Fantasy Football 2020 | 1st Round Rookies Fantasy Impact

Fantasy Football Impact of the 1st Round NFL draft 2020 Rookies. We dive into the facts, and if these guys will make an Impact. Covering all the top studs like Jerry Jeudy, Henry Ruggs, Clyde Edwards-Helaire and more!

Full Fantasy Football Podcast Transcription:

Joseph:

Welcome to the show, everybody. Joseph Robert, the Fantasy Football Counselor, and online we’ve got Tim here joining us. What’s going on, Tim?

Tim:

Not much, how’s it going guys?

Joseph:

Tim, the NFL draft round one is done. So we’ve got the risers and fallers for fantasy football value around the players that were drafted. So for example, let’s talk about it. Drew Lock, he’s got a stud wide receiver. Does his value rise or fall? So we’re going to dive into these guys, give you the fantasy football impact of not only the players that were drafted. There was fantasy relevant in round one, but also some of the players surrounding them. All right, Tim, I’m excited about this episode. Are you ready to go?

Tim:

I am, but first of all, you’re going to stop referring to these guys as studs.

Joseph:

They are.

Tim:

None of them are proven studs yet.

Joseph:

Potential studs.

Tim:

Potential studs.

Joseph:

All right, before we get into that, guys, head on over to TheFantasyFootballCounselor.com or a link below. Get the 16 round draft solution. I’m going to help you guys dominate your leagues with the first-ever and only video training, sleepers, breakouts, everything you need is here. Tim, I’m excited about 16 rounds. Tell them to go get it, please.

Tim:

Go get it.

Joseph:

All right. Go get it guys.

Tim:

Good.? Yeah.

Joseph:

All right Tim, let’s just dive right in here. I’m not going to waste any more time. All right, listen. All right, let’s talk about this draft, okay? One running back was gone. Clyde Edwards-Helaire. I keep calling him Helaire, but it’s actually Helaire. It’s like Claire, but with K-P, right?

Tim:

It’s like helly air.

Joseph:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he was gone by the Chiefs later. We’re going to talk about his impact. But I also want to start talking about the wide receivers that were taken, who they were taken, which guys are going to have that fantasy football impact, and also some of those offensive linemen, how they’re going to affect the running backs that are running behind them. So let’s start off with those offensive linemen, Tim. The teams that acquired them because that’s really going to help the run game for several running backs here.

Tim:

Yeah. So let’s just run through those guys quickly, because we normally don’t focus on these guys. But like you say, they’re going to make some kind of an impact. It could be huge. It could be minor. Either way, they’re going to do it. So let’s just kind of go in order of how they were taken. So first off was The Giants who took Andrew Thomas.

Joseph:

I like this pick man. I really like it. A lot of people are saying they’re going to take Tristan Wirfs. They ended up going with Andrew Thomas. And again, some of these coaches, they have decisions. Maybe they see something on tape that really shine them or got their attention. But again, I love this. Protect Daniel Jones. Give Saquon Barkley some more running lanes. This was a smart move. Something that needed to be done and addressed. They addressed it with, I think there’s the fourth pick. I’m excited, man. I’m excited about Saquon even more now.

Tim:

Yeah. Like to see what else they get in the draft too. Let’s see if they keep on building that o-line because we know they need some help there. The Browns have taken Jederick Wills Jr.

Joseph:

Yeah, I mean this helps Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. I’m not sure who’s going to get the starting role. Obviously right now it seems like Chubb is the guy based on last year. It helps both people and obviously it’s going to help Baker Mayfield gets some more time to throw the ball. Now, this is going to show us, man, no more excuses. If you’ve got a great o-line man, you’ve got some good receivers, you’ve got good running backs, come on Baker. This is the year.

Tim:

He had most of this last year too, and everybody was high on him. So yeah, this year it’s a make or break, man. He either does it or he’s nothing.

Joseph:

They’re giving them the tools, man. They’ve given him everything he can to succeed. It’s up to Baker now to really make it happen.

Tim:

Yeah, you got it. So right behind the Browns where the Jets who took Mekhi Becton.

Joseph:

Yeah, I mean Mekhi Becton here, The Jets, they need an o-line. They need to protect Darnold because at the end of the day they need a wide receiver as well. But it was like an o-line, wide receiver. They got to protect the quarterback. They got to let Le’Veon Bell run. They got to make things happen. Right? If you don’t pick the quarterback, can’t throw the balls. So I’m only assuming that they’re going to draft a wide receiver as soon as they can in the next round or two.

Tim:

Yeah. Let’s just say the Jets need a lot of help in general. So this is one small piece of their puzzle. Just a couple pics later where the Bucks and the Bucks took Tristan Wirfs.

Joseph:

Yeah, great pick. And they got him. I’m surprised he fell to the 13th with talent like that. The guy’s an absolute beast. I mean they’re Superbowl contenders this year. There’s no doubt about it. Brady’s there. They’ve got Evans. They’ve got Gronk back. I mean what an all-star cast. They did not get a running back. I think they get the 45 picks in the second round. Like the second round, 45th overall. They are looking at guys, like Dobbins I heard is a consideration and around that state and around that time period, 45th. So again, I like it, man. I like this opportunity for whatever running back comes in. I don’t know if Ronald Jones is the longterm solution. Obviously Peyton Barber shipped off. He kind of sucks. They know that. He’s buried on the depth chart in Washington now, Peyton is. So whoever’s coming in has got a good opportunity to take the job from Ronald Jones because Ronald just hasn’t done anything in the past couple of years.

Tim:

Yeah, I mean he wasn’t too bad. He had some decent games last year. But yeah, he wasn’t what we thought he was going to be. Let’s put it that way. So then again, about five picks later were the Dolphins, and Dolphins took Austin Jackson.

Joseph:

Yeah. I’m not too excited about this at all. I mean, they need to make the… I mean, excited for the pick for the Dolphins, but for Fantasy, who do they got now? Jordan Howard. They’re going to look at probably getting a running back. By the time you listen to this, it’ll be like, “Oh, they’ve already got a running back.” They’re going to probably aim for one in the second round, but as of right now, not too excited. It’s going to be a bit of a committee. They’re rebuilding. I’m not sold on this right now for fantasy right now at all.

Tim:

Right. So then there’s this one. It’s not typically as big a deal for us, but the Saints took Cesar Ruiz.

Joseph:

Yeah, I mean the center. He’s going to help them out a lot. I mean, I like this for Kamara. It can only help. Any type of o-line help to beef it up, only going to help the running game for the Saints and protect Drew Brees, who’s got about two years left in him, I believe.

Tim:

Last but not least was the Titans who took Isaiah Wilson.

Joseph:

Yeah, man, I love this. Only going to help Derek Henry. He’s a beast anyway, and why not help something that’s already dominating. This is why I like Saquon and Henry. I’ve got them at one, two, sic, one, one. Henry two for our overall picks. Then I’ve got CMC at three. But again, I love these guys even more now.

Tim:

That’s it. That’s it for the offensive lineman. Now we can get into the real business.

Joseph:

Let’s get into the wide receivers, man. Let’s dive in. Which guys are going to be a fantasy impact? We talked about this off the air. There are only two guys out of all these wide receivers from the first round that we think could have some significant, or somewhat of a fantasy impact, to start.

Tim:

Yeah, and that’s all we really talk about. So some of these guys, they’ll come in, they’ll play, they’ll make their catches and stuff, but when it comes to fantasy value, I don’t see them really being that relevant. So there’s no sense even really talking about them. Good for them. They got chosen in the first round. They might make something of themselves in the next couple of years. I just don’t think they’re going to do it right now. So the two that we thought were really going to hit, let’s start with Jeudy.

Joseph:

Yeah, I mean Jeudy is in a great opportunity. The only question is here is the talent of Drew Lock. I mean Drew Lock only played five games, had like seven touchdowns, like three interceptions. I think he won most of those games. I think you won like all of them were four out of five. Either way, it doesn’t matter. Listen, we don’t know the upside or the talent of Drew Lock in the NFL. I think there’s a ton of upside here. He’s got all the tools. They’ve got Melvin Gordon, they’ve got Lindsay as a backup there. They’ve got new Noah Fant, who’s shown some flashes of greatness at the tight end position. Cortland Sutton is showing flashes that he could be a great red-zone target, could be a great receiver. Now you’ve got a polish rep runner coming out of college with upside.

All the tools are there for Drew Lock to succeed. I mean his value is definitely rising as a quarterback, a ton of upside. But then the uncertainty is you haven’t seen what he can do and that’s the thing I question. When I get a quarterback, I want to see a guy that’s proven. You can see the consistency of the proven statistics and we haven’t seen that with Lock. All you got is a guy with a ton of weapons and a ton of upside on paper. And again, we saw this with Baker last year. I think it’s a better situation for Drew Lock, honestly.

Tim:

Yeah. Also, Drew Lock had quite a bit of hype going into his draft and it didn’t really pan out the way you wanted. I think he was taken later than he expected to be. Didn’t get a lot of starts last year. He’s kind of moving it forward. Let’s see what he brings. But like you say, yes, right now, Jeudy has a great opportunity as far as where he’s going to be on depth charts and stuff. All the opportunity is there. Everything’s going to rely on Drew Lock. Can he bring it? Now the guy guy that I’m really high on, and I think he moves into a great position to succeed, is Justin Jefferson.

Joseph:

Yeah, I mean the opportunities there with Diggs being gone. I mean why not? Why not give the ball to Jefferson? I mean you drafted him in the first round. I think it was 21st pick. I mean the opportunity’s there. If you are looking at a rookie wide receiver that was drafted in the first round, he’s probably a guy to do it. The target count wasn’t very high for the Vikings last year. I mean their receivers just couldn’t get it going. I think Diggs had like 94 targets. He was their top receiver. The year before though, Diggs showed promise. I mean he had 150 targets. He did pretty well in fantasy the year before. That shows promise for Jefferson going into 2020. So if you are looking at a rookie wide receiver, this is a guy you definitely want to consider because he’s in a position to succeed, Tim.

Tim:

Yeah. And let’s talk about his college numbers a little bit too. So he was actually, his numbers in college were way above Jeudy’s even. So last year Jefferson had 111 receptions for 1500 yards and 18 touchdowns. Jeudy, in both of his last two years, was only averaging about 70 catches per year. Yeah. About 70 per year. But the yards were really decent, 600 I believe and 1200, something like that. 24 TDs. Now mind you, that was all over the last two years. So I really think Jefferson is that guy. If you’re looking at any of these wide receivers, anybody that went in round one that you think has the potential to be a stud, this is the guy.

Joseph:

Yeah. And the thing about Jefferson from my notes, from watching the tape, from reading the scouting reports, he’s the guy that makes those difficult catches. He’s going to get you those fantasy points in the red zone. He’s a great rec runner. Not as good as a Jeudy, but he’s super tough. He’ll fight for that ball and get it. So again, if you’re looking for fantasy points, this is the guy that’ll do it. He’ll make those great catches for you. So I’m looking forward to that.

Tim:

So let’s give an honorable mention to the one guy, Ruggs. Ruggs has to get a mention. The problem here is the team. We just don’t think Carr has it in anymore. So who cares if Ruggs has blistering speed and can beat anybody down to the end. It’s not going to matter if the quarterback can’t get you the ball. Carr has the arm potential to do it, but we haven’t seen it over the last several years.

Joseph:

The reason they got Ruggs is they want that speed again. They want to kind of compete with the Chiefs because the Chiefs have a lot of speed. They got Tyrique. They wanted a speedster, blow the top off of secondary. Listen you got it. But at the end of the day, Carr is throwing the ball. He has not made great fantasy receivers in the past couple of years.

So again, I’m kind of concerned with Carr. Now the way I see Ruggs playing this year, he’s going to be the boom-bust kind of guy. I’m picturing him being like a Robby Anderson, where Robby Anderson has these boom games, then he busts. Will Fuller had these boom games, kind of bust. I think he’s not going to be as consistent as people think. The good news is when you talk about rising and falling, this helps the value of Josh Jacobs rise now. Less stacked boxes, defenses, secondary is always going to be looking at Ruggs as a threat for that deep ball. So again, I love this for Josh Jacobs. So Josh Jacobs’s value goes up. Ruggs, we don’t know. We don’t know. I think he’s going to be volatile. That’s my prediction on this.

Tim:

Yeah. He’s going to be an up and down player. He’s going to have some really amazing weeks probably, and then he’s going to have some real duds too. Let’s talk about a couple of the other wide receivers because I mean they got to get a mention man. They were taken round one. So these are top players. There’s no doubt about it. Let’s go with CeeDee Lamb.

Joseph:

CeeDee Lamb. Yeah, man.

Tim:

Give me your impression.

Joseph:

Listen, this guy was number one, number two prospects, in front of all these wide receivers. The talent is definitely there. I mean my notes on him: acrobatic, strong, long limbs, strong hands, explosive, athletic. I can’t even read right now. His yards per catch is phenomenal. I think he averaged like 21.4 yards per catch. I mean this guy is a monster.

The only problem is, he’s in a position where he is going on the Cowboys and they’ve got two relatively good wide receivers. He just paid Amari Cooper huge dollars. He’s a wide receiver of one. You’ve got Gallup who could potentially be a wide receiver one and then you put in CeeDee Lamb there, I think it’s a terrible home for him. You got Dak Prescott. I mean Dak and throw the ball quite often, but again, they got to focus on the run game as well. A lot of mouths to feed and I just don’t see the volume being there, unless Gallup or Amari get hurt. I don’t see the volume being there enough to make this guy a top 10 wide receiver. But the thing is if he was on a team with a good quarterback, and he was the wide receiver one, the talent is there to groom this guy to a wide receiver one position. We don’t know yet. We don’t know.

Tim:

But that’s why everything depends on where they go in the draft. So unfortunately for CeeDee Lamb, great for him. He’s going to do well in his career. But as far as fantasy value right now, nope, not worth it. Too many mouths to feed. Too much going on there.

Joseph:

I want to add to that real quick. Dak was sixth in attempts with 607, which is great. I love that. Tons of attempts. He’s throwing the ball, that’s great. But I mean Cooper had 119 targets. Gallup had 112. And again to see a top five, top ten wide receiver, and we’re not saying CeeDee Lamb’s going to be that guy, but when I get a rookie in the first round, I want to see that upside. Right? And he loses so much of that ceiling because again, 230 plus targets going to the two receivers. Now Cobb, who is the wide receiver three, had 83 targets. So you got to imagine CeeDee Lamb is better than Cobb on paper, obviously. The upside is there. So let’s just say, Cobb had 83, maybe this guy gets 120 targets as a ceiling. It’s still not enough to make him a viable wide receiver one, maybe a wide receiver three. Or low end two maybe. And you’ve got to contend with Gallup and Cooper. So Gallup and Cooper, values go down here when you’re looking at. Dak value rising.

Tim:

Right. I mean I’ve got CeeDee Lamb as a potential WR two, three, even in year one. So I would definitely give him that three spot, and he could reach that two. It depends on how things go. Always we have to watch and see how things go preseason, how’s he getting the route running, everything coming together and whatnot. We’ll worry about that when it happens. Right now we’re saying a lot of mouths to feed and I’m not really too concerned about him at this point. Another guy here-

Joseph:

Hold on. Before you get into that. Rising or falling your opinion, now with more targets you could say things open up for Zeke, but he could lose more because they’re going to go to the pass more. McCarthy likes to throw the ball. We’ve seen that years ago with Rogers. I think they should become more of a throwing team, again, really helping Dak. But it may hurt Zeke Elliot this year. What are your thoughts?

Tim:

Minor. Very minor difference to me. I don’t think a wide receiver is going to make much of a difference to him. I actually think Pollard is going to be the biggest takeaway from him. We started seeing it last year, man, and I’m afraid that Pollard might get used a little more often. Start stealing some of those numbers.

Joseph:

That’s a concern.

Tim:

Yeah.

Joseph:

So who are you going to after that?

Tim:

We are going to Jalen Reagor. Reagor?

Joseph:

Reagor.

Tim:

Let’s just go to Jalen. Let’s put it that way.

Joseph:

Reagor. Okay. So yeah, 21st pick by the Eagles. Listen, Alshon wasn’t fully healthy last year, had around 73 targets. And I keep referencing targets because that’s a really good benchmark for what I look at when I look at wide receivers and how often the quarterback throws the volume there. I mean if you look at it, Big Ben throws a lot and that’s why his receivers were there. If you go back 2018, Antonio Brown had 168 targets and Juju had 166 and both of them finished in the top 10 amongst wide receivers. So again, I look at that as kind of a benchmark. So I look at it, Zack Ertz was their top receiver last year and he’s a tight end and he had 135 targets. So he does use his tight ends.

Carson does. But again, you could make the argument that you didn’t have a wide receiver. So is Jalen going to get a lot of that volume? Possible, but he’s a rookie, right? That rapport needs to be built. Maybe Carson is still going to go to those tight ends, and then you’ve got Miles Sanders catching the backfields. It’s going to be an interesting situation. I’m not putting too much weight on Jalen right now for fantasy relevance. He could have a lot upside. But again, I’m not excited yet, Tim. I’m not giddy.

Tim:

Yeah, I’m not there either. So when I was looking back, his numbers in his sophomore year were really good. So, that was his best year in college, two years ago. Last year was down quite substantially for him. So to me, that’s a concern too. I don’t want to see that. Why were you so boom this year and then on your draft year you’re not so great. I’m not impressed with that. I think he’s going to be okay for wide receiver three numbers and that’s it. And a lot of that is even just the team he’s on, the mouths to feed, all that good stuff. Did we get anybody else? Yes, we have Brandon Aiyuk for 49ers. Yeah. You’re like, “Huh?” Did I catch you?

Joseph:

Yeah, I’m not really excited about… I mean it depends, right? It depends on is Deebo going to be the guy. I don’t know. You got to understand, these guys spread the ball around a lot. So again, I’m not sold on anything 49ers right now in regards to being a huge volume getter. I mean Brandon Aiyuk, 22 years old. Young, dynamic, looks pretty good, Arizona State.

Tim:

The numbers are amazing actually, 65 receptions, 1200 yards.

Joseph:

Again, but you’re with, Shanahan spreads the ball around. They’ve got Kittle there. They’ve got Deebo. I don’t know. Again, another situation where I got to pause and say, “I’m not, excited.” I think Deebo is still the better receiver out of the two. So, I don’t know. I’m just going to stay away from him for fantasy right now.

Tim:

I like his numbers. I like his potential, but what I’m saying is he’s on a 49ers team with a lot of mediocre weapons and him being a rookie coming in, to me you’re always kind of a mediocre weapon when you’re a rookie unless you’re that standout Saquon. And let’s say, we’re not seeing that right here. So that’s my biggest concern is he’s just on a team with a lot of mediocre players and he’s just going to be one more thrown in there, who could potentially do well. But right now I’m not thrilled with him.

Joseph:

Yeah, I was reading right now just some notes here. 49ers said they would have taken Aiyuk at number 13 if Kinlaw was gone. So I don’t know.

Tim:

Well, they’re high on him.

Joseph:

They’re really high on him. And I’m not sure what they’re seeing. What are you not seeing? Why wouldn’t you look at Ruggs or CeeDee Lamb or Tee Higgins or any of these guys? What is it? Laviska Shenault, Justin Jefferson, there’s a ton of talent. Why this guy? We’re going to have to see, maybe we’re wrong. Maybe this guy breaks out and becomes a Jerry Rice.

Tim:

That would be awesome. We should know before the season starts. Keep saying it. You’ll see it in the preseason.

Joseph:

That’s what we’re going to have to see. So again, I mean his draft grade was 6.38. It was in and around where everybody else’s was. I mean six foot, 205, I’m just not seeing what the 49ers are seeing in this guy that really wowed them. And he ran a four, five. He didn’t break any records, nothing like that. I don’t know. Again, I’m not excited. When it comes to 49ers, nothing really excites me for fantasy football, for a team that really spreads the ball around.

Tim:

So what do you say? Are you ready to get into some quarterbacks here then?

Joseph:

Yeah, I mean, quarterbacks don’t excite me right now, but yeah, let’s talk about the rising and falling. Again, first of all, I want to talk about a quarterback that wasn’t drafted, was drafted last year. Again, Drew Lock, I got to make a point here. We talked about it. I just really liked the upside there and Daniel Jones. Those two guys, two young guys, going into the second year. I love the upside of these guys if we’re talking quarter. I just want to start this little section off with that. I mean, these guys can be a great backup quarterback with a ton of upside on your team.

Tim:

Right? Okay. So the number one pick overall, Joe Burrow.

Joseph:

Yeah, I mean we’ve been looking at this. I mean, Dalton, I think he’s got $17.7 million they have left of his salary in there. Their cap is tight now with Dalton sitting in there. I think his deal was from 2011 or something crazy. I don’t know this whole contract structure, but Dalton is still there is the point I’m trying to make. And again, Burrow’s still got to compete for that job. I don’t see him starting maybe day one. He could, I mean it depends on how training camp goes, everything like that. But when you’re looking at rising, I mean with him, everyone’s stocks got a rise. I mean AJ Green, Tyler Boyd, all their stocks got to rise. But I don’t put too much faith in a rookie quarterback. I mean Kyler Murray last year, he did okay. He did great for a quarterback. But again, I don’t know if Burrow is going to be as good as Kyler. I mean the upside is there, but you looked at Burrow’s numbers. He just had that one phenomenal year last year. The years prior weren’t phenomenal as last year.

Tim:

That’s just it. So, I mean you want to talk recency bias, man. His senior year was amazing. His junior year was not very good at all. So why? Why would this guy go number one based off of that one amazing year? If he gets a year to sit and watch or at least half the year, which makes him fantasy irrelevant as far as I’m concerned, then it might do him some good. But if he gets, if he comes in and they plug him in right away, I’m not looking for him to have a good year. Even if he is the starting quarterback for the entire year, I would not look to get him.

Joseph:

Yeah. I mean the ceiling is there, but him being on one of the worst teams arguably, they needed a lot of help everywhere. So I’m not sold and Mixon threatening to hold out. I just hate that entire offense. I’m staying away. Again, the ceiling is there for Boyd. I mean he could be a sleeper for wide receiver, but I’m going to probably dodge this completely.

Tim:

All right, so the next quarterback that came off the board was Tua and there’s been a lot of discussion of course about him. He has been injured all over the place, all different parts of his body. Almost every year he’s faced something. That’s got to be concerning. No matter what, I don’t see him being the immediate starter either. So once again, I’m saying right now I’m not looking to draft a guy like this. To me, he’s not fantasy relevant. Maybe once it starts up to DFS and it looks like maybe we’re getting Fitz-tragic instead of magic, then I’m going to start looking at him.

Joseph:

Yeah. I mean the smart move was getting Tua, right? You’ve got Fitz-magic to start the season off. See how Tua’s feeling when he’s healthy. And they’re smart that they combined him with the 18th pick, with Austin Jackson, the offensive tackle. So you get a quarterback, you protect the quarterback. I think they’re making the right moves based on the situation that they’re in. So I mean this is going to potentially help obviously the wide receivers, but again, sometimes Fitz-magic could be there. Right? And he does some great things with wide receivers for fantasy relevance. So I mean not real huge fantasy relevance as of this moment. So yeah.

Tim:

Yep. I agree, basically. I mean, he’s got some good numbers coming out of college, but even still just all those injuries, they would concern me to begin with no matter what. Let’s go to the next pick, who was Justin Herbert.

Joseph:

Yeah, Justin Herbert here, man. What are your thoughts on him? I mean, I’m not too excited here. It is an upgrade.

Tim:

Of all the guys, he’s got the most potential to get the fastest start. Meaning I could see him starting day one. I mean, who’s he battling? Tyrod Taylor.

Joseph:

Tyrod Taylor.

Tim:

Like c’mon.

Joseph:

Again, with rookie quarterbacks, I just don’t get getting… Again, when I go for a quarterback, I look at the proven statistics. You can see the trend of proven statistics. So again, I’m not touching any of these rookie quarterbacks for fantasy. Now when I saw Pat Mahomes’s rookie year, well not his rookie year, but the year he was going to start and all that, I saw the upside there. I went, “I’m going to get him as a backup. I like this.” I saw a little bit in Lamar Jackson, a little hesitant last year. I didn’t draft him last year, but some of these guys are pretty good, but I don’t think these guys are Lamar Jackson or Pat Mahomes, but have some upside though. They do have some upside. But again, I would stay away from these guys for fantasy 2020.

Tim:

Yeah, I mean, I pretty much agree with that. I’m just saying of all the guys, to me, this one has the most potential to get the start and could be a year long-player. But I don’t think he’s going to be that amazing player anyways, so we’ll not worry about it too much. Who else did we have? We have Jordan Love.

Joseph:

Yeah, Jordan Love. Backup to Aaron Rogers.

Tim:

So benchwarmer for year one unless something tragic happens.

Joseph:

Yeah. There’s been so much criticism with Aaron Rodgers and is he done? Is he washed up? Will he ever perform on his optimal level again? And I think this is going to light some fire under his ass. I’m excited. So I think this raises the value of Aaron Rodgers for fantasy. And it also raises the value of Davante Adams because they were always thinking, I was hearing all this buzz that they’re going to go wide receiver in the first round. And now I guess they believe in, what’s his name? Allen Lazard. I call him Lizard. They believe in the Lizard. They believe in Davante Adams. So, that’s great, man. Helps both those guys, I think, for fantasy.

Tim:

I’m pretty sure if you could go back and look at it, I was saying a lot of the times, it just didn’t look like the standard Aaron Rodgers. He just didn’t have that same presence on the field. Hopefully, this does like that fire and he comes back to be the Aaron Rodgers of old. No doubt the guy’s still got many years he can play, so this could just be a pickup that whatever. It doesn’t matter. You’re going to be sitting most of the time. Sorry about your luck.

Joseph:

Yeah. So man, we covered a lot of ground. Is there anything else we have to cover? And we talked about Clyde Edwards?

Tim:

No, because why? We should. In fact, he’s the only running back really that there is to talk about.

Joseph:

No, he’s got a high ceiling. I’ve watched his tape. He looks really shifty, runs up the middle, bounces off tacklers, great vision, nose for the end zone. He’s a speedster, not a speedster, but he’s quick. He’s really quick. And I like the upside here and he can catch a lot of balls. I mean what did he have? Like 55 receptions last year. Yeah, 55 in just 453 yards, 16 touchdowns on the ground in his college year. But again, one year he’s shown he can kind of be the workhorse in college. LSU produced some pretty decent running backs. Fournette did it to name one of them. I mean I’m excited about it. But again, you’ve got the Damien Williams factor there. They may ride the hothead if Clyde gets hot, and they may ride them like they did with Kareem Hunt a couple of years ago.

I like the upside because I’m thinking maybe we can have another Kareem Hunt situation. Because I think they’re craving that workhorse running back. But I also think part of them is like, “Let’s go committee here.” And I don’t know, I’m torn on this one. But I think there’s a ceiling there. I like him. If I can get him in after… I mean depends on where his ADP falls. It depends on what we hear. Depends if he is slated. “Hey, this guy is our starter.” Now we know. If we know he’s a starter, I take him in the third round, man. Why not? As my RB three. Three-headed monster.

Tim:

There’s an opportunity. But it’s Kansas city man. There are so many mouths there. There are so many amazing players already that have to get the ball. So this would just be adding one more to it. I never see, well I shouldn’t say I never, I don’t see this being a, “You’re our starter. You’re our go to guy every time.” No matter what, this is going to be a 70-30 at the best split. No matter who it is, whether it’s Williams or… Sorry, I lost the name.

Joseph:

Clyde Edwards.

Tim:

Or Helaire. no matter what. It’s a 70-30 at best, but more like a 60-40 50-50. I just don’t feel it. I don’t see the fantasy value being there.

Joseph:

I think we could say, “Hey man, I love this guy. He’s hot. He’s red hot. We’re going to keep them on the field. He’s our guy.” And he ends up getting 250 attempts, 10 touchdowns, five receiving, six receiving touchdowns. I could see this guy, and again, he’s going to have a wide open field in front of him. Because again, he’s got amazing receivers. He’s got Mahomes. He’s got a lot of weapons. It’s just going to open things up and he’s going to have a lot of lanes, a lot of vision. He’s fast. He’s quick. I like him, man. I think this is great.

Tim:

I think if he was on a different team, I would like him a hell of a lot more. His ability to catch, obviously it’s proven. So I would be thrilled to have him on a different team. On Kansas City, no, not so exciting.

Joseph: Not so exciting. I don’t know. Again, if Williams wasn’t there, I would be taking this guy second round. I’d be all over it. Williams is going to be a pest in a thorn in the side. But again, Williams only played 11 games. So again, that injury. If he’s injured, he’s just going to screw himself again. I don’t think Williams is built to be the workhorse running back. Always a backup. Once a backup, always about that. I totally believe that. For the most part we’ve seen some guys emerge in the past, but if you’re on the bench for like three, four years in Miami and you’re like a third stringer, I mean, come on man. You’re never going to be that workhorse running back. I don’t see it. So again, man, I mean the upside is there. That’s all I got.

Tim:

You like the possibility and obviously you have to wait until preseason, but I’m not thrilled just because it’s Kansas City.

Joseph:

All right, Tim, round one of the NFL draft is done. These are fantasy impacts. Again, we’ve mentioned guys that we like that could have that impact. The Jefferson of the world, the Clyde Edwards of the world, these guys to have an immediate impact. We talked about the offensive tackles that are going to increase the value of guys like Le’Veon Bell, Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry. I mean it’s hard to say raise the value. Derrick Henry has such a great year.

But it’s only going to help. So I’m excited. I’m liking the way things are starting to shift now. Tonight we’re going to be watching rounds two and three. More running backs are going to be coming off the board. Going to be interesting to see where they land, where Jonathan Taylor lands. I’m super excited tonight. We’ve got to get this video out so people could watch the footage.

Tim:

Let me just ask you too, what did you think of the overall virtual draft? How do you think it went?

Joseph:

I mean, I was so busy posting… I liked it, man. A little lonely. You saw Goodell at home.

Tim:

That’s kind of my feeling. Like I thought they did a great job doing what they had to do, but man missing that fan interaction and us not being allowed to be there in person and just feeling that environment, that really sucked. But they did a good job with what they had.

Joseph:

Yeah, yeah. It was pretty well done considering.

Tim:

Made the best of it.

Joseph:

Yeah, the cameras of the players at home, which was kind of cool, with their families. You’ve got some reactions.

Tim:

There was one, I don’t remember who the player was unfortunately, but there was one where they were all sitting on the couches and he had like five family members around him. And then when they came back to him the second time, you could hear all this screaming in the background and I was like… And not just that, but they actually told the people to shut up in the background. So it was like, “Hey, what’s going on? You’ve got a party going on over there.” Either way, whatever.

Joseph:

It was really cool. I liked it. It’s different.

Tim:

I felt sorry for these guys not being able to celebrate the way they deserve to.

Joseph:

Yeah, exactly. It’s a big moment. It’s a life-changing moment for these young guys.

Tim:

For sure, man. Every one of them just became millionaires.

Joseph:

Instant. Right?

Tim:

And they have to sit there and be quiet.

Joseph:

Got a lottery for doing what you love. All right Tim, thanks for coming on, man. Yeah, we’re just going to keep hustling away, doing some research. I got to get this down on paper, start working out getting 16 rounds laid out. Yeah, man, thanks for being here guys. Make sure you guys get the 16 route draft solution guys. TheFantasyFootballCounselor.com. Tim, thanks for being here, man.

Tim:

Absolutely brother.

Joseph:

Excited for round two and three. I got to go prepare. Get the drinks out, man.

Tim:

Go have a nap so I can stay up late.

Joseph:

Yeah, you need it.

Tim:

I’m an old man.

Joseph:

We’ll talk soon.

Tim:

All right brother. Have a good one.

Joseph:

Make sure you guys subscribe and leave a thumbs up. We’re out.

Make sure you are subscribed to this #1 fantasy football podcast to dominate your leagues.

www.thefantasyfootballcounselor.com

[iframe style=”border:none” src=”//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/14136143/height/100/width//thumbnail/no/render-playlist/no/theme/custom/tdest_id/1750511/custom-color/3db4fa” height=”100″ width=”100%” scrolling=”no” allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen]