Josh Jacobs News, Mailbag and Fantasy Cops (05/27 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Summary

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Fantasy Football Today Podcast Summary

Episode: Josh Jacobs News, Mailbag and Fantasy Cops
Date: May 27, 2026
Hosts/Analysts: Adam Aizer, Dan Schneier, Jamey Eisenberg
Main Themes: Josh Jacobs legal issues, RB depth in Green Bay and Tampa, dynasty/keeper/league management Q&A, fantasy league rules discussion, playful debate on rules, and general preseason intrigue

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Episode Overview

A slightly chaotic, birthday-flavored Wednesday mailbag. Adam, Dan (on his birthday), and Jamey cover breaking player news (notably Josh Jacobs’ legal trouble), depth chart speculation, rookie draft takeaways, and dynasty/keeper strategy. They also get into league rules (often via humorous bickering), answer listener mail, and run fantasy league etiquette cases through their “Fantasy Cops” segment. Expect deep preseason player nuggets, lively back-and-forth, and some personal gripes.

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Key Topics & Discussion Points

1. Josh Jacobs Arrest: Fantasy Impact and Green Bay RB Depth

[04:49–07:51]

• News: Josh Jacobs arrested on multiple domestic violence charges; his fantasy ADP begins to fall.
• Jamey: “Today would be Christopher Brooks. ... Marshawn Lloyd has had a hard time staying healthy. … Could be a James Conner or Trey Benson destination. ... You get a young RB that may have some upside. … Josh Jacobs was a late round two pick for me. Now he’s a mid round three pick.” (05:19–06:47)
• Dan: Not sure Trey Benson fits, wondering if a more proven back like Conner or Camara is more likely: “I think they’re going to go a different direction. … The type of back is going to fit the Jacobs/Wilson mold.” (06:47–07:24)
• Takeaway: Until Jacobs’ legal situation clears, he’s dropping in drafts and the Packers backfield is a watchlist for contingency planning and trade rumors.

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2. OTA Reports: Mahomes, Nico Collins, Jacksonville WRs, and Bucky Irving

[07:51–13:32]

• OTAs: Mahomes back, minor positive updates about Nico Collins (Texans) and Torrey Horton (Seattle).
• Jacksonville WR Room:
  • Parker Washington & Brian Thomas Jr. get strong OTA buzz.
  • Dan: “He’ll be one of the more interesting picks … his ADP won’t move to a point … that reflects the upside.” (09:00–09:43)
  • Jamey: “The most fascinating WR room. You can make a case for all three ... The best shape of your life season.”
• Bucky Irving (Bucs RB):
  • Jamey: “Terrible timeline; summer or fall according to Bowles…Big swings coming in best ball drafts. If Bucky [Irving] misses time, you might get a steal with Gainwell.” (10:35–13:32)
• Fantasy Tip: Monitor ADP swings in best ball for Tampa RBs; expect uncertainty (and risk-taking) until camp settles the situation.

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3. Player Deep Dives and Listener Questions

a. Devon Achan Outlook with Malik Willis at QB

[17:20–25:18]

• Listener Q: Does Malik Willis’ style lower Devon HN’s receiving value?
• Jamie: Sees passing-game decline: “…When Tua was benched ... targets went down. ... You have a QB that wants to use his legs ... I think there’s a decrease in his passing downs work coming ... This team is not competing this year. ... I just fear that everything’s not going to work out well for him.” (18:50–21:01)
• Dan: Lower expectations for receptions, but sees some upside from potential run-game efficiency: “I’d actually be surprised if he even gets to 50 [catches] personally.” (21:46–23:34)
• Consensus: HN is still a dynamic fantasy piece but has a lower floor/ceiling due to QB change, negative team context, and potential usage decline. Round 2 feels safer than Round 1.

b. RB Bust Rate Analysis

[25:18–30:43]

• Listener Q: How often do top-2 RB picks (by ADP) bust?
• Adam: “11 of 20 were busts ... most of the busts were injury related. ... Bad news: 11 players didn’t come close to finishing as a top 2 running back. ... Another thing in common: some were on offenses that regressed heavily.” (27:01–30:30)
• Dan & Jamey: Discuss risk tolerance, point out that “antifragility argument” (injury rates for RBs vs WRs) might be overstated; Adam’s research: “Running back has actually been a safer pick [top 12 at position] than WRs in rounds 1–2.” (30:32)
• Actionable: Don’t blindly expect locks at RB; team context and injury rates are real risks, but WRs are not immune to busts.

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4. Dynasty & Best Ball Strategy

• Mock vs Best Ball Drafts

  • Jamey: “Best ball drafts are awesome ... but most of our audience plays season-long/redraft.”
  • Dan: “Back end of a best ball draft looks the most different. ... Stacking matters most in best ball.”

• Handcuffing:

  • For Rams (Swift/Manangai) and Bears (Tune/Rodriguez): “All four are good bets at cost.” – Dan (41:59–42:01)
  • For Jags WRs: All have a case, but if seeking upside, “Thomas is the best. But if you want reliability, go Washington or Myers.” – Jamey (43:00–44:26)

• Late-Round Rookie Targets:

  • Dazhan Stribling (49ers WR): “Absolutely, he’s worth a late-round pick... may have a big role right away.” – Jamey (49:35–50:45)

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5. League Rules & Fantasy Cops

(Multiple Segments: 33:31, 41:13, 47:05, 59:24+)

• Roster Cut/Trade Rule Debate
  • Dan and Jamey get into a friendly, extended debate about whether it’s “standard” or fair to require teams to cut down pre-draft and forfeit picks if they miss deadlines.
  • Quote: “You just know when the draft is…You should have known.” – Jamey (36:44–36:47)
  • “This is not standard practice… everyone who I've talked to since has agreed with me.” – Dan (37:03+)
• Kicker Roster Maneuvers
  • “Depends on your roster limitations. ... It’s a workaround for stashing an extra player—if you have limits you can’t, if not, it’s allowed.” – Jamey (40:43)
• Fantasy Cops Cases
  • Did chaos during a rookie draft/free agency window mean new players should go back to FA?
    “Just do what you intended—put the players back and do your regular FAAB.” – Adam, Jamey
  • Unique league rule: highest-scoring team can swap for playoff spot or take consolation cash. Hosts agree it’s clever, generates interest, and isn’t “whack.”

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6. Memorable Quotes & Moments

• Birthday Banter:
  • “It’s my birthday, let’s do a mailbag.” – Dan (02:19)
  • “You look old.” – Adam to Dan, as they try to deduce Dan’s age (04:21)
• Player Take on Jacksonville Receivers:
  • “It’s honestly the most fascinating wide receiver room…You can make a case for all three of their top guys why they should be the first one taken.” – Jamie (09:43)
• RB Bust Rates:
  • “11 of 20 were busts…most were injury-related, but…bad news, a lot didn’t come close.” – Adam (27:01)
• Travel and Life Grievances (Wrapping Segment):
  • “People who leave shopping carts in the parking lot are the worst…except moms with kids.” – Dan (55:06)
  • “The worst people are those who rush up the plane from row 27!” – Dan (55:38–57:00)
  • “Freeze your credit. Everybody should freeze their credit.” – Adam on personal anti-fraud routine (54:07)
• Classic Bickering:
  • Dan, exasperated, about league rules: “You guys, you two were simply avoiding being put into a disadvantageous position.” (47:03)
  • Adam: “I mean, you have to keep up with the communication in your league!” (47:43)

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7. Lightning Round – Keeper and Mailbag Q&As

(Through Ep – look for [39:20], [48:36], etc.)

• Baja Tootin (10th) vs Jonathan Brooks (14th): Go Tootin for higher starter odds. – Jamey (39:49)
• DeAndre Swift handcuff: Swift and Menangai are independent, both have value. – Dan (42:01)
• Stribling (49ers WR) late-round target: Yes, big opportunity given 49ers’ thin depth. – Jamey (49:35)
• Keeper picks: Pickens in the 7th best value among May, Olave, Pickens, Bowers. – Jamey & Dan (52:17)
• Superflex keeper: Still keep Hurts over Dart despite dynasty uncertainty; but monitor long-term. – Dan (48:38)

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Notable Timestamps

• 04:49 – Josh Jacobs news and GB running back room fallout
• 10:35 – Bucky Irving injury update and Tampa RB ADP impacts
• 17:20 – Devon HN & Malik Willis: passing/usage concerns
• 27:01 – RB bust rates over last decade
• 43:00 – Jags/Bucs WR targets for 2026 fantasy
• 49:35 – Late-round rookie outlook: Dazhan Stribling (49ers)
• 54:07 – Consumer advice: “Everyone freeze your credit.”
• 55:38 – Grinds My Gears: Shopping carts, plane etiquette, and credit card memory
• 59:24 – Fantasy Cops: Rookie draft/FAAB chaos solution

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Final Takeaways

• Monitor uncertain RB rooms—Packers and Bucs in particular. Off-field issues and camp developments will shape late ADP and waiver landscape.
• Jaguars WR room is a fantasy puzzle—target for upside, but risk-reward is high.
• Bickering is part of the fun—Rule debates and league management are as much the show’s signature as deep fantasy discussion.
• Strategic Brief: Injury and team context matter at the top of your drafts; dynasty/keeper rules and league settings can swing the balance between fun and fairness.
• Life Skills Reminder: "Freeze your credit!"

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[End of Summary]

Transcript

[A]

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This is fantasy football today from CBS Sports. What a play. Can you believe this? No, I can't. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races and he stays on his feet. This is gonna go the distance. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath.

[A]

It's mailbag time. Yeah, and I thought it was gonna be a Thursday bag, but Dan has plans on Thursday, so it's A Wednesday mailbag. Welcome, everybody, to fantasy football today. Dan, great. Great to have you on, buddy.

[B]

Yeah, it's great to be back on the bag. It's been a while. Listen, it's my birthday today. I wasn't. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[C]

So I couldn't think of a better

[B]

way to spend my birthday than debating with you pre show about all the stupid things we talked about and then rolling into a mailbag fresh like that.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, Dan, Jamie, Dan is definitely one of those guys that, you know, it's my birthday, everyone make a big deal out of it.

[B]

No, I'm not.

[A]

Yeah, it is. I mean, if I invited people to come on the show on their birthday, anyone else that we do the show with, they wouldn't have even bothered telling me it was their birthday. You immediately were like, it's my birthday, let's do it.

[B]

That is so untrue. And that is not how that went down at all. But in typical mailbag fashion, I'll let you have this one.

[C]

How old are you today?

[B]

Oh, that I'm not saying on there.

[A]

Okay. I said, can you do mailbag Thursday at 10? He said, not this Thursday. Can we do it next week? I said, yeah, I suppose so. I said, how about tomorrow? And he said, exclamation. Put an exclamation point at this. Yeah, let's do tomorrow. And then he put in caps my B day. Little B day bag. He said, so, yeah, I think that

[B]

just excitement about being, you know, having the mailbag on my birthday. It's something good to look forward to.

[A]

Okay, well, happy birthday. And come on, tell us, how old are you? You're 36.

[B]

No, no, no, no. We'll talk about this post show.

[A]

How is this a big deal?

[B]

I just don't like it. I don't like doing personal info on the show and that not my thing. I've already exposed enough on this thing.

[C]

Wow.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

You don't say how old you are.

[B]

That's amazing. Yeah, I don't really want to. No.

[A]

All right.

[B]

Anyway, Old Jamie. I feel old. That's why the.

[A]

You look old. The email address is fantasy footballbsi.com 20

[B]

year old shirt right now. That gives you an idea of how old I am.

[A]

I've. I was wearing a sweatshirt.

[B]

This is my high school kind of shirt. Dude did this to intimidate you.

[A]

Oh, okay. You were in High School 20 years ago. So that means he 38. He graduated. Yeah.

[B]

No, no. Then I missed discounted. I'm not 38 yet. So you got it right the first time.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Email address is fantasy football cbsi.com the letter I and we're gonna get to some a few Dynasty and Keeper questions, but mostly try to keep questions that are, you know, helpful for a lot of people. News and notes. Oh, Josh Jacobs arrested. Charged with several domestic violence charges. And you know, obviously we don't know what this is going to mean for him. Jamie, it's not the deepest running back room in Green Bay. So who would you be looking at there if, if Jacobs were to be

[C]

suspended today would be Christopher Brooks. We'll see if Marshawn Lloyd is going to get healthy. He's had a hard time staying healthy since coming into the NFL two years ago. This feels like a easy connect the dots because between two brothers making a trade between the La Flores from Arizona to Green Bay, you know, so would not be surprised if this is a James Connor Trey Benson destination to, to the packers to get some more depth in that running back room and alleviate some of the, you know, crowded running back room. Alleviate the crowded running back room in Arizona. So could be Alvin Camaro, you know, could see that situation as well. But my guess is that this is going to be something that they have to, you know, you know, look into. To me, the, the one that makes the most sense will be Trey Benson because he's easily expendable in Arizona you get a young running back that may have some upside. They could get out of Jacob's contract. You know, just seeing some stuff yesterday. If, if this is bad and they want to move on from him, they can get out of his contract relatively easy within the next year or so. And so maybe Benson is the, you know, guy that they could build around if, if they so choose. But mean, obviously this is, this is a running back room that is missing some depth and, and, and some proven depth, you know, after moving on from Emmanuel Wilson. So definitely a situation you have to monitor. I, I just, you know, getting ahead of it a little bit. Josh Jacobs was a late round two pick for me. Now he's a mid round three pick. So he's probably going to continue to slide.

[B]

I wonder if we finally say hello to the ghost of Marshawn Lloyd. Remember him from Dynasty drafts a few years ago? Just injured his whole career but had a lot of hype coming out and was viewed as somebody who could be like a change of pace at one point. But I don't know what's going on there with Green Bay. Just thinking back to the backs that we've had success in that scheme and in that system, Jacobs and Wilson. I don't necessarily feel like Benson's a fit. I do understand why you'd mention him. I think they're going to go a different direction. I'm just not quite sure yet what type who it's going to be. I just think the type of back it's going to be is going to fit the Jacobs Wilson mold.

[C]

I, I just was thinking, you know, younger.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Of the guys there that are expendable. I mean look, if they can get Connor or, or Camara or guys that, you know, can adapt and have experience in different systems per se, more so with Connor than, than Camara. But you know, looking at just they're, they're in win now mode, you know, so, you know, trying to find a long term solution isn't probably what they need the most right now. It's who can help us in 2026. And maybe Conor makes the most sense there.

[A]

Yeah. And we don't know what, what will happen. Let the legal, let the legal process play out for Josh Jacobs and we'll see. Okay. Patrick Mahomes participated in OTAs. Not to say that he was, you know, doing everything, but good to see him back on the football field.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Nico Collins got a raise. That's also good. Seattle wide receiver Torrey Horton's been dealing with an injury he could return at the end of spring. And Jacksonville's offensive coordinator said that Parker Washington is capable of repeating and even exceeding what he did at the end of last year. And one of the beat writers for the, for the Jaguars is John John Shipley.

[C]

Yep.

[A]

He said Washington and Brian Thomas Jr. Had great days in the first day of OTAs. He also said Bashel Tuden had a great day and he said Trevor Lawrence is going to have. It was a very optimistic article. But he did sing.

[C]

Your favorite time of year, Adam. Best, best shape of your life season.

[A]

Yeah, absolutely. But yeah, he did single out Parker Washington is having a really strong debut in, well, the opening day of OTAs.

[B]

He'll be one of the more interesting picks in all fantasy in my opinion going into this redraft season. Top five most interesting player. He's not. His ADP won't move to a point where in my opinion it will reflect what his upside can be. But obviously there's the up. There's the possibility that because Brian Thomas was so hurt and all the other factors that played into last season, that's why the volume was where it was at last year. I think when you watch him though, he Gets open with ease. And some people have said it's like similar to the paths of players like Amon Ross, St. Brown and players who maybe not on paper look like the flashiest best receivers in the NFL. They just know how to uncover and the quarterback trusts them and goes back to them over and over again. I don't think his ADP will rise to a point where it will match what his upside can be.

[A]

It's.

[C]

It's honestly the most fascinating wide receiver room.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

You know, you can make a case for all three of their top guys why they should be the first one taken. You know, Thomas with his one season is. I don't think anybody can get to there of the other two guys. You know you want throw Travis Hunter in there. Three guys. But Washington, can he do again? Can he do it again after what he did last year? And so far seems like he's off to a great start. And I agree with Dan. And then Jacoby Myers resume obviously speaks for itself.

[B]

Right.

[C]

And so just what he's been able to accomplish. It's a. It's a good problem to have your Jacksonville. It's very frustrating for us just knowing that you may take a swing at the. At a receiver in this group and you may miss just because the other guy or two guys are better simply because of what they are capable of doing.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

All right. That was Parker Washington that we were talking about there mostly. All right, Dan, I have a challenge for you.

[C]

You missed one big one. What Todd Bowles said about Bucky Irving.

[A]

Oh, yeah. Injury timeline. Yeah, go ahead.

[C]

Yeah, it's terrible. I mean, the fact that he said, I don't know if anybody knows how seasons work, but he said he could summer or the fall, pretty bad.

[B]

What is to Adam, as the resident person who weighs in and makes decisions on what morning is, what afternoon is, things of that nature. What is considered the fall to you?

[A]

Yeah. I think fall is basically, you know, when football. I would say. I would say first week. Labor Day is fall. Labor Day is the beginning.

[B]

Labor Day is fall. Interesting. And early for fall.

[A]

I would say that winter is probably like December 1st.

[B]

That I'm more on board with than the Labor Day fall call because I feel like it. When we get closer to Halloween, that's when it feels like fall to me.

[A]

I mean, once. I honestly, like, once school starts again for the kids, I feel like summer.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

You're on that calendar. I get that. Yeah.

[C]

So you guys in the Northeast, you still have good weather and Labor Day weekend, like, so it's True.

[B]

That's my point. Like we're still in that summer feel. Labor Day weekend.

[A]

Labor Day weekend. Is it hot? Yeah. Or is it folly?

[B]

It's usually hot, dude.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

I don't know.

[A]

I just feel like when football starts, when school starts, it's falling.

[C]

Yeah, I think, I think Frank in the chat said it best summer is Memorial Day to Labor Day.

[B]

Yeah, I like it.

[A]

Exactly.

[C]

I, I think in, in regards to the Bucks, you know, Dan was just talking about adp. This is going to be some wild swings in best ball drafts. Oh yeah. Because you know, if you, if you're hoping that Bucky Irving is still going to be the guy there and is healthy, this is going to drop his ADPs, I don't think significantly, but enough that it's, you know, a good value to take a chance on him. It's also going to push up the value of Kenneth Gainwell and even Sean Tucker and does that get out of hand a little bit. So you know, you have a new offensive coordinator coming in in Zach Robinson. He did great things throwing the ball to Bijan Robinson. Now obviously there's not a Bijan Robinson in this backfield, but there is a very good pass catching running back in his backfield. And so Gainwell is going to be, I think probably overpriced at some point where it becomes like, why are you taking such a huge swing at, at this guy if he's not going to be a full time guy? That being said, if Bucky missed a significant time, you might get a steal with Gainwell. So it's, it's going to be an interesting one to track. It was funny because in still in my eliminator draft and the news happens right after I pick Josh Jacobs and somebody, the next pick after me was Christopher Brooks and a few picks later was Sean Tucker. Now I had taken Gainwell earlier prior to the bucking news, you know, a few rounds ago, which is like two weeks ago and it was because like I was just hoping for some cheap receptions. You may get a lot of cheap receptions if Bucky misses a lot of time.

[A]

The eliminator leagues, by the way, they're charity leagues or fantasy cares, they are guillotine league, best ball guillotine league. So they're 18 team leagues and you know you can draft coaches, you can draft punters. It's tight end premium, all that. I'll be on the clock in about, I'm like seven picks away. I'll probably be on the clock in about three days. They go pretty slow. But I'm in round 12 now. Okay. Anyway, those are your news and notes, Dan. Now is you ready for your birthday challenge?

[B]

Yeah. What is it?

[A]

Promote beyond the box score in 20 seconds or less.

[B]

Beyond the Box Score. The place to come if you want analytics, advanced stats and film reviews. We just dropped a profile on Tyler Shuck, a very hot name in the community, somebody who could be a breakout. This year we're doing live shows with updated Dynasty rankings, deep dives into other types of things. It's the place to go if you want to go beyond the box score.

[A]

18 seconds. Well done.

[B]

Let's go.

[A]

Let's take a break.

[B]

Does that, does that Small time. Give me time later to tell you what grinds my gears because I've been waiting.

[A]

Oh, I've been. I have a big. What grinds my gears?

[B]

Okay, let's do a little Grinds My Gear segment toward the end. All right.

[A]

I'm gonna put in the notes right now. Before Fantasy Cops, we have Fantasy Cops. So we'll do emails, we'll do Grinds My Gears, Putting it in the notes, and then we'll do Fantasy Cops. We'll be right back with emails. Fantasy footballbsi.com after this.

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[A]

Devon Achan Devon HN in three seasons,

[B]

Von ETN

[A]

in three seasons he's been the number four running back per game. The number six running back per game in full PPR in 2024, but number 11 and half PPR and last year he was number five or six per game in all three formats. Bill's email is speaks to something that Jamie talked about in our FFT Express Busts episode. He says, I have some concerns regarding Malik Willis's playing style, how it might impact Devon HN's performance given that Willis tends to either scramble for a deep pass or run the ball himself. He doesn't seem to frequently check down or pitch the ball to his running backs. Do you think this poses a significant risk to Achan ceiling? Or do you expect Miami to design specific outlets to ensure Achan remains a productive part of the offense? Before Jamie answers and then Dan, I will tell you that Bill, you are right to be concerned about Malik Willis based on I think 144 throws or something like that. He's he's really barely thrown the ball in four seasons, but he's never thrown more than 23 passes in a game. Six. He's made six starts. He's never thrown more than 23 passes. That's startling. He also has one of the lowest running back target rates of any quarterback that's thrown 150. Maybe it's 154 passes whatever, 150 or more passes in the last four years. But he has had Derrick Henry and Josh Jacobs as his primary running backs. But Jamie, you do have concerns about this so you can kick it off.

[C]

I mean it's, it started to show itself a little bit when Tua was benched at the end of last season that the targets went down for him. I don't know about the route participation, but the targets went down for, for, for Devon Hn. And I think you just look at it as the positive in this scenario is the team stinks. On paper, the team is absolutely abysmal. So why would you not feature your best player as much as you possibly can? And you know, you're looking at it as if anybody can guess right now who the top three receivers are going to be in week one. Kudos to you because it's, to me it's still a guessing game. We don't know who the first three, three receivers are of this depth chart because there isn't anybody that stands out at least again on paper above the rest. We'll get some answers going into camp, but obviously that's the case. So I think just looking at it as a hopefully they or the pro is that they should feature him in the passing game as much as possible. As a guy that's averaged over 70 catches and each of the last two seasons and over 80 targets each of last two seasons. That being said, you have a quarterback that wants to use his legs that they're probably gonna have a lot of design runs for that when things break down. He's going to use his legs to, you know, get out of trouble as opposed to the immobile Tua. And, and certainly the design throws from Mike McDaniel that favor Devon HN. So I think there's a decrease in his passing downs work coming to some degree. And then this is sort of an, another layer to it. This team is not competing this year. This team doesn't want to compete this year. They've. They've kind of laid out that blueprint for you. So I'm thrilled that they paid hn. I don't know how much they want to run this kid into the ground knowing that their blueprint is to compete 20, 27 and beyond. So it's just all, all factors into it. Then you take away the, the potential of increased touchdown chances versus now decreased touchdown chances because the team's going to be bad. It just feels like we're headed toward a struggling season for him. So he's going to make a lot of great plays. He's an obviously an electric player. It doesn't take much for him. One or two runs to you know, save your fantasy day. And then if the catches are still there, we're great. But I just think we're seeing a decline coming for him, you know. So the people that are pro Devon HN are going to say all this work is going to be there for him. He's the whole offense.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

For me it's a little bit more of the negative side of things that I see. Too much.

[A]

Yeah. Dan, he's so good. I think the question is that let's say he has, you know, 50 catches or something. Can.

[B]

Can you still be like a lot?

[A]

You think that's a lot? I mean can he still be a first round player with 50, with 50 catches?

[B]

50 would be a lock first round player I think. What did he have 70 over the last two seasons you said Jamie, he averaged over it.

[C]

I believe it was 72 catches each. The last two seasons.

[B]

Each of the last two seasons? Yeah.

[A]

Well, no, he. He had 78 catches in 17 games in 2024. He had 67 catches and 60 games last year.

[B]

Okay, so about that. So he'd be a bit, a bit of a drop off. I still don't think.

[C]

86 targets and 72 and a half catches the past two seasons. What's that?

[B]

I don't think he's getting to that number just based on what I've seen from Slowik. But I do think the efficiency could go up in the run game because there is the potential for them to work in zone.

[A]

I don't know man. He led the NFL last year in yards.

[B]

Yeah, but he's been at like that since his days at A M. Like he's been a dominant player from a yards per carry standpoint forever. Yeah, it's not just something new for him. He's a great running back. But I'm saying that because their offensive line took such a big jump last year, I believe they were one of the better run blocking units in the NFL. And then they added Kaden Proctor in the strap with the first round. So I don't think it's impossible to suggest that slow. It can design something where they're using more zone read. With Willis the DNS are can't crash down on HM because they have to respect Willis's possibility of keeping the ball and running to the outside and that just creates some more gaps for hn. That's the positive case. I don't think there's any Scenario where he's going to match the receptions he's got. And I'm, I'd actually be surprised if he even gets the 50 personally. And then the question becomes like, you know, if he's getting even 50 or 40 receptions, are they the same kinds that McDaniel designed for? Because McDaniel is really good at just designing different types of options for each and a basket game. If you watch back those Dolphins offense last couple years, it's not just like check down to Achan if you know, Tua doesn't like what he sees through his first and second progression. It's not just the swing pass or screen. There were these specific routes designed for a Chan, vertically speaking and you know, wheel routes, different types of option routes, angle routes because they were utilizing his ability to receive. I'm not saying Bobby Slow can't do that, but Mike McDaniel was really good at doing that. I've seen a lot of coaches who aren't as good at that. And Bobby Slow, nothing he showed me, you know, from what I watch in Houston tells me he's going to be that guy. So I think the receiving profile will come down to a point where he's slightly, a bit of an overpay occur in adp, but I don't mind drafting

[A]

him where he's at HN in or let's say half ppr, HN or Derrick Henry?

[B]

Half. I think it's still HM for me.

[C]

Listen, this is, this isn't to suggest obviously I'm pretty negative and, and Dan's not far behind. I, I think it's, it's just a matter of like what your expectations are. So you know, you, you say first round pick Adam, we'll see where his ADP settles. I think right now it's sort of in the, at the turn, you know, depending on what sites you look at. So I, I think, you know, when you start to say, okay, him versus McCaffrey, for example, you got to build in the wrist for McCaffrey. Him versus the, the two sophomore, the two, three. Yeah, two sophomore running backs that, that are coming off, you know, either injury or disappointing seasons in Genti and Hampton. I think that's a, you know, good place to start.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Chase Brown, you know, and people concerned about can he do it again? You know, I don't know why you still have those concerns, but can he do it again? You know, so this is where I think HN starts to come into play. So I think if you're taking him in round two, you're Sort of building in the risks of, of what it could be. It's where, you know, he was, I think, at the start of this process for a lot of people. Was he the third running back? Was he the fourth running back? Was he an easy first round pick? You know, we had the conversation with Dave, remember Dave was talking himself out of it as we breaking it down, you know, so there's just a few concerns. I think when you look at what his, you know, ceiling is, I don't think he's played at his ceiling. I think he could still or I don't think he can. I don't think he'll fall from his ceiling if everything is working out well for him, but I just fear that everything's not going to work out well for him. You know, we see this with these just terrible teams and, and sometimes guys are still really good, but this just feels like it's going to be a really terrible team.

[A]

Okay, let's go to our next question here. It's about running backs that are busts and it is from Brian. He says, hey, Daniel Pierce, Sean and Timothy.

[B]

Pierce.

[A]

Daniel Pierce, Sean and Timothy.

[B]

Not my quite.

[C]

Nope.

[B]

Can't get it.

[A]

Jamie.

[B]

Done. Done trying.

[A]

Come on, guys. This is. These are James Bonds. I don't know who Timothy is.

[B]

Oh, yeah, no, I, I've seen at least one of the Bonds. I'm trying to think how many Bonds I've seen maybe one or two tops. And it's a long time ago when I was a kid.

[A]

I haven't seen that many. But the first Daniel Craig one is the goal. The Poker One casino.

[B]

I never saw the Poker one, which I'm good.

[A]

Yeah, it's so good. Okay. Brian says these slam dunk, no brainer locks of Bijan and Gibbs at 1 and 2 have me both excited and terrified of landing a top pick in this year's draft. It's just never that easy. Can you guys research the last 15 years of fantasy and share the results of the top two consensus running backs for each season? Would love to see how they actually performed considering the, considering the riskiness of the position and the dreaded bust potential. Okay, I did the last 10 years. I did not do the last 15 years. There were a decent amount of busts. So we're talking 20 running backs. Let's see how many of them were busts. 1, 2, 3, 4. I'd say 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. 11 of 20 were busts.

[B]

Wow.

[C]

Now and who are they?

[A]

I'll give you the performance busts the performance busts were Todd Gurley in 2016, Saquon Barkley in 2019, Saquon Barkley again last year, Dalvin Cook in 2021, Jonathan Taylor in 2022, Austin Eckler in 2023.

[C]

The other performance bust or that was the ankle injury.

[A]

Which one?

[C]

2022 for Taylor.

[A]

So. Right. I mean, technically he played hurt.

[C]

So did Barkley.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Barkley in his second season, pretty much everyone there. In fact, three of those of those five performance or six performance busts because Eckler too.

[B]

Eckler had hurt that year too.

[A]

He had a huge week one. He went 16 carries, 117 yards and a touchdown, four catches, 47 yards. And I believe he had a high ankle sprain in week one.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And then he struggled. So the only reason I called them performance bus was they didn't. It wasn't like Christian McCaffrey who played

[B]

three out for the year. Yeah.

[A]

It wasn't like Le'Veon Bell who sat out the year David Johnson played one game. You know, so we had guys who played 1, 3, 4, 7 games. These guys played at least 11 games, 13 games, 14 games. And they struggled. But I would say the good news is most of these busts were injury related. If not, if not completely injuries, it was. They played hurt throughout the year. So that was the good news. Bad news is there were 11 players who didn't even come close to. Didn't even come close to finishing as a top two running back of the last 20 who were drafted to be that way.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

I mean, this is the antifragility argument that we've gone over in the past on this show. And you hate that argument, Adam. But when you draft running back, there's a bigger chance of injury. So you're making a bigger investment with a bigger upside. Because if a running back hits, he's going to be outscoring the receiver almost every time, especially if they have the receiving profile there, the running back. But you have a better chance to bust. So it's up to you as a fantasy player how you like to play that. In my mind at least, it's just take. What type of risk do you like to take on?

[C]

It's also when you're looking at these two in particular, they are right at the. I don't want to say the middle of their prime, but I think still on the front side of their prime. And so especially in the case of Gibbs, like, this is what we were waiting for. You know, we were waiting for David Montgomery to be out of the way and look, Isaiah Pacheco is going to do some of the things that Montgomery did but he's not Montgomery.

[B]

Right.

[C]

So you know, now the. The Runway is. Is as clear as it can get. And in the case of Bijan like which is why I think most people will still prefer Bijan where I, I still think someone in the minority of taking Gibbs over, over Bijan is that Bijan's coming off this amazing season. So what this high end profile and and stud coming out of college struggle a little bit in his rookie campaign. The last two years have been absolutely awesome. So.

[B]

And no Algier finally right.

[C]

You know, so you know you're looking at just two guys that have barring injury, the chance to be absolute superstars.

[A]

I would say that this conversation also you have to like let me tell you who the top five wide receivers in ADP were last year. You talk about running backs being so risky. Jamar Chase, CD Lamb, Justin Jefferson, Malik Neighbors, Amanra St. Brown. Three of those guys were busts, one of them towards acl. So I just went back while you were speaking. Sorry, I wasn't really listening and looked at the wide receivers over the last four or five years. There are a lot. There are a decent amount of busts there too.

[B]

I don't really have been more lately.

[A]

I've done the research and looked at round two, round one and two running back. I haven't done top two overall but round one and two running backs versus round one and two wide receivers. Running back has actually been a safer pick. They finish top 12 at their position at a higher frequency. They than the wide receivers drafted in the first two rounds or maybe was in the top. Yeah. So I, I think I've pretty much through my research personally feel like I've dispelled this myth that running backs are riskier than wide receivers. I would say another thing that some of these busts had in common, these running back busts is that some of them were on offenses that really regressed. You know that 2016 Todd Gurley, he was actually on the worst offense in the NFL or the second worst offense in both his rookie season when he was good and his second season when he was bad. Saquon Barkley, that, that wasn't really. I'll skip that one. But Jonathan Taylor, his team went from 11th in scoring to 32nd. Austin Eckler's team went from 10th to 20th. Justin Herbert didn't have a very good year and it's so sick. One Barkley's team went from winning The super bowl to being pretty disappointing last year. So to me, I flip flopped on this. But actually doing this today, Gibbs, is an easy is number one for me over Bijan because I look, the Lions, they have some offensive line concerns, I think, but I have a lot more faith in their offense than I do the Falcons. All right, question from Tom Cruise. Spelled C, R U I Z E, Tom. Tom Cruisey. Do any of you guys get in ruts where you play, where you put fantasy on the back burner, like the motivation isn't quite there? I found myself here the past few months. I still listen to all the shows, but I'm looking to get hyped up for the upcoming season. Any advice, Dan? Hype him up. Hype Tom Cruise up.

[B]

I don't know if I've ever gotten in a fantasy rut with football, but I can totally relate because this happens to me every year with fantasy baseball. I just get in a total rut. And then, you know, preseason for the NFL rolls around, training camp, and all the intrigue from there, and I'm just out of the league at that point in baseball, and I'm not even a factor, and I blow it. But I think to get back into it, maybe you can start listening to beyond the box score. It's a fun little show over here on fantasy.

[A]

Are you kidding? That is. You've gone over your 30 seconds now.

[B]

It's my birthday. I'm allowed to do something like that.

[A]

That's true. I think it's fine to be in a rut. You know, it's. It's May. It's May 27th.

[B]

Yeah, we're not. Don't worry about it yet. You need. What you need is a training camp highlight to hit some player that you love and he breaks it, you know, something fun. He does some crazy thing, and now he's moving up the depth chart. You need something like that. You need intrigue or dynasty. League play. Dynasty. Dynasty keeps you involved, right?

[A]

Or maybe you need something like maybe it's your favorite player's birthday or something like that. Oh, speaking of birthdays, happen to be Dan's birthday today? Our next question is from Kevin. Jamie. Kevin says, why do you all do mock drafts when best ball drafts are available? It's like poker for play money instead of real money.

[B]

Oh.

[C]

I mean, best ball drafts are awesome. We probably don't talk about it enough, so, you know, we can do a little bit better job of doing that. I think just in the case of, you know, what our audience is and what most people I think come to us to look for is, you know, season long fantasy dynasty, fantasy content, things of that nature. But yeah, we, I mean, we obviously mentioned it. You know, I think I mentioned it earlier in regards to our draft, but. Yeah, strategy in regards to it. I think just in terms of like the drafts that we do, you know, we're doing it more so for, you know, the majority of what people play for this game.

[A]

Right. How different do you think a typical best ball draft right now would look from a typical 12 team PPR mock draft?

[C]

They're not that far off. You know, I. I think the biggest

[B]

thing looks more different. Huh? The back end of the draft looks more different.

[C]

The front end looks, you know, you're. You're shooting. And obviously rules matter too, you know, so, yeah, you know, in an eliminator versus, you know, a season long situation. But I think just in the, in the. The biggest thing for me is the stacking, you know, so in best ball drafts, you're trying to win weeks, and the best way to win weeks is stacking. But that doesn't always work in redraft leagues.

[A]

Well, Dan says rules matter, but I think what we've learned is that for Dan, rules don't really matter because if he breaks the rules, he's just going to complain loudly about the rules for two weeks and.

[B]

Oh, no, no, no, no, no, we're not doing that. We're not doing that today because that's not true. And I'll just be honest with all of you here. We've heard a lot. We've had a lot of people reach out, and I have proof. I've been collecting the evidence and cutting stuff up, sending a few here and there to you guys and people who are on my side with that whole debate. Nobody likes Heath's rule.

[A]

I don't.

[C]

I don't think so.

[B]

Nobody likes this rule.

[C]

I definitely think that the rule.

[B]

What else to say.

[C]

The rule is worth revisiting.

[B]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[C]

How you approach the draft.

[B]

But what was I supposed to do, Jamie? So if the first thing I did, just to be clear, just to clarify. No, no, Adam, no, no. You bring it up, then I get my chance. Okay?

[A]

You already had it. You already had it.

[B]

No, no, no, no, no. You're gonna hang me out to dry like that without people knowing the context? The first thing I did was trade back and give up my pick in round two.

[A]

And I lost. And he lost. Emmett Johnson, if you heard Emmett Johnson, number two running back. And he lost.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And I don't need to say all

[B]

that again, the point being vibes. Next thing I did, I did two things. That was the first thing, I lost the pick. Which is stupid to begin with, but whatever, I didn't complain. Second thing it is somebody proposed a trade to me and he texted me and he's like, dude, I did the same thing as you. I didn't even know about the roster thing. Now I can't make my picks. I think I found a way around the system because in our minds and I thought this was the heath mines too. I thought we all agreed this is a pretty stupid thing that you can't drop a player to draft a player. But you're scared. No, I get. Apparently not.

[C]

You screwed up, though. You screwed up and not.

[B]

I already admitted I screwed up. Quote, unquote stupid rule.

[A]

It's a disingenuous admission because I don't really.

[B]

It is very disingenuous.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

You don't believe. It's not the rule, though. The. The rule where you screwed up has nothing. Where you screwed up has nothing to do with the rules. Where you screwed up was not paying attention.

[B]

I. I tried, Jamie. I've tried to change the email settings. It won't come to me.

[C]

It's not about that, though. Not. I don't have. Listen, my emails are not working either.

[B]

So you just know when the draft is. I should have known when the draft is. That's fine.

[C]

As I asked you in the in on the last episode you were on, I said you play enough Dynasty leagues to know that right after the NFL draft there are rookie drafts and he had posted messages. You should have gone to the message board and saw what the deal was and made the proper adjustments.

[B]

I've already admitted I was wrong on that.

[A]

Let's move on.

[B]

Strongly disagree with Andy said cutting down a team to accommodate incoming draft pick a standard practice. No, it's not. Every other Dynasty league I'm in has expanded rosters and you don't make cuts until close to the season, just like an NFL roster. So this is not standard practice. Is the only. I'm in 12 dynasty leagues. Only he's leagues play like this. And everyone who I've talked to since has agreed with me.

[A]

You're in 12 dynasty leagues.

[B]

Yeah, 12.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

At least seven of them are best ball though, which helps make it easier.

[A]

All right.

[C]

Some of them are three with us.

[B]

Yeah, right.

[A]

We're taking a break. We're taking a break. We got some keeper questions. We got some fantasy cops. We have. You know what really grinds my gears Coming up after this On Fantasy football

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[A]

Keeper Question from Alex Would you rather keep Baja tutin in the 10th round or Jonathan Brooks in the 14th round, assuming we get through training camp and Brooks is healthy and looks good.

[C]

So Brooks has been a big winner so far in OTAs. You know, I know you didn't mention him with the news and notes, but he's moving well, looking like he's, you know, over the the knee injury again, it's in shorts and, you know, no tackling, but that's a a really positive sign. So what was the question again?

[A]

I'm sorry, in the 10th or Jonathan Brooks in the 14th?

[C]

I mean, right now I think I go tooting because the the draft compensation's close enough that you're taking the chance on the guy that could definitely be the starter versus a guy that might be the starter or might need an injury to be the starter. I feel like they're going to give Chuba Hubbard a pretty long leash and let Brooks work his way back into it before we see the best of Jonathan Brooks or at least the full scope of what he can do. So for me, I would lean tootin, even though it could be a timeshare with Chris Rodriguez.

[A]

All right, next question. Kind of fantasy copsy. It's from Ace. He said, listening to your conversation about league rules for Dynasty draft, I wanted to address dropping a kicker midweek for a pickup and then picking up a kicker by game time for a full roster. Is that something you all look at as cheating? If I understood your conversation correctly, in my leagues, this happens all the time and is allowed as long as you have a full team by game time.

[B]

That's not cheating. I think it's right.

[A]

I think it's pretty close to cheating.

[C]

I mean, it's cheating. It depends on what your. What your roster limitations are. Most of the leagues we play in on cbs, most leagues I run on cbs, I don't want to speak for anybody. Most leagues I run on cbs, you have roster limitations. So you can't do this. Right. So it, you know, I mean, this is a workaround of getting away with carrying another player and then making a decision later in the week. So you're holding a player from somebody else because you don't have your quote unquote lineup filled properly.

[A]

All right.

[C]

Yeah, I look, for example, you know, I'm sure Jake will love this. Jake Seeley will love this conversation. If you don't have kickers, you can't get away with this.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

If you don't have kickers, sure.

[B]

I don't play and I play in barely any leagues with kickers at this point.

[A]

Ace also asks, do you confidently draft? What?

[B]

No, I'm just thinking if I play in any leagues with kickers at this point.

[A]

All right. J Ace also asks, do you confidently draft DeAndre Swift without Kyle Menangai this year? Considering the usage as a rookie and being drafted. Yeah. Anyway, also. So that's a question. Do you draft Swift without Menangai and which Jags and Bucks receivers are you targeting? So you.

[B]

The question is, do they need menungai? I'm sorry, do you draft.

[A]

If you draft Swift, do you do it without.

[B]

Do you feel like you have to handle. Those are independent players for sure. I mean, I think it's similar to the Jacksonville situation. When I think about Tune and Rodriguez, I think the answer is yes. You look at those two run games. Ben Johnson and Liam Cohen, the best designs in football right now from a run scheme standpoint. That's what the tape said last year. You Watch it and you see it. It's so abundant clear. So I want all four of those guys to me are good bets at cost. For the second question, I'm going in on Buka this year. I've been reading a lot on what this new offensive coordinator is saying about what's going to happen, and it felt like he was kind of pigeonholed into a role last year that they don't envision is the best for his skill set, the best at getting him targets. And this year they feel more free because obviously Evans is gone. But they have a different plan. They might even get Hurst out there at the X early, which would excite me because I've been watching and it looks like he's off to a fast start. So Igbuk is the guy I'm targeting there. I'm really, really high on him going into this year. As far as the Jags go, I'm a Parker Washington guy, but I'm okay getting Myers at value. I don't think I'll be back in on Brian Thomas Jr. Even at the depressed value.

[C]

I'll go back to what I said about the Jaguars a couple weeks ago where if you're comfortable with your wide receiver group and they're all still on the board, the one with the most upside to me is still Thomas. So if I don't need to play any of them right away, I'd want to see what Thomas can potentially become. If I need somebody, I think to help me right away, I'll probably go to Washington or Myers first because I think those are going to be kind of constant numbers without just, you know, the, the, the potential of getting to that high end ceiling. You know, Washington can do it, Myers can do it. But again, I think if they all hit their ceilings, Thomas is the best. So if I just want to see what can possibly be a league winner at a cheap price, it would still be Thomas first for me. Agree with Dan wholeheartedly on, excuse me on a buka and I think, you know, when you look at. There's obviously a lot of. I don't want to say the Bears backfield is, is an ambiguous backfill, but I kind of look at the Bears backfield, the Rams backfield, kind of similar. Like you're you. You can get Kyle Manangai and Blake Corum and they could be flex options for you. Depending on how your team looks, especially in larger leagues. There's going to be scenarios where Quorum outscores Kyron. There's going to be scenarios where Manangai outscores Swift and then you have the injury upside that if, if the starter, quote, unquote, starter misses, misses any time, like could be a top 10 running back. You know, Blake Worm can be a top 10 running back. So you want to have those guys if you can.

[A]

So some. We have a comment in the chat says Parker Washington's target share was insane when all the wide receivers were on the field all in on Parker. And that's actually not true. Well, you know what? Let me, let me put it different.

[C]

Thomas was really never healthy.

[A]

Let's think in the last six games when Brian Thomas came back from injury, Brian, you know, Jacoby Myers had a 25, 24.6% target share. Now Parker Washington, it's hard. He did have an 18.7% target share, but he missed a game and he played less than 56% of the snaps in three or five games. So that's. You can't really look at that. But to. Who was it? I'm sorry, who said it in the chat?

[B]

I forget.

[A]

But oh, yeah, Andy, this is a great number for Parker Washington. In those six games after Brian Thomas Jr. Came back from injury, everyone was healthy. He, Parker Washington had a 26.3% target per route run rate. That's huge. That's a big, big number. So don't. We don't see it in target share because he missed the game. He didn't play that many snaps. Now is he going to play most of the snaps? That hasn't really been his case, his situation for most of his career. But if they really like him and he gets that kind of. I don't think he'll have a 26% target per route run rate. But if it's 22%, 23%, then we're talking here. Brian Thomas Jr. Things have to change. He had a 16.6% target share, same as Brenton Strange. That's terrible. And Brian Thomas Jr. Had a 17.6 yard a dot. So that's the way it worked. It was. Brian Thomas Jr. Was the vertical. We use the expression. Everybody uses it. Sacrificial X. He was the vertical guy. 17.6 yard a dot. That's. That's ridiculous.

[C]

You know, Parker Washington, Liam Cohen said yesterday, no, he wants him to push the ball down the field more.

[A]

Yeah, but, but that's not a sustainable A dot. I mean, that's, that's.

[C]

No, no, I'm not saying for him. I'm just saying, like he wants this offense to be a little bit more vertical. I Think the wild card in all this though is again, whether it comes to fruition or not, they have egg on their face for the Travis Hunter trade. And how much are they going to force that next year?

[A]

Kind of. What did you call the yolk? Egg juice. Did you say egg juice, Dan?

[B]

Back in the day, I said, yeah, if you're making eggs, you got to have that egg juice.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

I mean, look, scrambled eggs, decent, decent, best. Got to have it, see cut in. You get that egg juice, you can admit it's the best part of the egg.

[A]

All right, let's.

[B]

By the way, just one final thing. Austin Lim. Thank you, sir. He said, honestly, I agree with Dan because collusion warrants that someone is put into an advantage position. And you guys, you two were simply avoiding being put into a disadvantage position.

[A]

Oh, give me a break.

[B]

That's right, dude. Forfeiting draft picks in a dynasty league is a disadvantageous position. As stupid as it gets. Oh, let's just play in a league where two teams are forfeiting second and third round dynamics.

[A]

Oh, we didn't follow the rules. Okay, Are you telling me there's a difference between being put in an advantageous position and not being put in a disadvantageous position?

[B]

Somebody screws up and doesn't get the roster cut by the time you hit start on the draft and now you want them losing second and third round picks in a dynasty? How dumb is that?

[A]

We've already doing here.

[B]

What are we doing here?

[A]

206 fun. You have 206 unread text messages. Dan, you have all group chats.

[B]

Dude, I can't keep up with the group chat. Some of these group chats are insane.

[A]

You have. You have to keep up with.

[B]

You can't read through a whole group chat during the middle of a work day.

[C]

No.

[B]

I don't even know how these people are able to text.

[A]

You have to keep on up with the communication in your league. All right, let's go. We'll go faster here. This is from Ted. He says, dear Josh, Carl and Jalen, Carl and Jalen, I don't know. I'm in a 12 team half PPR Super Flex League. Six point per passing touchdown. Two keepers count as first and second round picks. I have been keeping Jalen Hurts and Joe Burrow for a few years. But I picked up Jackson Dart. Am I crazy for considering keeping Dart over Hertz in a super flex six point per passing touchdown league? There's draft values. The same first and second round picks for his keepers. So would he, should he keep dart or Hertz.

[C]

Those are the only players he's keeping.

[B]

It's a yeah. Forever. Yeah. I think you still have to keep hurts. The question would be how, how much faith do you have in Dart long term going into just year two with Matt Naggy as his coordinator and I think there's a case to be made that he's a risky asset from that standpoint. But I don't think Hertz is as safe as people probably think he is. Contract, there's an out soon for the Eagles so and then if he doesn't, if he gets cut by the Eagles, I don't know man for him generally speaking. And then his fantasy and dynasty value as well. Like I don't know where her. I don't know what's going to happen with Hertz if he doesn't. This is, this is kind of the situation for him.

[A]

Okay, next up from William. I'm a big best ball fan. I feel like Dazan Stribling could be getting slept on. There's a clear path to injury concerns with basically the entire receiving corps in San Francisco. Is Dijon stripling worth a late round investment?

[C]

Yes. I, I, I just wrote the 49ers team outlook. It's on CBSSports.com you have 33 year old by the time we get into the season, 33 year old Mike Evans, 33 year old George Kittle coming off an Achilles. You have Ricky Pearsall who's played 20 games in the last two in the first two seasons of his career. So he's missed a lot of time. You have Christian Kirk who's you know, not obviously someone that they're heavily invested in. I think he's going to play a role. No Joanne Jennings, no Brandon Ayuk. This is, you know, a guy that they're taking a lot of crap for where they drafted him. So they value so far from what you know, everything I've read his blocking ability which is going to get him on the field and so he may play right away, he may have a big role right away and certainly if anybody misses any time remember Mike Evans missed a lot of time last year due to injury. If Kittle's not ready to go and they don't really want to feature Jake Tonjas in the, in the passing game like there's a huge opportunity for him here. So yes, absolutely. In redraft leagues he's worth a late round pick and certainly in rookie only drafts you can make a case he's a late first round certainly early second round pick. He should not be off the. He should not be still on the board by the middle of the second round.

[A]

All right, one more keeper question here from Brian Dear. Carr, Stingley, Watt and Henry. Those are the Eric Derek's.

[B]

I'm so mad you brought this up again, Adam. Now I'm all tilted. I'm talking.

[A]

Just go in the chat about it. I mean, you know, it's just unbelievable

[B]

that you brought this up again. I thought this was over with. I got lambasted on the show without even having to say. Getting to say a word in defense for it for days.

[A]

I think it's lamb. This is what it is.

[B]

Look, it is what it is. It's over with. It is what it is. I have to do a better job of checking the league. Personally. I'm. I'm lobbying to get the rule changed because. Oh, you are Agree with me.

[A]

I hadn't heard that.

[B]

He said unless there's an overwhelming majority, which I think there actually will be, but I don't think he wants to change the role. This is a rule Keith likes. He actually enjoys this rule. So it is what it is, I guess.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

How do you feel about the rule? I'm not really clear on that.

[B]

I don't know, man. I mean, let's keep doing this. Let's. Let's have years where people are forfeiting draft picks.

[C]

That's fun.

[A]

No, no one forfeited draft picks. You, you, you.

[B]

No, because we circumvented the thing. But that's illegal inclusion according to you guys. So we actually should have forfeited our draft picks. That's what actually. End result.

[A]

Should have been kicked out of league.

[B]

Listen, this is. I don't even want to get.

[A]

All right, this is from Brian. 10 team, full PPR. One keeper. Choose a keeper. Drake, May in the eighth, Olave in the eighth, Pickens in the seventh, Bowers in the third.

[B]

And it's. What was the format?

[A]

10 team PPR.

[C]

I'm going.

[A]

Pickens in the seventh.

[B]

And this is not Super Flex, I assume.

[A]

Correct.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

May, Drake, Olave in the eighth, Pickens in the seventh, Bowers in the third.

[C]

I agree. Pickens.

[A]

Dan, you know what really grinds my gears?

[B]

Yeah, what is it?

[A]

You want me to go first. You want to go first?

[B]

You can go first.

[A]

It happened right before the show. You spend so much time remembering and memorizing your credit card number. And then, of course, you need a new passport. So you Google new passport or whatever, you click on the first link and you end up giving all of your personal Information to a scam website. So you have to cancel your credit card number.

[B]

I know that. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

I mean, it might be a different reason for you guys, but that's what happened to me.

[C]

What did you do?

[A]

It's been like two months and I can't remember. I'm. I'm like two numbers away, but I can't remember my damn credit card number. And every time I buy something online, I have to get up and go walk across the house and get my stinking wallet. Really grinds my gears. I got to get this thing remembered. Yeah, I got scammed.

[C]

You got scammed on a fake passport website.

[A]

I don't know. I don't know if it was fake. I don't know if it was a scam. I don't think it was. I don't think it was, you know, scammers, but it was not a dot gov. If you're going to do this, it's got to be dot gov. And I didn't use a dot gov. And then I realized, and I was like, oh, my gosh. So, no, yeah, it was bad. So my advice to everyone, even before

[B]

what happened, though, what's the end result? Did you, like, lose money? I don't even understand what.

[A]

I lost, like a little bit of money, but they gave me a refund. But it just wasn't a website I should have used. But it. Freeze your credit. Dan, have you frozen your credit now? Jamie, have you frozen your credit?

[C]

Have I ever had. No.

[A]

Freeze your credit. There is absolutely no reason not to freeze your credit. You have to unfreeze it if you want to buy a car or something like that. But everyone freeze your credit. There are three websites where you have to do it. It doesn't take long.

[C]

I'm not taking your advice on website.

[A]

Trust me, I know what that's your credit. Equifax. I don't remember the other. It's a trans.

[B]

I don't know, whatever. Equifax. That gov.

[A]

Freeze your credit. At the end of the day, I don't think it was a fake website. I think it was like a private service that does passports.

[B]

You're way too young to be getting scammed on the Internet.

[A]

I know. It was really. It was really bad embarrass, really embarrassing

[B]

my dad at at least five times. I feel like at least five times a month my dad texts me like, hey, Dan, I got this text from this and this. Should I click. I can't click this link right?

[C]

Like, no, dad, don't click this link.

[A]

It's like my big fear with my

[B]

parents, for sure, because it's tricky. They trick them. They put Amazon. They do tricky stuff. It's really, actually really screwed up.

[A]

What grinds your gears, Dan? So the credit card thing grinds my gears.

[B]

I understand that. What grinds my gears. In the past, I've talked about the shopping cart theory. Just to revisit that one, I believe that people who leave their shopping carts, buy their cars in grocery stores to just roll around and hit other cars are some of the worst human beings on earth. Now, I provide an exception. If you're a mom with multiple kids I respect, you shouldn't have to return the cart. If you see me ever in that lot, wave me over. I'll return the cart for you. Any other person, probably a bad human being, to be honest. I have people now who I think are worse human beings than the cart people.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. Worst human beings. These people are the people who your plane lands. You're sitting in row 27. They're behind you or wherever you are. Let's say you're row 21, 22, whatever, and they're in row 27. They're behind you. All of a sudden, the plane lands. Everybody knows there's time between when the plane lands and you exit the plane. This is common in society. You should have to understand this. There are the people who get up behind you, rush to it, get all their stuff, rush. Now they're standing. They're in your lane. They're moving up as fast as they can. They're trying to beat everyone to get off the plane. Now, again, there are some exceptions. If you have a. If you have a connecting flight, you need to get to, Fine, go ahead. I'll let you through. Usually those people are nice, and they're smart enough. They say, hey, I got a connecting flight. Let me get through. But there. There's people you can read, Adam. Jamie, there are people you can read. They're just bad people and jerks. And, you know, these people aren't connecting any flight, aren't going any connecting flights. They just first feel for some reason like it's their world, and they are allowed to put themselves above, you know, pass everybody along the way and get off the plane first for no real reason, just because it's their wall and they want to do it. And so the other. This happened to me on a flight recently, and there's this guy right behind me, pressing through the road, pressing, pressing. And so you know what I did, Adam? I put my arm up between mine and the row and the back of the seat. And I blocked him. And I blocked him. And I was ready for a confrontation. I was ready.

[A]

What happened?

[B]

Anything? No. He bowed down to the block. He just kind of looked at it, and I looked at him, and we kind of gave it a little.

[C]

He saw the barrel test and got scared.

[B]

Yeah. This could get. This could get saucy. Like, I am not gonna bow down to you. I am not letting you push through this. Even, like, pressed up against it again so I can put, like, a tiny bit of pressure on it. Like, oh, this guy will just break his hand and it'll move, and, like, he'll let me do this. I wasn't letting him go by. There's no go. You wait. You wait for every row, and there's, like, elderly, like, woman across the from me in the other row, like, the one, you know, perpendicular. And I'm like, let her get her stuff and let her get out, dude. Like, you are gonna get off this plane in turn, and that's how it's gonna go. If I'm on the plane. I love it.

[C]

That's it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That's a bad. That's a bad guy.

[B]

I don't like those people. He's a bad guy. It's not your world. Everyone's living in this world, not just you.

[A]

Yeah. And I went out to dinner. I went out to dinner with. No, he's right. I went out to dinner with my wife last Thursday, and I pulled into a parking spot, and bam, there's a shopping cart in it. And I was so mad, I had to get out and I had to move it. And I called. I said, this person is the scum of the earth.

[B]

Oh, I love.

[A]

And my wife thought I went a little bit too far. She goes, there are worse things than leaving the shopping cart in the. In the parking spot. I said, you're right. But the people who do those worst things are the same ones who leave their shopping cart there.

[B]

Well said.

[A]

It is.

[B]

It is a game. The same ones who rush off the plane first, I think they can get. Yeah.

[A]

To give the same gateway crime. I'm coining that term. All right, fantasy cops. Let's do it. We got two fantasy cops here to end the show. This is from Jack 10, Team Dynasty League. It's a fab league. We just finished our rookie draft, and free agency was immediately open. We have rolling waivers in our league except for Sunday. Basically, he has fab every night in his league except for Sunday, to keep people from not having someone to be Ruled out and have a blah, blah. So our draft happened to end on Sunday. If it would have ended on any other day, there would not. There would have been waivers with fab bids, and it was the start of the new league year. So the resulting consequence is that everyone automatically went to free agency. If they were dropped during the draft. We all believe there would be a bidding war for notable free agents. So the person with the last pick ended the draft in the middle of the night and, well, chaos ensued. So please help us decide, should those players go back into free agency or should people who grabbed what they could keep the players.

[B]

I feel like you need a supplemental draft here. Obviously the answer is not people grab what they could keep the players. That's as dumb as it gets. And that's awful for competitive balance of a league. I think you need to come up with like a. A kind of a. Like maybe an outside the box solution, though, like a supplemental draft of some sorts. Maybe an auction where everybody gets X amount of dollars and these players go into a bidding. I don't know. Or a snake.

[A]

Well, no, the. They. They just. This is what I would do.

[C]

I would just go back and you start the league on Monday.

[A]

Yeah. You put three players back and then you do fab. This is what they intended to do. You just do fab.

[B]

And then their fab goes down for the year. They have less fab for the year. Yeah. Okay.

[C]

All right.

[A]

But here's the thing. You turn off this. Turn off this Sunday setting until the season starts.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

You know, because it could happen.

[B]

Unless that's where they've always Sounds almost like this league had a bad rule in place. Recognize this? And now we're suggesting that they do something not. They don't just follow the rule.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

Because it's a bad rule. They do something different. It almost sounds like that's a suggestion there for me. I don't know if I'm big enough

[C]

on the right thing there, though.

[A]

All right, Next one is from Vinnie. All right. Okay. Arm block. Take it easy over there. Vinnie says our home league is entering its 23rd season with mostly the same group from Inception. And the league is extremely competitive.

[B]

Love that.

[A]

By the way. The movie Inception. Don't understand it at all. I mean, they explained it like five times in the movie. I couldn't.

[B]

Yeah, it's not great, but somehow 10 it was worse.

[A]

What is that?

[B]

And it was even more unexplainable and as dumb as. Like, here's a smart movie by me, Christopher Nolan. It's like I can't follow this at all. And I don't know how any human could be. Maybe Jamie.

[C]

You liked it, Tenant?

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

I mean it's good, but it's confusing.

[A]

Okay. All right. League parameters. In this league, 12 teams PPR, six teams make the playoffs based on it says head to head standings, but I assume he just means record with total fantasy points as the tiebreaker. Our league entry fee is $500 and we reward the team with the most fantasy points at the end of the regular season with a thousand dollars. So that's a $500 profit.

[B]

Should be more.

[A]

But ness, we implemented a rule about 15 years ago called the decision. That's funny. If a team that has the most total fantasy points at the end of the regular season does not qualify for the playoffs, so it doesn't finish top six in head to head, that team has the option of either receiving the thousand dollar payout or taking the final playoff spot.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

If that team takes the final playoff spot, they have to give the $1,000 payout to the sixth seed that got booted as compensation for being removed from the playoff field. So that's awesome. The booted team ends up profiting $500 for the season, which is not too shabby. Our thought is that any league that doesn't have the team with the most regular season fantasy points in the playoffs cannot be taken seriously. This rule almost came into play last year, but didn't and many members want the rule thrown out. Thoughts? Is this rule whack? It does get extra league wide attention during the final week of the regular season.

[B]

This rule's unique, it's fun, it's interesting. It's something I haven't heard before. I think it makes your league different and I like it. I would not get rid of this rule.

[C]

Yeah, I think it's great that you're rewarding the person for finishing first in total points and then you're giving them the option Now I guess the only thing would be is has there ever been any collusion situation of hey listen man, my team, you know, your team has a better chance to win. Let's. Let's split the thousand dollars and, and that, you know, kind of throws things off. You know, I can see a certain member of our staff doing that.

[A]

Well, but if they, if they split the thousand dollars, it's only a 500 profit, so.

[C]

Yeah, but they both. Yeah, one is still. So like, hey, if I win the whole thing.

[A]

Yeah, okay. I, I like the rule.

[C]

I mean I do have the rule itself though.

[A]

I Do have a rule in my leagues where the highest point scorer is guaranteed to make the playoffs and would get the six seed and would bump the.

[B]

The. I've seen that. I've seen the leagues where it's like the five seeds are determined and the six seed goes to whoever has the remaining which I also think is a good rule.

[A]

Well, by the way, mine's a little different than that. Mine only comes into play if the highest scoring team did not make the playoffs.

[B]

Oh, ours is just that last seed is always going to the highest points remaining which I think is great. Like last year that team ended up winning the league.

[A]

I don't know. Let me ask you a question. Let's say the six seed like the number one seed scores the most points or the number three scores almost. The six seed if you go by record has is three games better than the team that has the most points. And the team that has the Most points is 30 more points than the 6 seed. I don't think that team should make the playoffs.

[B]

Are we talking about in apex scoring or in regular scheduling?

[A]

Regular scheduling.

[B]

Then I do think the higher point team should make the playoffs and if it's Apex I'm more along on the sides. I think the schedules for the most part are just luck based joke. I mean it's fun to follow. It gives us something to root for on a week to week basis. But if you're not using apex scoring it's just very luck based. How much do you think in my home league. Yeah, of course it's luck based. The schedule. What do you mean?

[A]

There's a little bit of luck but it's not. I mean you're making it out to be like you get no credit for drafting a good fantasy team. It just happens to be. Did you play a crappy team that week? That's not it. I mean it's not.

[B]

It's a lot of the stand. A lot of the record is luck based. Yes. If you play just one team a week. You play one team a week.

[C]

If you're. If your record doesn't match your points, you know. Right.

[B]

That happens all the time.

[C]

If you're the. The number one seed and you're like fifth in points then you're better obviously from a great record.

[B]

17 be first in points. 17 be second in points.

[A]

I also think that you can have a lot of points and not that great of a record if you have a really inconsistent team.

[B]

That is also true sometimes. There's also times like to say schedule is not a lock based Thing there's times you could fate. You have just the year where you are the team that plays that has all. You never hit a team when they play up their bye weeks. They're good players on buyers. That happens all the time.

[A]

Like that doesn't happen all the time. We don't. You don't know that happens.

[B]

There's a lot of bad seasons I've seen where teams are first or second in points and they don't make the playoffs. That's the, that's to me unexpected.

[A]

I've never seen that.

[B]

It has never happened since my leagues have switched to Apex scoring.

[A]

I've never seen the rule that I have in place, I've never actually implemented where a team leads the. Leads the league in scoring and hasn't gotten a top six seed. Now I haven't done it for that

[B]

long before Apex scoring. It happened multiple times in my home league. Twice actually. One time the team had the most points. The second time the team had the second most points. By the way, how much do you think in my league of the pot, my home league, we assign two points. Winners first and second. We give. What would you guess?

[A]

30%, 50%.

[B]

And we're proud of it. We are proud of it. The best teams deserve to get paid. That's how it is. We don't go by the scheduling luck. We want the teams that are actually drafted the best to get rewarded for it. And playoffs are still fun. You know there's still 50 of the pot in there.

[A]

So do you do Apex scoring?

[B]

Yes, we do Apex.

[A]

So then where is the scheduling?

[B]

Look, it's still locked, dude. Like it's still locked to get like who you get put in the like Apex. For those who don't know, it's. You get two records each week. So you get one for who you play in your schedule. That's one zero. And then the top six teams get a win and the bottom six teams that that week get a win if it's a 12 team league. So you can go 1 and 1, 2, 0, 0 and 2. It does make it better. And less luck. There's still luck in schedule.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

All right.

[A]

It's a lot of monies for not the non playoff winner.

[B]

But those are the best teams. They deserve something.

[A]

Any final thoughts, Jamie?

[C]

You know what grinds my gears? When podcasts go too long, it's an hour.

[B]

You should, you should never join us on beyond the Boxer though. We'd love to have you on.

[A]

You should hear Dan's new rating system beyond the box square oh, it got destroyed.

[B]

You heard about this?

[A]

I listened to a little bit.

[B]

You listened to it? Oh, God.

[A]

It seemed fine.

[B]

I only got went off the rails fast.

[A]

That seemed fine from what I heard. But.

[B]

Oh, it went off the rails fast and I got destroyed in the comments for it. Not an understanding that it was mostly in jest. Like we're doing for a fun episode. It's the middle of May, guys. It's fantasy football in the middle of May. I do.

[C]

I do have one thing that does grind my gears. The fact that I wasn't considered the most patient person on our show.

[B]

Wow. Who upgraded that? And who considers that? I would say the fact that.

[C]

That Dave and Heath don't have to listen to the two of you bicker sometimes.

[B]

It's just. It's certainly not Adam. He's least.

[C]

No, Dave was considered the most patient person.

[B]

Yeah, but it's either you or Dave. It's definitely either you or Dave.

[A]

They don't have the poll results anymore.

[B]

He has like the stoism. I don't know if that's considered patience. Stoism.

[A]

I can see Heath sometimes, like the. The vein is about to pop out of his neck because he's getting.

[B]

He does a good job of not reacting at all.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Very stoic. You're obviously last on this list, Adam. I think that goes without saying, right?

[A]

I do interrupt Dave the most. I think so. I gave him points.

[C]

They've also interrupts you the most.

[A]

Does he? You guys don't interrupt me that much.

[B]

I think we know who the least band is of the. If you consider me and that it's clearly me and Adam, you're clearly second in that regard.

[A]

Yeah, no, I'm very impatient. In fact, I was just. Yeah, never mind. All right, we will talk to you tomorrow with another edition of fantasy football Today. You can also check out beyond the box score and FFT dynasty. Go to cbsports.compodcasts for a full list of our shows. Have a great day, everybody.

[C]

Dan, happy birthday.

[B]

Dan Schneier,

[C]

Paramount Podcast.

[A]

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[C]

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[B]

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