Fantasy Football Daily - Bye Weeks Are Here | Week 5 Fantasy Football Market Report

Episode Date: October 2, 2023

Joe Dolan (@FG_Dolan), Tom Brolley (@TomBrolley), and Graham Barfield (@GrahamBarfield) recap all of the Week 4 fantasy football action with actionable news, nuggets, and stats to get you ready for Week 5 waivers and lineup preparation. SIGN UP FOR FANTASY POINTS WITH CODE GURRIFIC25 AT CHECKOUT FOR 25% OFF: https://www.fantasypoints.com/plans#/ READ DR. EDWIN PORRAS' INJURY [PRO]NE GUIDE WITH CODE INJURYPRONE25: https://injuryproneguide.myshopify.com/ Want to join a high-stakes dynasty league -- or any other high-stakes league? All new FFPC users get $25 off their first FFPC league of $35 or more, including dynasty orphans, using our affiliate link: ⁠https://myffpc.com/cms/public?affid=fantasypoints⁠ ⁠FANTASY POINTS PROJECTIONS ARE LIVE⁠ FOR ALL STANDARD AND PREMIUM SUBSCRIBERS! Interested in playing Best Ball in 2023? There's no better place than Underdog Fantasy. ⁠Use our code FANTASYPTS⁠ to sign up for a new account at Underdog, and not only will you get a 100% deposit match up to $100... but you'll get a Fantasy Points Standard subscription for only $5! ⁠https://www.fantasypoints.com/underdog --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time to the Fantasy Points podcast brought to you by FantasyPoint.com. Top level fantasy football and NFL betting analysis from every perspective and angle, from numbers to the film room with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. Five weeks are here in the fantasy football season, the NFL season at FantasyPoint.com, and that means some difficult lineup decisions are coming. Let's recap what happened here in week number four. for on the week five market report podcast. My name is Joe Dillon with Graham Barfield and Tom Broley, as always on a Monday morning.

Boys, it's a good day to, I mean, it's a beautiful day here in Greenville, South Carolina. I passed out on the couch last night, despite Zach Wilson playing what I thought at the time was a really pretty good game. Because I was at a wedding this weekend. I had an 8 a.m. flight just to get back yesterday. I could not hang with the boys, but it's good to be with you guys. We're going to talk through each and every game from this week. And I think the theme of the week, Graham, is kind of a high majority or a high number of what looked to be like kind of minor week to week injuries with some fantasy relevant players. Yeah, hey, Joe.

Good to have you back, man. Oh, thank you. Yeah, kind of a weird, kind of a weird week, honestly. I don't know how you guys felt about watching the games, but just, uh, they all sucked. Yeah. It's not even the, even the Dolphins Bills one. We were all waiting for it. Yeah, I was about, I was about to say, I don't think this is like one of the worst slates because the, if you look like, at least for my teams, I had some pretty high scoring ones, but like, fantasy scoring was fine this week.

It was just like the games themselves were, it's like we couldn't really get a good one. You know, those afternoon games were absolutely disgusting. You know, couldn't crack double digits this week. There were some bad offense. in addition to some pretty high. You know, there was a lot of lopsided games. It was a lot of really good offense. Bill smashed.

Lions did well. It was a lot of really, really good offensive play or really terrible offensive play. And we'll get to those afternoon games where there was a point where none of the three afternoon games were competitive at all. And then, of course, the Chargers had to be the Chargers. And they managed to make that one exciting.

Staley. Oh, God. The Chargers are a chargering. Yeah. Let's go to the Lions. and the Packers, the Thursday night game guys. Lions win this one, 34 to 20. And of course, the story is a week after missing Tom, a game with a five roos, David Montgomery goes absolutely nuts. Average is just 3.8 yards per carry, but his progress was stopped three

times by the end zone. He also caught two passes for 20 yards. Jamir Gibbs can cannot get off the Schneid. And, and look, Tom, when I'm sitting here saying, oh, my God, they need to use Jamir Gibbsmore. Well, did they really in this game? Montgomery was consistently picking up chunks of yardage and it was scoring touchdowns. It was working. So it's hard for me to criticize Dan Campbell when what he's doing is working. But it really unbelievably appears to be the same Jamal Williams, DeAndre Swift thing from last year. Absolutely. Yep. Touchdown in every game that he's been healthy. Five scores already. He's converting down at the goal line for six of his carries inside the five yard line have gone for touchdown.

So, hey, it's working. Why not stick with it? And we might be in this boat moving forward. This Detroit Lions team looks pretty legit. Defense is playing really well. They might not be chasing points a lot moving forward. They might be playing in these positive game scripts. And if that continues, it's going to be David Montgomery's showing this backfield.

So I know we want more action out of Gibbs, but it's, working for the lions and they're playing with leads right now. So we're going to get a lot of Montgomery moving forward. Let's just think back to Gibbs as a rookie and just as a prospect in general. Like, you know, he had a couple big games last year where he had 15, 16 carries at Bama. But in general, like he's always been a low volume, low carry kind of guy. And I think anybody that was expecting him to come in and be the goal line guy was just like wrong. You know, like that was just like the wrong analysis this year.

I don't think anybody. Yeah, I don't think anybody. really did though it's i think people were anticipating this would be more of a 50 50 you know he'd get those eight to 10 carries and the the passing game work i think is what's really frustrating especially with williams you know jameson will be back this week but i think people i think the the thought was that gibbs will be a little more involved in the passing game than he has been yeah i mean five targets though i mean most running back weeks you're going to take that i mean i i hear you i'm just saying i i think people have this idea that Gibbs had this, like, insane upside that he's going to score touchdowns and

get, you know, get at the end between the tackle stuff. And like, that's just never, never really been in his game. So, um, let's talk about Jamison Williams, guys. In case you missed it, it was a, I think this was a Thursday or Friday news drop. I had such a busy week. It was a, uh, the NFL is reducing suspensions for non-NFL gambling violations. So I guess what people were complaining about the NFL actually did and said this is too much for a non-N-N-Fel. Well, Jameson Williams is back this week. Graham, how are you treating Jameson Williams because they really have not had a consistent pass target?

Well, Sam Leporta, but at wide receiver outside of Amman Rah, St. Brown. Yeah, Jameson rightfully gets a suspension reduced. He's going to be their flanker slot type player. I think this is going to move Amman Ra into the slot a little more. St. Brown's been 50% out wide. I think he'll kick back inside a little more often, which is probably just best for him in fantasy. You know, we've heard in practice that Jameson Williams has been uncoverable.

It's just can he actually do it in a game? And that's the big question at this point. You know, obviously he's not really gotten any game reps. Very, very limited practice time. He was obviously away from the facility. We don't know where his hamstring injuries had to, by the way. I mean, for wide receivers, he should be okay. It's been a month, but we don't know.

He's been away from the facility. They haven't been, you know, necessarily. Exactly. They don't know where he's out either. Exactly. So, let's hope, um, for week five, I mean, you can't, for week five, you can't put him in a lineup. No, but long term, the upside is awesome. And Jared Goff's playing exceptionally well, guys.

Like, this is the best. I think I've ever seen. There's been some bad quarterback play around the league. And golf has, he's, you know, he's emerging at the top of the league. And I mean, conditions are perfect. He's playing behind a great offensive line. And now we got a weapon that can really stretch the field, you know, next to, I mean, I think Josh Reynolds has played, you know, fairly well in this offense so far.

So now now we have a legit like four receivers and then you throw Gibbs in there with five, you know, five legit weapons at receiver from Jared Gough moving forward. So I'd feel pretty good about him. And Jameson Williams, yeah, he's the top waiver wire guy this week. He's out there in 70% of Yahoo! So, yeah, as you said, Graham, probably a little slow out of the gates, but a guy that could really emerge late in the season. Real quick, what do we think this target distribution is going to look like? Because I'm a little concerned about LaPorta. And he's been so consistent and so good. I mean, I'm a little concerned

about him, but like how how do you take LaPorta out of a fantasy line right now with the state of the trade end position? He's just getting fed. He's just getting fed. I think some of those first three targets will go back to Jameson. But yeah, you're probably right. Let's go to the Packers side. This was an ugly game for them. You know, I've liked a lot of what I've seen from Jordan Love Tom. but the concerns that you might have, bailing from clean pockets and accurate throws, all that was on display in this game. Christian Watson gets back and he scores a touchdown, but he catches only two passes. Aaron Jones can't get going.

He was clearly on a snap count in that game, just an ugly one time for the backers. Yeah, this was one, both of those guys got pulled early. They were down three scores and LaFleur, you know, he wasn't going to keep putting them out there. that kind of that flipped field goal in the third quarter there kind of kind of cost a lot of people in fantasy because they would have at least probably got that next drive. They flipped it and then the lion scored, made a three score game and LaFleur put those guys on ice after that. And, you know, Watson at least got home with a touchdown. But, you know, obviously they're a little bit of a downgrade here. But I still think you got to play them next week.

Got the full 10 days off here before they play against. the Raiders. So, you know, a great matchup for both of those guys. We're playing all our guys against the Raiders. So I think they'll be a little bit healthier and they'll get fully unleashed a little bit more. Jordan Love, I mean, it was an awful performance, but he still got there for fantasy too, thanks to a rushing touchdown on that game. Yeah, week five is Christian Watson Week boys. It's Watson Week. I'm excited to see him back and I'm excited to see this Packers team with full strength. Atlanta and Jacksonville, 23 to 7. My plane landed. in Greenville, South Carolina, I think towards the end of the first half of this game.

And it seemed like we had another farty-arty and Desmond Ritter masterclass. Tom Ritter's terrible. I watch that. It is just atrocious. Kyle Pitts can't get involved. John Hsu Smith's out there making plays. This team's a joke. Yeah, we had a tight end go for 95 yards in this game.

And it was John Hsu Smith and not Kyle Pitts. Yeah, Ritters, his QB rating has gone down in four straight games. you know, it's the exact opposite of what we wanted to see. We wanted to see continued progress, and he's seemingly regressing as the sample size gets larger here. So it's dragging down the rest of this offense. And I mean, Pitts and London, I can't use these guys with any kind of confidence right now. I know we're getting into bi weeks.

You might have to use them. But if, you know, if there's anybody that's, you know, like a similar type of option for you, I have to go that direction because these guys. just have zero upside with Ritter. It's bad, man. Ritter through two picks. He should have thrown five, two or dropped. One should have been picked.

At this point, I think they'll go to Heineke. I mean, we'll probably see Heineke in the next couple weeks. I mean, it's just not going to happen for Ritter. I mean, there's not, and look, I don't want to like pile on, but there's really nothing he does, like, well or above average. You know what I mean? It's not, like, accurate. He's not like.

You know, you can live with some of the accuracy stuff. with Jordan Love, right? Like, he'll, he's going to miss the wide open, he'll miss some wide open throws and make you think that he can't play. But then he's going to, yeah, then he makes two or three dimes. And it's like, okay, we're good, you know, uh, Ritter, you just, you don't get any of that. And he also is not very mobile. Yeah, he hasn't run at all.

He ran one game and it's been nothing else. He's a statue in the pocket, man. It's, I don't. Yeah, you look at like, like Sam, we'll get to this game, but like Sam Hal has had some really bad games this year. But you look at what, what he does when he plays well. And it's night and day.

Ritter doesn't have that in his, in his arsenal, you know? Well, how can actually move? You know, he can make guys missing that. He's going to take sacks. Ritter takes sacks too, but he actually makes dudes miss, like occasionally.

Ritter just doesn't. This isn't a develop a young quarterback situation. I think Arthur Smith is at some point going to have to be coaching for his job. For what it's worth, I don't want to cape up for Arthur Smith, guys, It's just they, he doesn't, they don't get the ball because of the quarterback.

I mean, so, look, think about it this way. Kyle Pitts runs like 65% of his routes from the slot. He's getting all the air yards in this offense and his quarterback can't hit him. You know what I mean? It's like, that's the exact usage we want for Pitts, but his quarterback is Desmond Ritter, you know, like, on the other side of Jacksonville, we don't have to spend a ton of time here. They didn't have a great offensive performance. The panic about Christian Kirk after we.

Week one was just that. It was panic. He is back to, I mean, Graham, you're the Jags guy here. He's back to dominating the targets here in this offense. A little bit. Zay Jones was out. Calvin Ridley was on AJ Terrell. Jags didn't really have to do too much.

I noted in Start Set this week. I mean, Kirk's matchup was just so much better. Falcons have been so bad through this slot. We'll see what happens when Zay gets back. Because that was weird week one. He didn't play very much at all. I think he played one snap and 12 personnel, two wide receiver sets. I would hope he.

Peterson has just changed that and just they're going to play Kirk full time now. He can win outside. There's no reason for him not to. Oh, yeah. It's so dumb. Why would you, why would you willingly take one of your best players off the field? Sometimes coaches outsmart themselves, Tom,

but I think one of those like, Zay's a bigger body and can block and, you know, those other reasons that we don't really consider for fantasy, but Kirk is not a good blocker for what it's worth. I think that's the main reason, but it doesn't. Yeah,

but I mean, you got to keep a guy out there who's adult, you know, who can do. stuff through the passing game who's more of a threat. Zay Jones comes and goes with his production so far, you know, his Jacksonville career. I think you need to keep Kirk out here.

And he's shown it the last couple of weeks. If you give him opportunities, he'll make plays for you. So you feel a little bit better about him, but I still kind of want to see what happens when Zay is fully healthy, should be in the next. We'll see. I guess I didn't see. I assume he traveled with them because they are playing the back-to-back

games in London. Yeah. He has to be getting close to a return. So I don't know. I don't know if he is, Tom, because Peterson called him a long shot on like Wednesday. He didn't practice all week. So maybe not.

Let's go to the Buffalo bills and the Miami Dolphins. And, you know, this was a statement game from Buffalo. I mean, this was Buffalo's coming out here and saying, all right. I have to imagine, guys, the difference in, in scoring margin. for Miami has to be an NFL record plus 50 to minus 28. Like that is, that's a 78 point swing. I can't imagine there's anything bigger than that. They just got their asses kicked.

Buffalo could do anything they wanted offensively through the air, at least. I had a James Cook rushing prop. The irony is he scored a rushing touchdown, but only had 29 yards. He's obviously a guy who, it's hard for me to sit him because of his upside. and if he's ever going to get goal line carriers like you did in this game, hello. I don't really know what to say, Tom, about the bills other than this is kind of what you want them to be for fantasy. Diggs is the one. Gabe Davis makes the big plays down the field. James Cook is not their bell cow, but pretty close to it.

I mean, kind of exactly what we wanted to see, Tom, from the bills offensively. Yeah, I mean, it was full-blown panic after week one, Josh Allen with the four turnovers in that game and essentially handing it to the jet. but I mean, he's really right at the ship the last three weeks. I think we were all like a little skeptical, maybe, you know, good matchup against the Raiders. Commanders is a little bit tougher matchup, but he comes out here and, you know, four touchdowns, same as his incompletions in the game.

Just absolutely feeding Steph Diggs here. So I think the panic has settled down in Buffalo. He's settling back in. You know, the only thing, he did get a rushing touchdown. He isn't running nearly as much as he has in the past. I have to wonder if that's just because he has a guy like James Cook in the backfield here who he only had the one target this week, but a guy who he can outlet it to.

And, you know, he gives, you know, he's certainly more dynamic than they've had in the backfield the last couple of years. But I think the panic has settled down here in Buffalo with Josh Allen in the last couple of weeks. Let's go to Miami Graham. Just play Devon A Chan. I mean, like just play him. I mean, I don't know what else to say. I think you probably have to play most or two.

Most or at least made three catches for 36 yards in this game. They cannot, and I don't think Mike McDaniel will. They cannot take A-chan off the field when Jeff Wilson gets back. No, not. Jeff Wilson is, he's there as a veteran presence.

And I think they're just kind of waiting to see what they had in A-chan. And it's pretty clear what they got in A-chan. Tom and I were talking about it on the Sunday show. I was like, I think there's like 14 or 15 running backs I play ahead of A-chan. And then it's like, okay, you know, I think he's like right there. And I think he's already well ahead of that.

I mean, he's back end Raby 1. Rahimo Starrick fumbled twice in this game. He actually fumbled three times. Lost, yeah, lost two. I think this is a chance backfield. I have no idea where Jeff Wilson's health is at.

Dolphins beats have literally just not even reported on anything this entire off season, basically, when it comes to Jeff Wilson. I mean, what else would you do? It's Miami. I mean, I'd just be sitting on the beach,

too, I guess. They're not reporting on that. Well, half their beat writers just write a, about Lionel Messi half the time now. So I think that's a part of it. Yeah, it doesn't matter.

I'm with you, Graham. It's A-chan. The A-chan and Most are, I think at this point, they're probably going to put up some bad games at some point, but the weekly upside is just too immense with those guys. You have to take probably a little bit of bad for the, you know, the good that you're going to get a lot of the week. So I wish there was a better fair, a floor for some of these guys.

but I mean, they're going to be 10 to 12 touches in this explosive offense. You got to shoot for that ceiling with these guys. So I just keep playing them and take a couple, you know, four and five point fantasy point performances. But you could also unlock those 25 to 30 point performances along the way. Yep, exactly. Let's go on to Minnesota and Carolina, the Vikings and the Panthers. This game, well, I got to be honest.

If you have Alexander Madison and we're significantly worried about Camakers, Madison's kind of made a statement here of these last couple weeks. He's looked good. He had obviously the mistakes two weeks ago in the game against the Chargers, but relatively mistake-free. And then, of course, Kurt Cousin's been balling all year. He plays like crap in this game, Tom, and the Vikings banked their first win of the year. Like, just what a weird team. Yeah, it is every week. But I'd still be a little bit concerned if I was Madison.

owner. It was a pretty, you know, they basically gave him like two series and then Acres would rotate in for a series in each half. So, you know, Madison hasn't been very efficient, you know, when he has been the lead runner. So now, you know, we're still getting that same player, but we're, you know, taking, you know, maybe 10 to, you know, 15 plays off of his plate a week. And, you know, maybe that's only, you know, three to five carries and maybe a target or two. but a guy that isn't as, you know, as inefficient as Madison has been, you know, for the better part of his career, you know, now Acres is, it's not enough to like, that you want to sit Madison, but it's a bit of a downgrade, I think, after we saw just what their plan was for Acres in this first game.

Yeah, Cousins throws just 19 passes. Jordan Addison gets goose egged. Caroline is tough to watch on offense, Graham. that it's it's just they don't have speed outside of chark mile sanders gets he's getting bottled up he had the groin injury coming into this game you have to wonder if that really affected the the snap distribution yeah it did we saw tuba hubber get 14 carries in this game neither did anything their longest carry is a combined group with like 25 carriers with six yards um look brys young's a rookie i don't want to like you know yeah panning on a guy making his third start. But I'll be honest, man. I don't know what Bryce Young does well. He doesn't have an electric arm.

He's not like a super great ball distributor, accurate guy like Tua. He's small. He doesn't scramble. We watched Andy Dalton go up and down the field against Seattle two weeks ago and make Adam feeling DJ Chark look fantastic. I'll be honest here, man. I don't see a huge season. dealing with this panthers offense not only can i mean i don't think they have great players i don't

i don't think they have great players i mean i don't know if they're a huge ceiling i think some of it's bryce dude i i i hate going there after three games i think oh i think that's nuts to go there after three games i mean like i think he's a really good pocket mover um i just don't think it's a really great situation i understand why they're probably a better team with dalton now but like it's not like he's out there completely overwhelmed or overmatched it's just kind of boring Yeah, well, I mean, I'm, I'm just looking at it from like, there's no downfield presence at all in this offense. You know, some of that is, you know, talent, obviously, but, you know, DJ Chark was getting downfield against Seattle in week three. All I'm saying, man, is like, you know, we've got a long way to go here with this offense.

Oh, for fantasy, you know, I think volume will be the key for Miles going forward. There's just not going to be a whole lot of touchdown upside with this offense. Let's go to Denver and Chicago. Guys, I'll be honest. I'm trying to pay attention to nine games in the world. First and foremost, NFL. And you're on the radio too, by the way. Yeah, I'm trying to play attention to nine games.

Like, what, give me, give us seven and five, please. Like, what the hell? I know, like, they, the big networks want that, like, late window to have, like, a premiere game. I get that. Anyway. Oh, yeah, there was some premier games in that four o'clock window. Yesterday. Com, can you explain to me how the Bears lost this game?

I don't know. This is one they didn't really show a whole lot. So no, I really don't know what the hell happened. They were up 28 and 17. Their defense happened. Their defense happened. Oh, my God. These might be the two worst defenses in the NFL.

First and foremost, like, we've crapped on Justin Fields enough. Like, I already tell you, I still think the book is pretty much written on him. At least it is in Chicago. Give him credit. for playing what probably was a very good game by his standards. But this Broncos defense is just leaving guys wide ass open. Like, I mean, Cole Commet has nobody within 20 yards of them on that 22-yard touchdown pass. I mean, it is ridiculous, Tom.

Just target the Broncos every week, though. Them getting this comeback victory might actually give them a little bit of a kick in the ass here. Yeah, this is, we're targeting both of these defenses, that's for sure. How about you guys? Are you feeling any better about playing fields here moving forward? I guess we have to maybe give him a little more leash for fantasy lineups the next couple of weeks. But I got this week. They got the commanders this week.

Yeah, on Thursday night football. Thursday night, I'm not going to feel too good about that. Washington has some players on defense. I mean, I guess you have to give him leech because he's not going to get benched. If he looked bad in this game, he was going to get benched, I think. but he didn't. He looked good in this game. And he probably has a little bit more leash.

DJ Moore. You can probably start as a wide receiver three. At the very least, I feel like this game could have given Justin Fields some confidence. But I'm watching his face walking off the field at the end of that game. This is the one thing I definitely saw here. And he just looked defeated. He's like, now, look, I just threw for 335 and 4 and we lost anyway.

Yeah. I mean, he's got to be just so sick of it with the coaching. I mean, at the end of the game, Iber Fluse had a fourth and one. They could have gone up. He decided to go for it, ran the most predictable play of all time, ran it up the middle with Kululharber. It got the only play that the Denver front seven actually showed up for. It got stuffed, and then the Broncos went down the field and kicked the field goal to win. I think some of it's just, it's got to be just the structure in this entire organization.

As for fields, I think you do give him a little more leash. that being said, I mean, there's going to come a point in time where, I mean, Getsy and Iber Fluss are going to get fired midseason. I mean, this could get ugly really quick here. Yeah, Joe and I were even texting a little bit last night. And it's like they play Thursday night. So they lay another stinker on Thursday night. And it's ugly. You know, they lose by multiple scores against Washington with that extended week.

And they go to 0 and 5. Yeah, maybe, maybe they could be playing for their jobs a little bit this week. week. I think they are. Khalil Herbert and Roshan Johnson, it is literally going to be a hot hand situation, Tom. And I don't know. This is the first game where it's, you know, kind of been, you know, close throughout. And they, they went with Herbert. We got these reports out there in the morning that Roshon Johnson was going to get this expanded role. That did never even. Well, here's the thing, though. Like, first and foremost, okay, yeah, Herbert's the guy now. But this was also the first game in

which the Bears could even establish a hot hand. Well, you know, you look, I went back and looked. Their first three games, it was split 60- or 64% to like 36% in favor of Herbert when the game was within a score. So, and again, they hadn't played in many games with within a score up until this point. I think it's Herbert's backfield going forward. I'm with you, Graham, I think it is. All right. Well, we'll say, I, I'm not saying if Rocheon Johnson's out like on your way, like this team sucks.

They could, Herbert was, you know, he's like, he's like. kind of a, you know, from the last couple of years, Rochon Johnson, a guy they drafted this year. Like eventually, yeah, he could be the guy here. But for the time being, I think they're given Herbert his chance to be the top back. Denver, you know, Russ has actually played pretty good. I mean, I'm not going to knock him. It's their defense has just been so bad.

The Marvin Mims thing is ridiculous. How could he not get on the field more is beyond me? But there is an injury. You're not as smart as Sean Peyton, Joe. Like, haven't you figured this out over? for 20 years. You got you got to defer to Brandon Johnson. Come on, Jeff. And Will Jordan Humphrey and man hurts. These guys got to get out there. There is an injury here. It's supposedly minor for Adam Schaefter. It's a hip flexor injury for Javante Williams. Given Javante's history, I wouldn't

be surprised that Denver plays this conservative. And this McLaughlin, this rookie out of Youngstown State, go penguins. He's got some juice, man, Tom. I know you wrote him up on the waiver wire. Yeah, yeah, you know, little Darren Sproul's, you know, the smaller back that Sean Payton loves to utilize. And, you know, it was pretty fascinating when Javonte went out. It was kind of McLaughlin who was the runner in the backfield. I thought maybe P. Ryan would maybe slide in and, you know, take some of that role. But McLaughlin was kind of the guy that they were using in running situations. So we'll see how, you know, there's, yeah, as you said, it's a hip flexor.

but with Giovante's injury history last year with where they are in the standings here, you know, it wouldn't be surprising if they gave him a week here to get healthy. So yeah, maybe McLaughlin, you know, I'm not, you know, blowing a lot of fab and using my top waiver spot for them. But if you're a Giovante owner, might be time to pick them up. Well, and also. This could be a three-man backfield.

This could be a three-man backfill real quick. That's the other thing. By the way, we know what Sean Payton's history is with backfields, multiple backs being fantasy relevant. And on the other, they're going to have to run a lot of plays because the defense is going to give up a million points. So this could be a guy in McLaugh. Look, we're in by weeks now.

Hey, he might get eight touches this week. That could be the difference between you winning 115 to 110 or losing 110 to 109. You know, like it could be that difference. So I think he's got, you're right, Tom. I'm not blowing 50% of my fab budget on him, but he's making plays on a team that needs playmakers. Of course, as we've seen with Marvin Mims, that doesn't guarantee playing time.

But I'm pretty impressed with what I've seen from Joliel McLaughlin. So Tom, you and I will talk about him a little bit more on tomorrow's podcast. Yeah. Baltimore and Cleveland, not a whole lot to glean from this one, guys. DTR was just overwhelmed. And look, he's a fifth round rookie making his first NFL start on probably a little bit of short notice. I think he probably had an inkling earlier in the week with the Deshawn Watson shoulder injury that he could have to go.

But going up against the Ravens of veteran defense, like I'm not going to write the tombstone for Dorian Thompson's career. No, this was a really tough spot for him to, you know, this is a, you know, Baltimore defense a little banged up, but to make your first start and, you know, pretty tough divisional game. Not surprising the result.

The line for this game, essentially moved, you know, five point, you know, it was like a two and a half point spread for the Browns. I think it moved all the way to two and a half on the opposite side. So it was a quite the, you know, five point swing. More of an indictment of DTR situation than an indoor. Yeah, I don't, you know, because I yeah, exactly, Joe. You're right. You know, the only reason the Browns have been getting a lot of, you know, love so far this year is mostly because of their defense. And, you know, Watson, for the most part, has been holding him back until he actually played well in week three and obviously sustained some sort of shoulder throwing shoulder injury.

They are on by this week. So, yeah, I have to wonder if that was like, oh, he's almost 90. He played into it. Yeah, they're like, let's just give him the two full weeks here to get healthy. So, yeah, we'll see about Watson status. But I, you know, I think he'll probably be back for week six unless this is, you know, something more structural, but it doesn't sound like there was any extra. raise or anything like done like that during the week. So it's probably more of a muscular thing.

The Ravens didn't need to do a ton offensively in this game, but I think Lamar's playing at a really high level. And the key for me from a fantasy perspective, again, Lamar's not a guy you bench. So he's not really somebody that we talk about a lot on this podcast. But if I had to move him up in the in the market report in terms of his outlook, he's had two rushing touchdowns in each of the last two games, meaning now he has run for more touchdowns this year already four games into the season than he did in each of the last two seasons across the whole season. And I wonder if that's going to be part of what Lamar is doing, he's going to have that massive fantasy ceiling that we saw in his MVP year that Graham, he necessarily hasn't

reached in the last two seasons. Good fantasy quarterback the last couple seasons, a little bit disappointing in the rushing touchdown department, not the case so far this year. No, he's got the QB1 upside. J.K. Dobbins injury, I think he's just kind of throwing a wrench in this run game. I think they planned on Dobbins being, you know, obviously the hammer guy in the red zone. They don't have that anymore. And now it's back to Lamar getting the design carries, especially near the goal line. I mean, there's such a massive ceiling here.

And by the way, Lamar is throwing it better than I think we've ever seen him throw it. The rapport with Mark Andrews yesterday was fantastic. That second touchdown where he put it only. where Andrews could get it. That looked like 2019 Lamar. So, man, I mean, I actually put Lamar up on our market list here. I mean, we don't really move quarterbacks up, but I think Lamar should be one of those guys that we do move up.

I mean, yeah, I mean, this was a prime game for, they're just feeding carries to Gus Edwards. You know, you know, tough, tough rounds defense, but three yards, three point two yards of carry. Like this backfield is a complete disaster. It's a disaster. Moving forward. So Lamar is going to get these opportunities when they get in the scoring position. Yeah, and oh, by the way, they're going to bring Keaton Mitchell into the fold here, too.

I guarantee you, uh, oh, yeah, there's going to be like four guys getting carries, uh, in this backfield by next week. Yeah, this was a perfect Gus Edwards game. The Browns weren't going to score on offense. So Gus Edwards averaging three yards of carry was all they needed. They just needed somebody to keep the clock moving, keep the chains moving. And that's what, uh, Tom, uh, we'll talk about it on the waiver wire podcast, but if you mentioned Keaton Mitchell in the article, just as somebody who, I, I think I did at some point.

I'd probably need to put him back in there. Just as a name. He's the only, yeah, I mean, Justice Hill, we know what he is. Gus Edwards, we know what he is. So, yeah, you probably do, Tom. As you're managing editor, I'm getting you on that right now. I got it. I had it in there earlier in the, because, yeah, we've been writing up that goddamn backfield

every week since the, I mentioned it in week two, and at some point it fell out of the article. So I'll throw his name in there. You know, I don't, maybe if you're in a 14 or 16 team, league or a dynasty league or whatever. High weeks. Yeah, it might be worth a pickup just to see if he's something. Houston and Pittsburgh, Tom, I am sorry I have to talk to you about this game. Houston wins at 30 to 6. Now, I have gone on the record as I think

Najee Harris is a little much too maligned in the in the community. I think Pittsburgh is just the kind of team that's going to make him look bad. However, if Najee Harris is your most explosive offensive player, your team is in trouble. Najee Harris led the Steelers in both rushing and receiving in this game. That cannot happen, Tom Raleigh. It cannot happen. Tom, you unfortunately had to watch this.

Everything's broken. Everything is broken. Yeah, everybody wants to leave Matt Canada down in Texas there just to leave them on the tarmac. They're having flight issues again with their playing for the second straight week. And, you know, everybody wanted to keep Canada there in Houston. But, yeah, the offense was a complete disaster. Just nothing going on offense in the first half. It's just everything kind of designed at the line of scrimmage.

It's a combination of they're not confident in this offensive line and they're not confident in the quarterback to throw it down the field and into tight spots. So it's this is a complete disaster. suffers the knee injury in the game. Looks like he'll probably miss. They have a buy in week six, so I would expect him to sit out,

but I mean, there's no, I mean, point spread wise, there's not going to be a difference going from Pickett to Trubisky at this point. Yeah, there's no difference. If they went from Canada to any other coordinator,

I guess you get a boost. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, Friar move also pick up an injury as well. He's got a hamstring. Yeah, he's got a hamstring, and it looks like it's going to be a multi-week injury.

Yeah, he's had issues in the past. Pickett looks completely shot from a confidence perspective. Like, they just, that game against the Raiders, I was like, oh, he did some things. And then the Texans, Damico Ryan's had him in hell. I just, this offense is just, it's not, it's not a functional NFL offense. It's, it's hard to watch. Noggy's like a flex. Yeah, Jaylen's a flex.

Yeah, Jaylon Warren's a flex because he gets the checkdowns and Tribus is certainly going to do that. Joe, the problem with Najee, and I'm with you, by the way, I still think Najee's got it. He's maybe lost a little bit of a step since his Bama days, but he looks much better. The problem now is Jaylin Warren's their passing down back. I mean, he's got, you know, three catches last week, six catches last week. You know, he's not going to, yeah, he's not. And Najee might be their goal line back if the Steelers ever get. They literally can't get inside the five-yard line, so we'll never find out.

Yeah. The Texans, let's go over. I mean, C.J. Strau continues to play great. This was not a tank Dell game. It was last week was, this is a Nico Collins game. I got to be honest, guys, like, I got Nico Collins in a league here where I'm hanging on by a thread. The upside with him is just too high. I think you've got to play him as a wide receiver three every week, Graham.

and just and just if there if he has a bad game like he had last week so be it you know c j strout is a rookie the struggles are coming eventually for stroud are they they have yeah i don't know i don't know this goes back this goes back to my bryce young take it's like c j stroud is out here looking like he's a five-year veteran and he's out here doing it with nico collins who was like you know i'll tell you what though man he goes he's really playing well but my point is joe strout is elevating nico Collins. It's not the other way around here. And that's that's kind of my point is like these great quarterbacks elevate their receivers and CJ Stroud's already doing that. I'm not taking anything away from Nico Collins or Tank Dell for Fantasy. Both these guys, I think you start both of them

every week. These guys are probably going to ping pong like, you know, it'll be Nico this week and then Dell again next week. These guys will ping pong back and forth. And I think we'll look at it and both will probably be like back in top 30 wide receivers. All of that being said, man, Strouds, Stroud's the truth. I'm all in. I cannot, I did not see this coming at all. Maybe, I thought maybe he's the type that could develop in a couple of years. I just, I did not think he was ready as a role. The accuracy was always there. The numbers and the accuracy based on film and the numbers was always really good. But the pocket presence, man. I mean, he's shocking to me. Like he is so good in the pocket. This offensive line is terrible right there. There have so many injuries. I think that was the. biggest concern coming into this game with the Steelers just wrecking Jimmy Caroplo the week before and you know he just he holds in there and he's he has such a presence in the pocket. I did not see that coming. I know. I know. Yeah. And especially given all their injuries. And finally, Damien Pierce, you know, good game script, 24 carries, 81 yards. I realize he didn't rip any big

gains. But I mean, you know, at least it was good to see him. At least you can use them, you know, like you know he's going to get touches. And this offense is better than anybody thought it was going to be. because shroud is better than anybody thought he was going to be. The Ramp will get healthier too. Yeah, Titus Howard's coming off the IR this week. I think we're going to get some bodies back too. Yeah, they'll get tonsil back too. The Rams and the Colts, this one was a fun one, 29, 23, and overtime.

Look, Anthony Richardson, this was a bad game, Tom, for Michael Pittman, just one catch on five targets. Richardson was just 11 of 25 passing, and he still put 30 points on the board for fantasy. Starting. That's what I have to say about Anthony Richardson. He can play. He's one of those guys he can play poorly and put up fantasy numbers. Oh, yeah, he has to play.

He's got the, you know, they're going to give him opportunities down to these. Like Lamarga, they're going to give him chances down near the goal line to run it in. It's good for 8 to 10 carries probably most weeks. And we're going to, you know, this was a sporadic passing performance this week, just 11 completions. This was this was kind of my, this was my worry about. Michael Pittman coming into this year. This is what I thought Anthony Richardson, I thought his stat lines were going to be, you know,

55% completion, you know, 14 completions on, you know, 27 attempts. So this was kind of in line with what I was expecting, which was why I was, you know, down on Pittman this year. And this was the first week, it kind of bared out that way. But up until this point, he's just been absolutely fed with targets and has come through. I still think you have to have some confidence with them.

But this was always kind of the downside. with Michael Pittman this year. And obviously Jonathan Taylor, they can activate his window. Who knows what that situation is? That's the million dollar question this week. And the other side, we have the other side with Cup as well. Yeah, that's another thing to watch. Let's go to the Rams.

Kieran Williams, I mean, we've talked about him enough. I mean, he's getting virtually every snap in this backfield. They did work in Ronnie Rivers a little bit more. And look, that was coming. Like, it's gotten to the point with Kiron where I picked him up. I'm like, man, I kind of look. them now to work in another back. Don't burn them out here.

Don't burn them out by the end of October. Yeah. Puka's awesome. People are like, is Puka going to get hurt by Cup coming back? And I'm like, yeah, a little bit. But what are they going to do? What are they going to do? Bench him? Like, no, he's going to. Yeah, 2-2 is the guy that's going to get.

And Van will probably see big rolling. I'm kind of interested. I think it's going to be Van. I think two-two is kind of their shot play. Like, I think he's going to stay in the mix. But yeah, it will be interesting to see how they kind of break it down. but yeah, Puka, I mean, yeah, maybe you try to sell him high here off another 163 against his first touchdown, but you have to, you have to get high. Exactly.

If, you know, we don't know if, you know, Cups battled this hamstring injury for two months now. There's no guarantee that he's going to be quite, you know, the wide receiver one that we're used to seeing in the last couple of years. So I think Nakua's still going to be a solid wide receiver three at the very least. and there's there's downside with Cups. So he could be a Y receiver one again. We're bearing the league here, though. Stafford's dinged. He's got a hip injury and he was hobbling around.

He was. I think they showed a couple shots of him like coming from the sideline. You know he's tough. We've also seen in recent years that if he's playing hurt, the play level can dip for Matthew Stafford. And they got the Eagles this week who can obviously get after the corner. Yeah. Yeah, that's my big concern this week.

because they got the Eagles. I just real quick on, on Kyron, like they don't have, it's like they have no other options. Zach Evans is a healthy scratch. Ronnie Rivers is just a guy. I mean,

I think all of us agree like Kyron is not any superstar level talent, but all of that being said, like how can we not move him up again here? You know what I mean? Yeah, no more questions about Kyron on our final point. I'm, hold on, hold on, guys.

Hold on, guys, but let me tell you about this. This is going to be a Dolan not so humble brag. In my brother-in-law's league, and it's actually, it's like $250 buy-in. So like I actually, you know, it's one of those. A little bit of bones in there. One of those you give a shit about. Here is my, I benched Kiron this week. Oh.

Tell me. Oh, don't worry, I scored 180 points. Tell me which of these guys you would have, you would have started Kairn over. James Cook. Tony Pollard DeAndre Swift. Maybe Cook, but... Yeah, that seems cook for me. I also had A-chan on my bench.

Oh, my God. You loaded. And in my flex, I started Nakuwa over, Kyron. So you get kicked out of the leg after this year, it sounds a lot. I didn't have to last year. Oh, okay. You were, you know, lolling them to sleep a little bit last year. Yeah, I don't know. Like, I might have to make a trade, but as soon, I know as soon as I make a trade,

one of my running backs is. getting hurt. That always happens. I never trade away running back depth. Never. I just much rather hoard it than trade it away. Now, what am I going to get? A wide receiver? I have Stefan Keenan Allen. Yeah. I probably need some receiver depth. I got Deontay on IR. He'll come off of there. Hopefully they fire Canada by the time he's ready to play. Tampa Bay in New Orleans. Guys, I'm just going to flat out say it. It was downright stupid for them to play Derrickard in this game. He could not. Yeah, well, he had one throw to Alave that, I think the corner Antoine Winfield made a great play.

It was in the end zone. It looked like a lot. It looked like it was going to be a touchdown for a little bit. Yeah, but. Yeah. Alave got a step or two on him, but Carr should not have played. You're absolutely right. I mean, 13 catches for Alvin.

Oh, I know. 33 yards. Like, holy. He stepped right into, you know, the start. I thought. Yeah. Yeah. 75% of the snatches.

maps man. Yeah, you're absolutely... Mark Camara. Here's the thing. Just don't expect 13 catches for 33 moving. That's the game that the people that hate PPR leagues are right about. Yes. Yeah, there was a nausea game a couple years ago. Yeah, he had 16 catches. At 16 catches.

Yeah. So Alvin Camara, I looked this up on Stadhead during the game. It is the fewest yards ever in a game by a player with 13 catches, as you might imagine. The second few is now 71. Oh my gosh. Yes. It's also the fewest yards for any player who had 10 catches in a game. So this is a historically unbelievable game as a receiver. Watch for the bucks.

Mike Evans has a hamstring. They are going on by. Yeah, they're on. So it looks like, I don't think it's expected to be serious, but they're on by. It was probably smart of them to sit them in this game. And I mean, if you have Rashad White, if you've got Evans, Godwin, this is what we've needed to see from Baker, Tom. Baker's playing pretty good football.

He's going to have games like last week against Philadelphia where he's going to miss the throws and he'll throw a pick. He threw one in the red zone in this game. But this is about as good as you can expect from Baker these days. Yeah. And for our purposes, he's feeding the right people every week. Evans has been his guy through the first three weeks. He goes down and, hey, all right.

I got another star receiver at my disposal. I'll throw it 11 times to Chris Godwin. And he has this first big game, big performance. But as you said, Evans here has two weeks to be ready. So he has had some little minor hamstring issues in the past. But I kind of expect him to be ready to play when they get back. But we'll something to keep a track of. But this week, I don't think you need to go out to the waiver wire.

I didn't even put Tompkins or Palmer necessarily on there. since they have two weeks to get ready. They have their own by. Philadelphia and Washington, the Eagles win this one, 34, 31 in overtime. And the Eagles, now, A.J. Brown owners, very happy about what the Eagles did at the end of that game. But this was very close to being the dreaded game losing touchdown for the Eagles,

because they took the shot to A.J. Brown with less than two minutes left. And then they let Washington drive right down the field. Oh, can you believe his taunt, too? Oh, he was just, that was so egregious. disgusting. That's a despicable act. The refs have it out for AJ Brown, man. He's gotten far.

He's, he's, he's gotten way too many flags for, uh, for these top, this was a quotes. He must be an epic shit talker. He,

he has to be. And the reps definitely hear it too. Yeah. There were 18 accepted penalties in this game. Come on. Like, keep the flags in your pockets, jackasses.

Like, um, anyway, whatever, um, the Eagles offense still doesn't look. 100% there, all the way there, but Hurts, those for 319 and two touchdowns. Here's part of the Eagles offense that's not there.

I don't know if you guys have been watching Hertz running. There is a very concerted effort by Jalen Hertz to not get hit. And it is clearly something that was coached into him. And he looks a step slow because I think he is airing on the side of caution. And I don't think it's, I don't think it's necessarily physical with that surgically repaired ankle. because if you watch the 24-yard run in the fourth quarter, that looked like vintage Jalen Hertz. There is a concerted effort by him to not take contact,

which is clearly coached into him. And I wonder if there's just a little bit of a hitch in his giddy up with that in regard. But with the exception of Goddard, the right players are getting the football here for the Eagles. And that's kind of what they've been with Jalen Hertz and Nick Siriani, Graham. Yeah, it is. And for what it's worth, I mean, we kind of saw a little bit of a roll bump for Swift. 18 touches to Gainwell 6.

I think this backfield is pretty clearly Swift's moving forward. Gamewell is going to get, you know, he'll obviously get the change of pace stuff and he'll get a couple, you know, goal on carries here and there. But yeah, I love him. We consider him a change of pace running back, but that normally means he's faster. Now, he gets the slower stuff. Yeah, he's getting stuff.

He's just making sure the under Swift's legs don't fall apart this season, I think, this year. I think that's really his role is making sure Swift stays healthy. Joe, I got to ask you, what, what do we do with Dallas Godder here? What is he does not like a featured part of this passing game anymore? They try it. I think it's got to be a little lost in translation stuff between the offense with Stuyken and Brian Johnson. I think that's clearly what it is. And J.

lin's like at this point, it's like, fuck it, A.J. Brown and Devante Smith are down somewhere. I don't disagree with throwing the ball all the time to A.J. Brown and DeVantta Smith. but it just seems like we just don't have that over the middle presence right now. No, and they've got it. They've got to scheme something up there, no doubt about that. And this, this was a game where they averaged 6.2 yards per play. So this looked like more of what we were used to from the Eagles, but still a little bit of like just not that smoothness,

that crispness that we're used to, but they're 4 and O. And they've got time to work the kinks out. Fliping over to Washington, you know, the thing, Greg Kosell always used to mention selective amnesia for a quarterback and how that's good. All right, I fucked up. I'm, I fucked up, but I'm still going to go out there and play my game. I kind of get some of that time with Sam Hal. Like, he had the four turnovers last week against the bills, and he was out there this week,

running around slinging it, and Terry McLaren turns into Jerry Rice against the Eagles. So just always play Terry McLaren against the Eagles. But this was a pretty good game for Howl. You think Hal was hanging around too much with like hospital ball Heineke last year. He's getting some of the gunslinger like eff it, you know, on to the next play. Hey, we love it for fantasy, man. That's it's. The thing we don't like for fantasy is when he spreads it around so much like he was through the first three weeks this season.

A little, a little more condensed this week, you know, 10 targets for Terry. Nine for Jahan and eight for Curtis Samuel. I'd much rather have like three or four players getting all the targets compared to what we've seen the last couple of weeks. So, and honestly, I think this was one of their better offensive performances. So, you know, Bejanymi is a new play caller here. Howell is a new starting quarterback. Hey, hey, let's feed our best players, you know, more, you know, look at what the Eagles do on the other side of the ball. They give A.J. Brown, Devonte Smith, all the targets.

So, you know, maybe moving forward, let's get Terry McLaren, Jehan Dodson. We'll sprinkle a little bit of Curtis Samuel in there as well. But finally, you know, it still wasn't pretty for Dots in 27 receiving yards, but he scored a touchdown. And he was a pretty good weapon for them in the red zone last year at times. So, you know, this is more of what we want to see from this passing game in Washington. There was a concerted effort by the enemy to get the ball out of Hal's hands early because I feel like he's got that late in the down ability that you kind of like, right?

you know, he can move around and make a play happen, but that's where he got himself into trouble against Buffalo last week, and that's where he's gotten himself into trouble. So, like, it was BNemi trying to say, there's that balance of we don't want to coach that out of him, but against the Eagles who can get to the quarterback, we probably do have to coach it out of him. The Eagles still sack them five times.

Yes, but a lot of that came on blitzes. The middle linebacker Morrow had three sacks in this game. So it was just a weird game, but I think that this is where B enemy is going to go, and say, okay, where do we take, keep Sam under control while also letting him unleash his athletic ability at some point? And I think this was a good first step towards that. I don't know, guys. I mean, I'm not sure how good Sam Howl's going to be, but like this is a kind of game of guy plays where you're like, he might have a chance to be a pretty decent NFL quarterback. You know who he reminds me of the world of Baker Mayfield?

Oh, yeah. Like Baker Light. Yeah, I can see that. Very much. And I think I think he's, uh, Plus. He's bigger plus. Yeah, I think he's a little more accurate. You know, I think more athletic. Yeah, more athletic. The offensive line is obviously atrocious, which is somewhat leading to the sacks, but he does hold the ball for too long.

Yeah, they definitely have something in Howl here. But I'm with you, Tom. It's like, can we just get back-to-back weeks where we only throw to our three good players and get Diami Brown and all these dudes out of here? We don't need Cole Turner getting three-40. Yeah, come on. Byron Pringle, come on, like, he should not be getting targets. Titans and the Bengals, Tom, this is the, I think this is the kind of game we expected from the Titans when we bet on them last week against the Browns.

Yeah. In a completely wrong spot. I knew from the opening kickoff we were on the wrong side of that. They kicked the Bengals ass, 273, Derek Henry, vintage Derek Henry. They didn't need to do anything offensively. I mean, we don't need to talk about this podcast is already too long. We don't need to talk about the Titans offense. The Bengals offense is completely broken.

Burrow picked up an arm injury in this game. T. Higgins. picked up a rib injury. They have a week seven by. I think they are just trying to get to two and four somehow by that buy and just try to get out of that as healthy as they possibly can. This is bad for the Bengals. And they got the Cardinals this week.

Lucky Cardinals. Yeah, they're plucky. In week six, they've got the, they've got Seattle, which is a tougher game. I think the Bengals, if you got a couple of beers and Zach Taylor, he'd say please let us win one of those games and then we'll try to figure it out over the yeah this is by far the league's worst offense right now uh jets have more offensive touchdowns than them um you know 12 points per game uh fewest yards per game this is just been a complete train wreck and you have jimard chase you have t higgins uh you got joe micks and you got joe burrow they

they don't have t higgins now no they don't but it's it's just this this offense is completely out of whack they have no their downfield passing game is completely non-existent. I'll be interested to see where once we get some advanced stats, you know, put into the system here later in the week just to see how terrible this downfield passing game is right now. It's all underneath shit to Jamar Chase and Tyler Boyd and, you know, checkdowns to Joe Mixing and there's just nothing going on down the field right now. Graham, your Mr. Starts sit.

I know what the answer to this question is going to be. Sam Howell on Thursday night against the Bears or Joe Burrow against the Cardinals. Oh, my. Yeah, I know. I know. I got some questions in my DMs this week and pretty much all of the borough or questions were or the other guy. I mean, I still I still wrote up Burrow as a start. I mean, it's a great enough on pass funnel defense.

Yeah. And this is the pass funnel. This is the only team to Sean Watson's played well. against and the Cleveland Browns beautiful. That's how you know it's an easy one. Yeah, man, I came into this week with some like cautious optimism. I thought we'd see, you know, them kind of get back, you know, get back on schedule a little bit, and that's just not been the case.

I think you're right. I mean, week seven seems, seems, you know, like they're trying to get, they'll get T. Higgins back by week eight. I will say, Jamar Chase is so overdue for like a monster game. He's probably going to absolutely kill the Cardinals next week. But, yeah, I mean, moving forward forward with Burrow is your, is your QB1. I don't, I don't really think you can have any confidence in that. And moving forward here.

I came down from, from my show, the series XM radio show yesterday. And I saw my wife strut around the kitchen like Rick Flair because she traded Jamar Trump. Oh, yeah, yeah. And like the rationale, Tom, I think that you and John both gave was Jalen Hurts is healthy and Joe Burrow. isn't and that's about as simple as it gets and uh anyway let's move to the chargers and the raiders i cannot believe the chargers almost chartered this game i cannot believe it they tried so hard to charger this game up joe they tried really hard so the chargers are going on by which is probably why they were comfortable putting uh justin herbert in there with a cyborg hand uh on his on his last

that thing was huge uh he was giving you a nice uh a nice salute there with this because it's on his middle finger. Look, they're going on by Keenan Allen, just three for 32. Herbert had two rushing touchdowns. They average only 4.8 yards per play in this game against a bad Raider defense. Just kind of a weird game with no Mike Williams. They'll try to get it right. Not that I trust this coaching staff.

I trust Kellynne Moore. I don't trust Brandon Staley. They'll try to get it right over the buy. Austin Echlor will probably be back coming out of the buy. Don't know what to say about the charter. You watch Justin Herbert, but I would think. with two weeks, he's probably going to be okay to go there in week six. But we'll see about that.

Yeah, I think McClure too. I think that was, it seemed like he was trending towards playing. And they're like, screw, we got to buy. It's the Raiders. Yeah, well, they almost lost the damn game, though. And then they almost lost the day. Josh Palmer, you know, he needed a late catch there to go over his player prop and to get the 10 fantasy points. I was almost sick of it.

Yeah, that was he dropped a 20-yard. Oh, I know. I saw it. I walked away from the TV after that one. I was like, but yeah, the Quentin Johnson stuff, I mean, where did he end up snapwise? You know, it's, but you know, even his one, even his one catch was kind of a fluky catch. Yeah, he was at 51% of the snaps. Yeah. Well, there's the other thing over the buy, right? They're going to try to get him schemed up a little bit more. They weren't ready. He hasn't been ready for the moment. So basically I'm saying like with Palmer and Johnston, like, hey, hold tight with these guys. they're going to have more time to get, you know, worked into the offense. And, you know, this is, this was an odd game despite a really good match up against the Raiders.

You know, Herbert is, you know, he's always, you know, his player prop is always in that like 280 to 290 range. So for him to finish basically 110, 120 yards under his typical player prop tells you just how down of a performance offensively this was. Yeah, weird week for Herbert and for cousins both only throw the ball at cousins. I think only threw it 19 times Herbert, only through it 24. 43 times combined, yeah. Yeah, so, you know, for two of the highest volume passing offenses that we rely on every week, just a weird week. Josh Jacobs was a true belk out here because, I mean, Aiden O'Connell just checked it down like crazy.

Devonte Adams, I thought we were taking a goose egg from him and he comes back and gets like 12. Joe, do you see his response? Do you see what, you see why he had to come back up? Yeah, yeah, he was nutting it up out there. Yeah. He told reporters Tom get him on a contender.

Please get him to a contender this trade deadline. Like, I mean, he deserves it. Like, that was like, that was a, like, fantasy can also endear you to players. And I think anybody who had Devante Adams

and they, and they nutted it up with the, with that, Devante Adams has a few million more fans after that game. That catch that almost, that almost won them the game. I got him in there at that side line toe tapper with the injured shoulder.

man, he's, he's such a special player. That's a dog, man, mentality. But we have to watch them, right? I mean, like, as we've seen with, with Deshawn Watson, I know it's different for a quarterback, but as we've seen with Deshawn Watson, these shoulder injuries can stiffen up over Tom, your shoulder, you're a shoulder.

Oh, yeah. I have a lot of, I have injury history with my shoulders. So, yeah, this is, you know, once it gets a little more time and the adrenaline wears off, yeah, it can, it can pop up. Also, with Jacoby Myers, maybe this is a week to trade. for him or if somebody panics off of his down performance. This was something we saw coming.

You know, on the final point show, every question was like, yeah, just back off Jacoby Myers this week. Jimmy Garopla will be back in the lineup this week and he'll go right back to his, healthy role. So he's a guy that you will be continuing to play, especially, you know, if Devante Adams would have to miss a game or two. Dallas in New England. Dallas wins this one 38 to 3. Dallas just like oscillates between just like non-functioning offense and then just really efficient offense. New England was just awful in this game.

I mean, I don't know what. They got overwhelmed. They got overwhelmed. They mercy bench team. Yeah. I mean, he had a couple of those across the field, you know, attempts. It was like, what are you doing?

And then Bland finally picked off one of them and took it to the house. It's like he was having complete. meltdown against that defense. So yeah, that was, as you said, a mercy bench and get zappy back out there. But here's the other thing about Dallas is like they win this game 38 to 3. And nobody really does anything for fantasy. Their defense is too good for Tony Pollard now. This is like the inverse. This is like the inverse of what I thought would happen. Like, oh, I'm like, Dallas's defense is great. Like Paulers is going to have all this game script. No, they're too good. You know, they got the pick six there. And at the end of that first half and that was it. Like that was. And then Jake Ferguson's one of those guys you rank between tight and five and 16 every week and you can flip a coin. And if he goes in and goes seven for 77, you're like, yeah.

I mean, C.D. Lambs scores a touchdown, but, oh, he, C.D. Lamp scores a touchdown and still doesn't reach 15 PPR fantasy points. I mean, it's just one of those things where like, you know, Prescott, he's a mid-range QB, too. I mean, the defense against a offense that we would consider probably a below average or average to below average NFL offense. I know what happened with the Cardinals. But like Mac Jones did not have that mobility.

You probably just have to downgrade everybody on Dallas's offense, Tom. I mean, it's just not, it's not a pretty box score out there. Yeah, we'll find out this week, though. They got a match up with the 40. Oh, yeah. I'm looking forward to that. So, you know, we should see both. We should see both offices at full stock for that one.

Yeah, Dallas has two really good games back to back here. Niners Chargers before the week seven by. So that's, I'm not writing anybody up in this. game just saying hey look at a really weak early season schedule like yeah just like they play the they catch the giant yeah they got the time the jets off of the rogers engine they catch the jets at a perfect time patriots at home you know like yeah got such patriots at home after a after a ugly road loss for the cowboys you know they were going to come in there and yeah it's been we're going to get we're going to get a true test at dallas here and and maybe see like an actual game script right like

what like what does dallas look like in a competitive game And it'll be interesting this week on Sunday night. So I'm sure I'm sure everybody will have measured takes for that one. The Cardinals and the 49ers, Cardinals are absolutely plucky. Like there's no doubt about it. They just got out. They just got out talented in this game. Graham, obviously, we're watching Debo Samuel.

He was clearly limited. He didn't even get a target in this game. Yeah, I really wish we'd listen to John. John was all over that one. He was all over it, man. Yeah, he was, was right. Yeah, I used to. He was just like, he played.

87% of the snaps. And he just didn't get the ball. Yeah, I was just like, I almost wonder if Shanahan was like, don't throw it to Debo unless you need to. Like we don't like, well, I think it was one of those, I think it was one of those things. He's just mispracticed all week and wasn't a part of the game plan. And then they just didn't really need to use him.

Brandon, I, you guys, holy shit, this guy's unbelievable. He is unbelievable. Joe, I think you might have said it last week or the week before. The answer to I yuk or Debo was just yes, just draft both of them. And then Deepo is obviously hurt. now so but well i'm completely fine them these two guys just ping ponging you know great weeks back to back you know that's that's completely fine we'll take and the question of george kittle is no yeah and i was just about to say that tom i mean that we've got a 15 to 16 game sample now where it's

if debo and i yuk are healthy and now especially with mcalfrey like kittle is borderline unusable for fantasy it's it's bizarre for a very talented player but you know we give kall shannon a lot of credit for all the things he does and schemes up his players but Kittle is the one guy every week who's just not a huge part of the game plan. Yeah, and Purdy, I mean, we've gotten a lot of questions about Purdy yesterday. And, you know, it was a yes on all the Purdy questions. He's a better. He's a better fantasy quarterback.

Is that any good? Yeah, he's a better fantasy quarterback than Dak Prescott now. And he's even getting like some of these like the, the push push. He's got a couple of these when they're on the inch line. They've pushed them into the end zone and, you know, he gets those rushing touchdowns. So I've seen that, you know, twice already. season. So yeah, he's a guy. He's a low end QB1 at this point. He's got to play over Daniel Jones and some of these other quarterbacks that we were getting questions. Jack Prescott for sure. Yeah.

Yeah, he's just had that one one down performance. Uh, and I think it was a week two where, you know, that's the only game where he hasn't, you know, accounted for at least two touchdowns. And purdy is now made. Yeah. Yeah, he's now made 10 starts. He's finished as a top 15 quarterback eight times. There you go. Like he's just a really high. We're back in QB1 now, you know. Let's go to the Cardinals offense. I mean, there's not a whole lot about the Cardinals offense, except we're in by weeks now. I will say this.

I don't love to pat myself on the back, but I will on this. Michael Wilson was basically an 18th round Underdog Fantasy auto pick for me this year. Oh, yeah. He's a good. I think we were all there. He's really good. I think he might have been my most drafted player. He was my third most drafted receiver this year.

So, yeah, I was with you on that. And I mean, we'll see on Kyler. Schefter said that he's weeks away from playing. He's got 21 days to be activated from PUP. But for now, I mean, Dobbs obviously made, you know, he's made four starts. Week one was really bad. But these last three starts, man, he's given Marquise Brown some life. And now we see Michael Wilson.

So, Joe, like you said, you know, Marquise Brown during buy weeks, I think is perfectly fine as a wide receiver three with Dodd. Even without buys, I think he's a wide receiver. Yeah. Yeah, no, that's completely fair. He came into the season, Oprah, I think, didn't he have a little foot issue or something, and he was a little limited. But ever since that,

yeah, maybe it was a hamstring. But the last three weeks, he's been healthy and back to full strength. And, you know, he's, he can certainly still play. And Josh Dobbs is, his, you know, confidence in this offense is just, you know, he gets better every week here. So I think you can, I think he can use, you know,

Brown with some confidence. Zach Ertz, you know, it's going to be ugly, but he can get you five or six catches. and Michael Wilson's a guy. You've got to be considering off waiver wire. Even when Kyler Murray gets back, he could still be a thing here. And there's always the potential that they could trade,

you know, some of these receivers later at the trade deadline. Kansas City and the Jets, the Sunday night game guys, I passed out in the second half. I'll fully admit that. You had a long weekend. I had a long weekend. So you can tell me about the second half of this game. I do remember Mahomes looked not great.

And I remember Zach Wilson. Yeah, they switched body. I think, Joe. Zach Wilson played a good football game, and I'm glad to see that. I know he had a lost fumble. Guys, what were your takeaways from the Jets offense in this one with Zach Wilson? Robert Salom maybe getting a little bit rewarded for his faith in Wilson. We'll see.

You know, there's a first step. I'm going to, you know, cautiously optimistic if I was a Jets fan. You know, that's not their general, you know, they're usually cautiously pessimistic, but I think this week, I mean, there were some good steps here from them. It was a rough start. And, you know, they kind of rode them, too. It was, you know, we've been wanting them, hey, let's pound the rock with, you know, Breece Hall. And he only finished with six carries. Obviously, the game script got a little wonky right out, right out of the gates there with a 17 point difference. but this is what we wanted to see from Zach Wilson, you know, feeding Garrett Wilson with 14 targets. And, yeah, I, you know, there's some glimmer of hope here for this offense moving forward. Maybe Garrett Wilson isn't completely dead.

And maybe some of these other receivers aren't either. Believe me, I'm not all of a sudden saying, oh, Zach Wilson is now an NFL starting quarterback. But, I mean, it was encouraging. I've got good news. They're going to make him look like freaking Joe Mon. Tanda next week because they get the Broncos. That's right. They do get the Broncos. I've actually watched that game. It's going to be like Bears Broncos from this week. Yeah. Just like one. It's probably be a 48 total. The Chiefs offense right now. I mean, how who do you have confidence in

playing here outside of Pacheco and Kelsey and obviously Mahomes? Like you nobody. None of them. Yeah, none of them full on rotation last night. Justin Blatson actually led them in snaps, but only got one target you can't play any of these guys no it's just ridiculous and like this one you know last year we would see mahomes at points throw for like three 50 and none of the receivers but like even mahomes this fantasy line from last night it's not good yeah and i know you you said you fell asleep but he could have ran in there uh that touchdown to really boost his line oh sorry somebody to had the minus eight and a half i did not like that but i saw that coming that was one of those i saw like the final five minutes of the game. I'm like, they're going to just milk this clock the whole way out.

And then for a brief second there, it looked like my homes was going to run it in and win some fantasy matchups, cover some spreads. And he dashed all those hopes with that little slide. But what, I mean, I still think Rishi Rice, he's a guy. I don't think he can play him right now, but he needs to be rostered everywhere. If there's one receiver that's going to emerge here, I think it's going to me him. He's been, I'm with you. He's shown some flashes here in the last, the end of his first four weeks as a receiver. Yeah, he's the, he's the one. It's, you're right. You can't play him, but it's by weeks. And sometimes you, you have to play these guys. So he's got a huge boost in snaps. Weeks one and two. He was at like 25%. He's up around 50%. I'm with you, Tom. He's the

one guy who can play inside, outside and give them some juice downfield because I mean, the rest of this group is just, oh, it's bad man. I know. He's a ghost. I mean, Jesus. For fantasy football, I know by weeks can be annoying. For us, we're going to take, it allows us to breathe a little bit, give us a little bit of room. It condenses the research we have to do. So looking forward to that a little bit.

But Tom and I will be back tomorrow to help you through the waiver wire, especially once we get some more information, Tom, on these kind of nagging injuries that were suffered in week number four. Graham, you're going to be working on the StartSit article, Tom. We're going to be just... Love the new format for the Start Sit. Oh, I appreciate that, man. People have been kind of asking. Yeah, people have been kind of asking us, where do I figure out, find out?

People want their hands held, believe me. Where do I find out about every player in every game? Well, there you go. Yeah, I mean, I had a lot of fun writing that article last week. I mean, I just, between Statte and StartSit, I just was like, God, man, this article could be so good if I I had just, you know, two days to blow it out. So I'm glad everybody's liked it.

So for Graham and Tom, I am Joe. Thanks everybody for listening to this edition of the Market Report podcast. Hope you enjoyed it. Check out the article at FantasyPoints.com. And stay tuned to FantasyPoints.com this week because the data suite will be free. Not just free trial. It's going to be free to the public. So we're going to blow that out this week.

It's the DataSuite Week at Fantasy Points.com. Hope everybody enjoys it. Have a good one. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points Podcast. Remember to subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite platform, and come join the roster at FantasyPoints.com.