Fantasy Football Today - Wild Card Recap! Winners and Losers (01/13 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: January 13, 2025

We give our biggest Fantasy winners (4:10) and losers (10:10) from Wild Card Weekend. James Cook and Terry McLaurin were standouts, while the Steelers struggled. How do we feel about George Pickens in... 2025? ... Our thoughts on the elite teams in the AFC (19:50), news and notes (22:15) and then One Question for Each Eliminated Team starting with Ladd McConkey (26:40) and Baker Mayfield (32:30) ... What are our thoughts on Courtland Sutton in 2025 (42:00)? Does Jordan Love still have big upside (46:00)? He probably just needs to throw the ball more! ... Your emails at fantasyfootball@cbsi.com Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Shop our store: shop.cbssports.com/fantasy  SUBSCRIBE to FFT Express on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-express/id1528634304 Follow FFT Express on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6qyGWfETSBFaciPrtvoWCC?si=6529cbee20634da8 SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 FOLLOW FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 SUBSCRIBE to FFT DFS on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dfs/id1579415837 FOLLOW FFT DFS on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5zU7pBvGK3KPhfb69Q1hNr?si=1c5030a3b1a64be2 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday 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." Visit the betting arena on CBSSports.com for all the latest sportsbook reviews and sportsbook promos. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:22 Can you believe this? No, I can't. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races and he stays at his feet. This is gonna go the distance. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie and Heath. What's up everybody? Welcome to the show. It is Monday, January 13th, last day to vote at SportsPodcastGroup.com.
Starting point is 00:00:31 We welcome you to Fantasy Football Today presented by Bet MGM, the sportsbook for an invitation to the show. We're here to help you get started on your fantasy football journey. We're here to help you get started on your fantasy football journey. We're here to help you get started on your fantasy football journey. We're here to help you get started on your fantasy football journey. We're here to help you get started on your fantasy football journey. We're here to help you get started on your fantasy football journey.
Starting point is 00:00:39 We're here to help you get started on your fantasy football journey. We're here to help you get started on your fantasy football journey. We're here to help you get started on your fantasy football journey. We're here to help you get started on your fantasy football journey. We're here to help you get started on your fantasy football journey. We're here to help you get started on your fantasy football journey. We're here to help you get started on your fantasy football journey. We're here to help you get started on your fantasy football journey. We're here to help you get started on your fantasy football journey. We're here to help you get started on your fantasy football journey. the show. It is Monday, January 13th, last day to vote at Sports Podcast Group.com. We welcome you to fantasy football today presented by Bet MGM, the sports book born in Vegas. And we are recapping the first five games of wild card weekend
Starting point is 00:00:54 with still one more to come tonight. And that would be Minnesota at the Rams in Arizona at eight p.m. Eastern. Adam Azer, Dave Richard and Jamie Eisenberg. What'd you guys think of wild card weekend? Pretty terrible as usual, right? Oh, I mean, it ended nicely, but for the most part, not. I'm reminded that the seeds that are usually five, six, and seven are closer to 500 level teams and not Super Bowl contenders. That was the takeaway.
Starting point is 00:01:20 Yeah, or the seeds, I mean, it's kind of interesting to say the seeds because the seeds sometimes aren't the better teams, which I guess the NFL was just realizing we need to fix this problem. You should not be given a home game if your record is worse than the wild card team. It just shouldn't. It's so it's ridiculous. Fix this. I think we would have we would have said that about the chargers and the Texans, right? It's fine. But but if you finish with a better record than the wildcard team, you should be at home. Why should you understand why they do it the way that they do it?
Starting point is 00:01:54 Look, if you if you win your division, you should get in the playoffs, but you shouldn't necessarily get a home game. You gotta earn the home game. I don't know, man. It guarantees at least one team from every division, a home playoff game. And that's, that's a moneymaker for the owners of the teams. So I think it's a selling point to the owners that one of you from each division will get a home playoff game.
Starting point is 00:02:18 You'll make some extra bread. Cause that's what really we care about here, but they care about that. That's why they have it. I mean, everybody's benefiting if they get a home game, you know, whether it's the division winner or the non division winner. I know, but it guarantees that one team from every single division gets one. That's the point. I thought about this math because I knew Dave is going to bring that point up because that
Starting point is 00:02:37 is the sticking point, I think, for the owners. And it does give you an easier path to hosting a division game. But there is also a scenario, I'm sorry, a playoff game. But there's also a scenario where you in the other scenario, where they do it the way I want them to do it and reward the better seed, the higher, the better record with the higher seed in the playoff in the home game is that you don't have to win your division to get a home game that you just have to be really good. Right.
Starting point is 00:03:03 Yeah. Well, and if that's going to change, you know who's going to change that will be the owners. And if they're ready to give up that guarantee that one out of every four will have a home playoff game, then it'll change and the games will be more interesting. And then you reward the teams that are better. But I don't know if they're going to do that, Adam.
Starting point is 00:03:20 I hope they do. Dave, Jamie, let's get a fantasy winner and a fantasy loser from wild card weekend. Jamie Why don't you start with a winner? winner is James Cook just another strong performance from him and You know I'm just looking at our was looking at our mock draft and it and our running back rankings and it feels like he just Continues to get somewhat overlooked a little bit for the season that he had and hopefully will continue to have so
Starting point is 00:03:47 You know, this was a guy that we were debating should he be a second round pick in 2024. Curious to see where he'll end up being in 2025. I think it'll be around to pick again. But just you know, one of these guys that if you miss on the top tier running backs, you feel pretty good about if you go wide receiver running back to start your job. 16.7 PPR points per game. Always a good thing when you're north of 15 PPR points. And potentially could be better next year than he was this year. And that's saying something, because he was really good.
Starting point is 00:04:13 He did not have a target, James Cook, in this game against Denver. And he only had 32 catches. That's the beauty. Two catches per game, yeah, I know. But you look at a guy and say, oh, two catches per game, scored a bunch of touchdowns. Does he regress there? I think the bottom line is he's really, really good.
Starting point is 00:04:29 And he's I think when you look at, when you look at it again, you got to factor in age. But you know, when you start to get to that, that group of guys of Derek Henry, Kyron Williams, James Cook, you know, the guys that aren't going to be significant pass catchers based on their track record. You know, when I say significant, significant, like 40 plus, 50 plus catch guys, they're still really solid players and they're in good offenses. Again, hopefully Henry holds up and can still do this when he's 31 going on 32. But in the case of James Cook, he's in his prime and he's attached to such a great offense. Hopefully as Josh Allen alluded to, they leave Joe Brady alone and he stays in Buffalo and
Starting point is 00:05:04 they keep this offensive system and everything in place and just continue to build on it. So that'd be fun to see. And James Cook only one fewer catch than Saquon Barkley and Saquon Barkley is the number one running back per game this year in PPR. And Saquon Barkley sliding instead of going for a ridiculously long, awesome touchdown run at the end of the Packers game. All right, Dave, who's your fantasy winner? I think we're also overlooking Terry McLaurin, who didn't even have as many PPR points per
Starting point is 00:05:30 game as James Cook, but someone who stepped up and was the absolute alpha for Jaden Daniels against Tampa Bay. And it's Tampa Bay. And Jamie, you might accuse me of saying, well, you're overvaluing, overvaluing somebody who played against the Bucks. But no, all year he was a monster in week 18. saying, well, you're overvaluing somebody who played against the Bucs, but he did all year. He was a monster in week 18. Now he was a monster in the first playoff game. He gets Detroit next. I'm sure he's going to be a monster in that game. And I wonder if
Starting point is 00:05:54 he's going to be an overlooked guy. How many top 12s was he in, Jamie? He was in none, but this is going to be an interesting player to dissect in the off season because they're going to add another receiver. It's a matter of is that another significant addition or is it another Noah Brown, Diami Brown, a Darnall Mooney type, somebody who is a good player but not a superstar? Because if they're in the T. Higgins market, if they're in the market of trying to, the draft market of going and getting somebody early to add another piece because they should. They were in some of the offseason discussions about some of these wide receivers as well.
Starting point is 00:06:39 He's still going to be the number one guy unless it's just a superstar edition, but I think there's the chance of him losing some value based on what could happen this offseason. But you're right. He was awesome all season. I did like the fact that nearly caught a touchdown on the right side. So, Cliff Kingsbury into playoff moving around a little bit as opposed to just leaving on the left the entire time. Had that ball in the end zone against Tampa Bay that was broken up. But in any event, yeah, what an absolute game. Now, just for the purpose of the show, I'm writing winners and losers for the site, and
Starting point is 00:07:09 he's definitely on the winner side. So there'll be winners and losers from the first round of the playoffs on CBSsports.com. So yeah, it was fun to watch, and hopefully we continue just to see him build off of this. Because you see what he can be when he has a quarterback. He was in that group of guys of, oh, Stephon Diggs when he was in Minnesota, great player, but never maximizing his fantasy potential. DJ Moore in Carolina, great player, maybe never maximizing his fantasy potential.
Starting point is 00:07:37 Terry McLorin's kind of been that guy in Washington in that same group of players. And now you're seeing what he can be when he has a great quarterback. Right. That's the thing. We're seeing it now. We didn't see it before this year. I believe this is the best year he's ever had. Oh, by far. Sure. Yeah. So I don't think he's average north of 15 PPR points before in his career. And you're right. Short for them bringing in a big time receiver. Here are the receivers that they could add. T Higgins obviously would be amazing. Godwin's a free agent. Stephane Diggs is a free agent. Those guys wouldn't
Starting point is 00:08:09 scare me off of McLauren. Godwin would. Godwin would scare me. Maybe. I don't know if they'd use him the same way that the Bucks would. Devonte Adams could be a cap casualty. Do they make a move to assign him? Everybody else that's on this list, like Keenan Allen, Amari Cooper, Deontay Johnson. No, I think McLaurin will be the number one guy there. I feel good about that. Terry McLaurin was the number seven wide receiver overall in full PPR. He was 15th per game, 16th per game, pardon me. But of the, okay, so like I said, wide receiver seven, since the NFL moved to a 17 game schedule. This is four seasons now Terry mcclaurin is tied for the fewest targets For any top eight wide receiver overall in ppr not per game
Starting point is 00:08:53 But overall jalen wattle also had 117 targets a couple years ago and finished as a top eight guy But that's kind of kind of the issue here is you do have a low volume passing offense And only 117 targets for Terry McLaurin. That's pretty rare to have the season he had with that target number. I don't think we'll see a huge spike in targets, but this is also a rookie quarterback that hopefully will improve. We've talked about this when talking about the quarterback rankings, the rookie season
Starting point is 00:09:20 of CJ Stroud and the rookie season of Baker Mayfield and how those guys somewhat regressed. So hopefully that's not the case with Jay Daniels, but I think he will continue to improve as a passer and that could hopefully help McClearn and whoever else they bring. All right, how about some fantasy losers? Jamie, who's a loser? There's a lot. I'll start with J.K. Dobbins. This is going to be an interesting off season because what do they do? I think you know what the blueprint of what this offense wants to be and you know, they had it at times this season when Dobbins was healthy but coming off this game, you know where they just got completely shellacked by the Texans and their defense, you know, especially after how the game started.
Starting point is 00:09:56 I don't know if you know that they feel comfortable with Dobbins who missed four games, you know with with the knee injury and his injury track record. So, you know, if you were in the Dobbins camp, you know with the knee injury and his injury track record. So if you were in the Dobbins camp, you know, I certainly am, you wanted to see not only just a good game against the Texans, but maybe a playoff run to see how he looked in the postseason and maybe solidify himself as the guy there for the Chargers. So not the best day for this offense, clearly. Obviously, Herbert's a loser with the interceptions. But the run game did not support the passing game at all, and really hasn't for a few weeks.
Starting point is 00:10:32 And granted, that was a lot due to the injury, but even the two games back for Dobbins wasn't over the top fantastic. So not the way I'm sure he wanted to go into for agency. And Dave, a fantasy loser for you from Wild Card Weekend? I got a fake out one, and then I got a real one. Derek Henry is at 351 carries on the year. He's going to get to 370, barring something unforeseen against Buffalo. And if the Ravens win that game, they'll get to 400. And so I wonder if that's something that'll creep into your mind. He's
Starting point is 00:11:01 going to play into late January, 31 years old, 400 touches. Not something that we feel great about when it comes to evaluating players the following season. But the real one is anybody in a Pittsburgh Steelers uniform, um, Pickens, the receivers there, we don't know. You want to talk about a team that needs to upgrade at wide receiver. That's one that definitely needs to do it. And we don't know who the quarterback's going to be. be could be any worse than what they got this year probably not.
Starting point is 00:11:29 But russell wilson is good game that he had i don't think you did anything to earn a long term contract extension in pittsburgh not she has is about to be a free agent physically he's the type of guy that the charges might wanna replace jk dobbins with the type of guy that the chargers might want to replace JK Dobbins with, but he's got a terrible rushing average, or at least he did in this game. And he really hasn't met the expectation of being a first round draft pick in the NFL. And just the Steelers completely had to get away from him in their playoff game. So a nausea is a loser. Russell Wilson, I don't know where he plays next year. If it's Pittsburgh or anywhere else pickings, just because he's not a complete guy
Starting point is 00:12:06 on and off the field. His comments after the playoff game were pretty entertaining about, he talked about whether or not he's got optimism for the future, and he said no, that was weird. The whole Steelers squad, I feel like they're all fantasy losers,
Starting point is 00:12:21 and no one's gonna wanna touch these guys next year. It was such a strange answer to that question. I almost feel like he didn't hear the question correctly. I mean I'm just... I don't know because he was... they were like, hey have you seen progress from the offense since you've been here? He's like, oh yeah, I've seen a lot of progress. You know, you're one, you're two. Yeah, we definitely made some progress. Does that give you optimism going forward? No. It was just so weird. It was almost like... I think he was just being honest. Very. But the way he said, yeah, I don't know if you listen to the I encourage everyone to watch the interview because it's just so strange how not the whole thing.
Starting point is 00:12:52 The whole thing nonchalantly. He said that. Yeah. All right. I do have a lot to ask you about and say about George Pickens, including his terrible touchdown look. I'll just tell you right now, George Pickens, he had seven green zone targets. He did not catch a single one of them. He is the only player with six or more green zone targets and zero catches. He's the only wide receiver with six or more green zone targets and zero touchdowns. He also had 12 end zone targets and only two touchdowns. Fifteen most end zone targets among wide receivers. But among 20 wide receivers with 11 or more end zone targets, George Pickens had the fewest
Starting point is 00:13:30 touchdowns on his end zone targets. So it was he was weird. He was like, you can kind of maybe throw out the Justin Fields game. And he gave us games. He gave us a glimpse of what he could be with Russell Wilson. But then he finished very poorly. So I'll ask you just got a question. Is he is he a one for the steel? Right. Is he more? Is he more of a two? And I think, you know, you got to figure out, you know, what they do to add to it. We know that they were somewhat aggressive in the off season. You know, they're in the brand and I you conversation. They ended up, you know, only getting Mike Williams and the trade deadline. You know, There were some other guys that were discussed. This is a team that I would guess that just based on the quarterback market, does bringing
Starting point is 00:14:12 back Russell Wilson make more sense than, let's say, signing Kirk Cousins? I would say yes, because I think Russell Wilson did some good things for them. Does bringing back Russell Wilson and Justin Fields make some sense? If I'm the Steelers, I'm trying to draft somebody and develop and let Russell Wilson play it out, you know that their defense will keep them in games, they'll have a chance to be a playoff team, that's just kind of what they are. But until they find that long-term answer, they're going to just continue being this sort of purgatory stage of Mike Tomlin gets them to the playoffs, they're just very well-coached. This five-game losing streak to end the season was unfortunate. A lot of it had to do with what the
Starting point is 00:14:43 early season schedule was versus the late season schedule you just have some of the opponents that they faced but They're behind two other teams in their division and Cleveland can easily catch them if things improve quickly there So they just got to address that spot, but I don't know if there's anybody out there just based on where they're selecting and And even the quarterbacks that are available that there's an upgrade over Russell Wilson. So, you never know what the season would look like had he played the entire year. Would Aaron Rodgers at a cheap contract
Starting point is 00:15:13 be an upgrade over Russell Wilson? If you're paying Russ 25 plus million. No, if the contracts are the same, I'd rather just stick with Russell Wilson. I would agree, but it wouldn't be because if Rogers gets released from the Jets and he wants to play somewhere, he's in the exact same boat that Kirk Cousins is going to be in that
Starting point is 00:15:31 Russell Wilson was just in. I don't care what the new contract is, because he's getting paid a ton from his old team. Yeah, I would assume the Steelers stick with Russell Wilson, who at least gives them a little bit of mobility as opposed to what Rogers plus you also got to see if Arthur Smith stays. Yeah, look, we thought George Pickens would have a boost because his passing game would get better. It did in one category, that was touchdowns.
Starting point is 00:15:54 The last two years, 12 touchdowns, 13 touchdowns. This year, 21 touchdown passes. But in terms of yards, it was basically the same. You know, it was a little bit better than last year, but it was actually, they threw for fewer yards than they did in twenty twenty two in his rookie year. They have now been in gross passing yards per game, twenty fourth, twenty seventh and twenty sixth in three seasons with, you know, we enjoyed the George Pickens era. And the other problem is we can we got to go to break, but like he needs to be.
Starting point is 00:16:22 Is he a one? I don't know. Probably not. But there's some encouraging things, right? We can get into it a little bit later. But is he a two? If he is a two, if they get someone and make him the number two receiver, how is he gonna be a fantasy standout, right? They're just not gonna be able to support two guys.
Starting point is 00:16:41 In the current environment, no. It's, he's a two on an elite passing offense. Like in this offense, you know, who are they gonna get that's gonna be better than him right now without upgrading the quarterback, you know? So it's gotta be hand in hand to sort of make it all work. I think for fantasy, you're talking about a very good low end number two receiver, high end number three receiver, that could easily be a top 15 guy. I mean, you see the flashes of it. So, he's gonna be one of my favorite draft picks next year,
Starting point is 00:17:12 because I think he'll fall in an appropriate spot. But that second wave of wide receivers that we usually see in round four, round five, he's gonna be perfect right there. All right, reminds me a little bit of Terry McLaurin just with the touchdowns, they have not been there. All right, we're gonna take a break. Before we do thatin just with the touchdowns. I have not been there. All right. We're going to take a break.
Starting point is 00:17:26 Before we do that, though, it's a great time to sign up for BetMGM. If you have not done that yet, use the bonus code fantasy and you will get up to a $1,500 first bet offer on your first wager with BetMGM. Here's how it works. Just download the BetMGM app and sign up using the bonus code fantasy deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game and you'll receive up to $1,500 in bonus bets. If your bet loses, just make sure that you use bonus code fantasy. When you sign up, we take a break and I, when we come back, I will tell you if I had one football wish, what would it be? Tell you after this
Starting point is 00:18:04 on today's show, we're going to do one question for each eliminated team. My Steelers question was about George Pickens, so we can probably cross that one off. But if I had one football wish, guys, it would be to somehow make it so that the Chiefs, Bills and Ravens could all play each other at the same time on the same field as, oh, man, the top. I'm sorry, the Texans, the Texans are going to get destroyed this week. But the other three teams next week, the other three teams are just so damn good. I like the Ravens to go into Buffalo and win. I think they're going
Starting point is 00:18:37 to win the Super Bowl. But last week I said the Chiefs forget it. The Chiefs don't have to be the best team. They're just going to the Superbowl. That's just how it works. But if the best team were gonna win the Superbowl, it would be the Ravens. But guys, I cannot, I am in love with the AFC top three. It's awesome. It's just gonna be a heavyweight slugfest from here on out.
Starting point is 00:18:56 Yeah. Everybody knows, yeah. How you guys feeling about it? We're excited for it. Yeah, how you feeling about this matchup? It's Jackson versus. I have not really, I'm more focused on just like being excited to watch the game than pick the game. It'll come later in the week, obviously, but for now, like just the idea that
Starting point is 00:19:15 the top two MVP candidates facing off and two good defenses, Buffalo's defense really bounced back last Sunday, yesterday, whenever it was. Yeah, it's going to be a much tougher test. I mean, but look, all the defenses remaining either played well this past week and give the Texas some credit. My God, that was amazing. They were great. And the Chiefs defense we know has been great all season. It's going to be interesting to see how these two teams handle each other in Baltimore and Buffalo and the two quarterbacks, you know, just, they feel like they're unstoppable right now.
Starting point is 00:19:47 So you hope that this is not the AFC championship game. The nice thing is, is that if the Chiefs win, that we still get another one of these, you know, big time performances. Right. But Chiefs haters are already saying, oh man, they've got an easy game. That it's not like Buffalo and Baltimore where they have to play each other and then play Kansas City. So it's funny like Buffalo and Baltimore where they have to play each other and then play Kansas city. So it, they got the ones who are complaining about it. It's usually,
Starting point is 00:20:09 it's mostly Bill's fans and Raven's fans. Their path is much harder than the chief's path. Are they an anti hero? Cause I was thinking about that Taylor Swift song and like, you know, the chief's tie in and I was listening to it this morning and said, it must be exhausting. Always rooting for the anti hero. It's like, is that just about the chiefs? Um, you know, the Chiefs tie in. And I was listening to it this morning and said, it must be exhausting always rooting for the antihero. I was like, is that just about the Chiefs? But anyway, so I'm excited for that. And the Eagles are also amazing.
Starting point is 00:20:33 They are the best team in the NFC. But AJ Brown is playing through a knee injury. And that is a bit of an issue here. So we'll go through the injuries news and notes here. So AJ Brown with a really bad game. First of all, Jalen hurts only through 21 passes for 131 yards, but AJ Brown had one catch on 10 targets. He had as many catches as books read during this game. He was reading a book on the sideline.
Starting point is 00:20:57 Nicoby Dean, their linebacker, this is a big injury. He left with a knee injury. It could be a significant one. It appears to be. Yeah. Yeah. So that does definitely weaken them a little bit, but they're going to play Washington next. No, they're going to play the loser winner of tonight's game. The winner of tonight's game. Yeah. Washington will be at Detroit next week. injury, Romeo Dobbs, a concussion. It was by the end of the game, Jordan Love without his top three receivers because Watson was out and on his third left guard, tough scenario for that. It's still a winnable game for the Packers. They missed so many opportunities. Washington defensive tackle, Doron Payne left with a finger injury. How about this? CJ Stroud became the third quarterback Stroud became the third quarterback since 1991 to throw for 101 or more yards on a possession in a postseason game. So they had that drive that started at the one yard line.
Starting point is 00:21:55 He threw for over 100 yards on that drive because they had some penalty yards. So good for him. The Patriots hired Mike Raible, Dave. They could hire Josh McDaniels as their offensive coordinator. What are you thinking here about the Patriots? They're just bringing back all their old faces. Look, I think Vrabel's a good coach. And whether or not he can lead Drake May and company to a Super Bowl, let's say one Super Bowl instead of six,
Starting point is 00:22:22 like what we saw before in New England, that remains to be seen. But he's he's he's a tough coach, but a guy who can make his team strong and competitive. It's exactly what the Patriots want. It's what every team wants. And so good move by the Patriots to bring them back home. I don't know if I love Josh McDaniels coming back to be the OC, but we'll see what happens. And Deshaun Watson tore his Achilles again.
Starting point is 00:22:47 Unbelievable. So he will probably miss most if not all of last season of next season. What thoughts, Jamie? You know, it's it's probably good for the Browns, you know, because now you don't have to deal with an injured quarterback coming back and trying to see what it looks like at the middle of the season. So you hope you go through the 2025 campaign with whatever they do there, which most likely is going to be a rookie. So, you know, we may have seen the last snap for Deshaun Watson
Starting point is 00:23:17 as a member of the Bronx. All right. And Atlanta Fire defensive coordinator, Jimmy Lake and defensive line coach, Jay Rogers. I wanna thank everyone if you voted for us at Sports Podcasts Group, we'll find out the results in a little bit, but sportspodcastgroup.com today, Monday is the last day to vote. Please make it happen, go to Sports Podcasts Group, click on vote now, best fantasy betting and gaming category
Starting point is 00:23:41 and just vote for fantasy football today, not fantasy baseball, you could vote for fantasy baseball today if you want, but fantasy football today, you got to scroll down a little bit and click the thumbs up there and then you just have to give your email address and it takes about 30 seconds at sports podcast group.com. And that's it for the news and notes. So we get to one question for each eliminated team for the Chargers. Ladd Bacanque with a huge game and in a really impressive 86 yard touchdown. Nine catches, 197 yards and a touchdown on 14 targets. Oh, you wanna do something fun here?
Starting point is 00:24:15 Let's see if you guys can guess. Who was the number one quarterback of wild card weekend through Sunday's games? Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson? Josh Allen. Yeah, I would say Allen. Yeah, Josh Allen by one Allen or Lamar Jackson? Josh Allen. Yeah, I would say Allen. Yeah, Josh Allen by one point over Lamar Jackson. Who is the number one running back? There are some good ones.
Starting point is 00:24:34 Henry, Derek Henry, 30 fantasy points, 186 yards to touch so long ago when you had that. Who is the number one wide receiver? McConkey, McConkey, 34. I think McConkey outscored everyone. Yeah, he outscored Josh Allen. Who was the number one tight end? Goddard.
Starting point is 00:24:51 The only one to score. Dallas Goddard. How about that? Terrible week for tight ends so far. All right. So is Lad McConkey a top 12 wide receiver in 2025? He's right there. Is Lad McConkie a top 12 wide receiver in 2025? He's right there. I could give you the people who put him in the top 12 if you want from the story that's on the site. It's going to be interesting to see. There's another team that's going to add a
Starting point is 00:25:16 pass catcher, whether it's a tight end or another receiver. So what does that mean for McConkie? But my gosh, I went back and looked and it's funny that Buffalo with what they're receiving core looks like. They had an opportunity to draft McConkie, traded the pick to the Chiefs, Chiefs take Xavier Worthy. They then take Keon Coleman at the start of the second round and McConkie goes right behind them. Imagine that weapon with Josh Allen. Like, and the reason I bring it up is because Buffalo had multiple chances to take him. The Chiefs could have drafted him.
Starting point is 00:25:49 Not that Xavier Worthy's not a good player or not, but like, my goodness, he is. And the 49ers, you know, taking Ricky Pearsall, the Panthers taking Xavier LeGette in the last pick of the first round. Like, you know, not many teams obviously passed on him, but he's legit, man. He's not just a slot receiver as we've seen. He could play, you know, not many teams obviously passed on him, but he's, he's legit, man. He's, he's, he's not just a slot receiver as we've seen.
Starting point is 00:26:07 He could play, you know, inside and outside. And you know, you hope that the, the Chargers offense evolves a little bit. Um, hard to expect that with Greg Roman. That's just not his history, but there's certainly enough targets and opportunities. And depending on what the run game looks like, yeah, Latamakaki is going to be, uh, if not a top 12 receiver for a lot of people, right on the cusp. Yeah, I put him in at 11.
Starting point is 00:26:29 And I agree, he's in that same boat as Terry McLaurin where the Chargers could add another... They got to add somebody who can take the top off. And then McCocky can benefit from that by winning underneath and then making plays after the catch just like we've seen,, not just in wild card weekend, but the last six weeks of the regular season he averaged 19 PPR points per game average 15.1 over the course of the year. I'll, I'll tell you the one thing, and this is something that I remember hearing at the senior bowl.
Starting point is 00:26:57 He was at the senior bowl last year. The one thing that warded off teams a little bit is that he's small, he's lean. And so if you can just accept that fact that, all right, he might be a little leaner than other wide receivers across the league, man, he's just, he's amazing. Just precise route runner, great hands, good speed, everything that you pretty much look for otherwise in a wide out. So three of the six of us, and again, you can read all of our top 12 receivers for 2025, the early rankings are on cbsports.com
Starting point is 00:27:27 the three of us ranked 12 receivers uh heath jacob gibbs and dan schnier three of us had mcconkie in the top 12 three did not can you guess adam who the three were and who three weren't i did not dave did you know one who was in you know one who was out. Dave says it was in, you know yours is out. Jacob Gibbs absolutely did. He's a huge McConkey guy. And because Dan is so easily influenced by Jacob, I'm going to say Dan did. So I'm going to say Dave, Dan, and Jacob had him in. Me, you, and Heath had him out.
Starting point is 00:28:00 All right. You're horrible at this. Me, Dave, and Heath had him in. You, Jacob, and Dan had him out. Dave had him the highest of 11. Heath and I have him at 12. Not ranked for you, Jacob or Dan. I'll just confirm that in case I did a quick... It's funny because Dan usually goes for the prospects as well. And this, the Macconkey was unquestionably one of the better prospects at receiver last year. So I'm not saying the wrong thing here. So
Starting point is 00:28:27 you want another quick stat on McConkie while Jamie looks? I got a lot here to talk about because of that. Dan, no. And Jacob, no. But he did. No, that wasn't the player that was left out either for them. This is yet another year. When Lambeck Conkey by the way, Lambeck Conkey finishes wide receiver 13 in PPR, but he was like a half a point behind Avante Adams, almost finished top 12. Another year where if unless you want to count Macconkey, but he technically is 13. We did not have a team that was bottom five in past attempts give us a top 12 wide receiver in PPR. So
Starting point is 00:29:04 that's the thing about McConkey. He was awesome, but he only had, he was only on pace for 119 targets. That's really just not enough. He had an incredible explosive play rate. He was one of the best playmakers at the position, which is weird for a guy with a 66% slot rate, but there just aren't enough targets.
Starting point is 00:29:22 So that's the thing, like can the Chargers change their philosophy? They kind of did. I think they became more pass heavy. They realized, you know, Herbert's our best player. But if they're going to be bottom five in pass attempts, they were fifth lowest fifth fewest pass attempts. He's probably not going to be a top 12 wide receiver. His stats remind me a little bit of Brandon Iuke. 87 catches 1200 yards seven touchdowns on 119 targets.
Starting point is 00:29:46 That's his 17 game pace because McConkie missed the game. Now, if you want to go with his 17 game pace in his last 10, that's 99 catches, 1,500 yards, eight touchdowns on 124 targets. That's too good for 124 targets. I don't think he can be as efficient as he was. They need to throw the ball a little bit more. So that's my issue with McConkie. And by the way, he'd probably be
Starting point is 00:30:07 like 14th for me. So, you know, just outside the top 12. It's going to be very surprising to see him not be around to pick right now. You'll get, you'll get popular around three pick if he falls that far. Top 30 for sure. I'd say. Yeah. All right. And the all of our top 25 picks will be on the site by the end of the day. My next question was, do we still buy a George Pickens breakout? But I'm going to skip that one because we already talked about George Pickens. Are you sold on Baker Mayfield? That is my next question.
Starting point is 00:30:37 Baker Mayfield with a strange night last night. Um, only 18 pass attempts. They had the ball for 24 minutes and 34 seconds. How many plays? 44 plays for the Bucs, 69 for the Commanders, and an amazing win for Washington, 23-20. Are you sold on Baker Mayfield, Dave? That's my question about the Bucs. I definitely was before the game against the Commanders, and I still probably will be. He finished the regular season with at least 25 fantasy points in each game, far and away his best year as a pro. I don't expect him to be as good next year.
Starting point is 00:31:12 And I think when I initially ranked him, I put him too high, but he'll be a top 12 quarterback. He'll be somebody that you'll love the value of once you get to at least the mid rounds, which is where he's going to go. I mean, I'm curious to see what this receiving core does look like next year. I don't know if Godwin stays. Evans will be there.
Starting point is 00:31:32 You can make the argument, well, he'll be another year older. Man, just look at how we play it against Washington. Like he's still that dude. And I'm hoping McMillan can take a step. Maybe they add another pass catcher. They certainly should. And I think Baker's gonna, he's got get off on so there's a lot that's still
Starting point is 00:31:48 going to be in place that I'll be happy about with Baker Mayfield. So it comes down to whether or not he's going to be a value on draft day. I think he will be. And that's something that I would like to have so I can build up other positions before I take a quarterback in let's call it round six plus. other positions before I take a quarterback in let's call it round six plus. Jamie, are you sold on Baker Mayfield who was the number three quarterback per game and six point per passing touchdown leagues, number four and four point? 100%.
Starting point is 00:32:16 Yeah, this game did not change my opinion of Baker Mayfield at all. I think the receiving core conversation is definitely interesting because I would love to see Chris Godwin back for Baker. I would not like to see it for McMillan and the breakout potential there. But look, Mike Evans missed four games. Chris Godwin got hurt. McMillan didn't come on until the end, and Baker still managed to get his way through 20-point games during that stretch, mostly with Kate Otten.
Starting point is 00:32:42 But I think what we saw is he started to run a little bit more. The big concern for me would be is if Liam Cohen leans. So if there's a change there, then I would not love the situation, barring whoever they bring in. Because I think we thought, oh, wow, Dave Canales left. Baker was so good with Canales. Well, he was better with Liam Cohen. So they could certainly bring in somebody else who's on the same level, if not better.
Starting point is 00:33:05 Really the only concern is does this run game continue to improve? And you know, you brought this up a few times during the season, Adam, that when Bucky Irving and Rashad White and Sean Tucker had that little stretch of, and a lot of it had to do with the receiving court, that Baker's numbers weren't as, you know,ant yeah he was this was kind of the evolution of the offense and you know you saw it a little bit in this playoff game and that you know 18 pass attempts versus 25 carries for the back or no since that 18 carries versus 18 carries for the backfield because Baker had seven rush attempts but you know you're talking about Bucky Evans really good
Starting point is 00:33:42 and this run game looks like under Liam Cohen is going to be really good, you know, by comparison to what it was two years ago when we were saying Rashad White's just not a good running back. Well, maybe it just was the system. In any event, that's a little bit more of a concern for me. So Baker is still QB6 for me. I'm not moving him in my rankings as of now. Again, we'll see what this receiving court looks like because yes, while Mike Evans is
Starting point is 00:34:02 still really good, he also is going to be really old and that's not something I want to hang my hat on is that he's gonna still be able To support what Baker needs. I think he still needs another player there. So if Godwin's back, I love it You want the splits Adam for Baker over the course of the year. Mm-hmm And these again fantasy point averages six point per game 28.3 with Godwin and Evans. That was for seven games. And then there were three games where he didn't have Godwin or Evans. He averaged 20.4. So still getting over 20 without his top two wide receivers, I think that's a big plus. And that's a credit to both Baker and Liam Cohen. And then, let's see, weeks 12 through 18, is there no Godwin he averaged 26.9 in those games however 31.5 in games with McMillan's breakout and Evans that's the final five games of the year so which Baker we getting next year that's the question that we're gonna have to get answered.
Starting point is 00:34:59 And if it's if it's the guy that we saw at the end of this year. If it's the guy that we saw at the end of this year, getting him in round six as the sixth quarterback off the board will be the biggest steal on draft day. If it's the guy that didn't put up great numbers when Godwin and Evans are out, and that would be possible if Evans takes a big step back and they don't replace Godwin at all, Godwin leaves, McMillan doesn't step up.
Starting point is 00:35:18 Yeah, then he's gonna be a bust. I would say the question was, are you buying, are you sold on Baker Mayfield? I would say that, you know, I could say I am, but I also think he had a really lucky season. His touchdown rate was really high. His rushing yards, 378 rushing yards, that kind of came out of nowhere. I mean, his yards per carry, like last year and this year, I just want to compare the 17 game paces. Last year and this year, I just want to compare the 17 game paces. Just the rushing totals. I know I have this somewhere.
Starting point is 00:35:49 You know what? I lost it in my notes, but it's something like they had about the same amount of carries per game, but he averaged like 6.3 yards per carry this year and 2.6 yards per carry last year. So the rushing totals could come way down. And then there's also this, he had 13 fumbles in the regular season and he lost two of them. And he led the NFL in interceptions thrown. And he only had three completions all year of 30 or more area yards. And two of them were in week
Starting point is 00:36:16 18. So I think he had a very lucky season, but at the same time, he also averaged about 24 points per game in the last seven games of 2023. So he carried over some really good momentum. He's, he's probably legit, but not the, I don't think he's this good because they just, everything seemed to go right for him. You want a couple other positives and negatives since we're talking Baker and we're digging deep positives, Falcon, saints, Panthers, how many of those defenses do you think improve greatly this off season to become problems for the Bucs overall next year?
Starting point is 00:36:52 That's a positive. Negative, Jets, Bills, Lions, NFC West, Eagles, he's got a lot of tough opponents on his schedule for next year. That's gonna be problematic for year. That's going to be problematic for him. It's actually funny you mentioned that because I remember talking about Dak Prescott going into 2024. And one of the things that I thought was maybe a negative for him was that he destroyed the NFC East in 2023. I mean, unbelievable. If I had to guess, it was
Starting point is 00:37:21 over 30 points per game in six games against the NFC, so I'm pretty sure. And the commanders got so much better defensively. And I'd say the Giants probably got a little bit, because they were horrible. They got a little bit better against quarterbacks. And the Eagles, they were super injured in 2023. They got a lot better too. So you never know, you see what happens in the off season.
Starting point is 00:37:41 But that is an interesting thing that he just, Baker Mayfield did beat the crap out of his division. All right, we're gonna take a break. Before we do that though, I wanna say something. I made a joke about Dan being influenced by Jacob. I was just kidding. Dan's awesome and he does like all of his own research and he watches a ton of tape
Starting point is 00:37:54 and he's actually fantastic at that. And he's becoming, as someone said- And he agrees with me, so I always love Dan. Yeah, it's true. Someone said in the chat, he's becoming a great host of his own show and he absolutely is. So I shouldn't have made a joke about Dan
Starting point is 00:38:05 without him being here to To clumsily support himself and then would just leave me to make some more jokes about his clumsy support of himself and all that But I should have done that Anyway, we'll be right back on fantasy football today two more questions for eliminated teams What are your thoughts on Cortland Sutton? Courtney Sutton ended the year as the number 21 wide receiver per game. He was top 15 overall, but 21 per game. But in his last 10 games, just like McConkey, in his last 10 games, Cortland Sutton was
Starting point is 00:38:36 the number seven wide receiver in fantasy and he was 10 per game in both half and full PPR. And that was with a big jump from Bo Nix, just much better production. So we saw a great version of Sutton in the last 10 games as we saw a really good version of Bo Nix. Jamie, what are your thoughts on Cortland Sutton for 2025? Almost, you know, similar conversation
Starting point is 00:38:57 to what we said about Terry McLorin and potentially, you know, the situation in Tampa Bay. They're, I would assume they're gonna be in the market for a wide receiver. And does that impact what this offense looks like? A lot of stuff that worked out well for Cortland Sutton was, you know, Bo Nix just playing fantastic in Sean Payton's system. That's not going to change. You know, so he's still the guy that will be older.
Starting point is 00:39:20 You know, you have to worry about maybe is this the start of when he could start to see a little bit of a decline. But as long as he's the alpha still, there's so much to like about Bo Nicks getting better Sean Payton Just continuing to evolve with the offense and I think you just you know treat him as one of these, you know Solid number two wide receivers that you get after around five that you'll be thrilled about to have on your fantasy team Dave just seeing the news here that N'Kobe Dean for the Eagles is out for the season. He has a torn patellar tendon in his knee. So he's going to have a
Starting point is 00:39:49 Oh, that's gonna linger in the next year. Yeah, it's a tough one. Dave Cortland Sutton, you know, I'm gonna give you a fun stat about Cortland Sutton. Remember how obsessed I was with Drake London's yak? His lack of yak. Cortland Sutton might be the worst yak guy in football. I cannot believe it's four years in a row where he's averaged 2.6 or fewer yards after the catch per reception,
Starting point is 00:40:14 which is horrible. Like Drake London was I think 3.5 last year and I was like, Oh, that's kind of low. Anyway, it's, it's an interesting note on him, but what are your, what's your take on Sutton? How many touchdowns for Sutton this year? Eight. I thought he might have had even more than that, but just based on how the season went.
Starting point is 00:40:33 18 over two years in Sean Payton's offense. Yeah, that's pretty good. He had among the most end zone targets in the NFL this year. Okay. So I guess the one thing that I'm worried about is, uh, I'm a hundred percent sure that the Broncos are going to address their run game this off season. And they might even potentially, you know, they're going to look for somebody who could handle all three downs and can play in passing down situations for sure. That's a staple of what Sean Payton loves in his offense. And does that, does that change the pass run ratio?
Starting point is 00:41:04 I just looked it up. They were 56% pass Which is about right for Sean Payton if you include the playoff game for Denver last year but if they get a good running back who can catch the ball the backfield then they might be closer to like 53 54 percent and the running back will pick up some more targets and does it turn Cortland Sutton? Into a touchdown or bus type of wide receiver? That makes me a little bit nervous. But again, this is someone who's going to get appropriately drafted, not in the top 12, probably as a top 24 wide receiver,
Starting point is 00:41:37 but maybe closer to 24 than to 15, for example. OK, all right, let's move on to our next one. Our last topic here, it's about the Green Bay Packers and it's Jordan Love. Does Jordan Love still have big upside? I know Heath has talked about this and he's pretty skeptical, I think of it kind of feels like he's just kind of one of those low end number one quarterbacks.
Starting point is 00:41:58 What do you guys think? Does Jordan Love still have big upside? He obviously does. I mean, we saw it last season, which is why, you know, we were seeing him get drafted. You know, I think by the end of the draft process, I think Dave and I are probably a little different on Jordan Love, if I remember correctly, you were still very much in the Jordan Love camp, which most people were. It was ADP was number six as the final average position rankings for our site. So it was right after CJ Stroud, it was QB five. Um, look, the, the receiving core was so beat up throughout the
Starting point is 00:42:32 course of the season, Dobbs missed time. Watson missed time. Um, they all got hurt on Sunday. They all got her on Sunday. Uh, and they added, you know, an upgrade at running back, you know, kudos to them. It worked out well that they moved on from Aaron Jones thought a really good season and you know found somebody who? Was a superstar and Josh Jacobs So the offense, you know offensive design changed and we didn't see very 30 plus passing games for Jordan love throughout the year
Starting point is 00:42:56 But I think he still has that in his bag and let's be fair He had two pretty significant injuries that he played through You know, he played through the knee injury played through the groin injury, and we don't know how much that impacted just what they were able to do offensively. So I think when you start to get to next season, depending on the rookies and where some of the free agents end up and how the offensive look, offensive coordinators look for certain teams, he's going to be one of these QB2s that you draft and hopefully get just fantastic value from.
Starting point is 00:43:29 I feel that way about him, about Stroud, hopefully still about Anthony Richardson, these guys that could still be difference makers that we've seen at times. For Love, it was the entire second half of 2023 into the playoffs. Remember, last year, a year ago, wow, look what he just did against the Cowboys off a wild card weekend. And that led to all the optimism here. I do think that they're not, I don't expect them to address their receiving core unless it's, you know, a day two, day three pick on someone that they may just fall in love with because Watson is coming back from the eighth. I think they have to Jamie. I mean, they absolutely it's gonna be with one of those like a third-round pick
Starting point is 00:44:08 I feel like they do it every year, right? It's just not their history to to go out and do that and and I'm sure a lot of it will come down to the medical On on Watson and when he's expected to be ready because that'll determine how they just remember they you know, unless they're cutting somebody You know that they're they're they're tied into all these young receivers. So, you know, does somebody want to go play there? You know, does, you know, they brought up the the Devon Adams cap casualty, does he want to maybe go back and have a swan song finishes year with in finishes career in Green Bay. And that might look a lot more attractive to Jordan love, you
Starting point is 00:44:39 know, to have at least an experienced guy that can, you know, maybe command targets and still win. So that's a big piece of this also. I do think there's a lot to love about him, no pun intended, but there's also the downside as we've seen this season because the run game. And I think the ADP was inflated last year because of how he finished last year. Remember, he had two amazing playoff games and he averaged 25 fantasy points in his final nine.
Starting point is 00:45:05 And then this year, I, you know, even in this game on Sunday, like he had an elbow issued. Is that something that slowed him down? And just really, I wonder how much of it was just him being battered. And so there is bounce back potential for him for sure. There's going to be a whole tier of quarterback twos that you're going to take with one of your last four picks. And if you don't see anything from them in the first two weeks of the season, no big whoop, you cut them and you move on. But if you do see something from them, hello
Starting point is 00:45:32 value, you're on your way to having a stud quarterback the rest of the way. It's going to open the door for interesting people drafting two quarterbacks next year instead of just one. If you just look at Jordan Love's page on pro football reference and compare 2023 to 2024, it's pretty similar. Completion percentage is pretty similar. Uh, touchdown rate actually higher this year. Interception rate also higher too many picks this year.
Starting point is 00:45:57 Uh, yards per attempt, eight, eight yards per attempt this year, 7.2 yards per attempt last year, passer rating nearly identical. Uh, my point is it was past attempts. That was, I think the biggest thing. attempt this year, 7.2 yards per temp last year. Passer rating nearly identical. My point is it was pass attempts. That was I think the biggest thing. And it was interesting that the Packers played the Eagles yesterday, because after their week 10 bye,
Starting point is 00:46:13 the Packers became the Eagles. If you look at week 11 on, here are the three lowest pass rate teams in the NFL. Philadelphia, Baltimore, Green Bay. All of them between 43.4% and 46.1% pass rate. So they are through, they are running more times than they throw. And there are only four teams in the NFL in that stretch that ran the ball more than they threw the ball. And that those were those three teams and the Colts, uh, the Packers turned into a really good defensive team that just wanted to run and run
Starting point is 00:46:47 and run. The difference between them, the Eagles obviously is like they do it all through Jacobs and love didn't run. I love stop running this year. That was another problem. But his rates weren't bad. Just their offense got super boring for fantasy purposes, uh, hurt everyone. So I, you know, if, I think the answer is, does he still have big upside? I think I'll throw the freaking ball. Well, look, the run game got better. The defense got better. Love got injured. It also, you know, the, the love conversation certainly is relevant. It's the receiving course, you know, conversation too, because when you think about
Starting point is 00:47:23 all the, all the Jayden Reed hype and disappointment we went through this season you know and and Romeo Dobbs well he flashed clearly you know two games with with two touchdowns and you know really was disappointing the the rest of the way oh what Don Tavian wicks here he comes there's no Christian Watson and there were certainly signs of what he could become when Watson wasn't there well he didn't you know become that guy either so So it's gonna be, I think, some pretty good values for these guys because if they do start to throw the ball a little bit more,
Starting point is 00:47:50 again, you go back to 2023, you see what they can become. All right. All right, guys, let's read a couple of emails here and get on and skedaddle fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. You can also leave us an Apple Podcast review. You will almost certainly get your question read if you leave us a five-star review and ask a question on Apple podcast. We'd really appreciate it. But for now, fantasyfootball at CBSI.com. This is from N. Powell. Is the difference
Starting point is 00:48:13 between Joe Burrow and Jayden Daniels who has the better upgrade slash downgrade at wide receiver or in Burrows case, just retaining T Higgins. It's certainly a big part of it. Yeah. I mean, you know, Burroughs was good this season without Higgins. You know, I think that's a credit to the offense credit to Mike Isecki and what he was able to accomplish in those games when Higgins was out. And so what they do there, you know, whether it's Eric Hall, if he's healthy, or they bring Isecki back, I don't know exactly what his contract situation is. But I believe it's a free agent. I'll double check.
Starting point is 00:48:48 Having at least another capable pass catcher. Look, they seemingly planned ahead by drafting Jermaine Burton. There's still some optimism, I would think internally and certainly for fantasy managers of internally in the Bangalore building of Andre Yoshivas being a bigger playmaker also. So there's pieces there that will help Joe Burrow. I think the thing is like if Jayden Daniels gets T. Higgins, because I'm assuming that's where this is leading to, if he gets T. Higgins and still you know what he does as a runner, most rushing yards for Ricky quarterback in NFL history.
Starting point is 00:49:27 That just makes him much more attractive than Joe Burrow, or not much more, but more attractive than Joe Burrow. Higher ceiling, maybe lower floor because risk of injury, but I would rather have Jayden Daniels with T. Higgins than Joe Burrow with that. Would you rather have Jayden Daniels without T. Higgins than Joe Burrow with T Higgins? I would rather have Joe, I'll take Joe Burrow if his receiving core stays intact over Jaden Daniels, assuming there's no holdouts because we could see a franchise tag on T Higgins and then it just becomes a nuisance again or Jamar Chase doesn't get his deal and it
Starting point is 00:49:59 becomes a nuisance that way. But depending on, I shouldn't say that with certainty. If, if Jane Daniels does not get an upgraded receiving core, then I would take Joe Burrow. If he gets anything, draft somebody, anything of significant, they're, they're, they're very close. That's, that's basically QB three and four. Yeah. And assuming you're taking Daniels in four point leagues. Easily. That's easy. Okay. All right. Next email is from Eric. Oh, I can I can get the soundboard up for that one. Eric, if Kenneth Gainwell gets signed to a team that needs a running back one, would he break the top 25 at the position?
Starting point is 00:50:41 I'm probably surprised. It probably depends on what that team is. So like Dave's scenario of the Broncos, if Kenneth Gainwell goes there and let's say he's sharing with Audrick Estimé, no. That's what their backfill looks like. No. If he goes to... Who needs a running back? I don't see him being a full-timer. Yeah, the answer's low here. No matter where he goes. Yeah. Let's say Minnesota and they move on from Aaron Jones Like that would be interesting
Starting point is 00:51:14 Raiders if he's the guy they're probably done. What has he done to be to be the guy anywhere? I don't think yeah But I mean every every every player sometimes he's just an opportunity. I Guess so Yeah, yeah, I don't see it. I like him. I think he's talented, but I think he's best in smaller doses He's a one B type back. He's a great name for running back. I will give Kenneth Gainwell that. Well, that's it for today's show. All right. One question in the chat. That's interesting. loves Mac. Adam Lee
Starting point is 00:51:37 says what's loves Max upside? Or Drake may. Well, yeah, lover Drake may was the question is this an upside question and overall question. Right now I would draft Drake may. Well, yeah, lover Drake may was the question is this an upside question and overall question? Right now I would draft Drake may over Jordan love. Yep. Same. Just on the belief that the Patriots are going to add like if you want a team that's going to go after T Higgins, they've got the cap space to do it.
Starting point is 00:51:58 They need a number one wide receiver desperately. And I believe once upon a time, Mike variable was on a team that took away his number one wide receiver, and it might have led to his downfall. But I don't know if he was on board with that. You want to play the variable game very, very, very, very, very run heavy. He had Derek Henry. Of course he was asking you Do you think he just abandons that
Starting point is 00:52:19 and has a more I think he'll 25. The talents that he has to the best of their abilities and that means Drake may. All right. I would hope so. I mean, look, this, this is definitely a plus for a Andre right now.
Starting point is 00:52:34 I'm over him. You might be there. It's still a plus and he'll be there too. Cause they just signed him to a big contract. I don't think he's the cap casualty. Round eight, round eight, yeah. Okay, where did he go on all this? I'll take him for that. Anybody, you have any idea where he went, Jamie?
Starting point is 00:52:52 In our draft, no, but round seven plus, I would think is. Everybody take your guess. Over, under, pick 90 and a half for Ramondre Stevenson. Under, under. Oh man, what's 12 times eight no he went 94th oh all right i believe to Joel right does that mean we got it right or wrong you said what under i said under i thought he'd go before he went 94th i thought that meant before 98th. Yeah, you thought he went before 90th. He went 94th.
Starting point is 00:53:26 He said 90th. I was 98. He said 90. You're a liar, Jamie. You just can't accept defeat. Can't accept defeat this guy. All right, we're out of here. We'll talk to you guys on Wednesday.
Starting point is 00:53:38 We'll talk about the top 12. He can't put Rex Ryan cams. Top 12. Oh, top 12 wide receivers for 2025. I'll go for a show. See you.

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