Fantasy Football Daily - Navigating the Kirk Cousins Injury | Week 9 Waiver Wire Podcast

Episode Date: October 31, 2023

Joe Dolan (@FG_Dolan) and Tom Brolley (@TomBrolley) offer advice on covering for the Kirk Cousins injury and look at some other players who are rostered in very few fantasy football leagues as we prepare for 2023 NFL Week 9. 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. Welcome to the week nine waiver wire podcast here at Fantasy Points.com. I'm almost tripped over my own words there, but that's what happens when you're halfway through the season. My name's Joe Dolan. That's Tom Broly, T. Bro. It's week number nine.

our halfway point of the NFL season, more than halfway through the fantasy season at this point, if you can believe it or not. It always, it always feels quick. And then at the end, when you get to the end of the season, you're like, that was a long season. So, but like it feels quick in the moment. But right now, it's, it's, um, we're halfway through. We've got a, we're coming off a full week eight, which is, I can't remember the last time

that happened, but we're back into the buys. We got some good teams on by for fantasy. The Lions, the 49ers, the Jaguars, and the Broncos too are on by. If you consider them a good team for fantasy, I don't. But they are coming on a little bit. They're coming on a little bit. Useful players. So those teams are on by.

But Tebrough, most notably in what we're going to talk about today is the quarterbacks and the fallout of the injuries to the quarterbacks and what we might need to do on the waiver wire to assuage the pain of that. Yeah, we had a major injury with Kirk Cousins right at the top. of the leaderboard and all the major passing categories so far this season. Obviously, that's going to trickle down to his receivers moving forward. We have, yeah, we're not going to be turning to Jaron Hall or Sean Mannion or Nick Mullins unless we're really desperate in two QB league.

So that was the big injury coming out of the weekend. You'll be listening to this podcast maybe before the 4 p.m. trade deadline or maybe after. So pay attention to what comes out. John will probably be updating the Waver Wire article later today. If anything big happens, it doesn't seem like the Derek Henry situation is going to change. But we'll see if, you know, those Denver receivers have been talked about quite a bit. Jerry Judy most likely the Devonty Adams situation is interesting coming out of that Monday night football game where Jimmy Garapolo missed him for a wide open touch. He was clearly unhappy.

even his post-game comments. So that would be the big one to really watch. They've said many times that they're not moving him, but things can change quickly in the NFL. So just pay attention to what happens at the trade deadline. It could change things. Jimmy G was so ass in that game last night. I mean, I almost blocked it out of my mind.

Like I was out this morning with my dogs and my next door neighbor who is like a power sports watcher. He has YouTube TV and he goes to bed early. Like he's one of those morning people. I am not. But like he gets up and he watches like, I guess YouTube TV or has the condensed games or he records them and then he's like, did you see the game? And I'm like, what game?

And he's like, oh, my God. I watched it 12 hours ago and I blocked that in my mind already. I can't imagine watching that fast. It probably made it even worse because it seemed like a slow motion train wreck, even as we were watching it live last. night so uh you know watching that in the condensed form had to be pretty jarring i had the um i had the devante adams over the yardage prop because you know i know he's been hooting and hollering and like the guy's wide ass open the entire game what am i and then of course the one time he does

get a target he drops it on the first downplay joe i'm in a guillotine the guillotine leg that used to be in uh you you dropped out of this i needed like three points out of devonte adams did not i got oh that is a horrifying yeah i was like one of those like Like, oh, Devante, you know, he's going to get two for 25 easy. Right, exactly. At the very least, what a disaster. Jimmy Jean was atrocious. Like, please trade Devante Adams for Devonte Adams' sake.

And for our sake and fantasy football. Yeah, by the time you're listening to this, maybe he has been traded or hasn't been traded, and maybe he's raising a stink. But anyway, Tom, let's get to, well, let's get to the quarterback position because you might have lost Kurt Cousins. There's obviously some good quarterbacks going on by with Jared Goff, Trevor Lawrence, maybe even Brock Purdy or Russell Wilson.

And let's start with Billy Denham, Will Levis, 4% rostered. So I guess people have been picking them up in Superflex leagues or what have you. Or maybe when the Tan Hill news came out, you know, Will Levis. He ran around in college a little bit. Those for four touchdowns in his debut for the Titans. And look, I mean, there's a reason Will Levis was a second round pick for both good and bad, right? A physically gifted player, big arm, very inconsistent. And there's a chance he goes eight for 25 this week.

I understand that. But there is upside here that a lot of these lower end quarterbacks just don't have. Yeah, there was a lot of talk that it was going to be kind of a split, you know, quarterback situation with Malik Willis as well. And that never really materialized. Willis, there was a fumble. You know, it was kind of on him, kind of on the center. But there was a miscommunication there. And then it was all Willis after that.

So I felt bad for Willis, by the way. Getting rude by the fans because like, I know he's a walking turnover, but the fumble wasn't all his fault. No, it was, it was, I thought more on the center. But then Levis kind of, you know, did the rest there. So, yeah, I don't think we were very high on him as a prospect coming out. sometimes you've got to tear up those your thoughts and we'll see it's one game but we saw hey if you're going to stack the box and try to stop Derek Henry that's kind of been the problem with this

offense we've they really haven't been able to throw down field much tana hill has just two touchdowns through the first six games and uh levis comes in there throws four touchdowns in one game uh which tana hill hasn't done since all the way back in 2021 so rookie was able to get the ball down, get the ball to the best receivers. And if you were watching that game, a day could have been even better. They had a deep crosser with Chig of Quanko,

which perfectly laid out there for him. It was going to be 30 plus yards, maybe even could have gone even farther because of, you know, Chig's very capable of making plays down the field, except for this year. I mean, we saw a little bit last year. But so we'll see, I mean,

the downfield passing is intriguing and he he didn't run much his final season at Kentucky because he was getting sacks so much but as a junior he did run quite a bit so he also has that in his arsenal to potentially to potentially use at some point if he's needed to. This is an interesting week for him if you're just looking one week here. Steelers

short week. Not the most ideal spot if you're looking to stream them, but you might not have many options right now. So at the very least, I think he's worth a stash if you're playing in, or you lost Kirk Cousins or you're playing in two QB leagues. But maybe you want to give it a shot here. Not the best spot this week,

but you might not have many options. Derek Carr is essentially for fantasy, worse, Kirkie. And here's the thing about Carr. I mean, he feels like this year he's like a walking 300-yard game, and somehow he never throws me. more than two touchdowns, but Derek Carr had a strong game last week, maybe the best he's played all year. And he's got, here's the thing with Carr.

His next seven games, Tom, are inside. So no, no elements. Obviously, Chris Olivae is getting memed because he had that pass go off his head when he was wide open. But Chris Alave's been getting open. He's the air yards king of the NFL right now. A big game's probably coming for him. And Derek Carr has good weapons at his disposal.

you can certainly do worse than Derek Carr right now. And he's available in roughly two-thirds of Yahoo Leagues. Yeah, a lot of people are tired of Derek Carr. That's why he's quite available on the waiver wire. But has a great matchup with Chicago this week. Seven-point favorites, one that they should. We saw what Justin Herbert did against that defense last week. And so certainly another spot here.

You touched on it. I mean, not only is he playing indoors, but lots of friendly matchup. coming down the stretch. The Saints came into the season with the easiest schedule, and he really hasn't taken advantage of that schedule just yet, but we're getting the 300-yard games. The running game has been, you know, pretty ineffective for the most part. So they've been forced to throw a lot, but hey, you got Rashid Shaheed, Chris Oliva, Mike Thomas, Alvin Kamara, Joanne Johnson's back in the mix. A lot of people, including us,

kind of liked him as a prospect coming into this season. It hasn't paned. out. So lots of weapons here. Great matchups playing indoors. There's going to be, they're going to be playing in some games that they were a bit unlucky as well to start the season. Played under the total and a lot of their games. Now we've finally seen two of their games shoot out in back-to-back weeks against the Colts and the Jaguars. Maybe we're going to start seeing some higher scoring games for the Saints with that offense slowly rounding into form here. Let's keep going down here, the board at quarterback, Tom. I don't know about Baker.

He's got a couple of... The one thing I'll say about Baker is they have no running game. That's true. It's not turning into quite the Tom Brady offense from last year, but it's becoming a mini version of that where they're going to have to throw it a ton every week. And we have Chris God when we have Mike Evans, Rashad White's a good receiving back. So there's worse options off the waiver wire. They got Houston, Tennessee the next couple of weeks.

So, you know, not awesome spots, but certainly beatable for May. Tennessee is a pass funnel at least. Yeah, right? Exactly. So, but, you know, Houston this week, you know, we saw Bryce Young have some success against that defense last week. They're not the world's toughest unit. So if you're looking, you know, he's 30% owned in Yahoo right now.

Well, let's go to Bryce Young, who's basically 90% of, 90% of, available in Yahoo and coming out of the by Thomas Browns, the new offensive coordinator. Look, he didn't like the world on fire. But speak of another team that doesn't have a run game, Adam Thielen is turning back the clock. And out of the by, Tom, Jonathan Mingo got a little bit more involved and gives them some juice. Bryce Young, look, I understand it was a rough first six weeks. And it still might not work out. But I still think this guy's going to be a pretty good quarterback.

He outplayed CJ Stroud this week, which, you know, great. C.J. Stroud has still outplayed him on the year. But Bryce Young can move around a little bit. Is there a hope for Bryce Young? I think so. We saw him make some plays this week, you know, got the ball downfield a little bit more, which was what we wanted to see. I'm looking at our fantasy points data.

He was around a 10% deep throw rate this week. You know, his completion of over-expectation was close to 11%. So very intriguing number. after the first six weeks here. It was all Adam Thielen. So now we're throwing the ball a little bit more downfield and making some better plays here. So I think there's some reason for hope here.

And Indianapolis, I think you said it on the market report yesterday, the NFL's over team this year. So they play really fast, by the way, Indy does, which is part of the reason. And their defense has kind of falling apart a little bit. as well, you know, from the beginning of the season. So, and they have Chicago coming up. So maybe we need to bump him up on this waiver wire list a little bit.

I do think he's at least intriguing here. Things are starting to tick up for him and just looking at the fantasy points data. Some pretty solid numbers from that week eight performance against the Texans. Let's keep going with the quarterbacks, Tom. We don't spend a whole lot of time on quarterbacks on this podcast because it's usually pretty cut and dry. but obviously options are dwindling with the injuries. How about we're talking about the Colts as a dead nuts over team.

What about Mr. Minchu? What do you think, T, bro? I mean, he's available in 83% of Yahoo leagues. He's got two good weapons in downs and Pittman. He also has good ancillary weapons and guys like Pierce. They mix in all those tight ends. Be sure to drink your Ogletree. He scores every now and again.

So Gardner Minchew on the Dead Nuts over team. Jonathan Taylor, a little Jonathan Taylor action out of the backfield in the passing game. Again, another guy you can probably do worse than. Yeah, I mean, we've, hey, he's, he's that gunslinger. They're going to, you know, throw the ball around the field a lot and he's not afraid to sticks. Now, the thing with Minchu is, you know, if it's a turnover or heavy league, maybe you want to shy away from him. But maybe if you're not docked for turnovers or it's just like a one point penalty, that makes him a little more intriguing.

And he really hasn't, you know, he, He had that big game against the Browns that kind of came out of nowhere, the 31 point performance, fantasy point performance. And then he kind of came back to Earth here. But he's certainly capable, if you're looking for a guy that can just erupt out of nowhere. You know, he has a little bit higher ceiling than a lot of these other waiver wire options at the quarterback position. And we've seen him do it from time to time where he, you know, he has these massive 300-yard games that.

seemingly come out of nowhere. So he also has that element of surprise to him. Any interest, Tom, you knew I could, you knew I couldn't resist doing it on this podcast. No. Any interest in H.B. Heineke. Hospital ball Heineke, who is obviously available in every league. Arthur Smith's comments, I mean, he's, he's Arthur Smith, seems to indicate, seems to

indicate that they're winning going to H.B. Heineke this week with Ritter. he's ridder cleared the concussion protocol and Smith's like you know you know like giving them we want to protect them and all that stuff. H.B. Heineckee, Tom, any interest? I would probably play it. I would not want to play one of these quarterbacks this week because I think, you know, we could have Arthur Smith, you know, he's demonstrated over the, you know, the first season and a half, the two years that he's been, you know, pulling the strings there, uh, that, You know, he'll have a quick trigger here. So maybe whoever starts this game may not finish it.

So, but I think everything has been kind of trending towards Heineke being the starter at some point. And, you know, last week's result, Ritter coming out at halftime is just another reason that it does look like Heineke is probably going to be starting some games in the second half the year. We're going to find out for sure. He said he's going to let us know, let the media know by Wednesday what's going to happen at quarterback. So, and he had some stretches where, you know, whenever he had to throw the ball in Washington, where he was able to put up some yardage. And he's certainly more fearless than Desmond Ritter. And we, you know, we saw Drake London injure his groin.

We're stretching out for a ball over the middle of the field, like almost immediately. I was laughing so hard. I was like, Paul, H.B. Hineke, he just aged another receiver. It's unbelievable. Yeah. And that's going to happen. And so, you know, if you're Kyle Pitts owner and Drake London, just, just pray that it isn't that, you know, Heineke is going to send those guys into the hospital. But schedules at least intriguing as well, Minnesota.

Minnesota has been better defense the last couple of weeks, but they're going to be in some tough spots with their quarterback situation. And Atlanta's like four points favorites in that game. So they should should be able to put up some points. And then they have Arizona before their week, week 11 by. So at the very least, Tineke might be a got to pick up and you might be able to play him in week 10 because it certainly seems like it's trending

towards him becoming the starting quarterback. I mean, Tom, the problem here with this week's waiver wire is the lack of really good options at other positions, right? Yeah. One guy, he's at 41% at the running back position is Zach Charbonnet.

He's been dropped a lot. You know, we saw Walker. He wasn't quite right. a pretty split backfield there. Charbonnet had his most scrimmage yards and most fantasy points and might be something to keep an eye on here, especially. We'll see what the injury report looks like this week for Kenneth Walker, but maybe Charbonnet's going to start having a big role.

And he was effective with his additional touches last week. So he's one of those guys that has a lot of upside in the second half of the year if Walker would miss time. I think he would be, I don't know, exclusively, but he would be close to a bell cow back i think dj dallas would also mix in but uh shirbine is an interesting guy that's you know 41% owned in yahoo leagues uh i think he should be closer to you know 70% owned so a guy that should be picked up if he's been dropped in your leg uh let's keep moving here tom i'm trying i'm trying to find some running backs like here's the thing devon singletary very few people picked him up even

but the problem is then all of a sudden both they like uh the the the the the Texans and then the Panthers, if you picked up maybe Chuba Hubbard because of the Miles Sanders fiasco, both of those teams started working in a third running back. And look, we can deal with two on bad offenses or mediocre offenses. Three running backs is not viable for us on bad offenses. And that's unfortunately what happened with Devin Singletary, who for the first time all year got outplayed by Damien Pearson that game and they got Mike Boone involved. Yeah. And the running game hasn't been effective all season. The offensive line is that issue. So They certainly were trying to lean into that running game for whatever reason last week.

They really didn't let Stroud throw the ball around and did not work. That was the worst offensive performance that they've had since the season opener against the Ravens. So just a bad performance overall by the Texans. Yeah, I still think maybe he's worth a deep stash if you're in a 14 team league. But it certainly looks like we're going to have three backs maybe involved in that. Mike Boone was starting to get a couple snaps before they're by, and he had a bigger role coming out of the buy. So unfortunately, it looks like it's going to be a bit of a three-man rotation there.

We've got to mention somebody who is available in every league. Tom, any interest in cold weather, Lenny? No. No, not right now. I mean, we'll see Damien Harris is probably coming back at some point, hopefully. Latavius Murray, I think, is kind of, you know, he's going to be a headache. him. I think this is more of an insurance, you know, you know, pick up for them just to just to have depth in the backfield. Don't really, especially for the next couple of weeks. Maybe he starts

to carve something out in December when, you know, when the weather turns a little bit. But I have a hard time believing that he's going to have much of a rule right out of the gates. So he's one of those. I think he could wait to see, you know, unless you're in a really 16 team league or something. I think you can just kind of wait to see how that backfield plays out, but I can't imagine him having much of a role here for the next two or three weeks. In case you're wondering, we didn't actually mention what had happened in case you're, I mean, this isn't even a live under the rock situation. You might have just missed this. The bill signed Leonard Fournette. And I think they want something in short yardage and maybe

give them a little bit more in third down than Latavius Murray can give them. James Cook has been so good this year. The problem is, he is the king of empty calorie fantasy points right now. Like they're just not giving him. I wrote it up. I mean, he's even his target share is worse than like Devin Singletary's. I mean, he's like exactly in the Devin Singletary role from last year. So it's pretty frustrating.

We thought James Cook could be a much better version of the Devin Singletary rule that's been there the last couple of years. But they really, they really haven't expanded it much more than that. So he gets all those, you know, he looks great, gets all the yards. and then let's Latavius Murray and well it's been a lot of Josh Allen finishing at the goal line. He's, I believe he scored in five of his last six games as a runner. So much of the same that we've seen from the Bill's offense, you know, from the years past here. I don't think the Patriots offense is going to be anything better than atrocious the rest of the season because Kendrick Bourne was really kind of the engine that made that thing go for Mac Joe.

and when Kendrick Borns the engine that makes your offense go, that's not a good news anyway. But Kendrick Born tore his ACL and Tom, the Patriots have to get Demario Douglas more snaps. He's the only guy that Tyco on Thornton can run, but they don't trust him. He's the only guy they trust who can run. And he's available in virtually every Yahoo League, DeMario.

Pop Douglas. Tom, I mean, he's probably a lot from. I've heard people say that. Okay. I just know that's what he's called. DeAndre Hopkins is called Nuke, and I still have no idea where that comes from. Yeah, that's true. I use that nickname in our friend Josh.

He's like, what did you call DeAndre Hopkins? It's a nuke. He's like, what's that from? I'm like, I don't know. He's always been called Duke. So DeMario Douglas, yeah, I mean, he's been trending up here the last couple of weeks anyway. They've been trying to get him out in the field more. It was kind of him and Kendrick Bourne have been promoted in recent weeks.

And even if you look at the numbers on fantasy points data, Douglas is leading the team in targets per route run share at 27%. And so, you know, when he's been on the field, he's been targeted quite a bit. And that's going to have to tick up here. I mean, Kendrick Bourne is done for the season. Unfortunately, suffered a season ending knee injury. You know, Juju Smith-Schuster hasn't provided very much, despite that massive contract that gave him in the

off season. And it's been, you know, Devante Parker's a declining player. Tyquin Thornton's been a complete bust as a second round pick for them. Jalen Rigger is Jalen Rigger. He's the same old guy there. So, I mean, it's got to be to Mario Douglas or these tight ends. So, and Hunter Henry's been really struggling. He's been, you know, playing. Farrow Brown's been out playing. Yeah, that's exactly. It's been Farrow Brown's been coming in and having a couple of splash plays here the last like month or so. So it's going to have to be some Demario Douglas. He's a, you know, a great ad, I think this week. This wide receiver waiver wire is pretty barren for the most part. One other guy, you know, another really low own player, admit you may have already forgotten

about, but that Thursday night game. Yep. Khalil Shakir, while Dawson Knox is out of the lineup, I think he could be a viable, deep play. Led the, led the game with the most, receiving yards and it had 92 receiving yards in his snap share and routes were all season highs in that game. For whatever reason, they went out and signed Deonté Hardy, Trent Sherfield, and they were playing those guys ahead of him to begin the season. Even though I thought Shakir flashed when he got opportunities last year. As a rookie, you'd think you want to give that guy more opportunities, but they really haven't to start the season. But with Knox pulled out of the lineup. They gave him a big opportunity. And I say the numbers speak for themselves. He passed with

Flying Kellers in the first real opportunity he had. So this is a big game against the Bengals coming up. Probably going to, you know, finally we're, you know, a game there that might have the potential to shoot out a little bit. So I think Shakir's a very viable ad. And one percent owned in Yahoo. So he is available in your league. Yeah, I drafted him a ton in best ball. And then like now it's not dead anymore. Like, you know, he's a He probably was in my lineup last week. By the way, DeMario Douglas, this is actually kind of charming and sad. His grandfather, who they called Papa, passed away on Demario Douglas' first birthday.

So they started calling Demario Douglas Papa because of that and people shorten it to pop. Oh, okay. That's a sweet story. Yeah, sweet but sad, you know, one of those unfortunate situations. But hopefully he's making his grandfather proud. Tom, the one funny thing about this season has been how kind of rich the tight end waiver wire has been. And I don't know that's a good thing or bad thing. Probably a bad thing.

But I mean, trade McBride to me, look, Kyler Murray's coming back. He's either going to start week nine or week 10. Josh Dobbs is no longer started. I wouldn't be surprised if by the time you listen to this, Josh Dobbs is traded. like, you know, one of these teams that could be looking for like a capable starting quarterback with all these injuries. Josh Dobbs could be gone from Arizona. But Trey McBride, 20% rostered in Yahoo, even after they put Zachertz on IR. There's no reason for Zacherts to get his starting job back here, Tom.

No, maybe that's another guy that gets moved at the deadline, although he's injured, which makes that very complicated. But McBride has finally got, you know, the big opportunity last. week playing against a very good Baltimore Ravens defense, especially in the middle of the field. Some of it was garbage time aided, but went off for, you know, 10 catches, 95 receiving guards and a touchdown. 14 targets, 38% share. Can we, can we convince Jonathan Gannon to give Dobbs one more start? He really loves targeting those tight ends.

We saw Zacherts in the, at the beginning of the season. That's a bit of the unknown here for at least one week. with Clayton Toon taking over. It certainly looks that way. They haven't completely rolled out Kyler Murray, but it seems like they're targeting that home game against the Falcons in week 10 instead of the road game against the much tougher defense

in the Browns. So they're going to send Clayton Toon out to be the sacrificial lamb this week. But McBride was the first tight end selected last in not this year's draft, but the 2002 draft, second round pick out of Colorado State, won the Mackey Award, prolific career at Colorado State.

And he flashed a little bit at the end of last season. Never really broke out. You know, we touted him a little bit in the Waver Wire last year. And then he had a couple games in late December, early January, where it started to look like it came together. It was a bizarre start to the season. We thought Zach Ertz would have a secondary role, kind of push him to the background,

let McBride, your second round pick from, two years ago really, you know, spread his wings and developed. Didn't happen until the last, you know, especially last week and the last couple of weeks, they've been working them in a little bit more. But it might finally be happening. So a guy that I would be, you know, he should be 80% owned after this week, still only sitting at 20% owned. So there's a chance.

If you've been really struggling at the tight end position, this is a guy, I don't say very often. and you want to spend some fab on tight ends. But this could be the exception. We went through the running backs and receivers. There's not a lot of great ones this week. McPryd is a guy. I would spend 20 to 25% of my fab on this week if I'm really struggling at the position

and you really need some help. We've hated Taysome Hill for so long. Oh, gosh. He's going to burn us. He's going to, I know. Are we acquiescing here, Tom? He's still available in 65% of leagues. I know.

high stakes leagues people were really pissed off about this and I mean now considering he's essentially more he's just the same Taysam Hill he's always been and the high stakes leagues change him from a tight end to a quarterback before the season because that's his official roster designation but in your standard league like your your sleeper your Yahoo Taysam Hill's still a tight end and he's available in 65% of leagues and Tom he is a massive part of their offense yeah the one thing I'll caution John Johnson was back last week. So his receiver rule kind of got dwindled down a little bit. I believe his routes were way down this week compared to the last couple of weeks.

So we're going to, it's going to be a little bit more volatile if he's not getting those routes like he was in week seven, week six. But it was very notable. They brought in Jamal Williams to kind of be their finisher or at the goal line. But that's kind of turned into Taysam Hills role. We saw, you know, they bring in Kalin Saunders, their big nose tackle. They had him at fullback at the goal line leading for Tassam Hill on one of the touchdowns this week. That was a fun little play. And that's Taysam's back to being kind of their closer at the goal line.

So I think he's going to be, you know, he was able to aid his other production with receptions in recent weeks. You know, I think that's going to be drying up. So he's going to be a little bit more touchdown dependent, which is a little scary. but as we touched on, this tight end position has been a little thin. So maybe a guy like Hill that has the potential to score at any point might be worth a pickup in a play. Tom, the waiver wire being thin at week nine, again, I cannot stress this enough. I think in three out of four seasons, if you use your fab early in the year, it's not going to burn you. Like, I mean, like it just really isn't.

I feel like the cream rises to the top early in the season. And if the guys who end up contributing late in the year, yeah, every now and again, there's an Amon-Ross St. Brown. I get that. But the guys who end up contributing late in the year might end up just being handcuffs, guys who, you know, like the Justin Jackson's of the world,

when Austin Eckler goes down. Remember Jamal Williams back in the day when the Packers had some injuries in their backfield. Like, I think when Aaron Jones was their starter, Jamal Williams came in, ended up winning fantasy leagues. Like those are the guys who I feel like come in, and at the end of the year can help your team.

But you spend your fab early in the year. And as we're seeing in week nine, like what are you spending your fab bucks on? On a tight end. That's what you're trying. You're hoping that. New Levis? Yeah.

I think McBride could turn out to be a really high end tight end. But yeah, it's you, you had your opportunity to get Puka, you know, after week one. You got to take those chances when you get the, when you have them early in the season. Don't be afraid to spend it. But hey, you've got to keep working the way of wire. We'll be here the next, you know, nine or ten weeks, I guess.

And we'll guide you through it. We'll try to find some gems. I'll throw one more out there. We'll touch on real quick with, no, I was with Will Levis. I think Chicoeco could have some, he's been playing a little bit more, running a few more routes and touched on it. And he just missed a huge play. His line would have been much better. You know, he had four for 23, but it probably would have been five for,

65 or 70 and he'd be one of the top pickups at the tight end position. So certainly a guy, you know, Will Levis can, he's kind of tied to Will Levis. If Levis can maintain, you know, I'm not maintained, but, you know, play well and, you know, he's better than what we thought as a second round pick. I think Chig could maybe take off a little bit in the second half. He was a guy that we kind of all liked in the draft process this summer and it really hasn't panned out to this point of the season. But he was a guy that really came on late last year and maybe it will happen again in the second season. Attack those waivers. Hopefully there's no absolutely massive trade that blows up whatever we talked about on this podcast. But we'll have it covered at fantasy

points.com on the waiver wire article. Use code grific 25. It's in the show notes. G-U-R-R-I-F-I-C-25 for 25% off on top of what's already 50% off because we're halfway through the season. So use that code and we will, if there's any major changes, it will be covered on the website, I guarantee you. Thanks, everybody. I'm Joe. He's Tom. Have a good week number nine, and we'll talk to you this weekend. 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 FantasyPoint.com.