NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: Fantasy football extravaganza

Episode Date: August 22, 2014

A room with some heroes -- Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling and Marc Sessler -- preview the 2014 fantasy football season by analyzing the average mock draft positions at quarterback, running back and wide receiver. Find out which players are being overhyped and who can be mid-round sleepers.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the League podcast is all about that mullah. Welcome to another edition of the Around the League podcast. I'm Greg Rosenthal, and I'm joined by a couple of heroes, Mark Sessler, and Chris Wessling. What's happening? Hey, Greg. Friday afternoon, a couple of games tonight. had a game last night, we are in the thick of it.

I feel good. Mark feels good. We both came in a little late. I've been on edge for these last couple podcasts, not on edge, but a little... You've needed some coffee. I've needed some coffee, some sleep. What's going on? Let's get beyond the surface underlying the mood, what's getting to you? What's the issue in your life?

Well, I think pre-season, week three. The grind. Okay, yeah, it's training camp for all of us. We're busy. lot going on this year. We're hiring someone. There's just, there's a lot. And the first week of the preseason, everyone's back. Oh, yeah, this is great. Wow. It's football again. The second week of the preseason for a second, I convinced myself I actually liked the preseason. And by now, I hate it. I want it to end. The preseason's terrible. Bring on the season. I'm done with it.

Is that fair? That's what watching the Steelers will do to you. It is done after week three, so we're very close. I mean, forget week four. We're there, but We're going to be here late tonight. We'll be here late tomorrow. And I'll just be happy, you know, to move on to the games. That's what we love, the real stuff. Yeah, I do remember at one point, I was married at one point. I still am technically.

I haven't seen the wife in like weeks. Have two children somewhere. That's where we're at. That's what I'm saying. So we've got a big show today. A surprise. We're going to do our fantasy football spectacular today. Little change of plans.

We wanted to get it out there before a lot of you draft this weekend and early next week. Of course, Chris and I used to work in fantasy at Roto World. So we know that most popular, two weekends of the year for drafts this weekend and next weekend. Fantasy, fantasy. Ah. Well, you're kind of out of luck if you don't take advantage of it then, right? Well, you could always do it a couple days before the season starts, like that last half week. And a lot of people draft early, which never made a lot of sense.

It doesn't make any sense. So let's get into it. Why don't we do a little bit of news? And then we're going to go through all the fantasy positions, quarterback, running back, wide receiver, and tight end, and with us, as always. TD, what's going on? What's going on, guys?

What are you doing to do this? I'm ready for fantasy seasons, so... Do you even play fantasy? I do, actually. I'm in the Fantasy Football League with the NFL Fantasy Live producers. I've been in that league for three seasons now of won, two titles. Really? That surprises me, is it?

Why are we hosting this show? Well, you can chime in. A lot of fantasy advice guy. I'm not an advice guy per se. I'm not an advice guy per se. Going for the, you know, going off the gut. I like,

sounds like the fantasy live guys aren't very good at their jobs. That was my most common, you know, piece of wisdom responding to readers and stuff was go with your gut. Go with your gut, it's your team.

It's not my team. That's the fun in it, you can't, you know, you can complain to me when you pick the guys we like, but I don't really care. I stopped giving advice on Twitter when I realized that every time

I would just say, go with your gut. Yeah, that's fair. Today will be the first day I give advice on the fantasy realm. Looking forward to it. First, though, we'll do a little bit of news. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And, of course, that being ludicrous song, what's your fantasy?

Oh, of course. I prefer rollout. Of course. We got to start with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and we're going to start with something that happened a few hours before the team flight to Philadelphia, was about to take off. Levyon Bell and his running backfield mate,

Ligarit Blunt, were pulled over by the police who saw a vehicle going by with a strong smell of marijuana coming out the window, apparently. I guess that's how it happens. It was like a Cheech and Chong episode. And they pulled them over. And according to the police report, Bell initially said that they had just smoked a couple minutes before.

And then they all admitted to having smoked, and there was some marijuana in the car, but they said it had been two hours before. And Bell said, I didn't know that you could get a DUI for smoking and driving. But you can. And he was charged with it, ultimately, and Blunt was charged with marijuana possession. They winded up playing in Thursday night's game, which we'll get to in a second. But do you have any big takeaways from the two Steelers running mates getting arrested? I thought NFL media's Marcus Grant won the Twitter joke off for this one.

There were a lot of jokes. He is one of our fantasy writers, and he said this is not what we had in mind when we advised handcuffing Laguerre Blunt to Levy on Bell. Fair, that's excellent. I don't know. I mean, I guess we'll wait to see if the league does something. I would assume they'll do very little. Why is that?

I don't know. It's the Steelers. It's going to put them in. Oh, stop. Mark the Browns fan thing. thinks there's some conspiracy to help the Steelers out. They suspended Ben Rock's... Maybe Josh Gordon can take each of their two games.

This happened to Duane Bow last November, and they didn't suspend him until nearly a year later. It's more of that to be serious. I just think the time frame, it's not going to be an immediate reaction. They have to wait for the legal process to play out. You would think it maybe would go a little quicker since both players admitted to what they were charged with to the cops. So I don't know if it'll go through quickly, but the legal process will have to play out. Lawyers will get involved, and maybe they're not even. suspended this season. Just get the

arbiter that's involved in the Gordon case and we should find out sometime, what, March 2017? We'll find out. So does this news change your, uh, the Steelers heat for the team of ATL at all? I know he's, you've been a big supporter for them. Why would that bother me? Well, here's what bother me. Well, because if they're missing, what if they're missing

their two running backs? They only have one other running back on the roster that's ever carried the ball in his career. Can you, can you name that man? Hold on. Tar and Poole? No. It's their fullback who has two carries. Will Johnson?

Will Johnson. Here's the concern why there is some ATL heat on this. And I think it's not because of what the league does, which could take until next year, who knows. But when they tried to interview Lagart Blunt later in the day when he got to the stadium last night, he shielded his face with a Louis Vuitton bag. You're out. We don't pick teams. where players are walking around with Louis Vuitton bags.

That would eliminate a lot of teams probably. I have no answer for that. That's a very fair point. That's on my radar. Well, Mike Tomlin. Was it like a purse? What is a bag? A man carrying a bag.

I don't know what kind of a bag it was. I'm assuming it was a male version of a purse. I carry a backpack into work every day. I used to carry a satchel. It wasn't a Louis Vuitton camping backpack. It was a man bag. My favorite team is run by a Hall of Fame quarterback who, you know, endorses Uggs and definitely has some manbag.

So I'm not going to judge on that. I'm not going to judge. I am judging the hell out of Lagerie Blunt right now. Well, they played on Thursday night, and Chris and Mark, you guys are both watching that game. Bell and Blunt did not really play that well. The offensive line sounds like they struggled. Mike Tomlin basically thought it would be rewarding the two of them

by keeping them out of a preseason game, so they had to play. Do any worry about the Steelers' offense? Well, they looked horrible, It's preseason, and I feel like they have talent, so I won't put too much into this game. I think it's all, oh, the Steelers melted on both sides of the ball. I'm with Wes. I am not concerned at all.

I think the Eagles defense has played well in a couple preseason games. They've looked better than I thought they did last season. That's more on my radar than – you can't – if you do no scheming for a game and then you're suddenly facing LaShawn McCoy and Chip Kelly's offense, it's probably not going to be a whole lot of fun. Yeah, they didn't scheme. And then the whole team looked like they were in the car with Bell and Blunt. Is there any chance that we're underrating the Eagles a little bit? They were a team I really loved going into last year, picked them to win the division.

And I just, they're just such a fun team to get behind. And now it's like the year later. And for some reason, I'm not as excited about them. But I was thinking last night, maybe I should be. Maybe they're going to be a top three or four team. I think there's a chance we're underrating them. Yes, there's a chance. High in my power rankings have them winning the East

and cited them as a team of ATL candidate a couple months ago. So for myself, I have not underrated them. Yeah, I guess I'm talking, I'm asking the question to myself. I'm beginning to think, and it's not because of the preseason game. I just was thinking about a lot of times I base predictions off the divisions, and that division's terrible. So maybe they'll roll up a lot of wins and be a team that could get a buy. Especially after you boldly and you were alone in this in a room

picking them to win the East when so many people thought last year that wouldn't have. and I'm surprised you're not riding that to a two-year-old. I can still change my mind. We haven't put things on paper yet. Chip Kelly, genius. He's a genius. Dan's not here to disparage him. Dan Hansis, of course, our host, which I miss badly.

I really miss not being the host at this point. Dan's child is already not buying into the Chip Kelly experience. All these articles that you read about Chip Kelly, you know, Chris Brown on Grantland had a great one, and Field Yates had a good one on ESPN.com. I just started thinking, like, maybe he really is a genius. He is. Maybe he's going to dominate with all these methods on defense, on offense, the practice. Nick Fools was on pace for 360 yards at halftime last night,

and he was throwing the balls over his receiver's head at their feet, wide, did not look good at all and had 179 yards at halftime. That's how good Chip Kelly's offense is. To me, that's the story of Nick Foles' is 2013 season. Never as impressive when you watch the, games as when you looked at the box scores. Well, and as a one-be to that example, Mark Sanchez suddenly looks like he should be a starting quarterback again in the NFL.

Watch out Matt McGloin. Mark Sanchez, gunning for preseason MVP. Chris, of course, is alluding to the first ever preseason MVP award, which we'll be giving out on Around the League on the site, and we'll talk about it on the podcast. Matt McLeoyne is my favorite right now for the award because he made the Michael Jordan shoulder shrug from the NBA finals

after he threw a game-winning touchdown. In the preseason. That's big. You have to respect that, TD, right? In the preseason. I mean, that's just the way to do it, you know? M.J. Shrug. I mean, but just the Kahones on Matt McGloin to do that, I just loved it. And TD, you're a

body language expert. That must have thrilled you. I like Matt McGloin. He seems, it reminds me of a, you know, Bruce Gercowski type of backup. You know, they come in with energy. They're ready to go. That has to be... Damning with faint praise there. That has to be the biggest range of body language

between starter and number three quarterback in the NFL. Shab's got about the worst body... Body language. Shob does not inspire any confidence at all. It just gets better as you go down the depth chart. Research project for you. See if there is any connection between male onset pattern baldness among quarterbacks and good body language.

Because Shob... Shob, I think that gets in his head. I mean, I mean, crying out loud, a guy with, you know, shaky hair is not, you know. Right, you're the quarterback. I know what I'm saying. If you go all ball like West does, like, you know, to shave it off, like MJ, that's boss. Yeah, but if you're out there struggling and no, your teammates can see you're struggling, we don't really know about you.

Your beard is weird. Your stash is trash. Oh, my gosh. Let's move out. Our final news item, and then we'll get to the fantasy preview. Dean Blandino was on NFL Total Access after Thursday night's game, and he was close. and he was clear that he expects penalties to go down when the regular season starts. The numbers have been staggering.

They've gone from an average of 14 a game to 23 per game. He thinks it'll back up in the regular season. Do we trust that? We need TD to throw in a hallelujah drop after that. Well, let's see if it actually happens. We've talked about this. We believe it will go down. The NFL isn't stupid.

They know it's not entertaining. A lot of times when you watch a game and everyone gets into a frenzy, He, like Lashor, oh, there's so many more injuries. And then a study comes out and says, actually, it's exactly the same. That's how I felt watching these games. And then the actually, the numbers over the course of three, they're outrageous. And I think that the NFL is smart enough to not sabotage the product by what we're seeing right now. Yeah, he sent a message to all the officials watching.

I'm sure he's sending them, you know, more officially as well. I guess the edict will be, you better back it off when the games start. And the key words to me was he said, we don't want. want to slow down the sport. So they know. So hopefully it's not going to happen because it's preseason, it's been tough to watch. Well, I think you have no trust that even a solid defensive play or what would have been in the past, a solid defensive play, isn't going to sustain a drive with a flag over and

over. We're looking at court. Oh, you can say, oh, Johnny Mansell had a 16 play scoring march only because of the flags on that drive. Yeah. They have four rules of emphasis this year. That's more than ever before. That's part of the reason all these flags are popping up.

One of them is actually offensive. Offensive pass interference is one of the rules of emphasis. And those have been called a lot more, too, in the preseason. So hopefully that changes when this terrible preseason ends. All right, that's enough news. We've got to get to the big stuff. The fantasy preview. We've been talking up this show since Jack Hansis was just a figment in Dan's imagination.

You know what I mean? For months, we've been talking this up. So let's get right down to it. We won't be too formal. Let's go through each position, position by position, starting with the quarterbacks. And what I'm going to do, you guys can tell me if this is okay, I'm going to go through some of the average draft positions, and we'll just kick it around.

Who seems too high, who seems too low, maybe we'll throw some sleepers out there during the show. So let's start. At quarterback, getting taken in the first round this year, Peyton Manning, number nine overall. You normally don't see quarterbacks go any higher than that. That's about the limit. Drew Breeze is the number two quarterback, Aaron Rogers, number three, also in the second round. Then a big drop off to number four, Matthew Stafford, and number five, Andrew Luck in the fourth and fifth rounds. Any thoughts out of that top five group? What stands out?

I'm surprised Drew Breeze isn't number one. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since the fantasy industry insists that 2013 stats control everything. Drew Breeze, I feel like he's going to have a career year and probably shatter some of Peyton Manning's records this year. I would draft him over Peyton Manning. Yeah, it seems like the fantasy world in general looks back as much as they look forward on some of these. It's a problem.

What about Aaron Rogers, I would take up there with those guys too? But, you know, the one, two, and three, four situation here, you can't go wrong. Yeah, but there's a big drop-off to Stafford, which makes sense to me. But I was a little surprised that Stafford was such a solid number four, a round ahead or half a round ahead of luck, a round and a half ahead of Tom Brady,

you know, two rounds ahead of Matt Ryan. I don't like Stafford in fantasy any better than those three guys behind him. Tom Brady is the one name on this list that jumps off the page to me. Right. He's being drafted at the beginning of the sixth round, two rounds after Matthew Stafford, five rounds after Peyton Manning

he's got better weapons this year than last year by far Tom Brady's going to bounce back and have a big year isn't that again people looking back at and the offseason narrative of he's done basically

it's absolutely a problem in fantasy football people draft last year's stats and expect them to happen again this year and you know what I always like to do when I was doing my fantasy research when we were putting our rankings and everything together at Rotow World

was I would like to look at what they were ranked coming into the season in previous years. And so just a couple of years ago, Tom Brady, or just last year, Tom Brady was taken wildly high, and yet there's no good weapons around him. And what has really changed about Tom Brady for all the people that would have taken him in the top 25 last year, top 30, it's better this year. It's better. I'd rather have him this year if you look at the weapons around him.

Yeah, I agree. Another guy who stands out as too low to me is ninth round Tony Romo. Okay. We know they're going to have to have shootouts this year because of that defense. They've got Des Bryant, Jason Witten, DeMarco Murray, Terrence Williams. They've got a good number two tight end and Gavin Escobar. This all, in an awesome offensive line, as Mark has pointed out, they're going to score a lot of points in Dallas. I think people might just be concerned.

I'm going to anchor my team to Tony Romo, and this is taking a couple weeks worth of drafting. It's only last week that we saw. and get on the field. Yeah. That might be, one guy that stands out for me, and I like him. I've had him before as my fantasy quarterback is Cam Newton. He's at number 10. But you know what?

I think the rushing is going to be down this season. He looked, to me, like a different guy in terms of his mobility, obviously, in the last preseason game. And I like Benjamin at the wide receiver spot, but there's issues there. I'm not sure I would go that high with him. See, I disagree. I think he's undervalued there. Cam Newton to me, again, he's another guy who would have been taken as a

the top two or three quarterback a year ago. For fantasy, I don't think he's going to be that much worse this year. I don't think he's ever finished out of the top three quarterbacks in standard fantasy leagues. Yeah, he is a guy who's a better fantasy quarterback than a reality quarterback, and I guess the situation around him is worse this year. RG3 is getting drafted ahead of him in fools. I could see why RG3 is, though, with what they added.

RG3 just, to me, until he learns. This is your comeback player of the year. I'm starting to sour on him. Until he learns a baseball slide, which we all learn by age six, until he learns that, he's going to be an injury risk, the biggest injury risk in the league. I was got to do a rant on, wouldn't you rather, I've kind of come around to the fact that you should take sure things in fantasy

more than we do. So many people are always looking for the positional scarcity and who's got the upside, and yet you pass on like a guy like Aaron Rogers, early in a draft when you know he's going to be incredible maybe for a guy like Monty Ball who seems like a sure thing

but he might not be a sure thing or Marshawn Lynch who's getting older or Giovanni Bernard who I'm not sure about his role wouldn't you rather have a sure thing? Yeah I don't I never like this trend where all the fantasy experts have to agree that there's only one way to build a roster

you have to go running back in this round or you can't go quarterback early if you can't win a fantasy league with Aaron Rogers and the second second round as your quarterback, you need to get out of the fantasy business. Right, that's the thing. I think fantasy drafts, when you look back at them at the end of your season, it's all about did I get good, some value out of each pick?

Like, did I have a lot of swings and misses? So even if you took Aaron Rogers in your first round, it's not going to be a swing and miss. No matter what happens with your fantasy year, you're not going to look back and be like, oh, that's where I blew it. I should have taken that. You blew it. You know, that's not where you're going to blow at.

So I think it's stacking guys that you know are going to help you. I look at this list too. And I, you guys are the fantasy guys. I play occasionally for fun. I find it a little bit of an obscene activity to begin. You're a little tired of fantasy. Let's be honest. All three of us are, aren't we?

Tired of it would suggest that I once enjoyed it. I've never liked it the way you guys do. I don't think it's something our grandfathers would look at us and just laugh at us that we spend time organizing teams around. I mean, it's just absurd. But beyond that, because it's something that we pitch and we are involved in. I look at lists.

Teddy Roosevelt is rolling over in his grave. I want to show us to do this. I'm having fun right now. I'm having fun too. When I build a team, though, that's it I don't take it hyper seriously. I don't need to, you know, tweet out my lineup to 5,000 people.

I love that because there are a lot of people who play in fantasy football who have your same attitude. Why would you not want to roster guys who you enjoy watching? Exactly. And that's when I look at the quarterback, who do I eliminate right off the bat?

Everyone we talked about would be a candidate. But for me, Eli Manning, He's gone. I would never anchor my being around him. Getting drafted in the 13th round as about a mid-range backup. Number two, Sam Bradford, are you kidding me? Come on. I mean, how do you walk around excited about this 16-17-week operation with these guys?

At night with Sam Bradford as your fantasy quarterman? I don't get it. I got it. Guys are making great points here. Again, that's another one of my advice. Go with guys you want to watch. Go with guys that you're interested in watching. I'm not trying to watch Eli, Sam Bradford.

I got a sleeper. Great point. All right. A guy who's being drafted as a quarterback. quarterback two, who I think could produce as a quarterback one. Carson Palmer. Really? I was joking. I love it. No, I do. I think everybody's excited about John Brown, which is cool. You should be excited

about him. Michael Floyd breakout season. One thing I really like, and a lot of people aren't really talking about is Larry Fitzgerald played through a pair of hamstrings last year, and nobody really talks about that. I think he bounces back this year. And they're going to find out, and I think they already know this, this myth of Andre Ellington running the ball like 580 times this season, they're going to throw the ball all day long. And Ellington helps Palmer because he might be the best receiving running back after Darren Sprouls.

Andrew Luck might be fun to take this year. Oh, sure. Fifth round is pretty fun all the time. Pretty reasonable. I'm loving Matt Ryan. The two guys that really stand out to me would be Matt Ryan at the end of the sixth round as a mid-range quarterback. I think he's going to have big numbers this year.

And then you mentioned it, Wes. Tony Romo. I mean, I could sit back and enjoy taking some running backs and wide receivers. If I wasn't feeling the quarterback value, take Romo in the eighth round, get a round ahead of it, and enjoy the touchdowns. Tony Romo is one of the most consistently great fantasy quarterbacks of the last decade. I don't see why that's changing. One other thing, and if you are a guy that drafts a quarterback real late and Russell Wilson sitting there, I think you can get value on him because they're going to throw the football more this season. They've already started to do that.

You've got Percy Harvin potentially. I never trust him to last, but let's say he does. They're changing their offense a little bit. Bucky Brooks wrote a great piece about how they are going to start to expand that passing game. And he gives you stuff on his feet, too. One name, of course, we didn't see on the quarterback rankings. Johnny Mansell. I guess no one's buying into him.

Or Brian Hoyer for that. They're updated. Well, this list only goes to 24. If this list went down to 75 or 80, you would see Brian Harvill. All right. Let's go to the money position. Running back, I'm going to give you... The money position.

Yeah, it is. Not in the NFL. Not in the NFL, but in fantasy, these are the guys who get taken the highest. I'm just going to say the top 10 real quick. LaShawn McCoy, Jamal Charles, and Adrian Peterson. The big debate... Actually, let's stop right there because... How is Adrian Peterson not number one?

That's crazy. Yeah, let's stop right there because that's the big debate. And I haven't seen a year quite like this in as long as I can remember where there's a three-way tie almost for different leagues usually a consensus does form who would you take west adrian peterson should be drafted number one every single year yeah until you're until you're the guy that takes the number one and that suddenly goes very badly for you i would agree why would you you know you know who he is jemal charles come on jimald charles forget it no one has seen his offensive line yeah it's not a knock on the other two i agree but i i had the number two pick last year in the one league i'm down to one league now

and uh i took shady and at the time he was going six or seven and I love shady. I mean, I think it's legitimate to draft a guy who had 2,000 yards and bring so much more in the passing game than Adrian Peterson over Peterson. I wouldn't really argue either way, but along those lines of take the guys who you like watching, I mean, I love watching both the guys of the game of your own, but I love me some shady.

I'm fine with that. Take him first. Why not? You disagree. Well, it's your team. You should do what you. Yeah, I think you should do what you. I'm just saying I would never take anybody but Peterson number one.

All right. After that, it's Matt Forte. Wow, the highest he's ever been, a top five pick, finally, because he's been delivering. Mark Trassman offense. And there's no competition for him at that position. And he's been delivering consistent numbers. He's a guy who's gotten overlooked too often in the top 10 of fantasy drafts because he's not quite as sexy or high-up-sides. Well, there were a lot of years where Michael Bush was the touchdown vulture, too.

It's true, but in the end, when you looked at the final stats, Forte would be there, you know, as a top-five fantasy running back. Eddie Lacey's next. Marshawn Lynch, still going in the top 10. DeMarco Murray, 7th at running back, starts off the second round in a lot of drafts. Monty Ball, Giovanni Bernard, and Arian Foster wraps up the top 10. Any of those names stick out to you good or bad? What is going on with Giovanni Bernard at second round fourth pick? Yeah, that concerns me.

Really? A lot of hype, but Jeremy Hill's going to see the ball. It's basically a committee backfield to some degree. Yeah. Hasn't looked great by all accounts. Didn't the Bengals tell us what they thought of Giovanni Bernard when they used the second round pick on Jeremy Hill? Wouldn't you take out?

He's not a featureback. I love Giovanni Bernard, but he's not going to get the ball 25 times a game. I mean, they've got him two spots higher than Alfred Morris, who I would take Morris over Bernard. Labion Bell is four or five spots behind Giovanni Bernard. Well, if we can go down the list of it there, do whatever you are, baby.

Down in the office, we talked a little bit of this. They've got Reggie Bush at number 16, four spots ahead of Frank Gore. To me, that's offensive. It is offensive. I agree. It's very offensive. What's going on? Joy, Bill, might lead the team in carries this year.

I don't know about Marshawn Lynch in the top 10 still. Am I the only one who doesn't expect him to have nearly as good a fantasy season as he did a year ago, which was already significantly down from. the year before? Like, as all this off-season talk about Michael and now Turbin, was that just hot air? No one's buying it. I'm buying it. I would be, I would hesitate a little bit. I still think if they need to lean on the guy, that's going to be who it is for them. But Turbin looked like a different player to me. He might be on offense, one of their most improved players from where he was a year ago. And maybe if they get down the stretch and they're where we think Seattle will be,

it's a smart bet to bench Lynch, not benching, but to rest them for stretches and let Michael and let Turbin play more. That's right when you were in your playoff season. Here's my big picture strategy. When those running backs are coming up, I like DeMarco Murray actually at that spot at the start of the second round. For six games. I'm fine with that. I'm going to take the risk. But instead of taking those running backs like Ball, Bernard, and I would even throw Lynch in there, you can still take A.J. Green.

You can still take Des Bright. You could take Jordy Nelson or Julio Jones. That's what I'm doing in that spot. I like those guys a lot better. When I look at this list, I had the exact same scenario as you. I want one of the top five running backs. I would hope to get a top five pick this year. Draft McCoy, Charles Peterson, Forte, or Lacey.

I agree. Ignore running backs. All these guys getting taken in the second and third round, two big of question marks. You go wide receiver second and third round back to back. I tend to agree. other running backs going that early that you mentioned that are question marks. Doug Martin, Lavian Bell, Zach Stacey going early in the third round.

That's a little bit of a surprise to me. Andre Ellington in the middle of the third round. God, I love Andre Ellington, but I don't love him that much. That surprises me. I have to admit, I'm coming into this cold, but I think that's helpful, actually, because some things stand out. There's a weird logic. Why is Andre Ellington going in the top 30 picks?

I think enough people have read the headlines over the year, but they haven't read or seen everything else, and he's been pumped up as much as any player in that division. Injury waiting to happen. I do like him, but... I see a couple of absolute workhorses available in the fourth round. All right, who? Toby Gerhardt and Ryan Matthews.

Yeah, I like... Matthews is too low. Yeah, he's very... Like, guys like Reggie Bush are getting taken ahead of Ryan Matthews? What's up with that? I think that's... I don't know if you're looking... That's crazy.

You're even looking in last year. Why is Matties? Matthews not maybe over and because he doesn't catch any passes. But they're such a run-heavy offense. A lot of leagues are point per reception. I'm just saying that's the logic against Matthews. But I agree

that little fourth round group, Gerhardt, Gore, and Matthews, I would just as well have any of those guys as the runners in the second round. That's the recipe. I guess we're saying go receiver. Here's how goofy Ryan Matthews and Frank Gore's rankings

are. The guy behind him, behind them in ADP is Bishop Sanky, who's third on the Titans' depth chart. Another, a big product of hype, though, maybe for people just catching up, you know? Do you guys trust in Zach Stacey as a fantasy guy? No. I would take nobody on that offense. Neither would I. What about Rashad Jennings going in the top 40?

That's really surprising. I don't think Andre Williams is going away, and I know that a lot of Giants fans say that Kaufflin doesn't play rookies, but he always has a tandem backfield. I hate that. And Andre Williams is good. I don't like Rashad Jennings there either. I hate it. That's one of my, you can't take Rashad Jennings in the first four or five rounds.

You got to get stuck with that. He's this year's Darrell Richardson. What are you doing drafting Darrell Richardson in your fantasy draft? Why would you do that? He's this year, he's not this year's Andre Brown. But at this time a year ago, I made the same rant on this very fantasy preview podcast saying and people are insane taking Andre Bown in the seventh or eighth round because you've got to bet on talent.

You shouldn't bet just on situation. You've got to pick players that are good at football. That sounds stupid, but Rashad Jenin, he's okay, which brings us to the guy who really stood out to me on this list. Trent Richardson at 58. I just can't see it because I just don't think he's very good. Well, it's telling that, you know, Last year, NFL Network's fantasy commercials featured Trent Richardson with a guy sitting

on his shoulders or something. He couldn't have been more of a fantasy centerpiece. No running backs fallen farther than Trent Richardson. And I think all of us agree he hasn't fallen far enough on this list. I don't agree with it. Greg and I agree. West does not agree. Yeah, we got it.

Mark and I are right. I'm not prepared to say he's bad at football. Mark and I were watching some of his rookie season highlights this morning. He was good at football. This is what's happened when I come in a little late? You guys just watching T. Rich highlights. What happens is that we are talking and writing about football. I thought that was our job.

Your feet up on the desk. Mark's shift was prematurely started an hour and a half early. I'm totally joking. It's awesome. I think his, so his competition for carries is a guy coming off neck surgery who never stays healthy in Ahmad Bradshaw. Vic Pallor's out for the year. They don't have anyone else at running back.

They're going to be a high-scoring offense. I think they're going to use a lot of spread looks, which will help him. against boxes that will be a lot softer this year. I think there is some potential for Trent Richardson to play a little better. What we saw this morning, looking at all his snaps from this preseason, is that when they run the pistol,

he had his two best runs where it's a little bit of a different formation for them. But where I take up a difference with Wes a little bit is that, yes, it is absolutely true that the guy they traded the first round pick for in Cleveland was he wasn't the Alabama running back, but he's still at explosiveness. He could catch the ball. He had yards after contact. What I see now and what I'm seeing this summer is a shadow of that.

Forget about him. I think you're chasing good money after bad here that everyone saw him as a top 10 pick last year. And I think just the name is getting people to draft him there. He's not battling Ahmad Bradshaw. He's battling all those little tippy toes that he's making as he's going up again. He's battling maturity issues, picking up the offense. We've heard stuff off the record. about Richardson and now it's on the record?

Well, he's being drafted behind Ben, Tate, and Chris Johnson. I would take Trent Richardson over both of those guys. I don't know about Tate. Well, let me ask you this, West. Isn't that a setup for a very frustrating situation if you take Trent Richardson and he doesn't flip the switch as soon as week one? You're drafting him basically at the beginning of the sixth round. So he's your second running bet.

You're not building your roster about round round. I would not as a starter. I would not want to rely on. You know who else is at the beginning of the sixth round? Tom Brady and Matt Ryan's late in the round. Tori Smith is the first pick average reposition in the sixth round. Jordan Cameron, Verdon Davis. All those guys are great at what they do.

So at that round, I'm hoping I can still get a little more value. All I'm saying is if you can get a three-down running back in a high-scoring offense, six rounds a good place to get it. All right, we've got to move this along. So let's look towards the end of the running back list. Anywhere after the seventh round Who are some sleepers or undervalued guys? I've found a guy in a 10th round

And a guy in a 13th round That will be on my roster if they are going in here I see that No Sean Moreno is in the 10th round Is that your guy? That is not my guy Okay, I kind of had it. Mark Ingram, if he's going to keep running Like Ryan Matthews in August of 2013

Will be on my roster Jonathan Stewart, 13th round Behind James White Jonathan Stewart That's stupid. Don't draft James White, by the way. Draft a good football player, like you said, Jonathan Stewart. Good football player, win healthy.

Sure, he's an injury risk, but in the 13th round, he could be... Oh, I love that. Yeah. That's a great... He's better than DeAngelo Williams. Write that down, people. Stewart, in the 13th round, the same round that guys like Nile Davis and Ronnie Hillman and Lance Dunbar are going, give me a break.

Give me some Jay Stu! Jay Stu! I think there was a year that I ranked him and DeAngelo Williams 12th and 13th. I remember that year. going into the year because it was the year they were what a stupid smash and dash see that's why that's why i'm doing this now i got one for you 11th round you've already probably got your starting backfield i should hope so you do like i might but you guys would like garrett blunt why not the guy is going to see more time than we think that's my prediction and number two he's going to see he's

going to see touchdowns that's definitely a time share yeah he he is a good fourth or fifth back because when your guys are on a buy you just throw blunt in there You hope he basically gets a touch. You've got about a 50% chance he scores a touchdown in the week. And it's not going to cause a locker room problem because we know that these two running backs, they're friends. Right. They spend time together off the field.

They're close. Well, you do want to think about the makeup of your fantasy team like that. Blunt is definitely a good guy to have at the team party. Just a fun guy to have around in general. You know who I like at the end? It's right along with you, Kiri Robinson. I guess Kyrie Robinson. I'm not quite buying the Mark Ingram experience.

I'm also liking Chris Ivory that deep. I know he never can stay healthy for long, but I think he'd be a fun pick late. I think Darren McFadden, for the first time in my life, would be an interesting fantasy pick in the 10th round. You're not buying Mark Ingram, but you are buying Darren McFadden. I like what I've seen out of McFadden this preseason, yes. For a 10th round pick...

But then you'd have to have a Raider on your team. I can live with that. All right. I like Wes's theory about we don't pick players from teams that are built up essentially of bad players and are going to go three wins. I can guarantee you I would not have anyone from the Raiders, Browns, Bills. You wouldn't take Sammy Watkins? No, he plays in a bad offense. He's got E.J. Manuel throwing him.

Last guy I'm going to say that you can't draft is Devante Freeman in the eighth round. I do, too. Why is he going that high? That's crazy talk. That seems totally bizarre. What if you're in one of these Keeper leagues, though, or like a dynasty? Well, that's not what these rankings are. We're doing it for redraft leagues, essentially.

We don't have enough time to get into that. No, and that's what these average draft positions are not reflecting, like, a dynasty league or an auction. Give me a break with you. Why am I even on this podcast? What? No, I'm kidding. I mean, I don't even know the ground rules here. Throwing out valuable information here.

Yeah, that was great, because we never told our listeners what we're talking about. You're right. Ground rules. All right, let's go to wife. You solved the Reggie Bus, but. bush puzzle. He doesn't need to be drafted that, huh? Yeah, I agree. Well, that should be obvious to anyone that watches the sport. Let's go to a

receiver. It's a more stable position than it's ever been in NFL history, and then in that, in fantasy football history too, which is why I think load up early, if you can. The top 10 is as big and consistent as I've

ever seen. Calvin Johnson, Demarius, Thomas, Des Bryant, A.J. Green, Brandon Marshall, Julio Jones, Jordy Nelson, Antonio Brown, Alshon, Randall Cobb number 10. Anything stick out to you if you're drafting early of guys that you would target or stay away from. I think you're fine with any of those guys. I know.

I noticed that the... Just forget the second round running back, seriously. Did the fantasy group think Damarius Thomas is their guy this year, that he's better than everyone else? Yeah, that's strange to me. I would definitely take Des Brian over him. I would definitely take AJ Green. I would take Alshan Jeffrey over him, and Jeffrey's down at 9th. You would take Alshon Jeffrey over Demarius Thomas?

I love Austin Jeffrey, yeah. That's crazy talk. I might be willing to go Des Bryant number one. Take the guys you like. You should. Demarius Thomas is the number one receiver in Peyton Manning's offense, and they don't have Decker the shoot. They spread their ball around, and they'll continue to.

But DeMarius Thomas does the same thing every year, like 1,412 TD. That's fair. Al-Shan Jeffrey is a little bit more of a risk, but he is a wildly talented risk. I think he's just as talented as Demarius Thomas, and I think that offense is going to be pretty close to the Broncos in terms of yards. You don't think so? I can't get on board with Alshon Jeffrey over Demarius Tom.

I also love Jordy Nelson or Julio Jones. I'd rather have him than Demarius Tom. I wouldn't put Thomas in my top five. I mean, I'd still put him in the second round, but I wouldn't put him in my top five. Wes Welker looks like he's about one hit away from retirement. I don't know if I'd be taking him in the fourth round. And then the other guy who sticks out to me, Emmanuel Sanders is being drafted around the same group as Julian Edelman,

Tori Smith, T.Y. Hilton, and above Marcus Coulston and Mike Wallace? Has anyone seen Emmanuel Sanders play? Sanders seems wildly high. Mike Wallace seems wildly low, and I'm not a huge White Wallace fan. If you're taking Emmanuel Sanders over Mike Wallace, you're going to lose your fantasy football. I think that has to do. Because you're not a very smart person. That has to do with people just seeing he's on Denver.

For me, the one that I would not, I cannot fathom Victor Cruz at number 13. I like Cruz. That's another offense we don't want anybody in. In that Giants offense, I would never do that. would flip him with T.Y. Hilton's all the way down in number 24. I think Hilton's only getting better. Yeah, love Hilton. Tori Smith is way too low to start the sixth round. He could be a third round type of value. Andre Johnson seems too low. I know he's older, but the guy gets 1,500 yards every year. In the middle of the fourth round, I'm loving Andre Johnson.

Brandon Cook's your boy, too high. I don't like him in the sixth round. I like him better for NFL than fantasy. Any final guys towards the end of a wide receiver you'd pick up? If I didn't have an embargo on the Giants offense, Ruben Randall looks like a bargain in a ninth round. Yeah. I like the way Dwayne Bo and Hakeem Nicks are moving this year. Those guys in the ninth and tenth round,

you might be able to get some good wide receiver two value there. I would not ever touch Miles Austin at 59. It's pretty deep. You know why he's been on the field a lot and they can't even find him? Something's not clicking. Marvin Jones. That'd be a good guy to take in your last round of your draft and just stash him, especially if you have an IR spot.

He's going to be out for four or five weeks. I'm just saying that would be a waste of a roster spot. Why? If you have an IR spot, especially take a play. You don't want to carry like a number four fantasy receipts. See, I like him as a top six or seven round guy if he's healthy. Nix is a perfect one. Bo is too low, too.

People overrate when guys are going to miss the first week or two of the season. And that's what's happening with Bo missing one game for a suspension. He's still their number one receiver. Kenny Britt, number 51. Come on. Well, that's all the time we've got today. We're not going to get to the tight ends. But that's a big-time fantasy preview.

There was probably more knowledge dropped in that fantasy preview than the entire season of Fantasy Live on NFL Network. How about that? Wow. I'm just kidding. Of course. They do a great job. Everyone should watch that.

Michael Fabiano and Marcus Grant and Adam Rank and the whole crew. They're on TV every day. And you can get all the daily lowdown from them. We'll be back with you on Monday. Recapping preseason week number three. We're also going to preview the NFC on Wednesday next week as we gear up and get ready for the season. It is almost here. We love you.

We've got to get out of here for Mark Sessler, Chris Wesleyan and TD. I'm Greg Rosenthal. We'll talk to you money. This is an I-Heart podcast.