Fantasy Football Daily - Jefferson, Achane, Conner Injuries and Top Week 6 Adds | Waiver Wire Podcast

Episode Date: October 10, 2023

Joe Dolan (@FG_Dolan) and Tom Brolley (@TomBrolley) react to the major injury news from 2023 NFL Week 5, looking for viable options to replace Justin Jefferson, De'Von Achane, and James Conner. They discuss Emari Demercado, Jeff Wilson, KJ Osborn, and the Colts' offense, plus more. 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 Fantasy Points.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. Unfortunately, we have some major injuries to discuss here on the Fantasy Points podcast. It's the week six waiver wire show with Mr. Tom Brawley. I am Joe Dolan. And I don't know if you're watching, Trey might put this up on YouTube,

or it's possible you might be able to hear my dog's butterscotch and crimpet are probably going to co-host on this show because I have some plumbers here. Our water pressure here at the house is ridiculously high, and it is apparently like destroyed the insides of our toilet tanks, apparently.

That's what's going on. Oh, wow. And so, yeah, the water pressure is like just like every time they refill it's just like crushing the parts of the toilet and it's a it's a big job a big to do but Tom good thing you don't have a bidet it might blast you to like the roof like you knock you off your toilet well I know Tom you're a bidet enthusiast so uh if there's a if there's a pressure's a little lower than yours it sounds like that yeah if there's any a bidet companies out there get brolly to do a live read for you and he will be passionate about it but that is a different show

Tom, we're going to talk Waver Wire here in week six. And I think the focus on this show, as will be any waiver podcast that you're listening to, is the injuries of the week. And let's start, T-Bro with Justin Jefferson. Justin Jefferson, right before we started recording this podcast, the report coming down, I believe it was from Tom Pellasaro. The Vikings are going to put him on IR with the hamstring injury, which obviously, I kind of feel like this was in the cards when Kevin O'Connell said that he was still being evaluated yesterday, meaning that did not sound good, and obviously it is not. Justin Jefferson is going to miss at least a month. He will not be back until week 10. The Vikings don't have a buy until week 13, so it's not like

he's going to be able to get an extra week. So unfortunately, T-Bro, Justin Jefferson, the number one player in fantasy football, at least the number one player by ADP is going to be out for a month. Are there interior options that the Vikings can use to replace him, not just Jordan Addison, but players who might be available on the waiver wire. Yeah, this is a total bummer. Just the number one overall pick this year, almost universally. So we got to move on here for the next four weeks without him. Jordan Addison is obviously the top guy.

He's probably taken in almost every league. you would think that he's that's why he was kind of a good pick this summer that almost like a contingency plan if something would happen to Jefferson. But it's KJ. Osborne's the guy that's widely available out there, 9% owned. He's been working in two wide receiver sets to open the season. Jordan Addison's kind of been their third wide receiver only comes onto the field in 11 personnel situations. So Osborne's already been working a lot, and he would have to think that his targets are going to go up. Jefferson suffered that injury, I believe, early in the fourth quarter. So over the final 15 minutes in that Chiefs game, he saw four targets and had three catches for 39 receiving yards.

A three for 39 receiving yards line was kind of his standard line to this point of the season. and he got that one quarter after Jefferson left. So, you know, you're losing Justin Jefferson. Nobody is going to replace that kind of production. But Jefferson, it's going to be kind of a committee here. I mean, I think, you know, Addison's rule is going to grow a little bit. T.J. Hawkinson already has been a top flight fantasy title already this season. Maybe he starts to see a couple extra targets.

And Brandon Powell is another guy. If you're in a really deep, like a 14 or a 16 team league, he came in three wide receiver sets. He actually led them in receiving in the fourth quarter, had three for 42 on five targets after in the final 15 minutes with Jefferson off the field. So if you're in a really deep leg and really struggling for somebody to replace Jefferson, but yeah, it's disappointing. We got a great match up against a Chicago Bears secondary this week that was extremely beat up last week against the commanders.

This was going to be a blow-up spot for Jefferson, but now it's going to have to be KJ. Osborne and Jordan Addison and the rest of this crew. Hopefully this is a short stay. I have to wonder if the record 1 and 4 to this point for the Vikings, maybe that played a factor into it too, like what's the point and not putting them on the IR and potentially bringing them back after only three games. So it seems like maybe they're just taking an extra cautious approach here, given their record and, you know, the direction of their season so far this season. So let's move to one of the major running back injuries. Let's start with Devon A. Chan, Tom, there is a, looks like Edwin says there was a concern for an MCL.

Report this morning is that he could miss a few weeks. They haven't yet put him on IR. Obviously, this is a bummer. This is a guy who's the number three. running back in fantasy football in total points despite missing a game and having one carry in another game. So essentially in three out of five games playing 60% of the season, the rest of the running backs have played, he's racked up the third most fantasy points. Obviously, another player. You're not replacing Devon A-chan right now, unless he ever he moistered, in which case you might get a reasonable facsimile. But it is at least good timing for the dolphins, because Jeff Wilson is scheduled to have his 21-day practice window activated as he returns from off-season abdomen and a finger injury.

At least Drew Rosenhouse said that window will be activated. And it's a possibility that Jeff Wilson is available to go this week. Now, I definitely think Rahim Moster will be the guy. And Wilson is a guy who a lot of people kind of drafted and stashed on IR. So he's rostered in a higher percentage of leagues than you might think. I think 27% of Yahoo Leagues. But if he's out there, you want a piece of this Miami offense. And he's certainly somebody who knows the system.

Yeah, they could have opened the window last week, and they didn't do it. So it makes me a little bit skeptical that even if they opened it up this week, that he's going to be ready to play in week five. So we could be seeing a lot of Rahim Moster. But as you said, Drew Rosenhaus said, you know, he leaked out to some media member that he's going to be activated this week. Mike McDaniel was non-committal.

Yesterday in his press conference, he didn't really say one way or the other, but Jeff Wilson is still a player. We need to be adding. A. Chan is a candidate. It's Schefter reported this morning that he's a candidate. Like that is a, you know, a pretty strong possibility here.

So Jeff Wilson's the guy. I, you know, if you're looking for the explosive plays that A. Chan has delivered the last couple of weeks. You're not going to get that from Jeff Wilson. He's more of a grinder. He's a goal line back and more of their short yardage and kind of reliable in all three situations. That's kind of his MO, almost like a almost kind of like a Somage AP Ryan type who can, you know, not exceptional in any one area, but can, you know, he's just reliable back there. So it. And if Jeff Wilson isn't an option here, Selvin Ahmed and Chris Brooks, if we're going deeper on the depth

chart, I mean, if we can get any of these backs in this, I mean, this offense put up the most yards through five games that any team has ever done. So we just want to get pieces of this offense if we can. And if Wilson's going to be slow to come back here, a guy like Selvin Akhmud or Chris Brooks could be a guy that could fill in for you for a week here. They're pretty big favorites against the Carolina Panthers. We saw the dolphins. They had a huge lead against the Giants this past week in the second half, multiple score lead.

And they sat on the ball. They ran the hell out of it. So one of these backups, you know, we'll pay attention to the reports. I think Ahmed has been ahead of Chris Brooks for most of the same. season, but he's also been banged up a little bit. So, but one of these, you know, one or both of these guys could get a lot of run if both A. Chan and Wilson aren't available this week. So potential replacements there as well. Tom, the other big injury at the running back position, it's a yearly occurrence. It just matters. It's kind of like Easter. I think, you know, Easter is always, it always happens around the same time every year, but it's after. Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring, right? And that can mean it can be, late March, it can mean late April, but it's always the first Sunday after first full moon in spring.

James Connor's yearly injury always happens at some point in the fall. It's just like the harvest moon. It comes every. Right, exactly. He's injured. He picks up in the injury now. It doesn't look. Edwin looked at the video and he said, look, there's concern for MCL, concern for bone bruise, but didn't look overly serious. But obviously this is James Connor. A game or two absence is certainly in the cards, no pun intended. And the guy who had been running behind him and probably has the most value. And, oh, bonus is almost certainly available in your league is Amari Di Mercado. Kianti Ingram had a neck injury. The fact that they picked up Tony Jones.

I think they signed Tony Jones away from the Saints. Seems to probably indicate that Connor A is going to miss time and B, Keontay Ingram might not be ready to come back. But the guy you should be looking to pick up here, not saying he's going to be anything more than a low RB2 or a flex. but in these buy weeks, with some of these injuries, you need somebody who can provide that. It looks like Amari DiMercado might be able to provide that kind of production for you.

What was your read on Demercato, Tom? What kind of player is he? What kind of a production do you think we might get out of them? Yeah, if both Connor and Ingram, this neck injury, he's been out multiple weeks and just the fact that they went out and signed Tony Jones, that's a real sign that they're not sure if Connor and Ingram were going to, to be available for this week against the Rams. So demarcato could be headed towards a massive role this week and potentially for longer.

We'll see how just how long James Connor is out. But not much of a prospect. He was older, 24-year-old prospect, wasn't invited to Combine. So we don't really have, you know, any of the Combine numbers, wasn't drafted. But he has, you know, he played well last week when he came in, looked shifty. one of these like kind of bowling ball types. He's, you know, 5-9, 250, 15 pounds.

So very compact. But he's, you know, shown that he can play in passing game. He was kind of their little bit of their passing guy, whenever all three backs were kind of healthy. And he was starting to take work away from James Connor in those situations before the injury. And, you know, he ran fairly well in his limited opportunities this past week against the Bengals. It's also notable he was backing up Kendry Miller at TCU, which kind of, you know, prohibit him from really showing his ability.

But when he did get the chance in the college football playoff against two of the elite defenses at that level, Michigan and Georgia, he played, you know, fairly well in those matchups. So a guy that was, you know, rose to the moment in those games, you know, showed well last week. So a small sample with him for an overall. older prospect, but we're looking at a guy who could be, you know, a pretty heavy workload if both James Connor and Keonti Ingram are out of the mix here. So, yeah, I mean, he's a guy that's available in every leg, basically, 1% owned, you know, small to big. He's probably out there. So go pick him up and maybe I'll at least have a starter for this week. And maybe he's a guy to

stash. As you said, Joe, James Connor, you know, he makes a habit. Five straight seasons where he's missed at least three games. So maybe you can get a little usage out of them for the next week or two and maybe just stash him and wait for that next James Connor injury as well. So I want to talk about the Bears back field because it certainly looks like, and I think this was pretty much blatantly obvious when they tried to put Khalil Herbert back in the game on Thursday night. When he immediately he immediately tapped out. He was like, no, I cannot play. It looks like a high ankle for Khalil Herbert, which would probably indicate at least a two-week absence for him. So obviously if he's out there, Joe, you know, like I'm in a 10 team league and Roshan Johnson's on a roster.

I get that. He's basically 45% rostered in Yahoo. But Tom, there is a chance for Sean Johnson, who is in the concussion protocol, might not play this week either. He did have the mini by because they played on Thursday night, in which case, Deontay Foreman, who's essentially been a healthy scratch for the Bears. He's a guy who's available in about 95% of Yahoo Leagues. there is a chance for Deonté Foreman to lead this bear backfield or at least have a rotational role this week if you're really desperate for a running back. Yeah, Rochon is definitely the priority in this backfield. And as you said, he's 45% owned.

So even like, you know, smaller legs, you know, the sharper owners, you know, sharp owners have been stashing him for a while. The last, you know, ever since basically going into week two, the bear said, all right, Foreman, you're put, you're getting put on ice. your healthy scratch here. We're rolling with these two guys in the backfield. So Johnson's probably been picked up in a lot of legs. But he's got a couple extra days here to be available for week six here. So he has a chance to get through concussion protocol. It's tough of these guys, especially this year.

It's been rarity when these guys get through concussion protocol in one week. But he at least has 10 days to do it. So he has a much better chance. doing it. But if he can't go, it will be foreman. And, he's, he's was a, a waiver guy last year. He had some moments towards the end of last season for the Panthers. He's more of a runner than anything else. He'll, you know, limited production in the passing game. We'll have to see. They're going to have to pick up somebody too here in the next day or two, I would imagine. Travis Homer also picked up a hamstring injury

in that game. So I would think they're down to. Blasding game. Yeah, they blast Kari Blasengame was, you know, getting carries from, I think they said in the broadcast that he only had like three career carries until last week. So, you would think that they would have to add somebody else because I would think if Foreman and Homer are the only healthy backs that Homer would probably get the passing downs and passing situations. That's what he's, his previous, you know, he's a core special teams player. But for Seattle, he would work in passing situations. So I would think that he would kind of split some of the work with Foreman. But so we'll keep an eye on that.

And that will be also an indication on just how serious they think the Killeherbert injury is and the Rochon Johnson situation is. They'll have a better idea here by Wednesday. So yeah, Rochon Johnson top pickup, I think, for the week, though. If he is somehow out there on your waiver wire, you know, we're seeing it with Sequin Barkley. He's been out since week two with a high ankle, struggling to get back. running backs and he's anybody with a high ankle injury, but especially these running backs.

You know, Khalil Herbert might not be the same the rest of the season because of this injury. So Rocheon was a guy that we were targeting anyway as a guy who could break out in the second half of the season. But his time, his timeline might be sped up a little bit. Yeah. Yeah, this is a, a primo situation where Rochon could Wally Pipp him. Yes. Absolutely. And get a, he, yeah, and he got Khalid out of lineup. Yeah, and they drafted him.

And I believe Herbert was from the old regime. So they have all the incentive to give Rochon Johnson more work as the season goes along. Tom, some tight ends who actually stepped up. If you listen to the Market Report podcast on Monday, which is a much longer form podcast, this is specifically focusing on waivers. But there are some tight ends who broke out. And look, options that are available in over 60% of Yahoo Leagues, if you've really been struggling at that position,

I want to highlight Dalton Schultz of the Texans and Logan Thomas of the commanders as two guys who might be out there for you and could provide starter worthy production. Yeah, Logan Thomas has been very active whenever he's been healthy. He suffered a concussion against the Bears, I believe in week two, missed time. He scored a touchdown on the pass and got knocked out. But when he's been on the lineup, in the lineup, he's been very active. And anybody that picked him up and streamed him last week was very happy. with his nine catches for 77 yards and a touchdown on Thursday night football. And Sam Howell's been having a lot of issues getting the ball to Jahan Dotson and Terry McLaurin.

It's been way more Logan Thomas and Curtis Samuel than people probably want to see. But, you know, Logan Thomas is definitely a guy who needs to be on the radar. Yeah, they have Atlanta, I believe, is a pretty good tight end matchup as well this week. So he's certainly in the mix. And Schultz is Dalton Schultz. It was a slow start to the season. But we're just kind of waiting here. Like C.J. Strauss playing at an extremely high level.

And he's been able to feed Miko Collins and Tank Dell and Robert Woods to this point in the season. But it was slow going for Schultz. But Tank Dell left in that game in the second quarter with a concussion. Probably not going to be available this week. that probably helps Schultz a little bit here. And, you know, it's finally start, you know, maybe he's just finally getting on the same page with, with CJ Stroud so far this season.

And one thing, you know, we'll say about Stroud, he has not been afraid to throw over the middle of the field as a rookie, which, you know, we can't say that about a lot of rookies. So the only problem is he's not playing a full workload. they are working a lot of these other Texans tight ends into the mix, but at least for at least Schultz is finally starting to merge here a little bit. Yeah, do we want to touch on John Hussmith as well here? This is, I can't believe we're talking about John Hussmith on this.

Well, first and foremost, Tom, Josh Norris, you mentioned this on the Marker Report podcast yesterday. Yeah. Did you go check that out? Yeah, yeah, but here's the thing, though. Here's the thing. Every, basically every catch Kyle Pitts had, and Kyle Pitts led the Falcons in receiving on Sunday, by the way. Praise the Lord.

Basically every catch Kyle Pitts had was on an in-breaking route to the left. But here's the thing. When you said that's what he was doing, I was like, oh, I didn't remember off the top of my head what knee, Kyle Pitts had hurt. So I was like, oh, he probably heard his left knee. No, it's his right knee that was injured. So he's pushing off his bad knee. Like, I don't get it, but very clearly something worked.

Whatever the case, Kyle Pitts is not 100%. He just played a season low. 54% of the snaps. So I get, look, John Hsmith's a, I do one side to keep it, keep this as PG as possible. He's a freaking thing.

Yes, he's leading them in receiving guards through five weeks. He's certainly viable. I mean, we've been hesitant to put him on here because it's like, ah, it's a short sample, only one or two games, but now we're to four straight games where he's seen six targets,

had four catches, and had 37 receiving yards. So that small sample is turned into a larger sample here. So we can't ignore it anymore. And we've got to remember that Arthur Smith previously worked with Johnny Smith. John who Smith was, you know, one of his best players with the Titans. So, you know, there's a lot of comfort between those two. And he knows, you know, what he does best.

And he's working him into the mix. And, you know, we are working with a young quarterback here in Desmond Ritter. And we were talking about with Stroud. You know, there's this comfort, you know, level that you have to develop with your receivers. And, you know, right off the bat here, we're seeing it with Johnny Smith and Desmond Ritter. He feels comfortable throwing him the ball. And I don't think he's going away here. So I don't know if he'll be able to keep up this pace and leave the Falcons and receiving yards moving forward.

But we're to this point. We have to expect him to see weekly targets at this point. He's not going away. Two more players I do want to mention. Number one, we don't have to go deep into the analysis here, though, T-Bro, but I've been mentioning Tai J. Spears on this podcast, I think, every week. He has a role independent of Derek Henry. There are questions we got about him on the Sunday morning live screen, only for subscribers, by the way. Yes.

We got on the Sunday morning live stream. And I think there was you and me and Discord and you with John and Graham on the live stream said, Tyjian Spears multiple times. Like he scores a touchdown. He has a role in the passing game. You get 12 points from a flex play this time of year because he, you know, backs into the end zone and or catches five passes. You're thrilled about it.

And he's a guy who could be a legitimate league winner of Derek Henry goes down. Yeah. And, you know, it sure doesn't seem like Henry's going to be around past this season for the Titans. And if the season starts to go south, maybe he's a second half of the kind of year. Maybe they pull back on Henry's usage. And we've seen them pull back on its usage to begin with anyway. Spears is, you know, this has been much more of a 50-50 split than you might expect. And just the nature, you know, the Titans have been the team in the AFC South, you know, for the last, you know, last couple years.

But this is a team that's trending down and they're playing, you know, they tried to follow a similar script most weeks, you know, jump out to a lead and just have. Henry Hammer, you know, drop the hammer in the second half and close out games. But they're playing from behind a lot more this season. Even with the way they've kind of handled their personnel, you know, they're going a little bit more pass heavy. They bring in DeAndre Hopkins this offseason. They're trying to be a little bit more progressive with their approach to offense. So Spears has a weekly role at this point.

and they're playing in more negative game scripts. So he's out in the field more than, more than you think with Derek Henry in this backfield. So he's he's got a, you know, just enough of a role for standalone value with with buys coming up. And, you know, he's got flex appeal there. And, you know, there's a chance that he becomes more than that later in the season as well. So the, and the other player I want to hit on was more of a situation because Josh Downs, the rookie. receiver from the Colts is rostered in 90 is rostered in just 2% of Yahoo Leagues. He's, he's available in 98% obviously.

That's the converse. So I want to talk about the Anthony Richardson situation at large. How does it affect the Colts? Are there quarterbacks out there? We never really talk too many quarterbacks on this podcast because there's always an assumption, Tom, that streaming quarterbacks is a viable option and it's really a matchup-based kind of thing. But how are you reacting to this situation with Gardner Minshue?

stepping into the Colts starting quarterback job for what looks to be at least a month based on latest reports. Yeah, it was a weird game script this past week. They were going to get to the Tennessee Titans who, you know, over the last couple of years, have been one of the elite run defenses. And so they surprisingly were able to just run the ball on them last week. Zach Moss was the guy as well. That's a whole other situation, you know, with Jonathan T. Taylor. But so it didn't really play out last week, but this is an offense that's probably going to be a

little more pass heavy with Gardner Minshu in the lineup. And I think that's going to benefit Josh Downs. You know, he had a pretty active game with him back when he missed in, I think it was week three against the Ravens. That was an overtime game. But regardless of who's been at quarterback, he's been at 30 receiving yards or more in each of the, you know, each of his first five games was pretty active last week, even with Anthony Richardson in the lineup. But I think moving forward, we're going to see Downs' role. Because, I mean, we'll find out later this week. Source seems like Anthony Richardson could be handed to the IR because of this shoulder injury.

They're doing more tests and they're getting a second opinion. But source seems like it's trending to that direction. So we could have Minshu as the starting quarterback for at least the next couple of weeks. And I think Downs is a player that has been trending up anyway. And I think he's going to be active with Minshu. You know, he plays primarily out of the slot. Even this week, I put it in a write up here that the Jaguars have been a very friendly matchup for slot wide receiver. So even if it's just this week, you need a fill in. I think Josh Downs is a guy off the waiver wire who could have a pretty active week. So yeah, the Richardson situation stinks. You know,

know, if you lost him, hopefully, you may have had a backup plan to begin with. I know, I know as somebody that has Richardson in the league or two, he's been in and out of the lineup the last couple of weeks. So I've had, you know, I have cousins with them. But, yeah, it's kind of barren out there at the quarterback position. But yeah, go ahead, Joe. I have some absolutely banger teams where I've basically lost only two games because Richardson left early in games. Like that's, that's really been the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the deciding factor, but unfortunately I'm going to have to replace them. I mean, there's, there's really nothing else I can do.

Yeah. This is a painful week. You know, we get, we get a few of these every year, but to lose a guy like Richardson who looked like he could be a top five fantasy quarterback, A. Chan, who's, you know, been one of the best, you know, right behind Christian McCaffrey in terms of running backs. And then we lose the league's leading receiver from last year in Justin Jefferson. This is just a, we get a few of these. these weeks every year, but it's still, it makes you sigh and it's a sad Tuesday here on the

WaiverWire pod. So Tom, this will be it for the WaiverWire podcast year at FantasyPoints.com. I did, I did a little search. We cover over 100 players this week in the WaiverWire report at Fantasy Points only for Fantasy Points standard or premium subscribers. Use Code Gurifick 25 to get 25% off on top of what is already a 25% discount because, well, the season's more than 25% over. So we're going to, we're going to keep going down. But this could be a big week for you if you lost Justin Jefferson, if you lost Anthony Richardson. So make sure you get in on that. Follow Tom on Twitter at Tom Broley. Follow me on Twitter at FG underscore Dolan. My mute button got a huge workout on today's podcast. I don't know if you heard the dogs too much. The girls were quiet.

They were quiet on the podcast. I don't know if they were quiet in my room. But they've been they've been kind of going to the door and whining, letting me know that somebody is, intruding in the house. The power of technology, we can mute each other's mics whenever, you know, we're not actually on the pod together. So it's very nice. So until before they go, I'm going to go let them outside, let them run wild. Before I do that, let's sign off here. Thanks everybody for listening. Check out the Waverwire Report of Fantasy Points.com. And we will talk to you on Friday for premium subscribers on the point spread. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points podcast. Remember to subscribe, rate,

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