Fantasy Football Today - 10/03: Start or Sit (AFC); Most Traded (Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: October 3, 2019

Which side wins: Saquon Barkley and Will Fuller or Joe Mixon and Stefon Diggs? Adam tries to convince everyone that he didn't get fleeced! Then we talk about the Most Traded players (8:40) and see if there are some players to target in trade ... Tullamore Dew Players of the Week (12:18)! David Montgomery should be great and there are a number of sneaky WRs who could be worth using. We've got 60-second rankings disputes (17:40) on Andy Dalton, Devonta Freeman and more plus your news and notes (25:30) ... ATL-HOU (29:30), DEN-LAC (37:05), IND-KC (45:30), BAL-PIT (57:00), CLE-SF (1:04:00), CHI-OAK (1:12:00), BUF-TEN (1:13:50) ... 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

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Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Hey, welcome to the Thursday edition. This is Fantasy Football Today. What's going on? Adam Azer, Dave Richard, Jamie Iser, Heath Cummings. We have seven games to preview, six AFC home games, plus we threw in Monday Night Football, Cleveland at San Francisco. And here are some stats. This is not my best intro, just a disclaimer here.

Here are some stats to consider. Keenan Allen has averaged 49 yards per game in eight career meetings against Denver. Did you know that, guys? I bet you do that. Pretty bad. Pretty bad, right? I think his last game he had 100 yards and a touchdown, right? No. No. I don't think so.

I think he had a touchdown. I don't know if he had 100. Frank Gore owners, if you want to start Frank Gore, the Titans have not allowed double-digit fantasy points in non-PPR to a running back yet. What else we got? What else we got today? I can give you a better stat than that.

Yes, please. So the Titans are averaging 4.5 yards per carry this year. It's on the strength of two long runs. One was by Jordan Wilkins. Remember when Wilkins had that surprising run? And then remember in the Thursday night game when Leonard Fournette had negative rushing yards? And then he had a 69-yard run?

Those two runs have bloated that average. Take those two away. They're averaging like 3.3 yards per carry. Yeah, I was a little bit off. He scored 33.5 fantasy points in two games against the Broncos last year. That's Keenan Allen? Yeah, two games.

He's caught five touchdowns against the Broncos. Most of any team he's faced. Obviously, you're looking at the AFC West teams there. But 49 yards per game against the Broncos in his career. It's pretty interesting. They did well against... It's not interesting? I don't care what happened five years ago.

I don't really care what happened last year. All right. Well, what about this year? I mean, look at what the Broncos have done to number ones. I think Devontae Adams had a bad game, and Allen Robinson had a bad game. You're just going to dismiss that, Heath? Tyrell Williams had a good game.

He did. He had the best game, basically. Yeah, he had a very good game. And DJ Chark would have scored on the holding call, taking that away. Yeah. Chark should have had a monster game. And Keenan Allen's better than all those guys.

Is he better than Devontae Adams? Yeah. I would really like to see Mike Williams back, though. As a football player, he absolutely is. I mean, look at their careers. Keenan Allen or Devontae Adams? Yeah. Devontae Adams has one year.

He has more than one year. He had a bunch of touchdowns another year. He's better than... I'm so glad I didn't hear Heath say that originally, because I would have lost my mind if I had heard you actually say that Keenan Allen was better than Devontae Adams. He's 100% better football player.

Yeah. He's a better route runner. For sure. He's faster. He's got better hands. No. I'm on Team Heath on this one. Keenan Allen is a better football player

than Devontae Adams. Yes. He might be, actually. I'd rather Devontae in fantasy. No. I would rather have Keenan Allen because he Heath on this one. Keenan Allen is a better football player than Devonta Adams. I'd rather Devonta in fantasy. I would rather have Keenan Allen because he's playing this week. It was the initial shock of Heath saying it that really got to me. Hey, why does everybody think I got ripped off at a trade yesterday? A very relevant trade. It deals with two of the biggest news items in fantasy football.

Because you did get ripped off. Why do you say that? Why do you say that? Because you gave up the best player. Well, I gave up the best player before I saw the report that he might be back next week. Well, I mean, you should have done your homework before you made the trade.

It was before I made the trade, before the report. If you made the trade on Tuesday, it's a different story. I made the trade on Wednesday before the news broke. I didn't know. It's not my fault. I was on the pick six podcast taping for today. So little behind the scenes, look, talking to Will about this news. And he was like asking, is it bad that I saw this news and immediately sent out a bunch

of offers for Saquon Barkley, hoping people haven't seen it yet. And then the Giants fan and a host of the football podcast accepts one of the trades. This is exactly what we were talking about earlier about is it ethical to do something like this? And you just got unethical. He got bamboozled. I don't think I did, though.

You got schnookered. I don't think I did. Because, look, okay, so I gave up Joe Mixon. I gave up Saquon Barkley and Will Fuller for Joe Mixon and Stefan Diggs. I really don't think it's that bad of a trade, to be honest with you. I'm 1-3. I need to win this week. I need this running back this week.

So I have to get Joe Mixon in my lineup. Could you have done better? I don't know if I could have done better. I have 10 leagues. I can't sit there and make trade offers in every league. You all know how it is. But he made the offer to you, right? Yeah, he made the offer to me.

So couldn't the light bulb have gone off in your head? Before I accept this offer, let me just see if anybody else that's got a winning record and a lot of depth could use Saquon Barkley. I don't know. I suppose. But I actually I like Joe Mixon. I know he's off to a slow start, but I still like Joe Mixon.

This guy was a top 10 running back on draft day. I still have faith in him. I don't think this is that bad. I like Diggs better than Fuller. And then we get this weird news that Diggs missed his practice for personal reasons. And maybe he's getting traded. So that was weird too. I don't think so. It's not such a bad trade.

I mean, I think Diggs is better than Fuller. I upgraded there. And I need a running back this week. Before the news. Yeah, I get why you made the trade Fuller. I upgraded there. And I need to be running back this week. I think before the news... Yeah, I get why you made the trade, and this is what you should have done if you're 1-3 and you have Saquon Barkley and you need to win now.

You can't wait for Saquon to come back. And before the news came out, I actually thought you got the better end of the... Trade chart said that you got the better end of the... Thank you. But the trade chart is changing. And now that it looks like Saquon Barkley will be back sooner than expected, you absolutely got the worst end of it. And now that it looks like Saquon Barkley will be back sooner than

expected. You absolutely got the worst end of the vast for more. I'm not a hundred. I would give it an F. No, it's not an context. I think it's a solid D minus. You're the worst.

I'm not a hundred percent sure. Saquon's coming back next week. I mean, come on. That would be three, three weeks back when he had a six to eight week timetable coming back in week 12. I know.

It's crazy. It looks like he's going to be back way before week 12. He could play next week. I just think it's good that you did this so we can remind people one of the more important things about fantasy football. When you get a trade offer and it seems a little bit wacky and you're like, man, I love that trade offer. You should go check out the news. Maybe click the little button on the most recent news for the players so you know what's going on.

Okay, I confess I was actually driving when I got the trade offer. And you thought it was a no-brainer. Yeah, kind of. That means you thought it was a no-brainer and you accepted it like that. No, no, I didn't see any news. If you knew Barkley's coming back next week, would you have accepted the trade? Honestly, I think I would have because I can't go one and four. If I go one and four, I'm done.

I'm done. Why are you done? You're not done if you go one and four and you have Saquon Barkley. I like your chances at one and four with Barkley better than two and three with Mixon. What's so bad about Joe Mixon? That's Mixon and Diggs. What is so bad about Mixon? If he's exactly what we thought he was coming into the year,

the gap between him and Saquon Barkley is like a high-end flex. You're going to hate it when Fuller scores a monster touchdown this week. I like Fuller more than Diggs this week. I also thought about that. But all right, anyway, I guess grade the trade. I got a D- apparently. Some things to promote. The iTunes mailbag, that's on Saturday,

so keep putting your comments out there. We read some yesterday as well. If you missed that, it was about an hour into the show yesterday. Fantasy Football Today, the Facebook group, we got our giveaway. You can see Heath's T-shirt. We're giving away some T-shirts, so give us your draft day pet peeve. You still have a few days to do that. Speaking of the Facebook group, Ben Schrager, our podcast producer

and our social media dude, is doing a Q&A tonight in the Facebook group, and I'm doing one tomorrow at 1 p.m. Eastern. So those are fun and those are ways to get your questions answered. And within the group, you know,

even if we're not doing the Q&As, you can ask questions and other people in the group will respond and help you out. And Ion Fantasy Football, our radio show, Heath and Dave can talk about me behind my back this week.

They are doing the show on Saturday night, 10 p.m. Eastern on Sirius Channel 206, but on CBS Sports Radio, your local affiliate, CBSSportsRadio.com, whatever. 10 to midnight, Ion Fantasy Football. If you want to call in, it's 8-5. Who's got the number memorized? You know I do.

I do. Okay, good. 8-5-5. I've never known the number. No clue what you're talking about. I couldn't even guess. 2-1-2-4-2-2-7. 8-5-5-2-1-2-4-2-5-5. I've never known the number. No clue what you're talking about. I couldn't even guess. 2-1-2-4-2-2-7. 8-5-5-2-1-2-4-2-2-7.

Before we get into starts and sits and our Telemordue Player of the Week, I did want to take a look at the most traded lists. I want Dave and Jamie to have a little chance to talk trade on the show. So you're taking a look at it now on the video at youtube.com slash fantasy football today. Hey, Stefan Diggs. People are ripping everybody off with Stefan Diggs and Saquon Barkley, two of the three most traded players in CBS Sports League.

Joe Bixon is top ten. Oh, how about that? Joe Bixon's number nine. All right, so it's Diggs one. That's kind of a weird guy to be number one. Sonny Michel two. I think it's a lot of people probably selling high after his 100-yard game. Who would buy him? Barkley, three. Gordon, four.

Devontae Freeman, five. Diggs, Michel, Barkley, Gordon, Freeman. Any reaction, Jamie, to the most traded list? I mean, it sort of speaks to a lot of sell high and a few buy low guys.

Josh Gordon, I think, is a buy low candidate coming off of a dud game. I hope Juju Smith-Schuster is a buy low candidate, that there's still a lot to like about him moving forward. And then you're probably flipping some of these guys after some interesting performances. Todd Gurley, if the Todd Gurley owner is just saying, I'm done with him, and he scored two touchdowns and somebody's buying, I could see that.

LaShawn McCoy with the fact that you knew at some point that Damian Williams was going to come back. And here we are. They're probably selling him too. And then obviously Wayne Gallman should be a sell-high candidate. So get what you can for him. Nine of the 12 players on this list are running back. Those are usually the biggest currency in fantasy. And it's interesting that Melvin is top five.

So people drafted Melvin Gordon. They waited for him to come back. He finally came back and now they're trading him. Why wouldn't you just wait for him to come back and play? Well, I mean, there is the concern of if Eckler continues to have a significant role then you're not going to get the same value of

Melvin Gordon or what you hope you're going to get. Well, actually, yeah. I mean, I think Dave and Jamie get the same value of Melvin Gordon or what you hope you're going to get. Well, actually, yeah. I mean, I think Dave and Jamie gave pretty different takes on Melvin Gordon. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it was like, when the news broke, we did the emergency pod. Jamie, you were like, he's kind of a top 20 player. There's no better time to trade him than right now. You might be able to get like a top five value.

And I think, Dave, you were like, now's the time to actually trade for Melvin Gordon because his value is going to be at his lowest. So I feel like you guys might think differently about Melvin going forward. I couldn't imagine his value being at his lowest when he's coming back and the risk of injury that we've seen from him. And

again, they're not going to just completely bench Austin Eckler. The excitement over a player coming back is always going to be something that drives trades because people are going to be like, I want to have that guy so that was the perfect time and i think melvin gordon is going to eventually take over this backfield and be the lead back and anthony lynn said as much that he wants him to be the starter sure but lead back to what extent is the question i would have is it is it 90 10 is it oh no chance no no i i don't even know if it'll

be i think that's that's the question that we'll be. I think look at it in terms of 30 as like the 100. So last year it was 19-9 out of 28 touches between the two of them. I would expect it's probably 16-12 rest of season. That's going to make Melvin slightly worse

than he was last year. A little bit. But I still think that that could be the floor for him. And all it could take is one or two games from Eckler just being kind of okay in that part-time role for Melvin to really ramp it up. And this is a team, I don't know what the status is of Mike Williams and Travis Benjamin. They might need both of these guys this week.

It sounds like both receivers are going to play. They return to practice on them. That takes some pressure off these running backs then. But I don't mind trying to get Melvin Gordon if he can on the cheap, but if I drafted him, yeah, I want to use him, especially if I'm hurting at running back. Absolutely.

All right. So that's the most traded list. You can always see that on cbssports.com slash fantasy. It is game time. It is Tully time. The player of the week presented by Tullamore Dew. We're going to give you some guys who we think can surprise you in week five.

Heath, you're up first. Yeah, Auden Tate. Cincinnati Bengals number two wide receiver without John Ross could be the number one in a given week. Great matchup against Arizona. What I expect to be a high scoring game. 16 targets over his last two games. He's been good in limited sample size so far this

year, averaging about 8 yards per target. He's a borderline number two wide receiver for me this week. Jamie? I'll go start of the week. Dave Montgomery. You know, he's been very frustrating, and this is, I think, the breakout game you've been waiting for. Obviously, Novanta's perfect. He's not going to be there for the Raiders.

So that takes away a key piece of what that defense has been using. And then you look at the numbers against Oakland over the last two years. They've had 13 times where a running back has had 14 or more carries against them. 12 times a guy has gotten either 100 total yards or a touchdown. And so while we've complained a lot about Montgomery's usage, it's obviously been frustrating how he's been getting the ball, but he has two of his last three games with 18 or more carries. And so if that trend holds where he gets his touches against this defense,

I think he'll have his best game to date. So for those of you that have been patient, this is the time to trust. I'll go with Jack Doyle of the Colts going up against the Chiefs. I think the coaching staff in Indianapolis, how much can they really trust Eric Ebron now? I know he had that bang-bang play for a touchdown last week, but he also dropped three passes. Doyle had eight targets.

He caught four of them. He scored. I think he can make more receptions this week as they rail against Kansas City. We've seen the Chiefs allow a lot of catches to tight ends already this year. 32 grabs on 45 targets to tight ends this season. I think in PPR leagues, Shaq Doyle is a pretty good start. And I think, guys, that if you're desperate at wide receiver this week, if you're hurting there, there are some pretty interesting players.

I'm not sure how much I like the Colts wide receivers if T.Y. Hilton doesn't play because in 10 home games last season, only three wide receivers scored double-digit fantasy points in non-PPR. Only five scored 14 or more in PPR against the Chiefs. The Chiefs are just much better at home than they are on the road, but there's still obviously opportunity there. Deontay Johnson against

Baltimore. He's been getting six targets, two straight games, and he's been good. Aud and Tate, as Heath mentioned, the San Francisco wide receivers are all widely available. We don't know the injury report yet on the on the brown secondary because they play monday night but it might still be a beat-up secondary and then how about antonio callaway you know the stat i always give about wide receivers against the 49ers it's now 26 of the last 29 wide receivers with six or more targets against san francisco they've had 70 yards or a touchdown so i don't know if Callaway gets six targets,

but if Jarvis Landry's out, he's got a chance and something to consider. So, I mean, the names I gave, the Colts guys, Deontay Johnson, Aud and Tate, the Niners guys, Antonio Callaway, do you have a favorite in that group? Yes. Mine is Deontay Johnson. Mine's Tate.

Jamie? Yeah, I think if Mine's Tate. Jamie? Yeah, I think if Vaughn Tate's on the table, yeah. Okay. 62nd ranking. I don't think that's really close, to be honest. I'm thinking more long-term. No, all right, but I was kind of making it for this week, but that's fair. Oh, okay. It would be Tate for this week, Knotson,

if you don't need a receiver this week and you're just looking to stash somebody. Hey, by the way, just so you know, the Cardinals haven't been that bad against wide receivers. If Auden Tate played tight end, you know. He kind of looks like a tight end. Okay, well, that's good. I've never seen him play.

He is a big, rangy, not speedy guy. I've got the wide receiver poll update. Keenan Allen is at 59% through 1,100 votes. He might be. He might be better. 59% of people are wrong? That's amazing. I've never seen people wrong on a Twitter poll before.

Wow. You know, it's so annoying. The way you guys talk about everything I do, if I say that I made a trade on Twitter, it's immediately, everyone's immediately, oh, you got ripped off. You suck. Like, oh, so I never get. I found it.

I found it funny. I got just a terrible trade offer from our one of our producers, Andrew Balmer. Me too. And what do you think? Careful, you might get cut off. Case Keenum and a bad receiver for a good receiver. Yeah, it was Case Keenum and Tyrell Williams for Juju. And so I just I said, how should I reply to this trade? And I got probably, I don't know, close to 200 responses.

And I would say 50 of them were, why did Adam send you that trade? All right. Well, we're going to take a break here so I can regroup. And then we'll do 60-second rankings, disputes, news and notes, and start previewing the games at Atlanta at Houston. That's going to be a fun one. We'll be right back on Fantasy Football today. Metrolinx and Crosslinx are reminding everyone to be careful as Eglinton Crosstown LRT train testing is in progress.

Please be alert as trains can pass at any time on the tracks. Remember to follow all traffic signals. Be careful along our tracks and only make left turns where it's safe to do so. Be alert, be aware, and stay safe. Andy Dalton, Devante Freeman, David Montgomery, and a few others here on the 62nd Rankings Disputes. Dave versus Heath, here we go.

Dave, you have Dalton 17th against the Cardinals, and Heath, you have him 6th. Jamie's in the middle at 12th for Andy Dalton this week. Dave, the low guy have Dalton 17th against the Cardinals. And Heath, you have him 6th. Jamie's in the middle at 12th for Andy Dalton this week. Dave, the low guy on Dalton. Yeah, I can't do it. Dalton's offensive line is terrible. His receiving core is beat up. They don't have any field stretchers.

I know the Cardinals' defense is one of the worst in football. They will be able to put pressure on him. They actually rank top 12 in quarterback pressure so far this year. Chandler Jones and Terrell Suggs will make things a little bit hard for Andy Dalton. I'm nervous to go with him. I just can't say he's a trustworthy streamer. He's okay. There are some quarterbacks out there that I would take him over, but not a ton.

This game will be played while the sun is still in the sky. It will not be against an AFC North team. This is when Andy Dalton does things. Probably no one will be watching on TV, so no one will even notice. Everyone will still think he's terrible. This is when Andy Dalton does big things. The Arizona Cardinals do have a bad defense.

At least 32 fantasy points to three of the four quarterbacks they've faced so far this season. And the thing I like the most about him is, I think Kyler Murray is going to do some good things. I've actually dropped Dalton down to seventh in my rankings now because Kyler Murray went one spot ahead of him at sixth. Yes, all the way down to seventh. Kyler Murray up to sixth. I expect the Cardinals offense to get things going against the Bengals.

Keep Dalton throwing. I think Murray's going to have a good game. Yeah, I'm sure. I think Dalton is too. I think it's one of those things. Dave, you brought up a good point about the pass rush. But this has been basically the same offensive line for the Bengals all season. And we saw three of the first four games for Dalton.

He was 18 or more fantasy points. And two of those over 20. So I think that's kind of like the only thing I disagree with you, Heath, is like I told you on the show yesterday, is the ceiling for Dalton. I do think that Mixon could have some production in this game. And I don't know if it's going to be like, what did you say, the Seahawks game, right, the 402? I don't think he gets there, but I could see 302, and I think he's kind of in that 10 to 12 range.

Like, I've kind of gone back and forth with him in sort of that spot, but I do think this is going to be one of Dalton's best games of the season. Well, and I've got him projected for 306 and two and a half. So whether he has two or three will determine whether he's a top 5. Plus the turnover. He's probably going to have one in his house. I'm not sure he gets two touchdowns. He doesn't have John Ross to catch fluky passes from.

And that offensive line is going to work. He has Eifert this week. Okay. Listen, Eifert could be good. Uzama could be good. Tate could be very good. I think the call that you guys made on Aud and Tate is pretty good. I've come around on him.

But I can't in good conscience start Andy Paul. Hey guys, question. What's the name of the segment that we're doing right now? 75 Second Ranking. You think that was 75 seconds? Put a clock up or have a buzzer. Do you think that we don't have a clock in this room? Are you hurrying us along after we spent 10 minutes

talking about your Saquon Barkley trade, Adam? Devontae, yes, I am. Let's talk about players on my team. I have Devontae Freeman? Devontae, yes, I am. Let's talk about players on my team. I have Devontae Freeman. Devontae Freeman, this is Jamie versus Heath. Jamie's got him 21st in non-PPR, 15th in PPR. Heath has Devontae Freeman 28th in non-PPR and 24th in PPR. So Jamie, you have Freeman as a number two running back. Heath, more like a number three, but 24th in PPR. Jamie, go on Devontae. I think I dropped him a little bit from that,

so I don't think he's in the top 20. But in any event, I think what we saw last week is going to be a sign of things to come from him. He's had at least four catches in every game. And so I think four catches in every game. This is a team that just can't run the ball right now. So I think his involvement in the passing game is what I like more so than anything about what Devontae Freeman's doing.

I do like him more in PPR. I worry if it's a game where Calvin Ridley gets open or if they try to get Calvin Ridley back involved, if he drops down, like, I don't know if four catches is enough for Devontae Freeman when he's not rushed for 30 yards in three out of four games. But we're really pretty close on Freeman. I don't think this is a huge dispute. What if it's not four catches? What if it's three catches?

Because that's the number that he's had in games so far this season. There's four targets, right? Four targets per game, and then he had nine last week because Matt Ryan was scared to death and was checking down like crazy. And in two of those four games,

he's had under 20 receiving yards. I feel like I've got Freeman ranked too high. He's still a top 20, I think, running back for me. And I'm nervous to go with him against the Texans. I'm nervous about a lot of Falcons this week. All right, next up, we've got David Montgomery. This is Dave versus Jamie here. Heath is actually the highest on Montgomery,

but Heath can't be in every rankings dispute. But Jamie, you just talked about him. You have him 15th and non-ppr 17th and ppr dave you have him 23rd and 24th in the two formats jamie david montgomery i don't know i didn't realize you were gonna talk about him earlier but if you want to just sum up your thoughts uh raiders bad yeah should get a lot of work and as jamie mentioned you get more than 14 carries against the raiders you almost always do well dave not quite as high as the other guys on david montgomery you could certainly make the case that i have him embarrassingly too low but he has averaged 3.4 yards per carry this year 3.5 game credit i'm looking at 3.4 right here 200 yards on 28 round up okay less than four yards

per carry he's got one touchdown and we've seen this coaching staff get away from him before and i don't think they really will i don't think they can chase daniel starting to exactly so that's why i think that montgomery is going to get the volume that you want and that's always a good reason to start somebody can he get you 100 total yards i'm thinking it could be a little bit hard for him to do it i think there's a chance at it. Can he score? Yeah, I think there's a pretty good chance for that. So he's to me, he's a number two running back

and I think I should have him ahead of Devante Freeman for starters. All right. How about Frank Gore, Dave versus Heath? Heath, you got Frank Gore 21st in non-PPR, 28th in PPR. Nobody's starting him in PPR, but Dave, you're not starting him in any format. You have him around 40th. So Heath, 21st in non-PPR, 28th in PPR. Nobody's starting him in PPR, but Dave, you're not starting him in any format. You have him around 40th.

So Heath, 21st in non-PPR for Frank Gore, who's got three good games in a row in that format. Yeah, I still think he's going to get 15 to 20 touches. I still think he's probably going to average three and a half to four yards per carry. He's probably going to end up around 70 yards, and you hope he gets into the end zone. This Titans defense is good,

but they've also allowed a running back to reach 80 yards in every game this season. And if Gore's going to get that type of volume, I don't think the Titans put up a big enough number against this Buffalo defense to where Buffalo abandons the run. I still expect the volume to be there for him. So he's not someone I'm excited about starting, but he's probably going to be a top 25 running back and non PPR. And I'm not excited to start him.

And that's why I'm not starting him because Devin Singletary's back, so yes, he might get 14 or 15 touches, even with Devin Singletary there. We've seen him do that already this year. Have we? We have. Week one, he had 11. Week three, he had 14. He could get 14 or 15. That's what I said. No, no, I'm saying

we haven't seen Gore and Singletary, Gore getting that workload with Singletary healthy for a full game. You're right. Okay. But I think that... Because week one workload with Singletary healthy for a full game. You're right. Okay. But I think that— Because week one is the only time that they played a full game together. Okay. I think I got your point.

Bottom line is this. I think that the Titans' run defense is good. I think with Matt Barkley under center, it's going to make it pretty obvious what the Titans have to do is slow down the run, almost dare Matt Barkley to— They've got a better passer now. He's not a better passer. Well, he has been in his career statistically.

Sure, he does. But he doesn't have as strong of of his arm and he's not as mobile as josh allen maybe he'll have fewer turnovers maybe not because it's matt barkley we have seen barkley play okay at times but i don't think that that's where the titans aren't going to sit there shaking their boots going we got to stop matt barkley let frank gore have a little room to run they're going to shut down the run against gore and i don't know if he's going to get the type of volume that he needs. Last week, he had 17 carries and a bunch of catches. Week before that, he had 14 carries plus a bunch of catches.

Week before that, he had 19 carries. If you say a bunch, he's had two in each game. All right. It's more than one. And I think that you're going to see him score and get over 100 yards each of the last three games. I think that streak stopped. All right.

Very, very good, tidy segment. Let's do the injuries news and notes here. Sam Darnold has not been cleared for contact. Josh Allen still in the concussion protocol. Gardner Minshew has a knee injury, and the Redskins do not know who their quarterback is going to be this week. Of the three injured players, Darnold, Allen, Minshew, is Minshew the only one you're expecting to play this week?

Yes. Yes. All right. Running back. Damian Williams practiced. Do you think he plays Sunday night against the Colts? Damian Williams? Yes.

Okay. We'll preview that game. Interesting. Jamal Williams is in the concussion protocol still. So right now we're thinking no. Marlon Mack mispracticed. What do you think? You think he plays Sunday night?

Marlon Mack? Not yet. What do you think? You think he plays Sunday night, Marlon Mack? Not yet. Let's see him practice first. Devin Singletary limited in practice. By Friday, he might. Yeah, we'll keep an eye on it. We'll always let you know the latest on the Mailbag Show. James Conner did not practice due to an ankle injury.

Do we think James Conner plays this week? Yes. Yeah. He hurt his ankle. He came back in the game and played on Monday. Wide receiver. T.Y. Hilton did not practice. So right now we're thinking no.

Devontae Adams mispracticed. Right now we're thinking no. Michael Gallup is reportedly set to play this week. And Gallup is only 69% owned, guys. So do you think he's a must-add? Absolutely. I did. Must-add.

I'm not sure if I'd want to start him this week, but must-add. Flex City. Tyreek Hill practiced and is not expected to play, but it hasn't officially been ruled out. But Tyreek Hill's on his way back. Chris Gobb, a mispractice. We expect him. Tyrell Williams, we expect him.

Yep. All right. Deshaun Jackson, mispractice. Still not expecting Deshaun, right? Nope. They don't need him. Jarvis Landry, not expecting at the moment. He'sun Jackson mispracticed. Still not expecting Deshaun, right? Nope. They don't need him. Jarvis Landry, not expecting at the moment. He's in the concussion protocol.

Kenny Stills may be able to play this week. If Kenny Stills plays, are you going to be less bullish on Will Fuller and increase my grade in the trade I made earlier? No. I'll be less bullish on Fuller, but your grade's not going to change. Mike Williams was limited in practice, but as Jamie mentioned, we expect Mike Williams to play. Dontrell Inman is on IR.

Christian Kirk unlikely to play this week. That's another guy I forgot about, Andy Isabella. Where does he rank with these sleeper-wide receivers we talked about, Andy Isabella? Way down towards the bottom. I don't know how much more he's going to play. No. And then I just find that, I mean, we'll talk about this game,

but no Christian Kirk, a very beat up wide receiver core for the Cardinals, and no John Ross and A.J. Green, and you guys really like the quarterbacks in this game. Alright, stay tuned. Stay tuned. We'll preview it. And Terry McLaurin was limited at practice. Are we going to be

McLovin him this week? Who? Terry McLovin. Actually, just McLovin. Sorry, not be McLovin him this week? Who? Terry McLovin. Actually, just McLovin. Sorry, not Terry McLovin. I thought his nickname was F1. It's not F1. Like 20% of people get that reference.

Everybody except for Jamie gets McLovin. What? I don't get it. Do we think he's going to play? No. Not yet, but let's keep an eye on the practice report. Yeah, he's facing a pretty tough opponent. He may play and you

may not know it. Why? Because the Patriots may just erase him. Oh, I was thinking it should be like the St. Paul and Barkley thing where you just

didn't see it. Hey, if I'm driving at one o'clock, I won't know it. Vernon Davis has a concussion and do we have an update on Vance McDonald? No. Okay.

Some important injury news on defense. Darius Leonard was limited in practice, so it looks like he's trending in the right direction at Kansas City. Do we have an update on the Cleveland cornerbacks? We don't, right? No, you said that already. Right. Well, I was just making sure I was right.

They haven't had an official practice. If you were going to ask us again, that could have been another 10 seconds on the 75-second rankings debate. Denver linebacker Josie Jewell has a hamstring injury, and he is very, very important to their run defense. So keep that in mind for Melvin Gordon and Austin Eckler. And in that same game, Melvin Ingram could miss multiple weeks with a hamstring injury.

And even more important to a run defense possibly, Brandon Williams for the Baltimore Ravens. He is questionable. They are not nearly as good without Brandon Williams on that defensive line. No. Yeah. All right, here we go. Atlanta's at Houston.

So how do we feel about Matt Ryan this week? I know you got him top 12. He's been 304 or more passing yards every game, 22 or more fantasy points in three or four games. Like him, love him. How do you feel about Matt Ryan? Like him. It's just like, though. It's not love.

All the things that I thought about the Falcons in the preseason have turned out to be wrong because their defense all got hurt again. They just have to throw the ball 40 times a game, and that's going to make Matt Ryan a fantasy starter every week. All right, fair enough. Devontae Freeman we've already talked about.

We're not going to start Ido Smith, but not a bad idea to own Ido Smith. So is everybody starting Montgomery over Devontae Freeman? Yeah. Yeah. Okay, how about Mohamed Sanu, Calvin Ridley, Devontae Freeman? How would you rank them as flexes? Freeman's still over those guys, but I'd take Sanu over Ridley and PPR. I'll go Freeman, Ridley, Sanu.

I'm also going to go Freeman, Ridley, Sanu, but it's really close between Ridley and Sanu. And what I've noticed is just it's the offensive line and Matt Ryan not having time to throw long to Ridley. Ridley's getting open. He's doing good things. I don't think health is an issue. I think it's Matt Ryan being flustered in the

pocket and just getting rid of the football. They tried last week. Six targets last week. He had one long catch. It was like 21 yards long. Something like that. He's basically long catch. It was like 21 yards long. Something like that. He's basically a touchdown or bust type of receiver. Calvin Ridley?

Yeah. I mean, volume's not there for him. It really wasn't volume last year, too, but he was just much more productive. It's a good matchup on paper. Houston's got a... They're allowing a 71% catch rate to opposing teams. So maybe, maybe they connect.

I think Ridley's a flex this week. As good as it gets. So Calvin Ridley, he's had what? Six targets, 10 targets, one target and six targets in, in four games.

He had only four games with more than six targets last year. And he finished with 10 touchdowns. It's kind of what Jamie was saying. So so it just you know he's not scoring he only had 93 targets last year and he was a top 20 wide receiver just he has to score um well i i would say the the other way around i didn't think he was going to match the touchdown rate from last year that was we were hoping that he would get more targets and more involvement and he he's just not. Right. That's what I said yesterday with Ben, is like Hooper and Sanu are not losing targets, so that's kind of hurting the upside, at least for Calvin Ridley,

at least for a season. You know, in a given week, I guess you never know. Will Fuller or Calvin Ridley in this game? Fuller. Ooh. My knee-jerk reaction was to say Fuller too but i do have ridley higher i think i think this is a big week for fuller i've got ridley higher but i had to check it right i i get that you know fuller hasn't done anything but he's been getting some deep targets too he's he's kind of like calvin ridley in that regard totally his quarterback's got an offensive line that leaks.

So he doesn't have time to just sit there and said, get his feet set and chuck it long. And, uh, it's hurt Will Fuller, but this is a bad Falcons past defense losing count O'Neill hurt, but their corners just aren't playing well. Their pass rushes and getting there.

So I, I get where you're coming from with Fuller. I think they're both risky plays. Sure. Um, all right. So I get where you're coming from with Fuller. I think they're both risky plays. Sure. All right, so... It's a bad week to trade Will Fuller, though. Well, the good news is I have Will Fuller in, like, three other leagues, so I can still root for him.

Last thing I wanted to mention about Devontae Freeman is just that the Texans have already allowed three games of seven or more catches to running backs, and three running backs have had 40 or more receiving yards. So let's hope that continues for Freeman. That more or less covers the Falcons. Austin Hooper, like or love this week? Love.

You got to love. Yeah, I like him. It's a tough matchup, but I don't care. He's just so involved. Yeah, I guess it is. You got to buy in. They've only faced really one good tight end this year, and it's Greg Olson. And he had two catches for five yards.

They did limit Jared Cook to two for 37. This is the Texans we're talking about, but he's been bad. Yeah, alright, so Hooper. Hooper or George Kittle? Kittle. I think Kittle goes off. Okay. Hooper or Zerts? Zerts.

Deshaun Watson. Hooper is sixth fors. Zerts. Deshaun Watson. Hooper is sixth for me. Is top four. Deshaun Watson's 2-2-4 for Jamie Dave Heath. Start Deshaun Watson. Any interest in a Houston running back? The Falcons really haven't been that bad against the run. Just the Vikings running backs have sort of crushed them.

Marlon Mack did pretty well too. But anyway, any interest in Hyde or Johnson? Hyde's a good flex in non-PPR. I was thinking of him more as like a bi-week replacement. You know, someone, I'm without Kerryon Johnson this week. For some dumb reason, I've been starting Kenyon Drake. I can go and use Carlos Hyde instead. I just hope that they keep throwing on the ball

because that was just impressive last week. And, yeah. I mean, he had four catches on five targets and it was just impressive last week. He had four catches on five targets and it was just awesome that he turned into a six yarder. He was coming into this year the least efficient pass catching running back in the NFL over the last three years and his average got worse last week.

Okay, so that's Carlos Hyde. Would you start Wayne Gallman or Carlos Hyde? Gallman. Hey, he's got the Vikings. It doesn't mean that I love Gallman. I'll take him over Hyde? Goldman. Hey, he's got the Vikings. You know? Doesn't mean that I love Goldman. I mean, it depends.

I'll take him over Hyde. If Barkley plays, I'll start Hyde. Yeah. Start Hopkins. Big week for Hopkins? Monster. Fan duel week for Hopkins? Monster.

Okay. Hope so. And I'm assuming no interest in Kiki QT. And that's it. No interest in kiki qt and that's it no interest in jordan akins are we starting a dst in this game i am not uh texans if you're stuck okay so i think that you know this is this could be a pretty good week for will fuller in fan duel it's the kind of guy that might win you a week so get in there get on fan duel if you haven't signed up now's the kind of guy that might win you a week. So get in there. Get on FanDuel. If you haven't signed up, now's the perfect time. They're giving you $20 for free. All you got to do is sign up at FanDuel.com slash FFT.

FanDuel.com slash FFT. Sign up. They're going to give you, you make a $20 deposit. They give you $5 in site credit every week for four weeks. And then you say, hey, what do I do with these $5? Oh, yeah, I'm going to join the contest against Adam and Dave and Jamie and Heath and all the other FFT guys. I'm going to compete against them every week for $5 and I can win a lot of money. And I do that at FanDuel.com slash league

slash FFT. But first you go to FanDuel.com slash FFT or you download the FanDuel app. And when you're there, different types of contests, different types of slates. You can really customize based on what you want to do that week and how much money you want to spend. Hey, Heath, how many contests are you going to have this week on FanDuel? I'll probably have 150 lineups. I'll play in

a few contests. Just a few. 150 lineups. And we'll give you lineup advice throughout the week as we are already doing. So again, please go to Fan fanduel.com slash FFT or download the app, make a $20 deposit and get $5 in site credit every week for four weeks. Fanduel.com slash FFT.

The Denver Broncos are at the Los Angeles Chargers. Stat of the game, Keenan Allen, who I now agree is better than Devontae Adams. I agree. He averages 49 yards per game in eight career meetings against Denver. That's we've already talked about. So I'll start with the Chargers here. And quite frankly, gosh, how did I not start the show with this?

You all have Austin Eckler ranked ahead of Melvin Gordon. Explain to me why that's the case. I think it's pretty simple. He's been the one playing football for the last month, and he's been doing a really good job. Whereas Melvin Gordon treated last week like it was the first week of the preseason, this week might be more like the third week of the preseason.

I think you're going to see Gordon play. I think you're going to see Eckler play more, and I think he can do more. And this Denver run defense has got some really big question marks up front. So both these guys can end up doing some nice things. But I think Eckler just has more upside. And in PPR, it's obvious that he has more upside because he should catch more

passes. I actually would take Gordon over him in non-PPR, though. It's close, but I think the touchdown opportunities will favor Gordon. So he could have a Todd Gurley game. How many carries do you think he gets? I've projected them both for 11. Just a complete 50-50 split

of both the run game and the pass game. And it's a little bit of a shrug just to we don't really know what's going to happen. But Eckler would still be better in that case if they split evenly because he's been more efficient over his career with his touches. Do we have a good running back here,

or do we have two eh running backs this week? Oh, you think you have two good ones? Sort of both. Over Devontae Freeman? Yeah. Yes. Over Duke Johnson? Okay, well, as we get deeper into the games,

we'll talk about more players. How about over the Denver running backs? Yes. Yeah. All right. Yeah, so this is kind of funny right now denver allows the fourth most fantasy points to running backs and 4.7 yards per carry to running backs a week ago they allowed 3.5 yards per carry to running backs now it's 4.75 that's what happens when you give up 225 yards on 29 carries to Fournette. And quite a bit to Rykel Armstead, too. 8 for 42.

By the way, teams run a lot on Denver. Six most rushing attempts. How do you like Phillip Rivers? Phillip Rivers or Matt Ryan this week? Rivers. I've got Ryan ahead of Rivers. It's not that I'm nervous about the matchup for Rivers. I just don't know if he can have huge upside if he doesn't have his full receiving core.

I think this game suits up better for the running backs than it does for him. This was a Denver pass rush that was bad before losing Bradley Chubb, and now they don't have Bradley Chubb. So Rivers should have all day to pick apart the secondary. How much will he need to, And will he have his full complement of receivers to do so? Well, I mean, again, the two guys practice on a limited basis. They just placed Dantra Lumen on IR and didn't bring anybody else up. So I think they probably feel like they're getting those guys back. And you're also getting another pass catching back on the field too. So

as Anthony Lynn said, he may play both guys in tandem with Eckler lining up some at the slot. And I've got Ryan just barely ahead of Rivers now, but if I find out Mike Williams is playing, Rivers will probably be ahead of Ryan. That's where I'll go to. That close. Yeah, I guess, like, sorry, let me just get this in. Because Aaron Rodgers scored 15 fantasy points against the Broncos.

They've been very good against quarterbacks. Rodgers is really the only one I care about because they faced some bad ones. But they didn't get a sack in that game. So, I mean, is their secondary really that bad? Is this a good matchup? No, but it's time. It's having time to throw. Just because they didn't get a sack doesn't mean they didn't have pressure on him.

I mean, they've still been pressuring quarterback. Have they? They have one very good corner who got beat for a touchdown last week, and the play got called back. And that was from Gardner Minshew throwing the football. So, look, I would go with Rivers if his receivers are healthy, but not over the quarterbacks in the Thursday game. Wilson, Goff ahead of Rivers.

I'd start Rivers over Goff. Oh, I'd start Rivers way over Goff. Yeah, Dave, your high is awful. Well, okay, so I did look at River's track record against Denver. It has gotten better. 19 to 24 fantasy points and six points per passing touchdown leagues in three of his last four games against the Broncos. So, I mean, he used to be terrible against the Broncos.

Okay, moving on from that. What do you do with Philip Lindsay and Royce Freeman, guys? Actually, I'm sorry. Let's not jump around too much. Let's stick with the Chargers. We talked about the quarterback and the running back. We're going to start Keenan Allen. Is Keenan Allen top 10 this week, or

do you think he could be limited by Chris Harris? Top 10. And then how do you feel about Mike Williams if he plays? In that in between Fuller and Ridley. I was just going to say in the Fuller-Ridley range. I hope

I have better options, but maybe he'll score a touchdown if I start him. I would probably put him behind those guys because that's how I feel. Maybe he scores a touchdown. If I start him, I feel like he's got the same type of floor as those guys. I will say that non Chris Harris corners in Denver have been pretty terrible. And so it's been true.

If he's able to go, he'll have a good matchup. Okay. And then would you start Mike Williams or Phillip Lindsey? Lindsey. Lindsey. Same. Chargers are beat up on both sides of the ball, man.

And their defense is, no Melvin Ingram is going to hurt them both in their pass rush and their run defense. Secondary is definitely beat up too. Not that that really matters for Phillip Lindsay, other than if he catches the ball on the flat and tries to make a play, maybe he can break a tackle downfield. But I think Denver's going to continue to

rely on them. Yeah, he's had one good game. Yeah, that's the thing. They are relying on them. It's the worst run defense that we've seen so far. Not named Miami. They are relying on Lindsay, but they're also relying on Freeman. Their splits are so even. In terms of touches, though. It's just so even,

and it's frustrating. Both of them are, to me, pretty uninspiring. They're flexes, but they have to score. You know? In PPR, they might not. They're getting the ball thrown to them a lot. They are.

You look at Lindsey's game log, it's got 10-10, the monster game again. This is PPR scoring they might not. They're getting the ball thrown to them a lot. They are. Yeah, but still, you look at Lindsey's game log. It's got 10-10, the monster game against the Packers, and then terrible last week. So he's been 10 or less in PPR in three or four games. Yeah, he had 21 carries against the Packers. They just ran the ball a lot. And that's a game where Freeman got a little banged up. Yep, exactly.

Denver-wide receivers, Sanders and Sutton. What are you thinking? I think they're both okay. I agree. If Sanders is out, first off, Cortland Sutton would hopefully get a bump in targets. But you want to talk about taking a look at receivers. Deshaun Hamilton, if in fact Sanders is out,

we saw it last year when Sanders missed the final four games of the season, Hamilton was extremely involved. And the Chargers slot corner has been the worst corner on their team this year. He's been giving up a lot of numbers. So yeah, if Sanders plays, I think he'll see some time in the slot. I don't think every snap will be there, but he'll get that matchup more than Sutton will. And Hamilton would get a lot of it if, uh, if Emmanuel Sanders does not play, But I think we're counting on Sanders playing at this point. In PPR, I would start both Broncos receivers over both Broncos running back. Yes.

You wouldn't do it in non-PPR? I may do it in non-PPR, too. I would start Sanders over them in non-PPR. I don't know in non-PPR. I think I'd probably still rather start Lindsey. It might go Lindsey, Sanders. I actually like Lindsey better in PPR than I do in non-PPR. Well, I do compared to other running backs,

but not compared to wide receivers. Yeah, I would still take Sutton and Sanders over both Broncos back in any format. Yeah, so we've talked about two games so far, Atlanta, Houston, and Denver, and the Chargers. And we've talked about Hopkins, Julio Jones. We didn't even mention him. But Hopkins, Julio Jones, and Keenan Allen,

they're obviously must-starts. The next best wide receivers that we've talked about so far are Sanders and Sutton, right? I mean, obviously they're ahead of Mike Williams and Sanu and Ridley. Okay, just framing it for everybody there. Chargers DST. But not Will Fuller. Don't trade Will Fuller. No, they are ahead of Will Fuller. Chargers DST is top 10.

They had four sacks in three games before getting five sacks at Miami in week four. Go ahead and tee off on Joe Flacco, please. I know a lot of people are going to be starting them. That's all I got. No tight ends in this game, right? Nope. I don't think you're desperate.

Or Lance Kendricks if you're desperate, but I don't think anybody should be that desperate. Go look at Ricky Sills-Jones if you need somebody. Yeah, that makes sense. think anybody should be that desperate. Go look at Ricky Sills-Jones if you need somebody. Right. Yeah, that makes sense. All right, Indianapolis is at Kansas City. Stat of the game number one. This guy was on the most traded list, so let's just briefly talk not about this game,

but about the future and really this game, I guess, with Damian Williams possibly back. LaShawn McCoy has had 11 to 14 touches in each game, and he scored his touchdowns without Damian Williams. You know, being on the most traded list, is LaShawn McCoy a sell high? Can he really be good with only... He can be good, but can he be like must start with only 11 to 14 touches per game and Damian Williams coming back? He's absolutely a sell high.

If you can get something of what you're getting the value of him now, but better, I mean, sure. Because they're going to use multiple backs. Yep. A guy that's desperate for a running back and is loaded at wide receiver could very easily overpay for LaShawn McCoy. Or buy low on Joe Mixon. I was going to say that.

Yes. One of the other running backs that you thought were going to be good this season that have been struggling. You should try to package LaShawn McCoy with Will Fuller and see if you can go get Saquon Barkley and see if the guy doesn't know that Barkley's going back. Yeah, a guy that's 1-3, you know, desperate for a win. No, nobody would do that.

Stat of the game number two, mentioned this, 10 home games last season, only three wide receivers scored double-digit fantasy points in non-PPR against the Chiefs, only five scored 14 or more, which is kind of like a number two cutoff, I think, inPPR against the Chiefs. Only five scored 14 or more, which is kind of like a number two cutoff, I think, in PPR against the Chiefs. So they've been very good against quarterbacks. They've been very good against wide receivers at home.

They've just been a lot better at home than on the road. And Jacoby Brissett, you guys still have as a top 13 quarterback. In fact, Dave and Heath have him top 10 without T.Y. Hilton, as we are assuming right now. So tell me why you would start Brissette without Hilton against the team that has not allowed more than 22 fantasy points to the

last 10 quarterbacks they've faced in Arrowhead. To me, it's about trusting Brissette, who I think has played well. He was playing really well until last week. And, you know, he had five drop passes in the game, but he was also a little off target and not using what we're seeing. And it was, he's had at least two touchdowns in every game so far this season.

I believe he's the only quarterback to have that. Over 250 yards in each of Indy's last two. The Chiefs are ninth worst in quarterback pressures. Second worst in quarterback hits. They have nine sacks still, but that's middle of the pack. And Brissette's only been sacked six times. So going back to what, I'm going to give credit to Jamie, going back to what he was saying back in the preseason

after Andrew Luck retired, that offensive line matters. And Brissette's having time to throw, and he's making use of the guys that he's gotten. They're not household names like T.Y. Hilton, but they're still putting up some decent numbers and they're able to find ways to make plays. So I'm okay with Brissette this week in a matchup where if he doesn't have Marlon Mack,

I know the Colts have been running the ball and sticking with the run. I don't know how long they're going to be able to get away with that. Well, and they really haven't the last two weeks. He's thrown 83 passes in the last two games, 37 in week three against Atlanta. And last week they fell down early to Oakland

and they just almost entirely went away from the run in the second half. 46 pass attempts for Brissette. So I think this is another situation where at least in the second half, he's going to have to throw the ball a lot. Okay, Brissette or Rivers? Brissette.

Rivers. Brissette. Brissette or Rivers? Brissette. Rivers. Brissette. Brissette or Aaron Rodgers? Brissette. Brissette. Brissette. All right. That's obviously without Devontae Adams playing.

Colts running backs. Very interesting stuff. This is an interesting game, I mean, for all the running backs. Let's say Damian Williams plays and Marlon Mack doesn't, which is probably what we're thinking right now. Who's the best running back in this game? LeSean McCoy. Right.

Who's the second best? Williams. Damian. Are we in PPR? I will say Hines. I think I would take Damian in PPR or non-PPR because of his prowess in the passing game. I'm not probably going to start Damian or Daryl.

I don't know what it's going to look like this week. Damian really louses this up. I would imagine. Because I love Daryl Williams. I would too. I would too. But Daryl was playing great in those last two games. Would you be totally surprised if you saw Daryl Williams play out of Damian Williams in this game?

Yes. I would be surprised if I saw him play ahead. I wouldn't be that surprised if it was the fourth quarter and he got a series when they used him like they did last week. He just runs the clock out for a series. I can't say I would be very surprised if that happened because Daryl Williams has been playing well the last two games. He's been very productive for fantasy owners.

If Mack was out and Damien plays, I would start both Colts over Damien. Not me. Nope, not me. I just don't trust Jordan Wilkins. It's a close call on PPR between Hines and Damien, but I'd take Damien.

Yeah, I'd take Wilkins over Hines in both formats. Well, here's the thing. Wilkins and Hines are barely owned. Wilkins is 17% owned. Hines, I formats. Well, here's the thing. Wilkins and Hines are barely owned. Wilkins is 17% owned. Hines, I think, is 27% owned. So you have an opportunity to get a starting running back against a team that gives up 5.8 yards per carry to running backs. And we just saw Kerryon Johnson was having such a bad year, and he had a huge game.

Mark Ingram scored three rushing touchdowns. He was start of the week. Everybody's good against them, basically. I know we're going to struggle, though, with which guy to go with, Wilkins or Hines, because you worry about the game script. If they're trailing, it's probably going to be Hines. If they're competitive, it's going to be Wilkins. I keep talking about what the quarterbacks and the wide receivers did

against Kansas City and Arrowhead last year, but I looked at the running backs as well. And most of them did well, you know, like even Doug Martin had like a hundred yards rushing against the Chiefs in a blowout loss for the, with the Raiders. So I, you know, there's the ownership percentages don't reflect the opportunity that you might have with Wilkins and Hines. If you guys want to speak about that real quick. Who do you like? Agreed. No, yeah, I think you're right. And I think it's also a little bit by design how Kansas City plays

because they kind of want to lull you to sleep a little bit and let you think that you're having success running the ball, and then they just hit you with a 60-yard touchdown. So I think it's going to be a lot more Wilkins than Hines because you try and slow the game down against them, and they kind of like that. Well, and the ownership percentages for the Colts are just weird as a whole because Jack Doyle's owned in half as many leagues as Eric Ebron,

and we'd all rather start Jack Doyle over Eric Ebron this week. It's a great call. You can make that switch right now and feel good about it. So if Mack is out, would you start Carlos Hyde or a Colts running back? Hyde. I'd start Wilkins. I don't really like either one. I'd start Wilkins. I don't really like either one. I would hope that you

could find somebody better. Maybe trade for somebody better. I'd start Wilkins over Hyde in non-PPR. I'd start both over Hyde in PPR. That was a good Heath side that we just got there. Heath, did you hear your latest creation? No. In the Heath side apartment? Alright, I'll pull it up for you. You can rate it.

How about the wide receivers in this game? Are we going back to Sammy Watkins? Yes. Yes, unfortunately. Okay. And what about everyone else? Who's the second best wide receiver in this game?

Robinson. Demarcus Robinson. I've kind of had it with McColl Hardman, though. I get if you've had it with all three of these guys. Last week was just such a disappointment. Watkins had a touchdown ripped out from him. Robinson, you know what his potential is, and I just think he's more versatile of a receiver than Hardman. I'm okay going with those two.

I'm not going to use Hardman. I'm going to keep him on my bench until Tyreek Hill comes back. But, you know, the expectations are still sky high here because of this offense that they're in. So, compared to the Will Fuller, Mike Williams, Calvin Ridley group,

where is Demarcus Robinson? He'd be behind Fuller for sure. In the same mix with the other two. I got him ahead of Fuller. I love the setup for Fuller. I know. I know. I've got him right behind Ridley.

All right. But still behind the Broncos, guys. Okay. I'd actually take Zach Pascal and Chester Rogers over. Right. We've got to talk about the Colts wide receivers because you like Brissette enough. Yes, you do. You like Brissette.

You cannot rank Brissette as a top 10 quarterback and not like the Colts wide receivers. How? Well, I mean, they're in that conversation you had earlier, Adam, about guys that are available and productive. They had six and seven targets, seven and eight targets last week. Pascoe and Rogers. So if he's going to, if he's going to throw the ball that much, they're going to continue to get involved.

And Paris Campbell's banged up. So that's another guy that may not be out there. That opens things up for Rogers to play exclusively in the slot. And they both would be so bad. Cause then he'd see Kyler, Kyle or Kendall Fuller. The reason that we can rank for set that way is because, and I think we all would agree a large percentage of their passes are going to

go to Heinz, to Ebron, to Doyle. And then you don't know between the three receivers that are going to play this week, which one's going to be the best or even dominate targets. So they're all just kind of lumped there together. If there was a clear number one wide receiver,

I mean, two of them had, what was at least six, six and seven or seven and eight. So Pascal, Pascal had 47, four, four catches,

72 yards on seven targets. Rogers had three catches, 48 yards and a touchdown on six targets. So they both were good. So if you're getting six targets from these two guys, I mean, that's, that's in the same boat as some of these other receivers we've been

talking about, but line them up against the receivers that we picked up off waivers this week. They're at the back of the line. Exactly. I mean, I'd start them over the Jets guys who were picked up ahead of them. If Sam Darnold's out, I'd start them over Meikle Hardman, who's been struggling. And these guys are going to get more targets. I have to hurry you along just because the video portion of our show is ending.

So tell me where you have Jack Doyle ranked. You have him around 10 to 12. Tell me who you'd start Doyle over real quick. Delaney Walker. O.J. Howard? I've got Walker ahead of Doyle in PPR, but they're basically the same guy.

I could be talked into Doyle over Delaney. Who have they played? We'll go back to last year. They were the best against tight ends. I'd start Doyle. I'd start Doyle over Tyleraney. I don't even know. Who have they played? Well, go back to last year. They were the best against Titans. I'd start Doyle. I'd start Doyle over Tyler Eifert, OJ Howard. I'd start him over Jimmy Grimm. I'd go Graham.

I'd go Eifert. I'm sorry. I'd go Doyle over Graham and PPR. All right. All right, Heath. This was your original. And this was Sunday night. Fun stuff. All right, we're going to take a quick break.

When we come back, we got four games remaining on the audio portion, and you'll obviously see something on youtube.com slash fantasyfootballtoday. We'll be right back. Baltimore at Pittsburgh, and quick note here that I just realized. I put the Monday night football game in the notes today because I didn't think there were enough AFC home games. That's because for whatever reason, I didn't include the Cincinnati-Arizona game.

So we'll be doing that one tomorrow. Sorry about that. The best game on the slate? Why don't we just do it now? Just because you don't have your research? We could do it today. It doesn't matter. It's not a hard one, I guess.

Baltimore-Pittsburgh, stat of the game. In weeks three and four, Sammy Watkins and Odell Beckham struggled against the Ravens, but Hardman, Robinson, and Landry all scored 13 or more PPR points. Landry scored 24 in PPR. So could you make a case that the number two receivers are really who to target against the Ravens?

It makes sense, given how Marlon Humphrey has played this year and he, he's the reason why Odell wasn't able to have a catch completed until the fourth quarter of the game. He was sticking on him. And, uh, I think he's proving to be a really good difference making cornerback. So then based on the numbers,

this would be a great juju week, right? Because he's the number two. I don't know if the Ravens quite see it that way, but they might have to if Deontay Johnson, instead of making his big play in the second half,

I guess I should take that back. Because if they're going to take away the best receiver, then they're going to have to stand behind the line of scrimmage and stop James Conner on the wildcat. Who's your favorite? That's why I think Deontay Johnson's interesting, but who's your favorite

running back in this game? Is it Conner or Ingram? Ingram. Still Mark Ingram. Conner. Are you starting both of them? Yes. Well, that depends. Is Brandon Williams playing? Well, let's say this. Let's say you have to make a decision

between Carson and Gurley tonight or Ingram or Connor. Carson over Ingram. I would have Carson over Gurley. And Gurley at the bottom. The format matters so much. Yeah, Carson and PPR, you can't get away from.

And I'm going with, I like Connor a lot more in PPR than I do in non-PPR. I'm sorry, that's what I meant. I meant Connor, not Carson. Yeah, I like Ingram over both of them in non-PPR. Yeah, I mean, Ingram has had two pretty disappointing games and two really good games. So, what do you expect this week? Something in the middle.

I think you have to count on him just based on what he brings to this Ravens offense. It's not like they've completely gone away from him. No. He's an important part of what they do. So he's got touchdown potential. He's got 100 total yard potential. These are the types of players that you like to start in fantasy.

You need him to score a touchdown probably. His carries each week 14, 13, 16, 12. Yeah, I know. And I'm not ready to call the Steelers run defense suddenly great just because they slowed down Joe Mixon. So you're figuring he gets 15 carries

this week? I think game flow matters. I mean, you know, we saw them destroy two terrible teams and struggle the last two weeks against capable teams. Okay, so Ingram's a start. He's a number two running back this week. Marquise Brown, start or sit? Flex at best. Start.

Low-end starter. Still a number two receiver. Heath likes him the most. The Steelers have not allowed more than 50 yards to a wide receiver in their last two games, but none of them had more than six targets, and that was Cincinnati and San Francisco. Browns had seven or more targets in three straight games.

Two games ago, Marquise Brown had a ton of deep targets. I think Lamar Jackson threw 16 deep balls, and he completed three of them. The reaction to that, of course, last week was, let's not throw deep at all. All of Brown's targets last week were short completed three of them. The reaction to that, of course, last week was let's not throw deep at all. All of Brown's targets last week were short. None of them were deep. And I think Lamar Jackson had just four deep targets in week number four. So do they do they suddenly change

again and say, all right, let's attack this Steelers secondary that's been playing well now the past couple of weeks, at least statistically? Or do they stick with trying to keep Lamar Jackson from turning the ball over, not making mistakes? One of his interceptions last week was on a deep ball. I'm wondering if they try and just keep him a little more conservative and not take as many deep shots, and that hurts Marquise Brown. And I'm really, like the Steelers defense,

I just don't feel like I know anything about them at all. I think getting Mika Fitzpatrick has made it difficult. Because against the 49ers, they were very good against wide receivers because the wide receivers only had 15 targets. But the 49ers receivers had 149 yards on those 15 targets. That's really, really good. Yeah, I agree with you, Heath. It's confusing.

But Marquise Brown or Juju Smith-Schuster? Juju. It's Juju. Juju. Mark Ingram or Juju? Ingram. Ingram. I'll tell you, Ingram.

I tried to make the case against Juju and make Juju a sit this week. And if the Steelers are going to run an offense where they're just going to dink and dunk, that doesn't hurt Juju because so many of his plays that we've seen in the highlight reels have been catch-and-run plays. His long touchdown two weeks ago was one of those plays. Yeah, he's not getting that many targets this season. Would you start every Rams receiver over Juju? Yes. Yeah.

You need to hope that the Ravens' offense scores here. Okay. Or that the Steels offense scores here. Okay. And or that the Steelers open it up a little bit more. I don't know if that's going to be the case. I hope you're right, but I don't think that's going to be the case. I think what they did last week, not to the same effect,

not running the wildcat, but they want to be conservative and limit Mason Rudolph. And so I don't think it's going to all of a sudden let's give Juju 15 targets. But can they, can they win a lot of games that way? Do you think their defense plays like that, absolutely. And in a game like this where the Ravens' offense has been a little bit shaky, I think they can.

Yeah, there will come a point for all these teams that are using this gimmick type of offense where they're going to have to change and throw downfield. And if they're not ready to do so, they're going to obviously lose. And I wonder if the Steelers know that. At some point, they've got to let Rudolph throw more than seven yards downfield. Starting with Lamar Jackson, he's the top three quarterback. Mason Rudolph, we're sitting this week,

even though the Ravens allow the third most passing yards per game in the NFL. They just don't give a lot of touchdowns. They don't, but they really suck. They've been lucky. But he's thrown 28 and 27 passes in his last two games. It's hard to have a lot of faith in someone. And he doesn't throw the ball downfield. We know that.

Jalen Samuels or Carlos Hyde? Hyde. Samuels. Samuels. Okay. And then that's it. Oh, Mark Andrews is a top five tight end in non-PPR, top seven in PPR.

And that is it. If Vance McDonald plays, are you interested at all? No. No. Nah. Baltimore DST is kind of all over the place. Well, at least Dave's got him sixth, and Jamie and Heath don't like the Ravens DST.

But we'll see. All right, Cleveland at San Francisco. Baker Mayfield, stat of the game, is on pace for 4,588 yards. But 16 touchdowns, 24 interceptions. Yeah, he has like one touchdown a game, right? Yeah, yes, exactly. But he's throwing for a lot of yards. That's usually a good sign.

You guys have him 17th, 18th in your rankings. Baker Mayfield at San Francisco Monday. I mean, I hope this is the game he does something significant fantasy-wise. He's going to do it without Jarvis Landry? Oh, I'm not saying he will. I'm just hoping he does. Clearly, he's still owned, and a percentage of people are still starting him. We drafted him to be a top 10 quarterback for whatever you finished on your rankings with him.

He was, I think, the fifth quarterback off the you know, you want to see some signs of life. Again, another, I don't know. I don't think it's good to play on the road on Monday night football against a defense that's coming off of a bye. I don't know that San Francisco's defense is good or not. But this is probably about as good as they are going to be well rested in primetime at home. I would just like to stay away from Baker. I thought Baker was really helped by the offensive line last week and his line. Yeah. I think it was really helped by the Ravens defensive line.

The Brandon Williams is there. It's a different story. So sure. I don't know about the Niners past defense, but I do think that they're making a pretty good case as a good, good run defense. They allow the fewest fantasy points to running backs and 3.3 yards per carry. This doesn't mean anything in your season-long leagues.

You're going to start Nick Chubb. But just know, no running back has scored double-digit fantasy points in PPR against the Niners yet. Not even Ronald Jones or Joe Mixon or James Conner. But in FanDuel, I probably won't be playing Nick Chubb. Because if you're going to spend big, you want someone who has a great matchup. It's a Monday night game. You wouldn't put him in the one game lineup? But can you play slates that have all the games?

You can include Monday. There's Monday, Thursday slates. Those exist. So anyway, I just wanted to point it out. Nick Chubb does not have a good matchup, but of course you're going to start him. And you're going to start Beckham. We won't get too complicated with it.

If Jarvis Landry plays, start or sit? I'd sit. All right, he has seven more targets in every game. That's a recipe for success against the Niners. Ricky Seals-Jones, worth a shot? If you're stuck. Deeper leagues, I think he's a a shot? If you're stuck. Deeper leagues, I think he's a good tight end if you're stuck or just to stash and see what happens.

Remember, he's not a typical tight end. Teams have used him more as a wide receiver than a traditional tight end. So he's more in the Evan Engram to Noah Fant type of mold. Right. But he's well behind Jack Doyle, Jimmy Graham, either I for it. It's interesting because they're down to Joku and potentially down Landry, but they're also getting Callaway back and who knows about Rashard Higgins. And he also just had some fortuitous plays.

Yeah, he had three targets. I mean, he caught all of his targets. Right. One target was a big deep ball. He was wide open and the touchdown, he was wide open because Ravens linebacker forgot to cover him. Antonio Callaway is definitely a more interesting pickup than Ricky Seals Jones.

Right? Yes? Yeah. I think it depends on what your team looks like. Right. Who do you project to have more stats? Better stats? Callaway. But I think if... You're never going to stats, better stats? Callaway. But I think if you're never going to know the week to start Callaway, and if Seals Jones continues to be like 3 for 50, 3 for 60, 4 for 60,

in that range, because he could, that's more valuable to a PPR tight end, to a PPR league needing a tight end, than Callaway's better production. I'm sorry. I specifically, you're right. I specifically was talking about this week and I just,

I was kind of thinking of people who play in leagues where you can start like a bunch of flexes or whatever, but then, then Callaway, I mean, and, and again, you know,

you, there's so many leagues that have three, three receivers and a flex and PPR, you know, even more than that. Right. Jimmy Garoppolo, you know,

this is an interesting guy here. He's only had one good fantasy game. It was against the Bengals. I maintain he played well against the Steelers, but only scored 11 fantasy points. I picked him up because I lost faith in Andy Dalton with the John Ross injury, but Dave is the only one who ranks Garoppolo ahead of Dalton.

So, yeah. Dave, you have him 7th, and Heath and Jamie have Garoppolo 14th. We all know the hidden stats that are missing from Jimmy Garoppolo's box score because of touchdowns called back. The only quarterback to not have multiple touchdowns against Cleveland so far this season is Luke Falk. Mariota did it.

Goff did it. Lamar Jackson. They all had good games against them. We don't know the status of that Browns secondary, and it's a scheme that the 49ers are familiar with because Steve Wilkes coached in that division last year. So while I will certainly admit that the Browns front seven is doing their part, I still don't know if that secondary is just smoke and mirroring their way through it. If they get their corners back healthy this week,

then it hurts Jimmy Garoppolo. He won't be a top 10 guy for you anymore? I don't think so. I think it makes that big of a difference. I think Denzel Ward is a good enough player compared to TJ Carey, who I believe has allowed three touchdowns in the last two games.

Garoppolo, to me, is someone who I think can get you 275-2. Yeah, that is borderline top 10. I think he's an okay streamer. I think he's... I take Dalton, but I'll go back to the same thing I said about Dalton. I just don't think there's a high ceiling here for Garoppolo unless things get fluky.

Yeah, there really is because he just doesn't throw very much. They run the ball all the time. So, what the hell are we doing with the running backs for the 49ers this week? If Coleman plays, he should be the best one. Is he a start, though? plays, he should be the best one. Is he a start, though? I think read a second and most are third. Like, are you starting Tevin Coleman?

Because I have a lot of Tevin Coleman. If Coleman plays, I would start him as at least a flex. And you might have a hard time convincing yourself to put him in your lineup because what if he's listed as questionable for the game? Sure. Yeah, like if you have a lot of people have two of the 49ers running backs because they either picked up most or they drafted Breida with Coleman, then you just sort of wait it

out if you need one of those guys. I'd like to plan on, if Tevin Coleman's questionable, I would like to plan on just not using the 49ers running back this week. Yeah, it's probably the safe plan. Unless you have Breida and Coleman and can make a decision on Monday night. I'm going to have to choose, no, well, I guess I'll start Ronald. I'm going to start Ronald Jones over Tevin Coleman, even though

he's got a terrible matchup. If we knew for sure Tevin would play, I would take Tevin. If he's questionable on Sunday, I'll start Ronald Jones, yes. And remember, when Tevin did play in that whole half of football, he played a lot in the red zone, played on third downs, got a lot of work in all different types of ways.

They kind of indicated that when they said Jeff Wilson would probably be the odd man out, that Coleman would take the red zone opportunities. I hope he does more than that, but that he would replace Wilson as a red zone guy. Who's your favorite San Francisco wide receiver? Debo. Kittle.

Kittle is the right answer. I'll take Goodwin just on the ceiling play. I'll take Pettis, but I don't really want to use him. I'll take Debo, man. Goodwin's had no more than three targets in any game. I'm with you. Is it going to be Debo or Pettis? Because we saw Pettis take snaps away from Debo last week.

Pettis played fewer snaps than both Goodwin and Samuel in week three. But at the end of the game, week three, Pettis was playing more. All right, fine. I'll take Pettis. I don't care. I wouldn't use any of them because we don't know who's going to line up where. They had a week to evaluate. Unless we hear

reports about somebody's going to get more work, two of them are going to play a lot. It's a guessing game as to which two will play the most. Two games left. We're going to fire through these guys. Chicago at Oakland. I think we've talked enough about David Montgomery.

Chase Daniel, no thanks. And Tyrell Williams, start or sit? Well, I guess we'll stick with Chicago. Allen Robinson, how much do you like Robinson this week? Must start. Start him. I think he's a great flex. Robinson or a Broncos receiver?

Robinson and PPR over Sutton close with Sanders. I think I like Robinson better than the Broncos receivers. Yeah, I mean, if the question was, if somebody asked us and you said Robinson, I would just sign off on that just to be consensus.

Alright, fair enough. Yeah, Robinson's third best for me. I'll take the Broncos receivers. He's been so consistent. No longer a consensus. He's on pace for 96 catches. How about that? But we don't know what to expect with Chase. And zero touchdowns. It's a great pace.

Zero touchdowns. No on Derek Carr. The last start that he made with Daniel last year, he scored 12 PPR points. Didn't score again. Oh, it's Tariq Cohen. Start or sit? Sit.

Nope. Sit. Okay, so no... Did you say no? I said no. Hey, how about that? So this is the week. I'd flex him over Ronald Jones if he'd be better.

The only Raider we like is Waller, right? Yes. Jacobs is a non-PPR flex. Not for me. I'm so worried that Josh Jacobs is going to have eight carries for 14 yards. I'm with you. Like a dreadful game. I'm going to be forced, I think, to start him.

But good gravy. Like the Minnesota game. What did he have against Minnesota? He had four fantasy points. They lost 34-14. They don't throw him the ball. I don't care what John Gruden keeps saying until he showed me. I can't trust it.

Chicago's DST is number two overall stardom. Buffalo at Tennessee. Tennessee stinks against tight ends. Any interest in Dawson Knox? No. If Allen was playing 100%, without Allen, deeper leagues. I'm starting him in one league where I'm stuck.

I couldn't get Doyle or Graham off waivers. He's my third favorite. Heath, is this the lowest total of the week? I believe... What is it, 19? It is 38. Yeah, Bears, Raiders is 41.

38 and a half is what it currently is, and that is currently the only game below 40. I wouldn't be surprised if there's another one that joins them shortly. But, yeah. So who do we like in this game, Buffalo, Tennessee? Derrick Henry.

Okay, yeah. How much do you like Derrick Henry? Start him. Ingram or Henry? Ingram. I have Ingram. I think I have them back-to-back in both formats. Henry one spot ahead.

No, I've got Henry one spot ahead of Ingram. I misspoke. I apologize. The Sean McCoy or Derek Henry? Henry. McCoy. All right, look, you saw what the Bills just did to the Patriots. It's hard to have any faith in a Tennessee wide receiver

or in the passing game. Delaney Walker is about 12th overall, 10 to 12 in the rankings. And which DST, excuse me, do you like better? Titans. Titans. Cool. Good show, guys. Thanks for listening, everybody.

Wait, wait, you forgot that Bengals game. Got to go bye. You got to do the Bengals game. No, I can't. You just got to go bye. Wow. All right. Redhead, go bye. Nah, nah, nahals game. Nah, we can't. You just gotta go bye to you. Wow. Alright, redhead, go bye.

Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. Nah!