Fantasy Football Today - Barkley/McCaffrey Updates, QB Strategy, Buy Low RBs (09/21 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: September 21, 2020

Will this week's waiver wire be better than last week's? We've got Mike Davis and some Giants RBs to consider, along with many more names. We'll peek ahead to the waiver wire but also talk about all this scoring going on in the NFL (6:40) and if you need to trade for a Top 6 QB (11:30) ... Recapping NE-SEA (17:15) and wondering if Russell Wilson and Cam Newton are sell high QBs. And we have more news and notes (21:50) and Five Big Questions (23:45) for ya! Concerned about Joe Mixon? Todd Gurley? We'll tell you if it's justified ... Going through some interesting stats (32:25) and notes on snap counts, air yards, RBs lining up in the slot, goal line carries and more ... Your emails at [e-mail] Listen to the brand new Fantasy Football Today in 5 podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-in-5/id1528634304 'Fantasy Football Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Follow the new FFT Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/FFToday Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCviK78rIWXhZdFzJ1Woi7Fg/videos Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ 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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BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. On his way to the end zone. I'll tell you what, that was a spectacular play. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. What a play. Off to the races.

Touchdown. Oh, he's done it again. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath, and Ben. Top two picks in many fantasy drafts are out for Savon Barkley. It's the rest of the season for Christian McCaffrey. It's going to be a few weeks as he has a high ankle sprain.

We'll update you on more injuries right now on Fantasy Football Today, your Monday edition. Adam Azer with Chris Towers and Ben Schrager. Of course, we'll have the waiver wire tomorrow with Heath and Jamie. All right, guys. And not only that, we're going to talk about a lot of stuff. We're going to talk about snap count, like Myles Gaskin dominating snap counts.

Wait till you find out who's leading the NFL in red zone targets. Wait till you find out how many carries inside the five-yard line Austin Eckler has this year. That kind of fun stuff that you need to know as a fantasy manager. But my first question to you guys, last week I thought the waiver wire would be pretty good. Naeem Hines had an uneventful day. Benny Snell, uneventful and really bad day with bad stats and a fumble. Just, yeah, it was a bust. Malcolm Brown, bust. So is week two waiver wire, I guess it's the week three waiver wire,

going to be better than last week's waiver wire? Ben Schrager? You're going to have guys who do better. I just don't think we're going to see it as, here are the top four running backs. You have to pick them up. They're all in great situations. Because, look, I think Mike Davis is the clear-cut guy, number one. Beyond that, Giants running backs, Deion Lewis maybe.

You know, Daryl Henderson could be great, but Malcolm Brown isn't that hurt. And then the wide receivers from last week did bust pretty much all of them. But if Russell Gage is still out there, I love him. So I would say, no, it's going to be a little better, but it's not going to be as clear cut as last week. And Russell Gage is way out there. It's actually shocking. he's only 36 percent rostered right now uh he has to be the top wide receiver but yeah i think week one the problem

with early in the fantasy football season is week one you've got all these questions you think you get answers you look at the colts and you say well they're going to use Naheem Hines a bunch you know even with Jonathan Taylor and Marlon Mack Naheem Hines is going to have a significant role just like Austin Eckler did in Los Angeles and then week two comes around and he plays like 11 snaps and gets one target and so what matters more now do we over react to week two the way we overreacted to week one? That's always, it's always a really difficult balance to strike. Yeah, I think,

look at the difference. I mean, the Colts lost to the Jaguars in week one. They were in a back and forth game and they clobbered the Vikings. 28-11 really had that game under control. 15-3 at halftime, 18-3 at the end of the quarter. So maybe they just didn't need Naeem Hines that much.

But you're right. Let's not overreact. I'm concerned that the Giants are going to sign Devontae Freeman, and if you go, pick up Wayne Gallman. Are we in agreement that Wayne Gallman is the guy to get instead of Deion Lewis? I'm not. I don't know why the guy who was a healthy

scratch would be the guy to get. Because Barkley plays his role, and he doesn't play on special teams, Gallman. So I just don't think they needed him. Did you say there was a tweet, Ben, from a Giants beat reporter? Yeah, a Giants beat reporter before the season said if Saquon Barkley was to miss time, it would be Wayne Gallman's job. I think it's a 50-50 split if it's the case. I think Dion's shown that he could carry the load, and Wayne Gallman has also shown I think it's a 50-50 split if it's the case. I think Deion's shown that he could

carry the load and Wayne Gallman has also shown that he can start. I think it's a 50-50 split, but Devante Freeman gets signed there and things are just an even bigger mess and Freeman would be the guy to get. Yeah, I would think if Freeman signs, the other two guys are mostly irrelevant, but that offense is pretty stinky anyway. It is. And if Gallman is the guy, he's not going to be the pass-catching guy. That's going to be Lewis. Last year, Gallman had 24 touches, like 110 total yards, and two touchdowns in his one start against Washington.

I'm not sure if he had another start and he got hurt early in that game. But anyway, he succumbed to injury, and then Barkley came back. That's an example of opportunity where a running back isn't necessarily that good, but you get the right matchup, you get the right opportunity, you know, you can take advantage of it. So don't want to just completely poo-poo whoever's going to be the starting running back for the Giants. And then in terms of Daryl Henderson, we talked about yesterday,

he's probably the number one waiver wire priority for a lot of people. Well, Malcolm Brown got hurt in that game yesterday. He hurt his finger. We don't know the severity of either Cam Akers or Malcolm Brown, but if it's not that serious for Brown, like Daryl Henderson had 12 carries. Eight of them came in the fourth quarter, and Brown only had one in the fourth quarter. So I don't know how to interpret that.

And as we record right now, we don't have an update on cam makers so you know you got to make these claims you got to take some chances but same thing with jerek mckinnon just don't know the severity for for tevin coleman in particular we do know it's a what's a mild mcl injury i think for uh raheem mostert well all right i i don't want to go around in circles we'll have more updates tomorrow. Right. And McCaffrey did say today in a press conference, they expect four to six weeks for him to miss. That is that sucks. Yeah.

And that's Mike Davis is, I think, clearly the top waiver wire target. I would rather have him than Henderson. I would rather have him than anyone in the Giants offense like that. That to me, you know, the fact that he was used,

you know, targeted seven times in the fourth quarter after McCaffrey left, had like 70 receiving yards on those seven targets. He showed he can be a viable starting fantasy option that year in Seattle. I was actually surprised the Bears didn't use him more last season, and I think he'll be pretty useful. Okay.

The wide receivers will be interesting too. Even if Devontae Adams is fine, which I hope. I think Marquez Valdez, Scantling is still an interesting guy

to pick up. Deeper leagues, KJ Hamler, Golden Tate, if Sterling Shepard. Sterling Shepard looks like he might miss multiple games with a toe injury.

So that is all on tomorrow's show. And talk about it in our Facebook group, why don't you? Fantasy Football Today. Join us, our Facebook group. It's a lot of fun. Click the link in the episode description or just search for Fantasy Football Today on Facebook. And join the group.

Ask some questions. Start, sit questions. Q&As and, you know, good stuff. Fun stuff. Thanks to Robert Thomas and Ben Schrager for moderating that group. So I've been talking about how it's been so high scoring every time. What's that?

This is like, I'm not always looking at Ben and Chris just the way my setup is, but like every time I do a podcast with Chris, it's just like, oh, there's a big cat tail in Chris's face. They just like, as soon as I start talking, they're just like, oh, it's time to walk in front of the camera and step on the computer and it's great.

So in my mind, it was like, wow, scoring must be way up. But let me give you guys the breakdown. Weeks one and two, 2019 versus 2020. Last year, week one, 776 points. This year, 758. So week one was actually higher scoring

last year than this year, which was surprising because we had a bonanza of a week in week one. However, we got two games left in week two and 795 points already. Sorry, we have two teams left. We have one game left. 795 points already. That's more than week one last year. That's more than week one this year. And week two last year, 618 points. It was a low-scoring week. It went from 776 in week one to 618 in week two.

But this week has been huge. But, you know, I was trying to compare, like, the averages for the top 12 quarterbacks year over year. I don't think we have enough yet to just assume this is going to be a mega high-scoring season. Because, like, week one this year, the top 12 quarterbacks averaged 29.4 fantasy points per game. In week three last year, they averaged 29.9.

You know, it's just, there's just, we need a bigger sample. And it's off to a very high scoring start, especially week two. But we saw that a little bit in weeks one and three last year.

I don't know if you guys have any thoughts about that. I just, I know from my fantasy matchups, I'm like, in my head, I'm like, damn, I'm having a huge week. And then you look over and your opponent is having an even bigger week, you know? I know from my fantasy matchups, in my head, I'm like, damn, I'm having a huge week.

And then you look over and your opponent is having an even bigger week. Except for all the injuries because there's a lot of goose eggs. But yes, no, it does make sense. The lack of preseason, the lack of training camp, the lack of tackling. Guys can connect better on the offensive side than they can the defensive side. And some people were theorizing that before the season started i would expect it to come down a little bit but obviously over the years the overall trend has been up and up and up so it's not super surprising that it's up this year up so far yeah we'll see what happens in week three um and we'll see what we got tonight i think there was a record in passing touchdowns for week one. I think I saw that. I think the record previous was

2016. I don't know what the difference in scoring was in week one, but for me, it felt like every single one of my team was challenging a single game scoring record for my league or

last place by a mile. That was just kind of how my week went but it's going to be impossible to say because of all the injuries right like there's so many talented players multiple starting quarterbacks multiple number one running backs and multiple number one wide receivers that are going down that it's going to be hard to say what exactly this season would have looked like without that. But the injury should have always been something we expected, not specifically to say Quentin Barkley and Christian McCaffrey,

but we saw this in Major League Baseball where there were a ton more injuries, I think like five times as many IL stints in the first three weeks of the season than the previous year. Yeah, but I feel like five times as many IL stints in the first like three weeks of the season than the previous year. Yeah, but I feel like it's a little bit different because we're not seeing like the soft tissue injuries. You know, I don't know what to make of high

ankle sprains and torn ACLs. It's not like pulled hamstrings and they didn't happen in week one though. A lot of them happened in the first like week before the season and then a lot of them happened in the first like week before the season and then a lot of them happened in week one you had uh courtland sutton was dealing or no he was a shoulder that was a shoulder there's always kenny galladay with a hamstring mike evans with a hamstring

yeah davante adams now with a hamstring there were a ton of soft tissue injuries and and i think you know ligament injuries are I'm not a doctor, surprisingly. I would probably still be doing this if I was, but I would imagine that going from no contact and limited reps to playing your full regular NFL role can cause an increase in risk of injury to ligaments as well. I don't know. I have no idea. Let's move on.

I brought up all the scoring because this question here is our email of the day at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. It is from Toto. Dear Scarecrow, Tin Man, Dorothy, and the Cowardly Lion. I would not watch... I wouldn't

watch Wizard of Oz before on TV. It's too old and boring. Sure, I wouldn't watch it either. That's an okay take, right? This is an old movie. It's really old. I was listening to the pod, and a point was brought up

that I've been thinking about lately. Streaming quarterback is not what it used to be. I've had much success following your guidelines and drafting a quarterback late. However, this year I ended up with Wentz, who I agree with Heath when he says stinks. It's been only two weeks, but we've seen a lot of massive quarterback performances.

My question is, would you give up a startable asset to go get one of the top six QVs or are you comfortable knowing you have depth, especially given how week two went? Are you better off streaming the likes of golf, Tannehill, Burrow or would you trade a Dobbins or a hunt for

Dak, Cam, Kyler, Josh Allen, etc.? It seems like no one has running backs. I would definitely trade a Dobbins. Yeah, that's like it depends on which guy we're talking about. If it's Dobbins, yes, I would do that. How about like I would trade maybe I don't know if Heath would

do this, but I would trade Kareem Hunt for Kyler Murray. Yeah. Yeah, I think what you can do this week is there are a lot of fantasy managers who need running backs and you can see if you can get a top tier quarterback plus someone else. But at the end of the day, if you have Hunt as your RB4,

yes, Kyler is fine. And I'm cool with it for Dak too. It all depends on how we're defining late-round quarterback. Matt Ryan's the number three quarterback in standard scoring. He was not an early-round pick. Cam Newton's number five. Also not an early-round pick. Aaron Rodgers, number six.

He was certainly not. Right, I know. Westcott was. Tannehill wasn't. Wentz is the bad example, right? What's that? Wentz is the bad example. Right, yeah.

That's the thing. Depending on how you like... Ben Roethlisberger's been fine through two games. Mitchell Trubisky has actually been pretty good. Garoppolo before the injury. Jared Goff, like they, I just, I don't think this, this necessarily fits like, yes, if you have Russell Wilson, if you have Kyler Murray, you feel a lot better about your quarterback situation, but I don't think it's necessarily

true that late round and streaming type quarterbacks have been worse. I think it's more, you know, you have a couple of guys who are early round guys like Deshaun Watson and Tom Brady who have been disappointing rather than anything else. I think that if you project out though, you know, the guys who look like right now that they're going to just be total studs, Mahomes and Jackson,

even though Jackson had a quiet game, my homes and Jackson and basically the top six, except I'm not sure about Watson. Um, of course, Alan and Watson. Yeah, maybe.

I mean, like we said on yesterday's show, Alan has had the jets and the dolphins and Watson has had the chiefs and the Ravens. Don't worry. Things get a lot easier. Sean Watson, I'll have the Steelers this week and then things will get a lot easier for Deshaun Watson. I'll have the Steelers this week,

and then things will get a lot easier. But I'm worried about him, especially with Fuller injured. I don't know. I like these running quarterbacks. I think there's a big difference between Kyler Murray and Ben Roethlisberger, for example,

or Dak Prescott and Jared Goff. And yes, you can get by with Goff as your quarterback, but are you going to be losing 6-7 points a week to your opponent who has one of these top 6-8 quarterbacks? I'm fine paying up for a quarterback because I made that mistake

last year. It wasn't a mistake. It just didn't work out. I waited and waited and I took a lot of Goff. I took a lot of Cam and they busted. This year I was like, no, I'm getting Kyler Murray wherever I can. I did think it was important to try took a lot of cam, and they busted. And this year, I was like, no, I'm getting Kyler Murray wherever I can. I did think it was important to try to get a top six guy. And if not that, then I wanted to get Matt Ryan. So I kind of feel this email.

I think there's going to be... Personally, I think there's going to be a pretty big gap between the streaming guys and the... whatever it settles up as top eight or whatever. And I kind of want one of them. Yeah. The thing I always struggle with the quarterback question is how many quarterbacks are there who you will definitely start against everyone?

Like three or four. No, you're not sitting Wilson. You're not sitting. I would say at least six at this point. And that's the thing about the mobile quarterbacks right okay so it's Mahomes it's Mahomes Jackson Dak Murray Wilson for sure not Watson for me um I can't sit Josh Allen at this point it's probably six maybe Matt Ryan is seven at the moment it's gonna change throughout the throughout the year, right? Yeah, and that's...

First of all, a lot of that's already changed. Maybe Cam Newton. Maybe. The way he's running the ball. But he was a late-round pick, and so was Aaron Rodgers, and so was Matt Ryan. Well, mid to late-round pick. Late-round picks in our leagues,

mid-round picks in most leagues. And so that's why I just don't quite think that this actually is really a thing. I think it's just kind of it's been two weeks and the guys who have been good for two weeks now we're thinking they're a step ahead, but some of those guys weren't being drafted like that. And the next two weeks could show something

completely different. And honestly, if you added Gardner Minshew after week one or if you drafted him as your streamer, I think there's a pretty good chance he's going to be a top six quarterback through the first five or six weeks of the season because his schedule is so good. All right, let's move on here. Thank you for the email, Toto.

We got some more emails coming up later in the show. Fantasyfootball at cbsi.com. Seattle 35, New England 30. We didn't get to this game on the Sunday night podcast that we did. This was an exceptional game. Schrager, did you like that play call at the end? I did. There should have been some sort of pass option in there,

but I liked the play. It had been working all game. You knew Pete Carroll was going to sell out for it, and you trust Cam, and it didn't work out. But I did like the play call. Seattle defended it really, really well. Yeah, it was awesome. Okay, so Russell Wilson

has had stretches like actually is like the first eight or nine games last year. It was the number one quarterback in fantasy. He is throughout his history a little bit streaky. Do we want to sell high on Russell Wilson? Do we want to sell high on Cam Newton? They're in different tiers, I would say,

at least for now. But are these sell-high quarterbacks, in your opinion? Yeah. If someone wants to give me an RB2 for them, or an RB1 or a wide receiver one, if someone wants to give me Julio Jones for one of those guys, yeah, I'll definitely do that. Because I trust my ability to find streamers

who can not give you what Russell Wilson does, but who will make up that difference easier than I believe I can do that at running back or wide receiver. And at this point, I'd rather find a deal where I can give up Russell Wilson than I can cam because there are still a lot of cam doubters out there. And Russell Wilson does have a lot of name value in a lot of leagues and you know, cams volume is there. Russell Wilson super efficient and he could be super efficient all year. But like you said, Adam, he has been streaky in the past, but if someone's willing to give you a startable RB RB one slash two wide receiver one slash two, um, and you have to give them some sort of running back plus russell

wilson i'm doing it because i think russell wilson is still you know in my mind a fifth sixth round pick and you can if you can get better value than that you pulled the trigger okay so would you give up would you rather have tyler lockett or russell wilson rest of season lock Tyler Lockett. Man. If they really are going to just be a more aerial attack here, then Russell Wilson is going to be more valuable than Tyler Lockett. They'd probably throw more than 28 times. Well, that was this game. They threw 35 times in the first game.

So he's at about what he averaged last year. But you're right. I mean, he's not throwing that much. He has nine touchdowns and 11 interceptions this year, or 11 incompletions this year. Yeah, he's just playing way over his head, and there's going to be regression. Russell Wilson is, I think,

on a per-pass basis, arguably the best quarterback in the NFL. But the volume is 31.5 attempts per game, so that would come up to 504. That would probably be close to a career high. No, that would actually be fewer than last year. They're actually on pace for fewer pass attempts. He's not going to keep averaging 10 yards per pass attempt.

He's not going to have a 14% touchdown rate all season. You know, he's going to come back down to earth. And that goes without saying to a certain extent. But I think the narrative that, you know, he's going to come back down to earth. And that goes without saying to a certain extent, but I think the narrative that, you know, let Russ cook is starting to take over. The Seahawks are actually changing and they're really not changing their offensive philosophy. I don't agree.

Well, I don't know what the, I don't agree. In week one, they certainly did because they threw a lot early. I don't know what they did yesterday. They also threw a lot early yesterday. The Carson carries came late. They're letting him cook, man. He threw a pick six on the first possession.

If the difference between letting Russ cook and being this frustrating team that doesn't let Russ do anything is he's on pace for fewer attempts than last year. By one per game right now. There haven't been many scrambles for him. I mean, yesterday running for 39 yards was encouraging. And also, both games, game script, they were winning.

They were up. They did not have to have him cook in the second half. So, I don't know. I'm not out on Russell Wilson by any means. And I still think he's the number four quarterback. But yes, it's just in general, you've got a number four quarterback. If you can sell him high to someone who's QB needy and

get a very startable player, I'm doing it. Okay. Must start player. You got to get a must start player. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Okay. News and no, by the way, Chris Carson. Yeah, I suspected this much. I didn't make much of the Carlos Hyde thing last week and Carson had 17 carries to Hyde's five.

And Carson now has three receiving touchdowns this year. He entered the season with three in his career. So that's pretty interesting. Kenny Galladay expected back this week. Michael Thomas looking like two to four weeks for him. Tyrod Taylor is apparently going to be the Chargers quarterback when healthy. I would think he's on the clock, though. If he has one bad game, things might change.

I don't know who the 49ers are bringing to MetLife Stadium next week. Jimmy Garoppolo, Tevin Coleman, Raheem Mostert, all injured. And then Nick Bosa and Solomon Thomas on the defensive line. Both may have torn their ACLs. I didn't see an update on Thomas, but obviously looking bad there. And yeah, are they going to lose to the freaking? No, they're not.

Don't have an update on Cam Akers or Malcolm Brown at the moment. Sterling Shepard, like I said, could miss multiple games with a toe injury. Courtland Sutton's out for the year. Paris Campbell did not tear his ACL, but he's going to be out a little while with a knee injury. Will Fuller played through a ham toe injury. Courtland Sutton's out for the year. Paris Campbell did not tear his ACL, but he's going to be out a little while with a knee injury. Will Fuller played through a hamstring injury and then some defensive

injuries that just kind of went under the radar with Malik hooker out for the season for the Colts. Tavon young looks like he's out for the season for the Ravens. It'll be the second straight year. Last year he played zero games this year too. He's their slot cornerback and he's really good. And there's more there's some like the eagles lost another offensive lineman i don't know the severity there isaac sam sam alu

uh he they can't afford another lineman but it happened there were there were a lot of lineman injury i won't go through all of them i'll update you all throughout the uh throughout the week the the fuller injury was weird because they never announced anything. And I don't think anybody like I think Deshaun Watson was talking about like, well, he's trying to stay healthy and get the treatment that he needs. But the team actually never said anything. And it was just sort of we saw him getting stretched on the sideline. But he clearly wasn't 100% because he only played like 60% of the snaps.

It was, it was a weird situation. Well, I asked the listeners for five big questions for our Monday show. And here they are. The five best ones. Matthew T said, why did I draft Joe Mixon so early?

I don't like, I don't understand the, the like teeth gnashing with Joe Mixon. You should never, I don't want to say never, but be nice. Now you should know. No,

no, I'm not. I'm not even saying that. It's just, there is this tendency to draft for what you wish will happen. And sometimes that can work out really well. Christian McCaffrey coming out of his rookie season. There was some thought that maybe Thomas Jones,

no, who was the, I can't remember, not Thomas Jones, it was Jonathan Stewart. There was some thought that, oh, Jonathan Stewart would continue to split work with him, but you could look at it and say, no, Christian McCaffrey's going to get all this passing work, and he's going to be the number one back. That can happen.

Joe Mixon, three years into his career, one year under his belt with Zach Taylor, there was never a sign under Zach Taylor that they were interested in using him more in the passing game. His big second half was mostly he got 24 carries per game. That was never going to happen for a full season. So the step forward for Mixon was either this offense is a lot, lot better or he needed to have more passing work.

And that's just never been the case. And so you have to avoid wishful thinking to a certain extent. The other step forward would be he just scores more touchdowns. That's what I meant. The offense is much better. Okay, but yeah,

but he could still score more touchdowns, just five rushing touchdowns last year's not... Right, that's what I meant. The offense is much better. Okay, but yeah, but he could still score more touchdowns, you know, just five rushing touchdowns last year on 278 carries. The thing is, I think if you need a running back right now, this is the guy I'm targeting. First of all, he's not a 15 catch guy. He's not Sonny Michel.

He's a 30 to 35 catch guy. Okay, that's valuable. You're not going to be a top five running back like that. So maybe without Barkley and Kamara, maybe it's possible, but almost certainly, Mixon's not going to be a top five running back like that. So maybe without Barkley and Kamara, maybe it's possible. But almost certainly, Mixon's not going to be a top five running back. Can he be a top 10 running back? Absolutely. So I didn't draft him in the first round.

I probably asked Schrager because he was higher on Mixon. But he's still going to be really good. It's just he's off to a bit of a bad start. But this guy, you do not have to worry about him losing you don't, you do not have to worry about him losing carries to Bernard. You do not have to worry about him losing goal line carries. I mean, maybe it'll happen occasionally. It was really, really funny when

everybody was complaining about Gio being in that drive last week, and then he got the goal line carry that almost was a touchdown. Yeah, but it's probably not going to happen. It's just kind of what happens sometimes when you're on the field for the pass work. Yeah, and when you're in the hurry-up offense. But Mixon is going to get a ton of work, and you can take some solace in that.

It's just he's probably not going to be a top-five guy. But, I mean, Schrager, you liked Mixon a lot. How are you feeling right now? Yeah, I'm feeling okay about it. In the leagues where I got him at the end of the first round, I wanted the guaranteed touches, which I'm getting. But the passing work that I'm hoping will increase isn't not increasing. Like the four catches four targets last week is encouraging. Gio Bernard's not going away in the sense that he's going to be the passing

downs guy and the come from behind guy, but mixing is not, not involved in the past game. And yes, averaging less than three yards of carry was ugly against Cleveland, but the guaranteed touches makes me want to go buy some more Joe Mixon, go trade for him. But yeah, it's tough when you picked him over a Josh Jacobs or an Aaron Jones at this point. Yeah, he's a high ceiling or high floor, relatively low ceiling number one running back. Kind of similar to Derek Henry, but Henry is better

and could get going in the second half in a way that Mixon probably can't. Yes, we've seen Henry be a better running back. He's also a second half running back. Henry and Mixon both had disappointing first halves. Henry at least was

a low-end number one. And then if you continue to get that work, your touchdown luck could change, I guess is what I'm saying. All right, second question here. Todd Gurley. It's about Todd Gurley. It's from Russell.

Is Todd Gurley done as a starter? He had 21 carries for 61 yards. He has two catches this season. What do you guys think? Is Todd Gurley done as a starter? No, I'm still flexing him for sure. And I getting over 20, 20 carries, 20 touches, whether they're carries or catches either way, he's got a chance at the end zone every single week. He's going to run a little better than his 2.9 average from week two.

And yes, I, I'm not encouraged if he's my RB one, but I'd love to keep flexing him and you're probably going to end up starting him at RB two based on all of these injuries. Yeah. Like he's, he's getting touches. He's not, he doesn't seem to be that good anymore. The passing downs work especially has been discouraging,

but like we're, we're talking about like James Robinson as a potential must start running back. So yeah, Todd Gurley, you're still starting him. All right. This is from drew PR.

I actually got two from drew PR. Good ones here. Which Indianapolis pass catchers can we trust? And which Denver pass catchers can we trust? Jonathan Taylor. Bass catcher. That's it. Yeah.

T Y Hilton. Nobody is when.Y. Hilton and nobody. And even T.Y. Hilton, like... What a dud. He dropped and he... It wasn't a super easy touchdown, but it was a should-have-been, like, 44-yard touchdown. Over-the-shoulder grab, not contested. He just...

Just dropped it. He's had three drops in the first three games or first two games i think and uh if he catches that things look a lot different for him uh so i would still go with hilton beyond that nobody in denver i like no offense i do like no offense yeah i'm curious about fans i know he had a good game with driscoll but if lock's gonna be out two to six weeks and what does that mean for Noah Fant? But Sutton being out is obviously huge for him. Like I said, Hamler in deeper leagues.

Judy will get his targets. He'll be fine. This is going to be a bad offense. Yeah, that's the thing. I don't think you can trust Judy as a starter. He's got to prove a lot because he hasn't done it yet. Mo'Ally Cox, how about him? If Jack Doyle's out again, you're going to give

Mo Alley Cox a lot? If Doyle's out, Cox will be in my top 15. Yeah. It was a good sign that he had a costly turnover. Costly, it wasn't officially considered a drop, but a pass hit him in the chest and it was intercepted and they still

went back to him quite a bit. That was a good sign. If Doyle's out, yeah, I think Mo'Ally Cox is probably someone you're starting in week three. Wes Purcell wants to know, should I trade Alvin Kamara and receive DeAndre Hopkins? No. No.

Probably not. But, okay, you've got Michael Thomas out. You've got Adams injured. Is DeAndre Hopkins the number one wide receiver in fantasy right now? Not in terms of fantasy. Camara is the number one running back in fantasy, if not number two. Yeah, I'd go Zeke, I guess. But who, like, if you were drafting today, right now,

who would the first wide receiver off the board be? Like literally right now when we haven't gotten an update on Adams, like right, literally right. Yes. Right. Maybe Deandre Hopkins. But by the time this public podcast publishes in a couple hours,

we could get a, no, Devante Adams is fine. Don't worry about it guys. Like he was standing on the sideline with his helmet. He was talking to the trainer. They were up by two or three scores at the time. It seemed like he could have gone in if they needed him to. So my assumption is Devonta Adams will be fine.

Obviously I'm not Devonta Adams. So I can't say that for certain, but I would still take Devontaae Adams over DeAndre Hopkins. What about Tyreek Hill, though? Has Hopkins moved ahead of Tyreek Hill? He has for me. Yeah, I don't know. Has Tyreek Hill really lost much value?

No, but obviously... I don't think so. Obviously... Hopkins gained a lot. Right. Yeah. I think in PPR, I would. I think we just got to take that L on DeAndandre hopkins oh yeah i've taken it we just we just screwed that up not day under

hopkins was available in the third round in a lot of leagues and that's just that was it seemed stupid to me at the time uh turns out it really really was now dave was dave was the one who was the highest on hopkins so hats off to him. All right, let's look at some snap count stuff, some interesting stats. Let's go through it here. Myles Gaskin just dominated running back snaps for the Dolphins. He's not going to get the goal line work, it seems.

Jordan Howard's going to do that, unfortunately, or maybe that will change. I did see Gaskin in there inside the 10-yard line, so he could have some opportunities, but he's rostered in 20% of leagues. That's definitely someone you want to look at. Gus Edwards had one carry in the first half. He had five

carries with less than six minutes left. At the time, it was 33-16. So really, when the game really counted, I would say my interpretation is Mark Ingram was the lead back for the Ravens. That might change next week, but I do think that's worth just mentioning.

Because Edwards ended up with 10 carries to Ingram's 9, Dobbins had 2. But most of it for Edwards was late in a blowout. What was really interesting was Dobbins actually played the same number of snaps as Edwards. I think it was 20 each. Only 6 of Dobbins came on rushing plays. Which, usually, the passing downs guy

is someone that we actually start to value more. But in Baltimore's case, because Jackson's such a dynamic runner, they don't throw to their running backs all that much. So it wouldn't really be that valuable of a role. But it has been pretty close to a 30-30-33 split yesterday. All right, I'm going to read you just like a snap count or usage stat, and you just give me a quick reaction.

Here we go. Josh Kelly had two carries inside the five. That gives him three this season compared to zero for Alston Eckler. Eckler needs Herbert at quarterback so he can catch passes. Otherwise, he's not an RB1. I think he's an RB1. I think he's an RB1 either way. I just think Joshua Kelly might be a top 15 back also.

He's fifth in running back carries right now, I'm pretty sure. Julian Edelman, 48% of New England's air yards. Give me a reaction to that. He's more than a flex in non-PPR and PPR. I want to start him in both. He looks different so far. He looks great. He's a reason why he shouldn't necessarily look so much into snap counts on a week-to-week basis because his snap count was very low in week one.

But they didn't really need him. They threw 20 passes and Cam Newton ran a ton. So we'll keep an eye on what we expect the scores to be in Patriots games and maybe that will dictate Edelman's usage. Chris Herndon blocked on 36.4% of snaps. That was the most in the NFL, I'm assuming, for a tight end. Yes. And he only played 74% of the snaps.

Adam Gase did say they needed him against that pass rush, but Chris Herndon did not. He spent a lot of time blocking. They were missing, like missing three starting defensive linemen after the first quarter. I don't know, man. It's just the Jets are a mess. I thought Chris Herndon was a breakout candidate.

Hopefully, he still can be, but at this point, there was one league where I drafted him. He was my only tight end. Whoops. That's bad. Logan Thomas ran around on 86.8% of dropbacks and he gets Cleveland this week.

I'm still looking to have him. I don't want to drop him. I am discouraged by how inaccurate Haskins is when he throws at him, but he is throwing at him a ton. Nick Boyle had more snaps, a lot more snaps than Mark Andrews. It happens.

Happened a lot last year. Yeah. Julio Jones dropped a 41-yard touchdown catch or pass from Russell Gage. I have both of them in one league. That would have been nice. Yeah, that was one we're probably talking about. We talked about on

FFT on HQ today. Is Calvin Ridley the number one running wide receiver in Atlanta? The answer is maybe, but who cares? Because Julio is going to be awesome. Nobody would be even thinking about Julio Jones if he just catches that pass. There was no excuse for him

to drop it. It was just a bad play. Russell Gage would, I think he'd be a top 12 wide receiver in fantasy through two weeks. If that play had gone through. Levisca should not play 10 snaps in the backfield has played through two weeks. Sorry.

Oh, through two weeks. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. That he's, they're looking to get him the ball in any diff any way they can. I think it's definitely a big deal.

Okay. Let's talk about wide receiver or running backs lining up out wide or in the slot. David Johnson's done it 25 times. Joe Mixon, 12. Malcolm Brown, 16. How about that? David Johnson, 25 times lining up wider in the slot.

Joe Mixon, 12 times. Malcolm Brown, 16 times. The Mixon one, like we were talking about earlier, if Zach Taylor wanted to use him that way, he is fully capable of being a dynamic playmaker in the passing game. There was the Jason Luck and Forrest story before the season where he said Joe Mixon

could be the Christian McCaffrey of the AFC. I think the skill set is there. And we saw a little bit of that in the first half against Cleveland. He had that one play where he basically ran a route out of the backfield. It basically was like a slant out of the backfield. And he took it for 18 yards. It was a great play. And on the next play, they motioned him out wide.

I think it was the... I want to say CJ Uzama scored a touchdown on that play, but it was Joe Mixon split out wide and the ball went to that side of the field. It's just a question of whether Zach Taylor is going to trust him there. And I don't think you should believe it.

But if he does, Mixon does have high upside. Okay, I'm just going to pick one more here. David Montgomery has three runs had three runs yesterday of 10-plus yards. I think they were all in the fourth quarter. He got 50 of his yards in the fourth quarter. He had only 16 carries of 10-plus yards in all of 2019,

and he had three of them yesterday. He looks really, really good. A lot better than I remember seeing him all of last year yeah he was one of those uh you know slimmed down got in the best shape of my life guys and he couldn't be worse than he was last year running ball and one of the things with david montgomery that i think got overlooked a little bit he actually was seventh in the nfl in air yards amongst running backs last season and on a a per target basis, he was actually number one among anyone who had at least 25 targets.

His average depth of target was about 3.7 yards, which doesn't sound like much. But for a running back, that's a big number. And his touchdown catch in the first or second quarter yesterday was a downfield throw. It wasn't a designed one. It was a Trubisky scramble. But he caught about eight to 10 yards down the field and then made some plays. Yeah, I'm happy I have him.

That's a valuable role if he can be an effective player. That is a really, really valuable role the way Matt Nagy uses their running backs. Yeah, if he's your flex, you know, that's a win right now on David Montgomery. And Aaron Jones leads the NFL in red zone targets with six. Aaron Jones, ladies and gentlemen. Whether in the game or in life,

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Conditions apply. I'm going to read a few emails before we get out of here. Richard from California. Dear Ed, Warren, Ray, and Edgerin. Oh, I know them. Those are Hurricanes legends. What'd you say, Chris?

Talking smack? Supreme Court justices. Supreme Court justices. Oh, sorry, sorry. They're players from the worst college football team in the city ofices? Oh, sorry, sorry. They're players from the worst college football team in the city of Miami. Oh, I'm sorry. You mean the 12th ranked Miami Hurricanes? That worst team? There's only 11

teams playing right now. We took your best player. He transferred to Miami because he didn't want to play for that stinking FIU. Congratulations on your kicker. He's the kicker. I have Saquon Barkley. I'm very thin at running back. I have Josh Allen and Cam Newton. Let's see. He's the kicker. I have Saquon Barkley. I'm very thin at running back. I have Josh Allen and Cam Newton.

Let's see. It's a 14-team dynasty league with standard scoring. Which of the two should I trade and who should I try to get? Give me running backs. Here's Josh Allen and Cam Newton. Make a trade for this guy. Make a trade for Richard. Get rid of Cam.

I'd like to hold on to Josh Allen, especially in dynasty. Can you send Cam for David Johnson? I just... I need better than that. You need better than David Johnson for Cam? Well, I'm not a David Johnson guy. David Johnson might be a number one running back right now. I'm not a David Johnson guy, but...

I would... Like, I would try to get Mixon. I don't think you can do it straight up. You might be able to get Mixon for Allen. I would try to get Mixon. I don't think you can do it straight up. You might be able to get Mixon for Allen. I would do that. That's what it comes down to is which one can I get the biggest upgrade at? If I could get a Mixon for Josh Allen, I would do that. I do think Josh Allen is probably going to be better than Cam Newton,

but probably. Not definitely. Matt in NorCal. I've been offered Julio Jones for Calvin Ridley straight up in PPR. What should I do? Take it. You'd rather Julio. I'd rather have Julio.

I don't see any reason to do it one way or the other. I don't see any reason for either. This is the kind of trade that like's a 50-50 thing, and if you make it, maybe you feel good about it, but most likely, it's either a wash or you feel bad about it. And so, I don't like the position-for-position

two guys in the same tier trade. I think Julio and Calvin Ridley are pretty close. Calvin Ridley has 21 touchdowns in his first 31 games. Julio and Calvin Ridley are pretty close. You know, Calvin Ridley has 21 touchdowns in his first 31 games. Julio Jones has 21 touchdowns in his last 61. Last email here is from Nicholas.

What do you think about Miles Sanders and David Montgomery for Alvin Kamara? Even deal. I would rather have the Sanders-Montgomery side unless i've got you know if i've got like five four running backs who i feel good about then i'll take the upgrade but i think sanders is an elite running back i just want depth this year like if we're gonna see a lot of injuries this year running back depth is gonna be the most valuable thing so um and the way montgomery's looking yeah and 23 touches from miles sanders all, I'll do one more. I lied. Half PPR.

Great. The trade from Michael. Give up Alan Robinson and Zach Moss. Alan Robinson and Zach Moss. Get Devante Parker and Melvin Gordon. I love it. I love it. Parker,

but I think I would. I love it. I think that might be a B. I think Gordon's going to be better than Moss, even with Driscoll. I think Driscoll actually might be good for Gordon. All right, flip it this way, Chris. Allen Robinson or Melvin Gordon?

Robinson. And Zach Moss or Parker? I think Parker by a mile. I think they're very close. Yeah, I think Parker. And I have Robinson over Melvin. Parker looks exactly as good as he did at the end of the second half last year. He has been, we talked about it on that Twitch stream before yesterday's games, Adam, but he's basically been a matchup proof number one fantasy wide receiver for like the last

10 or 11 games going back to last season. Obviously week one, he only had the four catches for three yards. That was in the first half. And that was with Stefan Gilmore shadowing him. And he was on pace for, you know, a 15 fantasy point game. He goes up to what?

15 yesterday against Tredavis white. I just, I think Devante Parker's got to be viewed as a top 20 wide receiver at least. Yeah. The question is, will he be, if they go to Tua,

but I just, I do this just to get Melvin Gordon over Zach Moss. And the last thing I'll say is there were a number of wide receivers I was worried about yesterday with tough matchups, and they all came through. And that's just weird. I mean, they all came through. Terry McLaurin

had a massive game. DK Metcalf had a huge game going up against Gilmore the entire time. Devante Parker scored. Stefan Diggs had a big game. Byron Jones left with an injury. There was one more. Stefan Diggs looks like he looks like one of the best wide receivers in football. He can do that. He can do that. He might be a top 10 guy right now. But they all just crushed these tough matchups. So maybe that's just a sign of the times,

and it's a good time to be on offense right now. But I thought that was interesting. I want to thank Chris and Ben. We'll talk to you tomorrow with The Waver Wire. Make sure you listen to Fantasy Football today in five. Quick five-minute episode, first thing in the morning. Go ahead and subscribe to that anywhere, Spotify, Apple, wherever you listen.

Go for it. All right, we're out of here. See ya.