Fantasy Football Today - Best Stashes, Fill in the Blank, Do Schedules Matter? (09/07 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: September 7, 2021

Looking for a player to stick on your bench? Or do you need to exercise some patience with a player you drafted? We'll tell you our favorite stashes (3:00) including Michael Carter and Wayne Gallman plus the rookie QBs of course ... Does schedule matter? A lot of people buy in to matchups, but others are hesitant. We talk about that as we highlight players who may have noticeably easy or difficult schedules to start the season (14:30). Will Mike Davis struggle against tough run defenses? Can the Panthers take advantage of an easy opening month? Should you look to trade Brandin Cooks if he does well in Week 1? ... We've got some Fill in the Blank (24:40) from the listeners! Who will be the surprising Fantasy league winner? Which rookie WR will you want to roster at the end of the season? Any midseason sell high candidates? ... Your emails at [e-mail] Fantasy Football Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." 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. 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. Hey, what's going on, everybody? Welcome to the show. We are recording on Labor Day. I hope everybody had a great Labor Day as you listened to this on your Tuesday morning. Adam Azer with Heath Cummings and Dave Richard on Fantasy Football today.

What's going on to all of our YouTube audience out there? We've got stashes for you. Heath's got one. Dave's got the goatee, but what do you have there, Heath? I have nothing. I just shaved. You just shaved? I just shaved. You do not look like a man that just shaved, but okay. He's got the Homer Simpson perpetual

five o'clock shadow, which you have too, Adam, unless you literally just shave. Yeah, that's probably true. But anyway, stashes, like basically every rookie. Wolf boy. Trey Lance, Justin Fields, you know they're going to headline our list of stashes.

And be sure to hit that subscribe button on YouTube. And here we go. Alright, we do have some news and notes before we get to the stashes. And we have Phil in the blank today as well. Just some quick notes. Miami left tackle Austin Jackson's on the reserve COVID list. We'll see if he can make it back in time to face the Patriots this weekend.

But more relevant news, fantasy. Saquon Barkley close to being fully cleared against the Broncos. That's according to Ian Rappaport. And Evan Ingram, though, he is unlikely for week one. So quick read on that Giants-Broncos game. And if you're in tight end hell and you punted, do you look at Kyle Rudolph? Do you look at Sterling Shepard if you need someone in a PPR league? What does the likely Ingram absence mean, Heath? Yeah, I didn't have as big of share projected for Ingram in the first place because of the addition of Kenny Galladay and the addition of Kyle Rudolph. But

I do think it probably helps Sterling Shepard as much as anyone. We still haven't seen Kenny Galladay at full speed yet, and he's going to have a very difficult matchup on the outside. Shepard is probably the guy I would expect to get some benefit, but it's hard to like too many of Giants at all. It's just as bad as they've looked in the preseason, as good as that Broncos defense could be, and they have one of the lowest implied point totals for week one. Fittingly, they should.

Okay, boy, I feel like you enjoyed saying all of that. So glad we're off to a good start here. Let's talk about our favorite stashes. Other than Fields and Lance, Dave, who should fantasy managers be putting on their bench and not being too quick to drop? So remember, if it's rookies, they get off to slow starts sometimes. Don't drop Justin Jefferson for Peyton Barber.

Dave, who should we be stashing right now? I like the stashes for Tom Selleck and Raleigh Fingers. Yeah. Okay. How about one that's off the beaten path the cleveland browns dst can't use them in week one against kansas city unless you have a death wish they play houston in week two chicago in week three vikings in week four it's a defense that we've talked a lot about this off season is improving. They should be better. They added you Davey on Clowney is, is like a second or third pass rusher on that D line. And they really bulked up the secondary.

I really liked the moves that they made there. This is a defense that's going to be useful. And if you want to pick them up Saturday night before week one, I bet they're going to be on the waiver wire in a lot of leagues. Yeah. You know, Heath, you should be happy to know that I am

rostering two DSDs in one league. I knew it. We made it all the way through the offseason. We get to week one Monday. Adam asked Dave for his favorite stash. And it's a defense.

It's a defense. It should be. They're going to be really good. We've talked about all the other guys to stash, though. My favorite stash is Michael Thomas. Right, but you can't find him on the waiver wire now. We've drafted already. No, I've got that sound you just heard with another draft of mine just starting. I have five drafts left.

Oh, that's what that was. There's lots and lots of drafts. Yeah, there are a lot of drafts left. Okay, Michael Thomas, you know, I referenced this draft, but my brother was doing a Yahoo draft, and Michael Thomas was very low in the rankings. I actually don't know where he is in the rankings on CBS, but you can get him potentially

a lot later. We got him very late in that Yahoo draft, and I'm not sure if they have IR spots in the league, but still. Stash him. He'll be out at least six weeks and we haven't figured out if that's going to be six games. Have we figured that out, Dave? It appears to be six weeks and not six games.

Okay, and that's important for them because they have a bye in week six. That's a significant difference assuming he's ready as soon as possible because of that bye. Okay, so Michael Thomas is someone to stash. And any others? Go ahead, guys.

Just rock and roll here. I think at running back, the one that I would say maybe stands out is Michael Carter. Because my original week one rankings for Michael Carter are awful. Don't consider starting him. I'm not sure that he's even going to be someone you'd want to flex in a deep league. But at some point, you would think he would at least earn 50% of the touches there. I'm not sure that he gets 30% of the touches in week one.

Right. So from a stash standpoint, these could be guys that are universally drafted. Michael Thomas is 93% rostered. So are you wanting waiver wire guys? Either one. It could be guys like what we talked about yesterday. I'd like to just give guys that weren't drafted. I'll go the approach of you've already drafted. Here are some people on the waiver wire that you might want to stash. So I don't mind what Heath's doing at all. And yes, there are definitely people that are still drafting, but I'm looking, I'm turning over rocks here trying to find somebody.

Another angle, Dave, though, is also guys that we think are going to get off to slow starts, like Michael Carter, that you should be drafting them or rostering them knowing, hey, this might just be a stash, not someone I can use immediately. Sure. Go ahead. Sure. Wayne Gallman. Falcons have a terrible schedule to begin the year mike davis is their guy he's 28 years old he's never had a role like this before he might be okay to start the

season i like the matchup against philadelphia for him but if he breaks down gallman appears to be the next guy up as even though he recently just signed with atlanta the falcons have one of the worst projected strength of schedules for early in the year and then it lightens up considerably so if you've drafted somebody late and you go why did i draft this guy why did i take two kickers for crying out loud you can cut the second kicker and you could put gallman on your bench just to see what happens it's literally just just a wait-and-see type thing with Gallman. That's the first running back that stands out to me. Jermar Johnson with the Lions could potentially be another one

because we just don't know how healthy DeAndre Swift is going to be. Jermar Jefferson. What did I say? Jermar Johnson. Jermar Jefferson. My bad. That's another one that you could look at who's definitely going to be on the waiver wire in 100 leagues.

And I don't think I'm ready to say J.J. Taylor yet in New England. I'd put Gallman ahead of those two guys I just named. Maybe in a deeper league, you can look at J.J. Taylor. Ramondre Stevenson is rostered in less than 60% of leagues. So he is someone that is available. T.Y. Hilton is around 49% roster rate. Rashad Bateman's even lower than that.

A couple of guys that are not going to play week one, but if you happen to... And this is probably a situation where maybe you had to draft a kicker, but you could drop a kicker to pick them up, put them on IR, and then pick up another kicker. I'm looking at the wide receiver roster percentage list and there's a ton of upside players who are available in about half our leagues or more oh terrence marshall and ron deal more are both under 50 percent under 40

percent wow russell gage is 43 you know i was thinking everybody's very excited about kyle pitts maybe it's russell gage who who who steps up. Maybe. And it's the Falcons. I just talked about it with Wayne Gallman. Tough schedule early on, and then it lightens up right after week four. That would help Russell Gage, too. Henry Ruggs, 54% rostered. Oh! Ruggs

is a good one. What about Brian Edwards? Same team. He's 15% rostered. I know. He's super deep. Yeah. There's a lot of receivers. I know. He's super deep. Yeah. There's a lot of receivers. Gabriel Davis is interesting at 25%. So I guess... Little Jordan Humphrey.

I guess what you could say is just... He's a real person. If you have a IR spot, you can move someone there. Plenty of wide receivers that you could pick up. I would not mind... Well, who are some tight ends that you guys think maybe could be have a big week one and I don't know

if you have just an empty roster spot to play with tight ends to put on your bench I'm sorry go ahead Heath I said Blake Jarwin 20% rostered Tyler Conklin since I don't believe that Chris Herndon is going to learn the Minnesota

offense and get in rhythm with Kirk Cousins in the span of two weeks. Two weeks. Conklin plays with some pretty serious energy when he's out there. I'm not going to say that he's explosive, but runs a lot of short routes. Defenses don't really cover him because he's not exactly fast, but he can pick up some catches, and we know he's going to see a lot more playing time, and the schedule isn't bad to begin the year for Minnesota.

I don't know how the schedule is going to translate one year to next in terms of covering tight ends, but I like Dawson Knox as a deep sleeper, but he starts with Pittsburgh, Miami, and Washington, and they were third, second, and ninth defending tight ends last year. So I think I'd have to not recommend him. Oh, hold on.

We got a better one than that. Dan Arnold. No way. I'm so tired of it. Just because his name sounds like Sam Darnold, what do we think? They're going to have four good pass catchers. That's my analysis.

Just because they're going to have four good pass catchers on that team. Well, five with McCaffrey. Then we should be stashing Sam Darnold. If we're looking for touchdown or bust tight ends, he qualifies for at least week one. If we want to, it wasn't so bad for the Panthers in general in the early going. If we want to use last year's defense versus tight end,

then Austin Hooper. And he's been good before in his life. But you actually forgot about just how horrible the Jets were against tight ends last year. Because that was when Waller had like 200-something yards against them. Did they give up the most points to tight ends last year? They were up there. Let's see.

I'm going to say they did. Let's see if I'm right. Go ahead, Internet. Do your work. Okay, I'm sorry. I've been to say they did. Let's see if I'm right. Go ahead, Internet. Do your work. Okay, I'm sorry. I've been a little scatterbrained here. Anyone else? Anyone else? I think we covered it. Are we still talking about tight ends with

favorable schedules? No, we're talking about stashes. Well, isn't that part of the qualification for stashing? Yes. Then yes, whatever you want. What's Zach Ertz's roster percentage? Because I got a feeling if he's staying in Philadelphia, they're going to use him.

66. Okay, so that's too high. Wow, he's at 66 and all those other guys are lower. Dave, you got to remember, you get to round 12 in a lot of drafts, and oh, I've heard of that name. Yeah. Gets drafted really high.

That's a problem. Okay. James O'Shaughnessy. I think. Have we hit the end of this now? Sure. We're done. Have we hit the end?

Have we hit the bottom of the pool? All right. Those are some players to stash. Obviously, be patient with your rookies. And boy, the Bears have a really interesting schedule. some players to stash. Obviously, be patient with your rookies. And boy, the Bears have a really interesting schedule if you're stashing Justin Fields because it's brutal

in week one at the Rams. Then it's Cincinnati, but you know, Dalton, they might want to get Dalton that game. Then at Cleveland could be really tough. Then Detroit at Las Vegas. Then it looks pretty good starting in week four. Detroit at Las Vegas. Green Bay might have a solid defense.

Tampa Bay is obviously going to be solid. It looks like it's good, and then it's Tampa Bay, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, and a bye, and then Baltimore. So I don't know. And I'm just going to offer my annual schedule disclaimer, and we'll talk about it more when we talk about weekly rankings later. I really personally feel like there's probably going to be three to five defenses in either direction that matter in terms of projecting for fantasy purposes.

The difference between the number 10 defense against the run and the number 20 defense in the run is not something that's going to factor into my projections at all. And so there are a couple of defenses. You said Tampaa bay i agree the rams 100 agree like those those two are going to matter but at this stage like some of the other ones we may not know yet or some of the other ones who we think are going to be really good may not be very good well all right then that gets us into our next topic here which is uh

which is players who could get off to great or bad starts based on their schedule. And I guess maybe we won't spend too much time on this. But I did want to talk specifically about Atlanta and just get back into that with Mike Davis. But before I do that, there are a couple things I want to promote. YouTube, we've got YouTube streams throughout the year. We have three of them per week.

So these are Q&As three times per week on YouTube. We've got YouTube streams throughout the year. We have three of them per week. So these are Q&As three times per week on YouTube. And they're not just Q&As. I mean, they're themed. Tuesday night, 8 p.m. Eastern. Every time is Eastern. Tuesday night, 8 p.m. Eastern, waiver wire and any of your questions. And we'll tell you who to add and who to drop and whatnot. Thursday afternoon, 2 p.m. It's going to be a starter sit. And then Sunday morning, 11.30 a.m. until kickoff. And those are also obviously start-sit questions. So again, Monday night, 8 p.m. Tuesday at 2 p.m. Sunday, 11.30 until 1 p.m.

All times Eastern. We'll see you at youtube.com slash fantasyfootballtoday for live streams to answer all of your questions. Yeah, so Atlanta, I don't know why you like the matchup against Philadelphia, Dave. They typically have a very good run defense. They still have Fletcher Cox and Derek Barnett and Brandon. They still have a good front four, and they're usually very solid against the run. It's Philadelphia at Tampa Bay, incredible run defense.

At the Giants, they'll probably be a little bit weaker against the run this year, but above average. And then Washington in week four. That really sucks for Mike Davis. I was really focused just on week one and the fact that it should be one of the higher scoring games of the week. I know it's not projected to be by the odds makers.

It's over under 48 last I looked, but it's still going to be a game where there should be plenty of points scored. Yeah, and it's still going to be a game where there should be plenty of points scored. Yeah, and well, it's a couple of things. And 48 is still by far in the upper third of the league, I think, this week. But it's 48, and they're, what, a four- or five-point favorite, too. There's not going to be too many weeks, I don't think,

where the Falcons are more than a field goal favorite in a high-scoring game. And that's a good setup for a running back. Interesting. That, that is a good setup, but it's, it's awesome, but it's four straight potentially tough run defenses here. I don't think like, does that not matter to you? Definitely the Tampa Bay matters to me. Yes.

I don't, the Eagles defense, I am not projecting. It's not even the same coaching staff. It's the same defensive line. I think that defense does have a chance to be good. I don't know if it's going to be so good that we're going to bench borderline guys again. I'm specifically talking about their run defense. I'm not saying to bench

Mike Davis, but their secondary, the Eagles don't usually invest much in their secondary. They did with Darius Slay. He had an okay year last year. But their front four is almost always really good. I mean, Fletcher Cox is one of the best in the business. He makes a huge difference. So they have, I'm pretty sure year after year, they got pretty good run defense. They did last year. So it's Philadelphia, it's Tampa Bay, it's the Giants in Washington. Then you get the Jets, but then you get a bye. So I don't know. That just, on paper, doesn't look very good for Mike Davis. No, we were talking about Wayne Gallman as a stash.

I mentioned that the schedule was hard to begin the year, and I don't mind Davis' matchup this week. I don't know how I'll feel about it when they're playing against those tougher defenses. Going to see how we feel about Marquez Callaway because we've talked about this several times, but he has some pretty tough cornerbacks on his schedule. Green Bay, Carolina, New England, the Giants, Washington, and a bye.

It's not the easiest go for a receiver if he gets treated like a number one. Baltimore could get off to a great start with Vegas, Kansas City, and Detroit. Carolina has three of their first four games. Look at this Carolina schedule. The Jets, the Saints, the Texans, and the Cowboys. Man. Dan Arnold. Okay, fine.

I was in there. That's why I mentioned him. All right. I don't love Cincinnati's start. Minnesota, Chicago, Pittsburgh. But it's not horrible. But maybe, you know, everybody hates Joe Mixon. If he gets off to a slow start and you still believe in him,

maybe there's a buy low there. Here's one. If Houston has a good week one against Jacksonville, let's say Brandon Cooks has a good week one. He's pretty much the lone relevant one. At Cleveland, big time upgraded secondary, as Dave mentioned. Carolina could be a sneaky good defense this year at Buffalo, New England, at Indianapolis.

That's their next five games. Cleveland, Carolina, Buffalo, New England, Indianapolis. So I look at that. I don't know. What do you think about that, Dave? If Brandon Cooks gets off to a good start, then you've got Arizona, and then the Rams and the Dolphins,

and then a bye. It looks like pretty tough sledding there. I bet fantasy managers won't be the only ones trying to sell high on Brandon Cooks in trade. And then the Rams and the Dolphins and then a bye. It looks like pretty tough sledding there. I bet fantasy managers won't be the only ones trying to sell high on Brandon Cooks in trade if he has a good game in week one. I bet the Texans will be like, okay, round four pick. Come take him off our hands. Yeah, I would try and sell high on Brandon Cooks now if you possibly could. But definitely if there's a good game after

week one. I think his saving grace is if they do trade him and he goes to a contender at some point this year. That would absolutely catapult his fantasy value. How many of those defenses that you said would you consider to be top five defenses?

I don't know, but I think they have number one corners. Cleveland could lock them up. Buffalo. No, but they have some of the best number one corners. Cleveland, Buffalo, New England. Buffalo does, for sure. Well, Gilmore won't be back by then. Yeah, but Jackson was a top 10 cornerback last year.

He was good. According to PFF. We're getting to the point to where it seems like every team is either a good matchup or a bad matchup. No, I think... And most of them don't matter. Hey, that could be. But, all right, fine.

So let's talk about, just generally speaking, who we think the best defenses in football are. The Rams. Yes. Rams are going to be good. I don't know if the Bucs secondary itself is super talented, but the front seven for them is. And so that'll make things easier for the secondary there. I think Buffalo is going to be really good this year.

I think their defense could be really, really strong. I would say Baltimore would be the next in my group of, I'm pretty sure there will be a top five defense, but maybe not. There's questions about their pass rush, but if they can answer those questions, I mean, two of their first three games are against the Raiders and Lions, so they're going to look good against them,

but they've got the Chiefs in between. If they can get to Mahomes a little bit, then yeah, I think they'll absolutely validate themselves. You haven't said Washington yet. Washington is going to be one of the best. I think Washington has a chance to be really, really good. I think Denver has a chance to be really, really good. I think Denver has a chance to be really, really good. Yeah.

I'd play Washington and Denver and probably round out my top five. Man, I love Cleveland. I think that... They've got a shot. Their pass rush could be just insane. I think Minnesota's got a shot. Patriots. I don't know if Gilmore suits up for the Patriots again,

but they're still going to use man-to-man quite a bit. And they've got their front seven rebuilt nicely. So they've got a shot. The Giants could be a thorn in the side. Yeah, but now we're getting to the point where we're not talking about elite defenses here, as Heath was talking about. Sure. So maybe this is a good time to talk about the teams that have been elite in the past

and might not be this year. And one team that comes to my mind is the Steelers. As crazy as it sounds, usually they have a great defense, but they had to make an emergency move to get Joe Sjobert at linebacker. They don't have Dupree to help out TJ Watt. Watt's still going to be great on his own. They're going to count on Highsmith to come off the edge. Their secondary has a bunch of new pieces. I wonder if this is a defense that might get overrated a little bit. And we might learn pretty quickly this year that they're not going to be as good as they've been in the past. Yeah, I totally agree.

And actually, if you remember last year, they were kind of shaky against wide receivers. And we kept saying, is Pittsburgh a tough matchup? I'm not sure anymore. I think a lot of people still see the 49ers and the Saints also as awesome defenses. And both of those teams have good front sevens. Lattimore didn't have a great year last year. We'll see how he does.

I've got questions about the secondary in San Francisco. The jury's still out on them. All right. Heath, thanks for crapping on this segment. I appreciate that. But no, it's legit. It's legit. I get it. still out on them all right he thanks for crapping on the segment i appreciate that but no i know i think it's legit it's legit i get it yeah i mean there are some matchups that definitely matter for sure yeah so okay um let me tell you all about grammarly okay so i've used grammarly

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Still kind of compiling these. We have an early show today. How are you guys? How are we doing? Feeling ready for week one? Fill in the blank. I'm feeling blank for week one. Fired up.

I am definitely intrigued. I think this is going to be a great season. Last year, it felt like the whole pandemic overshadowed. Will we get in the full season and all that? Now, it feels like everybody's back into fantasy. It feels like 2019. Everybody's back into fantasy all over again. Phil in the blank.

Blank will lead the Cowboys in targets on Thursday night. C.D. Lamb. I'm going to say whoever plays in the slot the most, which is something I'm going to be looking at very closely. Blank will lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in targets on Thursday night. Evans. Cameron Brate. I was going to say Evans.

The Buccaneers will win by blank points. 13. Four. Okay. I'll say eight somehow. Going right with the line. Is that what it is? Seven and a half.

Seven and a half. All right. Here we go from the listeners. Is that what it is? Seven and a half. Seven and a half. All right. All right, here we go from the listeners. That FF dude. Blank is a player that will be an unexpected league winner. And he gives us a hint. He has a gif. I'm going to say gif.

I'm done with gif. He has a gif of Gus Edwards celebrating. It's not nice. It's good peanut butter. Gus could be a league winner. You know how I feel about Elijah Moore. I don't know if Moore can be a league winner, but I think he'll be a good starter for your squad. a league winner. You know how I feel about Elijah Moore. I don't know if Moore can be a league winner, but I think he'll be a good starter for your squad.

A league winner. Oh. Jerry Judy. That's just Dave's answer to everything. No, fine. I'll do that. My wife is like, what do you want for today? Do you want to play that game? DeAndre Swift. There you go.

There was some Smith hate on the show yesterday, Heath. I'm sorry you weren't there to defend. Some Swift hate? Yeah. It went by really fast. Yeah, right. It was like we hated everybody, but very quickly. From Kenneth Moon,

blank is the rookie you want to roster at the beginning of the season, but blank is the rookie that you will want to have on your roster at the end of the season. That's a cool question. Oh, sorry. There's both rookie wide receivers. So Blank is the rookie wide receiver you want at the beginning of the year, but Blank is the rookie wide receiver

you want at the end of the year. You will want Jamar Chase by the end of the year on your fantasy team. And at the beginning of the year, you'll want Jalen Waddle. Analyze more. Yeah, I'll want Jalen Waddle and Elijah Moore. Yeah, I was going to say Waddle and Moore. I think it'd be Chase all year

for me, but Waddle and Moore. Are you going to feel comfortable starting Waddle and Moore against the Patriots and Bills? Is it Bills in week two? Yeah, at New England and then Buffalo weeks one and two. For Waddle, you mean? What did I say?

Waddle and Moore. Yeah, I don't know what the hell I said. Are you going to feel comfortable starting Jalen Waddle against the Patriots? As a flex, it's okay. I like him as a number three wide receiver. I got to check the stats from last year, but historically the Bills, very good at eliminating big plays. That's just what

they do on defense. That's their defense. Yeah. Yeah, they play a zone coverage that keeps everybody in front of them. All right, back to Phil in the blank. It's actually good for short area receivers who are supposed to make plays after the catch. They'll get a lot of targets. They'll get a lot of catches.

They probably won't break it for a touchdown, but they'll cobble together points. All right, Greg Hall, Devontae Smith has the potential to be a top blank fantasy receiver. 24. Yeah, maybe 20,

but 24 is probably a better thing to say. I wonder if he can get more than five or six touchdowns. It's kind of my hang up with Devontae Smith. I'm wondering if he can get 120 targets. I mean, he's probably going to catch 90% of his targets. It won't be

a huge deal, but sure. Charlie Stevens. Devontae Williams will receive greater than 60% of the running back touches in week blank. Whichever one Melvin Gordon gets hurt. They start against the Giants, and they've got Jacksonville and the Jets, then the Ravens and Steelers.

I'm going to say week one, two, three, four, five, week six against Las Vegas at home. I'll go week seven. Completely off subject. Did you guys watch the Florida State Notre Dame game? It was awesome. I was very happy to hear McKenzie Milton was able to make it back onto the field. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, that was cool. Yeah, do you know the circumstances? I mean, I actually didn't see this particular play, but I heard the announcers talking about it. The starting quarterback, well, McKenzie Milton's supposed to be the starter, but he was ruled out with an injury, or he was a backup.

And the starter, his helmet popped off. So he had to come out for a play. Milton came in, played great, never left. Brought them back from an 18 point, brought them back from some deficit. I know they were down 18. I don't know when he came in. Forced overtime. Great game. Now when Dave was talking about how excited he was for football this year,

that's going to be great. I would, last night, or it was last night for us, Sunday night was tremendous. That Florida State-Notre Dame game. All right. Am I crazy to start blank over Dak in week one? This is from Andrew. Am I crazy to start blank over Dak in week one?

Hmm. What about Russell Wilson? That's a tricky one. I don't know how many people have that. It's got to be a more low-end guy, right? Hurts. Jalen Hurts. I think they're close. I think Hurts and Prescott are close.

I have Hurts over Dak in the first run. Yeah, I've got Dak two spots ahead of Hurts. How about this? Am I crazy to start Ben Roethlisberger at Buffalo over Dak at Tampa Bay? Yeah, I wouldn't do that. Ben is going to be one of the guys who shows up when the rankings come out

and everybody's like, whoa, Heath, why do you hate Ben Roethlisberger this week? And the reason is because they have a shockingly low implied point total. Like 21. They're in the same range as the Dolphins and Giants. I may make some adjustments to that a little bit, but I may not either.

Especially if their game plan is going to be to try to run the ball more in the first half, and then when they're down two scores start throwing. I don't know that I

like that at all for Ben. Okay. Yeah, I mean, I don't know that it's Dak that we should be asking this question about. It might be Zeke.

All right, let's do that. Let's do a quick round of am I crazy to start? No, save it for tomorrow. Just give me one name that you might consider starting over Zeke

because we'll preview this game in depth tomorrow. Miles Gaskin. I'm not sitting Zeke. Where do you have him ranked? Six or something? Eight? Okay.

I got him behind that. I have Gus Edwards ahead of Zeke too. I have him seven. Okay. Gus or ahead of Zeke too I have him seven Gus or Zeke? Heath or Zeke Okay Let's see

More fill in the blank I love fill in the blank From Jose Blank will be the best running back for the Jets Carter Week one or all season? Jose blank will be the best running back for the Jets Carter week one or all season whatever you want bud

yeah how about week one because all season we're going to say Carter week one I'll say Kevin Coleman I kind of want to say Carter for week one too Josh McMillan blank will be a low-end tight end that finishes top 10.

Everett could be that guy that squeezes in there. Anthony Ferkshire could, the bar is low to be a top 10 tight end. If you're finishing 8th, 9th, or 10th, usually means you've got to have like 600 yards and 6 touchdowns. Could get

Sikki qualify? Austin Hooper. From Brad, Blank will be a sell high at the halfway point of the season. Yeah, that's tough. Mark West Calloway for sure that's a great one

Mark West Calloway or how about this Michael Thomas right you might have people so excited about him coming back but

but maybe if Mark West Calloway is actually really good maybe you can sell him as a wide receiver one when Thomas is really a wide receiver two coming back. It's possible. The right answer is probably Ronald Jones. Why?

We know there's going to be a stretch where he has three straight games of like 80 yards and a touchdown, and Bruce Arians is going to call him the future Hall of Fame running back, and then the next week he's going to touch the ball three times. As soon as Ronald Jones gets the positive momentum, then he's the sell-high. Oh, I just wish one of those guys were taking

a vacation on Thursday. We could start one against Dallas. You could start Rojo. Why would I? He's in the flex conversation. He's in the non-PPR flex conversation. Okay, but why not Fournette? Because I think that Ronald Jones has the lead on that. Why?

I think he'll get the first opportunity. Well, he's faster. He's more explosive than Fournette. Week one of the preseason, Fournette started. The next week, Jones started. I don't know if it was week one and two or two and three, but there's no way to know. There's no way to know

from play to play, series to series what this man, Bruce Arians, is going to do. It's going to be what Brady decides. Who is more equipped to make plays running the ball? Make guys miss, speed away from defenders.

Oh, for sure Ronald Jones. Oh yeah, definitely Ronald Jones. That's why I would put Jones at it. I'm not saying that he's going to be a must start. You're joking, Heath? 100% joking. Really? Okay. I wanted to do some fantasy cops today,

but I think I'm going to save it for tomorrow. So I'll read some of your emails at fantasyfootball at cbsi.com when we come back on Fantasy Football today. Did you know 66% of utility damage is caused by not requesting a locate? Don't let your project become part of this statistic. A quick locate request can save you from unexpected downtime, financial penalties, and keep you safe.

Don't let avoidable damage cost you time and money. Click before you dig. Ensure your next project is safe. Visit ontarioonecall.ca. It's free. It's easy. It's the law. Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report. Welcome back. Adam, Dave, and Heath here finishing up. This is Heath's favorite part of the show. When I don't have emails ready to go, so I just select them from my inbox and read them as big surprises. So, ready? Well, first, do you want some, not breaking when everybody hears this on Tuesday, but breaking now while we're sitting here. Mike Kosicki's week just got better. Adam Shaheen is on the reserve COVID list. He tested positive.

He will not play in week one. So no Fuller, no Shaheen. I think you're going to see a lot of Mike Kosicki in week one, and even though it's not the easiest matchup in the world for him, certainly he's going to be popular in DFS. I think he's startable. Durham Smythe's still there, right? I think he's still on the roster.

Definitely. That's Smythe, Deidre, not Smith. Right? Doubtfire? Yeah, yeah, yeah. My daughter wrote a story about she had to do some sort of language arts assignment about a

movie that she liked, and she picked that one. Proud of her. Yeah, I think it's arguably... Smith is still there. Arguably the funniest movie... Smythe. Arguably the funniest movie I've ever seen, or ever made. I thought it was pronounced Smythay. Smythay. Doug and Jupiter grade the trade

full PPR super flex with three wide receivers and two flex. So there's a lot of players here. I traded Derek Henry for Stefan Diggs and Miles Sanders.

So again, it's three receivers, two flex. It's full PPR. Derek Henry for Diggs and Sanders. I think it's even. Nah, it's probably not. I think Henry's probably a little more valuable. You said full PPR? Yeah.

I think I'd take the Diggs and Sanders side. Really? I think it's close. Trey Chart has the Henry side winning. I don't have a huge difference between Diggs and Henry in full PPR. Let's see if this email is any good. Patrick from a town in Kentucky where our water tower is

a monument. You don't know? I'm trying to think of the city in Little Giants, home of the O'Shea brothers. I know that's not it, but that's the only water tower I can think of. What was the name of that city?

Urbana or something like that? Florence, Kentucky? Urbania, Ohio. All right, we're just going to go with Urbania, Ohio, which is close enough to kentucky okay here's the question i had some unfortunate life events take place during my draft and i was pulled out in my 10 team ppr draft the owners of this league are a little odd and they all tend to take you to qbs so when i was able to return to the draft i was in round 14 and

i picked tua do any of the quarterbacks below have a chance of cracking the top 12 this season? The answer is going to be yes to almost all of these. Justin Fields, Matt Ryan, Ben Roethlisberger, Jameis, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Mack Jones. What should he do? He has Tua.

What do you do in this case? How many roster spots do you have available? Because I would really like to start Matt Ryan over Tua this week, personally. But Justin Fields is the one I would like to have on my bench for the future. So, if you want to start somebody this week, I'd go with Matt Ryan.

Yeah, if all these quarterbacks are rostered, and most of the league already has two, then the waiver wire is going to be pretty darn good all year, right? I mean, if Ryan, Roethlisberger, Winston, Fitzpatrick, who are the... These are all sort of borderline top 20 guys. Yeah, so you could play it week by week, I suppose. Okay.

It's a lot of week one stuff. You guys want to do week one stuff? It is week one. All right. Yeah, that makes sense, right? From Jimmy Chilling in Florida. PPR Flexbot. That's a cool last name.

Corey Davis, Cortland Sutton, Mecole Hardman, Damian Harris, or Jacoby Myers? Who are you starting at Flex and PPR? Corey Davis, Cortland Sutton, Hardman, Damian Harris or Jacoby Myers? Who are you starting at flex and PPR? Corey Davis, Cortland Sutton, Hardman, Damian Harris,

or Myers? Probably Davis for me. Myers for me. And PPR flex spot, Devante Smith, Darnell Mooney, Jamal Williams, or Emmanuel Sanders?

Devante Mooney, Jamal Williams or Emmanuel Sanders? Devontae Mooney, Jamal Williams, Emmanuel Sanders. I believe Devontae Smith. It will be the answer. So I'm in. All right, let me get a couple more here from Chad. He's got a flex question. Um, Jerry,

Judy, Corey Davis, Marquez Calloway, or Curtis Samuel. I'm rolling with Judy, Judy, Corey Davis, Calloway, and who Curtis Samuel?

Uh, this is where, uh, we're going to reveal Heath's week one love for Marquez Calloway. I will say Marquez Calloway. All right. Good stuff. Thanks for the emails, everybody. Keep them coming to fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. If you don't hear them on the air, and most of them won't make the air because we get a ton of them,

I try to respond to some throughout the week. We have a mailbag show that airs on Saturday. We get a lot of emails through that. Some of them go unanswered. I am sorry about that. It's just not possible for me to get to everything. But I hope you all had a great Labor Day. Hope you're ready for week one.

Tomorrow we will preview Thursday Night Football, do some buy or sell, maybe talk a little trade, answer your emails. Fantasy Cops. Also, you can tweet your questions with the hashtag AskFFT, hashtag AskFFT. For you on YouTube, make sure you hit that subscribe button, and we will talk to you tomorrow on Fantasy Football Today.