Fantasy Football Today - Winners, Losers, Controversial Calls, Coaching Hires and More (01/27 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: January 27, 2025

We give our thoughts on yesterday's games and the upcoming Eagles-Chiefs Super Bowl! Why is Adam considering rooting for the Eagles? Who were the Fantasy winners (9:45) and losers (16:00) from the Conference Championship games? We talk about James Cook, Xavier Worthy, Isiah Pacheco and Dalton Kincaid ... Reacting to all of the coaching news (18:30) as Brian Schottenheimer, Liam Cohen, Klint Kubiak and Pete Carroll have new jobs. Which players stand to benefit or struggle with new coaches? ... Our thoughts on Terry McLaurin and his crazy touchdown rate (30:30) and Khalil Shakir vs. Keon Coleman (37:15) in 2025 ... Your emails at [e-mail] 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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It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Oh, no! This is gonna go the distance! Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie and Heath. Super Bowl X is set. Super Bowl 59, it'll be the Chiefs and the Eagles, the rematch. And we welcome you to Fantasy Football Today presented by BED-MGM, the sportsbook born in Vegas.

I just realized something. I think the camaraderie that we have on this show is really important to me. You know, after the game yesterday, I just had a really nasty sour taste in my mouth from that game. And I was just in a bad mood. I just, I really hate this upcoming Superbowl. I just hate it. But seeing you guys chatting with you guys before this show put me in a better mood. It's nice to have friends, I guess. But I, I went from really liking the Chiefs. I hate the Chiefs now. I might root for the Eagles. That's where I am. I might root for the Eagles. And I said to my wife, rooting for the Eagles is like drinking

poison and I might drink poison in two weeks. So that's, that's my, that's my head space right now. That's where I am. Sorry. Why do you hate the Chief cheese? Just because they win? No, I, everything changed with that. The ruling on the field stance, like soon as they, as soon as they upheld that ruling, I just started hating them. I can't, I can't take it anymore. Was such a first down and it just, it just was a first down and they get all the calls. They get all the calls. They get all the calls.

I can't take it. I don't. So you're team refs. It's not, no, it's not a conspiracy. It's not a higher up thing. It just keeps happening. I don't believe the game is fixed, but I'm getting tired of it.

And now I think the Eagles are gonna win because I think the Eagles are gonna get the calls now. I feel like it's gonna go against the chiefs now because there's going to be so much scrutiny to a level never before. But I also think the Eagles are better. So my initial pick is the Eagles and I don't, I still don't know who I'm ready for. Heath, how are you doing?

Congratulations. You know, I, I want to just start with, I hope that now we can give Jalen hurts a little bit of credit. Don't start like this guy. 46 and 20 as a starter in the NFL, 46 and 20 had to do his second Superbowl at 26 years old, leads the NFL and rushing touchdowns over the last four years and tied for fourth and yards per pass attempt over that same stretch in his last 17 playoff games, he has 16 touchdowns and one turnover. Yeah.

Jalen Hertz is remarkable, was fantastic, 55 points in a conference championship game. Wow. And he was the highest scoring quarterback of the week. Thirty four fantasy points. Everyone was good. Daniels, 26 Hertz, 34 Allen 24, Mahomes 31, Mahomes only 26 pass attempts and he ran two touchdowns in. So it was a good high scoring week. That's not what we wanted to hear from Heath. I see this tweet from Heath. He's like so upset for James Cook. He was so great. Get the hell out of here. You're so happy. Was the best player.

Like that game might be a blowout if James Cook isn't on the team. 99% of the running backs in the NFL do not score a touchdown on that fourth and goal at the one that he, that he turned into a touchdown and he averaged like 8.7 yards per touch. Like he was awesome. You know, I'm a, I'm a big James Cook guy. If you, uh, if you think about the last two AFC championship games, that's almost the same play where they flower fumbles. Wow. Yeah, well, it wasn't like the dive the dive into the end.

So I dive into the end. Very different play. But yeah, that was right. What do you want to hear from me, Adam? Just be an obnoxious chiefsman. Just be it. You're always an obnoxious chiefsman. Just be it. You're always an obnoxious chiefs man. Don't stop now. I just like, the only thing I don't understand is I hate the chiefs now because I think when they went to the official review in New York

they got it wrong. And so now I hate the chiefs. It doesn't make any sense. The other thing I don't understand is yeah, there's 13 minutes left in the game and they got a fourth and one call wrong At the 40 yard line and what we've seen for the last half of decade and what we saw in this game Certainly tells us that that would have made all the difference and there's no way the chiefs could have ever recovered

From them getting that fourth and one at midfield. Oh, yeah, like there's no way the chiefs win the game If they just got the fourth and one I don't think that's the worst call to be honest with you. I think it's the ball that hits the ground on the where they, you know, that was the best thing that could have happened to the Bills. If that ball, if they'd been called in complete, the Chiefs would have accepted the holding penalty that they called on DeMar Hammer. They would have had first and 10 at the 25. Buffalo wouldn't have got the ball back at the end of the half.

Yeah, no, obviously they could have won and I don't know. It doesn't make any sense for this to be the thing that puts me over the edge, but I just, I just like, and I think my heart breaks for the bills too. I think that's the other part of it. I, I, I, again, I'm not a chiefs hater. I got nothing against the chiefs. That's not how you started. You hate the chiefs. I'm not a chiefs hater, but I'm mad at that. I think I'm just mad at them. I'm just really mad. It's not their fault, but I'm sick of it. And I really wanted the Bills to win. But I do think the Eagles are the better team.

Now I thought that we all, I feel like a lot of us, maybe all of us felt like the Niners were a better team last year, but I think we all picked the Chiefs. And the thing was like the Niners had McCaffrey and the Chiefs last year couldn't stop the run. And right now they can't stop the run and the Eagles have Barkley, but the Chiefs are

the Chiefs. Jamie, how are you feeling about the Super Bowl? We have two weeks to talk about it, but just get it out of the way. I'm not going to bet against Mahomes and Reed at this point. I mean, it's, you know, they're chasing history at this point. They didn't have, they didn't have the toughest path in the, in the playoffs that, you know, they're chasing history at this point. They didn't have they didn't have the toughest path in the playoffs. You know, I think the Bills did.

They had a little bit of a tougher, I think, championship game than the Eagles did in terms of just who they're facing, who they faced. I don't know. I mean, these are two great teams. You know, it's going to come down to these are both two teams that don't turn the ball over. And that was the difference to three years ago is Jalen Hurts had a big mistake in the game and the Chiefs capitalized on it. You know, so it's going to probably be a one possession game. And I think the Chiefs win those more times than they don't. So give Andy Reid time to prepare. He's typically really good in this spot.

I couldn't believe there were five fumbles in that Chiefs-Bills game last night. The Bills recovered all five of them. Is that, oh, is that including the penalty or no? Well, that play didn't happen. No, there were five fumbles? Five fumbles. Wow. Bills fumbled four times and recovered all four of their own fumbles. And then of course the two interceptions that were dropped by the chiefs.

Well, then didn't the chiefs have them homes of early fumble before the second one? Um, the yeah, but it was on it. It was a, there was an offsides on the place. It didn't count. Yeah. And the bills recovered that one too. Someone in the chat saying, uh, the chiefs are bad against the run. They haven't given up a hundred yard rusher all year long. That's true. But they are struggling against the run right now.

It's been like five weeks. And this was their they were the best run defensive football. They've lost that a little bit right now. So it'll be fun game. All right. Anyway, actually, that's the other thing. I don't know that it'll be that fun of a game. I don't know that these teams are kind of boring to me. Not again. I hope I don't want this to come off as a criticism.

I don't want to come off as a criticism. They're too good. They're a little boring. They're not quite as fun. All right. Okay, I have an idea for the NFL real quick. So you have some dynasty leagues that if a manager wins two years in a row, they just reset the league. They just do a new draft. If the Chiefs do win years in a row, they just reset the league.

They just do a new draft. If the chiefs do win three in a row, can we just reset all the rosters and let every, just put the same player pool and just do some type of draft and- And make a rule that our teams can't trade with the chiefs. Don't let the chiefs trade up to get guys. Just maybe, maybe don't give them as many picks.

All right. What do we got on FFT Diedesty this week? Jamie is going to be on tomorrow. I hope he remembers. I just told him. We're doing a mock draft, 1QB startup mock draft. And then on Friday, it's a one-man mailbag. And we'll be answering particularly if you have any five-star reviews out there on Spotify,

I will go check those out and answer your questions. There you go. All right, let's get a fantasy winner fantasy loser from yesterday's games. Jamie, you got a winner? I mean, I think Heath already gave two of them, right? So Jalen Hurts and James Cook would be winners. I'll go Xavier Worthy, you know, just continues to look like a star in the waiting and it's really gonna be fascinating when rice comes back If Kelsey comes back, I think you almost have to view Kelsey as the third option, which is kind of scary But I'm feeling a lot of like early Tyree kill vibes for what we've seen from him the last three weeks of the regular season I know he didn't have the best playoff game against Houston But still had six targets which was second on the team, five catches in that game. And then you see what he's able to do in this game and he's only going to get better.

And so with that speed, with not necessarily having to be the focal point, because Rice will be there, I wonder if we're going to end up overdrafting Rice a little bit and not necessarily undervaluing Worthy because he's going to come off, you know, everybody watching him after this game and then whatever he does in the Superbowl, but he may end up being the better pick because he's going to go later than Rice. Yeah. Let me see. I'm sorry.

Let me pull up our drafts with Xavier worthy worthy with a big game yesterday of six for 85 and a touchdown on seven targets. And he also had two carries for 16 yards which is nice to see. Do you think Xavier worthy will be a top 60 pick? Oh yes. Top 48 pick. If he has another big game, I mean look first off Rice suspended or you know struggling with the danger.

It's a big you know two big caveats there to keep in mind, but, um, assuming rice ready to go training camp, uh, top 48 will probably be close. I would say I would not take him in the first four rounds, but very close to that. There's just, there's too many question marks. Like is Kelsey there? What games for she rice are going to be healthy and not suspended for. Um, but I could see like if Kelsey's gone and rises suspended at the beginning of the year, he's definitely going to be in the first four rounds. Yeah. Worthy was a round five pick in both of our January drafts, half PPR and full

PPR. He was 53rd in one draft. He was 60th in the other. Heath, who's a winner for you? Well, I'm, I'm going to say James Cook, we talked about him a little bit, but I, what I hope comes out of this game is that the nonsense with the three headed monster in this backfield goes away. And I know Ty Johnson made some good plays, but 13 carries for 85 yards for James Cook, eight carries for 23 yards for the other two running backs in this game. Um, I hope there's a little bit, because I didn't have James Cook in my top 12 running backs. I don't think when we did our rankings back in January and I love him as a player. I just hate the way they've been distributing touches, especially down the stretch. So hopefully James

Cook earned a few more touches, had three catches 49 yards in the game as well. I feel like he was a little banged up or something on their last drive, I feel like Ty Johnson got the carry on the first down. I was like, what the heck is going on here? How could James Cook not be in the game? But they've done it all year. Yeah, no, I was also frustrated with that. Right, I don't know if he played 70% of the snaps

in any game this year. I'm not sure. So all right, James Cook, bottom line, he's done so much with somewhat limited work for a top 12 running back. So James Cook in our two most recent drafts, he went with the last pick of round two, 24th overall, and he went with the sixth pick of round two.

But right in front of Jonathan Taylor, who would you guys rather have, James Cook or Jonathan Taylor? They're very similar in front of Jonathan Taylor, who would you guys rather have James Cook or Jonathan Taylor? They're very similar in terms of there. You're not going to get a lot in the passing game, but I think James Cook has a little bit more to offer given his offense as opposed to Anthony Richardson running the Colts. So I'm going to probably, I think I had Taylor over Cook. I might switch that, especially since, you know, he lead the NFL, tied the NFL lead in rushing touchdowns. So they're very close though.

Yeah, I've got Taylor right now. All right, and I've got to tell you about BetMGM and our bonus code, fantasy. If you have not signed up for BetMGM yet, use the bonus code fantasy, and you're gonna get up to a $1,500 first bet offer on your first wager with BetMGM. Here's how it works.

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and then all these coaching moves, really important stuff going on since we last talked. We'll talk about the winners and losers from that. Liam Cohn going to the Jaguars, Pete Carroll to the Raiders, Dallas hiring Brian Schottenheimer as their head coach, Seattle hiring Clint Kubiak as their offensive coordinator. That's basically it, but still, that's a lot, a lot to digest there.

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Welcome back. Okay, let's get to the fantasy losers here. Heath, you want to give me a fantasy loser from the conference championships? Yeah, I will go with Isaiah Pacheco and I don't know enough about the mesh point. I don't think to know whether the fumble was his fault or not, but it's just another game of cream hunt being the clearly the best running back in the Kansas City backfield. And it's going to be, I still think most likely Pacheco will be fully recovered at the beginning of next year until be their best running back. But it's going to be hard to have confidence in that going into the

year. I don't think you can draft him as a top 15 running back. I'm not sure he's going to be drafted as a top 15 running back. I'm not sure he's going to be drafted as a top 18 running back. Five carries for 12 yards, two catches for 12 yards for Pacheco. Kareem hunted 17 carries for 64 yards and a touchdown and he won catch for six yards. Jamie, loser for you. I mean, Dalton Kincaid just continues to look like a absolute bust of an NFL pick and certainly was a bust for fantasy. You know, it's tough catch at the end. You know, I don't think anybody's going to say easy play, but your quarterback makes that type of throw under the pressure that he's in and the ball hits you in the hands. Like you got to make that play.

You have to make that play. So just continues to share snaps with with Dawson. I still have the billsills don't trust him. I don't know how healthy he is with the knee. Since he came back, he's been basically playing fewer snaps than Dawson Knox. I'm sure part of that is based on scheme with how he doesn't run blocking Knox

by comparison to Kincaid. But we got through talking about our top 12 tight ends last week and I know I had them in the top 12. It's gonna be hard to justify that. So hopefully year three is better than year two, 12 tight ends last week and I know I had them in the top 12. It's going to be hard to justify that. Hopefully, year three is better than year two, but it was a bad year and a bad playoffs. Trey Lockerbie Yeah, not a good day. I give another loser just Brian Robinson Jr. 11 carries for 36 yards. They do not have a target. When you have only two games, tough to find winners and losers. I guess you could say Devontae Smith.

Brian Robinson Yeah, I was going to say, I think you can add Devontae Smith as a loser also. Dallas got her back and Devontae Smith. Yeah, I almost I was gonna say I think you can add Devontae Smith as a loser also like Dallas got her back and Devontae Smith's on the fringe again. Yeah, four catches for 45 yards. One of those catches I wish they had shown a replay of that like another replay or if it had been challenged, but one of those catches may have been a bad call. But you finally get 28 pass attempts from Hertz, which is a lot for him. You finally get 246 yards from Hertz.

That's a lot for what we've been seeing lately. You only had 15 carries for Saquon Barkley, 118 yards and three touchdowns. And Devante Smith really just does very little. All right, so those are the winners and losers from Conference Championship weekend. And congratulations to the Eagles and the Chiefs, and congratulations to Pete Carroll,

congratulations to Liam Cohen, congratulations to Brian Schottenheimer, all of them are head coaches, Pete Carroll going to the Raiders, Cohen going to the Jaguars, Schottenheimer being promoted as the offensive coordinator to the head coach for the Dallas Cowboys, and what was the other one?

Oh, Clint Kubiak, congratulations to Clint Kubiak. You are now the offensive coordinator and play caller for the Seattle Seahawks. All right, Jamie, what's the biggest fantasy impact? We also had Aaron Glenn getting hired by the Jets as their head coach, but no offensive coordinator there yet. And we had Declan Doyle is now the offensive coordinator for the Bears, but they have Ben

Johnson. So we're not really, you know, he's going to call the plays. So that's we're not going to spend too much time on that. But when you look at Pete Carroll, Liam Cohen, Brian Schottenheimer, Clint Kubiak going to Seattle, which player really stands out as a big winner here or loser? I would hope it's everybody in Jacksonville, you know, getting an offensive mind that, you know, did some great things in Tampa Bay and, you know, can hopefully improve the run game.

I mean, that was a huge boost for Tampa Bay this year. You know, I don't know how much of that was just Bucky Irving, but you know, we were talking about just how bad a running back Rashad white was and you know, was it scheme? Was it him was offensive line injuries? You know, the first two years of his career, year three, everything in Tampa Bay looks better running the ball. Obviously, Baker Mayfield is coming off a big season.

Can Liam Cohen fix the problems in Jacksonville? Can he make Trevor Lawrence into an above average NFL quarterback and a viable fantasy quarterback? That's the biggest thing. Not much is going to change in Dallas outside of maybe a running back change. Obviously, there's a lot of questions in Las Vegas. I think Kubiak, we didn't really get to see anything with the New Orleans offense because of all the injuries there.

I mean, Derek Carr obviously missed a lot of time. Chris Olave missed the majority of the season. Excuse me, from a passing game perspective. Clearly, Alvin Kamara had a great year, but did he do anything different because of Kubiak? I don't, I don't think that necessarily is, is because of what was going on there. So the, the, the hopeful change will be in Jacksonville with Cohen Cohen. Heath, what are your thoughts on all this? Yeah, I think Cohen is the one that, that we like feel the best about.

I'm pretty interested to see what Pete Carroll does in Las Vegas, especially if it involves bringing Russell Wilson to Las Vegas. And then who's the Steelers quarterback? Does that mean Justin Fields gets another, like, I think that whole dynamic will be pretty interesting because I can't imagine that Carroll's going to go into the year with the same thing they had at quarterback last year. Well, I mean, if you are trying to just, you know, have some karma, the last quarterback to win an arrowhead was Aidan O'Connell. Yeah.

About that. So it's, you know, talk about tendencies for these coaches and these coordinators here. Pete Carroll has a reputation of being very run heavy. In his last three seasons with Seattle though, he got away from that a little bit. Their pass rate in their last,

in his last three seasons, 2021 to 23, was 20th, 11th, and 5th. And they ranked 6th, 9th, and 18th in points per game. And that was only one Russell Wilson season. He got hurt in that season. So, you know, like Geno Smith in 2022 had that really good year, and then he wasn't so great in 2023, but he wasn't bad.

So he got away from that run style. But I think there have been times where Pete Carroll kind of said, we got to run the ball more. So I'm just curious Heath, when you look at Pete Carroll, you look at Brian Schottenheimer, he's got a pretty run heavy background. And you look at Seattle, obviously,

it seems like they fired Ryan Grubb, their offensive coordinator in part or mostly maybe because they wanted to run the ball more. They had the fifth highest pass rate in football last year, the Seahawks. You look at Pete Carroll, the Seahawks situation and Dallas, are you thinking that these are gonna be coaches that wanna be more run heavy?

I could see all, I mean, I think yes, definitely Seattle is going to be more run heavy? I could see all, I mean, I think, yes, definitely Seattle is going to be more run heavy. Um, I, maybe a small change in Dallas, but I don't think it'll be a big one. Um, the Raiders one, like, let's see who he hires as the offensive coordinator. Yeah. I think that's big. And you know, Schottenheimer was with Carol for a little bit of time also, you know, I, in terms of like saying Pete Carroll is run heavy, it's the guys that he's hired have been run heavy. He's not calling offensive plays. No, but it's his philosophy.

I think it had been. I mean, for sure. Yeah. And I think that's... But I think the bigger picture is what you're seeing in the NFL. The NFL has become a more run heavy league from just maybe perception, but in terms of how these teams are operating and how they've gotten to the points that they've gotten to. You said it when you were talking about the Super Bowl that these teams are not the most exciting because of I think how they're trying to win.

They're not trying to go out there and throw the ball 45 plus times. Mahomes has changed and the NFL has changed in terms of how they're operating. Saquon Barkley has changed the Eagles. Do they want to be more run heavy? Sure. Does Kubiak going there, does it benefit one of the two guys in particular? I don't think anything changes for Ken Walker and Zach Charbonneau. I think we're still going to get a split.

We're still going to get probably one guy playing more on passing downs like Charbonneau did, one guy playing more on rushing downs, Charbonne did one guy playing more on rushing downs unless he just falls in love with Charbonne and gives him the opportunity to do both or a little bit of more a little bit more from a carry perspective, so I Don't I don't know what we'll see from Seattle to from Las Vegas interesting with the Russell Wilson tie-in So was it him was a Carol who wanted to move on from Russell Wilson or was it John Schneider, the GM, you know, and that will be somewhat telling if, uh, if they make a run at Russell Wilson. I did see someone, I don't remember who it was. I said that they have, there was some sort of rift between the two of them, but they have mended fences. So by the way, there's a little overlap here, uh, in the coaching news is Brian Schottenheimer was

the offensive coordinator for Pete Carroll for three seasons. And Seattle was really good offensively. They were ninth in scoring, eighth in scoring, and sixth in scoring in those three seasons. They were 32nd in pass rate, 27th in pass rate, and then 14th in pass rate. So, yeah, so Schottenheimer is an interesting hire, right? Like, it seemed like in the days before

he was hired or promoted that he had become the favorite, but I think a lot of people thought maybe they'd be a splashier hire. And quite frankly, his resume as a play caller, it's not great. He was according to ES, play caller for 12 seasons out of 15 as an OC, maybe 14 as an OC, play caller for 12 seasons and only four times

that his teams rank top 10 in points per game. Is this bad for the Cowboys offense? Is he gonna call plays? That's a good question. He didn't call plays last year, I would think so, but it's a good question. I don't know. It's so hard because the personnel is going to be most likely the same. So what are they doing at their second receiver spot? What are they doing in their backfield? The number one receiver and

tight end are locked in, quarterback is locked in. They need to still work on the offensive line. A lot of questions. So it's a very uninspiring hire. Like you said, I think everybody looks at Dallas and expects them to go get a big name or a guy that has a resume and he doesn't have, well, he has a name, clearly his dad was one of the greatest coaches ever. Does, or I don't know, one of the greatest coaches,

well, a great coach. And- The seventh winningest coach, I think, of all time, something like that. Yeah, he's a great coach. I don't wanna sell Marty Schott and Emerson. Does he make you feel better if you're a Cowboys fan? And I'm sure the answer is most likely no. So what do they do in the draft?

You know, I think if they, like, this feels like a team that's going to do something a little crazy in the draft, like drafting or running back in the first round, you know, and so, you know, gente to the Cowboys seems like a potential meeting spot, a landing spot. And does that help things dramatically? You know, is he the answer to solve their offensive woes? You know, getting back is huge, but they couldn't run the ball the majority of the season. Well, I think there's a perception that their offense got a little stale, right? And so hiring from within, I don't know, it's kind of fire up fantasy managers.

But did their offense get stale or did everybody just get hurt? Right. I think they were struggling before the DAC injury. Well, it was, you know, they lose Tyron Smith, offensive line wasn't the same, running game certainly wasn't the same. Is that getting better though? I mean, yeah.

No, no, no, no, I'm not disagreeing with you, but I, you know, to go from where they were in 2023 to then quarterback missing the majority of the season, no run game till the end of the season, CD Lamb with the contract situation earlier in the year, like there was a lot of disjointed scenarios for, you know, Jake Ferguson missed a big end of the season, CD lamb with the contract situation earlier in the year, like, there was a lot of disjointed scenarios for you know, Jake Ferguson missed a big chunk of the season, like there was a lot of just guys missing

that were big reasons why they were so good the year before. I don't think it's on McCarthy. I don't know, it might be me when I hear Dan, like breaking down the film talking about the Cowboys offense and the lack of creativity. I thought that was kind of an interesting angle there. But then how did they go from having an MVP candidate and quarterback the year before? Yeah. To him missing and then all of a sudden they can't do anything.

I don't disagree. Like we've said this for years about McCarthy and Green Bay. Like there was a lack of, you know, a lot of it was Rogers as we're finding out, you know, he likes his guys to run certain routes. He doesn't like to have pre snap motion. He wants to see what the defense is doing and, you know, let the playcock run down to one. So a lot of that was probably the quarterback's influence,

but I don't know if, if, if any, if, if all you heard was they want them, they thought McCarthy was coming back. And this was, it seems, you know, I saw a couple of reports, a guy that Dak Prescott wanted to be the head coach. He was in Schottenheimer's corner. So there is that and there's a good rapport there. I don't know that that's necessarily the best reason.

If that was the reason, I don't know that's the best reason to make the hire. You got to sometimes shake things up. I hope it works out, but for Dak Prescott, he's not in anyone's top 12, right, Jamie? No. And that's kind of interesting because he's obviously had a horrible you know, he had a bad season, but he's been a very consistent quarterback. As a fantasy starter. And if I want to say four of his last six seasons, he's averaged 24 or more points per game and six

points per passing touchdown leagues. That's like a wow number. So how are we feeling about Dak Prescott, Heath? leagues. That's like a wow number. So how are we feeling about Dak Prescott Heath? Uh, hi in QB two with top eight upside. I don't think like to your point, I don't think anybody is moving Dak Prescott into their top 12 because they decided to hire Brian Schottenheimer. But I mean, I think we're just going to have to see if he and CD lamb can stay healthy and what kind of help, what kind of help they get on this offense. He will be a great option to pair with like an Anthony Richardson or try to think some of the guys that were ranked like 10 through 12 in the consensus.

Brock Purdy and Ky. And Kyler. Bo Nix, Caleb Williams. Yep. You know, so any of these guys that have some question marks, he's, it'd be very surprising if he's less than, let's say, an 18, 19 point per game type of guy. He typically is going to be a 21, 22 point per game type of guy. Okay, so my last question about all the coaching news is, He typically is going to be a 21, 22 type point per game type of guy. Okay. So my last question about all the coaching news is, is anybody concerned about the Bucs

taking a big step back? They've lost their offensive coordinator two years in a row. It certainly did not matter last year, but anybody concerned about that? I think it adds a level of uncertainty that wouldn't have been there if the change hadn't happened, but I'm not concerned enough to where I'm going to significantly downgrade any parts of their offense. Yep. All right, cool. I, you know, I let's go, I forgot to do one question for each eliminated team. So let's do that. I got a question for the commanders and a question for the Buffalo

Bills. And my question for the commanders is, it's really just not a specific, oh, is he a top 12 or whatever, but how do you feel about Terry McLaurin? 117 targets in 17 games, 82 catches, just under 1,100 yards. None of that is too great. 13 touchdowns for a guy who had four to five touchdowns in four straight seasons. He had 13 this year,

and then he had three more in the playoffs. He went nuts in the playoffs. So I'll give you the first word, Jamie, how do you feel about Terry McLaurin going into 2025? And before I finish my rambling here, he went with the ninth pick of round three and the seventh pick of round three in our most recent drafts.

I think that's a good spot for him. You know, he'll be in that high end wide receiver to range might be drafted as a top 12 guy. They're going to add somebody, whether it's another receiver, maybe it's a change of tight end. If they don't feel like Benson, it is the next guy up or they bring back Zach Gertz, which who knows he was so good for them this season and certainly was a monster in the playoffs. Um, but I would expect them to make a run at a receiver or draft another receiver. You know, this is a landing spot now for teams.

You have a culture change with the owner that everybody, I think, wants to be a part of. You have a quarterback that's going to be in this position more times than not, you know, based on what he did as a rookie. So I would imagine you're going to hear T Higgins to Washington as a rumor, Chris Godwin to Washington as a rumor, you know, whatever the next free agent next free agent is. It could be the Marquis Browns of the world, but there's going to be somebody else added. But I think when you look at McLaurin, this is what we've said about these guys, Stefan Diggs when he got a team change. Okay, now you get to see what he can do as a fantasy

receiver. DJ Moore, good receiver, never put up fantasy production. Gets in a situation where he could put up good fantasy production. That happens to Terry McLaurin. You got a quarterback that can feature him to the level that we like. No, but pretty close. And the numbers sort of bear that out a little bit that he's not necessarily the type of guy you want to build your receiving core around, but he's also a pretty good option if you go running back, tight end, receiver. Maybe as your, you know,

second receiver to me is ideal. Um, yeah, I gladly take him around three. Uh, I do think like the touchdowns point you make, Adam, you look at Terry McLaurin 17 game pace for his career, 81 catches 1118 yards on 127 targets this season, he had 82 catches. 81 catches 1118 yards on 127 targets. This season he had 82 catches 1096 yards on 117 targets. Like the entire difference between Terry McLorin's career and the 2024 season was the touchdowns.

And it was the end zone targets specifically had the seventh most end zone targets in the NFL. And he had the end zone targets specifically, he had the seventh most end zone targets in the NFL and he had the most touchdown catches on his end zone targets of anyone in football. So like going into the season when I'm doing my projections, I won't normally project a wide receiver for higher than a 6% touchdown rate.

Maybe if it's somebody like Mike Evans who scores 10 touchdowns every year, you go up to a 7% touchdown rate and that's just the touchdowns divided by targets. Coming into this year, Terry McLaurin was right around, I think, three and a half percent touchdown rate for his career. And this season he scored on 11% of his targets. So I think there's probably significant touchdown regression coming. You just hope that maybe there's an end. A lot of times we see that second your quarterbacks throw the ball a little bit more than they did as rookies. Maybe the target volume goes up a little bit.

But yeah, I think number two wide receivers the best way to feel. And yeah, one of the things, one of my theories about McLaurin was that he had had such bad deep ball accuracy in his career that Daniels was such a good deep ball thrower that McLaurin would benefit from that. Well, they were bad again in deep ball accuracy. If you look at 20 or more air yards, passes of 20 more air yards. But he did have 405 yards on pass attempts of 20 or more air yards, which was by far the most, not by far, but the most of his career.

So the accuracy wasn't necessarily better, but the production was better. And it wasn't because of more pass attempts, just, I think probably hit him deeper downfield. There was more yak, but I think yeah, sorry. His highest a dot since his rookie year, 13.4. It was 11.5 the year before that. So like that, that probably lend itself to more big plays too. You know, it it's also we talked about this a lot with Kyler Murray, how he usually focuses on one guy in Cliff Kingsbury's offense. But it wasn't. That's the thing. Like he only had 117 targets.

And okay, this is right. So I don't think that you focus on one guy is the right way to phrase it. Maybe one guy stands out. Yeah. Well, for sure. Right. So McLaurin, if you just look at the numbers, it's a pretty normal year. I mean, Heath just laid it out.

But even if you want to get into the deeper metrics, the target share, the target per route run rate, the YAC, the yards per catch, the yards per, it was nothing outlandish. It was really just the touchdowns. To Jamie's point about focusing on one guy though, yes, he only had 117 targets. No other wide receiver had more than 64.

No, but what did Ertz have? Ertz had 91. Yeah. They didn't throw a lot. I think they averaged about 28 and a half past attempts per game, something like that. But great year for McLaurin, and obviously a great rapport with Jaden Daniels.

And then if you throw his postseason numbers in there, it's even better. But might surprise people with this great year for McLaurin, he was only only 16th per game in non PPR, 12th per game in full PPR. All right, let's take a break. I'm gonna ask you a Bills question when we come back after this on FFT.

All right, so let's finish off with this question about the Bills. This is gonna sound crazy. I think the answer is probably no, but is there a case to be made to draft Keon Coleman ahead of Khalil Shakir in 2025? Upside? Yeah.

I mean, I think it's not, maybe you can either stack Khalil Shakir's numbers or I'm forgetting something. Like I know he had some good stretches, but he was wide receiver 37 per game on the season. I think you can make a case to draft a lot of players over that guy. Right. That's what I'm saying. It's like Shakir had such a good year.

Was this the best we're going to see of Khalil Shakir? What? 37th per game? The only thing would be is if something happens to him, like what happens to McLaurin where the it was, I think like 12 games in a row where he had at least six targets or more, if I'm not mistaken, going into playoffs, might've been nine. I don't know. It's in that range right around 10.

And like 70% of those roles, 60 plus yards, he only scored two touchdowns there in that stretch. So that's the problem for him is that he's just not going to be a significant touchdown score, you know, maybe six, you know, he has one of those types of seasons that bumps him from wide receiver, which say 36, 37, you know, to wide receiver 26, 28, you know, in that range, I think it just, the floor is pretty safe for him. The ceiling is just not that high. Whereas Keon Coleman, you know, if things click for him, he can be the alpha for Josh Allen, but I think that's what's missing in this offense. I don't know if Keon Coleman is that high. Whereas Keon Coleman, you know, if things click for him, he can be the alpha

for Josh Allen. But I think that's what's missing in this offense. I don't know if Keon Coleman is that guy. And so, you know, they tried with Amari Cooper who just looks completely washed up. Dalton Kincaid clearly did not take the step forward that a lot of us were hoping for. And so that's the biggest hole in this offense right now, because that's what Josh Allen is missing is a consistent go to-to guy that can help him not necessarily have to be Superman on every play. Will they go out and get that guy? Can they find that guy?

Is it a trade? Do they get in the T. Higgins mix, for example? I don't know. But if they don't and they don't bring back anybody significant and it's the same group and you're relying on Mack Hollins to make those plays, you know, like Keon Coleman should definitely be the best receiver on the team. Willie, that's the question. Yeah.

Did he show enough? Did he do enough? He didn't really have that great of a season, but he was good. Such a stupid metric sometimes, but 89 wide receivers with 50 or more targets. He was 16th an explosive play rate. That's Keon Coleman, but guess who was ahead of him? One spot ahead of Colman's Cavante Turpin. Oh, right behind him, Calvin Austin. So when you just don't get that many targets, you can show up on these lists really high. So yeah, it was,

it was a little interesting because you go back to the dolphins game where he had the wrist injury. He was starting to play better than, yeah, he had the wrist injury, he was starting to play better then. Yeah, he was. He really was starting to look like, okay, this could be a guy that Josh Allen will lean on and then he never did anything coming back from the wrist injury. All right. Well, that's all I got for today. I could read some emails.

Should we read some emails? Sure. All right. We got time. Here's one from Case. It's a dynasty grade the trade. I gave away 1.1 Ricky Pearsall and Tajay Spears for 1.3 Isaiah Pacheco and Brandon Iyuk.

So it gives out one point, I don't know. 1.1 moves down to 1.3, gives up Pearsal and Spears, gets Pacheco and Iyuk. Is it super flex, I wonder? Yeah, I'm not sure. So give me a grade for both scenarios. C minus if it's one QB, C plus if it's super flex. I don't like to move down for a player coming off an ACL tear and a broken leg. Yeah. Another player called a broken leg.

Like you're not getting like slam dunk value here for basically two first round picks. Cause Pierce all was either a borderline first round pick or a first round pick last year in a one QB league. And so it feels like you're giving up too much young talent, young potential because you want to control the draft. You had, you had that control. Now you're at somebody else, two other people's mercy. Like if, if everything goes right for Ashton Gentian, he like gets a good situation with the first round draft capital, he's probably going to be a top 10 player for me in a one

QB dynasty league, like a first round pick in a startup. I wonder if the kid from Ohio stays better. Oh, yeah. And then there's gonna be really interesting. Someone actually wrote an email about Travis Hunter and what we're gonna do about him. I guess he's just gonna be wide receiver eligible, but he may not even play. We don't know what position he's gonna play. So I'm, I'm going to push really hard in our YOLO dynasty league, which is IDP, that he

gets fantasy points for everything that he does. I think, I think he, like, if you're, if you're playing both sides, if he's legitimately going to play both sides of the football, that is one of the most valuable players in football and he should be one of the most valuable players in fantasy. Is he not just Shohei Otani? Cause we didn't do that with Shohei Otani. Well, I, I remember that cause I was hosting the podcast during the days. And I remember it, too.

And I think I was making the argument that he should be the most valuable player in fantasy. Yeah, well, I think it's the most valuable player in baseball. Like unfair. But I think too good. Too good. I mean, there's only one guy doing that. It just seems like it's just not fair. It's not like everyone. I guess if you did an auction, it'd be one thing, but if you did a drag. But there's only one guy doing it. I, yeah. I see your point.

I wouldn't do that. What we did with Otani was you had to start him every week. In a weekly league, you had to make him either a pitcher or a hitter and you would not get his points for both. Defensive backs often average, especially corners, might average four or five fantasy points a game.

Like if he's not a full-time corner, he might have two tackles a lot of games. He might, yeah. He's so good. Oh, that's why I want the Giants to draft by the way. By the way. That is that he's the best player by far. And who's your quarterback next year?

I don't care. Get the best player. Get the best player. Okay. All right best player. Okay. All right, question from Nick. He just wants to know in general what you guys think about the Aaron Glenn hire for the Jets. I think the biggest thing is, you know,

they need a culture change. You know, someone's gonna go in there and be the dominant voice and not let the owner interfere. You know, hopefully he has that kind of cache right away. You know, former player there clearly was, you know, hopefully he has that kind of cache right away. You know, former player there clearly was, you know, on what just was a unfortunate situation because that defense was so good before they started losing guys. And I don't think you can look at him and say, okay, what happened in the playoffs is, is totally his fault as the coach that gave up what they get 55,

50 plus points to Washington, um, in the division run. So, yeah, I remember a lot. plus points to Washington in the division round. So. Yeah, I remember a lot. If they get the quarterback situation right, it's gonna be a great hire. If they don't, it's gonna be an awful hire. They gave 45 points. 45.

Yeah. Okay, let's see. Feel like I have another, we have some fantasy cops questions. How about this one from Joe? I am a rebuilding team for the first time in a 12 team PPR Super Flex tight end premium league. I was offered pick 203 for Sutton and Dobbins.

I have 102, 107, 110, 202, and 204. So that would give him three picks in the first four of the second round plus three first round picks. But he'd be giving up Sutton and Dobbins for pick 203. What do you think? I would like another second. Yeah, need more. I think you should get a 2026 second included.

And I will say like Super Flex and tight end premium means two or three is you should probably think of that almost like a first round pick in a, in a one quarterback league that's not tied in premium, because there's probably three tight ends that go in the first round. Um, based on my very, very early research. Um, but still I'd like one more, give me, give me a 2026 second. We're really close. The only thing that I, that I'll say is that you may get a situation where Dobbins leaves the chargers

and goes to a worse situation. So if you want to try and make this trade happen, do it now. That is it. Now we are done for today's show. Definitely do some fantasy cops if I get a chance if they're good and if they're worthy of the show, we'll throw some fantasy cops in later this week. Keep sending your questions, fantasyfootballatcbsi.com or leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcast with your question and comment. Tell people why you love the show.

And yeah, thanks a lot for watching and listening everybody. Go Cheagles. That's where I'm at right now. Just trying to figure it out. Just trying to figure it out for the next day. You started the podcast hating the chief. The hate. I still hate the Eagles. Doesn't mean I don't

hate the Eagles. Make no mistake. All right. Why do you have to root for any of this? Just watch the game. That's so boring. I want to have something. I mean, you want to see Saquon get a ring, come on. Just be happy for Saquon, root for Saquon. I am happy for him. Or you'd be happy for Spags. He gave you, Spags gave you a lot of joy.

You were happy when Cadarius Tony got a ring. Can I give you, can I just read you the first three little paragraphs from the AP recap of Washington, Philadelphia. Saquon Barkley consulted with his family before the star running back decided, yes, it was time to leave his only professional home with the Giants and sign with the Eagles.

His youngest daughter, Jada, had one question for dad as he told her the family was headed to Philadelphia. Does this mean dad will win now? That's really, I'm just, I'm really happy for him. Who brought you more joy? Saquon or Speg? Spegnola, come on! Let's cheer for the Chiefs.

Let's go Chiefs! Thank you! Alright, we're out of here. We'll talk to you on Wednesday on Fantasy Football Day.