Fantasy Football Daily - The Nick Chubb Injury and Top Week 3 Adds | Waiver Wire Podcast

Episode Date: September 19, 2023

Joe Dolan (@FG_Dolan) and Tom Brolley (@TomBrolley) have to recap yet another major Monday night injury with Nick Chubb going down. The boys discuss the fallout from that, how much FAAB to spend on Jerome Ford, and the top waiver wire adds for 2023 Week 2. 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

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Nothing else is Rees. 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 into the Fantasy Points WaiverWire podcast here at FantasyPoint.com. Tom, it's Tuesday morning. we had to do this last week.

I'm getting tired of doing it. We have another just awful, awful Monday night injury to talk about to lead off the podcast. Nick Chubb in last night's game between the Steelers and Browns blew out his knee. It's the same knee. He blew out in college at Georgia. Just an injury that they wouldn't even show a replay of. I saw it on my timeline on Twitter. It's McGahey bad.

Yeah, you're braver than I was. I'm like, I am not going on any social media. I do not want to see this. I could tell it was terrible by the reaction by the Heinzfeld crowd, though. I don't know if you saw that in the game replay. Like, whenever I heard the crowd, I'm like, oh, God, it has to be that. You know, it was one of those were like, I was just hoping that it was a broken bone because as gnarly as that could look, they heal, you know, and unfortunately it's not,

it's a multi-ligament, I'm sure. Here's the case. You don't need me to go through it as much. His season's over. His career is obviously altered right now. And Tom, the top name on the waiver wire for fantasy football, again, look, guys, I understand. If you're listening to this and you're like, oh, the guy's season just ended, I understand, okay? I feel awful for Nick Chubb as a person.

Unfortunately, that's part of the game, and it's part of the game that we play here. And the Browns have to play. And after Nick Chubb went out last night, Jerome Ford took an opportunity and ran with it. Tom, I mean, he looked terrible in week one. I think he had 15 carries for 32 yards and lost a fumble. He did not look terrible in week number two.

16 carries for 106 yards. He also added three catches for 25 yards and a touchdown. Yes, to be fair, of his rushing yards, 69 came on a run where Levi Wallace completely lost contained. So just keep that in mind. And I think it's quite obvious they're going to work in Pierre Strong and or maybe even bring back Cream Hunt here. Let's look at all the caveats here. But from a fab budget standpoint, Jerome Ford just had 131 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown in a game in which he had to come in and relieve. Nick Chubb.

I don't think this is the time to get cute. No. You know, you have your budget. I think we had guys in our discord saying 15% 20% now. Yeah, I was getting questions like, gosh, I get like 20 to 30%. No, this is the kind of player. And we saw this offseason.

They let Kareem Hunt walk. They could have added other players in free agency, in the draft. and they kind of signaled to us that they believe in Jerome Ford and kind of gave him a chance. And they only added a running back at the last possible moment late in training camp when it looked like the Patriots going to cut Pierre Strong. They threw a late round pick for him. And that was strictly because he had a hamstring injury that really kept him out for all of August. And he's healthy now.

And we kind of saw it last night. they gave him the entire role. So this is not the time to be stingy. If you didn't go all out, you know, if you didn't use most of your budget last week on Puka Nakuwa or Kyron Williams, now is the time he's going to step into a huge rule. Even if they do bring back Kareem Hunt, I think this is going to probably be,

you know, it might look like the Brown's backfield from previous years here where Ford is now in the Chub role, getting 60% of the snaps. Cream Hunt maybe gets that 40% or maybe that's pure strong. We're just speculating right now. You'd think Hunt is probably in the mix here.

He knows the offense. We're in the middle of the season already. So you would think that he's probably their top person that they're going to call here. But if I'm going after Ford, I'm using top priority. And I'm using at least 50% of my budget, if not more.

And especially if I'm a Chubb owner and I spent a first round pick on Chubb. Yeah, you got my season is in the balance right now with this injury. If I don't have a lot of running back depth, I might use it all. I might, you know, use 90% of it. I'm, this, your season could be on the line here with this move. So, uh, do not be stingy with the, your fab budget this, this week if you're, especially if you're a chub owner. Yeah. So that, that's the way to go about it. And look, you understand that. You don't want to blow it in week two. And then they sign Kareem Hunt and, you know, Jerome Ford

doesn't have a 69 yard run where the corner lost back. side contain. I understand all that, but Tom, I mean, your season could hang in the balance. Like, what if he is the real deal? What if he is 65% of Nick Chubb? 65% of Nick Chubb is a damn good fantasy back. So remember, he also-

And he showed some passing game Chops. Yeah, I mean, three catches for 25 yards, scored the touchdown. I think he's a little bit, you know, Chubb's all, you know, he's one of the all-time great runners, to be completely honest. but he's never been much of a receiver.

So, I mean, maybe Ford, he can't quite, you know, he's not going to equal what Nick Chubb can do on the ground. But maybe Ford can, you know, augment that a little bit with a little more receiving production than we've, we've had a little chub in the past. So let's say you blew, and by the way, blow is not, it's not the right. You're spending your money.

You're spending your money. For Kyron Williams and Pooka Nakua, because both of those guys look like the complete real deal. As we discussed on the podcast last week, And you just don't think you have enough that you're going to go after Jerome Ford, but you don't think you have enough to get them. There are some other options out there, Tom. Let's start from the game itself that was in that game.

Jill and Warren look good in the passing game. The concern I have about the Steelers is that entire offense just looks bad. I mean, Kenny Pickett was bad yet again. George Pickens gained like, I mean, I'm pretty sure George Pickens gained half of their yards from scrimmage in that game. Yeah, it was on four catches. Jalen Warren looks like he could be somebody who, I don't want to say is an every week RB2 because it's far from it,

but somebody who you can plug him in as a flex and hope he has like a couple of catches that go for 15 plus yards. And if he's out there, he's certainly somebody who can be added as well. Yeah, this is quickly moving to a 50-50 split, and it could be just a matter of time before Warren is the guy here. It doesn't look good for Najee. His box score doesn't look nearly as bad as, you know, it might have been, if not for a couple fourth quarter runs where, you know, he kind of patted the stats. It was pretty gruesome for a long time there. But Najee clearly, Jalen clearly brings more in the passing game here.

and Kenny Pickett's really struggling to throw the ball downfield. As you said, Pickens was the only guy that was really got it going. Deonti Johnson is out of the mix for at least the next three games after they placed him on IR.

Pat Fryermuth has been non-existent through two weeks. So we're going to see these running backs and potentially Jaylon Warren catch pass as well, especially while Kenny Pickett is struggling here. So, you know, he's 40% owned. So he's owned in most legs, but if you're in some 10 team leagues,

you know, probably the time is not to pick up Jail and Warren. Fire Canada. Fire Canada. That was out there the chance and I understand it. It didn't take long for those to start up again. I don't think anybody in Pittsburgh was, you know, particularly happy that they retained him after last season. And, you know, it's taken two games for them to completely flip on back Canada here.

So they're going to write it out with them. They're not an organization to fire coaches. in the middle of the season. But hopefully at least they get Jalen Warren on the field more because, you know, Naji Harris doesn't look like it doesn't look like that explosiveness is coming back here anytime soon. Another couple of running backs. Another guy who's out there in just, he's rostered in just about as many leagues as

Jalen Warren is. But certainly somebody you can try for is Roshan Johnson of the Chicago Bears. But 38% of leagues, they made Deonté Foreman a healthy scratch. The problem with Rochon Johnson is similar to the problem with the Steelers, though, Tom. This offense just looks completely broken. It is. It's not good right now for the Chicago Bears. But maybe we've kind of talked about this in the Marker Report podcast and stream yesterday.

Maybe they go back. This is kind of broken. They're trying to pass the ball. They're trying to make fields a pocket passer. And it's not happening. We saw at the end of the last season, they kind of leaned into. his running ability. And maybe they go back to that formula here.

Maybe it helps Rochon Johnson and this running game. So I think he's on the fast track. I think Khalil Herbert is still going to be the guy here for another couple of weeks. But if I had to wager on who's leading this backfield in the second half of the season, I would be betting on Rochon Johnson. So he's still out there, not quite usable right now, especially with how the offense is performing. But Johnson is a guy. I want to be stashing in all of my legs if he's out there.

If you need somebody who you can use now and just don't expect a whole lot going forward, and especially, I wouldn't even expect a whole lot this week on Thursday night against the 49ers. Matt Breedah, destiny is all. He is available in virtually every league. And Sequin Barkley looks like he's going to miss a couple of weeks. And he's certainly going to miss Thursday night against the 49ers. if you want touches and nothing else, you can probably get them from Matt Brita in this game. And maybe he falls into the end zone or like Jalen Warren pops off a long reception,

which he has been wont to do in the past. Yeah, this is a tough spot with Sequin also going out this week. It looks like he's going to be out, you know, maybe at least two weeks. And, you know, it's probably going to be in that two to four week range with this ankle injury. He, you know, avoided a major one. And so it sounds like he'll be back and it doesn't, it doesn't sound like he's going on the IR. But for the time being,

this is going to be a committee in this backfield. Breedah, Breed has kind of been the lead guy, but I wouldn't be surprised of Gary. Gary Brightwell leads the team and carries the next couple of weeks. And Eric Gray could also mix in, but Breed is the more efficient receiver. And especially this week,

we got a game against the 49ers where I don't, I mean, everybody's expecting their offensive line to get absolutely smashed again here by one of the best defensive lines in the 49ers. They're not going to have any success running the ball here. So maybe this is a spot where Breda can catch, you know, three or four passes and get us some yardage in the passing game. And especially as 10 point underdogs, they're going to be playing in a negative game script, we would expect. So even going back to last season's season finale was with Davis Webb, Breitwell led to. the team in rushing, but Brita cut seven passes in that game.

So maybe we can get that kind of production out of Brita. Just pray for three or four catches and maybe falls into the end zone. You know, oh, hey guys, all these guys are rostered in my league. You know, my of the greatest fantasy league of all time and everybody's already rostered. Another guy who's available, Tom, 85% of Yahoo Leagues right now. And if you're asking Dolan, Brawley, you know, why know, why am I listening here about Jerome Ford. I know about Jerome Ford. Who could be the next Jerome Ford? Tijey Spears.

He's available in 83% of Yahoo Leagues. He is Derek Henry's kind of, I would guess, handcuff is the right word, but he's not the handcuff to Derek Henry in the traditional sense that we've seen with Derek Henry, in which he's just a pure backup. No, he's rotating in with Derek Henry. He out snapped him in week one. In week two against the chargers, he had 10 touches, including two catches, gained 55 yards from scrimmage. I mean, Tom, with the injuries that we've had at running back, I feel like in 14-teen deeper leagues, there might be teams that have to start Tai J. Spears,

just like I had to start Jalen Warren last night. And if you're in a 12-teen league and you're like, who could be the next Jerome Ford, Ty J. Spears is somebody who, at the moment, not only does he have huge, huge handcuff value, but he has, I need to start him in a pinch kind of value too. Yeah, he's got just a little bit of standalone value. You know, he's playing a lot of snaps.

He's probably going to be good for like eight to 12 touches a week. And maybe if they're in some negative game scripts, they were able to win last week's game against the Titans. They got the Cleveland Browns this week. So they'll be three and a half point underdogs as a currently stand. So maybe this game script works out a little bit better for him. So he's certainly potentially usable if they're bigger, underdogs in any games, you know, upcoming here.

So he's definitely a guy you want to stash and he has some big potential here. If, you know, if something happens to Derek Henry or, you know, Derek Henry just starts to wear down and it becomes more of a 50-50 split. We should touch on the Saints backfield real quick. Okay, please do that because then I want to go to Minnesota. This is basically going to be a running back podcast. We'll probably talk about a couple of receivers. But when a guy like Nick Chub goes down, I just want to talk through the options for everybody.

Tom, touch on the Saints backfield. Yeah, Jamal Williams went down with a hamstring injury in that game last night. That was another ugly game. ESPN picked a couple of good winners there last night. But Williams is out. Quick turnaround here for week three. I even speculated on our Sunday fantasy points show with John and Graham. I would be adding Kendry Miller.

He wasn't able to play in week two, but Chmall Williams has, you know, kind of looked like a zero early in the season. He looks like Noggy Harris out there, just no burst and not bringing really anything to this backfield. We do know Alvin Kamar is coming back after week three, but he wasn't very effective as a runner last year either. So maybe Miller can start to carve out a role here as the top running back. He's got plenty of juice, but he's just been battling these knee and knee issues since the college football play. off last year. It's turned into some hamstring issues over the summer. It was coming close. I looked it up. He was working out pregame. He traveled with the Saints to Carolina.

That's usually a good sign for these guys that are close to returning if they travel with the team or doing workouts before the game. So it was Tony Jones Jr. last night scoring the two rushing touchdowns, but it could be Kendry Miller's week. So if I miss out on, you know, if I'm putting fab budget you know bids in here i miss out on jerome ford um i i might actually you know put miller ahead of breeder this week if i'm you know looking for you know kind of a one week fill in here at the very least and he's got some potential for uh future weeks here so kendry miller would be a bit of a priority for me this week one more minnesota has really struggled to run the ball um alexander madison struggled to run it and you know what behind him tom tie chandler has really

struggled to run it as well, okay? So I'm not saying Ty Chandler is some great pickup, but they haven't really given Chandler a lot of opportunities so far. He's got four carries and he has gone nowhere. He has zero yards, but he also has three catches for 27 yards. And I do wonder if the Vikings, and this is where you have to start speculating. Hey, guys, I don't have the fab for Jerome Ford and blah, blah, blah. What if they decide, hey, it hasn't been happening with Madison?

Let's just give Ty Chandler some work and see if he can do anything with it. he's available in over 95% of Yahoo Leagues. Yeah, I totally agree. I think Madison probably will get another week or two to kind of show what he's got here. But, you know, the clock is starting to tick on him a little bit. And I thought it was noticeable at the end of that Thursday night game against the Eagles that they really needed some juice.

And they brought him into the game and threw a couple design passes to him. And he did pick up some yardage on, you know, it was some positive gains in the passing game. And that was more than what Madison could say in that game against the Eagles. So we'll see if it leads to more snaps moving forward. You know, just seven snaps in week two. But he's at least Madison is on, he's on the clock here. He's got to start doing something in the next couple of weeks. Or I could see Ty Chandler potentially getting a little bit more work.

So Tom, I want to remind everybody that we do not talk about everybody on this podcast because we have like 75 to 100 players in the Waverwire document up at FantasyPoint.com. And if you want to read the entire thing, go to, go to the fantasy points.com. Use code Goorific 25. That's terrific with a GU instead of a TE. It's also in the show notes here if you're listening. Gurific 25 will give you access. All you need is our NFL standard. And if you want to like, you know, win at DFS like one of our subscribers did, at time you see one of our subscribers. One million dollars. One million dollars. Yeah, I wish I won over a million dollars this week.

But I'll gladly pop up Russell Miller's winnings of a million dollars. He won over a million dollars a week. And you already have NFL standard? Upgrade NFL premium. Use the same code and it gets you 25% off. So that's a really good deal over at fantasy points.com. Tom, we're going to talk about a couple of wide receivers before we get out of here. Look, I have got to give CJ Stroud so much credit. He is thrown for, he's like fourth in the NFL and passing yards.

He's thrown for over 600 yards in two games. He is the first quarterback in NFL history. as a rookie to attempt over 80 passes in his first two games and not throw an interception. More impressive is the fact that his offensive line is completely decrepit. They're down four starters. Laramie Tunsel didn't play this week. They're not opening any holes on the ground. And yet he's still out there dealing. And that has really opened up some opportunities, Tom, for Tank Dell here.

The young receiver, the rookie receiver is so small. And that was probably everybody's concern with him. but he made noise in training camp, and he's currently making a lot of noise with C.J. Stroud down in Houston. Yeah, this is a bit of promising start for Stroud. It's a lot of garbage time production, but the Texans are going to be one of the worst teams in the league. And hey, if, hey, it all counts the same for us.

And he's shown he's capable of racking up, you know, these points late in the game. And Tank Dell could become his guy for the rest of the year here. Noah Brown went on IR before last week's game. which elevated Tank Dell and the Texans they're going to be near the bottom of the standings. They need to be playing these rookie wide receivers, these younger wide receivers are getting them reps. Robert Woods is currently the number two receiver behind Nico Collins. But Tankdale is, he's ascending right now.

And yeah, he can play all over the field. He's, you know, playing out wide, even though, you know, he's listed at, you know, he checked in at 5'8 at the Combine. he plays a little bit bigger than his listed size, but he's electric. And Stroud had great chemistry dating back to the preseason and in training camps. So I think Del is a guy that, you know, I don't know if he's going to explode and be like this huge difference making receiver. But there's not a lot of those guys out there right now. But I could definitely see him, you know, start to get into that, you know, four to six catch range and be good for, you know, about 40 to 60 yards most weeks.

and maybe he can get you a touchdown. So he's definitely an ascending player and the type of player that we're looking for who could potentially be a wide receiver three later in the season here. Van Jefferson was the RAM receiver I was drafting all offseason and he's dead. I mean, his fantasy value is just completely gone because Pooka and Nakua has usurped it. Pooka Nakua, you're not getting them this week, obviously. Like everybody picked him up last week. 2-2-out well, though, Tom, still available in 75% of Yahoo Leagues.

Yeah, this is one. I mean, Puka, I could at least see, you know, he had a nice profile. Our film guy, Brett Whitefield, was all over it as a fifth round pick. We love, you know, he loved him. And we gave him some love on the website. But 2-2 Atwell was a guy that I just had written off as a bust. And he never really had done much as a day two pick heading into this year. But I mean, Matthew Stafford, man, he is he's lifting. all lifting all boats here. Atwell's been good for 13 catches so far this season, almost 200 yards receiving. Cooper Cup, we're not certain.

I mean, it seems like he's on track for week five, but for the time being, two-two's got some value the next two weeks, playing against the Bengals next up in week three. And so at the very least, Atwell could be a guy that you can plug into your wide receiver three position for at least two weeks. And we'll see about Cup situation.

Maybe it turns out to be a longer stay on the IR than, you know, what we've anticipated. We, you know, Cup has been really struggling to get over this injury. So he's a nice guy to have for two weeks here and maybe it's a little bit longer. And I would expect he's kind of the odd man, odd man out whenever Cup gets back, because I think it's going to be a lot of Cup and Nukuah. But for at least the time being Atwell is a guy that you can plug.

in as your wide receiver three. Look, when you got to get Lil Jordan Humphrey and Brandon Johnson going, I understand Sean Payton's reticence to get Marvin Mims on the field, but the dude ran like five routes against the commanders in week two and had over a hundred years receiving. So maybe it's time to get Marvin Mims a little bit more involved in Denver. Absolutely.

He's the one guy that gives this offense a little bit of juice. It's been a dink and dunk offense through two weeks, but Mims, Mims has opened up the field a little bit. So should be a guy that gets more snaps moving forward. It was kind of baffling why he just wasn't involved at all in week one. That changed a little bit in week two. We know Cortland Sutton was a guy that, you know,

they had talked about trading, you know, back in the off season. So there's a potential for them to move on from him at some point with the Bronco season already heading in the wrong direction with two bad home losses against the Raiders and the commanders, two teams that are going to be in the, bottom of the standings this year. So there's no reason. And Mims was a guy that they, that was their first draft pick. They had limited capital because of the Russell Wilson trade two years ago. Mims, there wasn't necessarily a need at wide receiver. They had Tim Patrick at the time, KJ Hamler was also on the roster. Wide receiver was kind of a strength for them.

So the fact that they used, you know, their first pick on Mims in the draft tells you how much they like him. They really haven't shown it much in the first two weeks, but that could be changing after, you know, he has the two big catches in week two. Check out the waiver wire article at fantasy points.com with code Gorific 25 and maybe, hey, you lost Nick Chubb, you lost Aaron Rogers and you're like, my season's over. Well, why don't you go make some prop bets with Tom Broley? Why don't you play some DFS and go win a million dollars? It's really easy to do that, Tom. I mean, very clearly. I mean, one of our subscribers did it last week. So use code Grific 25 upgrade to the DFS package. Tom, are you upgrading to the DFS package?

I might have to. I haven't, I don't set too many lineups anymore. I usually do them in playoffs because I'm doing so many bets and stuff. But maybe I have to start following Scott's DFS recommendations. I mean, if our subs are getting a million dollars a week, maybe maybe I'd like to get in a little bit of that action. So, yeah, I mean, geez, I mean, how about that? Fantasy points. helping somebody a million dollars let's go well tom it's been good talking to you uh what the hell are the monday night games next week uh we got eagles and buccaneers oh the eagles and the bucks oh i don't want the eagles and then it's the rams and the bengals it could be the bengals without joe burrow so yeah oh boy that's going to be that's going to be beautiful so let's hope next monday night we

don't have to um as i yeah let's let's get one of these let's get a monday that's clean here one of these weeks just brutal injuries the last two weeks all right All right, Tom. Thanks for joining us here. That's Tom Brawley at Tom Brawley on Twitter. I am Joe Dolan at FG underscore Dolan on Twitter. Follow the site at FantasyPTS. Have a great Tuesday, everybody. Go spend that fab and clean up your tears nice and nicely.

Bye-bye. Thanks for tuning into 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. You know,