Top 10 Fantasy Football MVPs for 2020 - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/2

not going to be, even though he's got the skill set to be a three-down back, James White is not disappearing. So for me, while the value is there, if he ends up being a good pick because of the value. If he ends up being a good running back this year, he could be a fantasy MVP because it costs you nothing. And if you have the chance with your last round to get a weekly starter running back, that's a fantasy MVP. But I have a hard time seeing it actually happen, even though the talent is there. All right.

Yes. It's time for Adam Lefcoe. No, good friend of the show. We just joined him on the Bleacher Report podcast, the Lefcoe show. And he also hosts NBA on TNT Tuesdays. Let's hear Adam Lefco's fantasy MVP. Hello. This is Adam Lefco's MVP for the fantasy footballers. Drink it in.

The MVP that I am picking is not the person that's going to score the most points. My MVP is not the one that may even lead his position, but he'll be the guy that you're going to get so late in this draft that people are going to look at you and ask, how the hell did you do that? He's not a young guy. He's not a middle of the age guy. That's not a phrase. He's one of the oldest guys in the NFL. Philip Rivers is my MVP.

Never has Philip Rivers played behind an offensive line this good. He is surrounded by weapons everywhere you look, and he's playing for a coach that led one of his most successful seasons with San Diego, Frank Reich. In a year in which it's all going to come down to the communication between the quarterback and the coach and the quarterback in that offense, there's familiarity baked in.

And I think we're a little bit used to seeing Philip these last few years with one of the worst offensive lines that we may be judging them harshly. Philip Rivers, get them late, let them bake. I thought that was going to line that it didn't. It was Adam Lufco's MVP. Oh, no, Jason. Good talking to you. Oh, no, indeed. Footballers. That was creepy. That was creepy. Thank you, Adam.

I'll say this. Philip Rivers was an early value pick in our UDK. We did eventually remove him because we didn't feel like the actual ceiling and upside was there. Rivers has the best situation he's had in a while, but can he really reach MVP levels on your team, Jason? I don't know that he's got the best.

Well, certainly can't on my team. He is, you know, we get the question every year. Is there somebody who's just off your board or someone that, you know, burned you in the past and so you won't draft him? I usually don't have an answer for that because I don't. But it's, it's P. River. He will not be on my team. And the reality is, I don't think this is the best situation he's had because, okay, he's got lots of weapons. He's got T.Y. Hilton. He's got.

I don't know, baby hands, Jack Doyle, and maybe Paris Hilton is a thing. Maybe rookie, you know. Michael Pittman? Paris, who? Yeah, what did he say? What did he say? Did you say Paris Hilton? Oh, I hope so. Oh, my gosh, did he? We'll have to check the tape on that one. My point is this. Am I the only one who heard it? Yeah, I didn't catch you. Okay. Mike heard it in his head? They just didn't even happen. Maybe I was thinking it. I don't. We'll find out. Here's very relevant. Reference.

Is that passing core actually better than Austin Echler, Keenan Allen, Hunter Henry, Mike Williams? No, is the offensive line better? Yeah. But these are all brand new weapons for him. Frank Reich is a lot better for him. Yes, Frank Reich is better. But Frank Reich also knows that the strength of this team with that offensive line.

is running the ball. And they're going to be able to do that with John of the Taylor. You don't have to talk us out of Philip Rivers. I'm not talking you out. I'm talking the foot clan out. Look, I will make an effort to stream P. River against you in my leagues for the hopes. Oh, he will dominate that week. I'm beating you. All right. It's JJ's turn. He will rain on you. Oh. Hey, guys. It's your boy, JJ Zacharise in here. You know, the guy who on this very show last year told you that Lamar Jackson was going to be the fantasy football MVP, MBD.

Regression says I'm going to whiff on this year's pick, though. But I'm going to go with T.J. Hawkinson. We know he has the overall profile to be a potential stud of the position, but he also fits the mold of a breakout tight end really, really well. I did a study this offseason on spotting breakout tight ends, and what was clear was that breakout tight ends are generally tied to good quarterback play. They're usually very, very athletic, and they're often year two or year three players. There are a lot of late-round tight ends to like and target this year.

But Hawkinson is my favorite. I don't think anyone should be shocked if he's a top five tight end this year and he emerges to the next early round tight end for 2021 and beyond. All right. Bold words, top five T.J. Hawkinson upside. He was last year's week one, darling. Lots of fab spent on T.J. Hawkinson after week one's dominating performance, believe it was two touchdowns against Arizona. If it wasn't two touchdowns, it felt like it because it was a lot of fantasy points. And he disappeared.

and he dropped the ball in the end zone multiple times last year, and he's doing it again in camp this year. But the profile fits. The profile, look, you're attached to Matthew Stafford. There aren't a ton of other weapons there outside, you know, it's Golodeus Jones, it's Hocles. Do we have the blinders on due to the rookie disappointment after the free agency signing? I don't have the blinders on. I can see the pathway. I mean, I picked Noah as my...

breakout candidate this year for a lot of the reasons he just laid out. You know, he's a very athletic year two tight end that was drafted to be a star. So I totally see the pathway. I'm choosing to go Fant over Hawkinson. If you go Hawkinson over Fant, that's fine. I liked Hawkinson as a prospect more than Fant coming out last season. Hawkinson does have the better quarterback play. The only caveat that I would throw in, and really the true reason why I am Fant over Hawkinson,

is just the ankle, the injury that apparently he still has not fully healed from? I mean, he's out there. He's playing. So he is quote unquote healthy, but the reports are saying he's still dealing with some of that issue. And I know when that injury happened, there were rumors or worries that it was a much more significant injury. And so now a year later that he's still dealing with this. You know, that's the tiebreaker for me for Phant.

I hope dominates. He could be a great tight end. All right. We've got one more before we reveal our fantasy football MVP's. Jamie Eisenberg from CBS Sports with his pick. The fantasy MVP for the 2020 season isn't a running back, a wide receiver, not even a quarterback. The fantasy MVP for the 2020 season is Dave Caldwell, Doug Marone, and the Jacksonville Jaguars. You know what they did for you? They saved you the headache.

of reaching for Leonard Fornett in maybe the third round, potentially the fourth round, but that headache is gone. You don't have to worry about that anymore. You don't have to sit there and say, look how good he was last year. Look what he could do this year with all this work. We've been telling you our podcast, Shameless Club, at CBS Sports, this fantastic podcast, the fantasy footballers, anybody who's been paying attention that told you don't draft Leonard Fournett. And the Jaguars, they remove that headache for you.

So Dave Caldwell, you're the guy. You're the fantasy MVP for the 2020 season. Right before the busiest draft weekend in fantasy, you took away that headache of Leonard Fornett. Bye, bye. Thank you. Dave Caldwell, MVP. Also, like Jarwell, since time. So he made the case that this is how I feel about the leadership in Cincinnati, by the way. Thank you for making things easier on me with Joe Mixon.

But we don't have to deal with Leonard Fournett if you haven't drafted yet. But then he throws him Blake Jarlin. Mm-hmm. So he believes. Yeah. He believes. Look, when you're riding on Falcour, there's, there's. Is there room for two? There, you know, there's room for a whole town. He's a big dog. Is he a dog dragon? What is he exactly? I don't know. He's his own thing. He's a dog dragon. Wait, wait, you said that like a factual statement.

As though dog dragons exist. He's got a dog face. He's got scales like a dragon and he flies? I don't know. He's a falcour. But Jamie is 100% correct that Blake Jarwin will be a fantasy MVP this year. Large white dragon. Now real quick, look, the Google says it's a large white dragon. Yeah, with a dog face. With a dog face. All right. I will say this, though.

Jamie is right in the sense that he's helping, you know, on taking Leonard Forna out, he is helping, you know, listeners not make that mistake. But could you argue that that is bad? Because we weren't going to draft him, which meant someone else was. That's true. Yeah, that's a fair point. And we don't get the validation of the fact that his season would have come to a screeching halt regardless of whether he was on the team. We got the validation already. This is a true victory lap. Okay.

It's our turn. Volunteers to go first with fantasy football MVP picks here. I mean, I'm happy to go first because my picks should not be surprising to anyone who's been following the podcast at all over the summer or since the draft. It's Antonio Gibson running back out of Washington. The rookie I, look, you want to have, are you feeling down in the dumps? You want to bring some joy in your life? Pull up Antonio Gibson highlights on YouTube.

and see what the potential is. This guy was scoring a touchdown basically every single time he touched the ball at Memphis. Here is the path that Antonio Gibson took. He had to go to Juko because of grades. There as a running back, he led his team in receiving. He goes to Memphis once he finally gets his shot because he was playing behind two NFL running backs. I don't blame Memphis for not getting him on the field. But as a senior,

He was second on the team in receiving at the running back position. I want my running backs to catch the ball. I care more about that than I care about them being a two-down grinder. He's a dominant kick returner. We've seen high correlation with players who have that skill set. That means they're a good NFL player. That means get them the ball in space. The senior ball matters for college. In the senior ball, he was the leading rusher of the game, 11 for 68 on the ground.

proving that he can get it done on the ground. Washington used their second pick on him. Yeah, it was a third rounder, but it was actually their second pick in the draft. He is one of the few players where the backfield is very murky. Yes, I readily admit. I think Adrian Peterson is the starter at the beginning of the season. But this is absolutely a situation where the talent could rise at the top, the best running back, I believe.

will be the guy. And I believe that the best player for the team is Antonio Gibson. The three-down skill set is there. He's been tearing up training camp. He has been running with the ones. People were talking about, well, is Bryce Love going to be the start on this team? Bryce Love is running with the twos. There are beat reporters making projections that Bryce Love might be the one who gets left off the roster. Okay, Antonio Gibson, I know the draft cost has gone up.

eighth, ninth round, but that's still in the range of, that's take the shot on the guy that you think can win your league. And to me, that is Antonio Gibson. I will say one thing that has encouraged me about the chance of Antonio Gibson making a big impact is the fact the team seems very committed to him as a running back. In camp, there's a lot of talk about the hybrid weapon, wide receiver room, kick returns.

From what I understand around camp, he's being treated as a running back. Yes. Primarily. I mean, he's in that room. He's with the running backs day to day, which gives him just a higher chance of being that breakout type of candidate. And my final point here is, okay, let's say. And where you draft him? Yeah, let's say, okay, the carries just aren't there. Antonio Gibson, he's around the 100 carry mark, which is, though it would be a little bit disappointing, but it is a possibility that Antonio Gibson is already the best.

second pass catcher on this team behind Terry McLaurin. It's not just the running backs that are nebulous. It's also the wide receiver cord. They have a weapon problem on that team. And Antonio Gibson is a lethal weapon on the football field. How dare you? Stephen Sims is amazing. No, I agree with you. And you've brought this up before, but I think it's worth repeating. John and the Taylor is a freak of nature. That's why he's someone else's fantasy MVP this episode. That's why he is, you know.

When you're 225-ish pounds and you run sub 4-4, you succeed. The history of those guys succeeds. Well, that's Gibson. Gibson is the same exact thing. I think they were both 4-3-9, right? Yep. Yeah. If he gets the opportunity at running back, he should take advantage of it, is the expectation. All right, I'm going to bring you my fantasy football MVP. We'll let Jason close it out. Mine is about what makes a fantasy football MVP.