After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

Indeed, sometimes that girl is a problem. Oh, sometimes this girl is a problem. Good morning to you.

It's Tuesday. For those of you who are listening on the West Coast and have been impacted by Tropical Storm Hillary, we did speak to Lindsay Rhodes in Los Angeles earlier in the show and she made light of it, though she was pretty stunned that there was an earthquake right in the middle of them with a tropical storm advancing and everything else going on with the weather. So glad that we haven't heard any major issues. And now there are all kinds of tropical depressions that are forming in various bodies of water. So depending upon how they travel and how they build, there's potential for a very active next couple weeks or so and really an active hurricane season moving forward. I know there's always a lot of trepidation in parts of the country that are most susceptible, but good to know that Hillary didn't wreak a ton of havoc in some of the more populated parts of Southern California. And if what you were doing was looking at the photo of Dodger Stadium that circulated a ton on social media and believing that Dodger Stadium was underwater, you were duped.

Just go check it out. Apparently it's not what you think and not what it was portrayed to be. No, Dodger Stadium was not underwater. I have a friend who lives and works in Indian Wells, which is east of Los Angeles out in the desert. They were nervous about flooding because of the fact that it's in the desert and they don't get a ton of rain and so they actually had sandbags at their front door, though did not need them. There wasn't any flooding, just a lot of rain and wind. And yeah, it's not bad to have the rain there in that area where so often they're dealing with drought or wildfires, that type of thing.

But I know there was potential for mudslides in some areas and obviously the flash flooding. So hope that you all came through it okay. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. Coming up this hour, speaking of Lindsay, we picked her brain for fantasy advice, especially when it comes to running backs. And she's got new philosophies as she navigates this fantasy football run up, getting set for the start of the NFL season.

She also introduced us to something new called best ball, or maybe it's not new, but it's new to Jay and I. We had never played fantasy best ball, but we may try it. I know your fantasy draft is coming up. I think the commissioner of my fantasy draft had just decided that I'm not worth keeping around. I don't know. I haven't heard from her.

Here we are days away from the NFL season. This is how she always does it though. She waits until the last possible second.

So maybe she's going to wait again and let us know 24 hours before our draft that we have to be in or get out. Do you think they're afraid since you are the defending champion? Well, I am the defending champion, which should mean that I have an automatic bid into this year's tournament, correct?

I agree. You can't boot me when I'm the champion. Doesn't work like that. It does not.

That's illegal in some parts of the country, I think. She's got a free buy-in, if anything. A free buy-in. That would be nice, except that if I win again next, well, it would be my money, but let's say it was someone else who was a champion. I don't know that I'd want her to have a free buy-in because then that lessens the pot, no?

Oh, it does. Right. What's your pot up to these days?

We're about $300. An entry. An entry?

Yeah. Where do you have $300 to enter a fantasy football draft? Oh, I plan to win.

It's an investment. Okay, but did you win last year? No, I got second. But I made some money, but. Okay.

Alright. I wouldn't, you're apparently make way more money than I do because there's not a snowball's chance in hell that I would spend $300 on a fantasy football league. It's one of the few things I splurge on. It's 10 years that this league's entering year 10, so we raised the ante a little bit. What did it start at?

Oh man, it probably started around like $75, maybe $50. Wow, look at you guys. You're high rollers. I guess.

Can't really afford it, but you know. How many of them make more money than you do? I don't know.

I would imagine all of them. No, don't say that. They didn't consult with you before upping the ante to 300 bucks a pop. Oh, I'm here for it. I'm going to win this league, so I'm going to take from them, so it's fine. No McDonald's for a month? Maybe not. Get a sacrifice. No grocery shopping at the convenience store for a month? Oh, we'll still get in there, but. Producer Jay, he's got some quirky habits, shall we call them?

What'd you say? Priorities. Priorities. The convenience store. Uh-huh. McDonald's.

Every now and then a Wendy's, but that's out of his way, so. I made a good dinner the other night that I showed you. You were, you were impressed. You did.

Well, I didn't try it. You could have taken the photo out of a magazine for all I know. I'll take that as a compliment.

Then it looked that good. Dang it, walked right into that. You can find us on Twitter, After Hours, CBS, and we're asking you in light of our conversation with Lindsey Rhoads, and also the development with Jonathan Taylor, is there a running back that you would take in the top five? Let's say you have a top five pick in your draft because you actually have a league and a draft, unlike me. Let's say you've got one.

How do you use it? If not on a running back, then who? And is there a chance you would take a running back at the top of your league? So, love to hear from you, again, on Twitter, After Hours, CBS on this Tuesday morning, or our Facebook page, After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Speaking of food, Jay, I think there might be something wrong with me. No, I'm not kidding about this. I think there might be something wrong with me. Is it possible?

Is there a disease in which you have a propensity to choke on food? I didn't mention this. Yeah, well, actually, we had some technical difficulties on the last edition of the show. It had nothing to do with us. It wasn't programming related. It was distribution related.

Just take our word for it. So we know that you all lost programming and had either complete and utter silence on your, your affiliate, or you ended up in some weird cases. Jim Rome dropped into the middle of our show. I don't know why, but Jim Rome started talking in the middle of our show, or the guy who fills in for me when I'm out. And remember last Thursday night into Friday morning, I was out because I was hosting a daytime show.

His name is Rich. He dropped into the middle of our show. So we had all these weird kind of Twilight Zone happenings around our network. And we know that it was happening across the country because we got tweets and messages from so many of you.

I have no idea why it wasn't us. It was about the distribution, something to do with computers and tones. Because, you know, smart computers. So smart. But many of you may have missed some of my stories. Well, the story as it goes, producer J, I went to Cheesecake Factory on Friday night.

It was after I had done the daytime show here, raced home, took care of Penny, then said goodbye to Penny again. And I had an appointment with a friend and we were meeting at Cheesecake Factory. In fact, her mother is making the flowers for the wedding.

So I needed to give her the flowers and all that jazz. And so we sit down with our meals. And the place is completely packed, by the way. There's not an empty table. It's really loud. So you have to talk over the din of all the people around you.

Not just that, we're right next to a station for the waitstaff where they're entering their tickets into the computer, checking on their orders, that type of thing, ringing up checks. And I don't know why I'm laughing because it wasn't funny. I'm not sure I've ever been this scared in my life when it came to food. But I started choking on a piece of chicken.

I didn't take this piece of like, it wasn't a big piece of chicken, I swear to you, it was a small piece. I even had chewed on it. I'm not sure what happened. It just got lodged the wrong way. Or maybe because this is now the second time in a few years that I've had a choking incident.

I'm starting to think there's something wrong with me. This is the second choking incident I've heard of. Now the first one I managed to dislodge the shrimp on my own. It's still one of my favorite stories.

Well, you know. Wait, it's one of your favorite stories that I dislodged the shrimp on my own? Your actions in that situation were, I don't know, I don't have words. Well, just to refresh, it's because I was at a Thanksgiving meal with 30 family members and I couldn't just stand there at the hors d'oeuvre table.

I couldn't ask. I couldn't speak. And no one noticed that I was choking on the shrimp. And so again, it's not like I shoved the whole shrimp in my mouth. I took a bite. I'm not sure what happened anyway. So I'm choking on the shrimp and no one noticed that I just politely removed myself from the situation and went into another room where I could cough up the shrimp. I mean, I didn't disturb anyone's Thanksgiving. It was fine.

No one even noticed. Nope. I did not sound like that. I removed myself from the situation.

Okay, so back to Friday night. I'm not kidding, Jay. It's a relatively small piece of chicken. And I'm eating this, well, kind of funny, at the Cheesecake Factory, a vegan Cobb salad, but I added chicken. So I'm eating this piece of chicken. It's avocado. There's a couple, I mean, there's beans. It's got quinoa, which I used to think was quinoa. My mom still thinks that. Anyway, it's got all this great superfood on it.

Really good spinach, yada, yada, yada. And I started choking. And right away, I got nervous because I couldn't get the chicken out. I couldn't dislodge it myself. No, I was really choking. I was really choking.

And I started to tear up and I tried to get it to come out. My friend, she freaks out because, well, not freaks out. She stayed calm, but she immediately jumped into action. She stands up, she comes over to where I am. Yeah, on the other side of the booth and she's ready to help me. She's ready to pound me on the back. She's ready to do the Heimlich. Oh yeah, no, she's awesome. She's the type of woman you want in a crisis. She's that kind of friend who doesn't just sit around and gawk at you.

No, she jumps into action. And so she's standing right next to me, but I'm not kidding. I'm choking. I'm throwing up. I'm sorry, this is gross.

No one's eating their breakfast, but this is important. I'm kind of throwing up parts of what I had just eaten and stuff is coming out, but I can't get this piece of chicken dislodged. Jay, I'm not joking, but it was scary as heck. I couldn't breathe.

I couldn't talk. So finally I feel like I've gotten rid of what was, what was kind of halfway down. I'm sorry. Again, I'm so sorry.

This is really gross, but maybe it'll help you in the future if this happens to you. And I think that I'm okay because I can breathe and I can talk, right? Isn't that supposed to be the, the kind of indicator that you're okay, that you cleared your, your, uh, right.

You cleared your, your passageway. Uh, if you can talk so I could talk and I said to her, I'm okay. I'm okay. I've got like tears streaming down my face. I'm so embarrassed. Weirdly enough, the cheesecake factory was so loud. No one noticed.

People are walking by us. I'm, I'm really, I was frightened. I mean, I was actually terrified because I couldn't.

Yeah, it was, it was really scary. And, and Karina, my friend is there and she's ready to take action, but then she sees that I'm choking and she see or coughing, excuse me. And she sees that I'm getting some of the stuff to come out. And so she, she's still standing there.

She's still hovering, but she doesn't ever take action and do the Heimlich. And so I'm, I'm, I feel like I'm better because I can breathe and I can talk. And so I take a sip of water to try to just rinse down whatever. No, the water comes right back out. No, I swear, Jay, I've never been that.

You talk about terrifying the water would not go down even though I could talk and I was breathing, the water would not go down. It, it went down to where the chicken was and then boom, right back out again, like a spout. Talk about embarrassing. Thankfully it was only on my own dish.

What? I wouldn't be worried about being embarrassed. I mean, I was so, I was so embarrassed. I felt so bad for Karina because I must've looked purple or something.

Purple being the color for the wedding, by the way. Anyway, I seriously, now I'm even more petrified and she, again, she gets up, she comes over, she's like, just get it out, get it out. I could talk, but I couldn't drink water. Finally, again, tears running down my face, just embarrassed beyond belief.

I, the piece of chicken, it moves, it comes out. Yeah, it was just, it was awful. And Karina sat down again and we were able to resume, but I'm not joking. I mean, it was probably one of the scariest moments of my life because it took a good 45 seconds before I could, at least 45 seconds before I could get through all of that. And so now I'm worried that I have a propensity for choking. My Grammy Helen, I don't know if it's hereditary or not, she used to have major issues with getting food lodged and she couldn't, she couldn't breathe and she couldn't get it to go down. But even when she would be able to breathe again and talk again, it would still be kind of stuck. And the doctors told her that she actually had that, I guess that physical characteristic in that her esophagus was smaller.

And so for that reason, sometimes food would get more easily lodged. Are you Googling in there? I am. You are. Well, I just, I can always tell. I Googled is choking hereditary and it says you could have an uncoordinated swallow reflex as possible. Hmm.

Where, what is that? It's not something to be alarmed about. Oh, okay, great.

I shouldn't be alarmed about the fact that I've nearly died by choking twice in the last three years. It's not really explaining too much what it is. It's just saying that's what it could be. Great. Okay.

On what again? I gotta read my medical textbooks. Uncoordinated swallow reflex. Huh. Maybe that's what it is. I'm telling you, the piece of chicken was not large. It's not like I took an entire chicken tender and just shoved it in my mouth. I really didn't because other pieces were, you know, coming up. It's the worst feeling too. Oh my gosh, it's scary. The shrimp was also on the smaller side too.

It was. So maybe those small bite-sized pieces are the enemy for you. Maybe you need like a bigger piece. So never eat small bite-sized pieces of food ever again. I don't know. Maybe I need to switch to puree and just from now on just eat avocado, eggs, eggs can't get stuck, right?

Look at that solid blended plate. Why are you laughing? I almost died.

Jay, I'm not kidding. No, it was horrifying because I could talk, but the water just came shooting back out. Poor Karina.

I didn't drink that much water. It was more like a stream or like, you know, I've never seen, I would scare me if I was your friend. She was really nervous too. And apparently her little nephew had recently had a choking incident. And so she was, it kind of brought that back to her mind.

So yeah, a good 45 seconds to a minute before I was okay. And then she says, and I'm mortified, like I said, I'm so embarrassed. And she says, can I just get you another salad? Because you know, I'd kind of like made a mess of my own. I was like, no, no, I just pushed all that to the side.

Like kind of took it off the plate and just ate on the other half of the plate. It was, yeah, I was so embarrassed. I've apologized at least a hundred times for ruining her dinner. Yeah, no, we, she was great. I mean, if you're going to choke, Karina is the person to choke with, but the weight staff never came over.

Have you ever been? No, no one ever noticed except for me and Karina. They didn't even notice that she was standing next to my table, like hands up in defensive posture, ready to go foot fire and go into action. I feel like they should have noticed. Nobody noticed. Nobody noticed. Yeah, it was crazy. It was that busy that nobody paid any attention to us, even though we're right by steady stream of weight staff back and forth, back and forth.

And nobody noticed. That's it from now I want to go out. I'm just getting an avocado. I'm just going to order a plain avocado blended tonight is supposed to have Thai food with a friend.

I don't think I should. Thai noodles will slide right down. What's rice?

Oh, that'd be a little sticky. It's Brown rice, but okay. I get Brown rice trying to think what else could possibly stick.

I'm nervous. Maybe I shouldn't eat out ever again. Although the shrimp happened at someone's home. Yeah, that was a party.

That's it. I can't live without food though. I love food. Baby formula might be the applesauce. Maybe applesauce for the rest of my life. It's not the worst idea. Yes, it is the worst idea. Yes, it is. It wouldn't be great life, but I'd lose a hell of a lot of weight.

I'd have to get a different wedding dress. Yeah, right. All right.

So maybe I'm the only one choking could be hereditary. Thanks, Grammy. Helen. I appreciate you leaving that for me. Oh my gosh. No, no more food. I'm never eating food and mixed company ever again.

That's it. Bob is never going to see me eat ever again. Bob's got to learn CPR. Not CPR.

You goofball the Heimlich. Okay. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the after hours podcast. Paul is at the nine. Sam Howell looking to throw from the gun.

Fires to the five, complete to the one. Antonio Gibson trying to force his way in and he gets across the goal line for a touchdown. How to throw as time fires back at the end zone. Caught for a touchdown.

It really doesn't mean anything. You know, it's, you know, we did some good things on offense tonight, but you know, there's a lot of stuff we can clean up. So as long as we go back and focus on the negative things and just try to keep getting better and don't worry about any success, you know that, yeah, we had some good drives. We scored a couple touchdowns, but at the end of the day, it's all about what can we do better? How can we get better as an offense? And if we keep that mindset, we'll be all right.

This is after hours with Amy Lawrence. Sam Howell is all the rage on this Tuesday morning. Lots of people really impressed with how he ran the commander's offense on Monday night to wrap up week two of the preseason.

So here's my takeaway. Yes, he looked efficient. He looked comfortable.

We know that he's a good decision maker, at least initially, and probably got a head start by getting that game last year at the end of the regular season. But here's the deal. No one else can complain about Eric B enemy. Stop it. There should be no more complaining by any of the commanders on offense about the enemy and his toughness or his yelling or his abrasiveness.

Zero. He's your offensive coordinator. He's already changing the culture. He's already changing the climate around practice. He's already raising expectations. No more being soft.

Toughen up buttercup. Seriously, it's looking better already. And yes, Sam Howell has a lot to do with that. But the enemy is not only the OC, he's the assistant head coach under Ron Rivera. Rivera has given him a lot of opportunity here is believing that this isn't just about Andy Reid, that the enemy brings his own skills and talents and abilities and vision to the table. And hey, yes, how's the quarterback? But the enemy's the guy, one of the guys that's in his ear. And I think the commanders after a couple weeks of preseason, especially on offense, no more griping about Eric B enemy and how he's mean to you. Stop it. Soft.

That either. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. I mean, Ron Rivera trying not to get ahead of himself with Sam. I thought he handled that extremely well.

I did. You know, there's a lot of pressure, obviously, and we know how important the quarterback position is in the league and how important it is, you know, in this area, you know, that we've been looking for one. And I think we have an opportunity to have a guy that has a chance to be a really good football player for us.

Oh, so are we ready to label him franchise QB or is it a tad too early? Is it like thinking that you're done choking and your esophagus is clear only to have the water come shooting back out? The water game spewing back out. I can't be the only one who's ever choked at a major restaurant. I can't be. No, no, I can't be someone. Someone. You haven't great.

Nice grin on your face there, Jay. You're like, I can't identify or relate, but I'm sure someone out there. I never died in Cheesecake Factory, but someone probably did. Just telling you you need a, in my case, a friend, a wingman of sorts who is willing to jump into action, leap into action.

Karina went to Cuba on two of the trips with me that I made in 18 and 19. And so she's one of those friends that will get in the mud with you or smack you on the back and perform the Heimlich if necessary. You need those friends.

You need those friends in the trenches. Will you go back to cheesecake is a big question. It's not the Cheesecake Factory. It's me. There's something wrong. I've got a market defect.

No, it can be fixed with what a drill. Jay pretends that he's concerned about me, but he's in there chortling away at the whole thing. Yes, very concerned. Someone out there must have had a recent near death choking incident.

Please make me feel better by sharing it with me on Twitter, a law radio or on our Facebook page. Hey, different kind of football. And normally since the World Cup is done, I wouldn't even bother. But if you have not seen or heard the debut of Christian Pulisic, oh, you're in for a treat.

Shining so brightly for Mila. Christian Pulisic involved in the first goal. He scores the second, and it was all his own work.

That's a war class gold pot. Incredible what to ensure is one of the best playing this kind of food for leaking for his mates. And then look what I call a start of the new season for AC Milan in Syria. Incredible gold by Pulisic. I mean, we didn't need all of that because it's TV analyst, but it's so fantastic.

Bank one touch and then back. That's actually on CBS Sports. So you can check that out. Jay will retweet it from our show account after hours.

CBS. It is brilliant. It really is. It's a dart as well. He dribbles through traffic and then is able to, with very little room, kick the ball back to the left, pass the keeper at such a sharp angle. And it was a bullet. There was no way that the keeper was going to get to it, even though he actually wasn't that far off in terms of reaching for it. But there was no way.

It was a bullet and it would have taken off his hand if he had actually reached it. It was incredible. Looking forward to that type of skill back with Team USA when the time is right. But AC Milan, Syria, this was Christian's debut and he crushed it. Hey guys, Christian Pulisic here. First win of AC Milan.

First goal. I'm really excited. It was a great night.

Thanks for the support. He is great. He is a superstar. We just need him to be a superstar for Team USA. Could you imagine, would there be a more iconic American soccer player than Christian Pulisic if he could lead Team USA, not just into the knockout stage, but say semifinals. Final four. Forget winning for a second here.

That's almost not, I mean, that's almost inaccessible. Even I dare to dream that, but could you imagine how it would catapult his status? Oh, he would be, I mean, if he's not already the number one soccer player, the most recognizable American on the team, he would. Well, right. But now, but I'm saying history for Team USA.

Yeah. I mean, I feel like in US soccer, if you're not the biggest fan, I feel like you still think Landon Donovan when you think of US soccer and the men's team. Pulisic would easily, I think, surpass that name if he were to win or advance further. I think it depends upon your era, but yes, Landon Donovan. Alexei Lalas was another one. I mean, there's many. We could go on and on.

We don't really want to turn it into a big debate here because we don't have time, but I'm just saying if at any point he can help to lead Team USA past the initial game of the knockout stage, especially on North American soil where the World Cup is next time around. Oh my gosh, the stage and the world are his oyster. I feel better. Sorry, Ashley, not to make a lot of your pain. I'm not making a lot of your pain, but I'm identifying with your pain. Ashley says on Twitter, A Law Radio, once choked on a piece of popcorn at work for like 15 minutes, wheezing, gagging, crying the whole deal in front of tons of co-workers and big bosses.

So embarrassing. Okay, well, that sounds horrifying too. I hope that doesn't happen ever again for you or me.

I would also recommend staying away from Cheesecake Factory if this is somehow something that you are inclined to do, right? Jay apparently has no trouble because he's in there giggling away about people choking in major restaurants. So thank you, Ashley. I feel as though we have a kinship and we're soul sisters. It's After Hours, CBS Sports Radio.

You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. I done made money and, you know, I'm comfortable where I'm at. I mean, it's a blessing to be able to receive and try to get more obviously and to help for generations, for head starts for generations. But I mean, for me, I feel good. I'm comfortable. I'm just glad we were able to, you know, get something done and for, you know, like I said, for them guys, I just hope they, you know, able to make things happen and get their deals done.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. The voice of Joe Mixon, Bengals running back. It's a big day for Cincinnati at training camp on Monday because Joe Burrow threw for the first time since the calf injury and Joe Mixon met with the media, some of them, for the first time since the end of last season.

And what he said is, hey, he took a renegotiated deal and less money because what he cares most about his hardware is keeping the band together. And let's be fair, if he looks around, he recognizes there are running backs out there without deals. You finally saw a deal for Dalvin Cook and Ezekiel Elliott, but not at the price that they thought they deserved. Josh Jacobs is still at odds with the Raiders and now Jonathan Taylor, who has not practiced though he's been back at camp. And the Colts have finally said, go, go ahead, find yourself a trade partner if that's what you want to do. We'll let you do the legwork.

A little bit of a page out of the Chargers playbook or even the Ravens when it came to Lamar Jackson. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Thanks again for your empathy. I appreciate it.

I feel a little bit better now. Had a chance to catch up with Lindsay Rhodes, longtime host, analyst, insider. When it comes to fantasy, she crushes it. So Sirius XM Fantasy Channel one to three each day Eastern time. And we asked her about running backs and how to approach running backs in your fantasy draft these days.

This is not what you're asking, but I'm just going to say this first. I have always, always been a running back, running back drafter in fantasy. Like it's just, it's the way that the, the builds work out for me the best.

I feel most confident about that. I've always felt strongly about taking a running back in the first round and probably a running back in the second round to just go get those high, those, those high round guys that are feature backs that are going to have the volume that I'm looking for. And then there's tons of wide receivers that you can get all over, all over. I mean, even late round, there's like really good guys here. Like, Oh, that, that guy has a ton of upside. You can get wide receivers all over your draft this year.

I don't feel that way. I am not drafting. I mean, maybe I'm drafting a running back in the second round sometimes, but I'm, I'm going and getting wide receivers early. I don't feel strongly about this year's running back group. And the guys that are going first at the running back position are Christian McCaffrey and then Austin Eckler.

And then Bijan Robinson's going later in first rounds this year. Saquon Barkley is up there in that group. Maybe, you know, RB three or four, and then it's like Nick Chubb, Tony Pollard, like now you're getting into some of those guys, but there's, there's three or four that are pretty much the top four running backs. And I think when you're comparing them to the wide receivers that you're going to get in that first round, again, going back to opportunity costs, I just, I would rather have the wide receiver. There are some high-end wide receivers that I think you can, you can comfortably say they're going to average 20 points a game. There's so much more volatility at the running back position in general. And then we're moving further and further away in the league from actual feature backs. Like there just aren't that many, which you would think would prioritize or, or make more valuable the guys that do check that box.

But when you look at the group of guys that actually fit that bill now, they all come with various question marks attached to them. Like Christian McCaffrey, who's easily RB one. I think there's reason to say like he got through a whole season last year healthy, but he hadn't gotten through the two seasons prior. Like, are we a little bit like feeling like this is the year where it all falls out from underneath us and then you've used your first round pick. But that said, I haven't been in a position to draft Christian McCaffrey.

It hasn't been a purposeful, like I'm moving away from it. But again, if it's Christian McCaffrey or it's you know, one of those wide receivers that's going really early, I'm going to take a wide receiver. Like if I'm sitting there at two and we take Jamar chase, if I'm sitting there one and take Justin Jefferson, like those are easy. No brainers to me over Christian McCaffrey this year. And then Austin Eckler, I think he was awesome last year. I think he will still be a big part of the offense, but I think they're going to prioritize running the ball with him this year. And last year, one of the reasons he was so valuable is that there wasn't a run game.

Every time they wanted to get the ball to Austin Eckler, it was a point in PPR because they threw it in. And I don't think that's, we're going to, they're going to do this year. So I think his value comes down a little bit. Bijan is a rookie.

So there's a little bit risk attached with that. Plus I also think that Tyler Algiers I think is a pretty good running back. The underlying metrics show that he actually was very, very good last year and not just in terms of, he wasn't propped up by volume. He played well. So it doesn't make sense to me to have Atlanta, even though they use the very high draft pick on Bijan Robinson to just throw him away.

Why would they do that? So I think he'll be more involved than people are thinking. And so anyway, this is a very long winded way of saying those are the guys that are going really early, but for me, I'm just, there are wide receivers in that range that I'd rather have. Price Young, CJ Stroud, if he ends up starting for the Texans, Anthony Richardson for the Colts, which one do you have higher expectations for? This might be the fantasy in me, but it's Anthony Richardson.

I think that he has, he, he has the highest ceiling is the way I see it. Again, I need to clarify that that's probably fantasy driven because Bryce Young doesn't excite me from a fantasy standpoint because there isn't any rushing component to his game. And so I'm expecting him, his stat line to look like a pocket passer as a rookie. And so I'm not excited about that right now, but I think Anthony Richardson feels like the more vault, the most volatile perhaps of the three, like it could totally not work, but honestly, from a fantasy standpoint, I think he could be bad and still be a good fantasy asset because I think that the rushing volume will prop up his fantasy numbers. Like Justin Fields last year in a lot of ways, wasn't a great quarterback. Like people are very critical of what he looked like when he was actually trying to pass the ball. Right. But from a fantasy standpoint, the second half of the season, once they finally figured out that he has some skills, like when he takes off with the ball, like let's do that more frequently. I don't know why it took so long, but it did.

And once they did, he's, he can't be stopped. I'm willing to bet this year that he takes steps forward in his development as a passer. I think he will.

And I think it will be better than what we saw last year. And again, in the fantasy space, what we already saw was like he was putting up back to back 30 point outings. And I think that that's not out of the realm of possibility for Anthony Richardson just because of what his game looks like. His arm is huge.

We've all, we've all seen all of that stuff. I think that he'll probably be less consistent than the other two rookies that are starting out of the gate. And I think CJ Stroud will definitely start out of the gate. It doesn't make any sense for Houston to delay that development.

Right. In my opinion, Lindsay Rose is with us for just one more question. Cause I got to run this theory by you. I've heard that fantasy football may have hit its peak or is maybe taking a hit because of legal gambling, but you're in that space. And it sounds like you have three dozen drafts that you're managing all the time, three dozen teams. Do you see any impact on fantasy football when it comes to this influx of States that have legalized sports betting? No, nor have I even thought to think that honestly, from where I sit, I don't think so. I think, I think it all kind of goes hand in hand in my mind, like fantasy and betting and it all kind of, it all kind of marries up, um, pretty nicely, honestly. So it might, it might be hurting marketplace advertising, fighting for faces and dollars and stuff like that, but I don't, I don't see it. I mean, certainly I think fantasy is as popular as it's ever been. And I think that, um, there are different forms of fantasy that have even popped up that I think are merge with the betting space. Like daily fantasy effectively is gambling, but it's also still a form of fantasy. And if you're also really into fantasy, then a lot of times the player props are going to interest you too.

Like to me, it all kind of goes together. And so there are different companies in a lot of ways, but we're also seeing some companies that do it all, which by the way, had you done best ball? Let me talk up that format for five seconds here, because I think that anyone who's listening who is unfamiliar with the best ball format or hasn't done it yet, but also does fantasy. This is a really fun way to do fantasy, um, in a way of expanding your fantasy roster in a way that won't overwhelm you in the season, because I know one of the things that people have concerns about is the management of your roster and, you know, set it, doing waivers and setting lineups and it can become too overwhelming to have a bunch of those decisions to make every week.

And I get it. I literally have a checklist so I can make sure that I checked all of my lineups. With best ball, you draft a team, so you get the experience of doing a snake draft and then you get the benefit of seeing where the runs are and where people are likely to go and, oh, if I wait on a quarterback, then what does my roster look like? And you can get into a best ball tournament for, you know, not very much money. What they do is they set your lineup every week.

It is what it sounds like. You draft, let's say 20 people to your roster and let's say you draft three quarterbacks, whoever the quarterback is that scored the most points is going to be the one that they count in your starting quarterback spot. So you're not setting a roster.

They're going to take your best two wide receiver scores and your best, you know, two running back scores and your best tight end score. So you're just drafting a roster that has multiple options for them to choose from. And I think it's beneficial way to get ready for your home league draft in it. And I think it's more beneficial than mock drafting because people do the first two rounds and then they start leaving the draft and it all goes to auto draft. And to me, your draft is one, you know, I'm right in those mid to late rounds and how you build up the depth of your team. It's not the first few rounds. So what you really need to the benefit is seeing what people are doing in those ranges.

And you can get that by doing a quick best ball draft. Like you could just go, oh, I don't know. Is it winning? Is it doing well?

Is it not? I don't care. There's so much more with Lindsey. No kidding. We talked about Jonathan Taylor and what you do with him. And I keep coming back to this is a savvy move by the Colts because they're not going to give him a long term deal if he truly is still dealing with a lingering ankle injury.

I feel like he kind of shot himself in the ankle just to use a different version of the old adage. If you are actually using the ankle injury as an excuse not to practice and to kind of stick it up the butts of your bosses, well, that's one thing. But you have to admit that in order to let the rest of the league know that you're healthy, don't you? You're not going to get a trade. No one's going to pick up your salary if you're not healthy. That would be a really bad business move. And so Jonathan Taylor either has to cop to the fact that he's faking the ankle or he has to admit and write passive physical or try to passive physical with a bulky ankle because there's no team that's going to trade for him without an actual past physical, right? We've seen trades break down for failed physical.

So the whole thing is whack. I don't even know why I said that. But Lindsey and I talked about him as well as quarterbacks and taking quarterbacks because last year she gave me this advice.

Never draft a quarterback before the seventh round. Now she's changing it and she'll explain why. If you check out the podcast, it is incredible fantasy advice and she is immersed in that space.

Love the best ball idea as well. So make sure that you check it out on our podcast. It'll be posted within minutes on our show Twitter after hours, CBS also on our Facebook page. We're going to jam in a lot more with the hump show.

I haven't decided yet if we're going to do a wedding version of asking me anything. I know that's what you guys want. Talk to you tonight. It's after hours, CBS Sports Radio. Boom!