Fantasy football cheat sheet and tips for 2024 season with CBS Sports Dave Richard

all right we're here with CBS Sports senior fantasy writer Dave Richard it is that magical time of year fantasy football drafts are well underway and Dave so much to get to as it's related to this season but let's start with if you are the guy in your league guy or girl in your league that has the number one overall pick yourself and everybody else with CBS Sports in the fantasy side chose Christian mcaffrey as the number one pick and I want you to explain why he is the man to take with the number one pick well we saw it last year Joe over 24 PPR points per game that's an average of what he did over the course of the Season he had many games where he was well past 24 fantasy points as anybody that played against him would know and and I'll tell you what he is 28 years old he is coming off of a season where he had a lot of work he had a strin calf that cost him some preseason games but you know we weren't going to see him in preseason games anyway and the 49ers have a lot of issues right now on offense Christian MC refy as the Genesis of their offense the guy that's going to touch the ball between 15 and maybe even 25 times a game that's not in question whatsoever you don't want to give up players like that willingly to somebody else in your league and if you pass on him at number one you're basically handing him to the team at number two saying here here's a guy that's G to get a ton of fantasy points hey congratulations on the championship by the way you don't want to do that mcaffrey has the best upside of any non-quarterback in fantasy this year he should be taken with the 101 first pick in the draft has there been a theme that has risen to the Forefront of what mock drafts and actual drafts have looked like definitely I I I think what we will see in the majority of drafts this year are fantasy managers taking one wide receiver and one running back with their first two picks and it doesn't have to be the receiver first because I mean Chris mcaffry is an example you could take him first but I think the majority of managers will will kind of measure what they think they can get in round two and use that as a tiebreaker for what they do in round one and it just so happens that the wide receiver position it's deep you're going to be able to find some good wide receivers all the way through round six seven maybe even into round eight but at the top there are just difference makers we're talking about cidi lamb Tyreek Hill Justin Jefferson Jamar chase amanra St Brown Garrett Wilson AJ Brown I I just named seven of them for you those are going to be the receivers that get priority in fantasy managers minds they're going to get taken first and most of them are going to get taken between second overall and 10th overall and that's going to open the door for those same managers to go with a running back in round two there will be some very good running back values in round two that'll help fantasy managers kind of have that balanced approach to begin their teams and then that allows them the chance to go in round three get any position that they want whether it's a tight end or wide receiver or running back again just kind of just keeps the pressure off your shoulders of oh I got to get a wide receiver now because I took two running backs you don't have to feel that way if you go receiver and running back with your first two picks and you hit on some of those young wide receivers that are some of those top picks the CD lambs of the the world Garrett Wilson Jamar Chase Alan Ross St Brown there's one guy that you have ranked pretty high in your top 200 list and that is Marvin Harrison Jr who is one of the talented rookies to come out in this year's draft and he was a high round selection in the first round why are you so high on a guy that hasn't played an NFL snap yet I'm confident that he's going to adapt to the game much faster than 99.9% of the receivers that were taken in front of him think about who his father was and think about the fact that he's been preparing for this probably since he was able to catch a ball so very young he's been wanting to be in the NFL as a wide receiver but there's more to it than that Joe over the last two years at Ohio State we've seen Marvin Harrison put up monster numbers one year it was with CJ strad goes without saying CJ strad was a great quarterback but they also had a pretty inferior quarterback that they sent packing for the Buckeyes last year and that tells me that Marvin Harrison can succeed whether he's got a stud quarterback or an inferior quarterback and he happens to have a good quarterback in Kyler Murray in Arizona this year and K Tyler Murray's track record is to lean on one wide receiver hit him with a ton of targets from game to game so I'm expecting north of nine targets a game for Marvin Harrison I think he can do everything he's one of those Alpha wide receivers and the upside is so great that he's worth taking with a top 15 pick on draft day those quarterbacks and you just mentioned Kyler Murray and I know he's a guy that a lot of drafters have been very excited to get this year I think when you think of the top four right you think of Josh Allen you think of Patrick Mahomes you think of Lamar Jackson you think of Jaylen Herz but who are some of those first year or second-year quarterbacks that you're interested in drafting well the one that that that strikes me the most is Stout obviously after the year that he just had the fact that they added Stefan Diggs to that passing game and that offensive line should be better this year for stra than it was last year he would top the list for me another seconde quarterback is Anthony Richardson and we really only got a little glimpse of Anthony Richardson last year but when he played his rushing production was through the roof and I think that's what you're counting on from a rich if you draft him and I like him as the sixth quarterback off the board and then we can start talking about the rookies and unfortunately Drake May doesn't quite make the cut but the quarterbacks taken ahead of May Jaden Daniels Caleb Williams they're going to make the cut I happen to watch both of them practice at different points during the offseason and preseason and they both pass the eyeball test they're both great throwers uh they're both mobile Jaden Daniels kind of has that same rushing ability that Anthony Richardson has Williams not as much but he will get on the move and he can score a bunch of touchdowns in short yardage situations but those are quarterbacks that I would expect to see picked on draft day and in the case of Jaden Daniels someone that I wouldn't mind taking in that round eight n range who you can technically draft to be your starter but you can find another quarterback a couple of rounds later someone like um tuatonga Jared gof Brock pie that you can pair with Jane Daniels and then you'll feel good about your quarterback situation to begin the year I liked an article that you put up recently it was titled seven studs you shouldn't sleep on and I want you to tell our viewers who some of those guys are well the first one that came to my mind is someone that may be a little underrated by fantasy managers is Kenneth Walker in Seattle um we we've known that he is a little bit injury-prone and really hasn't shown he could do is a pass catcher out of the back field but when he's been given an opportunity he's run with it no pun intended and I think Seattle's offense is going to be much better this year and I think Walker is in position to be a feature back for them his average draft position when I wrote the article was round four I'm happy to take him in round three James Connor is another one and I I kind of go head-to-head with my fellow colleagues at CBS Sports about James Conor they say he's too old I say that he's got at least one more good year left in him for Arizona this is is an offense with Marvin Harrison now added to it that should be very good all the way around and James Conor is going to play a lot for them he's averaged at least 15 fantasy points each of the past three seasons and last year with Kyler Murray on the field he averaged almost 18 PPR points per game and that's without him getting a lot of targets less than three per game so James Conor is somebody else that I like javante Williams makes the cut as the lead running back in Denver I think Jerome Ford and Cleveland especially now that we know that Nick chub is going to missed the first four weeks of the Season Jerome Ford stands out as someone that fantasy managers can look at with a middle to late round pick and say okay this guy can be my starting running back to begin the year the same thing can be said and he wasn't in the article Joe but chuba hubard and Carolina in the exact same boat in fact I like hubard more than I like Jerome Ford at wide receiver two guys that I put into the same bucket Terry mclen Chris Godwin Once Upon a Time these guys were great for Fantasy managers last year they were let Downs I think they bounc back Jaden Daniels with Terry mclen and Godwin in that Tampa Bay offense Baker Mayfield still under Center and I actually think that they improved their offense with Liam Cohen now their offensive coordinator and then Maris Brown in Kansas City he was added to that team before they drafted Xavier worthy and he can be another good mid-range and deep Target and if you're catching passes from Patrick Mahomes you've got the opportunity to put up good numbers from week to week and we've seen it from Maris Brown before although we haven't seen it for a full season it's been more like half a season with brown I think you can buy the dip on him now that he's hurt people see that injury tag you might be able to get him in round nine and he can end up being a very good wide receiver three for a huge chunk of the fantasy campaign let's go to the tight ends now Dave there are a lot of good ones and it does feel like this year there are more good tight ends to choose than ever so what is your advice about going after drafting a tight end I would look at the average draft position for tight ends and say to yourself okay if I can get any one of these guys at a fair value maybe a little bit of a steal I'll take him but I I don't think you should try and steal a tight end or or at least wait to steal a tight end because you will be waiting a long time the only tight ends that I disagree with as far as ADP goes is Travis Kelce who just by name recognition the fact that he's been a stud in fantasy for so long he's going very close to the end of round two I think he's a round three pick Along With Sam lorta and then Kyle Pitts it's been three years of Kyle Pitts underwhelming fantasy managers and yet he's still going in early round seven I think maybe late round seven into round eight would be a more appropriate time to take Kyle pittz but short of those two we're talking about Sam leapa Mark Andrews Trey McBride that's another Arizona Cardinal I didn't realize I was such a Arizona Cardinals Fan this year Joe um Dalton Kade and buffalo I think he could end up being the number one target getter for the bills he's got huge upside and then names that you know like George KD uh Evan Ingram Jake Ferguson and Dallas was pretty good last year I think he can be good again this year these are the tight ends that you will see as your draft moves on try and get one of them with your first eight picks but if you miss and there is going to be somebody in every draft that misses on tight end keep these names in mind David nooku Brock Bowers and Zack hers Believe It or Not Zack hers in Washington might end up being a thing and njoku we've come to know and love Bow's huge upside with the Raiders all right we'll end with this Dave and uh I I I figure the answer or I I I I wonder if the answer is no here but I'll throw it out to you to kind of close things out obviously we're a Boston St station are there any Patriots that you're interested in drafting there are um I know that rre Stevenson will still be popular in fantasy leagues mainly because he's a running back and he's going to touch the ball a lot that's another player that I would be nervous to take at his average draft position you kind of want to settle for for down the- field deep speed type guy but if the volume is there neighborhood of five catches a game those numbers will add up and he could be at least a good bench receiver for Fantasy managers all season long all right we'll see how it all plays out and it's so exciting that the season is almost upon us for football fantasy season obviously at the exact same time and Dave so much uh thank you so much for the time really appreciate you joining us and uh thanks for all the the knowledge that you have imparted upon us you got it Joe