Episode Transcript
Transcripts are displayed as originally observed. Some content, including advertisements may have changed.
Use Ctrl + F to search
0:00
Get the champagne ready. The NBA
0:02
Finals are here. Welcome to the
0:04
NBA Finals. Let's raise our glasses
0:06
and our rings to the two
0:08
phenomenal teams left standing. My
0:11
goodness! Here's to high stakes action, to
0:13
thrilling moments we can't miss. He
0:15
times the game and the buzzer! And
0:17
to crowning our next champion. Here's
0:20
a toast to the NBA Finals.
0:22
Bang! Bang! The
0:24
2024 NBA Finals, presented
0:26
by U2 TV, continue
0:28
on ABC. Robert
0:30
Half research indicates 9 out of
0:33
10 hiring managers are having difficulty
0:35
hiring. If you have open
0:37
roles, chances are you're feeling this too. That's
0:40
why you need Robert Half. Our specialized
0:42
recruiting professionals engage with our
0:44
proprietary AI to connect businesses
0:46
of all sizes with highly
0:48
skilled talent in finance and
0:50
accounting, technology, marketing and creative,
0:53
legal, and administrative and customer
0:55
support. At Robert Half,
0:57
we know talent. Visit roberthalf.com
0:59
today. This
1:05
is fantasy football today from CBS
1:07
Sports. What a play! Can you
1:09
believe this? Can I know it again? It's
1:13
time to dominate your fantasy league. Off
1:15
to the races! And he
1:17
stays at his feet! He's just gonna go
1:19
the distance! Now here's some combination of Adam,
1:21
Dave, Jamie and Heath. Okay,
1:26
you've got a big decision to make
1:28
in round two or three. You wanna take
1:30
a running back? But you're having trouble deciding
1:32
who do I take? James Cook, Isaiah Pacheco,
1:35
Alvin Kamara. Actually, it's a whole list that
1:37
we're going through in the consensus ranking, similar
1:39
to what we did last week. But this
1:41
is nine through 17. And
1:44
Jamie, Dave's here as well. But Jamie, last week
1:46
you and I did that show with the wide
1:48
receiver rankings. It was your rankings, not consensus. And
1:51
it was 10 through 18, I
1:53
believe. And it was
1:55
Olave, London, Waddle, Pittman,
1:58
Adams, Evans. Uke, Nico
2:01
Collins, Deebo Samuel. And I thought what
2:03
was so unique about that group is
2:05
really you could see them going in any order,
2:08
right? Some people could be a big Iuke fan,
2:10
they could take them ahead of Chris
2:12
Olave or whatever. This, I don't know
2:14
if you feel that way about this group, but
2:17
this is the group like after Barkley, Kyron
2:19
Williams, and ETN. Probably a little bit
2:21
more question marks here. And the consensus rankings
2:24
are Rashad White, James
2:26
Cook, Isaiah Pacheco, Josh
2:29
Jacobs, Joe Mixon, Derek
2:32
Henry, Alvin Camara,
2:34
Devonne Achan, Ken Walker.
2:37
Do you think that group is completely
2:39
interchangeable or do you think there are
2:41
tears there? I
2:44
think they're somewhat
2:47
interchangeable. Somewhat
2:51
interchangeable? Okay. Yeah, I
2:53
mean like that group
2:56
is I think pretty much locked
2:58
in. Like you could make cases
3:00
for potentially Montgomery, potentially Zamir White.
3:02
You know, if Jonathan Brooks
3:04
is 100% healthy, maybe he jumps into this
3:06
group. You
3:09
know, if something were let's say to
3:12
happen to, you know, the
3:14
Cardinals don't love Trey Bentz and James Conner creeps back
3:16
into this range, you know, something like that, but or
3:18
vice versa, injury to one of those guys. So,
3:21
but I think those are the
3:23
running backs that you're talking about for sure, you
3:25
know, in this range. And
3:27
where they go is probably
3:30
just the biggest, you know, determining factor.
3:32
But like you said, you know, it comes down to I
3:34
think personal preference. Like, you
3:37
know, I'm getting a little bit more concerned about,
3:41
you know, Josh Jacobs, for example, by
3:43
comparison to a couple of other guys in this group.
3:46
Dave, could you see how many
3:49
of these guys could you see going late in the second
3:51
round? So just give me a yes or no. Could you
3:53
see these guys going in the second round Rashad White? In
3:57
PPR? Yes. James Cook. No.
4:01
Really? Okay. No. Pacheco.
4:06
Yeah, I think he could. Jacobs.
4:09
Yeah. Mixing. I disagree
4:11
with Jamie. I mean, I'm curious to hear Jamie's thoughts on
4:13
Jacobs and what he sees, and I'll give
4:15
you my research on Jacobs. Who'd you say? Mixing.
4:19
No, not round two. I'm not
4:21
asking about you. I'm asking, do you think
4:23
people would take him there? No, not round
4:25
two. And you're still a no on James
4:27
Cook? Correct. Okay.
4:31
Derek Henry. Non PPR. Yes.
4:34
Half PPR. Full PPR. Maybe
4:36
in half PPR. Camara.
4:39
Nope. H-N. Not
4:41
round two. H-N. You got to
4:43
say yes on H-N because his ADP is- I do have to say yes on H-N.
4:47
Ken Walker. No. Okay.
4:51
All right. So let's get to it. Give me
4:53
a running back in this range, 9 through 17
4:55
in the consensus rankings, Jamie, that you find yourself
4:57
drafting a lot. James
5:00
Cook. And you're cool with him
5:02
in round two? Very much so. All
5:05
right. Let's get about it. Let's hear about it.
5:07
Yeah, yeah. Go ahead. Go
5:10
ahead. I mean, we talked about this previously. I did
5:12
this for our bold predictions for the magazine. So I
5:14
think he's going to have a chance to lead running
5:16
backs and receptions this year. I'll
5:18
Azur stat it for you. So if you take out the
5:20
game where he didn't get a target, now, it's not because
5:23
of injury or anything else. I'm just doing it
5:25
for fun. But if you take out the game where you didn't get a target,
5:27
which is a little weird, in week 16, match up against the Chargers in
5:30
the nine games with Joe Brady was on pace for 60
5:32
catches. Now they just lost over
5:34
200 targets and over 120. What was it?
5:38
Receptions, 150, two receptions and
5:40
241 targets with Gabe Davis and Staphon Diggs. I'll
5:47
say that the right way with Staphon Diggs and Gabe Davis
5:49
gone. That
5:52
you're looking at this receiving core and there's a
5:54
lot to prove. And so I think what Joe Brady
5:56
will do is just give James Cook an opportunity to
5:58
catch more passes. And so we'll he. get to 76
6:00
or 77 like you know, Breece Hall and and
6:02
Alvin Kamara were a year ago, probably not but you
6:05
know, just having some fun with it. But
6:07
in any event, in the nine games, he
6:09
was on pace for 52 catches. I'm
6:12
sorry, in the nine games, yes, he was on pace for 52 catches.
6:15
Take out that game, he was on pace for 60 catches. And
6:18
I think that's going to be a huge part of
6:21
huge asset for him, on top of the fact that
6:23
I think he'll score more than six total touchdowns, certainly
6:25
more than two rushing touchdowns. So I
6:27
like the setup for James Cook quite a bit. Dave,
6:30
why are you would know on cooking round two? I'm
6:33
just going to go on the track record of
6:35
Buffalo Bills running back since Josh Allen has come
6:38
to power at quarterback for them. And
6:40
just every year, we get
6:42
enamored with a bills running back and
6:46
it was kind of easier to be okay
6:48
with the bills running back before this year
6:50
because the draft capital wasn't very high. James
6:52
Cook last year, where were we taking him
6:54
four or five somewhere in that range? I
6:56
felt like that wasn't too high to take the chance
6:59
on James Cook, knowing that things could go wrong. And
7:01
for the first half of the year, things definitely weren't
7:03
great for James Cook in the second half of the
7:05
year. He did well, the
7:07
offensive coordinator changed man, he got a ton more
7:09
work. But then he tailed off at the end
7:11
of the year. And it just makes
7:13
me nervous to be that
7:15
all in on a bills running back,
7:18
even when as talented as James Cook, I
7:21
don't care about them drafting Ray Davis. I know
7:23
someone else is going to be there, whether it's
7:25
Davis or Ty Johnson to take away some work
7:27
that shouldn't stop you. What stops me is that
7:29
Josh Allen dominates in the red zone, he gets
7:31
tons of touchdowns on the ground there. And
7:34
he's going to continue to throw the ball to
7:36
everybody. It's not going to be just James Cook,
7:38
the types of targets that are missing from that
7:40
offense. Gabe Davis is an example, that's deep shots.
7:42
Those are downfield. I don't think James Cook is
7:44
going to get a lot of those. Stefan Diggs
7:46
was working the intermediate area, the shorter he worked
7:48
everywhere. How many of those targets is James Cook
7:50
going to get? I get
7:52
where you're coming from. And I think he's going to
7:54
be good. I just don't think he's going to be
7:56
around too good. It's too close to his ceiling for
7:59
me. Okay,
8:01
so how about a who was the player day
8:03
that you draft a lot? It's
8:06
Jacob's and it's it's because of where
8:08
he's ended up and I really like
8:10
where he's ended up and the potential
8:12
that he has. And what
8:15
we've seen from him not last year because I think we
8:17
can all agree that last year was
8:19
kind of a mess for him. But
8:21
I think moving forward, he's got a
8:23
chance to be the not
8:25
just the lead back in Green Bay. It's
8:28
obvious, but I think he's going to get a lot of
8:30
work. He got over 20 touches a game last year when
8:32
he was healthy in Las Vegas. This is
8:34
one of my favorite sets. I shared this with you,
8:36
Adam. I want to share it with everybody, including Jamie.
8:39
LeFlore's coach for five years in Green Bay,
8:41
83 regular season games, 67 of
8:43
those 83 regular season games,
8:46
at least one running back, at least one
8:48
has had at least 15 touches in a
8:51
game. Last year when Jacob's had 15
8:53
touches that happened to 11 games, he averaged 15.1 PPR points,
8:57
15.1 is okay. The year before was the breakout
8:59
year, the contract year for Jacob's, 15 games
9:02
with 15 plus touches, 20.8 PPR points per
9:04
game. This is
9:06
a better offense that he's in compared to what he
9:08
was in in Las Vegas. I think the opportunities are
9:11
not going to shrink form. The track record is what
9:13
it is with LeFlore. I think the offensive line is
9:15
an upgrade form as well. And he's not going to
9:17
be holding out going into training
9:19
camp. He won't miss a chunk of training camp. Hopefully,
9:22
fingers crossed, he stays healthy in the early going.
9:24
The 26 year old Jacob's can go back to
9:26
being 15 plus PPR points with
9:29
higher upside than almost any running back
9:31
that we will talk about on today's
9:33
show. I just don't see in the passing
9:35
game, that's the problem. I think they're going to use Lloyd and then
9:37
they're going to use Dylan too much. It
9:39
just feels like a passing game. No, no, no, no, no, they're going
9:41
to use Lloyd in the passing game. They're going to use Dylan, I
9:44
still think too much. They're going to use Lloyd in the passing game.
9:46
Yeah. That's interesting. Yeah, I think
9:48
they will. Well,
9:50
Josh Jacobs in his career, I think he
9:52
has nine catches on third down. So
9:55
again, this is another guy that stays
9:58
on the field so much like Mixon. where
10:00
it doesn't have to be a third down back. It's just
10:02
a matter of is Jordan Love going to throw to him
10:04
on first and second down. So how
10:06
many catches are we thinking? That's where you
10:08
guys disagree. How many catches are we thinking for Jacobs? Well
10:13
last year, what did he average? I'm looking at it
10:15
right now. 37 and 13 games. 2.3
10:18
catches per game. It's actually one of
10:20
the lowest catch per game averages and only
10:22
three targets per game. That's not
10:24
true. That's what he average. I said one
10:26
of the lowest of the guys that we're going to talk
10:29
about today. No, I think he averaged more catches in that
10:31
unless I have the wrong stats for him. I'm looking. Oh
10:33
no, that's at the end of the year. Three catches per
10:35
game. I had a filter on for James Cook. That's my
10:37
bad. What do you see? Three catches
10:40
per game. I would take that in a heartbeat. That's
10:42
50 catches if he stays healthy. Let's put it
10:44
at 48. So that way he's just shy of it.
10:47
That sets a realistic expectation. And just the
10:49
reason why I was surprised by what you said about Marshawn Lloyd at
10:51
USC, 34
10:54
catches in three seasons, Jamie. That's
10:56
not an established part of his game.
11:00
I expect him to be more involved in the
11:02
passing game because I don't think that Jacobs is
11:04
going to be the primary pass catcher. That's
11:08
interesting. I'd say 35 catches
11:11
is realistic for him.
11:13
Man this is I mean it's really fun that
11:15
you guys disagree so much on those two players,
11:18
you know, if you're on the clock. I'm drafting
11:20
Josh Jacobs. I'm not taking him in round two
11:22
and I'd rather have James Cook. You'd
11:24
rather have James Cook. I'd rather have Jacobs. I'll
11:26
take Jacobs in round three. I'll take Jacobs in round three.
11:28
Jacobs in round three? No. Late
11:31
round three. And
11:33
that's how I feel about Cook. We're going
11:35
to differ by about a round on those
11:37
two guys. You'll take Cook and I get
11:39
it with the catches. Yes, James Cook will
11:41
have more catches than Josh Jacobs. I think
11:43
if Jacobs stays healthy, he'll have more touches,
11:45
more total yards, more touchdowns. Jacobs
11:48
has been a top 15 running
11:51
back per game in full PPR in four
11:53
or five seasons. He's been top 17 in
11:55
all five seasons. 17 was his
11:57
lowest finish in full PPR. That was last year.
12:00
per game. Last year was terrible for Jacobs. He
12:02
held out. He got off to a really bad
12:04
start. He wasn't, truthfully, he wasn't that much better
12:06
after he just got a lot more work. But
12:09
you know, he's an interesting per
12:12
carry guy. He's had three years where he's been
12:14
really bad per car, you know, not good per
12:16
carry, two years where he's been fantastic. But
12:19
he's never had competition. He's just
12:21
never, ever had competition. He's
12:23
been on pace for like over 300 carries, I
12:25
think, in four or five seasons. We've never seen
12:27
that from a Packers running back. Will they use
12:30
him differently than Aaron Jones? We will
12:32
find out. And I guess we'll get
12:34
further into those guys in a little bit. I gotta take a break.
12:36
I'm gonna ask you who you're avoiding
12:38
in this range. Got a couple of news
12:40
items. Got a funny comment from Apple podcasts,
12:42
and we'll be right back on fantasy football
12:44
today. Exclusively on Paramount
12:46
Plus, Cindy, Cindy, Cindy, Cindy,
12:49
Cindy Lauper, catch the new documentary
12:51
critics are calling a revelation. She's gonna
12:53
fight the fight as Cindy Lauper reveals
12:55
in her own words, the inspiration binds
12:57
her biggest hits. If you do what
13:00
you love, magic, see what
13:02
shaped music's most authentic superstar when you're
13:04
that different, you view other people as
13:06
having a problem. Catch Cindy Lauper, let
13:08
the canary sing new documentary now streaming
13:10
exclusively on Paramount Plus, go to Paramount
13:12
Plus com to try it for free
13:14
in terms of life. You
13:16
can now relive the best moments of the UEFA
13:18
Champions League 24 seven.
13:20
The UEFA Champions League channels a
13:22
new 24 hour streaming channel serving
13:25
nonstop goals, highlights and full
13:27
match replays from the world's most
13:29
prestigious club competition. Reminisce on
13:32
your favorite moments, legendary players and
13:34
brilliant goals with the UEFA Champions
13:36
League channel streaming around the clock
13:38
on Pluto TV, the CBS Sports
13:40
app and streaming on Paramount Plus.
13:46
Okay, so welcome back to the show, everybody.
13:48
So who's a running back in this range?
13:50
And again, I'll give the the names. They
13:53
are James Cook. Oh, I'll
13:55
give them an order in the consensus rankings. I have
13:57
about 1000 tabs open now. So give me one second
13:59
here. here. Rashad white, James
14:02
Cook, Isaiah Pacheco, Josh
14:04
Jacobs, Joe Mixon, Derek Henry,
14:06
Alvin Camara and Devon Achan.
14:10
Dave, who's a player that you typically avoid in this?
14:12
I guess it's James Cook. No,
14:14
I've got two running backs that are ranked even lower
14:16
than Cook. And so I
14:19
would, I would prefer Cook over
14:21
Mixon and Ken Walker. Okay. Mixon
14:23
and Ken Walker. How about you, Jamie? Who
14:26
I avoid? Probably Achan, especially as cost. Okay.
14:29
All right. We'll get into all these guys. My
14:32
heart is beating
14:35
like a drum right now. I, the,
14:39
the angst,
14:42
the nervousness, the, I just made a dynasty trade.
14:44
I just moved up from seven to four in
14:47
our big draft and I
14:49
am on the clock. Okay. I gave up to Heath.
14:51
He's a, he's a, he's
14:54
had the fourth pick. He has a terrible
14:56
quarterback situation in our super flex league. He
14:58
has, what did I say? Justin
15:00
Fields, Ryan Tannehill and
15:02
Aiden O'Connell. So he really
15:04
wanted Minshew. So I, I had
15:07
the seventh pick. He had the fourth pick. I
15:09
gave him Trey McBride. Let
15:12
me just make sure I have the pick, the terms right
15:14
here. Okay. I see it. Trey
15:17
McBride, my first
15:19
round pick and
15:22
what, and Minshew. Yeah. Right. He
15:24
moved seven to four and Minshew
15:28
for the fourth pick and the 23rd pick. And
15:31
I'm taking neighbors. Oh, you got the 23rd pick
15:33
out of it too. Yeah. Not
15:36
bad, right? I
15:38
like it. Oh man. And
15:40
now you're going to get your guy. Yeah. I just
15:42
really want to believe favors. I'm so excited about that.
15:45
News and notes, Ramon Dre Stevenson is slimmer. He
15:47
has slimmed down. They're hoping for more explosive plays
15:49
from him. They really seem to like Ramon Dre
15:51
Stevenson. He appears to be closing in on a
15:53
contract extension. He's not part of today's show, but
15:56
we will talk about him at some point soon.
15:58
And Mike Tomlin signed a three year contract. extension
16:00
through 2027. Okay, let's get
16:03
back to this discussion here. Running back rankings, consensus
16:06
9 through 17. So James Cook, I
16:09
don't know if there's anything more we need to say about
16:11
here. Pros and cons, you
16:13
know, I think it's pretty straightforward, right? He's
16:15
definitely the guy, you know, he's
16:17
the main guy. The question is, is he
16:19
gonna be the goal line guy? They used
16:22
Latavius Murray there last year.
16:24
Are they really gonna use Ray Davis there?
16:26
Because I will say this guys about James
16:28
Cook. The cons
16:30
are obvious. It's that what Dave said, Josh
16:33
Allen always steals all the touchdowns. But
16:36
if they just give him Latavius
16:38
Murray's role, then he could
16:40
have a 10 total touchdown type of
16:42
season, you know? I'm not saying he'll
16:44
have 10 rushing touchdowns, but he just
16:46
needs to be, you know,
16:48
getting most of the goal line running back
16:50
work. Even if Josh Allen has that role,
16:53
Dave, then I still think there's enough to
16:55
go around unless they give it to other
16:57
guys. But if they just say, all right,
16:59
it's gonna be Josh Allen and James Cook
17:01
getting like 90% of the goal line running
17:03
back of goal line rushes, I
17:05
think he'll be fine then. What do you think
17:07
about that? Well, you had
17:10
the stat on a show recently, I
17:12
guess it was two weeks ago, where
17:15
the bills have had like 26 goal
17:18
to go carries. No, it's 27
17:20
touchdowns over the last six
17:23
years from the inside. I think the five
17:25
yard line from running back, which is what's
17:27
going to fell is is
17:29
James Cook, the type of running
17:31
back to make them change their
17:33
philosophy, but it's but they actually
17:36
had the eighth most running
17:38
back carries from like the five yard
17:40
line or closer last year, believe
17:43
it or not. Look, have a
17:45
very few. I don't know. Four or
17:47
something was it was mostly like you're
17:50
hoping for something to happen that this
17:52
coaching staff with two different offensive coordinators
17:54
have viewed, you know, the same
17:57
way they look at James Cook and
17:59
they say, awesome. running back great game breaker,
18:01
awesome pass catcher out of the backfield, and
18:03
maybe not somebody that we want to get beat up near
18:05
the goal line. And that's where
18:08
somebody like Ray Davis, who has a body
18:10
similar to Latavius Murray, physical dude, I've stood
18:12
next to Ray Davis, he was at the
18:14
senior bowl, that's a guy who could get
18:16
it done. They've got a quarterback who's an
18:18
absolute hoss in Josh Allen, he's gotten it
18:20
done. I know that. So that's, it's one
18:22
area that really makes me nervous about Cook
18:25
on a team that's had
18:27
such inconsistent production from running
18:29
backs over those six years
18:31
that you're talking about. And that's
18:33
just, it makes me a little bit nervous to
18:36
trust Cook beyond the catches, because the
18:39
catches will be there. 50 plus, no
18:41
problem. 60 plus, yeah. But
18:43
I just, I worry about the
18:45
rest of Cook's game to
18:48
carry him as a second round pick in
18:50
fantasy. Well, I mean, we spent the
18:52
entire show yesterday talking about regression and Josh Allen was a
18:54
big part of that and coming down from his 15 touchdowns
18:56
to where he usually is, which is around
18:58
eight. And so does that go to a rookie running back
19:00
or does that go a couple, if
19:03
not maybe closer to five to James
19:06
Cook? And if he gets that, he's
19:09
well worth a round two pick. Five
19:11
rushing touchdowns. And
19:13
then what did he have last year? He had
19:16
four receiving touchdowns and that's probably unrealistic, but if
19:19
he's eight plus touchdowns, plus the reception total,
19:21
he's gonna be well worth a round two pick. What kind of
19:23
total yardage are we looking, what was he on pace for from
19:25
week 11 on? Last year
19:27
was 1500 total yards. Well,
19:31
let me give you this. Let
19:33
me compare Pacheco and Cook and
19:35
their best stretches. Their best stretches.
19:38
So this is like the Joe Brady, I'll just give you
19:40
Cook for now. All right, Cook
19:42
with Joe Brady, that's nine games, including the
19:45
postseason. He was on pace for
19:47
342 touches, 53 catches, just
19:51
short of 1700 total yards and
19:56
eight touchdowns. I
19:59
wish I had calculated. round
22:00
two picks. So, you
22:03
know, like Josh Jacob's going
22:05
in round two, I think a lot of people would
22:07
would say no, it's too risky. Dave obviously is okay
22:09
with that. And by the way, I've
22:11
given you consensus rankings here, but Jamie's
22:14
got Cook ninth and Dave has Cook
22:16
fifteenth. So consensus, Cook is
22:18
actually tenth, Rashad White is ninth. I have
22:21
him third on this list for whatever reason.
22:23
So I went Cook Pacheco White, sort of
22:25
grouped them together. Let's talk about Isaiah Pacheco.
22:27
Let's move to him. Pros and cons for
22:29
Isaiah Pacheco. Jamie, give me some quick
22:32
pros and cons for Pacheco. I
22:34
mean, the offense he plays on seemingly
22:37
got better, you know, swimming, Ray
22:39
Rice, Ray Rice, Rashid Rice isn't
22:41
suspended for, you
22:43
know, the majority of the season. But if he's there for
22:45
good portion of it, which is what we expect, you know,
22:47
now you have a better passing game, which would open up
22:50
things for the run game. Um, he
22:53
did show that he can be involved in a pass game last year
22:55
and be a significant contributor there. But I
22:57
mean, you know, you're you're asking a
22:59
Andy Reed running back, which for the most
23:02
part has been an unbelievable situation in Philadelphia
23:04
and Kansas City when that guy has been
23:07
given the touches that Pacheco about last year to be
23:09
a star. And that's what he was last year. So
23:12
very limited competition for touches.
23:15
Um, role in the passing game, I think will
23:17
continue to grow. And that's
23:19
the upside. The downside is, is that the
23:21
passing game gets better and they get, you know, continue to
23:23
still be more creative at the goal line. And he loses
23:26
a couple scores and that he's not
23:28
as involved in the passing. Dave
23:31
pros and cons for Isaiah Pacheco, who
23:33
was RB 15 14 per game
23:37
and overall, really, if you look
23:39
at depending on different formats, there
23:41
were seven games last year where he played at least 60% of the
23:44
snaps. He had at least
23:46
20 touches and six of those seven games. He averaged
23:48
19.1 PPR
23:50
points, 16.7 non PPR points
23:52
with five touchdowns, three games
23:54
with over 100 yards in
23:57
those seven. What's stopping the
23:59
Chiefs? from using him to the
24:01
tune of 60% of the snaps
24:03
right out of the gate this year. They're
24:06
running back depth chart is not pretty. They've
24:08
got Clyde Edwards, Elaire as the
24:10
direct backup. He's on a one year deal. Uh,
24:13
I don't think Luis rees. Is
24:15
going to end up being someone that takes a lot
24:18
of work away on, on running downs or
24:20
in the passing game from Isaiah Pacheco,
24:22
that's their rugby player for those
24:24
that may not be aware he's, he's actually like,
24:26
he looks like he could be a difference maker
24:28
in the kick return game in a major way,
24:30
but I don't know if he's going to end
24:32
up playing a lot of offense. I think Pacheco
24:34
is good. 25 years old, been
24:37
in this office for a couple of years. There
24:39
doesn't seem to be a threat for that passing
24:41
downs work for that third down roll. And so
24:43
I agree with Jamie sentiment that there could be
24:45
more for him in the passing game. I'm
24:48
probably making a big mistake by having Pacheco
24:50
behind Josh Jacobs. That's one that I think
24:52
I can fix. And I think
24:54
Pacheco is absolutely worth a second
24:57
round pick. When you get to that point that you
24:59
talked about Adam, when you, you, you don't really love
25:01
anybody that's left on the board, but Pacheco is there.
25:03
And you can say, all right, chiefs
25:06
are running back. They've got two fast
25:08
guys on the field now. So the safeties will play
25:10
back quite a bit and Pacheco could end up being
25:12
a very good player, both in the run game and
25:14
the pass game could end up having his best year
25:16
yet. I know I'm
25:18
going to keep coming back to this. And at
25:20
some point we should probably spend more time on
25:23
it. That, that spot, that area
25:25
that you're talking about, let's say it's what. 18
25:27
to 24, 20 to 24. I don't
25:29
know which, which range you want to talk
25:32
about the end around too. So for me,
25:34
I think it's nine, nine running backs, nine
25:36
wide receivers. And then we'll see how many
25:38
quarterbacks are in tight ends or taken. So
25:41
again, yeah, this, this, this, this is where,
25:43
you know, ADP versus, you know, analyst
25:45
expert drafts, depending on how you want to break it
25:48
down. Um, why
25:50
it's in my opinion, so important to take
25:52
those receivers after you take McCaffrey because
25:55
the picks that you're looking at,
25:57
which is these guys. comparatively
26:00
to Iuke and Waddle
26:02
and Pittman and those guys that
26:04
have, I think, more question marks than some of these
26:06
players. And so if you want
26:08
to go here, RB, these are the guys that you're looking
26:10
at, especially if you start with lamb or Tyreek or Jefferson
26:12
or any of these guys, you know, picks two through six
26:14
or seven. Um, it's
26:17
just to me, the smarter way to draft, smarter
26:19
way to draft is to go McCaffrey and then
26:21
one of the top receivers. Yeah. It's that of
26:23
taking McCaffrey is almost like a curse because like
26:25
what you're at, what you're looking at
26:28
it at 24 and 25 feels a little gross because
26:30
you have to overpay for some guys. I
26:33
think the counter to that is like, who cares? You know,
26:35
just take your best, take the best players. You don't have
26:37
to get a running back there. If you like the wall,
26:39
I don't think you have to get a running back at
26:41
all. But again, it's, you know, do you want to take
26:43
the one of the quarterbacks? Do you want to reach for
26:45
the Porter or Kelsey? Um, and
26:48
I say reaches because I think they're, they're going to slip
26:50
a little bit. Uh, or do you, you
26:52
know, take, take a receiver that you don't necessarily love. Uh,
26:55
yeah. Now the hope is the quarter backs
26:57
go. The hope, right.
26:59
That would, that would help. Um, all
27:01
right. How many mock drafts have we done? Adam, where
27:03
a quarterback has gone around to with
27:05
the fans? I think, I
27:08
think Josh Allen, I think they've been,
27:10
they've been going, the fan, the only
27:12
fans mock drafts have been taking quarterbacks
27:14
earlier than the, uh,
27:17
CBS stress. Okay. Let me, let me
27:20
say something on Pacheco here. His,
27:24
he had, he averaged in 10 regular
27:26
season games with Jarek McKinnon,
27:29
2.9 targets per game in
27:32
four regular season games without McKinnon
27:35
Pacheco averaged five targets per game.
27:37
Huge, huge. Okay. Then
27:39
McKinnon missed, uh, most of
27:41
the playoffs played in the super bowl and
27:45
didn't really get that much work. They
27:47
don't have McKinnon right now. You talk about
27:49
that third down role. I mean, I think
27:51
that is the key for Isaiah Pacheco because
27:54
he had a good year last year, but he didn't
27:56
finish in the top 12. He was 14th in full
27:58
PPR per game. He was 15. Hope
30:00
that made sense. Just to go over their depth chart, here's
30:02
who they have. And you tell me, Jamie, you can tell
30:04
me if they could be the passing down Sky. The first
30:06
one is the one that might have the best shot, Clyde
30:08
Edwards-Eller. And
30:11
he did play more on third down than
30:13
Pacheco when McKinnon was out. But
30:17
it was more even. It wasn't like all
30:19
Clyde. They were both there, but Clyde didn't
30:21
play better than Pacheco. That's
30:24
what I would expect this year if they don't bring
30:26
back McKinnon, if they don't add another passing down to
30:28
the back. Nobody else. Daeneric Prince, I
30:30
don't think he's, I don't know if he's played a snap
30:32
in the NFL. Keontae Ingram isn't
30:34
a passing down to running back. Reeze Dammit
30:37
is a rugby player. Undrafted
30:39
rookies, Imani Bailey, Carson Steele,
30:42
I'd be shocked if they ended up in that
30:44
big of a role right away in
30:46
Kansas City's offense where they've got to protect Patrick
30:48
Mahomes. I think this is setting up very
30:50
nicely for Isaiah Pacheco to be
30:53
in line for his best year ever. Second
30:55
round pick ahead of Jacobs. There
30:58
it is. Okay. Do
31:00
you take, you know,
31:03
Olave, Waddle, London, Adams
31:06
ahead of Pacheco? For
31:11
me it's Pacheco ahead of Adams. I've
31:14
got Pacheco ahead of them all
31:16
because I've got fewer questions about
31:18
him for now compared
31:20
to those wide receivers. I'm going to Rashad White
31:22
here. Rashad White is next up on the list.
31:25
Excuse me, James Cook and Isaiah Pacheco. I
31:28
know there's a lot of stats there. I
31:30
tried my best to clear it up. I hope that
31:32
was helpful. Anyway, Rashad White,
31:35
he was RB 15 per game in non-PPR, 13 per
31:37
game in half, 10th per game
31:40
in full PPR. Overall he was
31:42
his number four in full PPR, but 10th per
31:44
game. And remember he had a really
31:46
bad start. He had a tough schedule, scored 13 or
31:48
more PPR fantasy points in 12 of his last 14
31:50
games, including the postseason and 15.9
31:52
or more in 10 of those 14 games. So
31:56
terrific finish for Rashad White. Dave, it
31:58
was our end. once Dan fixed him. That's
32:01
right. No, it took a little bit longer than that,
32:03
but Dan certainly inspired him. Dan, Dave,
32:05
pros and cons for Rashad
32:07
White. The
32:10
pros are that he's basically
32:12
in every downback for Tampa and the Bucks
32:15
seemingly have painted themselves into a corner with
32:17
him because the only addition that they made
32:19
at running back is with Bucky Irving. And
32:22
the draft in Bucky Irving is a fast running back and
32:24
can do things. I think he can do things in the
32:26
past game. I got to double check it, but his body
32:28
pro as
32:31
such. Yeah. So I wonder if he's
32:33
going to take some work off of Rashad White's plate, but
32:36
I just think that he's, I think the Bucks have
32:38
no choice, but to go with him again, he was
32:40
very effective, average 4.4 targets per game in
32:43
his last 12 games, average
32:46
17.9 PPR points per game in those
32:48
games. So he's got potential to blow
32:50
away 15 PPR points. This
32:52
is another guy that I probably should have ranked ahead of
32:55
Josh Jacobs based on that. Stop,
32:57
stop talking yourself out of your
32:59
Jacobs conviction. No, I'm still
33:01
going to take Jacobs in round two. I just found
33:04
two other running backs that I like a little bit
33:06
more because of the upside that they provide. I
33:08
didn't listen, like part of the reason
33:10
why I really liked Jacobs was because he had a year where he
33:13
had a bunch of games with 15 plus such as in the average
33:15
20 PPR points per game.
33:17
I am telling you that I think that's going to be hard for him
33:19
to do. I think he's going to be right in that range of like
33:22
16. Here are
33:24
two running backs that we're talking about who have
33:26
displayed that when given the opportunity to be a
33:28
feature back for their teams can get you over
33:30
17. Yeah.
33:33
Pacheco got you freaking 19. 19 is our
33:35
problem. I'm more excited
33:37
about those running backs and Jacobs just by a little.
33:40
The problem for white is the
33:42
thing that makes him great in fantasy is
33:44
his receiving. And does Bucky Irving
33:47
take that away from him because they want to use
33:49
him more as a strictly,
33:51
more strictly as a running back in the
33:54
traditional role than they have been. And
33:56
if that's the case, then he's going to struggle because
33:58
you've noted this time of time. Again, Adam, whether it's
34:01
schedule, whether it's offensive line problems, he
34:03
just hasn't shown or proven
34:05
to be an elite level runner. Now
34:08
can he do that this year? Sure. There's
34:11
potential that he gets more experience and understands that and that's his
34:13
role. But if he's going to
34:15
dip below 50 receptions, which
34:17
has been the case for two years, I'm
34:20
going to be a little concerned and that's the buckier of
34:22
an addition. So we've
34:25
talked about this since the NFL draft and
34:27
we all kind of get enamored
34:30
too much with these third
34:32
round rookies and fourth round rookies
34:34
and they have opportunities and they're an injury
34:36
away and blah, blah, blah. And that's certainly the case. But
34:42
I think what we've heard from
34:45
this coaching staff without Dave Canales
34:47
is how much they like Rashad White. And that's what
34:49
I keep coming back to is that I think they're
34:51
still going to make him
34:53
that guy and keep him in the passing game
34:55
and allow him to be Baker Mayfield's guy. Because
34:58
that's one thing about Baker Mayfield that's been underrated.
35:00
He did in Carolina. He didn't Cleveland. He
35:03
certainly did in Tampa Bay. He
35:05
throws to his running backs, you know, and
35:07
he's a very good asset to
35:09
his running backs in that case. Now granted,
35:11
he had Christian McCaffrey in the stretch with
35:13
Carolina and he's had Rashad White who's
35:16
been very good at doing this. But
35:19
if Bucky Irving comes in and takes that role from
35:21
him in whatever capacity, it's going to be tough to
35:23
justify taking him around too. So
35:26
and let's just put a bow on the Bucky
35:28
Irving talk and we saw the Bucks last year.
35:30
They tried to get Chase Edmonds involved. They tried
35:32
to get Sean Tucker involved. Neither of those guys
35:34
could really step up and do what the coaching
35:36
staff wanted them to do. Irving
35:38
at Oregon last year, 56 catches
35:40
the year before, 31 catches. So
35:43
that's 87 catches his last two seasons
35:46
averaged over eight yards per catch with
35:48
five touchdowns in those two seasons. That's
35:50
on top of him being a thousand yard rusher. Each
35:53
of those past two seasons, he scored 11 touchdowns
35:55
for Oregon last year. He's
35:57
a lean back. He's 190. But
36:00
he can catch and so this is someone who I think
36:02
is is a little bit more of a legitimate threat to
36:04
take away work in the passing game than someone
36:06
like Marshawn Lloyd who hasn't really done that in
36:08
college and would have to take a gigantic step
36:11
in order to do that in Green Bay. To
36:14
that being said, I still think that there
36:16
will be downs and distances where the
36:18
Bucks are going to count on Rashad White to
36:20
catch the ball out of the backfield more so than
36:22
Bucky Irving. Irving has to earn it. Just the fact that
36:24
he did it in college is nice. That tells you
36:26
that his learning curve won't be quite as high, but
36:29
I still think Rashad White is going to get a lot of work. Well,
36:32
I'm less concerned about Rashad
36:34
White losing his role in the passing game that
36:36
I am in the running game because Rashad White
36:38
is great in the passing game. Even if Bucky
36:40
Irving does have 87 catches
36:42
in his last two years, remember that was
36:45
an offense with a super low a-dot. I
36:47
think they threw the ball a lot and
36:49
Bo Nicks set a record for completion percentage
36:51
because he just threw short all the time.
36:53
But Rashad White doesn't drop the
36:56
ball. He catches almost every target he gets.
36:58
He's really good there. He can make plays
37:00
in the passing game. Simply put, you
37:02
have a hard time convincing me that he
37:04
hasn't been one of the most inefficient, maybe
37:07
worst running backs in football since
37:09
entering the league. 3.6 and 3.7 yards
37:12
per carry. Even for someone who highlights yards
37:14
per carry a lot, that is really, really
37:16
bad. He makes almost no big plays in
37:18
the running game. So at some
37:20
point, if he doesn't get it going, they did
37:22
draft a center in round one, Graham Barton, so
37:24
that could help. They've had a bad offensive line.
37:26
May not be his fault. I don't pretend that
37:29
yards per carry is all on the running back,
37:32
but he's one of the worst. He's
37:34
like bottom seven or something in yards
37:36
per carry over the last two seasons for
37:38
72 running backs who have 100 or more
37:41
carries. So that's the concern
37:43
with Rashad White. You may not
37:45
be that good. He had the line two years
37:47
ago, three years ago at this point, Brady's
37:50
first year there, second year
37:55
there. When they were healthy and then last
37:57
year they were injured and banged up. That's
38:00
why they made fixing their offensive
38:02
line of priority this offseason. So if
38:05
he can get, look, if you're right,
38:07
Adam, that he stays as the primary
38:09
pass catcher to this level. And
38:12
I don't know if he has to be north of 60 catches, but for
38:14
me, it's north of 50. But
38:16
if he stays north of 50 and
38:18
could be a four yards per carry kind of guy while still getting
38:20
this workload, he's going to be an absolute stud. Yeah,
38:22
but four yards per carry is like, oh wait, he hasn't
38:24
even been close. He had 272 carries last year. Three
38:28
of them were longer than 16 yards. That
38:32
is so bad. So you
38:34
know, that's just you remember, there are guys that
38:36
lose their job that we don't expect because they're
38:39
just not effective enough. And I do think we
38:41
have to put Rashad white in that boat. It's
38:43
possible. It's possible. He just does not run
38:45
well enough. And and
38:47
he loses work. Like like
38:49
Damien Pierce, you know, like we just
38:52
we didn't expect it. We never thought Devin
38:54
Singletary was a coaching change though. Miles Sanders
38:56
to, you know, yes, I know. I get
38:58
it. But they were so bad that
39:00
they had to be removed from that role. And
39:03
I just I fear that I don't think from
39:05
what the coaches have said, they don't feel
39:07
that way about white at all. And
39:09
the offseason doesn't suggest that right. But bowls has
39:11
been absolutely the coaches
39:13
said everything right about miles Sanders. It's
39:15
a matter of fact, is he just
39:18
Rashad white's production? I was I was again
39:20
switching teams and they fired the coach. Yeah.
39:23
But what is what is Todd Bowles going to say
39:26
about Rashad white? Obviously, he's going
39:28
to praise him. But but the personnel
39:30
says the same thing, though. Agreed. Their
39:33
actions this offseason says it. They didn't get
39:35
in on any free agent signing and they
39:37
drafted a guy in round four with a
39:39
pass catch. And the Panthers spent big money
39:41
on miles Sanders and had Chuba Hubbard as
39:43
their backup. But at the end of the
39:45
day, Sanders was so bad, they had no
39:48
choice but to make that switch. And I
39:50
feel the same way about the Texans. Damien
39:52
Pierce played his way out of that job.
39:54
I'm not we're talking pros
39:56
and cons here. If you're spending a veteran
39:58
to come in. and be ready
40:01
to go because they knew that Pierce would have
40:03
a hard time. On a one-year deal. No, they
40:05
were giving Pierce every opportunity there. And
40:07
I just, I'm just saying, I think if you're
40:09
going to take Rashad White with a top 30
40:11
pick or something like that, you have to be
40:13
aware that in my opinion,
40:16
he's been terrible. I
40:18
don't like the Damien Pierce comparison at all because they
40:20
switched schemes. They changed coaching staffs. I mean, everything was
40:22
just, he wasn't a fit for what Bobby Slope wanted
40:25
to do. But Damien Pierce at least was good. I'm
40:27
just saying Rashad White has not
40:29
been a good rusher. Rashad, I
40:31
mean, I'm going to tell you what Todd Bowles
40:33
said, which I think is the more
40:35
relevant thing here. He didn't say he's a great
40:37
runner. He said he's a great weapon for us.
40:39
Yeah. And that's, I think, what factors in. That's
40:41
why I said I'm more concerned about him losing
40:43
carries and catches. But I
40:45
don't think Bucky Irving is the guy to take him out of that role. I
40:47
think if Irving's going to take him out of a role, it's going to take
40:49
him out of a role as a pass catcher. I
40:52
mean, that thought will change if Bucky
40:54
Irving is like the talk of training camp in
40:56
town. Sure. I
40:58
think people are saying that I'm losing
41:00
this battle. I just. It's
41:03
not a battle win or lose. You're giving your opinion.
41:05
I don't think it's a good example to go Damien
41:07
Pierce. I do think it's a
41:09
good, you could go anywhere. Look, it's not that
41:11
the situations are the same. It's that it's the
41:14
overall thing. Ineffective running backs could lose their job.
41:16
You have to be aware of that. I don't
41:18
have that fear at all with James Cook or
41:20
Isaiah Pacheco. Those guys are really good running back.
41:23
I don't have that concern with Rashad White. OK.
41:25
But I just think that when you're talking about
41:27
those three guys who are back to back to
41:29
back in the consensus rankings, we're
41:31
talking about Devon H. And it gets you get drafted here.
41:34
The only one that I'm worried about being under
41:36
four yards per carry is Rashad White. And he
41:39
hasn't even been close to four yards per
41:41
carry. I mean, three point six, three point seven
41:43
yards per carry is absolutely terrible. So
41:45
I just think that when you're
41:47
comparing them to these rushers, Cook and
41:49
Pacheco, I think their primary appeal and
41:51
HN2 is that they're really, really good.
41:54
They make guys miss. They make big plays. They're awesome.
41:56
I cannot say that about Rashad White, the rusher. Yeah,
42:00
he's really good there, but
42:02
I think it's fair to criticize him for this. I'm
42:04
sorry. I'm not trying to get too negative. It is,
42:06
but you also made a, I think a big
42:08
point in your argument here. How
42:11
much of that is on him and how much of that is on the offensive
42:14
line? And
42:17
that's I think what matters in the minds of the coaching staff.
42:19
Like they may think his 3.7 could
42:21
have been 3.2. Well
42:23
yeah, the lack of big plays though, I think
42:26
is also on him. I mean, again, like, yeah,
42:28
no, it's, it's, it's certainly worth bringing up. That's
42:30
100% relevant. But I think to
42:32
say Damien Pierce is a comp based
42:34
on what happened to him last year and
42:37
Miles Sanders, you know, switching teams, one team switching,
42:39
coaching staff, switching scheme like that, I think is,
42:41
is tough to compare those two. No, I'm not.
42:44
The situations are different. And look, you could even
42:46
counter and say, okay, Canales is gone. It's a
42:48
new coordinator. So that might impact Rashad White in
42:50
negative way too. Yeah, but it's a similar
42:52
type of. No, I agree. But I'm just saying like, if
42:54
he wants to make that as a point, I it's the
42:56
point, the broader point is ineffective running
42:58
backs could lose their jobs and I am, I
43:01
am worried about him being ineffective. Maybe people aren't,
43:03
but I'm just bringing it up. He has not been an effective running
43:05
back. Okay. I'm sorry. Uh, we got to
43:07
take a break here. It's
43:11
going to be a long, good stuff. It's
43:13
not my show. I don't want to hug the mic,
43:15
but no, it's your show too. Well,
43:17
all right. Uh, we're going to take a break. We'll
43:19
get to Josh Jacobs and the other guys after this.
43:22
We need to talk the acclaimed
43:24
Showtime original docu-series couples therapy returns
43:27
with an addictive and revealing new
43:29
season. Dr. Orna is back in
43:31
session helping for new couples grapple
43:33
with real issues from religion and
43:35
sex to polyamorous power dynamics. Collider
43:37
says couples therapy is like nothing
43:39
else on TV. It's
43:41
breakup or breakthrough on the
43:43
new season of couples therapy. Now
43:45
streaming with the Paramount plus with
43:47
Showtime plan. Visit Paramount plus.com to
43:49
try it free. Hey
43:53
everybody. Jon Stewart here. I am here
43:55
to tell you about my new podcast,
43:57
the weekly show coming out every Thursday.
44:00
We're going to be talking about
44:02
the election earnings calls. What are
44:04
they talking about on these earnings
44:06
calls? We're going to be talking
44:08
about ingredient to bread ratio on
44:10
sandwiches. I know you have a
44:12
lot of options as far as podcasts go,
44:14
but how many of them come out on
44:16
Thursday? Listen to the weekly show with Jon
44:19
Stewart on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or
44:21
wherever you get your podcasts. All right,
44:23
pros and cons for Josh Jacobs. Do we
44:25
need to go through this or did the
44:28
earlier session suffice on Jacobs? I
44:31
think I'm good with what I said. Okay,
44:34
so Dave's higher on him than Jamie is. So let's
44:36
go to Joe Mixon here. If you want to hear
44:38
more about Josh Jacobs, just rewind basically the beginning of
44:40
the show. Let's go to Joe
44:42
Mixon. He'll be 28 years old in July. Jamie,
44:45
what are the pros and cons for Mixon? I
44:48
think he's going to a better situation and you
44:51
know, that says a lot because the situation since now,
44:53
he's been very good for him. But you
44:55
know, this is an offense. That's a chance to be amazing. You
44:57
know, if everything clicks, clearly CJ Stroud's
44:59
on the rise. You know, the receiving core should be
45:01
better. Should have an opportunity to
45:04
score more points. I think he'll still
45:06
be involved in the passing game. The
45:09
negative is that Joe Mixon is, you know, was kicked to
45:11
the curb for a reason, not just salary related, and that
45:13
he might not be the best version of Joe Mixon at
45:15
this point in his career. So I'm
45:19
excited about the scenario for him, but
45:21
I'm cautiously optimistic. You know, I don't want to go
45:23
too far all in on Mixon. I kind of feel
45:26
similar to him than I feel about Josh Jacobs, except
45:28
with Mixon. I
45:30
don't view Damian Pierce as competition. I know
45:32
you do, Adam, just based on, you know, something
45:34
that you sent me in regards to our magazine about,
45:36
you know what, D'Amico Ryan
45:38
said about a one-two punch. I
45:41
think Mixon is going to dominate touches there, which is the plus for him.
45:45
Not that I don't think Jacobs will also, but I think Mixon's for
45:47
me a little bit safer. They acquired him for
45:49
peanuts and then they gave him a contract extension. So
45:52
they better do it. What I
45:54
like about Mixon is that he's averaged at least 15 PPR
45:57
points every year since 2020. and
46:00
now he's going to an offense that
46:04
they've turned it around so much. And the
46:06
offensive line should be strong. We know that
46:08
the receiving core is awesome. And
46:11
I'm not convinced that this offense
46:13
is going to become like one of the
46:15
past heaviest in the league.
46:17
They'll be up there. They have to be. They've got Stroud
46:19
and they've got these receivers. But Mixon
46:21
can be a little bit of a part of
46:23
that on first and second downs. But he's also
46:25
gonna be able to benefit from so many pass
46:27
catchers out there. Kind of like what I talked
46:29
about with Pacheco. Safety's aren't gonna be lurking down
46:31
near the line of scrimmage very often. And I
46:33
think Mixon is still good enough to get a
46:35
good rushing average, not a great one, but a
46:37
good one, be it eight in
46:40
the box or not. And on top of
46:42
that, plenty of touchdown opportunities, plenty
46:44
of totally hard opportunities. Just I think he's
46:46
in a really good spot. You
46:48
could squeeze one more year of 15 plus
46:50
PPR out of Joe Mixon. Yeah,
46:53
you know, I think Josh Jacobs has one season in
46:56
his career where he's finished in
46:58
the top 12 per game. It was 2022 and he was
47:00
third. I said
47:02
earlier, he's been top 17 per game every year. He's been top
47:04
15 per game almost every year. But
47:07
I think only one top 12 per game in
47:09
full PPR for Jacobs. Mixon on
47:11
the other hand has been top 12 per game in five
47:13
of the last six seasons in both
47:15
half and full PPR. And he was eighth. He
47:17
was top eight per game in 2021 and 2022. So
47:20
that's the pro with him. He gives you a lot of
47:22
a lot of consistency and probably
47:24
getting an offensive
47:27
line upgrade. If you
47:29
if you look at ESPN's ratings of run block
47:31
win rate and you look at PFF last
47:34
year, their run block grades, Houston
47:36
was not an upgrade over last year's
47:39
Bengals team, but their right tackle missed
47:41
10 games. Their left tackle
47:43
missed some time. So they have
47:45
some young talent on that line. So we're thinking
47:47
probably an offensive line upgrade. Will
47:50
he be the third down back? That's a con
47:52
I have listed here. I don't know if he will. Will
47:54
Houston throw to their running backs? They didn't really do that
47:56
much at all last year and he's going to be 28
47:58
years old. And he's
48:00
been kind of a pedestrian running back. But
48:02
Jamie, I'm not really worried about Pierce like
48:05
being a true one-two punch. But
48:07
I'm worried about him getting maybe like 80 to
48:10
100 carries or something like that. I don't
48:12
know. Enough to be annoying, I guess. I
48:16
think that number's high if Mixon's healthy. Yeah,
48:19
it could be. He's
48:21
certainly got a... Look, if Pierce is as bad as he
48:23
was last year, he's not getting 80 carries. He just wasn't...
48:25
I was pretty sure there's about 85 carries
48:28
over the season. He wasn't a
48:30
good fit for this scheme. And so will
48:32
a year in it and another offseason
48:34
help? Hopefully. Look, I
48:36
think Pierce has
48:39
an opportunity to still be productive in this
48:41
league and be productive on this team. But
48:43
it was a disaster last year for him.
48:45
And so this is kind of the hope
48:47
for Joe Mixon. And you can debate the
48:49
effectiveness of him as a running back. But
48:52
Devin Singletary was a very good fantasy asset on this
48:54
team. And I think Joe Mixon is a better player.
48:57
So I'm hoping that what he
48:59
does in now and offense that improved
49:01
from what Singletary was doing last year
49:04
should give Mixon another chance to be
49:06
a top 10, top 12, if
49:08
you want to knock him down a peg or two from his age for
49:12
the season, which is why I keep getting more and more excited about
49:15
him. So I like the setup. I
49:17
like the snare. Like Dave said, they paid him. There's, in my
49:19
opinion, not a lot of competition for touches. And
49:21
so as long as he stays healthy, I think he's going
49:23
to have a bigger... Is he
49:25
safer than Rashad White? Is Joe
49:28
Mixon safer than White or Jacobs? I
49:31
think if you come out on the side of White still involved
49:33
in the passing game, I'll take White. If you come out on
49:35
the side of White not being as involved in the passing game,
49:37
then I'll take Mixon. Okay. Let's
49:40
go to Derek Henry. Dave,
49:43
why don't you give pros and cons for Henry? The
49:47
guy's machine scores touch-ons like crazy. Last
49:49
year was one of his worst years
49:51
yet. It was fairly easy
49:54
to predict from game to game. He was game
49:56
script dependent. Any average 14.8
49:58
PPR points per game. But
50:00
if we do a little bit of Azerstadting, we go over just the 13
50:03
games, 13 out of 17, where
50:06
he had at least 14 touches. And
50:08
remember, he doesn't catch the ball much. 14
50:10
or more touches. 17.9 PPR points per
50:12
game, 13 touchdowns, seven
50:15
games with 100 total yards, another
50:17
two between 95 and 99 total yards. That
50:21
was on a Tennessee offense. That was
50:23
awful. The offensive line was brutal. The
50:25
quarterback play was gross pretty much every
50:28
single game. Now he's going to Baltimore,
50:31
always a competitive offensive line there.
50:33
A quarterback in Lamar Jackson that defenses have
50:36
to reckon with every single week. And
50:38
now he's the running back in that
50:40
backfield without a lot of competition because
50:42
Keaton Mitchell is still coming back
50:44
from his ACL. They'll be
50:46
ready. They've moved on from Dobbins. They've moved on
50:49
from Gus Edwards. They drafted Rachin Ali. I
50:52
don't know how big of a role he'll have. And
50:54
I'm not saying that Derek Henry's gonna get every role,
50:56
but he's, or every carry, but he's going to get
50:58
all the important ones. And this is a team that
51:00
loves to score from short yardage. Henry's going to be
51:03
their answer there. He's going to be their answer
51:05
when they're killing the clock. I think he's
51:07
absolutely going to be in line to have a
51:09
bounce back year, certainly better than 14.8 PPR points
51:11
per game, probably worth
51:13
penciling in in that 16 range, even
51:16
in full PPR, which means that he's basically 15
51:19
and a half and non PPR. Anything
51:22
that, did you do cons there or just pros? He's
51:25
29 years old. He's
51:27
30, right? And he doesn't catch a ton of passes. He's 30.
51:31
And that is it, right? I mean, is it that simple? He's
51:33
30 and doesn't catch passes. It
51:36
really is. And we spent a lot of
51:38
time on this last year, wins versus losses. Well, the
51:40
Ravens win a lot of games. And so he should
51:42
get an opportunity to have a game script in his
51:44
favor. Dave mentioned the
51:47
offense, really the offensive line. And
51:50
he's 30. By comparison, night and day. And so to
51:52
what he's going to and the team he's going to,
51:54
I mean, imagine if Greg Roman was still the office
51:57
coordinator in Baltimore, my God. But,
51:59
you know. Henry is
52:01
going to dominate carries
52:03
and really if he avoids
52:06
injury, I mean
52:09
I don't think 2000 yards is on the table
52:11
because of Lamar Jackson who just gets 800 yards rolling out
52:13
of bed every time he's been healthy. Derek
52:17
Henry is going to be 1500 plus rushing
52:20
yards and I mean
52:22
Gus Edwards scored 13 rushing touchdowns in this offense. Derek Henry
52:24
could get 18 to 20. So
52:28
to me he's an easy round to pick. I guess
52:30
the one running back in this backfield that could take him
52:33
off the field is Justice Hill who
52:35
for whatever reason this coaching staff really liked him
52:37
last year. He can
52:40
play all three downs but I'd
52:42
be shocked if he had five touches a game. I think
52:44
Derek Henry is going to get a lot
52:46
of work here. A lot of
52:49
work. Maybe in blowouts he won't get quite as many.
52:51
When it's 56 to 19, he won't
52:54
see Derek Henry on the field but when it's
52:56
31-19 he'll be there. I
52:58
guess I have 31. So this is the last
53:00
guy we're going to talk about today and we have
53:03
a best ball show tomorrow but that won't take the
53:05
full time. So we'll probably finish up on this topic
53:07
tomorrow. Tomorrow we'll do Camara, Achan and Ken Walker. But
53:10
to say that Henry is an easy second
53:13
round pick, it's interesting to me
53:15
because I know you like to fade the older guys,
53:17
Jamie. So if the situations is too
53:19
good. I know but if we remove the running backs, right, and
53:21
he's not, if you're on the clock and you've got Jalen
53:24
Waddle, Chris
53:26
Olave, Drake London, these third and fourth
53:28
year guys going into their prime versus
53:30
a 30-year-old with over 2,000 career
53:33
carries who's going to have like
53:35
maybe 70 to 80 fewer catches,
53:37
that might be a lot than those guys. How
53:40
do you take Derek Henry or would you take Derek Henry over
53:43
those? I like their series better. I guess he's not
53:45
an easy round to pick. I
53:47
think I have him ranked 26, 27. So I shouldn't
53:49
say he's an easy round to pick. He's
53:51
in this mix. I mean, you know,
53:53
again, it's hard to overlook his lack
53:55
of role in the passing game. But for him, it's
53:57
kind of been something that he's done his entire career.
54:00
And so, you know, give me
54:02
a number of games for Henry. 16,
54:05
17. He's a workhorse.
54:07
He's a horse. I mean, that's 2000 total
54:10
yards and 18 touchdowns. No way. No
54:14
way. I think you can rush for 1800 yards. All
54:17
right, let me just, isn't
54:20
it so possible that
54:22
we're going, hey, what lessons did we learn in the 2020, 24
54:24
season? Right?
54:27
This is like January of 25. We're like, never
54:29
ever draft a 30 year old running
54:32
back. You know, with, with
54:34
2000 carries, you can't really compare
54:36
him to mostert. The thing is like, you
54:39
can look at, at Henry and kind of
54:41
see a decline. He hasn't been as good
54:43
the last couple of years. Still good. And
54:46
he's 30, he has 2030 carries. He's
54:51
just a freak of nature though. And,
54:54
and all the greats and
54:56
who've played running back in the NFL
54:59
have managed to do well after 30. But
55:02
have they really? Almost
55:04
all of them. Have they had this
55:07
many carries? Yes. Okay.
55:11
So I listen there, there's a decline. I don't expect
55:13
him to average five yards of carry. I
55:15
don't think that he'll have that same, you know,
55:18
like Gus Edwards had five yards for carry for
55:20
a bunch of seasons. I don't think
55:22
he'll have that hyper efficiency just cause he's playing
55:24
with Lamar. Maybe he does. That would
55:26
surprise me. But I think he's,
55:29
I think he's in line to have a very good year worthy
55:32
of a round two, three turn pick. That's
55:35
going to be where he goes in full
55:37
PPR. He's around one pick and non PPR.
55:40
I think he's the easiest one of this
55:42
group to analyze because you, you
55:44
like, you kind of know the only thing is
55:46
like, is he going to, to phase?
55:48
Is he going to start fading? Is he going to
55:50
start playing worse and not really being that good? And
55:53
also Baltimore has three new offensive
55:55
linemen. We talk a lot about their offensive line
55:57
as if it's a given. Well, they.
56:00
They've got a pretty new group this year.
56:02
You trust them to be good. They're just
56:04
Baltimore, and Jackson's gonna create a lot of
56:06
opportunities. But you don't have to, oh, how
56:08
many catches did it get? What kind of roles is it gonna get? It's
56:11
not like Cook, it's not like Pacheco. I have to worry
56:13
about that. Does he get to 25? The McKinnon factor. 25
56:15
catches in 17 games? Probably right around
56:17
there, right? But
56:20
we know what the situation is. This is the question,
56:22
is it father, it's either, is it gonna be Derek
56:24
Henry or father time? Who's gonna win, right? This is
56:27
pretty much that simple? I mean, father time is undefeated,
56:29
so that's clearly a knock against him. But
56:32
is this the year? Right,
56:34
is this the year? That's it, that's all it
56:36
is, right? I mean, he's not, he's- I've
56:39
drafted Henry once. It's the league that
56:41
we're playing out. It's our magazine league.
56:43
And to me, it was an easy
56:46
pick. It was round three, middle of round three.
56:48
I started with Justin Jefferson and Crystal Lavey. So
56:50
it was very, very simple for me to take
56:53
Derek Henry. Now this is a three receiver PPR league, and
56:55
my two running backs are Derek Henry and Najee Harris. So
56:57
I'm not exactly counting on my running backs to
57:00
lead the way from a reception total, but I'm
57:02
only starting two running backs. I've got four receivers
57:04
that are going to, I have five receivers that
57:06
I can rotate in for four spots. So
57:08
I'm not worried about what Derek Henry's reception
57:11
totals are, but you get
57:13
it around three, it should be fairly safe. By
57:15
the way, we can end on this.
57:17
You're looking for the comp for Rashad White. Najee
57:21
Harris has played 17 games every single year. He's gone from
57:23
307 to 272 to 255 carries. He
57:29
has a good running mate. I don't know that that
57:31
exists in Tampa Bay, but that would be more of
57:33
the comp. It's like Harris
57:36
wasn't good enough to justify all those
57:38
carries. But again, the
57:41
counter to that would be, Rashad White went
57:43
from 50 catches to 64. Yeah.
57:48
Year one to year two, that's why you're
57:50
drafting Rashad. No, I understand. I just, that
57:53
was- And Najee hasn't been replaced yet. He
57:56
hasn't, but Jalen Warren has cut
57:58
into his work because- just
58:00
isn't as good as Jaylen Warren. All
58:02
right, so we have talked about James
58:04
Cook, Pacheco, Rashad White, Josh
58:07
Jacobs, Joe Mixon, and Derek
58:09
Henry. Six running backs. We'll
58:12
finish the show. How do you rank them? The
58:17
names again? They are
58:20
Cook, Pacheco, White,
58:23
Jacobs, Mixon, Henry. Okay.
58:27
I've got Pacheco. Cook, White. Oh,
58:30
go ahead, Jay. Cook, Pacheco, White, Henry,
58:34
Mixon, Jacobs. After
58:39
all the changes I made today, I've
58:42
got Pacheco, White, Jacobs, Henry, Cook, Mixon,
58:44
and I've got a couple of guys between
58:46
Cook and Mixon. I don't
58:48
understand why it is so hard for these two
58:51
people in this chat to understand the point I
58:53
am making about Rashad White. I hope everyone else
58:55
is clear. Obviously, I'm drafting him ahead of Najee
58:57
Harris. Duh, forget it.
58:59
All right, that's it
59:01
for us. And Dynasty's coming up right
59:03
now. Hopefully, Heath will talk about that blockbusting. You know, I'm
59:05
gonna ask Heath if I can come on the show and
59:09
talk about our big blockbuster trade. You don't have
59:11
to ask Heath. You can just get the link
59:13
from the shop. Yeah,
59:16
in Neighbors. I got Neighbors. Okay. The top,
59:18
yeah. Send him the link and he'll just
59:20
dive bomb the show. And everyone's in
59:23
on it, but Heath. Okay, see y'all.
59:25
I love you all, chat. I love you
59:27
all. Till
59:29
tomorrow, best ball, and we'll finish this discussion
59:32
with Camara, A. Chan,
59:34
and Ken Walker. See ya. This
59:40
is Tony Kornhiser Show. I'm Tony. Were you
59:42
expecting someone else? So what exactly is the
59:44
show about? I don't know.
59:47
It's a sports show, nominally. Football's over, but we're
59:49
finally at a point where things matter in college
59:51
basketball and baseball season is on deck. Greatest three
59:53
words in the English language, pictures and catches. We
59:55
have some of the best voices come on and
59:58
explain what matters or what makes an up. upset
1:00:00
like Ryan does. Nine over eight. No, that's
1:00:02
not an upset. No, yeah, it is, Bob.
1:00:04
And if you're lucky, I might just tell
1:00:06
you about my search for discounted sleep pants
1:00:08
or my worries about what my dog just
1:00:10
ate. Listen on the Odyssey app or wherever
1:00:12
you get your podcasts.
Podchaser is the ultimate destination for podcast data, search, and discovery. Learn More