Big Minicamp Storylines: Rashee Rice, Jonnu Smith, Tony Pollard and More (06/20 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Summary

Fantasy Football Today: Big Minicamp Storylines Summary

Episode Title: Big Minicamp Storylines: Rashee Rice, Jonnu Smith, Tony Pollard and More
Release Date: June 20, 2025
Hosts: Adam Azer, Dave Richard, Jamie Eisenberg, Heath Cummings
Transcript Highlights Provided

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1. Introduction

In this episode of Fantasy Football Today, hosts Adam Azer, Dave Richard, Jamie Eisenberg, and Heath Cummings delve into the latest minicamp developments, focusing on key players like Rasheed Rice, Jonnu Smith, and Tony Pollard. The discussion aims to provide fantasy football enthusiasts with insights to dominate their leagues.

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2. Rasheed Rice: Injury and Recovery

Key Points:

• Injury Update: Rasheed Rice is expected to be a full participant in training camp, recovering from a torn LCL.
• Fantasy Implications: Rice has shown significant target potential, averaging over 150 targets in the last six games of 2023, positioning him as a high-volume receiver.

Notable Quotes:

• Jamie Eisenberg ([05:43]): "I think he's 15 right in that range. You know, a third-round pick, somebody who you should be, you know, excited about."
• Adam Azer ([06:09]): "This should be a high volume receiver who I, I've always known him. One of my favorite things to say about him is that he's got a knack for the end zone."

Discussion: The hosts compare Rice's recovery from a torn LCL with other players who have returned from ACL injuries, emphasizing the uncertainty of performance post-recovery. Dave Richard highlights the importance of Rice's participation in minicamp as a positive sign for his readiness.

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3. Player Rankings and Fantasy Value

Key Points:

• Ranking Consensus: Rice is collectively ranked around the 15th position among fantasy receivers, making him a valuable third-round pick.
• ADP Considerations: Rice’s current Average Draft Position (ADP) reflects his upside, despite concerns about potential competition and injury history.

Notable Quotes:

• Dave Richard ([07:00]): "This is a big growth year for a lot of these players and I'm curious to see how Rice sort of taking a step back."

Discussion: The hosts assess how Rice’s role in the Chiefs' offense, especially with players like Patrick Mahomes, positions him as the top receiving threat. They also debate the impact of his injury type on his fantasy performance.

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4. Other Key Minicamp Storylines

a. Josh Simmons and Offensive Line Developments

• Position Competition: Josh Simmons is vying for the starting left tackle position, adding depth to the Chiefs' offensive line.
• Impact on Rice: With potential competition from Xavier and Marquis Brown's return, Rice's target share could be affected.

Notable Quotes:

• Jamie Eisenberg ([07:40]): "Josh Simmons could compete for the starting left tackle job."

b. Andy Reid on Travis Kelsey

• Usage Stability: Andy Reid indicates no immediate plans to limit Travis Kelsey's snaps, maintaining his role in the offense.

Notable Quotes:

• Jamie Eisenberg ([03:40]): "Heath has definitely brought up the touchdown regression for James Cook..."

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5. Additional News Items

• Matthew Golden & Jordan Love: Rob Damofsky of ESPN suggests Golden has good chemistry with Love, potentially leading to increased playing time.
• Joe Mixon’s Health: Mixon is expected to be ready during training camp after dealing with foot and ankle issues.
• Baltimore’s Defensive Moves: The Ravens signed Jair Alexander to bolster their secondary.
• Shadower Sanders’ Off-Field Issues: Sanders faced speeding citations and failed to appear in court, raising concerns.

Notable Quotes:

• Jamie Eisenberg ([16:40]): "Rob Damofsky of ESPN says Matthew Golden has good chemistry with Jordan Love and should get plenty of early playing time."

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6. Contract Holdouts and Player Performances

a. James Cook’s Contract Situation

• Holdout Concerns: James Cook attends minicamp amidst a contract dispute, with uncertainty surrounding his participation and performance.
• Fantasy Impact: Concerns over Cook’s touchdown regression may influence his fantasy value.

Notable Quotes:

• Jamie Eisenberg ([18:16]): "James Cook showed up for minicamp amid a contract dispute."

b. John who Smith’s Holdout

• Trade Rumors: John who Smith is holding out with speculation about a potential trade, affecting his availability and fantasy prospects.

Notable Quotes:

• Jamie Eisenberg ([22:07]): "John who Smith is holding out right now. And, you know, obviously there are obvious implications to that..."

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7. Draft Strategies and Tier-Based Rankings

Key Points:

• Tier Differentiation: Emphasis on understanding the gaps between player tiers to make informed drafting decisions.
• Positional Prioritization: Discussions on when to prioritize quarterbacks and tight ends based on league settings and scoring formats.

Notable Quotes:

• Dave Richard ([44:04]): "That and that I would imagine will be the case in like every one QB league."
• Adam Azer ([46:57]): "It's, it's, it might be hypothetical. And it really comes down to how each individual fantasy manager feels."

Discussion: The hosts elaborate on the importance of drafting based on tiers, ensuring managers secure value at critical positions before others. They discuss examples of running back tiers and the strategic implications for draft plans.

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8. Listener Emails and Questions

Key Highlights:

• Henry from Detroit: Discusses value in drafting Joe Burrow versus waiting for later-round quarterbacks.
• Steve from New Jersey: Queries about drafting strategies in premium tight end leagues.
• Jesse from Wine Country: Asks about drafting rookie wide receivers in early rounds.

Notable Quotes:

• Jamie Eisenberg ([39:06]): "Henry says with the 101 I'm taking Jamar Chase. Is it worth a bit of a reach to take Burrow at 501 for the stack as opposed to waiting for the later round values if he's there, right?"

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9. Personal Anecdotes and Wrap-Up

Highlights:

• Jamie Eisenberg’s Birthday: Shares a humorous account of organizing a 10-year-old’s birthday party that was disrupted by rain but ended on a high note with indoor festivities.
• Hosts' Interactions: Light-hearted banter among hosts about personal lives and experiences outside of fantasy football.

Notable Quotes:

• Jamie Eisenberg ([63:09]): "What are we doing with Travis etn?"
• Jamie Eisenberg ([65:04]): "I had everyone come back to our house and we had 20 people here, including kids..."

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10. Conclusion

The episode concludes with anecdotes and a teaser for upcoming content, reinforcing the podcast’s commitment to providing valuable insights and engaging discussions for fantasy football enthusiasts.

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Key Takeaways:

• Rasheed Rice is a high-value receiver recovering from a torn LCL, making him a strategic third-round pick.
• Tier-based drafting remains crucial for maximizing value and ensuring positional strength.
• Player health and contract situations significantly impact fantasy valuations and strategies.
• Listener engagement through emails enriches the discourse, offering diverse perspectives and questions.

For comprehensive strategies and the latest updates, tuning into Fantasy Football Today ensures you stay ahead in your fantasy football league.

Transcript

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[Adam Azer]

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[Dave Richard]

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It's time to dominate your fantasy to the races. And he stays on his feet. This is going to go the distance. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie and Heath.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Happy Friday everybody. It is Friday, June 20th. Here on Fantasy Football today. Adam Azer, Dave Richard, Jamie Eisenberg. We are going to talk about Rasheed Rice. I think we're going to talk a lot about Rashi Rice as he's going to be full go for training camp. Some of the major minicamp storylines that you may have missed and your emails at fantasy football. CBSI.com Dave Richard is on location, sort of on vacation, sort of. But he is joining us remotely from a different location. So he sounds a little bit different. Dave show Let, let him hear what you sound like today.

[Adam Azer]

Hello everybody.

[Dave Richard]

He's using.

[Adam Azer]

I'm in my parents house in Galveston, Texas, their office to be exact. And happy anniversary to them, their 54th wedding anniversary.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

That's all today really.

[Adam Azer]

54 years of my mom dealing with my dad. It's unbelievable. So happy. Annie.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Guys, they're great people. We've met them, they're awesome. And happy anniversary to them. Is this your childhood home? Someone's asking. No, you grew up in Chicago?

[Adam Azer]

Not really. I grew up in Chicago, but this house has been in my family's possession since I've been alive, if not long before. So like, I used to visit my grandmother here when she was alive way back in the day. And she's not with us anymore. But the house is still, you know, it's, it feels like childhood when I walk in. So to that extent it is. I should also mention, like, this is where all of my mom, my mom's an author, and so this is where all of her stories are written right back there. So if you're into murder mystery novels, look up Saralyn Richard online. Or if you're into children's book. She also wrote a children's book called Naughty Nana. I know it's one of Adam's favorites to read to his kids, but look her up online. Palmcirclepress.com buy a book, will you? You'll be smarter for it.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

All right, so that's Dave. He sounds a little bit different today and that is why, Jamie, you sound normal and you are in your normal location.

[Dave Richard]

Yes, everything is the same and everything's.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Great for the Kansas City Chiefs. So let's start with our news and notes. Rasheed Rice and rookie offensive tackle Josh Simmons are going to be full participants in training camp. Simmons could compete for the starting left tackle job. Also, Andy Reid said he's not at the moment looking to limit Travis Kelsey snaps. He could reevaluate that if he needs to, but not looking to limit Kelsey snapshot Rice. Okay, let's talk about Rasheed Rice because he is not coming off a torn acl. He is coming off a torn lcl. And I really couldn't find, you know, this guy tore his lcl. And in week four, there's not a lot of precedent. I found some, you know, some guys we should talk about who came off torn ACLs. But I did see some, a lot of Rasheed Rice on hype on Twitter or X yesterday and today because people are excited about this, him being full go for training camp. He was the number two wide receiver per game. If you don't count the four snaps he played. In week four, he was on pace for 164 targets. He was on pace in the last six games of 2023 for 159 targets. And then in the postseason three games or four games there he was on pace for 140 targets. So since the last six games of 2023, we're looking at a guy who's probably been on pace for about 150 plus targets, which is fantastic. Okay, where is he ranked for you, Jamie, Rashid Rice?

[Dave Richard]

I think he's 15 right in that range. You know, a third round pick, somebody who you should be, you know, excited about. Obviously there's some differences to when he left the field to where the Chiefs are now. I think Xavier were these emergence is going to be somewhat of an issue for him and I also think that if Marquis Brown's healthy, it's going to be somewhat of an issue for him. But you just laid it out how great he was in the time that he's been on the field for Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs and it feels as if he's the number one receiver and probably number one receiving threat for Kansas City right now. So there's a lot to love about the situation for us.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

And Dave, how about you? Jamie says he's got him around 15th. And you.

[Adam Azer]

It's exactly where I have him and the exact same sentiment. This should be a high volume receiver who I, I've always known him. One of my favorite things to say about him is that he's got a knack for the end zone. We saw it at smu, saw it in his rookie year, saw it in the four games he played last year. I think he can continue to be that guy for Kansas City and be a threat for double digit touchdowns.

[Dave Richard]

We, we talk a lot about, you know, year one, year two, year three receivers and you know, when the breakout comes, I'm just finishing up. I do it every year, the third year receiver story and I sort of revisited some of the, the guys that I spoke to over the years and what Jerry Rice once told me once Chris, what Chris Carter once told me, what Steve Smith once said to me about this. Anquan Bolden, you know, I've talked to a lot of guys, you know, hall of Fame caliber players about this and you know, can he take another step in his third year and obviously his second year was really, you know, cut short. This is the, the big growth year. You know, forget about just the statistics. You know, this is the year where you see everything sort of come into place for these guys. At least the ones that, you know, have had some, some pretty big seasons. You know, clearly there's a lot of rookie standouts. For example, I don't know if Pukinakua gets better statistically in year three than he's been in year one and year two.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Right.

[Dave Richard]

But this is a big growth year for a lot of these players and I'm curious to See, you know, how Rice sort of taking a step back. Obviously rehab was a big part of it, but you hear sometimes when guys get injured and they're just around, you know, the, the, the playbook and, and learning, you know, from their coaches and, and being in the, in the room during meetings, you know, how much do they, you know, learn and grow and develop. And so it's a, it's a, it's going to be a good year for Rice, I think. You know, so hopefully he's back, good to go. I think really, honestly the bigger story though for the Chiefs is, is the Simmons recovery, because had he been cleared for the draft, he probably doesn't fault them.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Right. So this is a very talented left tackle or offensive tackle. They're hoping you can play left tackle. Missed about half the season and fell to them late in the, very late in the first round. And yeah, being, I'm surprised, I'm surprised that he's going to be full go for the start of training camp. Just going to go ahead and we got Dave muted. Good. Dave's got some stuff going on back there. Bye, Dave. Yeah, it is a big deal. Let me. Yeah, and left tackle was a big issue for them obviously, last year. So I just wanted to ask you a follow up question on Rishi Rice. If he were coming off a torn ACL instead of lcl, would it affect your rankings?

[Dave Richard]

As long as he's healthy and cleared and you know, look, taking part in minicamp is huge, you know, for, for a guy coming off a significant injury, you know, you asked me for, for some notes, you know, for minicamp. You know, Stefan Diggs coming back from an ACL tear is huge. You know, the fact that he's, you know, already practicing, good to go. So, I mean, you know, you never know how guys recover from injuries. You have the, the best examples probably Adrian Peterson. And you know, if we want to talk about current players, Chris, God, in what, two years until he said he felt he was back to normal. You know, so there's so many differences in how guys recover. And age, I'm sure is a factor. You know, the team that you're with, the team doctor that you're with, you know, there's all these different things that go into it. So I think just the fact that he's taking part in minicamp and cleared fully for training camp, it's extremely encouraging. And I'll just give you a personal example. You know, I was offered in our, in our Dynasty league. Somebody really wanted Drake London. It's a super Flex league. I was offered to a Tonga by Loa and Rashi Rice for Drake London. To me that was a no brainer. I, I don't think if Rice is right, he's that far off from Drake London based on what we've seen. And you're giving me a quarterback that I could start on top of it. So I was happy to make that trade, especially knowing that Rice was clear.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Okay. Rice is a really interesting player because you are not going to find a top 12 receiver. I mean I, I Debo Samuel is the only guy who has had an A dot as low as him. I mean he, he five yards basically is the A dot for Rasheed Rice. First year it was lower than that. It was 4.8 yards. Last year it was 5.2 yards. And yet he still makes big plays because he's so good after the catch, but he doesn't make huge plays. You know, he's not a downfield threat. He's not. He's just different. I had doubts that he could be that good in fantasy again because again it just he had the lowest adot in football I think in 2023 as a rookie. It probably would have been pretty close to that in 2024. So, you know, it's a different kind of profile. He's a different kind of player. He's terrific after the catch. It's going to lead to a lot of catches though, that's for sure. All right. And then yeah, I mean, Chris Godwin Chris Godwin towards ACL late 2021 he made his training camp debut on August 5th. He was not ready for the start of training camp, but he had a pretty bad season by his standards after the acl. Cortland Sutton tore his ACL in Week two and then he. I think he was ready for training camp, but they may have brought him along slowly. I read an article that was written on August 8th from the Denver Post that said Cortland Sutton appears to be regaining his Pro bowl form of two years ago. Well, that year he had 776 yards and two touchdowns in 17 games. It wasn't that much better than two years after either. Saquon Barkley tore his acl in week two. Remember, Rasheed Rice got hurt in week four was his LCL though. Saquon Barkley tore his ACL in week two. He started training camp on the PUP list. He was ready for week one. He had a really bad year. He averaged 3.7 yards per carry. Saquon Barkley after the ACL he was RB30 overall, he was RB32 per game. And, and that's just the point. And you know where, you know where Saquon Barkley was in adp? He was a first round pick. So my. The point I'm making is guys can appear healthy but not really be healthy. And everyone buys into it when the reports are good, when they come off the PUP list, when they're back, when they're ready for week one, we buy into it again. I. The big key for me is I don't know how severe this injury is because it's not an acl, but if it were, it were an acl, I would, I would almost guarantee that he's not going to be as productive as he was as, you know, in his earlier years.

[Dave Richard]

Can I give you another player coming back from injury that surprised us?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah.

[Dave Richard]

JK Dobbins.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Jk. So he was coming off of what, the Achilles?

[Dave Richard]

Achilles?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

He was. Yeah, he did. I brought it up.

[Adam Azer]

He did not look bad at all.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

He did, but he had two great games to start the year. And then after that, I think it was like 3.7 yards per carry, which is what Barkley was. Now, overall, it was good, but I.

[Dave Richard]

Guess it's the fact that. And granted he did miss four games for a different injury. Probably not the best example, but I'm just saying, like, guy got hurt. I was thinking guys got hurt early in the season and we're ready to go for the next year. Yeah, I'll go. I'll go back to what I said. It. It's there. There's never going to be a clear definition of this player, this injury, and will be ready to go on this day. It's just impossible. It's absolutely impossible. You know, I mean, the fact that Christian Watson is taking part in any level of practice is amazing.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah.

[Dave Richard]

You know, for the injury he suffered, when he suffered it, you know, so all these guys are going to, you know, have different levels of when they're back, when they're ready to go. I think just again, you got to trust what you're hearing and what you're seeing. And the fact that he's taking part in minicamp with no issues, it's great.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

But it's. Yeah, no, it's just. I think you can run into trouble trusting what you're hearing and seeing, because I just read an article about Cortland Sutton appearing to be regaining his Pro Bowl, Pro bowl form, and you're always going to get these articles about how great these guys look, and then they're never Honest about it until a year after the fact when they go, yeah, it wasn't really myself, I feel like, like Javante Williams. Javante Williams is saying two years after his ACL and Javante Williams had a horrible injury, but he's saying now two years later that he finally feels like he's back to himself. You know, we need to do is we need to talk to a doctor, honestly.

[Dave Richard]

Yeah, probably the. It. It's also, you know, I would, I would guess if Rashi Rice comes out and has a great start to the season. Oh, yeah, I felt great from the beginning. I'm good to go. If he struggles, it's easy for him to go back and say, and I'm not saying that this is the case or not, but it's easy for him to say, oh, my knee was still not right and this is why I wasn't putting up these type of numbers. It's just there's, you know, being around this for so long. You never know what's the, the true definition of when somebody's right, when somebody's not right, how quickly they're back, all those things.

[Adam Azer]

And you never know when someone could have a setback. Like maybe the Friday before week one and they are lost for the first 10 games of the season. Like Christian McCaffrey had after he was, you know, limping along all training camp long and then he feels good and then all of a sudden something doesn't feel right and he's gone for a while and we've already drafted. So I, I feel like, I feel like if Rashid Rice had gone on last year and played 17 games at the pace that he played at for the first three games, he'd be a first round pick. We're drafting him in round three. Is that where we're at with him right now? I think it's kind of baked in that there's some injury downside and, and I'm fine taking him in that range. If he ends up not, I don't think he's going to be as great as he was in those first three. He had a 35% target per route run rate. No one has a route rate that high over the course of the season. That's really rare to see. I don't think he's going to get that at all with Kelsey and Worthy and Hollywood Brown there. Like it's, it's just not going to happen. But the, if we go through all of training camp and he's practicing every day, seems fine. We're gonna see them play in the preseason. Reed plays these guys in the preseason. We'll see him in a preseason game. If he looks okay, you'll have the conviction to maybe even move him into late round two.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I'm gonna just read your birthday yesterday.

[Adam Azer]

Yesterday was, that's why we didn't have a show yesterday.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Oh yeah, whatever your name is, thank you. I'll tell you about the, the like 10 year old kid birthday party I threw for myself a little bit later in the show. Anyway, just some more quick news items. Rob Damofsky of ESPN says Matthew golden has good chemistry with Jordan Love and should get plenty of early playing time. That's good news. Joe Mixon is going to be ready at some point during training camp, possibly the beginning of training camp. According to NBC Houston's Aaron Wilson, Mixon is dealing with foot and ankle issues. Remember, they just signed Nick Chubb. Baltimore signed former cornerback Jair Alexander to a one year deal that could be worth up to $6 million. On paper. They have a very talented secondary. They were easy to pass against last year, but they hopefully have upgraded that secondary with Jair Alexander in Baltimore. And Shadur Sanders got cited for speeding twice in recent weeks. He failed to show up in court for one of those citations and he was going way over the speed limit. So come on, man, slow it down. All right. We're going to take a quick break here and come back and talk about some minicamp storylines, some important things that you, you probably know a lot of them, they're worth repeating. Maybe some of them you missed. We'll be right back.

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[Jamie Eisenberg]

We got some really good emails today. I'm looking forward to reading those, and I think one of them is going to be about a player that. That I think is one of the more underrated, even though we know how great he is. Underdrafted players in. In fantasy this year as of. In terms of early adp. Anyway, we'll get to that in a moment. Fantasy football, that is the letter I. If you want to send us an email. All right, so some minicamp storylines. I'm just going to read it and you guys give me a quick reaction. James Cook showed up for minicamp amid a contract dispute. Jamie.

[Dave Richard]

I think it's huge. You know, I mean, for a guy that was considering holding out and, you know, I had some questions about, you know, where he can finish From a performance standpoint, Heath has definitely brought up the touchdown regression. For a guy that tied the NFL lead in rushing touchdowns last year, it makes some sense to maybe fade him a little bit. Your point, Adam, which I think is also valid, is like, you want to have a player like this who's on such a great offense and is still going to be the lead running back, but if he had not shown up and we had these concerns coming into training camp, which he could still hold out, then we're gonna have, you know, some. Some concerns. But the fact that he's seemingly wanting to be the, you know, good teammate and be there on time and. And says he wants to stay in Buffalo, I think this was a very positive scenario for. For James Cook. For fantasy managers who are buying into.

[Adam Azer]

Next up is to see if he. Is he a hold in or is he gonna practice during training camp. You know, a lot of guys when they've got a contract dispute, they show up and they'll dress for practice. They will not practice. They'll just stand there on the sideline. That's been their new. That's part of their new playbook as far as trying to get a new contract. If he does that, he might as well be holding out. So we'll see. But the touchdown regression is what scares me the most about Cook.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

The holdouts are kind of like injuries is you just don't know what the impact will be. But they should not be under. They shouldn't be overlooked because who were the three guys that held out? Chase Lamb last year? There was one more, right, the holdouts, iuk. And they all got off to slow.

[Dave Richard]

Starts, they were hold ins.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Holdouts or hold ins, whatever it was, didn't practice. They all got off to slow starts. Obviously, Chase turned things around, but, yeah, I mean, and then Jacobs, two years ago, Jacobs had a pretty awful start to the season. He held out. Jonathan Taylor held out.

[Dave Richard]

Two.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah. Also two years ago, he actually missed four games, so. And then he, you know, took him a little while to get going.

[Dave Richard]

All right, well, what was. It was Robert Turbin. Right. Who told us on our show that could be a problem.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I think so. I mean, if it was anyone, it was Robert Turpin. Yeah.

[Dave Richard]

And then I. I just remember because we do shows with Logan Ryan, who came back at the end of the 2023 season. Right. For the 49ers to help them get to the Super Bowl. So last year, he did shows with us, and he said, there's such a big difference between being in shape and being in football shape. And he's like, you can be. You could run as many sprints as you want. You grow up hills. You can lift as much weight as you want. You know, he goes until, you know, he's a cornerback, former defensive back. He goes until that offensive lineman leans on you. You don't know what it's like. And so, you know, these guys are, you know, they're doing everything they have to do. They're obviously in great shape. They're doing all their offseason stuff. Training has certainly changed, but I think it's a big part of it. You know, when they're not actually doing their. Their football stuff, it's. And it's not something you could recreate unless you just have, you know, the ability to, you know, bring large human beings to train with you like that. But in any event, I'd like to see James Cook doing everything he's supposed to do, because I. I would like him to have another strong season.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah. And I think I. I think I'm in close to football shape. I wouldn't. I guess I won't really know until.

[Dave Richard]

You'Re not even in softball shape. Okay.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

All right. So how. 41.

[Dave Richard]

It's all downhill now.

[Adam Azer]

I wake up with sore ankles. You're not gonna know why.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I'm wearing a compression sleeve thing on my ankle because it is sore, but I know it's from tennis. John who Smith did not show up for minicamp, and he could be traded. There was some talk about him going to Pittsburgh, and then that kind of cooled. But John who Smith is holding out right now. And, you know, obviously there are obvious implications to that, we'll see. But Tyreek Hill, I. I wouldn't.

[Dave Richard]

So just. Just small thing. I wouldn't say. Holding out a minicamp.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Well, he didn't show up. Okay, fair. Fair enough. He didn't show up. Again, contract related.

[Adam Azer]

That's more under the where there's smoke, there's fire category.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Okay.

[Adam Azer]

Like, why would he go and get himself hurt if he's about to get traded, potentially get a new contract along with it?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Garrett Wilson is being moved around the formation for the Jets. He's, you know, about a 22% slot rate, which is. Which is, you know, you're a true outside receiver. That's, you know, Marvin Harrison is in that range. I was just looking up some other guys, but it's not like you can't be good with that kind of slot rate. But that's pretty darn low for a wide receiver. So. Garrett Wilson being moved around the formation. Aaron Glenn also expressing confidence in Breeze Hall. Who should be drafted first, Breeze hall or Garrett Wilson? Wilson.

[Dave Richard]

I think Wilson should be drafted first. I think hall will be drafted first.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Jamie, you talked about Stefan Diggs being on schedule in his recovery from a torn ACL and just participating in minicamp. What. What do you think about that?

[Dave Richard]

I mean, look, he's. He's got an opportunity to be the. The best receiver for the Patriots. To what degree? We'll find out. You know, he'll be 32 during the season. I believe it's November. 31 now. He was pretty solid last year for the Texans before he got hurt. And I think this is the type of move that you make when you're trying to build around your own quarterback. You don't know if he's that player. But once upon a time, he was for Josh Allen when he went from Minnesota to Buffalo. And, you know, we saw the heights that Josh Allen started to get to because he had a legitimate, proven guy. So whether it's going to be Mac Hollins as the other outside receiver or hopefully it's Kyle Williams, looks like Demario Douglas is going to be the slot guy. I would be very surprised as Stefan Diggs if he's healthy, ready to go, does not lead them in targets for as long as he's out there, because he's the most proven, polished receiver that the Patriots have, and it's not close.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

32, right?

[Adam Azer]

30. He will be 32 in season.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah. Coming off the torn ACL. Dave, C.J. stroud, the guy who used to throw to Stefan Diggs, he basically said you guys were overreacting. My shoulders. Fine. That was encouraging. You cool? You cool with that?

[Adam Azer]

It's going to be a checkpoint in the early days of training camp just to make sure that he's throwing without issue and he doesn't have a bag of ice on his shoulder or anything like that. So once that happens, then we'll go from rarely seeing CJ Stroud getting drafted in 1 QB leagues to rarely seeing CJ Stroud get drafted and won QB leagues.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah.

[Dave Richard]

No, but Jim end up being a. A pretty good waiver wire slash late round bargain simply because you look at what he was, how he performed. He was, he was a bust. There's no way around it. You know, top five quarterback based on ADP last year and struggled. But when everybody was healthy in the beginning part of the season, he was hovering slightly over that 20 point per game range. I think it was more than half of his games or I'm sorry, not hovering. He. He had produced more than 20 points per game in like half of his games when the first six games when the guys were healthy. So before Diggs suffer the acl Collins missed a couple games in there with with his injured start of his hamstring injury. I think that's kind of when it really coincided.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

He.

[Dave Richard]

He's. If Higgins and Kirk are decent players and we know what Kirk's track record has been and obviously Higgins seems to be the second outside guy. Like he's gonna surprise some people. CJ Strap. I still think there's plenty of talent there. Now will the offensive line hold up? Is the shoulder going to be okay? No one's going to draft him as a number one quarterback. As Dave said, you know, late round pick at best and in one quarterback leagues. But I think there's still an opportunity here. The two guys that I think fall into a similar category. A lot of hype after 2023. Disappointed 2024. It's Jordan Love and CJ Strap and there's easy path to them bouncing back to being starting caliber fantasy quarterbacks that you can get for very cheap if you want to just wait and wait and wait in the position.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah. In love because it's so obvious. He stopped running. He hurt his knee in week one and barely ran all year. Yeah. And right. That was the other thing I was going to say. And then they just have to let him throw more. Okay, so one more. A couple more AFC notes. Tennessee head coach Brian Callahan wants to rotate his running backs and I do think this is an underrated storyline because it was a pretty annoying split when, when they were both healthy. So is anybody scared off of Tony Pollard? Because I heard a lot of Tony Pollard praise a few, you know, a few weeks ago or I guess since the NFL draft.

[Adam Azer]

No, I don't think so. I, I'm tired of hearing what Callan has to say about his running backs because he's. He has said one thing and then another thing ends up happening. Here's what I know. I know that Pollard, when he gets the workload, has a decent fantasy average. It's almost 15 PPR points per game last year. I think the Titans team is just going to be better overall on offensively with Cam Ward there, but there's still going to be a focus on slowing down the run because there's a lack of weapons in that Tennessee passing game. And I don't think the Tennessee defense is that good. So it could mean that there's a lot of second halves where Cam Ward's gonna have to throw to try and keep Tennessee in games. I, I like the value of where I'm drafting Pollard. I'm not spending a fourth or a fifth round pick on him anymore. And so as long as that's the case, I might be getting Pollard as my number three running back. Love that. If I'm going zero RB or hero rb and he's my number two, I, I don't, I don't hate that as much as long as I'm drafting him in that right spot. I think round six is when you start to think about Tony Pollard, and.

[Dave Richard]

It'S easy to get Ty J. Spears too. Like, you know, there, there's, there was some games last year with Pollard where he was productive. There's clearly lottery ticket upside. If Pollard were to miss any time and Spears is the guy there, like, this is. It's a, it's going to be a, a, an offensive line that I think continues to improve, you know, with the coaching staff that they have there. Certainly Callahan's dad, Bill, is one of the best offensive offensive line coaches NFL history. And if Cam Ward is better, the offense is better as a whole, they'll score more points. So you should be trying to get one of these two guys. And Dave said it best. Pollard's an easy target based on his cost, and I think Spears is as well.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I'm gonna, I'm just gonna. You know what I do, right? I'm gonna play devil's advocate. So Pollard played 16 games. I've got nine games with Pollard playing with a normal Taje Spears snapshare. Okay. Nine games with Spears playing a Normal snapshare is a better way to say it. Seven games with Spears either not playing or playing 26% or fewer of the snaps. The difference was in those nine games with spears. 11.6 ppr fantasy points per game. That's RB31 last year. Seven games without spears or with spears playing 26% or fewer of the snapshots. 13.8 ppr fantasy points per game, 2.2 more points per game. That's the difference between RB31 and RB21 and the carry. Sorry. I'm sorry. Last thing. Carries on pace for 236 carries with spears, on pace for 328 carries without spears.

[Dave Richard]

I think the thing that we're trying to say is you shouldn't be drafting Tony Pollard as a starter. And if you're looking at where I know where I haven't ranked, I'm going to guess our consensus is somewhat close in like 27, 26, 27, 28 range. You know, RB in that. RB 26, 27, 28 in that range. So you're saying yeah, when he was, when he was at his worst, he was RB31. When he was at his best, he was, you know, close to top 20. And that's the type of player I think you want in that range. Right? There's, there's easy flex potential there. There's easy RB2 potential if you, you know, build your team the right way. You know, here are being potentially 0 RB, not invest heavily in that position early in your draft. And then there's the okay, now he's a must start because the other guy missed a few weeks.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

He's RB29 Tony powered in our early CBS ADP and I think we can all agree if Spears were to miss time, that 13.8 PPR fantasy points per game or whatever it was could be much better. I mean they just this the Fed their offense is going to be so much better. I said this so many times. They ran the fewest or second fewest plays in the NFL inside the five yard line and he barely scored touchdowns. So that, so he has much more upside I think than RB21. If Tajie Spears were to miss time and keep an eye. Just a name to know. Chargers tight end, rookie tight end around A Gadsden. He's gotten some very good train minicamp praise so far. Okay, Javante Williams, go to the NFC notes now. Javante Williams for the Cowboys. He's made a strong impression so far and could he, could Javante Williams be one of the steals in Fantasy Draft stave.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah, I mean, I feel like there's a lot of hurdles for that to happen, but any, any running back that's going to be in a good offense and get a lot of touches is obviously going to be huge for fantasy and I suppose that Williams could have the opportunity to do it. What, what would the these hurdles be? He would have to outperform everybody else that's on that roster. I don't think that's asking for too much because it's Miles Sanders, it's Jane Blue. Phil Mafa is another running back that's there. So it's not like he's got the same type of competition that he had in prior years in Denver. And then if he's got that and he really just blows away the coaching staff and the other running backs aren't that good, then hell yeah, man. He's going to get like 15 plus touches per game. The next hurdle would then be efficiency. Can he, can you revert course on that and be a much more efficient player? We already know that he's good on third downs. I would say you can use ink to say that he's going to be Dallas's third down running back. I don't think they've got another guy that can do what he can do on third downs. It's about just how many carries he can get on first and second down. And, and, and can he be the goal line guy? I think he can probably do that too. So there, there's plenty of upside. But man, if he, if he looks like he's running in slow mo and Jane Blue is really fast and if anybody else can step up, maybe Mafa steps up, that's going to cut into playing time. And then you're basically drafting Samaj P. Ryan when you're drafting Javante Williams as a third down guy who you'll be lucky to get 10 PPR points out of.

[Dave Richard]

They. This is the second year in a row where they've kind of just said, okay, we're done investing in this backfield. Right. You know, they, yeah, they went really cheap last year with Rico Doddle and then bringing in Ezekiel Elliott. Right? No, it was he last year. They brought him back unfortunately, and then they caught him. And then you see what they've done this off season with, you know, day three running backs in the draft and Devonte Williams and Miles Sanders. And if you're hoping for Williams to be good, you're hoping for him to be what J.K. dobbins was, you know, a veteran guy that had a lot of promise early in his career, dealt with some injuries and now is getting an opportunity with the second team that there's no expectations for. You know, so you're going to get great value on Javonte Williams if he can be what he was as a receiver during his time toward the end of his Denver tenure, which was 50 plus catches last year, and then can get back to being the runner that he was, at least what we thought he was going to be in the beginning part of his career before the ACL tear. Like there's, there's, there's such a clear path to success here. So it's, it's easy to take him at his cost.

[Adam Azer]

And there will be, there's always considerable coverage. There's coverage for every NFL team but for Dallas, there's always like huge coverage. If the consensus from the beat reporters is, wow, Javante Williams looks like no running back we've seen in Dallas over the last couple of years, then absolutely they're gonna, you'll know about it before you go into your drafts. And right now I would take him around like pick 100 maybe a little bit before. If, if the drumbeat gets louder and he looks like he's the guy, he's not going to go that he, he, he'll go in that same range as Pollard.

[Dave Richard]

I think he is now, if I'm not mistaken.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Let's see, what is it Looking at early CBS ADP Pollard's going 81st, Javante is going 103rd. So it would be like Javante versus Tyrone Tracy, Javante versus Naji Harris. You know, do you guys like him better than those guys?

[Adam Azer]

Tracy, yes. Naji, no, not yet.

[Dave Richard]

Better than Tracy. Better than nausea.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Would you take Brian Robinson Jr. Or Javante Williams right now?

[Dave Richard]

Robinson. But that's close. I think I have back to back.

[Adam Azer]

It's, it's especially close in PPR because Brian Robinson on a good week is also 10 or 11 PPR points.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

More NFC notes Chicago rookie wide receiver Luther Burden is dealing with a soft tissue injury for more than six weeks now. Yeah, and yeah, and Colson Loveland isn't back yet. So those first two picks haven't, have not debuted. Jordan Addison could face a suspension for his DUI arrest. The Saints have not settled on a quarterback yet. Sam Darnold. So I didn't really see this Jamie, but Sam Darnold struggled in minicamp.

[Dave Richard]

Yeah. At least the early part of it. And Jalen Milroe not necessarily stepping up either as far as what I, you know, read. So it was Mike McDonald saying, Darnold's fine, he's our guy. You know, don't, don't even question it. And that's gonna be an interesting one to follow because we saw how great Darnold was last year and there's a lot of high expectations for Jackson, Smith, the jigba, understandably so. He was great once DK Metcalf got banged up last year. And even to close the season when, when Metcalf came back and you have Cooper cup that, you know, people are still going to buy back into, it's, it's going to depend on, you know, how good Darnold is. And if Darnold struggles and they do turn to Milro, which I'd be surprised. I think probably Drew Locke would get the first opportunity to be the number two guy there. But sure, it's it, it becomes a sliding scale for the past catchers, you know, so nobody's drafting Darnold to be a number one fantasy quarterback. He's, you know, barely going to be a starter in two QB super flex leagues. But I think the, excuse me, the, the concern would be is if Darnold does struggle, how does, how does the JSN managers react?

[Adam Azer]

Must be the off season. Dogs barking, phones dinging. We're talking about Javante Williams for more than 15 seconds.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Oh, man. All right. Kyler Murray wants to run more. That'd be cool. And Rams left tackle Alaric Jackson, we talked about this last week. He's dealing with blood clots. So they, they don't know what.

[Adam Azer]

That's a pretty big issue to keep in mind for the Rams.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah.

[Adam Azer]

Now they, they worked around their offensive line quite a bit last year and they, their offense didn't really kick into high gear until that offensive line was close to right and then they really did. Down the stretch you saw some big games from everybody in that offense. So signing DJ Humphreys, that was a band aid and we'll see how that turns out. But Jackson, I think was a pretty good offensive tackle last year. I'd have to double check like PFF grades and other data that we've got to justify that. But losing him, losing a left tackle, when you've got a 37 year old quarterback in Stafford, it's kind of a big deal.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Are you ready for some emails, Dave?

[Adam Azer]

Richard, I am always ready for emails, buddy.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Well, I am not. We got to take a break. When we come back then I'll be ready for emails at fantasy football cbsi.com right after this.

[Adam Azer]

What is daddication?

[Dave Richard]

The thing that drives me every day as a dad is Dariona. We call him Dae Date for short. Every day he's hungry for something, whether it's attention, affection, knowledge, and there's this huge responsibility in making sure that when he's no longer under my wing that he's a good person. I want him to be able to sit back one day and go, we worked together. We did a good job.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

That's dadication.

[Dave Richard]

Find out [e-mail] brought to you by.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

The US Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council just because the college basketball season is over does not mean the fun has to stop. And it will not stop. On the Ion College Basketball Podcast, I'm Matt Norlander and every week me and Gary Parish will continue throughout the offseason to give you multiple shows weekly that dive into the stories, the interesting trends, what you need to know, portal comings and goings, the new coaches in new spots, and of course, as we move into the NBA draft season, we'll give you deep dives on the players to know and give you mock drafts as well. So continue to subscribe and listen please, because we still got the goods and really, really appreciate all you've done to help build out this podcast over the years. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts or if you want to watch us, we'd love that as well. You can subscribe to the ION College Basketball Podcast on CBS Sports College Basketball on YouTube now. Okay, this first email is from Henry. Where is he from?

[Adam Azer]

Henry is from Detroit, Michigan.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

When you hear the name Henry, what movie do you think of Rookie of the Year? Yeah, right. It's just. What? It's just automatic.

[Dave Richard]

Henry is just Roan Gardner.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah, he's. That's the. That's it. What else could it be? When you hear the name Rock Candy Bar, what movie do you guys think? Okay, from Henry says with the 101 I'm taking Jamar Chase. Is it worth a bit of a reach to take Burrow at 501 for the stack as opposed to waiting for the later round values if he's there, right? I I don't think it's a reach to take him at 501.

[Adam Azer]

Right.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Joe Burrow. But this is a guy that I was referring to earlier. I really think Joe Burrow is incredibly underrated, especially in six point for passing touchdown leaks. He has had basically two elite years of the last three and and 2023. What the hell was his it wasn't the appendectomy.

[Dave Richard]

He came in hurt or 2023 hurt his calf.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Calf and he got off to a really bad start. But then once he clicked he was, he was so good. So I think Burrow is such a good, such a safe good player to draft and if we could get him in 501 that's terrific and I would have no problem with that stack. What do you think about him Jamie? Even in four. That was the other point. Even in four point for passing touchdown leagues he's been huge two of the last three years.

[Dave Richard]

Is it safe to say fantasy wise because obviously there are a lot of guys can do great things throwing the football that he's the best non running quarterback.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Oh yeah. Fantasy wise. Oh yeah, absolutely. Now I don't think in a four point per passing touchdown league like I'm looking at his 2022 season. His 2022 season was in 16 games. 4,475 yards, 35 touchdowns, 12 interceptions plus another five rushing touchdowns. So per 17 games for Burrow you're talking more than 40 touchdowns rushing and receiving. You're talking probably 4,700 passing yards. Amazing year. Did not even come close to Jalen Hurts, Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes in four point per passing touchdown leagues on a per game basis that year. That was 2022. So, so you know there's, he's got I guess some upside issues there but in six point per passing touchdown leagues he's, he's pretty close. Let me just take it feels like.

[Dave Richard]

The safest for 4540.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

He's absolutely the odds leader to lead the league in passing yards.

[Dave Richard]

Yeah.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Now are they going to throw less? They might throw less. Yeah.

[Adam Azer]

I don't, I don't know if that's happening.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

It's 600 and let's see how many pass attempts did he have last year he had 652 pass attempts.

[Adam Azer]

Okay. He might throw a little less than 652 times but he'll be, he'll be over 600 if he stays healthy.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

That is 38.4 per game. That's actually like pretty doable. It's gonna be gonna be good times for Joe Burrow. Fifth round's great. All right. From Lewis says hi new Adam. I usually wait to draft quarterback and I struck gold last year with Daniels. I play in a 12 team half PPR league. 4 point per passing touchdown. Here's how. So then he listed where the quarterbacks were drafted last year and they started with Josh Allen with the second pick of round three. And then three quarterbacks went in Round four. So he said if I apply last year's draft results to your quarterback rankings, here's what I would get in terms of tiers and where they'd be drafted. And he wants to know, Louis wants to know which tier you like best based on where they might be drafted in his league. Right. Because that's kind of a challenge for us is we don't know how every league is going to draft their quarterbacks. Tier one he thinks would be third or fourth round and it would be Jackson, Allen, Daniels, Burrow, Hertz. This is four point for passing touchdown.

[Adam Azer]

That and that I would imagine will be the case in like every one QB league.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I don't know. I mean, I still feel like there's going to be plenty of leagues where these guys are going. Some are going in the first round, some are. Some second, that's fine.

[Adam Azer]

But those are going to be the first five quarterbacks off the board.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Third or fourth round, he thinks in his league for Jackson, Allen, Daniels, Burrow hurts. Do you like that or do you like this group in the sixth round? Mahomes, Mayfield, Bo Nicks, Dak Prescott.

[Dave Richard]

Too soon.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

And then Fields, Purdy, Goff, Williams, Lawrence Murray. It's everyone else. Eighth rounder later.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah, I'm looking for one of those first five quarterbacks. As long as it's not a reach.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Right. Is. Is Burrow or Hertz in round four better than pick your quarterback that second.

[Adam Azer]

Tier in round six or seven? I would say yes.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I think that. Yeah, I felt like that one was kind of easy. But is. Is Burrower hurts in round four of a 12? This is a 12 team. Yeah, 12 team league better than your. Your favorite quarterback, you know, after that second tier in round eight or later.

[Dave Richard]

Yes, depends how late we're talking about. But I would probably lean that way.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Okay. And this is from Daniel. And where's he from, Dave?

[Adam Azer]

He's from New Brunswick, New Jersey.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

And he says subject line tears question. And I love New Adam. And then he says New Adam actually scares me a little. I just said that in the. In the subject so you'd read it.

[Dave Richard]

Have you actually been New Adam yet?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

No, I haven't. Just shut your stupid mouth. I'll try to be more eloquent than Jamie so I don't trigger another explosion. Yes, thank you, Daniel. Anyway, you guys are great about breaking down tiers and emphasizing their importance. However, I think one thing gets missed is just how big of a difference there is between tiers. This is maybe more for us auction people, but I think it's valuable information in Snake as well. It would be helpful to get some qualifiers about the Gulf but between tiers and how to make that actionable like pick X number of non wide receivers before the start of the next tier or the auction value drop. So do you understand the question here Dave, and what do you want to say about tears?

[Adam Azer]

And tears originated from auctions for me anyway, some 20 years ago when I started to do some of the. Scott White also did a lot of tier work for baseball way back in the day. So I would look at it this way. Like we just talked about those first five quarterbacks that we really wanted to get and we want to get them at a value. What's the expectation for those guys? Obviously it's going to be a higher expectation than any quarterback taken after them. We're looking at somewhere in the neighborhood of 24, 25 fantasy points per game with gusts up to 28, 29, 30 fantasy points per game. Those are the high upside mega studs that can help you win your league. If you want to wait for one of those tier three types of quarterbacks, well now you're talking round nine or round ten, that's fine. But those guys were mostly going to put into like a 20 to 22 point bucket and the guys in between will be right in between 22 to 24 fantasy points. If we got 24 fantasy points this year out of Patrick Mahomes, that'd be great considering what he's done each of the two years prior. And because you're drafting him a little bit later. So the drop off from tier one to tier two, we're talking about maybe a couple of points on the floor, but certainly a lot of points on the ceiling. And then the drop off from tier one to tier three, well now you know that there's going to be a big drop off. Could be in the neighborhood of five fantasy points per game from the first tier to the third tier. That's a lot. That's something that I don't necessarily, I don't, I don't want to target the late round guys if and only if I can get one of those early round, first tier high upside stud quarterbacks with a, with a pick that feels like a good value, not trying to steal them. I don't want to wait, hope and cross my fingers that I get Lamar Jackson in round four because it's probably not going to happen. But if I get him in round three or maybe even late round two, I'm probably going to be okay with that, that feels like a fair value for somebody that's got huge upside.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

So what's a bigger, Let me go to running back tears, for example. Let's just say that we had a tier of running back that was Kyron Williams, Josh Jacobs, Chase Brown, Bucky Irving and Jonathan Taylor. And then the next tier we felt was Ken Walker, James Cook, Chuba Hubbard, Breeze Hall, Joe Mixon, Camara Connor, let's say like, okay, that's a big, that's tier two again. Jacobs, Chase Brown, Taylor, Bucky Irving, Kyron Williams. Sorry, I mixed the order up. And then after that, Ken Walker, James Cook, Chuba Hubbard, Breeze, Hall, Joe Mixon, Alvin Camara, James Conner. You could say maybe there's not a huge gap between those tiers, but then the next tier is Henderson, Montgomery, Swift, Hampton, Judkins. Maybe you feel like, okay, now there's a really big gap between tiers. And then you, then you sculpt your strategy around that and say, I gotta make sure that I'm in that, the tier two and three, that I get at least one if, if not two. Now I'm not saying we feel that way. I'm just this hypothetical that we want at least one guy.

[Adam Azer]

It's, it's, it might be hypothetical. And it really comes down to how each individual fantasy manager feels. And that's why you've got to review a bare minimum tiers, rankings, whatever you find, whatever you trust before you go into your draft. Because you might look at the tight ends this year and go, oh my God, after George Kittle, I don't want any of these scrubs. I don't care what the guys say about, you know, late round tight ends. And you know right away what you should be doing in round two or maybe round three is trying to get one of those stud tight ends. And then if you feel that way, then you know, okay, probably going to wait on quarterback a little bit longer and I'll take a loss there, theoretically, or maybe I'll get two quarterbacks that have a lot of upside. Some people will feel that way. Some people are going to look at wide receivers and they're saying, you know what, after the first eight or nine guys, they all look the same. So I don't care if I draft, you know, the, the 16th wide receiver off the board or the 24th wide receiver off the board, or even the 30th wide receiver off the board. I got to get some of those stud wide receivers too. And this, this is a choose your own adventure type thing. There is no one way that we might all have recommendations. I'm sure by August, Jamie, you'll have yours, Heath will have his. I'll have mine. Adam, no one will listen to you. And we will all know which direction we prefer to go in. Yeah, but everybody kind of has to decide. All right. The position that I feel great with, with depth, it's running back, wide receiver, maybe not so much. Tight end, not so much. Whatever it may be. And then you just follow suit with your draft plan that way.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

All right, next question is from Jesse Kuroki from the bottom edge of wine country. And this would be Petaluma, California.

[Adam Azer]

Dave, I was just about to say Petaluma.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I saw it. Yeah, got it. He says, dear Corey, Alex. Oh, sorry. Corey, Alex, Paolo and Matt Kichi, and apparently these are members of a heavy metal band named Trivium.

[Adam Azer]

Okay, I was just about to say trivia.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Also, the comment here. Where is it? I put it up. Did you see that comment? It was so funny. Yes, Dave looks like. Yes, Dave looks like he works part time as detective and is about to solve a murder case.

[Adam Azer]

I mean, this is where murder mysteries happen. This room.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

All right. With Ash and Genti in and around the first round of adp. When was the last time you would say we saw a rookie in the early rounds of ADP that matched their draft capital? Feel like we've been burned the last few years by Bijan Breeze hall and Marvin Harrison.

[Dave Richard]

In this range.

[Adam Azer]

Right.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

He wasn't. And he was not. He was not going to burn you either. He was having an incredible year during Toilet.

[Adam Azer]

It feels like Saquon, that's the first name that came to my mind. There might be somebody in between Saquon and right now, but Saquon was the guy I remember watching. I just felt like he was so real deal, like a slam dunk that he'd be great. And Bijan I did feel the same way about. And he kind of got Arthur Smithed a little bit as a rookie and did not. He. What was. He was an RB2. He was like a middle of the pack RB2. So that kind of sucked. But I. I get the question. I. I do feel the same way about Genti that I did about Saquon, but I don't think you have to take him with a first round pick unless you're in the middle of round one and you don't want to risk him getting to round two because I don't think he's making it to the middle of round two.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah, I would say if we're just focusing on, you know, guys who went in the first round and second round. Then it's probably Saquon. But Jameer Gibbs was a home run pick. You know, he was a late third round pick, I believe.

[Adam Azer]

Sure.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

It did. It did require a David Montgomery injury just to unleash him a little bit. But he was a great pick as a rookie. Najee Harris was. Najee Harris was a top five running back as a rookie. He was obviously not drafted anywhere. I could definitely find running backs who outperformed their adp. But it's risky to take a guy that we've never seen in the NFL in the first round. At least I feel like we could say with Bijan, it's not like he didn't perform well. Right. It's just he didn't get the work that he needed. But he was very good. Like you said, he got Arthur Smithed.

[Dave Richard]

Yes.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Okay. And then. Yeah, I'm just gonna skip the DST question. I'm sorry, just to get to some more questions here. This is.

[Adam Azer]

What was the question?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Well, then you're gonna answer it. So I'm gonna tell you.

[Adam Azer]

I'm just wondering, is he looking for dsts for week one already?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

No.

[Adam Azer]

So. Okay, then let's skip it.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Okay. Yeah, I don't have a name or a city for this one. Dave.

[Adam Azer]

Go with Dave from New Haven, Connecticut.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Dear Rob, John, Brandon and Rickon Jamie.

[Adam Azer]

Heavy metal band.

[Dave Richard]

What did Dan call it?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

A game of Thrones.

[Dave Richard]

Yeah. Then he calls. Or did he call something Game of Thrones?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah, he got. I think he called something.

[Adam Azer]

Didn't he just call it Thrones?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

He did call it Thrones, but. But he, he referred to something else. He's like, oh, those are Game of Thrones characters, I think, and they. Absolutely. It was very funny. In this email, Dave from Connecticut or whatever says that I have never seen Game of Thrones, which is false. Of course. I've seen Game of Thrones. Okay, best ball question. I'm in a long, slow best ball draft. Who should I pick for my fourth running back? A veteran like Austin Eckler, Jerome Ford or Justice Hill or a rookie like Dylan Sampson, Jarquez Hunter or Jordan James. I have Henry Camara, Enrico Dowdle.

[Adam Azer]

Oh, with those running backs, I would want to go young.

[Dave Richard]

I think you're looking at who's got the first path to getting featured work. And there's obviously a lot of names there that could. Could go that route. And then if they get that opportunity, how good will they be? Because you're Trying to win a tournament. You know, you're not trying to win your week, you're trying to win a tournament. And so you could. You can handcuff Derek Henry, which would not be the suggestion I would go with. Because you want to have two running backs that could potentially win you league as opposed to one.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I think I go Eckler, just to throw a name out there, I'd go.

[Dave Richard]

I mean you can, but like older player.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah, older player who needs Brian Robinson to miss a considerable amount of time for him to make a big.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

All of these guys do. Every single one of these guys.

[Adam Azer]

Hunter would need Kyron Williams to like fumble four times in one game and then.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

And then he's beat out Blake Corum. Like that's the thing about.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah, I wonder if Cora might be like out of favor already.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

We don't know that. But. But I know pretty much for a fact that Austin Eckler's getting a big role on a great offense.

[Dave Richard]

I think the, the Robinson, it's not a bad pick here because all these guys that you're referencing, you probably have an opportunity to get one or two of them around or two later.

[Adam Azer]

That's fair.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yes, true.

[Adam Azer]

And if that's the case, then maybe Eckler is the better pick.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

All right, this one is from Anthony. I'm very excited to be playing in the Scott Fishbowl for the first time this year. Do you have any tips for drafting in the Scott Fishbowl format? Should quarterback and top tight ends be my first priority in the early rounds?

[Dave Richard]

Quarterback for sure.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Oh, man. I meant to look up the rules.

[Adam Azer]

3.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Okay. I think I have the 2025 rules here. Six points for all touchdowns. Tight ends get an extra point for reception. So where's the. How many points for a regular? Well, okay, it's P. It's full ppr, mfl and it's two and a half points per reception on sleeper and it's one extra point for reception on for tight ends. So if what I'm reading is accurate, then it's much. Tight ends are much more valuable on fantasy league than they are on sleeper. I would say Brock Bowers and Trey McBride are easy first round picks. Right. Because their catches count double of anyone else's.

[Adam Azer]

Could you go with one of those two and two quarterbacks?

[Dave Richard]

He's still doing a third round reversal.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I think so if he is doing third round reversal, try to get. We. I would. I get.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah. To get one of those tight ends and then two quarterbacks, man, a lot.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Of six points for A sack some IDP here so. But I. Oh but you don't, you don't start idps. It's really only for Travis Hunter. Okay. So never mind.

[Adam Azer]

Okay. Or Bo Melton.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah, my, my tips would. Oh, half a point per carry. So that probably counts for quarterbacks too. So the mobile quarterbacks, especially in oh it is six point for passing touchdown league. Josh Allen. Yeah. Is a. He throws a lot of touchdowns and runs a lot. So he's so valuable. Okay, I've talked in circles but know if you're on. Obviously you have to know if you're on my fantasy league or sleeper. It's a huge difference for that tight end premium. And it's two, two quarterbacks. So get the mobile guys. Okay, sorry, could not be more helpful there. I meant to look up the rules and totally whiffed on that. This email is from Mike and he's.

[Adam Azer]

From Newport Beach, California.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Subject new Adam makes good points. This email was sparked by Adam making a good point about how you should target top value at multiple positions in shallow leagues, even if it means giving up some value at another position. For example, taking Brock Bowers or Trey McB McBride in round two to give yourself that huge positional advantage rather than going wide receiver. Wide receiver. Oh, I didn't, I didn't say that. I said something different. I know a lot of people do have that philosophy, but I said you target though, I guess the onesie positions as we call them quarterback and tight end. If you have shallower starting lineups, not necessarily shallower leagues. If those onesie positions make up a higher percentage of the total points scored, they are more valuable to me if you are playing in a super flex league that starts three wide receivers and two flexes and all that. I don't care nearly as much about tight end because it just they don't score that many points to begin with. However, you guys, I believe think that. Well, I know at least Dave, I won't speak for you in a 10 team league that it's more valuable to get an elite player at each position like those onesie positions. So he says I'm pick if I'm picking at 10, should I go with Malik neighbors and AJ Brown or Malik neighbors and Christian McCaffrey or Achan? Or would you go Malik, Neighbors and a tight end? Like what would you do if you had the 10th pick and he seems intent on taking Neighbors?

[Dave Richard]

How many receivers do you start? Does he know?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Two receivers, one flex half people. Oh, okay, you know what? I screw this up. He was making two points. So he's in a 12 team league. He was saying that I was that I about talking about taking like Bowers or McBride and it's great.

[Dave Richard]

Team up.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yes, it's horrible. This is my fault.

[Dave Richard]

So can you, can you pull that gamer Eric's comment about you?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Sure. 12 team league. If you have the 10th pick. What are you doing?

[Dave Richard]

I'm taking the best player available.

[Adam Azer]

I want to see what's left in the running back and wide receiver positions. If there are a lot of running backs left that I like, I will take take a receiver. If there's a lot of wide receivers left that I like, I will take the running back first.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Okay, so how does that change in a 10 team league? Now we've made it a good question.

[Dave Richard]

In a sensing league that starts two wide receivers, I would probably do the same thing.

[Adam Azer]

Right.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Okay.

[Dave Richard]

And if you want to prioritize one of the tight ends, if you're picking in the back end around one, then you're taking your favorite of Bowers or McBride there because you're not getting them in round three.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

This email is from Steve in New Jersey. Dear Brian, Shane, Liam and d' Amico, that's Oasis. Now those are AFC south head coaches. Yes, they are Oasis. That was funny. Come on. What are we doing with Travis etn?

[Adam Azer]

That's, I'm just picturing Demiko Ryan singing Wonderwolf.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Maybe.

[Adam Azer]

What are we doing with etn?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Maybe CJ Stroud will be the one who saves him. Yes. What are you doing with Travis etn?

[Adam Azer]

I, I, I wanna, I wanna take a shot at one of those running backs in Jacksonville, but. Excuse me, I'm gonna guess that one. There won't be one that's great all year. You'll get one that's like good for a couple weeks at the beginning of the year. One that's good for a couple weeks in the middle of the year. And then they're going to mix and match them. The one thing that I think about is Liam Cohen is the guy that kind of helped guide Bucky Irving into his role in Tampa last year. And I'm sure he's the one that saw his talent in training camp and practice. And eventually the whole coaching staff said, all right, we got to get this guy on the field more who could be that guy? And I think you can make the case for literally every running back. Well, the three T's, there's Travis, there's Tank and there's Tootin. You can make the case for all three of those guys to potentially be that person in Jacksonville that can lead their backfield for the second half of the year. I don't know if there's, I don't know if it's going to be reliable. None of these guys are going to be early round picks. The one that's coming off my board first is etn. But I've got, I've got intrigue for all three of those t Jaguars type running backs.

[Dave Richard]

You, you asked us about Tony Pollard and where he should go. I'm looking at fantasy pros ADP right now. Pollard is in that range of guys with Pacheco and Robinson and Tracy Najee, Jalen, Warren, Travis. ETN is 104th. Like it's so easy to take him and if he hits we are still talking about like you know we're sitting here and say okay, Brie Solve was a huge bust last year and you should buy back into him. There's similar situation for Travis Etienne. I think Paul should go significantly higher than, than Etienne of course. But you are talking about a guy two years ago who was among the best fantasy running backs. Forget how he got it done. Still produced at one of the best levels that we saw that year and was awful last year. Tank Bigsby had outperformed him but big time there's, there's still plenty of bounce back potential especially if Tune can't hold on to the ball. If he's going to fumble again in camp then it's going to be ETN and Bigsby and Tune may never get that opportunity until ETN walks out the door and they can run him into the ground if they want to.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah, there you go. Okay guys, Jamie question for you of 12 so you, Dave, Thomas, Heath and Dan. Of those five, who were the two that wished me a happy birthday yesterday?

[Dave Richard]

Dan and Dave.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Half right. Dave and Thomas Shakespeare. What a guy. What a guy. Usually I get a happy birthday from Jamie.

[Dave Richard]

Yeah, I'm surprised I missed it off.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Year for you off here. Well everybody, I hope everybody enjoyed my birthday but more importantly I hope you had a good juneteenth good holiday and are ready for a fun weekend. And can we get some good weather for once in the northeast Is unbearable so far but summer is officially here. I believe today is the first day of summer. Maybe it's tomorrow. So we're turning the page. Get some good summer weather. We will talk to you on Monday with a new edition.

[Dave Richard]

What did you do for your 10 year old birthday party?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Oh my 10 year old birthday party. So I had plans to go to the pool with like four other families and their kids. And I got there at 2:15. So did one other family. And by the time all the others were going to arrive, it started raining. Of course, it rains every single day. So also I ordered cupcakes and I was like, you know what? We're just going to make them orange and green with, with rainbow sprinkles. So I had everyone come back to our house and we had 20 people here, including kids, and we had, we ordered pizza, we ate orange and green cupcakes with rainbow sprinkles. It was, it was very, very funny. I did not have a hat. I, I meant to go to Burger King to get a crown, but I forgot.

[Adam Azer]

What kind of cool toys did you get?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I got a lot of clothes. My wife got me a lot of clothes. It's funny because my sister asked me what, what I got and I said yeah, said her name. My sister, she got me a lot of clothes because I just need like plain T shirts because all of my T shirts say something like Ruruto on them. And what am I wearing today? I'm wearing my Rudo T shirt. Like, I just have all these stupid T shirts like, like Bushwood Country Club that I wore yesterday from Caddyshack and Ruruto today. So yeah, I got some clothes. That was it.

[Adam Azer]

You've got shirts with flair.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah, they're fun. And I have a lot of draft a thon shirts like the one Jamie's wearing today.

[Adam Azer]

You have a lot of shirts like the one I'm wearing today.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I have a lot of my Burger King shirts like the one Dave is wearing today. Exactly.

[Dave Richard]

That's right.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

What'd you say?

[Dave Richard]

Sounds like you really don't need.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I need. I'm 41. I need like, big boy.

[Adam Azer]

No wife is buying you clothes. That means that she's not happy with your clothes.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

She also bought me very cool shoes. That was a good gift. All right, thanks, everybody. We'll. We'll talk to you Monday. Have a great weekend. See ya.

[Dave Richard]

Paramount podcasts.

[Adam Azer]

You want to play a real life game of Clue with me?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yes, indeedy.

[Adam Azer]

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[Jamie Eisenberg]

Pursuing the leader of a network of SO serial killers.

[Adam Azer]

It's the new season of the psychological thriller Criminal Minds.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Evolution. FBI.

[Adam Azer]

The hunt is on.

[Dave Richard]

No matter how good you are, no.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Matter how good your team is, you're not good enough. Don't miss the new season of Criminal Minds Evolution.

[Adam Azer]

Now streaming on Paramount Plus.