Fantasy Football Today - 10/11: Start or Sit (NFC); NYG-NE; Beat the Waiver Wire (Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: October 11, 2019

Our takeaways from New England's win over the Giants as Sony Michel just can't get a goal line touch! Is now the time to sell on some Patriots, including their DST? Are the Giants worth holding as they face ARI next week? ... Players who are set up for big games this week (13:00), important injury updates (18:25), some Start or Sit for the games we'll talk about toward the end of the episode (23:45) and Beat the Waiver Wire (25:35) with some good QBs and a DST to add for next week ... PIT-LAC (32:21), CAR-TB (43:30), ATL-ARI (49:30), SF-LAR (55:00), DET-GB (1:01:40), PHI-MIN (1:06:30). A lot of discussion on Melvin Gordon, Larry Fitzgerald, Mike Evans, Devonta Freeman, Tevin Coleman, Aaron Rodgers and many more ... 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. Oh, what's up, everybody? Welcome to the Friday edition of Fantasy Football Today. I'm very excited for today's show. I think we got a lot of really fun games to preview. I'm in a great mood. I am feeling good. I am looking good in my Derek Jeter shirt.

The second best DJ in New York sports history. We'll talk about the best one in just a moment with Patriots Giants. What's going on, Dave and Jamie? How are we feeling this morning? Can you stand up like an old man again and show us your shirt? Oh, yeah. There it is. There's the interlocking NY. Very exciting. Big, big

sports weekend. Jamie and I are going to be on the air tomorrow night on CBS Sports Radio while the Yankees are playing the Astros and the Gators are playing LSU, and we're probably both going to be in a very, very bad mood for the entire show. Pay attention, FCC. You might hear some curse words.

If the Yankees win, you feel like they're going to win the series? Yes. Yes, I do think that if they win tomorrow. Yeah, I do. If Florida beats LSU, I think they're almost a lock for the football playoffs. Assuming they win out.

Because they're going to lose to Georgia, so it'll be one loss, but they'll have two wins against two top ten teams. That would be interesting. Yeah, Auburn LSU. All right, let's talk fantasy football here. I was trying to find MVP, MVP. I couldn't find them anywhere on YouTube. But you know who the MVP is of fantasy football, right?

Yeah, the Patriots defense. The Patriots DSD. Although I was surprised to see that they do not have the biggest margin of fantasy points between number one and number two at a position. They have four points. It depends on scoring, obviously. But if you just go to CBS Sports' fantasy stats page, number one is New England. They're 4.4 points per game

better than the 49ers. Christian McCaffrey actually has a bigger gap between him and Dalvin Cook. But yeah, they had a huge game. What were your takeaways from yesterday's game? I actually wrote two scores in the notes. I knew this was going to be a slaughter, so I put a final score in before the game started.

Patriots 30, Giants 13. And I wasn't that far off. 35-14 the final score. Dave, what were your takeaways from yesterday's game? It was pretty... The game went pretty much as we expected it to. The Patriots dominated on both sides of the ball. The defense was outstanding.

The Giants made a couple of fortuitous plays that helped them out, and that's really about it. I think people are going to get impatient with Josh Gordon now because when he did play in the first half, he really wasn't that involved in the offense. He only had the one target, and then he got hurt in the second half, didn't play at all, and people are ready to cut him. They to spike cut him just chop him off their roster right now find somebody else to put on their on their bench at least to replace him i still think that if i can find josh gordon

on the waiver wire in my league i'm gonna stash him and see what happens i don't know if i'm gonna start him if i'm picking him up off the waiver wire but i still see potential in him assuming he's healthy, assuming that the knee issue isn't something that's going to keep him sidelined for a long period of time. Yeah, it's certainly frustrating. I can't imagine most 12-team leagues are larger or cutting him. It's probably 10-team leagues and smaller just because you have… Don't be so sure, man. People are pissed. But that would just be stupid.

I mean, I think it's, you know, in a 10-team league, I can understand it. If you have, you know, Terry McLaurin was available in a couple of 10-team leagues that I've seen. That's an easy thing that you can make a move on if you're so inclined. But look, this offense for New England doesn't look right. It just doesn't look like they're clicking on all cylinders. And, you know, you hear Tom Brady saying it after the game. And, you know, you can't watch the game and look and come away thinking this. This is the typical Patriots offense that we've seen time and time again. You know, so Gordon getting hurt.

Not a good thing. He hasn't exactly been playing great. Philip Dorsett not being there. Not a good sign either. You know, he had certainly made some good moments and positive plays for this offense. The offensive line just does not look good right now. We keep waiting for this Dante Skarnecchia magic to sort of kick in and click for them, and maybe it does by the end of the season.

But right now, Tom Brady looks— Whenever Brady looks uncomfortable in the pocket, Pete Prisco says this all the time. It's like he's seeing ghosts. It's like he feels pressure around him that's not there. And I saw that last night tremendously. He gets just a little bit of pressure around him, and all of a sudden he's getting happy feet. Thankfully, he still

got the two rushing touchdowns and gave you some good production, but it just does not look like the same Patriots offense right now. I'm a little surprised at that take. It doesn't look great, and they have faced pretty easy teams for the most part. I'm willing to mostly throw out the Buffalo game, although I was surprised at just how bad they were.

But it's the last two games. They just haven't looked good. Well, okay. I mean, that's fair. They haven't looked good in the first half. I think the wind, if you didn't watch the game last night, the wind was obviously having an effect. Brady's interception was weird.

He missed Edelman so badly. He missed the throw up the sideline so badly. So the wind appeared to have an effect on Tom Brady. The conditions weren't great. But the bottom line is, he's got 21 or more fantasy points in five of six games. He's got 28 or more in three of six.

That's where fantasy and reality don't mesh because you're not counting on Tom Brady to rush for two touchdowns to be a good quarterback. He completed 75% of his pass. But it's just, it doesn't look the same way that you're used to seeing him perform. And so, look, I'm thrilled that he got to the 20 plus fantasy points. And that's the saving grace is that, you know, when you have good players or great players

in his case, that you have expectations for them. My expectations for him were higher. Well, it sounds like you want to sell. No, I don't think it's a sell situation because, again, this, I think, is the floor. So I still think there's a ceiling that's not there yet. Plus, you know, there's still going to be a team that's going to be aggressive in making a move.

So if they can steal an O.J. Howard from the Bucs, if they can steal A.J. Green from the Bengals, that would not shock me at all that they go out and spend some draft capital to go get one of those players digs uh well i just don't think the vikings seem inclined to move it really depends if they if they pony up for him yeah but maybe they will and again i think when dorsett is back and if gordon's right and i still do have faith that you know skarnecchia has turned offensive lines around before that haven't exactly looked good so there's still i i think a ceiling ceiling that Brady can get to. Plus, when they probably do play some tougher opponents, while it's not exactly a good

thing, maybe the focus is different. Maybe the performance is different just because he has to race his game, and he typically does in those situations. So it's not an abandoned Tom Brady conversation. It's just more like you watch them. You just can't come away saying that they look like the same Patriots. Right. He did look uncomfortable. He seemed out of sync early on. I think the offense really started to kick into a better gear toward the second half, maybe toward the fourth quarter more than anything else, but didn't look perfect in the game. And it kind of speaks to the personnel continuing to change from Gronk's retirement to all the receivers they brought in to the Antonio Brown situation,

Dorsett being hurt, Gordon leaving the game. It's not all on Brady. I mean, by far, it's not on Brady. So I think there's a ceiling that he can still get to. But at the same time, this is usually the point where they start to peak, and that's the hope that you're getting at this point forward is that this is when the offense starts to click.

The defense has carried them. He said as much. Well, we've got to talk about the Patriots running backs. I don't think we really have to talk about the Giants other than to say Heath is going to look really good in the Gardner Minshew mustache. No, don't say it. Don't say it.

Nothing is promised. Let's just lay it out. It was PPR fantasy points. John Hilleman for Heath versus Jordan Howard for Dave. And Hilleman, he fumbled. So he had three fantasy points in PPR, right? Or was it decimal scoring? So he had like, like 3.8, 3.5.

So Dave's in good shape. Oh God, please let it come down to a decimal point. You know how these bets go, Adam. We don't do them very often, but when we do, they always end up being very, very close, way closer than people think that they are. Well, the Giants obviously were depleted, didn't have much of a chance. I do wonder if you think it's worth holding on to Daniel Jones

with Arizona, with Patrick Peterson. But Patrick Peterson's back Arizona next week at home. If he has all of his weapons. He probably won't, though. But that's the if, if right we don't know what evan ingram's status is when you're sprained mcl i don't think but the fact that he practiced on a limited on limited basis well then he didn't practice like he started to and then he didn't oh i thought he practiced no no no he ended the week not practicing and maybe that's just because

they knew that they were going to shut him down for the short week you got to wait and see but yeah they need him back sterling shepherd we don't know when he's coming back because of the concussion. And Saquon, we think he's coming back, but that just might mean that they run a lot more. So wrap it up by talking to me about Sonny Michel, who had 22 carries for 86 yards. He had 28 rushing yards on the final drive. He now has five catches in his last two games, and they are making a concerted effort to get him the ball in the passing game. But Brandon Bolden got the goal line touchdown.

Tom Brady had two quarterback sneaks with Michel in the game on both of them. And then James White has had 11 to 13 fantasy points in PPR in every game. So I think we basically know what to expect, although he did have a touchdown overturn. But specifically, Sonny Michel, where are you on Michel right now? And then we will start talking about the rest of the game. So I think we basically know what to expect, although he did have a touchdown overturn. But specifically, Sonny Michel,

where are you on Michel right now? And then we will start talking about the rest of the games. I think Sonny Michel is still an okay number two fantasy running back. I think I know what's going on with the goal line work is that on the first drive of the game, he had a third and one, didn't convert it. He gave him a fourth and one, didn't convert that either. And that's always been a problem with Sonny Michel. I talked about it during draft season. And it's one of

the reasons why they got Damian Harris was because Harris can convert those short yardage plays. And so I went and looked this season. He's actually nine of 16 on downs, three yards and closer. It's a pretty good average. I'd say it's a little above 500. You'd like it to be a little higher, but for him, that's pretty good. He's five for nine on one yard or closer. So again, it's not ideal. They'd probably like them. They'd love them to be nine for nine. But I think the fact that he wasn't converting early in the game made them scared to use

him at the goal line. That's why Bolden got, he didn't even get a carry down there. Bolden got the opportunities. Brady got the opportunities. As long as he keeps getting catches and 20 plus carries a game, you can use him as a number two running back. But that's the concern though is that the last two games with the five catches

is no Rex Burkett. And so if Burkett is playing, what does that do for Michelle's overall outlook? Because we know prior to Burkett going down, it was, are they starting to make the switch to maybe using Rex Burkett a little bit more? So I think that's a little bit of a concern

for Michelle is, you know, what'll happen when they're fully healthy. Most likely Bolden goes back to being just a special teamer and Burkett takes on those snaps. But, uh, as long as Rex Burkett continues to be out, I think Michelle's fine. You know, you just have to keep an eye on that. I I'd put him in the sell high category. If you can trade him for something, I was about to say, he's got the jets, then the Browns and the Ravens. It's as tough as the schedule is going to be for the Patriots through the first half of the season. The Ravens game will be tough if Brandon Williams is there.

Right. And the Jets could be tough if C.J. Mosley is back. Potentially. And it's on the road. Yeah, but they're going to hammer that. Well, after the Ravens game, it's a bye in the Eagles. I'm going to hold judgment on that. I want to see the Jets on Sunday. All right. After the Ravens games, it's a bye in the Eagles. I'm going to withhold judgment on that. I want to see the Jets on Sunday.

All right. After the Ravens games, it's a bye, and then it's at Philadelphia. And you're right. Actually, Tom Brady doesn't have a great history at the Jets. That's coming up next week. The schedule does get a lot harder after the bye. It's a reason to sell high on the Patriots DST if you can. And you can.

People are looking for them. Now, I will say their fantasy playoffs, you got to get there first. But week 14, Kansas City at home. Week 15, Cincinnati on the road. Week 16, your championship, Buffalo at home. But still, weeks 14 to 15 could be huge. All right, guys. Yeah, that home Dolphins game in week 17, it's a killer if you don't play into week 17.

Switch it with the Bills game. Put the Bills in week 17 and the Dolphins in 16. Call Roger Goodell. See if he'll do that. Big game for Julian Edelman. He's been awesome whenever Antonio Brown hasn't been there, save for that Bills game. Mailbag is Saturday.

We're recording it today with Ben Gretsch, so make sure you tune into that. Got a lot of your questions at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Another way to get your questions read and answered is on Twitter. We're doing hashtag AskFFT. Had a great time with it this weekend, Saturday and Sunday. Just ask a question, hashtag AskFFT. You can follow us on Twitter and see when we're kind of answering questions,

but this allows us to easily identify questions for you. AskFFT, hashtag AskFFT. And then if you want to win a million dollars on CBSSports.com. You can play Parlay Pick'em, download the CBS Sports app, or go to CBSSports.com slash Parlay and submit your Parlay card. And once you're done, you're immediately in contention for big time cash prizes, including a chance at $1 million if you hit a perfect Parlay. So there are other prizes as well. So download the CBS Sports app or go to cbssports.com slash parlay and take your shot at a million bucks. Six games to preview today.

Real quick overview of them, guys. I just want you to tell me one player that you think is set up for a big game in these six contests. Hopefully we have one in each contest. And it could be obvious. That's fine. But tell me one player set up for a big game. Pittsburgh at the Chargers is the one AFC game we got today.

Pittsburgh at the Chargers. James Conner. Austin Eckler. Very nervous about James Conner. Why do you think he set up for a big game? Well, I mean, the run defense for the Chargers looked awful last week. And, you know, without Samuels there, I don't think they'll go all of a sudden give Benny Snell all of this work.

It's just lean on their ground game, dump off passes to him in the passing game. So I think this could be his best game today. Easy game plan for their third string quarterback too. Lean on Connor. Yeah, I guess I shouldn't say I'm very nervous. I'm nervous that they won't have the ball much more on that in a little bit.

Carolina-Tampa Bay. Carolina-Tampa Bay. Who's set up for a big game? McCaffrey, Christian. Well, he's got the toughest matchup of anybody. He had a bad game against Tampa Bay, surprisingly. That's true. Tampa Bay's been tough against the run.

Guess what? You're going to start him anyway. Okay, Greg Olson. I'll go way less obvious. Godwin, Chris. Greg Olson set up for a big game? You think it's going to happen? That's a good one.

He's got a great matchup. Atlanta, Arizona. Matt Ryan. It's Kyler time too, right? Kyler's our start of the week, yeah. Yeah, baby. San Francisco and the Rams. I think Robert Woods.

All right. I hope, I don't know. I think I hope for selfish reasons because I have like three leagues with Malcolm Brown. Could be good. It's a great run defense that they're facing, but we'll see. We'll talk about Brown and Edmonds in just a second.

Detroit Green Bay. Harry on Johnson. That's a good one. You hate going obvious. What about Stafford? Yeah, Stafford's a good one. I think both Rodgers and Stafford have such a great history against each other in terms of their fantasy points. Big primetime game.

Yeah, they're both top 12 guys. Yeah, I think I was a touch surprised that you guys had Rodgers in your top 12 with Adams almost certainly out. Was it just like all the buys? Part of that, you know, and just some, you know, like Wentz having a bad matchup. I'd start Rodgers over him um baker obviously stinks sure okay and then philadelphia minnesota is there anyone that's set up for a big game jordan howard gonna get you five ppr points yeah that's all he

needs i'll settle for four who's set up for a big game? I think you're... I got someone who's set up for a big game. Go ahead. Two guys, if you don't mind me taking two. Adam Thielen and Stefan Diggs. It's up to you whether or not you've got the confidence to go with Diggs, but I think Minnesota will find the ground game tough to use with cook against this defense

and the secondary is so beat up that uh that they take chances with dealing and digs downfield really what they're doing is taking chances with cousins well i think you know we talked about this when the bears played the vikings a couple weeks ago these teams that have great run defenses actually tend to see a lot of pass attempts. And the Eagles see the fourth most pass attempts in football. And they've allowed 100 yards to a wide receiver in four or five games. Last week against the Jets was the only exception. So, yeah, that's kind of what I was thinking as well.

So, I mean, that could be very relevant for your FanDuel team, right? And listen, you want to join, right? Yeah, there you go. He's in my FanDuel lineup. Which one? The one for FFT. No, no, no. Oh, which player?

Yeah. The one for FFT. Of course. Well, I submitted my FanDuel lineup for our league. FanDuel.com slash league slash FFT. Please join. It's $5. That's it. FanDuel.com slash league slash FFT.

But before you go to that URL, take out the word league and it. Fanduel.com slash league slash FFT. But before you go to that URL, take out the word league and go to Fanduel.com slash FFT, and you can get basically five free dollars every week. You just make a $20 deposit and you get $20 in site credit, $5 per week for four weeks. You can use that to join our contest. There are more ways to win than ever. I love Daily Fantasy. I love DFS because you don't have to worry about injuries and busts ending your season. You got a chance to win millions of dollars. You pick a new team every week.

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app. So Todd Gurley and David Johnson mispractice. Both Malcolm Brown and Chase Edmonds are available in about, I think about 45% of leagues. So they're about 55% owned. Who do you like better, Malcolm Brown or Chase Edmonds? Brown against the Niners, Edmonds against the Falcons? Edmonds. Assuming both start, it's Edmonds. And would you rank both? Where would you rank both of them if they play?

And we are previewing those two games today. But this is the big story right now, I think. The possibility to have a waiver wire starter. Where would you rank them? Edmonds would be top 12, and Brown would be closer to 15. I'll go a little lower than that and say Edmonds is top 15, and Brown would be top 20. Okay, but big opportunities here.

Devontae Adams unlikely to play this week. Are you avoiding MVS and Allison? They really disappointed last week or more optimistic? They're number three receivers. MVS more so than Allison. Just because the

big play upside that he has. I was just checking to see if Darius Slay practiced on Thursday. He did. It was on a limited basis, but he was limited the last time that they were practicing for a game and he didn't play. I think it would make the matchup better if he didn't play, although the Lions, their last game, their defense played well, kept Patrick Mahomes out of the end zone.

Yeah, but he still had 300 yards. Still kept him out of the end zone. Oh, no, they played well, but you say quarterbacks run for 300. There's probably a good chance there's going to be touchdowns. Julio Jones limited in practice. We're ranking him. We expect him to play. Chris Carson limited with a shoulder injury.

We expect Chris Carson, right? Yes, as of now. And Alvin Kamara, yes. Mason Rudolph has a chance to play. Right now we're thinking no, but he has a chance. Still in the concussion protocol. Washington could feature Adrian Peterson this week, according to reports at

Miami. So interested in Peterson? Yeah, he's an easy starter. Probably more of a flex than a must-start guy, but certainly someone to consider. Okay. Certainly he'd be behind Edmonds and Brown if they got the chance. Oh, for sure. Would he be behind Daryl Henderson if Gurley were out?

No. No, Henderson is more of a dart throw at this point. Better in PPR than non-PPR. Oh, let's see. We got Brandon. Although Will Brinson floated a theory to me yesterday, which I thought was interesting, that this is the Alvin Kamara,

David Johnson situation when they were rookies. Yeah, I had that thought too. I actually put in a bid for Henderson. I don't know if I got him. I haven't checked yet in our podcast league. But right, like, just, you know, if big work comes available, those guys would get it, basically? Well, I mean, Kamara was when they traded Peterson, his rookie season,

and then all of a sudden it was like he became a monster. And with David Johnson, it was sort of the same thing on a lesser scale just because it took a while for the Cardinals to realize how good he is and he deserved more work. He didn't have the blow-up rookie season like Kamara did. Okay, I got you. Jamal Williams is going to play. Brandon Cook's expected to play. Cincinnati's not going to trade A.J. Green, according to the Bengals.

Philip Dorsett could be back next week. Jalen Ramsey could play this week. If Ramsey plays, it doesn't really change much, right? Because you have Bridgewater around 20th right now, and we're still going to start Michael Thomas. Yeah, it would just be a downgrade to Thomas. I'd probably avoid him in daily. Right.

What else we got? Gardner Minshew has minor groin soreness. No big deal. Marquise Brown mispracticed. Do we think Marquise Brown is going to play against the Bengals? This has kind of been the norm. Right. He typically misses at least one day of practice each week,

but he did have the ankle injury. Came back from it in their last game. Let's see if he gets in a limited practice on Friday. If he doesn't practice on friday i would expect him to be no better than a game time call tampa bay offensive coordinator byron left which said oj howard's time is coming what did that mean to you he's like 73 on right now oj howard they're trading him either that he's going to play baseball oh he caught a pet yeah he caught a ball at uh right his game that was awesome that was like yep barehanded it was pretty awesome and it was cool that they let jamis hit the ball the only time those two have connected yeah i guess so um all right so you're not really i think it means i think it means if you have an open roster spot

and you still have oj howard keep, keep him. Okay. Fair enough. Or add him, maybe. They have a bye after this week, right? Yeah. Right. Chris Herndon expected to miss the next two games. Hunter Henry was limited in practice. Do we think he plays?

No, but it would be awesome if he did. He's on the way back. Same question with T.J. Hawkinson. He sounds like he's going to go. I mean, the reports were yesterday, full go in practice. All he's got to do is get to clearance and then he'll be out there. Sammy Watkins, yes or no?

Not at this point. Robert Kraft wants Rob Gronkowski to return. Watching him on Fox yesterday, Tony Gonzalez looks like he is more ready to come back than Rob Gronkowski. Rob Gronkowski looks very thin. Well, not very thin, but compared to Gronk, you know.

All right, we're just about ready to get into the games. Let's do some start, sit, or flex at best. Mike Evans against Carolina in London. I'll say flex at best. I currently have him as a number two receiver, and I'm not very comfortable with it. I agree. I think he's a flex at best. I currently have him as a number two receiver, and I'm not very comfortable with it. I agree. I think he's a flex at best.

Tough track record against the Panthers, and Carolina has a good formula for kind of removing him away from Jameis Winston. It's more of a 10-team conversation, because I doubt many people have the scenarios in 12-team leagues that you can mention. There are situations, obviously, but for the most part, he'll be started in 12-team leagues. Would you start both Chargers running backs over Mike Evans? Yeah.

In PPR, I would not start Gordon over him. In non-PPR, I would not start Eckler over him. Gotcha. Okay. His PPR fantasy points in his last five meetings against the Panthers 11-17, 2-8-10. And only one game with more than 61 yards.

All right, start, sit, or flex at best. Brandon Cooks against San Francisco. Start. Did he clear the concussion protocol? Assuming yes. Yeah, he'll start him. Okay. 70 or more yards in eight of his last 10 regular season home games.

Robert Woods was my next one. Start, sit, or flex the best. He's still a start. I pretty much covered everybody in this segment. Green Bay wide receivers or flexes, right? Stefan Diggs, Adam Thielen. Thielen's a start. Diggs is a flex.

Yep. Any Eagle at Minnesota other than Zach Ertz, who I'm sure we're going to start. Not a bad matchup for him. Any other Eagle? I think Alshon is closer to a sit than a flex. Yeah, I'd sit him. I'd sit Wentz.

I'd sit Howard. Okay, that's all I got. Well, those are the games we're previewing later in the show. Let's beat the waiver wire. You're looking for a quarterback for next week. Jimmy Garoppolo is at Washington. He's 83% on, but I thought I'd put it in there. Gardner Minshew at Cincinnati.

I don't know how much we like Andy Dalton against the Jaguars, but AJ Green's making some progress here. Do you think Andy Dalton is just, in general, a guy to stash? If you can, the hope would be is that no Ramsey. Because if Ramsey's out and AJ Green's back, then Andy Dalton's a great start. I guess I meant more from a rest-of-season perspective. Well, I mean, there was somebody that said a few weeks ago,

Andy Dalton's going to win your fantasy league. Yes, I did. The premise of that was he was playing pretty well. Like I said yesterday on the show, his first three weeks... His fantasy production's good. His first three weeks he faced I forget, Seattle, Seattle, Buffalo, and

San Francisco. Seattle, San Francisco, Buffalo. He scored more fantasy points against those teams than any other quarterback that's faced them so far. So the last two weeks without A.J. Green it was because of John Ross. So my thought was he's got John

Ross who looks like a thing and he's going to get AJ Green back and he's got Tyler he's got the best weapons he's ever had. And I thought the schedule wasn't bad. So yeah I did think that Andy Dalton was going to be kind of a league winner for people. I don't feel that way anymore because I don't know about AJ Green's health and they don't have John Ross.

No but he could still be a streamer. The Jaguars game is not exactly... The Jaguars game is not ideal. But, you know, again, there are circumstances that could happen. If there's no Jalen Ramsey and he does get A.J. Green back, then I would say he is.

All right, running backs to stash, I got Ido Smith and Jamal Williams. We've been talking about them. They could get bigger roles, particularly Ido Smith. Isn't it funny that there just hasn't been like this mad rush of injuries, thankfully, at that position?

Like Wayne Gallman so far has been the best free agent ad and it was a one-week situation. Well, Todd Gurley and David Johnson might not play this week. Yeah, that certainly would change things. But just in terms of the first five weeks of the season, we haven't had that, oh, this guy's going to fill in for that guy. What are you doing?

He's just putting a kibosh out there. No big deal. You know what Heath would say right now? We got two new ones from yesterday. He would say either, or, that one is very breathy. But those are some good ones.

Wide receivers, D.D. Westbrook at Cincinnati. The Jets guys, I don't know, not next week against New England, but just in general. Cole Beasley against Miami. San Francisco guys at Washington. I'm kind of thinking more long-term here with the Jets and the Niners. But Didi at Cincinnati could be good.

And the general average. I mean, quarterbacks. What's Josh Allen's ownership at now? Because people probably dropped him. I didn't think about him. I don't know. Miami at home, Philly at home. I'll get you Josh Allen's.

But he's definitely going to be available. That's a good one. Josh Allen against Miami, yeah. Green Bay against Oakland. Well, it's only at 67. Okay. People are hanging on to Josh Allen? Wow.

Green Bay against Oakland. San Francisco's DST at Washington. That's the one. If they're available, get them. They're one of the best defenses in football so far. I had one league where I had a roster spot to play with, and I figured let me just carry two DSTs and pick them up. To be honest with you, I've actually

used this segment. It's helped me with quarterbacks and DSTs. Not as much with running backs and receivers. That's harder. But quarterbacks and DSTs, they're the most streamable. Take advantage of the guys that are available right now. So Minshew against the Bengals, 49ers against the Redskins. Definitely two to target.

All right, what do we got? I can't use the following teams. Giants, Bucs, Seahawks, Cardinals. That sucks. Atlanta, Houston. So... Do it. What do I have?

I don't even know what's available. Do the tank bowl. I'm honestly not ready for this segment. All right, you know what? I'll tell you what. I'm not doing it right now. Do Miami and Washington. No.

And all you got to do is get five guys to be good. Five guys? McLaurin? No, they're not going to be five. And I'll tell you what. If you're bold enough to take that game, I say that we can reset all the teams you can. No, no, no.

Yeah, come on. That's gutsy if he's going to put the bananas on that game. No, he doesn't get out of his self-imposed rule. No, it's only for right now. Like, he can't use Washington and Miami next week. No. But then he also, whoever uses the week after that, he can't use for three weeks.

I don't have good options here. Like, I really don't. The best I think I could do would be like San Francisco and the Rams, Baltimore, Cincinnati. A lot of these games are off the board. I could do Pittsburgh and the Chargers, but no. I could do Green Bay and Detroit. You could do Lions, Packers.

All right, here we go. I'm going to, let's start it over. Let's go with this week. This week's Bonanza. It should be Arizona-Atlanta, but that game's off the board. Let's go with San Francisco Rams.

Yeah! Dum-dum-da-dum-bum. Okay. Which is the... Assuming Todd Gurley's out, who's the best running back in this game? Malcolm Brown. Yeah. I agree with you.

It'd just be interesting to see if people start it that way. Yeah, I think this game's going to be all right. I think... You're in trouble, though, with the 49ers side of things because you don't have any guaranteed guys outside of really Kittle. Yeah, he needs to be good. Garoppolo, I think, is going to end up with 22-ish fantasy points.

I'll put him in the top 10. And then it comes down to the running backs. Coleman, come on, Coleman. Come through for us. All right. Let's talk a little bit about SeatGeek real quick. You know, ticketing websites, sometimes they make it so difficult for the customers. But not SeatGeek.

They really care about the customers. Customer satisfaction is so high on SeatGeek real quick. Ticketing websites, sometimes they make it so difficult for the customers, but not SeatGeek. They really care about the customers. Customer satisfaction is so high on SeatGeek. The reviews are amazing. And I could tell you personally, it really is the best app. We've been sponsored by SeatGeek for a few years now. And I just started using it when they started sponsoring us and I haven't stopped. And I tell people about it off the air and I tell people about it on the air. I recommend it to everybody. And all my friends now and my family members, they already have the SeatGeek app. I say, oh, you SeatGeek. Adam, shut up. I already have SeatGeek.

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So again, download the SeatGeek app. Use the promo code FFT. Get $10 off your first purchase. That is promo code FFT for $10 off your first SeatGeek purchase. Pittsburgh at the Chargers. Stat of the game. Chargers are third in the NFL in time of possession. Pittsburgh is 31st.

And I think I mentioned this yesterday, but they have faced teams that rank. Steelers have faced 1, 2, 4, and 7 in time of possession so far. And they have been pretty bad in terms of total yardage in all four of those games. Now they're facing the team that's third in time of possession so far. And they have been pretty bad in terms of total yardage in all four of those games. Now they're facing the team that's third in time of possession. Do you have a breakdown

of the Chargers' time of possession by game? I was just thinking that because I'm wondering if it was completely inflated by the Dolphins' game. Right. Because I can't imagine that they had the ball very much last week. Right. Baltimore and New England also played the Dolphins this year. And San Francisco played Cleveland.

But I think Pittsburgh, legitimately, you look at them right now, if they have their third-string quarterback going, they have one of the worst offenses in football, right? In theory, yes. I mean, you know, it's a situation of, you know, the offensive line has not played well. And there's still... I like Deontay Johnson, but I think

you're talking about him as not exactly the most ideal second receiver. Vance McDonald has been in and out of the lineup because of the shoulder injury. So it's like a lack of weapons and a lack of strong quarterback play is going to lend itself to this team not playing at the level that anybody expected, but even

from a respectable standpoint, given what the majority of the league is. All right, so I think we'll start with the Steelers then. And as I look at the time of possession, yeah, I think it was mostly that Dolphins game, which is really crazy that one game, 37 minutes, and last week against the Broncos. Yeah, no, it was the Dolphins game.

So you know what? Thank you for bringing that up. New stat of the game. Time of possession is deceiving. Okay, let's talk about the Steelers, right? James Conner or Melvin Gordon. Who's the best running back in this game? That's a good place to start.

Eckler and PPR. Conner and everything else. Eckler and PPR. Connor and everything else. Eckler and PPR. Connor. You like Connor better than Gordon? Yes. Yep.

This is a guy who has not had more than 65 rushing yards in 10 straight games. It's coming because he's going to get a lot of work. We know that Jalen Samuels isn't going to play. And like we talked about earlier, Benny Snell probably not going to get a ton of touches. Might get six or seven. And the rest can go to Connor, and Connor can make plays in the passing game as well. So I think that he's got a good shot

at getting good yardage and finding the end zone. I mean, if you're the Steelers, you just have to say, like, let's ride James Connor as much as we can. Yeah. And I'll tell you what, I think their offensive line is fine. It's played better,

but the beginning of the season was atrocious. They just did not play. Villanueva was not having a good start to the season, so they're playing better, but it also goes hand-in-hand with the quarterback. You change quarterbacks as much as they've had because of the injuries, and it's like, okay, where's the guy sliding to? Where's the protection going to go?

The calls are different, so it all sort of works hand-in-hand. It's true. It looks like a pretty good matchup. Chargers are allowing 4.9 yards per carry to running backs. And I think what gives me more faith, I'm sure you as well, and James Conner, is that he should be more involved in the passing game. Last week he didn't have a catch, but Samuels is out. So, I mean, you've got to figure he's going to get some catches too, right?

Yes. That'd be the hope. Okay. And if they get creative with the Wildcat, is it going to be him as the trigger guy? I think the Wildcats. I agree, totally. But if they figure we've got to get Hodges off the field

to do some weird things, and the one game that they won, it was because the Wildcat was working. Who knows? How do you feel about Juju? I think he is a number two receiver that's similar to Mikeans that most likely you start by default yeah well who do you like better evans or juju i like juju better i think i have evans

ranked higher and i don't think i feel that way genuinely in my heart adam i think juju has the chance at a better game particularly in ppr would you start stefan diggs or juju smith schuster jesus schuster okay i mean like but but what if what if hodges is that quarterback like that's i'm counting on hodges at quarter yeah and you still think he'll be all right i know that juju smith schuster is not i thought he was okay coming in last week i don't think they're gonna ask him to make a bunch of, you know, 15 plus yard in the bucket throws, uh, down the sideline. I think that they can get guys open inside of 15 yards and have Hodges hit them there. I think he can do that. Okay. I don't think he's gonna, and you know, it's almost like they're going to go back to what they had with Mason Rudolph when Rudolph first came in a lot of dinking, a lot of dunking the occasional deep play.

I think that's what you're going to see. Yeah. I meaninking, a lot of dunking, the occasional deep play. I think that's what you're going to see. Yeah. I mean, just a matter of what they, what, how much they trust Hodges, you know, it could be a situation where we had Evan Washburn on, um, on the show with us, the NFL sideline reporter for CBS. And he spent some time with Pittsburgh and in training camp. And, you know, he, he said the people that, that he spoke to there was that Hodges may have, uh, not a better arm than Rudolph, but may have the ability to go downfield a little bit more than Rudolph.

I would hope so. They just didn't trust him to the same level to manage the game as they did with Rudolph. It could be a situation where he's a little bit more of a wild card, and that could help. The one concern with Juju is will Casey Hayward travel with him? If that's the case, then it can be a little bit of a tougher matchup. Okay. That's worth looking into to seeing if Hayward will go into the slot.

It's also worth noting that Hodges ran a little bit at Samford. I'm looking at his college numbers right now. He ran last week a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. He, he will take off and run. He had 17 touchdowns in 45 games on the ground. There's going to be some interesting DFS quarterback plays this week from Hodges to Keenum to Rosen, you know, guys that you would never expect that if they give you just respectable numbers and you have a great team around them, you're going to have a lot of chances to win in whatever tournaments you

plan. But you know, Hodges is going to make some plays here. I don't, I don't think this charges defense, you know, without Ingram and we'll find out his Perryman playing. I don't think this Chargers defense without Ingram, and we'll find out is Perryman playing? I haven't seen anything in terms of

his health, but he limped off the field last week, and we know he's been sort of banged up all season long. I looked for an update today on Denzel Perryman, but he just hasn't had that much of an impact. That's what I'm saying. The guys that know Derwin James, so the Chargers are so beat up that this is a chance for, I think,

the Steelers offense, surprisingly, to potentially get right. Perriman's playing. He had full practice both days this week. So, Vance McDonald. Heath has Vance McDonald 18th, and you guys have him 10th, and Heath would be like, oh, I muted it, sorry. I muted the Heath side. But he would

have been like, ah! Yeah, so, you still have, yeah, you have McDonald's. It's hopefully he catches four passes and one of them is a touchdown. I like McDonald's, but my projections have him 0.4 points behind the next guy. Nice. Okay. Phillip Rivers.

We talked about him yesterday. Jamie's got him 14th, Dave 18th and Heath 12th. So he's not a great start. Phillip Rivers and his offensive lines beat up Pittsburgh. That's a huge problem. It's a huge problem all the way around for the Chargers. It's going to hurt

them when they try and run the ball. And I think the Steelers defense has played a lot better since they got Minka Fitzpatrick. It's what I thought would happen and it has happened. And I think the best way for Phillip Rivers to really make plays is going to be to lean on Austin Eckler like he did last week. I could see Eckler having another 10

catches. I think both. Gordon had 4 catches. Right. The Steelers have been kind of up and down against the run. They're currently allowing just 3.95 yards per carry to running back. So last week Gordon had 12 carries. Eckler had 3. Gordon actually had four catches and only went for seven yards. And

Eckler had 15. And when I look at Melvin Gordon's numbers, 12 for 31 and four for seven, like, did Todd Gurley play against Denver? But hopefully he's better, shook off some rust here. So you said you guys like Connor better than Gordon and Eckler, right?

But Eckler and PPR? Yep. We'll compare these guys to some others. How about Adam Thielen or Melvin Gordon? Thielen and PPR for sure. And I think I'll take Thielen and non-PPR as well. The thing about Thielen and PPR is that Thielen doesn't really catch that many passes and Gordon did have four

catches last week. But it's also the matchup, and hoping that the game that we saw last week where they clicked a little bit in terms of Cousins and Thielen carries over to that. They were close two weeks ago. They clicked last week. They're going to need to click this week.

How about Juju versus the Chargers running backs? I'll take the Chargers running back. I will too. Do we like or love Keenan Allen this week? Love. It's love by default. He's still a top 12 receiver, but

I don't think he's a top 5 guy and I don't think he's a good daily play. You're not going to put him in your captain spot. You shouldn't even have him in your showdown lineup. I think the thing about him is that you're going to get Rivers going back to being Rivers again. Last week was so weird that he typically does not shy away from challenging matchups,

and he went away from Chris Harris and that secondary. Did he have time? But Keenan Allen doesn't run those type of routes that you have to worry about timing. He's all over the field. So typically they don't necessarily worry about that. It was a very anti-Rivers to Keenan Allen game. He's not the type of quarterback

that shies away from challenging corners. It's been a couple of weeks for Keenan, right? Yeah, yeah. He's had two bad games in a row. All right, moving on to Mike Williams. 82% owned, start or sit Mike Williams. He's had four bad games in a row. Sit.

Well, he had 74 yards. He had six for 74 last week, but I think we still need to see more. All right. I made this comment yesterday on the video show that we were hopeful that Williams would get more catches and more yards to sort of support the touchdowns. And he hasn't scored yet this season, but he's coming off a game

where he's got a career high in targets and catches. And we're downgrading him. He's only had two games with double-digit PPR points. Where are you going to rank Hunter Henry if he plays 55% owned? Top 12. By default. Guarantee. Would you rank him ahead of Vance McDonald? Yes.

Ahead of Delaney Walker. He'd be right behind the disley Mark Andrews cutoff of the 7-8 guy, depending on what format you're looking at. Cool. All right, so our next game is Carolina at Tampa Bay. What we're going to do now is we're going to move over to our audio room from the video studio. All of you watching at youtube.com slash fantasyfootballtoday,

you know what you'll see. You won't see our pretty faces anymore, but you will get the rest of the show. We'll be right back to get to the next five games. 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. Going over to London for Carolina at Tampa Bay. The Bucs have allowed multiple wide receivers to score eight or more fantasy points in non-PPR. That's a pretty good game. In the same game, four straight weeks, including Samuel and Moore,

when Cam Newton threw, I think, 53 passes back in week two. This is the first rematch of the season, by the way. So are both Carolina wide receivers in play this week? I like Moore better than Samuel. He's been more efficient over the last three weeks. And it's not necessarily a matchup type thing. I think it's more like Kyle Allen could be tired of missing on the deep throws with Samuel. And we'll try to just lean more on the easier targets with DJ Moore. Okay.

And how would you compare them to Juju? Moore over Juju. I believe I have Moore to Juju? Moreover Juju. I believe I have moreover Juju both ahead of Samuel. Gotcha. Which quarterback do you like better in this game, Kyle Allen or Jameis Winston? Jameis. Kyle.

Yeah, I could see a case for both. Go ahead, make your case. I think Jameis is going to give you a similar game to what you got last week, where he sort of cobbles together around 20 to 22 fantasy points. So not a great start, but still a... I think volume will certainly be in his favor.

I think we've seen some flaws in this Carolina defense because of the injuries the last couple of games. So I like the setup for Jameis a little bit better. I'm just concerned about Kyle Allen and what the game plan will be. Will they allow him to actually throw the ball and be not as conservative as we've seen since the Arizona game? That's going to totally come down to game flow and just how often they need him to throw the football. You know how I feel about Andy Dalton, right?

I've made that pretty clear this week. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I'll start Dalton over both these guys easy. Both of them. Because I think that they both have kind of low upside. Jameis' track record against Carolina isn't good. His offensive line is beat up bad.

The whole right side of that line will have backups playing. And I think Carolina's defense is actually pretty good. I'm expecting Jameis to have a rough game. I think it'll be okay for Godwin. I don't think it'll be great for anybody else. In my mind, I've got to start sinking Mike Evans even more than where I had him. I think he's going to get there. This will be

the chance for Jameis to get to it's only happened once in his career, four times with at least 20 or more fantasy points. I think he gets there. Jameis got him ninth and Dave has him 19th. Of course, Heath is exactly in the middle at 14th on Jameis Winston. Carolina, look, we didn't think Minshew was going to do anything.

He threw for 374 yards, the first quarterback to throw for more than 208 yards against the Panthers. They really have shown some vulnerabilities, though, against the run. With Kwon short out, they've been pretty—I don't know about bad, but they haven't been good against the run two straight weeks. So if we look at the running backs in this game, we're obviously going to start McCaffrey. But what about Ronald Jones and Peyton Barber? No, I prefer not to. I don't feel really good about either of their chances to be reliable.

They're bi-week replacement running backs. I think that's about the nicest thing that I can say about them. Okay, so obviously if Edmonds or Brown is in, well, if Gurley and Johnson are out, you're going to start their replacements over Ronald Jones and Barber. What about Carlos Hyde or Ronald Jones? I'll take Hyde.

Oh, yeah. Hyde. Okay. I think the Texans are going to try and get him, I think they're going to try and get their run game going. I don't know if it's going to be all Hyde and no Duke, but I think Hyde's got just as good of a chance to score as those

guys do. How about Ronald Jones or Mike Evans? I'll go Evans. Evans or DJ Moore? Evans or Curtis Samuel? I'll take... I think I'll take Evans. I'm re-evaluating

it on the fly. Well, now I'll ask DJ Moore or Mike Evans. Moore. Moore. Okay. Godwin, McCaffrey are must-starts. Greg Olson and O.J. Howard. Start Olson, sit Howard. That'll work.

Yep. Okay. Is that it for this game? I think it is, right? We're good. I mean, you could make a case for the Panthers' defense. Yeah. Okay.

Olsen facing the team that gives up the second most fantasy points to tight ends. That's why we're hopeful when he had a huge game against them last time. Atlanta is at Arizona. We'll talk about that game after I tell you about Lightstream because most people carry a balance on their credit cards. Lightstream is going to help because the APR on those balances, it could be over 20% on average. Go to lightstream.com slash FFT. L-I-G-H-T-S-T-R-E-A-M dot com slash FFT.

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I would start him over Tom Brady. I would start him over the quarterbacks in the Packers and Lions game, the quarterbacks in the 49ers-Rams game. I would start him over Wentz. I'm going to start Russ over Kyler Murray. The one I'm actually debating is Kyler Murray

versus Dak. Murray's the top four quarterback for me this week. I think that's very aggressive. And Ryan's number five. It makes sense. I mean, he's running more. He was QB seven last week with 25 fantasy points and six points for passing touchdown leagues.

Well, he would have to have thrown a touchdown then. What's that? He didn't throw one last week. And he still was QB seven. Yep. He's had three straight games with at least six fantasy points with just his rushing totals

think about this in their last three games Atlanta has allowed passer ratings of 118.1 or better to Jacoby Brissett, Marcus Mariota and Deshaun Watson what they've really done is not covered receivers

that's really the problem you know what Dave the receivers are the So it's set up beautifully. What they've really done is not covered receivers. Yes, they've done great at that. That's really the problem. Well, you know what, Dave? The receivers are the tricky part. Sorry to interrupt, but let's get into that because all of the receivers in this game, except for Julio, are going to be kind of head-scratchers for fantasy owners.

What do you think? Right, but they're all going to carry plenty of upside. But are they really head-scratchers? I mean, Fitzgerald's a must-start guy. Well, Fitzgerald's had three bad games in a row. I think he scored in one of them. Yes, and now he's playing mean, Fitzgerald's a must-start guy. Well, Fitzgerald's had three bad games in a row. I think he scored in one of them. Yes, and now he's playing this defense, so he's a must-start guy.

But he doesn't have the breakaway speed. He's going to need volume. I agree. I think he's a good number two receiver. Sportsline has Fitzgerald as their third-ranked receiver this week. Okay. He wasn't good last week against Cincinnati.

So, you know, it's just... Right. Is Christian Kirk going to play? Just keep in mind, this is the same defense that gave up three combined touchdowns to Corey Davis and A.J. Brown. I know. Right. I know. I know.

Right. But at least those guys have some speed to them. Look, I'm not going to sit here and say that Larry Fitzgerald is going to have a bad game. Two days in a row, you're knocking the Hall of Fame. You know, what can I say? Yesterday on the show, Dave said, and I know the point he was making, but I made fun of him a little bit. He said

the key for Larry Fitzgerald could be if Demir Bird and Christian Kirk play. It's true. I've been waiting to talk about them for the last 30 seconds, and I think those are the key to Kyler Murray as well. I said when Larry Fitzgerald goes in the Hall of Fame, he's going to remember week six of the 2019 season when Demir Bird and Christian Kirk played and made his career.

Well, he needs them to be good or what? I think if they're on the field, it makes it harder for the Falcons to key in on him. Okay. They're going to have to play a different type of defense. It's a lot different when it's Trent Shurfield and Keyshawn Johnson. So rank the wide receivers in this game. Julio.

Larry. Ridley. No, everybody first name basis. Calvin. And then if Christian plays, Christian would be next. If Demir plays. Oh no, Muhammad. Muhammad would be up there. Especially would be next. If Demir plays. Oh, no.

Muhammad. Yeah. Muhammad would be up there, especially in PPR. Muhammad might go ahead of Christian, and Demir would bring up the rear. That kind of rhymed. All right. So, again, that was Julio Fitzgerald Ridley, Sanu Kirk Bird. I mean, I guess Keyshawn Johnson is a sleeper if Kirk and Bird don't play,

but he had 10 targets against Denver, and he had 46 yards. He had seven targets against the Bengals, and he had 22 yards, but he's only 4% on. You know what we're talking about here, deep leagues. How much faith do you have in Calvin Ridley this week? It's another favorable layout for him.

It's going to be the same layout every week. We're going to say the same thing. The Falcons can't run the football. They're going to have to throw. Matt Ryan knows that Julio is going to see coverage tilted his way, so Ridley should have opportunities to make some plays. His touchdown last week was actually a pretty heady play. It looked like the play broke down.

Ryan rolled out of the pocket. Ridley was smart enough to run toward the end zone. The cornerback on him didn't realize it, so he was wide open, and Ryan hit him for the touchdown. Austin Hooper's in my FanDuel lineup. He's top three in non-PPR. He's top four in PPR. He's got the best matchup there can be.

I mean, I hate to say this, but it's's unlikely that julio jones muhammad sanu calvin ridley and austin hooper are all good somebody's probably going to disappoint you it's going to be the case every week but this week you're starting them arizona they can't cover anyone um that's that's pretty obvious maybe that'll change next week when peterson's back but so be it now the running backs in this game uh this game, I don't think we can quite start Ito Smith yet, but stash him. And whoever's starting for the Cardinals is going to be a must-start guy.

What about Devontae Freeman? It's kind of the same thing every week. He's a number two running back. He's getting it done catching the ball. He's getting it done catching the football, which is good on Dirk Cutter and the Falcons for using him that way because they know he can't run very well

between the tackles. Devontae Freeman. Or when the edge is slow to the edge. Devontae Freeman or Larry Fitzgerald. I'll take my chances with Larry. Figured that much. Devontae Freeman or Calvin Ridley? Freeman.

I'll take... I will take Freeman. San Fran at the Rams. Stat of the game. No running back has scored a touchdown against the Rams this season. Oh, no, against the Niners. Pardon me.

No running back has scored a touchdown against the Niners. Will that streak end this week? Yes. I'm not so sure it will. By the way, Golden Tate was the first player to catch a touchdown against the Patriots, so that streak ended.

Jimmy Garoppolo, you guys have outside the top 12, but inside the top 17, so we'll call him an okay streamer. I mean, it's interesting, guys. The Rams have allowed four touchdown passes and 37 fantasy points to two straight quarterbacks, Winston and Wilson. And I guess the question is, which Rams defense is going to show up?

The one that was so good for 10 straight games or the one that's been so bad two straight games? I think it could hinge on Aqib Tlaib's health. If he ends up not playing, that would obviously help Jimmy Garoppolo. And then another factor that I think might end up helping Garoppolo in terms of volume is the fact that his offensive line is so beat up. Kyle Shanahan's clever. I don't think he's going to try and run the ball 35 times unless it works out for him. But at least early on, I think he's going to try and get the passing game going.

A lot of quick throws, both to the running backs and to his group of after catch receivers that he has. I can see volume going for Garoppolo. The thing that is sort of negated for the 49ers a little bit is while their tackles are out, the edge rushers for the Rams is their weakness because Dante Fowler is okay. Oh yeah, no Matthews for the Rams. The edge rushers are just not the key to this defense. And so if they're going to try and compensate for the tackles not being there, it's, it's maybe, you know, try and run up the gut, which is, you know,

you got to just move Aaron Donald out of the way, which is easier said than done, but that's really the key to that run defense. And so they're not the biggest group on that side of the ball. The problem is though, without you checking there, are they going to have the same success with the zone blocking and, you know and following the fullback? So it's a really interesting game from the line standpoint. Is the 49ers line going to hold up? Is the Rams line going to be able to get not only pressure on Garoppolo but also stop the run? What the heck am I doing with Tevin Coleman and Matt Breda?

I think they're okay starts if you're thin at running back. I like Coleman better because he works more in the red zone and at the goal line. Yeah, I agree. I think one's going to disappoint you, and it's not going to be what we saw last week, and it's not going to be the same success that they've had because I do think the loss of Jacek and the tackles is going to come into play here. So it's just a matter of which one has the chance to find the end zone. I'm with Dave.

I would lean toward Coleman. The one thing is, is Breida going to continue to be the one working on passing downs? Because that would sort of hurt both of them if they don't score. It was actually Mostert working on passing downs last week. He had 15 third-down snaps. I think the other guys combined for like two. And I don't know if Tevin had any. But again, if Kyle Shanahan is smart, he's going to use these guys in the passing game. He's going to avoid the offensive line.

He's going to avoid Aaron Donald. And he's going to attack the edges and. He's going to avoid Aaron Donald, and he's going to attack the edges and throw to them. They can all catch. I wouldn't be surprised if every single 49ers running back that's active has at least three receptions. I have two leagues in which I have both Ronald Jones and Tevin Coleman, and it's actually a tough call for me because I think Jones has probably a better match. I think it's similar. Who would you guys go with? I think Jones has probably a better match. I think it's similar. Who would you guys go with? I think you're going to say Coleman.

I'd go with Coleman. Yeah. I hate the use check injury, but I'm probably leaning Coleman. Coleman or Ronald Jones. Oh, Coleman. Yeah, that's the way I'm leaning as well. If you were going to take a gamble on a San Francisco wide receiver, who would it be?

Hold on. Let me get my blindfold and then some darts. Okay. That was the sound of a dart throwing. Not bad. Deebo Samuel. Okay. I'll take Goodwin still.

The Rams did not allow a touchdown. It's funny that neither of us are taking Pettis, though. I won't either. The Rams did not allow a touchdown to a wide receiver in any of their first three games. But in their last two games, three touchdowns to Tampa Bay wide receivers, three touchdowns to Seattle wide receivers. Start George Kittle. Starter, sit Jared Goff.

I'm okay starting him. Yeah, low on starter. It certainly helps if Cooks is back. And then Gurley and Malcolm. I mean, are you going to basically rank Malcolm Brown similarly to Todd Gurley? Malcolm where? Like the same Todd Gurley? Malcolm where? Like the same as Gurley?

No, no, no, no, no. I think I... I mean, Gurley's been so bad, like running the ball, that I'm just... Brown's actually looked a little better. Yeah, very limited. See, Malcolm Brown... We haven't really seen him the last three weeks. Malcolm Brown only has 19 catches in 45 games.

You do have to factor that in. And maybe Daryl Henderson gets the catches three weeks. Malcolm Brown only has 19 catches in 45 games. You do have to factor that in. Then maybe Daryl Henderson gets the catches. Maybe, but I don't know how much they trust Henderson. No, we don't know. The Niners allow the fewest fantasy points to running backs. 3.8 yards per carry to running backs. Nick Chubb could

have had a good game. He averaged 5.4 yards per carry. Ronald Jones, 5.8 yards per carry. They're not impenetrable, but this is their strength. And then the Rams wide receivers. Cooper Cup is just on a heater. Four straight games with 100 yards. Nine or more targets in every game. Who do you like better, the Brandon Cooks or Robert Woods?

I don't have Cooks ranked right now because of the concussion. I would probably lean on Cooks. I'd go Cooks and non-PPR, Woods and PPR. Oh, Gerald Everett. He's top 10. Yeah. Yeah, man. But he's about 87 or 88. Downgrade of Cooks' place. I'm still

going to have him top 10. Depends. Close to it. He's playing too much. He's getting too many targets. He's a tight end. There just aren't a lot of those guys. The targets are misleading. Because the volume's been so up. Yeah.

That's fine. Even if Goff is throwing it 40 times, I would imagine five or six targets for Gerald Everett. No, but it's not like this is all of a sudden we're featuring Gerald Everett. Gerald Everett had 90 yards before the Cooks injury. He had finished with 136 yards at Seattle. His playing time had been up for a month.

Goff, his arm is going to fall off. He's been throwing the ball so much, but we like that for the receivers. All right. I never lost three straight games in the McVeigh era. Interesting. Everett or Jimmy Graham? Graham Everett. Jimmy Graham? Graham. Everett.

Oh. Jared Goff or Aaron Rodgers or Matthew Stafford? Goff. Goff. Does it matter if Cooks plays? Yeah. At this point, I'm going to assume Cooks is playing. So right now, I have Rodgers ranked ahead of Goff as we're sitting here, but I'm going

to switch that. Okay. Well, you want to guess which game is next? Packers. Yeah, Detroit at Green Bay, Monday night. Stat of the game, the Lions allow the fourth most fantasy points to running backs, but it's mostly because they've given up a lot of receiving yards to running backs.

They're still okay on the ground. What do you think about Aaron Jones coming off a four-touchdown performance? Now Jamal Williams comes back. He got a lot of work in the passing game the last two games without Jamal Williams there. So, you know, is he a top-ten running back this week, Aaron Jones? Yeah, I think you just got to go with the hope that Matt LaFleur saw Aaron Jones just dominate and carry their team without Devontae Adams playing against a very good opponent on the road and say, this is my guy until further notice.

It doesn't mean that Jamal Williams won't see work, but he just won't see nearly as much. So, Kerryon Johnson, he's behind Aaron Jones. Is he ahead of the Chargers guys? Yeah. Not Eckler and PPR, though. So, we like him. We like Kerryon this week.

Yeah. Top 12 running back. Cool. This is going to be an interesting game. Will the Packers, how they fixed their run defense last week, will that carry over?

Do you think Jamal Williams gets 10 touches? So if you're in bi-week hell or something like that, maybe you take a flyer on him? Yeah, I'd say 10 touches is about the ceiling.

I will take the under. Kenny Galladay, Marvin Jones, what do you think? I mean, Galladay's a must-start until proven otherwise, and Jones is a number three receiver. Jones or Evans? That works for me. Do you hear me? Jones or Evans?

Evans. I guess Evans. I don't know if we were, while you were fixing your audio issues, Jameis Winston has given the now squeaky wheel treatment to Mike Evans. I don't know if we were, uh, while you were fixing your audio issues, uh, James Winston has given the, the now squeaky wheel treatment to Mike Evans. Yeah. Let's see. I just,

man, they, they really covered it well in Carolina for us to win. Mike Evans has to get the ball. So it could be a situation of forcing him. Hey Mike, go get the ball. Give it to me and get the hell off the field.

Something like that. Like he's the ball boy. I don't think it's going to be like that. A's are colon. Mike Evans, ball boy. Yeah. TJ Hawkinson. Where would you rank him if he plays compared to Gerald Everett and Jimmy Graham?

He's behind those guys. He's a touchdown or bust fantasy tight end. You're hoping that he can come down in the end zone. I don't think he's going to get a lot of targets. Hawkinson? Is that what you said? Yep. Hawkinson.

Is he asking? Mm-hmm. What do you mean? Who's he asking about? Hawkinson. EJ Hawkinson. Yes, I asked you. Yeah.

I didn't hear him say it because I can't hear the audio very well. Hawkinson. Hawkinson has got two good games and two crappy games. So, team name Tuesday and Friday. Hawkinson Alugi. Hawkinson Alugi. Hawkinson Alugi. Yeah, I get it. Breakdown Aaron Rodgers versus Matthew Stafford.

I think they're ranked fairly similarly, right? I like Stafford's pass catchers better. I think he'll eventually have to throw. They both have a great track record against each other. I think Stafford's track record is pretty damn good. He's had at least two touchdowns in nine straight against Green Bay. He's had over 250 yards in five of his last six against Green Bay. And the Packers pass defense has allowed 25 fantasy points to each of the last two quarterbacks

that they faced. So I think the ceiling is higher for Stafford than it is for Rogers. I like Rogers at home though. I just feel like this is going to be one of those games where he puts on a show. He has only put on a show once this year. I know. They've only had two home games, right? He's really buying into running the ball

a little more. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, if Devontae Adams were playing, it would be great. That was the one time he put on a show and Devontae Adams had like 170 yards or whatever. Yeah, yeah. No, I get it.

It's just a gut feeling. Now, if Marcos Valdez-Scantling is banged up, so take that into account. Obviously, if he put on a show, and Devontae Adams had like 170 yards or whatever. Yeah, yeah. No, I get it. It's just a gut feeling. Now, if Marcos Valdez-Scantling is banged up, so take that into account. Obviously, if he doesn't have him, then it's hands off. I sort of felt like Aaron Rodgers could have had a big game last week, but he just decided to hand the ball off to Aaron Jones. He played really well. Right.

I think that's telling. Sure. All right. But he's 10th, 12th for Dave, 10th for Jamie. Stafford is right around the same range. Jamie's got Stafford 13th, Dave has him 11th, and Heath has these two back-to-back. They're both around 10th to 12th, something like that.

They're fine. And then Geronimo Allison and Marquis Valdez-Scantling, not in that order. They are number three guys. You could flex them. Jimmy Graham is in that Gerald Everett range. You know, he's about 10th, 9th or 10th. He had three targets at Dallas, three catches for 41 yards, but he had nine targets the game before.

And the Packers DST is in play, 8th for Jamie, 14th for Dave, 13th for Heath. Last game is Philadelphia at Minnesota, and no running back has rushed for more than 44 yards against the Eagles. Jamie, 14th for Dave, 13th for Heath. Last game is Philadelphia at Minnesota, and no running back has rushed for more than 44 yards against the Eagles. Is that streak coming to end? Yes. Okay. 44 yards, I think Dalvin Cook can get you more than that.

Can you imagine the pain if he didn't? Hopefully he does a lot. He had a bad game rushing the ball against the Bears, and he still ended up with a good fantasy game. He's good. He's awesome. And I'm not playing Cook or McCaffrey in DFS this week. So I just want to throw that out there. You can't use

McCaffrey on the main slate. True. True. And Cook. Yeah. I mean, you can make the case for him still because he'll be so bad for running backs in DFS. It's going to be a lot of Malcolm Brown and Chase Edmonds if that comes to it. Yeah, it will, for sure.

Yep. So in this game... Or David Johnson plays. Right now, he's one of the more popular plays. You know, we're trying to get away from basically all the Eagles except for Earths, but Dave, do you really have Wentz ninth? Yeah, I think it's too high.

I do too. Because I'm really not into Alshon Jeffery. I love Wentz as. Yeah, I think it's too high. I do too, because I'm really not into Alshon Jeffrey. I, I, I love Wentz as a quarterback, so I'm probably putting them there because I think that he can just make, you know, some of the Packers,

some amazing throws and have a game like he did against the Packers. But I, I can't trust Alshon Jeffrey in my fantasy lineup unless I have to. There's no other wide receiver on the Eagles that I would trust. I can't say with confidence that Dallas Goddard is going to score again, and I can't say that Zach Ertz is going to have three touchdowns. So I have Ertz irrationally high, and that's probably going to change. Wentz or Ertz?

Wentz, you said Ertz. You said Ertz irrationally high. Did you mean Wentz? I have Wentz irrationally high. I'm sorry if I said Ertz. You said Ertz irrationally high. Did you mean Wentz? I have Wentz irrationally high. I'm sorry if I said Ertz. If you think that Carson Wentz is back to being his MVP-ish form in 2017, he had six matchups against teams that were among the ten best against quarterbacks, and he averaged 26 points per game.

He was sort of matchup-proof that season. But, look, Minnesota has just such a track record of guys going into their building. Going into this year, two quarterbacks in the last 17 scored 20 or more fantasy points at Minnesota. Just that. Sure. The odds are against Wentz.

Yeah. All right. Moving on then cousins, any interest in him against an Eagles past defense? That's not nearly as good as their run defense. This is typically a spot where he wilts, though. Yep, it's a good team that he's playing. You might try him, if you like to set a lot of DFS tournament lineups,

like if you want to do the big contest on FanDuel, and you want to set a bunch of lineups, you could sprinkle him in a little bit. Okay. Yeah, I could see that. And Phelan and Diggs, we mentioned them. Phelan's a start. Diggs is a flex. Philadelphia allows the fourth most fantasy points to wide receivers, and at least one receiver has had

100 yards in four or five games they've played. I just wanted to say this about Phelan. He has had five to eight targets in four or five games. And he's averaging 62 yards per game on six targets per game. And last year, he had less than eight targets in six games, and he averaged 55 yards per game.

He just can't... He just doesn't get enough targets. I don't know... It's just capping the ceiling for both those guys. That's the problem. And what we've seen is that they also are spreading the ball around to just so many different guys. Now, last week was a little bit more consolidated,

but that's the hope is that just – like if I'm Kirk Cousins and Stefanski and Kubiak and all the coaches there, I would just say if we're throwing the ball 25 times, because I think that's probably about what the average is for them. It's going to be more than that. It might not be. If we're throwing the ball 25 times, because I think that's probably about what the average is for them. It's going to be more than that. It might not be.

Based on the Eagles, it depends. Oh, you say it's going to be? Yeah, this week, yeah. Okay, so let's say it's 27. I would say the cap is 30, just given what we've seen from them. I don't think so, because they threw 36 times against the Bears. Yeah, I'm thinking it's over 30. Okay, so what I would say is I'm circling 8 and 8

on Thielen and Diggs, and that's the minimum. And then I'll get Dalvin. Ooh, I'd want to start Diggs if that was the case. His 5 or 6. But that's just not the case. That's not what they're doing. If I'm Kirk Cousins, I'm getting 8 throws to Diggs, and I'm getting 8 throws to Thielen, and I'll figure out the rest.

Okay. Yeah, and Thielen had 8 targets last week. And I gotta go, though to Thielen, and I'll figure out the rest. Okay. Yeah, and Thielen had eight targets last week. I got to go, though. 130 targets, 130 yards, two touchdowns. We got to go. Jamie's out. Dave's out. I'm out. We'll talk to you on the Mailbag Show and Sunday night.

Dave, na-na-na-na. Na-na-na-na-na-na-na. Adam, if you want to keep going, I'm here. Nah, we're good, man. That's our last game. I will just say that Minnesota's DST is top 10 and Philadelphia's is top 13. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. Bye.