Fantasy Football Today - Updated RB Rankings! Breece Hall or Cam Akers? Ken Walker or Miles Sanders? (05/03 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: May 3, 2022

Dave and Jamey update their running back rankings with the NFL Draft behind us. How many rookie RBs will be drafted in the first 10 rounds? And why should James Cook be one of them (3:10)? Does Isaiah Spiller make the cut? ... Breece Hall or Cam Akers (12:00)? Ken Walker or Miles Sanders (14:45)? Dameon Pierce or Damien Harris (19:50)? Devin Singletary or A.J. Dillon (22:00)? James Cook or Tyler Allgeier (24:15)? ... The YouTube audience gets to pick our new intro (27:15)! And we've got some news and notes (31:00) including quick thoughts on DeAndre Hopkins, plus how the NFL Draft may have affected some veteran RBs (35:40) like Josh Jacobs and Antonio Gibson ... Your emails at [e-mail] Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs, @BenSchragg 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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BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. This is touchdown. Oh, he's done it again. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath, and Beck. What's going on? Welcome to our running back rankings updates here as we have the rookie running backs on their teams. And now we can ask, hey, Brees Hall or Cam Akers? Damian Pierce or Damian Harris? If he's splitting with Ramondre Stevenson,

that might not be such a good situation. Adam Azer, Jamie Eisenberg, and Dave Richard. Heath is out today. He'll be back tomorrow. Shraggy B is back from some type of mini vacation, I think he went on. Right? Shraggy B? Work from home vacation.

What did you say, Dave? Dave? Dave? Dave Rosen. Dave Rosen already? Already? One minute in. The show's 30 seconds old and it's already happening okay he's the best part is is that dave's supposed to be in the most professional place i we're i'm in the fantasy compound we've got a studio in here we've got hardwired maybe you should work from home like the rest i can't say for sure that it's his problem. It might be on my end. I don't know. But anyway,

we'll figure it out. Dave's back. We're good to go. Dave said on Fantasy Football Today in 5 the other day that five rookie running backs would go in the first 10 rounds. Specifically, he has them going in the first nine rounds. Jamie, do you agree with that? Five rookie running backs in the first 10 rounds. Specifically, he has them going in the first nine rounds.

Jamie, do you agree with that? Five rookie running backs in the first 10 rounds? I do not. I would take the over. Oh, all right. So let's get the obvious ones. Brees Hall, Ken Walker. Those are, I guess, the only completely obvious ones.

Dave, who else? Who are the other three that you say go in the first 10 rounds? Damian Pearson, James Cook, for sure. Oh. Tyler Algier, I think, will now go in the first 10 rounds? Damian Pearson, James Cook, for sure. Oh. Tyler Algier, I think, will now go in the first 10 rounds. So I think those are locks. And then I think one of, potentially, by the time we get to camp, could be Isaiah Spiller as somebody takes the next secondary running back for the Chargers. Or somebody takes Brian Robinson.

Or there's another handcuff or somebody that we fall in love with that we say you have to draft as a handcuff lottery ticket type of guy. It could be the LSU kid from the 49ers. If Elijah Mitchell's banged up to start the season, I think there will be at least six guys that go in the first ten. Ty Davis Price, is that his name? Ty Davis Price. Yeah. That's the guy in the 49ers. So Dave's at five. Jamie's going to take the over. And we'll see now if I did make it the first nine rounds. I don't know if that would change your mind because that was originally what Dave said.

First nine rounds. But either way, I think we have the names. Damien Pierce, James Cook. So Cook is interesting. Convince me to draft Cook because he's a smaller guy. Probably starts as a third down back, which hasn't been a very valuable role for Buffalo.

Guessing he starts behind Singletary. Dave, convince me to draft James Cook. Is it that you think he could overtake him or that he'd actually be kind of a PPR relevant guy like a JD McKissick? Make the case. I think there's a chance he overtakes Devin Singletary, but that's not the number one reason why I would draft him. The number one reason why I would draft James Cook

is because it appears the Bills want to get that element of their passing offense going. They tried to get J.D. McKissick earlier this offseason. They thought they had him, and then he changed his mind. He went back to Washington. I don't know why he'd pick Washington over Buffalo

or maybe it was a money issue who knows what it is but he was out and so they went in the draft they obviously targeted Cook they got Cook and his specialty is in the passing game he's really good in that role and he might even like morph into kind of like a hybrid slot receiver for the Buffalo Bills so there's upside on north of 50 catches, maybe even 60 catches in that offense. We know that they still have digs. They've got Gabriel Davis. We love those guys.

But I don't know if there's another wide receiver in Buffalo. They signed Jameson Crowder. That's kind of eh. And I know that he's a slot receiver too. But I'm excited about Cook potentially getting four or five targets per game and that's from josh allen barely throwing to his running backs last year and he's going to get some carries on top of that too and if he looks good carrying the football and if something happens to singletary where he's not effective or he gets hurt i don't think they're turning to duke johnson or zach

moss i think they'll give james cook a shot and he'll get more work. So a little bit of a long-term investment type deal with Cook with a floor of him being potentially usable as a bi-week replacement or as a desperation replacement in full PPR. I tend to agree with Dave and I think that's the positive way to look at James Cook. The negative, which is kind of a negative for almost all the Bills, is they are so much more diverse right now than they've ever been with Josh Allen as the quarterback because you know, you, you, you lose Cole Beasley, but they have their best tight end group that they've ever had with the addition of OJ Howard joining Dawson Knox.

I think the combination of Crowder McKenzie and Khalil Shakir, who was an unbelievable draft pick from, they traded up to get working as that slot type of option. So you're going to see more two tight end sets. You're going to see more, I think, maybe both running backs on the field at the same time. James Cook probably playing in a pass-catching role. That doesn't necessarily mean out of the backfield, as Dave alluded to.

Obviously, Diggs and Gabriel Davis, what they bring. So they're going to throw a lot of different things at defenses that we haven't seen yet. And so it could be a negative for everybody because there's, you know, the ball moving around to different places that we didn't expect to happen. Or it could be that we get more concentrated targets because of the elite level players, mostly being Diggs and Davis, and then who falls out after that. So it's going to be fun to see how this Bills offense operates because they have a lot of different options right now.

But I do think that Cook, I don't know if he'll be the next man up if there's a running downs opportunity because I do think that would probably go to more of the veteran guys, probably Duke ahead of Zach Moss if things have gone the way, unfortunately, for Zach Moss. But Cook will probably get an opportunity there as well. But I think he's definitely going to catch more passes than any Bills running backs caught in the past. In the Josh Allen era.

Just a reminder about that Bills offense. They did not punt in either of the last two games they played against the Patriots last year. That playoff game and then a late season game. They did not punt. They scored 33 points. That didn't include the win game, right? That did not include the win game right that did not include the win game i don't know how much they punted in that game because obviously they were not good

punting conditions but uh no they only scored 10 points in that game i wonder how many punts they had um but yeah i just thought that was funny that i read that recently that i knew they didn't do it in the playoffs but two straight games against the bill against the patriots they didn't do it in the playoffs, but two straight games against the Patriots, they didn't punt. Can I share a text message with you guys that I got? Well, first I want to know if we convinced you to take James Cook and call it round eight or round nine in a full PPR league. I don't think – no, not round eight. Who are we talking about going in round – we're talking about like DeAndre Hopkins going in round eight. Yeah, I would take Hopkins out of it.

I'm not taking a role player. Look, it's obviously going to depend on the reports, right? But I think Singletary at least starts with the job. And I don't know that Cook is really fitted to be a lead back for more than a few games. But no,

I think round, I think round nine, we start talking about it. Certainly around 10, but round eight, I still feel like that. There's a kind of a big difference between round 8 and round 9 or 10. I feel like round 8

sometimes in a 12-team league is the last round where you, at wide receiver specifically, you feel like you're getting a guy that you're putting in your starting lineup. So I feel like that's a little early to me. Is that fair? I was surprised I'm in an analyst rookie-only draft right now. And Cook went in the first round, and I was a little

surprised about it. What do you go ahead of? I'm curious. I'll have to pull it up and tell you. Because it just wouldn't surprise me if next year the Bills invest more heavily in running back. Like this is the last year they ride with Singletary. Who's been good. By the way, Singletary's had a really nice career.

Yes, he has. I don't know that James Cook is the answer. I compare it to Michael Carter. If they really need a running back, if they're just not satisfied with that, I don't think they're giving James Cook the next year, 2023. I don't think he's the guy.

I think they probably go bigger. Not unless he develops beyond anybody's wildest imaginations at this point, but I also think that this front office, meshed with the coaching staff, has told us over the years that they do not want to invest in a running back. Case in point, they had a chance to get Brees Hall,

and they didn't do it with their first-round pick. Did they have a huge need at another position? They took a cornerback in round one. I guess you could say, yeah, they had the needed cornerback, and Elam is who they took, and that's somebody who definitely fits in their defense. But if they really wanted to address the position, they could have done it in free agency. They could have done it in the draft with Brees Hall.

And so I just think that they're never going to go and spend huge draft capital on a running back ever again. Yeah, unless, of course, they feel like their offense, which does have a new coordinator for what it's worth. I know it's somebody who's in the building, but it's a different voice. That they're going to incorporate that position more in the passing game, and this was the guy that they targeted all along.

Who is that Bills offensive coordinator? Yeah, who is that guy? He's a great, great college quarterback. An unbelievable talent. Has a chance to be a head coach one day, Ken Dorsey. Ken Dorsey, my man. Super psyched for that.

James Cook was the 11th pick. This is a super flex league, so only one quarterback has gone in the first round. We just finished the first round. And you went ahead of the two picks after him, which is where we are right now, which was George Pickens and Jahan Dotson. It's PPR league.

You have to start three running backs and five receivers. Yeah, so listen. It's a little surprising. If you have to start five receivers, that's surprising. Schrager sent me a good note here. Where's it from, Ben? From what used to be Roto World. NBC Sports Edge now.

Okay, yeah. Bill's general manager, Brandon Bean, said the team views running back James Cook as a, quote, sub-back. He he added that cook skill set is similar to jd mckissick's right no right so that's this guy they clearly targeted something they were looking for a specific type of guy and so how they use that type of guy you know i mean look duke johnson fits that role too you know it's it's it's kind of a clear indication of you know i think what they were you know trying to identify and and that could speak in the positive way for devon singletary maybe even zach moss that they weren't looking to replace those two all right so i would

now can i share with you this text message that i got uh is from okay so it's it's from my friend sent me a tweet from pff betet, at PFF underscore bet. Five of the top six favorites to go number one in 2023 are from either Ohio State or Alabama. That is incredible. Why is that surprising though? Five of the top six? They could be the first five picks.

You know? I mean, that's just wild. I would love to go back the last probably five years but it could be more that the projected number one overall pick has not been the number one overall pick yeah but this is five now i mean i think five but no i mean cj stroud bryce young will anderson paris johnson who's an offensive tackle from ohio state and jackson smith najigba wide receiver from ohio state they uh they're the top five and tied with... He'll be a quarterback. Those quarterbacks might be the top two quarterbacks

in next year's draft. They're great. The next two guys are Phil Jerkovic of Boston College and Tyler Van Dyke of Miami, both quarterbacks, and Spencer Rattler, another quarterback. Okay, sorry. Sorry for the detour. Let's talk running backs here.

Let's play Who Would You Rather Have, the rookie running back edition. Brees Hall of the Jets. I'm going to just say where they went, just in case those of you are NFL draft junkies. Brees Hall to the Jets or Rams running back Cam Akers. Brees Hall or Cam Akers? Who would you rather have?

Hall. Same. Brees Hall. Is that changed because of Kyron Williams? No, I don't think Kyron Williams is too much of a threat to Cam Akers. I disagree. I think Kyron Williams could be a threat to take some work away from Cam Akers,

but I've been saying it since the playoffs. I need to see Cam Akers look better than he did in the postseason. I know what Brees Hall looks like, and even though we worry about just how much work will be on his plate in his rookie year, especially early on, I'm definitely willing to take the chance on Hall ahead of Akers right now.

Okay. Obviously, I'm always going to make the case, right? I want the lead running back on the Rams way more than I want the lead running back on the Jets. All due respect to the Jets, I understand they could be much better. The Rams just won the Super Bowl, high-powered offense, and we've seen a lot of value in the lead running back of the Los Angeles Rams, including Cam Akers at the end of 2020 and Daryl Henderson before he got hurt in 2021. So that would be the case to take Akers

over Hall. Yeah, they're back-to-back for me. I think they're somewhat similar um i'm not so much worried about the the way that cam makers look because what he did to me was superhuman to come back from that injury and help that team and take him as much work as he did and in talking to sean mcveigh at the owners meetings you know the one game that he brought up which was the cardinals game uh in that game he had over 90 total yards he said that was the one game where they saw the quick twitch they saw the explosiveness um look no camp to to get even just on the field is amazing and so i think full off season the problem that i have with acres is all we've seen from him is a small sample size of potential greatness you know we just haven't seen sustained greatness and the hope is that he has that sustained greatness which he certainly has the potential to be. I mean,

we were talking about him at this point a year ago as a first round pick in fantasy. So there's definitely that upside there because of exactly what you said, Adam, this offense can produce a great running back. We saw it with Todd Gurley and the two examples that you gave. And so I think there's that, that upside for sure. But, uh, when I said that, I don't think Karen Williams is a threat to Cam Akers, what you said, Dave, yes, he's going to take some work away. But is he going to take work away from Akers per se, or is he going to take away work from Henderson? And that's what we have to find out. So I think he'll lose some touches to somebody, as will Brees Hall. But I think just leaning on the hope that

Brees Hall is not the next Jonathan Taylor, but hopefully close to that, that's the chance I'll take. All right, let's go to our next one here. Who would you rather have, Seattle running back Ken Walker or Miles Sanders? I'll take the rookie here, too. I'll take Walker ahead of Miles Sanders. I will take Sanders in PPR and Walker in none. Yeah.

What do you think, what do you think about miles Sanders as a pass catcher where they have gained? Well, they add AJ Brown. They obviously barely through last year. I don't know what to expect from Sanders. I think he's a really tough one just because I don't know what to expect

from the offense, but what kind of passing role do you think he has Jamie? I don't think it's a huge one, but I think he's got the chance to be a 40-catch guy. I don't know if Walker can do that in this offense if he's not the primary guy. Now, clearly, we're talking about him competing with the injury-prone Rashad Penny,

and for now, who knows what of Chris Carson. So there's the chance for that, and I certainly think there's been too much made of Ken Walker's lack of catching or lack of receptions at Michigan State because he showed that as a high school player, you know, if you go back and just track him and certainly what he showed you in the combine, he can do that. But will he do that in this offense? And is that a Russell Wilson thing? Or is that a Seattle offensive thing that they just didn't throw to

their backs to the same level that we like to see? You know, Chris Carson, you know, showed the ability to do that at times, but not consistently enough. But again, is that a Russell thing or just the Seattle offensive thing? So I wouldn't be surprised if Walker's better. They're back-to-back in both formats for me. Walker ahead of Sanders and non-PPR, Sanders ahead of Walker and PPR. But I do think that Sanders

too much was made of the lack of touchdowns last year. Clearly, the injuries are a problem for him as well. But as of now, the competition is not that steep. You know, Boston Scott, I don't think is going to keep him off the field. Ken's game won't make him off the field in passing down situations. And you have to worry about Jalen Hurts, what he does with his legs. But I think there's just more potential for receptions in Philadelphia for Sanders

because I've seen him catch 50 passes once upon a time. And I wouldn't be surprised if he's a 40 catch guy if he plays the majority of 17 games. He had 50 catches in 2019, his rookie year. He was healthy for all 16 games in the two years since he has 54 catches on 86 targets. He can do it. I hope he can stay healthy to do it. I want the Eagles to give him that workload, but it's two years of evidence that suggests that every time he's had the chance, something happens where either he struggles,

he makes mistakes, or he gets hurt. And I'm definitely, you kind of glossed over Jalen Hurts and how that factors in with Miles Sanders. That's a pretty big deal, especially when you're talking about short yardage goal line carries. Hurts dominated there. We all know that Sanders didn't have any touchdowns last year. He's going to get touchdowns this year.

But is it going to be like five? Is it going to be like six? How many is he going to get? How many is Walker? How many for Walker? How many for Walker? What do you think? I think if Walker walks out of training camp with the lead job in Seattle, I think he can beat six touchdowns pretty easily and probably flirt with nine, but he's got to do it first. And we know that Pete Carroll loves Rashad Penny, but they obviously love Walker because they didn't. The last thing they needed was a running back with that second round pick. Everybody thought, remember, they had back-to-back picks in round two. They took Boya Mafe first.

They definitely needed pass rush help. That was a great pick. But everybody thought, well, maybe they're going to take a quarterback here. All the quarterbacks except for Pickett were still on the board. They could have used more help on the offense. But nobody liked these guys. I mean, they may have a deal in place for Baker that we don't know about. They might.

And even if they did, wouldn't they want to get somebody who's young, who they could go and try and develop? But if they didn't like him, you're right. They didn't. Nobody liked these guys. I guess not if they're going in round three with the exception of Pickett going to Pittsburgh in round one. Look, I like Walker. I really like the fit of Walker in Seattle. I think he's exactly what Pete Carroll looks for in a running back. We can laugh at Seattle all day for not being a progressive offense, but they are an offense that wants to run the football a lot. And I don't expect him, maybe he's lucky to get 25 catches.

I do think he is a good pass catcher out of the backfield. He wasn't asked to do it in Michigan State. He's probably not going to be asked to do a lot of it at Seattle either. But his competition is Chris Carson, who might not play again. Rashad Penny, who gets hurt every year. And that's it. So he's really got a shot to be a workhorse in Seattle's offense. The downgrade is at Seattle's passing game. Humongous question mark.

If it's Baker back there, I'll be very excited about Ken Walker. Yeah, I will take Walker. I don't know if I'll be as excited. What's up? Is it Dino Smith? Not so much, because Dino will be the starter over Drew Locke. I hope so. And you know what?

I'm okay with Dino as the quarterback there, but I'd rather it be Baker or Garoppolo or pretty much anybody other than Drew Locke or Sam Darnold. All right. If you're looking for a leg up on your bookmaker, we've got you covered on the Early Edge podcast powered by Sportsline. Every day you can join,

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FFT great great show great advice all right who would you rather have Houston running back Damian Pierce or Patriots running back Damian Harris, Jamie? Harris. Dave, Damian Pierce, give me a Damian.

I'm giving you Damian Harris. But if we're talking dynasty, I think you can make the case for Damian Pierce. So if I were going to make the case for Damian Pierce in redraft, I would say if the Patriots go back to what they were last six games or so of the season, Damian Harris is just not somebody I'm drafting. He's 10 carries per game, one catch on that. He was a horse, you know, and then he got hurt. Stevenson had one game where he had like 18 carries or something. Then Harris came back and they were splitting 50-50. That is a terrible role. A 50-50 split with no pass catching role.

So he's got to get more work than Stevenson, you know, in order to be good. Otherwise, I'll take a guy who has a shot at being the lead back for Houston. That's my case for Pierce. It's a good case. There's not enough touchdown potential. Right. So, number one, there's not as much touchdown potential for Pierce. Number two, I would bank on Pierce sharing almost as much, if not more, than Damian Harris.

I think the Texans are going to have multiple running backs. Pierce will be a big part of that. He's my favorite of the guys that they have because the other guys are Marlon Mack and Rex Burkhead. It's not sexy at all. Sexy? Rexy's not sexy? No, not sexy anymore. Rexy no longer sexy.

I think that Harris has a chance at double-digit touchdowns this year. Maybe a little bit more of a touchdown-dependent running back than we'd like to admit, but he does have potential when he's hot in a game to go well over 100 yards rushing. Patriots have a great offensive line, and they're trying to do what they can with their passing game to make it a little bit more balanced, but at their core, they'll run the football, and that helps Harris.

I mean, look, Matt Patricia running the offense. You can't go wrong there. Devin Singletary or A.J. Dillon, who would you rather have Devin Singletary or A.J. Dillon? This is not a rookie running back question, but somewhat affected by the rookie running backs. Devin Singletary, Singletary or Dillon?

Who you got, Jamie? Still Singletary, but it's close. I wouldn't surprise me if I moved Dillon ahead of him. By the end of the day, I think back-to-back in non-PPR, maybe Singletary is one spot or two ahead of him in PPR, but it's very close. I'll take Singletary. We know right now that he is the primary back in Buffalo.

We just got done talking about what the roles are for all the other backs that are there. AJ Dillon's awesome. He's a beast. He's a lot of fun. I'd love to have both these guys on a team. And I think you could probably get away with taking one in round five and one in round six if you wanted to. So maybe you take a running back early, like round one. You stay away from running backs in two, three, and four. Singletary should be there in five. You can get Dillon in six. You've got both of them. One of them should be great. The other one should still be okay.. Singletary should be there in five. You can get Dillon in six. You've got both of them. One of them should be great. The other one should still be okay.

But Singletary is the one who's going to get, I believe, more work from the jump. And both are excellent offenses. I think Singletary is probably just a little bit safer. Just want to throw some stats out on A.J. Dillon. First three games of the year, he just wasn't that involved. He had exactly 26 total yards in each game. Week four is when the season kind of started for A.J. Dillon. And from that point forward, his 17-game pace was 209 carries, 36 catches, 1,260 total yards and eight touchdowns.

Really pretty damn solid. But he had 11 of his 30 catches in that stretch. He had 30. He was on pace for 36. 11 of his 30 catches were in two games that Aaron Jones either didn't play or, if you remember, Jones missed the game. Actually, he didn't get hurt in the game, Dave. He came back, but he came back way too early. He was supposed to miss two to three weeks.

He missed one week. Came back against the Rams. Was terrible. Didn't have a catch in the game, Dave. He came back, but he came back way too early. He was supposed to miss two to three weeks. He missed one week. Came back against the Rams. Was terrible. Didn't have a catch in that game. I think Dylan had five or six in that game. For the most part, when Aaron Jones was on the field, Dylan wasn't catching all that many passes. He still put together a really nice stretch beginning in week four.

The last one I have for you here for now is Buffalo running back James Cook or Falcons running back Tyler Algier. Who are you taking, Dave? It's in pencil right now, but it's Cook over Algier. I want to see Algier earn his way into the lead role, and I hope that the Falcons give it to him. It's encouraging that they cut Mike Davis right after the draft, and I've already said it twice on the podcast. I'll say it again.

I bet he reminds Arthur Smith a little bit of Derrick Henry. Physical, workhorse type of running back. Unfortunately, he's got a bad offensive line in front of him and a real questionable offense to go with it. I think in a full PPR, it just makes sense to go with Cook. Jamie, Algier or James Cook? Yeah, I'll take Cook in PPR. I'll take Algier in non-PPR. I think there's more touchdown potential

for Algier, especially if, as Dave said, he's in the lead role. I'm going to guess he splits with Cordero Patterson. I wouldn't be surprised if they bring in another veteran that they can get cheap at some point, maybe either before camp or in camp when somebody's cut. But I don't know if Singletary's healthy, as we said, that Cook gets the chance to carry

the ball very much. And even if Singletary misses time, that Cook is still part of a committee with Duke Johnson or Zach Moss. So I think we'll catch more passes, but I don't think we'll score more touchdowns if both guys are in the roles that I expect. Jamie, give me a half PPR. I was ahead of both of them, by the way. Who was ahead of both?

Corderell Patterson's ahead of both of them. Yeah. Jamie, give me a half PPR. Algier or James Cook? Algier. Okay. I got a new game I want to play with you guys. It's called Pick Our Intro.

And the listeners, the viewers right now on YouTube are going to help us as well. We've got a few options for our new intro, which is like two years old now, and we're going to update it. So when we come back, pick our intro right after this. What does possible sound like for your business? It's having the spend to powers your scale with no preset spending limit. More cash on hand to grow your scale with no preset spending limit. More cash on hand to grow your business with up to 55 interest-free days. And the ability to reach further with access to over 1,400 airport lounges worldwide.

Redefine possible with Business Platinum. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Terms and conditions apply. Visit amex.ca slash business platinum. Back here on Fantasy Football today, we do have some news and notes to get to, including a very intriguing wide receiver that the Kansas City Chiefs signed, and some more running back stuff. But before

we do that, we got a new intro. I want to know which one you guys prefer. So here's the background. So Ben and I asked this dude to make us a new intro so he comes back he gives us an intro you don't give the guy's name his name is just some guy his name is mike okay so this dude he gives us an intro and we're listening to it and there's something in it that's just it's different you know and we're not sure how we feel about it so he gave us another

option so this is how it's gonna start right it's gonna, you know? And we're not sure how we feel about it. So he gave us another option. So this is how it's going to start, right? It's going to start like this. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. What a play! Can you believe this? Okay, so that's how it starts. Love that.

Right? And now you've got two options. You've got this one. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. This is going to go the distance. Or. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races. And he stays on his feet.

This is gonna go the distance. So you've got the first one that has these grunts. And one guy who sounds like he's being like beaten within inches of his life. And then you've got the other one, which is just a radio call. So let me play it again because I was like, I was waiting to hear a Heath sigh in there

or something like that. No, I just, I laugh my ass off every time I hear the grunts. But here, listen. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. This is gonna go the distance.

So there's that or last time on this. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races and he stays on his feet. So there's that or last time on this. So what do you think, guys? Grunt or no grunt? No grunt. I think we should do the grunt just so when everybody listens to it, they laugh.

It's like such a violent scream. All right. more time play one more time all right it's time to dominate your fantasy league it makes me laugh so can we do a youtube poll ben yeah i've got a youtube poll going right now all right all right we'll check in on it make sure you remind me to check in on it later grunts are too much uh all right go with the grunt we mix it up can we use what if we did uh the the second one the one that without the guy falling off of a cliff right um most of the time then once in a while we change it up sure with uh yeah i could do that i could do um i could do some you know maybe maybe a monday wednesday

friday we grunt tuesday thursday we just have radio no no i'm saying like once in a while unscheduled you just decide on a lark we're going with uh we're going with you're asking him to do that kind of work no that's easy that's easy it's for him. He can do it. He'll forget 10 out of 10. All right, Alfred. Then just once, because once in a while, he'll remember. And then we'll get the,

ah! Yeah! Everyone will crack up at it. It's just so weird. But yeah, whatever. We need Adam to voice the intro. I don't think we need that. I don't think that.

I hate change. All right, we got some good comments here. This is why you gotta watch on YouTube so you can pick the grunt or no grunt game. All right, let's do some news and notes real quick. The Chiefs signed Justin Ross. Justin Ross is... That's the news and notes you lead with? Did something huge happen?

Yeah, yesterday we did an emergency podcast. Oh, well, I didn't. I mean, I figured we weren't talking about that. Excuse me, Jamie. Excuse me. Justin Ross, much more important than DeAndre Hopkins. We spent 20 minutes on DeAndre Hopkins yesterday. I mean, we always usually follow up the next day.

We're still talking about it. The reason why we do that is because we usually have different people on. But you are right. I just didn't want to have the same show. But if you want to hear about Hopkins, I guess I should have mentioned this a while ago. We recorded 20 minutes on him yesterday. We moved on to grunts today.

So did the Cardinals. All right. Jamie. Jamie, give me a 30 second wrap up of the DeAndre Hopkins news and what it meant for everyone else on the Cardinals. Sure. DeAndre Hopkins, poop. Marquise Brown, stock up.

Kyler Murray, stock slightly down. Zach Ertz, stock up. Rondell Moore, stock up. AJ Green, stock up. Don't give up on DeAndre Hopkins. You can trade for him middle of the season, and he's worth a pick as early as round eight, but just understand that you have to stash him

for the first six weeks of the season. Okay, Dave, we're going to do your 30-second version. Kyler Murray is QB blank. Kyler Murray is QB seven, but I actually like him a little bit more that value than I let on on the podcast yesterday. I otherwise agree 100% with Jamie. I especially like Zach Ertz,

who moved up two spots in my tight end rankings. Okay, Marquise Brown in round blank. Five, six. And Dequise Brown in round blank. 5'6". And DeAndre Hopkins in round blank. 8. And Rondell Moore. It's going to be 10 in full PPR, 12 plus otherwise. All right, I do want to give a little love to Justin Ross here.

Justin Ross was an elite college wide receiver at Clemson, had a spinal injury, did not play for either of the last two seasons, but could have been a first round pick. So he had surgery, had a procedure, and he's back and we're rooting for him because at the time he was told no more football. So it's a great story. And for all we know, the Chiefs might have just gotten a huge steal based on talent. You'd think it's going to take a little while because he's rusty, hasn't played in two years. But Justin Ross is his name. It's J-U-S-T-Y-N if you're looking for him. And I don't know. If you're doing a rookie-only league, I'd take him in the third round. I'd take a gamble.

What do you think think someone will do it in in every rookie only league but the challenge that i would have for both of you as well as everybody listening is name the last player who came into the league with significant injuries on top of a spine issue who had a long lasting career well i mean the uh the player pool for that is so huge well just fine if you throw his left hip is a little bit bigger than his right hip and he's got no but okay throw out the spinal disorder because why not but players that come into the nfl with a long list of injuries like first name that comes to my mind, because we were talking about the Bills today, is Zach Moss.

It's one of the reasons why I didn't want to have Zach Moss on my dynasty team. And now Zach Moss is buried on the Bills depth chart. Well, I mean, you can look. Frank Gore tore both his ACLs. Both McGehee? He lasted a while. McGehee tore his ACL.

But Gore counts. McGehee, I think he just had the one right issue you know guy's knee one of the running backs one of the running backs in this class

tore both ACLs in this class? yeah once in high school and once in college I can look it up for you Dave I honestly don't know I couldn't think

but oh I got it it was Zamir White ah it was tore his right ACL in 2017 don't know. I couldn't think. I got it. It was Zamir White. Ah, it was. Tore his right ACL in 2017, his left ACL in 2018.

Okay. New Orleans signed Tyron Matthew three years, $33 million with $18 million guaranteed. They've now replaced their starting safeties from last year with Matthew and Marcus May, formerly of the Jets. Interestingly enough, the Chiefs let Matthew go. They signed Justin Reed to a very similar contract,

three years, $31.5 million with $20 million guaranteed. So slightly more guaranteed money, but basically the same contract for the guy they didn't sign and the guy they did sign. We'll see how that works out. Chiefs also made a minor trade with the Texans. They acquired cornerback Lonnie Johnson for a 2024 seventh round pick. The 49ers re-signed cornerback Jason Verrett. DK Metcalf has resumed running.

He had foot surgery, so he's getting back in the swing of things. And the Vikings declined the fifth-year option on center Garrett Bradbury, which I guess goes to show you that there's no sure thing, even an interior offensive lineman in the first round. Disappointing career so far for Garrett Bradbury, but maybe he has a big year and plays himself into a better contract. That'd be awesome for him. Let me ask you some more running back questions after the draft. Have James Conner and Leonard Fournette solidified themselves as RB1s? Yes.

Fournette has for sure. Conard's pretty close. Where are you on Josh Jacobs? Same, basically. Very good number two running back. I think we'll find out how much he's motivated by having his 50-year option decline. We'll find out how they're going to use both Kenyon Drake and Zamir White, if they do, in tandem with him.

But as we know, he's been successful when he's had the chance to play with the lead. And I think this Raiders team has gotten better. But will he have the same role in the passing game that he had at the end of last season when there was no Darren Waller and no Henry Ruggs and obviously no Devontae Adams on the team? So with a better receiving core and, and no Kenya Drake at the time, no,

so better receiving core and pass catching options in the backfield. Now that's the concern. So I think Jacobs kind of loses on one end games on another and kind of comes out just as a safe number two running back that you can get maybe in round three, if you want to be aggressive, but certainly around four. Where are you on Antonio Gibson,

Dave? I've got him ahead of Joshosh jacobs but only by one spot i'm nervous because i think brian robinson going there is kind of a dangerous sign that maybe they're looking at getting somebody who can take some of the physical work off of gibson keeping jd mckissick is just going to make it more of a headache for gibson from week to week but we've seen him make some explosive plays over the course of his two years, and I'm willing to bank on Washington, even although they lost Scherf at guard, giving him opportunities to make some more of those big plays.

Jamie, Jacobs or Gibson? Jacobs for me. Gibson makes me a little nervous. The fact that they brought in the running backs for interviews, that they drafted Brian Robinson, that they bring back McKissick. As we saw last year, he didn't have an uptick in the passing game until McKissick was out. And now you have what should be a better receiving core with Jahan Dotson.

As Dave mentioned, the offensive line got a little bit worse. And so I think just the concern with Gibson, it just feels as if this coaching staff is in love with him as we continue to see time and time again. So he's still a number two running back, but he was a borderline number one guy for me, and just as this draft process has gone along and the addition of Brian Robinson,

I feel like he's going to come out on the wrong end of things from his upside. I think he's still going to be the best running back in Washington and still in the same conversation with Jacobs Barkley, JK Dobbins, you know, those, those kinds of guys, Brees Hall. But, you know, Gibson's certainly fallen for me, not as far as he has dropped him, but you know, pretty close. I, the only thing that I'd push back on is that I feel like Gibson and Jacobs are in the exact same spot. Both of them saw a running back join them.

Yeah, but better offense for me for Jacob. That's true, but Devontae Adams went to Las Vegas. You talked about Dotson going to Washington. Devontae Adams went to Las Vegas. Yeah, no, I said that. You know, Drake's passing game role concerned me, but that's why they're very close. I think they're identical.

Yeah, no. To me, it feels like Jacobs, his team situation, better than the team situation there. And I hope Carson Wentz is an upgrade for Washington, but, man, he's got to prove it. Yeah, I guess maybe if there's more of a threat of losing touchdowns, would it be Gibson to Robinson? Nobody's taking Jacobson.

That's a fair point. It's an open question. It could turn out that way, but I also don't know if Scott Turner and Ron Rivera are willing to let a rookie do that job. I've got to dig a little bit more into this, but I always talk about how the Eagles offense changed midseason. The Washington offense changed midseason, too, because their defense got a lot better right in the midway point of the season. It didn't last all that long, but they had this

stretch. Remember, they beat the Bucs and they started playing a lot better. Basically, the point I'm making is the first eight games of the year, Antonio Gibson averaged 13.9 carries per game and he was not even a top 24 running back per game. The last eight games of the year, he averaged 18.4 carries per game, four and a half more carries per game, and he was number 12 per game at running back. And obviously the catches went up too because McKissick got hurt in that stretch, but the carries went way up.

I got to do a little bit more research to see what happened there and why the carries went way up. I think it's because they started playing better defense, they changed their identity a little bit, and they tried to go a little bit more research to see what happened there and why the carries went way up. I think it's because they started playing better defense. They changed their identity a little bit, and they tried to go a little bit more run heavy. All right, next question. Dallas drafted Tyler Johnson in round one, presumably to play left guard.

He was, if not the youngest, he was one of the youngest players in the draft. He might go into the season as the youngest player in football. I don't know. Tyler Johnson for the Cowboys. Does this pick do anything for Ezekiel Elliott or Tony Pollard

or just kind of neutral? I think it's neutral. I don't know if there's... Jamie froze? Oh, there he is. Man, we have an issue. Jamie, are you there? Yep.

Okay, Dave says it's neutral. I said Tyler Johnson. I meant Tyler Smith. I'm sorry. His name is Tyler Smith, not Tyler Johnson. Yeah, what do you think about this draft pick for the Cowboys? Does it do anything for Zeke or Pollard? It can't hurt.

Anytime you add your offensive line with a talented player, certainly can benefit things. This was a line that lost two guys, so we'll see how he steps in and can play right away. But I like Dallas going back to their strength and what's been a staple for them, and that's making sure they have one of the best offensive lines in football. Mostly if you can keep Tyron Smith healthy on the outside,

that'll make things a lot better. Our last question, does Isaiah Spiller affect Austin Eckler's value at all? Jamie? A little bit. You know, if he is able to step in and have a bigger role than what we've seen from the Justin Jacksons and Larry Roundtrees of the world. But I think Eckler hasler's you know showed you last

year that he can be that do-it-all threat and and and come through and be a stud so i didn't move eckler at all i just think that spiller is probably a more talented version if things go right for him than what they've had as that second guy complimenting him since melvin gordon left oh i moved eckler big time moved him in non-PPR from number three to number four. That's it. No, I'd like Spiller could steal two or three touchdowns over the course of the year. All right. We got a little bit of time.

I'll read a couple of emails here. I do like Spiller as the insurance policy for Eckler. Whereas last year, maybe we were drafting Justin Jackson just in case with Eckler, and I don't think he was a necessary draft with a double-digit round pick. I think Spiller is probably worth the investment, but that's going to come after round 10. All right. I got an email from Steven. Again, the email address is fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. He needs to keep three and a half PPR league. He also says, Dear Aang, Zuko, Katara, and Toph, these are characters from Avatar,

The Last Airbender. What is that? I know Avatar, but what the heck is Avatar, The Last Airbender? Is that a movie? Did they make a series? I don't know.

Avatar was a really, I really enjoyed that movie, but I left the theater going, I don't need to ever see that again you know one of those movies where it's like it doesn't have rewatchability

but it was good you never rewatched it? no I never rewatched it's never on it was on for a while Jamie it's never been on The Last Airbender was an animated TV series

okay 12 team half PPR keep three Javante Williams in the third. Stefan Diggs in the fourth. Michael Thomas in the sixth. T. Higgins in the seventh. Cam Akers

in the ninth round. Hollywood Brown in the eleventh round. Keep three? Yeah. I mean, Diggs... He's amazing for the last two. So not Javante in the third, right? I mean, Diggs... I mean, his eye is amazing for the last two. How about... Okay, so not Javante in the third, right? I mean, Javante's borderline round two, round three pick.

He's probably going to end up going, you know, round three for the most part, but you're taking keepers out of the equation, so it's hard to pass up on him there. But, I mean, you're still getting... Marquis Brown in what round? I'll say it again. Javante third, Diggs in the fourth, Michael Thomas in the sixth,

Higgins in the seventh, Akers in the ninth, Hollywood in the 11th. It's Akers with Brown and Javante. Not Higgins in the seventh? Yeah, I was going to say, I'll go Akers, Higgins, and if you want to keep giovante just to get that running back i would do that but i would keep digs over giovante it's a round later and digs goes earlier than giovante now yeah that's a fair point what's the format half ppr half ppr yeah i probably keep you know what i mean why not just keep the studs just go acres digs just go Akers Diggs and Javante

okay um alright let's see let's go with from Owen hey Jake Amy Charles Rosa and Holt oh Brooklyn 99 I'm in a keeper league I can

only keep two Jamar Chase in round six. Javante Williams. So let's keep one. Jamar Chase in round six is going to be one. Javante in round five. Kadarius Toney in round 15. Darnell Mooney in

round 12. Ramondre Stevenson in round 15. Pat Fryermuth in round 15. It's a 10-team PPR league. One point per first down. And that's basically it. I'm keeping Javante. Yeah, Javante.

Yeah, I think so. But Mooney's great value too, but hard to pass up on Javante in round five. Okay. Let me see if I can get one more in here. Keeper question from James. Yes, everybody. I know James and everyone else. Deuce Daly was on the Steelers.

I'm still not convinced it actually happened, but all of you said it happened. I said that when it was live. I don't know why everybody keeps sending it in. I don't know. Nobody listens to you. That's true. Okay.

Four point for passing touchdown. 14 teams, one year keeper, single QB. Would you rather have Jalen Hurts in round 11 or Elijah Mitchell in round 12? Mitchell, but he concerns me. He concerns me too. You can make this decision right before your draft, right? Or maybe a week before your draft. If Mitchell's healthy and running around, then I would keep

him for the one year. Cool. All right. That's it for fantasy football today. Thanks very much, everybody. Tomorrow we'll give you our updated wide receiver rankings. Of course, talking about the rookies and some of the veterans affected by the rookies, you know, the drill, uh, and we'll see you at 1 PM Eastern where Scott fish is joining us for a live mock draft right here on youtube.com slash fantasy football today. Have a great day.