Justify It! The Reasons Behind Our Picks From Our Latest Mock Draft (02/27 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Summary

Fantasy Football Today: "Justify It! The Reasons Behind Our Picks From Our Latest Mock Draft" (02/27 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Release Date: February 27, 2025
Host: Adam Aizer
Analysts: Dave Richard, Jamey Eisenberg, Heath Cummings, Chris Olave, Mickey Loomis

---

Introduction to the "Justify It!" Segment

In this episode of Fantasy Football Today, host Adam Aizer introduces the "Justify It!" segment, where analysts Heath Cummings, Jamey Eisenberg, Dave Richard, and others defend their mock draft choices from the latest half PPR mock draft. The segment delves deep into the rationale behind selecting specific players, especially those coming off disappointing seasons, and explores alternative strategies and potential regrets.

---

Heath Cummings’ Draft Choices

CD Lamb (Round 1)

• Justification: Despite a disappointing season, Heath argues that CD Lamb remains a top-tier wide receiver. He anticipates Dak Prescott's return and expects Lamb to maintain his high performance.
• Quote: “As long as Dak Prescott's healthy and CD Lamb's healthy, I think we all expect him to be incredible.” (07:55)

Breece Hall (Round 3)

• Justification: Heath prioritized Breece Hall over Tyreek Hill, citing slightly better per-game averages and health prospects.
• Quote: “Tyreek Hill is a young running back entering his prime. Tyreek turns 31 this weekend.” (11:34)

Devonte Adams (Round 5)

• Justification: Despite a mixed season, Adams showed improvement in the second half, making him a valuable pick.
• Quote: “He drew some price negatively because of the disappointing season last year.” (06:42)

Travis Etienne (Round 6)

• Justification: Heath valued Etienne’s upside, accepting his lower pick due to positional depth.
• Quote: “If I can find a top five running back upside in round four, I'm all the way in.” (12:58)

---

Jamie Eisenberg’s Draft Choices

Devon HN over Kyron Williams and Derrick Henry (Round 12)

• Justification: Jamie chose Devon HN for his higher upside compared to Kyron Williams and Derrick Henry, despite HN's injury history.
• Quote: “I'm going to factor in age. I think HN's trajectory is going in the right direction.” (18:16)

DJ Moore and Rasheed Rice over Top QBs (Rounds 3 & 4)

• Justification: Jamie opted for wide receivers like DJ Moore and Rasheed Rice instead of elite quarterbacks like Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson, aiming for value and positional need.
• Quote: “DJ Moore is going to get a boost with the offense change in Chicago.” (22:35)

Mark Andrews (Round 6)

• Justification: Valuing position scarcity, Jamie selected Mark Andrews to secure an elite tight end, ensuring consistent production.
• Quote: “He’s been as pretty much consistent as you can find at the position for the last five years.” (25:10)

---

Dave Richard’s Draft Choices

Amon-Ro St. Brown (Round 1)

• Justification: Dave chose Amon-Ro St. Brown ahead of high-profile running backs, prioritizing his established role and reliability in Detroit’s offense.
• Quote: “I opted for the safe route with St. Brown just figuring we know what his role is in Detroit.” (28:37)

Josh Allen over George Kittle (Round 4)

• Justification: Prioritizing the elite quarterback Josh Allen over tight end George Kittle, Dave emphasized Allen's consistent high fantasy output.
• Quote: “Josh Allen should be the QB one based on consistency and just what his upside is.” (35:21)

Jaylen McMillan and Cooper Kupp (Rounds 7 & 8)

• Justification: Dave selected Jaylen McMillan and Cooper Kupp to bolster his wide receiver corps, although he later expressed some regret over not picking Chris Godwin.
• Quote: “I decided to start the draft with a wide receiver because I knew that one of those running backs would make it back to me in round two.” (49:19)

---

Chris Olave and Mickey Loomis: Additional Insights

Chris Olave

• On CD Lamb’s Performance: Olave supports Heath’s ranking of Lamb as a top receiver, emphasizing Lamb’s potential despite inconsistent performances.
• Quote: “He is fourth for me.” (08:22)

Mickey Loomis

• On Drafting Strategy: Mickey highlights the importance of securing valuable positions early, noting the difficulty in finding high-upside players in later rounds.
• Quote: “I think Mike is a tight end 3 if you want to go that route, you know, and sort of knock him down a couple pegs because of how we view Brock Bowers and Trey McBride.” (37:21)

---

Key Discussions and Debates

Quarterback vs. Tight End Priority

• Adam vs. Analysts: Adam questions the strategy of prioritizing Josh Allen over George Kittle, sparking a debate on the value of elite quarterbacks versus tight ends.
• Heath’s Perspective: Heath argues for taking Allen as a reliable QB1, noting his consistent high fantasy points despite some statistical decline.
• Mickey’s Defense: Mickey defends the pick, emphasizing Allen’s game-winning potential and overall value.
• Dave’s Analysis: Dave concurs with prioritizing Allen, recognizing him as a top-value pick in round four.

Running Back Investments

• Jamie’s Choice of Devon HN: Jamie favors HN over other running backs due to his growth trajectory, despite HN's injury concerns.
• Heath’s Preference for Kyron Williams: Heath prefers Kyron Williams for his higher carry volume and reliability, creating a nuanced discussion on RB strategies.

Wide Receiver Depth

• Dave’s Selection of St. Brown: Dave opts for St. Brown for his established role, though he contemplates opting for younger receivers like Chris Godwin later in the draft.
• Heath and Jamie’s Receiver Strategies: Heath and Jamie focus on receivers who offer stability and upside, sometimes foregoing elite quarterbacks to strengthen their receiver positions.

---

Trade Discussions and Team Construction

Trade Offers and Player Evaluations

• Joey’s Offer to Heath: Joey offers Brian Thomas Jr. for Amon-Ro St. Brown, leading to playful banter and Heath's refusal based on St. Brown’s steady performance.
• Heath’s Confidence in St. Brown: Despite potential trade offers, Heath remains confident in St. Brown’s role and future performance.
• Dave’s Realizations: Dave reflects on his choices, acknowledging that selecting St. Brown was a safer pick but considering the potential upside of other receivers like Godwin.

Team Regrets and Reflections

• Heath on CD Lamb: Heath contemplates Lamb’s consistency and potential rise with a healthy Prescott, justifying his high draft position.
• Dave on St. Brown and Running Backs: Dave expresses some regret over not selecting younger receivers like Chris Godwin, highlighting the evolving dynamics of player roles and team strategies.

---

Conclusion and Final Thoughts

The episode concludes with analysts reflecting on their draft strategies, acknowledging both the strengths and potential shortcomings of their choices. Adam Aizer wraps up by highlighting the importance of understanding each pick's value and encourages listeners to stay engaged with upcoming episodes for deeper insights.

Notable Quotes:

• Adam Aizer: “It was a decision that you made that I wanted to get your take on.” (04:28)
• Heath Cummings: “If he is healthy and himself, he's probably a top five running back.” (12:58)
• Mickey Loomis: “Josh Allen should be the QB one based on consistency and just what his upside is.” (35:21)
• Chris Olave: “Mark Andrews is guaranteed for eight plus as long as he stays healthy.” (25:10)

---

Note: This summary excludes advertisements and non-content sections, focusing solely on the in-depth discussions and justifications of mock draft picks to provide a comprehensive overview for those who haven't listened to the episode.

Transcript

[Adam Azer]

All right, guys, let's talk about our new favorite partner, Dollar Shave Club. Facial hair is personal, right? We all grow it, shave it and style it differently. It makes us more interesting. And that's why Dollar Shave Club is for everybody, every budget, whatever you shave. Welcome to the club. So I want to talk about some of the great products from Dollar Shave Club. First, the Club Series 6 Blade Razor. It's like a mini vacation for your face. Six stainless steel blades and a vitamin E infused lubricant strip, this razor delivers the closest, most comfortable shave imaginable. The Club series handle that goes with it has a no slip 360 degree diamond pattern grip. So it's super clingy in a good way. And what about shave aids? Dollar Shave Club has Shave butter, Shave cream prep scrub to get rid of dead skin and post Shave Dew. But don't take our word for it. Try it for yourself. Dollar Shave Club products are now available everywhere. You can order from their website, from Amazon or get them at your favorite retailer near you. Alternatively, you can visit their site right now for 20% off $20 or more and get your products delivered right to your door. Visit dollarshaveclub.com cbsfft and use promo code CBSFFT for 20% off $20 or more. And remember, whatever you shave, welcome to the club.

[Dave Richard]

Looking to buy your dream home or rent that perfect apartment? With the Redfin app, you'll know the moment your next place hits the market. Set up your gotta have it wish list and Redfin will sen real time notifications for properties that match and when you're ready to see it in person. Scheduling a tour is just a tap away. Thinking about selling Redfin can do that too. In fact, Redfin agents close twice as many deals as other agents so they know how to get the best price for your home. And with a listing fee as low as 1%, Redfin charges half of what others often charge. So you could save big. Like really big. Last year, Redfin saved home sellers $118 million. So whether you're buying, renting or selling, Redfin's ready to help you win. Download the Redfin app and start searching today.

[Heath Cummings]

This is fantasy football today from CBS Sports.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

What a play.

[Adam Azer]

Can you believe this? No, I can't.

[Heath Cummings]

It's time to dominate your fantasy league.

[Adam Azer]

Off to the races and he stays at his feet. Chris is going to go the distance.

[Heath Cummings]

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

[Adam Azer]

Justify it. I'm going to make Dave, Jamie and Heath justify their picks in last Week's half PPR mock draft. Heath took a lot of guys coming off disappointing seasons. Jamie passed on quarterback at the 3, 4 turn. Not a huge surprise. But he's still gonna have to justify it. Dave took Amon Ross St. Brown in the first round, which isn't bad, not at all. But I'm gonna give you a reason why you might have made a mistake. You're gonna have to justify it today. Fellas, we welcome you to fantasy football today. And. Yeah, that's all I got. I don't know. Yeah, there we go.

[Chris Olave]

What are you gonna have to justify?

[Adam Azer]

Nothing. I'm out. I'm not in this. You could look at my team and make me justify if you'd like, but I, I'm going to sit this out and, and, and pick on you. That's the best part of this.

[Mickey Loomis]

It's okay. We make you justify the goofy things you say pretty much every single show. So you, you getting one show off. I, I, I, I don't mind it.

[Adam Azer]

What would I have to just crystal.

[Chris Olave]

Lave in round four?

[Adam Azer]

I like Chris Olave in round four. What's wrong with that?

[Chris Olave]

Kidding. I'm kidding.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah, the next guy was Cortland Sutton. I'd rather have Olave.

[Chris Olave]

Aaron.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah, that's fine. You bring it on. But actually, I'll tell you the truth. I thought you guys drafted really well, so this was very difficult. So congratulations to you guys for drafting really well.

[Mickey Loomis]

All right, so it's February.

[Adam Azer]

It's almost March, Dave. Does that make you feel any better?

[Mickey Loomis]

No.

[Adam Azer]

Free agency's coming up soon.

[Mickey Loomis]

I want to draft well in August. This is the time to tinker and kind of, you know, play around with how to build out a roster. But I mean, we still don't know where the free agents are going. We don't know what teams the rookies are going to be on. So.

[Adam Azer]

Great.

[Mickey Loomis]

I'm drafting great now that's super. No one cares because no one's drafting right now in their serious leagues.

[Adam Azer]

All right, well, thanks so much for watching fantasy football today. No need to talk for the next six months, I guess. Saints GM Mickey Loomis expressed confidence in Derek Carr as the starting quarterback. The 49ers left tackle Trent Williams is going to play in 20, 25 and 49ers still want to trade Debo Samuel. The Rams are allowing guard Jonah Jackson to seek a trade, which is pretty interesting. He was a pretty big free agent signing for them last year, had an injury riddled season. Now they're allowing him to seek a Trade. The Patriots are allowing defensive tackle Devon Godchild to seek a trade. And luckily, we don't have a lot of news to get to so we can get right to justify it. All right, I'm going to start with Heath. Stick team. Heath had the fourth pick in the draft.

[Chris Olave]

You had. No. You didn't see the McCaffrey news?

[Adam Azer]

No. Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead.

[Chris Olave]

Off season workouts.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah. Yeah. I don't know what's what. Yeah, that's relevant, I guess.

[Chris Olave]

Well, I mean, we didn't. We spend some time recently saying that we haven't heard anything positive or negative one way or the other. So we got some positive stuff. And they also said that I, if I'm not mistaken, that they. They think that there's a chance maybe Brandon IU can take part and camp.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah. And the thing about McCaffrey that I was thinking about when I read the. The update on him was I keep. I keep downgrading all these players, like all these players, specifically Godwin and Rasheed Rice for coming off major injuries to their knees. And you forget about the tendonitis. He also had surgery on his PCL. Christian McCaffrey. Am I overlooking that maybe I might have to rethink that?

[Chris Olave]

I think if you're going to have a policy, you got to stick to the policy, Right?

[Adam Azer]

Yeah. It's just I'm not gonna knock every player who has surgery. I, I think PCL surgery. I, I don't know the severity. I. I don't know. It didn't seem like his injury was anywhere near Godwin's. I don't know how it compared to Rasheed Rice's. So that's where I'm. I have to. I have to, you know, go ask all the doctors on Twitter and see what they have to say about it, but it definitely made me reconsider anyway. Heath, you had the fourth pick, which was a shame because I was picking third. So obviously I was going to take a lot of great players from you because I'm so good. You took here. First thing you have to justify, four of your first six picks are coming off disappointing seasons. CD Lamb in round one, Breeze hall in round three, Devonte Adams in round five, I believe. Yes. And Travis ETN in round six justify four of your first six picks kind of being disappointing last year.

[Heath Cummings]

So I, I think I would first off debate the fact that Devonte Adams had a disappointing season. I think he finished the year as wide receiver, 11 on a PER game basis, and was awesome in the second half. He did better than what I expected him to do second. I would say that all of these guys, except for CD Lamb had their price negatively impacted because of the disappointing season last year. Breeze hall used to be a first round pick. Now I'm drafting him in round. Travis ETN was a round three, round four guy. Now I'm drafting him in Round 6. The one I think that I do have to justify is CD Lamb because I took him fourth overall and he was disappointing last year. I'm mostly just expecting that Dak Prescott's going to come back, play quarterback for 17 games next year. CD Lamb's going to be CD Lamb again. And in the conversation for wide receiver one overall, what about the fact that he.

[Adam Azer]

It wasn't like you look at CD Lamb season, you go, oh, he was great with Dak Prescott and then he struggled with Mac Jones. That wasn' really the case. He struggled with both of them. I would say he was much more consistent actually with Mac Jones.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah, I, I don't know. The Mac Jones thing is throwing me off. I think.

[Adam Azer]

Ah, sorry.

[Heath Cummings]

But Cooper, Cooper, wait a second. Was Mac Jones on the Cowboys last year?

[Adam Azer]

My bad.

[Chris Olave]

Cooper Rush, he really is just out of that one.

[Heath Cummings]

So yeah, I, I don't know. I, I think he is awesome. And the, the small sample size that we saw, maybe he was inconsistent with Deck Prescott. I don't really care about. Does anybody think that CD Lamb's not a top three or four wide receiver?

[Chris Olave]

He is fourth for me.

[Mickey Loomis]

He's not for me. He's just outside of it.

[Adam Azer]

I'm looking back at what I did a month and a half ago. I had him fifth. Chase Jefferson, Puka, Nico Lamb.

[Heath Cummings]

Like he played with a backup quarterback for most of the season. Right. And had 101 catches for 1194 yards and six touchdowns in 15 games.

[Chris Olave]

With the contract situation, I've got him.

[Mickey Loomis]

With almost 19 PPR points per game with Dak, seven games.

[Adam Azer]

And what do you got with Mac Jones?

[Mickey Loomis]

Slash Cooper Rush with, with Cooper Jones, 16.4. That includes the game Dak got hurt in. That's eight games.

[Chris Olave]

What's what. And plus he was playing hurt too at the end of the season. What, what's. What's worse? Me getting first names wrong? Are you putting different players on different.

[Adam Azer]

Me putting different players on teams? I would definitely say yeah. With Dak Prescott it was kind of weird. He had only two games all year with more than three games. 16.1 PPR fantasy points. He had a 19 point game against the Saints, 23 points against the Giants, and then he had about 40 points against the 49ers, but there were just a lot of duds there with. With Lamb. Okay. All right. So you're cool with that? You get the little discount.

[Heath Cummings]

I do think we should qualify duds like, he did not have a game in single digits. In terms of fantasy points.

[Adam Azer]

He did. He did.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah. Which one?

[Adam Azer]

Baltimore. He must have fumbled. 8.7-PPR fantasy.

[Heath Cummings]

So he lost a fumble.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah. I mean, look, being drafted super high.

[Heath Cummings]

And he averaged 19 points per game and had three outstanding games and three mediocre games and a terrible game.

[Adam Azer]

He had a 13.6, 8.7, 11 point.

[Chris Olave]

Yeah.

[Adam Azer]

13.6, 8.7,. 11.4, 16.1, 16.28, 8.4. Was probably with. With Mac Rush. Yeah. I mean, no, but for a first round pick, look, those are kind of duds. Those are pretty bad. But.

[Chris Olave]

But again, he had backup quarterback, bad shoulder. I mean.

[Adam Azer]

No, I'm talking about the. With the dad, with Dak. I'm talking about with Matt. With Matt.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah. I didn't. I. I wasn't aware that there were legitimate concerns about CD Lamb. As long as Dak Prescott's healthy and CD Lamb's healthy, I think we all expect him to be incredible.

[Chris Olave]

Yeah, he'll be. He'll be third for me. If Stafford is traded out of Los Angeles, I put him out of Puka.

[Adam Azer]

All right, let's justify it. So if you're gonna go with the discount player coming off a disappointing season, you took Breece hall in round three over Tyreek Hill. Justified, by the way. My justify it is not a disagreement. Just so everybody knows. Like I said, I think these guys drafted really well. But that was a decision that, that you made that I wanted to get your take on. He took Breeze hall over Tyree Kill. Justify it.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah, I listen. Breeze hall averaged just a little bit more per game last year than Tyreek Hill did. They were both disappointing. I mean, and I will say, then Tyreek Hill did with Tua, 14.8 to 14.6 fantasy points per game. Hill is a young running back entering his prime. Tyreek turns 31 this weekend.

[Adam Azer]

Okay, fair. And finally justify it. Round four, he picked Alvin Camara.

[Chris Olave]

Resolved, by the way, his numbers pre Devonte were pretty impressive.

[Mickey Loomis]

His numbers when he was getting a lot of work were pretty impressive.

[Chris Olave]

Well, you look at the second half, he was dealing with the knee injury. The first half, the first seven games before Devonte joined the team, his receptions were way up, his production was way up. And then just. You get whatever happened you know, changing offense, changing coach. You know, he's battling injuries. Offensive line starts falling apart. He falls apart like he easy bounce back. Cannon.

[Mickey Loomis]

Yes.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah. Kind of weird. They never gave him more than what, 18 carries was a season high for Breece Hall. A little surprising, especially weeks week 18 of the 2023 season. He had something like 35 carries and never had more than 18 this past year. All right, one more. Justify it for Heath. You pick camara in round four. At that point, you had Lamb McBride and Breece Hall. This was a three wide receiver league. So did you have any regrets with your first four picks only having one wide receiver? Your receivers ended up being Lamb, Devonte Adams, Juwan Jennings, Jacoby Myers and Adam Thielen. So it's not so much to justify it, but a reflection of picking Camara in round four. Any regrets?

[Heath Cummings]

No, because I don't think there's. It's really rare to find a player at any position with the kind of upside that Camara has in round four. Like, I understand the risks. He's an older running back. We're scared of him. But we also know that if he is healthy and himself, he's probably a top five running back. And if I can find a top five running back upside in round four, I'm. I'm all the way in. I don't care about the positions that much. Also, it's generally speaking, and I don't know if it'll be this way this year, but that round four through six range, there's a lot of flatness when it comes to the wide receivers. I. I may have taken Devonte Adams if I hadn't taken care there.

[Adam Azer]

Okay. Yeah. The. The receivers who went in between his pick of Camara in round four and Devonte Adams around five were Olave, Cortland, Sutton and Zay Flowers. I don't think you can really find a running back that did anything like Camara last year. I mean, you could say David Montgomery. He was two. Two running backs. Yeah. No, I mean, your pick makes sense. I. I think I probably would have taken Camara. Would I have taken Camara as my third running back? I think I would have at. If you had not taken him the pick before. And for those of you who can't see the draft, you can go to YouTube.com fantasy football today and watch any of our videos. If you have trouble finding them, click on the live tab and you'll see a list. But just go to YouTube.com fantasy football today. Also, I will try to put a link to the draft results in the episode Description if you're just listening, we're going to be right back with Jamie's team. Justify it for Jamie taking Devon Achan over Derrick Henry and Kyron Williams, among others and more after this on fft.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Attention sports enthusiasts, Keep the adrenaline pumping and elevate your game day with Chumba Casino. It's completely free to play. No purchase necessary. Whether you're cheering from the stands, on the move or relaxing at home, Chumba Casino brings the thrill of social casino directly to your fingertips. Experience the ultimate social casino casino adventure with reels of casino style games offering hundreds of exciting options to choose from and fresh new releases every week. There's always something new and thrilling to explore. From action packed social slots and classic blackjack to engaging bingo and solitaire, the fun never stops. Plus, enjoy generous daily login bonuses and a fantastic free welcome bonus to kickstart your social gaming journey. Dive into the excitement. Discover a world where you can play for your chance to redeem some serious prizes and have a blast along the way. Don't miss out. What are you waiting for? Join now and immerse yourself in non stop fun and adventure with Chumba Casino. Get in on the action [e-mail] and make every day a Chamba Day. No purchase necessary. VTW prohibited by law 18 + DNC.

[Adam Azer]

Supply Where'd you get those shoes? Easy.

[Heath Cummings]

They're from DSW.

[Adam Azer]

Because DSW has the exact right shoes.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

For whatever you're into right now.

[Heath Cummings]

You know, like the sneakers that make.

[Adam Azer]

Office hours feel like happy hour, the.

[Heath Cummings]

Boots that turn grocery aisles into runways.

[Adam Azer]

And all the styles that show off the many sides of you from daydreamer to multitasker and everything in between.

[Heath Cummings]

Because you do it all in really great shoes. Find a shoe for every you at.

[Adam Azer]

Your DSW store or dsw.com okay, Jamie wearing a hat on Thursday. Usually hats are on Wednesday. Justify it offseason.

[Chris Olave]

Get a lot of hats.

[Adam Azer]

Okay. What kind of hat is that? What do we got there? A bee.

[Chris Olave]

Let's see if you can guess.

[Adam Azer]

It's got to be Little League. No, it's not Little League. Okay? It's a. It's a B. It's a fancy bee. It's not a brewery. You wouldn't be repping a brewery.

[Heath Cummings]

Looks like a Brooklyn Nets hat.

[Adam Azer]

Is it a Brooklyn Nets hat?

[Chris Olave]

It is not. But that is the most common guess.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah, I have no idea. What's it? What is it, Dave?

[Chris Olave]

You want to guess?

[Mickey Loomis]

Let me see the side of it. Because there's something all black with just this. No, no, no, it looks like there's.

[Heath Cummings]

Something red over, over on your. On the left side.

[Mickey Loomis]

On your left ear.

[Chris Olave]

Oh, it's the. Sorry, it's a little. It is baseball. Little League.

[Adam Azer]

Okay.

[Mickey Loomis]

Boca Raton, something.

[Heath Cummings]

Oh, yeah, it's a good idea. The Bandits.

[Chris Olave]

But no, it is the Baltimore Orioles City Select. Those are our jerseys for.

[Adam Azer]

Pretty cool.

[Mickey Loomis]

All right.

[Chris Olave]

Yeah, but the, the entire uniform looks like the Brooklyn Nets.

[Adam Azer]

Oh, that's interesting. I was going to say I thought it was just the grade you were giving my team.

[Chris Olave]

No, no, no. That would be the Cleveland. Cleveland.

[Adam Azer]

At least we're not. At least about the Tigers. All right, justify it, Jamie.

[Mickey Loomis]

Team name?

[Adam Azer]

What'd you say? Dave?

[Mickey Loomis]

Fresno, Frankfurt, or just the White Sox?

[Chris Olave]

Just terrible.

[Mickey Loomis]

Just the White Sox. Thank you very much.

[Adam Azer]

All right, Jamie, you picked Devon HN over Kyron Williams and Derrick Henry with the 12th overall pick. Kyron Williams averaged one more fantasy point per game than Achan and half PPR. In 2024, Henry averaged four more fantasy points per game than A Chan and half ppr. Justify it.

[Chris Olave]

You know, I, I like to look at obviously Achan's numbers with, with TUA and what he was able to accomplish, you know, during the majority of the season, you know, despite the fact to have missed six games. You clearly have to factor that in it with, with two at this point. You know, just knowing that 2023 was, was fantastic, that he stayed healthy. But 2024 went back to, you know, concussion problems and then the hip injury, you know, two things that have plagued him from college through the pros. But I think if you're looking for upside, obviously, you know, I'm going to factor in age. I think HN's trajectory is going in the right direction. I'm a little concerned about Derek Henry and I do think that HN just, you know, based on comparing two players has more upside than Kyron Williams as well. So to me, HN's a first round pick. I was thrilled to get him at 12 and I would take him over those other two guys.

[Adam Azer]

Anyone disagree?

[Heath Cummings]

I currently have Chiron over HN. I would take HN over Henry, but if Matthew Stafford leaves, then HN would definitely be over Kyron. Unless, I mean, they go get Sam Darnold.

[Mickey Loomis]

I don't know. It sounds like Aaron Rodgers is in their future if I know older quarterback somehow in la, but I guess it makes sense financially for them. I don't know if that's what's going to happen or not. I think the whole thing's kind of weird. Look, Derrick Henry definitely gets a push up the board in leagues where you don't get the full point per catch. And HN should get a push down the board because you just don't know how many what. What his numbers will be like if you don't get that boost from the catches. Last year he averaged this is HN 15.4 half PPR points per game. Derrick Henry was at 19.2. He averaged 0.6 fantasy points per game less in half PPR compared to full PPR. So if, if you're, if you're just going against Derek Henry and you don't want to have him on your team, I get it. He's 31 years old. He's coming off the season with 367 carries. Then it makes sense to not take them in late round one. Achan being the guy that you take over Kyron Williams as of now, I don't know if I love that either, but I think it's really close. Between the two of them, I just, I've kind of bought into Kyron Williams all the way as being a reliable fantasy running back. And I guess if I'm splitting hairs between him and HN and half ppr, I, I think I'd favor Kyron Williams, assuming the Rams have a decent quarterback.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah, Jamie makes a good point about the two of games. I've got a Chan at nearly 20 points per game in half PPR with Tua. That's basically tied with Jameer Gibbs, only Barkley being better. That's amazing. The argument I would make for Kyron over hn. I think the argument for Henry is easy. It's either you care about the age or you don't. Right. But right for Kyron. Devon HN had 203 carries in 17 games. Kyron Williams had 316. Kyron Williams has had 5 games with 25 or more carries in his career. Devon HN has 1 game with more than 18 carries compared to 16 games of more than 18 carries over his career for Kyron. So that's it. I mean, obviously the catch is a chance going to crush Kyren probably, but he's going to beat him. I don't know if he's going to crush him again, but the carries are going to be all Kyron Williams. 203 carries in 17 games is pretty low. So that would be my only argument. Like six rushing touchdowns for H and 14 for Kyren. Last year, 16 total touchdowns for Kyron Williams, 12 for H.N.

[Chris Olave]

It'S also we did do this draft right after Raheem Mostert was released. And if it's, you know, backfield staying as they are right now, I like the competition a little bit better for what Devon HN's facing. I think he's gonna get more work not, not Kyron get more work than where he's been because of most are not being there.

[Adam Azer]

Okay. All right. At the 3, 4 turn, you selected Rashi Rice and DJ Moore. We had Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson on the board and you decided to go at that point. You had Achan and Malik neighbors and then you went Rasheed Rice, DJ Moore. This is a three receiver league, FYI, half ppr, but it's also six point for passing touchdown. You took Rice and Moore over Allen and Jackson. Justify it.

[Chris Olave]

This is not the way I draft. You know, I think we'll see those quarterbacks go, you know, sooner. And based on ADP and probably how most drafts will unfold for our audience that's listening, not too much more because I think people are starting to understand you don't have to take quarterbacks early. But in any event, I just don't draft that way, you know, so especially when we're starting three receivers, I think D.J. moore is going to get a boost with the offense change in Chicago and Ben Johnson calling plays hopefully as a slot receiver for the Bears. I'm still, you know, as as of today in the camp that Rice will be the best receiver for the Chiefs ahead of Xavier Worthy. So I think I've taken him in every off season draft we've done so far and it's been a wide range of spots for him. So this is, this is, you know, could end up being great value for Rice if He's back at 100 and playing the way that he did in the first two games of the season, first three games this season before suffering the knee injury. So I like this build better than taking a quarterback early.

[Adam Azer]

All right. And again, I encourage you to look at Jamie's team. He, he always waits on quarterback, golf and Nicks, but you know, just I'd have a hard time passing up Allen and Jackson. There's. When Josh Allen's been a top three quarterback per game five straight seasons, there's, I mean, just look at the career of DJ Moore. You never know what you're going to get from this guy. And Rice coming off an injury, it just seems like how could I pass up Josh Allen, 36 overall. Would anybody have taken Allen there? Yeah, yeah, probably.

[Heath Cummings]

I mean, I Don't think I can pass on those two in round four like you can round three. Okay. And this is the right at the turn, so I get it. But I think if either of those guys are there in round four, I'm gonna have to take them.

[Mickey Loomis]

I agree.

[Adam Azer]

So if you were at Dave, if you had been on the clock and you had HN and neighbors and you.

[Mickey Loomis]

Had one of my two picks, probably would have been Josh Allen. I did take Josh Allen in round four.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah. Four picks later. Three picks. Three picks after, Jamie took D.J. moria. All right, Jamie, you drafted Mark Andrews 61st overall. He was the fifth tight end off the board. Bowers and McBride in round two, Kittle in round four, Laporta in round five. And with the first pick of round six, you took Mark Andrews. That gave you HN Neighbors. Rashee Rice, D.J. moore, Jameson Williams, 60th overall. Mark Andrews, 61st overall. He finished as tight end seven per game in half PPR last year, and he did that with 11 touchdowns. So justify this pick, 61st overall for Mark Andrews.

[Chris Olave]

Again, just looking at, you know, position scarcity and sort of the drop off for me where, you know, tight end starts to happen. So I would prefer to have that position locked up more so than quarterback. I do think that we saw him come on after a slow start, obviously still buying into what his role is with the Ravens and buying what Lamar Jackson will continue to do. So we'll see how this receiving core ends up looking for the Ravens. We'll see if Isaiah likely has a bigger role. But I just trust Mark Andrews. You know, he's been as. As pretty much consistent as you can find at the position for the last five years. And, you know, the fact that he's coming off a season where he led the position in touchdowns, I think he's guaranteed for eight plus as long as he stays healthy. So in this format, I'm fine with him in the spot.

[Adam Azer]

What did you guys think about that? Because I. I was a little surprised just to think the guy caught 11 touchdowns last year and was only tight end. Seven per game is actually in. In half PPR was actually outscored per game by David Najoku. Where did Najoku go here? Probably pretty late. Where did. Am I missing? Oh, he went this. Oh, we went at the end. There you go. All the way on the end. End of round six. So just beginning around six, Mark Andrews. End of round six, David Najoku. But does Andrews have. What's it. What do you guys think his ceiling is?

[Heath Cummings]

Oh, I don't think the ceiling is the problem with taking him in round five. I think the ceiling is probably still a top three tight end. The, the, the risk is the floor. The risk is that he has a season that looks a lot like last season. Even if you want to discount the first couple of weeks that look for four weeks, maybe that looks like week five through week 18 where I think he was on pace for 700, 795 yards, 64 cat and scores six touchdowns. And then he's a replacement level tight end.

[Mickey Loomis]

What happens if he doesn't score 11 touchdowns in his last 12 games?

[Heath Cummings]

Jamie doesn't take him in rough.

[Chris Olave]

Right?

[Adam Azer]

Okay. Yeah.

[Heath Cummings]

I would take Najoku. I would take like with the talks that Kelsey's gonna be back, I would take Kelsey. I think, I think there'll probably be six or seven tight ends I'll take before Andrews, but the ceiling is still elite.

[Adam Azer]

Okay. All right. Thank you for justifying it, Jamie. I appreciate you.

[Chris Olave]

You're welcome.

[Adam Azer]

All right, let's get to Dave. Yeah.

[Heath Cummings]

Did you thank me for justifying it?

[Chris Olave]

You had the commercial.

[Heath Cummings]

I don't remember. I don't remember being thanked.

[Adam Azer]

I did justify the commercial. My bike was muted. Actually gave you like a really long thank you. Is two minutes long during the commercial break. But no one heard it. But I'll, I'll text it to you. All right, Dave, you are up. You drafted Aman Ross St. Brown ninth overall ahead of running backs such as Jonathan Taylor, Devon HN, Kyron Williams, Derrick Henry, etc. All those guys were gone by your second pick in round two, which, which was Josh Jacobs. Why did you take Saint Brown? Justified taking St. Brown in half PPR. He scored 15.1 fantasy points per game last year. That was down from 17.1 the year before. And again, not disagreeing, but he was the. Let's see, 1, 2, 3. He was the sixth wide receiver off the board after Chase Jefferson, Lamb, Nico and Nakua justify St. Brown, 9th overall.

[Mickey Loomis]

I. I decided to start the draft with a wide receiver because I knew that one of those running backs that you just named would make it back to me in round two. And if it didn't, then one of neighbors or Brian Thomas Jr. Would make it back to me in round two. And I would have been elated if I had gotten one of them and started this draft going receiver, receiver. I opted for the safe route with St. Brown just figuring we know what his role is in Detroit. We know that the Lions offense probably like the biggest change the Lions offense will have this Offseason is in play caller and I don't even know if that's necessarily a good thing that they are changing from. They had to change from Ben Johnson because he left for Chicago but I don't know if I love who they replaced him with. So that makes me a little bit nervous. I think I probably should have gone the upside route and taken neighbors who I'm very bullish on. I expect his quarterback to be better than what he had last year and it's negligible. The difference between neighbors and St. Brown on a. On a per game average in half PPR and Brian Thomas probably for that big stretch that he had with Cooper Rush. I mean Mac Jones at the end of the season like Brian Thomas Jr. Was probably better as far as half PPR goes. So I probably should have taken one of those younger wide receivers and just waited and for a running back or maybe even ARSB coming back to me in round two but at this stage and in drafting when I don't have that one running back that I I've got to go with ahead of the pack of the others and I'm just kind of settling for who's ever left from that gang of who. Who is it who went in that space. Like Derrick Henry was in there. Jacobs, Kyron, Jonathan Taylor, HN was in there. Yeah. Just settling for one of those guys who's ever left that's ranked the highest at running back. That's who I'll take in round two after I take the receiver who I want in round one for this draft. That receiver was Saint Brown.

[Adam Azer]

So I want to talk a little bit about Amanra St. Brown here and this is the season that he had. Let's go to the chat real quick from Joey. Joey said a couple of interesting things but Joey said I was offered Brian Thomas straight up for Aman Ross St. Brown in a Dynasty league. I hate one to one trades. Tough decision there. What would you guys do?

[Heath Cummings]

I. I would be like Joey and just be like I hate this offer. Why are you doing this? I think I have them back to back in Dynasty. But yeah, I'd take Thomas.

[Chris Olave]

I would, I would take the few years that you may get with Thomas.

[Mickey Loomis]

It's three years and I don't have a problem saying no to this trade because I think we, we all view Saint Brown as a steady, safe type of player. Who is he ascending? Is he just elite? Yeah, he is. Could Brian Thomas Jr. Be better? Yes. But Brian Thomas Jr. Could also fall apart. We don't know what's going to happen in the future. I think there's a little more volatility. I'll say. If you've got a team that's competitive now, stick with the safer play with Saint Brown.

[Adam Azer]

More importantly, Heath, you can address this. Joey said Heath once made me buy him a pack of gum from the Aria gift shop and never paid me back. We have bigger problems.

[Heath Cummings]

This is clearly a lie. Joey's net. No one's ever had to make Joey do something nice. He probably bought the gum because my breath stunk and just gave it to me as a gift. I don't remember it at all. But not, not true. I I do want to say like I I do think there's at least a little bit of question mark about the lions offense in St. Brown and whether he's a top six wide receiver or a top 12 wide receiver without Ben Johnson there.

[Adam Azer]

Well, also I just wanted to point out with Saint Brown he, you know, he heard his yards in his last three years. 1161, 1515 1263. The first two years were 16 games. Last year was 17 games. It, you know, what is he, how did he get to 1500 yards? The catches weren't all that different. You know, how do you get to 1500 yards in 2023? He might be more like a 1250 yard guy, whereas Chase just had a 1700 yard season. Jefferson could, could be even better than that. CD Lamb. I don't know what he had two years ago, but it was better than Saint Brown. I just want to point that out about Aman Ross St. Brown. He could be, he could get back to his 2023 form, but I don't know that I would think that he's a 1500 yard guy. He might be more like 1300 best case scenario. So it's just I, I feel like catches, touchdowns, we might, we might have kind of a grip on that. Yards sometimes get a little bit lost in, in the discussion for me anyway. But he's not the same guy as some of the other players being drunk.

[Chris Olave]

I mean you're also seeing ascending players around him. I mean Jameson Williams coming off, you know, his best season. Sam laporta the last two years obviously been a factor. Run game has been amazing, you know, so there's a lot of things he has to contend with.

[Adam Azer]

Target per route run rate last three seasons for Saint Brown 30.3% 28.5% 25.7% this past year. It is, it is a bit of a drop off. Okay, he's a great player but some things to consider with him. Let's take a quick break here. Got two more justify it's for Dave and then I will thank him for justifying it and we'll be right back on fft.

[Dave Richard]

Some people just know they could save hundreds on car insurance by checking Allstate First. Like you know to check the Jumbotron first before attempting to eat a stack of Supreme Nachos in one bite. Now you're just a meme that everyone shares on game day. Checking first is smart, so check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate Savings vary subject to terms, conditions and availability. Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates, Northbrook, IL this episode is brought.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

To you by Lifelock. During tax season, your personal info travels to a lot of places between payroll, your tax consultant and the IRS. If your W2 gets exposed, that's just the ticket for identity thieves. That's why LifeLock monitors millions of data points every second. If your identity is stolen, they'll fix it, guaranteed or your money back. Don't let identity thieves take you for a ride. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit lifelock.com podcast terms apply.

[Adam Azer]

All right, welcome back, Dave. In round four at this point you had Amon Ross, St. Brown, Josh Jacobs and T. Higgins. And then you took Josh Allen. So now you have St. Brown, Higgins, Jacobs, Josh Allen. Very good start to your team. The next pick was George Kittle. Thinking about how deep quarterback is compared to tight end taking Josh Allen over George Kittle and Kittle was tight end one per game in this format last year. Justify it.

[Mickey Loomis]

I'm always going to take a quarterback at a value that I feel like is a steal. And you kind of convinced me, Adam, earlier this off season that Josh Allen should be the QB one based on consistency and just what his upside is. And he. I don't know if he necessarily hits his upside every single year, but he definitely does a great job for fantasy managers. Season in and season out, you're getting north of 25, 26 fantasy points per game and six point per passing touchdown leagues. And I don't mind being the guy that takes the first quarterback off the board when it's Josh Allen and it's with my fourth pick. It just so happened in this draft he's the second quarterback off the board and was absolutely delighted. It felt like it was a good value. And yeah, when you go and you look at this mock draft, you'll see, oh, there were, you know, Joe Burrow in round five. That's a decent value. Jamie takes quarterbacks late. Those are always going to be excellent values. Not only do I feel like Josh Allen was one of the best values in this draft, he that pick kind of set off other managers taking other quarterbacks and I didn't want to miss out on that. And so yeah, George Kittle is great and I expect him to have another good year, at least another good start to the year next year in San Francisco. But he's not going to get me 26 points per game and there are a few other quarterbacks who might. None of them would have made it back to me when I was up in round five. So it's kind of a combination of looking for great value, taking the best available player and being able to do that without having to spend one of my first three picks.

[Heath Cummings]

I also think that like as good as Kittle was last year and Allen had a down year last year, Allen was 4 1/2 points better than QB12, Kittle was 5 1/2 points better than tight end 12. Like even in a down year, Allen's edge was on the on replacement value was almost equal to Kittles.

[Adam Azer]

Was it a down year? I mean we got to look at Allen, right? The last two seasons for Josh Allen, his points per game 20 in six point per passing touchdown leagues, 20, let's say between 26 and 27 the last two years. That's a lot lower than the three before that. 28.9, 27.6, 28.7. Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson just had 30 points per game this past last season. Are we seeing some signs of. I don't want to say, I do not want to use the word decline. He's still obviously playing at an incredible level. But statistical decline for Allen. And by the way, the fantasy points per game I'm using are for 16 games. I'm not counting zero points in Week 18 because that does count. You know, if you look at a website and say his points per game he does get docked for not scoring any points in one snap in week 18. I'm excluding that. But are there concerns? I mean he, you know, didn't have as prolific of a year two years in a row without 30 touchdown passes. The three years before that 35 to 37 touchdown passes.

[Chris Olave]

I think you're seeing the growth in him and the growth in the offense, you know, so he's not having to do as much because James Cook had a pretty solid season. You know, we know what the receiving core looks like so he's not getting a lot of help in terms of, you know, playmakers making, you know, different difference making type of things down the field for him. So you know, that's sort of, I, I think grinding on some of his stats a little bit as well. But when they're ever, when they're having success and he's not having to be Superman and that was the case for their team for a good portion of the season, like that's just going to negatively hurt him in a small regard. So I, I think if, you know, you're concerned about Josh Allen, you're just concerned is he QB1? You're not concerned about a fall off.

[Mickey Loomis]

Can I mention one other thing?

[Adam Azer]

Of course, yeah.

[Mickey Loomis]

He had five games last year north of 30, 32 PPR points, including a 57.9 banger in week 14. We all remember that game. It was crazy. I don't expect him to do that every single week. But it's hard to find players at any position that can offer you that type of game, wrecking upside where he's going to win you your week. But Josh Allen kind of provides that upside almost every single week.

[Dave Richard]

Here.

[Heath Cummings]

Here's.

[Mickey Loomis]

He's a great value. He deserves to be QB1 and he will be for me. And getting my QB1 in round four just feels like a, it feels like a no brainer, to be honest.

[Adam Azer]

No, I wasn't disputing Allen in round four. I was just saying him over Kittle when.

[Chris Olave]

Yeah, I, I like that for me is the, the. That's the issue I have is like looking at Dave's roster like you could have found a quarterback somewhere along the way. That's clearly not Josh Allen. Your tight ends know it, right?

[Mickey Loomis]

Yeah, I know I botched that.

[Heath Cummings]

I, I would say like there's not concern about Josh Allen being less good than he was.

[Chris Olave]

Right.

[Heath Cummings]

The concern was my concern coming into the beginning of last year and it's that he threw less than he has since he became good and he ran less than he has. And that's just an offensive philosophy thing. We saw that a little bit at the end of last year when they made the offensive coordinator change. And it seems like Sean McDermott has been pretty, been pretty public about how much more he likes what they're doing offensively now than what they used to do. So like they are intentionally taking work off of Josh Allen's plate. He's going to have fewer pass attempts and fewer rush attempts than we're used to. So he has to be even more Elite in terms of efficiency to give us that 28, 29, 30 fantasy points per game.

[Chris Olave]

I mean, I could tell you just from the last three owners meetings that Sean McDermott has very publicly, to your point, he said, we don't want him running as much. We don't want him running as much. We don't want him running as much. You know, and I think they recognize, like, he takes a lot of hits and they don't want him to, you know, suffer any injuries that's going to take him off the field for any significant stretch. So. So, you know, it's that. That's kind of what I was getting at. You know, the maturation process of what he's gone through is like, he's, he's playing the position smarter and, you know, like Dave's point, he's got that in his back. He's got, yeah, I don't know, catching a touchdown, you know, but he certainly has the ability to. To go for 30 plus on any given week. And I think we could say the same thing about a lot of the elite guys. You know, the. The one that comes to mind is if Mahomes ever was allowed to go get touchdowns on every drive, he'd go get touchdowns on every drive. You know, that's just not the way that the Chiefs are playing right now. But he certainly has that because he goes and does it in the fourth quarter whenever he needs to, you know, so that's what makes Lamar Jackson special. I think it's going to make Jayn Daniel special. It's going to, you know, it's what Jalen hurts with his ability as a. As a runner, as a passer. You know, this is why these guys are. Joe Burrow. You know, these guys are top five fantasy quarterbacks for a reason, because not only will they do it, they can do it I think, whenever they not necessarily want to, but if they need to go do it, they can do it.

[Mickey Loomis]

So go ahead. I thought you were.

[Chris Olave]

No, I'm just, you know, to, To. To look at Josh Allen like that's not a bad pick. I think, just in terms of roster construction, like, had you taken Kittle there and in somewhere along the line, you know, maybe after the Jalen McMillan pick or, you know, round eight or later, you throw a quarterback in there, your roster, to me looks a hell of a lot better. As good as Josh Allen is, Kittle can still be tight end 3 if you want to go that route, you know, and sort of knock him down a couple pegs because of how we view Brock Bowers and Trey McBride. I think your roster just looks that much better if you have that position covered. And then finding a quarterback along the way, you know, you take one of the guys off my roster as well.

[Mickey Loomis]

Or I could have taken David Najoku in round six instead of James Connor. I could have taken, you know, Tucker Kraft is a guy that I've gravitated toward. I could have taken him in. In round 10. Like, obviously, taking. No, agree with my last pick is me punting on tight end. And again, that's something that I was experimenting with. This is the time of the year to do that stuff. The pick looks totally dumb now. It would be a different tight end if. If we were doing. It might be Evan Ingram and. And I might punt on him, too. But with. With the late. With your. Literally the last pick at tight end, I'm. I'm looking for somebody who I start in week one, maybe week two, and then I'm, you know, playing the waiver wire with that position. If the two other things. Number one, if. If the Bills take Josh Allen's rushing ability out of his bag, you're looking at a team that's, like, fighting to be 500.

[Chris Olave]

Like, no, no, he's not. He's not stopping.

[Mickey Loomis]

Right. They can talk about it all they want.

[Chris Olave]

I don't think it was never making it the. The case that they don't want him to run. They just want him to run less and smarter, how he runs.

[Mickey Loomis]

And the other thing I was going to bring up is, in this specific draft, Jalen Hurts went ahead of Josh Allen. And then after I took Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson's gone, Jane Daniels is gone, Patrick Mahomes is gone. Joe Burrow's gone. So presumably, if I passed on Josh Allen, maybe Burrow makes it back to me. Maybe there's another manager. Heath, maybe you would have taken Joe Burrow. Joe might have taken Joe Burrow. I don't know if I get one of those first three, six top six quarterbacks, and then I'm waiting and hoping that I'm the guy that takes Baker Mayfield. Jordan Love went in round nine. I'm sorry. I want to take a quarterback at a good value, and Baker Mayfield would probably be the last one that I would have considered, and that might have been my round eight pick, and that would have been okay. And Jamie, you probably would have loved it and given it your stamp of approval, I feel a lot better with Josh Allen than I do Baker Mayfield. Not to slight Baker Mayfield, but I think Josh Allen and I don't think this is anything crazy. I think he's the better fantasy quarterback.

[Chris Olave]

Adam, just while we're on that topic, would you have taken Mahomes if Burrow had gone ahead of Moms?

[Adam Azer]

No, I took Burrow in round five. You're saying with my round five pick.

[Chris Olave]

What I've taken my homes went ahead of Burrow. I'm not, I'm not drafting it that way. I'd rather have Burrow. But I'm curious if you would have because I know you like to take a quarterback early and Burrow in that spot is, is a very good pick. But would you have done it?

[Adam Azer]

I would have considered it just because I, I don't love. I don't really love round five so much. The next four picks after I took Joe Burrow or Devonte Adams, Jalen Waddle, DK Metcalf and George Pickens and then Devonte Smith. Those guys seem fine and I'm not saying they're bad picks, but I'm not, I'm not doing like cartwheels over those picks. I would have considered Mahomes. I don't think I would have. I think I probably would have taken Devonte Adams. Justify it. Yeah, that's. No, I think there's a pretty big difference to me for between Burrow and Mahomes. There is a big, a big gap for me in six quarter passes on these between those two. Now you don't, you don't agree Heath.

[Heath Cummings]

There was last year.

[Adam Azer]

I mean obviously I'm not saying Joe Burrow is a better player than Patrick Mahomes, but from a fantasy standpoint, I do think there's a, a big enough gap should be like a full round, not four picks or three picks and separating them.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah, I just, I think it depends and we go through this pretty regularly. Like how much does last year influence what you think about someone in fantasy when we have got a couple of guys who have a pretty strong three and five year histories.

[Adam Azer]

Like yeah, it's two years in a row from a homes.

[Heath Cummings]

Well, we can't talk about two years ago because Joe Burrow was not even a top 12 quarterback.

[Adam Azer]

Look man, you put, put Patrick Mahomes on the Bengals and I'll take him, you know, maybe as QB1. It's just the Chiefs are not operating in a way that's making Mahomes a great fantasy option.

[Heath Cummings]

And I'm not necessarily debating that. I'm just saying that I think maybe there's two, but I think it's one year out of their careers where Joe Burrow was better.

[Adam Azer]

That's fine. I just look at it.

[Heath Cummings]

I think I have Joe Burrow ahead of my homes. I just don't know why, why we would say it's not close. Like we're. It's a lot of recency bias.

[Adam Azer]

It's two years in a row of Mahomes being this super low a dot guy and the, you know, the Chiefs being a defense first, you know, not a high scoring team. Whereas the Bengals obviously had a terrible defense and they've got Jamar Chase and they don't resign T. Higgins that would change things. But assuming they bring back Chase and Higgins, I just love the setup for Burrow and I've also seen. I made this point about Burrow last year. There haven't been. There hasn't been that much time where he has been healthy with Jamar Chase healthy with T. Higgins healthy. But in that time he's been a guy who's averaged about this is going into 20, 24, averaged about 28 points per game or something like that. I'm sorry I don't have the numbers right off top of my head but I did notice that with him when everyone's been healthy Joe, that Joe Burrow had shown he can be absolutely elite. And then he backed it up with. With a huge season scoring 27 points per game in 2024. I don't think he gets there again. I think the past attempts will probably go down. He threw 652 times but I do think he's 24, 25 points per game, something like that. And with potential to. To be a 28ish points per game. But you know, I'm not going to project that. So I just think that the situation. Joe Burrow backed up what I thought he could be last year and it's two years in a row of Mahomes averaging about 21 points per game. And what's going to change? He doesn't have Kelsey anymore. Like he has a shell of Kelsey. And we're hoping you could have Rashi.

[Heath Cummings]

Rice and Xavier Worthy.

[Adam Azer]

I don't know that Rice makes him that much better. Like Rashid Rice is, is like a six yard a dot guy and like he's gotta. My point is they gotta get more explosive plays. Their. Their offense is not explosive right now. They need to change that. Well, that's my issue with Mahomes and again I only said a round difference. I just don't think they should be basically back to back in the draft. I hope that made sense. That was me.

[Heath Cummings]

You justified It. Adam, thank you for just Dave. I don't know if anybody thanked you, but thank you for justifying it also.

[Adam Azer]

Well, Dave has one more to justify here, although I don't really. It's kind of boring. Should we do it?

[Mickey Loomis]

What is it?

[Adam Azer]

You took Jaylen McMillan and Cooper cup in round seven and eight. Looking back, do you wish you had taken a wide receiver around 6 instead of James Conner and then maybe taking taking Naji Harris, DeAndre Swift or Jalen Warren in round seven? You took McMillan and Cup in round seven and eight and maybe dip into the wide receiver pool a little bit earlier going round six. What do you think?

[Mickey Loomis]

Yeah, I could have had Godwin and Jalen Warren instead of James Conner and Jalen McMillan. Keep up with the Jalens, everybody. I probably should have done that because I still believe that Chris Godwin can be a good high volume fantasy receiver. He was awesome in half PPR last year before he got hurt. Sounds like he's staying in Tampa, which would obviously crush the value of Jalen McMillan. I drafted my Millenn with the idea that Godwin wasn't going to be back on the team. So that pick now sucks. I, I probably would have done that, but I, I also, until further notice, I don't. I obviously I'm still a recovering running back addict and I want to make sure that I cover my bases with running backs in the draft. So I got Jacobs in round two. Love that, Got David Montgomery in round five. That cost me Sam Laporta. But I still wanted a running back that I could at least start as an RB2. When I was up in, in round six, Godwin was available. He literally went with the next pick. But I took James Connor at that point because I wanted to make sure I was solid at running back.

[Adam Azer]

Sure.

[Mickey Loomis]

And just short of that, yeah, I probably could have gone in a different direction. And then half ppr, Jalen Warren isn't as appealing and James Connor certainly could outscore Jalen Warren. We also don't know for sure that Jalen Warren is going to be a feature guy. We don't know for sure that James Connor is going to get the exact same type of workload that he had last year. There's two things working against counter there, so I probably should have taken got one.

[Adam Azer]

No, I mean. Well, first of all, at this point, when we did this draft a week ago, we didn't get this vote of confidence for Chris Godwin from Jason Light of the Bucks. Right.

[Chris Olave]

We had the, we had the contract news.

[Adam Azer]

What was the contract What?

[Chris Olave]

That they pushed back the void date.

[Adam Azer]

Oh, okay.

[Mickey Loomis]

Did we have that a week ago?

[Chris Olave]

Yep.

[Adam Azer]

But they didn't. But it certainly wasn't like, oh, we love Chris Godman. We're definitely. We definitely want to bring him back. I don't know if that makes any difference now.

[Mickey Loomis]

That doesn't make it the contract void being pushed back or whatever it is. Being pushed back is far more important.

[Adam Azer]

All right.

[Mickey Loomis]

That means they want to try and keep them.

[Adam Azer]

Okay. Well, Dave, thank you so much for that justification.

[Mickey Loomis]

It was my distinct honor, Adam.

[Adam Azer]

Jamie, thank you.

[Chris Olave]

You're welcome. I never felt more, you know, welcome to this.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah, well, you deserve it. And, Heath, have a great weekend, man.

[Dave Richard]

Oh, can't.

[Heath Cummings]

Can't wait to talk to you again, Adam. We will have FFT Dynasty tomorrow. So you won't be there.

[Adam Azer]

I won't.

[Heath Cummings]

Which is going to be.

[Chris Olave]

Thank you for doing that, Heath.

[Adam Azer]

Thank you. And honestly, you'd rather do a solo mailbag than ask me to come on. What's that?

[Mickey Loomis]

I think you should be called a mailbox, not a mailbag.

[Adam Azer]

Given Heath's issues, maybe be a pretty short show. Lol. All right, folks, we're out of here. We'll talk to you on FFT Express FFT Dynasty tomorrow. And by the way, happy seventh anniversary to CBS Sports hq. It's awesome. If you're not watching CBS Sports hq, you're making a mistake. It's a wonderful time to be watching. Fill out your brackets, but watch CBS Sports HQ to get everything you need on the NCAA Tournament. For Jamie, Dave and Heath and Thomas, I'm Adam. Talk to you on Monday. Paramount Podcasts Foreign.

[Heath Cummings]

Hey, I'm Heath Cummings, host of Fantasy Football Today Dynasty, part of the CBS Sports Podcast Network. Whether you're looking to dominate your Dynasty league or take your startup team to the top, we've got you covered. Want to make the right move to turn your roster into a championship contender? Or are you aiming to find that next breakout rookie who will be your league's game changer? FFT Dynasty is here to give you the edge. This off season will provide you with startup mock drafts to guide you through building your perfect team and dive deep into the 2025 NFL Draft class to help you identify the next hidden gem that could propel you to fantasy football glory. You will hear from industry pros and familiar voices like Jamie Eisenberg, Dave Richard and Adam Azer from FFT Fantasy Football Today. Dynasty is available for for free every Tuesday and Friday. Download and follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere. Podcasts are found.