought that if they got past the Bills, then they would beat the Chiefs. Yeah, well, you screwed me because that was my thing. How did I screw you? Because I also went Bengals Niners, but I'm the one who actually picked the Bengals to win those games.

So we have the same point total? No, you're beating me with a better version of Bengals and Niners than I have. So that's disappointing. What would you use? Probably T. Higgins. He's been bad. So you used Higgins instead of one of the Niners guys?

Probably. I went Chase and Debo. I think I went you're Higgins instead of one of the Niners guys? Probably. I went Chase and Deebo. I think I went Chase and Higgins, I think. You both did better than me. I went all Bills. Yeah, that's what Jamie should have done. All right, see you later, everybody. We'll talk to you tomorrow on Fantasy Football Today.