FINAL Do Not Draft List! 15 Players We’re Avoiding: Trey McBride, Ashton Jeanty & More! (08/27 Fantasy Football Podcast)

(upbeat music) - Oh, who are we not drafting? That's what we're talking about on today's fantasy football today. Welcome to the show. I'm Jamie Eisenberg, that's Dave Richard, that's Heath Comey's gonna tell you about players that we are looking to avoid. As we know, it's a very busy draft we can coming up. Next two weeks are gonna be where most of the drafts happen, so we're gonna see a big shift in average draft position. That's probably gonna determine how we view some of these players, but we're talking about guys that are going to matter to you or maybe not matter to you if you're going to avoid them like we are. But before we get to that, we wanna talk about some players that are dealing with injuries because again, very popular weekend for drafts coming up. You might be doing your draft now as you're watching us. You wanna know about certain players that are dealing with injuries and just what our comfort level is and where we're looking to draft some of these guys. So guys, let's start with the running backs because we're dealing with several different moving parts. Some guys are coming back to practice. Some guys are still dealing with injuries that are gonna be out for a few more weeks. Excuse me, you see the list here, Ashton Gentie, Kenneth Walker, Josh Jacobs, Breeze Hall, we're gonna talk about Gentie, Jeremiah Love, Breeze Hall a little bit later, Trevian Henderson, some of the injuries they're dealing with. These are some guys that we're looking to avoid. But Dave, when we see Josh Jacobs on this list, back at practice has dealt with this growing injury, but as we found out from their general manager yesterday, they are potentially preparing to miss some time, for him to miss some time due to a potential suspension. So how are we approaching Josh Jacobs? When are you drafting him, who are some guys that you're maybe looking to compare him to when we get to that spot in the drafts? - Well, just to be clear, they said that they have contingency plans. Just, and the quote is, in case there's a suspension for Josh Jacobs, the fact that there hasn't been one so far tells me that the league may not be keen on giving him one. We're really close to the start of the season. It would almost be unfair for them to do such a thing. That being said, we know that Josh Jacobs is capable of being one of the best running backs in fantasy football. And you don't have to draft him that way. You can get him in round three at this point. I think that that's the time to go and get Josh Jacobs. There is a little bit of risk because you never know what could happen, the growing injury, the suspension, whatever. But I do think that there is a chance for him to actually end up being a very good fantasy value if you're getting him in that early round three range. For me, he's ahead of Ash and Gentie 'cause we're really not sure where he is at with that injury. Javante Williams and Kyron Williams, I think Jacobs has more upside. Same thing with Jeremiah Love. Don't know where he's at with his injury. I think Jacobs has a little bit more upside. Heath, if you draft Jacobs, are you drafting Marshal and Lloyd? Is that something that you're targeting? I would like to. I'm probably not going to force it depending on the depth of the league. We were just talking about this situation before, but I think those handcuffed situations with the guys that are really uncertain right now. If you're in a deeper league where it's going to be harder to have three starting running backs or harder to replace them on the waiver wire, then it's more important to me to go get Marshal and Lloyd. If it's a league where you only have four or five inch spots and you're only starting one flex, then I'm probably not quite as worried about it. It's good that we all got the memo by the way to wear black today. So we're all in agreement. Let's talk about-- It's a bust episode. That's true. We don't-- we want to use the word bust. Do not draft. Do not draft. Do not draft. Let's talk about-- why are we using the word bust? Let's talk about the bear's running back. 'Cause we want to be negative. Do not draft this positive? Well, you're going to draft them still. We'll get in set when you get that part. 'Cause Kyle Manongai still dealing with his knee injury heath, how do you view Manongai, how do you view the Andre Swift? How much are Swift benefited because of Manongai's absence in camp? Well, I think Swift's benefited for a couple of reasons. One is Manongai's absence in camp. And it just kind of highlights the contingent upside that he has, because he's being drafted right around RB 18 to 20, which is probably where he's going to finish if Kyle Manongai's healthy or year. So you're kind of drafting him where he's going to finish. But he has that upside of Manongai's time. The other reason he's been upgraded was a lot of the names that they've just said. A lot of the names we're talking about right now have fallen below him. So I like him. There's a big tear of running back that I have at the three, four turn. He's in that tear. I'd prefer to draft him early and round four. All right, so we'll see how this goes with Manongai. Expect it to be ready for a week one, but really helping the situation for the Andre Swift. What's also helping the situation in Carolina for Jonathan Brooks is Chuba Hubbard dealing with his injury as well, battling a hamstring problem. So Dave Canal has kind of gave us this landscape of what it would look like when both guys are healthy. How are you doing the Panthers back then? I don't really want to reach for either guy and the fact that we can get Chuba Hubbard pretty late right now in drafts because he hasn't been practicing and people are worried about this injury. It actually encourages me to take him and play the long game with Chuba Hubbard. And I'm not saying that Chuba Hubbard is a better running back than Jonathan Brooks, but I can't say that he's not either. We haven't seen Jonathan Brooks play much in two years in the NFL. And so far this preseason, he's had a couple of moments. He's looked all right, but I still view Chuba Hubbard as somebody who can handle passing downs might be better suited for the goal line than Jonathan Brooks. Maybe they want to keep Chuba Hubbard in there. And I know the coaching staff likes him a lot. If they both are there week one and they stay healthy all season long, Brooks is the one you're going to want to have on your fantasy team. He should be better, he should get more touches, kind of like how Rico doubtled it last year, but it's not like Rico doubtled finish there. He had his moments, but he didn't finish here as one of the great running backs of fantasy football. Yeah, hopefully they'll get their tackle situation. They need straighten out because both left tackle and right tackle dealing with injuries. So that would certainly help things, but this is going to be a team that we know is going to try and run the ball. So hopefully one of these two guys stands out. He, if we got both commanders running backs battling injuries right now, Jacori Croskey-Marit, something's going on with his lower body, not expected to be serious. Rashad White's got this hamstring injury, has kept him out for about a week. How do you view those two guys going into the season? Almost exactly the same way that I view Jonathan Brooks and Chuba Hubbard. I think that the roles might be pretty similar. There may be a little more pass catching for Jonathan Brooks. And we may be a little more certain that Bill Jacori Croskey-Marit is a good NFL rusher 'cause he did lead the NFL on success rate last year. But I have Brooks one spot ahead of Jacori Croskey-Marit. I'm taking both of those guys in round seven. I have white one spot ahead of Chuba Hubbard. I'm taking both of those guys in round 10. Yep, make sense if you're just looking at it from who's going to do what roles. I just wonder with the commander situation that Rashad White can probably do everything. I don't think Jacori Croskey-Marit, they want him to do everything. Well, I think that's kind of with Chuba too. Like we've seen him be a workhorse running back in the past. Like he could do everything. All four of these guys, if one guy gets hurt, I think could be really crushed their value. And Washington, another team with offensive line issues. In fact, they're worse there than they are in Carolina. We're hoping that the tackles for the Panthers come back. There's not going to be a return of Laramie-Tunsell, a left tackle for Washington and their center is also banged up. Yeah, not ideal. And they were really struggling in their joint practice with the Ravens this week. Let's look at the wide receivers here. We'll go a little faster on some of these guys here. So we'll show you the list of the players that are battling injuries here. It starts with Pukinakua. Goes down through Xavier Worthy there. We'll get to a couple of these guys when we talk about our do not draft list as well. Mike Evans and DK Meccaff are on those lists. But Heath, when you look at the situation with the Rams, Pukinakua has now missed significant time with the groin injury. Another player who may be facing a possible suspension. What does his injury status do for him? Because he's going to be considered one of the top five or six overall players. Have you downgraded him at all? And then if he does miss any time, what does that do for Devonta Adams? - Yeah, I haven't downgraded him yet, but I did have him fourth. We've got that group of round one wide receivers. Chase, JSN, St. Brown, and Pukin. He's been fourth for me. He's still fourth for me. It would take something more for me to move him behind CD-Lam, Drake London, Jefferson, that group. Devonta Adams would make us all look foolish for drafting him so late if Pukinakua misses time. It sounds like he's had a very good camp. I think he's the most obvious touchdown regression in a candidate wide receiver. But then the one that people might not be thinking about is if Pukinakua does miss time, Terrence Ferguson's going to pay off for a lot of people that I think have maybe been overdrafting him if everybody's healthy. If one of these guys is not healthy, Ferguson could be awesome. - We know they're going to be in a lot of 13th person now. We know that he's going to be probably the titan that they feature last year was Colby Parkinson this year. They're seemingly going toward Ferguson, so a good late round target if you are taking two titans. Dev, I know you've been very excited about a Mecca Buka. We're all looking forward to seeing what he could do without Mike Evans there, but still battling this toe injury, similar situation. How you view a Buka? And then what does this do for Chris Godwin? - I saw the Buccaneers practice against Jaguar's earlier this week and there doesn't seem to be much pessimism about a Buka's availability for week one, but there is a little bit of cold water being thrown on him making that huge leap. The leap that I was kind of hoping that he would take this year and maybe be the 2026 version of Jackson Smith and Jigba. He should be ready to go a week one. I'm drafting him like he can finish the year as a quality number two wide receiver. But after watching the Buccaneers practice, I really liked what I saw from Chris Godwin. Looked like the Godwin of old, lined up in the slot a lot. I was on the same page with Baker Mayfield on a number of plays. He didn't get the same type of target volume in practice as Ted Hurst and Ted Johnson did. And I think that's because the Buccaneers are trying to get those young guys acclimated. They know what they've gotten Chris Godwin and that's a role that he's got locked into. I wouldn't be surprised if this year ended and a Buka and Godwin were both north of seven targets per game. - Would be awesome. Mike Evans basically average nine targets per game. So there is some opportunities to go around for both of those. - Not to mention. - Evans dominating touchdown. - Yep, Red Zone looks. That's open now. That's right into a Buka and Godwin fans. - And Jalen Mcmillan should also be a factor too. So we'll see what happens there. Keith, you said a few weeks ago that Luther Burton's injury saved you from taking him in round three. Well, he returned to practice yesterday. So trending in the right direction should be available for week one. Are you back in Luther Burton round three or are you just buying the dip and taking him? In this case, it was early round five. - Did I tell you guys that I got Luther Burton in round five last night? I think I told everybody 17 times I'm so excited. I've got him right in the middle of round four right now. It's funny, like the guy that I have ahead of him is a Buka. And one of the reasons I had a Buka ahead of him was because Burton was hurt and a Buka wasn't. Now it's kind of flipped. And I was just kind of looking at this. That's my wide receiver, 18 and 19. I may swap that back and put Burton ahead of a Buka. He'll probably. will still be a high round four guy. That round three, four turn is more running backs for me, but Burden will be the top wide receiver in round four. - Yeah, we like that he's trending in the right direction. So you him appropriately now, and maybe down grade, Rommeldoons, he just a little bit because now Burden, back on the field day. I'm gonna give you the entire cult's passing game here because we have exciting. We're gonna transition to tight end. So if you guys wanna throw up the tight end list as well. So we got Josh Downs now with a calf injury. Alec Pierce, we got the news today off the pop list, dealing with that ankle injury. And then you got Tyler Warren, who's been battling this groin injury. So how do you view the cult's passing him? - And not great because everybody's banged up. Warren is still the one I want, especially if it's a league. Well, it really has to be a league where I'm starting a tight end. If I'm not being forced to start a tight end, then I'm less interested in taking Tyler Warren with a top 50-ish type pick. But he's the first one that goes off the board. And right now I have Downs ahead of Alec Pierce. I've got to still react to the news of Pierce coming back to practice. And I can see myself making a switch and putting Pierce ahead of Downs because Downs is banged up. But neither one of these wide receivers I'm excited to draft until round eight. And if I'm getting that late in the draft, then there's immense value in both of them, particularly in PPR leagues as it applies to Downs. But we just got to see him back on the field. He dealt with injuries last year, dealing with injuries again now. At least Pierce is healthy. And we know that his role is going to evolve in Indianapolis, should be able to not only be that deep threat that he was last year, but also pick up a bunch of shortened intermediate throws too. - I'm really worried about the fact that he's going to try to do something new. Dave talked about the role of evolving and hasn't got to practice at all. Like all off season, he's not been healthy enough to do all the stuff. And now I don't know that he's 100% healthy. He's off the puff. He's going to, I would assume, be doing individual drills first. And then he's going to try to get through some team drills. We've seen some videos of him walking around that don't look like a 100% healthy person. So I'm gonna wait to move him up until he gets through a couple of team practices and then is still okay. - But where would you move him up too? - Let's see. - He's around nine right now. - Okay. - He might get to the very end of round seven for me. I don't imagine he'll be a top 80 pick. - Yeah, round eight pick is where I think he will. - Yeah, and I'm just, I think, out altogether. He probably won't get into the single digits for me. I just don't like what I've seen. I don't like what the expectation is. You know, you still have Daniel Dones coming off from the Killies injury. And they were not great together at all. - The Keenan Allen. - The majority of the Pierce's. - We've heard about Keenan Allen. We forgot about Keenan Allen. - The majority of Pierce's production came without Daniel Dones, which is shocking that he was the one that was thriving Phillip Rivers, and then at the end with Riley Leonard. His production, you know, I know you like to do this. The percentage of his fantasy points was the last six games of the season when Daniel Dones was not there. All right, so on top of Tyler Warren, about on the Groyd injury, a couple other tights. There are three other tight ends that are dealing with injuries. Some positive, some negative. You got Sam Laporta with the hip injury, backer practice. That's positive. You got Tucker Kraft in it when the injury just got a report from ESPN's Adam Shafter. The Packers are signing John Who Smith. So another tight end and a mix there for Green Bay. And then George Kittle dealing with the Killies injury. So of these three tight ends, Heath, which is the one you feel the most confident in, based on an injury standpoint. - On the injury standpoint, I'm gonna go with Sam Laporta because he did have a back injury through the offseason. He was cleared from that. When I saw hip, I was worried because hip and back can sometimes go together. This sounds like it was just, he got hit really hard in the hip. He took a couple of weeks off. He was back. They said it was a very physical practice in his first practice back. And he was doing 11 on 11 work and was fine. So Sam Laporta, I'm not worried about. And in the case of Kraft and Kittle, both guys coming back from injuries last year. Both have been activated off the public, trending in the right direction. I wouldn't worry too much about John Who Smith going to Green Bay impacting Tucker Kraft. Just another pass catcher that they can rely on there in Green Bay if they need it. - Real quick, if you draft George Kittle, do you draft another tight end with him because of the concern that he might miss week one? - I think just given the fact that the games in Australia, still the uncertainty of it, you should absolutely put some money on your radar like a Terrence Ferguson. If you wanna go with the higher end guy, Mark Andrews. - Don't choke. - Dalton Schultz will be great to want Johnson. It would be great if you want one of these veteran guys that can still produce and be heavily involved. Speaking of tight ends, we're gonna take a break right now. When we come back, we're gonna tell you why heath does not want to draft. Tremac pride, one of the guys that heath is looking to avoid in draft this year. That's next on FFT. (upbeat music) - Welcome back to fantasy football today. We're talking about players that we're looking to avoid on draft day. Our final do not draft list or our bus list, if you wanna frame it that way. I think just in the case of for context, you will still take these players if they fall to the appropriate spot. We say do not draft. It's do not draft at their cost at what their average draft is. So that I think is a big part of this conversation. So let's start, we're gonna do heaths, guys. We're gonna do each segment for each of our do not draft list. So this is heaths on the spot, heath gets a spotlight here. Your five guys that you're highlighting here for this are Tremac pride, Cam Scataboo, David Montgomery, Mike Evans, and Caleb Williams. Tremac pride is still your number one tight end day. - Still my number one tight end and full PPR. - For people that look at it, it's McBride, it's Brock Bowers, they're at the top. Why is Tremac pride a do not draft player for you? - So I think one of the best compliments that you've ever given me, Jamie, was earlier this year you said I'm consistent. And I'm not always consistent, but I try to be consistent. I've given a pretty significant boost to both Sam LaPorta and Kyle Pitts because of the tight end friendly head coaches that they inherited from Arizona and from Cleveland. Drew Petsing was Tremac pride's offensive coordinator for the last three seasons. He will not be this year. I don't think they're going to go away from McBride, but I have taken away from his target share. I think he probably has some touchdown regression. He ran two full games more routes than any other tight end in football last year because this was a team that was always down two scores in the second half. And Tremac pride was out there running routes on every play. He'll still be running routes on every play. They may still be down a lot. There's going to be some regression in terms of the number of total pass attempts. We're going to, we've had now the emergence of Michael Wilson. There was not a part of Tremac pride's big breakout, especially when it came to touchdowns was when Marvin Harris and Jr. was hurt last year. And maybe most importantly, I'd just rather draft Colston Loveland and he goes later than Tremac pride. So if I have to choose between the two, I'm going to take Loveland. I would take Tremac pride if he was going 10 picks later. I think every coach that gets their hands on Tremac pride is going to be a tight ends coach because of how good of a player that he is last year with Jacobi Berset. And I think Berset is part of the solution here for Tremac pride. 10.6 targets per game, 21.1 PPR points per game, and 10 total touchdowns, that's amazing. And I don't think he comes close to those numbers this year, but is still the guy to get in full PPR leagues as the number one tie then. I don't think anything's really changed. I don't think their defense is any better. I know Jeremiah loves there. He's banged up. How much more effective will they be running the ball? It'll be a step forward, but it'll be a lot better right now. I don't think so. I think they're going to have to throw a lot of bad last year. And Jeremiah love is an awesome talent, but he's banged up right now. That offensive line isn't great. I still think they're going to end up throwing a lot. So it wouldn't surprise me if this year ends and Tremac pride, I don't know about. Would you say two games more worth of routes? Maybe like three quarters of one game more routes compared to everybody else? I think this cardinals team is still going to sling it. I think like Bride's going to lead the team, targets, catches, yards, and touchdowns. I think it'll be good enough to be the number one tie then. But it's only in PPR. Half PPR, not PPR. I'll drink the Kool-Aid on Brock Bowers. And I do think that offensive line being bad in this Defansky Petsing system, and you noticed this. We're going to talk about Kyle Pits a little bit later, but the Falcons first pre-season game. When the quarterback doesn't have time, they've always got the tie-dend out there in the flat. We're just running underneath right behind the blitz. And we're just going to dump it off to the tie-dend. I think a lot of those targets may go to Jeremiah Love in this offense, and they won't be designed to the tie-dend. Because most teams don't have those dump offs to tie-dends. It's really that specific coaching tree that does. Certainly more than last year, but don't discount, McBride, getting a bunch of those types of targets. And that's what helped them be so great for PPR last year. Let's talk about the two runny vassals who are combining them together. Because they do go in a similar range. I know the ADP doesn't necessarily suggest that, but I think we're going to see them maybe get a little bit closer because of the concern about Cam Scataboo. So you got Cam Scataboo and David Montgomery. Scataboo is ADP right now, 34.9. I think that's the biggest reason why anybody should be a boy. Yes. David Montgomery is 50.7. Scataboo is RB16 on CBSports.com. Montgomery is RB22. What's your concern about both these guys? So yeah, for Scataboo, I think coming into the year was the injury. And we think that's okay. I mean, it was a gruesome injury for both him and Quinshaw and Judkins. But they've done enough in the preseason that we're kind of discounting that now. I'm kind of starting to wonder if his head coach likes him. They just brought in Nudgey Harris. I believe Coach Harbaugh was asked yesterday about his-- about Scataboo's infectious energy. And he said, yeah, he got a 15-yard penalty in our last place. More of an infectious disease. And then it's just, that's not exactly the type-- Scataboo and Jackson Dart and this whole Giants offense was such a weird thing last year, just in the way they had success. And now you've got Harbaugh, and Nagy, and Roman. I think they're looking for a little more professional football. Nudgey Harris is that. So I'm worried that Scataboo is not the full workhorse running back that we need him to be. And this offense is not very good. David Montgomery, I think he's just going to share more than people think he's going to. We've heard that a little bit. Woody marks probably a handle passing downs, maybe to have more carries. I think Montgomery and another guy we're getting ready to talk about are very, very similar in that if he scores 10 touchdowns, he may pay off at his current ADP. I don't think there's much upside it as ADP. I'm worried about how many running backs are in that kitchen for the Giants. Because Nagy Harris is probably going to elevate to being the guy behind Scataboo. And then they might keep Tyrone Tracy and Devon Singleteria. That's four running backs that they can use on a week-to-week basis, people that are drafting camp Scataboo based on what he did last year. are going to get burned for it. He's a round five pick and a late round five pick at that. - Mike Evans is still very popular for fantasy managers going as wide receiver 27 at 66.5. It is overall ADP. What's the concern level for you? - I feel like chicken little running around saying the sky is falling, the sky is falling, but all off season I was worried that Mike Evans at his age and has had struggled with soft tissue injuries each of the last two years. I can't he stay healthy. I'm not even gonna make any sub-station jokes. It's just the fact that he's got the injury history. He's got the age concern. And then he can't seem to get through a week of practice without another soft tissue injury popping up. He had the quad, he's got the groin now. I just I think I wouldn't be surprised if he scores a touchdown at most of the games that he plays this year. I would be surprised if he plays more than 12 or 13 games. And this Shanahan offense has not been one that generally features a number one wide receiver with a lot of targets, especially if Christian McAfry and George Kittle are both healthy. I think the thing you're hoping for is do you want Jenny scored nine touchdowns last year? Can Mike Evans get to that level or better, which he's got six years in his resume with a thousand yards receiving and 10 touchdowns? That's the guy I think that a lot of fantasy managers are hoping for, but 33 years old, like you said, it's been one injury after another. All right, last guy for you is Caleb Williams going as QB eight, 75.1 overall in his CBS Sports ADP. And I get it because the fun stuff that he does is really exciting and you think if he could just be a normal quarterback the rest of the time, he could be so awesome, he could be. But there's just too many quarterbacks with a very similar projection. Everybody that's listening to me talk all summer knows that I prefer Brock Purdy. I'd rather draft Justin Herbert. I'd rather draft Trevor Lawrence. I think Jared Goff is very likely to score just as many fantasy points or right in that same range. And those guys go a lot later. If any of those guys in that group had an ADP at 75, I wouldn't draft them because I can get somebody else at 90 or 100 that I think is going to do pretty much the same thing. Just repeat your quarterback strategy about waiting. You need to wait and get a steal on draft day. There's people that are telling you, just wait on quarterback, wait on quarterback. Well, if you do that and then a quarterback falls to a really good spot in your draft, why would you pass that up? What if it's Josh Allen in round three? What if it's Lamar Jackson in round five, Drake May in round six, Joe Burrow in round six? If you see something like that and you just can't believe it, the steal is sitting there in front of you, take the quarterback, don't pass it up. Right, and that could be Williams or it might not be Williams because he's going to soon, all right? So we'll see where Caleb Williams ends up in your leagues. And if you're somebody that's going to pass on him or if you're gonna get excited and draft Caleb Williams, all right? We're gonna take a break right now, we come back. It's Dave's turn to talk about a couple running backs. He's concerned about, you've heard him say this, a lot about Breese Hall, he'll defend or maybe not. Breese Hall's draft value for 2026. That's next on F50. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) Welcome to the Breese Hall segment. This is fantasy football today. I'm Jamie, that's Dave, that's Heath. And we're talking about Dave's players that he's looking to avoid on draft day. The players, he is not planning to draft. And Breese Hall has been a very fun top level conversation for these two to debate. So let's just start right there. A day we can show the list of the players that you're looking to avoid. But really the headliner is obviously the guy at the top. So let's talk about Breese Hall. He is RB19 going basically the beginning part of the fourth round, 39th overall. That's not good enough for you? - No, that's not. I'd still wait a little bit longer. The back part of round four is where I'm gonna be on Breese Hall, but at least I appreciate that his ADP is falling a little bit. And I don't know if it's because of anything I'm saying. I think it's because of the groin injury they has and that it's caused him a big chunk of training camp. But that doesn't help Breese Hall's cause. This is still a jets team that wants to use three running backs. The coaches have said as much. Frank Reich is the new play caller there. I'm not excited about him. His track record with running backs in 10 years as a play caller is terrible. Four times as a running back had 13 plus PPR points. Three times with 15 plus and once as he had a guy that's been awesome and that was Jonathan Taylor when he was a younger player in the league. Breese Hall obviously with the injury, questions about the offense and how much they're gonna score. They've been bottom five in point scored. Six of the last seven seasons. Last year he had a workhorse role. Jamie, 17 plus such as per game. 13 PPR points per game. Half his season was a total disaster. I'm not excited about drafting him and I don't want people to reach form in round three when they start to see those running backs go off the board. I think his ADP is absolutely perfect. So I've got a little bit higher amongst the running backs. I've got him at 38th overall. But one of my favorite Breese Hall stats. There have been three running backs since the start of 2022 that I've seen 200 targets in average. Six point five yards per target. Those three running backs are Bijan Robinson, Christian McAfry and Breese Hall. He's awesome in that role. And the coaches have said one of you's three running backs. The offensive quarter made or also recently just said Breese Hall is a bell cow. So I do think what really went wrong last year was the shape of those touches. He had more carries, he had fewer targets, and then he didn't score touchdowns. He's never really scored rushing touchdowns, but he had nine total touchdowns two years ago when the offense was awful. He had eight total touchdowns the year after that when the offense was awful. Only scored five last year. I think the touchdowns bounce back. The shape of those touches change a little bit with Braille and Alan staying healthy. So he used him more on the early downs in the trap back role. He used Breese Hall more on passing downs role. Would not be surprised at all if Breese holds the top 12 running backs. I'll add this, I do think the early schedule is favorable for the Jets. So if you already have Breese Hall on your team, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. If you've got him and you're a little bit nervous, you can enjoy the first part of the season and then sell high on Breese Hall when the schedule gets worse. This guy I think is relatively obvious. Trevian Henderson, he's going as RB 26. 66th overall. That's too soon. The thing that's crazy to me is that Ramundra Stevenson is going three running backs spots later and 13 picks overall later based on his ADP. Think about where we were last year with Trevian Henderson. Every report out of New England was positive. And we were all excited. We all three of us were really-- I was taking him around three. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You were really into him. I was taking him around for where were you taking Trevian? Behind Jamie. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So like, he obviously is the genius here when it comes to Trevian Henderson. And then what happened? He really wasn't that great. And honestly, neither was Ramundra Stevenson until injuries came into play. When Ramundra Stevenson got hurt in the middle of the year, we saw great numbers from Trevian Henderson. But otherwise, he wasn't really that great. And Ramundra didn't really step up until the end of the year when they just gave him all the work. This year, the reports out of training camp are not positive for Trevian Henderson. He hasn't improved in past protection. His vision is still a question mark. Meanwhile, Ramundra Stevenson, getting all the reps with the first team offense, having a bigger role in the Red Zone offense, I can't believe the words are coming out of my mouth. But I'd much rather have Ramundra Stevenson than Trevian Henderson. Henderson's being drafted at least one full round too soon, if not two full rounds. Don't go after the hype on this second year running back. Ramundra is the safer pick. - I think our podcast host, the host of show, during the season on this network on Tuesdays, Adam Azer says it best. If you want a similar profile of a player, just wait two rounds and take Blake Horm. Wait and take Kyle Menon guy. There are injury lottery tickets that if the starter gets hurt, you're gonna want that player. Trevian was awesome in the three games that Ramundra missed last year. But otherwise struggled when Ramundra was healthy. All right, let's combine two receivers that you have on your list in Carnell Tate and DK Mecca because they are going back to back. So not necessarily in their overall picks, Tate is 90.5 overall. Oh no, they are, 90.5 and 90. So they're basically right back to back. Why do you see her 35 for Tate? Why do you see her 36 for Mecca? Are we overreacting a little bit to the preseason for the Titans? - I don't think so. I mean, and this doesn't have as much to do with Carnell Tate as it does Cam Ward and the rest of this Tennessee offense. Cam Ward looks terrible. He's completed zero of six passes of 10 plus A yard. So for Ariards, what do I say, A yards? - A yards, A yards, Ariards. - Yeah. - So far this preseason, one of those included a drop from Tate, which is problematic. I don't hate the ADP for Carnell Tate at 90.5, but you should honestly, you should try and get him a little bit lower than that in that round, 9/10 range. And that's where I'd have DK Meccaf as well. Crowded receiving core now in Pittsburgh with Michael Pittman there. I like the draft pick that they have, Jeremy Bernard Plus, Roman Wilson. Once upon a time was one of my favorite rookies coming out. He started to step up as well. I think there's just more options and more short area options for Aaron Rogers to go to that will not only hurt DK Mecca, but also the running backs. I don't know if the running backs get the same type of target share that they had last year because of Pittman, because of Bernard and because of Roman Wilson all being there to take work away from them. - I think part of it is the injuries for both Meccaf and Pittman. They haven't been practicing. So we haven't got to see what. Oh, definitely, but I think just the other guy stepping up, I think just the two starters or quote unquote starters, not being there. All right, we're gonna let you guys fight again 'cause Kyle Pitt's coming up here. So Kyle Pitt is tight end five. I know that's fine for you. It's a little too soon for me. I like Laporta better. I know you like Laporta better as well. But you have Tucker Kraft in there also. So Kyle Pitt is somebody you've been very adamant about that you're not drafting. - Outside of a five game span last year when Drake London was hurt, this tight ends averaged around 10 PPR points per game and there have been seasons, full seasons where he's averaged less than that. Now he was awesome in those five games without Drake London but last time I checked Drake London is healthy and now it looks like we're gonna get the quarterback that we want in Atlanta. We're gonna get Michael Penex Jr. as the guy under center there and not Tua Tunga Vialoa. I actually was encouraged by what I saw from Pitt's with Tua under center because Tua was getting rid of the ball so fast. Penex won't do that. Penex will look down field a little bit longer and I don't know if Pitt's gonna be the guy who's there. So I don't wanna overvalue Pitt's based on the fancy points that he had as a whole last year. The name of the game here is that Drake London is the number one target. Pitt's might have the coordinator that you like but it doesn't mean he's gonna get a ton of work and even when he has gotten a decent amount of targets for a tight end, it hasn't always resulted in consistent fantasy points. I think he's closer to tight end 10 and tight end five. He had an awesome rookie season and he scored one touchdown and so it didn't look that good in terms of fans. as he points, but it was one of the best rookie seasons that we've seen. He got hurt, had the PCL injury, we've seen that bother guys for multiple years. He wasn't quite as good. He was very good last year without Drakelin, and that's true. I don't think, based on what that offensive line looked like in front of two, that Michael Pinnix is going to have the option to hold onto the mull for a long time. And I do think the offensive coordinator matters. In the Kevin Stofansky Drew Petsing system, it's not just been Harold Fanon and Tramock Bride. It's been David Nejoku. It was Zach Irts, when he played. Austin Hooper. It was Austin Hooper. It's been a 23% target per route run rate or higher for all of those tight-ends. Kyle Pitts somehow is still just 25 years old. He's still very talented. Reports from Camp saying he's moving as well as he has in years. I 100% believe. I prefer him at tight-end six, but I think the ADP is too low. So I'd love, I've drafted Sam Laporta in half of my drafts. In three of the other drafts, it's been Kyle Pitts. I just took him in our FFT Open, picking on six, it was a 6/7 turn. So taking him there was-- Which is the ADP? Which is ADP. And he was my next highest tight-end. I didn't love the receiver value. We only start two receivers in that league. So first time that I drafted him in a league that we're playing out, so I'm excited to-- Because I ended up drafted. You're not in that draft. Right. I'm excited to somebody else took Laporta. So I'm excited for him, so we'll see how he does. All right, we're going to take a break. We're going to come back. It's my turn to talk about some of the players that I'm avoiding. After you're running back heavy, you can imagine Christian McCaffrey is not somebody I'll be drafting. We'll talk about why next on FFT. Welcome back to Fantasy Football. Today, it's my turn to talk about the players that I do not plan to draft for 2026. A lot of it is tied to their value, a lot of its tied to the position that they play and some of the injuries that they're dealing with. So Josh Allen is mostly 100%, 1000%, no question about it, his average app position. You have four running backs here, one that is hopefully not going to be injured, one that is hopefully not going to be on the worst team in football, and two guys that are battling injuries in Ashton Gentie and during my love, the Josh Allen conversation can be very quick. It's just really, when you look at it, he's going in the second round and then there's a huge gap and the rest of the field starts. You listed it off when you were talking about the guys. You might get Josh Allen in round three. Then you could get Lamar Jackson in round five. Then maybe Drake May, Joe Burr on round six. That's not just us talking about this as analysts and I know a lot of it's probably going to change over the next two weeks as most of the novice drafters are starting to take part in Fantasy Football. That being said, the gap between Josh Allen is not that far, should not be that significant that he is going to just obliterate the field. Please do not take him in round two. Round three, I think we all agree. We'll take Josh Allen. I don't start entertaining it then. Yeah. But I'm going to prefer it in round ten, but you drafted him in a league with analysts yesterday. Round four. In round four. Yeah. Perfect time to get Josh Allen if you can get him that late. Let's just say round three is probably the right time to target. Let's get to the run he asked because that's where I think the conversation starts. So, Christian McCaffrey is RB4 based on his CBS board's average draft position coming off the board at number seven overall. We've been all over the place, I think, with him collectively. I know Heath and I think we downgraded him the most once we had this mysterious injury slash rest, slash maybe contract. We don't know exactly what it was, but he came out and said this was part of the plan to sit during training camp. I'm still nervous. We have two years on his resume of over 400 total touches the following year. Each time he did not play a full season four games max was the total in the following year. I don't want to take him in the middle of round one. Does anybody want to take him in the middle of round one? Is eighth overall the middle of round one? It's pretty close to the middle of round one. So, I guess I would qualify, I guess that means I'm the high guy on Christian McCaffrey. No, our colleague Adam Azer is taking fifth overall. Right, right. And to me, it sounds silly to say, well, he's on my do not draft list because I won't take him fifth, but I'll take him eighth. But I feel the exact same way you do. And think about this. The last two times, he had 400 plus touches in the season and then missed time. He was younger. He's 30 now. He also had the highest amount of targets per game that he's ever had in San Francisco last year. It's 7.6. That's nearly two targets per game. Think about what the 49ers have at this season, right? Mike Evans is there, Dijon Stribbling is there, George Kiddell is back. They have added pieces to try and take some pressure off of Christian McCaffrey there, plus they drafted Kalon Black for whatever that's worth, Jordan James is there as well. They are probably smart to lighten the load on this 30-year-old running back who's already missed a good chunk of training camp. The way I'm talking, I should be having him ranked 18th overall and not eighth overall. But I know what the upside is. And if he can handle the bulk of the season, he's going to be a league winner. On our draftathon Wednesday night, Mike Florio of ESPN, I think said the best. If you don't want Christian McCaffrey, you're just waiting for somebody else to take him before he gets to your spot in the draft. So we'll see how this goes from McCaffrey. I want to have the conversation about Devon H&N because you guys are much more positive about H&N. I'm not taking him until Round 2. Are you both Round 1 picks for H&N? I've got 11th. Late Round 1. Yeah. About that same exact spot. In case against, you can make the case for Heath. I just worry about this Dolphins offensive environment. You get almost daily reports from their own beatwriters saying how bad this offense has looked at times. And that's going against the Dolphins defense. H&N's going to get a lot of work. There's no question about it. He's going to be the focal point of this offense. Every defense coordinator in the world, every fake defensive coordinator in the world. Everybody watching this knows that Devon H&N's going to get every touch for the Dolphins. They're not going to win many games. They're projected, win toles four and a half. I would take the under. I don't think he's going to score many touchdowns. And then you look at his history with Tua Tonga Velo without Tua Tonga Velo. I know it's very wild, different times of his career. But it's a 15 point per game difference when Tua is not on the field with him. So Malik Wallace is not going. The 15 point per game difference? Yes. 15. Yes. Is some of that as rookie year when Ray and most of it was there? No. I'm sorry. Yes. It is. Again, it's wildly different things. Right. But numbers are numbers. You know, so when I'm trying to make an argument, I'm using them. Devon H&N is not going to be as involved in the passing game. I think it's going to hurt his overall numbers. So I would not take him until round two. So even number 11, too high for him. He's the most efficient running back in the NFL over the, since he came into the league. His coach wants to give him the ball 40 times a game. And I think we're going to laugh at that, but it's also, I think his coach would love it if you told him at the end of the year, Devon H&N is going to have more touches than any other running back. He is going to be the offense. Malik Willis and his rushing ability should help H&N to remain an efficient rusher, even with a sub-poor offensive line. He averaged 20 fantasy points per game last year on not a disastrous offense, but a pretty bad offense. They were a bottom third of the league, for sure. And Dave went to practice, and it turns out Malik Willis does know how to throw the ball to his running back. Dave saw Malik Willis throw the ball, too, his running back. Not just once or twice. He's like five times six, he's practicing, which is good because he doesn't have any wide receivers. So, some wide receivers are just not like stud wide receivers. Right. So, to be fair, yes, he's obviously going to throw to his running back. He is the worst quarterback in the last two years in terms of target rate to his running back. So that's true. I think that's changed. He's learning. I hope so. I think they're banging it into his own. I hope so. It won't be as money catches as he had last year. All right. The last two guys in the list we can just combine because it's basically injury versus ADP, and that's action gentie and Jeremiah love. I'm not taking gentie in round two. You said you just did it in a 14-team league. That makes a little bit more sense. I would not take him until round three right now. He's RB10. So, he is slipping a little bit based on the average opposition. It's just such a mystery right now. We don't know exactly what this is. It's been reported as a low ankle sprain. But Clingcubi, the head coach of the Raiders, has not come out and said exactly what this is dealing with. Normally, when we get, because Adam Schaefter, Ian Rappaport, the NFL Insiders that you all know, they're usually pretty great at getting some information about a timeline. We have nothing. We don't know if he's going to be ready for week one. I would not draft him until round three, and Mike Washington should be somebody he should be targeting as early as round seven, round eight, round nine, depending on how much you want to be aggressive in drafting him. For Jeremiah love, hey, we got a video yesterday of him walking up steps carrying pizza boxes. He's getting closer to a return, but another situation where we just don't know. I think his ADP is okay. It's 32.8, so going the early part, around three, I'm just probably not going to get him until round four. I'd rather take Travis Hant. I'd rather take DeAndre Swift. I think Javante Williams, Josh Jacobs, all these guys that he was going ahead of should now go ahead of him because of the uncertainty. Both these three guys who went through Hantan there, three of the worst projected win totals according to Las Vegas, which is very good at what they do. And then you're talking about, in the case of Gentian love, two of the worst schedules of any running backs that we're talking about here. So don't love the scenarios for both these guys. In the case of love, we know he's going to potentially lose goal line touches to Tyler Algier. And in the case of Gentie, because of Washington, we might get a little bit more of a split. So I'm just out on all these running backs, which makes it tough to draft. But I'm going to pass on McCaffrey, Hantan, Gentie, and love. All right, we're going to take a break and we come back and get into your questions. Thank you for sending them to us on X using #AskFFT. That's next here on Fantasy Football Tag. Welcome back to Fantasy football today. It's time to answer your questions. So G wants to know, have pick three and a ten, man, PPR standard. We won't say the league. Do you hate going chase in round one and then taking chase, brown and round two? We're trying to avoid stacking the bangles. So we have this question a lot about two lions in the first round. singles early Cowboys. These two receivers early, Dave, what's your philosophy on this in attendance? When it's a great offense, I don't mind stacking. When it's a bad offense, it's kind of a problem and that's why I always feel gross when I end up with two browns on my team. But when it's two Bengals or two Lions, two Cowboys, yeah, of course I'd want to go for that. This isn't a problem at all. Plus Chase Brown, round two, great value. Yeah, and Gee, just, you know, switch to a better league. All right, next question. Brian wants to know, what do you think about this trade? We have PPR, two keeper league, I don't have a second round pick, I'm keeping Omarin Hampton and have Pukka Nakua and want to trade Nakua for Genti and give up my third round and receive a second round and swap first. Yeah, I'm not ready to do that, especially given the injury to Genti. I think I'd rather have Pukka just deal with not having the second round pick. He? Yeah, I mean, I think I guess Dave's got that one too. Oh, sorry. Yeah, no. So you're getting to move up a full round and you're moving from 111. So 108, but three spots. I mean, what would you need? Half PPR, too? Yeah. Yeah, I'd probably do that. And I'd just strike my Washington later. I guess. I'd rather keep Pukka though. All right. Next question. Heath, what do you think about this one? Three keeper is 12 team PPR league. Chase Brown and the fourth, close to the leveling in the sixth, Rashi Rice in the tenth, McBride in the 12, Fanon in the 15th or Coker in the 15th. With three, are you keeping? So I would probably keep Chase Brown. I just said I wouldn't draft Tremac Bride, but if I can keep him for a 12th, I'd probably get go Chase Brown, Rashi Rice and Tremac Bride. I would do the same thing. All right. Next question. Kup wants to know. Keishan Booty or Jalen Coker, Dave, what do you do? I'm going to go with Coker or Booty, but I like drafting one of those guys late if I can. Yeah. You could probably get both. I think Coker makes more sense to go first though. All right. Next question. All right. Last one here, 12 team half feet, we are two wide receivers, one flex, one tie down, what's the draft strategy, thoughts having the first overall pick, so taking Gibbs. And then would you go with McBride or Bowers or McBride at the two three turn, Heath, how would you approach the draft strategy here in this format? So that's as Bowers and McBride. I would not do that. If I can get Bowers at the two three turn, which I just recently did. I don't know if I told anybody in the FFT open, I got Gibbs and Bowers and George Pickens at the two three turn. I think you should expect that it's going to be a hero, RB build from that spot and just hope maybe that H&N or Swift or one of those good RB two, yes, false to the four five turn. But plan on taking hopefully Bowers or two wide receivers. Dave? I agree 100%, especially in a half PPR where the receivers themselves downgraded a little bit. It looked like it was a smaller league. That means Bowers, it says a little bit more value and I do like Bowers or over McBride and that PPR. Just want to take a moment here to thank everybody who donated to our draft the athon to raise money for St. Jude. We are not done. You can continue to donate on our Tiltify page. What's the URL again? Tiltify. I don't know. TinyURL. TinyURL.com/FFTDonate2026. It's just easier if you Google FFTDonate2026, all one word, search for it and then look for the Tiltify link. Yes. So continue to donate. We are a little shy of our goal of $200,000 but we hope to get there. But just want to say thank you to everybody because we know this audience has contributed to a lot of what we have raised as well and we had a lot of fun doing it. The tennis match was awesome as everybody watched. The draft theathon that we did on Wednesday night was awesome as everybody got a chance to see. Hansel. Fantasy info on that too. Just wanted to make sure. Absolutely. You can check it on YouTube. Just want to make sure we thank everybody for donating and please continue to donate. All right. Make sure you check out our fantasy football today podcast wherever podcasts are available. Like Dave said, you can go back and watch what we did on our draft theathon on YouTube. And our podcast is live five days a week we'll be getting to the weekend portion of our shows once the season starts where you can check us out Sunday mornings. We'll do some shows that will air on Saturday also but the fantasy football today podcasts the best podcasts in the business CBS sports your best place for your fantasy leagues and make sure you download the app. The app has been absolutely fantastic as he continues to make fun of me. I draft while I'm driving. I know it's not the safest thing to do but when I get to those red lights I make my picks and then I keep going and and make my picks in the app the app is fantastic. All right. For Keith Cummings for Dave Richard, our wonderful production staff on Jamie Eisenberg. Thanks for watching. Fantasy football today. [Music]