| |
|
| Friday, August 21, 2020 |
| It's Friday, which means it's basically already the weekend. Kick off those shoes, lean back in your chair and start cramming for your Fantasy draft! Whether you're drafting this weekend or doing the sensible thing and waiting as long as you can to schedule, it's past time to start getting ready, so I'm here today to make sure you've got what you need to study up and ace the draft. |
| That starts with our Draft Day Cheat Sheet, where you can find pretty much everything we've done so far to prepare you for the 2020 season. That means previews of every position, sleepers, breakouts and busts, tiers and rankings, late-round targets and so much more. And I'm answering your questions in our first AskFFT Mailbag of the year. Feel free to shoot me an email at Chris.Towers@CBSInteractive.com with the subject line "AskFFT" and your question might be featured here next week. |
| Here's what we've got on tap today: |
| 📝Draft Day Cheat sheet — Position previews, sleepers/breakouts/busts, and more ❓#AskFFT Mailbag 📰Training camp updates 📢Notes and quotes |
| Draft Day Cheat Sheet |
| If you're preparing for a draft, this should be your first stop. If you're cramming at the last minute, this should be your last stop. Either way, here's everything you need to get ready for the 2020 season. |
| |
| QB Preview |
| The old guard is still hanging around, but the new class of do-it-all quarterbacks dominate the scene now. |
| State of the Position Expert Survey Position Preview Tiers Rankings: Jamey | Dave | Heath | Ben | Superflex/2QB Sleepers | Breakouts | Busts Rookie Breakdown | ADP Review | QB ADP vs. kill player ADP | Late-round targets | Upside and Downside comparisons | Regression alert |
| RB Preview |
| You need elite running backs to compete in Fantasy. But does that mean you have to pay top dollar for them? |
| State of the Position Expert Survey Position Preview Tiers Rankings: Jamey | Dave | Heath | Ben Sleepers | Breakouts | Busts Rookie Breakdown | ADP Review | Backup power rankings | Third-stringers with RB1 potential | Zero-RB strategy | Upside and Downside comparisons | Regression alert | Best teams to target | Favorable early schedules | Potential PPR gainers | Potential committee breakouts |
| |
| WR Preview |
| Wide receiver has received a huge injection of talent in the last two years. Does that mean the elite options aren't as valuable? |
| State of the Position Expert Survey Position Preview Tiers Rankings: Jamey | Dave | Heath | Ben Sleepers | Breakouts | Busts Rookie Breakdown | ADP Review | Third-year breakouts | Late-round targets | Sophomore WR breakdown | Upside and downside comparisons | Regression alert | Post-hype breakouts | This year's JuJu | Potential PPR gainers | Potential committee breakouts |
| TE Preview |
| Is this finally the year tight end isn't a mess? That's the question we're trying to answer for 2020. |
| State of the Position Expert Survey Position Preview Tiers Rankings: Jamey | Dave | Heath | Ben Sleepers, Breakouts, and Busts Regression alert | Late-round targets | Upside and Downside comparisons Camp Notes: TE sleepers making noise |
| Team Previews |
| Get to know every team heading into the 2020 season with our team previews, focusing on the biggest questions, numbers to know, sleepers, breakouts, and busts, and more for each team: |
| AFC East: Bills | Jets | Patriots | Dolphins NFC East: Giants | Cowboys | Eagles | Redskins AFC South: Colts | Texans | Jaguars | Titans NFC South: Panthers | Bucs | Falcons | Saints AFC North: Ravens | Steelers | Browns | Bengals NFC North: Packers | Vikings | Bears | Lions AFC West: Chiefs | Broncos | Raiders | Chargers NFC West: Seahawks | 49ers | Rams | Cardinals |
| Mock Drafts |
| Do as we say and as we do. Here's how we've been drafting for 2020: |
| PPR: 12-team | 2QB | Superflex | 14-team | 10-team | Superflex/TE Premium | 3-WR Non-PPR: 12-team .5 PPR: Salary Draft | 12-team |
| |
| #AskFFT Mailbag |
| Send your questions to Chris.Towers@CBSInteractive.com and you may get your questions answered in a mailbag in this newsletter. I'll be doing them every week, and even if your question doesn't make it here, I just may respond to your email with an answer anyway. And we'll be answering your questions all season long on FFT, so send us your questions on Twitter with '#AskFFT'. |
| |
| Keith: I'm in a 14-team .5 PPR league. With the fourth pick, do I take Kamara, Cook, or Henry? |
| I think Kamara is the obvious choice here. He admitted his knee wasn't healthy for half of the season, and he still finished as the No. 11 RB in .5 PPR points per game. Sure, Cook and Henry were both better than Kamara last year, but Kamara's 2018 stands as the single best season any of them has had. His upside is just higher. |
| Kyle: We don't find out our draft position until 15 minutes before the draft. In all my mock drafts I have been using my first 2 picks on the best RB available (let's say Chubb and Jacobs) if drafting at the end of the first round. I then find myself drafting WR with my next three picks. I am targeting D.J. Moore and Calvin Ridley in Rounds 3 and 4 if I can get them both — I am absolutely in love with them. Please help me confirm or deny my blind love for these 2 at this point in the draft. Am I overvaluing them at these points? |
| If you're looking for someone to talk you out of loving Moore and Ridley, you have emailed the wrong person, my friend. I think Moore is a top-10 wide receiver — I took him over Chris Godwin recently — and Ridley is an obvious value as the 15th WR off the board. I would take both over the likes of Kenny Golladay, Adam Thielen, Amari Cooper and Odell Beckham Jr. I think they're both going to have massive seasons. |
| Matt: My 10 team non-PPR work league had a couple of players opt out this year due to the uncertainties caused by COVID, but the commissioner has decided to go forward with just eight teams. In this format, is it more or less important to get a top ranked QB and/or TE? On one hand it seems important to me because the majority of teams will have one. On the other hand, there are more quality players available to stream. What are your thoughts? |
In a smaller league, true difference makers are more important than ever, because everyone will have them. Now, that doesn't mean
you have to pick an elite TE or QB — QB is especially deep with elite potential. My goal here would be to spend my first pick on an elite RB, and then try to grab three of the top-15 WR and one of the top-five tight ends. It might be a narrow path to try to squeeze through, but given how RB and QB are valued in many leagues, I think it's do-able. |
| Linda: I'm in a keeper league where we can keep up to four players, but I just can't decide what to do. Normally I don't keep quarterbacks, but I have Mahomes. Then I have Michael Thomas, Kenny Golladay and George Kittle. I'm thinking of keeping Mahomes and Thomas only, but if I kept all four then I wouldn't need to think about WR or TE for awhile. What do you think? |
| The conundrum here is essentially do you keep four players who are all worth what you'll pay for them, but lose out on top running back options. I'm not someone who thinks running backs in the early rounds are a necessity, and a core built around Mahomes, Thomas and Kittle — arguably the three best players at their positions — plus Golladay sounds awfully enticing. But Golladay probably isn't a must-keep, and I'm inclined to let him go and try to go for the best WR available when your first pick comes up. If it's Golladay, no harm, no foul. |
| Justin: No PPR, start two QB, two RB, four WR, one TE, one Flex. Keepers are Lamar Jackson and George Kittle, and I have the number one pick in the draft. Obviously, I am going RB. Kamara, Cook, Jacobs and Drake are all available, as are any of the rookies. I am looking to get a player not just for this season but for the next 5-7 years, while still trying to win this season with the excellent base that I have at other positions. Who do you recommend? |
| I want to focus on that "next five-to-seven years" part of this question, because it gets at a personal philosophy of mine in Fantasy: Even in a Dynasty league, don't think further than three years down the road. That is especially true for running backs, who have the highest attrition of all positions, but even wide receivers and to a lesser extent quarterbacks will see their value change a ton over the course of just a few years. Get the best player right now, assuming that player isn't on the verge of 30. In this instance, I think Kamara stands out as the obvious best option. |
| |
| Training camp update |
| |
| Hill pulls up short |
| Another day, another star suffering a lower body injury. This time it was Tyreek Hill leaving practice midway with a hamstring injury. Hamstrings are a notoriously tricky injury to deal with, especially when you're trying to get ready for the season, though it's worth noting that Hill jogged inside the team's facility after working with trainers on the sideline, a sign that this doesn't seem serious yet. But we'll obviously have to watch for it moving forward, especially with Sammy Watkins missing camp so far with a groin injury. If either Watkins or Hill misses time, Mecole Hardman becomes a potential Fantasy starter; if both are out, he might be a star. Ben Gretch wrote about that Thursday in his breakdown of the Fantasy pecking order for every AFC team. |
| Cam starting to stand out |
| And now for the Patriots QB competition portion of the Newsletter. Cam Newton led the quarterbacks for six of their eight reps, the first time anyone has dominated the reps. This is still a competition, but as CBS Sports NFL Insider Jonathan Jones noted Thursday, it might be in name only . That isn't a surprise, but it would be nice to have confirmation as early as possible, especially so he can continue to get reps and get comfortable after missing most of last season with a foot injury. |
| Damien Harris also continues to be the best Patriots back in camp. It helps that Sony Michel (foot) and Lamar Miller (knee) are both still on the PUP list, but Harris is quickly looking like the Week 1 starter and a mid-round Fantasy option. |
| Reagor still turning heads |
| You can't go a day without seeing someone raving about Jalen Reagor in Eagles camp. Earlier this week, Reagor told reporters Carson Wentz compared him to Julio Jones, and this time it was the guys he's been torching who were offering up praise. |
| "He's a guy who's definitely standing out on film and tape," safety Jalen Mills said, per DelawareOnline.com. "Really, really quick on his first step, whether it's press or him coming off the line. He's not scared to catch the ball over the middle. That's very, very promising, especially coming from a rookie receiver. That's definitely going to be a plus, as far as our passing game this year." |
| Reagor is working with the first team as an outside receiver and is one of the rare rookie receivers who seems fully up to speed. Lock him in as a sleeper. |
| đź“ş Mixon still set to share? |
| I wanted to highlight this segment from Thursday's episode of Fantasy Football Today, where the Cincinnati Enquirer's Tyler Dragon said he doesn't think Joe Mixon's role is going to increase much in the passing game: |
| "This is my bold prediction. Giovani Bernard is going to take a lot of those receptions from Joe Mixon. He is going to be involved in the pass game, especially in those third-down situations. They view Joe Mixon as an every down running back, but he is going to get the lion's share of the carries in the backfield. And then when you have those third-and-longs and those passing situations, I expect Giovanni Bernard to be on the field." |
| This is why I have trouble getting on board with Mixon as a first-round pick — he has a relatively high floor, but I'm just not sure I see the receiving upside to be a truly elite Fantasy back. |
| Notes and quotes |
| Ronald Jones and LeSean McCoy are getting most of the work with the first team, even in passing downs. McCoy will play a role, but it sounds like Jones isn't going to be ceding much work to Ke'Shawn Vaughn or Dare Ogunbowale. The upside is sky high. ... Ron Rivera on Bryce Love: "At Stanford, he didn't have to do a lot of routes and pass catching, but he's very capable and we're getting to see that. This is a guy that could be an every-down back for you. He's an explosive, dynamic player." I've written a lot about Love this week, but it's only because he so clearly seems to have the most upside of this Washington backfield. ... Denzel Mims (hamstring) is without a timeline to get back to practice. He's losing valuable time in an already truncated offseason, and may struggle to even see the field early on. ... Kerryon Johnson is drawing positive reviews for his work as a pass-catcher, something that has been a theme for D'Andre Swift as well. I wonder if that means we'll see more check downs from Matthew Stafford after he largely decided to air it out in 2019. ... I never thought I'd be writing about Dante Pettis twice in one week when I agree to do this newsletter everyday, but here we are. As uninspiring as Pettis apparently was when he lost his starting job last year in camp, he has apparently been as impressive this season. Kyle Shanahan even said he was "pleased with Dante so far," a far cry from how he talked about him a year ago. Post-hype sleeper, anyone? There's tons of opportunity available with Deebo Samuel recovering from a broken foot, and Pettis showed real flashes as a rookie. |
| The Fantasy Football Today Draft Guide is here, and I promise, you'll want to have it by your side on Draft Day. We've boiled down everything you need to draft in one place, with consensus expert rankings and auction values, tiers, a round-by-round walkthrough, and Draft Day strategies and rules from Jamey, Dave, Heath and Ben. It's the next best thing to having them next to you while you draft. Head here to sign up for it, because it's absolutely free — which seems like a good value to me. |
| |
| | | | | UEFA Europa League | | PGA Tour on CBS | The first of the two major men's European finals take place today with Inter Milan facing off against Sevilla in the Europa League final. Watch all the action at 3:00 PM ET on CBS All Access.
Learn More
| | The FedEx Cup Playoffs begin with the Northern Trust as the top 125 golfers on the PGA Tour look to make the cut to next week's BMW Championship. Watch at 3:00 PM ET on Saturday and at 2:30 PM ET on Sunday on the CBS Sports App.
Learn More
|
|
| |
| |
