Fantasy Football Today - Twelve Weird Stats from 2022! (02/23 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: February 22, 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.  It's a weird Wednesday episode ...of Fantasy Football Today as we look at some odd stats that could be helpful going into 2023. First, a look at the news and notes (2:15) on Ezekiel Elliott, Brock Purdy, Alvin Kamara and a few others ... We've got potentially revealing stats (7:35) on Justin Fields, Ja'Marr Chase and Jamaal Williams. How much did Williams hold back D'Andre Swift and Jared Goff? Then we'll discuss (22:15) DK Metcalf's end zone targets, a great finish by Cam Akers and why it might be hard to buy into a running back on the Bills or Chiefs ... Weird stats (36:50) on the Broncos wide receivers, Diontae Johnson and Amari Cooper. Do we have major bounce back potential? Then we finish with more weirdness (46:00) as we discuss D.J. Moore, Javonte Williams and the Cowboys backfield ... Email us at fantasyfootball@cbsi.com 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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Starting point is 00:01:16 Visit amex.ca slash business platinum. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. What a play! Can you believe this? No, I can't. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races, and he stays on his feet. He's just going to go the distance.
Starting point is 00:01:37 Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Let's get crazy today on Fantasy Football today. What's up, everybody? Welcome to a Wednesday edition of FFT. It's Adam, Dave, and Heath, and we've got 12 crazy stats from 2022. Stats on Justin Fields, Jamar Chase, Jamal Williams, DK Metcalf, Cam Akers, the Chiefs and Bills running backs, Deontay Johnson, Amari Cooper. Amari Cooper was like a million times better with Jacoby Brissett than he was with Deshaun Watson. That's pretty crazy. Are you guys feeling crazy today?
Starting point is 00:02:12 Are these crazy stats or are they weird stats? And is there a difference between the two? I guess that's what we're going to have to answer throughout the next few minutes. That's a good question. I think they are weird. All right. the next few minutes. That's a good question. I think they are weird. All right.
Starting point is 00:02:26 Hey, are you guys ready for a weird Wednesday episode of Fantasy Football today, weirdos? Let's make it weird. All right. There we go. Heath, you have a personal situation that might pull you from the podcast today. Nothing serious.
Starting point is 00:02:41 My washing machine that they emailed me and told me would catch fire if I used it again. I fixed that part, and now it doesn't turn on. So I think that was the fix to it not catching fire was if it doesn't turn on, it can't catch fire. So now I'm waiting for someone to come help me turn it on. All right, so Heath has to leave. You guys are your appliances. I know, I know.
Starting point is 00:03:01 I just went through this washer-dryer saga, too, and now I have a terrible one. So if Heath has to leave at any point during the show, you know why. All right, let's get right to the stats after some quick news and notes. We'll spend almost all the show on our 12 stats, and we'll sing them like the 12 days of Christmas. But we also have other podcasts for you to listen to. With the first pick is our brand-new NFL Draft podcast. We've got MMA. We've got soccer podcasts.
Starting point is 00:03:27 We've got college basketball. You should be listening to Ion College Basketball right now. You're welcome for the betting advice last night if you follow me on Twitter. And yeah, check them out at cbssports.com slash podcasts. News and notes, Evan Ingram wants to return to the Jaguars. He says that he thinks it's mutual. Brock Purdy's elbow surgery is being delayed.
Starting point is 00:03:47 He still has swelling in his elbow, so they haven't been able to do it yet, hopefully in March. Dave, if you had to guess right now, who's quarterback week one for the 49ers? Trey Lance. Oh, yeah. That seems almost certain,
Starting point is 00:03:59 unless Lance can't get healthy. Okay. This is, I don't know if anybody's seen it yet. I just saw it before we went on the show. Videos of, a video of Alvin Kamara, you know, hitting a man
Starting point is 00:04:11 and then his very brave friends stomping on the man after that. You got a real big guy to kick someone, stomp on them when they're down on the ground. It's pretty disgusting. Anyway,
Starting point is 00:04:20 the video has been released or, you know, leaked or whatever, but the video's out there. You can see what been released there you know leaked or whatever but the video is out there you can see what happens um and you know we'll be awaiting a ruling there from the nfl from roger goodell on any type of suspension uh bob stern of the athletic wrote about the cowboys and he said it's pretty clear based on who he has spoken to that the general consensus is that Ezekiel Elliott doesn't really have much left. And he writes that his best chance, maybe his only chance, I'm just paraphrasing here, of having a non-minimum contract is with the Cowboys.
Starting point is 00:04:56 So he also talks about Tony Pollard and bringing up the possibility that Tony Pollard's not healthy until midseason, which we haven't really been approaching it that way. He broke his leg. But anyway, Heath, oh, you weren't on the show yesterday. Dave, you weren't. Give me your thoughts. I wasn't on the show yesterday. What's that? I was on the show yesterday.
Starting point is 00:05:18 Yeah, you were. Dave wasn't. You already talked about Zeke. I just want to get Dave's perspective. Dave, give me your thoughts on the Cowboys' backfield. I'm hoping that Tony Pollard's the lead back, and he had a fracture, so that should take eight weeks to heal,
Starting point is 00:05:34 not six months. So that's a concerning report. Let's see what happens there. And if I'm Dallas, I got to tell you, I see all the other running backs that are going to be in free agency. And then I see all the running backs that are going to be available in the draft. And I think to myself, why would I even want Ezekiel back at the minimum?
Starting point is 00:05:55 If they, if they really wanted to go with a two man approach, why not just find a younger, healthier running back and feed Zig to the wolves? If you can, and feed Zeke to the wolves. If he can, I don't know what the cap situation's like. Yeah, that's the whole thing that's so confusing to me about this discussion of the only chance he has of making more than the minimum. Like, he's guaranteed a ton of money. He is going to make, I believe, seven figures this year,
Starting point is 00:06:20 whether he plays football or not. I think that would be the reason that the Cowboys would keep him. I show his dead cap number at his $11.8 million. That's right. That's if he's cut before June 1st. If they cut him after June 1st, it's half that because they can spread that out over two years instead of one. I appreciate you making that last distinction because people often say,
Starting point is 00:06:42 well, yeah, they'd have to wait until after June 1st, and then it's only half that. Well, no, no it's not you're just mortgaging the future like you're going to have to pay the money um so right now the cowboys are paying zeke basically 4.9 million dollars to be their running back or like so i don't think they'll probably pay him that much right okay um all right so that's the cowboys backfield and we will you know follow that one uh derrick carr's free agency process could be a long one according to his brother david carr i hope not i would like for him to just get it out of the way it'd be nice but we'll get a nice little bonus pot up there but take your time derrick carr let's get into the stats.
Starting point is 00:07:26 Yeah, I think you're right. I think these are weird stats. 12 weird stats. You ever read the book Wacky Wednesday to your kids? No. It's a good one. It's a Dr. Seuss. It's a fun one.
Starting point is 00:07:41 It's kind of like a Where's Waldo for little kids, but littler kids. Anyway, what's the weird stat you're most excited about talking about today? Weird stat are you looking forward to discussing the most? For me, it's DK Metcalf and the one that we've got on DK Metcalf and his
Starting point is 00:07:57 end zone targets. I don't like weird or crazy because neither of those things are helpful. These are illuminating stats. Okay. These are maybe surprising stats that you may have overlooked from last year that will help you in 2023. These are stats that help you to understand what happened last year. We're not just throwing them out there because they're wacky and crazy and fun.
Starting point is 00:08:22 We're getting better at fantasy football today by going through these stats. I'll do the intro again. Ready? Surprise! It's 12 surprising stats for fantasy football. I believe Heath used the term illuminating. I don't think I can do illuminating. I don't think anybody...
Starting point is 00:08:38 It's not going to be good for SEO. No, exactly. Who says illuminating these days? I think there's a lot of people searching for the Illuminati these days, so maybe they'll just leave the NG off and we'll get all those people. Perfect. All right, let's start with number one. This is a stat from Heath.
Starting point is 00:08:52 Justin Fields averaged more yards per pass attempt than Trevor Lawrence, Matthew Stafford, Aaron Rodgers, Daniel Jones, Justin Herbert, Tom Brady, Kyler Murray, and more. Justin Fields averaged more yards per pass attempt than those guys. He was 15th in yards per attempt at 7.1. Yeah, it might be a little surprising to people. It might be a little weird or illuminating. What do you make of that stat, Heath? Well, I think it's important to put these stats in context. Like, people are not—yards per attempt stats for quarterbacks, running backs,
Starting point is 00:09:24 wide receivers are not just created in stats for quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers are not just created in a vacuum for that specific player. So you've got to give some of the credit for that surprisingly good yards per attempt to his spectacular set of wide receivers that he was throwing to last year. No, I think there is a narrative from some people around Justin Fields that he can't throw. He's awesome as a rusher. And that's not true. Now, he was not a good passer last year, or definitely not a great passer last year,
Starting point is 00:09:57 but to average basically league average, league median, in terms of yards per attempt, with the weapons that he had, like there were two players on his team who had more than 40 catches. The rest of the guys, and then those were Mooney and Kmet. Then you had Dante Pettis, Equinemius St. Brown, the shell of Chase Claypool, Byron Pringle, Valus Jones, Nikhil Harry. Like, it's really impressive. He could absolutely, if he gets a number one wide receiver make the type of jump that we've seen from all of these other star quarterbacks who
Starting point is 00:10:33 are inefficient or average efficiency in their first couple of years the same thing we saw from Lamar Jackson the same thing we saw from Josh Allen the same thing we saw last year from Jalen Hurts. Are we sure that yards per attempt is a good stat? Nope. It's a very simple stat. It is the number of yards you average per attempt. Okay. And Justin Fields was at 7.1. Marcus Mariota was at 7.4.
Starting point is 00:11:02 Andy Dalton was at 7.6. Mahomes and Hurts were second and third, respectively, 8.1 and 8.0. Can anybody guess who was number one in yards per attempt? The most efficient quarterback in the NFL last year, too. Correct. There's a lot that goes into it. It is a simple stat, but it's also not just a, this is how good of a passer you are stat, which you're not saying, Heath.
Starting point is 00:11:24 No, team context and the people you're throwing to greatly impacts it. Right. So the other thing that I would bring up is that Justin Fields was 17th, or tied for 15th, rather, in yards per attempt. And he had the lowest completion rate of anybody in the top 15. And he did not have the lowest amount of pass attempts. Taylor Heineke, who was at 7.2 yards per attempt, had fewer pass attempts than Justin Fields. He did have the second, third worst, my bad, EPA per drop back. I think context is really
Starting point is 00:11:59 important here. He didn't throw as much as a lot of other quarterbacks. Yes, he could take a step forward if his receiving court does get better. I'm a little nervous about how much better it'll be. I'm not sure the Bears should keep Justin Fields as their quarterback, given Bryce Young's availability in the draft. But that's a conversation that Heath and I will probably fight over. How could you Heath-sign about that one? How could you Heath-sign about that one? How could you Heath-sign about that one?
Starting point is 00:12:26 No, we should just go. It's just the exact same thing that we've said like five years in a row about these quarterbacks. And I don't – there's no – we can rewind to my response when this was said about Jalen Hurts. Yeah, look, and you know what? Jalen – so Justin Fields was 15th in yards per attempt in 2022. Jalen Hurts was 14th in yards per attempt in 2021.
Starting point is 00:12:49 So, yeah. And both of those were much better than what Josh Allen was in his first two years. Sure, sure, sure. And there's been that comparison made that Fields could take a similar type of jump as Jalen Hurts did. And I was one of those guys that was nervous about Jalen Hurts as a passer until like August. And I got an up close view of him and I was like, holy cow, this guy's gotten better.
Starting point is 00:13:10 And it's entirely possible that Justin Fields can get better. And one of the things that helped Jalen Hurts get better, you've brought this up so many times, Heath, was AJ Brown being there. So if the Bears make that move for DeAndre Hopkins, maybe you'd even feel that way about Mike Evans being that guy for them. If they do something like that, yeah, maybe.
Starting point is 00:13:29 Not maybe. Definitely it'll help Justin Fields' numbers in Chicago. And you're still going to get him as a rusher, too. There's no argument out of me about Justin Fields as a fantasy running back. I just don't want to push him up to, like, number one or number two just yet. Let's keep him in that top six for now. No, I him up to like number one or number two just yet. Let's keep him in that top six for now. No, I won't make him number one or number two unless he gets the number one wide receiver.
Starting point is 00:13:55 But as four yards per attempt, it's not, there's no perfect stat. But I also, it's not a bad stat. The top eight in career yards per attempt are all Hall of Famers, Deshaun Watson, Patrick Mahomes, and Jimmy Garoppolo. And we know why Garoppolo, because Kyle Shanahan gets eight yards per attempt no matter Hall of Famers Deshaun Watson, Patrick Mahomes, and Jimmy Garoppolo. And we know why Garoppolo because Kyle Shanahan gets eight yards per attempt no matter who's playing quarterback. But it's not a bad stat. No, no, it's not a bad stat. And it's a good reminder that
Starting point is 00:14:17 Justin Fields did do some good things as a passer. And you know, and you can definitely compare him with nobody. And you can definitely compare him with nobody. And you could definitely compare him to other quarterbacks who took a year or so to develop like Hurts and Allen. And yeah, and there we go. All right. Stat number two.
Starting point is 00:14:35 Jamar Chase went from five touchdown catches of 50 or more yards in 21 in 2021 to only one touchdown catch of 50 or more yards in 2022. Yet he averaged three more PPR fantasy points per game this year than he did last year. So, um, you know, if I had told you, Hey, had all those big plays,
Starting point is 00:14:54 it's going from five to one, those 50 yard touchdowns from five to one, which you've expected three more PPR fantasy points per game from Jamar chase. I think that's a little bit weird. Uh, Dave, your reaction to that?
Starting point is 00:15:05 That is weird. But what isn't weird is that his targets per game went up by four. And that was the one stat that I expected to go up from his rookie season. I figured he'd get even more involved in the offense. It would be his second season, and that's exactly what happened. So that's why his PPR numbers went up. I'm curious if you know what his non-ppr numbers did because catches aren't impacted obviously if it's non-ppr i wonder if that went up if at all well let me tell you dave please do it went from it went up half a point
Starting point is 00:15:38 how illuminating so which is not which is not insignificant by the way in non-PPR by the way half a fantasy point is kind of a big deal it's a trajectory that everybody expected from Jamar Chase and I'm pretty sure everybody is going to expect him to stay at that elite tier that's why you're taking him in round one I think it will be really interesting to see what that target share looks like if T. Higgins doesn't have three games
Starting point is 00:16:08 where he plays as little. We've talked about it from T. Higgins' perspective. Week one, he played 26% of the snaps. Week five, he played 16% of the snaps. Week 13, he played 1% of the snaps. I have the numbers. In those three games, Jamar Chase had 16, 15, and 12 targets.
Starting point is 00:16:26 I do have numbers. I don't have a target share, but I can tell you the eight games that he played with T. Higgins that weren't those three games, without Higgins leaving early, he was on pace for 170 targets, so 10 per game, as opposed to his overall pace of of 190 targets so still 10 targets per game not as not as many as you know without t higgins but that's a pretty big difference it is i mean i can i'm looking it up right now if you want to know what his target share was when
Starting point is 00:16:58 there was no t higgins no we we know when there was no we were when there was t higgins let's move on guys because we have 12 stats to get to here, so I wanted to kind of drive by some of these here. Let's go to stat number three. I mean, I think the bottom line is with Jamar Chase. He's awesome, and even when you have a guy who was that good as a rookie, even if you had lost some of the, I don't know, if you want to call it luck or fortune, whatever, the big plays,
Starting point is 00:17:20 he's still going to put up his numbers. Okay. Stat number three. Jamal Williams had 28 carries from inside the five-yard line last year. Jamal Williams, 28 carries from inside the five-yard line. That is the most since at least 2000. I went back all the way to 2000. Jamal Williams, the most carries from inside the five-yard line.
Starting point is 00:17:41 And he scored 17 rushing touchdowns. And I just think, think gosh what if those touchdowns and they won't score the exact same amount but Heath what if those get distributed to the Andre Swift or to Jared Goff with some really bad luck in that regard a lot eight completions to the one yard line only one of them was followed up by a Goff touchdown pass so I look at all those opportunities for Williams can we just give them to someone else, please? Well, it's interesting because I would not say that either Swift or Goff had a low touchdown rate. In fact, I know Goff was well above league average in terms of touchdown rate last year. So they just had a lot of touchdowns. Whether they repeat that or not this year, I'm not really sure. 52 combined passing
Starting point is 00:18:27 and rushing touchdowns. I expect there's going to be someone who takes Jamal Williams' role, or maybe they just bring Jamal Williams back in that same role. They won't have as many. If there's somebody who you would say should have scored more touchdowns last year, it would be a man by St. Brown who only had six on 146 targets, but it's kind of look, he could also just be a low touchdown guy. It would be Kalief Raymond who had 64 targets and did not reach the end zone. Um, or maybe the, the other running backs who had 75 carries and did not reach the end zone. But Swift and Goff's numbers were pretty either at what you'd expect or higher than expected. Which is great news.
Starting point is 00:19:14 Are we driving by this one, or do you want to hear some stuff? Yeah, Dave, so let me just tell you and put it in this context. Here are the top five teams in scoring last year. Chiefs, Eagles, Cowboys, Bills, who played one fewer game. Lions, fifth highest scoring team in football. So, yeah, go ahead. Well, that's a beautiful thing. And I'm hoping that that continues.
Starting point is 00:19:35 I think this offense is on the right track. They've built it the right way. And they're getting better than expected play from Jared Goff. And what they're doing at the goal line is kind of fun. Heath mentioned it. Jamal Williams is a free agent. There is the chance that they don't bring him back, but he seems to be one of those glue guys for them. He's always got this energy and the coaches tend to love him and they've got this role for him. Maybe he takes a discount to stay there and to hog up touchdowns. 28 carries from inside the five last year for Jamal Williams. That was more than 75% of other NFL teams.
Starting point is 00:20:08 Seattle had the fewest carries inside the five. They only had 10. New Orleans was next lowest with 12. I checked on what those two teams did in 2021. New Orleans was at 17. Seattle had 20. So they had their touchdowns cut in half inside the five as far as carries go. And Detroit had the second fewest amount of carries in 2021 inside the five as far as carries go and detroit had the second fewest
Starting point is 00:20:25 amount of carries in 2021 inside the five with 14 so i think it's part of their secret sauce if they bring back jamal williams i think you look at him as someone who could end up getting eight nine touchdowns again just without many yards catches other things that might matter to fantasy managers a little bit and that's why no one's going to be that excited to take Jamal Williams as anything more than a bench running back. Yeah, I just looked. Swift had five touchdowns on 99 carries last year, five touchdowns on 151 carries the year before.
Starting point is 00:20:54 Do we know how many of those touchdowns came inside the five? Yes, I do. His touchdowns were from seven yards, nine yards, four yards, one yard, and 17 yards out. So two of them came him inside the five. I'm just saying the number five offense in football last year, I would love for – and Jamal Williams was a bit of a fantasy killer. Yeah, he was.
Starting point is 00:21:15 He was a fantasy killer. Jamal Williams. Not if you drafted him. Yeah, what if you started Jamal Williams? No, he was great for him, but he was bad for Swift and Goff is what I'm saying. He was a dust buster at the goal line. You know what? Jamar Chase was a fantasy killer last year.
Starting point is 00:21:29 Nobody else in the Bengals could get targets because he was getting too many targets. How many running backs are really not a big part of the offense? He had 274 touches last year. He had more touches than anybody else on the team. He was not just a goal line back. He ran for over 1,000 yards. I'm sorry. How many running backs...
Starting point is 00:21:49 This is not Jerome Bettis. How many running backs are only worth starting because of their rushing touchdowns? Look at what he did. He had a three-game stretch. Jamal Williams had a three-game stretch. I think it was weeks 15, 16, 17. 14, 15, 16.
Starting point is 00:22:02 He scored fewer than four points in all three games because he did not score a touchdown. He was a very, very unique running back. The only reason we liked him more than DeAndre Swift was because he was the goal linebacker. He was on a per-game basis with 17 freaking touchdowns. He was the number 19 running back per game in PPR. Let's not make Jamal Williams out to be something
Starting point is 00:22:25 that he wasn't here. He was a fantasy killer. No, but he was not someone who just came in at the goal line. He had almost three times as many carries as DeAndre Swift. He's a big part of their offense. Unfortunately. And it wasn't week 17 when he scored four fantasy points because that was the fantasy championship and he turned up
Starting point is 00:22:42 with 22 fantasy points in that game. 144 rushing yards on 22 attempts so is the three before that three games before that yeah um all right so i don't know i just thought like there's so much potential for deandre swift if he could just have the role that we want him to have i mean he's so. And, you know, so many touchdown options, so many opportunities for touchdowns that he just did not get. Imagine DeAndre Swift with a goal line roll.
Starting point is 00:23:11 That was what I was going for. I mean, imagine DeAndre Swift with 15 touches a game. Yeah, that'd be nice too. Oh, but he did that. Didn't he? 15 touches a game? Last year? Not last year. He only game? Not last year. He only had 99 carries last year.
Starting point is 00:23:28 He may have had that many catches. I don't think so. No, he had 147 touches in 14 games. So around 10 a game. Yeah. All right. How about stat number four? Dave, this was the one you were looking forward to talking about. DK Metcalf led the NFL with 23 end zone targets.
Starting point is 00:23:43 That was five more than Devontae Adams. And he has been, DK Metcalf has been top four 23 end zone targets. That was five more than Devontae Adams. And he has been, DK Metcalf has been top four in end zone targets three straight seasons. And in those three seasons, he has the most end zone targets in the NFL. You know, it's a great stat. I do wonder what if it's not there?
Starting point is 00:23:59 You know, is this a good thing or a bad thing? Is he too dependent on it? What'd you make of this stat? DK Metcalf, basically the king of end zone targets. Well, it's better than the opposite. You don't want to be Deontay Johnson or somebody like that who just never gets opportunities to score. And you struggle along and you're good for around 11 PPR points per game.
Starting point is 00:24:21 So I like that he's getting them. I checked his targets per game over the last three seasons. They've been real close. They've been right around eight targets per game so i like that he's getting them i checked his targets per game over the last three seasons they've been real close they've been right around eight targets per game sometimes i you know you think back to what he did in the playoff game against san francisco and you know what his upside is and you think to yourself if he were on a team that actually valued the forward pass would he be a first round pick in fantasy i think the answer would be yeah, especially if you had a good quarterback. He doesn't have that right now.
Starting point is 00:24:49 I have to disagree with your assessment of the Seahawks not valuing the forward pass in 2022. They became a pass-first team, and they threw the ball downfield pretty much as much as anyone. Where did they rank as far as pass run? I believe they were league median in the total number of passes they threw. They threw 573
Starting point is 00:25:10 attempts. No, 593. So they were still slightly fewer pass attempts, but also fewer total plays. They play so slow. Right. I'm looking it up. They were 15th in pass attempts. So right in the middle. Yeah, but where were they in pass-run ratio?
Starting point is 00:25:26 Because maybe I'm off on this one. They were 22nd in rush attempts. They changed. No, you're right about them before this year. But remember we were talking about this is a pass-first team now. This is Geno Smith's team. He was really airing it out and throwing downfield a lot. But I think that's the question, though, Dave.
Starting point is 00:25:45 I mean, he's had one, and we're going to talk about DJ more later, too, and it's kind of the same thing. They both have had one real standout season, Metcalf's, for fantasy purposes. Metcalf's was better than Moore's. It was a top-10 season. But you look at his other three seasons,
Starting point is 00:25:58 where has he finished per game in PPR? Ninth as a sophomore, 23rd, 22nd per game the last two years. So we see these flashes and we get these reliable end zone targets that only turned into six touchdown catches last year by the way so that's another way to spin it maybe he had bad touchdown luck for sure but you know who is DK Mech if I just don't know if it's clear at this point I think he's and he's been a little bit short a couple years,
Starting point is 00:26:28 so he won't have the great streak that he did. But I think he's mostly Mike Evans. That's an interesting comparison. But it might be right on. Big guy, perimeter receiver, good speed, can catch downfield passes, and can certainly dominate in the red zone or end zone. They were 11th in pass-run ratio last year. 59.3% of the time they threw it.
Starting point is 00:26:54 It's higher than I thought it would be. And you thought he would have had a better season. But, I mean, 141 targets and not even 1,100 yards? We think it every year with him. And there are people that continue to go into their draft saying, all right, I'm not leaving unless I've got DK Metcalf. And I feel like you've got to temper expectations a little bit still just because they don't have one of the best quarterbacks in the game.
Starting point is 00:27:19 Their coach certainly does value running the football a lot, certainly more than coaches in Buffalo or Kansas City, as an example. And so that just, it makes me a little bit nervous about DK ever hitting that upside in terms of catches and yards. Ten touchdowns, I mean, I feel like he can do that just because of the opportunities he gets. Let me ask you this to wrap this up with DK Metcalf. So over the last three seasons, leads the NFL in end zone targets,
Starting point is 00:27:46 been top four each of those years. Do you expect that again? Do you project him to be, even though he only had six this past year, do you project him to be a positive, a plus in touchdowns, something that will boost his value? I haven't projected for eight.
Starting point is 00:28:09 I think that's safe. So that's kind of a medium, right in the middle. I think the question is, the first two years of his career, and this was with prime Russell Wilson, he was 9.5 yards per target. The last two years, he's been 7.5 and 7.4. Just like DJ Moore? That's almost Deontay Johnson bad.
Starting point is 00:28:33 It's not quite that bad. But the touchdowns are only going to make him a number two wide receiver if he's going to be at 7 yards per target. And that's why I don't know what to make of yards per target. It's not like DK Metcalf is a different football player. You know? And he's had... Well, it's been a different offense the last two years,
Starting point is 00:28:52 and it's been a different quarterback. I got to check the ADOTs, too. And, you know, Wilson wasn't very good for... was out and was not very good for a big portion of 2021. His ADOT went from 13 and 13.7 the first two years to 12.7 and 11.2 yeah and that could explain it well part of it but it doesn't explain going from nine and a half to seven and a half yeah i don't know man all right let's take a break when we come back we'll
Starting point is 00:29:16 talk about cam acres did something uh that he rarely does he did it three times in a row to end the season we'll be back after this on what truly 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.
Starting point is 00:30:16 Visit OntarioOneCall.ca. It's free. It's easy. It's the law. Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report. Getting weird. Wacky Wednesday here. Cam Akers, how about this weird stat? Cam Akers finished the season with three straight 100-yard rushing games.
Starting point is 00:30:34 He has four of those in his career. Five if you include the postseason. But before those three games, he had one 100-yard game, rushing game, and he had three in a row to end the season. In his last six games of the year, he was a top six running back per game in both half PPR and full PPR, and that was with barely any role in the passing game, really. I shouldn't say that, but not a big role in the passing game.
Starting point is 00:30:59 Heath, your thoughts on three straight 100-yard games for Cam Akers? Well, it was the first time in his career other than week 14 of his rookie season where he got to play 70% of the snaps. He had a 79% snap share in week 14 of his rookie year, ran 29 times for 171 yards. Most of the early part of the year, he was in the 30% to 40% range, if that.
Starting point is 00:31:26 Played 72% in week 13. Then in week 15, 16, 17, 18, it was 76%, 75%, 78%, and 100% of the snaps in the season finale. You just hope that they add no one of significance and treat him like their feature back like they did in those last month and a half of the season. And he could absolutely be a top 12 running back. Is it realistic to think that way? I mean, they did it for six weeks. It will be realistic to think that way if they don't make a significant addition.
Starting point is 00:31:59 I just, I remember how weird his 2022 was. Remember there was a point where we thought he was going to get traded? Yeah. Yeah. So he went from being in the doghouse to being in the penthouse. Does he keep that going all offseason long? The other thing to remember is that he had these big games against Denver, the Chargers, and the Seahawks,
Starting point is 00:32:23 all three of which were not great against the run. The last two definitely were terrible against the run. Yeah. So how is he going to do against the 49ers? Just that's two games. Does Arizona make a comeback? Does that make it a little bit harder? For now, sure.
Starting point is 00:32:42 I've come around on Cam Akers because he's looked good. It took him a year to get there but he looks good he looks like the guy that they drafted he was cutting back like crazy he can do that type of thing they've got to stick with him for the entire offseason and give him 70 of the snaps consistently i don't know if that's going to happen. That's the easiest explanation. It's just that like he suffered an injury that we've seen maybe one running back come back from and be his old self again. And it took a year and a half for him to get back to that. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:33:16 Whereas other guys has been three or four years and they never did, but Deontay Foreman finally did. So I, uh, I, uh, would also wanted to point out out that you know dave a year ago or before draft season last year you were pointing out that cam acres advanced metrics even in his rookie year before his injury terrible they were bad uh they were pretty good in the last eight games of the season you know so he had uh in the last eight games of the season, well, weeks 11 through 18, which was eight games for him,
Starting point is 00:33:47 he had the fifth most carries. He had the 10th best yards per carry out of 43 running backs with at least 50 carries. He was ninth in yards before contact per carry. He was ninth in avoid rate. He was 10th in rush EPA. He was ninth in percentage of carries for five or more yards. So his advanced metrics were good.
Starting point is 00:34:03 All right, let's go to our next topic here. Another running back one. Tell me why I should think about James Cook or Isaiah Pacheco as good mid-round picks. This is the stat. The Bills and the Chiefs have both finished 25th or lower in running back carries in three straight seasons. Bills and Chiefs, 25th or lower in running back carries, three straight seasons. The Bills are even worse than the Chiefs, by the way.
Starting point is 00:34:30 And in rushing touchdowns, the Chiefs have been 28th, 13th, and 17th running back rushing touchdowns. The Bills have been 25th, 15th, and 27th. So two of our favorite offenses, they just don't give the ball to their running backs and they don't score a ton of rushing touchdowns with their running backs. So yeah, I mean, Dave, you had a good stat about James Cook
Starting point is 00:34:48 and how well he finished, but the overall picture is not good for either of those teams for running backs. No, and it makes sense in the case of Buffalo for sure, just because they've got a quarterback who runs as much as he does, and the offense just tends to lean heavily on him and his arm. It would take James Cook having just a monstrous offseason and really proving to the coaching staff that he can take advantage of when teams play with too high safeties,
Starting point is 00:35:12 that he should be the one who gets the ball instead of Josh Allen. I think that that's a tall order. It's the exact same thing in Kansas City, except Mahomes doesn't run as much or as effectively as Josh Allen does. And if Andy Reid and company settle on, all right, Pachaco's just our, he's going to be our running downs back. And maybe even he starts to get some work on some third downs because he can catch the ball and break through some tackles.
Starting point is 00:35:37 That's what you're kind of hoping for. You're hoping that he could end up taking over a sizable portion of that run game. We haven't seen it long-term in Kansas City since Kareem Hunt was there. But we've seen spurts of it. We've seen spurts of it with Damian Williams when he was there. We've seen it with Darrell Williams
Starting point is 00:35:57 when Clyde Edwards-Hilaire was hurt. That's what I think you have to hope for with Pacheco. And it's just all the more reason why he's a fade from the top 50 picks in your drafts next year because there's a pretty decent chance and a huge track record, which you're pointing out, that he could end up floundering and not being worth a pick at 55 overall.
Starting point is 00:36:18 Yeah, he's... I will say the difference in the two is that the Chiefs have 21 passing touchdowns to their running backs over the last three years. They throw, especially in the red zone, to their running backs a lot. And Pacheco seemed to be earning some of that role. So I think that could help. I would hope at some point the Bills plan on not using Josh Allen as much as a battering ram in the red zone if they'd like to
Starting point is 00:36:46 keep him around in his 30s so that could open up more opportunities for running back rushing touchdowns in the future one thing I was just looking back at some of my old notes from last year and just trends are made to be broken you know you shouldn't get too caught up in it uh you know so I think you take away from it. Look, James Cook, maybe James Cook is just going to be flat out better than Devin Singletary and Zach Moss, and he'll have a bigger role. As you guys have said earlier this month, maybe Isaiah Pacheco is just the most talented running back they've had since Kareem Hunt.
Starting point is 00:37:17 And these things can change. You know, no player had more than six touchdown catches for the Cleveland Browns since 2015. I remember saying that a lot about Amari Cooper, and he had nine last year. No player had more than five or six touchdown catches for the 49ers since even before that, I think 2013 or something like that, Vernon Davis. And we had two players do that last year. So don't get too caught up in these trends, but maybe just keep it in perspective
Starting point is 00:37:46 that these have not been great spots for running backs. All right, number seven. Well, we've reached the Bon Jovi point, guys. We are halfway there. Let's go to number seven. This one I thought was very interesting. I have to give credit to ESPN for this. Broncos receivers were first in the NFL
Starting point is 00:38:02 in average separation on targeted passes. They were getting wide open. And they were number one in the NFL in open receivers, which is an open target is when the separation between the receiver and the nearest defender is three plus yards. Some of this is from... That's it? Yeah, all of this I saw on ESPN.
Starting point is 00:38:24 Well, that's wide open... That's it? Yeah, all of this I saw on ESPN. Well, that's wide open. That's crazy open. I'm surprised it's not like one yard. Anyway, all of this I saw on ESPN. Some of it's from NFL Next Gen Stats. But the bottom line is the article was about Nathaniel Hackett going to the Jets and how he showed he's good at getting receivers open. I don't know if that's a leap or not, but Broncos receivers were open.
Starting point is 00:38:45 So you could look at it from a Hackett perspective, or you could look at it from, what the hell is wrong with Russell Wilson if he had the most open receivers in the NFL last year? Heath, how do you look at that? I think it's more of a Jerry Judy stat. I think he was very, even when he couldn't catch his rookie year,
Starting point is 00:39:00 he was very, very good at getting open. He is one of the best route runners, but I'll say one of the best route runners, but I'll say one of the best young route runners in the NFL. And so I would be hesitant to give that credit to Hackett. I think you could say a little what was wrong with Russ, sure. But I think it's mostly a Jerry Judy stat. He's awesome.
Starting point is 00:39:23 Could it also be a KJ Hamler stat? Because that dude can fly. so pretty much any time he's running downfield, he's got three plus yards on a defender. I don't know. I don't have it broken down by receiver. Technically, he's open. It can't all be Jerry Judy. He only had 14 targets, so I don't know how much he would
Starting point is 00:39:39 have impacted. How many routes did he run? He played seven games, so I don't know. Probably in the neighborhood of like a hundred all right so you guys aren't putting much on on this stat i guess uh at least no but if if nathaniel hackett does prove to be a whiz at getting guys open what what he said about jerry judy can certainly apply to garrett wilson that dude can get open as well all right let's go to stat number eight and and this is from Heath, and it's his Deontay Johnson stat,
Starting point is 00:40:07 which is, Heath? Yeah, Deontay Johnson. I texted this one to you, didn't I? Yeah, you want me to read it? There were only five wide receivers. No, I'm going to remember it. Five wide receivers who had more targets than Deontay Johnson last year.
Starting point is 00:40:21 There were only 12 wide receivers who had more catches than Deontay Johnson, but. There were only 12 wide receivers who had more catches than Deontay Johnson, but he finished 30th in fantasy points and like 46th in fantasy points per game. Partially because the efficiency was even worse than it's been past years, partially because he did not get into the end zone, but he was still dominating
Starting point is 00:40:39 in terms of targets and catches. And I do have hopes for a bounce back. To what degree? When would you take dionte johnson uh to top 20 to 24-ish degree so i mean i don't think there's any reason probably to take dionte johnson before round six because i don't think he's going to get drafted before then in our drafts yeah I think in a full PPR league, he could be a top 25 guy
Starting point is 00:41:08 pretty easy this year. How many end zone targets did he have last year? This is trivia. I've got the answer in front of me. Two. Adam? Four. I would have given an answer like you guys gave. True Media says he had 14
Starting point is 00:41:23 end zone targets. That's awesome. That's awesome awesome that's six the best among all wide receivers it's just rotten luck that he had zero touchdowns he did have nine drops that led the nfl but that that comes part and parcel with deontay johnson at this point and he did have like his first um three years in the league there was no touchdown problem there. He was right around a 5% touchdown rate with eight of them in 2021. He had seven on 144 targets in 2020.
Starting point is 00:41:53 He had five on 92 targets in 2019. So scoring is not like he's been a DJ Moore-type scoring problem. He had one year where he didn't score touchdowns. He also didn't seem to do well with yards after catch on the yards after catch per reception stat he had 2.62 which ranked 143rd among receivers 143 for all the south fans out there uh yards per out run 1.44 that was 66 his adot was 10.2 that might be right in line with where he's been the past couple of years was the highest of his career 10.2 was the highest of his career yes which would
Starting point is 00:42:33 explain some of the drop in yards per catch per reception because he was right around five in that category for three years in a row again i'll say the same thing I said about yards per attempt. None of these stats occur in a vacuum. It's much easier to get yards after the catch if you catch the ball in stride. Hopefully, Kenny Pickett gets better. So last question, and hopefully one of you have Deontay Johnson's stats before 2021, before 2022 open. I do. His catch rate last year, 58.5. What does that rank compared to prior years? It was about five points lower
Starting point is 00:43:09 than where he'd been for most of his career. Okay. So this is a terrific bounce back candidate. But not really. It's a positive progression. Why? Because catch... Well, no.
Starting point is 00:43:18 Specifically because catch rate and ADOT are... I'm not surprised his catch rate went down when his ADOT went way up. You know? And his catch rate, by the way, pretty... I wouldn't when his ADOT went way up. And his catch rate, by the way, I wouldn't say his ADOT went way up. Almost two yards? 9.2, 7.9, 8.5, 10.2. That's up.
Starting point is 00:43:38 A yard. You can say a yard. A yard, 1.7 from last year, 2.3 from 2020. It's a significant increase. It certainly suggests that he ran more downfield routes. It's not like they say, okay, for the entire season, you're going to run 11 yards and then turn Deontay Johnson.
Starting point is 00:43:57 So that suggests that he ran a little bit further. Keith, you mentioned he dealt with a rookie quarterback. And he had 14 end zone opportunities there is no statistical argument to think Deontay Johnson is a great player I mean there's just no one's saying that
Starting point is 00:44:14 the argument is that he's going to be a bounce back candidate it's a separate discussion if you're looking for upside unless he gets a ton of targets I think the stats that he does really well in, I think he's one of those separation guys. The fact that he has earned almost 10 targets per game
Starting point is 00:44:34 for the last three years is a sign of his skill. Earning targets is a skill. And I believe he's graded out in the past – he didn't this year – very well at broken tackles. Now, that was not something that he did well this year. I've always been the anti-Deontay Johnson guy, but if the cost is wide receiver 35 now, I'm all in. Okay.
Starting point is 00:44:55 All right, this is a little wacky Wednesday, because this is usually not what we hear from me. Do you have to run? Not yet. Okay. All right, let's go. We got four more. These are hear from me. Do you have to run? Not yet. Okay. All right, let's go. We got four more. These are all from Dave.
Starting point is 00:45:07 Amari Cooper averaged 11.6 PPR points per game with Deshaun Watson. 11.6 with Watson. That was what Gabe Davis averaged for the season, which was 38th best per game. Amari Cooper averaged 16 points per game with Jacoby Brissett. That's basically what T. Higgins averaged, wide receiver 13.
Starting point is 00:45:27 So pretty interesting. On a per-game basis, he—oh, I don't have what he— I think he was somewhere around 19th or something per game. But yeah, Dave, what do you make of that? He was so much better with Jacoby Brissett. Who was so much better than Deshaun Watson in 2022? I'm hoping it's a Deshaun Watson thing because he just came back and he didn't look like himself
Starting point is 00:45:48 not till toward the end of the season. I think his last two games with Deshaun Watson looked okay. So hopefully Watson is laser focused on football, comes to training camp, knows his stuff, knows the offense, and that Amari Cooper is still the number one receiver in Cleveland.
Starting point is 00:46:03 And if that's the case, then Cooper's another wide receiver that people probably will overlook a little bit on draft day. They'll say, he's older and he's in Cleveland and the stats will be there. He should be the number one receiver. That means the targets will be there and he could still make things happen. If he could do that with Jacoby Brissett,
Starting point is 00:46:21 then with a, with a full year of work preparing for Deshaun Watson where he's in the building and with the coaching staff and all that stuff all off season long it should lead to better results yeah I think this is entirely the crazy thing is how bad Deshaun Watson was last year he was one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL first four years of his career he was one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL the first four years of his career. He was one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL last year, and that's not hyperbole. How much he bounces back, if Cooper has that same role that he had last year
Starting point is 00:46:54 and Deshaun Watson is the guy he was from 2018 through 2020, then Cooper should be a top 10 wide receiver. Pretty reasonable explanation for the struggles for deshaun watson i think so uh yeah cooper a good i wouldn't call him a bounce back candidate but based on the numbers with watson a heck of a bounce back candidate all right before heath goes i'm gonna get the one i was gonna save for last let's talk about dj moore this is another another one from dave in the six games that sam darnold started weeks 12 through 17, DJ Moore had...
Starting point is 00:47:27 Was it 12 through 18? There was a buy-in there, I think. DJ Moore had 18 or more PPR fantasy points in four of those six games. So he had six games with Sam Darnold at the end of the year, and DJ Moore tore it up in four of those games. In the other two games, he had a combined one catch
Starting point is 00:47:43 for 10 yards on seven targets. But Dave, what do you make of that DJ Moore finish with Sam Darnold? It's almost the exact same thing as what we talked about with Amari Cooper. The quarterback that you play with matters a hell of a lot for any wide receiver, obviously. And so if Baker Mayfield isn't good and P.J. Walker isn't good, then it's going to impact all the wide receivers. Throw in a game where the Panthers did nothing but, you know,
Starting point is 00:48:11 showcase Christian McCaffrey, that was the game against the Rams, and he had a terrible year until Sam Darnold, who, say what you will about him, he knows the basics of preparing for an NFL game, going out there and throwing with a semblance of accuracy and knowing to lean on one wide receiver as the main guy. He did that most of the time with DJ Moore and it worked out. DJ Moore had some great numbers.
Starting point is 00:48:35 I do have to go now. So I'm just going to cut in real quick and say that I think the Frank Reich thing could be absolutely awesome for DJ Moore. History of having the number one wide receiver just get absolutely peppered with targets. If they could get a good quarterback, I'd probably be all the way back in on him. For now, I've got him projected at wide receiver 15. Yeah, and that's a good range to have him in.
Starting point is 00:48:55 I think we'll agree on DJ Moore a lot more this year than we will. Unless they go get Derek Carr, then I'll probably just jump all the way back in. Okay. One year where he's been a top 20 wide receiver per game, saying that. So we do make a lot of excuses for him. First it was he has to get away from Sam Darnold.
Starting point is 00:49:17 Sam Darnold's the problem. Then it was, oh, he's only good with Sam Darnold. So I just wonder, I mean, look at DJ Moore's career. I went through the last, forget about his rookie year. I went through the last four years. In three of the last, in three of the last four years, I can say extremely streaky.
Starting point is 00:49:31 And then I would say all of them, like in 2020, for example, that was his least streaky year in terms of, you know, a great four game stretch, a bad six game stretch, that kind of thing. But he had eight games
Starting point is 00:49:41 with 93 or more yards. He had seven games with 65 or fewer yards and he had nothing in between. He had seven games with 65 or fewer yards, and he had nothing in between. He's been such an all-or-nothing player, DJ Moore. And I just think that because he has had bad quarterback play his entire career, it is hard to know what type of player he really is.
Starting point is 00:50:00 People swear by DJ Moore. But at some point, where has he finished in PPR points per game? Last four seasons, 14th, 26th, 26th, 36th. Is that a guy that deserves to be ranked as the 15th best wide receiver?
Starting point is 00:50:16 I, I don't think so. No, but that's what's going to end up happening. Not for you. Maybe not for a lot of people, but like his ADP was way lower than what we had him at last year. So believe me, he'll be even lower in the general consensus.
Starting point is 00:50:29 The rankings, maybe. But the ADP will definitely not be a top 15 guy for DJ Moore. There will be a lot of people that had DJ Moore in 2022 that will never, ever... It could be round nine. They won't take DJ Moore in 2023 because they were so unhappy with how he did. But let them live that life.
Starting point is 00:50:49 Because I think if the Panthers do a good job of obtaining a quarterback, I think Heath's right. Frank Reich is going to scheme it up where he's getting a lot of work. The only thing I think that could take away from that is if there is a young receiver there, whether it's Terrace Marshall or Shai Smith, that ends up getting just a huge opportunity because they've earned it along the way. And then things get spread out a little bit, but we've long been arguing for DJ Moore to have a bigger role in the red zone. I think that happened a little bit more last year, certainly
Starting point is 00:51:18 toward the end of the year. Don't quote me on it, but as long as that happens and there's growth there, targets are going to be there. Accurate quarterback hopefully comes along. He can finish as a top 15 wide receiver again. All right. Last thing on DJ Moore is in those last six games with Sam Darnold, DJ Moore had the second highest ADOT in the NFL of all wide receivers with 15 or more targets.
Starting point is 00:51:40 If you want to make it 16 or more targets, he had the highest ADOT of all wide receivers. He completely changed. He became this downfield big play guy, and he happened to be catching them. And that's why, you know, perhaps why he had two games where he had a combined one catch for 10 yards. So he has been a different player throughout his career, through different seasons, different parts of the seasons. He's a weird guy, which is perfect for today's show. Two more stats. Number 11,
Starting point is 00:52:07 Javante Williams. Dave, you have this one. He only played four games. He was third in targets per game among all running backs, regardless of games played. So Javante Williams was third in targets per game. I will say, though, Dave, heavily weighted by 12 targets in week one at Seattle. Of course.
Starting point is 00:52:23 But he still had some games with like five targets or four targets. Yeah, he had 12, four, and five in his first three games of the year. And then he tore his ACL the following week. So yeah, it's impressive. What do you think? Does that carry over? I think it carries over. Number one, if he's healthy.
Starting point is 00:52:42 Number two, if the Broncos don't add another running back on their own. And the reason why I think it carries over is because of Sean Payton and what his tendency is. And we've talked about this on the show, where his teams in New Orleans, they had a running back get at least 20% of its receptions pretty much every single year. They averaged 31.1% of the receptions in Sean Payton's time there. So it seems like that's a staple in what Sean Payton's going to ask of this offense. And if he insists on it,
Starting point is 00:53:15 Russell Wilson will do it. I know that Russ isn't known for being a thrower to his running backs, but there's your evidence. Russ was the quarterback when he was throwing to Javante Williams in the first few weeks of the season. So fingers crossed that he gets healthy and that he's ready to contribute and maybe at worst he's the one b running back in that offense they go out and they add somebody in the draft for example and they they use that rookie to handle running downs and giovante handles passing downs and pass protection and all that stuff. That could still end up being good for Javante, but really what we're hoping for is Javante comes back and he just becomes a three down stud that Sean Payton trusts.
Starting point is 00:53:52 Last stat. I don't know how much we have to spend on this because we've talked so much about them, but the Dallas running backs, you had a stat about the Dallas running backs before Ezekiel Elliott's injury. The first seven games of the season, Zeke averaged 11.1 points per game. Tony Pollard averaged 10.1. running backs before Ezekiel Elliott's injury, the first seven games of the season. Zeke averaged 11.1 points per game.
Starting point is 00:54:09 Tony Pollard averaged 10.1. That's in PPR. After the injury, weeks 11 through 17, so that's when Zeke came back. We're not counting the two games that Zeke missed. Zeke averaged 15.3 PPR points per game. He was scoring every week. Pollard averaged 17.8 PPR points per game, including was scoring every week. Pollard averaged 17.8 PPR points
Starting point is 00:54:26 per game, including a zero in week 17. So, amazing, Dave, that those two guys were averaging 34 PPR fantasy points per game combined, which is why I just think even if they bring Zeke back, God,
Starting point is 00:54:41 Tony Pollard could be incredible for fantasy this year. As long as they bring Tony Pollard back. Yeah, of course. Remember he's a free agent too, but it looks like that's going to happen. So we don't need to talk about this anymore. The whole world,
Starting point is 00:54:54 the whole fantasy world anyway, is rooting for Tony Pollard to be the main guy in Dallas and for Ezekiel Elliott to be the water boy. Yeah. Just, um, the sky's the limit. I mean,
Starting point is 00:55:07 it's going to take a lot. If he's healthy for training camp and he doesn't have major competition, he's, Pollard's a second round pick for me. I don't know how you feel. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:55:19 You do have to worry about the workload. I'm thinking kind of like mid to early second round. Yeah, you have to wonder about the workload because they just, they might hesitate to really give him a full lion's share,
Starting point is 00:55:28 but a lot going in his favor. They would display that belief through their actions this offseason. If they don't bring back Ezekiel Elliott and they don't add much to the position, that's a team telling you, in Tony Pollard, we trust. Yeah. All right, Dave, tomorrow we'll talk about sophomore running backs
Starting point is 00:55:45 with Dave and Jamie. And we did have a request to answer some questions in the chat, so I'll do that for two minutes here. If anybody wants to ask a question, please do. I do have some emails.
Starting point is 00:55:55 I'll try to read them tomorrow. Fantasyfootball at cbsi.com. That's the letter I. Fantasyfootball at cbsi.com. And while we wait for some questions
Starting point is 00:56:04 to filter in, made some chocolate chip cookies last night dave they were they were really good awesome good for you what's the secret to making a good chocolate chip cookie the brand that you buy because i just buy the break and bakes i don't make them myself or anything so you know it's not like i have my secret recipe it's just put it you know follow the instructions put them on a sheet, put them in the oven. I'll tell you what the secret is. You have to be patient. You have to really let them sit,
Starting point is 00:56:30 I'd say, for at least 10 minutes. They will come out a little bit too mushy. As the night progresses, they get even crispier. It's much better. Have a glass of milk. There you go. I'm with you on the milk. First question, what's on Dave's T-shirt?
Starting point is 00:56:44 Cool shirt. I've with you on the milk. First question. What's on Dave's T-shirt? Cool shirt. Oh, this is my... I've worn this shirt before. It's my Brody Lee Forever shirt. Can you see it? Here, I'll stand up. Brody Lee Forever. Right.
Starting point is 00:56:56 So Brody Lee was a wrestler. He went by Luke Harper in WWE. Passed away during COVID. He was awesome. Just one of those nimble big men in the wrestling ring. Cool. So I saw Biggie wearing this shirt, and I was like, I got to get that shirt.
Starting point is 00:57:15 And so I got that shirt. This looks better on Biggie, though. From Dwander, first round quarterback in redrafts or too early for that trend? I still think it's too early. Like I get why people want to take it. And we've talked about this. I think we talked about it last week.
Starting point is 00:57:29 We did like a whole segment or show on that point differential being such a huge difference maker from Holmes or Allen. But I know that I need multiple running backs and multiple wide receivers in my draft. I only need one quarterback if it's a one QB league. So I'm willing to wait a little bit to try and get one of those great quarterbacks at a fair price. For Matt Weber, is Bijan Robinson a wasted pick by the Bills at 27? You're settling an argument between Bills fans. Yeah, I would be sad if he went to Buffalo. I get why Buffalo
Starting point is 00:58:00 would want him. I get why every team wants him. He's outstanding, but would he get the same type of usage there compared to other places? I don't know if he would. That would make me a little bit unhappy if he went to Buffalo. From a fantasy standpoint, yeah. Would it be a wasted pick for the Bills? He might be the missing ingredient to them becoming a championship team. I
Starting point is 00:58:19 don't know. It would give them a more diverse offense. But from a fantasy standpoint, I believe it or not, I don't think think we'd like that what if he ends up being really good we're talking him up to be the next saquon barkley basically what if he ends up taking work off of josh allen's plate and he ruins digs and allen and others in buffalo this is what i would normally say gabe davis but we we're not really excited about Gabe Davis anymore. What if he ruins those guys a little bit and Buffalo does revert back
Starting point is 00:58:50 to being a little bit more balanced pass run? Then you'd be happy to have Bijan on your team. The next, Jamal Williams. Would you trade, from Jacob, would you trade Jamar Chase and a third-round pick for McCaffrey in a two-player keeper standard scoring league. I have two firsts, a second, and two thirds, and I have Justin Jefferson.
Starting point is 00:59:13 So the third is not all that valuable for him, I guess. Would you trade Chase and a third for McCaffrey in a standard scoring two-player keeper league? The only way I would even consider making that move is if I couldn't keep Jamar Chase either now or after the 2023 season. That's it. Otherwise, what are you doing? Why are you getting rid of Jamar Chase? No.
Starting point is 00:59:34 No. Don't do that. You'd have Chase and Jefferson theoretically for your entire life. Yeah. It's tempting. Pretty great. Thanks everybody for watching and listening. We'll talk to you tomorrow as we look at the sophomore running backs. Very and listening. We'll talk to you tomorrow as we look at the sophomore running backs. Very exciting group. We'll talk about that with Dave and Jamie on Thursday's episode.
Starting point is 00:59:50 Hope you enjoyed our weird Wednesday. See you later.

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