Updated WINNERS & LOSERS of Free Agency: Adams, Engram, Pickens, Hubbard & More (03/13 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Summary

Podcast Summary: Fantasy Football Today – “Updated WINNERS & LOSERS of Free Agency: Adams, Engram, Pickens, Hubbard & More” (Released March 13, 2025)

Hosted by Adam Azer, Dave Richard, Jamie Eisenberg, Heath Cummings, and guest Joe Pizzapia

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1. Introduction and Trivia Challenge (00:00 - 08:24)

The episode kicks off with host Adam Azer engaging listeners in a lively trivia segment, testing their knowledge on recent NFL free agency moves and player performances.

Notable Quotes:

• Adam Azer (04:00): "Mike Williams is back with the Chargers. What stat did Mike Williams lead all wide receivers in last season?"
• Jamie Eisenberg (04:00): "Irrelevancy."
• Joe Pizzapia (04:03): "It's very difficult. How do you set records and things when you're not playing very much?"

The trivia questions touch on player efficiency metrics, such as yards per catch and game performance statistics, highlighting the analytical depth the podcast offers to fantasy football enthusiasts.

2. Big Free Agency Winners (08:31 - 10:59)

Joe Pizzapia steps into the spotlight to discuss the standout performers in the recent NFL free agency period, emphasizing Devonte Adams as a top gain.

Key Points:

• Devonte Adams' Move to the Rams:

  • Joe Pizzapia (09:21): "The big winner is definitely Devonte Adams... He's going to have a lot of upside if Puka goes down for any period of time."
  • Adams' transition to a strong offensive environment with a capable quarterback and head coach increases his fantasy value, especially as a reliable WR2 with potential WR1 upside.

• Brock Bowers' Acquisition:

  • Joe Pizzapia (12:13): "Brock Bowers is a big winner because he's a significant upgrade over what the Raiders had."
  • Bowers is highlighted for his role as a primary tight end and offensive focal point, making him a valuable asset in red zone scoring and receiving targets.

3. Top Free Agency Losers (10:59 - 32:33)

The discussion shifts to players who may underperform or pose challenges in the upcoming fantasy season due to recent free agency changes.

Key Points:

• Steelers Wide Receivers:

  • Joe Pizzapia (28:32): "The biggest loser right now is Steelers wide receivers because they don't have a quarterback."
  • Uncertainty at the quarterback position impacts the performance and reliability of the Steelers' receiving corps.

• CJ Stroud's Situation:

  • Joe Pizzapia (29:57): "CJ Stroud hasn't had an ideal offseason for a guy that was drafted as a borderline top five quarterback."
  • Stroud's challenges are compounded by offensive line changes, raising concerns about his performance and fantasy viability.

• Chuba Hubbard and Rico Dowdle:

  • Jamie Eisenberg (31:30): "This was a guy that was amazing last year... feels as if we go from featured back to committee."
  • The Panthers' addition of Rico Dowdle alongside Chuba Hubbard introduces competition, potentially diluting Hubbard's production and fantasy value.

Notable Quotes:

• Dave Richard (31:25): “There’s some incentives in there, too, but it’s virtually the same deal that Dallas gave Javonte.”
• Adam Azer (32:33): “Do you think Chuba Hubbard is a loser with the Rico Dowdle signing?”

4. Evan Ingram Acquisition Analysis (18:45 - 28:22)

A significant portion of the episode delves into the Denver Broncos' acquisition of tight end Evan Ingram, analyzing his impact on the team and fantasy football implications.

Key Points:

• Ingram's Performance Metrics:

  • Adam Azer (23:58): "In 2024, Ingram averaged 3.2 yards after the catch per reception, which was really low."
  • Despite a challenging previous season, Ingram remains a consistent target earner when healthy, positioning him as a potential top-10 tight end in fantasy rankings.

• Team Fit and Offensive Strategy:

  • Jamie Eisenberg (21:36): "He’s a pretty good landing spot for a guy that went to a team with a quarterback that is prone to throwing underneath."
  • The Broncos' offensive scheme under head coach Sean Payton is expected to better utilize Ingram's abilities, offering improved opportunities and target share.

Notable Quotes:

• Joe Pizzapia (22:35): “In terms of Evan Ingram, it's about health for him. Last year he did not have it... I think he's a top 10 tight end for sure.”
• Dave Richard (25:10): "Now, he’s been a low target guy for the past three seasons... but he's got potential to be a top 10 tight end."

5. Fantasy Draft Strategies and Player Evaluations (32:33 - 61:35)

The hosts and Joe Pizzapia engage in a comprehensive discussion about draft strategies, evaluating player prospects, and making decisions based on free agency impacts.

Key Topics:

• Running Back Depth and Value:

  • Jamie Eisenberg (34:38): “Chuba Hubbard was a borderline top running back, and now Dowdle’s addition affects his standing.”
  • Strategies on whether to draft Hubbard or rely on Dowdle as a backup are debated, considering contract implications and team depth.

• Quarterback Choices:

  • Adam Azer (47:21): "How does Geno Smith and Chip Kelly influence the Broncos' offense?"
  • Evaluating veteran quarterbacks like Geno Smith versus rookie prospects, emphasizing the importance of quarterback stability for fantasy success.

• Dynasty League Decisions:

  • Listener Question (55:12): A listener inquires about acquiring draft picks for quarterback positions in a dynasty league.
  • Jamie Eisenberg (56:43): Advises leveraging draft capital for acquiring promising quarterbacks like Jordan Love.

Notable Quotes:

• Joe Pizzapia (36:00): “Is it better to draft Chuba Hubbard where he’s going, or is it better to draft Rico Dowdle late and just kind of hedge with him on your bench?”
• Dave Richard (58:20): “It's a close call, but you have to consider the depth and potential breakout performances.”

6. Listener Interaction and Final Thoughts (61:35 - End)

The podcast concludes with interactive segments where the hosts respond to listener questions and engage in light-hearted banter.

Key Points:

• Cooking Tips and Personal Stories:

  • Hosts share personal anecdotes about cooking methods, such as air frying burgers and eggplant, adding a relatable and humorous touch to the episode.

• Final Player Evaluations:

  • Adam Azer (63:01): Discusses the impact of offseason changes on teams like the Steelers and 49ers, stressing the importance of quarterback and offensive line stability.

Notable Quotes:

• Joe Pizzapia (55:31): “Air frying eggplant was pretty good. So I'm curious about the burger now.”
• Jamie Eisenberg (60:53): “In a super flex league, you could find Bucky Irving.”

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Conclusions and Insights

• Devonte Adams and Brock Bowers emerge as top free agency winners, offering substantial value in their new team environments.

• Evan Ingram’s move to the Broncos is seen as a positive, contingent on his health and integration into a more productive offensive scheme.

• Players like CJ Stroud and recent signings in the Steelers' receiving corps raise concerns about their fantasy viability due to team uncertainties.

• Draft strategies must adapt to the evolving team compositions, emphasizing flexibility and depth, especially in dynasty leagues where long-term planning is crucial.

• Listener engagement through trivia and mailbag segments enriches the podcast’s interactive element, making it a comprehensive resource for fantasy football enthusiasts.

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This episode of "Fantasy Football Today" offers a deep dive into the current free agency landscape, player evaluations, and strategic draft insights, equipping fantasy managers with the knowledge needed to navigate the upcoming season successfully.

Transcript

[Joe Pizzapia]

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[Adam Azer]

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[Joe Pizzapia]

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[Adam Azer]

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[Joe Pizzapia]

Today from CBS Sports. What a play.

[Adam Azer]

Can you believe this?

[Joe Pizzapia]

No, I can't. It's time to dominate your fantasy league.

[Adam Azer]

This is gonna go the distance.

[Joe Pizzapia]

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

[Adam Azer]

Evan Ingram to the Broncos, Rico Dowdle to the Panthers and Joe pizza back the show. One of our favorite guests, Joe Pizza bia of fantasy pros. We've got a lot of rankings to talk about today. First question for you, Joe, just put you right on the hot seat. Aaron Judge or Juan Soto? Who do we got?

[Joe Pizzapia]

Oh, well, you're asking the wrong guy. I want Juan Soto. Can't you see the Yankees are falling apart? Can't you hear all the Yankee fans just crying and just the tears. Oh, the tears. I feel like Eric Cartman at the end of the Scott Tenorman episode. I just want to lick the salty sweet tears. As Garrett Cole gets Tommy John and Juan Soto leaves the Yankees for the Mets. And Clay Holmes looks really good as a starter. I don't know how long it's going to last, but I'm just enjoying this moment, Daisy. That's what I'm doing.

[Adam Azer]

No, I forgot you were a Mets. I had a feeling you were a Mets fan. I thought you were a Mets fan. But I wasn't. Now I. Now I remember.

[Joe Pizzapia]

It's clear now. Yeah.

[Adam Azer]

So the reason I asked Joe that is he, he double dips. He does baseball and football. This is a super busy time for him. And if you all the great baseball coverage and football coverage got to plug fantasy pros. Of course, CBS also very good. But you can tell us what you're doing because I know it's been a busy week for you. And then we'll get into football.

[Joe Pizzapia]

Well, we saw some of your colleagues yesterday on our fantasy fest on The Fantasy Bros. MLB. Mr. Towers, Mr. Stanle joining us. Hanging out that a little tag team action there. But yeah, we're. We are wall to wall fantasy baseball and the MLB channel and Fantasy Bros. Mlb, which is really kicking up a notch. We're on Twitch now too. We're doing a live shows on Twitch starting in season every single day. So we've got that happening. Of course we've got our mock draft shows on the NFL channel also which are super exciting. We'll have a new one drop post free agency with Debro, myself and Fitz trying to see now that the dust is settled, we have a much better idea of what the team needs are after free agency. And I think now we have a much clearer picture of maybe what the first round or maybe round or two might look like. And of course, if you're still looking to prepare fantasy baseball season. Fantasy baseball black book right next to my beautiful bald head still available on Amazon, updated March 1st. Go get that bad boy. It's great to see you guys. I missed you. It's nice after a couple months or so to get back into the football waters with the CBS boys.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah, man, it's good to have you back. And I just want to introduce you to Dave, Richard and Jamie Eisenberg who are here as well. Dave, Jamie. Hey guys. Hello, old friends. All right, fellas, so let's I got some trivia. Start off with a little trivia here. Mike Williams is back with the Chargers. What stat did Mike Williams lead all wide receivers in last season?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Irrelevancy.

[Adam Azer]

Correct.

[Joe Pizzapia]

1.

[Adam Azer]

Anything else? He didn't lead just all wide receivers. He led all players. In fact, he probably set a record.

[Joe Pizzapia]

It's very difficult. How do you set records and things when you're not playing very much? That that's the obstacle here, Dave.

[Adam Azer]

He was playing a lot. In fact, he set a record I or at least tied a record. Played 18 games last year. Oh yeah, he got traded, I guess. Didn't have the bye week and he played 18 games between the jets and the Steelers.

[Joe Pizzapia]

All right, so over one routes run with doing nothing.

[Adam Azer]

Which tight ends?

[Dave Richard]

NFL and cardio.

[Adam Azer]

Minimum 50 targets. There were. There were about 31 tight ends, I think which tight ends with a minimum of 50 targets ranked last and second to last. In both yards per target and yards per catch in 2024.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Greg Dolchits and Adam Troutman.

[Dave Richard]

No, it's Lucas Kroll. If you're gonna go Broncos tight ends.

[Adam Azer]

I don't know if any of them got.

[Dave Richard]

I don't even know if that, that's where you're going with.

[Adam Azer]

I am sort of going there, but not those Broncos tight ends.

[Joe Pizzapia]

Is that the joke?

[Adam Azer]

Evan Ingram is one of them. So who the two least efficient tight ends in football last year?

[Joe Pizzapia]

There's always Easter eggs with az. Throws out something out at the beginning of the show and then later on it becomes a trivia thing. So Ingram's one of them. So it's got to be another big name, right? Is that what we're thinking?

[Adam Azer]

It is another big name. Nobody I've mentioned, but another like top eight PPR eight. He's gonna be like top eight in adp at least. Top ten.

[Joe Pizzapia]

Kyle Pitts?

[Adam Azer]

No, good guess. It's David Najoku. David Najoku and Evan.

[Joe Pizzapia]

Ah, good one.

[Adam Azer]

Ingram has been bottom two in yards per catch two straight seasons. All right, here we go. This number three, Cortland Sutton, he had a game in week seven with zero catches on zero targets at the Saints from weeks eight through 18. Cortland Sutton went off. He. How many times did he score single digit PPR fantasy points from weeks eight through 18?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Zero.

[Dave Richard]

I'll say one.

[Joe Pizzapia]

I'll go with one. Two.

[Adam Azer]

Jamie wins.

[Joe Pizzapia]

Wow. One.

[Adam Azer]

That's pretty good. Number 10 wide receiver per game in the last 10 games of the season.

[Dave Richard]

Week 14, he had zero.

[Adam Azer]

They had a buy. Get out of here.

[Dave Richard]

All right.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I just, I just think whenever you have guests on and you're giving away the secret formula while we, we won these awards, you know, question Joe's gonna steal all these ideas, all.

[Adam Azer]

These horrible trivia questions. Okay, last trivia question. Between Chuba Hubbard and Rico Dowdle, who had, who was better in yards per carry, Yards before contact per carry, yards after contact per carry, avoid rate and explosive run rate.

[Joe Pizzapia]

Why ask this question if it's not Rico Dowdle?

[Adam Azer]

Right?

[Dave Richard]

Because this is what he does sometimes.

[Joe Pizzapia]

I know, I know. And this is why you don't trust.

[Dave Richard]

You know where he's going. And then he, he, you know, makes a hard right turn and guess what? It's Chuba.

[Joe Pizzapia]

Ha.

[Adam Azer]

That's probably right. I'm in your head. I am in your head right now.

[Dave Richard]

Yeah, I just won't answer.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Tuba.

[Adam Azer]

Joe, you have an answer?

[Joe Pizzapia]

I, I, I, I'm sticking with Dowdle because it sounds Ridiculous. And I don't think you're swerving me yet. But then again, it could also be my baseball brain just kind of working against me right now.

[Dave Richard]

And I'll say, Ty.

[Adam Azer]

It is. Sorry. I'm looking for this music for Jamie. JB wins. Yeah.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

My theme song, 2%.

[Adam Azer]

Oh, did it fall again? Damn it. Forget it. No background today. My background keeps falling.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Joe. Joe has, like, professional background behind himself. Like you have. You have a piece of paper that falls every day.

[Dave Richard]

It's. You see that?

[Joe Pizzapia]

One other thing behind him is a skew, too. What is it? That's just stadium picture.

[Adam Azer]

Oh, yeah. It's the Orange bowl and then there's.

[Joe Pizzapia]

A taped picture back there. Well, what's the budget you're working with here?

[Adam Azer]

Pretty low. Pretty low.

[Joe Pizzapia]

All right, so those are trivia sound effects, James.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

We actually. We actually had planned a dollar for every Mike Williams catch, and we gave him the extra game and didn't work out.

[Adam Azer]

That's right.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Background.

[Adam Azer]

I have an idea for a new background.

[Joe Pizzapia]

All right.

[Adam Azer]

Today is the day. Today is the day. I'm going to go to Staples. I'm going to make this happen. New background next week. Speaking of next week.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Next week, that's you sort of.

[Adam Azer]

Our bracket challenge is going to begin next week. I don't have a URL just yet, but just stay tuned. I'm going to tweet it out. Obviously, we'll have a show on Monday, so have time to join it. But if you win our bracket challenge, March Madness, you know how it works. You pick the games, you pick the winners. If you win it, you're in the podcast league. One point for the first round, 2, then 4, then 8, then 16 and 32 if you get the championship. Right. It sometimes does come down to the tiebreaker, but the winner of our bracket challenge, and I want, like, thousands of people in this. Okay, let's get a big audience here. The winner of our bracket challenges in the podcast league. All right, Joe, I want to throw it to you for the. Your biggest winners. We'll start with that. Then we'll get some of your biggest losers. But everything that's happened the last week or so, starting with Christian Kirk and Devonte Adams and Geno Smith and all that. And continuing through Evan Ingram, who are some of the big winners for you.

[Joe Pizzapia]

Well, look, I don't want to sound chalky here, but the big winner is definitely devonte Adams, and I think we're all the big winners, too. And it's because not only does he go to a situation where he's got a very capable, verdant quarterback who, you know, one more really good playoff run or another super bowl appearance, I mean, hey, we start talking about Matthew Stafford in a different light. Maybe we need to give him a little bit more respect. I mean, all those years in his prime loss in Detroit. But what I like so much about the Adam situation is he's got Puka Nakua there already. And we all know Puka is quote unquote, the guy. But he's also the guy that in his college career had injuries. His pro career has had some injuries early on. And you know, Devonte Adams can peak as a number one if Pinakua misses time. The positive here is you're getting Devonte Adams is that fringe wide receiver one investment. He's going to be a wide receiver two ish kind of guy, I think, in most people's rankings because Puka is going to be the target hog. And that's great because he's going to have a couple games where he goes off. You know, that's absolutely going to happen, but you don't have to pay the cost for it. And you have all the upside in an offense, you know, is going to be very together, a capable quarterback, great head coach, that there's going to be a lot of upside if Puka goes down for any period of time where he steps into a number one role. So to me, it's all upside. So that's the guy who's at the very top of my list is Devonte Adams and, you know, controlled environment in terms of weather, good situation there. I mean, there's a lot to like here at the age of Devonte Adams going to the environment he's going to, I think is just extremely positive for fantasy. And the best part is I don't think the cost really rises to a significant level where it makes him untenable as a draft pick.

[Adam Azer]

Would you rather have Devonte Adams or Cortland Sutton?

[Joe Pizzapia]

Really good comparison question there. I think after that trivia, things got a little dicey there, but I'm gonna go devonte Adams because I'm gonna put my eggs in the basket of the ecosystem of the Rams over the Broncos, despite the fact it was pretty good last year for the Denver Broncos, surprisingly so. I don't think I'm looking for any surprises. I know the Rams are going to be good in 2025.

[Adam Azer]

Dave, how about you? Sorry, don't take Chuba Hubbard.

[Joe Pizzapia]

Dave, don't listen to him.

[Adam Azer]

Corland Sutton or Devonte Adams.

[Dave Richard]

I'll take Adams over Sutton. I think they both qualify as mid to low end wide receiver twos. I, I fully agree with what Joe's saying completely. Trust the offense, trust the role that Adams has. I don't think he's going to get 10 targets a game so we can downgrade him there. But that's why we're not taking him as like a top 15 wide receiver, more of a top 20 type of play in full PPR.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

And Jamie, I'm going to take the cost of what Sutton I think will be versus the cost of what Adams will be. So I think Adams gets drafted sooner than Sutton does. So I'd rather wait out Sutton, but I'll have Adams ranked ahead of Sutton.

[Adam Azer]

Okay. Any other winners for you, Joe?

[Joe Pizzapia]

Yeah, look, you're a winner even if you just go back to the same spot and T. Higgins to the Bengals because I think Joe Burrow is lined up to have an MVP caliber season this year and you have both of those weapons at your disposal. And Chase is, you know, it's kind of similar in some ways too. If Chase should miss any time, you know what, T. Higgins can be in this offense and he's still not going to come with the same draft capital. So if you are somebody that wants to take a running back in that first round, you still have that available. You look at guys like T. Higgins, guys like Devonte Adams, when you're going back to the same offense, same situation, at least for now. We all think that this is locked in. We haven't seen any trades yet of T. Higgins. And then another one is Brock Bowers I think is a winner here and I know he's not a free agent, but I think he's a winner because you can say whatever you want about Geno Smith and their shortcomings with Geno Smith, he's still a significant, and I'm going to use the word significant upgrade over everything else that they've had there in the last couple years at quarterback. So forget Gardner Minshew, you know, forget Aiden O'Connell here. You're bringing in a quarterback that has been to playoff games. Now you're putting him in a situation with a head coach where he had the most success that he's ever had. I think that's a good situation. So for me, Brock Bowers is a big winner because I do imagine they're not done here in the draft. They're going to get some more offensive pieces. Pieces. So even though I'm not looking for the Raiders to be a prolific offense in 2025. I think it's hard not to think that Brock Bowers is kind of a winner here in free agency, not because, you know Smith is great, but because, you know, Smith is an improvement of what they have.

[Adam Azer]

All right, we're going to take a quick break. Sorry. They'll get a quick break in here and then I'll let Jamie and Dave respond. And I also want to know who Joe is going to have as his tight end one next season is going to be Bowers or McBride. We'll come right back on Fantasy Football.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Hold on.

[Adam Azer]

Before we play the commercial here, I was wrong about the URL for the bracket challenge. I do have a URL. It's a long, clunky one that we'll clean up later next week or this weekend or something like that. But in the episode description, I'm gonna put a link to join our bracket challenge for 2025. Okay, play the commercial.

[Joe Pizzapia]

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[Joe Pizzapia]

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[Adam Azer]

Have a confession to make. I am not proud of this. We just played a video on YouTube. If you're listening on audio then this doesn't. You know. You have no idea what I'm talking about. But on YouTube just played a promo with a Tom Petty song. I have never heard that song and it sounds great.

[Joe Pizzapia]

I was gonna say that. Is that the Tom Petty tune I believe right?

[Adam Azer]

It's called Deliver Me. I just googled the lyrics. I don't know how I don't know this song.

[Joe Pizzapia]

It's we just have DBRO in his closet like just dropping Rhymes that those are kind of the shows, you know, we just, he just drops a couple bars and we use that as background songs and some Argo. You guys got Tom Petty, way bigger budget, yet you still can't get Adam Azer background. Damn it. What are we doing?

[Adam Azer]

Oh, man, I'm going to listen to this song after the after show. What album is.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

You should watch some Gator basketball highlights while you're doing it too.

[Adam Azer]

That's okay.

[Dave Richard]

They're actually good. Yeah, it's like one. The one thing that I can tell people about college basketball this year is that the Florida Gators are good.

[Adam Azer]

I'm just gonna pick Duke so I don't have to pick an SEC team. Joe, who's your tight end?

[Joe Pizzapia]

One oh, it's Bowers still. And look, I love Trey McBride. It's not a knock on him so much as I think Bowers is the offense. Like, I think everything just kind of flows through him. And you know, I understand that touchdowns can be spotted year over year. And it was a terrible time for Trey McBride with touchdowns. But I continue to struggle with Kyler Murray. His body language is just awful to me. He feels like a guy that's really good at his job but doesn't want to be there. And it's a very frustrating thing to me. And I think when you're a quarterback, I think that just rubs off. And this is not statistical analysis. This is going into just the eye test and the feeling you get from people. And having coached youth football now for the last five years of my life, I'm sure Jamie can attest to this too. You get kids sometimes that are really talented but just don't love it. I feel like that's Kyler Murray. He's just a guy that's super talented and incredibly gifted athletically, but he doesn't have that other gear in him, that other leadership gear, that other gear that I think can take somebody like Trey McBride to an all time great kind of level potentially in his career. I, I haven't seen that at Kyler Murray in the NFL and I don't know if we're ever going to see it. And I'm getting really tired of it. So if I'm going to split hairs between greatness, I'm going to take the guy in Brock Bowers that she seems like the weapon that is so tough to stop defensively that I do believe is indeed the focal point of his offense. And as much as I love Trey McBride, I think Brock Bowers is the guy I'm going to go to, even though Geno Smith physically might not be the same gifted quarterback in some ways that Kyler Murray is. But. Although, at this point, I don't know Kyler Murray, maybe I'm just sour on him, boys. I don't know. What do you think?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

You would think that, you know, knowing what you do, you'd love Kyler Burning, Baseball guy, football guy. Like, he fits both. Both of your job descriptions. But, yeah, no, he. He definitely has. I thought, you know, from the stories we heard last year, that we were going to see that from Kyler, you know, that he had dedicated himself in the off season, coming off the ACL tear, you know, the full year removed, that it seemed as if his trajectory was pointed in the right direction and that it was going to be a good influence on the offense. And then, as you know, any. Any athlete, you know, things start to go a little bit south. And you said it. His body language is so evident. Anytime there's. There's a problem, he's pointing fingers, he's pouting. It's. It's just. It's just not what you want a leader to be. So, you know, when you start to split hairs on two great players, you know, when you're looking at Bowers and McBride, I can promise you from seeing it, we've all seen it. You know, Pete Carroll's not going to let anybody on that sideline get down on themselves, you know, so it'll be. It'll be an interesting situation to see how Geno Smith and Chip Kelly, you know, how much they influence that offense there in. In Las Vegas.

[Dave Richard]

And we can talk about body language all you want with Kyler Murray. He still gave Trey McBride 9.2 targets per game. That is a crazy elite number for anybody in the NFL, but certainly a tight end. That is huge. The number that's not elite, though. Touchdowns. McBride had only three of those. I just checked this. In the last five years, the leaders in receiving touchdowns from Kyler Murray, it's a tie. Marvin Harrison last year, DeAndre Hopkins in 21, eight touchdowns each. So that's where I'm a little bit worried about McBride is whether or not he can ascend to five touchdowns, six touchdowns, but in the full PPR format. I love the opportunity that he has to get a ton of targets. Thing is, I think Bowers has the opportunity to get a ton of targets, too. And I think he can score touchdowns a lot more frequently from Geno compared to Kyler Murray. And what his track record has been throwing touchdowns to one specific Guy. It looks like it's pretty rare for one guy to even have more than six. So I'm, I'm good with Bowers over McBride, but they're kind of a 1A 1B for me.

[Adam Azer]

Sure. In PPR, I have a hot take on, on Kyler Murray. Dave, especially interested in your opinion here. I was thinking about Cam Ward and I feel like Kyler Murray is my favorite comp to Cam Ward. I sort of see their careers being similar. I don't think Cam Ward is going to be a superstar, but I do think he's going to be a good quarterback. And just in terms of like athleticism, style, I see Cam Ward being closest to Kyler Murray of any quarterback that's currently in the NFL.

[Dave Richard]

Sure. Because of the mobility and the size. I think that's what you're looking for. I'm not sure if Kyler has shown as much like tranquility in the pocket as we saw from Cam Ward last year at Miami where he would just stand there and like there's chaos all around him and he doesn't care and he still throws a tight window touchdown. Something like that. Stylistically, yeah, they're kind of the same. They're move around quarterbacks that can chuck it pretty long. Good athletic quarterbacks.

[Adam Azer]

All right, so let's go on to some of the biggest losers. But before we do that, I do think we should just talk about the Evan Ingram acquisition. Here he goes Two years to the Denver Broncos. $23 million, 16 and a half million guaranteed. Last year, the difference in PPR and non PPR was kind of staggering for Evan Ingram. Look, it wasn't a good year for Ingram, but he still managed to be tight end 14 per game in full PPR, tight end 16 per game in half PPR. And Ingram was tight end 22 per game in non PPR. That's because he had one touchdown in nine games. But it just like it was not a good year. His 17 game pace was 89 catches, 689 yards. That's awful. And two touchdowns on 121 targets. Jamie, I'm going to give you the first word. What do you think about Ingram? Will he be a top 10 tight end for you with Denver?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

He will, you know, just exactly at 10. And I think again, you know, not to the same degree as like great marriage of Devonte Adams going to the Rams, but it's a pretty good landing spot for a guy that went to a team with a quarterback that is prone to, you know, throwing underneath with a coach. That has used his tight end in his history and a team that is lacking a second, you know, proven target. You know, I think, you know, between Marvin Mims and Vale and, you know, whatever else they add, there'll be somebody to compliment Cortland Sutton, but he could easily be second on the team of targets. And so, you know, if he stays healthy, that's a big part of his game right now. You know, 30 years old, but once you get past, you know, like tight end, 6, 7, 8, you know, it's kind of just a crapshoot anyway. And so just looking at what he has been, what he still could be and where he landed, you know, he'll be a good late round target if you're sort of in the greater late, you know, tight end boat.

[Adam Azer]

Joe, what do you think? Will Ingram crack your top 10? I know you haven't. You know, you're in baseball mode. I know that you're doing rankings next week, but I don't want to put you on the spot. But what do you think about it?

[Joe Pizzapia]

No, no, not on the spot. I'm still knee deep in football. I just. Yesterday was just a big baseball day. But in terms of Evan Ingram, it's about health for him. Last year he did not have it. If he's healthy going into this season, I'm intrigued. I think he's still a tight end. One top 10. I think he's right there, to be honest with you. I might. I mean, right now I think he's tight end 11 in the consensus rankings on fantasy pros. I could see drafting him over in Joku, who is at 8, to tell you the truth. And it's more because of the style of offense and the style of play of the quarterback there. You know, I think Bo Nix, the king of low adot, is going to be looking to get rid of the ball quickly. And that plays in very well to utilizing a tight end like Evan Ingram. So to me, I think this is actually a good potential fit. It's one that I want to pay attention to in training camp. You know, I always say, you know, the preseason games don't mean anything except for the players where I mean everything for. And Ingram, to me, would want to be the guys where I want to see it on the field. I want to see what that rapport is like. I want to see how they're using with the offense, and if it looks good, then I'm more apt to buy in. But so far, like I said, the big thing for me with Evan Ingram is the health at this point, if he, you know, has continues to struggle with that, then it doesn't matter. At the end of the day last year, the health just absolutely killed any investments you made. But in 2025, as long as you see it healthy Evan Ingram on the field in training camp, you see it look good in preseason. I definitely buy him as a top 10 tight end for sure.

[Adam Azer]

All right, Dave. Evan Ingram goes from the number four tight end per game in 2023 to 14th per game in 2024 in full PPR. One of the numbers I noticed that was much different was his Yak. 3.2 yards after the catch per reception is horrible, especially when you consider he had a 5.4 yard ADOT, which is really, really low. And one of the things I saw from my notes from 2024 going into the last season was that Evan Ingram said he wanted to be used more downfield, he wanted to be used more in the red zone. And the Jaguars pressed Taylor, their offensive coordinator at the time. He was. He was not so sure. And they didn't. They just kept using him underneath really short stuff, and he did nothing with those targets. I'd like to see a little bit of a role change like we've talked about, low eight and all that. That's fine. Doesn't have to be this low. I like to see him be using the red zone a little bit more, but I think he can bounce back because that yak per catch was so bad. And I've said this before, that's kind of. That's a stat when you see a guy who is consistently better in yak, and then one year he's really bad. Hey, maybe he's just at the end of the rope, like Travis Kelsey, like, I think. Or maybe it's just a fluke and it's going to bounce back. I see that stat bounce back a lot, so I think that would help. But what do you think? Does. Does Evan Ingram bounce back?

[Dave Richard]

I think he does. The Yak, by the way, in 2023 was 4.5, so it was better. That's not necessarily great. The year before that, 2022, obviously he's two years younger, certainly a little bit more spry, 6.4. So it's double what it was this past season.

[Adam Azer]

Right.

[Dave Richard]

And we know that he had a hamstring injury and that's what hung him up toward the end of the year. I don't know if he could have come back from it or not, but I just love that he was a volume play for Jacksonville and I think that's exactly what he's going to be for Denver. Last year, Corland Sutton, number one on the Broncos and targets with 135. Javante Williams was number two with 70. So there is a real possibility that Evan Ingram is the number two target getter in Denver. And I don't, I don't know if his role is going to change that much. He's been a low adot guy for the past three seasons. He's supposed to be an after catch guy. Adam, you kind of just made it clear that he hasn't succeeded in that after catch role. But kind of like what we talked about with LA and Devonte Adams going there. I trust the offense, I trust the play caller, I trust the play designer and that Sean Payton and with this guy getting a chance to be the number two target getter and we've seen him get double digit PPR points per game on the regular, I'm kind of interested, kind of excited about him. I like him as a top 10 tight end. I don't want to get too excited where I'm reaching for him on draft day. But he and Tucker Kraft are probably going to be the two tight ends that I end up getting the most of if I whiff on the top five tight ends.

[Joe Pizzapia]

I agree with Dave too. I think that like he could be that number two guy. I think that's very clear of everything. That's the upside of what Ingram is and it's going to be fascinating to see what they add or don't add in the draft coming up here for Denver. Do they, you know, try to spend capital on wide receiver? But the other thing to not forget too is if there's anybody who can scheme properly for a tight end to be successful. I think we can all remember, you know, there were years there with Sean Payton where he was able to make a start at Jimmy Graham. He knows how to get tight ends opening an offense, it's not like an offense that is bereft of understanding how to utilize a tight end. And it's just more of a, I think knock on the roster that he inherited that just wasn't enough there to make that happen in 2024.

[Adam Azer]

All right. And I will say that Evan Ingram, if there's one thing he's done consistently in his career, he is a target earner. He's played seven seasons. He's been on pace for actually think he's played eight seasons. Eight seasons he's been on pace for 115 or more targets per 17 games in six of eight seasons. That is very, very impressive.

[Dave Richard]

Area target getter with a quarterback who loves to throw short.

[Adam Azer]

And you're gonna.

[Dave Richard]

Joe mentioned this. The eight out for Bo Nix was 7.3 last year. That was 26th among qualifiers.

[Joe Pizzapia]

I mean, that's what he did in college too, right, Dave? I mean, this is just who he is. And it was successful. They got to the playoffs. They got all the way to Buffalo.

[Dave Richard]

I mean, why, why didn't start changing that? And asking Bo Nicks to suddenly throw, you know, nine and a half yards downfield on average with what they have at receiver and now it's tight end. Doesn't make any sense to me. So this offense will probably be the same, but now they can add the wrinkle of Ingram and what he can do as a matchup problem. He's a wide receiver playing tight end. So it's, it's, it's actually a great fit for fantasy.

[Adam Azer]

All right, let's get to Joe's losers. Any, any losers. And I'll ask, is Cortland Sutton a loser? As Dave just said, you know, last year was no Javante Williams he was competing with.

[Joe Pizzapia]

I don't think Cortland Sutton's a loser necessarily here in free agency. I think the biggest loser right now is Steelers wide receivers because they don't have a quarterback. So, I mean, we could put the question mark around it and see what's going on. I, I mean, imagine we get the inevitable Russell Wilson returned and everybody plays nice because they have no choice now. I don't think it's going to be Aaron Rodgers. We'll see what happens. I think, you know, Cooper Cup, I think the end, you know, when you get released, you know, he was seeking a trade. Nobody was. Was biting. You get replaced by Devonte Adams, then you get released a, you know, a few days later. I think that kind of spells the end for you. I'm sure some people will be intrigued if he lands at a certain spot, but I, I think Cooper cup, unfortunately, all that volume of that window for a couple years has taken its toll on him. Then I'm gonna put this out there too, guys. I don't know what you think about. I kind of feel like CJ Stroud is a bit of a loser too, because what have they done to help that offensive line that already had problems again last year and then they dealt their captain on the offensive line? I just, I have a hard time wrapping my mind around that. So I'm a little concerned about CJ Stroud. I don't know what the rest of the guys think, but that, to me, is another loser so far. And, you know, I think one that we're not thinking enough about necessarily, because we get so caught up in all the fantasy weapons and we don't spend enough time sometimes just thinking about what the offensive lines, the protections look like. But, you know, on the inverse of that, I do like what Chicago's starting to do to starting to put some better pieces around Caleb Williams on that offensive line. And I'm fascinated to see what kind of draft.

[Adam Azer]

They have a great point about C.J. stroud, Jamie, because that line was a huge problem. They. They dealt Laramie Tunsil to Washington. They also dealt left guard Kenyon Green to Philadelphia for C.J. gardner Johnson. So that's a good call. Does it extend? They did add Christian Kirk, which is nice. But losing two offensive lineman, I love that. I hadn't thought about that. Does it affect Nico Collins at all in your rankings?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Not so much Nico, you know, and. And Joe's right. It's not. It hasn't been a great off season, you know, when you lose Stefan Diggs as of now. But even if he does resign, he could still miss the start of the season because of the ACL tear. We know Tank Dell may miss the entire season, you know, just coming off the knee injury that he sustained. And yes, Christian Kirk's a nice piece. The one thing that I think can be somewhat of a saving grace for CJ Stroud, which is a big hope, is that his offensive line was a disaster as a rookie and he was able to overcome it. Now you don't want to say, okay, well, he did it once. Why can't he go do it again? Because he had better protection, at least on paper, last year, and it didn't pan out. And so, you know, you take away Tunsil, that's huge. You take away Green, that's not great, you know, so they still have the draft to address it, and they tried to acquire, obviously, a lot of draft capital, you know, not necessarily so much for this year because they got four picks for Tunsil. Two of them are in 2026. So we'll see exactly what they do to upgrade the offensive line in the next, you know, version of. Of, you know, fix your team. But, yes, for right now, it hasn't been the ideal offseason for a guy that was one of the biggest busts last year, you know, guy that was drafted as a borderline top five quarterback and certainly did not finish in the top 12. So hasn't been great for him.

[Adam Azer]

Does anybody think that Chuba Hubbard is a loser with the Rico Dowdle signing?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yes.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah.

[Joe Pizzapia]

Yeah.

[Adam Azer]

All right, discuss.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I mean, this was a guy that was amazing last year, you know, and, you know, in doing at least my initial rankings, he was a borderline top tall running back, you know, and now you go and you add one of the better free agent running backs out there. Not a superstar, but, you know, a guy that had a pretty solid season for a Cowboys team that was, you know, disastrous when he was having his best success, you know. So we're right back to kind of where we were a year ago with, okay, Hubbard and somebody else, you know, Jonathan Brooks. Okay, when he comes back, what is he going to be? How much is he going to take away from what Hubbard was doing? Well, now we have that, you know, we have that with a guy that, you know, hopefully is hungry to prove himself. I don't really love the signing for him, clearly, because, you know, he had an opportunity to maybe go compete for a starting job, and who knows, maybe he beats out Chuba Hubbard. But the contract that they gave Hubbard last year doesn't suggest that at all. So it feels as if we go from, you know, featured back to committee. And I don't know if Hubbard's that good of a player to have to deal with, you know, losing playing time and losing touches. So he's still going to be a number two running back, but more on the back end as opposed to a top end guy, you know, in a borderline number one guy.

[Adam Azer]

For me, it was such a. What was it, one million? Three. One year? Three million. It was like the same contract.

[Dave Richard]

There's some incentives in there, too, but it's virtually the same deal that Dallas gave Javonte.

[Adam Azer]

Right. So does that, does that tell you anything? Does it mean that Dowdles just a backup like Miles, and they released Miles Sanders and they signed Rico Dowdle. Do you think he has a bigger role than what the very ineffective Miles Sanders had last year?

[Joe Pizzapia]

Dave?

[Dave Richard]

No. A bigger role than what Miles. Everybody is going to have a bigger role than what Miles Sanders had last year. So, yes, he will have a bigger role than that. I, I think it's a brilliant signing by Carolina because it's a buyer's market at running back and getting a good runner this cheap when they really shouldn't draft another runner. I'm sure they're hoping that Jonathan Brooks is ready to go by 2026, not 2025. So this is their 1B running back. I. I think they trust Chuba and will trust Chuba more in high value touch situations so near the goal line passing downs. Remember Rico Dowdle didn't play that much on third downs last year. They were using a their full back to play on third downs on passing downs for pass protection reasons. So I, I think Dowdle is going to be there to get around 10 carries a game or something like that. It's almost like you could say that Rico could be this year's Chuba. Last year when we were looking at Panthers running backs in the draft, everybody was taking Jonathan Brooks first and then couple of smart guys were saying Chuba hubbard in round 10 should be a really good pick. Could be the same thing here. I'm still obviously going to rank Chuba higher. I think Chuba's still a top 20 fantasy running back as of now. But no, not a top 12 guy. Knowing that Rico Dallas going to be there to take some work away from him. I just don't think it'll be work that is going to cost Chuba Hubbard a bunch of touchdowns or a bunch of catches or anything like that. I think Chuba's still going to be their guy.

[Adam Azer]

I'm going to get Joe's take on it. Sorry Joe, got to cut you off. I didn't get a break in here. We'll take a quick break, come back and hear from Joe on the Panthers running backs.

[Joe Pizzapia]

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[Adam Azer]

You wake up dreaming of McDonald's hash browns.

[Joe Pizzapia]

McDonald's breakfast comes first.

[Adam Azer]

All right everybody, welcome back to fantasy football Today. We're here with Joe Pizzapia of fantasy pros and I'm just going to get our draft results from a draft we did in February. Chuba Hubbard went in round four to a guy named Joe. Not you, but different Joe. He went ahead of Alvin Camara and ahead of Tony Pollard. This is kind of a like almost a dead zone at running back. Chuba like Joe, it was Joe Mixon and then six picks. Then Chuba Hubbard, Alvin Camara, but mostly wide receivers in this range. Do you think Chuba Hubbard deserves to be a top 48 pick at this point. Joe, that.

[Joe Pizzapia]

That's a struggle because I, I do think Dowdle will get enough that will take a little bit of the shine off Chuba. I, I will say it might also be the thing that keeps him healthy. So I think maybe long term it's good, but in terms of that weekly upside, it's going to cap it. I think, to a certain degree. I am, however, not nearly as theta complete about the return of Jonathan Brooks as Dave is. You don't get a lot of guys who have two ACL tears and come back and play football. I mean, it's just not something you have at the running back position. I want to say Thomas Davis was one of them, but like it's not something you get where you have the same player tear the same ACL twice. Like it's one thing to do the left and the right that we've kind of seen before, that happens sometimes, but to have it twice in the same guy, I just, I, I don't think we see Jonathan Brooks in the NFL and I. That's very sad. He's very talented player in college, but I'm not expecting that. And I think the Panthers aren't either, which is why you're kind of getting these signings. We're saying, all right, look, even though it's a really good running back class, as Dave pointed out, let's take the discount on Rico Dowdle. It's a smart move there. I think when you have a quarterback the size of Bryce Young, you want to run the football, you need to run the football. You want to take that pressure off of him. And I think that is important as well. So is he a top 48 player that I'm going to have to get back to you on right now? But he's a running back that I think is a low end. RV2, I think you still feel pretty good about because I do think Chuba showed you he could handle the load. He could handle all that. I know the end of the season kind of didn't go the way we wanted to, but at the same time, Rico is, I think, one of the more intriguing handcuffs because some of those deeper metrics do show you that he is capable. And I think it might be a better question to ask. Is it better to draft Chuba Hubbard where he's going to go, or is it better to draft Rico Dowdle late and just kind of hedge with him on your bench and see what happens?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

It is funny based on the money. Like why didn't Dallas just give that contract to Rico?

[Joe Pizzapia]

Because Dallas doesn't seem to give money to anybody. Do they Jamie? I mean have we seen like the.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

A little too much stack?

[Adam Azer]

Well, they obviously, unless you're a star, that's it, right?

[Joe Pizzapia]

You have to be a star in Dallas, otherwise you just don't matter. And unfortunately it shows every year, right. When the stars don't perform, what's left? And not enough depth to compete at the NFL level.

[Adam Azer]

Well, you don't know what, we don't know what the scenario was. Maybe Chuba had, I'm sorry, maybe Dowdle had a higher asking price and then as free agency went on he realized he couldn't get that anywhere and he settled for what he got. But he got the same more or less the same exact contract that Javante Williams got. So it is interesting if, if they, if the Cowboys knew that they were going to cost the same, then in that case they obviously chose Javante over Rico Dowdle. I, I don't think Rico Dowdle was a special running back. I don't know that.

[Joe Pizzapia]

I think the Cowboys look at the draft class too. I'm sure the guys will agree that it's a really strong running back draft class. You got the Hamptons, you got the Caleb Johns, you got all these guys like that. You know, you could find another running back here, you know, get that rookie contract. I think that's important too because as Jamie pointed out, you're paying Dak, you're paying some of these guys. The rookie contracts are a little bit more helpful sometimes in that scenario too. So I think they just look at the rookie class and there's probably enough value there in the second round for them that they feel good about the quarterback situation. That would be my guess. Oh, they're running back situation.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I will say just, just to counter Joe's point about Jonathan Brooks signing Rico Doddle to signing Rico Dowdle signing him to one year deal is hopefully a good sign that Brooks by 2026 can be. It's, it's still, I agree with you, still a stretch for him to come back and be anything close to what he was. But it's not like they invested in somebody else to be there with Juba for a long term. So drafting somebody would have been a nightmare. You know, getting a, you know, 27 year old free agent running back who was an undrafted rookie free agent, you know, so a guy that profiles more as a backup, you know, is certainly a better sign for Brooks long term future than it is for, you know, if they had just said, okay, he's done, forget it, we're going to go just invest in another player at that position in the draft.

[Adam Azer]

Okay. So is there anything else that we should talk about, guys? So we're talking about, you know, Mike Williams, back to the Chargers, even Josh Palmer. Like, could Josh Palmer as it stands right now be the number one wide receiver? Oh, no, I'm sorry. So he went to Buffalo. I don't know why I had him in New England. For some reason I thought you were.

[Dave Richard]

About to say could he be the number one wide receiver in Buffalo?

[Joe Pizzapia]

As a Patriot fan, I can tell you we don't have a number one wide receiver.

[Adam Azer]

Went to New England. Sorry, I got, got confused there. Yeah. Like I was going to talk about Quentin Johnston and maybe a bigger chance for him, but then they signed Mike Williams. Diami Brown of the Jaguars, man, I, I, I'm grasping for straws here. But Dave, is there anything that stands out to you that's fantasy relevant with these deeper.

[Dave Richard]

No, I don't know if you've named anybody that's going to be big on the radar for fantasy managers. I, I had a minute today in the car thinking about Valdez scantling reuniting with Clint Kubiak in Seattle. I remember how MVS ended last year in New Orleans. And if, if Seattle were to continue to stockpile fast receivers that take the top off a defense and just forces the safeties to play back, wouldn't that theoretically help JSN continue to get open for those shorter underneath throws and continue to rack up targets and be just an absolute PPR monster? In theory, in my mind that sounds really great. I don't know if that's how it's going to end up in Seattle, but, and I don't know how much we should really be thinking about Seattle's offense now with all the changes that they've made anyway. But that was one name that I don't think you mentioned that was interesting to me. The quarterbacks are interesting to me. Thinking about that Steelers run game and what that looks like right now.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dave Richard]

They added Kenny Gainwell and Jalen Warren is on the restricted tender. So he's effectively in a contract here if things kind of stay the way they are, and I would guess that they will. Jalen Warren is finally getting to the point that we were hoping for to be the lead Steelers running back. And which quarterback, which veteran old QB that's out there would be better for him between Russ and Rogers? I, I went and I checked this. Both of them have thrown Effectively at least 20% of their targets to running backs over the past four years, including Russ last year was at 24.5 to running backs in in Pittsburgh. So either of those veteran quarterbacks I think would be good for the targets or both Warren and Gainwell. But Warren stands out to me as somebody who could be a winner in all this. Remember, the Steelers traded a second round pick to get DK Metcalf, so that's one less pick. They have to go and get one of these rookie running backs. I'm real curious what the Steelers run game is going to look like and if they don't make changes to it, Warren's our guy. He might be a top 24 running back in full PPR.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

He is right now for me.

[Joe Pizzapia]

Yeah, I could definitely see that. I feel like the, the Steelers are. Remember when Billy Madison goes back to high school, when he pulls up there and the, the Trans Am, he's got the, the denim jacket, right? He's like, hey, I was so cool. Remember how cool I was? And then he realizes what era it is in the NFL now. Same thing like now you're in high school and you're not cool anymore. I feel like that's the Pittsburgh Steelers. They seem very rudderless and directionless and they, they really screwed the pooch. Last year they had a 25 year old quarterback who they could look at as we can, we could take this year, give him an entire season in the offense, see if he could be a franchise quarterback. They gave him six games. He was 4 and 2, nearly 5 and 1. He almost pulled that game in Indianapolis out of his hat and they replaced him with a 10 year old, 10 years older veteran in Russell Wilson faded at the end of the season and then basically are now sitting around still not having a quarterback. And if you don't have a quarterback, you don't have a chance in the NFL. And I just, I don't know what they're doing and this, the system that they're trying to continue to live in. Like, oh, remember when we were cool when we wore our REO Speedwagon jacket? Like that is not where you're at right now. It's 2025 and they feel like a team and an organization that's just behind in the thought process.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Guys, to me your team should go get George Pickens.

[Joe Pizzapia]

You know what? I don't hate it. I, I don't hate it at all. You know, Matthew Golden's the guy that I love in this draft class. But I, I loved him from September on. And I told Derek Brown, I was like, hey, when you go to the combine, remember, watch Matthew Golden. I think that's the dude. I love how good he is in the red zone area, too. But if, if again, so you bring in DK Metcalf, you trade that capital. Why not? Just the one thing the Steelers have been good at. Jamie has been drafting wide receivers. Yeah. Why don't you keep that draft capital, keep a rookie contract, trade Pickens, draft another wide receiver and figure out your quarterback situation. I don't know, man. They seem lost to me in the 49ers. Seem like a team that's on the precipice, too. That, my God, I feel like they're hanging on by a thread. It's all good hopes and wishes that everything works out well, that everybody's healthy. But my God, like, I feel like we are on the edge of the cliff with that team, too.

[Adam Azer]

Oh, that's an interesting one. So the 49ers have had a really bad week. They have lost so many players. Offensive line, defensive line. They lost their, arguably their best cornerback. It's, you know, it's not great. And then you got Ayuk coming off an injury. You have no more Debo Samuel. But I remember how I felt. I remember talking about the Ravens last year. The Ravens lost three offensive linemen. The Ravens lost a lot of players on defense, as I recall. Last year. There were some question marks, but as long as they have Lamar Jackson, they're amazing. And their offensive line pulled it together also. And I think that's kind of like the difference for me between the 49ers and the Steelers. The Steelers got to give a lot of credit. Like, Tomlin's obviously amazing, and they can always stay relevant. They can always stay in the playoff hunt. 49ers, though, just seem to maximize the talent of, like, everybody on offense. So I, I, I could see them having a really disappointing year, even though they just had one. But I, I believe in them. I feel like as long as Purdy's healthy, they'll be able to figure it out. But, yeah, it's been a bad, bad week for the 49ers. They, I don't know if that there's a team that's lost more than the Niners, you know, nothing comes online.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

No, they've, they've been gutted. I mean, it's, you know, and, and good locker room guys, too. I mean, you lose. Use check. That's a big part of, you know, their, their Culture, you know, if you buy into that stuff. But I do think defensively, you know, bringing Salah back is going to be big for them, you know, just because they kind of stabilize what they want to do on that side of the ball. Shanahan will still get, you know, I think the offense in the right direction, but I mean, look, it's, it's Jimmy's and Joe's. It's not always X's nose, you know, and so they got beat up very badly last year. McCaffrey, Trent Williams, IU, you know, they lost a lot of key pieces, you know, Pierce, all their first round pick, not playing until week seven. So they're asking a lot of older players, you know, Trent Williams to stay healthy and still be one of the best at what he does. McCaffrey to stay healthy and be one of the best at what he does. You know, those two guys didn't do it last year. We'll see. So when you have to pay your quarterback, this is what happens. And they have, you know, the time has come. It's time to play, to pay Brock Purdy. So hopefully he's their answer. You remember the storyline though, speaking of free agency. They want, you know, did Kyle Shanahan want Mac Jones and did the front office want Trey Lance?

[Adam Azer]

Right, right.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

And the front office one. And they got Trey Lance and now he's getting.

[Adam Azer]

Just some other notes here. Ty Johnson going back to the Bills. He's their third down back. And so that, you know, if you were hoping that James Cook would have more of a third down role, probably not gonna happen. He only had four catches last year. James Cook on third down, Khalil Herbert to the Colts. That could be an interesting handcuff there. And that's. That's about it, I think.

[Joe Pizzapia]

Speaking of the Colts, what did you guys think about the Daniel Jones situation there? Because I was just talking about this before he signed on one of our shows where I said they're going to bring somebody else to challenge Richardson. But I feel like Richardson's in a vicious cycle where he. I wish NFL Europe still existed. Like he could go get a ton of reps somewhere and just, you know, play spring football basically and then come in ready because I feel like he's a guy that just needs to play more, but he's never going to get that scenario. I feel like there's a lot of pressure on Shane Steichen and I feel like if Richardson doesn't perform to their expectations and make some sort of big leap year over year or show them in training camp that you might see Richardson on the outside looking at a Daniel Jones. You guys think that might be the case too?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

It definitely could be the case, you know, and you know, going to get a guy like Daniel Jones, they don't have to change their offense, you know, so if they had brought in, you know, more of a pocket passer, then it's like, okay, whoever wins the job, they may have to do some, you know, adjusting on the fly. I think though, you know, as a head coach yourself, Joe, you know, you don't, you don't want to bench your daughter, but you know, you bring in a quarterback maybe to compete with her and maybe Richardson gets some reps that way. You know, in, in the 12U black.

[Joe Pizzapia]

Football, that's a tough night at home. Boy, when you bench your kid, you're like, hey look, you gotta take the ball out of your hands. But no, it's a good point. It's a good point that they are, you know, Daniel Jones, I think people forget sometimes, like, yeah, he's a really mobile guy out there on the field.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I would have liked Daniel Jones personally to stay in Minnesota just to see what JJ McCarthy has or doesn't have and then, you know, does he have the Sam Darnold like resurgence of being with Kevin O'Connell and maybe showing something there at least to give them a veteran. Our, our esteemed producer is still hung up on Aaron Rodgers, which I don't understand.

[Adam Azer]

He didn't throw a single pass for Minnesota though. Like there's a difference, right? What?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

So what?

[Adam Azer]

So what? I mean, it matters. I'm going to say, I'm tell you right now, I'm very high on Anthony Richardson. I'm very high on him. He just needs to be semi competent at quarterback and he's going to be awesome for fantasy. And just like I said two days ago, man, watching the tape, that offense creates a lot of opportunities. I mean, I just couldn't even believe it, I think. And also just having to account for Anthony Richardson. There are guys wide open, he just has to hit them. And I think looking at the last five games after his benching, I think he played well enough, you know, and I'm, I'm very high on him.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

He obviously, I do like that he's spending the off season with Josh Allen and Josh Allen's throwing.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah, exactly.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

You know, so hopefully that translates to 5860 completion percentage. And if he does that, watch out as a fantasy quarterback.

[Adam Azer]

By the way, Josh Downs averaged 10.7 fantasy points per game in PPR with Anthony Richardson and 15.4 per game with Joe Flacco. So I. I hope Richardson wins the job because he's so fun for fantasy. I don't know that he's gonna be very good for any of his receivers. He just barely throws. He runs runs for touchdowns.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

He makes Alec Pierce a great best ball and DFS play.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah. Alec Pierce led the team in receiving last year. By the way, I think I have another trivia. Oh, I have another trivia question. What song was Billy Madison playing when he pulled up to high school?

[Joe Pizzapia]

Stroke.

[Dave Richard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Joe Pizzapia]

Billy Squire.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah, there you go.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

All right.

[Adam Azer]

Hey, you finally got one. I had to give you a layup, Joe.

[Joe Pizzapia]

Hey, I got the other one. I got Evan Ingram. I answered right. I got one of the two tight ends.

[Adam Azer]

I gave you, like, six hints for that one.

[Joe Pizzapia]

Well, I was right on it. I answered quickly on the interim one.

[Adam Azer]

You know my thought process. Yeah, yeah. All right. All right. Good job. And stroke. Yeah. All right. Let me read some emails.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Did you enjoy Juan Soto hitting a home run right at the guy that was taunting him?

[Joe Pizzapia]

Oh, it's such a good clip, man. It's so good. My favorite part of that is the turnaround stare.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah.

[Joe Pizzapia]

That he gave the guy first, where he's just looking. I was like, have you seen Juan Soto, man? I don't think that's a guy you want to get into, like, some sort of altercation with. I'm just saying, like, there's some guys, some baseball players, you know, you know, little fake tough guys. I don't think Juan Soto's a fake tough guy. I don't get that feeling from him at all. But it was a beautiful moment. Look, as a Mets fan, I know it's always going to end poorly. I taught myself last year to just enjoy the moment, and I enjoyed a lot of moments in the fall. It was a good time. I got. I got a question for all three of you. Would you rather be investing in one of these three rookie quarterbacks, or would you want to go out there with a Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers or a Kirk cousins in 2025?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Which team?

[Joe Pizzapia]

Any of the three needy teams left, because what do you have? You got Cleveland, you got Tennessee, you got Pittsburgh, Giants. I mean, Giants, Giants, two, four of them.

[Adam Azer]

Okay, my answer is I'd rather have Cam Ward followed by all of the veterans. I don't know about Cousins, but I'd go Cam Ward, Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers, Sanders, and then maybe. Who is the other? Oh, Cousins.

[Joe Pizzapia]

Yeah. Yeah. They got three veterans out There and then you got the three rookies basically.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

So it's third rookie I think I am.

[Joe Pizzapia]

I mean I, I, my, my comp to him. Again, this is probably more for the folks who enjoy the REO Speedwagon reference earlier. My comp for him was Jeff Garcia. That is who Jackson Dart reminds me of. A guy who is much quicker than you realize. Not afraid of contact when he's out and running. If you watch the tape on the two of them and I went back and I did some more of this too. The way that Jackson Dart really kind of pushed everything into every throw and you see him kind of on that front foot so much. To me there was so much like Jeff Garcia in there. And Jeff Garcia was a guy that kind of snuck up on a lot of people but had a lot of success in the NFL and some good 49er teams in that post Steve Young era. If he could have a career like Jeff Garcia, like you can go win with that kind of quarter, especially in this style of the NFL. I don't know what your comp is for Dart, but that's mine.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

It's pretty good.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah, I have a beef with that because Dave, you remember.

[Dave Richard]

Oh yeah. Jeff Garcia doesn't hold the door open.

[Adam Azer]

Jeff Garcia, man. Dave and I were walking into the Convention center in 2020 for the super bowl and Jeff Garcia had a great opportunity to hold the door for us. It was not one of those like going to have to wait 10 seconds for. It was probably a 2 to 3 second holding of the door and he didn't even consider it. He just kept on going.

[Joe Pizzapia]

Were you tough on him in the past on some shows or you taking some shots?

[Adam Azer]

If I had been, he would have had no idea the anonymity that I have. But yeah, no, he could have held the door. He could have held the door. And if Jackson Dart is really like that, then I wouldn't want Jackson Dart on my team either.

[Joe Pizzapia]

Well, I don't know about his door handling skills. I'm just looking at the quarterback profile and to me that's the guy that I think kind of comps the best and another one too that just was not on people's radars. They didn't see Jeff Garcia coming. And as a guy that had some pretty darn good seasons and won a lot of games in a good system.

[Adam Azer]

And Jamie, if I recall, wasn't I really especially horrible at holding doors for people? Like when we would go to lunch?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Oh, you're the worst.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah, I have really, I've gotten a Lot better. But I was really bad at that actually.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

But the guy holding doors, looking through doors, it's just one of your things.

[Adam Azer]

Oh, all right. Some emails real quick. This is from Scott. This was addressed to me. Scott said, adam, baked burgers are legit. They're better tasting and less carcinogenic than grilled burgers. Thanks for turning me onto them, Scott. I don't bake my burgers anymore. They're horrible. I now have an air fryer and I do that. So you gotta, you gotta move on, make burgers suck.

[Joe Pizzapia]

Everyone fried the burger. How's that work? Has that, is that coming out?

[Adam Azer]

I don't have a grill, but okay. Air frying is much better than the stove and better than the oven too. Yeah, it's good.

[Joe Pizzapia]

I've never done that for burgers. I air fried eggplant the other day for the first time because, you know, I gotta get, I'm getting older now, you know, you gotta watch your cholesterol, the other things. So I'm trying to get away from like the regular frying which as an Italian it's kind of hard to do, you know. But I, I, the air fried eggplant was pretty good. So I'm curious about the burger now.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah, no, I did it last night. I air fried burgers. It's very good. Air frying is amazing. This is a great comment here from Joey. Where is it? Joey, where are you? Where'd you comment go? Adam? It says Adam Azer is the anti hodor. All right, this question's from Rob. 10 team Super Flex PPR Dynasty League. And yes, you will probably hear this on the Dynasty show as well. You can have a maximum of four quarterbacks on your roster. I currently have Lamar Jackson, Jaden Daniels, Jordan Love and Matthew Stafford going into the rookie draft. I don't have a first round pick. I'd like to acquire one or an early to mid second round pick. I believe Jordan Love is worth a first round pick and a player and Stafford is worth a second round pick and a player. Am I missing something or do I have unrealistic values in a 10 team super flex dynasty league?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I don't know if they're worth pick and player. They're certainly worth the picks that you've set out to acquire for them. Because 10 team leagues there's going to be so much talent available. So if you get a first round pick for Jordan Love, I would look to explore that option.

[Dave Richard]

I'm thinking when you say player that you're talking about somebody that just like kind of kicked into the deal and not like a premier player or even like a good player. So if it's somebody like that on top of the draft pick, I'm good with it. And I think you've got it nailed.

[Joe Pizzapia]

I would agree that it's depending on the player you're also asking for. Especially I think right now you have so much uncertainty of the quarterback position. Right. Because it's not a great quarterback class. I think anybody's looking at it right now. If you need quarterback help, you're either taking, taking darts on some of these kids or you're looking at some of these veterans like the cousins and guys like that and Rogers. I don't think you want that. I'd rather have Geor Love for a first round pick and move on. And by the way, I see Michael's comments in the chat. Air frying eggplant is fine. You just got to make sure you're using the right stuff. It's not soggy at all actually. You do it with the buttermilk and then you do it with the breadcrumbs and then you put it in there with the spray olive oil and you just flip it 10 minutes in. Run that 10 minutes. Much better than you think. Very crispy, not soggy. The opposite of soggy.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah. And air frying it with buttermilk definitely sounds like someone who's trying to watch us.

[Joe Pizzapia]

Cholesterol better than the eggs. It's lower in the saturated fats. I learned that, I learned that this month.

[Adam Azer]

Okay, I stay corrected. This is Will in Rhode Island. I have an offer for my second round pick which is 2.8 in a 10 team super flex dynasty league for Isaiah Pacheco. I have Javante, Williams, Achan and Mixon. But I'm on the fence because I feel like the Chiefs will bring someone in. So this is the 18th pick in a 10 team Super Flex dynasty league. Would you rather have the 18th pick or Isaiah Pacheco?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

So.

[Dave Richard]

This guy's pretty good at running back with a Chan and Mixon, at least for now, if the rest of the team is, is ready to compete. Now maybe I make this deal just to have the depth, but if you're not competing, if you don't think you're, you've got a shot to win at all. I keep the pick.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

If Pacheco's back, this is a steal.

[Dave Richard]

Well, of course.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

So you gotta, you gotta take that gamble of, you know, how, how confident are you in his health? And if you're talking about what the Chiefs plan to do. They may have already done it with just Elijah Mitchell. I mean, you know, they have so many holes to fill on their offensive line, on their defense. Wouldn't be surprising if they don't take a running back, especially in their history. I would.

[Joe Pizzapia]

I would take the pick. I like Pacheco a lot. I love the kid too. He's a local guy here. Rutgers kid, about 20 minutes for me. Great kid, great competitor. But the word if that Jamie just attached to him, I feel like is always around there. Well, if he stays healthy or if he comes back or if, if. And with Andy Reid, I just feel like they're always looking for some amalgamation of running backs and they're just willing to move guys in and out and in fantasy, that's just crushing. And I don't see a lot of touchdown equity for Pacheco. That's the other thing too. It's like, if you're not getting the volume, at least give me the touchdowns. If you're iffy on both, I think I'd rather have the pick and see what I could turn it into.

[Dave Richard]

Does it change your mind knowing that Pacheco is entering a contract here?

[Joe Pizzapia]

No, I wish it did. I wish it made me more interested because theoretically what we see is, right, well, let's burn them and churn them. Right? But I just don't know if I'm sold that that's the chief's way of doing things necessarily. I think they're more apt to just kind of, you know, it's more like looking for the next guy as opposed to looking to use him up. Does that make sense? Like, yeah.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah.

[Dave Richard]

Oh, definitely. All right, so, like, there's two ways of looking at that. And which way do you think is more likely? Your way, which is get what you can out of them this year and then move on or he's going to be motivated to have the best year of his life because he knows he can get paid after. Let's have Pacheco on the roster this year, on our. On our dynasty rosters to try and take advantage of that. And I think the. The telltale sign will be what they do at running back the rest of the off season, because you could. It would not be shocking at all to see Kansas City draft another running back knowing that Pacheco could have a foot out the door after this year. If he's not an excellent running back this year, I don't see how they resign him at all.

[Joe Pizzapia]

Dynasty wasted. But like, if they don't buy the dynasty, okay, where does Pacheco go next year, right?

[Dave Richard]

Yeah, it'll be old.

[Joe Pizzapia]

I think I'd rather have the pick and rather rest of the guy who's coming into Kansas City as opposed to the guy who's going out to Kansas City and I don't know, 18.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

In a super flex league. You could find Bucky Irving.

[Adam Azer]

Well, okay, hold on. You could find Bucky Irving. You could also find Marshawn Lloyd, Blake Corum, Jalen Wright, Xavier Legate Adonai Mitchell, Malachi Corley, Jermaine Burton, Jalen Polk.

[Dave Richard]

Yeah, but most of those guys we can't write off yet.

[Adam Azer]

No, we can't write them off.

[Dave Richard]

But I still happy to have those guys on my.

[Joe Pizzapia]

Yeah, you can't write nothing.

[Adam Azer]

Nothing last year like Pacheco could have, you know, could give you something this year.

[Joe Pizzapia]

This is a significantly better running back class though than last year.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah, but you also could find, you also could find Pacheco who was, you know, right. A third, fourth, fifth round pick.

[Adam Azer]

Here's the thing. Yeah, it is a better running back class for sure. It's a much worse quarterback class and it's a much worse wide receiver class. So.

[Joe Pizzapia]

So.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Well, in the first 18 picks of a super flex league, even a 10 team league, the top three quarterbacks are going to be gone.

[Joe Pizzapia]

Agreed.

[Adam Azer]

All right, so how many.

[Joe Pizzapia]

Somebody gets talked up enough like you and I all know that. We all know this, somebody's gonna get talked up too much. Somebody's gonna end up entering some weird conversation they shouldn't and then people are gonna bite on there too.

[Adam Azer]

But last year we had six quarterbacks in our Dynasty League. Six quarterbacks go in the first 17 picks, including five quarterbacks in the first 10 picks. So I don't know, but I would, I would take. I think it's a very close call. I think we all think it's fairly close.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I think if you can get maybe Pacheco and a third and you're giving up a second, maybe a fourth, you know, something along those lines.

[Adam Azer]

All right. All right. Well, Joe, thank you for coming on.

[Joe Pizzapia]

Oh, well, my pleasure, man. It's always great to hang out with you guys, talk a little football. Fun chat going on here too. So I can't wait to see where the rest of the quarterback chips fall. I don't know where you guys think Rogers is going, but. But I say podcast. I think that's where he lands. He lands doing a podcast at some point.

[Adam Azer]

Yeah, I think that's definitely in his future. All right, folks, thank you so much. Joe Pizza Pia at Joe Pizzapia 17 on I'm still not going to call it X. I'm going to call it Twitter.

[Joe Pizzapia]

Good for you.

[Adam Azer]

We will talk to you on Monday with another edition of Fantasy football.

[Joe Pizzapia]

Paramount Podcasts.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Have no fear.

[Adam Azer]

March Madness is here. Who could take home the national title?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Will it be ucla or maybe Notre Dame?

[Joe Pizzapia]

It's anyone's game, and we need to Talk now has got you covered. I'm Alicia J. Certified tall girl, social media manager and reporter for we need to Talk.

[Adam Azer]

And I'm Ashley Nicole Moss, basketball analysts and CBS Sports hosts.

[Joe Pizzapia]

Together, we're bringing you all the storylines that you need to know around women's sports and women in sports. Each week on we need to Talk Now. Make sure you download and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts.