Fantasy Football Today - Updated TE Rankings! Two TEs in Round One? (05/05 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: May 5, 2022

We know it's a tight end show, but let's talk running backs for a moment. Jonathan Taylor is clearly the #1 RB in dynasty right now, but who is #2 (4:00)? After that debate it's time to talk TEs! How did the NFL Draft alter the TE rankings (10:00)? Cole Kmet and Robert Tonyan are among the rankings risers ... How worried should we be about Dallas Goedert (15:00) with A.J. Brown joining the team? Should Travis Kelce and Mark Andrews be first round picks (20:15)? ... News and notes (33:00) including what you need to know about quarterback hand size, then we get back to the TEs (36:50) talking Rob Gronkowski, Irv Smith, Dawson Knox and many more ... 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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Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. And it is Cinco de Mayo. Have a very festive day, everybody. Welcome to the show. Giving you our updated tight end rankings after the NFL draft. And, of course, after the DeAndre Hopkins suspension. That's a big one as well. It factors in here.

Hey, you know, we haven't really talked about Robert Tunyon. Can he make a comeback? I know he's a riser in at least Jamie's rankings here. But no Devontae Adams. And they do draft Christian Watson. But maybe an opportunity for Tunyon, who was a top three tight end just two seasons ago. We'll talk about Cole Komet.

We'll talk about Irv Smith. We'll talk about Albert. Oh, do you guys like my Albert O nickname? You stole it from me, so that's good. Did I? Yeah, when they drafted Dolchitz, I tweeted Albert O no. Oh, sorry. What did I write?

Albert O no, there goes my fantasy value? Yeah. Yeah. Wow. I didn't see it. I have a question for Heath because Heath has to listen to these all the time. What is more cringeworthy to you, Adam's YouTube intros or my start to every FFT episode where I have to stare in the camera and tell everybody what's happening on today's show?

No, yours is generally a little bit more buttoned down. So it's generally. And so his are more cringeworthy, I would say. I do really enjoy the occasional time where Jamie's intros just go off the rails. Yeah.

Because it makes me feel so much better about myself. Right. Well, here's the thing. So for a year, for our season, um, we did these and I never prepared for them. You know, I mean, this is an actual like live buttoned up show that we, um, overproduce, um, at times. And, uh, uh, you would think that I would have something like ready to say. And, and for the most part most part, as are yours, Adam, during the season, you know what you're doing every day. Mondays this day, Tuesdays this day.

You know what the shows are every day. So you would think I'd have some idea of, okay, I'm going to say this on this day, this on this. But I sit down there and literally like, all right, three, two, oh, no. Yeah, go. No, I feel the same way. It's like I'll prep for a show.

I'll put time into it. Not every show, it's the same amount of time. And then I just don't put any time into the intro or the outro. And then we're about to do the show. I'm like, what am I going to say right now? I want to make it good.

I want to catch people's attention. And I end up tripping over my words and being a fool myself. I think my favorite thing is when you talk openly about how bad the intro was and then 45 minutes later, the outro is worse.

That's what I really like. Yeah, but it's a fraction of the people actually hear the outro, so that's okay. Question to start today's show. What is your go-to order at a Mexican restaurant? All right. In honor of Cinco de Mayo, and that's the one day that I definitely

don't get Mexican food because I don't want to wait three hours. What is your go-to order at a Mexican restaurant? I'm a pretty simple taco guy. The best place is, in my opinion, if it's

homemade guacamole. Like Rocco's Tacos. Rocco's Tacos guac is so good. I'm pretty much a tacos guy too. Like always the guac. And since we gave a shout out to one South Florida taco place, I'll say that like my favorite right now is Los Picados.

Used to be in a gas station on 441. Now they've got a storefront. I believe Diners Drive-Ins and Dives went there once. It's fantastic. Oh, cool. Yeah, I'm a burrito guy. And tacos don't fill me up. I think that's my issue.

There's just not enough of it. You can just get more of them. You could, but I feel like the way they're priced is not enough bang for the buck. So I'm a burrito guy for sure. Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful Cinco de Mayo. Now, the other question before we get into tight ends, we're having a discussion off the air before the show. Heath is working on his updated Dynasty running back rankings, and he's trying to figure out

if he's going to leave Brees Hall at number two overall. And that's not in rookie drafts. That's Jonathan Taylor one, Brees Hall two. So Heath, where are you at in your thought process there, the number two running back behind Jonathan Taylor in Dynasty. Yeah, basically I try to use a bit of a formula factoring in age, 2022 projection, upside risk, all those things into it. And then I'll massage it a little bit with how I feel, but I've got Brees Hall, Najee Harris, Christian McCaffrey, DeAndre Swift, Javante Williams, all kind of right there

in the same tier. So he's either two through six. And I just look at it and most of those guys, not, I guess, half those guys, Swift and Javante are also going to be in some sort of timeshare, like Hall is. And the other two, Najee's three years older than Brees Hall. McCaffrey's five and has had the injury risks. And so right now, I think, I mean, we've talked about it a lot. I think prospect-wise, Hall is better than Harris, Williams, or Swift. And age-wise, he has such a huge edge on McCaffrey

that I think I'm going to leave him at two. Jamie, what do you think? Who would be number two for you behind Taylor? Harris. And I probably would still put Swift ahead of him as well. But I think Heath summed it up. A lot of this really comes down to, is Michael Carter going to be a problem?

And to what extent? And how good can this Jets offense be? And so I wonder, Keith, because Dave brought this up on, I think it was on HQ, about the San Francisco offense. I think he said it here too. The San Francisco offense and how much of it will be replicated by the Jets. And we saw it a little bit last year when they used multiple guys. But clearly the talent pool is ramped up a little bit you know so whereas carter was the

one now carter has the two how much will they split carries with those guys you know i'm of the belief and and i think adam you said it you know perfectly when you have a guy you use that guy and i i think the jets will realize that breeze hall is that guy to the detriment unfortunately of michael carter um but we just don't know that and so you know if this was let's say san francisco and I think the Jets will realize that Brees Hall is that guy to the detriment, unfortunately, of Michael Carter. But we just don't know that. So if this was, let's say, San Francisco drafting Brees Hall, would you feel the same? Going to a team where you kind of anticipate a pretty significant split or at least close to a split.

I know San Francisco did that last year with Elijah Mitchell, but they kind of had their hand held a little bit by not trusting Trey Sermon, and most are being hurt. Yeah, I mean, I think there is a split, and the thing will be how big is it. Right now, I have his split pretty similar to what I have for Javante and for Swift, and it's probably pretty close to 60.

Now, you might expect more targets for Swift, and Javante's kind of up in the air in that regard just because all the weapons they have in Denver and the fact that Russell Wilson hasn't thrown to his running backs and the fact that he just split targets last year with Melvin Gordon. So the catches might be the one thing I'd be uncertain about. But the other thing, and we've talked about this a lot this offseason, the transition period at running back back there are so few guys under

25 years old who you could say you think like jonathan taylor's a workhorse back naji harris is a workhorse back i don't know if there's another guy under 25 who is they're all in some sort of committee. So how much older is Javante Williams than Brees Hall? I think a year. Is it fair to say that if you were... Let's say you were taking the 2022 season off and you were doing... I feel like next year, Javante Williams might just be completely unleashed.

I feel like this is definitely the last year for Gordon. If you were taking a year off, if you were rebuilding, I think it's easily all. I don't know. I just really loved the situation. Do you think you're saying that because you expect Hall to be tied to Carter again next year? No, I'm saying because I just trust the Broncos offense with Russell Wilson much more than I trust the Jets offense. So if I didn't have to worry about Melvin Gordon, you know, really eating into Javante Williams, I would

take Javante Williams over Hall. I might do it anyway, because I think maybe this year you have to bite the bullet. But since it is Brees Hall's rookie year, Javante might be better than him anyway. And then if they're both turned loose next year, I'm probably going to like Javante more with Russell Wilson as his quarterback. Just a better setup in the near future. Then it may, unless Zach Wilson really takes off, that would change things. But I think a better setup than Breesaw,

you know, because I don't think Gordon's a problem for that. In theory, it makes sense. Right. Well, that's why like I'll, I'll let next week come out with dynasty tears and hall Javante Swift Harris.

They're all going to be in the same tier. So I don't have a big argument. I did a Twitter poll just to kind of see how crazy I was. And only 9% of people think Hall should be RB2, but 63% think he's top five. So it's not that big of an argument, really. I think just after seeing Harris as a rookie, it's hard to, for me at least, take Hall over him.

Let's see, Brees Hall. Okay, never mind. I thought they had similar birthdays, but they don't. Yeah, Javante Williams is a little bit less than a year older than Brees Hall. Okay, we are getting into tight ends now. First, let me promote something. If you have smart speakers, it is so easy to listen to our podcast.

If you have smart speakers, it's not so easy to watch our podcast. But if you want to listen, 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. Bam, you'll be listening.

Did the NFL draft change your tight end rankings at all, Jamie? Yes. Okay. How so? I didn't know there was a second part of that. Well, I mean, it's the draft and the suspension. So first off, the suspension for deandre hopkins moved up zach arts because we saw what arts did last year when hopkins was not on the field so he moved up

a couple of spots um i moved up cole commit because the bears in my opinion did not do enough to adjust their receiving court i dropped alberto because of the greg dolchich addition um i think he's a significant enough pass catcher out of UCLA that will impact the upside for Alberto. Still worth drafting as a second tight end if you're inclined to, but no longer where I had him ranked, which was as a number one guy. I moved up Robert Tunyon because I think the

Packers, mostly Aaron Rodgers and his affinity to lean on guys that he trusts. I think getting Tunyon back from the injury and the only additions being a second on wide receiver, and I forget what round they took, Dubs? Fourth, Romeo Dubs in the fourth. Romeo Dubs in the fourth.

Not enough to necessarily sway the veteran targets from losing value. I think in some cases, specifically Tunyon at the tight end position gained some value. So I move those guys around. I'm still torn, and I'm sure we'll talk about this since we're talking tight end rankings. Waller versus Kittle. The fact that Debo Samuel has now refollowed all the 49ers on social media

sounds like there's probably a deal coming or, you know, everything is on the up and up. I don't know, again, what that means for George Kittle or not. It's more so about if Terry Lance or Jimmy Garoppolo is the quarterback. But for now, I still have Waller one spot ahead of Kittle. And then I moved up Andrews a few spots closer to round one, but still in round two. That was a very good summary there.

You want a third question? I can probably answer that. Okay, here it is. If you removed all mentions of CBS from your Twitter profile, do you think anyone would notice or there'd be some, any type of buzz? For me? No. How about you,

Heath? Did you make any, what changes did you make after the draft? I don't think I'm going to try that someday. Just see what happens. It'd be kind of fun. Almost everything Jamie said. I actually moved Earth's down after the Marquise Brown trade happened,

I moved Andrews back ahead of Kelsey. Other than that, I think everything Jamie said is exactly what I did. Anything drastic? If you were writing a column, the changes I made to my rankings after the NFL draft,

what would the headliner be? Oh, I just thought it would be really good. Albert, oh no. What would the headliner be? Oh, I just thought it would be really good. Albert Ohno. What would the biggest story be, though? That was it. Albert Oh? He was the biggest mover for me. He was.

Because I was all in, essentially. I thought with Noah Fant gone that what we saw from him in some you know small sample sizes last year was enough to take a chance on him as the lead of that group of about seven or eight guys that will all be competing in my opinion for you know tight end 12 in my rankings but you know factoring in fryer also uh basically 11 through like 17. So I like the setup for Cole Komet the best, but Herb Smith is in that group. Mike Gusecki is in that group. David Njoku is in that

group. Noel Fant is in that group. You know, so now Tanyan for me is in that group. You know, so there's a lot of guys that I think you can make a case for, so they can make a case against. But I think Albert O loses because

if it was more of a lesser rated prospect at the position, I'd be more comfortable with it. Greg Dolchich, you can make a case, is the best tight end in this class. I would take Trey McBride, but he's certainly right up there with him. And there's not any question

that Dolchich is a better prospect than Albert O. was, right? Yes, he's a better prospect. Yeah, Albert O. was, I don't know what kind of prospect he was, but he was very impressive at Missouri. I was disappointed that he ended up on Denver because I remember liking him and learning how to say his name and all that, and he didn't really have a path to success with Noah Fant there.

I mean, we don't expect much from rookie tight ends to begin with. It's kind of funny that we just said Alberto like 17 times, and you're talking about remembering how to say his name. Alberto Cuebana. Was it hard to learn how to say Alberto? I remember watching an interview with him where he's telling people how to pronounce his name. But now I just call him Alberto.'s telling people how to pronounce his name. But now he's called Maberno.

Say it more often. Yeah, no. We don't have enough time for that. So I guess I just feel like I'm the only one who's worried about Dallas Goddard. But that would have been the headliner for me. And what it comes down to with Goddard, I don't know what this means to you, but you but he was out targeted by zach ertz when zach ertz was there um and

now you had aj brown and i don't know if davante smith takes another step i do not see room for three productive players in this passing game you know for philadelphia even though they are going to throw more i know they're not going to I do not see room for three productive players in this passing game for Philadelphia, even though they are going to throw more. I know they're not going to be last in the NFL in pass attempts, but still, it's not the best offense for it. You've got A.J. Brown now. You've got, hopefully, an emerging wide receiver in Smith.

I really didn't like it for Goddard, and I know you didn't like it either, but it doesn't seem like you guys are all that concerned. So I guess I'll just throw out that little, little controversial, spicy take. I'm basically not looking forward. I guess it's that group of, um, Hawkinson, Goddard, Ertz. I'll still put Gronk in there because of the expectation that he's back. And I guess you got to put,

based on how we're going to see drafts go, Friar Muth. Does Goddard not belong in that group for you? Say the group again. Hawkinson, who got company, obviously. Goddard, Gronk, if he's back. Yeah. Friar Muth and Ertz.

He belongs in that group. If anything, it just solidified my desire to take a top five tight end because I thought Gronk was a – or Goddard was a really good fallback option, and now I just think he's a meh fallback option. And by the way, I would have Gronk clearly ahead of that group if he comes back. But, yeah, I don't know that he would drop that much in the rankings,

but maybe it's just a bigger separation between him and the five guys that everybody wants. I guess that's how I'd sum it up. Sure. It makes sense, and it's kind of back to great or late again. If you're not comfortable with this group, then take a chance on one guy or two guys. Here's a cool stat on Goddard.

I mean, I did that in the draft Tuesday. I took Kmet and Kosecki. Okay. Goddard had five or more targets in nine games. He scored 12 or more PPR fantasy points in seven of those nine games with only five or more targets. That's really, really good.

So he was really good when he was targeted. He also, I don't think he was this... He didn't catch a touchdown from Jalen Hurts in those last... When they became really run heavy, he just caught the touchdowns from Gardner Minshew in that

one game against the Jets. He had 105 yards and two touchdowns. The thing is, does the addition of A.J. Yeah. And that was going to be an awesome sentence. I know. What is going on here, man?

We've just had so many issues lately. Does the addition of A.J. Brown, Heath was going to say, I think I know what he's going to say. He's going to say, does the addition of A.J. Brown change the tight end targets? Because he thinks that Nick say. He's going to say, does the addition of AJ Brown change the tight end targets? Cause he thinks that Nick Sirianni's offense is going to throw to the tight ends basically, you know, regardless. It should, um, you know, based on what we've seen, I think it's, you know, when, when you talk about Hawkinson and you talk about Goddard, because they're kind of in a similar

situation, right? They both got crowded receiving courts. They both have, you know, quarterback situations that you can question, you know, is Goff still an upper echelon guy or, you know, in that, not an upper echelon, but is Goff still a above average quarterback like we saw with the Rams and at times last year? And can he support multiple targets? Is Dylan Hurts going to take the next step? And is there going to be the opportunity for all these guys in this offense? And so you see the upside and you see the potential of both of them,

but are they going to be the unicorns that we're chasing all the time of these next great tight ends? So Andrews, you saw the path, and it was always a question of can they support multiple targets? Well, Andrews, Andrews, you know, prove that Kelsey is kind of the guy that you like to avoid in theory because crowded receiving core, but he's just such a special part of it. And the guy there, especially now that he's different, but you know, we're going to find out a lot about Darren Waller, right? You know,

and Derek Carr. Yeah. And we're going to find out a lot about Darren Waller, right? Yeah. And Derek Carr. Yeah, for sure. And we're going to find out a lot about Trey Lance. And can he get, you know, George Kittle, those opportunities that we're used to seeing? So there's obviously a lot of questions with several players, you know. And you say, you know, you want to get one of these top tier guys. Is it really just the top two? You know, and Kyle Pitts, we still have a lot of questions.

All right, so I was going to save this for later in the show, but I think let's do it now. Let Heath finish his thought on A.J. Brown. Was it about the targets in the Nick Sirianni offense? Yes, and whether they go to tight ends or wide receivers. We talked about that on FFT in five, so I had a feeling you were going there.

Let's talk about Kelsey and Andrews and whether or not they should be first-round picks. Basically, I made the case that so many tight ends other than them have had bad off seasons, right? Whether it's adding a target or losing a quarterback in Kyle Pitts's case or whatever it is. I don't know that you can say that their values have gone up where clearly

for Kelsey and Andrews losing Tyree kill Marquis Brown, that's going to probably mean more targets. I mean, we agree there? Yes. Yeah, okay. We don't want to speak out of turn. But how many times have we kind of, aside from Kelsey,

gotten burnt by this a little bit with the second guy, like Waller? In what regard? Taking them in the first round oh i thought you meant the targets thing yeah i right it's not it's not that easy kelsey's the only guy who's been year after year right you know i and and we did this you know once upon a time is our gronk and gram first round picks you know and you know it it's a tough position. You know, like Kittle, I think, is proven if you block, you're risky. You know, Andrews isn't at the same level of a blocker that Kittle is.

You know, and this is such a tricky thing to say because I don't think Heath is advocating to take these guys in the middle of the first round. You know, so when you're taking them at the back end of the first round, you probably have a pool of about four or five guys that you're looking at. So if you're picking 10 through 12, there's a great chance that if you take one of the first round, you probably have a pool of about four or five guys that you're looking at. So if you're picking 10 through 12, there's a great chance that if you take one of those tight ends, you have still the opportunity to take one of the players that you like in the second round.

So if you want to guarantee one of those guys to avoid the person picking after you, you take them. I don't have a problem with that. So like Scott Fish, who I appreciate you watching again, picked a 10 in the mock draft we did on Tuesday. He took Kelsey. I don't know who he ended up with in the second round,

but it was probably somebody that he had in mind. Debo. Debo. Oh, it was probably somebody that he had in mind to take in round one. I don't think he would have taken Debo in round one, but he had the opportunity to take a player of still great quality. Well, let's talk about the next two picks. The next two picks after he took Kelsey,

I think, oh, he took him 10th. I forgot who went 11th, but then Dave took Mixon and Cook. So do you take Kelsey or Andrews over Joe Mixon and Dalvin Cook? I wouldn't, but... Oh, Kamara, Mixon, Cook were the next three picks. Right, and so Chris played it,

I know Chris took Andrews at the second pick of round two. So Chris probably knew Dave wouldn't do it, knowing how Dave drafts. And so that's a big part of it, knowing your league. So he decided, let me get my favorite running back that was available for him, it was Kamara, and let the chips fall how they do. And I've got them 11 and 12 so like basically the very last picks of the first round I think also if you get to pick 11 and Scott was at pick 10 so he didn't know this for sure if you get to I get to pick 11 and

they're both still there then I'll take somebody I have ranked lower at 11 knowing that one of them's going to be there with the second pick of the second round. So as somebody once said long ago, those are all basically first round picks. They are. I mean, they really are. But let me ask you. The challenge for this, though, is if you really want one of them and you're picking, you know, six through eight or six through nine, you know, because then you're taking away the control you have about who you're getting in the second round.

Yeah. taking away the control you have about who you're getting in the second round. Yeah, and if Kyle Pitts ends up being something like a late round three, early round four pick, would you rather have Kelsey and Andrews near the one-two turn or Kyle Pitts near the three-four? Pitts. Pitts. I think I'd probably take Kelsey and Andrews. So like,

I'll tell you the way I, I built the team. Um, I had no intention of going running back, running back. I had the, the eighth pick. I think it was, um,

and. Najee Harris fell to me. So that was easy. And then in round two, DeAndre Swift fell to me. I was thinking, just the way that the first round was unfolding, that I was going to take CeeDee Lamb in that spot. And so had I gone Lamb in round two, I would have taken Kyle Pitts in round three.

But since it's a three-receiver league, I took a receiver in round three, which ended up being Michael Thomas. I passed on Kyle Pitts. So had it gone the way that i thought which was going to be you know uh probably running back around one one of those receivers whether it was going to be digs lamb or um adams went around one um but you know digs or lamb were probably the targets as as the draft was unfolding and then you know we had talked about i think you asked me um what was my plan in round three or tight end plan i think yep uh i would have taken pits if he was there or he was there i wouldn't take a pitch if i had gone a different okay so i'm taking a look at

nfc adp from april godwin's low and from april 1st until the 27th, the day before the draft, Kelsey was going 16th, and Andrews was going 21st or 22nd. I'll try to update it and go April 28th. Let's just do May 4th. I know there are not going to be a lot of drafts. And I just want to see if they've moved up at all. Sorry for this.

Kelsey's 15th and Andrews is... Where are you, Mark Andrews? No, 23rd. Hasn't changed. But I don't know. Well, I think it may have only been one draft.

But I think in our draft, in the draft that we did on Tuesday, I do think Andrews went earlier. Earlier than he had, you know, when we did our post-free our draft, in the draft that we did on Tuesday, I do think Andrews went earlier than he had, you know, when we did our post-free agency draft. But I mean, like you said, you know, things have changed. Yeah, so right. So you can't wait.

You can't, like Jamie said, if you have picks six through nine or whatever, you just may not be able to wait and say, oh, Kelsey, Andrew's going to fall to me in round two. It just might not happen. But like, you know, I think as we're starting to see here, especially now that the NFL draft is done, and clearly I think our audience, especially the people that have been

diligently watching us, you have an idea of what the first round is going to look like, and we didn't expect the rookies to necessarily change the first two rounds dramatically. But there have been some things that have changed. If you're in the camp of I need a running back with one of my first two picks. So if you decide I'm going to take Kelsey or Andrews,

and let's just say pick seven, you know that in round two, the running back pool that you're probably looking at is, we saw Leonard Fournette go. So let's say Fournette, James Conner, Aaron Jones. Maybe you see Nick Chubb, depending on the format. Maybe you see if reports are bad by any stretch or certainly a suspension for Alvin Kamara. But one of those guys slipped.

It was a little surprising to see Dalvin Cook slipping to round two. But you know that you're going to have the opportunity to get one of those receivers there. If you like the group of Debo, CeeDee Lamb, I think Devontae will end up settling there. Tyree Kill will be in that range. One of those guys. It's certainly not a bad way to build your team. You just know that you're missing one of those potential top five running backs. And it is kind of, just going back

to the Pitts thing, because I've been thinking about that, because I have him right at the 3-4 turn as well. And I've been trying to think of the right way to say this, but it's kind of funny that Kyle Pitts last year scored, what, 10 fantasy points per game. If he'd scored four touchdowns, it would have been 11. If he'd scored seven touchdowns, it would have been 12, and he would have been tied in five per game.

And his quarterback situation got worse, and they added a real number one wide receiver to go alongside him. And he's being drafted basically in the same spot or higher. He would have been tied in five if he had scored seven touchdowns? Six touchdowns would be 36 points, which is basically two points per game, right? Over 17 games? Mm-hmm.

And tied in four was Kittle at 14.3, so he didn't... Yes, you're right. He would have been behind Andrews, Kelsey, Kittle, and Gronk. Yeah, Kittle and Gronk, I see them at both at 14.3, and this would have made Pitts about 13, oh, no, about 12.4, you said? Or two points per game?

Yeah, 12.7 or something, a little more than two points per game. Okay, so a little bit better than Dalton Schultz. Yeah, I mean, that is interesting. I don't really know how to explain it. Well, he's awesome, and he was a rookie tight end, and he was awesome, and how to explain it. Well, he's awesome. And he was a rookie tight end and he was awesome. And so I get it.

But just looking at like what he produced and how his situation got, I think, demonstrably worse. And we just do not care. Well, I think that, you know, I'm sorry, 12.7 would have been better. Would be that. is the leap year for these tight ends, the good ones and potentially the great ones. And you hear a lot.

It was really interesting just in the coaches that I've spoken to recently about just especially the last two years, really. And I think you guys heard me mention this, Heath didn't, but I spoke to Jonathan Taylor after the mock draft was over on Tuesday. And I asked him just what this offseason has been like for him. He's like, this is my first real offseason for what these guys have had to deal with because of covid protocols and he's like you know for the last two years you know we be doing these things over zoom um because they're just finishing you know their their rookie camp or whatever whatever they call it now um that all these coaches are saying

just how much these guys are going to get especially the guys that go through the draft process because it's you know draft moving finding a place to live going to the city that they live in you know getting accustomed to everything and a place to live, going to the city that they live in, you know, getting accustomed to everything. And then just what these guys have been through. So he's the alpha. I mean, you know, there's, there's nothing about this offense that is not saying screaming coppets,

you know, Drake London's got a chance to be a star and little Coro Patterson was, was certainly a good player last year, but this is, you know, if, if the Falcons over Marcus Mariota's locker room, do not have a picture of Kyle pits on every wall of that locker that he just knows that that's the guy he's got to look for, I'd be disappointed. You know, so I think he's going to lead the position in targets and not be right up there with it. And if he gets those chances, he's just got superstar written all over him. Yeah.

Yeah, he's a pretty exciting player. And that will be an interesting decision. Do you want to play the Ken Dorsey game? He did go to the University of Florida, and maybe we should do a bet whose quarterback gets drafted higher in the 2023 NFL draft, because both of them are

Miami's and Florida's quarterback. Both are guys we're going to be talking about a lot this time next year. That depends. Who's getting more NIL money? Probably Miami's and Florida's quarterback. Both are guys we're going to be talking about a lot this time next year. That depends. Who's getting more NIL money? Probably Miami's guy. That's what we do. We've just bought a lot of very good players lately.

I'm rooting for the Yankees in two sports. I love it. I don't. You love it? I love it. It's chaos. It's complete chaos. What?

It's chaos. You know, it's the way things are meant to work. Okay. So let's take a break. When we come back, we still have some other tight ends to talk about. Let's talk about Irv Smith, who's in the top 12 for Heath. Let's talk about Cole Komet, maybe a little more on Robert Tunyon. Have some emails to read as well.

We will be right back. Oh, we also have some news and notes. We'll be right back on fantasy football today. What does possible sound like for your business? It's having the spend to powers your scale with no preset spending limit, more cash on hand to grow your business with up to 55 interest-free days and the ability to reach further with access to over 1400 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. And we're back with our news and notes. A couple of Eagles notes. Jalen Hurts had off-season ankle surgery. He says he is good now. Jalen Rager could still be a trade candidate, according to The Athletic.

I have an email. I'm going to read the email right now. It is from Corey. 10-team Dynasty Superflex. What are we doing with Rager and Quez Watkins? 10-team? 10-team. See ya.

I mean, Watkins is droppable. 10 team? 10 team. See ya. Yeah. I mean, Watkins is droppable. Yeah. Trade Rager for the Eagles so that you could see if he has a chance somewhere else. I mean, he's done in Philly. Yeah, you don't drop Rager, right? But you drop Watkins.

I could drop Rager. I think it depends. You know, like, so our league, Heath, is how many roster spots? 20? drop Watkins? I could drop Rager. I think it depends. So our league, Keith, is how many roster spots? 20? Well, it's so hard because IDP too, but yeah. 28. So my other dynasty league

is 28 roster spots. And that's no IDP. So you have deep rosters. It's not worth dropping him yet but we get to the season and he's still the you know third receiver for the eagles the best yeah fencing league you know especially if you have to make decisions on rookie picks and there's a lot of talk there has been all throughout the process about

kenny pickett pittsburgh rookie quarterback ken Kenny Pickett's hand size. He will have the smallest hands of any starting quarterback in the NFL. Do you empathize with him as having the smallest hands in the podcast host industry? I don't have just small hands. I have small, fat hands.

I don't have just small hands. I didn't say. I didn't emphasize hands that way. I emphasize small. Okay. Oh, another good thing to say. I've got these small fat hands that just are useless.

Um, so at least Kenny Pickett doesn't have that issue, but I, there is an ESPN article giving the hand size of every quarterback, every starting quarterback in the NFL. Taysom Hill has the smallest. This was, you know, when he was a starting quarterback. But Joe Burrow, Ryan Tannehill, and Jared Goff are next at nine inches.

Kenny Pickett is at eight and a quarter, I think. Eight and a half. Eight and a half inches. Joe Burrow's at nine. He's got the second smallest, depending on counting Taysom Hill, second or smallest hand size uh in the nfl but the best way you've done all this research the guys with the biggest hands are amazing look at the biggest head russell wilson has the biggest hands aaron rogers josh allen matthew stafford

dac prescott justin herbert and then you've got a three-way you also with stafford prescott and herbert you've got lawrence carson went, and Tua Tungabailoa. You know they say about hand size, don't you? I don't know what they say about hand size, Jamie. What do they say? I don't know. Okay, yeah, I don't either. Maybe I'll find out when everyone in the house is asleep, Jamie.

Bigly. Schrager hates it when we make adult jokes. Oh, because he's still a child. asleep, Jamie. Shracker hates it when we make adult jokes. Because he's still a child. Yeah, he's like 18 years old. If Ben would not have the ability to grow a beard 10 minutes after he shaved, he would still look like he's full.

Who? Ben or Heath? Well, all three of you. Both. You guys shave and 10 minutes later, you guys have a beard again. I've had to grow this for about 10 years. You're the most baby-faced person on the show, I'd say. What do you think, Shrager? Me?

Yeah. Until Ben Gretsch is back on Monday. Oh, yeah, yeah. Ben Gretsch is baby-faced. Patrick Courtney says, Adam, hand-sized comment and the grunts for the new intro. All right. We can work on that. So let me ask you some more tight end questions.

Yeah, after everybody goes to sleep. Yeah, exactly. More tight end questions. Who do you like better, Cole Komet or Irv Smith? I like Komet better because of his opportunity to be number two in targets there. But I certainly have been an Irv Smith fan

for a couple of years now. I just hope he's healthy 100%. Yeah, I've got him ranked as if he is, and assuming he's healthy 100%, I like Irv better. I think he'll be the number three option in the passing game, and I think this offense will be considerably better

than the Bears. I'm cooling. I'm trying to hold on to my justin fields love but the bears have made it very difficult this offseason yeah i just there have been no good number three options on minnesota basically i mean kj osborne last year was was the best he had 655 yards and seven touchdowns that was because for most of the past three years they've thrown the ball like 12 times a game. No, that's actually not true.

They've been, in two of the last four years, they've been sixth and 11th in pass attempts. The other two, they've been 30th and 27th. Okay. So, but it's, I guess the follow-up is, does Irv Smith require Adam Thielen to finally hit the wall in order to really make a difference in fantasy?

I mean, it requires Adam Thielen probably to not score a touchdown every seven targets because I think maybe Adam Thielen did hit the wall and he just scored touchdowns last year. I was surprised. I looked this up. Adam Thielen, his last two games, he didn't really play much. Played 8% of the snaps and then 37% of the snaps. So if we remove those two games,

his 17-game pace in his first 11 games was 97 catches, 1,060 yards, and 15 touchdowns on 139 targets. That's Adam Thielen pre-injury. His pace was 97, 1,060, and 15 on 139 targets. That's better, just better than I thought off the top of my head. You know, I didn't think he was putting up those stats. The catches are for sure. The yards per catch is exactly what I thought.

All right, next question. Jamie, you mentioned Robert Tunyon as a riser. To where in your rankings, and what do you expect from him? To that group, like I told you, of Gusecki, Njoku, Fant, Smith, behind Kemet for me. I just, you know, just looking at this Packers receiving core and knowing how Rodgers traditionally has leaned on, you know, more of a veteran type of guy,

as opposed to a younger player. Again, they, they've never really been put in a situation where they've lost their number one guy without having somewhat of an established player ready to go. And I don't necessarily think that Lazard or what is left of Randall Cobb and the addition of Sammy Watkins fit that mold. So Tanyan could see, you know, and the addition of Sammy Watkins fit that mold. So Tanyan could see potentially an uptick in targets from what he was two years ago when he was, as you mentioned, a top-five fantasy tight end.

To what degree, I don't know, but it's just taking a chance on somebody that is in an offense that could push targets his direction. So I certainly read those targets and those touchdowns. So when you start to get into this group of tight ends, you know, what are you chasing? Are you chasing guys that are going to be heavily involved? Are you chasing guys that are red zone targets? Are you chasing guys that could, you know, see an increase in opportunities? And I think in a couple of those categories, he checks those boxes.

So we'll find out. You know, it's, you know, more of a tight end premium thing. It's more of a, I think, probably dynasty and long-term, you know, looking at it from, you know, leagues that carry two tight ends that have these

larger rosters. I don't know if he's the type of guy that I would be drafting if I'm looking to carry two tight ends in a redraft league, but he's not far off

from that, especially based on what we saw two years ago. And I want to go back to the Vikings for a second. So, I've got Ernst Smith

projected at 90 targets. Last year, Tyler Conklin's 87. Back in 2018 when they did throw a bunch, Kyle Rudolph had 82 in 16 games. I don't think there's room for a third option in the passing game as far as a wide receiver, but if a tight end gets

80 to 90 targets and they are somewhat good, that's absolutely top 12. I will say this, though. This one thing and take it for what it's worth but uh pete priscoe really tied into that vikings organization and they love kj osborne they absolutely love now that could be to the you know extent of maybe it hurts adam thielen it could be that they're going to run more three receiver sets i think kevin o'conConnell was going to be diverse with his offense, certainly more so than we've seen under Mike Zimmer.

So we could see different personnel groupings for sure. But I feel like as much as I love Irv Smith, that it's going to take an injury to one of those three guys. Hopefully we know who it's not. But if Jefferson or Thielen or osborne missed time i think that's where you'll see irv smith pop otherwise i think he's kind of a touchdown or buzz type of guy jamie where did kj osborne go to college he went to the great uh university of buffalo right for uh transferring to another school yeah okay i just that's right that's the

answer i was looking for and uh rob gronk. So what are you guys doing with Gronk? He's 10th for Jamie. He's 11th for Dave. He's 18th for Heath. Is this just hedging, or is this where you're going to rank him if he goes back to the Bucs? I can't imagine you're going to keep him 18th. What are we doing with Gronkowski right now?

I'm hedging, yeah. And maybe, I don't't know maybe he'll just show up I have no real feel for it and I think every time that I go in to update my rankings after however long it's been since the last time I may drop him a spot um but if he comes back he's going to be right for me in that Dallas Goddard range, probably somewhere between seven and nine. It's not going to be just an easy call to put him ahead of Dallas Goddard at this point? No, because he's still, what, 33 years old and has had all kinds of injury problems.

Yeah, but that got so much more upside than Goddard. He's the one guy that I went through after updating my rankings following the draft. I took out all the players that aren't on teams in the top 60s. Beckham's still in the top 200, but I removed all those caliber players. Will Fuller and Jarvis Landry,

put those guys back in. I will at least put those guys back in once they sign. I don't know if Dave and Heath still have those players ranked, but Gronk was the one I just – he's come back. You know, it's like, well, what am I wasting my time doing around? So, look, if you're drafting now, you know, we know there's some startup dynasty leagues that are starting, you know, their drafts now, things of that nature.

You know, you have to make a tougher call on Gronk. Clearly, dynasty is a riskier decision because of his age. But, you know, the stuff that I've read was, you know, I think Gronk, when Brady retired, he thought, okay, I'm done too. And now he's got to talk himself back into does he want to play again. He doesn't have to report until the summer. So it's not like, you know, there's anything that's lingering of him going elsewhere.

He's not going elsewhere. He's going to play in Tampa if he plays. So you just have to make that decision, you know, whenever's anything that's lingering of him going elsewhere. He's not going elsewhere. He's going to play in Tampa if he plays. So you just have to make that decision, you know, whenever you're drafting. Now, let's do some rapid-fire rankings disputes right now. Ready? Here we go. You can give up to 10 seconds for your answer. Would you rather have TJ Hawkinson or Dallas Goddard? Hawkinson.

Great. Jamie Froese. What the hell is happening to our technology? Jamie. Who froze? You. Hawkinson or Goddard? I said Goddard. I don't think I froze.

Somebody want to back me up here? I do not think Jamie froze either. I think he said Goddard at the same time that I said Hawkinson. Adam is wrong. Maybe I froze. I don't know. Jamie went like this. Okay. Anyway. Cole Komet or? wrong. Maybe I froze. JB went like this. Okay,

anyway, Cole Kmet or Dawson Knox? Kmet. Cole Kmet, yeah. You know, one guy that we should talk about, though, not to derail this fun segment,

is Fryermuth. Because the quarterback situation has changed and the receiving court has changed. You know, so does the loss of Juju as a short area target, and we saw it, you know, for a good portion of last season, with the loss of James Washington,

plus the addition of George Pickens and Calvin Austin, you know, what those guys are going to bring, with the quarterback change, does that help or hurt Frymuth? I think he's kind of the same. I think he's still touchdown or bust, but I do think that he's another guy that could take a second-year leap.

He's in the back end of the number one tight ends for me, but it's in that same group, like I said. You can make a case for Njoku or Smith or Komet as being better than him this year. Yeah, I really want to rank Komet over him. I haven't talked myself into it yet, but I've got him back-to-back at 12 and 13. I mostly

don't want to draft Friar Muth as my starting tight end. Okay, he's not your kind of player. He's really not. No. But we know what young quarterbacks tend to lean on at times. Do they? Well, there are some, yes.

I'm sure there are throughout the history of football, yeah. So I think that I get the sense that the general public is going to like Dawson Knox more than you guys are. I'm not sure any of you have him inside your top 15. You want to give me a quick... He's 25th for me. Yeah, he's 18th for Jamie, 15th for Dave, and 25th. I think that's ridiculous.

I think that's just ridiculous. 25th. Get out of here. I mean, they just signed one of the most talented tight ends in all of football. Stop with that. Enough with the belittling me. I'm not belittling you. No one has

belittled you more than you on this show today. But no, I think I don't have confidence that Knox is going to get the same number of red zone opportunities he did because I think they'll have more. I think Howard will do a little bit of that. And that was all he was last year same number of red zone opportunities he did because i think they'll have more i think howard

will do a little bit of that and that was all he was last year with touchdowns it's not just howard though it's they have a pass catching back now they have you know multiple slot receivers now you know gabriel davis you know hopefully staying healthy being on the field more getting more you know target opportunities as well as the fond digs still being you know the alpha in this offense there's so many moving parts. I mean, I, I said it following the draft,

you know, this, this is going to be as diverse an offense that Josh Allen has ever run. And so, you know, Knox may lead them in touchdowns. That could still happen. You know,

he, he could, he could easily have eight to 10, but it could be a two touchdown game, three weeks without a score, another two touchdown game. You know, that's just a score, another two-touchdown game. That's just the type of player I think he's going to end up being.

He had 71 targets last year in 15 games. So going back to your Irv Smith thing... He missed time in there, too. Yeah, he missed two games. He had 71 targets. So he could easily get 80 if he's on that pace again. And you're talking about a team

that loses target-getters numbers two and three emmanuel sanders and cole beasley were second and third on the team in targets and then dawson knox was one target behind sanders beasley had 112 sanders at 72 and only 14 games so yes i get it they added this they added that but i just feel like most of the time if a team lost target getters two and three we'd be pretty excited about the guy who is fourth, but not in this case. This is almost back to the Eagles thing we were talking about, the silos of targets by position.

And Dave has talked about this before, how a lot of times running back targets and tight end targets can be connected. There aren't a lot of teams. There are some, the Eagles last year, who throw a lot of passes to their running backs and a lot of passes to their tight ends and they made it very obvious this entire offseason that they really want to have a good pass catching running back and then they went out and got a very good pass catching running back yeah all right maybe two of them like i i was just saying that i think the general public is going to be higher on him than you guys are. You're right about that. Yeah.

Let me read some emails. Fantasyfootball at cbsi.com. What's the RC ADP for Dawson Knox? Great question. And then tell me Chris Godwin's. I'm not telling you Chris Godwin's. Since April 1st. Sorry. Dawson Knox is 108th overall.

And I didn't sort by tight end. I will do that now. Dawson Knox. Tight end 10. Yep. Right ahead of Fryermuth, and as of now, Gronkowski. So let's call him tight end 11 when Gronk signs.

All right. Time for emails. FantasyFootball.CBSI.com. This is from Danny. Grade the trade in a 1QB PBR Dynasty League. Give up Javante Williams, Daniel Jones, and Josh Palmer. Get Austin Eckler, Aaron Rodgers, and a 2023 second round pick. If you're a win now, then yes, make that deal.

Yeah. Big upgrade for 2022, for sure. Right. if you're a win now, then yes, make that deal. Yeah. Big upgrade for 2022, for sure. Right. But he also has Deshaun Watson and Trey Lance at quarterback, and it's a one quarterback league. Well, that changes me a little bit. Yeah, if Watson's suspended for, let's say, six games and you you want to win now i don't know if you feel great about lance i mean i i would be fine with it but i guess the thing

would be is like are you are you short-term versus long-term gain because melvin gordon gets pushed to a secondary role or gets hurt giovante is going to be just as good if not better than and i think the 2023 second might be the second most valuable thing in this trade. Behind Daniel Jones. Yeah, I would think that he needed a quarterback. Right. Okay, let's

go to... So if I just want to stop being on the show, I just need to go like this? Yeah. Heath, let's ask you the question now. this is from jake in kansas city i'm in a 2qb dynasty league with rookie picks 2 5 9 12 and 23 i only have tannahill and tua i wanted to go qb at 2 and or 5 but based on the way the real nfl draft went it seemed dicey so i traded picks 2 and 23 now remember he has 2 has two, five, nine, 12, and 23.

Four picks in the top 12. Two QB Dynasty League. I traded pick two and pick 23 for Davis Mills and pick 16. Am I crazy to think Davis Mills would go number one in a two QB Dynasty League with this rookie class? I don't think you're crazy to think that Davis Mills would be the best quarterback in this draft or maybe even the first quarterback drafted. But I did a Superflex mock yesterday,

and the first quarterback taken was pick 12, even in Superflex. What's that? In mine, he went seven. Pickett went seven. But he's not going pick two. I don't think any of them. Right.

Draft a different position, right? Draft a different position and then make a trade. See if you pick Garrett Wilson or whoever it is at two, and you can probably get a better quarterback than Davis Mills. Yeah, if I'm giving up pick two, I want close to a top 15 quarterback, I would say. I don't think Davis Mills is in the top 15. This is from Tom.

I probably would be looking for a better veteran. Well, you can't get anything now because he already made the trade. I'm going to say that's a D. Okay, let's go to Tom. Last email. Pick 1.3 for Travis Etienne. I'm going to say that's a D. Okay, let's go to Tom. Last email. Pick 1.3 for Travis Etienne.

I would not. 1.3 for Etienne. So where is Etienne in terms of the running backs for this class? He's definitely third at worst. He's not one, but he could be two. I've got him third. I would think he's... Yeah, I'd could be two. I've got him third. I would think he's, yeah,

I'd probably put him two, too. I mean. Two also. Not like second round. Yeah, it's tough. I mean,

then you've got to factor in the wide receivers. He's not, I don't know if he's better than London or Burks or the receivers, so that's a problem. So, but if you want to get him, you might have to go up three. You know? I don't know if he's better than London or Burks or the receivers, so that's a problem. But if you want to get him, you might have to give up three. Really interesting question. Really tough one.

Very interesting guy going into the year, too. We'll see. That's one where you're going to have to wait for reports, wait for the preseason a little bit to get a better feel. But you've got to make that trade now. It seems like we feel like it's fairly even. Heath thinks it's a bit of a loss. What pick would you give up for ETN, Heath? Probably six.

So, I mean, it's close enough. Yeah. Right. Okay, that's it for today's show. Once again, happy Cinco de Mayo. And I'm very sorry I didn't wish you a happy Star Wars. How many fingers do you need to get to what

today's day is? What do you mean? How many fingers? There you go. Just want to see my fat fingers. Alright, later everybody. Have a great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow. We got another episode of Fantasy Football today on Friday. We'll see you then.

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