Draft Prep Cram Session! Your Guide to Winning Your League (08/20 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Summary

Fantasy Football Today (08/20/25): Draft Prep Cram Session – Episode Summary

Main Theme & Purpose

This “cram session” episode is designed as the ultimate 2025 fantasy football draft prep guide, particularly for players who haven’t been closely following offseason trends. Hosts Adam Aizer, Dave Richard, Jamey Eisenberg, and Heath Cummings break down current draft strategies, analyze position groups, discuss trending players (especially this year’s impactful rookie class), and offer specific recommendations for various league formats. The tone is friendly, fast-paced, and rich with actionable advice, memes, and live-draft banter.

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Key Segments and Insights

1. Opening Chat & League Settings Impact (01:36 - 03:06)

• The panel discusses their Superflex dynasty startup—reminding listeners about unique scoring rules like points per first down. Adam notes, “If you are in a league that gives points for first downs...running backs do better than wide receivers there at the top.” (01:36)
• Reinforces: always check your league settings–they can dramatically impact player values.

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2. News & Notes: Injury Updates & Depth Chart Shake-Ups (03:43 - 13:11)

• Focus on the Colts and Browns: Uncertainty around Anthony Richardson and Daniel Jones impacts skill players (Jonathan Taylor, Michael Pittman).
  • Jamie: “I think [Pittman] is going to end up being one of the more underrated players this year.” (05:57)
• Josh Downs and Michael Pittman injuries—cautious optimism about both
• ADP Trend Watch: Notable risers—Emeka Egbuka, Ricky Pearsall, and reaction to injuries (Jalen McMillan, Chris Godwin).
  • Discussion: Egbuka vs. Pearsall vs. Matthew Golden (12:26 – 13:38)
  • Jamie: “They’re basically back to back to back for me.”
  • Heath: “Pearsall, Golden, Egbuka.”

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3. Position Preview Recaps

Quarterback Preview & Strategy (18:52 - 27:05)

• Core strategy: Avoid reaching; look for value.
  • Dave: “I just want to feel like I’m getting good value on any quarterback at any point in the draft...definitely think it’s a reach if you take any quarterback in round one or round two in a one QB league.” (19:18)
• Top 3 (Jackson, Allen, Daniels) have risen, but mostly targeting in round 3, not first two.
  • Heath: “If you pass on one of those elite quarterbacks in round three, you may be passing on the top five.” (20:27)
• ADP shifts: Justin Fields falling; Goff & Purdy rising.
• Late-round QB depth is strong; advocate for pairing upside (Fields, Caleb Williams) with reliable (Love, Goff, Purdy).
  • Heath: “Half of those appealing options you just mentioned are going to be on the waiver wire in your league.” (26:01)

QB Sleepers & Breakouts:

• Jamie: “Trevor Lawrence” (27:10)
• Heath: “Caleb Williams is [my sleeper].” (27:23)
• Dave: “J.J. McCarthy.” (27:20)

Bust Calls:

• Heath: “Lamar Jackson [as a bust], he’s going 16th overall on CBS [ADP].” (27:50)

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Running Back Preview & Rookie Impact (29:30 - 43:14)

• Major discussion on rookie RBs: Amariyon Hampton, Travion Henderson, RJ Harvey—how their rising ADP impacts RB strategy.
  • Jamie: “I’m putting my faith probably a little bit too much and we’ll see if it comes back to haunt me...in the three rookies...not named Ashton Genti.” (34:48)
• The “Triple H” (Hampton, Henderson, Harvey) profile as aggressive round 3-5 targets.
• Jamie advocates targeting two of top 23 RBs in first five rounds, then adding upside RBs later (Tyrone Tracy, Jalen Warren, etc.).
  • Dave: “Go through a rank list...wherever David Montgomery is, once you get past David Montgomery, I get a little skittish.” (38:29)
• General consensus: “Hero RB” or “robust RB” more common than zero RB this year.
  • Heath: “I don’t think I’ve drafted any teams with [zero RB] approach. It feels like less of a possibility this year.” (37:23)

RB Sleepers & Breakouts:

• Dave: “Austin Ekeler might end up with more work than we think.” (40:31)
• Heath: “Tank Bigsby...I still think he’ll be the leading rusher for Jacksonville, assuming he’s on the team.” (41:09)
• Jamie: “Braylon Allen.” Breakouts: “Bucky Irving,” “Travion Henderson,” “RJ Harvey.” (41:47)

Bust Calls:

• Heath: “Alvin Kamara...I do not want to draft an older running back with decreased efficiency.” (42:16)
• Jamie: “Breece Hall...again, round three is way too soon.” (42:46)

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Wide Receiver Preview: Depth & Sweet Spots (44:16 - 52:10)

• Advice: Prioritize at least one WR in the first two rounds, then fill out depth aggressively by round 7 (unless you love a late-round breakout).
  • Heath: “Except for maybe round three, great wide receiver value is available pretty much everywhere.” (44:16)
• Jamie: Target upside in the middle: “Pearsall, Egbuka, and Matthew Golden—so much upside for those guys.” (44:46)
• Dave: “The most important thing you need to do before you draft: go through a rank list...of WRs and get a number in your brain of how many of them you think can average 15 or more PPR points per game. The lower that number is, the more you should prioritize WRs in the first four rounds.” (45:35)
• Flexibility: Two-WR vs. three-WR league settings dramatically change strategy.

WR Sleepers & Breakouts:

• Heath: “Luther Burden” (52:06)
• Jamie: “Keon Coleman” (52:08)
• Dave: “Darnell Mooney” (Mooney) (52:10)
• Breakouts: “Travis Hunter” (Heath), “Ricky Pearsall” (Jamie & Dave)

Bust Calls:

• Heath: “Tyreek Hill” (52:38)
• Jamie: “DJ Moore,” “Terry McLaurin” (52:45)

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Tight End Preview: ‘Great or Late’ Doctrine (53:24 - 66:27)

• Strategy: “Great or late.” Either invest in an early elite (Bowers, McBride, Kittle) or wait and target upside late.
  • Jamie: “You draft great or late. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard that before. It’s a good strategy.” (53:24)
• Mark Andrews’ ADP feels too high unless Isaiah Likely is out long-term.
  • Jamie: “He averaged 4.1 targets per game. Like, that’s miserable. So he’s got to be more involved and he will be more involved if Likely’s not there.” (54:01)
• Tyler Warren is a consensus late-round target; round 8/9 in most leagues (60:24)
• For late picks: “Tucker Kraft, Colston Loveland, Duncan Cade, Zach Ertz.”

TE Sleepers, Breakouts, Busts:

• Sleeper – Jamie: “Duncan Cade” | Heath: “Colston Loveland” | Dave: “Zach Ertz” (64:02)
• Breakout – Jamie: “Tyler Warren” | Heath: “Brock Bowers” (65:19)
• Bust – Jamie: “Mark Andrews” | Dave: “TJ Hockenson/Mark Andrews” | Heath: “Sam LaPorta” (66:07)

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4. Kicker & DST Draft Strategy (66:51 - 68:47)

• Wait until your final picks for D/ST and kicker.
  • Heath: “Basically, the soonest you should take a DST would be your second to last pick, right?” – “Yes.” (67:14)
• Kicker tip: If you love Brandon Aubrey, “If you reached for him around or two earlier, ... I wouldn’t [chastise you]. I give you that permission.” (68:47)
• Adam: “I make sure my league doesn’t start kickers.” (67:49)

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5. Format-Specific Strategy

10-Team Leagues (70:07)

• Prioritize top-end QB and TE: “Taking an elite tight end early if you can and lean quarterback early if you can as well.” (70:07)

14-Team / Deeper Leagues (71:05)

• Running back/WR depth is at a premium, waiver wire will be barren; don’t punt RB depth.

Non-PPR and Half-PPR Leagues (72:44)

• “Go heavy running back... Try and piece together your receiving core.” (72:50)
• Touchdowns and yards matter most; devalue high-catch, low-YAC players.

2 vs. 3 WR & Double Flex Leagues (74:19)

• “The fewer roster spots you have, ... the more you’re going to want to get the onesie positions early.” (74:52)
• 3-WR or 2-flex league: prioritize WRs more.

Superflex Leagues (75:38)

• Take QBs early, but it’s increasingly viable to pass on QB in rounds 1-2 and stack skill positions if you’re picking late. “I’m totally with you. ... You can still get two or three passers that have all kinds of upside...” (76:45)
• “I’d like to have three of them [QBs], but my need for a third QB is strongly dependent on how safe I feel in my first two.” (75:38)

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6. IDP (Individual Defensive Player) Strategy (78:05 - 80:33)

• Take IDPs late unless you start several (in that case start considering them round 7+).
• Key tip: “Be very, very careful with what the designation is up there” (LB vs. DL–impacts value). (80:04)
• For deep IDP leagues, follow experts: “Gary Davenport ... godfather of IDP, and Matt Schauf of Draft Sharks, and Joe Pisapia, Scott Bogman.” (79:29)

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Standout Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I just want to feel like I’m getting good value on any quarterback at any point in the draft.” – Dave Richard (19:18)
• “If you pass on one of those elite quarterbacks in round three, you may be passing on the top five.” – Heath Cummings (20:27)
• “Go through a rank list ... wherever David Montgomery is, once you get past [him], I get a little skittish about the running backs after him being reliable starters.” – Dave Richard on RBs (38:29)
• “You draft great or late. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard that before. It’s a good strategy.” – Jamie Eisenberg on TEs (53:24)
• “Half of those appealing [late QBs] are going to be on the waiver wire in your league.” – Heath Cummings (26:01)
• “I make sure my league doesn’t start kickers.” – Adam Aizer (67:49)
• “All it takes is one person in your league to do a pick that you did not expect and all of a sudden you get great value or ... you perceive as great value.” – Adam Aizer (56:45)

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Time-Stamped Highlights

• [03:43]: Colts & Browns depth chart/injury ripple effects
• [12:26]: Pearsall vs. Egbuka vs. Golden WR discussion
• [18:52]: QB strategy update
• [29:30]: Rookie RB ADP changes and draft planning
• [44:16]: WR sweet spot rounds, and mid-round upside
• [53:24]: TE “great or late” strategy outlined
• [66:51]: DST and kicker final-round approach
• [70:07]: 10-team draft tactics
• [75:38]: Superflex league QB philosophy
• [78:05]: IDP league draft approach and resources

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Conclusion

This cram session is a comprehensive, up-to-the-minute guide for fantasy football drafters, offering consensus (and points of debate) on quad-skill core draft strategies, player value shifts, and league-format-specific tactics. The hosts mix deep statistical review, personal rankings, and live-draft decision-making, making it an invaluable primer for dominating 2025 fantasy football drafts—no matter your league’s quirks or your prep level.

Transcript

[Adam Azer]

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[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

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[Heath Cummings]

No, I can't.

[Adam Azer]

It's time to dominate your fantasy league. This is gonna 56.

[Heath Cummings]

Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie and Heath.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

What's up? You missed the last six months. It's okay, we got your back. Today we've got the recap of our position previews. We've got strategies and philosophies and sleepers and breakouts of us for every format. If you're in a 10 team league, if you're in a 14 team league, if you're in A2 flex league, a three receiver league, whatever it is, this is the one episode that will help you the most. I think if you haven't listened to anything so you're trying to do some cramming right now. We're going to help you out on Fantasy Football Today presented by BetMGM the Sportsbook. Born in Vegas and the whole gang is here. I'm Adam Azer with Dave Richard, Heath Cummings and Jamie Eisenberg. All right, I just have to get this out of the way. We are playing in a super flex dynasty startup. We're drafting right now and Heath is the commissioner and he's doing half a point per first down. So if you are in a league that gives points for first downs, you should know and I should have told myself this. This is a running back dominated stat. 17 of the top 20 players in first downs gained last year. This is rushing and receiving first downs. Doesn't count passing first downs. 17 of the top 20 were running backs last year. 20, 24, it was. 13 of the top 20 were running backs, but 17 of the top 24. So we don't talk a lot about point for first down or half a point for first down, but running backs do better than wide receivers there at the top. All right, good morning, guys. We ready to recap, you know, the entire off season?

[Heath Cummings]

I'll just say that it's nice that you say that. And you, Jamie and I have combined to draft zero running backs in the first two rounds.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

I know, I know. Of course, it is also tight end premium. So I know you drafted Brock Bowers, what, sixth, seventh overall.

[Heath Cummings]

I took Brock Bauer seventh and then I took Puka at 18.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Okay.

[Adam Azer]

I mean, I want to hear the first round of this thing. I don't know if we got time for it because we're trying to have.

[Heath Cummings]

A cramp real fast. Jaden Daniels, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, Jalen Hurts, Brock Bowers, Malik Neighbors, Justin Jefferson, Ashton Genti, Bajan Robinson, CD Lamb.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

That's round one.

[Adam Azer]

About what I would expect.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Super flex, super flex, tight end premium. And a half point per catch and a half point per first down. All right, anyway, let's get to news and notes here and then we'll get into all of the position stuff. And now that you guys have had a day to digest the Colts news, the Browns news, what's going on in your rankings with all the relevant players? So first of all, Anthony Richardson's agent is questioning Richardson's future with the team. Shane Steichen said he wants Daniel Jones to be the quarterback for the season. He doesn't want to have a quick leash on that doesn't necessarily mean that he will but be the quarterback the entire season. But this, this is not hopefully going to be just a back and forth, this guy, that guy kind of thing. Dave, where did you end up with, you know, Taylor, the, the Colt? I'll just say the Colts. With the news yesterday, I really didn't move anybody.

[Adam Azer]

It was slight movement. If anything, Tyler Warren moved up a notch in my tight end ranking. So I think I now have him at sixth. But I'm also kind of crazy for Tyler Warren. He's either sixth or seventh for me. I can double check real quick. He's seventh. Jonathan Taylor, I'm more excited to draft, but I didn't move him over anybody because I like a lot of other running backs in that top 12 range. So he's still behind Jacobs, Chase Brown, Bucky Irving. You can make the case for Taylor ahead of at least Bucky in non ppr. The other guys. Josh Downs is hurt. Michael Pittman is not great. Alec Pierce is, like, going to be good for three games a year. Didn't really do much of anything with those guys.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Okay. Anyone else? Jamie Heath. You want to have a Heath? We didn't hear from you on this. Jamie and I were on yesterday when the news broke. How about you and the Colts?

[Heath Cummings]

If Daniel Jones starts 17 games will be the first time he ever did that in his career. If he starts 15 games, it'll be the second time he ever did that in his career. I think no matter what Shane Steichen says, the most likely scenario is we're going to see some Anthony Richardson, too.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah, I would agree with that. I would just say that I'm very curious about Michael Pittman because now you have this Josh Downs injury. And I think we could all say if there's more competent quarterback play, it's better for everybody. He was no different last year, despite playing through who knows how bad of an injury. Remember there was that report he was going to get shut down around, like, week six or so.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah, I remember that.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

And so I. I think he's going to end up being one of the more underrated players this year.

[Adam Azer]

Did he practice yesterday? I thought I read that he was sidelined with an undisclosed injury.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I'm not sure.

[Adam Azer]

I'll double check.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

All right. But the other thing is, it's August 20th right now, Josh Downs has a hamstring injury. We don't even know. Unless I'm missing something. We don't know that he's going to miss week one.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

We don't know anything. Yeah, I mean, and he had a great year last year. He didn't play the first two games this season, you know, so. Right. There's. There's a lot to like about both of these guys in terms of where they're at. You know, just looking at what their stats were last year with Joe Flacco now, no one should mistake Daniel Jones and Joe Flacco as passers because I don't think Daniel Jones will help these guys. To the same level. But you brought, you said this yesterday, Adam. The, the bottom line is there's going to be less rushing from the quarterback spot. So there'll be more past attempts to whatever degree, you know, Heath, however you're going to project it, I'm sure is going to be, you know, more favorable for these guys. I do think the, the biggest loser, if there was one. You know, if you're looking for a late round flyer. Alec Pierce led the NFL in yards per catch last year. He is not doing that with Daniel Jones. So you know, if you were looking for a best ball type of guy or, or a DFS play, I don't think that's going to happen to the same level that it could with, with Anthony Richardson. So there I wrote a whole story about the cold situation. This is, there's two sides of this. Richardson would have been a good fantasy asset. Daniel Jones is just not as much. Although his per season average, which is, you know, boosted a lot by his 700 yard rushing season, his per season average is 529 rushing yards a year.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Yeah, yeah, he's got some something there.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

And it's just kind of crazy. There's 16 times that it happened. But 10 quarterbacks. He's one of 10 quarterbacks. I've said this that many times about danger. He's one of ten quarterbacks with a 3, 700 yard season. And the other guys are incredible like RG3 his rookie year. But really it's. Cam Newton's done it three times. Lamar Jackson's done it twice. Josh Allen's done it twice, Jalen Hurts has done it twice. It's like a who's who of quarterbacks. And Daniel Jones, like it's just kind of crazy. Like he's, he's on this list but he could be a little bit of a surprise. I just think that it, it's, it's a benefit to everybody else. And, and you said this Adam, like Jonathan Taylor's numbers with and without Anthony Richardson. Last year, Taylor 18 catches on the season. Eleven of those catches came in the five games with Joe Flacco. He had three games last year without a target. With that with Anthony Richard.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Yeah, he's still nine games with Richardson. Jonathan Taylor was still really good. He averaged 16 points in non PPR, 16.3 in half and 16.8 in full PPR, which is just like an unbelievable split to only average 0.8 more PPR fantasy points per game and in full PPR than non PPR means you're not even catching one pass per game with Flaco. He was a top five running back. Basically. He averaged 19.2 PPR fantasy points per game with Flacco and 16.8 with Richardson. Heath, go ahead.

[Heath Cummings]

I do think, I think I moved him up 41 pass attempts for the season in my projections. So from 499 to 540, the problem is like Daniel Jones has been worse on a per attempt basis than Anthony Richardson as a passer. In terms of yards, he's been much worse. He's been worse in terms of touchdown rate. He is has the third most pass attempts ever for a quarterback with a touchdown rate below 3.2%. Usually if you're this bad, you don't keep getting chances. So I, I do think that I would expect the Colts to score more points with Anthony Richardson at quarterback. This might, this will be better in PPR for the guy who's. Who get catches because there will be more catches. I'm not sure there's going to be that many more yards and points for the offense.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

All right, no, let's, let's move on. I'm sorry, let's get to our, we got to get to our big topics. What'd you say?

[Adam Azer]

Pittman did not practice yesterday, but he talked to the media about the quarterback decision, so I'm guessing he's fine.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

All right. The Saints head coach Kellen Moore said that the quarterback competition between Spencer Rattler and Tyler Schuck is very close and he should have a decision soon. Giants.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Why are they not just adding somebody like Kenny Pickett makes so much sense. Having been with Kellen Moore last year and the fact that he's not going to be the starter and who knows if he ever gets a chance this year, like, just doesn't make any sense. James. Winston.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Ding, ding, ding. Right?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

That is just, just go get one of these veteran guys. Even if you don't start, like, start one of the young guys, fine, but have somebody else on your team just for semblance of any sort of continuity to help this offense. But unless you're just tanking for Quinn. For Quinn, for Arch Manning. No.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Well, no, I. As of now, nobody thinks Manning is coming out. Not nobody, but most people don't think Manning is going to come out after this season. That is the. If you look at top quarterback rankings I've seen, he hasn't even really been on them in a lot of rankings because people think he's staying. So there is that. But yeah, Jameis Winston is a name that we should know because we love him. For fantasy purposes, not for him, but for everyone else. And with Jackson Dart having such a good preseason, you know, don't be surprised if Jameis Winston is on the block. Meanwhile, the Giants do get good news with three players coming back to practice. Andrew Thomas, their left tackle who did not commit to playing in Week one. He said his foot injury is a tough one for big guys to recover from, but he's off the PUP list. They're ramping him up. They're at Washington in Week one. Malik Neighbors back at practice. Cam Scatter Boo back at practice doesn't mean they're practicing in full, but it is obviously a good sign. Jalen McMillan could miss about half the season with a strained neck. So I have looked this morning at a few things. I've looked at CBS ADP which is really picking up right now. I've looked at Fantasy Pro's overall PPR ADP and compared it to when we did our position previews a few weeks ago or in the case of quarterback and tight end three weeks ago. And I looked at NFC average draft position. These high stakes leagues usually have PPR over the last seven days and Ameka Buka, unsurprisingly, is a huge riser. Ricky Piersol is another huge riser. So with McMillan out for a while, with Godwin trending toward missing the start of the season, maybe the PUP list, who do you guys like better? Piersol or Abuka?

[Heath Cummings]

Your soul?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

They're back to back for me right now. Pearsall by one spot. That could change if Godwin is on the PUP list. McMillan seems like he's headed for the PUP list and if we get positive Juwan Jennings news because this was a hold in situation more so than an injury situation. So if Jennings is cleared and ready to go and Godwin's on the pop list, I will take a booka over Pearson.

[Adam Azer]

I've got a book over Pierce all for that exact reason.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Okay. And one guy that you know I I think about, we used to talk about him the way we're talking about Peer soul and Abuka for a week or so and he hasn't had any buzz lately is Matthew Golden. Right. But the that's another team that has a lot of injuries at wide receiver right now but they hopefully will be healthy by week one or two.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Talking about has been back so he's yeah, right. You know one of these NFL rumor Twitter X handle things that suggested Dobbs could be a trade candidate.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Right. And wix I heard that earlier and my question though, Abuka, Pierce all they way ahead of Golden.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

No, they're basically back to back to back for me.

[Adam Azer]

I got golden behind those guys.

[Heath Cummings]

I've got a pier soul, Golden Ebuka.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

I just wanted to bring that up because you know, if you're sitting there in your draft and you're super pumped to draft Pierce all in a booka, I get it. They're trendy right now. Two weeks ago this was Matthew golden. Right? You know, Love's been out and whatever. They, they didn't play their starters in the preseason so just in their last game.

[Heath Cummings]

So think in my FFT open draft all three of those guys went in round five.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Five. It's in a two receiver league.

[Heath Cummings]

It might have been six. Let me, I'll pull it up. But that's wild.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

All right, a few more items here. Ian Rapaport does not expect Brian Robinson Jr. To play for the Commanders this season. If you want to hear that analysis, listen to yesterday's show. Cameron Hayward returned to practice, I think in a limited capacity. This is the 36 year old star defensive tackle for the Steelers, but he still wants a new contract. Zach Jackson of the Athletic thinks that Cleveland wide receiver Deontay Johnson may not make the team. Travis Hunter returned to practice. Jaden Blue returned to practice. Dallas rookie running back Jaden Blue, Saints rookie running back Devin Neal returned to practice. San Francisco running back Isaac Garendo returned to practice. He remains our favored handcuff for Christian McCaffrey and as I mentioned earlier, Don Tavian Wicks, packers receiver dealing with a calf injury could be ready for week one though. If you haven't signed up for BETMGM yet, please do so and use the bonus code Fantasy. And you're going to get up to a 1500 dollars first bet offer on your first wager with BetMGM. So here's how it works. You download the BetMGM app, you sign up and use the bonus code Fantasy. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game and you'll receive up to 1500 dollars in bonus bets if your bet loses. Just make sure you use the bonus code Fantasy when you sign up on BetMGM. When we come back we will start our position preview reviews and tell you I'm really excited about the rest of the week. We have some great shows coming up this week. I want to tell you about it and we'll be right back on Fantasy.

[Heath Cummings]

Football Today, September 4th on Paramount. Someone is trying to frame us until.

[Adam Azer]

Our names are cleared.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

More fugitives from interval like Bonnie and Clyde.

[Heath Cummings]

We're better snacks. NCIS Tony and Ziva streaming September 4th on Paramount Plus.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Is this a hit it situation?

[Heath Cummings]

It's whatever kind of adventure we want it to be.

[Adam Azer]

Now streaming on Paramount plus it's an all new season of adventures.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

We have to stop this invasion, get into this ship. This crew is a team we are going to find our way out of together.

[Heath Cummings]

Pay on.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

It'S one in a thousand. We get it done right or don't.

[Adam Azer]

Blow ourselves up along the way.

[Heath Cummings]

I like those odds. We'll just turn it off before we blow up.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Star Trek Strange new worlds. New season now streaming on Paramount plus. All right, welcome back, everybody.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

So more injury news. Okay, still no AJ Brown.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Still no.

[Heath Cummings]

That's.

[Adam Azer]

That's as of today Wednesday.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yep. And Devonte Smith dealing with a groin injury. Wow.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

So A.J. so Drake. Drake London. This is one of the trends that I noticed. Drake London is ahead of A.J. brown, maybe on all three sites, CBS, fantasy pros and NFC. Yeah, he's actually Drake London on NFC since August 13th. It's about 50 drafts. I think he's actually going ahead of Pukinakua because obviously people have Stafford concerns.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

But I've seen that in several drafts. I made this switch of London and Brown about a week ago and it's just, you know, you have one guy dealing with this hamstring injury for over a week. Another guy, his running mate is still out with a shoulder injury. Like, it just feels like London's heading in a, in a better direction right now than A.J. brown. I don't think he's a better player than A.J. brown, but his situation might be better this season.

[Adam Azer]

The flip side to that is that now we might be able to get both Brown and Devonte at a discount last very long.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

But like Brown's ADP on our side has been in round three for about two weeks now.

[Adam Azer]

So. Which is awesome.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

That I would. Yes. If you, if you can get. I, I think I said that to you, Adam in, in the FFT Open yesterday. Like I had the fourth pick. So coming back in round two, I wanted to see if he would fall to round three. And so I took Bucky Irving over him just to play, you know, play it out and see how it would go. And he went right after. So still late round two, but falling.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Well, RADP is pretty running back heavy because even Drake London is going in the third round, you know, overall. So don't expect that he's 26 or.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

The two tight ends.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

But, but that, that being said, you know, Bowers. Yeah, Bowers is 25th. You've got more quarterbacks in CBS ADP quarterbacks are going a little bit earlier, although only two in the first round. But Joe Burrow very close to 24th and you've got a lot of running backs, kind of running back heavy ADP compared to some other sites.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

So one thing just, you know, full disclosure with our ADP that I don't love is that we do not separate Super Flex. So any Super Flex drafts are going to be reflective of our adp, but.

[Adam Azer]

It'S not like a heavy portion of our leagues.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

It doesn't matter if you know if they're going round one.

[Adam Azer]

Sure. But it's, it's not like I don't know if it taints it too much.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Okay.

[Adam Azer]

Like if 30 of our leagues were Super Flex, A, we talk about Super Flex a lot more B, it would have a massive impact on our adp. But it's not, it's not that way.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

All right, let's start with quarterback here. So let's review our quarterback and by the way, we, you, we default to six point but we're going to try to, you know, throw out some, some four point talk as well per passing touchdown. Let's talk about our quarterback strategies. And Dave, I'll give you the first word. How are you seeing the quarterback position now and has anything changed since we did our preview on about three weeks ago?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Actually.

[Adam Azer]

Nope, still looking to get a value at the quarterback position. That doesn't mean I'm trying to get a steal at the quarterback position. I just want to feel like I'm getting good value on any quarterback at any point in the draft. Certainly not going to reach for one. Definitely think it's a reach if you take any quarterback in round one or round two in a one QB league. And as long as I'm doing that, as long as I feel like it's a safe value and maybe even to take it a step further, there isn't a running back I really like. There isn't a receiver I really like. There isn't a tight end I really like. Maybe that's when you make that pivot to quarterback. There's a guy there that you like. You take them, you move on.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Heath, how about you quarterback? And by the way, did you want to update us on where those wide receivers were going in your FFT open league? Did you have.

[Heath Cummings]

We've moved on. Okay. I, I, I mean I think Dave pretty well said it. We're not taking quarterback in the first two rounds. I've moved since Our quarterback preview. I've moved the top three up a few spots because some of the guys I was taking ahead of them I don't feel as good about. So they went from the back end of round three to the middle of round three. And that's Jackson, Allen and Daniels. And the other thing is, I think one reason to maybe move those guys up is if you pass on one of those three in round three, you cannot count on Joe Burrow and Jalen Hurts making it back to you in round four. Because Burrow goes at the 34 turn often and hurts usually goes shortly after Burrow does or ahead of Burrow. So if you pass on one of the elite quarterbacks in round three, you may be passing on the top five.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Quarterbacks, which we're fine, you know, which is certainly not anything to be afraid of. But yeah, if you go into a draft thinking I want a top five quarterback, just be aware of what he said. But where do you guys value Joe Burrow in a four point per passing touchdown league.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

As the fifth ub, but still top five.

[Heath Cummings]

Yep.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

But top five is closer to the top four or closer to number six, Mahomes.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Closer to the top four.

[Heath Cummings]

I think another thing that makes a difference is a lot of leagues that are four points per pass touchdown league give you one a little bit more for passing yardage. It's that 0.05 or 0.04 for passing yardage. And so if, if you get maybe a little boost for the passing yardage, then, then maybe it's still okay. But I, I probably right in the middle of the top four. Another group.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Okay, where do you guys want to take my homes? ADP has him kind of around 50th on CBS and on fantasy pros. NFC, NFC. ADP. He's 76, but quarterbacks are just going later in this NFC ADP. But where's the sweet spot for Mahomes? Jamie?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Round six at the earliest.

[Heath Cummings]

Six, seven, turn.

[Adam Azer]

I'll be the high guy. Five, six turn.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Okay. Sleepers, breakouts, busts. Let's. You know what? Actually before we do that, one of the trends I'm seeing is that Justin Fields has been a faller. He. When we first did our position preview, Justin Fields was I think QB10 and he was ahead of Jared Goff and Brock Purdy and they've moved ahead of him. So he's more like QB13 now in ADP. And the way, the way ADP sets up, it looks like this. You've got your group of five at the top. You've got Jackson, Allen, Daniels, Hertz, Burrow, in some order. Then you've got a group of three, Mahomes, Baker, Mayfield, Bonix. And then you've got a group of four, Kyler, Goff, Purdy, Fields. And then after that, you know, Dak. Yeah, Dak should maybe be in that group. Maybe it's a group of five. Yes, it is. Kyler, Dak, Golf, Purdy, Fields, in some order. So that's what. That's 13 quarterbacks. Sorry, I forgot Dak Prescott. You're absolutely right. That's kind of how it looks. If I said that you've got one tier of five, next tier of three, Mahomes, Mayfield, Nicks, Next tier of five, Kyler, Dak, Goff, Purdy, Fields, Heath, you know which. Which tier do you have one that you are drafting a lot of or drafting almost none of. What do you think?

[Heath Cummings]

I like some of the guys in the third tier better than the second tier. So I don't generally draft in the second tier.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I almost feel like quarterback and tight end are a very similar strategy. Greater late. Like, yeah, you know, Mahomes. I don't like his adp. I. I think Heath and Dave are probably at least previously anti Baker adp. Bo Nix is sort of in a questionable spot. Kyler, Murray, Dak, Prescott. Like, I don't feel like I want to take them at those values. I'd almost rather wait for, you know, if you're looking at, at the YouTube page, kind of where that line break is, you know, for. I'm not taking Jared Goff there, but the guys going after Jared Goff, like, that's almost the range. I prefer to take my quarterbacks.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

So that's around QB 13, 12, 13. So that's Purdy Fields, Herbert Love, Caleb. And you don't see Drake May on here. And I would say we are higher on Drake May, except for Heath. Heath, where do you have May?

[Heath Cummings]

18 or 19.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

That's basically where his ADP is. Whereas Dave and Jamie, you have Drake May as a borderline top 12 guy.

[Adam Azer]

So there's no border about it.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Oh, you put him here. Top 12.

[Adam Azer]

He's in.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Okay.

[Adam Azer]

But he's out of Justin Fields earlier this week.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

The Fields thing is interesting to me because it's like I know he's having a bad preseason, but don't we know who he is after four years of his career?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I mean, I think, I think Fields, people that are panicked about Fields are going to regret it when he has one of those games. And I think how many of Them again. I'll go back to last year. The first, the first two games we were saying Fields may get you off to a good start. All the things that we're kind of, you know, saying this year. And the first two games were sort of frustrating and then the last four were amazing.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Yeah, he's going to be an up and down quarterback. I sort of get it. If you feel like Purdy and Golf Dak are just gonna be more consistent than him. And Obviously this is 6 point per passing touchdown lead but even in the 4 point ADP, Fields has been a faller. But Heath, let's talk about just how deep this position is and what do you do when you look at all these. There's so many great quarterbacks that I want, I want to take a chance on Caleb Williams and Drake May and Trevor Lawrence, these breakouts. And then you have guys like Tua and CJ Stroud is going a little bit higher than I. He's. He said like QB15. I don't really get that. But maybe Jordan Love can bounce back. Anyway, there's so many appealing options, you know, how do you approach that?

[Heath Cummings]

Well, you can just know that probably half of those appealing options you just mentioned are going to be on the waiver wire in your league. So you don't have to reach for the other half because there's not much difference between them. And so I think I, I want to draft the high upside guys like in my opinion, Justin Fields, Caleb Williams, I'm probably moving Kyler Murray up just a little bit. But those types of guys and then you can pair them with one of the Jordan Loves or Jared Goffs or whoever happens to Brock Purdy sometimes falls like whichever one of those guys falls. But it's the whole reason I don't really think that depth impacts tier one at all. Because those guys are in a different stratosphere from the, the top five quarterbacks and especially the top three from this depth we're talking about. But I don't really think that The Baker Mayfield Group 9OA was last year is. They're not that much different in my projections. So that's why we don't want to take them in round six or seven because you can find somebody very similar around 11 or 12 or maybe on the waiver wire.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Okay. All right, let's get one sleeper from everybody. Just one name. Go ahead. Jamie.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Dave.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Heath.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I'll go with Trevor Lawrence's Sleep Too.

[Adam Azer]

Obvious to go with Drake May.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

No, Heath.

[Adam Azer]

Okay, I'll go with J.J. mcCarthy then.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Okay.

[Heath Cummings]

I don't know how somebody can be a post type sleeper before they play the first game of their second season. But I think Caleb Williams is so.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

I'll go with Caleb Williams, breakout Jamie, Dave Heath, checkmate.

[Adam Azer]

I think Bo Nicks can be a little bit better season long than he was last year.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Justin Fields bust Justin Fields Mom.

[Heath Cummings]

I don't, I shouldn't get into a frustrating argument or they're around 10 pick can be a bust. But I'll, I'll go with, I mean nobody said it yet so I'll say Lamar Jackson, he's going 16th overall on CBS.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

ADP, he's going 16th overall On CBS. He's going about let's say 2, 3 turnish on other sites. How do you feel that you still to bust bus call there?

[Heath Cummings]

I don't.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

We don't.

[Heath Cummings]

I wouldn't draft him or Josh Allen in round two.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Okay. All right, let's go to running backs then. Talk about our running back strategy. Real quick though. Here's some programming coming up. So today I'm interviewing Chad Smith, drummer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He is starting some fantasy leagues to benefit his new foundation.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

You can better sing to him.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

You can play fantasy football against Chad Smith. I know I'm going to be in one of those leagues. So I'm really excited about this. It's not going to be a fantasy relevant discussion. This is really just a bonus if you're how often do we get to interview one of the, you know, most famous best drummers in the world of one of the most famous best bands in the world. So we're just going to have some fun. It's definitely going to be on YouTube today about 5 o'. Clock. We're going to start maybe 5, 10pm Eastern. I don't know when the audio will be published, but it'll be there on YouTube.com fantasy football today. So please join me for that auction talk. You guys want a lot of auction talk. We're going to have that on the mailbag. We're going to give you tips to win your auction. We're on CBS Sports Network on Friday at 1pm Eastern.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah, look at that.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

I know. I'm hosting, so you should watch.

[Heath Cummings]

Also, I'll be in Memphis at the St. Jude Contents Creator draft raising money for our draftathon. And there will be live hits on CBSSN showing all that absolute madness that will be going on with the content creators drafting their fantasy.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

And if you're in the FFT open and you're confused about how the timer works. When the timer goes off overnight or not off. When the timer extends overnight and there's like 14 hours on the clock, you can still draft you. There is never a point where you, where you shouldn't be drafting. You can always draft. Just, it just means that that's the maximum amount of time you have before there's an auto pick. So I encourage everyone in the FFT open don't get, you know, discouraged when you see so much time left on the timer. Just keep on drafting. We're all going to get through it. Believe me, the leagues are going to finish well before the season starts. The drafts are going to finish before the season starts. All right, we recorded Running back preview part two on August 6th. Here we are on August 20th, two weeks later and looking at some of the trends and really, to me it's about what's going on with the rookies. So comparing Fantasy Pros Overall consensus PPR ADP from 2 weeks ago. Amari and Hampton has moved up a little BIT. He's now RB16, but he's still in round four. He's after Breece hall and Alvin Camara. Travion Henderson is RB23. He's 53rd overall. And then you have David Montgomery and DeAndre Swift. And then you have RJ Harvey at 65th. Joe Mixon has plummeted from round five to round seven, seven spots in the running back rankings. Caleb Johnson has fallen from round six to round seven. Tony Pollard has jumped Caleb Johnson, but Johnson's still ahead of Warren. This is fantasy pros adp. Well, no, because here's my thought. You know, when you look at overall ADP and you can't set a date range, you're not necessarily getting an accurate reflection. Like for example, Ricky Piersoll and Ameca Buka are huge risers on CBS ADP if you look at them. But a book is only about a hundredth overall. We know that's not where he's actually going. We know that's just the average of where he's going now and, and where he was going way before. So if we look at NFC ADP since August 13th, we have just the last week. Here's the running backs amari and Hampton's RB13. He's the head of James Cook and Bree Hall. How do we feel about that?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I don't hate it. They're back to back for me cooking Hampton. I would definitely take them over Bree hall at this point.

[Heath Cummings]

Too high for me.

[Adam Azer]

I'll take Hampton.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Travion Henderson is RB16, kind of around the 3, 4 turn, it's more wide receiver, heavy drafting there. But he's RB16. Travion Henderson, he's ahead of Ken Walker, basically tied with Ken Walker and about a full round ahead of Chimera and Chuba Hubbard. That's Travion Henderson. How do we feel about that as RB16?

[Heath Cummings]

Just about right.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I would take too much for my blood those guys as well.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

So we don't have to do with that.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Report about Walker.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

RB RJ Harvey is RB21 after Chuba Hubbard and James Conner. This is over the last week on nfc. How do we feel about that?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Good for me. I take him higher.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Joe Mixon is RB32. He's going 94th overall. Caleb Johnson is RB27 and then it's Tyrone Tracy and then it's Jalen Warren. So how do we feel about Caleb Johnson? Tyrone Chasey Tracy, Jalen Warren, that string of three at RB's 27, 8 and 9.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I'll take Tracy and Warren over mixing and Caleb.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah, I got it. Warren, Tracy, Mix and Johnson.

[Adam Azer]

I'll take Tracy first. I'll take Caleb Johnson right behind him and then mixing and Warren maybe around later.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Again over the Last week on NFC, Zach Charbonnet is a top 100 pick. Ken Walker.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Somebody just asked in the chat what's the Ken Walker report I just referenced? It's the ESPN report about Walker missing so much practice time and Charbonne Knot that we may see closer to a even workload than we're expecting.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Yeah, Javante Williams still the first Cowboys running back off the board. And Quinton Judkins is still the first Cleveland running back off the board. Then Dylan Sampson, then Jerome Ford at RB56. So I really think the big question here, Jamie, is, you know, these rookie running backs, I think we have a really good track record of first round pick rookie running backs getting a ton of work. I can give the stat in a moment. But basically over like the last eight to 10 years or something. There's only been two that haven't had significant workload as rookies. One of them was Christian McCaffrey. He was sharing with. Who the hell was he sharing with? John Stewart. Yeah. And the other was, I want to say Rashad Penny who was playing behind Chris Carson. But for the most part you're getting 17 or more, 16 or more, 17 or more touches per game for these guys. So you know that's, that's the round one guys. Genti and Hampton, the round two guys. You know, I think the big question is when to take Henderson, Harvey, those two specifically because you've moved them up. So anyway, you know, Hampton too, the Triple H. Triple H is the real question here. So we just talked about it. You just heard that. But that's I think has shaped running back strategy since the last time we spoke. Where we go. Well, you can just take Travion Henderson around 5. Well that's not happening anymore. RJ Harvey, I do think it's possible based on current trends to still get him in round five. But with all that said, that's my preamble for this question. What how should we approach running back this year?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I think it comes down to, you know, your, your trust in these rookies versus your faith in these veterans. And you know we're going to get, you're going to get differing opinions from all of us here because you know, Alvin Camara, if you still buy into his extreme role in the passing game. Heath has laid out this week a couple times, you know, certain programming about Kellen Moore's track record with throwing to running backs. Dave is still, based on his response to that, is very much believing in Camara still and we'll see how that sort of plays itself out. James Connor, you know, if you still want to trust the 30 year old running back who's had a very good track record, you're going to take him over some of these rookies. Chuba Hubbard, coming off the year that he had, you're going to trust over some of these rookies. Obviously Heath is very high on Deandre Swift and please stop me if I'm saying the wrong thing for any of you. So I don't want to, you know, say the wrong thing. But for me, like I'm putting my faith probably a little bit too much and we'll see if it, you know, it comes comes back to haunt me. But in, in the three rookies not named Ashton Genti of I guess Triple H. Right.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Yeah.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

So you know, Hampton is only going to benefit that much more, you know, whatever excitement you had for him coming out of the NFL draft because of the Naji Harris injury and if the NFI report, if the athletic report about his status on the NFI comes true, becomes true that he misses the start of the season. I mean Hampton may be around two pick, you know, with the, the excitement level just getting that much ramped up, you know, so you may continue to go ahead of James Cook and maybe get closer to where that Kyron Williams, Bucky Irving, Chase Brown group is. Understandably. So Henderson is a wild card because he's not going to be the lead rusher to open the season. You know, I think they've told us that with what they did in the second preseason game, giving Antonio Gibson that opportunity instead of seeing if. If Henderson can handle it. But it wouldn't shock me if he's a close split with whoever the. The lead guy is. Ramandre or Gibson, mostly Ramandre. And his role in the passing game could be amazing. And then Harvey. You said it, Adam. He hasn't moved as much. Probably because everybody loved what they saw from J.K. dobbins last year and maybe a little bit concerned that Harvey played at UCF comparatively to Ohio State. You know, if you're just talking about, you know, college profiles and not seeing him as much, I just think I'm gonna trust Sean Payton's system and his explosiveness. So I'm leaning toward all three of these rookies. Two of them are round three for me in terms of Hampton and Henderson. Harvey's in round four. I want to be aggressive in drafting them. I want to have them on my fantasy.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Okay. There's other topics here to cover when it comes to running back. So, Heath, why don't you just give me the lay of the land of running back, how you see it and how you're drafting.

[Heath Cummings]

I'd like to have at least one running back in the first two rounds. If you want to go the hero RB approach, that includes that if you want to go heavy running back, I think there are right wide receivers that can make that valuable in the 4 through 6 range. So I'm okay with that as well. I'm. I've kind of been a pretty big proponent over the years of 0 RB. Any year is a possibility. It feels like less of a possibility this year. And I've. I don't think I've drafted any teams with that approach. One change I've made because I don't know if we ever got to that part, but I did. I was going to give HN a week and see if he was fine next week. And I have two drafts going on right now and one starting in 15 minutes and one Saturday and one Sunday. And I realized, you know, I shouldn't wait a week for everybody else who's also drafting this week. So I moved HN down to RB6.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

First round pick for you still 1.

[Heath Cummings]

2 turn 12 or 13.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Okay. All right, Dave, same question to you. Just give me some. Hey, I know you. You're Dave Richard. Hey, can I stop you for 30 seconds? And you can Tell me how to draft running backs this year.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah, let's take a 30,000 foot view of the position and what you should do before draft day. Number one, you've got to know how big your league is, what's the scoring system, how many running backs can you start? That includes flex spots. The fewer running backs that you start, the less likely you're going to prioritize that position. Usually it depends on how many receivers you could start where you would make that determination. But the thing you got to do before you draft is make figure out how many running backs you believe are startable options. The smaller that number is, the more you should push for running backs with your first few picks. The bigger that number is, the more you could probably get away with a Hero RB start or maybe even a 0 RB start. Especially if you really love the rookies as much as Jamie does. I certainly love my fair share of the rookies too. And if you want to trust those guys as starters for your fantasy team, you could begin with two of the top nine or ten wide receivers in your draft and still pick up two rookie running backs. And you, you go to battle this season, week one with those guys in your lineup. So I would go find a rank list. Doesn't have to be mine or anybody on the shows, but any rank list, go to adp. Just start making a list of how many running backs that you're good to go with. For me, it's wherever David Montgomery is. Once you get past David Montgomery, I get a little skittish about the running backs after him being reliable starters for my fantasy team. So in a league where I start two running backs and three wide receivers, my goal is to get two of those first 23 running backs.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

That includes, I'd like to get two of my two running backs in my first five picks and then one of potentially Tracy, Warren, Charbonnet, Allen.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Mason.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Mason.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Mason, yeah.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

And then one later of Tutin, Jaden Blue, Jerome Ford. One of those type of guys.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Okay, I like that. All right. One sleeper, one breakout, one bus. Dave, Heath, Jamie, let's get a sleeper. Dave.

[Adam Azer]

Sleeper running back. Do I just take the the easy name? You know what, I'm not going to take the easy name. In fact, I'm going to take his teammate and I think you can still get him in round nine. Plus it's Austin Eckler who I think is going to end up with more work than we think because of what's going on in the commander's backfield.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Heath.

[Heath Cummings]

So the easy name, Dave, was Referencing was Jacori, Crosby, Merritt, and He has an ADP that's outside of the round 10. And if your league not paying attention, he will be there. If your league is paying attention, he won't be close to there. So I will say Tank Bigsby. I still think he'll be the leading rusher for Jacksonville, assuming he's on the team. And if he's not on the team, he may be in a much better situation than he's in right now.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Jamie Braylon out.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

All right, Breakout Dave Heath.

[Adam Azer]

Jamie, the breakout running back that I want to go with is Bucky Irving. I think he can be better than he was over the course of last season and I would take him in round two.

[Heath Cummings]

Trevian Henderson. I'll have him in round three. By the end of the day, probably he was already at 38th overall.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

He's.

[Heath Cummings]

They're not going like I know they plan on using Ramond early downs. They're just not going to be a good enough offense to where they can leave that explosiveness on the bench for more than say 30% of the snaps, 40% of the snapshot.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Jamie.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

R.J. harvey. I think he belongs in round four. I think he'll be the best running back for the Broncos. And if J.K. dobbins gets injured, which unfortunately happens a lot, then we could be talking about a top 10 running.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Back and a bust. Dave Heath. Jamie.

[Adam Azer]

The boring names are Aaron Jones and Joe Mixon because they're older. One of them, we don't even know when he's gonna play. I'll leave the exciting name to Jamie.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Okay. Heath.

[Heath Cummings]

I'll say Alvin Camara, whose CBS ADP is up to 28th overall. I do not want to draft an older running back who has a decreased efficiency, who has had injuries in the recent past, and who could see a decrease in his passing downs on the worst offense in the NFL.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

We. We. I thought Dave was going to say DeAndre Swift. We got to figure out what the bet is between Swift and.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah, I should have said DeAndre Swift. You're absolutely right.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

We'll figure that out. Jamie, what's the bust?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I'll go Breeze hall just. Again, round three is way too soon. I. I still. I still think he will be the best running back for the jets, but I don't think it's going to be that far apart from Bruce Allen. So I just can't understand his ADP not falling at this point.

[Adam Azer]

What is the ADP of Saquon Barkley right now?

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Well, let's. Okay, let's use three. There's so many different sources, but yeah, sure. Third overall.

[Adam Azer]

I think it's too high.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

All right, let's go. Let's move on. Let's get to wide receivers. We're going to take a break. We're going to talk about wide receivers and tight ends and 14 team leagues and 12 and 10 team leagues and non PPR leagues and this and that. We'll be right back.

[Adam Azer]

Now streaming on Paramount plus It's an all new season of adventures.

[Heath Cummings]

We have to stop this invasion, get into this shit.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

This crew is in team. We are going to find our way out of this.

[Adam Azer]

Star Trek strange new worlds. New season.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Now streaming on Paramount + September 4th.

[Heath Cummings]

On Paramount + someone is trying to frame us until our names are cleared.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

More fugitives from interval like Bonnie and.

[Heath Cummings]

Clyde with better snacks. Espionage. You still as good a shot as you used to be?

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Better. Is there love language?

[Heath Cummings]

We like to walk that fine line between techno thriller and romantic comedy.

[Adam Azer]

We make up our own rules.

[Heath Cummings]

NCIS Tony and Ziva streaming September 4th.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

On Paramount Plus Heath what should I do at wide receiver? Give me the. Give me the goods.

[Heath Cummings]

There's great wide receiver value available pretty much everywhere in the draft this year. So except for maybe round three. I think if you want to feel comfortable with your wide receiver room, you take one in the first two rounds. You can take two more in round four through six. You want to make sure that you have I would like to make sure that I have probably five wide receivers before I get to the double digit rounds because other than Luther Burden, there's nobody that really excites me in that range.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Jamie, what do I do at wide receiver?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

You try and get two in the or three in the first five rounds and then you want to make sure you get one of three of the guys you just mentioned. If you can Pierce Olabuka and Matthew golden because there's so much upside for those guys. If you missed on guys in that range. I would look for the group of Keon Coleman, Darnell Mooney and Luther Burden, as he'd said. And then if you really, really miss on guys, then you start to look for Demario Douglas, Cedric Tillman, Romeo Dobbs and maybe now my favorite is still Marvin Mims, but Troy Franklin very late. Like take a second Broncos receiver with one of your last picks.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Dave, what do I do at wide receiver?

[Adam Azer]

This is the most important thing that you need to do before you draft. This is more important than what I said with running backs. You need to go through a rank list of wide receivers and get a number in your brain of how many of them you think can average 15 or more PPR points per game. I think you're going to be shocked by the number that you come up with. The lower that number is, the more you should prioritize wide receivers within the first four rounds of your draft. You do not want to be the team without some good wide receivers when your draft is over. And so if you start with two running backs and a tight end and a quarterback and you think you're going to recover that position, it's going to be really hard for you. I think that just the biggest change this year compared to past years in fantasy is a lack of stud receivers on draft day. There's a lot of guys that we really love that are breakout candidates. We already talked about a Buka Pearsall, Matt Golden. I would add Keon Coleman to that list. There are a lot of guys that could be really good that you can get in the middle rounds. I don't know if you necessarily want those guys to be like the anchor of your wide receiver group or maybe even the wide receiver two on your team. So you put like a little bit of extra priority at the receiver position, especially if catches count. Half ppr, full ppr. I think it's really important to go after those big time receivers.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Well, one thing we've been saying for a while is, you know, one of your first two picks, it's a, it doesn't have to be a wide receiver, but it's advisable because, you know, once you get, especially if you're picking late, right, you get to the 3, 4 turn, you may not love what you're seeing there. Now. Mike Evans looks a lot more appealing now than he did, but I think we all, we all like to come away with one wide receiver with our first two picks, right? I mean, again, not a, not a requirement, but advisable.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Depends where you pick. Because I think if you're picking in the early part of the first round and you take. You're saying one of your first two picks. Yeah, yeah. If you, if you end up taking Bijan, Gibbs, Barkley, maybe McCaffrey and you get to that round two spot and it's one of the tight end, you go tight end and then you come back to round three and you're staring at T. Higgins or Lad McConkey, let's say, or JSN whoever.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Tyreek.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Tyreek. I wouldn't put Tyreek there at this point. But those, those other three guys versus the potential of anyone from Chase Brown, Jonathan Taylor, I don't think Josh Jacobs, but depending on ADP look like Bucky Irving. Like you could see those guys there. Like I would rather take the running back, which is strange for me to say but like I, I, I don't want to reach for those receivers. I'd rather take two running backs coming out of that.

[Heath Cummings]

And, and you what you have to decide because I talked about it like four through six and sometimes I feel like I just need to move some of the round four guys into round three because I like rounds four through six so much more than I like round three right now. But if, if you have two elite running backs and an elite quarterback or tight end, are you okay with a receiving core and enter your own names here but of something like Cortland Sutton, Tet McMillan and DK Metcalf or something like that. Like three of those guys and, or Jerry Judy?

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Yeah.

[Heath Cummings]

And if you're okay with those three guys as your three wide receivers, if you are elite at three other positions, then I think it's fine. I've done that. I've probably more often skipped wide receiver in the first three rounds than I have skipped running back in the first three rounds. I'd prefer to do neither.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

And I think it matters so much to receiver league versus three receiver league.

[Adam Azer]

Yep.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

The whole draft is, is that is the biggest thing for me is two receivers versus three receivers. It changes wide receivers, it changes how I draft quarterback, it changes how I draft tight end. It's a really big deal I think to me, I don't know, I thought.

[Heath Cummings]

About that and I think because I said that it doesn't change those positions for me and I'm going to amend that. It doesn't change where I draft the elite players at those positions.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah.

[Heath Cummings]

So it would, wouldn't change where I draft Bowers, McBride or Kittle. It wouldn't change where I draft Lamar Allen or Daniels. But it, or and maybe hurts and Burrow too, but it does change the guys I would normally draft in the round seven range.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

I would say, you know, just, just based on the FFT open league which is two receivers, one flex. I really wanted to come away with it with either an elite tight end or a top five quarterback. You know, not necessarily both, but when I'm only, when I only have to start two wide receivers, I think that gives you more of an opportunity to be elite at tight end or quarterback. And I'm not saying you can't do that in a three receiver league but it just makes it easier. It just makes it easier. All right, so that's. That's my thought on it. I mean, obviously, I might. I'm not speaking for everyone. I do think the strength, though, Heath, of wide receiver is. You said four through six. I might even amend it to, say rounds four through seven. But, yeah, go ahead.

[Heath Cummings]

I would also say if I took that approach, it becomes much harder for me to click Mecca buka in round six.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

As your what? Wide receiver. 2.

[Heath Cummings]

As my wide receiver. 3.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

If you took what approach?

[Heath Cummings]

If I don't have a true wide receiver. 1. If I'm trying to piece together a receiving core with Cortland Sutton or DK Metcalf or somebody like that as my wide receiver. 1. I. I really would like to have three wide receivers before. Before I took a booker.

[Adam Azer]

So, like, who are the receivers you would take ahead of him? I'm trying to think of, like, the profile that you're looking.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Well, I think just based on how Heath has drafted so far, you're probably talking about guys like Debo Samuel and Cooper Cup. You would take the.

[Heath Cummings]

Well, and I was actually thinking, like, or somebody like Calvin Ridley or, like, just somebody. We're very excited about these younger guys, but their floor is obviously quite a bit shakier than some of the guys that are being drafted in the state. Jerry. Judy's being drafted right in the same range.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I don't think anybody's taking those guys over Ridley. Maybe I'd be surprised over Judy, but.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

No, I think it's. I think I might take them over Judy.

[Heath Cummings]

I. I.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Right. I think.

[Heath Cummings]

I think in my. I'll. I'll look at it now, Adam. Although I've got another draft starting, so.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Oh, crap. Forgot about that. We have our IDP draft right now. Okay. Yeah, baby.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Love this draft.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Yeah. Not me. All right, let's sleeper breakout Bus. Just give me a name. Heath, Jamie. Dave. Sleeper wide receiver.

[Heath Cummings]

Luther Burden.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Keon Coleman.

[Adam Azer]

I like the Keon Coleman call a lot. Mooney.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Okay. Breakout. Heath, Jamie, Dave.

[Heath Cummings]

Sorry, I was trying to look something up for you. Now I'm trying to think of names. I will go with Travis Hunter.

[Adam Azer]

Ricky Pearson.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Okay. Two Pierce Saws and a bus Teeth.

[Heath Cummings]

I will say that the bust is going to be Tyreek Hill.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

DJ Moore, Terry McCormick. Okay.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

All right, let's go to tight ends. And, Jamie, why don't you kick off the tight end discussion? We did this preview on July 31st, so it has been three weeks since we've done that position preview, and one of the changes is Obvious. John, who Smith at the time was tight end 10. Now he's tight end 16. But one of the guys who's risen is Tyler Warren. He's now around nine pick. He's pretty popular. Mark Andrews, though, remains ahead of Tyler Warren. It's not someone that we're really advocating for. I think Mark Andrews, especially in full ppr. But Jamie, how do I draft tight end this year?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

You draft great or late. I don't know if you've ever heard that before. It's a good strategy.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

You're on the clock, so I'll let you make your pick in idp.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Oh, it's okay. I'm gonna take Justin Jefferson for the first time.

[Heath Cummings]

I will just say that I think I. That I still would take Andrews over the rookies. I. There may be more pass attempts for the Colts this year. I would say there will probably be significantly more passing yards and touchdowns for the Ravens this year.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

So. Sorry, let me just clarify that. It's. It's not so much him going ahead of the rookies, but it's just. I feel like he's. He's tight end seven. I think in ADP, Mark Andrews going 76th overall. I feel like we don't pull the trigger there, right?

[Heath Cummings]

Oh, no, not at all.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I think. I think part of that is. Is the injury designation for Isaiah Likely. If we find out that likely is going to miss the start of the season, you could justify Mark Andrews in this spot and miss star season being on the public. Like, if he's going to be ready early in the season, it's hard to say Mark Andrews is going to be in the spot. So it's, you know, he scored 11 touchdowns. He combined for 11 touchdowns the previous two years. If. If his targets don't go up. He averaged 4.1 targets per game. Like, that's miserable. So he's got to be more involved and he will be more involved if likely he's not there. And so if you're gambling and likely may miss the start, we don't know how long this foot injury may linger. It may pay off for you in a big way. It just feels like it's too rich, though.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

All right, real quick, Wendy, I'm going.

[Heath Cummings]

To interrupt this time because I tried to tell you about 45 minutes ago, but now we're in the tight end section. Aaron Waller's off the puppet.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Okay, great. When do. When do you. Where do you guys have Brock Bowers? Brock Bowers ranked overall?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Overall, 23, 25, 12, 23, 25 and.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

12 okay, big difference there. How about Trey McBride?

[Adam Azer]

24, 24. One spot ahead of Bowers in PPR 20.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

All right, so he's those two. Yeah, I know. Let's go with the neighbors. And where do you have George Kittle ranked.

[Adam Azer]

30Th, 31, 40.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Okay. We've been pretty clear, I think, on. Obviously it differs by analysts, but how we feel about those top three now.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Kyren in round one.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

I just. So we're doing the super flex dynasty league that I told you about with Heath and I started with Neighbors and Brian Thomas Jr and now we're doing this non dynasty full PPR league where we start three receivers and I'm going to start with Neighbors and Brian Thomas Jr. It's just so. Oh, but Achan. No, I'm not going to do it now. I'm going to take Brian Thomas Jr. Because you know what? And this is. This is live. This is like live action. Right? I'm doing this thinking I. I'm probably going to take Travion Henderson or Omarion Hampton if he falls to me late in round three, and then I'm probably going to end up with Isaiah Pacheco, who I love in round five or something like that, and then I'll be fine with my running backs. Also. This just goes to show you, like Kyron Williams just went 12th overall to Jake Seeley, who knows what he's doing.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Right.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Great analyst. You can look at ADP all you want. You can prepare. All it takes is one person in your league to do a pick that you did not expect. And all of a sudden you get great value or you what you perceive as great value.

[Heath Cummings]

You.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Oh, I can't believe it's just one player, but I can't believe Brian Thomas Jr. Fell to me there at 18. Exactly. Exactly. I know that you might just be really benefiting from some early season. All right, tight end. So here's the tough call, I think, at tight end, right? Hawkinson's been good. I think he was top seven per game every year until last year when he didn't score a touchdown. Obviously Travis Kelsey is old, but he's Kelsey and he's got so many more targets when Rasheed Rice was out and Rasheed Rice going to miss some time. Sam Laporta has been tight end one for one of his years and he started the season really slow and then he finished really strong. Was that because of injury or just because they were throwing the ball so much late? Am I missing anyone from that trio? I think the question is Najoku right. Najoku's been so good as Jamie outlined last year without DeSean Watson and he I feel like has been a top six to eight tight end three seasons in a row on a per game basis he's been pretty underrated. So you know Heath, when do you take these guys?

[Heath Cummings]

Well, I think that the funny thing is our preference for these guys may be pretty close to the exact reverse order of ADP currently. So I, I think probably round six is when you can start looking for these guys. Often Najoku falls to round seven or round eight, but he is my favorite. But I have Najoku, Kelsey, Hawkinson, Laporta in that range all in round six. So they're 30 picks behind George Kittle. They're 30 picks ahead of any other tight end. For me this is the clear tier 2. But they don't get drafted in the same spot all the time. Usually one of them, usually Kelsey or Njoku, maybe Hawkinson falls to round seven or eight.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Dave, this is one of the toughest decisions I have particularly again in a two receiver league because if I'm in the sixth round or so and it's a three receiver league, very likely I'm taking a wide receiver here. Right. Because it's great wide receiver value. We need to build out that position. Two receiver league. I, I often don't know which way to go. Maybe Mahomes is on the board, these tight ends are on the board. And then I still like taking Tyler Warren late, right. And we always say greater late, right. So why am I even going to say spend a sixth or a seventh round pick on a tight end? But again I think there is a pretty compelling case to do. So what do you do in this situation?

[Adam Azer]

I think the only one that I would consider in that range is Laporta, maybe Najoku if we're talking the end of round seven. But when I go shopping for a tight end it's almost like the same philosophy as I have with quarterbacks. I want a good value. I will let other people reach for Bowers and McBride because they think they're drafting the next Kelsey. They might be but I don't want to, I don't want to start fighting for them around 15th overall. I'm looking for them around the two, three turn and with other tight ends. I don't see it with Andrews and I don't really see it with Hawkinson, especially once Jordan Addison comes back. I think that those two guys are definitely getting picked way too soon and the only, the only change up from there, there's obviously a tight end that I really love. It's Tyler Warren. And now I have to take him in round eight, but I'm trying to get him in all my leagues. But outside of that, I'm really comfortable just kind of letting tight end come to me and getting a fair value on one. And I know that I. Even if I have to wait until round 12 and get Zach Ertz to be my starter to begin the year, I'm completely at peace with that.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Okay, fair enough. Do you also think that the two receiver versus three receiver thing is influencing this decision? A tight end?

[Adam Azer]

Sure, of course. Because you've got to start three receivers. It. It certainly makes the receiver position that much more valuable.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

If you guys do end up waiting at tight end, who are you usually targeting?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Jamie Tyler, Warren, Tucker, Craft, Colson, Loveland, and Duncan Gate.

[Adam Azer]

And maybe sometimes Ninjoku makes it that far.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. And maybe two of them, right?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

And maybe two of them.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

I don't.

[Adam Azer]

I don't hate that because now you're taking two shots on tight ends, hoping to get somebody that, all right, they won't be as good as Travis Kelsey in his prime, but if you can find somebody that's going to get you 12 PPR points per game and you can get them in the late rounds, hell yeah, you'll take that all day.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Heath, how about you? Same question to you.

[Heath Cummings]

Same guys. They said it's Craft and Loveland for the most part. If Earth, if it's one of those leagues where Earth just falls to the last round and that's fine as a. A pairing with Loveland, I. I think actually, though, like, if you get Najoku in round eight and Loveland falls to round 11 or 12 like he does sometimes that might be a really good pairing because Najoku might be good with Flacco for as long as it takes Loveland to get acclimated to the NFL. And then when Flacco loses his job, you can just start Lublin.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

My guys, I'm paying not even paying attention to this draft. I just had the 35th pick. I didn't even realize that not a single quarterback has been taken. We're into round four, and now what.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Do I do here, baby?

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

I feel like I have to take Josh Allen over Travion Henderson, but I love Travion Henderson. Oh, man. You know what?

[Adam Azer]

I know what you do.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

You're not gonna get. You're not gonna get one of you. Their quarterback's gonna start to go. You're not going to get your one of your guys.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

No, but I've had a lot of success waiting on quarterback in this league. That's so stupid, right? Like taking Travion Henderson over Josh Allen. That's so stupid. Not a.

[Adam Azer]

For your running back so far.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Just. I have James Cook, Malik Neighbors and Brian Thomas.

[Adam Azer]

Oh yeah, I would have taken that one.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

I didn't take anyone yet. I still have 15 seconds to decide. First person in the chat to tell me who do I take. Who do I take, Allen or Henderson? Go, go, go, go, go.

[Heath Cummings]

So Alan's your QB one.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Yeah.

[Adam Azer]

So you're. You've done an entire.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

I'm going to run out of time. Give me Alan, give me Josh Allen.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah. You've taken a whole off season's worth of research and you're asking the chat to make the pick for you.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

All right, Josh Allen it is. Sorry about that, Jamie. Okay, let me just say this about tight end, right? Just to finish this discussion here, you know. So I came up with in round six in the FFT open and at that point I had, I had Nico Genty Hampton, Jalen Hertz were my first four picks. And then I took Pacheco in round five. So I had a quarterback, three running backs, one wide receiver. And when I came up there were three tight ends I liked. They were Hawkins, the four.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Right.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

It was all those guys. It was Hawkinson, Laporta, Nujoku and Kelsey, I think. I think they were all available and I kind of felt like if I didn't take one there, I probably wasn't going to get one the next round. But I was willing to gamble. So I took Jerry Judy instead of one of those tight ends. We talked about so much how Flacco could be so good for him. So I took the receiver. I'm going to just gamble. We're almost up to my next pick. There's a couple of tight ends left, I think. So it might work out, but if it doesn't, that's okay. I can live with going with the late round guy. All right, sleeper breakout and bust. We'll go Jamie Heath. Dave. Jamie, sleeper tight end.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Duncan Kate Heath, Colson Loveland.

[Adam Azer]

I'll say Zach Ertz, but I actually don't love his ADP on CBS. I try and get him later than round 10.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Heath, you're on the clock. What are you going to do here?

[Heath Cummings]

You know, I've got a couple running backs that stop my queue and a couple quarterbacks, but these guys are gonna eat up all the wide receivers over the next 11 picks, I'm afraid. So I'm gonna go ahead and take Cortland Sutton to be my number two wide receiver. So I have Saquon Barkley, T. Higgins, Cortland Sutton, and Brock Bowers with this team.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Heath. Sorry. Who's your sleeper tight end?

[Heath Cummings]

I said Colston.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Love it. My bad. Dave, who's your sleeper titan?

[Adam Azer]

I said Zach Ertz.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Zach. Hurts. There we go. Okay. Sorry. I was paying attention to the draft and not the show. Also Cortland. That's what it was. You said Cortland Sutton. Someone asked earlier in the chat how we feel about Cortland Sutton. Just so you know, we are higher on Cortland Sutton big time than ADP. We have him as wide receiver 17. I believe in consensus rankings. I think the lowest any of the three of them are on. Cortland Sutton is wide receiver 20. So we actually really like Cortland Sutton a lot compared to his ADP, which is closer to 23rd breakout tight end Jamie Heath. Dave goes Tyler Warren.

[Heath Cummings]

Oh, that was. That was really, really cruel. I'll take the booze from the chat and I'll say Brock Bowers.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Okay. It means he's gonna be even better.

[Heath Cummings]

How many points does Brock Bowers have to average per game this year to be a breakout? He scored 15.8 last year.

[Adam Azer]

18.6.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

I want to say 17 and a half.

[Heath Cummings]

17 and a half.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Okay, score last year.

[Adam Azer]

15.9.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

15.9.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

No, you better. All right. Dave, your breakout was. Warren, you said.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah, I. Yes.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Jamie.

[Adam Azer]

These receivers are flying.

[Heath Cummings]

That was a good call by me, I guess.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Jamie. Bus. Tight end.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Bus tight end. Let's go with who have I been saying? I don't remember anymore.

[Adam Azer]

I'm ready if he's not.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Oh, Mark Andrews.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Sorry, Mark Andrews. Dave.

[Adam Azer]

Mark Hawkinson or T.J. andrews.

[Heath Cummings]

He's Sam Laporta.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Right. You see that? You just heard the four bus calls of basically mid round tight ends. So that should shape your strategy a little bit there. You didn't hear Najoku. Kelsey, is round six.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah. A little too rich?

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

All right, let's. Let's move on to the next portion of our show. DSTs and kickers. Who wants it?

[Adam Azer]

Oh, yeah.

[Heath Cummings]

Arizona Cardinals face the Saints in week one. So that'd be if you just don't want to think about defense until week three. I think they have a good matchup in week two also, Right.

[Adam Azer]

Carolina.

[Heath Cummings]

Carolina. Which may be.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Yeah. And they're supposed to have a good defense. So Arizona's good, but basically the soonest you should take a dst would be your second to last pick, right?

[Heath Cummings]

Yes.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Is there anything better? Like when you, when you pass on a player and it comes right back.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

To you next round, especially when it's a really long wait.

[Heath Cummings]

That's when somebody drafts the defense in round 10. That's really fun too.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Yeah, don't. But I don't.

[Adam Azer]

Getting the player you wanted around later is a better feeling.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I, I was gonna take RJ Harvey two rounds ago and I got him two rounds later.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

That's awesome.

[Adam Azer]

That's a great feeling.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

So what about, what about kicker? Because I honestly like Brandon Aubrey is so good. Yeah.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah. So here's my strategy. I make sure my league doesn't start kickers.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

No, come on.

[Adam Azer]

No. You're taking one with your last pick.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Oh, this is gonna work out. Oh, no, it's not.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Why?

[Adam Azer]

Kicker talk.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Jalen Hurts is available here. Are you kidding?

[Heath Cummings]

You should just take him. It's too good a value.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

I know.

[Heath Cummings]

You can trade him later.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

59 for taking Lamar Jackson around 4.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

It's ridiculous. Pacheco. It is. Okay, no kicker. Look, kicker's probably going to be one of your last two picks. Also almost every time. Our last two picks are going to be our kicker in our defense. Brandon Aubrey is so good and I had him in a league last year, our super flex league, and he was such an advantage. If you reached for him around or two earlier, I know the other guys would chastise you for it. I wouldn't. I give you. Yeah, yeah. I give you, I give you that permission.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

This is, this is making me sick.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

I almost feel like I should take Jalen Hurts. I have Allen, but it's 62nd overall. We're at round six here. How is this happening?

[Adam Azer]

Do you think you could trade him for a player who's already been taken in this draft?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

No.

[Adam Azer]

If the answer to that question is yes, then you should take them. If the answer is no, then just accept that you got Allen at a good value and please take somebody else.

[Heath Cummings]

Never, ever, ever. Except for Adam. Draft a second quarterback in the sixth round because you think you'll be able to trade them if your league value.

[Adam Azer]

Well, the answer is no.

[Heath Cummings]

You're not going to be able to round six. Right.

[Adam Azer]

Exactly. You're never going to be. You are on the clock.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Gosh, I, I. Guys, I have no idea who to pick right now. I guess I'm gonna go with Jerry Judy again. All right, fine.

[Adam Azer]

Did you ever think you'd take Jerry Judy over Jalen Hurts?

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Take Jerry Judy in two drafts, back to back days, both in round six.

[Adam Azer]

Almost sounds like a championship strategy.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Well, it was either him or a Buka, so.

[Adam Azer]

Well, you messed up.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah, I mean I think, I think we, I think you're going to win week one.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

All right, back to the show here. Sorry folks. 10 team leagues. What changes in 10 team leagues?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

The most taking elite tight end early if you can and lean quarterback early if you can as well. I was so thrilled we did our 10 team draft two weeks ago. Got Brock Bowers middle round two. Love that. And then Lamar Jackson in round four. Love that.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Okay.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah, good.

[Heath Cummings]

Price.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Yeah. So right, the onesie positions, you know, push them up. How about.

[Adam Azer]

Because there's two fewer teams, everybody's going to have a good team. That's how you can separate your team. Something that you'll do in a 10 team draft will separate your team from everybody else in the league. It could just as simply be taking a top two tight end and a top three quarterback.

[Heath Cummings]

You can also, I think in a 10 team league be a little bit more aggressive with Rushy Rice. Be a little bit more aggressive maybe with the Quintean Judkins type. The guys that you have concern about, it's much easier to replace losers players you lose. Maybe even the same thing could be said for some of the older guys.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

You have injury concerns about 14 team leagues. I'm actually in a 14 team league slow draft right now and I did not take a quarterback when I typically would. I don't think I remember what the pick was. I took a wide receiver over like Jalen Hurts or something like that because I, I'm going to take advantage of. I really, I really hate you at the position. Dave, what do you think about 14 team leagues, deeper leagues, but you still.

[Adam Azer]

Want to try and get difference makers in that league as well. So I'm more inclined to go after the stud tight ends and probably the, the stud quarterbacks a little bit more than I would in a 12 team league.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Okay. So in a 14 team league, Dave is more likely to try to get a stud tight end and quarterback than.

[Adam Azer]

More of the tight end than the quarterback.

[Heath Cummings]

I am not.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

No, the tight end I kind of feel. Right. Because the tight end you're, you're separating yourself from even more teams. If you have one of the elite guys, the quarterback, I think it's easier to be like, oh man, I, I gotta build out my running back and receiver depth or whatever. I'm just gonna wait and take, you know, Jared Goff and Caleb Williams or something. I think it's easier to do that. Also, I, I do not want to have bad running back depth enough deeply because the waiver wire is just completely barren. All right, let's see.

[Heath Cummings]

Well, I think it's almost worse at wide receiver. At least some. Maybe a running back will get hurt and we'll get a surprise running back pop up the white again. That's the problem with this IDP league that I remember from. It's a deeper bench and so there's always just almost nothing available on the waiver wire. That's why I try to wait until like round six and see if I can get a top five quarterback.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

All right, non PPR leagues. Jamie, we did the non PPR draft yesterday. What was your takeaway from that?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

You can go heavy running back there and, you know, try and piece together your receiving core and I think I did that. I think I took three running backs and quarterback my first four picks.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

When you're making picks in a non PPR league, are you guys mostly just thinking touchdowns, touchdowns? Are these guys going to score touchdowns?

[Adam Azer]

Yards and touchdowns?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yes.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Right. So give me an example of a wide receiver. You would take a non PPR ahead of another wide receiver like, like Garrett Wilson. I really, I, I did.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I'm waiting. So glad you said Garrett Wilson. I made that exact call in round five. I took George Pickens over Garrett Wilson.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah. To elevate.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Right. Okay. Touchdowns are huge. Do you draft half PPR similarly to full ppr? How similar are they, Dave?

[Adam Azer]

They're pretty close. They're really the only players that you're gonna downgrade from PPR to half PPR are the ones that just make their hay on receptions. So somebody like Alvin Camara, who's last year 6.4 targets per game, the only reason why he averages like a huge number every year in full PPR is because of those catches. You're going to downgrade guys like that, but you're probably going to upgrade players that you're going to take in non PPR leagues because of the touchdowns. The yardage stuff just matters a little.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Bit more what you want in a full ppr. You probably want your flex to be a wide receiver in a half PPR league. Do you have a preference?

[Adam Azer]

You can go either way. You can go either way.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah, probably.

[Adam Azer]

But in the non ppr you want a running back, preferably.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Okay. Three receiver league versus two receiver. We've talked so much about that. Do you treat a two flex league the same way you would treat a three receiver league? Basically. Not necessarily that it has to be a receiver. But in terms of what it does to quarterback and tight end and things like that 2 Flex League in PPR.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I do.

[Adam Azer]

Yes. Right. It comes down to the scoring. Completely agree.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

So I've been getting that question. You talk about three receiver leagues, but what about a two flex league? I basically say treat them the same way, you know.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yep.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

The. The fewer roster spots you have, probably the more you're going to want to get the onesie positions early or the smaller the league, like 10 team in terms of auctions. We're going to talk about that on the mailbag episode in terms of.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I really hate you, Heath.

[Heath Cummings]

Been a good couple of rounds.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Yeah. Nice. It took Jalen Hurts. What'd you take about like 68th. Yeah.

[Heath Cummings]

Or 68, 69.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

68Th for Jalen Hurts. And then you took Matthew Golden 77th and Jamie hated you for both of them. I'm sorry, where were. Oh, Super Flex. Yeah. We did a Super Flex episode on Friday. So I. I would refer all of you to that. But Heath, you want to give some quick Super Flex advice?

[Heath Cummings]

You should take the quarterbacks earlier. The top five are going to go in the first six picks probably. And. Or should. And the Patrick Mahomes is the one question mark in round one, but I think he should probably go at the end of round one. There may be a little gap after that to where you kind of clear out the elite players and then route the end of round two, early round three, you get all those borderline QB1s, the Mayfield Golf, Dak, whoever you prefer, in that order. I'd like to have three of them, but my need for a third quarterback is strongly dependent on how safe I feel in my first two.

[Adam Azer]

How more likely are you this year compared to prior years on punting on quarterback in the first two rounds in a Super Flex? Yeah. Assuming you don't have like you're picking eighth, you're picking 10th, you know you have no shot at a top five QB. Just curious because I. I think I kind of like that strategy.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

I'm totally with you. I'm not saying that is my strategy, but I'm fine with it if the board falls that way. You know, just. You are going.

[Adam Azer]

You're gonna get some amazing value at running back and receiver with those first two picks. And I think just the. The lay of the land with quarterbacks this year. You can still get two or three passers that have all kinds of upside and will start theoretically 17 games and you can start getting those guys in rounds three and four, I feel like in years past there's just been a mad rush for quarterbacks and if you don't take one with at least one of your first two picks, you're really missing out. Look at all three of these guys. All three of them are just locked into this mock draft. A real draft. It's not a real. That's why they're locked in. Yeah, because it's this IDP league that they all want to. I used to be in this league. I kind of wish I was still in it. But you are all just like dialed the hell in.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Yeah, well, one thing I'll say is if you're looking for mid round wide receivers and tight ends, you could be risky, but I wasn't willing to do it. Of taking Jerry Judy and David Najoku, I think that's putting a little bit too much faith into the Browns.

[Adam Azer]

Too much.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Proudly one who they play. I know, I know, but.

[Adam Azer]

And then it's Baltimore, Green Bay, Detroit, Minnesota, Pittsburgh.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Oh, that's brutal.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah, it's rough. By the way, the jets to start the year, also brutal. The Steelers, the Bills, the Bucks in their first three games.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Not good. All right, thanks for watching and listening, everybody.

[Adam Azer]

Hey, wait a minute. What about id? Has there been an individual defensive player taken yet in your draft? Guys.

[Heath Cummings]

And Zaire Franklin and we just went to that.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Roku. Yep.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Zach Bond and aiden Hutchinson went 84th and 85th. So I think about round seven or so. But this is, this is a tough one because we start so many IDPs. Two linemen, three linebackers, three defensive backs and a flex. We start nine IDPs and we have massive benches. How many rounds is this draft? It's like almost 30, right? 23, 28 rounds. So I, I can't use this draft as an indicator of what the IDP leagues are going to be like, especially if you're only starting 1, 2, 3. I went.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

This is, this is very early for me to start taking idp. So I took Roquan Smith in round seven and I took Max Crosby in round eight.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Let me ask you this.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Serious question. What's the best way to get IDP information right now?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

So we have two guys in this draft that are fantastic at it. Gary Davenport has kind of been the go to guy for IDP forever. I actually have him listed in the, the draft room as godfather of idp. And then Matt Schaff, I think I'm pronouncing his last name correctly. He does work for draft sharks. Both those guys are unbelievable in idp. Information.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Okay.

[Adam Azer]

I think it's the easiest. Linebacker and defensive back are easy to kind of find guys on the waiver wire each week.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Oh, it's really hard. Sorry. Joe psps. Scott Bogman as well. Yeah, he's great, too.

[Adam Azer]

Okay, that's cool. The more IDPs you start, the more challenging it is. If you're in a league with only one idp, then you should honestly, like, take one before you take your kicker because you're going to be able to find somebody on the waiver. The only exception is if you really want a defensive lineman or an edge rush or whatever the rare position is these days, it's defensive lineman.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

Wait, we're not able to start. We're not able to start. Travis Hunter at corner. Are we in this league?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

No. Okay.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

No, that's one thing.

[Heath Cummings]

That's a great question. I'd be very, very careful in your draft room of seeing what position guys like Micah Parsons, the edge rushers, because they have great value as defensive linemen. They have very little value as linebackers. So be very, very careful with what the designation is up there.

[Adam Azer]

Right. Because tackles are the big stat in idp. Unless they're not. There's some leagues that don't count tackles for anything. Check your scoring systems.

[Host/Moderator (possibly a CBS Sports Fantasy Football host)]

I left my cell phone in the other room an hour and a half ago. I wonder. Wonder how many texts I have. Thinking probably zero. It's gonna be a very humbling moment. All right, we'll. We'll talk to you tomorrow. Actually, we'll talk to you on express. No, that's tomorrow. Be Chad Smith. We're gonna talk to chad Smith at 5:00'. Clock. So we'll talk to you then. Thanks so much for watching listening. Hope this was helpful. Have a great day, everyone. Paramount Podcast. I'm Dexter Morgan.

[Heath Cummings]

I've been through hell, but now I'm back for my curtain call. And what better place to hide than New York City? There may be a new area code, but my code never changes. In a city full of monsters, my dark urges will feel right at home. Dexter Resurrection. Starring Michael C. Hall, Uma Thurman and Peter Dinklage. New series now streaming on the Paramount Premium Plan.