← Fantasy Football Today
Fantasy Football Today
Best Second Half Performers, Plus a Big Surprise for Jamey! (02/17 Fantasy Football Podcast)
01:04:30
Loading summary
Transcript329 lines
- [00:00]
Dave Richard
Are you interested in effortlessly growing your Bitcoin portfolio? I sure am. The Gemini credit card earns you Bitcoin back on every purchase. Use it like any credit card. Buy lunch, gas or your weekly groceries and you'll earn up to 4% back instantly in Bitcoin or one of over 50 other cryptos straight to your account. All that with no annual fee. It's the easiest way to start building your Bitcoin stack. Go to gemini.com card to learn more. Terms apply. See the link in the description for more information regarding rates and fees issued by Webbank. Some exclusions to instant rewards apply. This is not investment advice and trading crypto involves. Check Gemini's website for more details on rates and fees.
- [00:34]
Heath Cummings
Life Insurance it is such an important thing to have. I carry a lot of responsibility in my household and if something happened to me, there are real consequences like mortgage payments and everyday bills that don't just disappear. That's why I recommend life insurance through Ethos. Ethos makes getting life insurance fast and easy and 100% online. You can get a quote in seconds, apply in minutes and get same day coverage. And and there's no medical exam. You just answer a few simple health questions. You can get up to $3 million in coverage. Some policies are as low as $30 a month. As of March 2025, Business Insider named Ethos the number one no medical exam instant life insurance provider. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Now by going to ethos.com FFT in as little as 10 minutes, you can get your free quote and up to $3 million in coverage. And at ethos.com FFT that is E T-O S.com FFT ethos.com FFT application times and rates may vary.
- [01:42]
Dave Richard
This is Fantasy Football TODAY from CBS Sports. Wanna play? Can you believe this? No, I can't. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races and he stays at his feet. This is gonna go the distance. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave.
- [02:00]
Heath Cummings
Jamie and It is Tuesday, February 17th. Welcome everybody to Fantasy Football Today. Today we're going to talk about the best performers from weeks 10 through 18. Believe it or not, Brock Purdy. He was surprisingly great and actually for the full season he was awesome. He was number four quarterback per game, but number three per game. Averaged 25 points per game from weeks 10 through 18. Michael Wilson was amazing. Jameson Williams was a top 12 wide receiver. Kyle Pitts was one of the best tight ends in fantasy. And guys, I'll tell you I went out with the family on Valentine's Day. Not for Valentine's Day, but it was Valentine's Day, and they were playing some Valentine's Day music. And My Heart Will Go on came on, and I felt a great sense of shame.
- [02:51]
Dave Richard
Did you sing along?
- [02:52]
Jamie Eisenberg
No.
- [02:53]
Heath Cummings
And I didn't even tell my wife about it because I'm so embarrassed by the performance.
- [02:57]
Dave Richard
So you sang to an audience of thousands, but not to your wife?
- [03:02]
Heath Cummings
I don't want her to hear that.
- [03:03]
Dave Richard
That would be bad.
- [03:04]
Jamie Eisenberg
Yeah.
- [03:05]
Dave Richard
Anyway, Jimmy, do you have her number? Jamie? Because we can send her the clip.
- [03:09]
Jamie Eisenberg
No, I'll just. I'll send it to Nando and he'll. He'll.
- [03:12]
Dave Richard
That. You know what? Everyone will see it, then he'll spice it up. I'll send it to. Did you send it to your brother Adam?
- [03:18]
Heath Cummings
No, I don't want anyone.
- [03:19]
Jamie Eisenberg
All right.
- [03:20]
Dave Richard
No, he's. He's gonna find out.
- [03:21]
Heath Cummings
No.
- [03:22]
Jamie Eisenberg
Oh, yeah.
- [03:23]
Dave Richard
Oh, yeah. All right.
- [03:25]
Heath Cummings
Anyway, we're not gonna talk about everybody who was great during that time frame. Somebody said A.J. brown was excellent during the time that Adam just said. And that's true. There were a lot of guys like, we don't have to talk about Trey McBr, but we'll talk about Jacoby Brissette, for example. Trevor Lawrence was number one quarterback in fantasy. So that's. That's coming up in a little bit. Let's start with our news and notes. The Dolphins released Tyreek Hill and four other guys. Nick Westbrook, Akin offensive lineman James Daniels, edge rusher Bradley Chubb. It's. It's a new era in Miami. But Tyreek Hill, we're actually going to dedicate eight or more minutes to him in an FFT Express episode after we do this. But, Dave, that'll just be me and Jamie. So give me your thoughts on Tyreek Hill being released. He's 32 years old, or he's about to be 32 years old, and he tore his ACL and dislocated his knee in week four.
- [04:18]
Dave Richard
Yeah. Tough injury to come back from. This is when you would say, but if anybody can do it, it can be Tyree Kill. But you laid it out. He's older. Don't know what the motivation is at this point other than maybe one more payday, and he might even be able to get that. I'm. I've been taking him in round seven in our mocks in the middle of February, and for now, I'm okay with that. We'll see where he lands. I don't think he's going to go to a Mickey Mouse team where he's not gonna have a chance to, you know, make the playoffs or anything like that. And if he's in, if he makes the miraculous recovery, that's when I think fantasy managers will start considering him as a top 60 pick. But there's no chance he's going to end up as a top 24 pick like he was over the past few seasons. I don't know. I don't know if that's where he ended up last season. I think he did, but not like he's not going to be drafted like he was before because of the risk involved.
- [05:13]
Heath Cummings
I remember him ending up in the third round when it was all said and done. But let me take a look at fantasy pros. Tyreek Hill was about 30th overall.
- [05:24]
Dave Richard
Okay, so he wasn't even in the top 24 last year.
- [05:27]
Heath Cummings
He was good, though. I mean, look, he had a bad week one. Tua was horrible in week one. Four catches, 40 yards on six targets. Retiree kill. I remember breaking it down on beyond the box score. Guy got open several times to have missed him on some big plays. And then the next week was 16.9 fantasy points against the Patriots, 15.9 fantasy points at the Bills, and then 12.7 fantasy points against the jets in about a half. And he had this terrible injury. So he actually was, I think, on his way to a, to a solid season. You know, obviously can't forecast that, but encouraging start. I would let Jamie talk, but again, I'm going to save Jamie's thoughts for FFT Express. So, Dave, where do you want to see Tyreek Hill go if you had an ideal destination?
- [06:09]
Dave Richard
All the typical landing spots where there's a stud quarterback make all the sense in the world. So Buffalo, a reunion in Kansas City. How about a reunion with Mike McDaniel in LA with the Chargers?
- [06:22]
Jamie Eisenberg
All.
- [06:22]
Dave Richard
All those spots, plus any of the other ones that I haven't said.
- [06:26]
Heath Cummings
Okay.
- [06:29]
Dave Richard
I don't want to see him go to the jets or the Browns or the Cardinals or, you know, anywhere where there's inferior quarterback play. You know, the deal.
- [06:40]
Jamie Eisenberg
It's the first time that he's been a free agent in his career. So I, you know, I would assume that he's going to do everything that, you know or try to do everything that Dave just said to get to one of those team. But clearly this is also going to be money driven. And so, you know, if somebody offers him money that he can't deny, he may go that route too.
- [06:59]
Heath Cummings
Jamie, quick detour from this. Do you have any paper on your desk?
- [07:03]
Jamie Eisenberg
Yeah, I saw the comments. I don't.
- [07:05]
Heath Cummings
I think you should. Joey Wright says, who thinks Jamie should shoot a basket into the trash can behind him and then.
- [07:11]
Jamie Eisenberg
No, look, there is a piece of paper in here, but it's instructions about what to do to log into this fancy setup that I'm. I don't want to throw that up.
- [07:19]
Heath Cummings
We'll see if we get him some throw.
- [07:21]
Dave Richard
I've got a ton of scratch paper. Do you want me to bring you some paper? Jamie's in the building today. Would you. Would you like to take some shots, Jamie?
- [07:27]
Jamie Eisenberg
No, I'm good.
- [07:28]
Heath Cummings
Okay. I would find something maybe during the commercial break. Okay, Jamie. Bucky Irving had shoulder surgery. Mike Evans is expected to continue playing, according to Jenna Lane of espn. And Levante David might retire Tampa Bay's linebacker for the last 48 years. But what do you think about Bucky Irving having shoulder surgery? Kind of big deal. Small deal. No deal, I would say.
- [07:51]
Jamie Eisenberg
Small deal. You know, it's something to keep an eye on. Any surgery is obviously something that's going to be, you know, worth keeping an eye on and monitoring. But, you know, this kind of explains what he was dealing with, you know, when he had the foot injury, the shoulder injury, you know, dealing with some of the, you know, maybe mental hurdles I think that we heard about, you know, trying to come back from, from the injuries that he was, you know, battling. So hopefully everything's going to be fine by the time we get to the start of camp. New offense coordinator again, so we'll see what happens in terms of the system. And Rashad White most likely gone, so I think that's also a factor here as well. But if he falls to the right spot, and my guess is he doesn't get past the first three rounds, but if he falls to the right spot, I think you're getting what could be a great value here, because while he finished the season in such a terrible form, if you look at the start of the season, he was awesome. You look at the first two games he came back from the injuries, he was awesome. And so there's still plenty to love about what Bucky Urban can be. So borderline RB1 for me, still in. In the rankings right now.
- [08:48]
Dave Richard
Do you like that he went 25th overall in our most recent mock.
- [08:53]
Jamie Eisenberg
Yeah, that, that, that felt a little soon, you know, looking at some of the running backs that were still on the board. But I, I think if you can get him middle to the back End around three to me. That feels like the start of when he should start to come off the board. He get around four to me.
- [09:04]
Dave Richard
It's still, I bet if the off season goes right for him and Tampa doesn't add another running back, their offensive line looks great. And he's. He's healthy and participating in OTAs and then training camp. No injuries. I bet you'll see him sneak in the late round too.
- [09:20]
Heath Cummings
Sure. Well, the beginning of the year, he had 10, 19 catches in four games. Rashad White, obviously we're not expecting him back with the Bucks, so that's huge. But then there's Sean Tucker who ended up being the goal line back for them. Yeah, we'll see how things play out for Bucky Irving.
- [09:36]
Jamie Eisenberg
Again, different coordinator, so that hopefully will help him.
- [09:39]
Heath Cummings
Zach Robinson is their coordinator. He was the Falcons coordinator each of the last two years and he, he said Bucky Irving could have a role in the passing game similar to that of Bijan Robinson. Dave A couple of franchise tag notes. According to the Athletic, the Jets are unlikely to frame or no, likely likely to franchise Breeze Hall. So jets likely to franchise Breeze Hall. According to the Athletic. According to espn, Adam Schefter, the Seahawks are unlikely to tag Ken Walker. So discuss Breeze Hall.
- [10:07]
Jamie Eisenberg
Ken Walker.
- [10:08]
Dave Richard
I wonder if the transition tag is in play for Walker where there's no compensation if he does sign elsewhere. But it makes him a little less pricey for the Seahawks and that's their way of keeping him around for one more year. And, and I get why the jets would want to keep Breeze Hall. He's a good player. They need good players. I. I'm not gonna, I need to see what's built around Breeze hall before I really consider taking him anywhere close to the first two rounds.
- [10:39]
Heath Cummings
Okay, who went. I mean, Ken Walker went kind of late in our last draft.
- [10:43]
Dave Richard
He went, he went round three. He went a few picks after Bucky.
- [10:46]
Heath Cummings
Right after Bucky.
- [10:48]
Dave Richard
Derrick Henry, Kyron Williams, and then Kenneth Walker.
- [10:51]
Heath Cummings
And Breeze hall went about a round later. He went with the third pick of round four to me. What a pick.
- [10:57]
Dave Richard
Yeah, that's a. Breeze hall with the third pick in round four to me, is better than Kenneth Walker in the middle of round three. Sorry, Johnny.
- [11:05]
Heath Cummings
Okay. Cameron Wolf of NFL Network says the Jaguars plan to use Travis Hunter as a full time cornerback and a part time wide receiver. And that's, I think, kind of how we've been approaching it. Derek Carr, remember him, said he'd unretire for the chance to win a Super Bowl. I did See, someone picked up Derek Carr in a dynasty super flex league, so maybe not a bad idea.
- [11:25]
Jamie Eisenberg
Washington offense that's allowed to make transactions in.
- [11:28]
Heath Cummings
In. In a dumb league like Heath.
- [11:30]
Jamie Eisenberg
Gotcha.
- [11:31]
Heath Cummings
Yeah, yeah. Don't tell Heath I said that. Washington offensive coordinator David Blau. Dave, that name again is David Blau. And he said the offense will be built around getting Terry McLaurin 10 targets a game. Maybe some hyperbole, but that's encouraging to hear. David Blau wants to get Terry McLaurin involved. All right, we got two new offensive coordinators. Seattle is expected to hire tight ends coach for the Niners and he's so San Francisco. A better way to say it. Seattle expected to hire San Francisco tight end coach and run game coordinator Brian Flurry to be their new offensive coordinator. Maybe we thought that they'd promote from within, but their quarterbacks coach is going to the Raiders to be the coordinator there. Andrew Janako. I don't know if I said that right, but he's not calling place. That'll be Clint Kubiak. But Jamie Seattle, I don't know. Poaching from the Niners, getting their tight ends coach. Brian flurries their new offensive coordinator. Thoughts?
- [12:31]
Jamie Eisenberg
It's basically the same tree. I mean, Kubiak was with the 49ers also. So you're talking about hopefully similar concepts, similar stuff to what Darnold's used to, you know, coming from o' Connell to Kubiak, you know, so you don't expect much to change there. And obviously the, the Shanahan tree has been very successful. So, you know, I think this is a positive. Their last run game coordinator was Mike McDaniel or at least the, the last one to become a coordinator slash coach. So I, I think that's a positive. You know, so keeping a lot of the similar stuff that, you know, Darnold's used to and you know, we'll see who the running back is at this point, obviously, but for jsn, I think it's fine. For Donald, I think it's fine. I don't think it's. It's something to worry about.
- [13:10]
Dave Richard
I never really love it when a new offensive coordinator works off an old offensive coordinator's playbook, but this is a playbook that is generally the same. There's obviously going to be different wrinkles in every single version of the west coast offense or the Shanahan offense. Shanahan and McVeigh aren't running the exact same plays. For example, I, and I like that Flory does have some experience with Darnold. I think that's what the Seahawks and Mike McDonald really wanted the most, was somebody who knew Darnold and that Darnold could trust. And it's a new voice in his ear and still the same offense. Maybe it'll be okay. I. I would say this. If the tiebreaker between Pukinakua and JSN in a fantasy draft is who's their play caller? Then you know which way that tiebreaker is going every single time. You ain't going JSN's way.
- [14:03]
Heath Cummings
For me, there's not even a. I don't even need a tiebreaker.
- [14:07]
Dave Richard
I don't either. But some people. Some people might. Really good last year. Yeah.
- [14:11]
Heath Cummings
Puka. I think we all like Puka better.
- [14:13]
Dave Richard
Yeah.
- [14:13]
Heath Cummings
And my last note is a defensive note. Jim Schwartz been the defensive coordinator for the Browns for a while, but that will not be the case now. The Browns are replacing him with Mike Rutenberg, who comes over from the Atlanta Falcons. Another guy whose name I hope I pronounced correctly. All right, we got a lot of other brother.
- [14:29]
Dave Richard
Steve was awesome. Police academy.
- [14:32]
Heath Cummings
Yes. Yes, he was. Mahoney. Okay. Other podcasts we have, we have a lot of them. We have an NFL draft podcast with Ryan something. I never remember the name of it. No, just kidding. Ryan Wilson with the first pick podcast. Great time to be listening to that. Another great way to get ready for the NFL draft is on the FFT Dynasty podcast. Heath has a lot of great guests. Come on, talk about these prospects. But we have, you know, most of the major sports covered. Go to cbs sports.com podcasts and enjoy. We'll be right back with our best second half performers, beginning with the quarterbacks. Trevor Lawrence, from weeks 10 through 18, averaged over 27 points per game. From weeks 12 through 18, he averaged 31 points per game. We'll talk about him when we return.
- [15:18]
Dave Richard
Avoiding your unfinished home projects because you're not sure where to start. Thumbtack knows homes, so you don't have to. Don't know the difference between matte paint finish and satin or what that clunking sound from your dryer is. With thumbtack, you don't have to be a home pro. You just have to hire one. You can hire top rated pros, see price estimates and read reviews all on the app. Download today.
- [15:43]
Heath Cummings
Hey, Sal.
- [15:44]
Dave Richard
Hank.
- [15:44]
Heath Cummings
What's going on?
- [15:45]
Dave Richard
We haven't worked a case in years.
- [15:47]
Heath Cummings
I just bought my car at Carvana and it was so easy.
- [15:50]
Dave Richard
Too easy.
- [15:50]
Jamie Eisenberg
Think something's up?
- [15:52]
Dave Richard
You tell me. They got thousands of options.
- [15:55]
Heath Cummings
Found a great car at a great.
- [15:56]
Dave Richard
Price and it got delivered the next day. It sounds like Carbona just just makes it easy to buy your car. Hank. Yeah, you're right. Case closed.
- [16:06]
Heath Cummings
Buy your car today on Carvana. Delivery fees may apply.
- [16:12]
Dave Richard
Ready to relax in your dream bath retreat without the stress of figuring out every detail yourself? At the Home Depot, your bath upgrade.
- [16:20]
Jamie Eisenberg
Is covered Shop fully designed rooms and.
- [16:22]
Dave Richard
Curated bath collections to go from inspiration to transformation. Fast savings of up to 40% will.
- [16:29]
Jamie Eisenberg
Make it easier on your budget and.
- [16:31]
Dave Richard
Find everything you need from tubs to toilets and all the tile in between to bring your vision to life.
- [16:37]
Jamie Eisenberg
The Home Depot Dream Baths built here.
- [16:42]
Heath Cummings
Best second half performers beginning with the quarterbacks and Lawrence was QB1 per game. Brock Purdy was QB3 per game and Jacoby Brissette was QB7 per game. This is from weeks 10 through 18, pretty much the second half of the season. Lawrence QB1, Purdy QB3 and Jacoby Brissette QB7 per game and six point per passing game. Touchdowns. Dave, how would you rank them in terms of legitimacy? You know Lawrence. Yeah, like which, which performance is the most legit? Most legit to least legit?
- [17:19]
Dave Richard
Well, the one I'm gonna draft first is Lawrence, followed closely by Purdy and then a gap and then it's Jacoby Brissette. So I guess that would be my order. But I, I don't think there's any question that Trevor Lawrence took a step forward in a number of ways. It coincided with Jacoby Myers arriving in Jacksonville. It coincided with the Jaguars finding the best version of Parker Washington and utilizing both of those wide receivers when Brian Thomas was spinning his wheels. I, I think that Lawrence is worthy of being considered a top 12 fantasy quarterback and Purdy's really close to it. But I just, I know the track record with Purdy and he's like steadily around 20 to 22 fantasy points per game. I don't know if the entire team atmosphere is going to be the same for the 49ers next year, this coming year as it was in 2025. So maybe not as many high scoring games for him as this past year. And then Brissette, he kind of started to fail. Fail Toward the end of the year he had three straight games with 20 and a half or fewer fantasy points. So he's the one I, I would trust the least of these three.
- [18:28]
Heath Cummings
Yeah, and Brissette was averaging 40 pass attempts per game right around there. So it was so volume dependent. Jamie, one of the stats that jumps out to me when I look at these Three quarterbacks is. Let me tell you where Brock Purdy has finished on a per game basis in his last three seasons. QB6, QB11, QB4 in six point per pass in touchdown leagues. That's two top six finishes on a per game basis in his last three years. And in 4.2 also two top six. He's been top 11 all three years. He actually runs quite a bit. I mean last two years on pace for 366 yards and six touchdowns. On pace for 278 yards and six touchdowns. So he's probably underrated. But yeah. Would you take Lawrence over Purdy if we were drafting? Obviously Brissette will be last. But how about you with Purdy and Lawrence?
- [19:21]
Jamie Eisenberg
Yeah, I would. I, I think, you know, Purdy's got so much still to be determined right now because you have Kittle coming off an Achilles tear. You have most likely Brandon Iuk on. You have potentially Juwan Jennings gone and Ricky Piersoll can't stay healthy. Plus the 30 year old Christian McCaffrey and an aging offensive line. So you trust the player because of the numbers you just listed. He's been very successful as a fancy quarterback. You certainly trust the coach in the system and so can they sort of retool on the fly to put pieces around him that are going to continue to make him successful. So I don't want to knock Brock Purdy and say that he's not capable of elevating an offense because clearly has. But he's also been surrounded by a lot of greatness during his time in San Francisco. Factoring in the coach and, and everything that goes along with, you know, Kyle Shanahan and, and those players. So you know, if, if Kittle makes a speedy recovery and is good to go and they sign or draft the right receiving core, then I think Brock Purdy ends up being one of the best value picks. But for me, I would much rather take a chance on Trevor Lawrence. Looking at what Liam Cohen has done for the last two years as a play caller, what he did for Baker Mayfield, what he did for Trevor Lawrence, what he does to enhance those quarterbacks as rushers. Both guys have had great, both guys had great seasons running the ball. I think that's huge for Lawrence. Nine rushing touchdowns I believe is what he scored.
- [20:39]
Heath Cummings
Yeah.
- [20:40]
Jamie Eisenberg
So there, there's just a lot to like about where Lawrence is headed and especially when you factor in now there's some discussion. You know, I know Bill Barnwell of ESPN for example, floated some trade potential scenarios and Brian Thomas was one of those mentioned and we have the Travis Hunter. Will he. Won't he play? How much will he play on offense? You know, that's still to be determined. But if you have everybody back with the addition of Jacoby Myers and what Parker Washington did and a full season of Brendan Strange, like, that's an amazing receiving core around Trevor Lawrence. So I think just looking at where one is headed versus where one is, you might be great drafting both of them. You know, Lawrence continuing on this breakout ascension and Brock Purdy a pretty good fallback option just in case Lawrence goes back to being kind of unfortunately what he's been where he hasn't been that consistent, you know, fantasy quarterback for what we like to see.
- [21:35]
Heath Cummings
It's just funny because if I asked, if I asked myself before the show started, I think I would have gotten this wrong. If I asked the general fantasy public who averaged more fantasy points per game this year, Trevor Lawrence or Brock Purdy?
- [21:48]
Dave Richard
Who had more?
- [21:49]
Heath Cummings
Yeah, I think people would say Lawrence, but it's actually Brock Purdy. Brock Purdy scored more points, 23.9 fantasy points per game. 20, 23, he was at 22.4 points per game. That's. Those are Terr. 20, 24, 20.5 points per game. He was QB11.
- [22:05]
Jamie Eisenberg
Well, the way you phrased it though would be Lawrence because you didn't say who averaged more. You said who scored more, who had more, right?
- [22:12]
Heath Cummings
Oh, yeah. Who averaged more.
- [22:13]
Dave Richard
That'd be the average. Purdy played in fewer games too.
- [22:16]
Heath Cummings
Yeah, he only played nine games. He also had a really high interception rate and 7.6 yards per attempt, which was ninth best in the NFL for Purdy, which is terrible for a 49ers quarterback. They're usually 8 or above, so there's some room for improvement. Yeah, my question with Lawrence, last thing, we'll move on to running backs. Jamie, what makes you think that this end of season stretch, which was incredible, 31 points per game from weeks 12 through 18, including that massive game in Denver where it was just like, okay, it's not the competition anymore. Why is this different than what we saw? I want to say three years ago, down the stretch for Trevor Lawrence, this was better. But he's kind of fooled us before. Why are you more willing to buy in?
- [22:58]
Jamie Eisenberg
Coaching and maturity, you know, I think just the system is again, I trust Liam Cohen, Rams guy. What he did in Tampa Bay, what he did in Jacksonville, like, it's pretty clear this guy can coach and he can get great production from his quarterback quarterbacks. And so I think just Lawrence finally Getting the right voice in his ear, the right players around him. It just feels as if this is now a guy that is settling into hopefully who he will be and finally delivering on the pedigree that we saw coming out of Clemson.
- [23:32]
Heath Cummings
Okay, moving on to the running backs, some of the top perform. You all right, Dave? Did he. Did he freeze like that? That's a bad freeze right there. Okay, well, Dave will be back moving out of the run.
- [23:52]
Jamie Eisenberg
I thought he was just holding the pose.
- [23:53]
Dave Richard
Me, too.
- [23:53]
Heath Cummings
I thought he was, like, really curious about something. The running backs who excelled from weeks 10 through 18. Chase Brown was RB5 per game, and Derrick Henry was RB6 per game. Henry averaged 19.3 PPR fantasy points per game from weeks 10 through 18. And what else we got? Two Patriots running backs were top eight. Just thought this was funny. Travion Henderson was RB7 per game. Ramandre Stevenson was RB8 per game from weeks 10 through 18. For Stevenson, that included a game where he scored two fantasy points and played 31 of the snaps. He missed three games. He came back. He barely played. And then after that, he was really good for fantasy. Although a lot of it concentrated in the last three games of the season. Chase Brown versus Derrick Henry. Jamie, who do you like better going into next year?
- [24:47]
Jamie Eisenberg
Chase Brown. But I. I think Derrick Henry is going to be probably undervalued again. You know, look, it's a coaching change. It's a system change, you know, potentially. I think what we'll end up seeing, though, is until this guy really starts to completely fall apart, Whether that's injury or just falls off a cliff, like, at what point do you just stop, you know, believing him? And so we'll see. We'll see how that goes.
- [25:21]
Heath Cummings
Jamie locked his door. You gotta unlock your door.
- [25:23]
Jamie Eisenberg
Lock the door.
- [25:24]
Dave Richard
I knew he was. Something was coming.
- [25:26]
Heath Cummings
Unlock it. We got a little surprise for the. For the audience right now. Here comes Dave Richard into Jamie's little studio. I was giving him trash to throw out into the bat. All right, we can hear you a little bit. Get close. It's not the mic. We can't wait. Dave, we can't hear you. All right, all right. I'm gonna do a little play by play. Got a big surprise for Jamie. You can see it on video kind of Dave shaking his hand. Other people in the office are shaking his hand. Dave, the microphone is muted. Nobody can hear you. Nobody knows what's going on. Unmute now. Talk.
- [26:08]
Dave Richard
Can you hear us?
- [26:09]
Heath Cummings
Yeah, but not through the mic. I think it's through Jamie's headphones.
- [26:12]
Jamie Eisenberg
What the hell?
- [26:13]
Dave Richard
What's it plugged into? What's it plugin?
- [26:15]
Jamie Eisenberg
My headphones.
- [26:17]
Dave Richard
So now I gotta plug into the headphones?
- [26:19]
Jamie Eisenberg
Yes.
- [26:21]
Dave Richard
What a mess.
- [26:22]
Jamie Eisenberg
Just.
- [26:23]
Heath Cummings
Just talk. We can hear you.
- [26:24]
Dave Richard
Yeah, this is exactly how it's supposed to be.
- [26:26]
Jamie Eisenberg
There you go. I think I'll talk about this.
- [26:29]
Dave Richard
So this doesn't even work.
- [26:30]
Jamie Eisenberg
No.
- [26:32]
Dave Richard
Can you hear me, Adam?
- [26:33]
Heath Cummings
Yeah, it's great.
- [26:34]
Dave Richard
Okay. Adam's loving all this.
- [26:37]
Jamie Eisenberg
Okay.
- [26:39]
Dave Richard
Yeah. You, me, I've got one somewhere.
- [26:45]
Heath Cummings
Horrible production right now, but it's all worth it, folks.
- [26:47]
Dave Richard
Where's the camera? Is it this?
- [26:51]
Jamie Eisenberg
This is it. All right. There you go. Kaiser, he finds you right on camera.
- [26:54]
Dave Richard
You know, I can't think of a better room in our building to do this in, but here we are. Jamie Eisenberg, 20 plus years in the fantasy industry. Amazing job. One of the leaders in the space. Absolutely the best analyst in the space. Stardom cinem is read by everybody. It is my honor and pleasure to tell you that you are a member of the 2025 fantasy sports writers association hall of Fame.
- [27:23]
Jamie Eisenberg
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
- [27:24]
Dave Richard
Congratulations, my man.
- [27:25]
Jamie Eisenberg
Thank you. Appreciate it. Super well deserved.
- [27:30]
Dave Richard
With us today, Marone Bergson, coordinating producer for CBS Sports hq, RJ White, who's our editor producer Jack Capitorto for CBS Sports hq. And there's a ton of other people outside that want to celebrate Jamie. So Jamie, go take your victory lap.
- [27:45]
Jamie Eisenberg
Get out of here. There we go.
- [27:48]
Heath Cummings
Amazing. Yes. Jamie is a member of the Hall. He's a hall of Famer, just like Dave. They're both in the fantasy football hall of Fame. Pretty incredible stuff. I work with two hall of Famers. Soon it'll be three. Hopefully he'll get in there. They're all celebrating Jamie outside. That's really cool. Really cool moment. There's a shot if you're just listening, there's a shot of our office and everybody congratulating Jamie who's been there for so long now.
- [28:17]
Dave Richard
Awesome. We're on here.
- [28:18]
Jamie Eisenberg
I'll say it on here. Thank you guys so much. I appreciate you. You guys are awesome. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. All right, all right.
- [28:31]
Heath Cummings
Now we're going to hear from Jamie FSWA hall of fame inductee Jamie Eisenberg. You there? Yep. Everybody's very happy for you. Jamie in the audience.
- [28:47]
Jamie Eisenberg
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Can't do it without you guys. You guys are all amazing. I mean, what is there to say, you know, just great group of, you know, people that I work with. It's always about the people who are you surround yourself with. And I'm blessed and honored to be surrounded by the best cast and crew and co hosts and hosts and producers and, you know, throughout the years of just amazing co workers and.
- [29:10]
Dave Richard
And.
- [29:10]
Jamie Eisenberg
And people and the audience is fantastic. So I really appreciate this, you know, thank you, Dave and everybody, for setting this up. I know he's been trying to do this for. For a few weeks now, you know, just, you know, truly, truly honored. Very, you know, blown away. Thank you so much.
- [29:27]
Heath Cummings
Hall of Fame of the week.
- [29:28]
Dave Richard
Yeah.
- [29:30]
Heath Cummings
Congratulations, Jamie.
- [29:31]
Jamie Eisenberg
Thank you, man. I don't know what's happening. Camera's all messed up.
- [29:34]
Heath Cummings
That's all right. Yeah. It's been amazing working with Dave and Jamie and of course, Heath as well. Learned so much from them. I learned. I mean, I don't even know where to begin. Just about fantasy football and just. It's been incredible to work with these guys and see the effort they put in. Jamie works so freaking hard at it to, you know, to perfect his craft. So great stuff, and we're really happy for you.
- [29:59]
Jamie Eisenberg
Thank you.
- [29:59]
Heath Cummings
Thank you.
- [30:00]
Jamie Eisenberg
Thank you.
- [30:01]
Heath Cummings
All right, Thomas, shall we continue with. With the show here, or do we have another little surprise for Jamie? Dave, we ready for.
- [30:12]
Dave Richard
Let's. We have another surprise for Jamie.
- [30:14]
Heath Cummings
Okay, let's fire away.
- [30:19]
Dave Richard
Since on your induction into the Fancy Sports Writers association hall of Fame, enjoy trying to explain to people for the next few years that there actually is such a thing.
- [30:28]
Jamie Eisenberg
I'm really happy for you to be recognized for all the hard work and care you've put into all this. You are great at all of that.
- [30:35]
Dave Richard
You are an even better human being. So well deserved. Even if you'd never helped me win anything in my fantasy leagues, you're definitely a Hall of Famer as a person, and I couldn't be more happy for you, my friend. A Hall of Famer.
- [30:47]
Heath Cummings
Absolutely.
- [30:48]
Dave Richard
Love it. A legend in this business, legend in this industry.
- [30:51]
Heath Cummings
It was such an honor working alongside you all those years ago at CBS.
- [30:54]
Dave Richard
And to see what you've done. It's absolutely awesome.
- [30:56]
Jamie Eisenberg
Awesome.
- [30:56]
Heath Cummings
You deserve it.
- [30:57]
Dave Richard
I heard you're an FSWA hall of Famer.
- [30:59]
Jamie Eisenberg
It's probably all the nonsense that we.
- [31:02]
Dave Richard
Pulled in the early years of CBSSports.com.
- [31:05]
Jamie Eisenberg
This is what led you to greatness.
- [31:06]
Dave Richard
You're the best.
- [31:07]
Jamie Eisenberg
Thank you so much for all you.
- [31:09]
Dave Richard
Do for the industry and for being my fantasy football partner, leading us to the podcast championship. It's something you've deserved for a very, very, very Long time. It's very overdue. You've been so important to me and my career and just me as a friend.
- [31:26]
Heath Cummings
I've never seen anybody in this industry work harder than you.
- [31:29]
Dave Richard
Any hour, any time of the day.
- [31:31]
Heath Cummings
Any day of the year, you're there, you're available. You, me, and Adam, that text chain.
- [31:36]
Dave Richard
That'S going to be going for a long, long time. And we are going to be trolling Adam and probably myself as well.
- [31:42]
Heath Cummings
Obviously, Jamie has paved the way for.
- [31:45]
Jamie Eisenberg
Me and people like me who love.
- [31:46]
Dave Richard
This to do this kind of work.
- [31:48]
Jamie Eisenberg
So thank you, Jamie.
- [31:49]
Heath Cummings
Thank you for being yourself and congratulations.
- [31:51]
Jamie Eisenberg
Jamae.
- [31:52]
Dave Richard
Just want to say congratulations on the hall of fame for me and George Sedano. Very well deserved.
- [31:58]
Heath Cummings
Congrats, Jamie.
- [32:00]
Dave Richard
We're really happy for you, man. It feels weird to say this, but welcome to the hall of fame from your fellow hall of famer. Oh, I meet you. Oh.
- [32:08]
Jamie Eisenberg
You're the coolest person I ever met and I'm so proud of you. Congratulations. I already knew you were the greatest.
- [32:16]
Heath Cummings
Dad, greatest coach, and now the greatest fantasy writer.
- [32:19]
Jamie Eisenberg
Love you, dad. Congrats.
- [32:21]
Dave Richard
We're so proud of you and we.
- [32:23]
Jamie Eisenberg
Love you so much.
- [32:24]
Heath Cummings
Congratulations.
- [32:25]
Dave Richard
And thank you so much for making.
- [32:26]
Heath Cummings
Me look like I know something to my fantasy team.
- [32:29]
Dave Richard
I really appreciate it.
- [32:30]
Heath Cummings
I definitely married into the right family.
- [32:32]
Jamie Eisenberg
Hi, Jamie. I am a huge proponent of you.
- [32:35]
Dave Richard
Receiving this prestigious honor. Congratulations.
- [32:39]
Jamie Eisenberg
And I agree completely.
- [32:40]
Heath Cummings
Love you.
- [32:42]
Dave Richard
And we're so proud of you, Jamie, and so excited for you. We all love you so much. Congratulations. I'm so proud of you, Jamie.
- [32:49]
Jamie Eisenberg
I'm receiving this incredible honor, sending you my love.
- [32:54]
Dave Richard
Now that football season is semi over or maybe over altogether, I don't know. I hope you were able to get some sleep because I know you don't sleep during football season.
- [33:05]
Jamie Eisenberg
Be good. Bye.
- [33:06]
Dave Richard
Bye.
- [33:07]
Jamie Eisenberg
Multiple belt.
- [33:08]
Dave Richard
Hey, Jamie. Congratulations on your award.
- [33:11]
Heath Cummings
We are so proud of you.
- [33:13]
Jamie Eisenberg
Congratulations, Jamie.
- [33:15]
Heath Cummings
Congrats, Jamie.
- [33:28]
Dave Richard
Ah. That was awesome.
- [33:30]
Jamie Eisenberg
That's amazing. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
- [33:32]
Dave Richard
That.
- [33:32]
Jamie Eisenberg
I mean, I'm crying. Thank you. That's. That's incredible. I can't believe you guys did that. Thank you.
- [33:38]
Heath Cummings
Very cool.
- [33:38]
Dave Richard
Our pleasure. And it's so well deserved.
- [33:41]
Jamie Eisenberg
Thank you.
- [33:42]
Dave Richard
All right. It. It deserved. For a long, long time. I thought you might like to know who else is in the class with you. Okay.
- [33:51]
Jamie Eisenberg
I know one.
- [33:52]
Dave Richard
Liz Loza.
- [33:54]
Jamie Eisenberg
Well deserved.
- [33:55]
Dave Richard
Yeah, she's amazing. And then also a guy you might know named Scott Fish. Yes.
- [34:00]
Jamie Eisenberg
Well deserved.
- [34:00]
Dave Richard
Who I believe you you helped bring into this industry and without question was another reason why you made The. The Fantasy hall of Fame. Listen, just being a writer for 20 years, that's a lot. But also helping people, and you've helped so many people, both in this building and outside of this building, get their foothold. And one of them being a guy who's built, like the most famous fantasy league ever and has done so many great charitable things. Just an absolute five feathers in your cap, Jamie. So you helping bringing him along, you helping the entire industry, you carrying the banner for CBS is absolutely a huge part of it. It's so well deserved. But there's no time to slack. You have to keep going and you have to keep showing the world that you're a fantasy football hall of Famer and hall of Fame analyst. But I think James Questel said it best. You're also a Hall of Fame person.
- [34:58]
Jamie Eisenberg
Well, thank you. I mean, the. Blown away. Blown away. Appreciate all you guys. Thank you so much.
- [35:05]
Heath Cummings
Very cool. Yeah. And congratulations to Scott Fish, who's actually in.
- [35:09]
Jamie Eisenberg
Yes. Oh, my God. So well deserved. I mean, you want to check your dms, Great human beings. Scott is just, you know, someone we should all aspire to be like and just the things that he does, not just for the fantasy community, but for the world. And Liz is an amazing analyst, amazing person. You know, we've. We've had the opportunity to have her on our shows, you know, a few times and, you know, been on her platforms as well. Like, she's just from Yahoo to espn. Just absolutely amazing. So very, very honored to be, you know, inducted with, you know, two amazing people like that and, you know, join such a great group of people that are in the hall of Fame. You know, we, we've been blessed, you know, whether they've been here by short amount of time, you know, people that started their careers at cbs. Like, we have a very strong group, you know, and, and I know Dave's honored to be part of this. You know, I'm. I'm certainly honored to be part of this now. And, you know, hopefully, Adam, your time is coming soon. Heath as well. Jacob, you know, down the line, Scott White, you know, who's probably overdue at this point as well for what he's done for the baseball side of things. And, you know, listen, it's as, as David Ganos who opened the video said, it's. It's a strange thing to say. You know, you're in a fan of Fantasy hall of Fame. It's not just football, but it's. It's a pretty cool honor. So I'm blown away, you know, Even though I. I knew this was coming, I not, not, you know, knew it was coming, but I knew obviously the last couple weeks for some personal things going on. You know, Dave's been very patient with me, so I appreciate that. But just, you know, beyond honor. They. Look who's there.
- [36:45]
Dave Richard
What's going on? I don't know how well you can deserve to be. Very deserved for Jared. Jamie there. I'm in Vegas at a conference, so hopefully you can hear me okay from my cell phone.
- [36:59]
Heath Cummings
Yeah, man, I feel right now I feel like I'm talking to Bill Belichick, Bill Parcells and like Don Shula and I'm Joe Judge or something like that.
- [37:09]
Dave Richard
3.
- [37:12]
Jamie Eisenberg
Congrats, guys. Well deserved, man.
- [37:14]
Dave Richard
Y.
- [37:15]
Jamie Eisenberg
Thank you.
- [37:15]
Dave Richard
Thank you.
- [37:17]
Jamie Eisenberg
Where are you? Congrats, Jamie.
- [37:20]
Dave Richard
I'm in Las Vegas at a conference.
- [37:24]
Heath Cummings
Yeah, that's good way, good way to celebrate. Get in the hall of fame.
- [37:27]
Jamie Eisenberg
That's what a camera does. I get to sit in the closet here.
- [37:33]
Heath Cummings
Scott, you're. You're an inspiration.
- [37:34]
Jamie Eisenberg
Yeah.
- [37:35]
Heath Cummings
I gotta say, because like the FFT open, which has been so awesome is right. We've raised so much money for St. Jude was, you know, inspired by the Scott Fishbowl, which has been incredible and raised so much money for fantasy care. So thanks for all you've done and you've been great as an analyst as well. But you have a really special place. The most philanthropic fantasy analyst that's ever existed. So congratulations and you deserve it, my friend. Good job.
- [38:02]
Dave Richard
Thank you, man. I. I really appreciate that. But really, this is about Jamie, the most deserving of the bunch. He's of at least of us too. I share a birthday with him too, which is pretty awesome.
- [38:14]
Jamie Eisenberg
Yeah.
- [38:14]
Dave Richard
And Liz Loza is a day apart from us, Jamie. So a two days. A two day. Yeah, a two day span of three of three hall of famers in one. In a two day span there. We got to tell Scott and Heath to change their birthdays. Apparently you got to be October birthday in order to.
- [38:36]
Heath Cummings
All right, guys, listen, head to break and get on with the show. But congratulations, Scott. Congratulations, Jamie. Scott. Have fun out there in Vegas.
- [38:47]
Jamie Eisenberg
Have fun.
- [38:47]
Heath Cummings
All righty. All right. An eventful Fantasy football today episode here and we will take a little break, come back and get back to the topic at hand and talk about these running back Derrick Henry underappreciated. And we'll be right back on Fantasy football today. Get in the game with the college.
- [39:06]
Jamie Eisenberg
Branded Venmo debit card.
- [39:08]
Heath Cummings
Wreck your team with every tap and earn up to 5% cash back with.
- [39:11]
Jamie Eisenberg
Venmo Stash, a new rewards program from Venmo. No monthly fee, no minimum balance, just school pride and spending power. Get in the game and sign up for the Venmo debit card@venmo.com collegecard the.
- [39:24]
Heath Cummings
Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank N.A. select schools available.
- [39:28]
Jamie Eisenberg
Venmo Stash terms and exclusions apply at Venmo me stash terms max $100 cash back per month.
- [39:34]
Heath Cummings
Okay, back to your original originally scheduled programming. All right, real quick here. We'll finish up at running back Dave Derek Henry, you know he had he had a bad start to the year, but just to recap from weeks 10 through 18, Chase Brown was RB5 per game, Derrick Henry RB6 per game, Trayvon Henderson RB7 per game or Trayvon Henderson had three games with 28 or more PPR fantasy points and Ramon Dre Stevenson RB8 per game. So that was a little weird. But if we just focus on Henry versus versus Chase Brown, you know he's got off to a slow start, tough competition, had a couple of fumbles early in the year, Lamar Jackson missed a couple games and Henry wasn't great. But in his last eight games, Derrick Henry was on pace for 338 carries, almost 1900 yards, 21 touchdowns, 5.6 yards per carry. He looked like Derrick Henry. So who do you go with, Henry or Chase Brown next year?
- [40:29]
Dave Richard
I Youth is always served in fantasy and as great as Derrick Henry was to finish last season, Chase Brown is who I'd take first. And I don't know if it's going to be necessarily by two rounds or anything like that, but give give me the younger back. He's 26 years old, still figures to be the feature guy for Cincinnati. Absolutely love that workload that he got in the second half of the year. From week nine on, what was it, 19.9 touches per game. It's pretty damn good. That's right around the wheelhouse of Derrick Henry anyway. And we know that Chase Brown will catch passes on top of it. In fact, he was fifth in among running backs in targets per game on the season. I'll take that over Derek Henry, older guy. Maybe this is the time, Jamie, where you say it and that you want to bet against him because he is starting to just get to that age where, you know, things can happen. And we saw it a little bit in the beginning of the year from Baltimore where they did try taking some work away from him. He didn't have a lot of games with 20 touches that changed towards the end of the year. He had a bunch of touchdowns at the end of the year, four touchdown game in week 17. I still feel like Chase Brown the catch is certainly in his favor, still has a big role and a high powered Cincinnati offense. I'd rather take that.
- [41:39]
Jamie Eisenberg
All right. I would agree. I think the thing with Henry is it's the same conversation, at least the same sentiment for me that we had at the end of Tennessee and through the Baltimore tenure. When they are winning games, you're going to feel really good about him. When they're competitive in games, you're going to feel good about them. When they're chasing points, it's probably going to be tough to say Derek Henry is a mustard guy. So if you believe in Jesse Minter and you believe in this new system and new regime because it's different first time in almost 20 years, it is different then I think you still feel Derek Henry has a chance to be In a top 12 conversation, in the top 10 conversation, could still be among the league leaders and rushing touchdowns and maybe even challenged to be one of the best rushers in terms of leading the league in Russian guards because he's always going to be in that conversation if he's right. But again, at some point he's going to suffer from father time and hopefully it's not an injury situation. So I think he should be chasing Chase Brown first or drafting Chase Brown first. But I wouldn't forget about Derek Henry. I don't think they should be that far apart. I think there's about five or six running backs in between them at most.
- [42:44]
Heath Cummings
Look at our wide receivers who excelled down the stretch from.
- [42:47]
Jamie Eisenberg
Well, I mean we should probably talk about the Patriots guys.
- [42:49]
Heath Cummings
I mean there's, I mean we should, but we had a little bit like a 15 minute detour from the show. I, I, we. Okay.
- [42:55]
Dave Richard
I mean what's to say about him?
- [42:58]
Heath Cummings
I mean it is pretty interesting that they both were top eight. There was a injuries were a lot.
- [43:03]
Jamie Eisenberg
Of spike games though for a trip.
- [43:04]
Dave Richard
Exactly, exactly. Yeah. Let's do a little bit of looking back on history. There were a bunch of games where Ramadre didn't play and not a bunch. Henderson had some huge runs. Yeah, but those are the play, those are the games that push Travion's average up and made him the RB7. And then it was Ramandre's last three games of the regular season when he, he was doing things that he had never done before in his career that put him eighth on the, on this list. But, yeah, I don't know if either one of them can even be top 12 in fantasy points per game next year if they're going to continue sharing the ball like we expect them to in 2026.
- [43:42]
Heath Cummings
Yeah, I just don't.
- [43:44]
Jamie Eisenberg
So far from what we've seen, the. The gap between these two guys, it was a little closer in the last draft, but the gap that we see, it's. To me, it's a little hard to justify right now.
- [43:54]
Dave Richard
Jamie was a full round almost.
- [43:56]
Heath Cummings
See if you can fix your mic settings. I think they got messed up in the. In the excitement. All right, let's go to wide receivers now. So from weeks 8 through 10, Chris Olave averaged 20.2 PPR fantasy points per game. Chris Olave was wide receiver 3 per game from weeks. Did I say weeks 8 through 10? Weeks 10 through 18. Sorry.
- [44:20]
Dave Richard
That'll work.
- [44:20]
Heath Cummings
Weeks 10 through 18, Chris Olave was wide receiver 3 PER game. Only Puka and JSN average more points per game than Olave. Olave, by the way, missed week 18. Jameson Williams was wide receiver 11 per game. But I forgot Michael Wilson. Michael Wilson was wide receiver four per game. So again, weeks 10 through 18, Olave, wide receiver three. Michael Wilson, wide receiver four. Jameson Williams, wide receiver 11. Dave, how do you draft those three?
- [44:48]
Dave Richard
By clicking the draft button in my fantasy room. And I'm going to click the button first, easily, for Chris Olave, who. Listen, wide receiver three. That shows us that he's got that type of upside, and we've been waiting for that, and we've seen flashes of that. And could it really be that just the combination of Tyler Shuck adapting to the NFL game sooner than expected, and then in eight games with Shuck, we're talking about 9.1 targets per game for Chris Olave. Kind of a high eight out. Adam, it was 14 yards there. He had six touchdowns in the eight games, averaged almost 19 PPR points in those eight games. Averaged. If you. If you tell fantasy managers right now that that's what it's going to be in New Orleans next year. And all you've really got to worry about with Olave's injuries, which is kind of a big thing to worry about, then I would say he's going to get drafted a lot sooner than a top 10 wide receiver. But I don't know if it's going to stay this way. I'm sure the Saints are going to add something. Remember, in the second half of the year, no Rasheed Shahid for much of that season. They figure to Add something to help make their offense pop. Their run game certainly could stand to get a lot better than where it was. And we'll see how Shuck does in his second year. And I think that's all kind of baked into Chris Olave still as a top 10 fantasy receiver. Where was he taken in our most recent mock draft? It's a great question. I'm looking right now.
- [46:07]
Heath Cummings
Round three. I got it. Round three Million. Chris Olave back.
- [46:11]
Dave Richard
I see. Yeah, yeah, there it is. Round 3. Few picks after Bucky, I would take him over Tetaroa McMillan pretty easily right now. And I think I might take him over Nico Kyle.
- [46:21]
Heath Cummings
So who's next?
- [46:22]
Dave Richard
Because I still think he's gonna have, I don't know, about 9.1 targets per game, but pretty close to that. He's still going to be the lead dog in that passing game. He's awesome when he's getting that kind of volume.
- [46:33]
Heath Cummings
Well, okay, you know, in the first. What was that? So, Olave, let me see the splits here. First nine games for Olave, he was.
- [46:46]
Dave Richard
Getting a lot of targets.
- [46:48]
Heath Cummings
He was on pace for 164 targets, and he wasn't really doing that well. On pace for 104 catches, 1059 yards, six touchdowns, 26.4% target share.
- [47:00]
Dave Richard
That's still really good in PPR. It's just not like top five good.
- [47:04]
Heath Cummings
Right. It's usable because of the catches, but it's not good on a per catch basis. Per target basis, not even close. Last 10 games or last seven games, he was on pace for 168 targets compared to 164 targets in his first nine games. But he was on pace for about 400 more yards and nine more touchdowns. So this was two things. One, it was this stretch was as soon as as Rashid, he got traded. But also it coincided with Tyler Shuck taking over, but not the entire time. Some of that first sample size, about a game and a half was Tyler Shuck. But you could clearly say the adot went up. As you mentioned, the chemistry with Tyler Shuck just appeared to be better. Their offense was better with Tyler Shuck. Believe it or not, Chris Olave averaged career lows in yards per target, yards per outrun, yards per catch, adot yak and explosive play rate. The only thing it wasn't like so much worse was just like a little bit worse. The only thing that really changed for him were the targets. And he finally scored some touchdowns down the stretch. He's caught 6 of 8 touchdown passes from Tyler Shuck, from weeks 10 wasn't.
- [48:05]
Jamie Eisenberg
The only thing though. He stayed healthy.
- [48:06]
Heath Cummings
Well, yeah, it's pretty big thing now. Wilson versus Jamo. Is that even a debate? Is it easy JMO this coming up this year?
- [48:18]
Jamie Eisenberg
I don't know if it's easy jmo. I mean you have a change in coordinator for the Lions that is very tight end friendly as we've discussed quite a bit over the last couple of weeks. And so if someone is going to lose of the big three pass catchers for Detroit, to me it feels like Jameson is going to lose a little bit more so than Amara St. Brown's going to lose just based on what they've done throughout the course of their careers. So I'm hoping it's not too much of a fall off for jmo. But obviously the, the situation you have to keep an eye on in Arizona is with a coaching change and we don't know what the quarterback situation is going to be. Michael Wilson has performed much better and looked much better and done things as a wide receiver much better than Marvin Harrison Jr. Has so far. Now I don't think it's necessarily fair to compare what the production was because when Harrison was there and I'm not talking about what they did when they were together because obviously Michael Wilson was overshadowed by Harrison, but just the type of targets and the way that Marvin Harrison was starting to look and build up to when he had a pocket passer and, and Jacoby Brissette and Harrison just did not get the time together that I think would have made people feel a lot different about what Marvin Harrison could be. Because we saw that Tampa game for a half. We saw the, the Colts game from the targets perspective. You know, the, the first couple of opportunities these two guys were together, it was feature Marvin Harrison and feature him to a huge degree. And so what Michael Wilson did at the end of the season, if that's Marvin Harrison, my guess is we're talking about a top 10 type wide receiver here. So I think Michael Wilson, if he steps into a bigger role than what he had when everybody was together, meaning Harrison and Trey McBride in the last two years, Wilson can still be a, a superstar caliber player, but I think he goes back to being the third option. I hope not a distant third option because there's still a lot to like about what Michael Wilson's game could be. But if it's Brissette in a LaFleur run offense or you know, this McVeigh San Francisco tree that we always see and has success, there could be opportunities for Wilson to Still be successful, but I'm still drafting Jameson Williams first with the hope of Dan Campbell taking over play calling. That influence still on, on Chris Petzing and we'll see how this all.
- [50:28]
Heath Cummings
Running gag.
- [50:30]
Jamie Eisenberg
I think just in, in this, in the setup, Jameson Williams still should be better.
- [50:37]
Heath Cummings
Super, super small sample size, probably too small to even take seriously. You know, Marvin Harrison got hurt in week 10. I think he missed weeks 11 and 12 and that's when Michael Wilson erupted. And then he played a little bit. He played 61% of the SAPS in week 13, 51% in week 16, 33% in week 17. So three partial games for Marvin Harrison. If you look at the snaps on which Marvin Harrison Jr. Was on the field in weeks 13, 16 and 17 after this little breakout from Michael Wilson. And look at the targets that the three guys got. Harrison, Wilson and McBride all had 10 or 11 targets. I wish it was more of a sample size, but it was basically all had about a 21% target share, which would be horrible.
- [51:25]
Dave Richard
To that end, what I don't think there's anything that's going to stop the new coaching staff in Arizona from just getting the ball to the best players because they don't have the same type of commitment to Marvin Harrison that the prior coaching staff did.
- [51:42]
Jamie Eisenberg
Right.
- [51:42]
Dave Richard
You know, the prior coaching staff wanted to make Marvin Harrison a thing. And if I'm Mike LaFleur and I get to Arizona and I watch what Michael Wilson's done and go back and watch his highlights, they're amazing. I want that guy involved. And I don't think he'll ever get to the point where he's far and away the number one target getter there, I think that's still going to be Trey McBride. But if Marvin Harrison can't be utilized better or start to play better, I wouldn't be shocked if by late September, early October, Michael Wilson was consistently earning more targets. I like the idea of drafting him as long as the value is right. Hoping that he does get that opportunity. To start seeing seven plus targets per.
- [52:23]
Heath Cummings
Game again, it just felt like he went in the middle. Michael Wilson went in the middle of round seven just before Tyree Kill, before Mike Evans, Alec Pierce. So we're not looking at necessarily sure things at wide receiver, but to have all three of those guys go in the first seven rounds. Remember they led the NFL in pass attempts last year. They had the one of the worst run games. They had the fewest running back carries in the NFL last year. That it's gonna, I, I don't know that's not the offense I necessarily want to hitch my wagon to with, with three guys in the top seven rounds, but.
- [52:59]
Jamie Eisenberg
And Jacoby Brissette, I mean that very realistically could be their quarterback. So while he was great last year, like to Dave's point, we were, you know, bringing it up like he started to fade because teams figured out who he is, what he does, you know, even though he's been around forever, you know, it's. You start to see what he looks like in this offense and it's easy to, you know, find ways to make them uncomfortable. And then you start to see the fall, the flaws.
- [53:20]
Heath Cummings
Jamo's tough. You know, he's a guy that is probably going to be pretty efficient because he's such a big playmaker, but he's one of the guys I think that has a lot less value, maybe around less in full ppr than he would in non or half ppr. He's just not going to get that many targets. He's not going to get that many catches. In his last 10 games, weeks nine through 18, he was on pace for 122 targets, which is great, but Jared Goff was throwing 37 and a half passes per game. That's only a 20.3% target share in that really good stretch. Weeks nine through 18 for Jameson Williams, it did bump up to a 23 target share in his last six games. But remember, Sam Laporta missed all of that, you know, in the first seven games of the year. Jameson Williams was terrible. He was dropped in some leagues. Sam Laporta had more targets than him at 6, more targets than JMO. And I'm pretty sure even in JMO's awesome stretch to end the 2024 season, I think Laporta had more targets than him there. At least it was close. So, you know, unless they have a terrible defense again because they keep getting hurt, which is probably not going to happen, and they're throwing more than 35 times a game. I don't know that we're going to get 110 targets for JMO guys. So I've kind of cooled off. He was definitely someone I was targeting. I think I'm. I think I'm waiting till round seven for, for Jameson Williams in full ppr. I don't know how you guys feel. He went round five, so I'm way off if that's his value. I went the first pick of round five in the draft.
- [54:45]
Jamie Eisenberg
We did. Yeah. I don't think you're getting him in round seven. You Know, we'll see with the rookie class and free agency and all those things that change. I was just thinking when you were, when you were talking about, you know, just some of the ways that he produces, like you start to think about the, the high end second receivers in the NFL, you know, so like T. Higgins, George Pickens, you know, Jameson Williams, those type of guys, like, he's not going to get the amount of targets those, those guys do, but he could score touchdowns like those guys do, you know, and I think that's the, the plus for him is that if you can figure or anticipate, you know, if you want to predict that he's going to be eight plus touchdowns, maybe 10 plus touchdowns in a efficient offense, that's still going to be very explosive, even with Mike Petsick, you know, so I, I think there's, you know, chances for him to still be dominant. But, but again, like, you know, when you start to, you know, break it down again, St. Brown should still be a student. If Laporta takes a huge leap, then that's going to impact everybody. But I think it impacts Jameson's targets probably more so than anyone else. And if he just takes a, a moderate leap, then hopefully all three guys can be successful. But you know, the, the Detroit offense, you know, you've, you've done a good job of, you know, looking at this. Adam is, you know, 2024, we know all the injuries after Hutchinson, you know, post Hutchinson 2025 is really a secondary falling apart. There's no guarantees like they're going to have a great defense. You know, you anticipate them probably having a better defense. And so how much does that sort of, you know, limit the production? I also think, like, we don't talk about enough like their run game really started a struggle in the second half of the season too. You know, Jameer Gibbs still produced as a fantasy option, but like it wasn't, they were, they weren't very successful as a rushing attack by comparison to where they've been in the Dan Campbell era when both Montgomery and Gibbs were at their best. So I think that factored into the passing game also. So I think they're still great value for Williams. I agree, I wouldn't want to reach for him, but I think round five is a pretty good spot to start to take a chance on somebody like him. Because if he's, if he's anything close to what we saw in the second half of the season, you're getting a bargain.
- [56:44]
Heath Cummings
Yeah, I, I think round seven's too late. You Know, looking at the wide receipt, looking at the players going in these rounds, just there's like no good wide receivers right now. At least it looks that way because we're always basing it off last year's production. So no, round seven's too late. Maybe.
- [56:59]
Dave Richard
You know, it's going to change a ton of five months.
- [57:01]
Heath Cummings
Yeah, of course I would have taken Cortland Sutton over him. I would have taken Terry McLaurin over him. I would have taken DK Metcalf over him. Maybe not Metcalf, but definitely the other guys. All right, let's go to the tight ends. And all right, from weeks eight through 10, who were the good tight ends? Kyle Pitts was tight end, three per game. Colby Parkinson was tight end, four per game. He had eight touchdowns in that stretch. And Juwan Johnson was tight end, eight per game. He was just behind Harold Fannin Jr. And Colson Loveland. So Dave, Kyle Pitts was tight end three from weeks eight through 10. Keep doing that. Eight through 10, 10 through 18. 10 through 18 copies. Was tight end, three per game. Colby Parkinson, tight end, four per game. Juwan Johnson, tight end, eight per game. Again, no Rashid Shahid in this stretch. Your thoughts on how, you know, how, how excited you are. I know the way you draft them, but just your thoughts on these three guys. Pitts, Parkinson, Johnson.
- [57:59]
Dave Richard
I, I don't really want to draft them unless they're with late round picks. That won't be the case with Pitts. That will be the case with Parkinson and Johnson. And with Parkinson. I already know that it's going to be a crowded tight end room in LA again next year, even if Tyler Higby isn't there. The splits are very necessary to say about pits. The pit splits are very necessary. Five games without Drake, London, he averaged 19 PPR points per game, 8.8 targets per game, 12 games with Drake. London, 9.6 PPR points per game, 6.2 targets per game. Do not take Kyle Pitts with a, with a meaningful pick. If you're expecting 9.6 PPR points per game and 6.2 targets per game, that's okay for a tight end, but I feel like we can find tight ends that can deliver that in close to, if not well into the double digit rounds. And with Juwan Johnson, all it's going to take is one other notable receiver joining New Orleans and it's going to be curtains for him being even close to six targets per game, which I think is what he was almost at in those same games where Shuck started. Same split that I took with Olave. I can take that with Juwan Johnson too. And I think in those games it was 11.5 PPR points per game and 5.6 targets per game and only two scores. Kind of felt like the first half of his year was better than the second half.
- [59:21]
Heath Cummings
Well, Jamie, can we have optimism about any of these guys? Kyle Pitts, Colby Parkinson, Juwan Johnson, Pitts for sure.
- [59:28]
Jamie Eisenberg
I mean look, there's, there's obvious flaws. We, we know what his career has been. But now you have a very tight end friendly coach in Kevin Stefanski in Atlanta. Now if he's got to stay in Atlanta, he's a free agent. You know, you're hearing maybe, you know, franchise tag is a possibility. If he goes to a team that's tight end friendly, then there's going to be a lot to like about Kyle Pitt still. But obviously he's had a great, he had a great rookie season. He had some flashes throughout the, the last several years and then he pops off this season in a contract year. So if he gets paid, are you worried about that motivation maybe being gone? So I think we kind of know who the top six tight ends are going to be in whatever order of McBride, Bowers, Loveland, Fanon, Kraft, Laporta. After that it feels like there's going to be a wide range of, unless I'm missing somebody but a wide range of guys that are going to be in that mix of, of 7 through 12 where I think Kyle Pitts belongs. Now again, team is going to matter here. But if Stefanski and the Falcons, Matt Ryan, etc prioritize Kyle Pitts and keeping him there and they don't add another wide receiver so it's Darnell Mooney again then I think Kyle Pitts is worth, is worth drafting on the expectation of him delivering as a top 10 tight end because of what the offense will be. Now quarterback will matter too because all of his production second half of the season came with Kirk Cousins versus Michael Pennix when we know Penix was very high on him based on the preseason and, and the things that they said. But I do think that Pittsburgh is in a different category than these other two guys like Juwan Johnson's. The perfect. The perfect. I whiffed. I'm gonna take Juwan Johnson and whatever young tight end that we may, you know, talk about draft wise, you know, Sadiq, Kenyan Sadiq. Well, I, I was, I, I wasn't necessarily going to attach to rookie but yes, he'd be the one. But I, I think if you're looking at like a gunner helm, a Terence Ferguson, you know, one of these guys that's going to get a chance to maybe be featured but not necessarily dominant, at least going into the season. Ben Senate, you know, one of these type of guys that may get starting opportunities. I think Joanne Johnson will still be okay even if the, the, the, the Saints add somebody else. But Parkinson to me was fluky. You know, I, I think as Dave said, you know, there's going to be a lot of tight ends in, in Los Angeles for the Rams and a lot of his production came in the stretch of games that Devonte Adams was at.
- [61:53]
Heath Cummings
Also question for you guys. Remember the game Kyle Pitts had against Tampa Bay? Three touchdown.
- [62:00]
Dave Richard
Which one?
- [62:01]
Heath Cummings
The three touchdown game. Yeah, it was a Thursday night. Remember the three touchdown game Brock Bowers had against Jacksonville? Who scored more PPR fantasy points in their three touchdown game, Kyle Pitts or Brock Bowers?
- [62:17]
Dave Richard
I feel like it was Pitts.
- [62:18]
Heath Cummings
It was Pitts. 43.3 for Bowers, 45.6 for Kyle Pitts. 11 catches, 166 yards, three touchdowns on 12 targets.
- [62:28]
Dave Richard
Wow.
- [62:29]
Heath Cummings
Some game. It was a huge game. It was a very important game in the NFC South. Great division. Okay, that's going to do it for today's show. Hall of Famers because you guys, thank you again.
- [62:43]
Jamie Eisenberg
That was, that was awesome.
- [62:45]
Heath Cummings
Yeah, Dave did a lot of work to put all that together. So hall of Fame effort there by Dave Richard.
- [62:50]
Jamie Eisenberg
Yes.
- [62:51]
Heath Cummings
I had some help and I hadn't seen the video. I was really cool, you know, to see these. I didn't even know who those people were and I was like getting emotional. It was really cool. I knew, yeah.
- [63:00]
Jamie Eisenberg
Family members. You know, Dave did a great job there reaching out. I'm sure my wife helped him a little bit.
- [63:06]
Dave Richard
Just a little.
- [63:07]
Jamie Eisenberg
You know, my, you saw two of my cousins who, you know, you've probably seen some points in their careers. Jesse was there and Hallie was there. Hallie's husband, part of the group that started the Players Tribune. So he's had his hand in some sports.
- [63:20]
Heath Cummings
Really?
- [63:21]
Jamie Eisenberg
Yep. Yep. Also owns a soccer team and part owner of soccer team in. I forgot the league that they're in, AC Bournemouth and in the Davis Cup. So he's got his hands some sports ventures and you know, a lot of the great hosts that we've worked with and colleagues that work with. Lauren Shahadi was there. Jason Horace was there. Nathan Zagora was there. Some guy, Nando Defina, you might have heard from him.
- [63:50]
Heath Cummings
I have to. I'm seeing him this weekend.
- [63:53]
Jamie Eisenberg
I'm sorry, what I'm seeing.
- [63:54]
Heath Cummings
I'm hanging out with him this weekend.
- [63:55]
Jamie Eisenberg
Yes. Yeah. So, yeah, that was. That was really cool. Thank you, Dave and everybody.
- [64:01]
Dave Richard
Yeah, sure thing.
- [64:02]
Heath Cummings
Well, it's a pleasure to work with these two guys, for sure. And also, I think what I didn't get to say the best part of that video was that, like, Schaefer definitely had to just cut off Dan mid sentence there. Dan was. He was just going like he. He was going from one thought to another. Great job, Jamie. You're so hard working. Then he gets into our text chain. What is it? Why is he talking about the text chain? Then trolling me and Dan like, what? And then Shaffer was just like, that's enough. We got to get to the next guy. I love it.
- [64:32]
Jamie Eisenberg
I can't wait to watch it again, you know, because it was like, it was a lot to tick in.
- [64:35]
Dave Richard
Yeah.
- [64:36]
Jamie Eisenberg
But I appreciate it. Thank you so much.
- [64:38]
Heath Cummings
Have a great day, everybody. We'll talk to you tomorrow on fantasy football team.
- [64:49]
Jamie Eisenberg
Paramount Podcasts.
- [64:52]
Dave Richard
Can you keep a secret, dad? It turns out I hadn't died. Now streaming on Paramount.
- [64:59]
Jamie Eisenberg
Plus, the money from your dad's life insurance finally came through. Please, this is fraud.
- [65:03]
Heath Cummings
A new original series.
- [65:05]
Jamie Eisenberg
You have to give the money back.
- [65:06]
Dave Richard
What sort of friend.
- [65:08]
Jamie Eisenberg
Look, Blackmails their own mates?
- [65:10]
Dave Richard
We're a crime family. Oh, don't be silly. We're just a bit complicated, like the Beckons. Can you keep a secret? New series now streaming on Paramount. Plus.