Players We’re Embarrassed to Love + CeeDee Time! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/27

backup for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is expected to go on IR and miss the entire season. So if anyone is stepping up for the Bucks, it's going to be Bucky Irving. And I think that he's going to come in and make Rashad White not torch him, but make it so that his ADP that you're drafting Rashad White at, you're a little bit disappointed. I feel like you're not embarrassed. Like this is embarrassed to love. These players are embarrassed to love. I feel like it. This is almost a reverse embarrassed to hate on Travis E, TN, and Rashad White. Sure. You can look at it that way. You're like, I'm down on those guys because of their backups. I watched every preseason. Bucky Irving snap earlier this morning. And Sean Tucker also had a really strong preseason. And the biggest thing with Irving's size is not to me that it's prohibitive for him to have a role on the offense with Rashad White Healthy. It's more that.

taking him or believing in him, I don't think that there's any chance under the sun where if Rashad White went out, it's all Bucky Irving. I would think it would be a committee behind them. Yeah, I can agree with that. You know, he's 20 pounds under where Rashad White is, a couple inches shorter. And he looked pretty good, looked pretty spicy. I still don't see a world. Like, I know I'm, like, I've been demonstrative about Rashad White. I don't see the world where the team trusts Irving. above White on third down. And Irving's one of his special skill sets, ironically, also one of Kishon Fons, also one of Chase Edmonds, everybody that's been part of this depth in backfield. You know, Edmonds was a prolific pass catcher in Arizona. Never really came together in Tampa Bay. They're trying to find a compliment there. But Irving seems like a very talented player. I just don't know what spelling Rashad White translates to for fantasy. I think.

if he does spell him as a pass catcher a little bit. You know, let's say a target and a half a game end up going to Bucky. That's a big deal. Yeah. I mean, you're talking, you know, you're talking about 24 targets that you would lose. So that's dropping you from 70 down to the high 40s of the 50s. What are your thought processes with these two guys, Jason? Because Mike might be embarrassed to love them, but I would like to hear what you think. Yeah, I don't. personally think that Bucky will really spell White. This team views Rashad White, I believe, as their bell cow. They drafted Bucky Irving because he's a talented explosive short area burst guy that I think just at value where they were in the draft and they needed depth. Seems like a smart pick with Chase Edmonds being.

Yeah. Out on IR for the year. I don't think it's a bad pick at all. But when push comes to shove and the games are being played, and this is also a team that is, they're not that good. But they still, as they are fighting for playoffs. Obviously, they made the playoffs last year, shockingly. But, you know, they're going to want to do everything they can to retain their jobs. Like this, this staff thinks that White is their best chance to win these games. So. I have a hard time believing that he's going to be pulled off the field when he wasn't last year. Yeah, I think the point there is great. I mean, this is a playoff team. They didn't just make it. They destroyed Philadelphia in the playoffs. That's what happened. This was not a failure of a team. This was a team that had a recipe for success that they literally spent the offseason committing money and capital to repeat. They believe that the weapon that they have is.

the weapons that they have are what they needed to win games. So if this was a team that really needed a change, I think that would be a different discussion. I thought Rashab White was incredibly successful for this team. Yeah, he was, and it was great for fantasy for sure. But I do totally understand the point that what Bucky Irving does well is the exact thing that caused Rashad White to be good for fantasy. So if that does, if that is what, you know, is. is changed, then Rashad White will be a disappointment. But I go back to the things to remember episode where it was like, if someone is really good on the field, them drafting a backup is not going to pull them off. Yeah. But I don't apply that here. I don't look at what Rashad White did on the field last year and go, that's an elite player. Fair. He is excellent in pass catching. Absolutely. But I mean, on the ground.

I know, Andy, the workhorse you're talking about it, but for a workhorse to be under four-yard, like, you destroy Najee Harris, as whenever you possibly can for his inefficiency. He's more efficient than Rashad White on the ground. Well, but I don't question Najee Harris getting the workload in Pittsburgh to some side backup. You know what I mean? Like, Najee gets to work. Yeah. Sounds like you should love Najee. Well, look, I would be embarrassed to love Najee. That's for sure. And just to wrap it all up, and I still have Rashad White at RB 14. He's being drafted as the 13. So this is not a panic alarms in the streets. This is I'm looking towards the end of the season. And if things go wrong for Rashad White, that's that is what has happened. I get it. And.

because of the inefficiency on the ground. His situation to me is more fragile. I think there are there are definitely people in your camp of being very worried about Rashad White. Yeah, I mean, that was, I mean, that was us last year and we took the hell on that. So I'm going to learn, I'm going to learn my lesson and I'll be in on White. Barry White, that is. You become him. Let's talk about another guy. I am embarrassed to love this guy. He's a nasty boy of summer, another running back. It's Zach Moss. Oh, no. I have, I've joked this whole offseason that he's my dude and I've always loved him. If you are new to the show or you didn't understand the joke, I did not like Zach Moss as a prospect. I think that's, that's not. That's not telling the whole truth. I,

Thought Zach Moss as a prospect was terrible. Yes, there we go. And I loved being proven right for his whole career until all of a sudden, last year in, you know, backup form for Jonathan Taylor, he was awesome. You know, he started the season. He was really, really good. Obviously, when Jonathan Taylor came back, the whole Zach Moss experiment was over. And... Now he goes, he signs a new contract with the Bengals. He's 26 years old. He's entering his fifth year in the NFL. And I like him. I really, really do. I think that he's going to be the replacement of Joe Mixon. I think he fits the, Zach Moss fits the Bengals running scheme really, really well. And there's just, you know, there's, there is.

I think there's two camps, right? Like you're either on Chase Brown or you're on Zach Moss. Right. I'm on the Zach Moss side. I think he is the veteran that they will put in place for protection, for short yardage, for everything. I think Brown profiles as a change of pace kind of explosive backup versus having the veteran presence of Moss in there. What do you do when Somaget P. Ryan ends up back on this team? That will be, that will be very... Vomit. He vomits. Jason vomits. I will no longer be embarrassed to love Moss because I will not. The Zach Moss history is so wild. I mean, we've talked about Devon Singletary in New York. Devin Singletary lost the battle. It was Zach Moss in Buffalo. You got to go back and remember that. Like, Zach Moss was the one that kept Devin Singletary out the field.

He seems to be beloved by these, you know, we didn't like him. We thought he was slowing and Jason made it very vocal. But like, Zach Moss has, he earned that role in Buffalo. Then he moves on. He's a backup and he takes over the league. And now he goes to a great situation. I won't lie. I mean, I put a lot of stock in what Zach Taylor said about Chase Brown. He has shown a great deal of giving him a lot of praise as far as. what the expectation is. I'm mostly worried that there'll be a committee of disappointment. Yeah, I mean, that's the truth. You don't have to be in one of the two camps where you're either Chase Brown or Zach Moss. You could also be in the third camp, which very well might be the right camp to be in, which is these two guys are going to platoon and make it irrelevant. But Mike talks about how bad Joe Mixon was, how inefficient. And it's like Joe Mixon was the running back five with all of his inefficiencies because the offense is good.

They're going to pass to their running back. I think that will be, I think that'll be Zach Mossy, so late in draft. So that's one of my two guys that I'm embarrassed. I'm embarrassed to love. And who's the other one? The other one, I'm hanging with Mr. Cooper, Amari Cooper. This is like I, I, I, I, libit, liby, hanging with it of Mr. Cooper. I think he's really, really good. And I think the reason I'm embarrassed is just, I don't think that's an embarrassing statement at all. No, it's, it's Deshaun Watson. Because I don't think Deshaun Watson is good. I do not think he's good. I think he's lost it. You think he was good? And now he's not good. A good football player. And yeah, Amari Cooper, you look at his 17-game pace with the five full games that Watson played last year. And it was, I mean, it was world-beater stuff. 95 for 1,632 yards and seven touchdowns.

That was the guy he was looking for in the offense. And even when Deshaun Watson was playing putridly, he still found Amari Cooper because Amari Cooper is a really talented wide receiver. I don't think he's aged out. But every time, every time I'm on the clock, I'm like, do I really want to put the eggs in the basket of Deshaun Watson's? You would have to watch Watson play quarterback in order to watch your wide receiver. Yeah. And I don't want to do that. Yeah, Mari Cooper is... You can, like, put your hand up. Cover cover that. Cover half the screen. I guess usually the quarterback's in about the same spot. Just put a piece of tape on the screen. Can AI, like, blur him? So you just see the ball come out of his, like, blur mark on the screen? You could see the offensive line. And then all of a sudden the ball is... What if we AI in Joe Flacco? Like, it's the same play, but we just put Joe Flacco on the camera. Would that be...

Yeah. That was a good time. It was. But also, you know, Mari Cooper, he was good with both players. And the reason is because of Mari Cooper is super, he is a very, very talented wide receiver. He's always open. He's always in the right spot. He's got great hands. And this depth chart, like I know they're trying to fix it, right? They go out and get Jerry Judy. Jerry Judy is not that good. He is just a guy. He was supposed to be this great. you know, otherworldly wide receiver and he's not. He is an average NFL wide receiver. He's a starting caliber NFL wide receiver. But Watson has his eyes set on Amari Cooper. Amari Cooper or T. Higgins. T. Higgins is two spots later than Amari Cooper. I'm big fan of T. Higgins. George Pickens or Amari Cooper? Amari Cooper. Tara McLaren or Amari Cooper? Amari Cooper. Zay Flowers or Amari Cooper.

Marry Cooper. Calvin Ridley or Amari Cooper? Amari Cooper. Rashi Rice or Amari Cooper? Rushi Rice. Okay. It's not as bad as you thought it was. I am embarrassed to love a player that has finished wide receiver 28, 21, 25, 14 and 28. 14. All right. I am embarrassed to love Terry McLaren this year. I think it's going to be the year for Terry McLaren. I'm also embarrassed to love Will Levis this year. And I think Will Levis is. That one's way more embarrassing. I think it would be kind of impossible for me to be as bullish about Calvin Ridley without believing in Will Levis. I don't think. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. Banana Ramma himself. I think he's way better than people think he is. And I think you're going to see it this year. I think if you're in a two-quarterback league.

and you're deciding how late to wait for that second quarterback, which is something that, you know, Mike loves to do is to kind of push that down the draft a little bit. I just like to feel alive. Yeah. Well, look, Will Lovice will make you feel alive. Oh, yeah, I will. Never been so close to death. You know, we have. Tennessee was a different team last year. This is Derek Henry. This was Mike Rable. This was. a disappointment of a season. It was also a season in which Will Levis took over halfway through the year, no offseason, no practice, no Calvin Ridley. To me, he's exciting. He has the opportunity to come out and be a gunslinger. That's what you want to see. So is he dangerous? Horribly dangerous. Is he going to make some mistakes? Yeah. But so does James Winston, and we love the ride. So Will Levis to me.

I think he's sneaky. I think when you look at the very last third of quarterbacks in ADP and you say, can this player do anything for my team in the range of outcomes? Like Derek Carr's range of outcomes, right? Bryce Young's range of outcomes. Bo Nix's range of outcomes. Geno Smith's range of outcomes. Like to me, we'll love us. has some of the high like you look at him and matthew stafford like stafford despite the weapons we've been on the ride for a really really long time with matthew stafford like matthew stafford spent the first seven weeks of last year almost repeating quarterback 15 every week like we'll love us is going to have some games man he's going to have some four three or four touchdown games this year i'm i'm booking it like his first game when he tricked us all and he goes out there and

first game as a starter just throws for four touchdowns. He is a gunslinger. He is not afraid to throw the ball downfield. He has much better weapons this year and adding Calvin Ridley. He was under pressure so much last year. Not if you ask him. Yeah, he had no idea. No, he had no idea. He can't see it. But they did improve their offensive line. I don't mind taking a shot on Will Levis. I am curious, though, where he's going in drafts. Would you rather have Baker Mayfield or Will Levis? They're going on the edge of undrafted territory. Yeah. In a regular redraft. Levis is two spots behind. I think I'd take Baker still. What about Deshawn Watson or Will Levis? That's a good one. I would probably take. I would take Watson because despite the frustration displayed, like, you know,

played a handful of full games and three of the five games he played. He was a top 10 quarterback. Yeah, for fantasy, he was all right. You would have to cover your eyes and watch it, but he ended up okay. But Terry McLaurant, you know, we saw DJ Moore emerge from the mist, right? This kind of perpetual, we know you're good, but it doesn't matter list. And there's certain players on that list. DJ Moore came out last year with Justin Fields at quarterback. and redefined his story as a fantasy weapon. And McLaurin has four straight 120 plus target thousand yards seasons. He just hasn't had the ability to, you know, put it together week after week, no Jahan Donson, Dianey Brown on the other side. We're figuring out Luke McCaffrey. We've got, like, there's one guy. Yeah, there's one guy. And then there's a big, there's a big gap. Oh, man.

And I believe in Jaden Daniels, obviously. He's the my guy. So these both have correlation, right? Like, Jaden Daniels is my guy. And so inadvertently, I love Terry McLaren. Calvin Ridley's a my guy. And inadvertently, I love Will Lovis. I'm embarrassed because I've spent most of those five years telling you that McLaren wasn't going to produce for you as there was hype going into every season. So, you know, we got to stay water with what you believe about these offenses. I think Washington is going to be a little bit of a better team than people think they will be. And I think McLaurin is that guy. He's a dog. He's going to go out and he's going to give you wide receiver one opportunities every week with a much better quarterback and, you know, plus probably 24% target share in the offense. And I hope it comes together for him. I mean, the touchdowns have been a major problem. That's not something you generally get from a rookie quarterback, but you're telling me you can't get to six. You can't get to seven. If you get to seven touchdowns,

which is well within the range of outcomes for a rookie quarterback, you're going to have a much, much better year than his ADP. He is going in the late sixth round right now, and he's also a player with great fatigue in the fantasy community, so I don't think people want to take him. Yeah, he seems like he'll be a wide receiver too. Let me see who's going around him and who's sexier name-wise. Pickens. I would probably take Pickens, but much sexier. Okay. Pickens is currently three spots higher in ADP. Keenan Allen. I'd go McLaurin. I'll take Terry. Yeah. I mean, Christian Kurt. McLaren. And then you've got to decide between McLaren, number one, for Jane Daniels or T. Higgins? So that's a tough call.

T. Higgins has... I feel like T. Higgins needs to be in this list for you, Jason. Yeah. I'm not embarrassed, man. You know what I mean? Well, I love T. Higgins has 2,000 yards seasons. Last year was the disappointment with the only playing 12 games. But they're kind of similar. Higgins normally scores a touchdown or two more than McLaren. He'll catch fewer passes. He'll get fewer targets. Yeah. I mean, it's... We talked about this last week of just whether or not... wide receiver twos on good offenses are worth it. And they're usually very good picks. Who should be most embarrassed about the names mentioned today, Al? I want to know your opinion because you've heard all the names. Who should walk out of here most embarrassed that this was put onto a podcast? I think I'd have to go with Mike. Yeah. Yeah, he went deep. Yeah, because I put myself out there. The players I talk about are Jeros. Why do you love them?

I'm embarrassed. I already told you why. No, that's fair. I think I have put my shame out into the world. And I hope Tank Biggsby can redeem himself from last year. Yeah, you know what? And you don't get to be on the ride. You're banished. I will watch from a bar. No, you are banished. Yeah, he's my, my guy. That's true. That's true. All right. Let's jump into some mailbag. Mailbag. Okay. We have... Some questions here. Erica and Palm Beach, Florida. What's everyone's temperature on Brandon Cooks this year? It's a good question. I just saw him go in that 15th round as well. He's currently on my bench as a wide receiver for in redraft. I haven't heard anybody talk about him. And I was wondering if I should drop somebody, drop him for somebody like Wix or Mooney. So I wouldn't drop him for Mooney. I wouldn't drop him for Wix either, honestly. I think he's in the same tier as those players.

Like if everything works out for Brandon Cooks this year, he'll be a solid player. It's like it's just if you're going to chase the upside where Dantavian Wix, if it works for him, a lot of, a lot of things have to happen on the chess board. But if it works for Don Tavian Wicks, then you're like, oh man, I stole a top 24 wide receiver where I don't think Brandon Cook's, he's not going to jump into that range. He'll just be a solid flex player. Yeah, and Brandon. Brandon Cook's to me is a very good best ball pick. You know, if you look at how he's kind of converted into more of a touchdown guy, not a volume play. So if he gets a touchdown, you're happy. If he doesn't, his lows are really, really low. Like last season, he finished as the wide receiver 36. But he had games of, you know, 5.7, 4.7, 2, 1.8, 1.2, 2.7, 3. Like, he's just not.

an integral part of the offense. So you get the spike weeks when the touchdowns happen, but I don't want, I would rather have a guy at the end of my bench be more of the Don Tavian Wicks personally, where I'm going to move on from this player no matter what, unless he comes out and says, oh, he did level up. He is on the field. He is the guy that, you know, is the next big thing versus the, you know, used to be a thing. I can keep either Kyron Williams, Aaron and Nashville writing in. I can keep Kyron Williams in round 10 or Sam Laporta in round 11. I've been going back and forth. I think we'd all say Kyron in that one. Logan and Utah, hey, ballers. Just wondering if you are avoiding players with the same buy week or avoiding onesies with the same by week. Well, onesies being tight in and quarterback in most leagues. I mean, generally I'm not drafting.

multiple onesies. There are times when I'm going to have two quarterbacks if I take them very late. I mean, I imagine. But I don't really. I think what he's asking is you draft multiple onesies every draft because you draft a quarterback in a tight end. And so because you don't have depth at those two spots, you would have to sign off the waiver wire. So maybe you avoid having them on the same by week because then you've got to sign two guys. No, I'm not worried about it. I'm not worried about that at all. I'm trying to grab the best players for the weeks. They're on the field.

and my roster is going to look so different. If this is not like a best ball league, if this is just my home league, my roster is going to look so different by week four than it did leaving the draft. I don't know what my bye weeks are going to be by the time by week start rolling around. Unless you spent up on the two onesies. That would be the one situation you might want to keep in the back of your head if you spent up on them both. But I'm not really thinking about it either. Sure. I mean, obviously if you spend up and you get that Mahomes Kelsey stack.

I promise they have the same. Yeah, that's a good point. Hey, we'll take a quick break and answer some more questions. All right. The next question comes in from Brandon. Have you ever left the fantasy draft where you were unsatisfied with your team? And what did you think about it, which? Oh, yeah. Of course. I was the auctioneer of an auction draft that I was participating in. And I, that was impossible for me. That was, I left that draft going, I don't, I don't know. why I drafted any of these people. Generally, if it happens, it's because there was a player, like in the middle of the draft that I won't, that was my target. I'm not prepared properly for, for them to be drafted. And then I tilt. And when you make a tilt pick right in the middle, it usually turns into a second tilt pick. And then you're upset with yourself in your draft. So that's why you be ready. Be ready. It's okay.

If your target gets taken from, you have the other players ready. All right, Bob writes in from Ohio. Where are your tier-based draft rankings located? Yeah, so the ultimate draft kit, you can go to myudk.com. If you have it, that's just a quick URL. So you can always pull up the UDK. But all of our rankings by default in the ultimate draft kit are going to show up in their tiers based on your scoring setting. Yeah, positional rankings. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that's worth mentioning because people ask about, like, where are the tiers in dynasty? Where are the tiers in top 200? Dynasty is so, the reason we don't have tiers in dynasty is because you can draft your team for about 100 different different different tier grouping if you were going to build a long-term team. There's a different tier grouping if you were to build a team to win tomorrow. Yeah, at some teams, Derek Henry is an incredibly important dynasty asset.

At some teams, he is a very expiring, not valuable dynasty asset. Jose writes in, Mike, he says, hey, ballers love the show. What would be the biggest change in strategy between drafting in a 12 team versus a 10 team league? And I'm going to throw one more in there. Somebody had asked recently on Twitter about a 16 team league. So what's the biggest difference in strategy that you find between a very large league or a smaller league like 10 and 18? So the 10 and the 8th, that's where. Everyone's team, their starting lineup is going to be awesome. So you have to find the small edges, which is the easiest one is your quarterback in your tight end position. When you are in the larger teams, I'm a little more focused on, like I don't like the cost of spending an early round pick on a quarterback. Because depth, you lose it so quickly. Yes.

And then that might be a league where I'm more likely to take the two quarterbacks at the end. I'm taking, you know, I'm taking Jaden Daniels. I'm taking Jared Gough just trying to find some upside at the position because I bypass it. And I mean, this may sound like common sense, but it's you need to be more informed about the NFL. You need to be deeper in the weeds of paying attention to all these, the cuts that are happening because there are. There's movement happening right now in fantasy players. It's not top, usually top tier guys who are getting affected, but it's those depth guys that are getting changed right now, and you need to be on top of that news. In a 16-team league, suddenly you're talking about Josh Reynolds in Denver. Suddenly you're talking about Greg George in Arizona. Like those are names that are going to be not just, oh, maybe I'm getting, maybe it's a last round pick that it gets lucky. No, these are like players you're probably playing. Like, um,