Post-Free Agency Mock Draft: JSN in Round 2! Pickens over Metcalf! Najee in Round 5! (03/20 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Summary

Fantasy Football Today: Episode Summary

Episode Title: Post-Free Agency Mock Draft: JSN in Round 2! Pickens over Metcalf! Najee in Round 5!
Release Date: March 20, 2025

Hosted by Adam Aizer, along with analysts Dave Richard, Jamey Eisenberg, Heath Cummings, and the CBS Sports Fantasy Football crew, this episode delves deep into the latest mock drafts following the NFL free agency period. The panel provides insights, ranking analyses, and strategic advice to help listeners dominate their fantasy leagues.

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1. Mock Draft Overview and Key Highlights

The episode kicks off with Adam Aizer setting the stage for their first mock draft after free agency, emphasizing a 12-team, full PPR format. The panel discusses unexpected picks and shifts in player rankings based on recent team changes and free agency moves.

Notable Picks:

• JSN (Justin Simmons) in Round 2: Dave Richardson comments, "DK met George Pickens, went ahead of DK Metcalf. That was something that we will also talk about."
• George Pickens over DK Metcalf: Jamey Eisenberg highlights the strategic move, saying, "Jamie, looking at Smith and Jigba, who benefited from DK Metcalf being traded..."

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2. Wide Receiver Strategy and Evaluations

The team extensively analyzes wide receiver selections, focusing on the merits of drafting players like JSN, George Pickens, DK Metcalf, and emerging talents such as Jackson Smith and Lad McConkey.

Key Discussions:

• JSN vs. DK Metcalf: Heath Cummings expresses excitement over Java Dines' (DJ Moore) draft position, stating, "He took DJ Moore in the third round... Mike Evans... gets a ton of touchdowns."

• Lad McConkey's Potential: Dave Richard raises concerns about the Chargers' potential moves impacting McConkey's performance. He notes, "I think there's a chance that McConkey's upside could be affected if the Chargers add more receivers."

Expert Insights:

• Jamey Eisenberg on Smith and Jigba: "I think that group of receivers... they're gonna be somewhat... mid round two to mid round three."

• Adam Aizer on McConkey's Breakthrough: "DK met George Pickens... I'm so excited. I did think that was interesting. McConkey going as wide receiver 13 in this draft, that would be the second-best finish."

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3. Running Back Analysis: Ken Walker and Beyond

The panel shifts focus to running backs, evaluating the prospects of Ken Walker, Joe Mixon, Alvin Kamara, and Najee Harris amidst Seattle's offensive dynamics.

Discussion Points:

• Ken Walker’s Viability: Jamey Eisenberg praises Walker, stating, "I think Ken Walker's in line for another high productive season... if the offensive line holds up."

• Comparisons with Joe Mixon and Alvin Kamara: Dave Richard debates their longevity and performance, "Do you think that the age catches up to them this year?"

Expert Opinions:

• Adam Aizer on Ken Walker: "He has a 40% avoid rate... needs to supplement that with these home runs."

• Heath Cummings on Offensive Lines: "Seattle really does need to get on improving the O line, their tackles passable, but the interior is a problem."

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4. Evaluating DJ Moore vs. Mike Evans

A pivotal discussion revolves around whether DJ Moore should be drafted ahead of Mike Evans, considering their past performances and future prospects.

Key Insights:

• Dave Richard on DJ Moore: "I think so far for sure, the absence of Keenan Allen, the improvement of the Bears offensive line... I was really happy to get him at the end of round three."

• Heath Cummings on Mike Evans: "Nothing's really changing in Tampa... I still think Evans is going to get good volume and be in that range of 15 PPR points per game."

Contrasting Views:

• Dave Richard’s Counterpoint: "Mike Evans from last year... nothing's really changing. The offensive coordinator is changing..."

• Jamey Eisenberg on Evans and Godwin: "He played seven games last year... hope that more is trending up."

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5. Trade Grading and Listener Mailbag

The episode also features segments where the hosts grade listeners' trades and answer audience questions regarding draft strategies and team management.

Notable Trade Grade:

• Sports Nerd's Trade: Trading three draft picks for Jordan Addison and a first-rounder received high praise. Heath comments, "That's good. This is a good deal."

Listener Questions:

• Drafting Strategies: Brock from a 10-team PPR league seeks advice on drafting running backs versus a tight end, with analysts recommending prioritizing depth and balance.

• Keeper League Dilemma: John faces a tough decision on keeping Raiders players or diversifying, with suggestions leaning towards balanced backups and versatile players like George Kittle.

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6. Final Thoughts and Strategies for Dominating Your League

As the episode wraps up, the hosts offer final strategies to ensure listeners can effectively build and manage their fantasy teams. Emphasis is placed on flexibility, understanding player roles within their real-life teams, and staying updated on NFL developments post-free agency.

Key Recommendations:

• Flexibility in Drafting: "If you're going to draft a tight end, just wait until the double-digit rounds."

• Monitoring NFL Changes: "The landing spot and the offense that he's in... keep an eye on team dynamics to make informed decisions."

Closing Remarks: Adam Aizer encourages listeners to engage with the podcast community, submit questions, and stay proactive in managing their fantasy teams. The episode concludes with a reminder to download and follow "Fantasy Football Today" for ongoing insights and updates.

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This comprehensive summary encapsulates the pivotal discussions, expert analyses, and strategic advice conveyed by the "Fantasy Football Today" team, providing listeners with valuable insights to enhance their fantasy football gameplay.

Transcript

[Adam]

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[Dave]

This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports.

[Heath]

Wanna play?

[Adam]

Can you believe this?

[Jamie]

No, I can't.

[Dave]

It's time to dominate your fantas the.

[Heath]

Races and he stays on his feet.

[Adam]

This is going to go the distance.

[Dave]

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

[Adam]

Well, should Lad McConkey and Jackson Smith and Jigba both be top 13 wide receivers? Should Garrett Wilson fall to the middle of the fourth round? Should Chuba Hubbard and Chris Godwin go back to. Back to Dave Richard? Well, that's what happened in Yesterday's mock draft. 12 team, full PPR draft, post free agency. Our first draft. Post free agency. Of course, we still don't even know where Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson are going to go, so that could change things too. But DK met George Pickens, went ahead of DK Metcalf. That was something that we will also talk about. Where did Najee Harris go and. And all those things. Welcome, everybody. It is Thursday. It is two hours until tip.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Adam]

Okay. Thank you. Dave. Who's.

[Heath]

I'm so excited. I didn't make any of my picks in the bracket this year do it.

[Adam]

Oh, you mean someone else.

[Heath]

The picks have been made. They were not made by me.

[Adam]

Good.

[Heath]

All right, who's our champion after last year?

[Adam]

Who are. Who are our champs? I got Duke.

[Heath]

Houston.

[Dave]

Jamie's pointing at the Gator.

[Adam]

Oh, Gators. Yeah. J.B. gator.

[Dave]

Yeah. I think Duke's the obvious choice.

[Adam]

There's definitely not an obvious choice.

[Dave]

Duke is definitely the. Assuming Cooper flags healthy. Duke's the obvious.

[Adam]

That's why it's not an obvious choice.

[Dave]

He's healthy.

[Adam]

Okay. All right. He is terrific. I cannot wait to watch him in the NBA next season. Not a fan?

[Heath]

No.

[Dave]

He's really awesome. I just think. I do think maybe he's a lot better in college than he's going to be in the NBA.

[Adam]

I don't think so. The guy does everything. He does everything. He's. He's terrific.

[Jamie]

All right.

[Adam]

Anyway, we'll. We'll place a bet on that and we'll revisit in 10 years. So let's get to our 12 team draft. We also have some emails at fantasy football and we have an Apple podcast question. If you want to leave us a nice 5 star review on Apple podcast, please do that and leave us a question there. And that question will in all likelihood be read on. On the show. Best way to get on the show. Okay, so I'm not going to go through like every pick or ever. I just really want to focus on the free agents. But in case you're interested, in the first round, it was B. John Robinson, Jamar Chase, Saquon Barkley, Justin Jefferson, C.D. lamb, Aman Ross, St. Brown, Jameer Gibbs, Tyreek Hill, which was a little bit of a surprise. Nico Collins, puka nakua, Christian McCaffrey, Brian Thomas Jr. And you're going, where's Malik neighbors? He was 13th. All right, so the first thing I want to talk about is pick 16 overall and pick 21 overall. And these were wide receivers, Jackson, Smith and Jigba and Ladd McConkey. They went as wide receivers 11 and 13. In between them was Drake London. So you had like the big names that we definitely expect to go ahead of them, including AJ Brown, but Tyree Kill also did. And then you had JSN, fourth pick of round two. Couple picks later, Drake London, few picks after that, lad McConkey, then T. Higgins after that. So Jamie, looking at Smith and Jigba, who benefited from DK Metcalf being traded, and maybe McConkey who perhaps benefited from the Chargers not making any moves at receiver except for Mike Williams and getting rid of Josh Palmer. Round two, is that a good spot for these guys?

[Jamie]

It's a little too soon in terms of the overall selection, but I think, you know, if you were to say they were back end of round two picks, then I have no problem with it. You know, I, I think when you look at the group of receivers, and I do think it's probably still after AJ Brown at this point. So, you know, I like that Heath took Puka Nakua at, at 10, you know, so he's still a first round pick. I know there's going to be some questions about, you know, what happens with him now that Devonte Adams is there. But I think that group of receivers, so JSN, London, McConkey, Higgins, that's the next group of receivers I have ranked in, not in that order, but that, that grouping. And so if you are inclined to take a receiver there, like, you know, I was debating, for example, London versus Bowers at my selection, which was at 19 overall in, in round two. But that group of receivers, I think, you know, they're, they're gonna, you know, be polarizing. They're going to be, I think, somewhat, you know, in this range of mid round two to mid round three. Again, you know, if you, if you want to go receiver, receiver or running back, receiver, you know, however you build your, your team, these are the guys you're looking at in that second round. You know, unless you're going to go the veteran route of, you know, Mike Evans or Devonte Adams, which I think for me would be too soon.

[Adam]

Okay, anybody else have strong thoughts? I'll give this stat for you here. Greg Roman's been an offensive coordinator for 11 seasons. Only once has a wide receiver finished top 12 per game in full PPR. And I definitely think McConkey could, could break that streak. You know, this is. Last year was the first time that Greg Roman had like a true drop back passer. He was. Let's see, what was he overall? I think he was wide receiver 18 per game last year. But anyway, I did think that was interesting. McConkey going as wide receiver 13 in this, in this draft, that would be the second best finish. Sammy Watkins had the best per game finish ever under Greg Roman, but McConkey would be second best.

[Dave]

I think there's a little bit of talk about the Chargers maybe having conversations with Keenan Allen now. So that could definitely impact whether lad McConkey's around two or around three picks. I think like I would prefer T. Higgins and Drake London to both LAD and jsn.

[Heath]

Agreed.

[Dave]

I've got lad. I've got LAD in the round two range. I, I'm not gonna draft JSN until round three. Probably.

[Heath]

Does anybody have Lad behind Tyreek Hill?

[Jamie]

Yes.

[Dave]

No.

[Heath]

No. I don't either. So two out of three ain't bad. They're close. Banking on Tyree Kill to have a bounce back year with tua. I don't know what's really changing in Miami. They added another speed receiver. I was, I was real surprised to see Tyreek go in round one, but the guy that drafted him, it's Brandon. He. He tends to draft like he's drafting a track team more than a fantasy team in our drafts. And that's just how it goes. And that's fine. But In a full PPR, I like McConkey better and I still think that he's going to be in line for around 15 PPR points per game. He's still going to get a lot of targets. He's still going to work the middle of the field. But any more additions to this receiving core by LA is going to mess up McConkey's upside for sure.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Adam]

You know you mentioned Tyree Kill, who went ninth, eighth overall. Pardon me. And Tyree Kill had basically the same exact yards per route run and target per route run rate as Lad McConkey. Oh, wait, no, not Lad McConkey as Quentin Johnston. Looking at Chargers wide receivers, I was looking at Quentin Johnson because that's another guy I want to talk about. Maybe you could argue Quentin Johnston is a winner or at least keep some fantasy relevant. Last year, Quentin Johnson was a number four receiver, is about 40th per game. A lot of that was touchdowns though. He caught eight touchdowns on 91 targets in 15 games. But I don't know if there's any hope for this former first round pick to make the next step. He was picked with the 11th pick of round 10 and it's amazing. He rent. He had yeah, the same target per out run rate and the same yards per out run rate as Tyreek Hill, which is really an indictment on Tyree kill season. But also he didn't run that many routes. Tyreek Hill ran five more routes per game than Quentin Johnston. But yeah, so just, just, just to kind of talk about some players that we haven't spoken much about. Quentin Johnson going after Rashid Shahid, Stefon Diggs and Amari Cooper second to last pick of round 10. So 118th overall. Do we like that value for Quentin Johnston?

[Jamie]

It's not a bad dart throw at this point, you know, I mean looking at, you know, receiver entering year three with the hope that he can, you know, still continue to grow in, in this offense and look, he had some, some big games last year, but he had some disappointing ones and he battled some injuries again. So it's just a matter of, you know, what your, what your expectations are.

[Dave]

It's a really good pick. As long as the Chargers don't sign one of the veteran wide receivers who are still left or draft a wide receiver on the first two days of the NFL draft, which is a lot of ifs.

[Adam]

I mean, is there any. Should we take Mike Williams over Quentin Johnson or.

[Heath]

No, I wouldn't because I, I don't know if Mike Williams can still play at even like a moderately high level. At least with Quentin Johnston. If you're stuck during the bye weeks or if you've got receivers that are hurt, I don't think you'd ever mind putting him in as a one week replacement type of receiver. He's a bench receiver. All those guys that you named that were picked around Johnston, they're going to begin the year as bench receivers for fantasy managers. Some of them might reemerge and I'm thinking of like Amari Cooper, Stefan Diggs, like at some point during the season those guys could come back and be like number three receivers for your fantasy team. I don't know if Quentin Johnson's ever going to be that reliable to be a number three receiver like that type of consistency from game to game.

[Dave]

42% of Quinton Johnston's receiving yards came in two games last year.

[Adam]

Yeah, he has such a big week 18 and he had what, week nine.

[Dave]

Against the Browns was big also but other than that, not one game over 51 yards.

[Adam]

Yeah, in his last game. So week 18 was 186 yards for Quentin Johnston. His next game was the playoffs. He had 00 catches. All right, next up, I want to talk about a pick Heath made. You went with DJ Moore. So he was pick 3.8. So eighth pick of round three and. Nope, tenth. Tenth pick of round three. Sorry. And just ahead of Mike Evans. I could just look at the draft board if you. Oh, yeah. So if you want to follow along, I. Our draft shows are great ones to watch on YouTube. YouTube.com fantasy football today. Also, Jamie, when will the results be published on CBS sports. Com today. All right, so Thursday, cbsports.com fantasy you can see the results there. But anyway, pick 10 of round three was DJ Morti Heath. You took him one spot ahead of Mike Evans. Mike Evans averaged 3.2 more PPR fantasy points than DJ Moore. So could I look at this pick and say that DJ Moore is a free agency winner?

[Dave]

I think so far for sure, the absence of Keenan Allen, the improvement of the Bears offensive line, hopefully the development of Caleb Williams in my way too early projections. I actually have DJ Moore and Lad McConkey projected for the same number of fantasy points and both higher than Jackson, Smith and Jigba. So I was really happy to get him at the end of round three.

[Adam]

Jamie and Dave. DJ Moore, Mike Evans, Evans.

[Jamie]

More for me.

[Adam]

Dave, you're on Evans Island.

[Heath]

It's fine with me. Dude's getting over a thousand yards every single season. Gets a ton of touchdowns. Nothing's really changing in Tampa. I know they're changing play callers for the third year in a row. It doesn't bother me. I still think Evans is going to get good volume and be in that range of 15 PPR points per game. It's kind of the number that you look for from a wide receiver once you're out of the middle of round two, all the way through till, you know, round five, six, somewhere like that. He averaged 17.2 last year. I'm not expecting that, but I think he can still come through maybe on an inconsistent basis, I'll give you that. But I still think he could be a good, real good fantasy receiver. We've seen DJ Moore go way up and way down Romo Dunes I think will take a step forward this year. If, if we learn sooner than later that DJ Moore is going to be the slack guy and he's going to play the Amun Ross St. Brown role in Chicago, I might change my tune. I think I'd have to change my tune on that one. But short of that, I, I'm fine with Mike Evans.

[Dave]

I, as the Mike Evans guy from last year, I hate to argue against him, but I, I would disagree with the. Nothing's really changing. The offensive coordinator is changing and Chris Godwin played seven games last year and we think he's going to play a lot more this year.

[Jamie]

Well, it's also what Edmonds did in those seven games with Godwin was not 17 points per game. It was closer to 14, which is still very good, you know, clearly. But now you're factoring in Jalen McMillan too. You know, what kind of role does he have which should impact both those guys, you know, so Godwin and Evans. So I'm hopeful that more is trending up and Evans is hopefully just leveling off and continuing to do what he does. But again, going to be 32. We know what that age is like for those receivers. So for me I would take, I would take DJ moreover.

[Heath]

Okay, so just to, to clarify and I think it's worth bringing up because Jamie, you said he was close to 15. He was less than 14 PPR points.

[Jamie]

I said 14.

[Heath]

Okay. He was under that. He was at, I'm looking at it now 13.63 monster games over 23 PPR points in three of them, under 10 PPR points in four of them and there was only one got hurt.

[Jamie]

You know, for older receiver, it's something to keep in mind.

[Heath]

Yeah, it's true. It's true. I'm pulling a curt angle there. Look, I think that oun if Adun doesn't take the step forward, Moore will be great. If Moore's in the Amon St. Brown role, he'll be great. How else can DJ Moore get to, you know, where was he two years ago? 16.9. How else can he get there with the Bears not changing anything else in their offense?

[Adam]

Well, hold on. You talk about Odunze so I do want to get to that was one of the most interesting picks of this draft. We're going to talk about Romo Dunes right after this break on Fantasy Football Today I can say to my new Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, hey, find a keto friendly restaurant nearby and text it to Beth and Steve and it does without me lifting a finger so I can get in more squats anywhere I can. 1, 2, 3.

[Heath]

Will that be cash or credit?

[Adam]

Credit.

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[Heath]

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[Adam]

And affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. All right, look, obviously we're expecting big things. Better things. Better things from the Bears offense. That'd be great. Should you really take two wide receivers from the Bears offense with your first five picks? I think that would. Obviously. I think we'd all agree that would be absolutely insane. Oh, Heath did it. He took DJ Moore in the third round. He took Romo Dunes two rounds later with the 10th pick of round five. So you locked. You locked that up right there, Heath. What. What were your. Your thought process there? And the next wide receiver off the boards. Off the board was Khalil Shakir, then George Pickens, then DK Metcalf, Jerry Judy. But you took both Moore and O'Dunze rounds three and five.

[Dave]

Well, so far we have removed a wide receiver who earned eight targets per game from this offense. We've added a head coach who we all agree is arguably at least one of the best offensive minds in the NFL. And we have what we thought was close to a generational prospect at quarterback entering his second year in the NFL. I think that we all expect a massive leaf leap from the Browns passing game. And if DJ Moore and Roma Dunese are the one and the two, then it's not that crazy for them to be a high end number two wide receiver and a good number three wide receiver, which is the range for these guys were taking.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

As the guy who drafted Caleb Williams, I love it.

[Adam]

No, it makes sense individually just to double up on them. You're cool with that?

[Dave]

I don't really think about that type of thing very often. I also took Puka Nakua and Kyron Williams with my first two picks. So I have two Rams and two Bears. I. I don't generally think in terms of. Oh, no, I already have another Bear. I can't take this one.

[Adam]

Okay. Well, luckily for you, I think you only have one. Chief.

[Dave]

It's. Oh, no, I took two.

[Adam]

Yeah, yeah. Three. Excuse me. Sorry.

[Dave]

Round six, 11 and 13.

[Adam]

Yeah. Elijah Mitchell, Marquis Brown, Patrick Mahomes, or in order, Mahomes, Marquis, Brown, Elijah Mitchell. Okay, let's go to our next conversation here about running backs Ken Walker. So is he a free agency winner? When you look at the Seahawks, he went at pick 4.1. So first pick of round four, just after Alvin Camara. And Walker last year was, this is PPR. He was actually RB12 per game in PPR. So if he hits that, that would be a great pick. At the beginning of round four, he was RB16 per game and non PPR. But he did miss six games and he only had two games of more than 16 carries and he did not finish well. He did not score more than 14 PPR fantasy points in any of his last six games and he averaged 3.7 yards per carry. It was a weird year for Ken Walker and you know, he has actually not been on a run heavy team once in his career. Seattle has ranked 21st, 25th and 29th in running back rush attempts in three seasons for Ken Walker. So anyway, Ken Walker, I just wonder if he has to be the focal point of the offense, but I also wonder, is he anything like what we saw in his rookie year when he was one of the most explosive players in football? Jamie, Good pick. Ken Walker at first pick of round four, 37th overall.

[Jamie]

I mean, I love it. I, I think Ken Walker's in line for another, you know, high productive season. You know, whether he can be a top 10 running back or top 15, I think probably depends on how soon you want to draft him. But, you know, looking at the build of what Joel did, taking Thomas Neighbors with his first two picks, you know, doubling up with running backs with the next two, I think that was smart. Really, the only one I think that you can compare him to is the running back who went after him two picks later is Joe Mixon. Because I think, you know, once you start to go down the line here, I think Walker's in a better spot than Montgomery at this point, than Hubbard at this point. You know, going into round six, around, there was around five. Naji Harris, you could probably debate that one if you want to. James Connor, you could bait that if you want to. But Walker last year showed something in the passing game, which was a big question for him maybe coming into the NFL and if he can continue to do that on an offense that's still lacking pass catchers. I mean, yes, they signed Cooper cup, but it's still a very, you know, incomplete receiving core at this point. Geno Smith's A very accurate quarterback. Hopefully the, excuse me, Sam Darnold hopefully will be as accurate as Dino Smith and can move the offense, you know, continuing it in the right direction. But I think, you know, you said it, you know, he's never been in a run heavy offense and this is potentially trending in that direction. So if the offensive line holds up, I think there's an opportunity here for Walker to have a very successful season on the ground, be involved in the passing game. I think he's a breakout candidate.

[Adam]

For 2025, he led all running backs with 100 or more carries. There were 46 of them in a void rate, which I know a lot of people like. He had a 40% avoid rate. That is bonkers. But he also had a 5.2% explosive run rate. It was 10.5% as a rookie. So Ken Walker is just like he's, he's always a guy that has a lot of carries for, for zero or negative yards. That's just part of his profile. He needs to supplement that with these home runs and he's like Chris Davis where he hit like 50 home runs and then he hit 30 and then he was out of baseball because he couldn't hit home runs anymore. So that was Chris Davis with a C, by the way.

[Dave]

I, and I think that range of running backs really just is like, how much do you care about the age of Alvin Camara and Joe Mixon?

[Adam]

Because I would take Joe Mixon over Ken Walker without hesitation.

[Dave]

Right. Because like performance wise, last year, the year before, the year before that, those guys have been considerably better than Walker on a per game basis every year. It's just. Do you think that the age catches up to them this year?

[Adam]

I don't know how you guys feel about it, but I would take both of those guys over. Ken Walker is Camara. Like his, his value is really, it's almost not even as a rusher, you know, he's just such a unique player, just going to catch so many balls. So he'll age fine in that regard, I guess. He hasn't been a good running back for four years and he's consistently a PPR stud. This was a PPR draft. So Camaro over Walker is easy. And mixing over Walker to me is also easy. He was just so good last year. And then like you mentioned, Jamie Mixon.

[Jamie]

Closed the season so poorly.

[Adam]

As poorly as Ken Walker? Well, yeah, you know what, Mixon did have really tough matchups down the stretch as I recall, and he stunk, he stunk in them. And then he was somehow good against the Chiefs in the playoffs when the Chiefs run defense wasn't as good. But that's a good point. But Walker, like I said, no more than 14 points in PPR and six straight games to end the year. And then you said he's in a better spot than Chuba Hubbard. Is he, though? Is Dowdle a bigger threat to Hubber than Charbonnet is to Walker?

[Jamie]

We'll find out.

[Adam]

But just to answer my question, would you guys also take Mixon and Camaro over Walker?

[Heath]

I would.

[Dave]

Oh, yeah.

[Jamie]

I. I would take Camaro over Walker. Walker over mixing.

[Adam]

Okay.

[Dave]

And it. It's like just the Joe Mixon conversation. He finished the regular season awful, right?

[Adam]

He.

[Dave]

He was really good against the Chargers. He was really good against the Chiefs.

[Adam]

All right, let's go to the playoffs. Yeah, right.

[Heath]

Can I touch on just one last thing?

[Adam]

Yeah, sure.

[Heath]

Let's remove the running backs. Let's remove Walker and Hubbard just for a second from their respective situations. Who. Who's got the better offensive line between Seattle and Carolina right now?

[Adam]

Carolina.

[Heath]

I would argue that it's Carolina.

[Jamie]

Sure.

[Adam]

I think it's close.

[Heath]

I. I would think that Charbonnet is a bigger threat to whatever running back. Remember, we've removed the running backs in question than Dowdle would be in Carolina. I think the offense, quarterback, I would give the lean to Seattle, but the offense in general, it's the same offense. Basically, Canalis is running in Carolina and it's Kubiak, his first year in Seattle. I, I kind of think the only reason why you'd put Walker had a chopper. This is why I did it, is because of talent and because of upside. And you know, we know that Ken Walker, a couple years younger than Chuba, just feels like he's got a little bit more upside, more juice to his game than Chuba. And when you go and look at their per game averages last year, Walker was 4/10 of a point better in full PPR. They're about the same, is what I'm saying. And so I, I think the argument could be made that Chuba is a better pick than Walker, but I think I'm taking Walker just based on talent more than anything else.

[Jamie]

The only thing I would push back on is the, the Charbonnet Dowdle thing. We really haven't seen Charbonnet impact Walker to the extent that it's a problem. Except when Walker's been injured. We don't know if Dada will impact Chuba to the extent that it could.

[Adam]

I would slightly disagree with that. Because Charbonnet has.

[Jamie]

I know the passing game works. Yes. He certainly. He certainly had that right.

[Heath]

He had a role.

[Jamie]

But.

[Heath]

But to your point, maybe Dowdle has a role, too.

[Jamie]

It wasn't that detrimental to Walker. It may have impacted his ceiling, but he was still a very good fantasy option potentially.

[Adam]

Here's Walker's receptions per game in three seasons. 1.8, 1.9, 4.2. He was on pace for 71 catches last year.

[Jamie]

He was a new coach.

[Adam]

Yeah. I don't know what it was. I mean, it. Like it had completely uninvolved locket, basically. But no, there were a couple games where he had like eight targets.

[Dave]

He also has a new coach again this year. Like the guy who.

[Jamie]

His new head coach.

[Dave]

Right.

[Adam]

The.

[Dave]

But the office and coordinator, the. The system that chose to give chewball that work last year is still there. Kubiak may have a different preference of how to use Walker.

[Jamie]

Totally.

[Heath]

Well, how did. How did Alvin Camara do with targets last year? He. He actually led all running backs with six.

[Dave]

Right.

[Jamie]

But that could be sharpening.

[Dave]

Wouldn't you have said before the year, Charbonnet is a better pass catcher than.

[Heath]

I. I would go into this. I definitely went into last year saying that. Absolutely. I don't know two guys who can do it. Walker proved that he could.

[Adam]

I always wanted them to give Ken Walker more work because I think the. In the passing game, because I think the offensive line was a big issue for Walker last year. Like, if a guy needs to hit a bunch of home runs, like, it's hard for him when he's. When his line was really bad.

[Heath]

I'm afraid some bad news for you.

[Adam]

Get it. But get him out in space is what I'm trying to say. So I just. I would hope that they would, you know, continue to use him in the passing game. But, gosh, if he has two catches per game, that he's going to be in trouble.

[Heath]

Seattle really does need to get on improving the O line, their tackles passable, but the interior is a problem.

[Adam]

All right, so we could go to Chuba Hubbard if you want. Real quick. You know what? Just. Let's just do this real quick on Chuba Hubbard. What's better value? Chuba Hubbard with the last pick of round four, so 48th overall or Rico Dowdle in round nine.

[Heath]

I'm. I'm abstaining because I'm the one that took Chuba.

[Adam]

You don't have to abstain.

[Jamie]

All right.

[Adam]

Chuba.

[Heath]

He's awesome. What a great pick. Whoever made that pick is A genius.

[Adam]

All right. In between the Ken Walker and Chuba Hubbard picks in the middle of round four, we had Garrett Wilson with the sixth pick of round four. He went just after Terry McLaurin and Zay Flowers. So McLaurin was the second pick of round four, then Flowers was the fourth pick and Garrett Wilson was the sixth pick. They were the first three wide receivers taken in that round. And then you had, Marvin Harrison Jr. And Chris Olave. But we had decided Garrett Wilson was a loser in free agency because of Justin Fields. But you know, Terry McLaurin had 117 targets last year. Is Garrett Wilson going to have more than that? Garrett Wilson, wide receiver 19 per game last year in full PPR. This is a harder case to make to take Wilson over McLaurin in any other format. But in full PPR. Garrett Wilson was wide receiver 19 per game. McLaurin was wide receiver 16 per game. That was with McLaurin having six more touchdowns. Do you guys think McLaurin should go ahead of, of Garrett Wilson? Do you think Zay Flower should go ahead of Garrett Wilson?

[Heath]

No, No, I don't think Flowers should. I do a McLaren over Garrett Wilson as of now.

[Dave]

McLaurin definitely flowers and Wilson right now for kind of a toss up for me.

[Jamie]

Yeah, I'll take Wilson easily over both. And I know I was on the Wilson is a loser because of Justin Fields. It wasn't necessarily because of Justin Fields per se. It was because I was hoping for maybe a little bit better passer than Justin Fields.

[Adam]

Okay, I get it.

[Dave]

Well, I, like, I just don't know how many passes the jets are like. He might, I think you'll have a 33% target share. May lead the NFL and share of targets, but if they're throwing 28 passes a game, it's not quite as exciting.

[Jamie]

I mean, I'm just looking at the receiving core right now. We'll see what they do in the draft. You know, at least Fields has given us a season of supporting a receiver. Yeah, that has more.

[Heath]

Two years ago.

[Jamie]

I, I, I, I, I know. Hopefully elite level talent, but certainly above average talent in DJ Moore and making him, I mean, giving him his best season to date, you know. And so can Wilson be north of 16 PPR points? That's the question, you know, so I mean, look, I drafted, I was thrilled, you know, to get him in round four as my, as my number two receiver. So based on the expectations we had from him for him a year ago, where he was going, borderline first round pick, you know, to me this feels like an incredible discount for a guy. Look, they have history together, you know, I mean, they were two years together at Ohio State, and, you know, hopefully that matters, you know. Yes. The. The volume is not going to be as ideal. Again, this is why I think he didn't win in free agency, but there's still an opportunity here for him. For a guy that had 154 targets, I believe it was last year, to have, you know, I think 130.

[Adam]

For what it's worth, George Pickens was on pace for 125 targets with Justin Fields, six games. I think D.J. moore was on pace for more than that. Like 140. Right.

[Heath]

He averaged over two years ago, eight targets a game.

[Adam]

With Fields.

[Heath]

Yeah. Oh, with Field specifically. Let me see if I have that.

[Adam]

I have it somewhere.

[Heath]

Yeah. 8.2 targets per game in 13 games with Justin Fields. Coincidentally, DJ Moore averaged 8.2 targets per game last year in Chicago, too.

[Adam]

Oh, One thing that DJ Moore did that year, 2023, he's caught a lot of long touchdowns. Garrett Wilson has pretty much never done that. He has two touchdowns longer than 30 yards in his career. He has five touchdowns longer than 15 yards in his career. I don't know that he can't do that, but that's kind of play with some crappy quarterbacks. Yeah, but it's kind of the issue with Justin Fields. Like, when he gets down to the. To the green zone, he's running a lot.

[Jamie]

I think you should be expecting 10 plus touchdowns for Garrett Wilson.

[Adam]

Okay. Did you give any thought to drafting Marvin Harrison Jr. Over Garrett Wilson?

[Jamie]

Yeah, if Wilson wasn't there, that was my next choice.

[Adam]

And that was the next pick. All right, let's take a look at some other things we noticed from this draft. So we talked about Chuba Hubbard. Chris Godwin resigned by the Bucks. He went with the first pick of round five. He went 49th overall to a very handsome drafter.

[Heath]

I didn't take him.

[Adam]

Yes, you did.

[Heath]

I did. Oh, well, thank you.

[Adam]

Maybe I was talking about a different handsome drafter.

[Heath]

I. I'm surprised anybody calls me handsome. My mom isn't on the show, so no one else out there calls me handsome.

[Adam]

49Th overall. And you had Sutton on the board. Devonte Adams, Xavier Worthy, Jordan Addis. Actually really like this round of wood wide receivers, round five.

[Heath]

Me too.

[Adam]

But you took Godwin, who was, as I mentioned last time we talked about him, probably the best pick in fantasy. Last year, while he was healthy, he was wide receiver two or three per game. He was unbelievable and you took him 49th.

[Heath]

Go Bucks. I, I like a receiver that had 20, almost 20 PPR points per game in, in the games they play last year, almost nine targets per game. We, we can make the argument of, okay, what, what's the impact of Liam Cohen leaving the team? What's the impact of Jalen McMillan? Does he take a big step up? Is Baker Mayfield going to be as good again? Is the run game going to take a bigger slice of the pie? I just, I look at Godwin, especially when we're talking about 50th overall at the draft. In the draft, like he, he's very capable of being at or near 15 PPR points per game. And now we know what his upside is. We saw it last year. So no, I'm not telling you that he's going to go and get 19, 20 PPR points per game. That would be ridiculous. But he's in that range of wide receivers who I think you can count on for near, if not over 15 PPR points per game.

[Adam]

Would Jamie or Heath, would you guys take Sutton, Adams Worthy, Addison Odunze ahead of Chris Godwin?

[Jamie]

The only one I would consider is Adams and I'm still on the fence of how much does his age and maybe being second on the team targets matter by comparison to the landing spot and the offense that he's in. So they're very close. If Godwin's 100 healthy, no issues, I'll probably lean Godwin, but that's the only one I would consider.

[Dave]

Yeah, I've got a pretty significant projections edge for Adams right now, but I'm obviously downgrading him because of age. I don't think I could downgrade him past Godwin because I'm not sure Adam's age worries me as much right now as Godwin's health. So yeah, I'd take Adams, but they're right in the same range and this is a good range for both of them.

[Adam]

Cortland Sutton was the number 10 wide receiver per game in his last 10 games. He was number 21 per game overall. So he went in this range too. But let me another guy who you could say has been a winner from free agency just because Deebo Samuel got traded was George Kittle. So you have Godwin, Courtland, Sutton and Devonte Adams all going just ahead of George Kittle, all within the first five picks of round five, which was Godwin, Jalen Hurts, Sutton, Adams, George Kittle. Should Kittle have been taken ahead of those guys?

[Jamie]

I mean, Kittle should have been taken ahead of TJ Hawkinson.

[Adam]

Well, that is true. TJ Hawkinson went in round four. That was a, it was a reach. But, but should Kittle have gone ahead of Godwin, Sutton and Adams or do you feel like it's, it's reasonable? It depends on your team need or however you want to build it.

[Jamie]

I think again, you know, just playing it out. Two managers had already taken tight end. So true. You know, it probably not realistic to say everyone should have taken him there but you know, this is a great pick. I was considering him for sure. You know, Thomas draft in two picks in front of me. So had he fallen, I would have definitely, you know, pulled the trigger and, and even the next pick after him, Joe Burrow, you know, that was, that was tough to watch both those guys go right in front of me.

[Adam]

Yeah, I was debating Kittle and Hertz and I took Jalen Hurts. I also took a commercial break. We're going to do that right now and we will be right back with the rest of this draft. What you need to know. Naji Harris, we're talking about him soon. The Steelers wide receivers, the San Francisco wide receivers, they all went in round seven. We'll be right back on FFT.

[Heath]

Pro.

[Dave]

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[Adam]

Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for 15amonth plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to [e-mail].

[Jamie]

Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra.

[Adam]

See full [e-mail] all right, welcome back. So by the way, we have well over a thousand entries I believe in our March Madness pool and I am currently in 10th place. It is alphabetical based on first name so I am Pretty happy with where I stand right now before the games have started. So Naji Harris went with the eighth pick of round five. This is a bit of a dead zone, and I don't mean that in the, well, these guys are going to stink way. I just. There aren't a lot of running backs being drafted here. You've got Hubbard with the last pick of round four, and then you've got Connor eight picks later. And then you, sorry, Najee, eight picks later, and then Connor four picks after that. Then we get some running backs in round six. But round five, only two running backs. One of them was the last pick of round five, but Najee Harris, Dave, eighth pick of round five, three picks ahead of James Conner. Then Aaron Jones went, and then Jalen Warren went in the middle of round six. Any running backs? Tyrone Tracy as well. So you do have Najee going about a round ahead of Jalen Warren, and in between them you have James Conner, Aaron Jones, Tyrone Tracy. Your thoughts on that group of running back.

[Heath]

As long as the Chargers don't make a significant ad at running back, this is at, at minimum the range that Naji will go in. I could see him going even a little bit sooner as fantasy managers gravitate toward the lead guy, the main guy in the Chargers run game. But I, I do think that they will ultimately add somebody. That's why I've got Connor ranked ahead of him for now. They're both going to share. They're both guys that aren't necessarily desirable. But at least Connor's got the better track record than Naji. Did you see his comments, by the way? He did an interview, now that he's with the Chargers, about how, like, there wasn't an identity, like a clear identity for the offense in Pittsburgh. That surprised me because usually you think of the Steelers and you think that they do have a good identity, at least with their run game. But he says that they didn't have it. I thought that that was mildly interesting. This is. This is where he's gonna go. Somewhere between, let's just call it 48th and 60th round five is that range. And it's just because of volume and the hope that he scores a lot more touchdowns than he ever did in Pittsburgh.

[Adam]

You ever seen the movie Identity? John Cusack?

[Heath]

No.

[Adam]

It's good. Maybe it's good. It's about like. It's like 12. Stranded at a desolate Nevada motel during a nasty rainstorm, 10 strangers become acquainted with each other when they realize they're being killed off one by one. It's very. It's a very good movie.

[Jamie]

How long is it?

[Adam]

I don't know.

[Jamie]

Two hours. Right figure.

[Adam]

Sure.

[Jamie]

So that could have been two Sopranos episodes for you.

[Adam]

I haven't seen this movie in a long time. Would you take the following running backs out of Najee Harris? James Connor.

[Heath]

Yes, I would.

[Jamie]

Nope.

[Adam]

Aaron Jones.

[Jamie]

No, I would not.

[Adam]

Hold on, I'll get back to you. Tyrone Tracy.

[Dave]

Yes.

[Heath]

I'll take Naji.

[Adam]

Jalen Warren.

[Heath]

Nope.

[Adam]

Nashi Heath.

[Dave]

This is all entirely dependent on events that are going to unfold in the next two months.

[Adam]

I know, I know.

[Dave]

But more than most of the players. I know I could say that about a lot of guys, but it is way more about that with Naji Harris. I think there's a chance that Naji Harris is not available in any drafts this late, and there's a chance that nobody wants to take him this early.

[Adam]

But even in best case scenario, they don't add any running backs and he's the lead.

[Dave]

They don't add any running backs.

[Adam]

They add a day three running back. Yeah, they'll add running backs, but they.

[Heath]

Get one of the Michigan running backs.

[Dave]

Is it a day three running back? I like. I mean, that's the way everybody's gonna view it. Like, is it. Did Devin Neal fall to day three or something? And I. I think if it's not a name that people were excited about before the draft, then Najee is an easy top 48 pick.

[Adam]

Oh, in full PPR.

[Dave]

Yeah.

[Adam]

I don't know that I do it. I. I just don't know he's good enough, you know, like. Like Dobbins is an explosive player and he made big plays. Naji never does. Never. So that's. I don't think I take him in the top 48. I definitely see your point. I definitely see your point. I mean, that would be taking him where Chuba Hubbard went.

[Jamie]

This is the range of, like, Dave said it best, you know, end around four to the end of round six, you know, is where he's going to most likely come off the board. And I think even if they do bring in, you know, a day three guy, this is where he's going to go. Even if you like that player. To Heath's point. I did just happen to see the Athletic release their beat writers mock draft today, and they had Omari and Hampton going to the Chargers in the first round. All right, like, that's. There's no way he's going.

[Adam]

Yeah, yeah, that'll be bad. That'd be bad for Naji. Okay, so let me just say I'm.

[Jamie]

Looking at, remember it's only a one year deal. So yes, you know, they're very much still in play to bring in somebody else, but they also did the same thing a year ago. You know, they, they brought in J.K. dobbins and Gus Edwards on short term deals just to see what they had. And you know, again the, the landing spot for Najee Harris could not have been any better until we see what happens with the NFL.

[Adam]

Well, they got a lot of ammo because they, they got a lot of comp picks. They have four, six round, four six round picks, sixth round picks.

[Jamie]

So if it's a six round running back, I'm gonna like Najee Harris.

[Adam]

They could trade those six round picks to move up in the third round or the fourth round to get someone they like, you know, whatever. But. All right, let's, let's go to the Steelers wide receivers. DK Metcalf, seven picks after George Pickens.

[Jamie]

I didn't get that one at all.

[Dave]

I don't get taking either one of them this early. Honestly.

[Jamie]

Metcalf, I could see in this range, I mean, you know, when you're talking about the receivers are still on the board here, it starts to get a lot of questions. So you know, can he be the guy with whoever the quarterback is and get back to north of 14, 15 points per game, I don't think he gets back to the 17 points that he had his best season with with Russ. But it's just, it's hard to, it's hard to fathom that for Pickens if Metcalf is there with an unknown quarterback.

[Dave]

Situation, that, that's the thing. I, I could see either one of these being good picks. If George Pickens is getting traded, if they're both on the same team and you've got Arthur Smith, whose teams have averaged 481pass attempts over the last three seasons and he currently has Mason Rudolph as his best quarterback. Like, hopefully George Pickens is getting traded. Undrafty.

[Jamie]

No, I totally agree. Like, and the guys that went after him, I'd rather have Judy, I'd rather have Waddle, I'd rather have Ridley. You know, you start to get into the 49ers guys, okay, there's, there's questions there. Cooper cup, there's questions there. Debo questions. You know, so this is the range for these guys. But again, you know, if you're, if you're hoping for upside, there's still upside for both these guys. To your point, one's got to get traded.

[Adam]

Let's go to round seven and the San Francisco wide receivers, they all went in round seven. Juwan Jennings. Yeah, I know Juwan Jennings the second pick of round seven. Brandon Ayuk the fourth pick. Ricky Pearsall the fifth fifth pick. So those were back to back to back receivers off the board. He had Baker Mayfield in between them. But Jennings, then Iuk, then Pierce saw and just for good measure, a few picks later, Debo Samuel went. So yes, like you said, former and current wide receivers, four of them in round seven.

[Jamie]

Around two.

[Adam]

Jennings, Iuk, Pearsall, Debo Samuel, Dave, your thoughts on that group?

[Heath]

This is the dart throw range. I took Ridley over those guys because I think there's a lot more clarity with what his role will be.

[Jamie]

And I'm.

[Heath]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's Cam Ward at quarterback for Tennessee and so a Titans team that should be a little bit more competitive. Certainly creating scramble plays that'll work out for Ridley. Maybe he'll be dialed in a little bit more than he was last year as number three receivers go. I don't hate him and I think that he'll be okay. Can we make the case for the upside for any of the 49ers guys that are that were taken after and throw Deebo Samuel in there? I think he can. I think that there's all kinds of upside for all of them but this is the range where they're going to go. They're all on that like cusp of being a number three wide receiver in fantasy.

[Adam]

Any other. Any comments here you want to talk about Calvin? Really? Calvin Ridley's kind of just sort of exists in this very non interesting world right now because there's been no. There's been nothing going on with the Titans basically in free agency except they may they've added to their offensive line. I've read a few people who think that they dramatically overpaid for Dan Moore. Yes.

[Jamie]

Who's they lost their. Their touchdown guy.

[Adam]

They lost Nick Westbrook akine to the.

[Heath]

Dolphins which is another thing in favor of Ridley.

[Adam]

Like how could at this point how can I get excited about Calvin Ridley after the last two seasons in this.

[Jamie]

Range though it's perfect, right? Especially the way Dave. Dave's got really a lot of questions. His receiving core. You look at it got Rashi Rice as the leading guy. Who knows what's happening there. Godwin's the second guy. Ridley's at least the steady factor, you know, low in numbers receiver who isn't.

[Heath]

Even on a team.

[Jamie]

But. And then, you know, Keenan Allen and Keon Coleman, you know, there's a lot of questions there. So Ridley at that spot for him was. Was fairly, you know, solid pick with the hope of Cam Ward. Elevates him a little bit. You know, targets are certainly going to be in his favor and he had some good moments last year, you know, so yes, it's not exactly a sexy pick, but it's, you know, a good number three receiver. Understanding what his roster build is and the hope that maybe he gets a little bit better with an upgraded quarterback.

[Dave]

And I think, like, you might be being a little bit harsh on the last two years for Calvin Ridley, Adam.

[Adam]

Huh.

[Dave]

He played with an average quarterback. He played with an awful quarterback system. He went over a thousand yards both seasons. Like I. Yeah, he hasn't been like top 12, but we're talking about what a seventh or seventh round draft pick.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Adam]

And honestly, if they would just lower his adot because that was big issue with him with Will Levis. Will Levis only knows how to throw the ball super deep. I would, I haven't done it. But I think if we went back and just looked at him with. Honestly with Mason Rudolph, probably some decent production there. Like I just looked at his last three games. I think they were all or like two and a half of them were with Rudolph. 78 yards, 84 yards, 76 yards on only five to six targets. It's pretty damn good.

[Jamie]

I think if you're. You're expecting like 75 catches, a thousand yards and six touchdowns, it's pretty solid production.

[Adam]

Just tough to pass up somebody in the 49ers offense who could be the lead receiver in the 49ers offense.

[Jamie]

I would think that if you say right now Brandon Ayuk is going to miss half the season or get straight. Right. And there's no holdout for purdy, then the 49ers guys upside is probably better than what Calvin Ridley can give you. Which one of those two guys it is? That's. That's the dart throw to Dave's point. You know, this is a darth range. If. If you say Ayuk is ready for week one.

[Heath]

Oh yeah.

[Jamie]

Then it's a little bit more of a mystery bag. Right. Because you know, who's. Who's the best of the trio there. Like could be Pierce. All based on what we saw the last two games and knowing what his pedigree is, could be Ayuk based on what he showed us, you know, the first couple seasons of his Career Jennings last season was very up and down, but still finished 14 points per game. You know, so there's, there's, there's a lot of, you know, questions there. So, you know, really probably a little bit safer, you know. So again, roster build, you know, Dave didn't, you know, and I don't want to put words in mouth, you know, but maybe not wanting the, another receiver with some question marks, at least get somebody that can give him some consistent production.

[Adam]

Actually, let's go rapid fire here through the rest of these so we can have time for some emails. Jacoby Myers getting an upgraded quarterback. He went at pick 8.1 just ahead of DeAndre Swift and Josh Downs. You can say DeAndre Swift also a winner here. So Jacoby Myers, first pick of round eight ahead of Swift and Downs.

[Dave]

Heath, I took downs. I was very, very upset that I didn't get Myers or Swift very good picks at this point in the draft.

[Adam]

Christian Kirk went with the six pick of round eight.

[Jamie]

Jamie, I mean, I drafted him. I was, you know, pretty happy to get him in the spot just as a fourth receiver with, you know, the opportunity to still be a top 30ish guy. I don't think he's going to get much higher than that, but you know, 12 to 14 points per game in an ideal world, you know, he's kind of been living in that 12 point per game range for the majority of his career in Arizona and in Jacksonville, you know, on the, you know, hope that he's still going to be the second receiver for the Texans assuming they don't add anybody or Tank Dell comes back based on the current construction of the team. So I like it, Dave.

[Adam]

Javante Williams went with the eighth pick of round eight just ahead of Travis Etien and Tajie Spears.

[Heath]

Javante Williams, he's a lot like Naji. I, I don't think adding Miles Sanders is the, the last thing that Dallas will do with their backfield. If you knew that Javante Williams was going to be just the passing downs back for the Cowboys, would you take them in round eight? No, I don't think you would. I think you'd take him a couple rounds after that and that's where I would expect him to end up going. So this feels a little too soon. Sorry, Shaffey Dave again.

[Adam]

Evan Ingram went one pick after Javante Williams, 8.9, and that was right after Dalton Kincaid as well. They were tight ends, 10 and 11. Four tight ends went around earlier. Sam Laporta, pretty good value for Laporta. Round 7 agreed Sam Laporta, John who Smith, David Najoku, Travis Kelsey. Then we had Kincaid and Evan Ingram in round eight.

[Heath]

I would have taken Ingram where I took Ridley if I hadn't have taken Trey McBride at the end of round two. Oh, I'm, I'm gonna like Ingram this year. I think he's got a shot to be the second best target getter in Denver. Can make plays after the catch and come back to being like double digit PPR points per game. That's a fun way of saying 10 PPR points per game, which is good for a tight end.

[Adam]

It's not amazing. You would have taken the.

[Heath]

That'll make him top 10. He'll be a top 10 tight end in Fantas.

[Adam]

You would have taken Laporta over him.

[Heath]

Oh, if he was there, of course.

[Adam]

Because he was there when you took Ridley.

[Heath]

Okay, that's fair.

[Jamie]

No, but he said if he didn't take McBride.

[Heath]

Well, obviously, and Najoku too. Like there were, there were a bunch of tight ends that I love there. I, I actually this draft may. I'm sorry, James. This draft made me think twice about round two. Capital.

[Adam]

Oh, you are falling for the tight end trap again. Come on, you got your stud in round two. 24th McBride.

[Jamie]

I will say I, I hate the Kincaid pick of where it was, especially since that manager already had Brock Bowers. But I don't know if you saw what Brandon Bean said recently. I don't know if it was this week or the last couple of weeks. Addressing for agency. He said that they probably should have shut down Dalton Kincaid. He was really banged up with his knee, so hopefully there's some bounce back potential here. I still think again, you know, taking him in round eight is too soon, especially after you already have Bowers. But if you get past the top 12, 14 tight ends, you're looking for a second guy with upside. I think he's a good late run pick.

[Dave]

I just.

[Adam]

Oh, go ahead.

[Dave]

I know it's rapid fire, but if you're gonna draft a jag at tight end, just wait until the double digit rounds, in my opinion.

[Adam]

Well, I tried to do that and I kept waiting and it did not really work out for me. I wanted to take Tucker Kraft. I did not. I knew Dave loved Tucker Craft, but I didn't think he was going to take kraft in round 10 when he already had McBride. Of course he took him around 10, one pick before me and then I was like, all right, I'll get Jake Ferguson. And somebody took Jake Ferguson one pick before me. So I Took Hunter Henry. So I honestly think that's not the worst pick. Hunter Henry, but it's not a very good pick. I'll be. I'll be playing the waiver wire at tight end in this league that we're not.

[Dave]

I would be 0% surprised if Hunter Henry scores more fantasy points than Dalton Kincaid, Nevin Ingram next year.

[Adam]

I'd be surprised if he scored more than Ingram.

[Jamie]

But I just don't understand. Like, you're where you started with Quentin Johnson, like, after Kraft went off the board. Like, why didn't you not take a tight end there?

[Adam]

I didn't think any of. Well, I would have taken.

[Heath]

Was gambling that I wasn't going to take Craft.

[Adam]

You're saying after that, though?

[Jamie]

No, you took Craft.

[Adam]

David.

[Jamie]

David just taking Craft. Then you went Quentin John. Like, you went Quentin Johnston, Austin Eckler, Richardson Don, Tavian, Wicks. Like, why did you wait and wait and wait and wait?

[Adam]

Who was I supposed to take?

[Jamie]

We just said Ferguson was the guy that you wanted.

[Adam]

I mean, he's not that good. Like, I'd rather take Eckler.

[Jamie]

Neither is Quinn Johnston. Neither is Austin Eckler.

[Adam]

Excuse me. You cannot sit here and tell me to take handcuffs over, start over second quarterbacks and then tell me Austin Eckler's not that good. Austin Eckler does catch passes and he's got huge upside. If Brian Robinson.

[Heath]

I still.

[Adam]

I would have had no tight end if I had taken Jake Ferguson or Hunter Henry.

[Jamie]

I. I disagree. I would have taken the tight end there. You could have gotten Austin Eckler around later.

[Adam]

I don't know.

[Dave]

I mean, quick trivia, Adam. Who was the only tight end last year who had more than 50 targets and less yak than Evan Ingram?

[Adam]

The Hunter Henry.

[Dave]

No Nijoku Zachary.

[Adam]

Oh, Ertz.

[Dave]

And they were very close.

[Adam]

I could have taken maybe where I took Wicks. I could have taken a time. I really thought I would be able to get Ertz or Ferguson or Henry and they earth Ferguson right before I picked Henry. But hey, if. If Drake. Look, the Patriots haven't done anything significant at wide receiver. Henry had a pretty significant role. Unfortunately, Hooper was kind of annoying.

[Jamie]

We were not doing a Stefan Diggs emergency podcast later today.

[Adam]

No, actually, that'd be kind of interesting. But no, not coming off Torn Aco. Anyway, that's gonna do it for our free agency talk. Let's go to some emails, fantasy footballbsi.com and some Apple podcast questions. This one is from Brock 10 team PPR single quarterback league. I am planning to draft running backs at 107 and 110. Who should I draft? Travion Henderson, Quinchon Judkins, Caleb Johnson or tight end Tyler Warren? Henderson and Judkins from Ohio State. Caleb Johnson out of Iowa. Tyler Warren at tight end. Yeah. So how do you guys like Heath in before the NFL draft? Do you have rankings for those four?

[Dave]

Yeah, I don't think that Henderson's going to be available but he is currently definitely my favorite of the group. I would currently like. I pretty much have Johnson, Warren and Judkins in a tier and Henderson and a tier above them. Landing spot's going to determine but if I had to guess right now, I'd go Judkins, Warren, Johnson ranking those three.

[Adam]

Oh, well, yesterday I was on Henderson island when we asked which running back, which Buckeyes running back do you like better? I guess I have some company there.

[Dave]

You do have some company.

[Adam]

Let's go. All right, let's go to our next question. It is from John. Yes. I didn't put a. Okay, I messed up the format of the email. Sorry. John is in a half PPR league. He is a contender. He needs help with who he will keep. I can only keep two at each position and five overall. I am keeping Bija, Bijan Robinson, Jamar Chase and CD Lamb. Yeah, you're a contender. I can keep two more players out of the following. Brock Purdy or Drake May, David Montgomery who's fairly cheap or Ken Walker who's very expensive and George Kittle.

[Jamie]

I don't know what the costs are, but I would go Kittle and Montgomery if it's that much of a difference in cost.

[Heath]

Agreed. It's super flex though.

[Adam]

No?

[Jamie]

Oh yeah. Then Kittle's easy and probably the cheaper running back.

[Adam]

Yeah. Okay, cool. This is from sports nerd 07 at on Apple podcasts. Grade the trade 10 team, one QB dynasty league. It's PPR. I get Jordan Addison and a 2026 first round pick.

[Heath]

Congratulations. That's good.

[Adam]

I. It's 10 team league. I give up. Pick 203, 204 and 309. What? Picks 13, 14, two twos and a.

[Heath]

Three for Jordan Addison and a first.

[Adam]

Yeah, that's.

[Dave]

You won that deal by about seven miles.

[Heath]

Why? This is amazing. Way to go, sports nerd.

[Dave]

Yeah, I don't.

[Adam]

Good.

[Dave]

Good job.

[Jamie]

This is a brag email, not a plus.

[Adam]

Seriously, It's a good one. It's a good 1. But picks 203 and 204 in a 10 team league this year. It could be some good Running backs there.

[Heath]

Super duper. You know what's going to be good in a 10 team rookie only draft next year? A first.

[Adam]

It's 20, 26. First.

[Dave]

Yeah.

[Adam]

All right. This is from Matthew. 10 QB. Nope. 10 team, one QB PPR league. I can only keep one.

[Heath]

I hate those 10 QB leagues.

[Adam]

Oh man, this is tough. Saquon in the SEC. It's not that tough. Saquon in the second, neighbors in the. Oh, it is tough. Neighbors in the 5th, Jaden Daniels in the 8th, JSN in the 16th.

[Jamie]

To only keep one.

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

And you said one QB, one QB.

[Adam]

Barkley in the 2nd, neighbors in the 5th, Daniels in the 8th, jsn in the 16th. And it's just funny because in the draft that we just talked about, JSN went like three picks after Malik. Neighbors.

[Jamie]

Yeah, I'm taking Jason.

[Dave]

Jason.

[Heath]

I was gonna lean toward Neighbors same, but that was.

[Adam]

It was between those two. Oh man. Neighbors in the 5th or JSN in the 16th?

[Heath]

Yeah, both. Tremendous values. I get it. I get why you guys would take jsn. It's like taking your last pick and turning it into a second rounder.

[Adam]

What about this? If you can wait until after the NFL draft, which I assume you can. If the Giants get Cam Ward, I would take Neighbors in the fifth. If the Giants don't have like even if they get Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Rodgers or Cam Ward, I'd take Neighbors. Anyone else? Or Jamis. Anyone else? I take jsn.

[Jamie]

I'm taking Jason. The value is amazing.

[Heath]

It is.

[Adam]

All right. And this is from.

[Heath]

How long can you keep them for at this value?

[Adam]

I don't know and I'm not.

[Heath]

So like that's another factor. If we're talking about like you can keep JSN as a double digit round pick for like five years or something like that. Yeah, that. That's the keeper. If it's a one year deal, then I don't mind neighbors.

[Adam]

This is from Sean. Super Flex 12 team dynasty. Strong contender, but I'm weak at running back. I have Bucky Irving, Brian Robinson and James Connor. They're my only startable assets. I try to build depth, but I'm seeking to trade that depth as I prepare for this year. So I would trade Ray Davis and a mid fourth round pick for Jonathan Brooks and I would trade Kamani Vidal for Adonai Mitchell.

[Dave]

It. Those are fine trades. I think I'd probably do both of them. It does nothing to solve your problem about not having good running backs this year.

[Adam]

Right?

[Heath]

Does it actually not.

[Jamie]

Horrible. This year. I mean, you're talking about those three guys. Assuming Connor stays healthy.

[Heath]

Like, yeah.

[Jamie]

I mean, Bucky's a number one running back. Connor's, you know, again, healthy number two running back, and Robinson's a great number three. Like, you're banking on Jonathan Brooks, hopefully coming back in 2026 and being what we hoped he could be. But it's such a big if at this point, so I might hold on to Vidal just to see, like, through the NFL draft, at least, if you can.

[Heath]

But I would make the move for Brooks now. I mean, he was a first round pick last year and now you're getting him for Ray Davis in a fourth.

[Adam]

I don't even know if I do that.

[Jamie]

Yeah, me too. Like James Cook goes down.

[Adam]

Right? Exactly.

[Jamie]

Ray Davis can win you your league based on how your team is set up. Hopefully Jonathan Brooks is not playing this year, most likely.

[Heath]

Nope. But it sets you up to have some running backs, hopefully something in 2026 and beyond.

[Adam]

Would you trade for this manager who has Bucky Irving, Brian Robinson, and James Connor? Would you trade Ray Davis and maybe the mid fourth round pick? But I would offer without it for Cedric Benson or Trey Benson.

[Dave]

Not Cedric, for sure.

[Jamie]

David's in a fourth for Trey Benson.

[Adam]

Yeah, it's a backup.

[Jamie]

Yeah, but I don't know if the.

[Heath]

Benson manager would take that little form.

[Dave]

No.

[Jamie]

Right. Yeah. I mean, you're hoping that Jonathan Brooks is Jonathan Brooks. It's funny. This is almost my entire backfield in your league, Adam.

[Adam]

Bucky Irving.

[Jamie]

Bucky Irving Brooks.

[Adam]

If I had not traded Bucky Irving, how much different my team would look. I. That trade haunts me. Haunts me.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Adam]

All right. Speaking of haunting, go watch.

[Jamie]

I enjoy that trade quite a bit.

[Adam]

I'm sure you did. Thanks for watching and listening. Yeah. And Wondale Robinson. Wahoo.

[Jamie]

That, like, first week you really won the trade. That was like the week Biggsby went for like 100 yards and Wando had like a 78 catch game. Like you were. You were gloating.

[Adam]

I'm not a gloater. I don't believe that for one second. Oh, look, it's my podcast award. All right, we'll talk to you on Monday. Have a great weekend, everybody. Enjoy the tournament. Go Yukon. See you later. Go do. We'll talk to you Monday. Bye.

[Jamie]

Paramount Podcasts. Just because the 2024 NFL season is.

[Adam]

Over doesn't mean that you're done with football. I'm Mike Renner, co host of the Push in the Pile podcast, part of.

[Jamie]

The CBS Sports podcast network and I'm here to help get you through the spring.

[Adam]

Alongside my co host, former All Pro guard Kyle Long. We're going to be diving into the combine, free agency and the draft because football season never sleeps. It's the off season when championship rosters.

[Jamie]

Are built, so you gotta follow along.

[Adam]

Download and follow, pushing the pile on Apple podcasts, Spotify and anywhere else podcasts are found.