Fantasy Football Today - 09/08 Fantasy Football Podcast: KC-NE Reactions; Week 1 Start or Sit

Episode Date: September 8, 2017

Kareem Hunt or DeMarco Murray rest of season? Hunt or Todd Gurley? Sell high on Mike Gillislee? We have so much to talk about from Thursday's game (2:44-16:34) before we help you with your Week 1 lineup ... Discussing every game including plenty of talk about Keenan Allen (24:00), NYG WRs (38:04) and other trending topics ... LAC-DEN (21:50), NO-MIN (29:30), NYG-DAL (34:35), BAL-CIN (40:10), ATL-CHI (43:30), ARI-DET (45:08), JAC-HOU (47:30), SEA-GB (49:30), OAK-TEN (52:10), NYJ-BUF (55:40), PHI-WAS (57:30), IND-LAR (59:30), PIT-CLE (1:00:10), CAR-SF (1:01:30) ... Email us at [e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. Here we go! Email us at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Here we go! Get your lineup set. It's time for Star Dwarfs 6. Let's go! Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. How about them Chiefs? I knew it all along.

Welcome to Fantasy Football Today. I, Adam Azer, am the worst prognosticator in the world. But luckily we have Jamie Eisenberg here to help you out with Starter. Sit, good morning on this Friday morning. Good morning, Jamie. Good morning, Adam. I don't think you're the worst prognosticator. Everybody thought that the Patriots were going to win, so congratulations to those of you who expected the Chiefs to pull off that upset. But this is two years in a row that I looked at the Patriots' first game

and made a guarantee that was wrong. Because last year, there's no chance they go into Arizona with Jimmy Garoppolo and win. And this year, I previewed the game as the 0-1 Kansas City Chiefs at the 1-0 New England Patriots. There's some comeuppance for me coming up in the show. I think the thing to keep in mind is Andy Reid off of bye week. That's a big bye week. Yeah, that's a good point.

He's a great coach, and they've got themselves a good running back. And I hope you had Kareem Hunt in your FanDuel lineup. FanDuel's back. Sign up today and go to FanDuel.com and click the Join Now button and use our code CBSPOD. New users get free entry into the NFL Sunday Million with over a million dollars in cash prizes when you make your first deposit on Fanduel. Okay, that's Fanduel.com and the promo code is CBSPOD and that offer is void where prohibited.

So we will go through every game today. Heath and I looked at the tough calls for week one yesterday, but Jamie and I are going to go through every game. We're not going to read your emails on today's show because we are going to have a bonus We'll be right back. And I want to remind you to listen to the 24-7 Sports College Football Podcast if you're getting ready for a big weekend of college football. Now, I've got to tell you one other thing. As you know, Hurricane Irma is certainly impacting South Florida. That's going to happen over the weekend, but it's already shut down our Fort Lauderdale office. So Dave, Jamie, they are on the road.

Jamie is sitting in a hotel room in New York City right now doing this. So first of all, thank you for doing this, Jamie. Really appreciate it. Of course. So his audio is good, but it's not quite what we're used to. He also is using Wi-Fi and not Ethernet. So if you hear some echo, if you hear some audio issues, we're sorry. It's the best we could do.

But let's talk football, and here we go. So Twitter polls from last night. I posted this. You have to decide right now or we aren't friends who you got rest of season. I'm such a pain to be a friend with. 2,500 votes. Kareem Hunt or DeMarco Murray, who would you take, and who do you think the listeners took?

I would still take DeMarco Murray. I'm sure the listeners took Kareem Hunt. Overwhelmingly, 70% of the vote, Kareem Hunt. NFL record for most total yards in an NFL debut. He had 148 rushing yards and a touchdown on only 17 carries. He had five catches for 98 yards and two touchdowns. And we talked about it. Heath and I talked about it on Wednesday when we previewed the game. The running backs that did well in Foxborough last year, almost all of them did well because they did it in the passing game.

He did both. But wow. And then so you said Murray, and then I asked you off the air, who would you rather have, Kareem Hunt or Todd Gurley? And what would you say to that? Still Gurley. I mean, look, obviously I like Kareem Hunt after the draft. I liked him certainly after the Spencer Ware injury. He's exceptional, as you saw last night. And I think there's a chance for him. But I don't want to overreact to one game. Hunt may be better than those guys the rest of the way. And as we talked about when looking at the rookie running backs, his situation is amazing.

But let's just pump the brakes a little bit, and maybe we find out that this Patriots defense just isn't that good. So I think Hunt's got a big season in front of him, but those other two guys might also. And we know they're going to struggle against the run if Dante Hightower's out. He left with a knee injury. But even before the injury, Kareem Hunt had nine carries for 58 yards and a receiving touchdown, and he averaged 6.4 yards per carry. I just couldn't believe it. I mean, 42-27 at New England. That just doesn't happen, and I got this email. Email of the day from Scott in Richmond, Virginia, fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Dear Connor dalvin jared and brandon uh cooks cooks yeah cook or cooks yeah sure how will

you punish adam for his statement quote there has never been a more sure thing in nfl history in regards to the outcome of this game i think that uh probably our good friend heath cummings has some chief's gear. Probably, yeah. And he should force you to wear it and replicate the photo that your lovely wife posted on Facebook of you wearing a giant shirt. And so I think that's fair. That was a pretty funny photo, right? Yeah, so just to paint the picture. So Adam, as most families are having their children go off to school and start their school year, parents, myself included, take pictures of their kids. And a lot of them, they post those photos on Facebook.

So Adam and his wife, since they do not have children yet, they replicated a similar photo with Adam wearing a backpack, wearing a giant shirt or jersey? Shirt. Giant shirt. And if I remember correctly, it said, welcome to the first day of the football season. First day of football season. I had a little handmade sign with little footballs on it that said, go Giants, and this goofy smile on my face.

Yes. It was a hit. I was actually in New York City with Nando DeFino last night. We had a lot of fun looking at the photo and making some jokes. So yeah, I think that's probably fair. You should have to wear a Chiefs jersey or Chiefs shirt, do the same photo, and maybe the sign should say, I'm sorry, Chief like that. But, you know, if I'm going to get another thing wrong, it may as well be a bonanza, which I'll give out later in the show. A quick reminder for everybody, 2016 season opener, a year ago today, basically. We were talking about C.J. Anderson and his 139 total yards and two touchdowns against Carolina. And then he went five straight games averaging 3.7 yards per carry or less. And Calvin Benjamin, who scored on those Denver Broncos cornerbacks and had six catches for 91 yards and a touchdown on 12 targets.

And then he had seven catches for 108 yards and two touchdowns the next week. And then Calvin Benjamin was a total dud. But, yeah, I mean, what are your major takeaways from this? First of all, Danny Amendola has a concussion. Malcolm Mitchell is on IR. He could return later in the year, but not before Week 9. And Eric Berry, who we saw why the Chiefs are so good against tight ends when Eric Berry is healthy, he may have torn his Achilles,

and he might miss the season, and that is a huge loss. Major fantasy takeaways other than Kareem Hunt potentially being a stud? Well, I think you've got to be impressed with Alex Smith. You know, if this is the uh the offense that they talked about in the offseason about him being more aggressive and pushing the ball downfield i mean it's right tyree kill was was wide open on the big touchdown so you know it's hard to say that that was just necessarily smith making it happen but the throw to kareem hunt on the on the one passing touchdown uh over the middle was beautiful and you And he's utilizing the weapons that he has.

Obviously, Tyreek Hill, you saw the targets, you saw the production. Travis Kelsey was, I think, it was pretty obvious that they were able to take him away with how the Patriots played him. So I wouldn't necessarily worry about him. But from the Chiefs' perspective, Tyreek Hill had the cramps as well. That was an injury scare that we got lucky with. Yeah, and I just thought it was good to see how much they were using him, lining him up all over the field. He had eight targets. Wouldn't have had a very good game if not for the 75-yard touchdown catch Tyreek Hill, but you didn't expect it necessarily

against the Patriots. Any concerns about Tom Brady, 10 fantasy points, and Rob Gronkowski, who had two catches for 33 yards on six targets, and he had an impressive touchdown catch that was not quite a touchdown catch. It was overturned. It hit the ground. Any concerns about Brady or Gronk? Not yet. I think if you're going to be concerned you know this was the first game with him at 40 and we don't see a lot of success for guys at this age clearly uh this was the first game without edelman so you saw maybe a little bit of a disjointed offense but the the the chiefs have the type of team to frustrate a team like the patriots because you could take away the tight end with barry as we saw you can make things things tough on Brandon Cooks, as Marcus Peters did. You know, he drew the two pass interference calls clearly, which set up the Gilleslie

touchdowns and had 88 yards. But it wasn't the big blowout game that I think a lot of people were probably hoping for. And Amendola was fine, but until the concussion. He was great. But they're just missing that extra piece, which I think a lot of people thought was going to be good. Brady looked off.

But I think the people that are going to panic need to look at the schedule and realize that they go into New Orleans next week, which should be the perfect tonic for a bounce-back game. Yeah, actually the Chiefs have a fairly favorable schedule also. One of their games against Denver is in Week 17. Yeah, Brandon Cooks, as you mentioned, three catches for 88 yards, but he drew some pass interferences, including one in the end zone. Now, Danny Amendola is 35% owned. I know he's dealing with a concussion now,

but he had six catches for 100 yards on seven targets. He looked a lot like Edelman. Chris Hogan was a dud with one catch for eight yards on five targets, but he played 90% of the snaps. So who do you think is going to be better going forward? Let's say Amendola misses a week. Amendola or Hogan? I mean, Hogan's going to have probably the higher ceiling because of what his big play potential could be. We just didn't see it in that game. But the funny thing

was the stupid line coming out of New England of Amendola on a snap count. Who cares if he's on a snap count? When he's on the field, he's going to get targets. And that's the thing. We've talked about this for years. Don't buy into snap count with wide receivers. When they're involved in the offense, those targets are what matters more than what the snap count number is. So is he a must-add guy, Danny Amendola, at 35%?

I mean, let's get through the weekend and see what happens. You know, if there's other players that emerge. But he should absolutely. I mean, look, he was somebody that I was picking up in a lot of these deeper leagues for sure. And I think you should definitely put him on your radar because, like you said, if it's only a week and he's back in two weeks or he's back in three weeks, you know, he's going to have some very big moments. He had in the 2015 campaign when Edelman had the foot injury, he had six starts. Of those six starts, he had three games with, I think, 10 or more fantasy points.

So that's the type of player he'll be in this offense. We've got to talk about the Patriots running backs. Real quick, though, another Twitter poll. This was from Heath. Alex Smith will finish as the top six quarterback, 3% of the vote. Top 12 quarterback, 24% of the vote. Top 18 quarterback, 34%, or he's still Alex Smith, was the winner at 39%. What do you think?

I mean, there's going to be some games where they are run dominant. Remember, this is a defense that creates a lot of turnovers, and that's kind of been their staple over the last three years. So we could see some scenarios where they don't have to throw as much. It's nice to see that they're aggressive. And let's not forget, if they do have a little bit of a lull offensively, you have to wonder if Andy Reid and the coaching staff and the front office, do they get an itchy trigger finger and pull Alex Smith out of there

just to see what Mahomes could do, and then maybe he runs away with the job. So I would say he's probably a top 15 quarterback right now. But again, I just don't want to overreact to one week. Okay, then Mike Gillisley. Gilly boy! He only averaged three yards per carry, but so much of it was short yardage. James White played a lot more than he did.

James White played 53% of the snaps and had a good game, 68 total yards on 13 touches. Gillisley scored three short-yarded touchdowns. It was beautiful. Rex Burkhead did not have a very good game, but he did have some near-big plays. Could have had a better game. He got targeted in the end zone. Deion Lewis was basically a non-factor here. All right, who's the best Patriots running back in standard and then in PPR rest of season?

I think it's still the same that we were saying going into the season. Gillis leads the best in standard. James White, I don't know if he's the best in PPR, but he makes the most sense in PPR because when Gillis is going to score touchdowns, he's going to outscore James White. But those are the two main guys. Now, I think if Amendola is out, they're not going to have a choice but to use Rex Burkhead a

little bit more. And I think one interesting storyline to follow is, will the Bills release the rights to Anquan Bolden because of that report that he wanted to maybe sign with New England? And so now that you have Mitchell down, now that you have Amendola hurt, that's somebody maybe that they look at. But I think if you're still ranking them, it's Gillislee 1, James White 2, and Burkhead 3. I think Rex Burkhead is only like 37% of leagues or something like that. You're going to see him drop, which is understandable.

He played 12% of the snaps. Now, I got an email here from Aaron. The Thai Montgomery owner is offering me Montgomery for Mike Gillislee. Should I do it? Give up Gillislee? Yeah, for Montgomery. Montgomery for Mike Gilleslie. Should I do it? Give up Gilleslie? Yeah, for Montgomery. I had Gilleslie ranked ahead of Montgomery going into the season,

so I'm going to say yes. So would you say no? You'd rather have Gilleslie? Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, I'd rather have Gilleslie. And I can understand if it goes the other way. If you believe in Ty Montgomery, make that switch. But I'm just not. I think that Montgomery's potential is higher. But Gilleslie's touchdown potential supersedes that.

Montgomery's potential as a player is higher. Do you think you need to shop Mike Gilleslie right now and try to sell high? Yeah, it's not a bad idea. If you had guys rated or you looked at a rank list that you think it's better that they have a higher ceiling, then I think it's just one of those things where be aggressive with it. If you love Dalvin Cook, before Dalvin Cook plays a snap, just say, hey, let's see what happens Sunday, but I'll give you Mike Elsie for Dalvin Cook. It's on the table. Or Christian McCaffrey. Let me know about

Carlos Hyde. Carlos Hyde. If you believe in Carlos Hyde. Would you do that? Yeah, I think Carlos Hyde's got a higher ceiling. Here's the thing with Gillespie. There's going to be games where, and it could be next week against New Orleans because Tom Brady comes out and says, I'm not done at 40, and I'm

not this bad, and our offense passing game is not this bad. And those short area rushing touchdowns is a Dwayne Allen one, uh, Gronk two, you know, that that's the way that the touchdowns are dispersed. And so then he's, you know, 15 for 45 and nothing. So that's when you'll get the frustration level. I think I said this to you last night when we were chatting about the show today, that he'll have 12 games of 45 rushing yards and a touchdown. And that will be great. But then there'll be those four games where it's nothing and it could be costly to your team. Yeah, I'm more optimistic, I think, the most on Gillis League because I just think he's clearly their best running back.

And I think he's good. I think he's got really good vision. He seems very patient. And I think they could turn him into a more reliable running back than that. I'm hopeful. But you know it's going to be a little bit crazy. But at least he's set up to get those goal line touchdowns. Sure, you want to sell high?

It's got to be an obvious sell high because Gillis Lee is going to be a valuable player for you in fantasy. I think one thing, though, just to keep in mind, and this could kind of maybe be overblown a little bit, but if the passing game is not as succinct without Edelman, with Brady maybe losing a step or whatever, and again, don't overreact. I don't think he's lost a step, but just in case.

Then maybe they go back into what they were in the early Brady days of let's run the ball, protect our defense a little bit, and Gillespie's value does go up. All right, Jamie. Let's move on here and get to the games for Sunday. And first, you like looking good, right, Jamie? You look great right now. Okay, thank you.

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That's 50% off for a made-to-measure premium suit with free shipping. Indochino.com, promo code FFT for any premium suit for just $379 and free shipping. Now luckily we don't have a lot of news and notes today, but Odell Beckham is 50-50. The first game we're going to preview is the Chargers-Broncos on Monday night. Right now you have Eli Manning ahead of Phillip Rivers. Is that contingent on Odell Beckham playing? Yeah, of course. Rivers obviously has the tough matchup with the Broncos.

But, I mean, think about what the Cowboys are dealing with here. There's total revamp secondary. Pass rush could be an issue. Anthony Hitchens is out. So I'm going through my sleepers column right now, which I just really take the sleepers off of, start setting, expand on a little bit.

Eli's on that list. I'm sorry, Eli was a starter. He was originally on that list. And I think we'll just still get good production from him with or without Beckham. But it'll be close between him and Beckham. I don't know. Gosh, three of his last four games against the Cowboys has been like single-digit fantasy points.

Yeah, but three of the last four openers have been much better. Okay, well, last opener was good. The one before that was not. The ones before that were great. Yes, but things have changed. I mean, this is – I was going to talk about that when we got to the game. It's got a different feel now, the Giants-Cowboys games. It used to be like high-flying points all over the place.

It used to be a bonanza. Now it might be a Costanza. But, I mean, I can't – you would even consider starting in without Beckham, Eli? Yeah. All right. I just remember – I don't think the Dallas defense is going to be very good. No, it's going to be terrible.

Two years ago, the Giants were so bad in the one game that Beckham missed. That was at the Vikings. He got suspended. This will be a much easier test. I think he plays. I'd be so surprised if he didn't. Yeah, I'm just worried that he won't be healthy when he plays. Look, you're going to have to obviously take precautions with Beckham

because it's a Sunday night game. Heath and I talked about it yesterday. Maybe you could get like Ted Ginn who plays on Monday night. But you might have to play at St. Sterling Shepard's available everywhere. He is, yeah. Cincinnati wide receiver John Ross returned to practice. I know we're not that interested in him, but top ten pick in the NFL draft.

Buffalo gave LaShawn McCoy $2.5 million in incentives. That's good. Give him the ball now. Khalil Mack returned to practice, and Jamison Crowder, Jamie, was limited with a hip issue. What's your concern level for Jamison Crowder? Yeah, I'm concerned. I think the Redskins kind of downplayed it, which is hopefully the case,

that he'll be okay. But it's definitely something you've got to keep an eye on. Right now you have Kirk Cousins. Everybody has Cousins pretty high. Top 7th, 6th, and 9th for Jamie, Dave, and Heath respectively. If Crowder does not play, would you put Cousins behind, let's say, Carson Palmer, who you have 10th? Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

And behind Cam. And behind Cam. All right then. Let's get into the games. It's funny, man. Two of my guys from the offseason, Sneed with a suspension and Crowder with a hip injury. I'm not feeling so good right now. Yeah.

You have them in a lot of leagues? Oh, yeah. Of course. Yeah. I mean, sometimes, like for baseball, there were some guys that I really loved and I didn't get them in leagues. And I got lucky because one of them was Gregory Polanco. But, you know, it doesn't always happen. I have Gillislee in four of nine leagues, and I started him in three.

So that was good. You have Hunt, I know, in the Flex League. How many leagues do you have Kareem Hunt? I have him in zero. Three. One is in the other analyst league, and then one is our FFT league. Cool. All right.

Sorry, I was drinking water there. All right, let's get into the games. Now, we're going to go faster than we used to. I think we'll spend a lot of time on the first few games, but the easy calls, we're going to zip through. Because yesterday we talked a lot about starter sit, and I think you hopefully got some good information out of it. Heath and I talked about John Brown, who we really like as a flex.

Robbie Anderson, who we like as a flex, who was in my FanDuel lineup. We'll talk about that at the end of the show. And Bilal Powell, I talked about. But, you know, a lot more today. Chargers at Broncos. So this is interesting. I think Philip Rivers tried to sit, right? You're the highest on him.

You have Rivers 15th. Oh, no, Dave has him 14th. But try to sit Philip Rivers. Jamie has Carson Wentz and Manning and Tyrod Taylor ahead of him. And then Melvin Gordon, I was surprised, is outside your top 10. He's top 15 for everyone. The Broncos allowed the fifth most rushing yards per game in the NFL last year, 4.3 yards per carry.

They definitely should be better. But you figure Gordon's going to get at least 20 touches. So, I don't know, I was a little surprised to see that Gordon wasn't a top 10 running back. I mean, he's good. You're starting him. Yeah. All right. It's just a matter of that I like some other guys better.

Yeah. So do you like Dalvin Cook better? Yes. Interesting. So you, in theory, have C.J. Anderson ranked ahead of Gordon. And let's start there as we look at this Chargers-Broncos game on Monday night. How confident are you? Why are you so confident in C.J. Anderson?

Is it because Denzel Perryman is on IR for the Chargers? Because the truth is they actually had a pretty good run defense last year. It's a big reason that he's there, and I think he's healthy. I think whenever he's been healthy, he's had good performances for the most part throughout the course of his career. So it's looking at no parry minutes, looking at the way the Broncos are going to operate. I do buy into this offensive line

and the changes that they've made, so I expect that to be better. But yeah, I'm excited about CJ Anderson this week. All right, so he's 8th for Jamie, 11th for Dave, 12th for Heath in standard, 8th for Jamie, 17th for Dave in PPR, and 11th for Heath in PPR. The Chargers really struggled against running backs in the passing game last year. Does that mean Jamal Charles would have a sneaky 14-team PPR-type game?

Oh, yeah. I think if you're stuck, if you lost JGI, if you lost the Jockers-Rogers, any— McFadden. Yeah, if you didn't Jockers-Rogers, you know, any— McFadden. Yeah, if you didn't—if you expected to use McFadden, if you lose Crowder maybe as a flex option or the Bucs or Dolphins receivers or Beckham, maybe look at Charles as a flex. All right. So Jamie's calling his shot.

Jamie's big on C.J. Anderson this week. And good luck to you, sir. I will be starting C.J. Anderson as well. All right, the Chargers wide receivers. First of all, we're not starting Tyrell Williams, right? No, it's hard to start anybody really outside of Keenan Allen. He's somewhat risky. Yeah, let's talk about just how risky he is.

I'll give some noteworthy number one wide receivers against the Broncos last year. Week one, Kelvin Benjamin was great. Six catches, 91 yards, and a touchdown. worthy number one wide receivers against the Broncos last year. Week one, Kelvin Benjamin was great. Six catches, 91 yards, and a touchdown. After that, we saw consistently really good wide receivers get 11, 12 targets, and T.Y. Hilton was bad. A.J. Green, eight catches, 77 yards. Mike Evans, five catches, 59.

Julio Jones, two catches, 29 yards. Hopkins, five for 36. Cooper, six for 56. The Saints guys did well. But you're looking at Julio Green. Now, if you get eight catches for 77 yards in PPR, that's great. In standard, not so much. Julio Green, Hilton, Evans, Hopkins, Allen Robinson, for what it's worth.

Amari Cooper, terrible games against Denver. So tell me how you feel about Keenan Allen. I mean, the nice thing about it is, comparatively to most of those guys you mentioned, he's going to be on the inside while a lot of those guys play on the outside. So in theory, he's going to see Courtney Roby the most, which is not easy,

but he should avoid Harris and Aqib Talib. So that's the hope is that he wins some of those battles. I don't think he's a Tyreek Hill type performance where he's going to be 6 for 100 in touchdown. But I could see in the 80s with the hope that he scores. And so that's what you're kind of looking at here with him. Keenan Allen or Terrence West? I like Terrence West.

I think West has a big day without Vontaze Burford in there. Keenan, even PPR, you go West? No, I'll go Keenan Allen. Okay. Keenan Allen or Robbie Anderson? Still Keenan Allen. Okay. So he's not a terrible start.

No, he's a low-end number two. Gotcha. The tight ends, kind of interesting. For some reason, the Chargers' tight ends seem to do well against the Broncos. Do you think Hunter Henry is a start this week? Yeah, I think just by default. You know, with some of the matchups and where you drafted him. I didn't love the week for tight ends to begin with.

I had Delaney Walker ranked second. The hope would be that Gronk would have outperformed his matchup because he's Gronk. Yeah. But it's not a great week for tight ends. All right. So I wonder if you're desperate for a tight end. Do you actually think Antonio Gates could catch a touchdown?

He absolutely could, but it's kind of like touchdown or bust for him, I think. So Zach Miller or Antonio Gates? I would take the chance with Miller just with the hope that he gets a lot of targets. If we find out that Odell Beckham is out, would you go Evan Ingram? The Cowboys were so bad against tight ends late in the year last year. Evan Ingram or Hunter Henry? Probably still Henry, but that definitely makes Ingram more intriguing. You know, I think the report was that Rhett Ellison's going to actually get the start

because of his blocking. Yeah. And then Ingram will work in on obvious passing downs. Okay, yeah. Rhett Ellison, run blocker there. We go to the Broncos. You love C.J. Anderson. The Broncos' wide receivers did not do well against the Chargers last year.

They obviously played twice, and the Broncos caught one touchdown pass in those two games. And actually, the Chargers allowed the ninth-fewest fantasy point to opposing wide receivers. Only three receivers had more than 80 receiving yards. Actually, four. Four had more than 80 receiving yards all year. That was amazing when I saw that this morning. So are you nervous about Demarius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders? Yes.

I think Thomas and Keenan Allen are kind of in the same scenario. You know, they're kind of number two receivers by default with the hope that the volume that they get will help their cause. You know, losing Mike Evans and Devontae Parker and Jarvis Landry and Deshaun Jackson hurts a lot of fantasy owners, and it hurts us when we have to rank players because those are certainly three. I liked Deshaun Jackson a lot this week, but Mike Evans and Devontae Parker were guys that I think a lot of people were going to start, and Jarvis Landry is somebody in that conversation. When you see our rankings, it pushes up some guys that may not have been there when the week started. I think you're starting Thomas.

I'll just give you an example. I have one league where I may have to change things up, but I have Odell Beckham, A.J. Green. It's a 10-team league. Odell Beckham, A.J. Green, Sammy Watkins, and Demaryius Thomas. And I'm benching Thomas of that group. Now, obviously, there's two guys that are clearly better than him. But I think Sammy Watkins, for example, has a higher ceiling than Damaris Thomas and certainly than Emmanuel Sanders. Yeah, it's interesting.

A lot of people are going to just start the guys that they drafted in the first few rounds, and Thomas is going to be risky. Emmanuel Sanders is even riskier, obviously. So how would you rank Thomas, Allen, Sanders? Just like that? I would rank them Allen, Thomas, Sanders. Oh, Allen, Thomas, Sanders. Okay.

And would you start Sanders or Paul Perkins? I would start Paul Perkins. Okay. All right. That's about it with this game, I think. Those Denver wide receivers are a little bit risky, and Emmanuel Sanders is kind of a number three, right? Yes.

Okay. Denver DST, fifth for Jamie, eighth for Dave, third for Heath. Let's go to the other Monday night game, New Orleans at Minnesota. I asked Heath. He has no concerns about starting Drew Brees. Do you have any concerns about starting Drew Brees? Slight, but it's not where I'm going to, you know, if I only drafted Drew Brees,

I'm not going to go to the waiver wire and pick somebody up. And if I have, the only two guys I think that I would consider it would be if I drafted Brees and Marcus Mariota. And if I drafted Brees and maybe Carson Palmer, just because I think Palmer will play well against Detroit. All right, but you do as of now have Brees sixth overall. And Dave has him fifth, and Heath has Brees fifth. So we're just going to go ahead and say start Drew Brees. The running backs for the Saints, yes or no? Is Adrian Peterson getting his revenge?

It wouldn't surprise me. Like I went back and forth on him in start-sit, and I just thought he could easily have one of those Mike Gilleslie-type touchdowns. He could have a Mike Gilleslie game with only one score, you know, 45 rushing yards in the touchdown. The Vikings clearly are a very good defense. They don't give a lot of production to running backs. And that's what makes this tough for both these guys.

But I do think that without Willie Sneed, Mark Ingram becomes more viable in passing game. Same with Alvin Kamara and maybe even Peterson. So I think you're starting Ingram. You're considering Peterson, depending on your situation. You're starting Mark Ingram? And Kamara is off the table. So I'm just surprised to hear you say that you're starting Mark Ingram

because obviously it's a tough matchup at Minnesota, and we don't know what the carries are going to be like. You have him ahead of Rob Kelly, Ty Montgomery, Leonard Fournette. So what do you expect from Ingram? I'm expecting a total yard type game with a chance to score. So, again, it's not going to be a Kareem Hunt type game. It's not going to be one of Mark Ingram's best games. But he's a good player, and they're going to lean on him as much as they possibly have to

with one less player in their receiving core and a big part of their receiving core. So you can get by with him as a number two guy. But again, he's in that, like we were talking about Demaryius Thomas, Keenan Allen. I don't think it's a slam dunk. I guess I should rephrase. I don't think it's a slam dunk that Mark Ingram's a starter for your team, but you probably will have to start him based on where he was drafted and what your team may look like. Well, you put Kareem Hunt ahead of Ingram in the rankings, so that was a good call.

Keenan Allen or Mark Ingram? I would probably take my chances with Ingram there. All righty. Let's go to Michael. No concerns about Michael Thomas? I mean, he could... Yes, concerns. Okay.

I mean, it's a tough matchup. Xavier Rhodes is great. But Thomas is... You've got to hope that talent outperforms talent. Yeah. If he doesn't have a good game, don't panic. He'll be fine. Even though he gets the Patriots next week,

it could be a tough start for the Saints. That's a home game, though. Ted Ginn. How desperate do you have to be to start Ted Ginn? Number three receiver. He's certainly got some upside. He's going to avoid Xavier Rhodes, so that's a positive. But the rest of the Vikings secondary is clearly good.

So I wouldn't necessarily overvalue him. He doesn't become what Willie Sneed potentially could have been. He doesn't become what Brandon Cooks was when he was in New Orleans. But I wouldn't be surprised if he has 70 or 80 yards receiving. Ginn or Emmanuel Sanders? I still take Sanders. All right. Kobe Fleener is 12th for you in standard, 13th in PPR.

This was not a huge strength of the Vikings' defense. They were not great against tight ends last year. So you're not starting Fleener with confidence, right? It's just like, who else am I going to start? No, but if you want to point to something, the game that Willie Sneed missed last year,

which was week three with a toe injury, that was the best game Fleener had with the Saints. It was seven catches for 109 yards on 11 targets. Okay.

So hopefully Drew Brees goes back to a similar form and leans on him a little bit. Fleener or Ebron? Oh, Fleener. I have no faith in Ebron. Yeah, tough, tough matchup. Sam Bradford, if you're desperate, is 18th for Jamie and Dave and 17th for Heath.

The Saints, look, they could have a better defense this year, but let's see it first. They allowed the most passing yards per game in the NFL. We're going to start Dalvin Cook. Stephon Diggs, a no-brainer? I would say so, yeah. Diggs over Demarius? I don't know if I have it ranked that way, but I probably should change it.

Okay, so people start Stefan Diggs. Adam Thielen or Ted Ginn? Who's a better flyer? Ginn. Adam Thielen or Robbie Anderson? Anderson. Adam Thielen or let me give you a running back, Darren Sproles. Are you just saying it because you want to sing?

Is Darren Sproles more than a Thielen? I would take my chances with Sproles. By the way – I like Thielen. I think some of the other guys you're mentioning have a little higher ceiling. Nando said that I should cheer you up today by singing to you. He was going to write a song with a very inappropriate word that you know he loves very much. And I was going to sing it to you, but he never gave me any lyrics. It's Star Kyle Rudolph.

So that's probably a good thing. Let's go to the Giants and the Cowboys. Sunday Night Football. And Dak Prescott or Eli Manning? Eli Manning. Dak Prescott combined for 18 fantasy points against the Giants last year.

I know. But even if Beckham doesn't play? He will get 18 fantasy points in that game. Okay. Start Ezekiel Elliott. No concerns there. Let's just go back to Dak real quick, although I think we talked about this yesterday. So you'd start Palmer over Dak, right? Yes.

Tyrod Taylor over Dak? Yes. All right. So Dez Bryant, you're more concerned about it than Heath is. You know what's kind of interesting? Like Dez Bryant, well-documented at this point now, negative fantasy point. On 14 targets in two games against the Giants last year. Had a touchdown. Called back.

Or maybe like just dropped it. I don't remember. It was week one. And I looked at like other noteworthy number one wide receivers. And they did okay. Nothing great against the Giants. But nothing like you're going to definitely sit them. So it was weird.

Like Bryant was the absolute worst. Janoris Jenkins just had his number. So is he an automatic start this week, Dez Bryant? No. I think, again, you look at what the Giants secondary is, what the Giants defense is, how good they are, and it's going to be tough for Dez. You know, you can bracket coverage him. You don't have to worry about Terrencerence Williams you don't have to really worry about Cole Beasley Jason Witten's had the Giants number in season openers but I'm sure that they feel confident that they could you know kind of take him uh not away but you know limit him Des is the guy in the past game you have to limit and they have the corners to do it they have the safety to do it they have the system to do it they have the pass rush I I think, to get into Dak's way.

Yeah, Dez is a low end number two. We talked about this coming into the season that this is one of his tougher matchups, and I think it's going to play out that way. So we're not loving Keenan Allen. We're not loving Demarius Thomas. We're not loving Dez Bryant. So who are some wide receivers that were drafted after these guys that you do really like this

week that have good matchups? Well, if Crowder was healthy, I would say him for sure. Pryor? Huh? Pryor? Well, yeah, Pryor was drafted probably ahead of Demary Thomas. Watkins I know you like a lot. Who?

Watkins. Watkins is somebody. Kelvin Benjamin? Benjamin's the one. Oh, Larry Fitzgerald. I like drawing a blank on the name. Kelvin Benjamin. Benjamin's the one. Oh, Larry Fitzgerald. I like his matchup against the Lions. I mean, you can make a case for John Brown as well. That's somebody that has a good situation.

All right, I'm going to put you on the spot then. You got John Brown. You got Des Bryant. You need one. Who are you taking? I have Des ranked higher, but I'm just saying you could say that John Brown has a higher ceiling this week. John Brown is in my FanDuel lineup. He will be in many FanDuel lineups.

Okay, Eli Manning, Jamie's talked about. And starters at Paul Perkins in this game, Jamie? I think he's a flex. I'm going to move him up a little bit. I think without Hitchens in there with a game that the Giants can, I think, I don't want to say control time of possession because that's typically something Dallas does well when their offense is clicking. But I think this is a game where the Giants can have a lead and lean on their run game a little bit.

So I'm not scared of Paul Perkins in this matchup, and I'm not scared of using him again if I'm stuck. I guess I have Perkins in two leagues. One, I'm starting him because I don't have many other choices, and one, I'm considering him as a flex. If Beckham plays, do you start either Brandon Marshall or Sterling Shepard? I think Marshall has a good opportunity here. It's a Dallas defense that's just not very good against the pass, or should not be very good against the pass. It's a totally new secondary for them.

I don't see this pass rush being an issue for what the Giants offensive line woes typically will be. So Marshall is just outside my top 24, and he's in that flex conversation. And if Beckham doesn't play, does Shepard become like a top 30 receiver? Yeah, for sure. Okay. All right. And Evan Ingram is not a terrible option. I don't, you know, personally Evan Ingram is not a terrible option. Personally, I think it's a little contingent on Beckham, but he looks like a pretty good player, and if you're desperate for a tight end, would you go Evan Ingram or Kobe Fleener?

Fleener, but if Beckham's out, it becomes closer. All right, so look, tight end actually was a position that I had trouble filling out in my FanDuel lineup, but I do want to tell you that football is back and FanDuel is back. And you should go to FanDuel.com right now and sign up using our promo code CBS Pod. Just click the Join Now button and use our promo code CBS Pod, and you'll get free entry into the NFL Sunday Million. And that's a pretty cool contest to be a part of because over a million dollars in cash prizes void where prohibited. Again, the promo code is CBSPod. Contests start at just $1. I'm in a 50-50 for $5.

It's going to be a 100-person contest, and 50 of us are going to win some money. So it's low risk. It's fun, though, and I love making the lineups. And there's just, you know, if you want to play higher risk, you certainly can do that. Over 2.5 million players have won a cash prize playing fantasy sports on FanDuel. We'll reveal my FanDuel lineup later, but when you do all the start

sit research and you see the good matchups and you see a guy like Kelvin Benjamin and what the 49ers did and how bad they were against wide receivers last year, you go, that's the first guy I'm putting in my lineup and then I'm going to fill in the rest around Kelvin Benjamin. Please come through Kelvin Benjamin. Please don't make me look bad.

So again, go to FanDuel.com, click the Join Now button, and use the promo code CBSPOD for free entry into the NFL Sunday Million. Promo code is CBSPOD. Void where prohibited. All right, so those were some tough games. We'll go a little bit faster now. Actually, this one's kind of tough too. Baltimore at Cincinnati.

Do you have faith in either quarterback in this game? I think Flacco is not bad in a two-quarterback league if you're stuck. No Pac-Man Jones, no Vontaze Perfect. His numbers against them are horrible, though. And first game back in the back injury, so he's low, low, low on the pecking order. I would much rather have Sam Bradford than Joe Flacco. And you'd rather have Flacco just ahead of Dalton, so you don't think much of Dalton this week. No, I think the Ravens, I don't know how many teams did this, but they're one of maybe one that did not allow a touchdown to an opposing first-team offense in the preseason.

So I think this defense could be back to being legit. Yeah, looks pretty good. Is Terrence West your favorite running back in this game? Yes. The numbers, I can tell you right now, when Vontaze Perfect does not play, are very favorable for the opposing running backs, as you can imagine. But I don't have it in front of me. I'm sorry. I can tell you what it was last year.

So it was five games without Perfect, and a running back scored 11 or more fantasy points in standard scoring leagues in four of them. That's pretty good. The yards per carry weren't always great, but the fantasy production was there. And you have Woodhead coming back from the hamstring injury. It seems he's going to be fine, but he didn't practice very much. Yeah, so what do you think about Woodhead?

He's kind of a tough one in this game. I think he's a flex in standard leagues, and he's still a low-end starter in PPR just with the hope that now we get to see what this offense looks like, and now we get to see if Joe Flacco leans on Danny Woodhead like he leaned on his running backs. You know, 100 catches to that position last year. West was certainly a part of that, so he'll be involved too. But this could be a real good situation for Woodhead and for West,

especially without Burfechter. Woodhead or Tevin Coleman? Woodhead and for West, especially without Burfechter. Woodhead or Tevin Coleman? Woodhead PPR. Woodhead or Keenan Allen? Still Keenan Allen. Okay. Just start Terrence West. He's very good this week.

Any wide receivers that you like in this game other than A.J. Green? Again, I think it's going to be interesting to see how the Ravens' wide receivers operate. But if I had to pick one, it'll still be the one that I liked coming into the year, and that's Jeremy Macklin. I'm always a big fan of guys in debut games. I'd like to wait and see, though. I'd like to wait and see. I mean, look, no Pac-Man Jones and no Sean Williams, a cornerback and a safety.

So there's opportunity there. I just don't know what to expect. I have Macklin in a few leagues, and I'm not starting him yet. I totally agree. Totally agree. You know, it's different than Brandon Cooks. You know, Brandon Cooks, you're starting no matter what. I'm just talking about a guy with a new team.

Macklin, we haven't seen him with Flacco yet on the field. So it should be a wait-and-see approach. But if, I mean, to answer your question, you know, outside of A.J. Green, who would I pick? I would pick Jeremy Macklin, we haven't seen him with Flacco yet on the field, so it should be a wait-and-see approach. But to answer your question, outside of A.J. Green, who would I pick? I would pick Jeremy Macklin. You're going to start Tyler Eifert, although he's a little bit low in the rankings, but it's hard to get away from him. And then Ben Watson is kind of low, 18th for Jamie, 21st for Dave, 19th for Heath, slightly better in PPR.

Cincinnati allowed the fourth-most fantasy points to tight ends last year, but it's a huge risk on Ben Watson. So Jamie has Evan Ingram ahead of him. Let's go to the Bears hosting the Falcons here. Any reason to avoid Ryan, Julio, Freeman, or Coleman? Nope. All right, Coleman's got to be an interesting one. The other ones are obvious starts. Coleman or Terrence West in standard? Nope. No. All right, Coleman's got to be an interesting one. The other ones are obvious starts.

Coleman or Terrence West in standard? Terrence West. Coleman or Ty Montgomery? Ty Montgomery. Coleman or John Brown? John Brown. Ooh, okay. But I know you like John Brown, so it's not a diss on Coleman.

Anybody other than Jordan Howard for the Bears? For the Bears? You're stuck. Kednell Wright or Kevin White could be interesting. Zach Miller could be interesting. Miller or Ben Watson? Who do you like better? Miller.

Miller or Evan Ingram? Ingram. I don't think many people are going to be starting a Bears wide receiver. But the Falcons, their defense got pretty good at the end of last year. So I don't know how owned they are, but Jamie's got the Falcons DST 8th, Dave has them 11th, and Heath has them 5th. I think that's it. One encouraging stat for Howard. The Bears got beaten badly four times after he became the feature back. I don't like guys that are going to get blown out.

Running backs on bad teams are going to get blown out. He managed to rush for 100 yards in three of those four games. So they might get blown out, but based on last year, that doesn't mean Howard can't have a good game. Austin Hooper or Zach Miller? Austin Hooper. Ho Miller? Austin Hooper. Hooper! Alright, thank you, Jamie. Let's go to Arizona and Detroit and Carson

Palmer. Heath and I talked about Palmer a lot yesterday. He's a top 10 quarterback. He's behind Breeze. He's behind Roethlisberger, but multiple touchdown passes in six of his last seven games, and he's just got a great matchup. So he's better than Stafford, and you're sitting Stafford, right? Yes.

One touchdown, three interceptions in 2015 when he faced the Cardinals. That was with Calvin Johnson. I don't think he's going to have a big game this week. Larry Fitzgerald must start in – he's always starting in PPR, but is Larry Fitzgerald a must-start in standard scoring leagues? Yes. Is he better than Demarius Thomas and Keenan Allen? Yes.

All right. John Brown is a good flex this week. We like him, and you might want to pick him up for the future, not just for this week. John Brown, get him. So David Johnson is in my fan-only lineup. Hooray for me. And that's it for the Cardinals. So the Lions.

Are there any Lions that you're confident in this week? No. Golden Tate would be the best one just because he can avoid Peterson. He can play on the slot. But they still have enough good defensive backs that will be able to slow him down. Marvin Jones, Kenny Galladay. I'm not starting those guys, clearly. Eric Ebron has a tough matchup.

The Cardinals were number one against tight ends last year. They'll be very good against that position again. And then Amir Abdullah, it's just hard to trust him right now until we see— hard to trust him in a good matchup. I'm sorry, hard to trust him in a bad matchup. What about Deion Buchanan not being there? Does that help Abdullah? No, I think they're just too good.

That's going to be tough without Taylor Decker playing. I want to see it first from Abdullah. You know I like Abdullah. I drafted him to be a starter. A couple leagues I'm stuck. He's the only running back I have that's quality enough to start this week. But if I could avoid it, I definitely will. I am starting him in one league where I think I'm starting four running backs.

So you might be stuck. But would you start Fournette or Abdullah? Fournette. Would you start Forte or Abdullah? Forte. Okay. Fair enough. Oh, I said fair enough again.

And we talked about Golden Tate yesterday. It's Terrence West or Golden Tate in a flex? Terrence West. Even in PPR? Yes. Okay. Arizona's DST absolutely start them. Jacksonville is at Houston. This is a game Heath and I talked about

at length yesterday. Is there anyone in this game that you're confident starting? Lamar Miller. You are? Yeah. You didn't like my stat that only two running backs scored double-digit fantasy points in Jacksonville's last nine games against the Jaguars last year. I still think he's going to get enough work that it may not be the best game for him, but it should be good enough that he gets you number two running back production.

Allen Robinson or John Brown? John Brown. Is Allen Robinson a sit? If you can, yes. Is Hopkins a sit? No. Okay, how come? How come you like Hopkins better?

I think the targets will be there for him, and I think the offense is better than what the Jaguars are dealing with. Okay, so you just think volume for Miller and for Hopkins. Yep. Fitzgerald for Hopkins? Yep. Fitzgerald or Hopkins? Fitzgerald. Tevin Coleman or Allen Robinson? Coleman.

Leonard Fournette, your thoughts? I'd like to take a wait-and-see approach if I can. Again, similar to Amir Abdullah, there's a couple leagues where I'm stuck starting Fournette, but Houston's run defense is going to be good. I think Dave said this the other day. Amir Abdullah. There's a couple leagues where I'm stuck starting for net, but Houston's run defense is going to be good. I think Dave said this the other day. I don't know if it was on one of our shows or not, but the last time the Jaguars had a running back score against the Texans was 2013.

I think it was. Maurice Jones drew his last year, the last good year. It's been a while since the Jaguars had a running back score. Wow, that's a great stat. Okay, how many running backs in the Seattle-Green Bay game would you start over Fournette? Just Montgomery. All right, let's go to that game. And by the way, the Texans DST, yes, yes please. Number one for Jamie and for Heath this week.

Last year, Green Bay won 38-10 at Lambeau. They had big games. 2015, Green Bay won 27-17 at Lambeau. So they played Seattle at Lambeau twice each in the last two years. They put up 27 and 38 points. Are you nervous about any Packers? Montgomery, just because the addition of Sheldon Richardson will make things tough on the run game. But I think it's hard to avoid him, again, given the week and given the circumstances.

PPR, he's better than in standard, but I don't love Ty Montgomery this week. But you do like him better than Fournette? Yes. One spot ahead in standard. Okay, so you actually are the high guy on Ty Montgomery. Oh, no, Heath is. Heath has the 17th Dave has time Montgomery 30th

Yeah, it'll be interesting And as far as the Seahawks running backs go Just kind of wait and see I would say so I mean, Thomas Rawls should be the best It would not surprise me if Chris Carson is the best You know, just with How Eddie Lacy has looked

But I would imagine that they may give touches to at least three guys and potentially four guys. It could be like the Patriots, except without the upside of a Gillisley. Better chance for a comeback touchdown, Eddie Lacy or Adrian Peterson? Oh, Peterson. Really? Yeah. I have no faith in Eddie Lacy.

Anybody you're starting? You're starting Russell Wilson and Doug Baldwin, right? No problems here? Yes. I love Doug Baldwin's matchup this week. I love his situation. And Russell Wilson is my number two ranked quarterback behind the guy who flopped last night, not named Alex Smith. Tom Brady.

It's interesting because Dave has Wilson 11th. Heath has him 6th. He was terrible at Green Bay last year through five interceptions. Had arguably his worst game as a pro. Healthy guy. Healthy. Yeah. But the offensive line was really the problem in that game as a pro. Healthy guy. Healthy. Yeah, but the offensive line was really

the problem in that game. But okay. If you drafted Russell Wilson, you're starting him. You're starting Jimmy Graham. Seahawks DST. You have him 12th. Dave has him 5th. Heath has him 9th. Green Bay allowed the third fewest points to DSTs. Which DSTs

would you start over the Seahawks this week? The Rams, the Texans, the Falcons, the Ravens, the Bills. Panthers. The Panthers. Okay. But try to stat, like, don't drop the Seahawks? Would you try to roster two this week?

I don't think it's a bad idea. I'm in one league where I have the Chiefs. I held on to the Chiefs. I picked up the Bills. If you can afford the roster space to carry two DSTs, you do it. Otherwise, you just take your lumps. There's a lot of DSTs that don't have good matchups. The Chiefs, for one,

clearly they did better than I think a lot of people expected, but they didn't have a great fantasy day. The Seahawks, the Vikings, these are all defenses drafted to be in the upper echelon, and they're potentially going to struggle. Yep, absolutely. All right, we've got five games left. Let's see if we can do it in 10 minutes.

I knew this was going to be a problem. Oakland at Tennessee. Oh, I haven't picked a Bonanza yet, but you won't let me, right? Not that one. All right. Start of the week is— Listen, you didn't give me the chance to give you a toast, so you have to adhere to my new – Fine, fine.

Mariota is your start of the week. Can I say Chiefs Patriots, by the way? Bonanza? Yes, sir. Derek Carr or Carson Palmer? Derek Carr. Is there anyone you don't want to start in this game? Save for the Raiders running backs. We'll spend a little more time on that. Derek Carr. Is there anyone you don't want to start in this game?

Save for the Raiders running backs. We'll spend a little more time on that. But anyone else in this game that you don't want to start? I don't think you want to start the Titans wide receivers if you don't have to. It's one of those things where one or two of those guys are going to play well. It's just a matter of which of the group. Like Decker's got a great matchup. Matthews has the rapport and the health.

Corey Davis could have a splash play or two, you know, depending on how healthy he is. I do like Delaney Walker a lot. It's one of those situations where I wish I had more confidence in one of the receivers because I do have so much confidence in Marcus Mariota. But it's just hard to say which of that group will step up. And I think that could be the frustration for a lot of people moving forward is that we could see one week it's Matthews, one week it's Decker, one week it's Davis, Walker, maybe Tywon Taylor. So it's just hard to say that one guy is going to step forward. But I do think if I had to pick one, it would be Decker.

So like Emmanuel Sanders, you have as the number three receiver, is he ahead of all the Tennessee guys? No, he's behind Decker and Matthews. I think for the season, until one guy really starts to materialize, like Decker scored, I think it's 14 of 18 games he scored a touchdown. Wow. So he's going to have the – it's funny because they're like the Patriots running backs. Decker is Gillisley, touchdown or bust.

Matthews, I think, is Burkhead because you don't know what you're going to expect, but every now and then he'll pop up and have a good game. And Davis is James White where you know he can end up being the best if he's ever used the right way, but he's never going to be used the right way. Right. And he's available, Corey Davis, in some leagues, so he's got a ton of potential. Crabtree's a start. Cooper's a start for sure. Would you start Derek Henry over Thomas Rawls? Yes, I think Henry's got a chance to score.

We're going to see DeMarco Murray get as close to his usual workload would be my anticipation, but I would not be surprised if, as we saw last year, I think it was five of his final six or four of his final five games, he was getting close to 10 carries a game. I think he was averaging like nine-something carries a game for Henry. And so you're giving that guy nine to ten touches. If it's the right nine or ten touches, he could end up with the Gillisley line minus the multiple scores, like 40 yards and a touchdown.

And would you start Marshawn Lynch or Leonard Fournette? Lynch, again, debut game. It's a tough matchup, but I think it's going to be one of the higher-scoring games of the week. I know I'm taking the bonanza away from you, but it has that feeling to it. And last year was a dud, 17-10 was the final score games of the week. I know I'm taking the Bonanza away from you, but it has that feeling to it. And last year was a dud, 17-10, was the final score for these two teams. I think it's going to be a game that gets it to the 30s.

So you can't look at Lynch and say, he's not going to be involved. Lynch or Macklin? Oh, Lynch. Lynch or Garcon? Lynch standard, Garcon PPR. You didn't take the Bonanza away from me, Jamie. Packers, Seahawks, B-B-B-B-B-Bonanza!

Wow. Okay. I think we're done with this game here. Start Delaney Walker, sit the DSTs. Jets and Bills. Robbie Anderson or Eric Decker? Decker. Robbie Anderson or Eric Decker? Decker. Robbie Anderson or Corey Davis?

Anderson. Robbie Anderson or Corey Coleman? Anderson. Forte or Lynch? Lynch. Forte or Powell? Powell. Even in standard?

Yeah. I think both guys have good chances this week. But if I had to pick one, I'm going to pick Powell because he's the better of the two. All right. So is Robbie Anderson the best wide receiver in this game? Because Jordan Matthews is going to play. Zay Jones is there. Yeah, I would rank them Anderson, Jones, Matthews.

Let me see. Where do you have Robbie Anderson? In the 30s. Yeah. I might be getting too excited about him, but I think it's a shot worth taking. This is an entirely new secondary for the Bills. I don't think it's going to be very good. And Tyrod Taylor is startable.

Taylor or Eli? Eli right now. But obviously not if Beckham's out. It will change if Beckham's not there yet. Charles Clay. I'll just give you an example. I have Jameis Winston in one league. He's the only quarterback I drafted.

I'm waiting until Saturday night because I don't want to give anybody the chance to pick up any of the players I may drop. And Eli is on the waiver wire. Tyrod's on the waiver wire. I wish Carson Palmer was on the waiver wire, but he's not. Right now my target is Eli, but that might change. Charles Clay is 24% owned. If you need a tight end this week, you go with Charles Clay. You start him over Ebron without hesitation, and you start him over Fleener.

Clay or Fleener? Clay. And if you need a DST, the Bills DST is a good one, number three, number two, number seven for Jamie, Dave, and Heath. I thought about this one as a bonanza. Philadelphia at Washington. Is this a high-scoring game in your opinion? Yes. Should be fun.

Hopefully, Jameson Crowder is healthy. Hopefully, the Eagles wide receivers come to play like we saw in that Dolphins game where Torrey Smith and Alshon Jeffrey both scored. And, yeah, I think both quarterbacks have a shot here. I think both running games will be interesting. It doesn't matter which Philadelphia running back steps up. I feel like we're going to shortchange the listeners a little bit, so I am sorry. But just to make sure we get this in without doing like an hour and 20 minute show. Rob Kelly, Marshawn Lynch. Who do you like? Rob Kelly.

How do you approach the receivers in Washington? If Crowder plays, Pryor one, Crowder two, both top 15 guys for me. So Pryor is a must start no matter what? Yes. And Alshon no matter what? Yes. And Alshon is as well? Yes. And the tight ends? No, he's got Josh Norman. He's got a great track record, I guess. He does, yeah. And the tight ends are must-starts. Would you like Pryor or Jeffrey better this week?

I like Pryor. Alright, how desperate do you have to be to start Wendell Smallwood or the Garrett Blunt or Darren Sproles? I think Sproles is an okay start in PPR, you know, just because I think his role, we haven't seen it in the preseason, but his role should be solidified. In standard, though, you know what he is. He's, you get a James White type game, you know, so 60 to 70 total yards.

White gave you 68 last night. So that's what would be my expectation. But Sproles, I think, is the safest of the group. Blunt could score. I hope Smallwood plays well. That's the thing I'm looking forward to the most is watching Wendell Smallwood. Yeah, me too. We've been talking about him all week.

Would you go with Smallwood or Derek Henry? I'd go with Henry. Smallwood or Paul Perkins? Perkins. Okay, so it's definitely we're not rushing to start Wendell Smallwood. No, you can't. I mean, it's just too crowded. Smallwood or Blunt?

Still Blunt. I think, again, just the chance of touchdown is higher for him. Okay. Colts at Rams. Gurley is a must start. The only thing here that I thought was interesting was, well, T.Y. Hilton and Sammy Watkins. Who do you like better? I like Sammy Watkins a lot better.

Do you like T.Y. Hilton? Do you like him better than Keenan Allen? No, I do not like T.Y. Hilton at all. Do you like T.Y. Hilton better? I like him as a person. He's a nice guy. I would start a lot of people over him. Would you start Ty Montgomery over him?

Yes. Okay. Would you start Ty Montgomery over him? Yes. Okay. Would you start Robbie Anderson over T.Y. Hilton? Yes. And I like the opportunity for Watkins. I was just a little concerned. Just hasn't had much time in training camp with Goff. Goff was so bad last year.

You're not concerned? You think Watkins must start? Yes. Okay. Pittsburgh at Cleveland. Any surprises here, or just start all the obvious guys? I think you're starting all the obvious guys. I don't think it's a situation where you want to start the Browns receivers yet. Let's see how this goes. Corolla makes me a little nervous just because I think the Steelers defense is going to be really good. But again, you're

starting him. I would start the obvious Steelers, yes. That Le'Veon Bell guy here, he's pretty good. How obvious is Martavis Bryant? Where is he on the start-o-meter? 0-10? Oh, must. Because he hasn't been very good on the road. He's caught almost all of his touchdowns at home. Yeah, I'm still starting him.

The Browns lost Joe Hayden. That's another piece of the puzzle that's missing in that secondary. You know what? Let me add Hayden. Best's another piece of the puzzle that's missing in that secondary. You know what? Miles Garrett. So let me add Hayden. Best chance to score a revenge touchdown, Peterson, Lacey, or Joe Hayden? Peterson. All right.

Vance McDonald is 24th for Jamie and not ranked for Dave and Heath. We ranked 24 guys. And Ben Roethlisberger, even though he's on the road. And even though he didn't do well against the Browns on the road last year. It was a monsoon. You start Ben Roethlisberger as a top 10 guy. Carolina at San Francisco. This is probably the one we're going to shortchange.

And I do apologize for that. But you are Cam Newton or Ben Roethlisberger? Cam Newton. No, Ben Roethlisberger. Who's the best running back in this game in standard? Who's the best running back in this game in PPR? Christian McCaffrey in both. Oh, he's better than Hyde, huh?

Yes. Is Hyde a sit or just McCaffrey's really good? No, I just think McCaffrey's going to be this is the this is we get to see, finally. Full game, full touches, full snap count. Let's go. Pierre Garçon or Keenan Allen? Keenan Allen still. Pierre Garçon or

Adam Thielen? Pierre Garçon. Why do I like Calvin Benjamin So so much Because one thing I believe in him And two The oh gosh where's the stat It was such a good stat

Well you could not believe how bad The 49ers were against wide receivers Last year it's just It's staggering so a wide receiver Scored double digit fantasy points in standard Scoring leagues in 13 Of 16 games last year and a Lot of like huge games

So start Them up he's in my fan to a lineup And here is my fan to a lineup Just need a moment Jamie have you made your lineups yet No all right so My awesome Fan to a lineup is, tell me what you think. Mariota, Le'Veon Bell, and David Johnson.

Heard of them? Uh-huh. Kelvin Benjamin, John Brown, and Robbie Anderson, Greg Olson, Greg Zerline, and the Steelers. Very good. It's pretty hot. And I have 200 left over, and the Steelers. Very good. It's pretty hot. And I have 200 left over, so I might upgrade at wide receiver. But it's Mariota, Bell, David Johnson, Kelvin, John Brown, Anderson, Robbie Anderson, Greg Olson, Zerline, and the Steelers.

Love it. Thank you. Good show. A little long. We're working on it. We've got to get our pacing right. We'll get there. And I want to thank Jamie for coming on.

Now we're going to end this show and do a mailbag right now. FantasyFootball at CBSi.com. You're going to hear it on Saturday. Have a great weekend, everybody. And good luck in week one. Bye. It's all right. I've got Le'Veon.

It's all right. Not George Le'Veon. It's all right. I've got Le'Veon. It's alright. Not George Le'Veon. It's alright. I've got Le'Veon Bell.