The Ringer NFL Show - Tips to Win Your Draft and Preseason Risers

Episode Date: August 25, 2021

We run through the biggest news around training camp, including Sony Michel’s trade to the Rams, Travis Etienne’s season-ending injury, Jameis Winston’s stellar Week 2 performance, and the effect Teddy Bridgewater will have on the Broncos after being named the starter. Then we dive deep into the ESPN and Yahoo draft experiences and outline ways to gain an advantage on both platforms. RB Travis Etienne and James Robinson, Jaguars (2:27) RB Sony Michel, Rams (11:58) QB Jameis Winston, Saints (20:28) RB Damien Harris, Patriots (29:00) QB Teddy Bridgewater, Broncos (35:22) ESPN vs. Yahoo Draft Strategy (40:54) Listener Emails (59:02) Check out The Ringer's 2021 Fantasy Football Draft Guide here. Email us at [e-mail]. Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, and Craig Horlbeck Producer: Craig Horlbeck Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, I'm Shea Serrano. And I'm Brandon Jinks Jenkins. We have a new show called No Skips with Jinks and Shea. In it, we discuss the most unskippable albums in hip-hop history. New episodes drop on Thursdays, only on Spotify. Welcome to the Ringer Fantasy Football Show. My name is Danny Heifitz. I'm joined by Danny Kelly and Craig Quirlebeck.

Today, we're doing draft strategy, tips to win your draft, big picture of what we want to do in the draft, but also like very nitty-gritty things of just how to hack the platform you're drafting on. We also have a bunch of training. Camp updates, a lot of news. But first, please, our updated draft guide is at Fantasyfutball.com. We're going to have another update coming end of the week. Check it out.

Use it before your drafts. Fantasyfurtball.com. Also, we are doing a mailbag on Friday. Emails, your questions, thoughts, concerns, I don't know, hopes, desires, trivia facts, whatever. Desire. Desire. Maybe not desires.

I'd be down for some desires. Okay, okay. Let's get some fun facts, too. We need to bring back fun facts. We're getting closer to the season. We're going to work that back into stuff. Let's get some fantasy courts. If any of you guys are having some trouble in your league,

some friends pissing you off, you can't agree on something, let us know and we'll adjudicate. You're going to play the hits. We've got to play the hits from last year. Send fantasy courts. I feel like we actually have been short on like the early. The early season is actually when a lot of the yelling goes on with the scoring and rule changes. It's when the group chat's actually some of the spiciest.

Dude, my fucking group chat right now, everyone's like, did we decide on four ben spots or five ben spots? And I'm like, five. And they're like, oh, I don't remember that. Can we do four? And then we're like, oh, we got to re-vote now. We got to vote. on everything. It's like the big thing now. We're just doing a pole

so everybody can have their voice heard. Do you remember when there was this planet Earth, I don't remember one of the BBC docs with David Attenborough that Craig and I were obsessed with where the bears all kind of come out of hibernation and they all just like scrawny and they're all like just gritty and they're like fighting and they're just annoyed that they woke up from

this nap and like that's everyone coming out of the fantasy hibernation. Everyone gets back in the group chat just starts yelling at each other. For some reason all the league settings from last year are terrible and they have to redo all of them. Yeah, everyone's like I hate the defensive scoring but I don't Remember why and no one wrote it down and scrolling up is really hard

and so yeah, it's like the same thing over and over. Okay, let's get to some news. This sucks. A lot. There's a lot of stuff. The news is that Craig has just continues to just curse everything because he said the Jaguars would be good and now the Jaguars are falling apart at the seams.

Not only did they look off on the preseason game, Travis E. TN, they're running back, the 25th pick in the shirt draft, on injured reserve with a Liz Frank injury, it's a foot injury. He's out for the entire season. Tough. This really sucks because he played,

and I saw this, I saw Dane Brugge to tweet this out. He played 55 games in college. He played four years in college and never had a major injury. And three preseason games in, he misses, or he tears whatever it is, is Liss Frank injury. What is the Lest Frank? Is that a tendon? It's an old wooden ship.

It's an old, old wooden ship. But anyway, huge thing that happens here is obviously moves James Robinson up significantly. Take Tres D.T.N. out of the ranks. very big bummer for them and I don't know does it change anything else in their offense for you guys like does this actually affect

potentially Levisca Chanel how do you feel about this you know I think in theory it does I think sometimes in fantasy we really like to every piece of news has to be kind of extremely significant and I feel like in theory

it sounds really good that like oh ETN was the gadget Percy Harvin guy and now Leviska Chanel it's going to get all these touches and I was like you know what I feel like not really maybe one or two

be like marginally a good thing for him. I hate the gadget stuff. You know how I feel of Curtis Samuel? Like a gadget, you know what like a gadget is in the James Bond movie? It's like one scene. It's like they used it to him in the beginning of the movie. They use it once. That's a gadget player. It's like cool, dude. It's a pen and it has a microphone. Yeah. And then he uses it for like 30 seconds. It's like you use it in the first quarter. They use him the fourth girl. It's two touches and one's going to go for one yard.

I hate the gadget stuff. What I'm really interested in D. Where you think this does the James Robinson? Where should people draft James Robinson now that ETN is out for the season? So I moved him up to RB21, just ahead of Cream Hunt, Mike Davis, and Damien Harris. I think he showed last year he's clearly a talented player. He can do good things with the amount of touches that he's going to get. I think he'll be involved in the passing game a little bit more than he was going to be now. However, I'm not ready to move him up into like the top 15 or whatever.

I've seen some people rank him in the top 15 or so on their rankings now. based on what he did last year. Among running backs. Sorry, correct. Among running backs. And I mean, on one hand, I can kind of understand that based on what he did last year. But I just don't think he's going to get the amount of volume that he got last year. He basically was the only guy in this backfield last year.

Now he has to deal with Carlos Hyde. I just don't think he's going to get quite as much of the, like, have a monopoly, basically on that backfield as he did last year, even with ETN out. So I'm comfortable putting him in that sort of, you know, Josh Jacobs, James Robinson is in the Josh Jacobs, Kareem Hunt, Mike Davis sort of zip code, but I'm still not quite ready to put him in like the top 15, top 12 or whatever. I don't think it's going to be that dramatic.

And also I'm just not very confident in the Jaguars right now, just based on what we see in the preseason, maybe they're running a really vanilla offense. And maybe that everything will change once the preseason starts. But typically it's the opposite. Typically like offenses run more cleanly in the preseason. And then when you start playing real defenses with all the starters, things get worse. So I'm starting to get a little bit worried about just overall the Jaguar's ceiling on offense.

Yeah, it's never a good sign when people are speculating that maybe the team is like hiding their offensive game plan. And that's the reason they're sucking. I've read a couple tweets that are like, maybe the Jaguars are just hiding their offense. And it's like, oh, that's not a good sign. Two things on the Jaguars. There wasn't really reason to have confidence in Urban Meyer before. I always looked at this more of an experiment than anything. And now it's just kind of a little more concerning that the offense isn't changing.

But I also think the preseason game, it's hard to extrapolate because three of their five offensive linemen, their starting linemen, we're not in that game. They're hurt. I don't know if they're going to be not ready for week one. Week one is still like more than a couple weeks away. So I wouldn't just extrapolate them getting dominated up front to how they're going to play. However, yeah, the offense doesn't look very good, does it? So Marvin Jones, also my beloved Marvin Jones, who I thought would be the number of

number one receiver this team now has a shoulder sprain. So that sucks. In addition to DJ Fart, D.J. Fartt, I almost called them, which is Akkadian, Freudian slip. DG. Chark has finger surgery. Marvin Jones is the AC joint. They have three linemen who are at least banged up

going into week one, even if they play. I mean, are you wavering on the team as a whole? Because we were up on them a couple weeks ago. Right. But are you now wavering on Trevor Lawrence as a back-end quarterback one? In addition to just James Robinson not really not really earning that spot with like the Miles Sanders

of the world. Miles Sanders is. I don't know. I am starting to waver a little bit. I still am very bullish overall, long term with Trevor Lawrence, but, you know, generally speaking, even good rookies perform at like a league average level in their first year. And so, I don't know, it's one of those things where I think they are going to be playing from behind a lot, I'm guessing. They are going to have to, he's going to have to be passing a lot. So that can equal, even if it's a little bit ugly, that can equal fantasy points. We saw that with, with Blake Bortles for years. So I'm not necessarily moving Trevor Lawrence down a lot, but I am kind of just getting a little bit nervous overall about this offense's ceiling. So I don't, I don't know. I'm sort of,

I know that's definitely just sort of, you know, sitting on the fence, but I'm not, I'm not ready to move him down significantly. So do you think he still belongs in the tier that we kind of have him in, which is Aaron Rogers, Matthew Stafford, Ryan Tannanhill, and then Trevor Lawrence? Or should we jump him down into the Joe Burrow to, Tua to a category? He's down to burrow to it for me, no question. It's like a great backup option. But now I'm a little less confident in having him be like a week one starter without a backup on my bench. Yep, I agree.

And then just to circle back to Robinson. So where do you guys, where do you think Robinson's going? You said, Kareem Huntish. Craig, what do you think about James Robinson? I think that is exactly right. I think like the R.B. early 20s, Kareem Hunt, Mike Davis, Damien Harris, spot is probably right. So what I try to do is listen, we don't know how many carries Carlos Hyde is going to take. He's the fucking Mike Myers of fantasy running back. He's just stealing shit from just killing all of the hopes and dreams of your actual fantasy running back. But I think what you have to think about in these situations is like you want upside, right? Like who is the most upside among the guys that he's surrounding? Like do you think Mike Davis, Damien Harris, Cream Hunt, and James Robinson have more upside? I think I would probably say yes. So I'm starting to think about dropping James Robinson below.

Kareem Hunt because of his receiving upside Mike Davis because of the amount of workload he's going to get and Damien Harris because they just traded Sonny Michelle. So that would put him at RB 24 for me. I think he's a fringe RB2 and unfortunately I think we've got to wait and see what they do with Carlos Hodge before you can make any other decisions. I mean look

again it's usually this is sometimes over embellished but like Carlos Hide played for Urban Meyer at Ohio State and if you have any doubt about how much that means remember that Urban Meyer employed Tim fucking Tebow as a tight end until like four days ago who had been playing for the goddamn Mets.

So like it's not as a stretch to say Carlos I's going to get actual touches for the Jaguars. Like it's not exactly a leap. However, I do actually, I think you guys are a little lower in Robinson than me. I think I'm going to move him up to like, I don't know, like even the mid-40s range.

I think he's ahead of Daryl Henderson now for me. I mean, we can look at the Rams. The Rams also had a trade this morning. Oh, easily. Easily. I've moved Dera Henderson down significantly. But if you have them in mid-40s,

you're putting him with Miles Sanders, David Montgomery and Josh Jacobs. I think that's right. I think he's at the end of that tier. Yeah, I do. I think he's at the end of that tier. I don't hate it. I don't hate it.

I'm not there yet, but I don't think that's ridiculous, clearly, because look at what he did last year. I mean, he actually is a talented, good runner, and I think that they are going to try and be, if, you know, ideally, I think they're going to want to be balanced. My question is, are they going to be able to be?

Is he going to get the type of volume, both on the ground and in the air? And, you know, as you brought up earlier, like, I really don't know what the same. situation is going to be like how they want to use like a slash player like are they going to give targets to leviska instead of james robinson you know what i mean so i don't know i'm just i'm more comfortable keeping him in that tier just below josh jacobs and mile sanders but um i don't think it's like crazy to if you if you feel a little bit stronger about it's you are not

taking james robinson over mike davis you're just not i would i would actually you can convince me i mean i love mike davis but like i don't think you'd be crazy if you did that and i'm the number or Mike Davis guy. Like, I love Mike Davis, but if someone takes Robinson over Mike Davis, I don't think they're insane. I just think they don't love Mike Davis quite as much as I do. He kind of is a dead zone guy now, to be honest.

I think he's at the, I think James Robinson's a guy that if he keeps falling and, you know, I think if you want to take him in Josh Jacobs range, that's totally fine with me. And honestly, even higher is fine with me too. I think realistically, there's going to be people who had James Robinson last year that love him, that see him in the fifth round that are like,

of course, and we'll probably be very happy with that. One last piece in ATN, some people have asked me about whether they can stash him an injured reserve because now an injured reserve you can actually come back off the IR in the middle of season. So the nuance here is that actually if you're placed an injured reserve before the 53 man roster cut down, which has not happened yet, you are out for the season. You cannot be pulled back on. So he is not playing this year definitively.

So don't stash him on your eye or something. Moving on. Patriots running back to Sony Michelle traded to the Los Angeles Rams. Adam Schiff reports it's traded for two quote, late round conditions. PICs, end quote, which means they were going to cut them, but they got something for it. No, I disagree about this. Really? You're a late round conditional? No, what it is, right now, it's a fifth and a sixth.

And if, I think, so I can't remember exactly how they worded it, but I believe it has a chance to turn into a fourth round pick. A fourth round pick. And by the way, they don't have a fourth round pick. What the trade is essentially saying is once you guys, once the Rams get their fourth round pick based on the comp pick formula, that's the pick this becomes. So really, this is a fourth round pick. That is value. Okay, I take it back then.

Then Michelle was going to make the team. I think Michelle was going to make the team. I think partly they were definitely trying to feature him. He's going into the final year of his deal. He's not a long-term solution for them. So he did get a lot of play in the preseason. But he has looked good going back to last year. He looked good in the preseason.

He was catching passes. I actually saw this this morning, which kind of makes me like, I think I had a little bit of take lock on Sony Michelle just based on how he was early in his career. But he's actually played well and run well the last couple seasons. So in 2020, rushing yards over expected, Sony Michelle was second in the NFL. And next-gen stats had him as the highest rushing yards over expectation last year among

running backs with 50 plus carries. So I don't know, man. He is a former first round pick. I think the Rams are giving up a significant enough. amount of draft capital here to make me believe he's going to be highly involved. I think that they are annoyed slash frustrated with Daryl Henderson, who, by the way, is hurt again. Right now, he broke a finger or something like that. He sprained his thumb.

So he's hurt again. It honestly does feel to me like Henderson has just been hurt the entire time he's been in the NFL. And thumb is the finger. He can't hold the ball. If you write the finger's thumb is number one. So I believe, I actually may tell me if this is like a hot take, but I think I'd rather have Sony Michelle than Darrell Henderson right now. It's kind of weird because Sony

Michelle has been probably one of the grossest running backs under the age of 25 that we've had in the league for like the last three years. And now he immediately becomes a running back on one of the least gross offenses and the most sexy kind of offenses. So it's kind of like two clashing narratives here. But I think this is kind of a tough look

for Darrell Henderson. They clearly think that he can't handle the workload and they're nervous. And they don't, you know, they don't have much going on behind and they have Jake Funk and, and Xavier Jones. So, you know, I kind of agree with D.K. here.

This is the first training camp where Sony Michelle's really been healthy. And I think it kind of worked out for the Pats. He looked healthy and they can actually trade him away rather than him having to nurse an ankle injury all off. Plus they have the deepest running back group in the NFL right now. Yeah, like Ramandre Stevenson, their rookie looks good. JJ Taylor looks good. And they have Damien Harris.

And James White. I wouldn't call the Pats the deepest. James White is the forgotten man too, yeah. they're content with it. I think, I don't know. To me, this just makes me feel better about Rams wide receivers, and I'm actually just probably going to stay away

from both the running backs until I know what's up. So part of this makes a ton of sense, which is that Sony Michelle will be the next Carlos Hyde and that we always should have saw this coming. The guy that's just going to bop around and be like an excellent goal lineback, and he's going to be like that early down guy, what James Connor is right now for Arizona.

Like Sonyi Michelle will just be the mad as he got. He's destined to be this goal line vulture. He's CJ and. Good. Yeah, CJ Anderson, exactly. I don't know. I'm going to rank Sony higher than Darrell Henderson right now until any, until someone gives me a reason to rank Darrell Henderson higher.

I guess there's two ways to look at this. And I'm going to ask, well, Craig's the Rams whisper here, but D.K., I'm curious what you think where it's, there's a way to look at this as, well, they were always going to do this as an ad of veteran back. And we talked about this three weeks ago. I don't know. Yeah. We talked about this when Cam Acres got hurt in that, well, they have Darrell

Henderson, who Sean McVeigh compared to Lance Dunbar when he came into the league, and then Daryl Henderson hasn't really stayed healthy. Then they had Xavier Jones, who had a good college crew, but was an undrafted free agent rookie last year. And they have Jenk Funk, who was, again, a seventh, like, these guys don't have NFL touches. These guys are special teamers that now we're profiling as like rotating in in week one. And so we said when Kmakers got hurt, they'll probably add a veteran. Now they had a veteran, and my question to you, DKs, you're saying Sony Michelle might just outright have the job. And I guess, I was envisioning as,

Darrell Henderson is probably still the leadback here and Michelle's rotating in, but they just had to accelerate the timeline of bringing that vein because Henderson got hurt. It's tough to read. So for what it's worth, and I don't know if this is necessarily, you know,

you shouldn't take this as fact because I think maybe he was just speculating, but Adam Schaefter did this morning say on a radio hit or an interview that he thinks that Michelle is going to be the guy. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that's going to be the case. We've got to wait and figure this out. I think at worst, it's a rotation where maybe it's Henderson 60-40.

But I think there's a real shot here that Michelle becomes the early down goal line short yardage type guy. And then Henderson is like a change of pace guy. That is the problem if Sony Michelle gets the goal line. I don't want Henderson if that's going to be the case. And I agree with Craig. If anything, it's just sort of like double down on the receivers for me. they're going to throw the hell out of the ball. I think you can take Xavier Jones and Jake Funk off your radar,

and I think it's going to be a split between Michelle and Henderson, and it's going to be annoying either way. So do you drop Daryl Henderson down to like Zach Moss range, like in the 80s or 90s or something, past Rahimosa? Right now, I'm still working through my ranks. We're going to do an update this week. But I've got Sony Michelle sort of in that Trace Sermon range where I think he's going to be the lead back.

He could end up being much more valuable, but he's still got to deal with Henderson. and Trace Sermon-Seltz deal with Mostert, blah, blah, blah. And then I'm dropping Henderson down to, yeah, like around Zach Moss, unclear sort of usage type deal that I'm just not very confident in him. And I'm also just not very confident that he can stay healthy. So, yeah. Here's the last thing I think that's really important to remember.

Sometimes when these injury stuff happen, like Henderson's hurt, Acres got hurt, they trade for Missoni-Mishel. I don't want to speak for Craig's brother here, Sean McVeigh. however, supporter member that you know who else doesn't really know what's going to happen

is probably Sean McVeigh. Like he probably doesn't exactly know how he's going to use Sony Michelle yet either. It's not, he haven't seen him on the field yet.

Like he's probably the number one guy wondering, I wonder how this is going to go. So you just got to see how it develops. So it's kind of got to be a stay away for me

for right now. If you had your choice, would you, you're on the clock and Chase Edmins, Rahim Moster and Sony Michelle are on the clock. Or on the board.

Edmins and Moster, no question. You'd rather have both of those guys? Yeah, I don't know. Then Sony Michelle's going to be still. Okay. I mean, we're assuming a lot here that Sony Michelle is going to be a goal lineback. We're assuming touches.

Like, I don't, the other guys have been with their teams. Sony Michelle versus Zach Moss. Michelle, just because I don't think Zach Moss is much upside. I think I would take Zach Moss there. I don't know. Jordan Rodriguez, who's the beat reporter for the Rams for the athletic, was basically just saying, like, this is just because they want to take touches away from Daryl Henderson

so he can stay healthy and create this complimentary role for him because they do like him, they want him to be on the field. It's like they essentially got Sony Michelle just to like be the sham wow and just like soak up touches like on first and second downs every here and there

so Henderson doesn't require 22 touches a game. So I think they still like Darrell Henderson. Yeah, I think this is just one of those things that happens in fantasy where this just kind of sucks. I'm moving him down. So as we're talking,

I think you guys convince me. I'm moving him down into that Zach Moss range. And I think Sony Michelle and Darrell Henderson are probably like in the same tier. Yeah, I agree. Let's give a dirty secret about fantasy rankings right now. When there's two guys in the same team next to each other, it means we have no idea what the fuck is going to happen.

That's why for three years in a row, every site had Robert Woods next to Cooper Cup, because nobody knew who would be better. I still have a right next to each other. I'm going to put Sony Michelle next to Darrell Henderson, and you guys can just figure that one out because I'm not going to do it. It's like Mike Evans and Chris Godland pretty much next to each other. We have no idea what's going to happen.

You guys figure it out. That's what that means. Okay, let's keep rolling here. quarterback competitions. Big week in the Saints. James Winston, nine to ten, nine completions on ten attempts, 123 yards, two big touchdowns. He threw the longest Saints pass by air yards in five years

in this preseason game. Really? That's a great stat. It's not just preseason fodder because Sean Payton, the head coach of the Saints, told Peter King at NBC this week that it was like a huge week, a huge game for the quarterback competition. And basically that Sean,

Peyton was putting a tremendous amount of stock into this preseason game for who would win the quarterback competition. That was before the game. Then James did this. So it's not like, oh, he did a pre this. It seems like James will win the quarterback job now. Let's assume that for the moment. D.K., what does it do to the Saints? Like, we'll talk, we'll go through the individual players in the offense, stock up or stock down. But just what is it due to the Saints offense for James to be running the show instead of Tase him out? I mean, obviously, so this whole, whole time, it's been clear and obvious that James Winston is far more talented of a passer. He's far more experienced.

He's got a much better arm, can push the ball deep, blah, blah, blah. I think that clearly helps, you know, and we saw this with the Buccaneers, it clearly helps the receiver position the most. I think that's going to be huge. It's probably going to help Alvin Camero, just because, you know, Taysam was not really liking the idea of checking down. He's more liable to, like, take off and run, blah, blah, blah. It helps everybody.

It helps all the skill positions. I think it's actually a good thing for the skill position players. However, and this has been the huge caveat the entire time, and part of the reason why I was still sort of just holding on to this thought that TASM might end up being the starter is, like, we still need to see if James can avoid just completely melting down. He looked really good and is clearly, again, like the most talented passer on this team. Like, it's no contest.

Like, TASM is not a good thrower, like point blank. Mike Renner at Pro Football Focus had a great point, and he said that James had two throws in that game that were probably better than Taysom Hill's had in his entire NFL career. Yeah, I mean, Tatea Hill, and honestly, I thought Taysam Hill was going to look a little bit better in this preseason. He didn't look very good in week one, I thought. He had some really inaccurate passes, made some bad decisions,

was not on the same page with the receivers in a few instances, which, by the way, maybe these, like, off-season narratives where, like, James is working out with all his receivers, and you don't hear anything about Tasem doing that. Maybe that actually did matter. And the LASIC, Jamie's got LASIC. James got Lazyz. Maybe like the season, like where he got to learn behind Breeze and sort of, you know,

get humbled maybe a little bit will end up helping him. And maybe like really he will end up being a better decision maker going forward. But I still believe that he has to prove that he is not going to melt down and throw like three or four picks in a game. If he starts throwing three or four picks and, you know, two picks, three picks, two picks here or there, whatever in games, he could get benched. So it's still, to me, a tenuous situation. And then Tassum will come in and throw two, three picks.

And he'll start fumbling away two passes or two balls. I don't know. To me, it's still slightly tenuous. And honestly, like, look, I saw today, Taysom was still taking first-team routes. They're still rotating in practice. I think it's the last gasp of that. I know. I ultimately, look, I believe that James is going to win this battle.

And so I think he's definitely worth a late round dart throw. However, I don't know for sure if it's going to last. And I don't know, ultimately, if we need to, like, really adjust the rankings based on this. I think we address the rankings because Marcus Calloway looks awesome. And he is the guy that I really want in this offense, regardless of who's quarterback. But I do think, like, I don't know if it necessarily makes us move any of these guys a lot based on like this competition. Does that make sense? Yeah.

So, well, real quick, Alvin Camara, still top five pick for you. Nothing changes. Where do you have him? I have Camara third, actually. I'm like way higher. I'm way higher on him than you guys are. But I just think his talent is going to show out. They have to feature him in this offense in my ever.

opinion and he's going to get more volume than he has in the past. I still think that in the red zone, Taysam Hill is going to be a factor and that's the biggest problem, Alvin Camara, is that James Winston, although he checks down, I guess, more than Taysam Hill does, still checks down at one of the lowest rates of all quarterbacks in the NFL. So that's going to hurt Camara? He's the focal point of the offense and in the red zone is going to be split with Hill.

I just don't think he's a top five pick. I think we're kind of pricing him at his ceiling. So you put him after Elliot probably then, Henry and Elliot? I have him after Aaron Jones as well. He's my RB6. I agree with Craig. that Camara is probably priced at his ceiling. Having said that, I think...

Well, actually, to Craig's point, part of the reason that James needs to win is not just... I mean, 90% of it sees the better quarterback. The other 10% to me is that the lack of depth on this team without Michael Thomas means they need what Taysam Hill can do. Taysam Hill does add a dimension to their team on the offense, especially in, like,

situational football, like, third and two or, like, at the goal line, like, Tasem Hill, if you put him a quarterback, it's not as interesting, but if James and Taysam are on the field when Tassam's doing the tight-end stuff, they need that. They need the playmaking. So I actually agree.

I think that does hurt Camara. Like, he's still first rounder to me, but I don't think he's the locktop three guy if he has been for the last few years. But to Deke's point, I do think Marcus Callowie, the receiver is clearly the guy is like you want from the team.

So Deke, where would you take Marcus Callow in fantasy this year? I'm actually just looking at my rankings now. I haven't had a chance to update him yet. But I'm looking at him in that tier, honestly, with like, Chanel, Corey Davis, Pittman.

I think he's going to be the number one in this offense. and he's proven to me it showed enough that he, I think is actually a legit talent. So I'm comfortable putting him in sort of, I guess the tier I would say with like Michael Pittman, Devante Parker, Brandon Cooks,

you know, guys that have fallen out of favor a little bit in the fantasy world, but are still going to get enough volume to be relevant here. I don't know, would you guys put him any higher than that? Well, you're saying like 100ish, basically, right?

Yes. Yes. 90s and 100. I think that's actually about fair. I think, well, first of all, I think that that area, of the draft

is where you can really kind of start deviating to like what you believe. Like like there's a lot of value to be had in the first hundred picks. And what's it gets inside the top hundred? Let's say you do whatever you want. But like you kind of can because now it's like the variance and how a team can go,

how a season can go really begins to shift a lot. Like if you believe in Marcus Calloway a lot like you know, Leviska like that's exactly we want to start throwing darts at a guy that you're like, hey, maybe this is the number one receiver. for James Winston who put up Chris Godwin and Mike Evans two top four receivers like two years ago.

Yeah, listen, I think that's a great point. There's a lot to be said for a guy who is kind of unquestionably the number one receiver on his team with a quarterback that's at least like capable. I mean, right now I have him ranked behind people like Jalen Waddle and Mike Williams and Cortland Sutton and Will Fuller. And these are all guys who have

so many question marks and so many options in the passing game. But like Calloway is going to be the guy and JJ Zach Krecian says this all the time. And this is why like Corey Davis. He was like, usually the number one wide receivers on teams and those guys are going late in drafts, kind of the late round number one wide receivers usually pan out. And it seems like Marcus Calloway is kind of the perfect, the quintessential example of what he's talking about. So yeah, I definitely am going to move him up. I think he should be right around where Corey Davis is.

Yeah. I guess the only worry I'd have is what happens when Michael Thomas gets back, but I don't know if we can even really assume that's going to be a thing. Like he's bad at the team. He's out for at least what, six weeks, it might be half the season. And then when he returns, that's like the forward end of his timetable. I don't know. Callowah has just,

he's looked actually really good. I mean, he can separate underneath. He's been sort of that Michael Thomas-esque style player in this offense where he's running a lot of like slants, hooks, comebacks, things like that,

to give guy, to give his quarterback somebody open in the underneath an intermediate area. But also last week, he had two really impressive deep catchings. like both for touchdowns. So I don't know, man. I don't know where this guy came from.

He played on a Tennessee offense in college that was really bad, and so that probably pushed him down. We're seeing Josh Palmer, who played in the same offense, come on strong in preseason. So maybe these guys were just hidden, like Camara, by the way, who was hidden in this Tennessee offense. I don't know what Tennessee is doing, but... Tennessee, get it together.

A feeder school for the Saints, and it's really working out well for him. so um but anyway callaway calloway looks really good one thing we never talked about we should just briefly talk about your boy hyvitz damian harris we didn't talk about him oh my god yeah we whiffed on that right so yeah i forgot to take my victory lap now not really uh i think so so yeah sorry soney michel gets traded from the patriots so it seems like damian harris is the lead guy remandre stevens he's going to be working so dkette do you think that remandre stevens is like one sorry yeah Remandre Stevenson is like 1B with Damien Harris, or do you think that he's rotating in,

and Damien Harris is the main guy, Ramandre Stevenson rotates in for Harris, and then James White does passing downs. I think he said it. I think it's going to be Damien Harris is the lead guy on first and second down. He's probably not going to get a ton of volume in the passing game. I think that's going to be split between Ramadre Stevenson and James White, and potentially JJ Taylor, who's looked really good in the preseason too,

I think he's definitely like a distant fourth on this step chart. But it sounds like based on what we heard from practice today, and it's Wednesday that Ramandre Stevenson was getting the second reps with the starters. And I think I honestly just don't really think it changes anything for Harris. I think Harris stays the same. Where do you have him? Basically, Ramandre Stevenson is taking over for Sony Michelle and then JJ, sorry, and then James White is the same as usual.

Maybe tick him up a little bit because he doesn't have quite as many people to deal. deal with. I've got Damien Harris much lower than you guys. I got him at RV-24, right behind Mike Davis and Kreme Hunt. I don't know. I just think he's going to get a lot of first down looks. I don't know if he's necessarily going to get as many of the valuable passing game looks. And we'll see what happens in the red zone. In the past, the pats have sort of used a weird rotation, like with, you know, with Burkhead, where Burkhead was featured in the red zone instead of like the lead guy. So I don't know, like, how they're going to separate this out. Maybe Ramon-Stie Stevenson comes in and does the red zone stuff.

he's looked really explosive in the preseason games. I'm making the right cuts, things like that. So I'm just not as confident in Damian Harris as you guys are, I think. I do think he's going to get a lot of the early down look. And I think this is going to be a good run team. So he's going to put up numbers. Because I think the Patriots are just going to play bullyball, right? Like they're going to like, you know, they have a good offensive line.

Whether it's Cam Newton or Mack Jones, I think they're still going to lean heavily on their run game. So I do like Damien. Harris from that point of view. But I just think, you know, overall, it's going to be a nightmare sometimes when the way they rotate these guys. Wait, Bill texted us a few weeks or a couple weeks ago and said, I took Harris at like 50 to one to lead the NFL in rushing. And you were like, wow, that's a great bet. You mean Najee Harris, right? And he was, no, I took Damien Harris. I was like, oh, that's, I see why the odds were for, because when I really thought about it,

I was like, okay, there's no way those would be the odds for Najee Harris. Because he's probably one of the favorites to lead the league in rushing. But yeah, I think, I don't know, it's one of those things where we don't know how it's going to shake out. If Harris gets three-down work, then, yeah, he definitely could lead the league in rushing just because I think the Patriots are going to be a really good run team and lean heavily on that.

But I'm worried more that it's going to be rotation. You know, I kind of don't think the Sony-Michel trade is insignificant like you, D.K. I kind of think this matters. I think Damien Harris now, I mean, the pads don't have a long history of trusting rookie running backs. I think Sony-Michel is like one of the only guys they actually like played as a rookie. And then James White's going to do James White stuff

to use a Bill Simmons phrase while we're talking about the Patriots. But like I'm having trouble seeing what separates somebody like Damien Harris from someone like, I don't know, Josh Jacobs. Like I think what's the most important thing about this conversation is who's going to start at quarterback? And Cam Newton is out because of COVID protocol right now

and Mack Jones is going to be the starter all week of practice. If Mac Jones becomes a starter, Damien Harris, the goal line situation for Damien Harris, opens right up and he's got like double-digit touchdown potential. I don't know. I think I'm kind of feeling pretty good about JJ Taylor and Ramandjer Stevenson not stealing too much work from Damien Harris on first and second down. And if the pets are a good team, like Bill thinks they're going to be and like a lot of

people think they're going to be that, they're going to bounce back this year. And Mack Jones is the starter and they lead on the run. I don't know. I think it's a pretty big vote of confidence for Damien Harris. I think he should be a top 20 back in rankings. So Damien Harris is the exact kind of guy I want with my draft. strategy this year where I'm taking a couple running backs up top, but you also can take one. Like if you take that one running back in the first round, maybe you grab, you know, Travis

Kelster or someone in the second, like if you have like one of the earlier second round picks. And then, or you just get the DK Maccaps, the AJ Browns. And you go like, you know, running back, maybe a tight end receiver. And then like five straight receivers, like five or six straight. And you basically fill out your receiver positions, your flex, maybe you're tight end two. And then you come back to running back right around, round seven, round eight. And you're like, okay, let me throw some darts at this position. to try to fill out my RB2,

and I'm trying to beat everyone at the receiver positions which score more than running back. I'm going to win the flex. I'm going to win tight end. And now I'm going to try to get sheet back and get that valued RB2 that I gave up earlier.

Damien Harris is the kind of guy you throw a dart at. And if you throw like four or five of those darts in the later round running backs, and you're like, and Damian Harris here, and A.J. Dillon there. Later on and Jamal Williams there.

And eventually you just want guys that you can plug in at the RB2 spot every week after you've already filled out. You have an advantage now at receiver and tight end. Damien Harris is the kind of the guy that could pop, not because he will be better than Josh Jacobs, like Craig said,

but it's certainly in the range of outcomes. And an injury doesn't have to happen for him to be good. You know, Kreme Hunt, you're essentially drafting him, hoping, you know, not hoping, but like envisioning that Nick Chubb could maybe get hurt,

and then Kreme Hunt takes off. Damien Harris has the role. You know, that's why we like Mike Davis because he has the role. He may not catch as many balls, but like, Damien Harris could run for 1,400 yards this year. It's funny because Josh Jacobs

and Damien Harris were teammates at Alabama. Look at that. I don't know. We'll see. I might have to move them up a few spots. That's the most polite way, they're wrong, but I'll let them find out in their own time.

What I mean by that is I still don't trust the Patriots to give us a clear picture week in and week out of what they're going to do with the running backs. But maybe I'm wrong. We'll see from DK means that I really disagree with you, but you're ganging up on me and you're being really mean. Because DK's obviously the nicest person. Because DK's too.

I think generally speaking, that is correct. I guess, but in this case, I really am just like, I don't know. Okay, beautiful. All right. One last piece of needs to get to. The Broncos named Teddy Bridgewater, their starting quarterback officially.

Huge. So one, I don't think we're interested in Bridgewater as a fantasy starter unless you're in like a two quarterback or Super Flex league. But is this good for the Broncos offense? Is this good for Jerry Judy?

What do you think, D.K.? I don't know. So big picture. We'll see. Here's what I was going to say. Big picture, I think it's good for the Broncos with the way that they want to play.

I think it lowers their potential offensive ceiling because I think that Bridgewater is, a more conservative and more limited talent. But I think his decision-making is better, which is why Vic Fangio wanted him in the first place. I think he's probably more accurate, certainly more accurate.

And I think he's just going to distribute the ball. He's basically a, he's a solid game managing type guy, and I think it's going to be good for Jerry Judy. I think it's going to be good for KJ Hamler. And I think you could argue it's good for the running back group because he's not going to be playing yolo ball, pushing it downfield into triple coverage. saw from Drew Locke too many times.

No scrambling, really either. Probably fewer scrambles. And so I think generally speaking, the offense is just going to run a little bit more smoothly. Again, like Jerry Judy, we say this that all the time. Like, he led the NFL in most uncatchable passes in his direction. I think that's going to change a lot this year. And I think Jerry Judy is, and last year it was interesting because they used to more deep. His average depth target was pretty high.

And I think this year, there's a potential that could change. he's such a good route runner. I think I mentioned this before. Like he's going to be that Deontay Johnson type player for them where he's getting open early. You're getting the ball out and he can pick up yards. He's always open. Yeah, he can pick up yards after the catch. So in that Deontay Johnson style role, if that's what happens, I can't guarantee that's what

going to happen, but I think it would make sense for them to do that. You know, he could get pepper with targets and they could maybe use Hamler more as a deep threat. So I don't know. We'll see how it will see how it all goes, but I think it is good for Jerry Judy. I think it's good for Hamler. Generally speaking, I think I'm just more bullish on the skill position players in this offense now than I would be with Drew Locke. I think the ceiling is slightly lower maybe, but the floor raises quite a bit. So is it enough to move up, Judy for you in your rankings?

I'm going to move up, Judy. I'm going to put him up there with like the Iyukes and clay pools of the world, I think. I think he's got a good chance to really be like a low-end wide receiver two this year. I think it's exactly where he belongs. I agree. Yeah, it's just, he's been rising in like draft position all year, and I think that's where he's always really needed to be. That's his destiny.

By the way, yeah, he was like incredible at Alabama. People are forgetting about this, I think. Can I toss out a rookie wide receiver this year who I think is going to have the Jerry Judy rookie season, where he's really good, but his numbers don't suggest it, and he gets screwed by his team in quarterback play? Is it Elijah Moore? Is it Jamar Chase? It's Devante Smith.

Ooh, interesting. Okay. I've been watching a lot of Devante Smith and he looks so goddamn good. Like even after coming off this knee injury, like his route running, he's literally always open and I literally watched a play.

Nate Tice tweeted about this. Him and Jalen Rager both ran the same route. Jalen Rager did not get open. Devonte Smith did. The past went to Jalen Rager. And I'm like, oh, Jalen Hertz isn't going to be that good of a passer and Devonte Smith is going to be open

every game, all game. And he's not going to get the ball. And then we're going to be having the same Judy conversation this year where we're like, because who knows what the Eagles quarterback situation will be. But we're going to be like, man, the numbers don't suggest how good Devonte Smith was in 2020. That's very great tragedy for the Eagles. Like the Eagles just won a wide receiver for like five years a decade.

I can't even count. And then they get one. And then, but now you can't get them the ball. Like you can roll the rock up the hill. It just rolls back down. So I'm just throwing that out there. So it's funny because I'm looking up there, the Crimson Tide stats from 2020. Sorry, I should look at 2019.

Let me look at this real quick. because there were people when Devante Smith ended up staying in school in the 2020 draft because he wanted to come back and I think ultimately it's probably a good decision he was a top 10 pick blah blah blah however there were people at that time

who thought he was the best receiver on that team and you can make the argument he was Tua's favorite target on that team he ended up with more yards than Jerry Judy that season so Devante Smith scored 14 touchdowns touchdowns with 1256 yards. He had slightly fewer catches in Judy.

Judy had 77 catches and DeVante Smith had 68. But Smith had more touchdowns and more yards than Jerry Judy, who was a 17th overall pick or something like that. I think there's honestly an argument that Devante Smith is just straight up better than Jerry Judy. We'll see how it all works out in the pros. But I think what we've seen from him early on is he's an incredible route runner. He's got a very unique body type.

He's got like super long arms. it's almost like the Kyle Pitts thing, but he's just really skinny. I cannot wait to see what Tavante Smith does in the pros. And I think Derry Judy is great. Well, you might have to wait a year. Yeah. I had a dynasty rookie draft the other day,

and I had the opportunity to trade ETA. I was going to take ETIN at a certain pick, and I had the opportunity basically to trade back, pick up a little bit of value, get DeVante Smith anyway, and now I'm just breaking onto hives, thinking about this conversation right now. Yeah.

So glad I have ETA. I'm in a dynasty. start up right now with Nate Tyson, he snipe me on Smith. He got DeVante Smith a few picks before I was going to take him. So we're fighting. Let's go to kind of draft strategy this year. So there's like big picture stuff and then there's like nitty gritty. What do you guys want to do first? Like there's just general strategy and then there's like actual life hacks like those like weird articles that are like this one weird trick. DIY draft tips. Let's start big picture. Yeah. So big picture. What are you guys doing in drafts this year? Me, I am

trying to take a running back in the first round. I'm open and running back in the second, but I'm trying to take basically receivers or fill my tight end spot for like the next five rounds and then come back in a risk. You don't want to be a like dead set on that, but that's my ideal draft. Okay. Here's what I'm thinking

this year. There's a helicopter going over the top of me, so I apologize. Goodness, gracious. Do you hear that thing? Holy hell. That's fine though. He's coming to swoop in on my draft takes. Okay. This is what I'm thinking. This is my new idea.

I always used to wait, as I think a lot of fantasy people do like you guys and I, you wait on quarterback, you wait on tight end, right? It's always what you do. I'm almost thinking to pivot to the exact opposite strategy this year because tight end is probably the hardest thing to hit late. But running back and wide receiver aren't. So those are relatively easy to hit late. And if we are the quote unquote experts, if we're in leagues with friends who aren't

doing this for a living, we have such a better chance of picking late wide receivers and running backs that will pay off. and we can supplement, you know, those positions by getting a strong tight end and a strong quarterback, something that is much easier to predict at the top, like, who's, like, oh, Lamar Jackson's, Kyler, they have a chance to be the overall QB1. Then you get guys like Travis Kelsey and Darren Waller all the way down to maybe Hawkinson. They have a very easy chance to be the overall tight end one. But like, when you get down to the Gisickey's, like we have no idea and the odds are incredibly slim.

However, you can take guys like Judy, Devante Smith, Chase Cleeples, there's so many late wide receivers and running backs, Damien Harris, is Zach Moss, is Chase Edmonds, that I feel like I can do a better job at drafting those guys than the people in my league. So this year, what I think I'm going to do is get a good running back to start. And then I think I'm going to try and get like Josh Allen

and Darren Waller and then just beat the rest of my draft mates later on in the rest of the job. Beat. Yeah, I like that. I don't have a real solid plan, to be honest. So you guys, we'll see. We'll see. No, like honestly, I think it depends on...

DK isn't too many drafts to have a draft strategy. That's part... Well, no, it's good to not be beholden to, like, one strategy, and then a different kind of value arises, and you ignore it because you're stuck to your strategy, but I'm... Yeah, the real answer is to be flexible and, like, you know... Yeah, but having said that, there's also a way you hope the draft goes.

And Dika, how do you hope the draft goes? I like Anchor RB. So basically, take one RB in the first round, or maybe the second round, depending on where you are, and then use that, like, basically, Basically, you lean on that guy's like the anchor of your team, but then you go, you just hammer receivers, get the elite receivers, maybe an elite tight end in there. And then mid-round QB, I'm not trying to reach or be the first guy to draft a quarterback, but I will take, I'm willing to take a quarterback in the first tier. Is that makes sense?

And then, yeah, like Craig said, just hope to find some of the sleepers, hope to be a little more plugged into the news and things like that later on in the draft. But yeah, basically, I would say, ideally speaking, I'd get an anchor RB, hammer receivers, grab an elite tight end, and a mid-round QB. So I agree with a lot of what you both said. I completely agree with what D.K. said about anchor running back. I'm totally fine if you take two running backs up top. One running back is also fine because either way, I think you're going to great. I mean, look, if I can get Najee Harris in the second or even the third round, like, I'm doing that. But one running back is totally fine.

the one thing I want to tweak is what Craig said about finding it's easier to find tight ends and receivers late I'm sorry harder to find tight obviously it's harder to find tight ends late I want to push back on the receivers there's like 35 receivers I actually like this year like 33 which is more than it sounds

they really run out fast when you get to like around that 100 mark they're kind of gone pretty quick like there's only really 35 guys I want and I want five or six of those receivers on my team or five especially how this changes as your league has more flexes because you generally speaking,

you want a receiver in your flex spot, especially if you're in a full PPR. Receivers score more points than running backs. So if you can get that guy locked in at your running back one spot, get all those receivers in the middle. Is that true, though, that you want to, I don't know, is it true that you definitely want a receiver in your flex spot?

I mean, not if the running back's a better player, but generally speaking, receivers in your flex are generally higher scoring players. And so if you can fill out the flex spots with the receivers, that's generally like a winning strategy. and where I agree with Craig, but I want to tweak it, is Craig's correct

in that we spend more time on this than other people so we can fill it. But everyone listening like you do too, if you're like listening to this podcast and you're putting in all the work

to prep for fantasy, like you too also probably have a much better chance of finding a late running back than other people in your league who are just doing this like they show up to the draft and they kind of don't care

and they're on the Zoom and drinking like, I mean, everyone can drink the draft, but. Well, my point is that like if you just take Darren and then,

you know, wipe your hands clean, you know, you know, you know, worried by tight end anymore. My point is that if you have friends in your league who just kind of like listen to two pods or read three, you know, read ESPN's rankings and show up to the draft, they're not going to know about Marcus Callaway. They're not going to know about guys like that.

And that's why I'm like, we can take advantage of waiting on drafting Robert Woods to get Marcus Calloway 75 picks later while still getting Travis Kelsey or Darren Waller. That's kind of my point. You want the freedom to vacuum up the value. And I agree where you want quality, the premium quality at Darren, where I have, well, I agree with you exactly. Like, I have a lot of Darren Waller 2. Because outside of him getting hurt, I just don't know who's taking targets from him on that offense. I mean, I have a lot of Waller 2. You win the

tight end, you win. So that's generally, but I'm waiting on quarterback, though. That's the big difference between what me and what you said, Craig. I don't, none of the top quarterbacks intrigue me that much. Mahomes is just going too high for me to take a quarterback there. Kyler, his whole thing last year was rushing and all they're saying is they want to rush

him less. I don't get it. If he had 10 rushing touchdowns and 10 games and they're like, well, I want to rush less. Well, I don't believe in the Cardinals' passing offense. I don't really love Kyler. Dak with his injury stuff, I'm kind of scared off from taking Dak high. Josh Allen, sure. Like Josh Allen actually is the quarterback I would consider. After that, it's like

Lamar? Lamar is up there. Lamar, if Lamar falls, I would consider Lamar. But generally speaking, I don't love the top quarterbacks this year. Pretty content to wait for Ryan Tanahill. You're just walked in on him? I don't know. I still think that we're in this, we're in this perfect window of quarterbacks right now where

there's like four who have this really unique capability to throw exceptionally well and run exceptionally well. And it's those big four you just named and, you know, maybe DAC is on the fringe. But eventually, I think there's going to be 12 Josh Allen's and 12 Kyler Murray's. And they're all going to have a chance to be the overall QB1. Right now, I truly feel like there are only four people, maybe five who could be the quarterback one. And I just kind of want one of them. That's fair. And I like Lamar. If there's a guy that's being underrated right now, I think it's Lamar. Because I think I would just take the last guy in that tier. That's fair. I love Tana Hill too. But you also, if you, if you,

wait, you risk not getting Tannahill, and then you really, I think, fall off a tier, you know, after him or whatever, and then you have to kind of take a different route. But also, I will say, don't forget, and I forgot to mention this as general draft strategy. You always take Trey Lance and Justin Fields and or Justin Fields later in your draft. That's like our disclosure. That's like our disclaimer. We call this hotline. Well, like, obviously, obviously the fight always take Trayland for the people who need to call Justin Fields. Like, tattoo that. it's like Memento. Just tattoo that on your arm.

You wake up every morning. You're like, draft tray lamp. Okay. So that's our general outline with our legal asterisk that like your draft is specific to you and be ready to just take good players

if good players are falling even outside strategy. Having said that, let's get to the 11 weird tricks to get you to drop 25 pounds or those weird articles at the bottom on Outbrain that are like, just with the weird pictures that are vaguely sexual. This superfood gets rid of belly fat in 20 days. Gut doctor. There's a weird gut doctor stuff.

which is just you can hack your friend's brains based on understanding the platform's rankings you're on. When you're looking at the rankings, whether in Yahoo or ESPN, those are the two biggest platforms. We're going to look at those. But whatever site you're on, people are just overwhelmingly influenced

by the actual numbers and the list of guys in front of them. And so you can take advantage of that by understanding how does that platform rank players? Because it's not just always disagreements on how they'll perform. There's also like a philosophical bent to how they rank positions.

And if you understand, why even, not in guys, but like positions are ranked where they are, you can know what to wait on and what not to just by knowing. So we're just going to talk real quick about a couple things that he's been, a couple things on Yahoo. But Craig, you want to take us a little deeper here? Yeah, first off, like you said, like, just know your rules. Like, it's pretty simple, but I feel like a lot of people don't, like, realize. Like, ESPN is, their standard is full PPR. Yahoo's standard is half PPR. Just like, know that.

Know how many roster positions you're starting. ESPN is typically only two wide receivers. and Yahoo's typically three. And usually the more positions you start, the more of those you want to draft and the more important they become. So that's, you know, just make sure you like hit up your commissioner

and be like, what are the rules again? And then you can adjust accordingly. But Yahoo and ESPN are very different rankings. They are, I can't tell who we, we basically the ringer rankings are kind of like the middle. We kind of align with half of ESPN and half of Yahoo. Oh, you know why?

Because we did the three-quarter PPR League. So we're right in the middle. That's right. Yeah, 0.75. remains the most ridiculous thing in the world. But yeah, I love that. But the things that stood out to me is basically, you know, wide receivers and running backs are pretty standard across the board,

but quarterbacks and tight ends are kind of the controversial opinions every year. And it was no different this year. Starting with quarterback, Yahoo values quarterbacks way more than ESPN. The top 18 running backs, Yahoo has 17 of them bring higher than ESPN by like 20 and 30 spots at times. So ESPN just doesn't really care about quarterbacks nearly as much. So the advice I would say to you guys is if you're in a Yahoo league, wait on quarterbacks. Guys like Mahomes and Josh Allen are going in the third round on Yahoo, and it doesn't make a lot of sense. And you're probably going to be anchored seeing Mahomes go and Josh Allen go in the third.

But don't let that influence you. They're going where guys like Chris Carson, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin are going. Another piece of advice for Yahoo is grab a stud tied end early because Yahoo ranks the elite tight ends way lower than ESPN. The guys like, you know, ESPN has Travis Kelsey at 6th and Yahoo has Travis Kelsey at 13th. That may not sound like a lot, but that's a full rounds difference. So make sure you're looking at that stuff as you're going through it. And for ESPN leagues, it's essentially the opposite.

Like, you don't need to wait on a QB. They have their stud QBs ranked way lower. The absolute key point, though, is that it's not about what ESPN's right or if Yahoo's right or what we think. It's about what you think. And it's about you having an opinion on, well, if ESPN has Patrick Mahomes 20 spots higher, sorry, Yahoo is Patrick Mahomes 20 spots higher than ESPN.

So I'm about who's right. It's about where do you want Patrick Mahomes? And if you're on one of those platforms, don't be afraid to reach for him if you want to be ESPN, or don't be afraid to let him fall. But too often, the player falling in the rankings and the guy who's been the number one pick in the draft and he's falling like six spots.

and you're like, oh man, that's a value and you can't help it, but you're like, oh man, like that really influences when the clock is ticking down. You're like, this guy's been on the board for seven picks as the number one guy. Well, maybe it's because Yahoo has Lamar Jackson 20 spots higher than ESPN. I mean, Craig has this list that he sent us.

Chilean arts is 30 spots higher on Yahoo than ESPN. And so just make sure you know what you think about a player rather than outsourcing or thinking to like the ticking clock and just the name falling. Yeah, like Tyler Higbee is 54 spots higher on Yahoo. So again, I'm not telling you that that's correct or incorrect, but the move here is you're likely going to be drafting on ESPN and Yahoo. What you should do is, let's say you like the ringer rankings,

print those out, have them next to you. And then when you see Tyler Higby approaching at 77, you can look at the ringer rankings and go, where do they have them? I trust those guys' opinion. Oh, they haven't met 100. Okay, so I don't need to freak out that I'm not taking Tyler Higby at 77. Just basically find what you like, stick to it,

and do not get affected by what you see in your computer screen, which is very difficult. I think this is this goes to and Craig to echo what you said exactly basically this goes to the idea that sometimes you should just have like a third party ranking in front of you I definitely recommend going and checking out our draft tracker or printing it out and having that sort of as like a foundation like a way that you can say I'm not just going with like the top five guys that are on my on the actual ESPNQ or the Yahoo Q. And I think the other thing that's interesting here is basically. on where you're drafting, you're likely to see the runs on players happen at different times.

So I think that's another thing to kind of keep in mind. So basically, like, in Yahoo Leagues, so Yahoo has the quarterbacks ranked higher, correct? There's probably going to be... A lot higher. They're going to be an earlier run on a quarterback, on a quarterback. Totally. So you have to, yeah, I'm just kind of like trying to visualize it myself.

Like, if I'm in the draft room... It is kind of hard. Yahoo's going to have quarterback. ranked higher. So they're going to be at the top of people's cues earlier in the draft. And sometimes, probably most times, you're going to start seeing these guys come off the board quicker. So you have to have a plan when you're going into the draft. And I think, Craig, you said this, like basically wait. Like, don't reach on a quarterback based on that cue. Have a plan for a later round guy that you want. Like Tana Hill is a perfect example,

for instance. Let the other people reach on them and go that route, get value. And then, yeah, So I'm just like, I know I'm reiterating what you said, but I'm basically just trying to visualize how to use these like rules or ideas in your draft. And like I said before, I love to have a third party ADP, whether it's our rankings, it's someone else's rankings or like underdog best ball rankings, which I think are very smart rankings too. You just go out and like have something else that you can kind of anchor to. so you're not just relying on this one ranking based on one specific outlet because sometimes that can kind of like throw you for a loop

or make you reach on a guy that you didn't really feel like you wanted to reach on, that kind of thing. It's just like, it is very difficult to see, like, oh my God, they have this guy ranked first. He's been here for two rounds. I should just grab him, but maybe it's not actually like the best value.

And again, find who you trust. Tears work really well. We have tiers on the draft guide. If you click the positions, there's big bold lines between groups of players that we feel there's a difference between generally the idea of tiers a little general,

but you can basically rank the players in whatever order you want within the tier, but the players are not above the guys, and you want to know what's the tier of quarterbacks, I can't really below this and be happy with my starting quarterback, can't go below this and have this guy starting on my flex spot. And if you know that, it's way easier to go through those runs that DK has. Because that's really what it's for.

All the work is just to not panic when there's 15 seconds left you have to make a decision. I want to ask you guys as just a general question about draft strategy and draft philosophy. When you're going into a draft, do you have generally,

so this is the tiers question, do you have guys that you really want and you're willing to reach on and you don't really care? Or do you really just want to be like dispassionate about it, play the numbers? I don't care who I get

as long as it's just, I'm definitely more of like the former. I'm like, I have my guys and I'm willing to reach a little bit. I don't know if that's actually the best strategy. though, because, you know, at the end of the day, like, you should be trying to extract value, but also it's a game and you just kind of want to have your guys. So I don't know where to land

on that, but I think I land towards the just get my guys thing. The later I get, the more I reach, because it's all, it's the Wolf of Wall Street. It's the Fugazi. It's a Fugazi. Once you get side the top 100, no one fucking knows what anything's happening with any of those guys. That's the goddamn reality. So the once you're out, once you go later, get whoever the hell you want. Earlier, I think it's a mix. It's like reach a little. There's opportunity costs there. Yeah. Don't cut the value. What do you think, Craig? The one thing I try not to do is when a guy starts falling and for some reason, everybody

else hates him. And I don't even really particularly like him either, but I'm starting to understand like, shit, this guy's kind of becoming like pretty valuable. Like I look at my ranks. I have him at 34th and it's the 42nd pick and I'm up, but nobody else has taken him. And I'm like, all right, I should take Josh Jacobs. He's falling to 40 seconds. I have him at 34th.

I'm learning to do that. That's the hardest part for me is to take him even though he falls past where I believe. Sometimes you also get caught being a smart ass. Like two years ago, I hated Todd Gurley. I thought, like, when Todd Gurley was a top 15 pick and, like, you know, it was this question, do you take him in the second round or not? And I was like, this is ridiculous. His knees are coming apart.

Like, I don't want a part of Todd Gurley. And then in my fantasy draft, I'm like, okay, I'm going to bid up Todd Gurley in this auction league. And because I want my friends who love Todd Gurley. And guess what? I got stuck with fucking Todd Gurley trying to be a smart ass. And bidding on him. I was like, wait, I just spent, let me get this straight. I just spent five months on this fantasy podcast talking about how much I hate Todd Gurley.

and I was trying to squeeze three extra dollars of my friend's budget, and then I get stuck with him in my favorite league. Like, what the fuck did I just do? Sometimes you can outsmart yourself. Yeah, I agree. I don't think it's a bad thing to go in with guys, though. Like, I like Stefan Diggs. I just kind of want Stefan Diggs.

That's fine. It's, are you doing it within the range where it's okay? So, for example. Well, that's important. Yeah. So, Darren Waller, first round, not a good idea. But if you're in a second round spot where you feel like he won't come back to you, That's really the question.

If it's in a snake draft, if you think that he won't be there next pick, do it. It doesn't matter how much you have to reach. If you don't think he'll be there next time, it's fine. That's like the maximum you can reach. So within that,

there's actually an email I want to read that someone sent to us. This is from Josh. This is right up this conversation alley. He said, Hey, gentlemen, was wondering what you think is the earliest defensible slot

to pick Travis Kelsey? He's drafting fourth in a 10-person league that gives somewhere between a half and a full PPR depending on the total number of catches in a game. I'm super tempted to pick Travis Kelsey because of the tight end drop off after him is so drastic. This gets to the heart of that. What do you think? What's the earliest you can pick Kelsey and not think it's dumb?

I don't think so 10 person league. That's tough. I don't plan very many 10 person leagues. You answer the question. You're the 10 person league. I will, you know, I'm just out here saying, you know, using the default league size for like every fantasy platform in America. I'm just like all you fucking people are losers without. DK is like you everyone in the 10 person leagues is like you're losers who aren't hardcore.

Craig's like the 10 person leagues are losers who don't have friends. And I'm like, it has been the default league size for the entire history of fantasy football and the internet. So I don't. I get it. I get it. If you don't have 12 friends, you have zero friends. If you're not first, you're last. I feel like so my first reaction is that's a bit high for Kelsey.

It's high. And take him if you want. Like the number one thing is this goes to my point. He will not be there when you come back. So if you have four in the first round, I guess you have six. 16, right, in the next, I don't think Travis Kelsey would be there at 16. And so it's fine. Like, just admit that you really like Travis Kelsey and you don't love the running backs

at four and take them. It's fine. I think like seconds too high. First a second, you kind of need to take McCaffrey or cook or at least a running back. In a 10-person league, though, you need more high-impact players because every roster is just going to be a little bit better, right? But at the end of the day, we talk all the time about what do you want in the first round? Security.

Travis Kelsey's been the number one tight end for like, what, four or five years in a row. He's outscored that, I mean, he's worth more than the eighth tight end plus the ninth tight end last year. So yeah, take him a fourth if you want. Like, I wouldn't do that, but like, it's fine. Who cares? In this season specifically, too, I would say the only thing that's like making me say, agree with you, have it said, like, go for it. My first impression was like, don't do that because you need a elite anchor running back.

However, there's so many question marks around all the guys that are like outside the top three. all the top running backs have major question marks. So I guess, I mean, I think it's not totally absurd to think that way and to just go with the sure thing with Travis Kelsey because then you got question marks around Elliott, you got question marks around Sequin, Jonathan Taylor, you know, there's all these big question marks around the top guys. I don't hate it, but I think I would suggest if Ezekiel Elliott or Dalvin Cook

can fall to you at four, take that guy and then try and get Waller on the way back because Wallers just discount Travis Kelsey. but if not, and I think if it goes McCaffrey, Dalvin Cook, Ezekiel Elliott, I don't think it's the worst thing in the world to take Kelsey. Part of the reason why I kind of pitched you guys that my strategy this year was that I want to get an early tight end and an early quarterback

is because I'm just so goddamn sick of playing somebody else in my league who has Josh Allen and Travis Kelsey and it's miserable. I despise it because Travis Kelsey goes eight for 100 every goddamn week and Josh Allen puts up four touchdowns and it pisses me the hell off

and I'm like, you know what, I'm good enough at all the other positions that I'm just going to get Travis Kelsey and Josh Allen. So I think you should do it. This is an interesting thought experiment. Let's say he is, I'm just going to pick, let's say the first three picks of the board of McCaffrey, Dalvin Cook. I'm just going to say Alvin Camarago's third. Would you rather have whatever running back, let's just say you tick Zique or whatever running back you pick it forth and Darren Waller at like 16 or would you rather have Travis Kelsey and like you can get your pick of like Joe Mix and Naja Harris, Antonio Gibson. The first one. Yeah.

Yeah, I would do. It's actually pretty close, though. It is close. I agree. It's pretty close. You have to remember how much what we consider reality is a fabrication. And I don't mean that in the esoteric way. I mean that like four weeks into the season, all of these things we think go to shit very often. And that the tier ranking of running backs right now, a month into the year, maybe Camara is twice as good with James as we thought. And Derek Henry has collapsed with the Titans.

like it's not crazy to me to take Kelsey in the first and then try to just get that in the second but it's suboptimal but also if you want him just do it because he won't be there when you come back cool there you go another email uh from brad brad quick question i noticed there's a distinct market quote under evaluation sorry undervaluation of a number of the jones guys guys named jones Marvin jones Aaron Jones Ronald Jones and then everyone employed by Jerry Jones Daniel Jones Yeah, Daniel Jones, certainly Daniel Jones

Is there a Jones bias is what Brad is asking us? This is right up high fences alley Because he's like obsessed with the Mike Jones or the Mike Davis thing Well, I stole it from Craig. Craig was the one who pointed out first that Robert Borgers, if he was named Lightning Green or whatever Like would be like he, Robert was a B

Top 5 receiver in America Mac Jones Mac Jones. Yeah, Doug Balls and all those guys, but this is funny. This year, I think Brad's spot on. Marvin Jones, Aaron Jones, Ronald Jones, all undervalued guys. What's up with Jones? They all need to change their name to

McLevin or something like that. I think it would be funny. So is Brad insinuating? He's maybe just going to draft a team of all Joneses? He wants the name's team keeping up with the Joneses and just goes, how far could you get? So I guess you have Aaron Jones at running back, and then Ronald Jones, and then you go zero. Yeah,

and then you have Julio Jones. You have Marvin Jones. Your quarterback could be Mac Jones or Daniel Jones. You could flop those. You can make it happen. It's a decent team. It's not terrible. But it's just so boring of a name, you know?

It's like one of the most common names that makes me think of Superbad. Like, it was either Jones or Muhammad. What the fuck would it be Jones or Mohammed? Too bad the Sony Michelle thing happened because then Xavier Jones was another running back you could have. Jones is the most common name in the world. Seth. Read a fucking book for once. There's a guy called Donovan People's Jones on the Browns that might be a sleeper.

Oh, yes. Okay, now we're going out of the way. We're just literally naming people's name Jones. I want to ask you guys one quick question because I just drafted Daniel Jones in a Dynasty League. I waited on my second. Have you learned nothing from being with me for years?

This is what I want to ask you. My theory is that D.K. thinks every player is good. No, that's definitely not true. I'm a hater. I'm a hater too sometimes. Maybe I am kind of open-minded, though, Because I think a lot of the time it's like the NFL humbles you, especially and I've gone through and I've done the NFL draft reports the last couple seasons. And the NFL humbles you.

There's just like some guys that are like way better than you thought. They're way worse than you thought. And there's so many variables that you just have to sort of keep an open mind. I want to talk about because the way that I did this dynasty draft is I went, I hammered receivers. So I took Lamar Jackson with my first pick and I got a whole bunch of really good receivers. now I need a second quarterback so I took Daniel Jones. Paint me a picture where it actually works out, High Feds. Daniel Jones will humbles you.

That's what I think. No, that's not true, actually. If he turns out well, he would humble me because I had him ranked like a hundredth in my draft guide when he got drafted sixth overall. I mean, has that borne out that you were wrong? No, it's born out that I was correct. However... What about that? The humbling part is that three years later, you were right, and then you still picked him

your dynasty leak that's what you're humble you i know i'm stupid but also the other my other options were my other options were uh carson wents who i do not have faith in and he's older and sam darnold who is sam darnell i would have taken darnold i'd really i would love for daniel jones to be good but my god man i i think that my god man daniel jones is an open wound on this franchise and that kenny galded is just being paid a lot of money to stop the bleeding and like you don't pay that much money for gauze this teams need surgery wow that was a nice little little metaphor right there wrapped up anyway so i guess i should just be depressed about that pick then yeah good misery

loves company okay i think that's all we got thank you i just i was in a good mood before and now i'm pretty upset just thinking about yeah oh okay you have just you never know hi fits you never know no you never know you never know you gotta leave room for optimism okay i'm gonna need a fantasy therapy at some point, like really early in the season, guys. Like really early, I'm going to need a good call. Okay. Thank you, D.K., thank you, actually, wait, now. Brad also sent in a fun fact. The Mona Lisa has no eyebrows.

Which is also, I will have no eyebrows when the Giants blow up in my face. Was this a Mona Lisa smile? Factoid? Because we were talking about it the other day. Should I don't know what that movie is. Yeah. Oh, good. I don't either. I didn't watch it yet.

No, I don't either. Great. No one tell us either. But emails for Rear Fantasy Football at gmail.com. We are doing a mailbag on Friday. Send us your thoughts, concerns, desires, whatever you want. I don't know. I don't know. Okay.

Thank you, Craig. Thank you, D.K. Thank you to everyone in advance for emailing us. Thank you, Lorne. Lord. Thank you. The Fugis. Ooh.

Nice. You're getting better. I think you're preparing. That's a good one. Which you kind of don't like. You what? I think you're preparing for these because you're a lot better at them. No, that one seemed off the dome.

Am I wrong? You're wrong. You're wrong. Damn it. Well, my preparation is I literally pull up Spotify 12 seconds before I'm having to do this, and I just scroll through my songs. Great company, man. Great company.

That's Spotify. Love that Spotify. Love that Spotify. Love the Spotify. Thank you, everyone.