Jamey Eisenberg, CBS Sports Fantasy Football Analyst

Jamie, I always appreciate the time. How you been? Great, thanks for having me. How are you?

Well, I'm doing fantastic. So, heading into this fantasy football season, I think it's an interesting question on who people consider is the best player for fantasy football. I go Austin Eckler heading into this season.

How about yourself? I go Justin Jefferson, but I mean, Eckler's certainly up there. You know, there's a pretty, I think, solid consensus of about four guys once you get past the top four of Jefferson, Chase, McCaffrey, and Eckler.

Those guys were excused depending on what position you're looking at. You know, quarterbacks start to come into play there. Travis Kelce comes into play there. You know, Bison Robinson, Saquon Barkley, those guys come into play. But I think, you know, Jefferson, Chase, Eckler, McCaffrey, you know, whatever order you're going to put them in.

And obviously, your scoring format matters. Those are the four that I think we'll see with the first four overall picks. So, let's say if you're in a PPR league, just for argument's sake here, and, you know, a lot of times still running backs, right, go with the first overall pick. If you had the first overall pick, you would go Jefferson?

I would. You know, I think what we're seeing, you know, especially at the top, you know, McCaffrey and Eckler in particular, and certainly when you start to look at Eckler, you know, this is the age for those running backs. You know, I think McCaffrey's still a year away, but, you know, 27 is typically the year where we start to see these guys fall off. So, you know, Jefferson and an offense that he's playing in in Minnesota, everything that, you know, we heard about Kevin O'Connell's system coming in last year, where they were going to throw the ball out, they did. They were top three in past attempts, and that Jefferson would be the Cooper Cup in this offense. And we saw what Cup was in 2021 when O'Connell was on that staff in Los Angeles, that he was going to dominate targets and just, you know, be the superstar that we've already seen through the first two years. He was that in year three, and now in year four, when he's playing for contract, I just think he's going to be, you know, one of the best generational wide receivers and continue to have another big season in 2021-23. Jamie Eisenberg here with us. What do you do with Josh Jacobson and Jonathan Taylor right now?

Well, you get them hopefully at a great price. You know, they're going to continue to fall, and, you know, hopefully they're there in week one and everybody's healthy and ready to go. You don't have any, you know, concerns about an injury or setback or, you know, just, you know, being a malcontent because they're not happy with their contract situation. You know, so what we're seeing mostly so far with Taylor a little bit more than Jacobs, which is surprising, but I'm sure that has to do with what happened last year where he, you know, struggled with injuries. Taylor's starting to fall to the third round. Jacobs, for the most part, is still living in round two. I think if those guys were to show up tomorrow, you can make cases at their first round pick. You know, Taylor was the consensus number one overall pick a year ago and still has the potential to be that type of player, and Jacobs obviously led the NFL in rushing yards last year.

So he's, you know, coming off a tremendous season, and they're both still, for whatever that's worth, playing for a contract. So I still like the setups for them, but, you know, I think you're just looking at there's a lot of risk right now. I don't think they're going to sit out games because we saw what happened with Le'Veon Bell and just how that all played out, and clearly they're not going to change. I think the future of what their big-time deals that they're looking for, I don't think that's going to happen.

So I do expect them to play week one, and so the later that they fall, the better off you probably are if you get them at, again, a reduced price. Talking to Jamie Eisenberg right now, fantasy football expert for CBS Sports. I know people sometimes get afraid to put some significant capital with rookies, but sometimes rookies can win leagues, especially if they have breakout years in year number one. Bijan Robinson is definitely a popular name. When do you consider maybe taking Bijan Robinson?

I consider it a five overall. He's in that conversation right now. I think it's between him and Saquon Barkley and Tyreek Hill. I don't want to say the perfect scenario because there's still some flaws with the Atlanta offense, but he was drafted as a top-ten pick. We've seen Saquon Barkley, Ezekiel Elliott, you mentioned some rookies, Todd Gurley, these guys, just the recent names that have had success just based on pedigree.

And then you factor in where he went. So he goes to an Atlanta team that was first in rush attempts last year, and Tyler Algier, who's a good player but nowhere on the level of Bijan Robinson, goes for 1,000 yards. So he's going to get every opportunity to carry the ball, and we know that he has the chance to be a good receiving talent if not a great receiving talent out of the backfield. But is Desmond Ritter going to be good enough to support not just Bijan Robinson but Kyle Pitts and Drake London? It's a little bit of a question mark, but it's a good offensive line.

It's a good system. Arthur Smith was on that staff in Tennessee when Derrick Henry had a 2,000-yard season. So Bijan Robinson is going to be, as long as he stays healthy, an amazing talent, and I think he's worth taking again as early as five overall. Out of the three first-round quarterbacks and Bryce Young, you also have C.J. Stroud and Anthony Richardson. Do any of those guys jump out to you? I love Anthony Richardson. I'm a little biased because I'm a University of Florida guy, but I think the falters and the failures that he had in college I think will sort of get overlooked by what he does in the pros because he'll have a little bit more freedom and hopefully some better coaching.

No shot there, my alma mater. But I think with what we've seen, you go back to 2010, there have been 16 times where a quarterback has run for just 700 yards. And in a six-point-per-passing touchdown league, the worst a quarterback has done was 19.9 fantasy points per game, which usually around 20 points puts you in the conversation to be a number one quarterback. And I think by all accounts, if he plays the majority of the season, he could challenge to run for 1,000 yards. So I think he's got the chance to be a special talent with his running ability. If he can become an average to above-average passer, he's going to be what maybe Lamar Jackson early in his career. I don't think he's going to win an MVP, but Lamar Jackson early in his career, what we saw from Justin Fields last year as a fantasy quarterback.

Jalen Hurts, and there's a tie-in because of Shane Stikin, and he was able to get out of Jalen Hurts. So there's a lot to like about Anthony Richardson's fantasy stock. The other two guys I think have a little bit of room to grow as fantasy quarterbacks, but I do think that if you're in a two-quarterback league, you'll be happy with C.J. Stroud or Bryce Young as late-round guys. I'd prefer them as third quarterbacks, but they're definitely worth taking a chance on as a second quarterback with a late-round pick. Just because Jamie Eisenberg Mahomes is the best quarterback in football, does that mean he's the best fantasy football quarterback?

He is, and it's such a tough argument to say that, and I'm saying that obviously a little bit facetiously, but he doesn't have the weapons that some of these other guys around him have. Josh Allen, you have Stephon Diggs, Dave Davis, they draft Dalton Cade, Jalen Hurts, the wide receiver duo that he has there, Donald Scott, Joe Burrow, and the receiving corps there. He only has Travis Kelce who's 34 years old, but we know that he's just been able to have so much success, and last year's the perfect example of it, without a standout wide receiver.

Again, Kelce is a different thinker, but Mahomes, just what he does, he gives you enough with the legs as well, some yards on top of it, but he's a threat for 5,000 yards, he's a threat for 50 touchdowns, they lose Tyreek Hill, he gets better, they win a Super Bowl, so I'm excited about guys like Sky Moore and Ray G. Rice, Justin Ross, and hopefully a healthy Kadarius Toney, so he'll make those guys better and continue to just put up great numbers. Yeah, he's the first quarterback in fantasy. So, Jamie Eisenberg, last year Garrett Wilson had 1,100 yards with no quarterback, now he gets Aaron Rodgers, when do you kind of look to draft Garrett Wilson this year? You know, it's funny, it's like a fun stat to talk about, but I think it speaks more just to Zach Wilson and the trust that they had in him, so when Zach Wilson was playing, Garrett Wilson was not as good, what was the other quarterbacks, Joe Flacco and Mike White, he was averaging over 17 fantasy points per game, PPR points per game, if he had done that over a full season, he'd be a top 7 wide receiver, so now you put the trust in Aaron Rodgers, you know, we get a chance to see it a little bit up close with hard knocks, those guys I think are going to have a great connection, and obviously, say Adams is a superstar, but a lot of his numbers came with Aaron Rodgers as well, so I think that's the next wide receiver, quarterback wide receiver combo that we're going to see, and Garrett Wilson's got the chance to be a top 10 if not top 5 wide receiver, so a guy that you should be taking in round 2. Jamie Eisenberg, fantasy football expert for CBS Sports, give me some breakout players this year. Tony Pollard's got a great opportunity in front of him without Ezekiel Elliott on the field, so I think it's going to be fun to see how he goes, not just Garrett Wilson as a second year wide receiver, but Crystal Lavey's got a chance to break out in New Orleans, we'll see what happens with Michael Thomas, but I do like the setup there for him with Derek Carr, Christian Watson, another second year wide receiver that I like a lot in Green Bay, we saw some good moments from him, I think even though Jordan Love is a step down from Aaron Rodgers, it'll still be a big season for him. I really love Ramondre Stevenson in New England, I think it's going to be a big year for him, he only had 5 rushing touchdowns last year, they ran for 10 touchdowns from the running back group, but the year before it was 24 rushing touchdowns, and now Bill O'Brien's there, so he'll find the end zone a lot more without Damian Harris there, you go to Buffalo, another running back that I like, James Cook, he's going to have an opportunity in that offense to step up without Devin Singletary there, tight end, I hope it's going to be a good year for Kyle Pitts, I really just think that if Desmond Ritter can get his act together, they didn't play together last year because the 4 games that Ritter started, Kyle Pitts wasn't there, but at some point that talent's going to shine through and hopefully this is the year so you get that break out tight end. Yeah, I also feel like Dallas Goddard's going to have a monster season, he only played in 12 games last year and had 702 yards and 3 touchdowns. He does have that opportunity, the only problem is the 2 guys that he shares the field with, so if they're not going to have as much success running the ball, which you could say might be the case because they lose Miles Sanders, and they do allow Jalen Hurts to throw the ball a little bit more, if not a lot more, you saw the performance in the Super Bowl, that was a guy they leaned on quite a bit, so Goddard is one of those safe top 5 caliber tight ends, I just don't know if he can get to the top 3, but you'll love having Dallas Goddard on your team. Let me go to my best friend, Deebo Samuel, 2 years ago, wonderful season, last year he was horrible, Deebo Samuel going into this year, when do you take him, what round?

Yeah, am I supposed to hang up on you now, is that how that works? Deebo is a very polarizing fantasy option because we all fell in love with that 2021 season and like you said, last year was frustrating. It's just a lot of mouths to feed in San Francisco, and I think that's the problem, you're asking Brock Purdy to support all of these guys, McCaffrey, Kittle, Ayuk, and Deebo, and he's not going to run as much because of McCaffrey being there, so I don't necessarily look to target Deebo Samuel, I kind of settle for Deebo Samuel, so he's still a very good fantasy wide receiver, more of a number 2 guy for me, but I'm looking for him usually in round 4, and right now his average job position is round 3, so I'm not going to draft a lot of Deebo Samuels this year. When you look at guys that you also wouldn't draft, who are the guys that also come off the tip of the tongue for you? Yeah, a lot of it is obviously at cost, you know, so where they're going is how much you have to pay for them, but the 2 guys that really scare me a lot are the 2 running backs coming off of the ACL tear, so Bree Saul and Javonte Williams, and this is separate from maybe Dalvin Cook signing with the Jets, history tells us that that injury, we all sort of romanticize about Adrian Peterson the year that he came back from his ACL tear and how great he was, for the most part those guys struggle, and the easy one to point to is a couple years ago Saquon Barkley, last year JK Dobbins, they just struggled coming back year 1, year 2 they're great, so Bree Saul I think we're starting to see him fall again, a lot of that is probably with the anticipation of maybe another guy going there with Dalvin Cook signing with the Jets, and even though Javonte Williams is back with the Broncos, not on the pup list, great story, I just don't think you're going to get great production from him, so his price is a little bit better, but those are 2 guys I avoid, like I said I avoid Deebo Samuel, and one guy that really makes me nervous is Davonte Adams, I think the quarterback change from Derek Carr to Jimmy Garoppolo is a downgrade, he's now 30, again that's where wide receivers start to fall off a little bit, so he'll still give you great production because he's a superstar, but the elite level production, I just don't know if he's going to get back to that level like we saw last season. So with McCaffrey, I think Christian McCaffrey, Jamie Eisenberg could win the offensive player of the year this season, especially with the quarterback situation in San Francisco, but is that a guy that you try to stay away from just because of the health concerns? I don't, but I get it, I would just hope that people that feel that way look at what happened last year, so he finally stays healthy, after the 2 years of struggling through injuries, and is back to being that guy again, I do think you have probably another year of him being at this level of one of the best running backs and a generational talent, but 27 I think is where you start to worry about maybe injuries taking hold, I think for this year though, behind that offensive line with that coach, like you said with Brock Purdy who's not going to necessarily challenge down the field, he'll help him still in the passing game to a tremendous level, so I think McCaffrey again for me is the number one running back in a top 3 overall pick.

In 2 quarterback leagues, we all know who you should consider for your first quarterback, but if you're looking for a second quarterback, how would you approach some good value? Such a great group, so Gino Smith I think going to have another strong season with Jackson Smith, the jig bud joining that, now becoming the trio of wide receivers there with DK McCaffrey and Tyler Lockett, Jared Goff was great last year, I think he's going to have another good season especially once Jameson Williams comes back, after the 6 game suspension, Daniel Jones, he was the quarterback that I referenced that was only 19.9 fantasy points per game, because he did run for 700 yards and won 9 quarterback performances ever, where a guy went for 3700, so to put his name in the category of Rambo Cunningham and Cam Newton and some of the guys that accomplished that feat, that's pretty impressive and now he gets Darren Waller, Aaron Rodgers I think is going to fall to a spot that you'll feel comfortable drafting him again, especially with Garrett Wilson being rejuvenated with the Jets, so there's a lot of good number 2 quarterbacks, so when you take that first guy probably in round 1 or round 2, you can probably wait until round 4 and still get a pretty good number 2 quarterback and be happy about that type of performance that you'll be getting. You mentioned that answer, the trio of wide receivers in Seattle, you look at Seattle and the Chargers, already have established guys like Tyler Lockett and DK McCaffrey, Mike Williams and Keaton Allen, they both had Jackson Smith and Jigbuh and Quentin Johnston, do you get concerned about taking any of those wide receivers just because of how many mouths there are to feed?

No, I think if there is a concern, it might be that JSN is getting pushed up a little bit just because of some of the training camp highlights that you've seen, but I do think that they're going to be okay if you get them at the right price. The thing that you get encouraged by though is, especially in the Chargers situation, because we did see Mike Williams and Keaton Allen miss 11 games last year, if there's an injury to one of those guys in front of them, they could be a league winner, so Jordan Addison, Jackson Smith and Jigbuh, Quentin Johnston and Zay Flowers, the first round rookie wide receivers in the NFL draft, they have the chance to really be special, and again, if one of those guys get an opportunity for increased targets because of an injury, it's not going to really happen in Baltimore because Flowers could be the number one guy right away, but the other three guys, if an injury happens, and obviously the one in Minnesota would be Justin Jefferson going down, but if there is an injury in front of them, you're going to be pretty thrilled about getting them on your team, so you could draft them right now as number three wide receivers, in some cases number four wide receivers, those are the perfect guys to put on your bench, and then as they start to get going, typically the second half of the season for rookie wide receivers, they'll be potentially league winners for you by the end of the season. Jamie, through all your years of doing this, who's the one draft pick all these years later that you go, that was the draft pick I was the most proud about? Oh, it could be Arian Foster, the year that he broke out. That was a guy I think you saw had a chance to maybe do some things, especially with no draft capital in the NFL draft, getting the chance with the Texans, so he was a guy that wasn't very popular going into his breakout season, and then we know coming out of it, he was continually a top five pick, so he was one of my favorite ones, and then I'm lucky enough to work with a great group of NFL reporters. Pete Prisco is one of my favorite guys, and constantly on his training camp tours, always gives me great tips, and the year that David Johnson came on, nobody really had a lot of high expectations for him as a rookie, and then he breaks out, has that fantastic end of season performance, and then really takes off his second year, so David Johnson was a fun one, and then same thing, James Robinson was another one recently, where you got some buzz that he was going to be the guy for Jacksonville, and then had that, again, similar to Arian Foster, not drafted, and just comes out of nowhere and has a big year.

Last one for Jamie Eisenberg, great stuff with CBS Sports, one of the preeminent voices in the country covering fantasy football. Calvin Ridley barely played in 2021, was suspended for 2022, now a Jaguar. At one point was a very popular pick, Calvin Ridley. Where would you take him this year? Yeah, he's in that round three range for me, and just to tie in your favorite player, I would take him over to Deebo Samuel as well.

Again, the setup is great. Trevor Lawrence, you saw in the second half of the season, it looked like things clicked for him. Doug Peterson's coaching, obviously, a big upgrade over Urban Meyer, and so Christian Kirk is a great player. He proved that last year, but I don't know if he's an alpha. I think Calvin Ridley's an alpha. So now you put him at the top of that receiving corps with Evan Ingram, with Kirk, with Zay Jones. It's hard to defend that team, and now there will just be a different wrinkle. So as long as he could stay healthy and not have any concerns, a little scared that he had a toe problem.

So you never really, I think, fully buy in when a guy's taking this much time off, but it wasn't injury related. So as long as he's ready to go, and so far it looks like all systems go, to me he's got top ten upsides. So I'm drafting him as a top 15 wide receiver.

I love the setup, though. If I can go, A, running back in the first two rounds, and then two wide receivers with him being that second guy, I love that for my fantasy start, because I do think Ridley has a breakout season. Jamie Eisenberg, make sure you check him out. He does a great job covering fantasy football for CBS Sports. Jamie, appreciate it. You got it, Zach. Thanks.

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