Rankings Disputes! Jayden Daniels as QB1? Fade the Lions WRs? (06/16 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Summary

Fantasy Football Today Episode: Rankings Disputes! Jayden Daniels as QB1? Fade the Lions WRs? (06/16 Fantasy Football Podcast) Release Date: June 16, 2025

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Introduction

In this episode of Fantasy Football Today, hosts Adam Aizer, Dave Richard, Jamey Eisenberg, Heath Cummings, and their crew delve into several contentious ranking disputes that could significantly impact your fantasy football strategy. From evaluating Jayden Daniels as a top-tier quarterback to scrutinizing the performance and potential regression of key wide receivers, the team provides in-depth analysis and lively debate to help listeners make informed decisions for their leagues.

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1. Rankings Disputes: Jayden Daniels as QB1

The primary focus of the episode centers on the controversial ranking of Jayden Daniels as the number one quarterback in six-point per passing touchdown leagues. Heath leads the charge, advocating for Daniels' elevated status based on his impressive rookie season performance.

Heath [11:41]: "Jaden Daniels averaged 26 fantasy points per game in the 15 games in the regular season last year. And there's room for him to improve as a second-year passer."

Adam challenges the precedent by comparing Daniels to historical quarterbacks who have shown strong rookie performances but experienced regression in subsequent seasons.

Adam [13:03]: "He was throwing to Marvin Harrison and Trey McBride... It's a quarter that don't run the ball as much with the running backs."

Dave supports Heath's stance, emphasizing Daniels' potential despite common rookie regressions.

Dave [15:38]: "I don't have any big concerns about Jane Daniels and I do think that the top five guys are in a different category for me than everybody else."

Conversely, Jamey expresses caution, highlighting the possibility of Daniels facing tougher defenses and the natural regression seen in other young quarterbacks.

Jamey [15:38]: "I just want to get the third quarterback. That's really what it comes down to for me."

The discussion underscores the balance between Daniels' high upside and the reliability of established quarterbacks like Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen.

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2. Kyler Murray's Ranking and Analysis

Kyler Murray's position in the rankings sparks significant debate, with Heath placing him at QB17 despite his consistent top-12 finishes over five seasons. The panel dissects Murray's performance trends, particularly his diminished deep-ball prowess and the impact of his running ability on his fantasy value.

Heath [24:24]: "He's only a half point per game in the projection separates QB12 from QB17, Tyler Murray."

Jamey criticizes Murray's reduced deep-ball statistics, arguing that his offensive line and target efficiency have waned.

Jamey [28:14]: "He's an opening act. He doesn't have the big upside anymore."

Adam counters by highlighting Daniels' high usage rate, suggesting that Daniels could outscore other elite quarterbacks due to his dual-threat capabilities.

Adam [21:53]: "He throws more than those guys and he runs more than Allen and Jackson."

Despite the differing opinions, the consensus leans towards maintaining a cautious approach when ranking Murray, considering his age and recent performance metrics.

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3. Running Back Ranking: James Conner Debate

James Conner's placement receives mixed reviews, with Heath rating him as RB26, while Dave and Jamey position him much higher based on his consistent performance when healthy. The discussion explores Conner's durability, the impact of Arizona's improved offensive line, and the potential challenges posed by a new running back class.

Heath [29:37]: "He's going to be 30 years old week one, and I... don't think he's Derek Henry."

Dave [32:02]: "He's going to miss probably the three games that he's missed for the majority of his career... but when he's on the field, his points per game are going to be among the best."

Jamey supports the higher ranking, emphasizing Conner's proven track record and target volume.

Jamey [33:17]: "He averaged more than three targets per game last year. And he can score a bunch of touchdowns."

The panel acknowledges the uncertainties surrounding Conner's health but generally advocates for his higher ranking due to his production when active.

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4. Wide Receiver Rankings: Amon-Ross St. Brown, Jameson Williams, Mike Evans

The wide receiver rankings generate substantial discussion, particularly focusing on Amon-Ross St. Brown, Jameson Williams, and Mike Evans. Heath expresses skepticism about further improvement from the Lions' WRs, citing potential decreases in target volume and offensive efficiency due to coaching changes.

Heath [38:08]: "The Raiders should have stayed on this one when I talked about Genti. So the Raiders want to get tight end Michael Mayer more involved in the offense... I have to lower my rankings."

Dave and Jamey offer varying perspectives, with Dave highlighting St. Brown's consistency and Jameson Williams' upside, while Jamey underscores their reliability and potential for high-impact plays.

Dave [42:53]: "St. Brown is gonna go probably somewhere in that range almost consistently."

Jamey [42:53]: "He's safe. I think he's just super safe to have as a candidate for 18 PPR points per game."

Mike Evans' ranking divides the panel, with Dave placing him as WR17 and Heath positioning him lower due to age and competition for targets. Jamie bridges the gap, recognizing Evans' enduring production despite potential slowdowns.

Jamie [47:33]: "I still think he can be a factor. And I just think there are no other wide receivers that I think have more upside than Evans."

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5. Listener Emails and Interactive Segments

The hosts engage with listener emails, addressing unique inquiries and sharing personal anecdotes. A notable email from Paul in Sydney humorously references tuna fish, highlighting the show's approachable and personable nature.

Paul's Email [55:50]: "Is it salmon or salmon fish? Chicken or chicken? Bird."

Additionally, the team celebrates Jamie Eisenberg's Little League district championship, showcasing camaraderie and personal milestones beyond fantasy football.

Dave [52:39]: "We won the district championship and now we go on to sectionals."

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Conclusion

This episode of Fantasy Football Today offers a comprehensive examination of key ranking disputes, blending statistical analysis with expert opinions to navigate the complexities of fantasy football. Whether you're a seasoned manager or new to the game, the insights provided by Adam, Dave, Jamey, and Heath equip you with the knowledge to make strategic decisions and stay ahead in your league.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Heath [11:41]: "Jaden Daniels averaged 26 fantasy points per game in the 15 games in the regular season last year."

• Adam [13:03]: "He was throwing to Marvin Harrison and Trey McBride... It's a quarter that don't run the ball as much with the running backs."

• Jamey [15:38]: "I just want to get the third quarterback. That's really what it comes down to for me."

• Heath [24:24]: "He's only a half point per game in the projection separates QB12 from QB17, Tyler Murray."

• Jamey [28:14]: "He's an opening act. He doesn't have the big upside anymore."

• Heath [29:37]: "He's going to be 30 years old week one, and I... don't think he's Derek Henry."

• Dave [32:02]: "He's going to miss probably the three games that he's missed for the majority of his career... but when he's on the field, his points per game are going to be among the best."

• Jamie [33:17]: "He averaged more than three targets per game last year. And he can score a bunch of touchdowns."

• Heath [38:08]: "The Raiders should have stayed on this one when I talked about Genti. So the Raiders want to get tight end Michael Mayer more involved in the offense... I have to lower my rankings."

• Jamie [47:33]: "I still think he can be a factor. And I just think there are no other wide receivers that I think have more upside than Evans."

• Dave [42:53]: "St. Brown is gonna go probably somewhere in that range almost consistently."

• Jamey [42:53]: "He's safe. I think he's just super safe to have as a candidate for 18 PPR points per game."

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Stay tuned for future episodes of Fantasy Football Today, your go-to source for dominating your fantasy league!

Transcript

[Adam]

In case you haven't heard, it's officially in Abercrombie Summer. The A and M vacation shop has everything on your packing mood board. I desperately need their new one piece, the A and F Marina. It's strapless, so flattering and paired with denim shorts will be my go to beach outfit this summer. Finally. Your suitcase isn't complete without finding that dress. You know the one for the photo shoot. Abercrombie's boho dresses have that perfect beachy romantic look. Make it an Abercrombie summer shot. Their newest arrivals in store, online and in the app.

[Dave]

5Am I'm up with a crown crisp Celsius energy drink running 12 miles today. Grab a green juice, quick change and head to work. Meetings, workshops. One more Celsius. No slowing down. Working late but obviously still meeting the girls for a little dancing. Celsius live fit. Go grab a cold refreshing Celsius at your local retailer or locate [e-mail].

[Heath]

This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports.

[Jamie]

Wanna play?

[Adam]

Can you believe this?

[Dave]

No, I can't.

[Heath]

It's time to dominate fantasy league.

[Adam]

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

[Heath]

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

[Adam]

We welcome you to another week of fantasy football today. Welcome to the show. It is Monday, June 16th. We've got episodes on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday this week as we will celebrate Juneteenth on Thursday. Today it is rankings to smooths. Disputes, disputes, disputes. Should Jaden Daniels be QB1 in the rankings? Should Kyler Murray be a top 12 quarterback? He has finished. Kyler Murray has finished as a top 12 quarterback per game five straight seasons. Should James Conner be a low end RB2 mid range RB2? Aman Ross St. Brown ahead of guys like Malik Neighbors. We'll talk about him. He's anywhere from fourth through ninth in the wide receiver rankings. And what about Mike Evans and Jameson Williams? Okay, we'll get to those rankings disputes. How was everybody's Father's day? Raise your hand if you think you had the best Father's day of the four of us. No one had that special.

[Heath]

I'm pretty confident that you guys had great. I had a great Father's day. It was wonderful spending time with my family. I spent a lot of time at the pool but I just assume you guys had great father. Had some delicious seafood pasta last night, so really wonderful. Got a Larry Bird jersey.

[Adam]

Oh, okay. Yeah, you, I think. Sounds like you win.

[Heath]

Okay.

[Jamie]

Yeah. Heath wins.

[Dave]

I saw a lot I didn't even get a kiss. I saw a funny jokes that all the Boston fans that got Raphael Deborah's jerseys for their dad.

[Adam]

Yeah, I had a pretty delicious one. Have you ever had the milk and cookies Ben and Jerry's ice cream flavor?

[Dave]

I don't think so.

[Adam]

Oh, it's elite. Go get some some milk and cook. My favorite, I think the cookie.

[Heath]

I also had a pub sub for lunch. I know you missed those.

[Jamie]

It's good.

[Adam]

Public. Is that a public sub?

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Adam]

Oh, that's terrific. All right. Sorry, Dave, what'd you say?

[Jamie]

I was saying just the cookie. Two step from Blue Bell ice cream.

[Adam]

You sure?

[Jamie]

I. I think it will give Ben and Jerry's a run for its money. Corland Sutton would agree. He loves that flavor.

[Adam]

All right, all right. Let's do some news and notes here and then we will get into the show and maybe we'll introduce Dave to new Adam at some point.

[Dave]

Oh, there's Johnny. Already firing in.

[Adam]

New Adam likes grown up ice cream. Yes, I do. All right. Pete Carroll said, yeah, nothing more grown up than an ice cream called milk and cookies. Pete Carroll says he likes to use multiple running backs. Pete Carroll is a big fat liar. He does not like to use multiple running backs. Anybody afraid of Ashton Genti after Pete Carroll talking about using a bunch of running backs?

[Dave]

No, No. A part of that story though was interesting because it was who's the number two guy there? And I think that matters if you're concerned about Genti's work coming off of the, you know, a lot of touches that he had in college, that Raheem Mostert's 32, Sincere McCormick's coming off a strong run and Zamir White. These are the guys that are going to be the backups for Genti. Most likely it's going to be Moster, but interesting to see who wins that number two job if you are looking to handcuff a first round running back or a second.

[Heath]

I had a difficult decision in the Baked Burger dynasty league because our commissioner decided he wanted everybody to drop all their players 24 hours before waivers open so he can get a good lay of the land and who's available.

[Adam]

Everyone could.

[Heath]

And I had to decide whether to drop. Sincere McCormick is like my last guy that I might drop not for a rookie draft, but for waiver ads.

[Dave]

Yes. Old Adam had waivers running Monday night. New Adam changes it to Wednesday night.

[Adam]

Yeah, I thought so. Since we have guys in England, four of them, who are what, five hours ahead of us? Whatever. I just didn't think it would be fair for us to make a drop at 10pm when they're all asleep and not even know that they have the ability to pick up these players. And so I decided that we need to have our drops done a couple of days before waivers ran. I think that's actually even old Adam would have would have done that. I think that was actually a pretty reasonable decision. But speaking of not knowing who the number two running back is, let's talk about the New Orleans Saints as they have signed Cam Acres to a one year deal and now they have Devin Neal the rookie, they have Clyde Edwards Zilaire, they have Kendry Miller and now they have Cam Acres. So it's a I don't know Dave, you think there's a clear backup to Camara at this point?

[Jamie]

I'd put it on Acres. As of now they know what they have in Kendra Miller and maybe this is the brand new coaching staff realizing that the old coaching staff knew what they were talking about when it came to Miller and I think it adds competition. I think we all know what Clyde Edwards Elair is at this point and Acres is clearly still in decent enough shape to play ball. I would probably venture a guess that it's either going to be him or Devin Neal as the back behind Alvin Camara, but it's not really going to matter for fantasy unless Camara misses time. Duh.

[Adam]

Malik Neighbors is progressing as he's recovering from a toe injury and he's been dealing with this toe injury since college, so they're being very cautious with Neighbors. John Shipley of Sports Illustrated did a depth chart projection for the Jaguars and he had tried. He, you know, suspects Travis Etn will start the season as the starter, but he also thinks that four running backs will get some some run at some point. Denver wide receiver Devon Vale will be ready for training camp after missing minicamp. Zach Jackson of the Athletic called Cleveland wide receiver Cedric Tillman a locked in starter. He's dealing with an injury right now, but he called him a locked in starter Cedric Tillman. The Raiders should have stayed on this one when I talked about Genti. So the Raiders want to get tight end Michael Mayer more involved in the offense, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal. And Heath, obviously that doesn't mean that we should be drafting Michael Mayer is now going into his third year. But does it mean, you know, more target competition for Brock Bowers? Now they have Jack Bush and obviously Jacoby Myers and Genti.

[Heath]

No, I am not concerned about Brock Bowers or Ashton Genti. I wish they would trade Michael Mayer to somebody who needs a tight end that could score fantasy points. Because I think he could do that in the right opportunity. But the, the, the most annoying he might be is he happens to score a couple of touchdowns and steal them away from Bowers. Like Noah graded with Kelsey last year. But I. It's not going to be that big a split.

[Adam]

Okay, packers trade him.

[Dave]

Trade him.

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Heath]

Yes.

[Adam]

Packers running back Marshawn Lloyd says he's 100 healthy. And boy, what a injury riddled rookie season Marshawn Lloyd had. And Jalen Polk, you know this. We saw another report from espn, not the first one that he might not make the team. So second year rookie wide or second year receiver who was drafted early in the second round. And he also could start training camp on the PUP list. According to espn, that's Jalen Polk. And finally, Rams offensive tackle Alaric Jackson is dealing with blood clots. So hoping for the best for him. That could be something that jeopardizes his season. It's not the first time that Alaric Jackson has dealt with blood clots. So this is something, you know, we're gonna hope for the best for him.

[Jamie]

They signed D.J. humphreys last week, so my guess is that Jackson is probably not going to make it for the majority of the season.

[Adam]

Is this is the point where Jamie goes, did you get this note? And that note? And I go, no, I didn't see that. Is there anything. What did I miss this time?

[Dave]

I don't think anything that stood out.

[Adam]

All right, nice.

[Dave]

I'm sure something will come to me, though.

[Adam]

Well, minicamps are over, so we don't have those reports of like, oh, this guy did well, or this guy did that.

[Dave]

So Travis Kelsey lost a bunch of weight.

[Adam]

That's right. He did. He lost 130 pounds or something. How much weight did he lose? 20, 50 pounds, 25 pounds, I think.

[Dave]

In the 20s would be my guess.

[Heath]

25 pounds, 130 pounds.

[Jamie]

He broke up with Taylor.

[Dave]

I thought that's where you're going when you started that.

[Adam]

Oh, no. I was even thinking that they were at the Panthers game the other.

[Dave]

Now he's a Panthers fan.

[Adam]

Yeah, we're all Panthers fans on this show. Let's bring it home tomorrow. Let's keep it home tomorrow. All right. What kind of wonderful written content do we have coming up on the website or out now that you'd like to talk about Jamie?

[Dave]

So I did this whole story that Dan broke up into divisions of older veterans. That will matter at some point, I think I referenced this last week that I was writing this. And so it's the, the Zach Ertz, John who Smith, the guys from last year, Adam Thielen, you know, players that we don't draft or don't have any interest in drafting that at some point will be relevant. So like the example I think I brought up on the show last week, Alan Lazard, before Devonte Adams joined the roster was somebody that was producing at a very high level. And so can someone like that who, you know, older still has a, a potential role. Can they help your fantasy team? So it's, it was a little struggle finding a guy for every team, I'll be honest. Like, for example, the Broncos don't have a lot of veteran guys that aren't going to get drafted, right? The, the two who are, you know, qualified as veterans are Cortland Sutton and Evan Ingram. Everybody's drafting them. This is really like guys that aren't getting drafted. So I, I cheated with that team and I just used Marvin Mims because he's the oldest of the youngest receivers. So that was like one where I had to stretch it. But it, it was fun, you know, kind of going through it and seeing, you know, like Robert woods can actually still be a starting receiver for the Steelers. I don't know if I'd use the word fun for that, I guess, but interesting that, you know, he can still be a starting receiver for the, for the Steelers, you know, so players like that and, and again, you know, a few of them I stretch like the Vikings. I think I did Nick Mullins, I'm sorry, Sam Howell. Because if something happens to McCarthy, like Sam Howell will be very popular off the waiver wire. So it's stuff like that. But it was fun. Fun to ride it, fun to research it and hopefully enjoy reading it.

[Adam]

All right, good stuff. Let's get into the rankings disputes. I have six of them. Then your emails if we have time at fantasy football. CBSI.com Heath has Jaden Daniels as QB 1 in 6 point per passing touchdown leagues. I, I only, you know, the rankings are for six point per passing touchdown leagues. If you see them, I just want to highlight that because maybe people would say, oh, maybe in four point, but you have them as QB1. And in six point for passing touchdown leagues, Dave and Jamie have him as QB3. So it's a bold move. Cotton. Go for it.

[Heath]

Yeah, there might be a few of Heath has on this show today.

[Adam]

We just called the show Heath has. That should be.

[Heath]

This is the, this is the one. I like the most because I get to just talk good about somebody. No. Jaden Daniels averaged 26 fantasy points per game in the 15 games in the regular season last year. He played at least 50% of the snaps. He averaged 26.8 fantasy points per game in three playoff games as a rookie. They added Debo Samuel. I think there's room for him to improve as a second year passer and really the only one, the only guy who was significantly better than 26 fantasy points per game last year was Lamar Jackson. And we've talked about it like Lamar is awesome. I don't think he's going to fall off or be bad or anything like that. But there's clear and obvious touchdown regression. We've seen the touchdown rates spike like they did last year. Five years ago with Lamar. His touchdown rate's been anywhere from 3% passing to 9% passing. It's all over the board. Last year was a high. It's coming back down. So I don't have anybody projected to score 30 points like he did last year. Daniels, Lamar, Allen and Burrow's not far behind him in terms of the projections are all right right there around 25 to 26 fantasy points per game. I've got Daniels at the top.

[Adam]

Do you know the last quarterback who averaged 26 fantasy points per game, six point per passing, touchdown leagues as a rookie?

[Heath]

Cam Newton.

[Adam]

Cam Newton was at like 25.3. That's a great guess. And he never really came close to that until I think five years later, Justin Herbert, who followed it up with a very good second season. Daniels. Daniels, Yeah. I mean it's funny he only averaged 23.5 points per game but as Heath mentioned, he left two games early. So I did use that 26 points per game mark just to see if there was any precedent. Justin Herbert, he, he was QB8 as a rookie and then he was QB3 per game. He had a 5,000yard season with 38 touchdown passes the following year. So pretty damn good follow up act. Dave and Jamie, obviously you guys hate Jayden Daniels with him as QB3. Dave, what?

[Jamie]

Which is more likely to happen. This is the thought exercise that I went through. Jaden Daniels starts and continues to play as hot as he finished last year. Or Lamar Jackson builds on the career highs he had in attempts, completions, yards, touchdowns, yards per attempt, a dot sack rate. This was Lamar's first year with Derrick Henry and defense has played him a little bit differently and he added DeAndre Hopkins for whatever that's worth. And he just continues to shine. I, I think you could make the case for Daniels over Lamar. Just thinking that, yeah, Daniels is going to keep doing what he's doing. He said it. They added Debo Samuel. There could be new wrinkles in the offense. The offensive line should be a little bit better. All that stuff matters. I, I guess I'm just a little bit nervous about Daniels fading a little bit in his second season. We just saw that from C.J. stroud. Teams are going to have all kinds of, of film and theories on how to slow him down and it just, it makes me want to trust Lamar just a little bit more rather than trust Jaden Daniels. And Josh Allen to me has just been consistent over 26 fantasy points per game and six point each of the last four years. I'd rather have Allen and just take the, the points that I know will be there. And if it's an upside case between Lamar and Daniels, as of now, I'll take Lamar, but it's really close between him and Jane Dallas. I just want to get the third quarterback. That's really what it comes down to for me. So whether it's Lamar, whether it's Alan, whether it's JD1 of those three, if I can get them in round four, maybe late round three, third overall in a 2QB league, that's what I'm targeting.

[Adam]

Okay, sorry, got to take a break then I'm going to get Jamie's thoughts on this. So let's take a quick commercial break here and when we come back, Jamie will tell us his thoughts on Heath ranking jaden Daniels as QB1. We'll be right back on Tyreek Hill.

[Dave]

After zoomies at the dog park. It's time for Drive up at Target. In goes a big bag of kibble.

[Jamie]

And one squeaky chicken toy for the good boy.

[Adam]

Drive up.

[Dave]

That's ready when you are. Only in the Target app, just tap Target.

[Adam]

This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Knowing you could be saving money for the things you really want is a great feeling. Talk to a State Farm agent today.

[Dave]

To learn how you can choose to bundle and save with a personal price plan.

[Adam]

Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state. All right. Welcome back, Jamie. Tyreek. No, sorry, I already, already got it in once. That's. That's enough for today's show. Yeah. So Daniels, you know, why not put him as QB1 easily could be QB1.

[Dave]

I think both guys made great points. I, I, Dave's gonna get Jane Daniels in round four in our drafts. He's, his ADP is never going to get to round four in right what I would guess would be most drafts once we get to August. The, the, the thing that's a little concerning to me, Dave sort of brought this up is that we've seen these great rookie seasons before and then there's been mostly regression. You mentioned Justin Herbert was great in his second season. You think about Baker Mayfield and how he performed as a rookie and then took a step back in the second year. C.J. stroud, what he did in his rookie season, took a step back in the second year. And if it's not necessarily just rookies, it's, you know, first time starters like Jordan Love, the end of 2023 was great. 2024 took a step back and so I don't obviously have any big concerns about Jane Daniels and I do think that the top five guys are in a different category for me than everybody else. But there's tiers of those guys. Like I think the first three guys are in one tier of Jackson, Allen and Daniels and that's why I haven't ranked. And then Burrow and Hertz are just sort of a slight step behind. You know, however we have those guys ranked. For me it's, it's Burrow over Hertz. But I, I, I think Daniels is going to continue to improve. You know, I think he has the right mindset, the right mentality. You know, from everything that I've seen about him from the, you know, guys I know who cover that team and, and say about him. Coaching staff is still the same. They added a piece in terms of the, you know, offense in Debo Samuel. However you think about him in terms of his shape, the, the, the only real concern right now, to be honest, is a lengthy Terry McLaurin holdout because I think that will scare some people knowing that if he doesn't have his number one receiver potentially in camp, potentially maybe until the start of the season. We know how holdouts have sort of ruined years for those particular players, but would be a little bit of a potential damage for Jane Daniels. But again, I think he's in that upper tier right now of the top three quarterbacks and if you want to take him ahead of the other two guys, I really will not have a strong argument against it and I'll just.

[Heath]

I think that's a good point also to make is I, I don't think in one of our drafts this Year I've drafted Jaden Daniels first at quarterback. Unless you are just on one of the ends and not picking again for 20 picks. I found that generally I can just wait until Allen and Jackson get taken and Daniels is there for my next pick.

[Adam]

And I would also point out like Joe Burrow in a six point per passing touchdown like you know what, I think this is actually a good topic for another show. Is. Is it really not just a five person tier, especially in a six point per passing touchdown league Because Joe Burrow like, like in, in 2022 he played nine games with a healthy Chase and Higgins and I'll just give his passing stats on pace for 4,945 yards, 42 touchdowns, 2023 starts the season hurt last five games on pace for 5,000 yards, 41 touchdowns last year, 4,900 yards, 43 touchdowns. So he's done it, you know, in stretches for three straight years. I don't know that it's completely fluky what he did last year and what did he. Last year Burrow was a QB2 per game right. In in six point for passing touchdown leagues. I met three, three I two tenths.

[Jamie]

Of a point behind Josh Allen.

[Dave]

Allen.

[Adam]

Okay. Yeah. Because you got to take out week 18 for Josh Allen. So it's very close between those two. Yeah. Anyway, that's a topic for another show. But, but he. Here's one thing I love about about Jaden Daniels compared to the other three mobile elite quarterbacks. Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts. Based on last year and based on what we saw from Kyler Murray with Cliff Kingsbury, he throws more than those guys and he runs more than Allen and Jackson. Like, like this is a quarter they don't run the ball that much with the running backs. So I don't know if there's like a usage rate stat in football, but Jaden Daniels usage rate, pass attempts and rush attempts is going to be I would project higher than the other guys. And with Kyler Murray, Kyler Murray used to throw the ball 34 or more times per game. With Cliff Kingsbury, we actually saw that from Daniels in the last half of the season when he finished on just a ridiculous tear scoring like over 26 points per game almost every single week. So dude, I love that it was.

[Jamie]

30.4 in his final six games. That includes a week 18 dud from Jane Daniels.

[Adam]

He didn't play that much in week 18. It was right.

[Jamie]

So if you throw that out, it's 35.6. That's. That's a Legitimate ceiling. I don't know if it's a legitimate.

[Heath]

Ceiling, but 30 is for sure.

[Jamie]

34 sure is the ceiling. And I don't know if we can say that about Josh Allen. Lamar averaged 30.1 last year in a year where he had a bazillion career highs like I outlined. So yeah, we could say he could also have the lowest floor of the three just because the concerns that we've got for him burrow, by the way, in his last nine games, 31.2 fantasy points per game and 6.5.

[Adam]

I'll raise you this though, it's going.

[Jamie]

To be in Burrows favor, I think like every single week because that defense sucks in Cincinnati.

[Adam]

Okay. Last eight games for Jaden Daniels, including three playoff games, he averaged 32.5 fantasy points per game and six point per passing touchdown. These. It's insane and we've never, I don't think we've ever seen anything like that for a full season, be my guess. And he was throwing the ball a lot. I don't know if I have his pass attempts. And it was I think 33 ish pass attempts per game in that stretch. All right, let's go to Kyler Murray and Jamie, I'll let you start on Kyler here. You have him as the hot. You're the high guy on Kyler you have him as QB12. Remember I said at the top of the show, Kyler's been top 12 per game. Last year he was 12th per game. Exactly the year before that, 11th per game. Coming off a torn ACL. Five straight seasons as a top 12 quarterback per game. So Jamie Evem 12th, Dave 15th, Heath 17th on Kyler. Go ahead, Jamie.

[Dave]

He's part of that blob of quarterbacks for me that include Purdy and Lawrence and May and Golf. Trying to think there's anybody else in there that I'm missing that, you know, I think all could be top 10ish quarterbacks. It's interesting that Sportsline is so aggressive, projecting him to be number seven. If you're looking at the graphic on YouTube, I, I think you just kind of know what you're getting at this point and I'm hoping that a better Marvin Harrison and a couple more touchdowns for Trey McBride can push, you know, Kyler Murray back to where we were hoping he was going to be last year. Coming off the ACL tear, you know what you're going to get from him as a rusher. For the most part, he's going to give you that floor, which is hard to overlook. And if he can get back to, you know, being I think what he was as a passer, at least what I hope he can be as a pastor a little bit more consistently with some improvements mostly from Harrison, then I still like him as a low end starter. But again, you know, if it, if, if somebody takes him and I, I have to, let's say, settle for any of these other guys, I'm, I'm certainly not opposed to it. So I think initially when I did my rankings, he may have been, you know, 10th or so. I struggle really with him and Caleb Williams of buying into the hype for Caleb Williams versus the consistency of Kyler again, as you alluded to, you know, being a top 12 quarterback almost every year of his career. But I, I still think there's, there's upside because of his legs and, and that's really the biggest thing is like if he continues to be a successful running quarterback to wherever you want to put him in, in his career as a rusher. But we know the profile is there for him to be a 700 yard rusher and that's hard to overlook if he can get back to that level.

[Adam]

Heath Kyler Murray had the most rushing yards for a quarterback that did not average 20 fantasy points per game and six point per passing touchdown league since the great Daniel Jones in 2022.

[Dave]

And he was about 19.9 that year.

[Adam]

And Kyler was 19.8 last year. So it was very close. But 572 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns and he still didn't manage to score 20 fantasy points per game. You have him as QB17. I'm just gonna, I know you well enough.

[Heath]

Okay.

[Adam]

He's pretty close in the projections to whoever's QB12, right?

[Heath]

Oh, that's a. That was exactly my first line of defense. A half point points per game in the projection separates QB12 from QB17, Tyler Murray.

[Adam]

Wow.

[Heath]

He's only a full point per game away from QB10. So I don't have a strong take on where to put him in that group. I think the thing I struggle with the most is because of what he can do as a rusher and because we think Marvin Harrison could be really good and Trey McBride's one of the two best tight ends in football. Two best young tight ends in football. Sorry, George Kittle.

[Dave]

Now that Kelsey lost 130 pounds, he.

[Heath]

Seems, he seems to be like a high upside guy. But it's been so long since we've seen anything resembling high upside from Kyler Murray and he hasn't been an above average passer since 2021. So I, I didn't love their offensive plan last year and I haven't seen anything says that they're going to do a whole lot different. Like I think what Jamie said, if Marvin Harrison's better is kind of the key, but I almost look at it less as if Marvin Harrison's better and if they give him an opportunity to do other things, it's.

[Adam]

I'm glad you mentioned that. It's been a while since we've seen that elite upside because I keep saying in top 12 per game, five straight seasons, while the last three seasons have been 11th or 12th and the two before that when he and DeAndre Hopkins are really clicking, QB 7 per game, QB 6 per game. And then if you even break down those great years where he's top seven, he had mid season injuries I think in, in at least one or maybe DeAndre Hopkins got hurt in one, the other one. And he was close to QB1 at one point. You know, he was unbelievable, you know, throwing the ball a ton, running the ball a ton. Dave, I'm going to give you one stat here. I'm gonna give you two stats. I want to hear what you think about it for Kyler. First of all, he scored about 36 points in Week 18 against the 49ers who did play, I think their typical defensive lineup. But maybe not for, you know, like Joey, like Nick Bosa, he played like 40 of the snaps. That's number one. So huge. Week 18 he would have been QB 15 per game and 6 point per touchdown, league per pass. That's not league before that. And the other one is, I'm not going to go through all the numbers but just to say in the last three years when Kyler's been QB 11 or 12 per game, he's basically gotten nothing on deep balls in his first three years. At least 970 yards and six to seven touchdowns per year on deep balls. 20 or more air yards last year, 553 yards and four touchdowns. So that's just, that's been an element of his game that has disappeared over the last three seasons.

[Jamie]

And how do you expect that to get better when Marvin Harrison's gaining weight and they don't have a legitimate speedster that can contribute to that specific category once or twice a game or maybe even once or twice every two games. Yeah, so I, I think we know what we're getting with Kyler right now. In the last three seasons it's 20, 20.8 and 20.8 fantasy points per game in six point. It's not exciting. It's. I, I don't know. It's like seeing an average comedian. Yeah, you'll laugh a little bit, but it's, it's, it's not one of the stars and it's not even one of the hot young comedians that's making their way up in the world. I don't know why I chose comedian.

[Adam]

He's an opening act.

[Jamie]

He, he, he is, he's not even an opening act. He's, he's the act you settle for when the other acts are sold out.

[Adam]

So he doesn't have the big upside anymore.

[Jamie]

Why would I even consider him? Right. He's throwing to Marvin Harrison and Trey McBride. Why would I consider him when Trevor Lawrence is throwing to Brian Thomas Jr. And Travis Hunter? Why would I consider him when Caleb Williams is throwing to DJ Moore, Roma Dunze and Colson Loveland and whoever else they have and they can't run the ball potentially? Why would I consider him when Jared Goff has Sun God And JMO and LaPorta? There's just, you can make an easier upside argument for like six or seven other quarterbacks that aren't going top five.

[Adam]

Now. How many of them, Caleb is the only one that's rushing for 570 yards.

[Jamie]

Yeah, the other ones are throwing for more yards and touchdowns.

[Dave]

They might run for more than that.

[Adam]

Oh yeah, no, I was just saying the guys that Dave mentioned.

[Heath]

Yeah, well, and like we hope the other guys, I think that's, that's where I struggle. I've got Williams and Lawrence ahead of Kyler as well. But I could argue against myself and say, well, they've never shown they're as good as him.

[Adam]

Well, Heath, I think instead of that, why don't you argue against another Cardinal and that's James Connor because Dave and Jamie have him as RB18 in PPR. You have James Connor as RB26.

[Heath]

And the first thing I think this comes down to is James Connor's going to be 30 years old week one and we had a potentially historically great running back class, just get drafted into the NFL, at least a very good running back class. And how many of those rookies do you want to take over the 30 year old Connor and I. I did a Twitter poll on this in preparation for this. Adam. Okay, just asking, how many rookie running backs would you take before James Connor in redraft? 20 said 1, 58 said 2 to 4, 13 said 5 or more. I, I've got him just behind three or four of the second tier rookies. And Dave and Jamie have him just ahead of those guys. I think he's going to be better than RB26 when he's healthy, probably. But he is 30 years old or will be soon and coming off of a career high in both games played and touches. And I know we just saw the old running backs prove me wrong all year last year, but I'm, I'm not willing to make that bet on Connor. I don't think he's Derek Henry.

[Adam]

Jamie, make the case for Connor. You have him as RB18, so does Dave. And again, Heath has Connor as RB26. And sportsline YouTube.com fantasy football today, if you're looking at this graphic, Sportsline has James Connor's RB14. And he does that every year when he's healthy. Four straight years. When he's healthy, he's, you know, at least RB14. So go ahead, Jamie.

[Dave]

Yeah, I love defending the older players. I, I think in, in the case what Heath was talking about with the rookies, like they all keep getting some sort of, or, you know, have some sort of significant competition. And that's my biggest concern with those guys versus Connor. So Genti's easy and then it's sort of like the sliding scale of, you know, Henderson and what his upside could be, Hampton and what his upside could be. Obviously now we have the situation in Denver with Dobbins there to, you know, potentially ruin Harvey and, you know, Judkins and Caleb Johnson and the guys that they were, you know, drafted either with or, or to compete against, you know, Connor doesn't have that. And so it's not really like I keep moving him up. It's like just keep moving these other players back. And so I could see a situation where I move him even behind, let's say, DeAndre Swift. I'm sure he probably has it already.

[Heath]

Yep.

[Dave]

And then depending on how some of these camp battles, you know, shake out and the, the word we hear out of, you know, New England and Denver and Cleveland and Pittsburgh, for example, and the Chargers, you know, like, I could easily see myself moving the rookies back ahead of Conor, but I think you kind of know what you're getting. And for me, it's more, not necessarily the season long because I do think he's going to miss probably the three games that he's missed for the majority of his career, certainly the majority of his Cardinals tenure prior to last year. So you just kind of have to understand, like, can you get 13 great games out of him? Can you get 12 great games out of him. And if you get that, I think he'll end up being in this range and he'll probably, he'll certainly be better on a point per game basis. Like you said, Adam, you know, he's, you know, 14 at worst during the majority of his career. It's a matter of, you know, which pocket of games does he miss, which pocket of games does he potentially hurt your fantasy team. But when he's on the field, his points per game are going to be among the best, I think, at the position.

[Adam]

And yeah, you mentioned he'll miss some games. He played 16 games last year, but two of them he left with fewer than 30 of the snaps. So for all intents and purposes, he had 14 healthy games. In those 14 healthy games, he was good enough to be RB10 per game. Overall, he finishes RB15 per game. All right, Dave, your thoughts on James Connor. You also have him at RB18 four.

[Jamie]

Straight years of at least 11 non PPR points per game, 13 half PPR points per game, 15 plus PPR points per game, all with Arizona. I think he may not be Derrick Henry. No one is. But as far as physical running backs who can catch the ball a little bit, he averaged more than three targets per game last year. And he can score a bunch of touchdowns. He's good. And the offense, I don't know if the offense is going to be great and they're going to score a bazillion points, but they'll be all right and Connor will be a reason for it. You can handcuff him, Trey Benson, if you want to. It'll cost you a late round pick. Not like some of these other running backs that are out there. And I, I kind of follow along with what Jamie was saying. There are other rookies that might have pockets of great games and they might be in that same range as James Connor. I just think Connor is safer. The only, the biggest argument against Conor that I've heard is the Grandma Gilmore argument. And I don't think that's good enough for somebody who's been as consistent as Connor's been.

[Adam]

Grandma, took me a second there. He's too old. He's, you know, by the way, just last note here, positive for him. Arizona finally had a good run blocking offense. They've been horrible. And he's been on one of the worst run blocking offenses for most of his career. I mean, in, let's see, 23, 22 and 20, he had four straight years where James Conner was on a team that ranked 26th or lower in run blocking last year. PFF had them 14th, ESPN had them 11th and run block win rate. So finally, maybe a good offensive line in front of him. And he averaged.

[Dave]

And if you look at the graphic on the screen with our rankings, like when you start to, you know, compare them to some of these other guys, at least this is where I come. Like they gave him a contract extension at the end of last year and they didn't do anything to upgrade their backfield this off season. Like that to me is a little telling of that. They're still very confident in him. And so it's not like, you know, oh, Joe Mix is coming off a stronger. He's 29. Well, they just brought in somebody else and drafted another player, you know, so like there's a little bit of a concern. Not, not that I would take Connor over. Well, I guess I would take Conor Mix at this point. You know, Camara's same age and, and they bring in, you know, again, more competition, another draft pick, another, you know, veteran that comes in. And this is the sliding scale. Not to go through all these guys, but like, at least the Cardinals are sort of telling you like either they really love Trey Benson or they're really confident in James Connor.

[Jamie]

Okay, I think it could be both of those things. One other thing that I wanted to bring up is I think Arizona's defense is going to be significantly better than it was last year. So for those people that care about those types of things and game script and how that might impact the workload for a running back. There could be more of those closer games that would favor Conor getting more work in a four minute drill, not playing from behind. Maybe that hurts his target volume, but it still keeps him on the field and keeps him a big part of Arizona's offense because Arizona's defense should be the best it's been under Jonathan Gannon.

[Adam]

We will be right back to talk about the Lions wide receivers. Guess who's lower on them than the other two guys on this edition of Heath has. We'll be right back.

[Dave]

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[Adam]

Go to your happy price.

[Jamie]

Priceline.

[Heath]

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[Adam]

Wall supplies last selection varies by location. Let's combine a couple of players here. I was going to do Amon Ross, St. Brown and Jameson Williams separately, but I think if we just look at Heath, you have St. Brown as wide receiver 9 and Jameson Williams is wide receiver 39. Now this is full PPR and comparatively Dave has St. Brown as wide receiver 4, Jamie has him 6, Heath has him 9th, Dave has Jameson as wide receiver 26, Jamie 28th and Heath 39th. So just not enough footballs to go around.

[Heath]

I struggle and I think I've already made an adjustment since maybe the last time you looked at this to Jameson Williams because Dan Campbell keeps talking so good about him. But the problem that I see and I think that you could have old Adam even might have just said the Lions for this entire show because I'm also the low guy on Jameer Gibbs and I'm the low guy on Sand Laporta. But this is the team, it's obviously scored more points and produced more yards than any team in football the last two seasons and then they lost Ben Johnson and they lost their great center and I don't think they're going to be as good offensively. The problem is with the Jameson Williams increase in targets or hopefully. I think both Dave and Jamie are expecting a bounce back in targets for Sam Laporta from last year. They have a Levitt 11 vacated targets from last year. They have six vacated rush attempts. They brought the entire band back and I expect the offense to be worse. So I have kind of just have to be lower on most of these guys. They've also run the second most plays the last two years and now they've got a first time play caller at least in the NFL. So I think we probably see some decrease in their volume, some decrease in their scoring, some decrease in their efficiency. Saint Brown Brown is a pretty obvious touchdown regression candidate. He had 23 fewer targets last year and one more game but scored two more touchdowns. If you give him his 2023 touchdown rate, he's wide receiver nine last year. If you give him his 2022 touchdown rate he's wide receiver 15 last year and he also had an 82% catch rate which is insane, just completely insane for a wide receiver if you he loses at least 10 catches if he has a 75 catch rate which is I think the best catch rate ever for a wide receiver.

[Adam]

Target per out run rate went down from 30% in 2022. 28.5 in 2023, 25.7 in 2024 and you know, I think I kind of made this case with Justin Jefferson too. Amanra St. Brown was on pace for not on pace. He played 17 games, 142 targets. What did Justin Jefferson have? Something like that, right? Had 153 targets. These are guys that in the past we've seen them average 10 targets per game. So the competition, the target composition kind of matters a little bit on a, on a lower level. It's not like they're busts. But no right when you're comparing them to other round one picks. Something to keep in mind however Dave, you don't have that concern with Aman Ross St. Brown. You have him as wide receiver four and you're the high guy just slightly on Jameson Williams at wide receiver 26.

[Jamie]

I do think Heath made some good points on St. Brown and you could certainly argue him to be like wide receiver 7 putting him behind guys like neighbors and Nakua and Nico. Other players, maybe they have an end somewhere in their name like those three. Look, he lost two targets per game last year and still averaged almost 19 PPR points per game a year after he averaged just over 20 PPR points per game. Johnny Morton, I think he's called plays before. The dumbest thing he could do is remove opportunities from a Monroe St. Brown who's good everywhere on the field has a high catch rate because his adot isn't crazy like Jameson Williams is. And I just, I think he's safe. I think he's just super safe to have as a, as a candidate for 18 PPR points per game. Not necessarily sexier than that. I don't know if he can get back up into that 20 point range but I don't know how many of these wide receivers can get into that 20 point range. I also think that Jameson Williams can can win on efficiency. And you can talk about what Dan Campbell and other coaches say about Jameson Williams all off season long. I care much more about the film on Jameson Williams from last year and how he grew as a player. I'm hoping he takes another step there. And he averaged just over six targets per game last year. I don't think he can build on that. I think there's a better chance of Laporta getting more targets per game than Jamo. But JMO can break you with one big play and I like that, especially in the Lions offense that has shown that willing to do that. And I think Morton's going to call plays like that. And it's not all like 40 yard, 40 air yard throws to Jamo. He was taking slants to the house. He's an after catch guy too. So is St. Brown. St. Brown's just more of a complete wide receiver who's going to see a ton of targets, still going to get a lot of touchdowns, easy to take as a top five wide receiver.

[Dave]

And Jamie, I think Saint Brown is, you know, kind of just tried and true, you know. So whether you're expecting, you know, one of the shiny new toys of Malik Neighbors or Brian Thomas to be better, maybe throw Nico Collins in there just because he hasn't done it consistently like these other guys or even Puka, I guess based on age, you know, to say 18 points per game, 17 and a half. You know, I, I'd be very surprised if he's lower than that and still gives you first round value. So you know, I, I think fourth through ninth, he's gonna go probably somewhere in that range almost consistently depending on how much you just want a safe first round pick versus, let's say more of a boomer bust first round pick. If you have a little bit of concern over those other guys. Jameson's really the more fascinating conversation because he could be a top 20 receiver. I mean, you know, if his targets go up and he's, you know, remains as efficient as Dave's, you know, alluding to and the big plays are still there. Like he's such a game wrecker there, there's, there's so much to love about his upside but, but again, you know, start to stack him up to the guys. If you're looking at the graphic, look at whatever ADP you're checking, projections you're checking, you know, Jameson versus Godwin, coming off the injury and more target competition. Travis Hunter is such a wild card, you know, may end up spending more time on defense than we anticipate. Devonte Smith was, you know, not awful last year, but struggled last year when everybody was healthy. Zay Flowers, how many targets are you gonna get? Calvin Ridley, new quarterback. You know, like this is kind of like this Again, this blob of wide receivers, I would take all the guys that we have ranked ahead of Jameson consensus wise, Mike Evans, Marvin Harrison, DK Metcalf, Jerry Judy, Xavier Worthy, Garrett Wilson for sure over Jameson Williams. But once you start to get those other guys, there's, there's a lot of if this, if that, maybe this, maybe that. And so for me, like, I'm banking on upside to have him as, you know, the 28th wide receiver. So he's, he's a high end wide receiver. 3. I don't want to get too excited about it, but again, he can be one of these guys that if the targets do increase to whatever level and whatever it does to Laporta or, or potentially St. Brown, what they're saying I don't think is, is something that can't come to fruition because of what he did in college, pre ACL tear, what his draft pedigree was and the flashes that he started to show. If he puts it all together, he could be a monster.

[Heath]

And I will say, like, if you want to disagree with me on the downgrading the Lions offense because of the changes, then the, the answer that's much easier to profit on right now is just draft Jared Goff. Because that's kind of the one thing we all agree on is Jared Goff's not going to be as good as last year in terms of fantasy production and he's not being Dr. He's the only one of these guys that's not being ranked or drafted to be as good or better than they were last year. So if, if St. Brown maintains what he's done and JMO and Sam LaPorta are better than what they've been and you should be drafting a lot of Jared Goff.

[Dave]

Well, I, I think also to that point though, like, there's going to be one of the three that struggle. It's just, you know, nature of the beast, you know, so not, not factoring golf, like Jameson could increase his catches and yards and his touchdowns go down. You know, St. Brown can still be productive and his touchdowns go down. You know, like you could see anyway, this sort of, you know, sort of falters for these guys as it did for the Porter last year. You know, he was the one that, that suffered a little bit because Jameson potentially was better.

[Adam]

All right, guys, I'm gonna cut it off there. We'll save Mike Evans that debate for a different time. I want to read some emails at fantasy [e-mail] you worried about the time.

[Dave]

Of the show I really, I really.

[Heath]

Wanted Jamie to make Jamie argue for the old guy again.

[Adam]

Oh, my God. I just thought it was Aman Ross. St. Brown had two games last year with 13 or fewer yards. Isn't that insane? I mean, that's just. That's just weird.

[Heath]

How many did James Williams have?

[Adam]

Oh, I'm gonna guess zero. Let's see. That's a good question. Jameson Williams, 13 or fewer receiving yards. Jameson Williams. Show me. Oh, he had nine. He had negative four. He had two. He also had two. He must have gotten hurt in the Minnesota game though, with one target. And then you have to do Mike Evans. Why?

[Dave]

He's a thumbnail.

[Adam]

Oh, crap. All right. Mike Evans, of course. I was dying to do this. Mike Evans, 1. Dave, you have him as wide receiver.

[Dave]

What you should do moving forward is whenever Adam sends the notes, makes the last point person the thumbnail.

[Adam]

He's pretty much does that. Like, he's, he's pretty good at that. Mike Evans, wide receiver 17 for Dave, 21 for Jamie, 26 for Heath. Dave, go Mike Evans. You're the high guy at wide receiver 17.

[Jamie]

I have a hard time finding wide receivers that I think can outscore Evans if I assume Evans averages a James Connor esque 15 PPR points per game. So the, the names that I struggle with are DJ Moore, Xavier Worthy, MHJ McLaurin, Corland, Sutton. Like, these are all good wide receivers. They're all wide receiver twos. I just, I. This is almost the same argument as Connor. There's a solid track record there for Evans. He's gonna get targets from Baker Mayfield. He's still going to be probably the top target getter in Tampa. He's just gonna see all the targets get spread a little bit thin. But he gets plenty of touchdowns to help out there. I, I think he's slowing down. There's no doubt about that. But I still think he can be a factor. And I just, I, I can't find other receivers that I think have more upside than Evans. And they all have the same kind of downside. What's Evan's downside? It's probably around 13 PPR points per game. So does all the other receivers that I named. That's their downside, if not worse than that. So he's a settle for wide receiver too, in the middle of that range. Barely a top 20 wide receiver for me, but someone that I'm very comfortable taking as a wide receiver too.

[Adam]

Heath, you get the opposite end of the spectrum here. You're the low guy on him.

[Heath]

He will be 32 years old. Week one, he was wide receiver 23 in six games with Godwin last year, the team drafted a mecca Abuka and spent all of OTAs talking about how awesome he is. I, I think he's gonna, he's gonna be a touchdown dependent guy that has a couple of yardage spike weeks. And if Godwin is not ready for the start of the season, I will certainly move him up. But right now I'm just kind of hedging on Godwin's health because if Godwin's like, if, if a book is really this good and Godwin's Healthy Week 1, I might still be too high on Evans and full pbr.

[Adam]

All right, Jamie, you're, you're kind of close to where Dave is. So again, on Mike Evans, Dave has him as wide receiver seven day. You're right in the middle, wide receiver 17 for Dave, 26 for Heath. And then the porridge might be just right at wide receiver 21 for Jamie.

[Dave]

It was 14.3 PPR points while he was averaging the first seven games because they both got injured in week seven. And then he had the, the big finish once he came back and there was no Chris Godwin. I think it's going to be an interesting situation. This could be a trade for, trade away Mike Evans situation. If he gets off to a slow start, you might want to trade for him at the end of the year because we see, we've seen what happened in the final year with Tom Brady. We saw what happened last year, like when they know he's close to a thousand yards, they're going to give him the opportunity to go get that, you know, keep that record going. So could be a strong finish for him. But I'm just concerned, you know, Heath laid it out 32 years old, competition for targets is as tough as he's ever had. And he's talking about it, you know, he said this is the best wide receiver room he's ever been a part of. Which makes a ton of sense after the way Jalen McMillan finished last year and what Abuka's draft, you know, capital is and obviously Godwin coming back and they paid Godwin, you know, So I don't know if it's just more of a look to the future of, okay, this might be the end of Mike Evans amazing Hall of Fame run and they, you know, are planning for a Booka McMillan and whatever left, whatever's left of Godwin to be there, you know, core of the receiving core. He still should be their best receiver. I mean, based on his pedigree and as Dave said, he's been awesome there. There have been some seasons in there though where it's been a thousand and six touchdowns and I think that's sort of realistic for what you should be expecting. Maybe a thousand and eight, you know, so still a top 20 caliber wide receiver. But I would just bank on some of the younger players hopefully hitting some of their upside more so that Evans continuing to do this in such a crowded receiving core at his age.

[Adam]

Perfect. We talked about Mike Evans. That's great. And he'll be an interesting one for sure. Some people will be buying in. Some people will be staying away because of the age, the Godwin factor. A lot of moving parts there. The Godwin health is obviously going to be the big one and we'll reevaluate as we get close.

[Jamie]

Casuals will be all over Mike Evans. The people that don't do their draft homework, they're going to take him as a top 12 receiver.

[Adam]

But you know what, Dave? Sometimes keep it simple. Stupid, right? Sometimes the Casuals, they don't overthink it and they get it right. Like we were wrong about it. Derrick Henry last year and the casual, I don't want to call them casuals. You know, the fantasy community or the ADP was super high on Derrick Henry and we just didn't really see it. So I don't want to just discount that. Sometimes maybe we look at too many things and. Whereas Mike Evans, just awesome every year. Although I really think the most important thing to note is that he was, as we said, 23rd the first six games of the year. And Chris Godwin was third. Something like that. It was, it was really. He was big time second fiddle to Chris Godwin. All right, we have something to celebrate here on fantasy football today as I filibuster a little bit to give Thomas some time to cue it up. But a big congratulations to a friend and colleague, Jamie Eisenberg. Jamie, what are we looking at here?

[Dave]

This was our district championship. I think I brought it up last week. That had to make a tough managerial decision during one of the games. We ended up going undefeated. So we won the district championship and now we go on to sectionals. So that'll be this weekend. If we win sectionals, we have a chance to. Because I'm assuming they're going to be there. So this is the 13U division age group. The 12U age group from the state of Florida was Lake Mary, which ended up winning the entire Little League World Series, not just the state of Florida, not just the United States, the entire Little League World Series. So we will end up running into them, and I don't think we will have a chance against them, but you never know. In any event, they brought their entire team back. This is an entirely different team from the 12U team for. For Boca last year. But it was fun. It's been a fun ride. Great group of kids, great group of families. You know, you're always excited when you have those situations. So let's hopefully we keep it going for at least one more. One more tournament and then see what happens in the States.

[Adam]

Very proud of you. Great work. Congratulations.

[Heath]

Could I ask one question? Because that's. That's a fantastic photo and great story. Jamie, how many players on your team would Adam's softball team happily trade him for?

[Adam]

Trade beef. Oh, Betty, trade him for.

[Dave]

Oh, the entire group.

[Heath]

Okay.

[Dave]

They. They. I'm. I'm trying to think. I don't think we had. We had a throwing error in one game where one of the outfielders overthrew hit. Didn't hit the cutoff man and overthrew catcher. Very short backstop backstop. So runner only advanced one base. But otherwise we're pretty sound defensively. They all will definitely hit better than Adam. That's without a question.

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Dave]

Yeah. So probably the entire group.

[Heath]

Okay.

[Adam]

Yeah, that's. But I really feel like they're probably better than most of my team. I mean, these are great, great players here at 13.

[Dave]

So you could see. So my son is the one directly in the middle behind the. The young man holding the plaque. So he's, as he can tell, you know, he's already taller than me. And then the young man on the end who threw, by the way, amazing performance, threw a no hitter, set a strikeout record for districts. I think he had 17 strikeouts. It was just completely dominant on the far left side. If you're looking at screen, they're bigger than Russia. They're already bigger than Adam, you know, so they would definitely be better than Adam already.

[Adam]

And someone pointed out in our chat, some good someone. They were describing us. And Jamie is wearing a hat in this picture. Jamie wears a hat every day. Jamie is a hat guy. He claims he only wears it once a week, but that's during the season.

[Dave]

I never said in the off season. During the season, I only wear a hat once a day, which is Wednesdays.

[Heath]

Once a day.

[Dave]

Once a week.

[Heath]

First thing in the morning.

[Adam]

All right, let's read some emails at fantasy football. Fantasy Football cbsi.com this one comes from Paul from Sydney, Australia. He never misses a show. I was listening to you guys talk about tuna fish. I've never got this one. It's tuna. Just tuna. Why tuna fish? Is it salmon or salmon fish? Chicken or chicken? Bird Also, Adam, I'm pumped to go go all in on Christian McCaffrey as I chase back to back championships. He's got a good point on both of those things. Tuna fish. Anything else can we think of like that?

[Heath]

I don't think I say tuna fish.

[Dave]

Tuna salad.

[Adam]

We must have said tuna fish on the show the other day.

[Dave]

I'm going to guess it was Dan.

[Adam]

It was probably.

[Heath]

That sounds right.

[Adam]

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. This is from. Oh, damn it. This is from Eric, right? Dear Axel, Billy, John, Jenny and Chief Hubbard.

[Jamie]

Beverly Hills Cop.

[Adam]

Correct.

[Heath]

Well done.

[Adam]

Each year, changes at quarterback create new opportunities for players that the general public think are not worthy of being drafted. I know this usually falls into sleepers, but with changes at quarterback in places like Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, New York and others, are there opportunities specific to the change in the new quarterback style of play that could take a younger wide receiver, tight end, or pass catching back that's been ignored for fantasy purpose purposes and make them relevant. So the example he gave in the email was one that I, I don't think I'm going to agree with. He was really just throwing it out there. He was saying, like Jalen Hyatt, you know, with Russell Wilson, I don't think Jalen Hyatt has a chance. Maybe Slayton does. But. But the point is any quarterback change that creates a sleeper or a deep sleeper in your mind to start in.

[Jamie]

Pittsburgh, Aaron Rodgers is there. We know that he loves. We've talked about this. I'm sure you guys talked about the Jalen Warren news last week. Rogers loves to throw everything at his top receiver. Should be good for DK Metcalf and Jalen Warren might be getting a bigger opportunity. I'm pretty sure that Rogers. Rogers threw like, I want to say, like a 19.9% target rate to his running backs last year and the Steelers were well over 20% in target rate to running backs. Russell Wilson was like checking it down all the time to Warren and Naji. I, I think that kind of gives a little bit more life to Warren and it keeps Metcalf in that wide receiver three range, kind of that same range that I've got Jameson Williams in. And that's probably it. Maybe Frymouth a little bit. But that, that's the first team that came to my mind where there was a Quarterback change that should help their players get better from where they were a year ago.

[Dave]

I don't know if it's necessarily like a significant change per se, but as if Joe Flacco is the starter. Yep. To me it's, you know, the two obvious guys. Cedric Tillman is going to be somebody that I have a lot of interest in, you know, with. With a late round pick, clearly Judy is going to have a chance for a solid season. And obviously Najoka, we've already seen that rapport. But Tillman, in the first three games without Amari Cooper, two of those were with Jameson Winston. Like, he looked apart finally and then he got hurt and couldn't get back on track. He's easily locked in as a number two receiver there. And I think there's huge upside with Flacco as a starter.

[Jamie]

Geno should be studied as well.

[Dave]

Yeah, I would benefit though, because, like, nobody's. Nobody's looking at Brock Bowers and saying he's gonna get better.

[Adam]

Right.

[Dave]

I think everybody's looking at Bowers. If you're. If you have a take on Bowers more like it's gonna get worse.

[Jamie]

Right, Right. But what does it mean for Myers and is he going to throw to the running back more than we want or expect less? It's probably something we should be looking into or should have looked into by now.

[Heath]

I would say if Cam Ward is passable, I have no idea who's going to be second on that team in targets. So if there is someone who's a clear number two in the pecking order and Cam Ward's passable as a rookie.

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Heath]

Ridley, then a sleeper wide receiver. The Titans make sense.

[Adam]

Really obvious.

[Dave]

There's so many options too, because the way that Jake finished the season last year, he was on fire. But now they add another tight end that could be better than him. In helm, you have the two rookie receivers that, you know, may have huge opportunities. So part of that story that I wrote, the guy that I used for the Titans was. Was Lockett, you know, and just here he comes, you know, older receiver that hasn't been good for two years, but huge opportunity.

[Adam]

I'm trying to make a funny joke.

[Heath]

I know you're trying to make, you.

[Adam]

Know the joke I'm making.

[Heath]

Are you gonna do the. The sound bite and say ellic?

[Adam]

No, I said Ridley's gonna be seconded. Targets behind, of course, Xavier Restrepo. Yeah. There we go. Where's my. There it is.

[Dave]

Thank you.

[Adam]

Thank you. All right, this one, he's had a.

[Dave]

Good off season, by the way.

[Adam]

He's a good player. Yeah, he's a good player. I mean, he's not gonna lead the team at targets. All right, Zach, from a small town 30 minutes north of Charlotte.

[Jamie]

I think Asheville's too far away, so I'll say Asheville.

[Adam]

Dear John, Jake, Bo and Tim.

[Heath]

Broncos quarterbacks.

[Adam]

Oh, nice. He doesn't get Beverly Hills Cop, but he gets that one. Very good.

[Heath]

Well, this is a football podcast.

[Adam]

He's a Lions fan in Beverly Hills Cop. All right, so long. Running league with odds scoring. Every 20 yards rushing or receiving is a point. 20 yards. Every 75 passing yards is a point for one to nine yard touchdowns, six points. 10 to 39 yard touchdowns, nine points. 40 plus yard touchdowns, 12 points. If a quarterback runs or catches a touchdown, it's double points. If a running back throws or catches a touchdown, it's double points. If a wide receiver throws or runs a touchdown, it's double double points. So running quarterbacks and pass catching running backs have higher value as well as big play. Guys, how much would this affect your rankings? Should Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson be first round picks in this format?

[Dave]

Yes, I would say so.

[Adam]

I think Jalen hurts too. I mean, you got, you're gonna like, you're not going to be hurt nearly as much by the passing yardage totals because it's 75 yards per point and he's going to have some long touchdowns. I don't know if they count for quarterbacks too. And he's going to run for a lot of touchdowns. So for. Yeah, this change, this changes a lot. This changes.

[Dave]

Well, Daniel's also.

[Adam]

Yeah, all the running quarterbacks, but I think Jalen hurts benefits. I mean, I could argue he benefits more than anyone from this because he's not going to have a passing yards.

[Dave]

Yeah.

[Adam]

Okay. Here's Josh, an avid listener of both FFT and FFT dynasty.

[Heath]

Thanks, Josh.

[Adam]

And where's he from? Dave?

[Jamie]

Josh is from Nassau Bahama.

[Adam]

I have a handful of rookie running backs because I have a horrific, excuse me, running back room. So I'm hoping I can get at least one guy to hit. I've got six players. I have four open taxi spots and I'm using one for sure. On Jalen Milroe, which of three players would you taxi and which would you stash? Which of these three would you. Would you taxi and which would you stash? DJ Giddens, Burchard Smith, Jordan James, Jacori Krosky. Merritt, Devin Neal, Kyle Menangai.

[Dave]

You have to make that decision now.

[Adam]

I. For the sake of this show. Yes.

[Dave]

I think easy. The Washington running backs. Good Taxi squad guy. I think he's keeping all these, right? He's not cutting them. Yeah.

[Adam]

Yeah. Jacori, Crosby, Merritt and Jordan James are who you guys just mentioned, right? I mean, they should be taxied or.

[Dave]

No, I would probably. If you have to make the decision now, I'd probably not do it with James just because of the. Any setback for McCaffrey. So I would probably why you would.

[Jamie]

Want to have James.

[Dave]

I would have James. Not a Taxi squad.

[Adam]

So. Yeah. So you stash them or you taxium and you taxi them. You can't use them, right?

[Dave]

Taxi would be you can't use them unless you have to make another switch.

[Jamie]

Is that what tax.

[Heath]

Yeah. I don't think we know. Let's. Could I suggest a change to how we answer this, Adam?

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Heath]

One guy that you would want on your active roster, one guy that you're willing to cut.

[Adam]

Fair enough.

[Heath]

Taxi for the rest of the.

[Dave]

He's got to cut these guys. I'm sorry.

[Adam]

No, he doesn't have to cut any of them.

[Heath]

Well, we don't know that. He said, I know I can't keep all these guys on my roster. He has four open Taxi spots. Does that mean he has to drop one of them? Does that mean he has to keep two of them on the active roster?

[Jamie]

No, I think he's got just four spots where you can stash a rookie.

[Heath]

That's why I suggested the difference, because then we'd say who we definitely keep on our regular roster, if that's the choice. And we'd say who we'd definitely drop if that's the choice.

[Adam]

Okay. Fair.

[Jamie]

I'm taking it to mean that he can stash these guys. It's like what we have.

[Adam]

Yeah, but even if you're right, even.

[Dave]

If you're right, four guys you're not going to use and two guys you want to use.

[Adam]

Or.

[Heath]

Or like I menong guy is the guy I would be most likely to cut.

[Jamie]

And I would keep the three running backs that you want to keep in stash and see what happens for this year and potentially keep on your roster all of next off season.

[Adam]

Who are they?

[Dave]

I don't think he's cutting these guys, though.

[Jamie]

No. Because he's putting them on his taxes.

[Adam]

I know. What are the priorities here? Okay. Who. Who are the ones that we wanted that we. That. Who are the priorities?

[Dave]

I want to hold on to Giddens for sure, and I don't remember all the names. I'm sorry.

[Jamie]

Yeah, I would want James probably cross key merit and for now Devin Neal over Manangai. But I wonder if Manangai ends up being a decent factor on that bears roster. James, Merritt, Neal.

[Heath]

Yeah, I go back and forth between Smith and Crosby Merritt, but James and Neil are definitely my top two.

[Adam]

Okay.

[Dave]

Yeah, I would go Giddens and Neil's my top two.

[Adam]

All right. Great stuff. That was a fun one. All right, we're out of here. We'll talk to you. We'll talk to you tomorrow on fantasy football today. See? Yeah.

[Dave]

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[Jamie]

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[Dave]

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[Jamie]

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[Dave]

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[Jamie]

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[Heath]

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[Dave]

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[Heath]

Obviously, murder's not fun.